Free Islamic Scholar Who Criticized Ministry

The Saudi interior minister, Prince Nayef bin Abd al-‘Aziz, should immediately release an Islamic scholar who was detained after he criticized the ministry's handling of detainees, Human Rights Watch said today. Dr. Yusuf al-Ahmad was detained without charge the day after he published his criticism, apparently as a direct result of his internet post.

On July 7, 2011, al-Ahmad posted a video message on YouTube in which he criticized the long-term detention of security suspects without charge or trial. In the video, the Islamic scholar, who teaches at Imam Muhammad bin Sa'ud University in Riyadh, also criticized the arrests of women who went to the ministry on July 2 and on previous occasions to protest, peacefully, the long-term detention of their male relatives.

"The Saudi Interior Ministry seems intent on arresting every last critic standing," said Christoph Wilcke, senior Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Now it's put behind bars a prominent cleric, apparently just because he dared to criticize the government's policy of arbitrarily detaining people without any sort of judicial process." Al-Ahmad's Twitter account administrator reported on July 8 that the scholar had been arrested that day at his father's house in Dammam, in the Eastern Province. Saudi authorities have not announced any charges against al-Ahmad. His criticism of government policies and officials is protected by his right to free expression, Human Rights Watch said. Al-Ahmad is a controversial scholar who has previously defied government policies. In 2010, he issued a religious ruling (fatwa) on television after King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz had decreed that only government-appointed clerics of the Council of Senior Religious Scholars could issue fatwas. Al-Ahmad's fatwa criticized the employment of women as supermarket cashiers, which the government had supported. Al-Ahmad has repeatedly criticized what he has called a "Westernizing" project by the government to end the segregation of women in work and education, such as by opening the King Abdullah University for Science and Technology, the kingdom's only coeducational facility. "Al-Ahmad's fiercest critics are Saudi women rights activists who have been debating the scholar's views on the internet, but are now calling for his release," Wilcke said. "By arresting al-Ahmad, the Saudi Interior Ministry has not only attempted to silence a critic, but to stifle a lively debate about the role of women." In its 2008 report, "Precarious Justice: Arbitrary Detention and Unfair Trials in the Deficient Criminal Justice System of Saudi Arabia," Human Rights Watch detailed the arbitrary arrest of thousands of people suspected of terrorism. In a 2009 report, "Human Rights and Saudi Arabia's Counterterrorism Response," Human Rights Watch found that many remained in detention without charge or trial for years. 

Trials for hundreds of the security detainees in 2009 were held in camera and did not meet international criteria for a fair trial. In 2011, the kingdom continued the trials of thousands of terrorism suspects and allowed local media to attend and report on the proceedings, but not international media or human rights observers.

"Saudi authorities should let international observers inspect Saudi intelligence prisons and observe the trials of security suspects," Wilcke said. "The arrest of peaceful critics and their relatives undermines the effort to bring those responsible for violent acts to justice."

Pakistan: Upsurge in Killings in Balochistan

Pakistan's government should immediately act to end the epidemic of killings of suspected Baloch militants and opposition activists by the military, intelligence agencies, and the paramilitary Frontier Corps in the southwestern province of Balochistan, Human Rights Watch said 13/07/11. 

Across Balochistan since January 2011, at least 150 people have been abducted and killed and their bodies abandoned - acts widely referred to as "kill and dump" operations, in which Pakistani security forces engaged in counterinsurgency operations may be responsible. Assailants have also carried out targeted killings of opposition leaders and activists. Human Rights Watch has extensively documented enforced disappearances by Pakistan's security forces in Balochistan, including several cases in which those "disappeared" have been found dead. (See appendix.) 

"The surge in unlawful killings of suspected militants and opposition figures in Balochistan has taken the brutality in the province to an unprecedented level," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The government should investigate all those responsible, especially in the military and Frontier Corps, and hold them accountable." 

In the first 10 days of July, nine bullet-riddled bodies, several of them bearing marks of torture, were discovered in the province, Human Rights Watch said. On July 1, the body of Abdul Ghaffar Lango, a prominent Baloch nationalist activist, was found in an abandoned hotel in the town of Gadani, in the Lasbela district. The local police told the media that, "The body bore multiple marks of brutal torture." Lango had been abducted by men in civilian clothes in Karachi, in Sindh province, on December 11, 2009. When Lango's relatives tried to lodge a complaint about his abduction, the police refused to take it. An officer told the family that Lango had been detained because he was a BNP leader and that the "authorities" wanted to restrain him from participating in politics. 

