Amnesty 2017

permission from courts for their daughters to with disabilities and non-consensual medicalbe married at an even younger age. treatments against people perceived to have a disability, including on the grounds of All 137 women who registered as gender identity and sexual orientation. Inpresidential candidates were disqualified by December, parliament passed a proposedthe Guardian Council. President Rouhani law on the Protection of the Rights of Peopleincluded no woman ministers in his cabinet, with Disabilities which, if implemented fully,despite civil society demands. would enhance accessibility and access to education, housing, health care and Compulsory veiling (hijab) allowed police employment.and paramilitary forces to harass and detainwomen for showing strands of hair under In August the Ministry of Education adoptedtheir headscarves or for wearing heavy make- discriminatory criteria for disqualifyingup or tight clothing. State-sanctioned smear candidates for teaching positions. Thiscampaigns were conducted against women included illnesses, crossed eyes, facialwho campaigned against the compulsory moles, short height and heavy weight.hijab. Following public outrage, the Ministry promised revisions but said that people living Iran’s Civil Code continued to deny Iranian with HIV would still be barred as they lackedwomen married to non-Iranian men the right “moral qualifications”.to pass their nationality on to their children, aright enjoyed by Iranian men married to DEATH PENALTYforeign spouses. The authorities continued to execute Authorities defied ongoing public pressure hundreds of people after unfair trials. Someto open football stadiums to women executions were conducted in public.spectators. The authorities continued to describe Women experienced reduced access to peaceful campaigning against the deathaffordable modern contraception as the penalty as “un-Islamic”, and harassed andauthorities failed to restore the budget for imprisoned anti-death penalty activists.state family planning programmes cut in2012. Parliament passed a law in October The majority of executions were for non-imposing severe restrictions on imparting lethal drug-related offences. A new lawinformation about contraception. adopted in October increased the quantities of drugs required for imposing the death The authorities continued to monitor and penalty but retained mandatory deathrestrict foreign travel of women’s rights sentences for a wide range of drug-relatedactivists. Alieh Motalebzadeh was sentenced offences. While the new law provided forto three years’ imprisonment in August for retroactive applicability, it remained unclearattending a workshop in Georgia on how the authorities intended to implement it“Women’s empowerment and elections”. to commute the death sentences of those already on death row.DISCRIMINATION – PERSONS WITHDISABILITIES AND PEOPLE LIVING WITH It was possible to confirm the execution ofHIV four individuals who were under 18 at the time of the crime and the cases of 92 otherThe UN Committee on the Rights of Persons juvenile offenders who remained on deathwith Disabilities reviewed Iran’s human rights row. The real numbers were likely to be muchrecord in March. The Committee condemned higher. Several executions were scheduledstate discrimination and violence against and postponed at the last minute because ofpeople with physical and intellectual public campaigning. Retrials of juveniledisabilities; poor implementation of offenders pursuant to Article 91 of the 2013accessibility standards; and denial of Islamic Penal Code continued to result inreasonable accommodation at the workplace. renewed death sentences following arbitraryThe Committee also expressed alarm atreports of forced institutionalization of peopleAmnesty International Report 2017/18 201

assessments of their “maturity” at the time of government authorities arbitrarily detained,the crime. forcibly disappeared and tortured civilians suspected of being affiliated with IS. Courts The death penalty was maintained for subjected IS suspects and other individualsvaguely worded offences such as “insulting suspected of terrorism-related offences tothe Prophet”, “enmity against God” and unfair trials and sentenced them to death“spreading corruption on earth”. on the basis of “confessions” extracted under torture. Executions continued at an In August, spiritual teacher and prisoner of alarming rate.conscience Mohammad Ali Taheri wassentenced to death for the second time for BACKGROUND“spreading corruption on earth” throughestablishing the spiritual group Erfan-e By December, the Iraqi government, KurdishHalgheh; in October the Supreme Court forces, paramilitary militias and US-ledquashed the death sentence. He remained in coalition forces had recaptured the territorysolitary confinement. and population centres held by IS, including east Mosul in January, west Mosul in July, Tel Prisoner of conscience Marjan Davari was Afar in August and Hawija in October. Bysentenced to death in March for “spreading November, more than 987,648 people incorruption on earth” in connection with her Nineveh governorate had been internallymembership of the religious group Eckankar displaced as a result of the military operationand for translating their materials. The to recapture Mosul and surrounding areas.Supreme Court subsequently quashed the More than 3 million people remaineddeath sentence and sent the case back to the internally displaced across Iraq.Revolutionary Court in Tehran for retrial.  On 25 September the Kurdish Regional The Islamic Penal Code continued to Government (KRG) held a referendum onprovide for stoning as a method of execution. independence in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I) as well as in the “disputed areas” of Some consensual same-sex sexual conduct Iraq, including areas in the governorates ofremained punishable by death. Nineveh, Kirkuk, Salah al-Din and Diyala. Preliminary results showed thatIRAQ approximately 93% of votes were cast in favour of independence. The government ofRepublic of Iraq Iraq declared the referendum illegal andHead of state: Fuad Masum unconstitutional. Following the referendum,Head of government: Haider al-Abadi Iraqi government forces and pro-government forces including the Popular MobilizationIraqi and Kurdish forces, paramilitary Units (PMU) retook control of Kirkukmilitias, coalition forces and the armed governorate as well as areas of Nineveh,group Islamic State (IS) committed Salah al-Din and Diyala governorates.violations of international humanitarian law,war crimes and gross human rights abuses ABUSES BY ARMED GROUPSin the armed conflict. IS fighters forciblydisplaced thousands of civilians into active IS committed gross human rights abuses andconflict, used them as human shields on a serious violations of internationalmass scale, deliberately killed civilians humanitarian law, some of which amountedfleeing the fighting, and recruited and to war crimes. It forcibly displaced thousandsdeployed child soldiers. Iraqi and Kurdish of civilians into zones of active hostilities in anforces and paramilitary militias attempt to shield their own fighters. ISextrajudicially executed captured fighters deliberately killed civilians who were trying toand civilians fleeing the conflict and flee the fighting and hanged their bodies indestroyed homes and other civilian property. public areas as a warning to others who wereIraqi and Kurdish forces as well as202 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

contemplating escape. It carried out In west Mosul, Iraqi forces consistently usedexecution-style killings which targeted explosive weapons with wide-area effects,opponents, and recruited and deployed child such as improvised rocket-assisted munitionssoldiers. In Mosul, IS regularly denied (IRAMs), which cannot be precisely targetedmedical care to civilians, and its fighters at military objectives or used lawfully inoccupied several medical buildings and populated civilian areas. In east Mosul,hospitals to avoid being targeted by Iraqi and hundreds of civilians were killed in air strikescoalition forces. launched by the coalition and Iraqi forces on their homes or places where they sought IS killed and injured civilians across Iraq in refuge as they followed Iraqi governmentsuicide bombings and other deadly attacks instructions not to leave during the battle.that deliberately targeted civilians in markets,Shi’a religious shrines and other public Iraqi and Kurdish government forces andspaces. On 2 January, bombings by IS in the paramilitary militias carried out extrajudicialpredominantly Shi’a neighbourhood of Sadr executions of men and boys suspected ofCity in the capital, Baghdad, killed at least 35 being affiliated with IS. In the final weeks ofpeople and injured more than 60. Suicide the Mosul battle between May and July,attacks on 30 May outside an ice-cream consistent reports emerged that Iraqi forces,parlour and a government building in including the Emergency Response Division,Baghdad killed at least 27 people and Federal Police and the Iraqi Security Forces,wounded at least 50. An IS attack on a had detained, tortured and extrajudiciallyrestaurant frequented by Shi’a pilgrims in executed men and boys who were fleeing theNasiriya on 14 September killed at least 84 fighting.people and injured 93. ARBITRARY ARRESTS AND DETENTIONS The UN reported in October that as manyas 1,563 Yazidi women and children Thousands of men and boys considered toremained in IS captivity in Iraq and Syria. be of fighting age (roughly 15 to 65) fleeingThey were subjected to rape and other territories controlled by IS were subjected totorture, assault and enslavement. Those who security screenings by Iraqi security forces,managed to escape or were freed after their Kurdish forces and paramilitary militias atrelatives paid ransoms did not receive temporary reception sites or in makeshiftadequate remedies, including the necessary detention facilities. Men suspected ofcare and support required to help rebuild affiliation with IS were held for days ortheir lives. The UN stated in August that at months, often in harsh conditions, orleast 74 mass graves had been discovered in transferred onward. Iraqi forces, Kurdishareas previously controlled by IS in Iraq. forces and paramilitary militias, including the PMU, arrested thousands more allegedARMED CONFLICT – VIOLATIONS BY “terrorism” suspects without judicial warrantGOVERNMENT FORCES, COALITION from their homes, checkpoints and camps forFORCES AND MILITIAS internally displaced people (IDPs). TORTURE AND ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCESGovernment forces, paramilitary militias and Men and boys suspected of being memberscoalition forces committed repeated violations of IS were subjected to enforcedof international humanitarian law, some of disappearance – cut off from their familieswhich may amount to war crimes. In west and the outside world – in facilities controlledMosul, Iraqi and coalition forces launched a by the Iraqi Ministries of the Interior andseries of disproportionate or otherwise Defence, the KRG and in secret detentionindiscriminate attacks. In one such attack, on centres. Detainees were interrogated by17 March in Mosul al-Jadida neighbourhood, security officers without lawyers present andat least 105 civilians were killed by a US air were routinely tortured. Common forms ofstrike targeting two IS snipers. torture included beatings on the head andAmnesty International Report 2017/18 203

body with metal rods and cables, suspension and from their tents. Families were separatedin stress positions by the arms or legs, for days or months due to screeningelectric shocks, and threats of rape of female procedures carried out at temporaryrelatives. Detainees faced limited access to reception centres. Women heads ofmedical care, which led to deaths in custody households who sheltered in IDP camps –and amputations. They also endured harsh particularly those whose male relatives wereconditions, including severe overcrowding, suspected of affiliation with IS – reportedpoor ventilation and lack of access to being subjected to rape and other sexualshowers or toilets. abuse and exploitation and systematic discrimination, including having inadequateUNFAIR TRIALS and unequal access to food, water and other basic supplies.The criminal justice system in Iraq remained FORCED DISPLACEMENT AND DESTRUCTION OFdeeply flawed. Defendants, in particular PROPERTY“terrorism” suspects, were routinely denied In the context of the armed conflict involvingthe rights to adequate time and facilities to IS, Iraqi government forces and paramilitaryprepare a defence, to not incriminate oneself militias forcibly displaced civilians andor confess guilt, and to question prosecution destroyed their homes on a mass scale. Forwitnesses. Courts continued to admit example, early in the year Sunni tribal militias“confessions” that were extracted under within the PMU known as the Hashad al-torture as evidence. Many of those convicted Ashari, alongside Iraqi government forces,after these unfair and hasty trials were forcibly displaced at least 125 families fromsentenced to death. Salah al-Din governorate perceived to be affiliated with IS, following a decree issued by Between July and August, the Iraqi local authorities authorizing theirauthorities issued arrest warrants for at least displacement. The families were then held15 lawyers who were defending suspected IS against their will in an IDP camp functioningmembers, accusing the lawyers of being as a detention centre near Tikrit.affiliated with IS. These arrests causedconcern among other lawyers that they could ARMS TRADEbe arrested simply for defending IS suspects. Factions of the PMU, which had committedINTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE war crimes and other serious violations across central and northern Iraq since 2014,More than 3 million people remained benefited from transfers of arms from a rangeinternally displaced across Iraq. The of countries, including the USA, Russia anddisplaced sheltered in host communities, IDP Iran. The transferred weapons includedcamps, informal settlements and buildings armoured vehicles and artillery as well as aunder construction. By November, more than wide range of small arms. Poor management987,648 people in Nineveh governorate had of weapons stocks and a thriving in-countrybeen displaced as a result of the Mosul and cross-border illicit trade led to the armingmilitary operation. Humanitarian agencies of militia groups, further underminingreported significant shortfalls in international security.funding. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION – Civilians in IDP camps experienced KURDISTAN REGION OF IRAQshortages of food, water, medicine and otherbasic needs. Freedom of movement in IDP Journalists and online activists in the KR-Icamps was severely limited, and camp were subject to arbitrary arrest, beatings,residents reported that civilians, including surveillance, death threats, and smearchildren, were recruited from camps by campaigns intended to damage theirparamilitary militias – sometimes forcibly – reputations or the reputations of their familyand that family members had been forciblydisappeared from public areas in the camps204 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

members. This trend of interference in the for grave violations of international law,freedom of expression of journalists and including war crimes, during the conflict.online activists appeared to escalate in therun-up to the independence referendum in DEATH PENALTYthe KR-I; Amnesty International documented12 cases of arbitrary arrests, beatings and Iraq remained one of the world’s most prolificintimidation of journalists and online activists users of the death penalty. Scores of peoplebetween June and September. were sentenced to death by courts after unfair trials and executed by hanging. The On 14 March, security forces, including death penalty continued to be used as a toolanti-riot police belonging to the KR-I and of retribution in response to public outrageSyrian fighters under the command of the after attacks claimed by IS. In January,KRG (“Rojava Peshmerga”), used tear gas dozens of men were hanged for their allegedcanisters and fired live ammunition to role in the killing of 1,700 Shi’a cadets atdisperse Yazidi protesters. The protesters Speicher military camp near Tikrit in 2014.were calling for the Rojava Peshmerga forces The men, whose “confessions” wereto leave the area, following clashes between extracted under credible allegations ofmembers of the Rojava Peshmerga and torture, were convicted following deeplySinjar Resistance Unit earlier that month. flawed and hasty trials. These massProtesters and witnesses reported that Nazeh executions followed a similar mass executionNayef Qawal, a Yazidi woman, was killed in August 2016, also in relation to theduring the violent dispersal of protesters. Speicher massacre. On 25 September, dozens of men were executed on “terrorism”IMPUNITY charges. This mass execution took place 11 days after an IS suicide attack in Nasiriya onIn response to allegations of serious violations 14 September that killed at least 84 people.of international humanitarian law and warcrimes committed by Iraqi forces and pro- IRELANDgovernment militias – such as torture,extrajudicial execution and enforced Irelanddisappearance – the Iraqi authorities Head of state: Michael D. Higginsestablished committees to evaluate the Head of government: Leo Varadkar (replaced Endaavailable evidence and launch investigations. Kenny in June)Such committees consistently failed torelease any findings publicly or to Historical abuses against women and girlscommunicate their findings to international or were not adequately addressed. Access tonational NGOs. More than a year since 643 and information about abortion remainedmen and boys from Saqlawiya in the Anbar severely restricted and criminalized.governorate were abducted and forcibly Concerns remained about “direct provision”disappeared by PMU militias, a committee accommodation provided to asylum-seekers.established by the Office of the PrimeMinister on 5 June 2016 had failed to WOMEN’S RIGHTSpublicly release any findings. In March, the CEDAW Committee published On 21 September the UN Security Council its concluding observations on Ireland’s sixthpassed a unanimous resolution aimed at and seventh reports. It expressed concern atensuring accountability for war crimes and Ireland’s abortion laws, measures to combathuman rights abuses committed by IS. violence against women, including fundingHowever, the resolution crucially failed to cuts to non-governmental support services,include any provisions to ensure and the impact of austerity measures on theaccountability for crimes committed by Iraqi funding for women’s NGOs.forces, paramilitary militias such as the PMU,the US-led coalition and others responsibleAmnesty International Report 2017/18 205

The Committee criticized the state’s failure abortion services. The governmentto establish an independent, thorough and committed to holding a referendum on theeffective investigation into all alleged human Eighth Amendment in early 2018.rights abuses against women and girls in the“Magdalene Laundries”, children’s REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERSinstitutions and mother and baby homeswhich operated with state funding and Concerns remained about poor livingoversight between the 1930s and 1996. This conditions in “direct provision”concern was echoed by the UN Committee accommodation centres for asylum-seekers,against Torture in its concluding observations in particular limited living space and privacy,on Ireland’s second periodic report, lack of recreational facilities especially forpublished in August. In November, the children, and little personal spending money.Ombudsman published a report criticizing In May, the Supreme Court ruled that thethe exclusion of some women from the state’s prohibition on employment during theMagdalene Laundries redress scheme. asylum procedure, irrespective of its duration, was unconstitutional; it gave the The CEDAW Committee also noted legislature six months to address its decision.numerous recommendations by other UN The Ombudsman and Ombudsman forhuman rights mechanisms on the unresolved Children were given statutory powers toissue of historical abuses of women and girls, consider complaints from “direct provision”including in respect of symphysiotomies residents.performed on women without their consent. In September, the government announcedSEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS its commitment to developing a community sponsorship programme for resettlingIn June, the UN Human Rights Committee refugees.found in Whelan v. Ireland that Ireland’sabortion law violated the applicant’s rights to RIGHT TO HOUSINGbe free from cruel, inhuman and degradingtreatment, as well as her rights to privacy and A growing number of people werenon-discrimination in forcing her to travel experiencing homelessness, many as a resultabroad for an abortion. In its August of reduced availability of affordable rentalconcluding observations, the UN Committee properties. The number of homeless familiesagainst Torture stated that Ireland’s abortion increased by 31% between October 2016law causes women and girls “severe physical and October 2017, with many children livingand mental anguish and distress”. in unsuitable hostel-type accommodation. In October, the European Committee of Social In June, the Citizens’ Assembly, established Rights published a decision finding Ireland inby the government to make violation of the Revised European Socialrecommendations on possible constitutional Charter. The decision related to conditions inreform, recommended the removal of the some local authority housing.Eighth Amendment to Ireland’s Constitution,which placed the right to life of the foetus on SEX WORKERSa par with that of the pregnant woman. Itrecommended that access to abortion be In February, the Criminal Law (Sexualprovided without restriction in early Offences) Act 2017 was enacted which,pregnancy, and in a broad range of among other provisions, criminalized thecircumstances thereafter. Its purchase of sex. While the Act removedrecommendations were considered and criminal penalties from sex workers forsupported by a specially convened soliciting and loitering, several aspects of sexparliamentary committee, which also work remained criminalized, despiterecommended decriminalizing women and international evidence that this can place sexmedical professionals accessing or providing workers at high risk of stigmatization,206 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

isolation, violence and other human rights humanitarian crisis. The Israeli authoritiesabuses. intensified expansion of settlements and related infrastructure across the West Bank, The Council of Europe Group of Experts on including East Jerusalem, and severelyAction against Trafficking in Human Beings restricted the freedom of movement ofnoted reports of possible negative impacts of Palestinians. Israeli forces unlawfully killedthe criminalization of the purchase of sex on Palestinian civilians, including children,victims of trafficking. It urged Ireland to and unlawfully detained within Israelanalyse such impacts on the identification, thousands of Palestinians from theprotection and assistance of trafficking Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT),victims, and the prosecution of traffickers. holding hundreds in administrative detention without charge or trial. TortureDISCRIMINATION – TRAVELLERS and other ill-treatment of detainees, including children, remained pervasive andIn March, the government granted formal was committed with impunity. Israelrecognition to the Traveller community as a continued to demolish Palestinian homes indistinct ethnic group within Ireland, following the West Bank and in Palestinian villagesyears of campaigning by Traveller groups. inside Israel, forcibly evicting residents.This was seen as a symbolic but significant Conscientious objectors to military servicestep towards recognizing and countering the were imprisoned. Thousands of Africanlong-standing discrimination experienced by asylum-seekers were threatened withTravellers in Ireland. deportation.FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION BACKGROUNDConcerns emerged about the growing impact Israeli authorities intensified settlementon civil society groups of the Electoral Act expansion and land appropriation in the OPT.1997, a law which regulates political funding. US and international efforts to reviveThe Act, as amended in 2001, prohibits negotiations failed, and Israeli-Palestinianoverseas donations, or domestic donations relations remained tense. In January, Israeliover EUR2,500, to “third party” organizations authorities passed the so-calledfor vaguely defined “political purposes”. “regularization law” that retroactively legalized the settler takeover of thousands ofISRAEL AND THE hectares of privately owned Palestinian landOCCUPIED and an estimated 4,500 settler homes. InPALESTINIAN addition, Israeli authorities announced andTERRITORIES issued tenders for tens of thousands of new settlement units in East Jerusalem andState of Israel across the rest of the West Bank.Head of government: Benjamin NetanyahuHead of state: Reuven Rivlin Palestinians carried out stabbings, car- rammings, shootings and other attacksJune marked 50 years since Israel’s against Israelis in the West Bank and inoccupation of the Palestinian Territories and Israel. The attacks, mostly carried out bythe start of the 11th year of its illegal individuals unaffiliated to armed groups,blockade of the Gaza Strip, subjecting killed 14 Israelis and one foreign national.approximately 2 million inhabitants to Israeli forces killed 76 Palestinians and onecollective punishment and a growing foreign national. Some were unlawfully killed while posing no threat to life. In March, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia issued, then withdrew, a report determining Israel to beAmnesty International Report 2017/18 207

