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March 1, 1992

Israeli Interrogation Methods Under Fire After Death of Detained Palestinian

Israel's Supreme Court to Rule on Legality of Interrogation Guidelines

The death of Palestinian detainee Mustafa Akawi on February 4 illustrates the untenable nature of Israel's claim that its use of "moderate physical pressure" during interrogation does not lead to torture. This claim is being challenged in an important Israeli Supreme Court case that is scheduled for argument next month.
March 1, 1992

The Greeks of Turkey

The Greek community in Turkey is dwindling, elderly and frightened. Its population has declined from about 110,000 at the time of the signing of the Lausanne Treaty in 1923 to about 2,500 today. Its fear stems from an appalling history of pogroms and expulsions suffered at the hands of the Turkish government.
March 1, 1992

Egypt: Arrest and Detention Practices and Prison Conditions

Middle East Watch (MEW) conducted a fact-finding mission to Egypt in January and February 1992, to investigate arrest and detention practices and allegations of torture of individuals held in the custody of the security forces. Participating in the mission were Virginia N. Sherry, associate director of MEW, and John Valery White, an attorney and Orville Schell Fellow with Human Rights Watch.
February 19, 1992

Indonesia: Commission Of Inquiry Needed For Aceh

As the international community condemned the massacre in East Timor on November 12, 1991 and pressed the Indonesian government to account fully for the killings, other human rights abuses attributed to the Indonesian military went largely ignored.
February 1, 1992

Political Prisoners in Tibet

New lists of prisoners supplied by former inmates and smuggled out of the Tibet Autonomous Region substantially increase the known number of political prisoners in Tibet. In this report, Asia Watch and the Tibet Information Network present the cases of some 275 prisoners with all extant biographical material.
February 1, 1992

Unquiet Graves

The Search for the Disappeared in Iraqi Kurdistan

Across northern Iraq, Kurds, freed for now from President Saddam Hussein's grip, have begun revealing the horrors of nearly a quarter of a century of repressive rule. In former Iraqi police stations and prisons, Kurdish officials have discovered torture chambers and execution sites where they say thousands of political prisoners died under torture or were shot in the 1980s.
January 31, 1992

Ghana: Revolutionary Injustice

Abuse of the Legal System Under the PNDC Government

Soon after it came to power, Ghana's ruling Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) established a "revolutionary" court system. Consisting of Public Tribunals which operate within the country's judicial system, this parallel system for the administration of justice has shown a cavalier disregard for normal judicial procedures.
January 17, 1992

Human Rights Violations in the New Georgia

Major human rights violations go far to explain the ouster of Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia. Helsinki Watch hopes that the new rulers of Georgia are mindful of these violations as they consolidate power and establish a new government. There are, however, several disturbing incidents which suggest that this may not be the case.
January 9, 1992

Students Detained for Supporting East-Timor's Independence

Over 60 East Timorese, many of them students, remain in detention in Jakarta and Dili, capital of East Timor in the aftermath of the November 12 massacre in Dili in which upwards of 75 demonstrators were killed when Indonesian troops opened fire. All are facing trial, some on criminal charges, some on charges of subversion. Asia Watch believes that most were in fact arrested for the non-violent expression of their support for East Timor's independence and should be released unconditionally; any who engaged in violence should be charged with an appropriate criminal offense and have all the rights guaranteed to detainees by domestic and international law.