H U M AN R I G G H T S M O N I T O R	School News click
	H uman Rights Situation in Middle East and North Africa Regional overview 2003 The death toll in the region's armed conflicts continued to rise in 2003 with the war on Iraq and the ongoing conflicts in Israel and the Occupied Territories and in Algeria. In these and other countries, including Morocco and Saudi Arabia, attacks by armed groups – often unidentified – escalated against civilian and government/military targets.Political, judicial and legal reforms were increasingly debated in the region, with growing pressure from civil society for greater freedom of expression and association, for more representation and participation in government, and against discriminatory treatment of women in law and practice. At the end of the year the Gulf Cooperation Council announced the creation of a committee for women's affairs to consider women's role as "partners in development" in Gulf states. At the regional level there were moves by the League of Arab States to review the Arab Charter on Human Rights, adopted in 1994, in a process that would consider contributions by non-governmental organizations for the first time.Despite government promises of reform, grave human rights violations continued across the region. While most governments have ratified major international human rights treaties, these standards were rarely incorporated into law and practice. The absence of basic safeguards facilitated patterns of arbitrary political arrest and detention, prolonged incommunicado detention, torture and ill-treatment. Minimum standards for fair trial were disregarded, resulting in the incarceration of prisoners of conscience, long-term political imprisonment and executions following unfair trials. There were few independent systems or mechanisms to carry out thorough and impartial investigations into human rights abuses, and alleged perpetrators were rarely brought to justice. Armed conflict The US-led military intervention in Iraq in March marked the start of a protracted occupation of the country by US, United Kingdom (UK) and other forces under the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). In the months leading up to the war, AI called on the US and UK authorities as well as the UN Security Council to consider seriously the human rights and humanitarian impact of war on the people of Iraq, drawing attention to the needs of the civilian population. The post-war period was marked from the outset by the absence of basic security for ordinary Iraqis, as witnessed by AI delegates who entered the country for the first time in 20 years in April.AI called on the occupying powers to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law as a pattern of arbitrary and incommunicado detention, ill-treatment and excessive use of force by the occupying armed forces became more and more entrenched. As many had feared, the absence of basic security led to a sharp upturn in acts of violence by armed groups hitting military targets and, increasingly, international humanitarian operations. In its call for justice for the people of Iraq, AI urged the CPA, the Iraqi Governing Council and the international community to place human rights at the core of the ongoing reconstruction efforts, to bring laws and practice into harmony with international standards, to ensure accountability for all past and present breaches of human rights and humanitarian law, irrespective of the perpetrators, and to guarantee the protection of human rights for all Iraqis. Armed conflict continued in Israel and the Occupied Territories as the intifada (uprising by Palestinians) entered its third year and the grim toll of killings, including of many children, continued to rise. Efforts by the "quartet" (the UN, USA, European Union and Russian Federation) to broker a peace agreement, known as "the road map", between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, were a dead letter by the end of the year, despite the UN Security Council's endorsement of the plan in November. As with previous peace agreements there was scant reference to human rights safeguards and no recognition that durable peace cannot be achieved in the absence of fundamental human rights for all. In December the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution by majority vote to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of the "security wall". The fence/wall is part of a policy of maintaining closures and curfews on Palestinian areas and people on the grounds of maintaining security for Israel. This policy has drastically curtailed freedom of movement and many other rights of Palestinians in the West Bank, and paralysed the Palestinian economy.The conflict in Algeria continued while the international community and media scrutiny focused on other conflicts in the region. Although there was some reduction in the number of casualties, hundreds of civilians were killed by armed groups, hundreds of members of security forces and state-armed militias were killed in attacks and ambushes, and hundreds of suspected members of armed groups were killed during security force operations. 