UA NOTES

RWANDA: Edouard Mpabuka, peasant, aged 28 (UA 315/99 issued December 7, 1999 and re-issued February 3, 2000). Amnesty International has sought and received independent confirmation that Edouard Mpabuka, reported “disappeared” on 8 November 1999, is being held in pre-trial detention in Gisenyi central prison, accused of participation in the 1994 genocide. A letter to Urgent Action network members from the Rwandese Minister of Justice, Jean de Dieu Mucyo, had described how Edouard Mpabuka had been found after an official investigation prompted by their appeals. Edouard Mpabuka was interviewed recently in Gisenyi hospital, where he has been since 26 November 1999, receiving treatment for a leg injury. He was able to confirm that he had been held in Gisenyi brigade (gendarmerie detention center) between 8 and 16 November. However, his family had not been told that he was there, and this gave rise to fears for his safety. Edouard Mpabuka was arrested in October 1998, released without trial on 15 October 1999, but rearrested three days later and held in the cachot communal (local detention center) in Giciye. On 8 November he was taken to the Gisenyi brigade and eight days later transferred to Gisenyi central prison. The prison director informed his family that Edouard Mpabuka had arrived there, and his family is now able to visit him in hospital. Amnesty International is heartened by the positive outcome to this case and welcomes the Ministry of Justice investigation which was prompted by the appeals of Amnesty International members.

SRI LANKA: Kandasamy Sri Ram, Anthonipillai Binoth Vimalraj    and Sivagnanasunderam Sri Kanthan (EX 129/99 issued September 10, 1999 and re-issued November 1, 1999). Amnesty International has received a letter from Kandasamy Sri Ram, who was tortured by police at Mirihana police station after his arrest on 25 August 1999. In his letter, dated 15 October, he writes that he was given bail on 15 September. He goes on to say, “I wish to thank all of the members of Amnesty International” who wrote letters on his behalf.

SYRIA: Randa Ayyubi, 40, housewife (UA 48/00 issued February 24, 2000 and re-issued March 21, 2000). Randa Ayyubi has been released, eight months after she was arrested. She was detained after she made an anti-government remark in the street. The family expressed great gratitude for the work of the Urgent Action network. She was reportedly freed on 17 May. Her husband and eldest son, who were arrested with her, had been released at the end of February.

TUNISIA: Abdelmoumen Belanes, Fahem Boukaddous, Taoufik Chaieb, Sadok Chourou, Samir Dillou, Fathi Karraoud, Abdellatif Mekki, Fathi al-Ouarghi and dozens of others (UA 130/00 issued May 23, 2000 and re-issued June 7, 2000). Abdelmoumen Belanes and Fahem Boukaddous were released on 10 June, after they were granted a presidential pardon . Abdelmoumen Belanes immediately called Amnesty International to thank all the organisation’s members for their support and help. He said that he would end his hunger strike, which he had kept up for 33 days, under medical supervision. Taoufik Chaieb stopped his hunger strike after he was given the dental care he needed. Fathi al-Ouarghi also reportedly stopped his hunger strike at the beginning of June. Some of the other political prisoners are reported to have stopped their hunger strikes for medical reasons, while others have decided to continue. As their families are not allowed to visit prisoners on hunger strike, it is very difficult for Amnesty International to check these reports.

TUNISIA: Human rights defenders and their relatives (UA 98/00 issued April 28, 2000 and re-issued May 4 and May 9, 2000). Human rights activists Fathi Chamkhi and Mohamed Chourabi, and photocopy shop owner Iheb el Hani, were released from Mornag prison on 8 May. Jallal Zoughlami is still in prison, reportedly continuing the hunger strike he began on 30 April. On 9 May Fathi Chamkhi told Amnesty International: "We are so happy about all the support we received. We want to thank all those who supported us, anonymous or famous people. [The Tunisian authorities] released us reluctantly, because of all the international pressure. We will keep on fighting until our organization is authorized."

TURKEY: Ali Gülmez, Ganime Bozlu (name corrected), Erol Gültekin, Namik Yüksel and Hayriye Yüksel (EX 23/00 issued March 10, 2000 and re-issued March 13, 2000). Hayriye Yüksel was released on 15 March, while Ganime Bozlu, Erol Gültekin and Namik Yüksel were remanded to Ümraniye prison. The charges against them have not yet been announced. Ali Gülmez was remanded to Tokat prison on 15 March. During interrogation he was charged with being the secretary general of the leftist armed organisation TKP/ML-TIKKO. He rejects this charge. Unlike other prisoners held in similar circumstances, they were not tortured in police and gendarmerie custody. Security officers told them: “Amnesty International is making a big fuss about you. We won’t do anything to you”. They were ill-treated, however. At the Gendarmerie in Tokat Ali Gülmez told his lawyer, who was allowed to visit him on 13 March only with two soldiers present, that he had been prevented from sleeping, forced to stand for long periods and constantly interrogated. Ganime Bozlu, Erol Gültekin and Namik Yüksel reported similar treatment at the Anti-Terror Branch of Istanbul Police Headquarters.