Hanif Baloch, an activist with the Baloch Students Organisation (Azad), was abducted from the town of Hub, Lasbela district, on July 4. His body was found in Mach, Bolan district on July 6, with three bullet wounds to his upper body. On the same day in Kech district, the bodies of Azam Mehrab, a resident of Tump, and Rahim, a resident of Mand, were found dumped in Juzak, on the outskirts of the town of Turbat. Both had been shot dead under unknown circumstances. 

While Baloch nationalist leaders and activists have long been targeted by the Pakistani security forces, since the beginning of 2011, human rights activists and academics critical of the military have also been killed, Human Rights Watch said. Siddique Eido, a coordinator for the highly regarded nongovernmental organization Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), was abducted with another man by men in security forces uniforms on December 21, 2010 from the town of Pasni in Gwadar district. 

The bodies of both men, bearing marks of torture, were found in Ormara, Gwadar district, on April 28. HRCP said that "the degree of official inaction and callousness" in response to Eido's death amounted to "collusion" in his killing. Earlier, on March 1, an HRCP coordinator for the city of Khuzdar, Naeem Sabir district, was shot and killed by unknown assailants. 

On June 1, Saba Dashtiyari, a professor at the University of Balochistan and an acclaimed Baloch writer and poet, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in the provincial capital, Quetta. Dashtiyari had publicly backed the cause of an independent Balochistan.

"Even the cold-blooded killing of human rights defenders and academics has not moved the Pakistani government to seriously investigate, rein in, or hold the security forces to account in Balochistan," Adams said. "The government's failure to open a credible investigation into the killing of someone as prominent as Saba Dashtiyari only adds fuel to the fire of anger and suspicion in the province." 

Armed militant groups in Balochistan are responsible for killing many civilians and destroying private property. In the past several years, they have increasingly targeted non-Baloch civilians and their businesses, police stations, and major gas installations and infrastructure. They have also attacked security forces and military bases throughout the province. Abuses by militants in Balochistan were documented by Human Rights Watch in a December 2010 report "Their Future is at Stake." 

Human Rights Watch called upon the Pakistan government to take immediate measures to end killings in Balochistan. The Pakistani authorities should conduct prompt, impartial, and transparent investigations into alleged extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances and ensure that all those responsible, regardless of rank, are fully prosecuted, including as a matter of command responsibility. Victims of abuses by government security forces should be provided appropriate redress. 

"President Asif Ali Zardari should recognize that ignoring abuses in Balochistan amounts to giving a green light to the army and intelligence agencies to commit abuses elsewhere in Pakistan," Adams said. "By failing to hold the security forces accountable for abuses in Balochistan, Pakistan's government will feed into a cycle of violence that may haunt Pakistani democracy for years to come." 

Background on Balochistan and Human Rights Abuses

Balochistan has historically had a tense relationship with Pakistan's national government, in large part due to issues of provincial autonomy, control of mineral resources and exploration, and a consequent sense of deprivation. Under Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's military ruler from 1999 until 2008, the situation deteriorated markedly, culminating in a crackdown on Baloch nationalists by the security agencies controlled by the Pakistani military and its lead intelligence agency in the province, Military Intelligence (MI). 

Since 2005, Pakistani and international human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, have recorded numerous serious human rights violations by security forces, including extrajudicial executions, torture, enforced disappearances, and forced displacement of civilians. 

Militancy in Balochistan has been fuelled by ethnic Baloch anger over the Pakistani government's moves to harness local mineral and fossil fuel resources, maintain large numbers of troops in the province, and construct the Gwadar deep-sea port at the mouth of the Persian Gulf with non-Baloch workers. The Pakistani military claims that Baloch militants receive arms and financial support from India but has provided no evidence to support the claim. 

In December 2009, Pakistan's newly elected civilian government, in an effort to bring about political reconciliation in the province, passed a package of constitutional, political, administrative, and economic reforms. Nonetheless, doubts persist within Baloch society about the Pakistan government's intentions. Divisions among Baloch nationalists have exacerbated lawlessness and violence in the province.

