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Amnesty Urgent Actions
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07

Journalist prosecuted by a military court
On 11 June 2022, two police officers in plainclothes arrested journalist Salah Attia. His arrest stems from a declaration he made on Al Jazeera TV the day before in which he mentioned that the army had refused presidential orders to shutter the headquarters of the Tunisian General Labor Union. Salah Attia is currently detained in Mornaguia prison in Tunis pending further investigation. He is the second journalist and the 12th civilian at least to be prosecuted by the military court since President Kais Saied’s power grab. Amnesty International calls for his immediate release. We also call on the authorities to limit the use of military courts only to try military personnel for breaches of military discipline.
Sister of abducted activist charged for campaigning
Human rights defender Sitanun Satsaksit has been working to ensure authorities in Cambodia and Thailand determine the fate and whereabouts of her brother after he was abducted while on the phone to her in 2020. Thai authorities charged her for her human rights work under Covid-19 emergency regulations, which they have used to suppress peaceful dissent. She has a court hearing scheduled for late August 2022 and would face up to four years’ imprisonment for two criminal proceedings if prosecuted and found guilty. Amnesty International calls on the Thai authorities to drop all proceedings against Sitanun, and for a safe and enabling environment to be provided for all human rights defenders.
Jailed Ukrainian denied urgent medical care
Ukrainian citizen Oleksandr Marchenko is serving a ten-year sentence in Russia for espionage since November 2020. He maintains that he is innocent and that he was abducted in November 2018 and tortured to extract a «confession». Oleksandr Marchenko has survived thyroid cancer and has multiple health issues. Russian authorities are denying him the medical care that he urgently requires which poses a risk to his life and may amount to torture.
Mother with baby denied proper care in jail
Prosecution authorities and Ministry of Intelligence agents are denying arbitrarily detained Kurdish Iranian woman So’ada Khadirzadeh postnatal and post-surgical care after she gave birth on 20 June 2022 in hospital through a caesarean section operation. She is also denied adequate healthcare for her kidney and heart conditions, and back pain. Hours after the delivery, authorities transferred her and her newborn to Urumieh prison, West Azerbaijan province, where she has been denied access to her lawyer since her arrest on 14 October 2021.
Political leader held incommunicado
José Daniel Ferrer García, leader of the unofficial political opposition group «Patriotic Union of Cuba», who was arrested last 11 July in the context of island-wide protests and has been imprisoned ever since is being held incommunicado, according to his family. He is a prisoner of conscience who must be released immediately and unconditionally.
Stop violent forced eviction of the Maasai
More than 70,000 Indigenous Maasai people are at risk of being evicted from their ancestral grazing lands to make way for a tourism operation after a paramilitary group arrived on 7 June in the Maasai town of Loliondo, in Arusha Region of Northern Tanzania, to implement the authorities’ plans to seize the ancestral and registered land of the Maasai people. On 9 June, community members began to protest the demarcation but were met with force by security officers, who used teargas and firearms against the protestors. 25 community members were arrested and have since been charged with conspiracy to commit the murder of a police officer. The authorities must end the security operation in Loliondo, immediately release the arrested persons and suspend any ongoing land acquisition plans.
Release arbitrarily detained journalist
Journalist Younis Abdelsalam has been arbitrarily detained without charge by the Huthi de facto authorities for almost a year. He was falsely accused of communicating with foreign entities. Following his arrest, he was subjected to enforced disappearance for several weeks and then held incommunicado for at least three months. Amnesty International urges the Huthi de facto authorities to immediately release Younis Abdelsalam. Pending his release, they must ensure he is protected from torture and other ill-treatment and that he has access to legal representation, his family, and adequate healthcare.
Rescue 50 stranded refugees
Since 14 July, 50 people seeking safety, including 12 children, three pregnant women and a 70-year-old woman with diabetes, have been stranded in dangerous and dire conditions on one of the Evros islets. The individuals, who are Syrian and Palestinian refugees, have no food or safe drinking water and report that two of the children are sick and the woman with diabetes is in need of urgent medical care. Despite interim measures issued by the European Court of Human Rights last week, the group has not yet been rescued. The Greek authorities must urgently rescue them and provide support, health care, access to asylum procedures in Greece and protection from non-refoulement.
Draft law threatens existence of NGOs
On 5 November 2021, the Zimbabwe government gazetted a Private Voluntary Organisation Amendment Bill to counter terrorism and prohibit political lobbying from non-government organisations. Following public consultations and submissions from various stakeholders, an amended bill was presented in June 2022 which significantly altered the initial bill, disregarded civil society’s concerns and imposed stricter and more repressive clauses. The bill, if passed, threatens to crack down on civil society and organisations exposing human rights violations and holding the government accountable, criminalise their work and impose punitive measures, including imprisonment.
Activist sentenced to four years in prison
On 15 July, a court in Krasnodar (southern Russia) sentenced Andrei Pivovarov to four years in prison for «carrying out activities of an undesirable organization», under a law that contravenes Russia’s international human rights obligations. Andrei Pivovarov is a political activist, human rights defender and the former director of Open Russia, an organisation advocating for democracy and human rights. On 31 May 2021, he was taken off a flight in Saint Petersburg and arbitrarily detained since. Andrei Pivovarov has committed no internationally recognized crime and has been jailed for exercising his rights to freedom of expression and association. He is appealing his conviction.