“guilty of the crime of apartheid” against unable to access treatment outside Gaza duePalestinians. In May, a UNESCO resolution to Israeli restrictions and delays by Westreaffirmed the occupied status of East Bank authorities in processing referrals.Jerusalem and criticized Israel’s conduct in Israeli forces maintained a “buffer zone”the city. Following the killing of two Israeli inside Gaza’s border with Israel and used livepolicemen by Palestinians, in July Israel ammunition against Palestinians who enteredinstalled metal detectors to screen Muslim or approached it, wounding farmers workingworshippers entering the Temple Mount/ in the area. Israeli forces also fired atHaram al-Sharif. The new security measures Palestinian fishermen in or near theled to heightened tensions and mass protests “exclusion zone” along Gaza’s coastline,by Palestinians, including collective prayers, killing at least one and injuring others.across the West Bank. The prayer protests,often met with excessive force, ended once In the West Bank, Israel maintained anthe metal detectors were removed. array of military checkpoints, bypass roads and military and firing zones, restricting In September, the Hamas de facto Palestinian access and travel. Israeladministration in Gaza and the “national established new checkpoints and barriers,consensus” government in the West Bank especially in East Jerusalem. In response toembarked on a reconciliation process, which Palestinian attacks on Israelis, the militarywas rejected by Israel. authorities imposed collective punishment; they revoked the work permits of attackers’ In December, US President Donald Trump family members and closed off villages andrecognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in entire areas including Silwad, Deir Abuviolation of international law, sparking Mishal and Beit Surik.widespread protests across the OPT andglobally. In Hebron, long-standing prohibitions limiting Palestinian presence, tightened inFREEDOM OF MOVEMENT – GAZA October 2015, remained in force. In Hebron’sBLOCKADE AND WEST BANK Tel Rumeida neighbourhood, a “closedRESTRICTIONS military zone”, Israeli forces subjected Palestinian residents to oppressive searchesIsrael’s illegal air, land and sea blockade of and prevented the entry of other Palestiniansthe Gaza Strip entered its 11th year, while allowing free movement for Israelicontinuing the long-standing restrictions on settlers. In May, Israel erected a newthe movement of people and goods into and checkpoint and a new fence barrier withinfrom the area, collectively punishing Gaza’s Hebron’s H2 area, arbitrarily confining theentire population. Combined with Egypt’s Palestinian Gheith neighbourhood andalmost total closure of the Rafah border segregating a street alongside the area.crossing, and the West Bank authorities’punitive measures, Israel’s blockade triggered ARBITRARY ARRESTS AND DETENTIONSa humanitarian crisis with electricity cutsreducing access to electricity from an Israel detained or continued to imprisonaverage of eight hours per day down to as thousands of Palestinians from the OPT,little as two to four hours, affecting clean mostly in prisons in Israel, in violation ofwater and sanitation and diminishing health international law. Many detainees’ families,service access, and rendering Gaza particularly those in Gaza, were not permittedincreasingly “unlivable” according to the UN. entry to Israel to visit their relatives.Gaza’s economy deteriorated further andpost-conflict reconstruction of civilian The authorities continued to substituteinfrastructure remained severely hindered; administrative detention for criminalsome 23,500 Palestinians remained prosecution, holding hundreds ofdisplaced since the 2014 conflict. Many Palestinians, including children, civil societypatients with life-threatening illnesses were leaders and NGO workers, without charge or trial under renewable orders, based on208 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

information withheld from detainees and their detainees, including children, to torture andlawyers. More than 6,100 Palestinians, other ill-treatment with impunity, particularlyincluding 441 administrative detainees, were during arrest and interrogation. Reportedheld in Israeli prisons at the end of the year. methods included beatings, slapping, painfulIsraeli authorities also placed six Palestinian shackling, sleep deprivation, use of stresscitizens of Israel under administrative positions and threats. No criminaldetention. investigations were opened into more than 1,000 complaints filed since 2001. In April around 1,500 Palestinian prisoners Complaints of torture and other ill-treatmentand detainees launched a 41-day hunger- by the Israeli police against asylum-seekersstrike to demand better conditions, family and members of the Ethiopian communityvisits, an end to solitary confinement and remained common.administrative detention, and access toeducation. The Israeli Prison Service In December the Israeli High Court ofpunished hunger-striking detainees, using Justice accepted the Attorney General’ssolitary confinement, fines, and denial of decision not to open a criminal investigationfamily visits. into Asad Abu Ghosh’s torture claims despite credible evidence, thus condoning the Palestinians from the West Bank charged continued use of stress positions and sleepwith protest-related and other offences faced deprivation against Palestinian detainees byunfair military trials, while Israeli civilian Israeli interrogators.courts trying Palestinians from EastJerusalem or the Gaza Strip issued harsh UNLAWFUL KILLINGSsentences even for minor offences. Israeli soldiers, police and security guards In April the Israeli High Court of Justice killed at least 75 Palestinians from the OPT,issued a decision to reduce excessive including East Jerusalem, and fivesentencing of Palestinians under the military Palestinians with Israeli citizenship. Some ofjudicial system and ordered that legislation those killed were shot while attacking Israelisbe amended to apply shorter sentences as of or suspected of intending an attack. Many,May 2018. Despite the ruling, the sentences including children, were shot and unlawfullywould remain harsher than those in the killed while posing no immediate threat toIsraeli civilian judicial system. life. Some killings, such as that of Yacoub Abu al-Qi’an, shot in his car by police in Khalida Jarrar, a member of the Palestinian Umm al-Hiran in January, appeared to haveLegislative Council and board member of the been extrajudicial executions.NGO Addameer, and Addameer staffmember Salah Hammouri, remained in EXCESSIVE USE OF FORCEadministrative detention at the end of theyear. Israeli forces, including undercover units, used excessive and sometimes lethal force The trial of Mohammed al-Halabi, a Gaza- when they used rubber-coated metal bulletsbased humanitarian worker, began at Beer and live ammunition against PalestinianSheva District Court on charges of protesters in the OPT, killing at least 20, andembezzlement from the NGO World Vision to injuring thousands. Many protesters threwfund Hamas. Neither an Australian rocks or other projectiles but were posing nogovernment review of World Vision Gaza nor threat to the lives of well-protected Israelian internal World Vision audit found any soldiers when they were shot. In July, inevidence to support the charges. Mohammed response to the tensions over Temple Mount/al-Halabi stated in court that he was tortured Haram al-Sharif, the authorities killed 10during interrogation and detention. Palestinians and injured more than 1,000 during the dispersal of demonstrations, andTORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT conducted at least two violent raids on al-Israeli soldiers and police and Israel SecurityAgency officers subjected PalestinianAmnesty International Report 2017/18 209

Makassed hospital in East Jerusalem. In Palestinian human rights NGOs, includingDecember, wheelchair user Ibrahim Abu Al-Haq, Al Mezan and Addameer,Thuraya was shot in the head by an Israeli encountered increased levels of harassmentsoldier as he was sitting with a group of by Israeli authorities. Israeli authoritiesprotesters near the fence separating Gaza initiated tax investigations against Omarfrom Israel. Barghouti, a prominent advocate of the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign,FREEDOMS OF EXPRESSION, in what appeared to be an effort to silence hisASSOCIATION AND ASSEMBLY work.The authorities used a range of measures, Several Israeli human rights organizations,both in Israel and the OPT, to target human including Breaking the Silence, Gisha,rights defenders who criticized Israel’s B’tselem and Amnesty International Israelcontinuing occupation. were also targeted by government campaigns to undermine their work, and faced smears, In March the Knesset (parliament) passed stigmatization and threats.an amendment to the Entry into Israel Lawbanning entry into Israel or the OPT to RIGHT TO HOUSING – FORCEDanyone supporting or working for an EVICTIONS AND DEMOLITIONSorganization that has issued or promoted acall to boycott Israel or Israeli entities, In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem,including settlements. The authorities the Israeli authorities carried out a largecontinued to obstruct human rights workers’ number of demolitions of Palestinianattempts to document the situation by property, including 423 homes anddenying them entry into the OPT, including structures built without Israeli permits thatthe UN Special Rapporteur on the human remained virtually impossible for Palestiniansrights situation in the OPT. An Amnesty to obtain, forcibly evicting more than 660International staff member was denied entry people. Many of these demolitions were inafter he was questioned about the Bedouin and herding communities that theorganization’s work on settlements. Israeli authorities planned to forcibly transfer. The authorities also collectively punished the Using public order laws in East Jerusalem, families of Palestinians who had carried outand military orders in the rest of the West attacks on Israelis, by demolishing or makingBank, Israeli authorities prohibited and uninhabitable their family homes, forciblysuppressed protests by Palestinians, and evicting approximately 50 people.arrested and prosecuted protesters andhuman rights defenders. In July, the military Israeli authorities forcibly evicted eighttrials of Palestinian human rights defenders members of the Shamasneh family from theirIssa Amro and Farid al-Atrash began on home in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem,charges related to their role in organizing allowing Jewish settlers to move in. Thepeaceful protests against Israel’s settlement authorities also demolished dozens ofpolicies. Israeli authorities continued to Palestinian homes inside Israel that they saidharass other Hebron-based human rights were built without permits, including inactivists, including Badi Dweik and Imad Abu Palestinian towns and villages in the Triangle,Shamsiya, and failed to protect them from the Galilee, and in “unrecognized” Bedouinsettler attacks. villages in the Negev/Naqab region. In January the Israeli police forcibly demolished From May to August, the Israeli authorities the Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran, todetained prisoner of conscience and writer begin building a Jewish town in its place. TheAhmad Qatamesh under a three-month Knesset passed a law in April that raised theadministrative detention order solely on fines for building without permits, chargingaccount of his non-violent political activities punitive costs for the demolition to thoseand writing. whose homes have been demolished, and210 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

limited recourse to the courts for those Zayoud, who was stripped of his citizenshipchallenging demolition or eviction orders. In and rendered stateless by the Minister of theAugust, the authorities demolished al-Araqib Interior following a conviction for attemptedvillage in the Negev/Naqab for the 116th murder. An appeal against the decision wastime. Residents were ordered to compensate pending before the Supreme Court at the endthe state 362,000 new shekels of the year. The authorities also revoked the(approximately USD100,000) for the cost of citizenship of dozens of Palestinian Bedouindemolition and lawyers’ fees. residents of the Negev/Naqab region without process or appeal, leaving them as statelessIMPUNITY residents.More than three years after the end of the REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS2014 Gaza-Israel conflict, in which some1,460 Palestinian civilians were killed, many The authorities continued to deny asylum-in evidently unlawful attacks including war seekers, more than 90% of whom were fromcrimes, the authorities had previously Eritrea or Sudan, access to a fair or promptindicted only three soldiers for looting and refugee status determination process. Moreobstructing an investigation. than 1,200 asylum-seekers were held at the Holot detention facility and at Saharonim In a rare move, in January an Israeli military Prison in the Negev/Naqab desert at the endcourt convicted Elor Azaria, a soldier whose of the year. According to activists, there wereapparent extrajudicial execution of a more than 35,000 asylum-seekers in Israel;wounded Palestinian in Hebron was filmed, 8,588 asylum claims remained pending. Inof manslaughter. His conviction and 18- December, the Knesset passed anmonth prison sentence, which was confirmed amendment to the anti-infiltration law thaton appeal but reduced by four months by would force asylum-seekers and refugees toIsrael’s military Chief of Staff in September, accept relocation to countries in Africa orfailed to reflect the gravity of the crime. Israeli face imprisonment. Tens of thousands wereauthorities failed to investigate, or closed at risk of deportation.investigations into, cases of alleged unlawfulkillings of Palestinians by Israeli forces in CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORSboth Israel and the OPT. At least six Israeli conscientious objectors to The Prosecutor of the ICC continued her military service were imprisoned, includingpreliminary examination of alleged crimes Tamar Zeevi, Atalia Ben-Abba, Noa Gurunder international law committed in the OPT Golan, Hadas Tal, Mattan Helman and Ofirsince 13 June 2014. Averbukh. Israeli authorities recognized Tamar Zeevi as a conscientious objector andVIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS released her from conscription after she served a total of 100 days in prison.There were new reports of violence againstwomen; Palestinian communities in Israel ITALYwere particularly affected. In June, theSpecial Rapporteur on violence against Italian Republicwomen issued recommendations urging Head of state: Sergio MattarellaIsraeli authorities to carry out law and policy Head of government: Paolo Gentilonireforms by integrating CEDAW standards; tocombat and prevent violence against women Italy co-operated with the Libyan authoritiesin Israel and the OPT; and to investigate and non-state actors to restrict irregularreported abuses. migration through the central Mediterranean. This resulted in refugeesDEPRIVATION OF NATIONALITYOn 6 August the Haifa District Courtconfirmed the citizenship revocation of AlaaAmnesty International Report 2017/18 211

and migrants being disembarked and CO-OPERATION WITH LIBYA TO CONTROL MIGRATIONtrapped in Libya, where they faced human In February, to reduce arrivals, Italy signed arights violations and abuse. Roma Memorandum of Understanding with Libya,continued to be forcibly evicted and committing to provide support to Libyansegregated in camps with sub-standard authorities responsible for official immigrationliving conditions. The European detention centres. Torture and other ill-Commission failed to take decisive action treatment remained widespread in theseagainst Italy for discrimination against centres. Italy continued to implementRoma in access to adequate housing. measures to increase the Libyan coastguard’sLegislation criminalizing torture was capacity to intercept refugees and migrantsintroduced; however, the new law did not and take them back to Libya. This was donemeet all the requirements of the Convention amidst growing evidence of the Libyanagainst Torture. coastguard’s violent and reckless conduct during interceptions of boats and of itsREFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS involvement in human rights violations. In May, Italy provided the Libyan coastguardOver 2,800 refugees and migrants were with four patrolling speedboats. Italy alsoestimated to have died at sea while continued to train Libyan coastguard andattempting to reach Italy from Libya on navy officials as part of the EU Naval Forceunseaworthy and overcrowded vessels. The Mediterranean (EUNAVFOR Med) operation.numbers were down from more than 4,500 In July, following a request from the Libyandeaths registered in 2016. Over 119,000 government, Italy deployed a naval mission topeople survived the crossing and reached Libyan territorial waters to combat irregularItaly, compared to 181,000 arrivals in 2016. migration and the smuggling of refugees and migrants. In May, the Italian magazine L’Espressopublished new information regarding the 11 In November, a Libyan coastguard vesselOctober 2013 shipwreck in the Maltese interfered in an ongoing rescue operation insearch and rescue region of the central international waters. Several people drowned.Mediterranean. Over 260 people died, mostly The Libyan coastguard’s vessel – one of thoseSyrian refugees, among them about 60 donated by Italy – was recorded on videochildren. According to recorded phone departing at high speed, ignoring people inconversations obtained by the magazine, in the water, and with a man still holding on tothe period preceding the capsizing of the ropes the Libyan officials had thrown off therefugees’ boat, Italian navy and coastguard vessel.officials were reluctant to deploy the Italianwarship Libra which was the closest to the Between August and December, Italy’s co-boat in distress, despite repeated requests by operation with Libyan authorities wasMaltese authorities to do so. In November, a criticized by various UN experts and bodies,judge of the Rome tribunal ordered that including the UN High Commissioner forcharges be brought against two high-ranking Human Rights as well as the Council ofofficials of the Italian navy and coastguard Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights.respectively and that further investigations be The Committee against Torture expressedcarried out into the conduct of the Libra’s concern over the lack of assurances that co-captain. The charges against four other navy operation with the Libyan coastguard or otherand coastguard officials were dismissed. The Libyan security actors would be reviewed intrial was pending at the end of the year. light of human rights violations. NGOS’ SEARCH AND RESCUE OPERATIONS The government continued to fail to adopt Many of those who reached Italy by sea –the decrees required to abolish the crime of over 45,400 – were rescued by NGOs. In“illegal entry and stay”, despite being July, Italy, with support from the EU, imposedinstructed to do so by parliament in April a code of conduct on NGOs operating at sea,2014.212 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