'War on terror' The so-called "war on terror" continued to erode fundamental human rights in the region. Members of the League of Arab States continued to implement the Arab Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism which contained few human rights safeguards. This, as well as a range of bilateral security arrangements, facilitated the transfer of individuals between states in and outside the region without judicial proceedings, legal counsel or recourse to asylum procedures. While some states, such as Egypt and Syria, had long-standing states of emergency in place, the "war on terror" was used as a pretext to legitimize existing practices, such as long-term administrative detention and unfair trials by special courts whose procedures fall far short of international standards. Other states, such as Morocco and Tunisia, introduced new "anti-terrorism" laws during the year, which posed a further threat to basic human rights. Women's rights Women's rights were increasingly debated in the region, particularly focusing on violence against women. Women in the region stepped up their campaigning for increased rights. In Kuwait they protested against their continuing exclusion from the electoral process, and in Bahrain they called for personal status laws to protect women's rights.However, there were few concrete reforms. A series of proposed reforms to the Personal Status Code announced by King Mohamed VI of Morocco in October were intended to improve women's rights. The proposed reforms included raising the legal age of marriage for women from 15 to 18 years and according husband and wife equal and joint responsibility for the family. Other rights, however, such as inheritance rights, which discriminate against women in Morocco as elsewhere in the region, remained largely untouched. In Jordan, proposals to amend Article 340 of the Penal Code (which relates to family killings) to make it more favourable to women were rejected by the Lower House of Parliament. The more frequently used Article 98, which allows for a reduced sentence for perpetrators whose crime was committed in a "fit of rage", remained on the statute books. In Iran, parliament's attempts to press for further reforms relating to women's rights as well as the state's accession to the UN Women's Convention were repeatedly blocked by the Guardian Council, the highest legislative body in Iran. The legislation was referred to an arbitration authority in December because of irreconcilable differences between the two legislative bodies. In Saudi Arabia, despite much vaunted promises by the authorities to address women's rights in response to more vocal demands by women during the year, there were still no substantive measures to assure women their most basic human rights. Refugees, migrants and the internally displaced Refugees and asylum-seekers continued to suffer from a lack of protection mechanisms across the region. Only Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Morocco and Yemen were party to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol. For North African countries, the African system for human rights protection remained widely under-used. Most countries in the region, even those that are party to the UN Refugee Convention, lacked national asylum legislation, which further diminished the protection accorded to asylum-seekers and refugees. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) continued to undertake the bulk of refugee status determination in most countries, even in those that have signed the UN Refugee Convention. Asylum-seekers continued to have no access to national judicial review procedures of their asylum claims, which in turn contributed to the growing practice of detaining refugees and asylum-seekers, including in Egypt, a party to the UN Convention, as well as in Lebanon and Libya which have not ratified the Convention.Palestinian refugees continued to suffer from a lack of a protection mechanism in the areas of operation of the UN Relief and Works Agency for the Near East (UNRWA). UNRWA's overstretched resources also meant that the assistance received by many Palestinian refugees did not meet their needs. Palestinian refugees endured particularly severe hardship in several areas, including in Iraq where hundreds of families found themselves homeless after the fall of the government in March, and in Lebanon where the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees was undermined by policies discriminating against them and effectively restricting their economic and social rights.Internal displacement continued to be a major issue in Iraq, affecting Kurdish, Marsh Arab, Shi'a and Sunni populations. The number of Iraqis seeking asylum decreased significantly as a result of the war. By the end of 2003, several European countries, as well as Iran, were developing plans to return Iraqi refugees and asylum-seekers, contrary to UNHCR's advice, to the precarious security conditions in Iraq and the general unsuitability of conditions there for return.People-smuggling from North Africa to southern Europe and from the Horn of Africa to Yemen remained a concern. Restrictive immigration policies in many countries meant that for migrants and asylum-seekers alike there was no option but to use criminal groups of people-smugglers. Boat