More than 60 female Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails

March 7, 2018 By administrator

female Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails

A prominent non-governmental organization says 62 female Palestinian prisoners are currently held in Israeli jails.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said at least six of the 62 female Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails are under the age of 18.

The NGO also called on international human rights groups to shed light on the issue.

Some 7,000 Palestinians are currently behind bars in 17 Israeli prisons and detention centers, according to reports.

More than 400 Palestinians are being held without trial under so-called administrative detention, which is a policy according to which Palestinian inmates are kept in Israeli detention facilities without trial or charge. Some Palestinian prisoners have been held in administrative detention for up to 11 years.

Palestinian detainees have continuously resorted to open-ended hunger strikes to voice their outrage at the administrative detention.

Palestinian prisoners complain that they have been subjected to assault and torture at Israeli prisons.

Why Trump should not swap prisoners, Erdogan wants to swap pastor Brunson being held in Turkey’s prison for Zarrab

July 8, 2017 By administrator

Erdogan wants to swap Brunson for Zarrab By Merve Tahiroglu and Eric S. Edelman

Eric S. Edelman is a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey and a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Merve Tahiroglu is a research associate at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Rumors are swirling in Washington about a potential prisoner swap with Turkey. The Turks want the United States to release a Turkish-Iranian millionaire awaiting trial in Manhattan, in return for which they might free a North Carolina pastor being held in a prison in Izmir. Both men are accused of threatening national security. Yet a trade would be a grave mistake, one that would help Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to export his contempt for the rule of law to the United States.

Reza Zarrab, the Turkish-Iranian businessman, was arrested upon his arrival in Miami in March 2016 for conspiring to evade international sanctions against Iran. Zarrab, who owns businesses in Turkey, Dubai and China, is believed to have laundered money and gold from Iran at the height of the U.S.-led sanctions regime in 2012-2013. In December 2013, Zarrab was arrested in Turkey as part of a historic corruption scandal that implicated several ministers and businessmen with close ties to Erdogan’s government. Under legally dubious circumstances, Zarrab was eventually released. But the federal indictment filed by then-federal prosecutor Preet Bharara, in many ways echoing the findings of the 2013 Turkish prosecutor’s investigation, put Ankara’s role in Tehran’s underground economy back in the spotlight.

Pastor Andrew Brunson’s case is of a totally different nature. He is accused of membership in “an armed terrorist organization” — the so-called “Fethullah Gulen Terrorist Organization” that Ankara blames for Turkey’s failed coup last July. (Fethullah Gulen, a former Erdogan ally turned mortal foe, is a Muslim cleric who has lived for many years in the United States.) Before his arrest, Brunson lived with his family in Turkey for 23 years without incident. He is now among the more than 50,000 people in Turkey arrested on similar charges in the past 11 months. Brunson’s lawyer has decried the utter lack of evidence in the pastor’s case.

President Trump appears to be keen to achieve Brunson’s release. He reportedly brought up the issue three times in his first meeting with Erdogan in May, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Brunson’s wifewhile visiting Turkey in March. Turkish officials, however, prefer to highlight Zarrab’s case with their American counterparts.

And the stakes have only gotten higher. In March, U.S. authorities arrested another Turk connected to the case, the banker Mehmet Hakan Atilla. Zarrab and Atilla could reveal at trial new information implicating Erdogan or his family in the sanctions-avoiding scheme.

Trump may find a diplomatic deal with Ankara for Brunson appealing. After all, one of his few diplomatic accomplishments since taking office was securing the release, during the visit of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, of charity worker Aya Hjiazi, an American citizen who had been jailed in Cairo for three years. But trading a peaceful faith leader imprisoned on spurious charges in exchange for a sleazy middleman accused of corrupting a foreign government on behalf of Iran would only help Erdogan suborn the rule of law in the United States as he has done in Turkey.

Since he first came to power in 2002, Erdogan has systematically undermined his country’s fragile legal institutions by staging show trials featuring his “enemies.” Zarrab owes his freedom in Turkey to a blatant political intervention in the judicial system. Within weeks of the 2013 anti-corruption operation, the government replaced all law enforcement officials involved in the investigation. Within months, all the cases were dismissed and all the suspects freed.

Since the coup attempt, Erdogan has effectively ruled by decree. Government critics risk arbitrary detention on dubious terrorism charges. More than a dozen opposition parliamentarians are in jail. As Ankara prepares to transition from a parliamentary to a presidential system, the lines between Turkey’s executive, legislative and judicial branches are becoming even more blurred.