limiting their capacity to rescue people and statements and abuse of power, includeddisembark them in Italy. During the year, three high-ranking police officers and therescue NGOs were targeted by some officials, judge who validated the expulsion.claiming that they encouraged departures UNACCOMPANIED CHILDRENfrom Libya. Criminal investigations were Nearly 16,000 unaccompanied childrenopened and were ongoing at the end of the reached Italy by sea. A new law to strengthenyear against some NGOs for abetting irregular their protection was introduced in April. Itmigration. covered access to services and introducedASYLUM PROCEDURES safeguards against expulsions. However, theBy the end of the year, nearly 130,000 authorities continued to struggle to ensurepeople sought asylum in Italy, a 6% increase their reception in accordance withover the nearly 122,000 in 2016. Throughout international standards.the year, over 40% of applicants received RELOCATION AND RESETTLEMENT SCHEMESsome form of protection in the first instance. Of the around 35,000 asylum-seekers who were to be transferred to other EU countries In April, legislation was introduced to speed under the EU relocation scheme, only 11,464up asylum procedures and counter irregular had left Italy by the end of the year, while amigration, including by reducing procedural further 698 were about to be transferred.safeguards in appeals against rejectedasylum applications. The new law failed to Italy continued to grant humanitarianadequately clarify the nature and function of access to people transferred through athe hotspots set up by the EU and the scheme funded by the faith-based NGOsgovernment following agreements in 2015. Comunità di Sant’Egidio, Federation ofHotspots are facilities set up for the initial Evangelical Churches and Tavola Valdese.reception, identification and registration of Over 1,000 people were received under theasylum-seekers and migrants coming to the scheme since its beginning in 2016.EU by sea. In its May report, the NationalMechanism for the Prevention of Torture At the end of December, Italy also grantedhighlighted the continued lack of a legal basis access to 162 vulnerable refugees evacuatedand applicable norms regulating the from Libya to Italy by UNHCR, the UNdetention of people in hotspots. refugee agency. Also in May, the UN Human Rights RIGHT TO HOUSING AND FORCEDCommittee criticized the prolonged detention EVICTIONSof refugees and migrants at hotspots. It alsocriticized the lack of safeguards against the Roma continued to experience systemicincorrect classification of asylum-seekers as discrimination in access to adequateeconomic migrants, and the lack of housing. The European Commission stillinvestigations into reports of excessive use of failed to take decisive action against Italy forforce during identification procedures. In breach of EU law for discrimination in itsDecember, the UN Committee against Torture denial of the right to housing, including theexpressed concern about the lack of lack of safeguards against forced evictionssafeguards against the forcible return of and the continued segregation of Roma inpeople to countries where they could be at camps.risk of human rights violations. In April, hundreds of Roma living in the In September, the criminal trial started in informal settlement of Gianturco in NaplesPerugia against seven officials implicated in were forcibly evicted after authorities failed tothe illegal expulsion to Kazakhstan of Alma carry out any meaningful consultation withShalabayeva and Alua Ablyazova, the wife the affected families. The only alternative theand daughter of Kazakhstani opposition authorities offered was the rehousing of 130politician Mukhtar Ablyazov, in May 2013. people in a new authorized segregated camp.The accused, charged with kidnapping, false The remaining adults and children were rendered homeless. Around 200 of themAmnesty International Report 2017/18 213

settled in a former market area in Naples and batons. The trial was pending at the end ofremained at risk of being forcibly evicted. the year. In August, the authorities forcibly evicted DEATHS IN CUSTODYhundreds of people, including many children,from a building in the centre of Rome. Many In July, following a second policeof them were recognized refugees who had investigation which started in 2016, fivebeen living and working in the area for police officers were charged in relation to theseveral years. The authorities failed to provide death in custody of Stefano Cucchi in 2009.adequate housing alternatives, leaving scores Three officers were charged withof people to sleep in the open for days, manslaughter and two with slander andbefore they were violently removed by police making false statements. The trial wasin riot gear. Several people were hurt by pending at the end of the year.police using water cannons and batons.Some families were eventually rehoused JAMAICAtemporarily outside Rome. JamaicaTORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by Patrick Linton AllenIn July, Italy finally introduced legislation Head of government: Andrew Michael Holnesscriminalizing torture, having ratified theConvention against Torture in 1989. However, Unlawful killings – some of which mayin December, the Committee against Torture amount to extrajudicial executions –noted that the definition of torture in the new continued to be carried out by the policelaw was not in line with the Convention. The with impunity. A review of nationalnew law also failed to provide for the legislation related to sexual offences,implementation of other key provisions, domestic violence, child care and childincluding the reviewing of interrogation protection was underway. NGOs raisedpolicies and provision of redress to victims. concerns over the right to privacy after proposals to introduce national identity In September, the Council of Europe cards. Lesbian, gay, bisexual andCommittee for the Prevention of Torture transgender people continued to face(CPT) published the report of its visit to Italy discrimination in law and in practice. Gayin April 2016. The CPT received allegations and bisexual prisoners continued to be atof ill-treatment, including unnecessary and heightened risk for HIV.excessive use of force by law enforcementofficials and prison officers in virtually all BACKGROUNDdetention facilities it visited. The CPT notedthat overcrowding persisted, despite recent Despite committing to the establishment of areforms. national human rights institution, Jamaica had not established the mechanism by the In October, the European Court of Human end of the year.Rights found that the treatment of 59 peopleby police and medical staff during their Jamaica continued to have one of thedetention, following the protests against the highest homicide rates in the Americas.2001 Genoa G8 summit, amounted to Between January and June, homicidestorture. increased by 19% compared with the same period in 2016, according to police data. Also in October, 37 police officers, servingin the Lunigiana area in northern Tuscany, POLICE AND SECURITY FORCESwere charged in relation to numerous casesof personal injury and other abuses. Many of Between January and March, the policethese abuses were against foreign nationals, oversight mechanism, the Independenton two occasions involving the use of electric214 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) RIGHT TO PRIVACYreceived 73 new complaints of assault anddocumented 42 killings by law enforcement The NGO Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) raisedofficials. During the year, 168 people were concerns that the National Identification andkilled by law enforcement officials, compared Registration Authority Act could underminewith 111 people in 2016. the right to privacy and that Article 41 specifically could limit access to public goods Female relatives of those allegedly killed by and services.the police continued to battle anunderfunded, sluggish court system in their CHILDREN’S RIGHTSfight for justice, truth and reparation.1 JFJ made a series of recommendations to the More than a year after a Commission of Parliamentary Joint Select Committee toEnquiry published its findings into the events strengthen the Child Care and Protection Act.that took place in Western Kingston during Among other things, JFJ recommendedthe 2010 state of emergency that left at least expanding the list of authorities to which69 people dead, the government had still not members of the public can make a legallyofficially responded on how it planned to mandated report of child abuse, to makeimplement the recommendations, or made a reporting easier.public apology. In June, the JamaicaConstabulary Force completed an internal RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUALadministrative review into the conduct of AND TRANSGENDER PEOPLEofficers named in the Commissioners’ report.However, it found no misconduct or There remained no legal protection againstresponsibility for human rights violations discrimination based on real or perceivedduring the state of emergency. sexual orientation or gender identity. As a result, LGBT people continued to face In June, legislation was passed to create harassment and violence.“zones of special operations” as part of acrime prevention plan. Consensual sex between men remained criminalized, and there was limited protection INDECOM hosted a Caribbean Use of Force against intimate-partner violence forConference to develop a region-wide Use of people in same-sex relationships. NGOsForce Policy consistent with best practice in recommended that laws be amended tohuman rights. Law enforcement officials from ensure that rape is treated as a gender-across the region participated in the forum, neutral offence.along with experts in policing and humanrights. As transgender people continued to be unable to change their legal name andVIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS gender, LGBTI organizations were concerned that the proposed national identificationIn March, women’s movements and survivors system could undermine the privacy ofof gender-based and sexual violence took to transgender people and expose them tothe streets in the capital, Kingston, to protest stigma and discrimination, including fromagainst impunity for sexual violence. potential employers. Jamaican NGOs made a series of Jamaica’s third annual Pride event tookrecommendations to the Joint Select place in August and continued to increaseCommittee of Parliament tasked with visibility for the LGBTI community and createreviewing national legislation related to sexual opportunities for engagement with wideroffences, domestic violence, child care and society.child protection. These included, amongother things, repealing marital rape RIGHT TO HEALTHexceptions under the Sexual Offences Act toprotect women against rape, irrespective of In June, the NGO Stand up for Jamaicatheir marital status. released Barriers Behind Bars, a report which analysed the high risk of sexualAmnesty International Report 2017/18 215

violence, human rights violations, and abused, authorities in the city of Osakaconsequently HIV, faced by gay and bisexual approved a gay couple as foster parents. Themen in Kingston’s General Penitentiary, in couple had been looking after a teenage boywhich gay and bisexual men are segregated since February. This was the first case of afrom the general prison population. The same-sex couple becoming foster parentsreport aimed to generate discussion about and being considered as a single householdbest practices for reducing HIV in prisons. by the city. Sapporo City and Minato Ward advanced towards recognizing same-sexINTERNATIONAL JUSTICE partnerships, following the practices of five other municipalities in 2015 and 2016.Jamaica again failed to ratify the RomeStatute of the ICC, which it signed in FREEDOM OF EXPRESSIONSeptember 2000, nor had it adhered to theUN Convention against Torture or the In June, the Diet (parliament) adopted anInternational Convention for the Protection of overly broad law targeting allegedAll Persons from Enforced Disappearance. conspiracies to commit “terrorism” and other serious crimes. The law gave authorities1. Jamaica: A thank you from Shackelia Jackson (News story, 15 broad surveillance powers that could be December 2017) misused to curtail the rights to freedom of expression, association and privacy, withoutJAPAN sufficient safeguards.Japan The law also presented a threat to theHead of government: Shinzo Abe legitimate work of independent NGOs, as the definition of “organized crime group” wasDespite harsh criticism from civil society vague and overly broad and not clearlyand academics expressing fears that human limited to activities that would constituterights would be weakened, parliament organized crime or pose a genuine threat topassed a controversial law targeting national security. Protests were held inconspiracies to commit “terrorism” and multiple locations against the law’s potentiallyother serious crimes. Authorities in Osaka adverse effect on civil society.city approved a same-sex couple as fosterparents, and two municipalities moved FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLYtowards recognizing same-sex partnerships.Detention of a prominent peace activist Prominent peace activist Hiroji Yamashiroraised fair trial concerns. A District Court was arrested and detained for five monthssupported tuition waivers for a Korean from late 2016 until March 2017, underschool that was excluded due to their restrictive conditions and without access toalleged ties to the Democratic People’s his family, for his role in protests against newRepublic of Korea (North Korea). US military construction projects onExecutions continued to be carried out. Okinawa.2 The protracted detention of one of the most vocal opponents of the US militaryRIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, construction on Okinawa, without respectingTRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE the presumption of release pending trial, had a chilling effect on others exercising theirWhile pervasive discrimination based on real right to peaceful assembly. Some activistsor perceived sexual orientation and gender hesitated to join protests for fear of reprisals.identity continued, some progress was madein local municipalities.1 Under the foster care DISCRIMINATION – ETHNIC MINORITIESscheme providing support to children withoutguardians or children who are neglected or In July the Osaka District Court ruled as illegal the government’s exclusion of Osaka Korean High School from its high school education tuition waiver programme. The216 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

Court found that this hindered the right to 1. Japan: Human rights law and discrimination against LGBT peopleeducation of children of Korean origin. This (ASA 22/5955/2017)was the first ruling in a number of similarlawsuits on the eligibility of such schools for 2. Japan: Prominent peace activist detained without bail - Hirojithe programme. Although public high schools Yamashiro (ASA 22/5552/2017)had been exempt from tuition fees under theprogramme since 2010, the government JORDANexcluded Korean schools due to concernsthat the subsidies may be misused because Hashemite Kingdom of Jordanof the schools’ historical ties to North Korea. Head of state: King Abdullah II bin al-Hussein Head of government: Hani Al-MulkiWORKERS’ RIGHTS – MIGRANTWORKERS Parliament approved several reforms including the repeal of a law which allowedIn November, the government began to rapists to escape prosecution if theyaccept the first of 10,000 Vietnamese married their victims. Women continued tonationals to be admitted over three years be discriminated against in law and inunder the Technical Intern Training Program practice. Parliament passed a law thatto meet Japan’s labour shortage. The scheme would guarantee certain rights for pre-trialhad been harshly criticized by human rights detainees and reduce the length ofadvocates for causing a wide range of human custodial sentences. Local governorsrights abuses. Critics feared that expanding continued to issue orders to holdthe scheme without addressing its problems individuals in prolonged detention withoutwould result in increased incidents of sexual charge. The rights to freedom of expressionabuse, work-related deaths and working and of association continued to beconditions amounting to forced labour. restricted. Migrant workers were inadequately protected from exploitationREFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS and abuse. Around 50,000 refugees from Syria remained trapped in the desert on theWhile the number of asylum applications border with Syria in appalling conditions.continued to increase dramatically, the Death sentences were imposed andgovernment reported in February that it had executions carried out.approved 28 out of 10,901 claims in 2016,which was a 44% increase in claims from the BACKGROUNDprevious year. Jordan remained part of the US-led militaryVIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS coalition fighting in Iraq and Syria against the armed group Islamic State (IS) (see Iraq andPresident Moon Jae-in of the Republic of Syria entries), and of the Saudi Arabia-ledKorea (South Korea) made a statement in coalition engaged in the armed conflict inDecember that the 2015 agreement between Yemen (see Yemen entry).Japan and South Korea on Japan’s MilitarySexual Slavery System failed to solve the In August, local elections were held which,issue, following the findings of the task force for the first time, included local governorate-appointed in July to review the deal. The level councils in accordance with the 2015agreement had been criticized by civil society Decentralization Law.organizations as well as historians for itsfailure to provide a fully victim-centred In February, the government adoptedapproach and to provide an official, several measures to address the economicunequivocal recognition of responsibility by crisis amid public protests driven mainly byJapan for serious human rights violations rising unemployment and low wages. Theycommitted by its military against women and included subsidy cuts, and tax hikes on fuelgirls before and during World War II.Amnesty International Report 2017/18 217

and commodities as well as terrorism, espionage, treason, drugs andtelecommunication services. counterfeiting. In May, the national Law on the Rights of The NGO Sisterhood Is Global Institute inPersons with Disabilities came into force; its Jordan reported that women who wereprovisions were largely in line with the UN victims of domestic violence or at risk of so-Convention on the Rights of Persons with called honour crimes were held underDisabilities, which Jordan ratified in 2008. administrative detention for their protection. More than 1,700 such women were held in In July, Parliament held ordinary and administrative detention, which represented aexceptional sessions to discuss a 16-bill 16% decrease since 2015.package of draft laws and by-laws proposedby the Royal Committee for Developing the FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATIONJudiciary and Enhancing the Rule of Law,which was established by the King in October In August, the Companies Control2016. Department notified the Attorney General that the Center for Defending Freedom ofDETENTION Journalists (CDFJ) violated the 1997 Law on Companies by receiving foreign funding whileIn April, the National Centre for Human registered as a “civil company” instead of aRights published a report that detailed “non-profit company”. CDFJ received a copyongoing human rights violations by security of the notification which ordered it to stopforces during arrest, including late-night receiving foreign or domestic funding andsecurity raids where excessive force was calling itself a non-profit company.used, and in pre-trial detention in temporarydetention facilities. Detainees were denied Prior to this, CDFJ had not received anaccess to a lawyer during interrogations, and official warning about its funding although itfaced torture and other ill-treatment. The had been active for 19 years with the statedreport also documented poor detention mission to protect media freedoms, addressconditions and the lack of a classification violations of journalists’ rights, and to reformsystem to protect detainees’ safety, including legislation to protect press freedoms.by holding incompatible categories ofdetainees in the same cell. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION In mid-2017, Parliament enacted laws that The Audiovisual Commission continued toguaranteed suspects the right of access to a block access to several websites and onlinelawyer on arrest, created a legal aid fund, platforms under Article 49 of the Press andand limited the use of pre-trial detention as Publications Law, which required anyan “exceptional measure” for specific “electronic publication that engages inpurposes. The new laws set a maximum publication of news, investigations, articles,three-month period for those charged with or comments, which have to do with theminor offences, and up to 18 months for internal or external affairs of the Kingdom” toserious charges. The legislation also obtain a licence, and granted executiveintroduced alternatives to pre-trial detention, authorities the power to close unlicensedsuch as electronic monitoring, travel bans sites.and house arrest but did not cover detentionunder the General Intelligence Directorate. WOMEN’S RIGHTSADMINISTRATIVE DETENTIONThe authorities continued to detain suspects In February, the CEDAW Committee notedunder the 1954 Crime Prevention Law that Jordan’s efforts to address discriminationallowed detentions of up to one year without against women in marriage and the family,charge or trial or any means of legal remedy. but remained concerned about the continuedIt was used particularly in cases related to application of discriminatory provisions in the Personal Status Act, particularly in relation to the guardianship of women. It also raised218 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

