Mr. Indu Manjare, as well as a third, unnamed, Adivasis person. Thirty Adivasis people were reportedly injured; 15 marchers were reportedly arrested and charged with the attempted murder of a policeman and attempted arson. One of these marchers was Mr. John Abraham, another Adivasi activist leader, who, according to the source, was arrested on 26 June 2001 while enquiring about his detained wife, Ms. Rina Abraham. According the information received, the 15 protesters were reportedly released on bail on 9 July.
203. On 14 September 2001, the Special Representative, together with the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, sent an urgent appeal concerning
Dr. Gunti Ravi, state joint secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC),
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based in Warangal, in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, and Narra Purushotham Reddy, executive member of the APCLC. They were reportedly threatened with death by police officers. According to the information received, the Andhra Pradesh Government and police have consistently condemned members of the APCLC and other human rights organizations in the state as acting as a wing of the left-wing armed group, the People's War Group (PWG).
Observations
204. The Special Representative regrets that at the time of the finalization of this report the Government had not transmitted any reply to her communications. The Special Representative recalls that, in her communication dated 25 July 2001, she indicated her interest in visiting India and hopes that the Government will give positive consideration to this request.
INDONESIA Communications sent
205. On 12 December 2000, the Special Representative, together with the Special Rapporteur on torture and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, sent an urgent appeal concerning the murder on 6 December 2000 of Ms. Ernita (22), Mr. Idris (30) and Mr. Bakhtiar (24), three humanitarian aid volunteers working with the organization Rehabilitation Action for Torture Victims in Aceh (RATA), while they were transporting a torture victim from the vicinity of Cot Mat Tahe village, in North Aceh, to a hospital for medical treatment. According to the source, they were stopped by plainclothes Indonesian security forces and, while one RATA worker managed to escape, the three others were allegedly lined up on the road and shot in the head. It was reported that the torture victim accompanying the RATA volunteers was also killed in this incident. It is believed that the Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) and the military (TNI) were involved in the killing.
206. On 23 July 2001, the Special Representative, together with the Special Rapporteur on torture and the Chairman-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, sent an urgent appeal regarding the arrest on 20 July 2001 by the Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) of the following persons: Rufriadi, coordinator of the Legal Aid Foundation (LBH); Arie Maulana, an LBH staff member; Tamrin Ananda, secretary-general of the Front for the Democratic Struggle of the Aceh People (FPDRA); Hendra, an FPDRA member; Mudal, a member of Students Solidarity with the People (SMUR); Fazal, a SMUR member; Zamzami, a SMUR member; Amri Sal din, a SMUR member; Banta, a member of the Coalition of Achenese Students for Reform (KARMA); Misdawan, a member of Peoples Network for Human Rights (JRP HAM); and Oppie, a member of Student Solidarity against Violence (SMAK). Brimob allegedly raided
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the offices of the Banda Aceh branch of the Lembaga Bantuan Hukum (LBH), Legal Aid Foundation, where a meeting was taking place to discuss arrangements for a week-long campaign against militarism, which had begun on 16 July. During the raid, documents, photographs, a computer and other equipment were reportedly confiscated.
207. The Special Representative sent an urgent appeal on 23 July 2001 regarding
Mr. Yohanes Bonay, director of the Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy (Elsham) in Papua (Irian Jaya), who allegedly received two death threats by telephone on 18 July 2001 which were reportedly connected with his human rights activities. It has also been reported that, in December 2000, Mr. Bonay was summoned for questioning by police because Elsham had publicized the deaths of students at the hands of the police.
208. On 10 August 2001, the Special Representative transmitted an allegation jointly with the Special Rapporteur on torture concerning the following cases.
209. Anwar Yusuf, a volunteer with the human rights group Forum for the Attention of Human Rights (Forum Peduli Hak Asasi Manusia, FPHAM), was reportedly arrested on 7 February 1999 at his home in East Aceh by men who identified themselves as belonging to Idi Rayeuk subdistrict Military Command (Koramil). It was reported that at the time of his arrest, Anwar Yusuf had been investigating an incident that had occurred on 3 February 1999 in which the military had opened fire on a crowd of unarmed civilians, killing a number of people. It was reported that he was threatened with death and tortured during his detention in the East Aceh district Military Command (Kodim). He was released on 10 February 2001.