accidents continued and numerous would-be immigrants and asylum-seekers died at sea. Human rights defenders The human rights debate continued to flourish, although those engaged in "front line" work in defence of human rights often found themselves at risk. In Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco/Western Sahara, Syria and Tunisia, women and men were detained or threatened because of their human rights work. In several countries human rights organizations faced severe obstacles to gaining legal status under restrictive laws governing non-governmental organizations which effectively curtailed their human rights work as well as their funding. Meanwhile the Israeli authorities denied entry into the country to many international human rights workers and restricted the movement of human rights and peace and solidarity activists within the Occupied Territories. However, the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in December to Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi helped to promote the cause of human rights defenders within Iran and the region as a whole. (KM News Bureau) Bahrain KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN Covering events from January - December 2003 In the wake of the wide-ranging reforms of 2001, concrete safeguards for human rights continued to be implemented. Nevertheless, several journalists were prosecuted in connection with articles published. Prisoners went on hunger-strike in Jaw Prison, reportedly against ill-treatment and lack of access to lawyers. One hunger striker died. Protests were organized calling for a 2002 decree relating to impunity to be repealed and for past human rights violators to be brought to justice. Background Several demonstrations took place during the year. Demonstrators and police clashed in March when thousands of people protested against the US-led war in Iraq. Scores of people were reportedly injured. In May workers marched to celebrate International Labour Day and to protest against unemployment. In September unemployed teachers demonstrated outside the Ministry of Education to protest against the lack of teaching jobs. Six political groups organized a seminar in July, reportedly attended by thousands of people, to debate a royal decree issued in 2002 granting Bahraini citizenship to nationals of Gulf Cooperation Council countries residing in Bahrain. Many of those present expressed concern that the decree was aimed at shifting the demographic balance against the majority Shi'a Muslim population. In February the authorities announced the arrest of five men on suspicion of planning "terrorist" attacks in Bahrain and of having links with al-Qa'ida. Three of the five were released in March and the case against them was dropped in June for "lack of evidence". In July the Supreme Court found Jamal al-Balushi guilty of possessing weapons and sentenced him to five years' imprisonment and a fine. The fifth man, 'Issa al-Balushi, a member of the armed forces, was awaiting trial before a military court. In another case, 'Uday 'Abdul Amir Hassun, an Iraqi national, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment by the Supreme Court in October after he was found guilty of a bomb attack in March near a US Navy base in al-Jufayr. Women human rights activists repeatedly called for the enactment of personal status laws to protect women's rights, and took part in street protests and other campaigning activities. Freedom of expression The Press and Publications Law, which was issued in 2002 and appeared to violate international standards on freedom of expression, remained withdrawn pending amendments. However, several journalists were prosecuted in connection with articles that appeared in the national press. * In May, 11 Shari'a (Islamic law) judges brought a case before a criminal court against four women – Badriya Rabi'a, Ghada Jamsheer and Fatima al-Hawaj, all human rights activists; and Mariam Ahmad, a journalist – and three men – Anwar 'Abdul Rahman, editor of the daily newspaper Akhbar al-Khaleej; Mohammed al-Mutawa', a lawyer; and Mohammed Sa'eed al-'Aradi, a religious scholar. The seven were accused of defaming the judges in an article in Akhbar al-Khaleej in April that reported a hunger strike by Badriya Rabi'a which she began after a Shari'a court granted her former husband custody of their two children. In October the criminal court referred the case to the Constitutional Court. * Mansur al-Jamri and Hussain Khalaf, respectively the editor and a journalist of the daily newspaper al-Wasat, appeared in court in June for publishing an article in March about the release of three men arrested on suspicion of planning "terrorist" attacks (see above). The authorities said the article violated the press law and "state security". At the request of the lawyers the case was postponed until 2004. * Radhi al-Mousawi, editor of the monthly magazine Aldemokrati of the political group National Democratic Action Society, was summoned by the public prosecutor in September after an article in the magazine alleged that a government official was involved in corruption. Prison hunger strikes In August more than 200 prisoners went on hunger strike for about two weeks in Jaw