concerns about the persistence of child such as the issuing of unified standardmarriage in accordance with legislation that contracts, protection under Labour Codeallows Shari’a courts and legal guardians the provisions, regulation of employmentdiscretion to allow marriage, in certain agencies, and the adoption of a law whichcircumstances, of girls aged 15 and over. The criminalized trafficking in people. It remainedCommittee further noted the continued concerned, however, that the measures werediscrimination in inheritance law, and the insufficient due to the lack of shelters,tendency of Shari’a courts to rule in favour of restricted access to justice, the largelyhusbands in divorce, alimony and child ineffective application of the Labour Codecustody proceedings. and lack of regular inspection visits to the workplace. In July, Parliament abolished Article 98 ofthe Penal Code which was invoked in so- REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERScalled honour killing cases and allowed aman to receive a reduced sentence if he Jordan hosted about 655,000 Syriankilled a woman relative and the act was refugees registered by UNHCR, the UNdeemed to have been committed in a “fit of refugee agency, in addition to over 13,000rage caused by an unlawful or dangerous act Palestinian refugees from Syria, and over 2on the part of the victim”. However, Article million long-term Palestinian refugees,340 remained; it allowed for a reduced among others.sentence on grounds of mitigatingcircumstances in cases where a man Some 50,000 refugees from Syria remainedmurdered his wife or any woman relative after trapped at Rukban in the “berm”, a desertfinding her in an “adulterous situation”. area between Jordan and Syria, withAlthough this applied to both men and humanitarian access effectively blockedwomen, men remained less likely to face since June 2016, apart from in June 2017adultery charges in a polygamous system. when the authorities permitted one round of aid distribution. Refugees were trapped in In August, Parliament repealed Article 308, appalling humanitarian conditions: food,which allowed rapists to escape prosecution medical assistance and shelter wereif they married their victims. extremely limited, and they had sporadic access to water.WORKERS’ RIGHTS – MIGRANTWORKERS In October, Jordan ended even limited cross-border aid and said that aid could onlyThe NGO Tamkeen Fields for Aid said that be delivered from Syria. The internationalalmost 1.2 million migrant workers resided in community and Jordan failed to agree to aJordan although only 315,016 had work long-term solution for the stranded refugeespermits. Migrant workers continued to face who were denied access to asylumexploitation and abuse, including confiscation procedures or opportunities for resettlementof their passports by employers, poor working to third countries.and living conditions, the denial of their rightto change employment, forced labour, and According to humanitarian agencies, byhuman trafficking. September the authorities had forcibly returned more than 2,330 refugees to Syria. Migrant women domestic workers continuedto be denied their annual leave entitlement, INTERNATIONAL JUSTICEand were subject to ill-defined working hours,verbal, physical and sexual abuse, In December, the ICC ruled that Jordan failedconfinement to their employers’ home and to comply with its obligations as a state partyunpaid wages. to the Rome Statute of the ICC after it did not execute the Court’s request for the arrest of In February, the CEDAW Committee Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. Thewelcomed measures adopted to protect Court decided to refer Jordan’s non-women migrant domestic workers’ rights, compliance to the Assembly of States PartiesAmnesty International Report 2017/18 219

of the Rome Statute and to the UN Security property and sentenced to two years’Council. Jordanian authorities failed to arrest imprisonment, and on 25 July, LarisaPresident al-Bashir when he visited the Kharkova was sentenced for abuse of powercountry in March for the Arab League and given a sentence of four years ofsummit. The ICC has issued two arrest restricted freedom by a court in Shymkent. Inwarrants against him on charges of genocide, the period 19-24 January, 63 oil workerswar crimes and crimes against humanity in were prosecuted and fined for theirDarfur, Sudan. participation in the hunger strike. In June, the Committee on the Application ofDEATH PENALTY Standards of the ILO expressed concern about the “grave issue” of the dissolution ofCourts continued to hand down death the KNPRK and called on the authorities tosentences and several people were executed. ensure that the KNPRK and its affiliates “are able to fully exercise their trade union rights”.KAZAKHSTAN PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCERepublic of KazakhstanHead of state: Nursultan Nazarbayev On 20 January, the Atyrau Regional Court inHead of government: Bakytzhan Sagintayev western Kazakhstan upheld the sentence of human rights defenders and prisoners ofLeading or participating in an unregistered conscience Maks Bokaev and Talgat Ayan toorganization continued to be an offence. five years’ imprisonment for their involvementTrade unions and NGOs faced undue in organizing peaceful demonstrations andrestrictions. Torture and other ill-treatment for their posts on social media against thein detention facilities persisted. Journalists Land Code. At the end of January, they werewere subjected to politically motivated transferred to a penal colony inprosecutions and attacks. Women and Petropavlovsk, northern Kazakhstan,people with disabilities continued to face 1,500km from their home city. Maks Bokaevdiscrimination. and Talgat Ayan were not informed in advance of their transfer and did not haveWORKERS’ RIGHTS adequate clothing for the winter weather conditions in northern Kazakhstan. On 13Independent trade unions faced restrictive April, the Supreme Court rejected Makslaws and closure. Trade unionists were Bokaev’s and Talgat Ayan’s appeals. On 22prosecuted on fabricated charges of inciting August, following his lawyer’s successfulillegal strikes or embezzlement. petition, Talgat Ayan was transferred to a penal colony in Aktobe, in northwestern On 4 January, a court ordered the Kazakhstan, closer to his young children.dissolution of the Confederation ofIndependent Trade Unions of Kazakhstan TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT(KNPRK), and two affiliates, the NationalHealthcare Workers' Union and National Following its second periodic report to theDomestic Workers’ Union, on the grounds UN Human Rights Committee, in Aprilthat they failed to meet a registration Kazakhstan reported that the Prosecutordeadline. On 5 January, hundreds of oil General’s office received 700 allegations ofworkers began a hunger strike to protest torture in detention facilities in 2016, andagainst the dissolution, and three union that over the past five years 158 officials hadleaders were arrested. On 7 April, Nurbek been convicted of torture.Kushakbaev was sentenced to two and a halfyears’ imprisonment. On 16 May, Amin In June, the UN Committee against TortureYeleusinov was charged with found that Aleksei Ushenin had beenmisappropriation or embezzlement of subjected to torture and other ill-treatment and that the authorities failed to conduct a220 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

prompt, impartial and effective investigation Tribuna, which is critical of the authorities,into his complaint. Aleksei Ushenin claimed was sentenced to three years of restrictedthat he was beaten for two days in August freedom for money laundering. He claimed2011 to force him to confess to a robbery. that the charges were politically motivated.Police officers put a plastic bag over his head Zhanbolat Mamai had been detained sinceuntil he lost consciousness, stubbed out February. On 14 May, Ramazan Yesergepov,cigarettes on his body, and repeatedly journalist and chairman of the NGOinserted a rubber baton into his anus. Journalists in Trouble, was stabbed while travelling by train to the capital Astana toIMPUNITY discuss Zhanbolat Mamai’s case with foreign diplomats and international experts. HeThe authorities had not fully and effectively believed that the attack was linked to hisinvestigated allegations of human rights critical reporting and interest in Zhanbolatviolations committed in connection with the Mamai’s case.violent clashes between police anddemonstrating oil workers in Zhanaozen in FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLYDecember 2011, during which at least 15people were killed and over 100 were Organizing or participating in a peacefulseriously injured when the police reportedly demonstration without the authorities’ priorused excessive force against demonstrators. authorization remained an offence under both the Administrative Offences Code andFREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION the Criminal Code, punishable by heavy fines or up to 75 days’ detention.NGOs faced undue restrictions, stringentreporting requirements under legislation On 13 July, the UN Human Rightsintroduced at the end of 2015, and frequent Committee found that Andrei Sviridov’s righttax inspections. Failure to regularly supply to freedom of peaceful assembly had beenaccurate information for the central database violated in 2009 when he was prosecuted forof NGOs led to fines or a temporary ban on holding a one-man picket to protestactivities. against the prosecution of human rights defender Yevgeny Zhovtis. He was found The NGOs International Legal Initiative (ILI) guilty of conducting a demonstration withoutand Liberty Foundation faced punitive fines prior authorization and fined 12,960 tengefor allegedly failing to pay tax. On 6 April, the (EUR33).Special Inter-District Economic Court ofAlmaty upheld the decision of the Tax On 1 August, peaceful protesters AskhatDirectorate that ILI should pay corporate Bersalimov and Khalilkhan Ybrahamuly wereincome tax on grants received from foreign detained and sentenced to five and threedonors, although not-for-profit organizations days’ administrative detention respectively forwere exempt from paying tax. On 31 May, the taking part in an unauthorizedSpecial Inter-District Economic Court of demonstration. They were part of a group of aAlmaty rejected Liberty Foundation’s appeal dozen people who gathered in Mahatmaagainst the Tax Directorate’s decision. The Ghandi Park in the city of Almaty on 29 July,organizations paid fines of 1,300,000 tenge walked to the main post office and sentand 3,000,000 tenge (EUR4,000 and 8,300) appeals to foreign governments andrespectively. international organizations on behalf of Zhanbolat Mamai and other prisoners.FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION WOMEN’S RIGHTSIndependent journalists critical of theauthorities were subjected to politically The Ministry of Internal Affairs said thatmotivated prosecutions and attacks. during the first half of the year, 35,253 protection orders were applied in cases of In September, Zhanbolat Mamai, editor of domestic violence. However, NGOs reportedthe independent newspaper Sayasi KalamAmnesty International Report 2017/18 221

that violence against women was under- KENYAreported and that there was a low rate ofprosecution of cases of violence against Republic of Kenyawomen as well as in sexual harassment Head of state and government: Uhuru Muigai Kenyattacases. Police used excessive force against The authorities continued to refuse to opposition protesters following theacknowledge that Anna Belousova had been elections, leaving dozens dead. The rulinga victim of sexual harassment despite the party made statements threatening theCEDAW Committee ruling in 2015 that independence of the judiciary after therecommended that Kazakhstan provide her Supreme Court annulled the electionwith adequate compensation. In March, the results. The NGOs Coordination BoardSupreme Court upheld a ruling by a court in threatened organizations working on humanKostanai that she was not due compensation. rights and governance with closure andIn July, the Saryarkinsk District Court refused other punitive measures after they criticizeda claim for compensation against the Ministry the electoral process. Prolonged strikes byof Finance. Anna Belousova had been medical workers had an impact on access toemployed at a primary school in Pertsevka public health care, disproportionatelysince 1999. In January 2011, the school’s affecting the poor.new director threatened to dismiss her unlessshe engaged in sexual relations with him. She BACKGROUNDrefused and her employment was terminatedin March 2011. The general election held on 8 August was contested by the ruling Jubilee Party, led byINTERNATIONAL SCRUTINY incumbent President Kenyatta, and the opposition coalition, the National SuperIn April, the NGO Coalition for the Defence of Alliance (NASA), led by former PrimeHuman Rights Defenders and Activists sent a Minister Raila Odinga. On 11 August, thepetition to the President. It called for the Independent Electoral and Boundariesadoption of legislation to allow for the Commission declared that President Kenyattaimplementation of decisions by UN treaty had won 54% of the vote and Raila Odingabodies relating to Kazakhstan. The Coalition 44%. NASA rejected the presidential resultsstated that of 25 decisions taken in favour of citing irregularities in the counting process,applicants from Kazakhstan since 2011, and the way the results were transmitted. Itnone had been implemented due to the filed a petition against the results with theabsence of necessary legislation. Supreme Court on 18 August. In September, the UN Special Rapporteur On 1 September, the Court ruled that theon the rights of persons with disabilities election results should be annulled becausevisited the country. The Special Rapporteur they were “invalid, null and void”, andcalled on Kazakhstan to bring its national ordered a new presidential election to takelegislation on legal capacity and mental place. NASA said they would not participatehealth in line with international human rights unless their demands were met including,law and standards. She highlighted the fact among other things, the appointment of newthat under current legislation people with returning officers in all 291 constituencies,disabilities may be institutionalized and and the engagement of independentsubjected to medical interventions without international experts to monitor the electoraltheir free and informed consent. information and communication technology system. On 10 October Raila Odinga announced his withdrawal from the contest222 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

because the Commission had not made the permitted to demonstrate withoutnecessary reforms. interference. The election re-run was planned for 26 On 19 September, Jubilee Party supportersOctober. On 30 October, the Commission protested outside the Supreme Court indeclared that Uhuru Kenyatta had won with Nairobi against its decision to annul the98% of the vote from a turnout of under 40% election; they accused the Court of “stealing”− less than half the turnout recorded in their victory.August. On 31 October, Raila Odinga calledfor a “national resistance movement” and the They blocked a main highway and burnedformation of a “people's assembly” to bring tyres. There were similar demonstrations incivil society groups together to “restore the towns of Nakuru, Kikuyu, Nyeri anddemocracy”. Eldoret. The demonstrators, mostly young people, accused the judges of making anJUSTICE SYSTEM illegal judgment.High-ranking members of the Jubilee Party On 28 September, University of Nairobiverbally attacked the Supreme Court after its students clashed with General Service Unit1 September ruling annulling President police during a protest outside the universityKenyatta’s August election victory. On 2 premises against the arrest of MP and formerSeptember, President Kenyatta announced student leader Paul Ongili. Paul Ongili wasthat there was a problem with the judiciary. A arrested the same day for abusive remarksrecord of telephone calls by one Court judge he allegedly made about President Kenyattaappeared in the media, prompting him to in connection with the election. Following thepursue legal action on defamation grounds protest, the police raided the universityagainst the Senior Director of Innovation, buildings and beat students with batons,Digital and Diaspora Communication in the injuring 27 of them. The Inspector General ofOffice of the President. Police said the university administration had invited the police to enter after the protesting On 24 October, an unidentified gunman students stoned motorists. The universityshot and injured the Court Deputy Chief Senate then closed the university on 3Justice’s driver in the capital, Nairobi. The October; it had not reopened by the end ofincident happened a day before the Court’s the year.ruling that there would be an election re-runon 26 October. Following the 26 October election, there were further killings when police fired liveEXCESSIVE USE OF FORCE ammunition at protesters. The real number of deaths during this period was unknown;In the run-up to the 8 August election, the relatives of victims did not report the killingspolice classified opposition stronghold areas for fear of reprisals from the police.of Nairobi, including Mathare, as likely“hotspots” for election-related violence. FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION In the period following the August election The authorities continued to use legal andand the Supreme Court’s decision to annul it, administrative measures to restrict thesupporters of both parties took to the streets activities of civil society organizations workingin protest. on human rights and governance. In May the Nairobi High Court ruled that the government The police used excessive force to disperse should publish the Public Benefitprotesters who supported the opposition Organization (PBO) Act 2013. Ifparty and demonstrated against the electoral implemented, the law could improve theprocess, including with live ammunition and working environment for civil societytear gas. Dozens died in the violence, organizations and NGOs. It containsincluding at least 33 people who were shot by provisions, in line with the Constitution,police and of whom two were children. guaranteeing the right to freedom ofMeanwhile, pro-government protesters wereAmnesty International Report 2017/18 223

association. However, the authorities of the Constitution and Kenya’s obligationscontinued to use the Non-Governmental under international law with regard to theOrganization (NGO) Law, which restricted the principle of non-refoulement and thefull realization of these rights. prohibition of discrimination on grounds of race or ethnicity. Thus, Dadaab refugee Between 14 and 16 August, the NGOs camp remained open. The ruling also statedCoordination Board (within the Ministry of that the government’s move to revoke theInterior and Co-ordination of National assumed refugee status of Somalis who hadGovernment) accused two human rights fled to Kenya was unconstitutional andorganizations – the Kenya Human Rights violated rights guaranteed in national andCommission and the Africa Centre for Open international instruments.Governance (AfriCOG) – of financial andregulatory impropriety. It called upon the The authorities continued the voluntaryKenya Revenue Authority, the Directorate of repatriation of Somali refugees, initiated inCriminal Investigations and the Central Bank 2014 under the Tripartite Agreementof Kenya to take action against them, framework. Between May 2016 andincluding by freezing their accounts and September 2017, over 70,000 refugees werearresting and prosecuting AfriCOG’s directors repatriated from Dadaab to Somalia.and board members.1 On 16 August, theNGOs Coordination Board threatened to On 17 February, the Court of Appeal upheldarrest the heads of both organizations, as well a 2013 High Court ruling which quashedas a former UN Special Rapporteur on the government directives to round up allrights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of refugees living in urban areas and relocateassociation, who also served on AfriCOG’s them to refugee camps, as part of a plan toboard of directors. The same day, Kenya repatriate them.Revenue Authority officials, accompanied bypolice, attempted to raid AfriCOG’s offices On 25 April, a High Court in Garissa orderedwith irregular search warrants. They stopped the deportation of 29 Somali asylum-seekersthe raid on the orders of an official in the to Somalia. The group had been arrested inMinistry of Interior and Coordination of Mwingi in March and charged before aNational Government who also suspended Magistrate Court with being in Kenyathe closure threat for 90 days. AfriCOG and unlawfully. The magistrate ordered that theythe Commission had been at the forefront of be taken to Dadaab refugee camp andthose exposing the electoral irregularities. registered by the Refugee Affairs Secretariat (RAS); however, the RAS officer refused toREFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS register them. The magistrate’s order was ultimately quashed by the High Court and allKenya continued to host almost 500,000 29, including 10 children, were deported torefugees, most of whom resided in Dadaab Somalia on 4 May 2017.refugee camp in Garissa County, andKakuma refugee camp in Turkana County. INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTSOther refugees were located in Nairobi. Themajority of refugees in Dadaab were from Elias Kimaiyo, Indigenous SengwerSomalia; the majority of refugees in Kakuma community leader and human rightswere from South Sudan. By September, defender, suffered a broken collar bone whenappeals for international support from he was beaten and shot at by a Kenya ForestUNHCR, the UN refugee agency, for the Service guard in Embobut Forest on 5 April.regional refugee crisis had secured only 27% He was attacked when he photographedof the necessary funding. guards burning Sengwer huts in violation of a 2013 injunction issued by the High Court of In February, the High Court declared the Eldoret to stop arrests and evictions of the2016 government directive to close Dadaab Sengwer people.refugee camp by May 2017 to be in violation On 26 May, the AU African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights ruled that the224 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

government had illegally evicted Ogiek detained in political prison camps, whereIndigenous People from the Mau Forest, and conditions fell far short of internationalfailed to substantiate its claim that the standards. Restrictions on the rights toeviction would serve to conserve the forest. freedom of expression and freedom of movement remained severe. Workers sentRIGHT TO HEALTH abroad suffered harsh working conditions.The strike by doctors in public hospitals BACKGROUNDwhich began in December 2016 ended inMarch 2017. The strike followed the The Democratic People’s Republic of Koreabreakdown, after several years, of (North Korea) conducted a nuclear test on 3negotiations between the government and the September, the sixth in its history, and carriedKenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists out numerous medium- and long-rangeand Dentist Union regarding the Collective missile tests throughout the year. The militaryBargaining Agreement signed in 2013. The provocations resulted in the UN issuingstrike took place against a background of unprecedentedly stringent sanctions on thealleged massive financial corruption at the country. Exchange of military and politicalMinistry of Health. It was followed in June threats between authorities of North Koreaby a strike by public hospital nurses which and the USA further escalated tensions.lasted until November, when the government Concerns over the safety risks of nuclearand the nurses’ union signed the 2013 tests increased after media reports ofAgreement. landslides near a nuclear test site, and people who had previously lived near sites The strikes adversely affected public health showing signs of possible radiation exposure.services across the country, and The killing of Kim Jong-nam, half-brother ofdisproportionately impeded access to health leader Kim Jong-un, in Malaysia on 13care for people who could not afford private February by two women allegedly usingmedical insurance cover, particularly those chemical agents raised questions about theliving in informal settlements. possible involvement of North Korean state agents.1. Kenya: Attempts to shut down human rights groups unlawful and irresponsible (News story, 15 August) ARBITRARY ARRESTS AND DETENTIONSKOREA Systematic, widespread and gross human(DEMOCRATIC rights violations continued as up to 120,000PEOPLE’S people remained in detention in the fourREPUBLIC OF) known political prison camps, and were subjected to forced labour as well as tortureDemocratic People’s Republic of Korea and other ill-treatment. Some of the violationsHead of state: Kim Jong-un amounted to crimes against humanity; noHead of government: Pak Pong-ju action to ensure accountability was known to have been taken during the year. Many ofAlthough the government took some positive those living in the camps had not beensteps to engage with international human convicted of any internationally recognizedrights mechanisms, the situation on the criminal offence; they were detainedground failed to show real progress. Up to arbitrarily for being related to individuals120,000 people continued to be arbitrarily deemed threatening to the state, or for “guilt- by-association”. Foreign nationals continued to be arrested and detained for extended periods. Tony Kim and Kim Hak-song, both US nationals and academics at the foreign-funded PyongyangAmnesty International Report 2017/18 225