USA/ Oklahoma: Cornel Cooks (EX 152/99 issued October 29, 1999). They are extremely impressed with the UA Network in Oklahoma. Cornel Cook's legal team are really grateful for the response to the Urgent Action issued on his behalf. Here is a message from one of them: "I am amazed as to how many people indicated they would respond. That is wonderful! I visited Cornel for 3 hours on Friday and he is holding up well. He was glad to know about the support coming in from all around. I think it really lifted his spirits."

UNITED KINGDOM: Augusto Pinochet, former president of Chile (EX 2/00 issued January 14, 2000, and re-issued February 11, 2000). On 2 March 2000 UK Home Secretary Jack Straw decided that he would not order the extradition of Augusto Pinochet to Spain. He also decided not to issue Authorities to Proceed in respect of extradition requests from Switzerland, Belgium and France. The Spanish government refused to pass on to the British authorities a request from Judge Baltasar Garzón that the UK Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) challenge Jack Straw’s decision through Judicial Review.

The Spanish government said that it would respect the UK’s decision to deny the extradition and it would not take further action in the case. Switzerland, Belgium and France did not appeal the decision. On 2 March, the day that Augusto Pinochet left the UK, seven human rights lawyers filed a legal request before the Corte de Apelaciones de Santiago, Appeals Court of Santiago, in Chile, to lift the parliamentary immunity of Augusto Pinochet as a senator for life. It has been reported that on 6 March Chilean Judge Juan Guzmán Tapia also formally requested that Augusto Pinochet’s immunity be lifted. The decision of the court is expected in two months. According to article 58 of the Constitution of Chile the decision of the Appeals Court can be appealed before the Supreme Court.

We are grateful for all your work over the past months. The members of the Agrupación de Detenidos-Desaparecidos, Association of Relatives of the Disappeared, and other Chilean NGOs have expressed their gratitude for your work.

USA /Virginia: Steve Edward Roach, aged 23 (UA 316/99 issued December 13, 1999). Steve Edward Roach was executed in the state of Virginia on 13 January 2000 for a crime committed when he was 17 years old. International law bans the use of the death penalty against child offenders -- those who commit crimes when under 18 years old. Steve Roach was sentenced to death in 1995 for the murder of his neighbor, 70-year-old Mary Ann Hughes, on 3 December 1993. She was shot at her home in the small rural town of Stanardsville in Greene County.

The following is the full statement given by Steve Roach’s lawyer after he was executed on 13 January:

“Steve Edward Roach was put to death tonight by the Commonwealth of Virginia. He died at 9.04pm, Eastern Standard Time, on January 13, 2000. He was 17 years old when he committed the crime that led to his execution, and 23 when he died: the youngest person to be executed by the Commonwealth in modern times. As his lawyer, I witnessed his death. Steve asked me to make this public statement, which we discussed earlier this week at length, on his behalf.

As Steve faced death, his thoughts were first of his wife, now his widow. They were then of Mary Hughes, his neighbor and friend, and of her family and community. They were of other young people, very like Steve himself, who might have been saved from the consequences of broken youths by his participation and his example. He sincerely wished that James Gilmore, Governor of Virginia, had found it in his heart to spare his life, so that he might have been able to make some small effort to help to save the lives of others.

But the Governor chose not to intervene. So be it. Steve wanted to be certain that the reports of his death at the hands of the Commonwealth also reflected four of the beliefs that he carried with him to the very end: his love for and gratitude toward those who selflessly tried to prevent this from happening; his genuine remorse for the terrible act he committed; the confidence that in life he had secured the forgiveness of his God, even if he never quite persuaded himself that he was worthy of that forgiveness; and the certainty that the deliberate, methodical killing of children is inconsistent with the values of any civilized society. He knew that his apology, however heartfelt, would not fill the void left by Mary Hughes, but neither will his death.

Steve died without bitterness, but with a great deal of regret. He never understood what really happened in the instant in which he took the life of someone who loved him. And he was unable to grasp, even to his last breath, why we kill people to teach other people that killing people is wrong. The principal lesson he wanted his own death to communicate is that this makes no sense. Killing kids makes no sense, and it must be stopped. It is too late to save Steve Roach; it is not too late to save the life of the next young man or woman who, in a moment of bewildered rage or utter confusion, commits an act totally out of character in its violence and awful in its result, yet which does not place its perpetrator forever beyond the power of redemption in this life.

After the execution, his attorney released a statement on behalf of the 23-year-old:

“It was important to Steve Roach to be remembered not just as the teenager who committed a horrible crime, but also the adult who accepted responsibility for it and begged the forgiveness of those he caused to suffer. And not just as someone who ended a life for no reason, but also as someone whose own life was ended to no-one’s benefit. Steve Roach wanted us who live after his death to know that he was not a monster: He was a human being, a young man, with flaws and with promise who deserved to live. The principle lesson he wanted his own death to communicate is that this makes no sense. Killing kids makes no sense, and it must be stopped”.