Prison, southern Bahrain, and barricaded themselves in parts of the building, reportedly to protest against ill-treatment and lack of access to lawyers and human rights activists. The strike ended after negotiations involving the Interior Ministry, human rights groups and members of parliament. One prisoner, Yassir Jasim Makki, died in March following an earlier hunger strike at the same prison in February, allegedly as a result of not receiving timely medical treatment for his deteriorating health. The authorities indicated in a letter to AI that an investigation had concluded that his death was the result of natural causes involving a blood disease. No details of the investigation were made known. Impunity More than 30,000 people were reported to have petitioned the King in May to repeal Decree No. 56 of October 2002. The decree effectively grants impunity to anyone who had committed or been involved in human rights violations before February 2001. The petition also called on past allegations of torture to be investigated and for victims to be compensated. A former colonel in the Security and Intelligence Service (SIS), 'Adel Jassem Fleifel, who returned to the country in November 2002 and was arrested to face allegations of corruption, was released immediately after his arrest. Hundreds of people demonstrated in the capital al-Manama calling for him to be brought to justice for his alleged involvement in torture of political detainees. In September, two lawyers filed a complaint on behalf of three former political prisoners against several security officers, including 'Adel Jassem Fleifel and Major-General Ian Henderson, a United Kingdom national and former head of the SIS, for their alleged part in the torture of the prisoners. It was not known whether the complaint was taken up in court. India India's Human Right Records Worst Under BJP Rule, Says AI Covering events from January - December 2003 There was increasing concern at the erosion of human rights protections in the context of "anti-terrorism" measures against armed political groups, and continuing communal tensions. Systemic discrimination against vulnerable groups – including women, religious minorities, dalits and adivasis (tribal people) – was exacerbated by widespread use of security legislation, political interference with the criminal justice system and slow judicial proceedings in a continuing climate of impunity. Tensions remained high in the state of Gujarat in the aftermath of widespread communal violence in 2002. Witnesses to the violence and human rights defenders were threatened and concerns grew about the impartiality of institutions of the criminal justice system in the state, including the police, prosecution service and elements of the judiciary. A committee constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs suggested recommendations for the reform of the criminal justice system which could potentially undermine human rights protections even further. Background The National Democratic Alliance, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), remained in government. Some state elections were marred by political campaigns that fuelled inter-caste or inter-communal tensions. Bomb attacks targeting civilians were reported during the year. On 25 August, 52 people were killed and around 150 injured by two car bombs in Mumbai, Maharashtra state. No group claimed responsibility. However, at least six Muslims accused of involvement in the attacks were arrested and charged; they remained in custody at the end of the year awaiting trial. Human rights protections were further eroded, ostensibly in response to security considerations. Relations between India and Pakistan improved in some respects, although underlying tensions remained. Security concerns continued to dominate foreign policy discussions, including in the context of the US-led "war on terrorism" which continued to be supported by the Indian government. In the northeast, a cease-fire between the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isaac-Muivah) and the central government was extended in July for one year. There were reports of collective expulsions by the Indian authorities of Bangladeshi nationals accused of being illegal immigrants. However, the Bangladeshi authorities were reluctant to allow them to return. The incident resulted in a stalemate where 213 people were trapped between the two borders. Heightened tensions in Gujarat Following widespread communal violence in the state of Gujarat in February and March 2002, the state continued to witness sporadic incidents of communal violence. More than 2,000 people had been killed in early 2002 in the wave of violence targeting the Muslim community. These killings followed an attack on a train in Godhra in February 2002 in which 59 Hindus were killed by a mob. Reports implicated police officers and members of Hindu nationalist groups, including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the ruling BJP in the violence against Muslims. There was increasing concern about the failure of the state government of Gujarat to ensure that those responsible for widespread communal violence in early 2002 were brought to justice. In many cases, attempts to hold the