University of Science and Technology, were reported cases of North Koreans dying whilearrested on 22 April and 6 May respectively working in Russia, which hosted at leastfor “hostile acts against the country”. A US 20,000 North Koreans. In May, twodiplomat was allowed to meet them in June. construction workers died in the RussianNorth Korean authorities said that they were capital Moscow after complaining ofinvestigating their alleged crimes, and breathing problems; they were believed toverdicts and sentences were pending in the have suffered acute heart failure. Acourts. The two men remained in detention at subcontractor of a World Cup stadium projectthe end of the year. in St Petersburg, where a worker died from heart failure in November 2016, said in a US national Otto Warmbier, imprisoned in media interview that many workers suffered2016 for stealing a propaganda poster, died from severe fatigue due to working long hourson 19 June, six days after he was returned to continuously for months without rest days.the USA in a coma. North Korean authoritiesfailed to adequately explain the cause of his FREEDOM OF MOVEMENTpoor state of health. A coroner’s reportreleased on 27 September in his home state During the year, 1,127 North Koreans left theof Ohio noted no evidence of torture or other country and resettled in South Korea (theill-treatment, but also did not rule out its Republic of Korea), the lowest number sincepossibility. 2002. Tightened security on both sides of the Chinese-North Korean border could be a Lim Hyeon-soo, a Canadian pastor who was possible reason for the change. Some Northsentenced in 2015 to life imprisonment with Korean women were able to leave the countryhard labour, was released on 9 August for through deals with human traffickers, only to“humanitarian reasons”, after more than two find themselves subjected to physical andyears of detention during which adequate sexual abuse or exploitative work conditionsmedical treatment was not provided.1 once on the Chinese side of the border.WORKERS’ RIGHTS – MIGRANT The year saw larger numbers of NorthWORKERS Koreans being detained in China or forcibly returned to North Korea, where they were atThe authorities continued to dispatch workers risk of forced labour or torture and other ill-to other countries, including China and treatment.2 Media also reported that theRussia. The number of workers deployed was North Korean government was activelyhard to estimate and believed to be in requesting that China repatriate individualsdecline, as some countries, such as China, suspected of leaving North Korea withoutKuwait, Poland, Qatar and Sri Lanka, stopped prior approval.renewing or issuing additional work visas toNorth Koreans in order to comply with the A number of sources, including the UNnew UN sanctions on North Korea’s Special Rapporteur on the situation of humaneconomic activities abroad. North Korea rights in the Democratic People’s Republic ofderived part of its state revenue from these Korea, reported cases of North Koreans whoworkers, who did not receive their wages had left the country, but returned ordirectly from their employers, but from their expressed a wish to return after arriving ingovernment after significant deductions. The South Korea. Some individuals who returnedNorth Korean authorities maintained tight appeared in state media testifying about thecontrol on the workers’ communications and hardships they faced outside North Korea. Asmovement, and deprived them of information the procedures for these people to re-enterabout workers’ rights in the host countries. North Korea remained unclear, their appearance led to speculations about Workers remaining in their host countries whether they had returned voluntarily or werecontinued to be subjected to excessive abducted back to the country, and whetherworking hours and were vulnerable in terms they had been persuaded by the Northof occupational health and safety. The media226 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

Korean authorities to give fabricated for some children to perform extensivetestimonies. amounts of strenuous labour.FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION 1. North Korea: Pastor Lim Hyeon-soo released after more than two years of imprisonment (ASA 24/6921/2017)The government continued to exercise severerestrictions over information exchange 2. China: Eight North Koreans at risk of forcible return (ASAbetween North Koreans and the rest of the 17/6652/2017)world. All telecommunications, postal andbroadcasting services remained state-owned, 3. North Korea: Amnesty International's submission to the Unitedand there were no independent newspapers, Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (ASA 24/6500/2017)other media or civil society organizations.Apart from a select few in the ruling elite, the KOREA (REPUBLICpopulation had no access to the internet and OF)international mobile phone services. Republic of Korea Despite the risk of arrest and detention, Head of state and government: Moon Jae-in (replacedpeople close to the Chinese border continued acting President Hwang Kyo-an in May, who replacedto contact individuals abroad by connecting Park Geun-hye in March)with the Chinese mobile network usingsmuggled mobile phones. Media reports said Large protest rallies took place in responsethe authorities further strengthened efforts to to a corruption scandal involving formertrace mobile phone activity on Chinese President Park Geun-hye. She was removednetworks and jam the signals through the from office in March. Following the changeinstallation of new radar detectors in the of government, the Korean National Policeborder areas. Agency accepted recommendations for comprehensive reform that called for aINTERNATIONAL SCRUTINY change in the overall approach to policing assemblies so as to better respect freedomFollowing the state’s ratification of the UN of peaceful assembly, although their fullConvention on the Rights of Persons with implementation remained pending at theDisabilities in December 2016, the Special end of the year. An increasing number ofRapporteur on the rights of persons with lower courts handed down decisionsdisabilities conducted an official visit to North recognizing the right to conscientiousKorea between 3 and 8 May. This was the objection. Discrimination againstfirst visit to North Korea by an independent LGBTI people remained prevalent in publicexpert designated by the UN Human Rights life, especially in the military. ArbitraryCouncil. detention based on the vaguely worded National Security Law continued. A series The CEDAW Committee and the UN of deaths of migrant workers raisedCommittee on the Rights of the Child concerns about safety in the workplace.reviewed North Korea’s human rights recordin 2017. North Korea submitted state party’s BACKGROUNDreports to the Committees, after an interval of14 and nine years respectively, and Moon Jae-in, a former human rights lawyerresponded to questions at the sessions. In its and leader of the Democratic Party, wasreview, the Committee on the Rights of the elected President in May, following theChild noted the inability of North Korean decision by the Constitutional Court in Marchchildren to regularly communicate with their to uphold a parliamentary vote impeachingparents and family members who live in a then President Park. Charges against herdifferent country.3 They also noted the included bribery and abuse of power.1exclusion of children aged 16 and 17 underthe current domestic Act for the Protection ofthe Rights of the Child, and the requirementAmnesty International Report 2017/18 227

FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY courts ruled in favour of men who refused military service for reasons of conscience.Han Sang-gyun, president of the Korean They included at least 44 District CourtConfederation of Trade Unions, was held decisions during the year.criminally responsible for sporadic clashesbetween protesters and police, and for his In May and December, the Seoulrole in organizing a series of largely peaceful Administrative Court ordered suspension ofanti-government protests in 2014 and 2015. the practice of publicly disclosing personalIn May, the Supreme Court rejected his final information about conscientious objectors,appeal against a three-year jail sentence, including name, age and address, until it haddespite an opinion by the UN Working Group made its final rulings on two cases broughton Arbitrary Detention that the charges against the Military Manpower Administrationagainst Han Sang-gyun violated his rights to for issuing the lists. The Administrative Courtfreedom of expression and of peaceful noted the irrevocable damage toassembly, and that his detention was conscientious objectors caused by this publicarbitrary. The Working Group called for his disclosure.immediate release. Calls to introduce an alternative to military In June, Lee Cheol-seong, commissioner service increased. In May, two additional billsgeneral of the Korean National Police Agency to amend the Military Service Act by(KNPA), offered an apology to the family of introducing an alternative service wereBaek Nam-gi, an activist farmer who died in submitted to the National Assembly. In June,2016 as a result of injuries sustained when the National Human Rights Commission ofpolice used water cannons during protests Korea again issued a recommendation to theagainst the government’s agricultural policies. Ministry of National Defense to introduce anThe family and civic groups criticized the alternative to military service.belated apology that lacked a clearacknowledgement by police of their RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL,responsibility. TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE In September, following calls by civil society Gay men faced considerable difficulties inorganizations, the KNPA accepted fulfilling compulsory military service free fromrecommendations by the newly established violence, bullying or verbal abuse. In May, aPolice Reform Committee.2 These included a gay soldier was found guilty of violatingpresumption that assemblies would be Article 92-6 of the Military Criminal Act thatpeaceful and that spontaneous and other prohibits military personnel from engaging inurgent peaceful assemblies would be same-sex consensual sexual activity. Dozensprotected, marking a shift in the previous of others were charged under the sameoverall approach to policing. While the Article.decision was an important step forward, themeasures fell short in other regards, The advocacy group Center for Militaryincluding not lifting the blanket ban on Human Rights Korea published screen shotsoutdoor assemblies taking place at specific of dating app conversations that the grouptimes and places. In addition, the adopted said resulted from military pressure onmeasures still needed to be firmly enshrined targeted men to identify other supposedly gayin law to bring them into line with men. The group said that militaryinternational human rights law and investigators had confiscated mobile phonesstandards. belonging to up to 50 soldiers suspected of being gay and insisted that they identify otherCONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS gay men on their contact lists and gay dating apps.At the same time as the Constitutional Courtwas examining the legality of conscientious In September, the National Assemblyobjection, an increasing number of lower rejected Kim Yi-su as chief justice of the Constitutional Court despite his nomination228 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

by President Moon Jae-in. He had been Commission had claimed that the sitequestioned during the National Assembly’s breached the NSL, which had been used inpublic hearing about his support for LGBTI the past to imprison people for “praising” orrights and there were active campaigns by expressing sympathy for North Korea.some religious groups opposing hiscandidacy. CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITYWORKERS’ RIGHTS − MIGRANT Courts handed down decisionsWORKERS acknowledging the responsibility of multinational corporations for the work-Migrant workers continued to be vulnerable related death or illness of former or currentto exploitation under the Employment Permit employees. These included a Supreme CourtSystem, including having to work long hours judgment in August against Samsungwith little or no rest time, low and irregularly Electronics that a former factory workerpaid wages, and dangerous working should be recognized as suffering from anconditions. occupational disease. The Supreme Court returned the case to the High Court, noting In May, two Nepalese migrant workers died that the lack of evidence resulting from thefrom suffocation while cleaning a septic tank company’s refusal to provide information andat a pig farm in North Gyeongsang Province. an inadequate investigation by theTwo weeks later, two migrant workers from government should not be held against theChina and Thailand died after losing worker.consciousness while cleaning excrement at adifferent pig farm in Gyeonggi Province. 1. South Korea: 8-point human rights agenda for presidential candidates (ASA 25/5785/2017) In August, a Nepalese migrant worker inNorth Chungcheong Province committed 2. Mission failed: Policing assemblies in South Korea (ASAsuicide in a factory dormitory. He left a note 25/7119/2017)stating that his employer had refused to allowhim to either change his workplace or return KUWAITto Nepal to receive treatment for severeinsomnia. State of Kuwait Head of state: Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-ARBITRARY ARRESTS AND DETENTIONS Sabah Head of government: Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak al-Arbitrary detention of individuals based on Hamad al-Sabahthe vaguely worded National Security Law(NSL) continued. Lee Jin-young, owner of The authorities continued to unduly restrictonline library “Labour Books”, was brought to freedom of expression, including bycourt for alleged violations of the NSL after prosecuting and imprisoning governmentdistributing online materials deemed to critics and banning certain publications.“benefit” the Democratic People’s Republic Members of the Bidun minority continuedof Korea (North Korea). A District Court to face discrimination and were deniedacquitted him in July, but an appeal by the citizenship rights. Migrant workersgovernment to the High Court remained remained inadequately protected againstpending. exploitation and abuse. Courts continued to hand down death sentences and executionsFREEDOM OF EXPRESSION resumed after a hiatus of four years.In April, the Seoul Administrative Court ruledas unlawful the decision by the KoreaCommunications Standards Commission,which censors internet content, to ban a blogentitled “North Korea Tech” covering ITdevelopment in North Korea. TheAmnesty International Report 2017/18 229

BACKGROUND “confess” to offences he did not commit. He remained on trial on other similar charges.On 6 April, Parliament reversed a 2015amendment to the Juvenile Law, once again Former MP Musallam al-Barrak wasraising the age of minors from 16 to 18 years. released in April after serving a two-yearAs such, those arrested below 18 years of prison term for criticizing the government. Heage could be protected from life-term prison continued to face separate trials on othersentences and the death penalty. charges. In July the authorities reinstated mandatory Bidun activist Abdulhakim al-Fadhli wasmilitary service, imposing punitive measures released on 1 August after serving a one-yearfor those failing to register for military service prison sentence in relation to a peacefulwithin 60 days of reaching the age of 18. demonstration in 2012, after which he had been due to be expelled from Kuwait. In Kuwait led mediation efforts seeking to February, the Cassation Court had overturnedresolve the Gulf crisis that erupted in early his acquittal along with 25 other Bidun menJune, when Saudi Arabia, the United Arab for their participation in peacefulEmirates (UAE) and Bahrain severed demonstrations in Taima. The courtrelations with Qatar. Kuwait remained part of reinstated their two-year prison sentence, asthe Saudi Arabia-led coalition engaged in well as a bail of 500 Kuwaiti dinars (aboutarmed conflict in Yemen (see Yemen entry). USD1,660) to halt the implementation of the prison sentence on condition that they signedFREEDOM OF EXPRESSION a pledge to no longer take part in demonstrations. Abdulhakim al-Fadhli signedThe authorities continued to unduly restrict the pledge which, in his case, also annulledthe right to freedom of expression, his expulsion order.prosecuting and imprisoning governmentcritics and online activists under penal code In August the Public Prosecutor ordered aprovisions that criminalized comments ban on publications in connection withdeemed offensive to the Emir or damaging to reporting on ongoing state security casesrelations with neighbouring states. before the courts. The ban was despite the Cassation Court establishing in May that In March, UK-based writer and blogger there were no provisions in the lawRania al-Saad was sentenced on appeal and criminalizing the breach of “confidentiality”in her absence to three years in prison on or prohibiting the publication of suchcharges of “insulting Saudi Arabia” on information.Twitter. The Appeal Court reversed her earlieracquittal rendering this verdict final. COUNTER-TERROR AND SECURITY In May the Cassation Court upheld an On 18 July, the Cassation Court issued itsAppeal Court verdict in the “al-Fintas group” verdict in the case against 26 defendants oncase of 13 men charged in connection with charges that included “spying for Iran andWhatsApp discussions about video footage Hizbullah”. The court upheld the deaththat appeared to show government members sentence of one defendant in his absenceadvocating the Emir’s removal from power. and commuted that of another to lifeSix were acquitted and seven were sentenced imprisonment. Thirteen men had theirto between one and 10 years’ imprisonment, acquittals overturned and were sentenced tosome in their absence. The trial was marred between five and 15 years in prison. Duringby irregularities. the trial, some of the 26 defendants reported that they had been tortured in pre-trial In July the Cassation Court upheld a 10- detention; their allegations were notyear prison sentence against blogger Waleed investigated. In August the authorities re-Hayes on vaguely worded charges that arrested 14 men who had been acquittedincluded “defaming” the Emir and the and released on appeal.judiciary. During his trial, Waleed Hayesclaimed he was tortured to make him230 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