210. Amrisaldin, a volunteer with an Aceh-based humanitarian organization, Save Emergency for Aceh (SEFA), was reportedly detained by members of Brimob on 5 September 2000 during a stop and search operation in Meukek subdistrict, South Aceh. According to the information received, during his detention he was subjected to interrogation and to nearly five hours of torture. He was reportedly released the following day, after having been forced to sign a letter in which he promised not to raise the case publicly.
211. Indra P. Keumala (alias Iin), a volunteer with the Aceh branch of the Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence (Kontras), a non-governmental human rights organization, and Happy (alias Lal ok), a member of the People's Crisis Center (PCC), an Aceh-based volunteer organization which distributes aid and monitors human rights violations, were reportedly arrested by the police on 17 July 2001, when they were returning from Central Aceh where they had been investigating allegations of serious human rights abuses. They were reportedly released in the evening of 18 July, after being detained and tortured for around 24 hours.
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Communications received
212. By letter dated 13 March 2001, the Government replied to the joint urgent appeal sent on 12 December 2000. The Government affirmed that the police authority, the Aceh branch office of the National Commission on Human Rights, and the team monitoring the Humanitarian Pause for Aceh had carried out separate investigations into the case and listened to the testimony of the sole surviving eyewitness, Mr. Nazaruddin Abdul Gani. The Government of Indonesia informed the Special Representative that the authorities had detained nine suspects - four civilians and five soldiers. The dossiers of the police investigation had been submitted to the Prosecutors' Office in Aceh at the end of December 2000 to be processed further. According to the Government, when the Prosecutors' Office announced its intention to prosecute the suspects in a joint civil and military court in early January 2001, the plan was strongly opposed by the National Commission on Human Rights on the grounds that the case constitutes a gross violation of human rights and should therefore come under the jurisdiction of the human rights court, which is to be established in the near future. The Government further explained that the National Commission on Human Rights set up an investigative committee on 9 January 2001 to look into the case. On 13 February 2001, the Commission sent a letter to the Provincial Office of the Prosecutor of Aceh requesting the transfer of the dossiers of the police investigation on this case. The Government assured the Special Representative that the matter of the conflicting competence and jurisdiction of the judiciary in handling this case is expected to be settled soon.
Observations
213. In connection with the case of the three humanitarian workers of RATA, the Special Representative fears that the dispute over the conflicting competence and jurisdiction between Komnas HAM and the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor for Aceh in this case may be used to obstruct the case from being brought to trial. The Special Representative is also concerned over any possibility of trial of the accused in a joint civil and military court rather than a civilian court. In view of the alleged involvement of members of the military in this case, the Special Representative is concerned that the impartiality of such a tribunal could be undermined. The Special Representative recalls that in a letter dated 27 April 2001 she indicated her interest in visiting Indonesia and hopes that the Government will give positive consideration to this request.
IRAN Communications sent
214. On 11 January 2001, the Special Representative sent an urgent appeal jointly with the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers and the Special Representative on
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the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran concerning Mr. Nasser Zarafchan, a human rights defender and lawyer. Mr. Zarafchan was reportedly arrested on 9 December 2000, released on bail on 14 December and rearrested on 16 December by order of the Judicial Organisation of Armed Forces. He was reportedly held in Evin prison. According to the information received, his first arrest followed the publication of an article in an Iranian newspaper in which he was considered an "anti-revolutionary element that ought to be deprived of his right to practise his profession as a lawyer". Mr. Zarafchan's second arrest was allegedly due to his comments implying that the killings of intellectuals in 1998 were part of a campaign by death squads aimed at silencing the opposition. Mr. Zarafchan is the second lawyer of the families of the intellectuals murdered in 1998 against whom legal action has been taken.
215. On 17 October 2001, the Special Representative sent another urgent appeal j ointly with the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers and the Special Representative on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding Mr. Nasser Zarafchan.
He was reportedly accused of having revealed irregularities in the sentence issued by a military tribunal in January 2001 concerning the murders of intellectuals in 1998, namely the incompetence of the military tribunal to try the murderers and the fact that the persons behind the assassinations had not been prosecuted. The trial of Mr. Zarafchan started on 16 October 2001 at the Military Tribunal in Tehran.