perpetrators accountable were hampered by the highly defective manner in which police recorded complaints. Victims complained that police failed to register complaints, or recorded details in such a way as to lead to lesser charges, omitted the names of prominent people who were pivotal in the attacks, and did not take appropriate action to arrest suspects, particularly where they were supporters of the BJP. Reports indicated that out of 4,252 complaints filed by individuals regarding the communal violence, 2,032 were closed even though the alleged abuses were found to have occurred. One of the reasons given by the police for closing the cases was that they were unable to identify the individual perpetrators. Concerns about the impartiality of institutions in the state and the government's commitment to ensure justice for the victims of communal violence were brought to the fore in June when 21 people accused of the murder of 14 people burned to death in the Best Bakery in Baroda on 1 March 2002 were acquitted. Following the acquittal, key witnesses indicated that they lied in court because they had been threatened with death unless they did so. Following a public outcry, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) carried out an investigation and subsequently filed a petition in the Supreme Court. The petition asked the court to provide protection to witnesses, to ensure a retrial of the case in a court outside Gujarat state, and to order the transfer of other ongoing key cases to courts outside Gujarat to ensure fair proceedings. During the proceedings the Supreme Court severely criticized the state government of Gujarat for failing to provide justice to victims of the communal violence and pointed to the possible collusion between the state government and the prosecution in subverting the cause of justice. Following the criticism, the Gujarat government amended its original appeal, this time seeking a retrial of the Best Bakery case. This was dismissed by the Gujarat High Court in December. Following the investigation into the killing on 26 March of Haren Pandya, the former Home Minister of Gujarat, police reported that they had unearthed a series of conspiracies to target Hindus and prominent officials held responsible for the communal violence. From March onwards, scores of Muslims were reported to have been illegally detained in Gayakwad Haveli Police Station in Ahmedabad by Crime Branch police, reinforcing concerns about the break-down in the rule of law in relation to the Muslim minority in the state. Many of those formally arrested were charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Police routinely resorted to arbitrary and incommunicado detention, denied detainees access to lawyers and medical attention, and used torture or ill-treatment to extract confessions. There were concerns that patterns of illegal detention may have been replicated in other areas of the state following a statement by a senior police officer which endorsed such actions. The widespread use of incommunicado detention by police against members of the Muslim minority in Ahmedabad is reported to have intimidated members of the Muslim community who were too scared to make official complaints. Following comments in which the Chief Minister alleged that foreign-funded "five star activists" were maligning Gujarat and attacking India's democratic system for the sake of their vested interests, there were reports that a committee had been set up to monitor the activities of those foreign funded non-governmental organizations which were active in the reconstruction of the state after the January 2000 earthquake. Violence against women in Gujarat The specific targeting of Muslim women in the communal violence of early 2002 remained unacknowledged by the state government and criminal justice system. Witnesses reported that a large number of women were beaten, stripped naked, gang raped and stabbed. Many of the victims were mutilated before being burned alive by mobs, allegedly led by Hindu nationalist groups. The stigma associated with sexual violence impeded many women from making formal complaints. Those who did lodge complaints were often faced with wholly inadequate responses from the police and the health, rehabilitation and justice systems. In some cases victims were asked to file their complaints with officers who had allegedly colluded with the attackers. Nearly two years after the attacks, the survivors still had no access to rehabilitation packages or procedures geared to their needs. Discrimination Socially and economically marginalized groups, such as dalits, adivasis, women and religious minorities, including Muslims, continued to face discrimination at the hands of the police, the criminal justice system and non-state actors. In April a government-appointed committee under the direction of Justice Malimath published its recommendations for reforms of the criminal justice system in India. There were concerns that the Committee's recommendations threatened to weaken protection of women's rights in law. For example the Committee recommended that in cases where the offence of cruelty is committed against a woman by her husband or his relatives, it should be possible