DEPRIVATION OF NATIONALITY DEATH PENALTYIn March the Emir ordered that the nationality Executions were carried out on 25 January,of some government critics and their families the first since 2013. Courts continued tobe reinstated. hand down death sentences for offences including murder, drugs offences and On 2 January the Court of Cassation terrorism-related charges.suspended the Appeal Court’s decision torestore the nationality of Ahmad Jabr al- KYRGYZSTANShamari and his family until it issued itsverdict. In early March, Ahmad Jabr al- Kyrgyz RepublicShamari withdrew his appeal against the Head of state: Sooronbai Jeenbekov (replaced2014 government decision to strip him of his Almazbek Atambaev in October)nationality and in April the Cassation Court Head of government: Sapar Isakov (replaced Sooronbaiclosed the case, declaring the dispute Jeenbekov in August)resolved. The authorities restricted the rights toDISCRIMINATION – BIDUN freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, particularly in the run-up to theMore than 100,000 Bidun residents of presidential elections. LGBTI peopleKuwait remained stateless. In May 2016, continued to face discrimination andParliament had approved a draft law that violence from state and non-state actors.would grant Kuwaiti citizenship to up to Vulnerable groups, including people with4,000 Bidun, but it had not been enacted by disabilities, faced additional difficultiesthe end of 2017. In September the UN accessing health care. The life sentence ofCommittee on the Elimination of Racial prisoner of conscience Azimjan Askarov wasDiscrimination recommended that all Bidun upheld following his retrial.should be guaranteed access to adequatesocial services and education on an equal PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCEfooting with Kuwaiti nationals, and that in itsnext periodic report Kuwait should provide On 24 January, the Chui Regional Courtinformation on access to education for Bidun. completed the retrial of prisoner of conscience Azimjan Askarov, an ethnicWORKERS’ RIGHTS – MIGRANT Uzbek human rights defender, and upheldWORKERS his conviction and life sentence for “participating in ethnic violence and theMigrant workers, including those in the murder of a police officer” in 2010. In Marchdomestic, construction and other sectors, 2016, the UN Human Rights Committeecontinued to face exploitation and abuse recommended that Azimjan Askarov beunder the official kafala sponsorship system, released immediately, recognizing that hewhich prevents them from changing jobs or had been tortured, denied the right to a fairleaving the country without their employers’ trial and detained arbitrarily and underpermission. inhumane conditions. Following the 24 January decision, the UN Office of the HighWOMEN’S RIGHTS Commissioner for Human Rights stated that the Court’s decision highlighted “seriousIn May, the UN Working Group on the issue shortcomings” in the country’s judicialof discrimination against women in law and in system.practice recognized improvements, includingwomen’s rights to vote, to stand for elections In September, a court in the town of Bazar-and to receive equal pay to men. Korgan overturned the 2010 court decision toDiscrimination against women continued, confiscate Azimjan Askarov’s family home. Ifhowever, with regard to laws on inheritance,marriage, child custody, nationality rights anddomestic violence.Amnesty International Report 2017/18 231

approved, the confiscation order would have FREEDOMS OF EXPRESSION ANDrendered his wife, Khadicha Askarova, ASSEMBLYhomeless. The authorities imposed restrictions on theRIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, rights to freedom of expression and peacefulTRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE assembly, particularly in the run-up to the October presidential elections. IndependentLGBTI people continued to face journalists, media outlets, human rightsdiscrimination and violence from state and defenders and political activists facednon-state actors. Labrys, an LGBTI rights intimidation and harassment, includinggroup, continued its efforts to bring to justice prosecution on charges of spreading falsethe suspected perpetrators of a violent attack information and destabilizing the country.in 2015 on its office and on a private event tomark the International Day against Between March and April, the GeneralHomophobia and Transphobia. Criminal trials Prosecutor’s Office initiated a number of civilagainst the members of a nationalist youth court proceedings for defamation againstgroup behind the attacks collapsed when the online media outlet Zanoza.kg, its co-victims named in the court documents founders and independent journalists“reconciled” with the perpetrators. Narynbek Idinov and Dina Maslova, and human rights defender Cholpon Dzhakupova.SEX WORKERS This was in connection with media articles critical of the President. In June, the courtSex work was not criminalized but continued ruled in favour of the plaintiff in two trials andto be highly stigmatized, and sex workers ordered Zanoza.kg as well as the other threefaced discrimination and violence. Police defendants to pay 3 million somsoperations targeting sex workers through (USD44,000) each in moral damages. Thearbitrary arrests for “petty hooliganism” and Supreme Court upheld the rulings inother purported administrative offences November.continued throughout the year. Police officersregularly extorted money from sex workers. On 18 March, police disrupted a peaceful demonstration in the capital Bishkek andRIGHT TO HEALTH arrested a number of participants. Human rights defenders, journalists, and otherMarginalized groups, including people living activists had organized the march to protestin rural areas, people living in poverty, and against the deterioration of freedom ofpeople with disabilities, continued to face expression. The route had been previouslybarriers to accessing adequate health care. agreed with the relevant authorities. FiveAlthough they were entitled to free or demonstrators were charged and sentencedsubsidized health care, they were routinely to five days’ administrative detention fordenied access to quality health care facilities, disrupting traffic. The hearing was closed,specialist treatment and medications. including to the defendants’ lawyers whoInformal payments to medical personnel, who were denied access to the courtroom.were affected by low salaries, werecommonplace. In July, a court in Bishkek accepted a request by the Mayor’s Office for a blanketLEGAL, CONSTITUTIONAL OR ban on all public demonstrations at keyINSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS locations until after the presidential elections. The ban, however, did not apply to officialKyrgyzstan signed the UN Convention on the events organized by the authorities.Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2011,but had not ratified it, citing Kyrgyzstan’seconomic difficulties as the primary reason.232 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

LAOS FREEDOMS OF EXPRESSION, ASSEMBLY AND ASSOCIATIONLao People’s Democratic RepublicHead of state: Bounnhang Vorachith Various criminal code provisions andHead of government: Thongloun Sisoulith restrictive decrees were used to imprison activists and to suppress the rights toThe rights to freedom of expression, freedom of expression and assembly.association and peaceful assembly Broadcast media, print media and civilremained severely restricted, and the state society activity remained under stringentexercised strict control over media and civil state control. Political parties other than thesociety. Three activists were convicted in a ruling Lao People’s Revolutionary Partytrial concerning their participation in remained banned.protests in Thailand and comments madeon social media. There was no progress on After a secret trial held in April, activistsinvestigations into a number of enforced Soukan Chaithad, Somphone Phimmasonedisappearances. and Lodkham Thammavong were convicted on charges relating to co-operating withBACKGROUND foreign entities to undermine the state, distributing propaganda, and organizingLaos submitted state party reports to the UN protests to cause “turmoil”. They wereHuman Rights Committee, as well as to the sentenced to between 12 and 20 years inCEDAW Committee and the UN Committee prison. The three had been arrested theon the Rights of the Child. previous year after returning from Thailand to renew their passports. They had previouslyENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES participated in a protest outside the Lao embassy in the Thai capital, Bangkok, andDespite signing the International Convention posted a number of messages on Facebookfor the Protection of All Persons from criticizing the Lao government. In August, theEnforced Disappearance in 2008, Laos had UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentionyet to ratify the treaty. declared that their detention was arbitrary. Also in August, the government passed a The government failed to establish the fate Decree on Associations that imposed onerousor whereabouts of Sombath Somphone, a registration requirements and restrictions onprominent civil society member who was NGOs and other civic groups and stipulatedabducted in 2012 outside a police post in the harsh criminal penalties for failure to comply.capital, Vientiane. CCTV cameras capturedhim being stopped by police and driven ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURALaway. Authorities also failed to establish the RIGHTSfate or whereabouts of Kha Yang, a Laoethnic Hmong arrested after his forced return Villagers affected by development projects,from Thailand in 2011, and of Sompawn including the construction of dams and aKhantisouk, an entrepreneur who was active Laos-China railway, were forced to relocate.on conservation issues and abducted in 2007 They claimed that they had not beenby men believed to be police. adequately consulted or compensated. In April, the Prime Minister acknowledged In July, Ko Tee, a Thai political activist problems with implementing land concessionsought by the Thai government, disappeared regulations. Activists expressed concernsin Laos. The Lao government made no about damage to livelihoods and theapparent efforts to investigate his environment caused by the construction ofdisappearance. hydropower dams.Amnesty International Report 2017/18 233

LATVIA Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights described the fine as disproportionateRepublic of Latvia and raised concerns about the harmful effectHead of state: Raimonds Vējonis of such a measure on the right to freedom ofHead of government: Māris Kučinskis expression in the country.Ill-treatment of detainees by law DISCRIMINATIONenforcement officials continued to bereported and prison conditions remained In August, the government put forward draftpoor. A disproportionate fine imposed on a legislation which effectively prohibits wearingnews portal for defamation gave rise to the full-face veil in public. The Justiceconcerns about the right to freedom of Ministry argued that the measure wouldexpression. The government put forward protect people’s welfare and morality, anddraft legislation that would discriminate facilitate the integration of immigrants. Criticsagainst women wearing full-face veils in called the legislation discriminatory andpublic places. disproportionate.UNFAIR TRIALS REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERSIn January, the European Court of Human Latvia continued to build a fence along itsRights found that Latvia had violated the border with Russia, expected to beEuropean Convention on Human Rights, completed in 2019 and to cover a 90kmincluding in relation to Article 6 because area, with the stated aim of preventing anproceedings had exceeded a reasonable time “influx of migrants”.in the case of a man seeking compensationfor injuries inflicted on him by a police officer Under the EU relocation and resettlementupon his arrest in 1995. The man alleged he schemes, Latvia pledged to relocate 481had lost his sight as a result of being beaten asylum-seekers from Greece and Italy. Byand kicked by the officer. Although the May it had relocated 308.perpetrator was convicted of ill-treatment in2003, the complainant had not received WOMEN’S RIGHTSadequate reparations. In March, the Minister of Welfare announcedDETENTION that the government would ratify the Council of Europe Convention on preventing andIn June, the European Committee for the combating violence against women andPrevention of Torture called on the authorities domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) byto address inter-prisoner violence and the end of 2018.improve prisoners’ access to health care. Italso expressed concerns about allegations of LEBANONexcessive use of force by police officersduring the apprehension and questioning of Lebanese Republicsuspects in the absence of their lawyers. Head of state: Michel Aoun Head of government: Saad HaririFREEDOM OF EXPRESSION Lebanon hosted more than 1 millionIn January, the Riga Higher Court ordered the refugees from Syria, in addition to severalnews portal Tvnet to pay a EUR50,000 fine hundred thousand long-term Palestinianfor damaging the reputation of the Latvian refugees and more than 20,000 refugeesNational Opera and Ballet. Tvnet had from other countries. The authoritiespublished an article criticizing it for becoming maintained restrictions that effectivelya “public house of Putin’s court”. The closed Lebanon’s borders to people fleeing Syria. Parliament repealed a law allowing234 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

people accused of rape to escape agency, from registering newly arrivedpunishment by marrying their victim, and refugees.passed a new law criminalizing torture.Access to essential services remained Syrian refugees faced financial andcurtailed by the economic crisis. Authorities administrative difficulties in obtaining orhanded down death sentences; there were renewing residency permits, exposing themno executions. to a constant risk of arbitrary arrest, detention and forcible return to Syria. In February theBACKGROUND authorities introduced a waiver of the 300,000 Lebanese pound (USD200)The economic crisis continued. Access to residency fee for Syrian refugees registeredbasic services, including electricity and water, with UNHCR, excluding those who hadremained severely curtailed across the entered Lebanon after January 2015 or whocountry. Public protests and strikes had renewed their residency through work orcontinued throughout the year, including by a private sponsor, as well as Palestinianjudges, public sector staff, parents and refugees from Syria. The waiver was notworkers, as well as residents living near sites applied consistently by government officials,of unprocessed waste. Waste and many refugees were not able to renewmismanagement, which had prompted the their residency permits.largest protests in years, remainedunresolved. Refugees from Syria continued to face severe economic hardship. According to the On 4 November, Prime Minister Hariri UN, 76% of Syrian refugee households livedannounced his resignation in a speech below the poverty line and more than halfdelivered from the Saudi Arabian capital, lived in substandard conditions inRiyadh, under circumstances that remained overcrowded buildings and denselyunclear. President Aoun did not accept his populated neighbourhoods. Refugees facedresignation. restrictions to finding official work and were subjected to curfews and other restrictions on The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and the their movement in a number ofarmed group Hezbollah launched two military municipalities. Several municipalities servedoperations in the northern border town of refugees with eviction notices, forcing themArsal against the armed groups Jabhat Al- to seek alternative places to live in anNusra and Islamic State (IS), in July and increasingly hostile and xenophobicAugust respectively. By the end of August, environment. In March the LAF issuedthe LAF had regained control of Arsal and the eviction notices to refugees living in camps insurrounding area, and retrieved the bodies of the vicinity of Riyak Airbase in the Bekaa10 Lebanese soldiers taken hostage by IS in region, affecting around 12,665 individuals.2014. The UN humanitarian appeal for Syrian In the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el- refugees in Lebanon was only 56% fundedHelweh, in the southern city of Saida, clashes by the end of the year and resettlementerupted between IS and IS-affiliated groups places in other countries remainedon the one hand, and Palestinian armed inadequate.groups and the LAF. On 30 June the LAF conducted raids on two In June, the Parliament approved a new informal tented settlements accommodatingelectoral law and scheduled the twice- Syrian refugees in Arsal. At least 350 menpostponed parliamentary elections for May were arrested during the raids. Most were2018, the first to take place since 2009. subsequently released but there were reports that some detainees were tortured andREFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS otherwise ill-treated by soldiers and four men died while in custody. The authorities did notA government decision from May 2015continued to bar UNHCR, the UN refugeeAmnesty International Report 2017/18 235

publish any findings from their investigations Committee on the Rights of the Child alsointo these deaths. included this recommendation in its concluding observations on Lebanon, in Between June and August, thousands of addition to calling on Lebanon to ensure thatSyrians returned from Arsal to Syria, mostly citizenship would be conferred to childrenfollowing agreements negotiated by who would otherwise be stateless.Hezbollah with armed groups in Syria. Women migrant workers continued to suffer Palestinian refugees, including many long- discriminatory laws and practices, restrictingterm residents in Lebanon, remained subject their rights to freedom of movement,to discriminatory laws excluding them from education and health, including sexual andowning or inheriting property, accessing reproductive health.public education and health services, orworking in at least 36 professions. At least RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL,3,000 Palestinian refugees who did not hold TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLEofficial identity documents faced furtherrestrictions denying them the right to register The Internal Security Forces (ISF) continuedbirths, marriages and deaths. to arrest people and press charges under Article 534 of the Penal Code, which Lebanon had not yet ratified the 1951 UN criminalized “sexual intercourses whichRefugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. contradict the laws of nature” and was used to prosecute LGBTI people.TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT In May the ISF banned several activities thatIn May, Lebanon made its first appearance had been planned across the country to markbefore the UN Committee against Torture, International Day against Homophobia andfollowing ratification of the UN Convention Transphobia, citing security concernsagainst Torture and its Optional Protocol in following threats made by radical Islamist2000 and 2008, respectively. A new anti- groups.torture law came into effect on 26 October.The law was largely aligned with Lebanon’s FREEDOM OF EXPRESSIONinternational obligations but failed toincorporate the Committee’s observations The ISF Cybercrime and Intellectual Propertywith regards to the statute of limitations and Bureau continued to interrogate, arrest andpenalties for committing the crime of torture. hold in pre-trial detention peaceful activistsMoreover, the law failed to provide that army for posting comments on social media. Theofficers accused of torture would be tried Public Prosecution issued at least four arrestbefore civilian courts. orders on charges that included “insulting the President… the flag or the nationalWOMEN’S RIGHTS emblem”, “defamation” and “libel and slander”. During their pre-trial detention,In August, the Parliament repealed Article which lasted several days, most of the522 of the Penal Code which allowed a activists were denied access to their lawyersperson convicted of kidnapping or rape, and families.including statutory rape, to escapeprosecution if they proposed to marry the RIGHT TO HEALTHvictim. Civil society organizations continuedto call for the repeal of Articles 505 and 518, In August the governmental Generalwhich allowed for marriage with minors aged Disciplinary Council confirmed that expiredbetween 15 and 18 as a way to escape and fake drugs were being used to treatprosecution. cancer at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the capital’s largest public hospital, Women’s rights groups continued to and took disciplinary action against the headadvocate for the right of women married to of the hospital pharmacy.foreign nationals to pass their nationality totheir husband and children. The UN236 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

Civil society raised a number of cases Police Commissioner said that a criminalbefore the judiciary related to violations of the investigation into the case was ongoing.rights to health and clean water, includingcases related to the sale of expired drugs in In August the High Court ruled in favour of apublic hospitals and to waste habeas corpus application brought by themismanagement; these efforts were family of Mokalekale Khetheng whounsuccessful, either as a result of delayed disappeared on 26 March 2016 after arrestcourt rulings or failure to implement rulings. on unspecified charges by four LMPS officers in Leribe District. In August, the policeDEATH PENALTY officers were arrested in connection with his murder; Mokalekale Khetheng’s body wasCourts continued to hand down death exhumed. The former Minister of Defencesentences; no executions were carried out. was then arrested in connection with the murder. He and the officers were alsoLESOTHO charged with conspiracy to cause a disappearance. The former Minister wasKingdom of Lesotho released on bail in September. The formerHead of state: King Letsie III National Police Commissioner, who remainedHead of government: Thomas Motsoahae Thabane abroad throughout the year, was apparently(replaced Pakalitha Mosisili in June) implicated in the case although he was not charged.The continued political and security crisisled to a sharp increase in human rights On 5 September, Lesotho Defence Forceviolations. Allegations of torture and other (LDF) Commander Khoantle Motsomotso wasill-treatment continued. The right to shot dead in his office at the LDFfreedom of expression remained severely headquarters in the capital, Maseru. Tworestricted. There were unlawful killings. suspects in the killing, LDF members Brigadier Bulane Sechele and Colonel TefoBACKGROUND Hashatsi, also died in retaliatory fire. The Prime Minister announced an investigationOn 1 March, after months of unrest, into the incident. No further informationParliament passed a vote of no confidence in about the progress of the investigation hadthen Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili. On 7 been received by the end of the year.March, King Letsie announced Parliament’sdissolution and elections were held on 3 IMPUNITYJune. A coalition government, led by ThomasThabane of the All Basotho Convention party, On 14 June, Lipolelo Thabane, the estrangedwas formed. wife of Prime Minister Thabane, was killed on the eve of his inauguration. The NationalUNLAWFUL KILLINGS Police Commissioner said that a criminal investigation into the case was ongoing.On 28 April, Tumelo Mohlomi, a student fromthe University of Lesotho was killed when she In August, the Southern Africa Developmentwas shot in the back of the head by a Community (SADC) extended the tenure ofLesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) an oversight committee, established in 2016officer while she was in a restaurant outside to ensure implementation of thethe campus. A police officer was arrested recommendations made by its Commission ofafter the killing and apparently released on Inquiry. The Commission was set up in thebail. The victim’s family brought a civil case light of heightened political instability in 2015of murder against the LMPS, which sought and, among other things, investigated thean out-of-court settlement. The National killing by LDF soldiers of former army chief Lieutenant-General Maaparankoe Mahao. The Commission found that he was deliberately killed and recommended aAmnesty International Report 2017/18 237

criminal investigation. In June his widow FREEDOM OF EXPRESSIONinstituted a case for damages against theLDF’s Commander, the Minister of Defence The right to freedom of expression continuedand National Security and the Attorney to be threatened. Nkoale Oetsi Tsoana, aGeneral. On 1 December, eight LDF journalist with Moeletsi Oa Basotho, receivedmembers appeared before the Maseru death threats from Lesotho Congress forMagistrates Court on charges connected to Democracy (LCD) supporters in August whilehis killing. he covered the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences’ investigation intoUNFAIR TRIALS corruption allegations against LCD leader and former Deputy Prime Minister MothetjoaIn August, the Prime Minister postponed Metsing. The same day, Palo Mohlotsane, aindefinitely the court-martial of 23 LDF PC-FM radio journalist, received threats fromofficers accused of mutiny. Sixteen officers the Deputy Leader and members of the LCDwere released from prison in 2016; the after he covered the same story.remaining seven were released on 1 March2017. All 23 were under “open arrest”, a Nthakoana Ngatane, South Africanform of military bail,1 for most of the year. In Broadcasting Corporation correspondent,August, 22 of the officers had signed a received repeated online death threats frompetition to the government raising concerns June after she reported on possible motivesthat the deferred court-martial could for the killing of Lipolelo Thabane. On 16undermine their rights to redress and June crowds gathered outside MoAfrika FMrequesting that due process be followed and radio station’s offices and threatened thethat their open arrest be cancelled. In owner, Sebonomoea Ramainoane, after theNovember, the High Court ordered the court- station implicated Prime Minister Thabane inmartial against one of them to be the killing of his wife. On 8 September thediscontinued. On 18 December, a court- Maseru Magistrate Court orderedmartial hearing found the remaining 22 Sebonomoea Ramainoane, also the station’ssoldiers not guilty on all charges. editor-in-chief, to release to the LMPS the station’s audio recordings of interviews airedTORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT between 28 August and 6 September. On 13 September, the authorities closed the stationThato Makara said that he was tortured and for 72 hours and on 15 September detainedotherwise ill-treated after he reported to the Sebonomoea Ramainoane for several hours.Maseru police headquarters in April; he had On 25 September, the Lesotho High Courtbeen summoned in connection with a cancelled the Magistrate Court’s order.murder case. He attended the police stationwith his employer, Thuso Litjobo, president of On 29 August, exiled investigative journalistthe Alliance for Democrats Youth League, Keiso Mohloboli received online death threatswho was released the same evening. Thato for comments she posted on social mediaMakara said that he was taken to Ha Matela about human rights violations in Lesotho. Shepolice holding cell in the Maseru area, and had received similar threats on 10 June.then to Lekhalo La Baroa where he wassubjected to torture including waterboarding, On 13 December, five members of the LDFrubber gloves tied over his mouth and nose, went on trial for the attempted murder of theand beatings. After a habeas corpus Lesotho Times editor Lloyd Mutungamiri inapplication, Thato Makara appeared in court July 2016. He suffered near fatal gunshotwhere he testified about his torture; he was wounds after being attacked outside hisreleased on 18 April. He was charged with home in Maseru. The shooting followed hismurder the next day in connection with a newspaper’s publication of an article claimingdeath at a political rally. He was bailed on 20 that the outgoing LDF head was to receive anApril. exit package of USD3.5 million.238 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