As the violence in Balochistan has intensified, atrocities have mounted. While the Pakistani military and Baloch militants readily exploit the misery of civilians for their own political purposes, they have failed to address these grievances or to accept responsibility for them. 

Recent Extrajudicial Killings in Balochistan

Human Rights Watch has investigated cases of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in Balochistan. Below are recent cases of killings that indicate involvement by the Pakistani military, its intelligence agencies, or the paramilitary Frontier Corps. There has been a notable failure by the federal government in Islamabad and the Balochistan provincial government in Quetta to investigate these cases and hold perpetrators accountable.

Enforced disappearance and killing of Abdul Ghaffar Lango

On December 11, 2009, a group of unknown men abducted Abdul Ghaffar Lango, a prominent Baloch nationalist activist, outside a hospital in Karachi in Sindh province.

At 3 p.m. that day, Lango was leaving the Institute of Surgery and Medicine, a hospital in Karachi, with his wife, who had just been discharged after surgery. Lango's wife told Human Rights Watch that as the couple reached the main gate, two white Toyota Vigo pickup trucks drove up at high speed in front of them and suddenly stopped. About 10 men in civilian clothes approached the couple. One beat Lango unconscious with the butt of his rifle, and Lango fell to the ground. The men then dragged him into one of the cars and drove away. Lango's wife said there were many witnesses to the incident since it took place in a crowded area in broad daylight. 

Later that day, Lango's relatives tried to lodge a complaint about his abduction at the Garden police station in Karachi, but the police refused to accept it. A police officer at the station told the family that Lango had been detained because he was a BNP leader and authorities wanted to restrain him from participating in politics. But the police would not provide any information on his whereabouts. 

The family filed a petition with the Sindh High Court on January 12, 2010. On January 15, the court ordered the deputy attorney general and advocate general of Sindh to submit a report on Lango's whereabouts within two weeks. On March 3, Sindh Deputy Attorney General Umer Hayat Sindhu told the court on behalf of the director general of the Intelligence Bureau that Lango had not been detained or arrested by the Intelligence Bureau, which, he explained, was "only an intelligence agency that does not detain anyone for interrogation." Police representatives also told the court that Lango was not in their custody. No other security or intelligence authorities reported on Lango's whereabouts. 

On July 1, 2011, Lango's body was found in an abandoned hotel near the Lakbado area of the town of Gadani, in Lasbela district of Balochistan. The local police, represented by the station house officer of the Gadani police station, told the local media: "The body bore multiple marks of brutal torture. The cause of death was stated to be a severe wound in the head, caused by a hard rod or some other hard or sharp object." Lango appeared to have been recently killed. 

Enforced Disappearance and Killing of Siddique Eido and Yusuf Nazar

Siddique Eido, a coordinator for the highly regarded nongovernmental organization Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), and Yousaf Nazar, a tailor by profession, were abducted by men in security forces uniforms on December 21, 2010 from the town of Pasni in Gwadar district. Eido and Nazar were returning from Gwadar to their native Pasni after appearing in court in a criminal case lodged against them. Seven other co-accused and four police officers were travelling with them when their van was stopped by three unlicensed vehicles. The assailants, who were in Frontier Corps uniforms, abducted Eido and Nazar at gunpoint in the presence of the police officers. The bodies of both men were found in Ormara, Gwadar district, on April 28, 2011. Both bore marks of torture. 

In response to the killings and the authorities' failure to seriously investigate the case, HRCP said: "The uniforms of the abductors and the vehicles they had used gave credence to the belief that state agents were involved. Siddique had been abducted in the presence of several policemen, but despite such clear evidence no action was taken to publicly identify abductors or secure release." HRCP added that "the degree of official inaction and callousness" amounted to "collusion" in Eido's killing. 

Enforced Disappearance and Killing of Naseer Kamalan

Naseer Kamalan was abducted at gunpoint on November 5, 2010 from a passenger van on the Makran Coastal Highway near Pasni in Gwadar district. Kamalan's fellow passengers told Human Rights Watch that his abductors were in Frontier Corps uniforms and were driving a jeep of the type commonly used by the Frontier Corps. Kamalan's body was found on January 17, 2011, dumped on the Makran Coastal Highway.