to settle the case out of court and bail should be available to the accused. The Committee's reasoning for this proposal was that it would facilitate forgiveness of the husband and the return of the woman to the matrimonial home. The Malimath Committee was silent on issues related to protecting the rights of the poor, dalits, ethnic and religious minorities and other disadvantaged communities who face daily abuse and violence. The criminalization of poverty coupled with the complete inability of the poor to negotiate the criminal justice system and retain competent legal counsel, remained a major human rights problem as such individuals were at risk of mistreatment without redress. There were continuing reports of police inflicting cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment on members of adivasi communities in the context of land disputes and evictions. Other abuses reported included arbitrary detentions and the destruction of homes and livelihoods. * On 21 July, members of an adivasi community were forcibly evicted from their homes in Puntamba village and surrounding areas in the Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. Around 50 huts and several acres of crops were destroyed by officials of the Maharashtra State Farming Corporation (MSFC), accompanied by up to 100 police officials. An appeal regarding their rights to the land, which was pending, was ignored by the officials carrying out the evictions. During the action at least one activist of the Adivasi Bhoomi Hakka Andolan (Tribal Land Rights Movement) was placed in preventive detention by police. The findings of a police investigation into the complaints filed by adivasis concerning the destruction of their homes remained unknown at the end of the year. In recent years a number of incidents have been reported where adivasis and activists working with them have faced harassment from local landowners and officials of the MSFC, including destruction of their property, verbal and physical abuse, arbitrary arrest and beating in police custody. While police have registered complaints against adivasis by officials and landowners, they have regularly refused to register complaints made by adivasis or to investigate their allegations of harassment. Security legislation The Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) continued to be used to detain political opponents and members of minority populations. The lapsed Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act continued to be used to arrest people in Jammu and Kashmir by linking them to cases filed before 1995. Preventive arrest and detention provisions contained in other security laws as well as in the Code of Criminal Procedure were also misused against political and human rights activists. There were grave concerns about recommendations of the Malimath Committee to incorporate into criminal law several provisions of the POTA which violate international human rights standards or which, if implemented, would lead to a heightened risk of human rights violations. For example, the Committee recommended that confessions recorded by a Superintendent of Police (or higher rank) which was also audio or video recorded should be admissible as evidence. Concerns that the provisions of the POTA could encourage the use of torture and ill-treatment by admitting such confessions appeared to have been realized in practice. In Gujarat several detainees alleged in court that their confessions were extracted under duress. Preventive arrests and detention continued to be used against political opponents using state legislation similar to the POTA in a number of states including Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka and New Delhi Union Territory. Only a handful of high-profile releases had been made by the end of the year despite a promise to review all cases of detainees held without trial for long periods under security legislation made under the Common Minimum Programme adopted by the new state government in Jammu and Kashmir. Human rights commissions The government failed to consider the recommendations made by the NHRC in 2002 for amendments to the Protection of Human Rights Act 1993 under which the NHRC operates. These amendments would have permitted the NHRC to investigate allegations of human rights violations committed by the army or paramilitary forces, as well as those committed by the police, and incidents that took place more than a year before the complaint was made. The government's failure to deal with these amendments served to strengthen impunity for human rights violations. State human rights commissions, established in 13 of the 28 states, continued to suffer from lack of resources and expertise. Impunity Members of the security services continued to enjoy virtual impunity for human rights violations. In Punjab a culture of impunity, developed within the criminal justice system during the period of widespread armed political opposition in the mid-1990s, continued to prevail. This was strengthened by provisions contained in special security laws and the Protection of Human Rights Act, and by the frequent failure to implement recommendations issued by various commissions of inquiry. * In 1996 the Supreme