1. Lesotho: A human rights agenda for the new Lesotho government crimes committed by Alieu Kosiah and (AFR 33/6468/2017) Martina Johnson – commanders in rebel groups − who were arrested in SwitzerlandLIBERIA and Belgium respectively, in 2014.Republic of Liberia DETENTIONHead of state and government: Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Prisons continued to be overcrowded, partlyDomestic violence, and sexual violence because hundreds of people were held inagainst women and girls remained prolonged pre-trial detention. Detainees hadwidespread. Impunity for human rights inadequate access to medical care andviolations persisted. Prison conditions did recreational facilities. In June, an inmatenot meet international standards and became pregnant by a male prisoner atindividuals were frequently held in Tubmanburg Central Prison after she wasprolonged pre-trial detention. coerced into sex. The incident was facilitated by prison officers who then took her to haveBACKGROUND an abortion without her consent. Following an investigation, several prison officers werePresidential and legislative elections began in dismissed; however, none of them wereOctober. George Weah, of the Congress for known to have been prosecuted.Democratic Change party, was elected asPresident on 26 December and was expected FREEDOM OF EXPRESSIONto take up his position in January 2018. A bill was introduced in the House of The practice of placing government schools Representatives to decriminalize pressunder the control of a private company offences, particularly related to libel. Itlimited children’s access to adequate remained pending at the end of the year.education, a concern raised in 2016 by theUN Special Rapporteur on the right to RIGHT TO EDUCATIONeducation. In August, 174 national and internationalIMPUNITY organizations called on investors to stop supporting Bridge International Academies, aMost of the 2009 recommendations of the private company that runs 25 schools inTruth and Reconciliation Commission were Liberia and other African countries. Earlier, inyet to be implemented, including a March, the Coalition for Transparency andrecommendation to establish a criminal Accountability in Education highlightedtribunal to prosecute crimes under concerns about the company’s practicesinternational law, and measures aimed at such as capping classroom numbers inobtaining accountability and reparation for government schools, a practice that leftvictims. The Commission was established children without access to a local school. Thefollowing human rights violations and abuses running of these schools had beencarried out during the 14-year civil war which outsourced to the Bridge Internationalended in 2003. Academies in 2016. No one had been prosecuted in Liberia for WOMEN’S RIGHTShuman rights violations committed during thecivil war. However, Mohammed Jabbateh was Domestic violence, rape and other forms ofconvicted of perjury and immigration fraud in sexual violence against women and girls,the USA, in relation to his role in alleged war including practices such as female genitalcrimes. Investigations also continued in mutilation and early marriage remainedSwitzerland and Belgium into alleged war widespread. Impunity for rape and other forms of violence against women remained prevalent. However, a domestic violence billAmnesty International Report 2017/18 239

was passed by the legislature in July and was groups abducted, arbitrarily arrested andawaiting the President’s signature at the end indefinitely detained thousands of people.of the year. The government, the UN and Torture and other ill-treatment wasdevelopment partners continued to invest in widespread in prisons under the control ofsexual and gender-based violence units, armed groups, militias and state officials.located in police stations and government Migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers wereministries to investigate sexual abuse and subjected to widespread and systematicviolence, as well as a specialized court to serious human rights violations and abusesdeal with such crimes in Montserrado County at the hands of state officials, smugglersin the northwest. The authorities continued to and armed groups. Women facedrun 12 one-stop centres in seven counties discrimination, including arbitrarywhich offered medical and support services restrictions on their right to travel. Theto survivors of sexual violence. death penalty remained in force; no executions were reported. Affordable and accessible abortion servicescontinued to be largely unavailable to rape BACKGROUNDsurvivors, despite legislation allowing forabortion in sexual violence cases where the Three rival governments and hundreds ofattack is recorded with the police and militias and armed groups continued toauthorization given by two medical compete for power and control over territory,professionals. Unsafe abortions continued to lucrative trade routes and strategic militarycontribute to Liberia having one of highest locations. The UN-backed Government ofrates of maternal deaths and injuries in National Accord (GNA) continued to reinforceAfrica. its positions in the capital, Tripoli, gradually gaining territory through strategic alliancesRIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, and often after armed clashes. In May, theTRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade and the Abu Salim Brigade, both affiliated to the GNA’sLGBTI people experienced discrimination, Ministry of the Interior, removed the coalitionharassment and threats. The Penal Code of militias supporting the Government ofcriminalized consensual sexual activity National Salvation (GNS) from their keybetween same-sex adults. A man arrested in positions in Tripoli. These included the site ofJune 2012 on allegations of “voluntary Hadba prison where former senior officialssodomy” remained in detention at the from the rule of Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi wereMonrovia Central Prison at the end of the detained, and Tripoli International Airport,year. where they took control of key strategic areas, including the airport road.LIBYA The self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA),State of Libya led by Khalifa Haftar, consolidated its powerHead of state: Disputed and made significant gains in eastern LibyaHead of government: Fayez Serraj after defeating the Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries (SCBR) in Benghazi andForces affiliated to three rival governments, evicting the Benghazi Defence Brigadesas well as armed groups and militias, (BDB) from Benghazi, the oil port of Rascommitted serious violations of Lanuf and the desert military base of al-Jufra.international law and abuses of human In May, the Misrata 3rd force aided by therights with impunity. All sides to the BDB attacked the Brak al-Shati air base,conflict carried out indiscriminate attacks resulting in the deaths of 141 peoplein heavily populated areas leading to deaths including LNA soldiers. The LNA regainedof civilians and unlawful killings. Armed control of the air base, aided by air strikes from the Egyptian air force.240 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

In July the Constitutional Drafting Assembly Ganfouda area of Benghazi by launching anapproved the new draft Constitution, an attack to drive the BDB forces out of one ofinitiative that had begun in 2014. No date their last strongholds in the city. The two-was set for the referendum on the month siege had cut off all supplies to theConstitution. area, including food and water, and had trapped civilians and wounded fighters In September and November, the USA without access to medical care and othercarried out several strikes by remotely piloted basic services. The attack on Ganfouda wasvehicles (drones) in Libya including south of indiscriminate and resulted in the deaths ofSirte, targeting the armed group Islamic State at least five civilians. LNA fighters posed for(IS). In May, the armed group Ansar al- photos with the bodies, including theShari’a in Libya announced its own exhumed body of a BDB commander whodissolution. had been killed in air strikes and buried in the days prior to the ground attack. In September, the UN Security Councilextended the mandate of the UN Support In July the LNA tightened its siege on theMission in Libya (UNSMIL) until 15 city of Derna in its fight against the DernaSeptember 2018. Ghassan Salamé, the UN’s Mujahideen Shora Council, hindering accessnewly appointed Special Representative for to food, petrol and medical supplies, resultingLibya, outlined his action plan, which in a rapid deterioration of the humanitarianincluded amending the UN-brokered Libyan situation in the city. A series of air strikes onPolitical Agreement (LPA), convening a Derna killed scores of civilians and injurednational congress, and holding legislative and others, including children.presidential elections in 2018. In December,the UN Security Council reiterated its UNLAWFUL KILLINGScommitment to the LPA as the only viableframework for the transition period. In March, LNA-affiliated fighters were filmed killing captured SCBR fighters, a seriousINTERNAL ARMED CONFLICT violation of international humanitarian law and a war crime. In August, the ICC issued aArmed clashes between rival forces warrant for the arrest of Mahmoud el-Werfellicontinued to take place sporadically for alleged war crimes committed while hethroughout the country, with armed groups was field commander of the Special Forcesand militias carrying out indiscriminate Brigade (Al-Saiqa) affiliated to the LNA,attacks in heavily populated areas leading to including for involvement in the Marchthe deaths of civilians. In February, clashes killings.between militias in the Abu Salim area ofTripoli resulted in two civilians being killed A number of mass graves were uncoveredand three injured, including a child who was in Benghazi between February and October.shot in the head by a stray bullet. In July, On at least four occasions, groups of bodiesclashes broke out between two militias near were found in different parts of the city withMitiga airport in Tripoli over the control of a their hands bound behind their backs, and inlocal beach resort. The militias used some cases blindfolded with signs of tortureexplosive weapons with wide-area effects, and execution-style killing. In August, theincluding rocket propelled grenades (RPGs), bodies of six unidentified men were found inin densely populated civilian areas. In one a rubbish bin in the eastern Benghazicase, RPGs hit a nearby beach, killing five neighbourhood of Shabneh. The bodiescivilians – two women and three children – showed signs of torture and had bulletfrom the same family. A forensic doctor in wounds in the head and chest. On 26Tripoli confirmed that the deaths were caused October, the bodies of 36 men were found onby shrapnel from an RPG. a deserted road south of the town of al-Abyar, including a 71-year-old Sufi sheikh who had In March, LNA forces broke the siege theyhad imposed on an apartment complex in theAmnesty International Report 2017/18 241

been abducted in August, and a medical armed group in Bayda abducted cameramanstudent. Musa Khamees Ardia and transferred him to Grenada prison in the east. He was releasedFREEDOMS OF EXPRESSION AND without charge on 3 November.ASSOCIATION Armed groups and militias abducted andJournalists, activists and human rights unlawfully detained hundreds of peopledefenders were particularly vulnerable to because of their opinions, origin, perceivedharassment, attacks and enforced political affiliations or perceived wealth.disappearance by armed groups and militias Those abducted included political activists,aligned with various authorities of rival lawyers, human rights activists and othergovernments. civilians. Militias carried out abductions with the aim of extracting ransoms from families, In the west, Special Deterrence (Radaa) to negotiate an exchange of detainees, or toforces operating under the Ministry of the silence criticism. In April a militia abducted aInterior of the GNA carried out a series of university professor in Sayyad on the outskirtsarrests, targeting people for peacefully of Tripoli. He was held for 47 days in anexercising their right to freedom of undisclosed location with little access to food,association and other rights. In September, water and medication. In August, unidentifiedan imam in Tripoli was arbitrarily arrested by militiamen abducted former Prime MinisterRadaa on suspicion of using his mosque to Ali Zeidan from a hotel in Tripoli. He wasincite violence. He remained in detention at released after eight days.the end of the year. In November, Radaaforces raided a comic-book convention in JUSTICE SYSTEMTripoli and arrested 20 people, including theorganizers and some attendees. They were An environment of impunity continued toreleased at the end of November. prevail, leaving perpetrators of serious abuses emboldened and without fear of In the east, forces associated with the LNA accountability, which in turn threatenedtargeted journalists and others deemed to prospects of political stability. Courts andhave criticized Khalifa Haftar and LNA forces. prosecutors’ offices were dysfunctional andArmed groups composed of adherents of the often feared reprisals for their work. The postMadkhali doctrine, a strand of Salafism of Public Prosecutor remained vacant. Ininspired by the Saudi Arabian sheikh Rabee September, senior prosecutor Sadik Essoural-Madkhali, burned books and abducted announced that 800 arrest warrants hadstudent members of a university group who been issued and 250 people had beenhad organized an Earth Day event on their referred to court for their involvement incampus in Benghazi. Those abducted political violence. In October, just hoursincluded photographer Abdullah Duma, who before one of these trials was due to start, awas later released. In September a radio host gun and suicide-bomb attack on a court infrom the city of al-Marj was detained for GNA-controlled Misrata killed four people -nearly three weeks for openly criticizing a two civilians and two security personnel - anddecision made by Abdelraziq al-Nathouri, the injured at least 40. IS claimed responsibilityLNA’s military governor of eastern Libya. for the attack.ARBITRARY ARRESTS AND DETENTIONS Torture was widespread in prisons, where thousands were held without charge. ManyMilitias, armed groups and security forces detainees had been held since 2011 with noaffiliated to rival governments continued to judicial oversight or means to challenge thearbitrarily arrest and indefinitely detain legality of their detention.thousands of people. In the east, militiasoperating as security forces associated with None of the parties to the conflictthe LNA abducted people and imprisoned implemented any of the human rightsthem without charge or trial. In June, an provisions in the UN-brokered Libya Political242 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

Agreement of December 2015, including organization CNN showing the apparent salethose obliging them to release detainees held of migrants into slavery caused internationalwithout legal basis. outrage. Libyan law continued to criminalize the irregular entry, stay or exit of foreignINTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE nationals, and still lacked a legal framework for asylum. In November, UNHCR, the UNSome 40,000 former residents of the town of refugee agency, announced that it hadTawargha, near Misrata, remained displaced reached an agreement with the Libyanfor a sixth year. In June a political agreement authorities to temporarily accommodatewas signed by the mayor of Misrata, the people from a transit centre who were inTawargha local council and the Misrata- need of international protection. However,Tawargha Reconciliation Committee there was no progress on a Memorandum ofchairman, in the presence of Prime Minister Understanding that would formally recognizeSerraj, ostensibly to allow the displaced UNHCR’s operations in Libya. Theformer residents to return to Tawargha. International Organization for MigrationHowever, the agreement made no mention of calculated that there were 416,556 migrantsaccountability for past crimes. Three days in Libya at the end of September. UNHCRlater, a group of Tawargha families attempted stated that 44,306 people in Libya wereto return but were threatened and intimidated registered as refugees or asylum-seekers asat a checkpoint manned by residents of of 1 December, but the actual number ofMisrata and forced to return to Tripoli. By the refugees was likely to be higher. Theend of the year there had been no progress International Organization for Migrationon the return of the Tawargha people or the continued to assist in the “voluntary return”implementation of the agreement. of 19,370 nationals to their home countries during the year, often from detention centres.MIGRANTS, REFUGEES AND ASYLUM- In a significant development, UNHCR beganSEEKERS evacuating refugees and asylum-seekers, taking 25 people to Niger for resettlement inMigrants, refugees and asylum-seekers were France in November and 162 people to Italysubjected to widespread and systematic in December.serious human rights violations and abuses atthe hands of detention centre officials, the WOMEN’S RIGHTSLibyan Coast Guard, smugglers and armedgroups. Some were detained after being Women were particularly affected by theintercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard at sea ongoing conflict, which disproportionatelytrying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe. affected their right to move freely and toIt was estimated that up to 20,000 people participate in political and public life.were held in detention centres in Libya runby the Directorate for Combating Illegal In February the military in eastern LibyaMigration (DCIM), a division of the Ministry of issued Decree No. 6 of 2017, restrictingthe Interior of the GNA. They were held in Libyan women under the age of 60 fromhorrific conditions of extreme overcrowding, travelling abroad without a legal malelacking access to medical care and adequate guardian. Following a public outcry and callsnutrition, and systematically subjected to from civil society for its removal, Decree No.torture and other ill-treatment, including 6 was replaced on 23 February with Decreesexual violence, severe beatings and No. 7, which stipulated that no Libyan maleextortion. While the DCIM formally controlled or female between the ages of 18 and 45between 17 and 36 centres, armed groups could travel abroad without prior “securityand criminal gangs ran thousands of illicit approval”. The Decree failed to specify theholding sites throughout the country as part procedure required to obtain such approvalof a lucrative people-smuggling business. In or the criteria that would be used to grant orNovember, a video released by US media deny it.Amnesty International Report 2017/18 243

In the face of intimidation and targeting, RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL,high-profile women activists continued to be TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLEforced to retreat from public and politicalengagement. In April, the Vilnius City District Court ordered the Civil Registry Office to change the identityLITHUANIA documents of a transgender individual who had applied for legal gender recognition,Republic of Lithuania without them having to undergo genderHead of state: Dalia Grybauskaitė reassignment surgery. In May, the Court ruledHead of government: Saulius Skvernelis that the Civil Registry Office should change the gender marker and personal identityThe President signed legislation which number of another transgender applicant.discriminated against lesbian, gay andbisexual people. Parliament considered a In July, the President signed an amendmentlaw which would severely restrict access to to the Law on Equal Opportunities whichabortion. Lithuania offered visas to two gay defines family members as “spouses or directmen from the Russian republic of Chechnya descendants”, effectively excludingwho feared for their safety. In two separate unmarried partners and thereby preventing –cases, a district court ruled in favour of two among others – same-sex couples from beingtransgender people seeking to change their legally considered as family members.identity documents without undergoinggender reassignment surgery. SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTSINTERNATIONAL SCRUTINY In October, Parliament considered a draft law initiated by the Electoral Action of Poles inThe case of Abu Zubaydah v. Lithuania Lithuania, a political party. If implemented, itremained pending before the European Court would restrict women’s access to abortion inof Human Rights. Abu Zubaydah alleged he cases where the pregnancy poses a risk tohad been forcibly disappeared and tortured the woman’s life or health, or when it is theat a secret CIA detention centre in Antaviliai, result of rape.a neighbourhood of Vilnius, Lithuania’scapital, between 2005 and 2006. In MACEDONIASeptember, the UN Committee on EnforcedDisappearances urged Lithuania to The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedoniainvestigate its involvement in US-led rendition Head of state: Gjorge Ivanovand secret detention programmes; hold those Head of government: Zoran Zaev (replaced Emilresponsible to account; and provide victims Dimitriev in May)with appropriate redress and reparation. Impunity for war crimes persisted. Asylum-REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS seekers and migrants were unlawfully detained. A court’s judgment provided forIn May, Lithuania offered visas to two legal gender recognition for transgenderChechen men who were seeking international people.protection outside of Russia for fear ofpersecution based on their sexual orientation. BACKGROUNDThis followed allegations of abductions,torture and other ill-treatment and in some Following elections in December 2016, thecases even the killing of men suspected of Internal Macedonian Revolutionarybeing gay in Chechnya (see Russian Organization - Democratic Party forFederation entry). Macedonian National Unity gained over half the seats, but could not form a government. The Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) agreed to form a coalition with ethnic244 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