Enforced Disappearance and Killing of Jamil Yaqub

Jamil Yaqub was abducted in the town of Turbat on August 28, 2010 by a group of men in Frontier Corps uniforms, who had arrived in a jeep with military markings and insignia. Family members described to Human Rights Watch how they hid from the Frontier Corps personnel and then watched helplessly as Yaqub was abducted during daylight hours. Yaqub's body, bearing marks of torture, was found on February 10, 2011, on the outskirts of Turbat. 

Other Killings Verified by Human Rights Watch

According to eyewitnesses, Hanif Baloch, a Baloch Students Organisation (Azad) (BSO-Azad) activist, was abducted from the town of Hub on July 4, 2011, by armed men in military uniform. His body was found on July 6, with three bullet wounds to his upper body. 

On July 6, two bodies bearing multiple bullet wounds were found dumped near Juzak on the outskirts of Turbat in Kech district. Turbat District Headquarters Hospital authorities identified them as Azam Mehrab, a resident of Tump, and Rahim, son of Muhammad Yousaf, a resident of Go Kurth area of Mand, in Panjgoor district. 

On June 18, the BSO-Azad junior joint secretary, Shafi Baloch, was abducted from the Lakhpass area of Mastung district. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that Baloch was going to Mastung from Quetta in a passenger van for medical treatment when uniformed, armed men in three cars made him disembark and abducted him at gunpoint. His bullet-riddled body was found dumped near Mach, in Bolan district, 60 kilometers from Quetta. 

On June 1, Prof. Saba Dashtiyari, a professor at the University of Balochistan in Quetta and an acclaimed writer and poet, was killed after being shot repeatedly by unidentified gunmen on Sariab Road in Quetta. Dashtiyari was the author of several books on Baloch culture and language and was a scholar on Islam. In recent years, he had publicly backed the cause for an armed struggle to achieve an independent Balochistan. No one has claimed responsibility for Dashtiyari's killing.

Hard life in Ugandan prisons

President Museveni's proposal to eliminate bail for certain nonviolent crimes is a challenge to the constitutional rights of Ugandans. But it also raises an interesting question: Where would more prisoners go? 

Prisons are crammed to over 200 percent of installed capacity; food and water are sometimes scarce; and health care is often non-existent. More than half of the prisoners have not been tried and are waiting there for their cases to be heard and resolved. It's clear that overcrowding and pretrial detention are interlinked.Between November and March this year, the Human Rights Watch visited 16 prisons across Uganda. We interviewed 164 prisoners and 30 prison officers. We found dangerously unhealthy conditions at many prisons, ripe for the spread of Tuberculosis and HIV.

Prisoners told us they were packed together in cells with tiny air vents, in some places day and night, while their colleagues coughed vigorously. Sometimes sex is traded by the most vulnerable for food. HIV and TB infection rates are almost twice as common in prison as they are outside of prisons.

But HIV and TB do not stop at prison gates. Wardens and visitors leave prisons every day. Each year, 50,000 prisoners pass through Uganda's prisons, and ignoring their health means that they will leave sick and in need of care in the communities to which they return. And it means they may bring disease home with them, to their families and neighbours.

"Help us, we'll die," read a note from 10 prisoners at Muinaina Farm Prison to Human Rights Watch. They were right to worry. There is hardly any medical care available at Muinaina, yet many of its prisoners are sick. In fact, prisoners with HIV and TB may even be sent to Muinaina despite the fact that no treatment is available. That's an easier way to develop, and spread deadly drug-resistant strains.

Why are these people being sent to places like Muinaina? To work. Throughout the Uganda Prison Service thousands of prisoners, including those yet to face trial for any crime, are subjected to forced labour, slaving away on fields belonging to the government, to prison staff personally, or to private landowners.

The money they earn goes to the Prison system or into the pockets of prison staff. They are brutally beaten if they fall behind or complain during the hard labour in the fields. "They [prison warders] hit me so hard, I was crying blood," said one prisoner.

Among Uganda's 223 prisons, only Murchison Bay in Kampala provides comprehensive HIV and TB treatment. But only to prisoners who can get there, a decision often made by prison officers with no medical training. As one prisoner said, the wardens at his prison would only take prisoners to the hospital if they were "almost dying"-otherwise, "the warden will tell you: ‘Go and work. You are just pretending. There are no sick people here. This is a prison, not a hospital.'"

