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Amnesty Urgent Actions
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10

Chilean prosecutor must act against impunity
Starting on 18 October 2019, the period of social unrest in Chile left hundreds of victims of police violence, including hundreds of eye injuries from buckshot shot by officers of Carabineros. Four years on, no police commanders have been held accountable for the widespread human rights violations committed by Carabineros, despite long-running criminal investigations into their role and alleged responsibility. Impunity cannot continue and justice cannot wait any longer. We call on the Prosecutor of the Centre-North Metropolitan Region to, should sufficient evidence exist, promptly formally charge the commanders of Carabineros who could be responsible for these crimes and violations.
Execution set despite unreliable testimony
Brent Brewer is scheduled to be executed in Texas on 9 November 2023. His 1991 death sentence was overturned in 2007, but he was resentenced to death in 2009. In 1991 and again in 2009, the prosecution relied on unscientific and unreliable, but influential, testimony of a psychiatrist who asserted that Brent Brewer would likely commit future acts of violence, a prerequisite for a death sentence in Texas. Nineteen years old at the time of the crime, Brent Brewer is now 53. He has been an exemplary prisoner, with no record of violence during his three decades on death row.
Journalist arrested and charged for investigative report
On 17 August, plain-clothed security officers arrested Mohamed Ibrahim Osman Bulbul, a journalist with Kaab TV and staff member of a local media advocacy organization, Somali Journalists Syndicate. The arrest took place a day after he released a story about alleged misappropriation of European Union funds meant for training officers from the Somali police. On 25 September, he was charged with «bringing the State into contempt» and for «circulating false and tendentious news». He was transferred to the Mogadishu Central Prison on 28 September where he remains detained (**). The Somali authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Mohamed Ibrahim Osman Bulbul and drop all the charges against him.
Venezuelan detainees’ life at risk
Emirlendris Benítez is a 42-year-old mother and tradeswoman who was arbitrarily detained in August 2018 and subjected to torture. Guillermo Zárraga is a 59-year-old engineer and former oil industry unionist arbitrarily detained in November 2020 and tried for crimes for which there was no evidence. They both suffer from grave health conditions, because of acts of torture, in Emirlendris’ case, and inhumane prison conditions. Both individuals are currently unfairly detained in prisons under the responsibility of the Minister for Penitentiary Affairs. We call on her to protect their lives and health and ensure they receive immediate and adequate medical attention.
Peaceful protestors face inminent risks
Thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest against the judicial actions initiated against key actors of the recent electoral process, among them electoral authorities and members of the elected party. They are calling for the resignation of the Attorney General and other members of the Public Prosecutor's Office who have led these criminal proceedings. The government and the Constitutional Court have issued statements and decisions that jeopardize the right to peaceful protest, and could lead to the use of force against demonstrators. We urge Guatemalan authorities to guarantee the right of peaceful assembly.
Aleksei Navalny’s ill-treatment stepped up
Politician and Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny has been sentenced to a total of 19 years in the special-regime prison following new trumped-up charges. He has recently been confined to a single cell-type room (so-called «EPKT», a prison within the prison colony) for a year, for purportedly being a «persistent offender», by the head of the prison. Since his arbitrary arrest in January 2021 and subsequent imprisonment, Aleksei Navalny has been constantly subjected to harassment, including prolonged solitary confinement and other ill-treatment, by the penitentiary authorities, which has now been taken to the new level.
Rescind evacuation order against Gaza hospitals
On 13 October, 23 hospitals in the north of the Gaza Strip and Gaza City received forced evacuation orders from the Israeli army. Since then, hospitals continue to receive phone calls from the Israeli army pressuring them to comply. These hospitals provide life-saving treatment for more than 2'000 patients and serve as the sole safe haven for tens of thousands of internally displaced families. Amid the humanitarian catastrophe engulfing the Gaza Strip, these forced evacuation orders are virtually impossible to implement as transferring patients across destroyed areas and without fuel is an unreasonable prospect. If implemented, these «evacuations» will lead to the complete collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system. They will also constitute, in the words of the World Health Organization, a «death sentence» against those with serious wounds or illnesses. The Israeli authorities must rescind these orders and ensure the protection of healthcare facilities as required under international humanitarian law.
End protest ban on Galatasaray Square
Saturday Mothers/People, a group of relatives of victims of enforced disappearances and other human rights defenders are prevented from exercising their right to freedom of peaceful assembly in Istanbul’s Galatasaray Square every Saturday, a place of symbolic importance to the group. In recent weeks, riot police have again used unnecessary force during detention of the rights defenders and widened their security perimeter preventing independent observation by journalists and civil society organisations.
Human rights lawyer extradited and detained
Lu Siwei, a renowned Chinese human rights lawyer, is being held in the Xindu Detention Centre in Sichuan province, southwestern China, after he was forcibly returned to China from Laos. There is no information about the charges against him. Over the years, Lu has been intimidated and harassed by the Chinese authorities for his peaceful human rights work and he is now at real risk of torture and other ill-treatment. Suffering from psoriasis and without access to lawyer of his choice, his family worries about his well-being.
Two young men at imminent risk of execution
Abdullah al-Derazi and Jalal Labbad are at risk of imminent execution after Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court secretly upheld their death sentences in secret, without notifying their families or lawyers. Both young men were under the age of 18 at the time of their alleged crimes and were sentenced for crimes related to their participation in anti-government protests after grossly unfair trials that primarily relied on torture-tainted confessions. The young men have exhausted all domestic legal remedies and could now be put to death at any moment if King Salman ratifies their death sentences.