Court had ordered the NHRC to examine the findings of the Central Bureau of Investigations that 2,097 people had been illegally cremated by police officials in Amritsar district. The cremations took place following widespread "disappearances" in police custody and possible extrajudicial executions in the mid-1990s. Seven years after this decision, the state of Punjab had only just begun to file its affidavits on cases under examination by the NHRC. In Jammu and Kashmir the state government kept its promise made in the Common Minimum Programme to assimilate the Special Operations Group (SOG), a paramilitary division of the police accused of human rights violations, into the regular police. However, the SOG continued to operate as a cohesive unit and despite disciplinary action being taken against a few of its members, there continued to be regular reports of human rights violations being committed by the SOG. In May, the NHRC asked the Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir for specific information on the systems used by the state authorities to record and investigate allegations of "disappearances" and on measures taken to prevent further "disappearances". A substantive response to the Commission's request remained outstanding at the end of 2003. Civilians continued to be targeted for gross human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir and scores of allegations of human rights violations were made against the security forces, paramilitaries and "renegades" (former members of armed opposition groups working with the security forces). Abuses by opposition groups There were continuing reports of human rights abuses by armed opposition groups against civilians. In Jammu and Kashmir human rights abuses by militants persisted at a high level with a reported 344 civilians killed in targeted or indiscriminate violence by armed groups in the period from January to the end of November. On 24 March armed men shot dead 24 Kashmiri Pandits, including 11 women and two children, in the village of Nadimarg. In the states of the northeast, abuses included the torture and killings of non-combatants and attacks on civilians by naxalites (armed left-wing groups) in areas of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal. Human rights defenders Human rights defenders continued to face accusations of "anti-national" activities, harassment by state agents, political groups and private individuals, including threats, preventive arrest and detention, and violence. There were reports that following an assassination attempt on the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh in October, allegedly by naxalites, retaliatory harassment was initiated against human rights defenders. At least six members of the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC) were detained for questioning in October in connection with the assassination attempt and APCLC activists were put under constant surveillance and were repeatedly detained for questioning. In November there were growing concerns the APCLC could face a ban following statements by the Director General of Police indicating that the organization was sympathetic to the naxalites. Death penalty At least 33 people were sentenced to death in 2003. No executions were reported. India's highest courts have ruled that the death penalty can only be applied in the "rarest of rare" cases. In the absence of any more detailed definition, the interpretation of this phrase by judges varied greatly. The majority of those sentenced to death are poor and illiterate. The government of India does not publish statistical information about the implementation of the death penalty. Politicians continued to make statements favouring the extension of the death penalty. In mid-2003 the Law Commission issued a questionnaire asking citizens to indicate which mode of execution should be used when executing those on death row. AI country visits In 2003 AI continued to have an ongoing dialogue with the government of India about access to India for AI representatives. Kuwait Covering events from January - December 2003 The ongoing impact of the US-led military intervention in Iraq saw a rise in the number of attacks on US forces in Kuwait followed by the arrests of dozens of men. Some of the alleged attackers were linked by the authorities to al-Qa'ida. There were unconfirmed reports of torture or ill-treatment of political and criminal detainees. Political prisoners, including prisoners of conscience, continued to be held. However, four of them were released on expiry of sentence; they had been convicted after manifestly unfair trials in previous years. No executions were reported, but death sentences continued to be handed down. Background On 6 July, following parliamentary elections, the government resigned and on 13 July, the Emir of Kuwait, al-Shaikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, split the posts of crown prince and prime minister. He announced that al- Shaikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, his half brother and long-serving Foreign Minister, would be Prime Minister. In October, a new government was formed. Its priorities were said to include "security issues and the fight