We spoke with children in prison who said they were as young as 14, elderly men, pregnant women, individuals with disabilities. Some wait in prison for more than five years for their cases to be heard and resolved. Meanwhile they risk being exposed to serious, life-threatening disease, and exposing others if they are released.

Improving health conditions in prison requires more than just investment in medical facilities, it takes fundamental reform of the justice system. And justice requires that the prisons stop using prisoners as a private workforce, and that sick prisoners are given the care they need.

"A country like Uganda...we thought it would be a country that takes care of its own people," said one remand prisoner at Muinaina who has not been to court since 2006.

Lock up those found guilty by courts, and if they are sentenced and found fit, make them work for reasonable hours under reasonable conditions. But for Uganda to send people with HIV or TB, the elderly and pregnant women, and people, who have not been convicted of any crime, to work to fatten the wallets of wardens or until they collapse in the fields, fosters injustice within the very heart of the nation's justice system.

No doubt there is poor healthcare for many people in Uganda. But reducing the availability of bail and adding more people to Uganda's already incredibly overcrowded prisons should concern all Ugandans. It is bad for justice, and terrible for public health.

Georgia/Abkhazia: Back Home, but in Limbo

The rights of ethnic Georgian returnees to Abkhazia are hostage to nearly two decades of political conflict, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. About 47,000 of those displaced by the fighting in the early 1990s as Abkhazia tried to separate from Georgia have returned to Gali, the southernmost district of Abkhazia. But they face barriers to civil and political rights, driving some to leave again and creating serious obstacles for large-scale, sustainable returns.

The 71-page report, "Living in Limbo: The Rights of Ethnic Georgian Returnees to the Gali District of Abkhazia," documents the arbitrary interference by Abkhazia's de facto authorities with returnees' rights to freedom of movement, education, and other political and economic rights. Although Abkhazia is not recognized as an independent state under international law, the authorities there nevertheless have obligations under international law to respect and protect rights and freedoms, Human Rights Watch said. They should ensure freedom of movement across the administrative boundary that separates Abkhazia from uncontested areas of Georgia and should end discrimination, in particular with access to identity documents and education, Human Rights Watch said.

"Without prejudice to Abkhazia's status, the authorities in Abkhazia have duties when it comes to protecting rights," said Rachel Denber, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The Abkhaz authorities need to recognize and protect the rights of everyone in Abkhazia, including ethnic Georgians in Gali."

The report is based on interviews with more than 100 Gali residents conducted on both sides of the administrative boundary line, as well as Abkhaz officials and representatives of international governmental and nongovernmental organizations working in Abkhazia.

Armed conflict broke out in Abkhazia between the Georgian military and breakaway Abkhaz forces in the summer of 1992. As a result, more than 200,000 people, the majority of them ethnic Georgians, were displaced from their homes in Abkhazia and most have not returned. A ceasefire agreed to in May 1994 largely held until the brief war in August 2008 between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia, another breakaway region of Georgia.

Moscow subsequently recognized Abkhazia as a state and vetoed the extension of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia, the leading international agency mediating between the sides. Following the recognition, Russian border guard troops replaced the UN military observers on the Abkhaz side of the administrative boundary line.

For years following the ceasefire, thousands of ethnic Georgians who returned to Gali commuted daily across the ceasefire line or migrated seasonally to tend their fields and look after their property in Gali.

Since 2008,  the authorities in Abkhazia have required all residents to obtain Abkhaz passports to exercise certain rights, including seeking public employment, voting and running for public office, getting a high school diploma, carrying out property transactions, or commuting freely across the administrative boundary line. However, for ethnic Georgian returnees, the process of obtaining a passport is often discriminatory and overly burdensome.

"By putting in place a system that requires people to get an Abkhaz passport to exercise rights that should be available to all residents without discrimination, the authorities are arbitrarily interfering with those rights," Denber said.

Furthermore, for returnees, particularly for those without passports, the procedure for getting a permit to cross the administrative boundary is onerous, Human Rights Watch said. As a result, many people cross unofficially, risking detention, fines, and imprisonment.

"The ability to cross back and forth across the administrative boundary line is particularly important because the daily social, economic, and family life of many people in Gali is on both sides of this line," Denber said.