USA/Nevada: Kenshawn Maxey, black, aged 19 (UA 203/99 issued August 10, 1999, and re-issued September 2, and December 15, 1999). Late on 8 February 2000, the jury in Kenshawn Maxey’s trial voted to spare his life after taking into consideration his youth and the abuse he suffered as a child. During its reporting of the trial, the Las Vegas Sun repeatedly referred to the appeals from Amnesty International members, and explained the international treaty ban on the use of the death penalty against child offenders. Kenshawn Maxey’s lawyers have asked that their thanks be sent to all those who appealed on behalf of the teenager.

USA /South Carolina: Leroy Joseph “Ricky” DRAYTON, aged 44 (EX 160/99 issued November 12, 1999).
Ricky Drayton was executed by lethal injection at 6pm local time in the Broad River Correctional Institution, Columbia, South Carolina. He had been sentenced to death for killing Rhonda Darlene Smith, white, in 1984.
Ricky Drayton made no final statement before his execution. The state Governor denied clemency at 5pm. His legal advisor had met with Ricky Drayton’s lawyers in the morning to hear their plea for clemency. Ricky Drayton becomes the 85^th prisoner executed in the USA this year. This is the highest annual total since 1951. A total of 585 prisoners have been executed nationwide since the USA resumed executions in 1977. We have been asked by a member of the defense team in South Carolina to thank all those UA participants who were able to send appeals into the Governor at such short notice.

USA /Texas: Odell Barnes Jr. (UA 20/00 issued March 2, 2000). Odell Barnes was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas, on 1 March 2000. He maintained his innocence to the end. He was sentenced to death in 1991 for the 1989 murder of Helen Bass in Wichita Falls. According to recent investigations by his lawyers, the physical evidence against him has been exposed as unreliable, and key prosecution witnesses have been implicated in the crime. Neither Governor George W Bush, who was away campaigning to become Republican candidate for US President, nor Texas Lt Governor Rick Perry, who was standing in for him, used their power to grant a 30-day reprieve. According to reports, when asked what he wanted for his final meal, Odell Barnes replied: “Justice, equality and world peace.” In his final statement before being executed he thanked those who had worked on his behalf: “I thank you for proving my innocence, although it has not been acknowledged by the courts. May you continue in the struggle and may you change all that’s being done here today and in the past.” Among those that appealed to Governor Bush to stop the execution was Pope John Paul II, who urged “compassion” for Odell Barnes. Governor Bush’s bid for the presidency has been run under a banner of “compassionate conservatism”.

UZBEKISTAN: Arsen Albertovich ARUTYUNYAN, aged 20 and Danis Vladimirovich SIRAZHEV, aged 24

Danis, left and Arsen, right

(EX 178/99 issued December 14, 1999 and re-issued December 21, 1999, April 19 and May 9, 2000). Danis Sirazhev’s death sentence has been commuted to 15 years’ imprisonment, according to unofficial sources. Arsen Arutyunyan had his death sentence commuted in the same way in March. The two men were transferred from their death cell in a prison in Tashkent to a prison colony in the town of Andizhan last week. The families of the two men thank you all for your work. Arsen Arutyunyan’s sister writes: "Had it not been for the work of your organisation, your approaches to the media, your persistent work, we couldn’t have hoped for a good outcome. When I first turned to you, my whole family and I were desperate and, to tell the truth, didn’t think that anything or anybody could help. But the miracle came true, a miracle worked not by God but by people. My brother Arsen learnt of the decision through his lawyer and couldn’t believe it. It took 15 minutes for him to realize that he would stay alive. He kept repeating ‘I’ll live,’ and ‘I’m going to write new songs.’"

ZIMBABWE: Archbishop Pius Ncube. David Coltart, Blessing Chebundo and Edwin Mushoriwa, recently elected MDC members of parliament, and other MDC members and supporters (UA 189/00 issued on June 30, 2000 and re-issued July 19, 2000). Amnesty International remains concerned for the safety of the Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube, following death threats against him last month. The organization is also concerned for the safety of members and supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) following reports of violent attacks and death threats after the 25 June parliamentary election.

Amnesty International has received reports of death threats made by high ranking government officials against members of the MDC, notably against the MDC Member of Parliament (MP) David Coltart. In light of the pre-election violence, during which at least 30 MDC members were killed, David Coltart and other members of the MDC are taking these threats very seriously. Letters sent by the Amnesty International membership have been very well received in Zimbabwe. The Amani Trust, a Zimbabwe human rights organisation, asked us to pass on their thanks: "We write to you in response to the many copies we received from you of letters to high government officials of Zimbabwe in which you condemn acts of violence committed in the wake of the recent parliamentary elections here. THANK YOU SO MUCH to all of you!"