Albanian parties and formed a government in June 2014 of the killing of five MacedoniansMay 2017 following a violent invasion of at Easter 2012. The retrial was called on theParliament by former government supporters. grounds that the 2014 trial had not metIn November, a former police chief and international standards for fair trial.several MPs were arrested for their part in thedisruption. REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS The election followed a political crisis Asylum seekers and migrants, includingtriggered by the publication by SDSM in 2015 unaccompanied children, were unlawfullyof audio recordings revealing unlawful detained at the Reception Centre forsurveillance and widespread corruption Foreigners as witnesses in criminalwithin the government. proceedings against smugglers, for an average of two weeks, after which they were The European Commission asked released. Most applied for asylum, but leftMacedonia to implement measures including the country shortly afterwards.ensuring the rule of law, the right to privacy,freedom of expression, an independent The European Court of Human Rightsjudiciary and an end to government (ECtHR) considered the case of eightcorruption. refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan who were among 1,500 refugees andFREEDOM OF EXPRESSION migrants forcibly returned to Greece in March 2016 by the Macedonian authorities, whoUntil May, media freedom was seriously failed to examine their individualcompromised by government interference in circumstances or provide an effectiveprint and other media, including through the remedy.control of advertising and other revenues,resulting in widespread self-censorship and RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL,little investigative journalism. In March, 122 TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLENGOs issued a statement protesting againstthe government’s apparent campaign to In September, the Administrative Court ruledundermine their work. that a transgender person could change their gender marker in the official registry,IMPUNITY providing for the legal recognition of gender identity.The Special Prosecution Office, establishedto investigate crimes arising from the audio SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTSrecordings, opened an investigation into the2011 murder of Martin Neshkovski and the A court in Skopje, the capital, determined insubsequent government cover-up. In June, July that the termination of a woman’sthe Office indicted 94 former government employment contract, because she wasofficials, including former Prime Minister pregnant for a second time, constituted directGruevski and the former head of Security and discrimination.Counter Intelligence. Also in July, a local antenatal clinic in Suto Impunity for war crimes, including enforced Orizari, a predominatly Roma suburb ofdisappearances and abductions, persisted. Skopje, was reopened after eight years. In September, four newborn babies died withinJUSTICE SYSTEM two days in the Clinic of Gynaecology and Obstetrics in Skopje. A subsequentFollowing votes by the Council of Public inspection found a shortage of medical staff,Prosecutors and the Parliament, Public babies sharing intensive care incubators,Prosecutor Marko Zvrlevski was removed faulty ventilation and a leaking roof. Betweenfrom office in August for his lack of January and October, 127 babies died.independence. In October, provisional PublicProsecutor Liljana Spasovska called for theretrial of six ethnic Albanians, convicted inAmnesty International Report 2017/18 245

DEATHS IN CUSTODY BACKGROUNDIn March, the European Roma Rights Centre An outbreak of pneumonic plague, firsthighlighted the deaths in custody of young reported in August, continued throughout theRomani men from overdoses of methadone year in rural and urban areas. Of 2,348only available to prison guards, and the death reported cases between 1 August and 22of a Romani woman, allegedly after she had November, 202 resulted in deaths.been ill-treated. In October the EuropeanCommittee for the Prevention of Torture INTERNATIONAL SCRUTINYraised concerns about the failure since 2006to improve the management of, and In July, the UN Human Rights Committeeconditions in, Idrizovo Prison in Skopje, expressed concern about human rightswhere nine prisoners died in 2016. violations including the excessive use of force by police against alleged cattle rustlersCOUNTER-TERROR AND SECURITY (dahalos); and revenge attacks by members of the security forces after two police officersIn December, the Committee of Ministers were killed by villagers, in the northern townreviewed implementation of the judgment of of Antsakabary.the ECtHR in 2012 in the case of Germannational Khaled el-Masri, expressing concern The Committee called on Madagascar toat the failure to make a public apology and immediately provide the National Humanrequesting information on any progress in Rights Commission with an independent andimplementing the judgment. The Court held sufficient budget to enable it to carry out itsMacedonia liable for Khaled el-Masri's mandate. It also recommended that thedetention, enforced disappearance, torture government expedite the establishment of theand other ill-treatment in 2003, and High Council for the Defence of Democracysubsequent handover to the CIA which and the Rule of Law, whose mission includedtransferred him to a secret detention site in the promotion and protection of humanAfghanistan. rights, and provide it with financial autonomy. In November, 37 ethnic Albanian JUSTICE SYSTEMdefendants were convicted of terrorism fortheir participation or assistance in a The criminal justice system remainedgun battle with police in Kumanovo in 2015, seriously flawed and failed to guarantee duein which 18 people were killed. process. The excessive use of pre-trial detention continued despite provisions in theMADAGASCAR Constitution and the Code of Penal Procedure that limited its use as anRepublic of Madagascar exceptional measure for specific reasons;Head of state: Hery Rajaonarimampianina 60% of prison inmates were awaiting trial.Head of government: Olivier Mahafaly Solonandrasana Despite constitutional provisions guaranteeing the right to legal defence at allThere was widespread poverty; access to stages of the process, where lack offood, water, health care and education was resources should not be an obstacle, lawyersrestricted. Prison conditions remained reported that they were not paid for legal aidharsh; the excessive use of pre-trial work, including trial attendance, and weredetention persisted. The criminal justice prevented from fulfilling their duties. Insystem continued to be used to harass and practice, pre-trial legal aid was not available.intimidate human rights defenders andjournalists, and restrict their freedom of DETENTIONexpression, particularly those working onenvironmental and corruption issues. The government allowed international NGOs, as well as the National Human Rights Commission, to visit detention centres.246 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

Prisons were severely overcrowded and In July, police stopped a protest planned byconditions were inhumane. Food and the Movement for Freedom of Expression tomedical care were inadequate. Toilets and mark the first anniversary of the passing ofshowers did not work properly, and some the new Code of Media Communication lawprisons had open sewers putting inmates at which imposes heavy fines for offences suchrisk of disease. Most of the country’s prisons as contempt, defamation or insult against ahad not been adequately renovated for more government official.than 60 years. Infrastructure was dilapidatedand, in some instances, put prisoners’ lives at HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERSrisk. In July, four detainees were killed after awall collapsed in the Antsohihy prison in the Human rights defenders who opposednorth. projects to exploit natural resources, or who made allegations of corruption against Families of inmates reported being forced to government officials were particularly at riskpay bribes to visit their relatives and of harassment, arrests on trumped-updetainees relied on their families for food. charges, or other abuses under the criminal justice system. In June, after 10 months’ pre- Antanimora prison in the capital, trial detention on charges of organizing aAntananarivo, held around 2,850 detainees, protest which became violent, environmentalthe highest number of inmates in the country, activist Clovis Razafimalala was released fromand three times its intended capacity. Tamatave prison. In July, the TamataveOvercrowding was mainly due to the large Tribunal sentenced him to a five-yearnumber of pre-trial detainees, the ineffective suspended prison sentence.1 On 27judicial system and lengthy trial delays. Some September, environmental activist Raleva wasdetainees had been held for up to five years detained in Mananjary police station, in thebefore being brought to trial. southeast, after he questioned the legality of a Chinese mining company in the Mananjary In contravention of international standards, region.2 He was later transferred toconvicted prisoners and pre-trial detainees Mananjary prison. On 26 October, thewere held together. As of July, Tsiafahy Mananjary court found him guilty of using themaximum security prison near Antananarivo false title of “Head of District”, and gave himhosted 396 pre-trial detainees alongside a two-year suspended sentence.sentenced prisoners, in inhumaneconditions, despite National Law 2006-015 SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTSstipulating that it should house only prisonersserving life sentences or those considered to Abortion remained criminalized in all casesbe dangerous. The need to separate children under Article 317 of the Penal Code. Anyonefrom adults was not respected in all prisons. providing or attempting to provide an abortion was subject to a heavy fine andFREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY imprisonment of up to 10 years. Medical personnel providing information on obtainingPeaceful protests were repressed. Civil an abortion were subject to, in addition tosociety organizations claimed that the imprisonment and fines, suspension fromauthorities banned protests on the grounds practice for between five years and life.that they were likely to be a “high risk of Women who sought or had abortions werepublic disorder”. In June, civil society also subject to a heavy fine and up to twomovements Wake-Up Madagascar and years’ imprisonment. Several women wereSEFAFI, which works to improve democratic sent to prison for abortion-related offencesprocesses in the country, criticized a one- during the year.month ban on public protests which thegovernment said was necessary to protect In July, the government stated that it waspublic order during National Day celebrations working on a bill which would make abortionon 26 June. a minor offence.Amnesty International Report 2017/18 247

Later in July, the UN Human Rights violence. The Ministry of Gender, Children,Committee considered Madagascar’s fourth Disability and Social Welfare publiclyperiodic report. The Committee called for the expressed its concerns about the killings.decriminalization of abortion, and for greater One of the protesters, Beatrice Mateyo, wasefforts to make sexual and reproductive arrested and charged with carrying a placardhealth services more accessible to women. bearing “offensive and obscene words”. She was charged with “insulting the modesty of a1. Madagascar: A Damocles sword on environmental activist’s head woman” under section 137(3) of the Penal (AFR 35/6841/2017) Code and released on bail the same day. If convicted she faced up to one year’s2. Madagascar: Environmental rights defender falsely accused − imprisonment. Raleva (AFR 35/7248/2017)MALAWI RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLERepublic of MalawiHead of State and Government: Arthur Peter Mutharika Harassment of and attacks against LGBTI people continued. In January the People’sTwo people were killed as attacks against Party spokesman, Kenneth Msonda, publiclypeople with albinism resumed. Gender- said that “gays are worse than dogs and mustbased violence increased. Lesbian, gay, be killed”. Activists brought a case againstbisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) him for inciting violence against gay andpeople continued to live in fear of lesbian people. The Constitutional Court washarassment and attacks. Draft legislation considering whether charges should bethreatened to silence NGOs and civil society brought against him at the end of the year.organizations working on governance andhuman rights issues. In August, a 12-year-old boy stopped going to school after he faced repeated harassmentDISCRIMINATION – PEOPLE WITH and attacks, such as people throwing stonesALBINISM at him and urinating on him. He and his family lived in fear that he might be killed.Attacks against people with albinismresumed in January after an interval of seven Same-sex sexual relations betweenmonths. Two people were killed. On 10 consenting adults remained illegal. However,January, Madalitso Pensulo, a teenage boy, the solicitor general intervened in April afterwas killed in Mlonda village in the Tyolo political and church leaders held a protestDistrict. In February, Mercy Zainabu Banda against LGBTI people. The Malawi Humanwas found murdered in Lilongwe with her Rights Commission indicated it would holdwrist, right breast and hair removed. In public consultations on whether to reform theMarch, two brothers were stabbed in Nsanje. law.As of 30 August, 20 murders of people withalbinism which have taken place since 2014 HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERSremained unresolved. Draft amendments to the NGO law remainedVIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS before Parliament. The amendments, which introduced broad, excessive, intrusive andGender-based violence continued; seven arbitrary controls on the activities of NGOs,women were reported to have been could silence critics including human rightsmurdered in August and September alone. groups. If implemented, the law wouldOn 14 September, around 150 women establish an NGO Board under the Ministry ofparticipated in a national march to protest Gender, Children, Disability and Socialagainst the alarming levels of gender-based Welfare with wide discretionary powers, including to approve NGOs’ funding applications to donor agencies; and to demand that such applications fall in line248 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

with government policies and be designed to authorities also barred several human rights“advance the public interest”. NGOs would defenders from entering Malaysia; theybe forced to register with the NGO Board included Bangladeshi activist Adilur Rahmanwhich would have power to deregister them. Khan2 and Singaporean activist Han Hui Hui,They would also be required to sign who were deported after attempting to attendMemorandums of Understanding with local human rights conferences. Bans weregovernment before operating in the secretive, arbitrary and not subject to appeal.community. No prior notice was given.MALAYSIA FREEDOMS OF ASSOCIATION AND ASSEMBLYMalaysiaHead of state: King Muhammad V Human rights defenders and oppositionHead of government: Najib Tun Razak parliamentarians continued to stand trial for participating in peaceful protests. In July, theCivic space shrank further as a crackdown Kota Kinabalu High Court reversed an earlieron civil and political rights continued. There acquittal by the Magistrate’s Court of activistwas a rise in the use of open-ended and Jannie Lasimbang who had been chargedarbitrary travel bans to restrict and threaten under Section 9 of the Peaceful Assemblythe freedom of movement of human rights Act 2012. Her trial was ongoing at the end ofdefenders. Indigenous rights activists and the year. Parliamentarians and activists werejournalists were arrested and investigated charged after joining the peacefulfor campaigning against and reporting #KitaLawan (We Fight) protest rally; theyhuman rights abuses. included MP Sim Tze Tzin, Maria Chin Abdullah, Mandeep Singh and Adam Adli.FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION Charges against Maria Chin Abdullah, Mandeep Singh and Sim Tze Tzin wereThe government continued to harass, detain initially dismissed by the courts, but broughtand prosecute critics through the use of again in October. Adam Adli was acquitted ofrestrictive laws such as the Sedition Act and his charges by the Magistrate’s Court inthe Communications and Multimedia Act. November.More than 60 individuals were arrested,charged or imprisoned under various pieces INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTSof legislation. Four individuals were charged,and another convicted, under Section 233 of In January, following peaceful proteststhe Communications and Multimedia Act against logging licences granted by localwhich criminalizes, among other things, the authorities, 21 Indigenous human rights“misuse of network facilities” for criticizing defenders from the Temiar people in thethe government or for government-related northern state of Kelantan were detained.satire. Two journalists were also arrested.3 They were released within 48 hours, but the rightsFREEDOM OF MOVEMENT of the Temiar to their customary lands remained under threat because loggingIn July, the Court of Appeal ruled that the activities continued without the free, priorgovernment has absolute discretion to bar and informed consent of the communities. Inany citizen from travelling abroad without August, 11 Indigenous human rightsneeding to provide a reason.1 This ruling defenders in Perak were arrested by policefacilitated continued violations of the right to when peacefully protesting against a loggingfreedom of movement and the work of company.human rights defenders, including cartoonistZunar and activist Hishamuddin Rais. TheAmnesty International Report 2017/18 249

ARBITRARY ARRESTS AND DETENTIONS drug trafficking activities”. The provision included a mandatory 15 whip lashes.Preventive detention laws such as thePrevention of Terrorism Act and Security RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL,Offences (Special Measures) Act (SOSMA) TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLEcontinued to be used to detain, prosecuteand imprison people alleged to have Discrimination against LGBTI peoplecommitted security offences. The maximum continued both in law and practice. Sectiondetention period of 28 days under the 377A of the Penal Code criminalizesSOSMA was set to remain in force for five consensual sexual relations between adultyears from 31 July, following a parliamentary men. In June, the Health Ministry receivedvote. local and international criticism for its decision to launch a video competition for On 26 April, the Kuala Lumpur High Court teenagers on how to “prevent gendersentenced Siti Noor Aishah to five years’ confusion” which included “gay, lesbian,imprisonment for possession of 12 books, transgender, transvestite and tomboy”. Theunder a sweeping provision of the SOSMA wording was subsequently removed.prohibiting the possession, custody or controlof any item associated with any terrorist TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENTgroup or the commission of a terrorist act.4The books owned by Siti Noor Aishah had not In July, Kelantan state assembly passedbeen banned, which raised further concerns amendments to the Syariah Criminalabout the arbitrary nature of the law and the Procedure Enactment 2002 which wouldway it was applied. allow caning of criminals to be carried out in public. Torture is not adequately defined orPOLICE AND SECURITY FORCES prohibited in the state Syariah Criminal Code or the Malaysian Penal Code.Impunity for deaths in custody and excessiveuse of force and firearms persisted. There 1. Malaysia: Open-ended travel bans violate the rights of human rightswere at least five deaths in custody during defenders (ASA 28/6697/2017)the year. They included S. Balamuruganwho, according to cellmates, was beaten by 2. Malaysia: Bangladeshi human rights activist detained (News story,police during interrogation. A magistrate had 20 July)earlier ordered that he be released and givenmedical attention. No police investigation into 3. Malaysia: End harassment of Indigenous rights defenders (ASAhis death was known to have been carried 28/5549/2017)out. 4. Malaysia: Student convicted for possession of ‘illegal’ book − SitiDEATH PENALTY Noor Aishah (ASA 28/6136/2017)The death penalty continued to be retained 5. Malaysia: Stop execution of prisoners due to be hanged on Fridayas the mandatory punishment for offences (News story, 23 March)including drug trafficking, murder anddischarge of firearms with intent to kill or MALDIVESharm in certain circumstances. Executionscontinued to be carried out during the year Republic of Maldivesand there remained no established Head of state and government: Abdulla Yameen Abdulprocedure for notification of scheduled Gayoomexecutions.5 In November, Parliamentamended the Dangerous Drugs Act, The crackdown on the rights to freedom ofproviding the judiciary with discretion on the expression and peaceful assemblymandatory death penalty in the event the continued. Authorities used the criminalaccused is a drug courier and has co- justice system to silence politicaloperated with law enforcement in “disrupting opponents, as well as human rights defenders, journalists and civil society. The250 Amnesty International Report 2017/18