Since 1995 the Abkhaz authorities have gradually introduced Russian as the main language of instruction, reducing the availability of education in Gali in the Georgian language, especially in upper Gali. This has created barriers to education, as the majority of school-age children in Gali district do not speak Russian. Some parents are moving their children to schools where the curriculum is still in Georgian or are leaving Gali altogether so that their children can attend school in uncontested areas of Georgia. Although 11 schools in lower Gali continue to teach in Georgian, whether that will remain the language of instruction in those schools is uncertain.

"Abkhazia is determined to institutionalize its sovereignty, but this should not come at the cost of the rights of ethnic Georgians," Denber said. "The authorities need to recognize and protect rights of all people in Abkhazia, including ethnic Georgians in Gali district."

Russia: Fully Investigate Natalia Estemirova’s Murder

Natalia Estemirova

The Russian authorities have made little attempt to effectively investigate possible involvement by local officials in the July 2009 murder of the prominent human rights advocate Natalia Estemirova, Human Rights Watch, Civil Rights Defenders, Front Line Defenders, Amnesty International, and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee said today, on the second anniversary of her death.

The organizations, citing a new independent report detailing severe problems with the government's inquiry, reiterated their call for a thorough, impartial, and transparent investigation and the prosecution of those responsible.

"Two years after Estemirova's murder, there are more questions than answers about the circumstances surrounding her killing," said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The Russian authorities need to deliver justice in Estemirova's case to demonstrate their sincerity about protecting human rights in Chechnya and throughout the North Caucasus."

Estemirova, a researcher for the Russian human rights group Memorial on human rights abuses in Chechnya, was abducted outside her home in Grozny on the morning of July 15, 2009. Her body was found in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia later that day. She had been shot.

Chechen authorities, including President Ramzan Kadyrov, had publicly criticized her relentless reporting of rampant human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, torture, and enforced disappearances by the Chechen government. The circumstances of Estemirova's death and the threats against her and others point to possible official involvement in or acquiescence to her murder.

Despite repeated reassurances by the Russian authorities that Estemirova's case was practically solved, the investigation appears mired in official findings that she was killed by Chechen insurgents in retaliation for having exposed some of their crimes. On July 14, the Memorial Human Rights Center, the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), and Novaya Gazeta published a report on shortcomings in the government's investigation.

They found, for example, discrepancies in the evidence taken from the car purportedly used in the killing, a failure to collect DNA samples from a broader range of suspects in Chechnya, and an unwillingness to look into a possible role by the Kurchaloi district police. The Kurchaloi district police had been implicated in an extrajudicial execution Estemirova had exposed in the weeks before her murder.

Threats and harassment against human rights defenders in Chechnya have increased since Estemirova's murder, and the working environment remains very hostile. Three weeks after she was killed, Zarema Sadulaeva and Alik Djabrailov, activists with "Save the Generation," a local nongovernmental organization, were also abducted in Grozny and murdered. The investigation into their killing has not yielded tangible results.

Staff members of the Joint Mobile Group of the Russian Human Rights Organizations in Chechnya (Mobile Group), established in November 2009 with lawyers and others from throughout Russia to work in Chechnya on a rotating basis, have been threatened on numerous occasions. Earlier in July, police in Grozny warned two local activists working closely with the group to discontinue their work. In February 2010, three of the group's staff were arbitrarily detained by police authorities in the Shali district of Chechnya. They were unlawfully kept in custody overnight, and some of their equipment was confiscated or damaged. The responsible officials have not been held to account.

The Mobile Group is the recipient of the 2011 Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk and the 2011 Human Rights Prize of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

"The Mobile Group essentially picked up the mantle of Natalia Estemirova as it is now handling the most sensitive human rights cases in Chechnya," said Mary Lawlor, Front Line Defenders director. "We are immensely concerned about security for its staff on the ground."

"The situation for human rights defenders in Chechnya is no better today than it was two years ago," said Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia Director at Amnesty International. "The authorities must demonstrate a sincere commitment to the defense of human rights defenders; this cannot be done without effective investigations into past killings."The Russian government has obligations under both domestic and international law to investigate Estemirova's case effectively and prosecute all those responsible, regardless of rank or position, the five organizations said. The standards for such investigations have been elaborated by the United Nations through the UN Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, the work of the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, and other expert manuals and writings.

The investigation should thoroughly examine possible official involvement in Estemirova's murder, at all levels of government, the group said. It should not exclude the possibility of involvement of the republic's leadership, which has been implicated in other cases of retaliation against those who expose abuses in Chechnya, made threatening statements to Estemirova and other Memorial staff, and fostered an atmosphere of impunity for law enforcement and security forces.