Observations
216. No reply from the Government has been received so far.
ISRAEL Communications sent
217. On 1 May 2001, the Special Representative sent an urgent appeal jointly with the Special Rapporteur on torture and the Chairman of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concerning Adnan al-Hajjar, a human rights lawyer and coordinator of the Legal Aid Unit of the Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights in the Jabalia refugee camp situated in the Gaza Strip. According to the information received, he was arrested by the Israeli Defense Forces
on 23 April 2001 and was detained in Ashkelon prison without charge. It was reported that he was part of a group that left the Gaza Strip on 5 April 2001 to attend a training course on legislative formulation, organized in Cairo by the Arab Research and Training Centre as part of a programme for strengthening the capacity of the Palestinian Legislative Council. According to the information received, on 30 April 2001, Adnan al-Hajjar appeared before the Israeli Military Court, where the judge extended his arrest for 30 more days for investigatory purposes.
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Following a request for his release, it was reported that a representative of the Israeli military authorities objected, claiming that they had a confidential no-access file of claims against him, but refused to tell either Adnan al-Hajjar or his lawyer about the nature or contents of the file. It was alleged that his arrest and detention was connected to his work as a human rights activist and defence lawyer for Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons.
218. On 1 June 2001, the Special Representative, together with the Special Rapporteur on torture, sent an urgent appeal regarding Abed al-Rahman al-Ahmar, a well-known Palestinian human rights activist, who works as a field researcher with the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG), a non-governmental organization working on human rights violations against Palestinians, regardless of who is responsible, in the West Bank, the
Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. He was reportedly arrested on 24 May 2001 while he was on his way home from Jerusalem to Deheisheh refugee camp, in the West Bank. In an interview on Israeli television, he is said to have argued for peaceful coexistence between Jews and Palestinians on the basis of full equality. According to the information received, he was held without charge and without access to his family at the Moscobiyya detention centre in Jerusalem. On 31 May 2001, he is said to have appeared in court without the presence of his lawyer, who had allegedly not been informed about the hearing.
219. On 14 June 2001, the Special Representative, together with the Special Rapporteur on torture, sent another urgent appeal concerning Abed al-Rahman al-Ahmar. It was reported that, at a hearing on 11 June 2001, judges at the Israeli High Court of Justice refused to examine marks of shackles on his wrists. During the break in the hearing, prison doctors apparently agreed the marks were made by shackles, but did not testify. In addition, the judges rejected a petition filed by two human rights groups, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) and the PHRMG, calling for a stop to the torture during interrogation, for proper medical care and clothing to be provided to him and for him to be housed in more humane conditions.
220. On 6 July 2001, the Special Representative sent another urgent appeal jointly with the Special Rapporteur on torture and the Chairman of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concerning Mr. Abed al-Rahman al-Ahmar. According to the most recent information, despite the fact that there was allegedly no incriminating evidence against Mr. Al-Ahmar, the administrative detention order was reportedly renewed on 30 May 2001 by 20 days and
on 18 June 2001 by 15 days. Two appeals against these extensions were filed, but were rejected on 5 and 22 June 2001 by the Military Court of Appeals in Beit El, West Bank. According to the source, Mr. Al-Ahmar was the subject of a six-month administrative detention order, which reportedly allows the Israeli authorities to detain him without charge or trial until February 2002. It was reported that he was held in Megiddo prison in Israel.
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221. On 17 September 2001, the Special Representative, together with the Special Rapporteur on torture, sent an urgent appeal concerning Mr. Daoud al-Dir'awi, a lawyer and human rights activist working at the Ramallah office of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizen Rights. According to the information received, Mr. al-Dir'awi was arrested on 10 September at the Allendy Bridge crossing point, as he was returning with his wife and baby from a holiday and crossing into the West Bank from Jordan. Mr. al-Dir'awi's arrest was allegedly motivated by his activities as a human rights lawyer. He was reportedly taken to Shikma prison, in Ashkelon and was interrogated by the Israeli General Security Services (GSS).
222. On 26 September 2001, the Special Representative transmitted an allegation regarding the Israeli authorities' reportedly trying to prevent a certain number of Palestinian human rights defenders and activists from participating in international conferences and forums. This was the case for Dr. Eyad El-Sarraj, founder and director of the Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP), Commissioner-General of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens' Rights and winner of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders in 1998. On 18 June 2001 the Israeli authorities reportedly denied him a permit to leave the country to go to Italy to participate in an international workshop. According to the information received, on the same day, allegedly for security reasons, the Israeli authorities are said to have banned
Dr. El-Sarraj, from leaving Gaza to take part in a television interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The BBC was reportedly told by the Israeli authorities that the Israel General Security Services "Shabak" had categorized Dr. El-Sarraj as a category 10 high security risk and that his presence in Israel could compromise national security.