against terror" and revitalizing the economy. In December, the new members of the parliamentary human rights committee visited Kuwait's Central Prison to examine conditions there and to follow up on recommendations made by the committee following its 2001 visit. Arrests and trials Security measures were strengthened in Kuwait during the year with coordination between the military, police and National Guard. Dozens of men were arrested following the war on Iraq on charges of attacking US military interests or spying for Iraq, or on suspicion of having links with al-Qa'ida. Some of the detainees reportedly made confessions under duress. * On 5 March, Khaled Messier al-Shimmari, a police officer, was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment by a court in Kuwait. He was convicted of wounding two US soldiers in November 2002. However, according to reports, he had previously been admitted to hospital for psychiatric treatment. On 24 June, the Court of Appeal upheld his sentence. His lawyer said he would appeal to Kuwait's highest court, the Court of Cassation. * On 28 October, the Court of Appeal commuted the death sentence of Sami Mohammad Marzook Obaid al-Mutairi to life imprisonment and reduced to two and a half years' imprisonment the sentences of Badi Karuz al-Ajami and Khalifa al-Dihani. Sami al-Mutairi had been sentenced to death on 6 April by the Criminal Court for the premeditated murder of US national Michael Rene Pouliot, a locally recruited civilian contract worker, on 21 January near Camp Doha, the main US military base in Kuwait. He had reportedly "confessed" to the killing and that he had "adopted the al-Qa'ida ideology". He was extradited from Saudi Arabia after fleeing there following the attack. His two accomplices had been sentenced to three years in prison for providing him with the murder weapon and ammunition. During his trial, Sami al-Mutairi had denied the validity of his taped "confession" and testified that police officers had prepared the statement and forced him to read it in front of a video camera. Releases of political prisoners Following the war on Iraq, at least four of the 30 political prisoners who had been sentenced after manifestly unfair trials in State Security Courts following the Gulf war in 1991 were released and deported after serving their sentences. The four were sisters Rasan and Intisar Khallati; Zannuba 'Abd al-Khadr 'Ashur, who returned to her family in Iraq in April; and Fawwaz Muhammad al-'Awadhi Bseiso, who was resettled in Yemen. AI received confirmation during the year of the release of two other political prisoners, Rahim Muhammad Najm and Ibtisam al-Dakhil, in 2001 and 2002 respectively. Ibtisam al-Dakhil, a Kuwaiti national by marriage, was stripped of her nationality and resettled by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in a third country. Kuwaiti detainees in Guanta'namo Bay On 2 September, lawyers representing the 12 Kuwaiti nationals held in Guanta'namo Bay, Cuba, filed a petition asking the US Supreme Court to examine the cases of the detainees. On 10 October, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal filed on behalf of two United Kingdom nationals, two Australians and the 12 Kuwaitis (see also USA entry). Death penalty No executions were recorded. However, death sentences continued to be handed down, mainly for murder, rape or drug-related offences. On 11 March the Court of Cassation reportedly commuted to life imprisonment the death sentence of Khaled al-Azmi, a policeman. He had been convicted of the murder of Hudaya Sultan al-Salem, a prominent woman journalist and member of the royal family, publisher and editor-in-chief of the weekly journal al-Majalis in March 2001. 'Disappearances' On 16 March, Iraqi and Kuwaiti officials held talks in Jordan with Saudi Arabian officials on the fate of at least 600 of their nationals missing since the 1991 Gulf war. Delegates from the International Committee of the Red Cross took part as observers. Following the change of government in Iraq, forensic teams from Kuwait inspected mass graves in Iraq. By the end of the year, the remains of at least 34 Kuwaiti prisoners of war were identified through DNA testing and returned to their families. The process of identifying remains was continuing at the end of the year. Women's rights Parliamentary elections in July continued to deny women the right to stand as candidates or vote, and women staged protests against their exclusion from the polls. According to reports, hundreds of women held their own mock election at a makeshift booth at the Kuwait Journalists' Association. On 20 July the new Prime Minister, al-Shaikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, promised to renew efforts to grant women more political rights in Kuwait. In September the government announced it had finalized a draft municipality law which would give women for the first time the right to vote and run for office in polls for a new municipal council. The draft law had not been submitted to parliament by the end of the year. Towards the end of the year, several women were selected to act on a voluntary basis as "environmental mayors" to promote awareness of environmental issues in cities. Home @KM 2004