"Estemirova exposed horrific abuses by military and law enforcement personnel at great personal risk," said Marie Manson, program director for Civil Rights Defenders. "The Russian authorities need to fully investigate possible involvement of Chechen officials who may have seen her work as a threat, and may have been involved in her disappearance and murder."

Investigate Crackdown on Pro-Democracy March in Malaysia

The Malaysian government should launch a prompt, impartial, and transparent investigation into the use of excessive force and unwarranted arrests by the security forces during a march for electoral reform in Kuala Lumpur on July 9, 2011, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should cease threats and intimidation against the march's sponsor, the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih), and release all those still detained for exercising their rights to free expression, association, and assembly, Human Rights Watch said.

"The Malaysian authorities' crushing of Bersih's march shows that when basic liberties compete with the entrenched power of the state, the government is quick to throw respect for rights out the window," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Apparently in Malaysia, freedom of speech, assembly, and association are only permissible when they support the government."

After the government reneged on a compromise that would have allowed a Bersih rally in the main Merdeka Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Bersih supporters on July 9 took to the streets in a peaceful, well-ordered march. Malaysian security forces responded with water cannons, extensive use of teargas, manhandling of protesters, and 1,697 arrests. Video footage from the media shows the security forces making unprovoked attacks on the marchers. 

Prime Minister Najib Razak and Inspector General of Police Ismail Omar denied that the security forces attacked first, however. Home Affairs Minister Hishammuddin Hussein on July 11 threatened action against domestic and international media for what he characterized as "baseless claims."

Since June, Bersih has sought to deliver a petition to Malaysia's king outlining its eight proposed election reforms, including free and fair access to the mainstream press, a minimum 21-day election campaign period, and a cleanup of the electoral rolls. The government has responded with a campaign to discredit the coalition and deter participation in its activities.

The United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials calls upon law enforcement officials to, as far as possible, apply nonviolent means before resorting to force. Whenever the lawful use of force is unavoidable, law enforcement officials are to use restraint and act in proportion to the seriousness of the offense.

Although all those arrested on July 9 were released later that evening, Hishammuddin left open the possibility that they could still be charged with criminal offenses. "Of those who were arrested, the AG's [attorney general's] Chambers is currently studying the seriousness of their offenses to determine whether to charge them or not," he said, singling out the Bersih chairwoman, Ambiga Sreenevasan. He also made unsubstantiated accusations against Bersih about involvement with weapons caches and receiving funds from overseas.

Six leading members of the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM), who were pulled off their bus on June 25 on the way to a political rally, remain in preventive detention under the Emergency (Public Order and Crime Prevention) Ordinance, which permits the police to hold them for 60 days without charge. Hishammuddin said their detention is connected to a "subversive issue" yet provided no additional information.

"Malaysia's allies should press the government to stop its harassment of Bersih, release all peaceful activists still detained, and engage in a constructive dialogue with election law reformers," Robertson said.

Human Rights Watch urged the government to free immediately and unconditionally the 6 detained Socialist Party members, rescind the charges against another 24 party members already released on bail, and to stop using preventive detention legislation, such as the Emergency Ordinance, against peaceful protesters.

In addition to pre-rally arrests of the Socialist Party members, the government invoked the Societies Act, the Sedition Act, the Police Act, and the Printing Presses and Publication Act to arrest some 270 supporters for wearing or selling Bersih's distinctive yellow T-shirts, printing or possessing Bersih posters, or promoting the coalition's aims at public meetings. Police also raided the Bersih office, seized computers, and arrested staff, and called in organizers and other prominent supporters for interrogation. The government should rescind the Ministry of Home Affair's July 1 determination that Bersih is an illegal organization under the Societies Act, Human Rights Watch said.

Article 10 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia recognizes the rights to freedom of association, peaceful assembly, speech, and expression that are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In seeking a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, Malaysia pledged in an official communication to other governments on March 9, 2010, that it "reaffirms its full commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights at both the domestic and international levels."

"The Malaysian government's promise to fulfill its international obligations as a UN Human Rights Council member faces an acid test in the coming days and weeks," Robertson said. "Malaysia's international friends need to let Prime Minister Najib know that he is leading his country down the wrong path."