The Turkish president also appears intent on extending his authoritarianism to American shores. While Erdogan watched, his bodyguards viciously beat protesters outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence in Washington in May. When the State Department expressed concern, the Turkish Foreign Ministry had the effrontery to summon U.S. Ambassador John Bass to protest the actions of the D.C. Metropolitan Police. And this was not the first assault of its kind in Washington. During Erdogan’s 2016 visit, his bodyguards roughed up protesters in front of the Brookings Institution when Erdogan arrived to speak. These attacks occurred while Erdogan’s lobbyists in Washington have been working full-time to achieve a “diplomatic” deal to spring Zarrab as the price for improving U.S.-Turkish bilateral relations.

Trump should intensify the diplomatic effort to secure the release of Brunson — but not by negotiating a prisoner swap for Tehran’s bag man in Turkey. Erdogan’s efforts to undermine the U.S. legal system shouldn’t be rewarded. For Turks who are trying to protect what’s left of their country’s democracy, it’s the least that Washington can do.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/democracy-post/wp/2017/07/07/why-trump-should-not-swap-prisoners-with-erdogan/?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.ca1122deaa93

Yerevan: Gathering August 7 to 14 h before the statue of Komitas

August 4, 2016 By administrator

support-political-prisoners FIGHTER OF CAUSE IN ARMENIA ARMENIAN TRAPS! RALLY SUPPORT FOR REBELS SASSOUN, ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS IN ARMENIA AND OUR DEAR ALEC YENIKOMSHIAN ITS STRUGGLES AT CLASSMATES THE STRUGGLES OF ARMENIAN PEOPLE Sunday, August 7, 2016, at 14h in front of the statue of Father Komitas, Jardin d ‘ Yerevan to Paris

• We demand the immediate release of Alec Yenikomshian that prison conditions fall of absolute inhumanity. • We support fully the Rebels Sasun. • We demand the release of all political prisoners. • We condemn put in custody, illegal arrest of hundreds of our compatriots in Armenia. • We support the Armenian people in their quest for freedom and in his will to establish in Armenia a state of law, we support when demanding the resignation of corrupt oligarchic political authorities that make the devastated country.

Gathering at the initiative of the COMMITTEE SUPPORT FOR POLITICAL PRISONERS IN ARMENIA For information, contact Schanth Vosgéritchian 06-60-68-43-10 or by mail to zartonk75@free.fr

ՀԱՅ ԴԱՏԻ ՄԱՐՏԻԿԸ, ԲԱՆՏԱՐԿՈՒԱԾ ՀԱՅԱՍՏԱՆ … ՄԱՀ ՌԷԺԻՄԻՆ … ԶՕՐԱԿՑՈՒԹԵԱՆ ՀԱՆՐԱՀԱՒԱՔ ՍԱՍՆԱ ԾՌԵՐԻՆ, ՔԱՂԱՔԱԿԱՆ ԲՈԼՈՐ ԲԱՆՏԱՐԿԵԱԼՆԵՐԻՆ եւ ՄԵՐ ՍԻՐԵԼԻ ԱԼԵՔ ԵՆԻԳՈՄՇԵԱՆԻՆ ԻՐ ՊԱՅՔԱՐՆԵՐՈՒՆ, ԻՐ ԸՆԿԵՐՆԵՐՈՒՆ, ՀԱՅ ԺՈՂՈՎՈՒՐԴԻ ՊԱՅՔԱՐՆԵՐՈՒՆ

Կիրակի, 7 Օգոստոս 2016 ժամը 14-ին Կոմիտաս Վարդապետի արձանին առջեւ Երեւանի այգիին մէջ

• Կը պահանջենք անմիջական ազատ արձակումը Ալեք Ենիգոմշեանի, որու բանտարկութեան պայմանները ուղղակի անմարդկային են:

• Կը զօրակցինք առանց վերապահումի Սասնա Ծռերին:

• Կը պահանջենք քաղաքական բոլոր բանտարկեալներուն ազատ արձակումը:

• Կը դատապարտենք Հայաստանի մեր հարիւրաւոր հայրենակիցներու ապօրինի կերպով հսկողութեան տակ առնուիլը, ձերբակալուիլը:

• Կը զօրակցինք հայ ժողովուրդի ազատութեան որոնումին, Հայաստանի մէջ օրէնքի պետութեան մը ստեղծման տենչին.

• կը զօրակցինք, երբ ան կը պահանջէ հրաժարումը սակաւապետական, կաշառակեր իշխանութիւններուն, որոնք երկիրը արիւնաքամ կընեն:

Thursday, August 4, 2016,
Ara © armenews.com

According to the FRA, there are no political prisoners in Armenia

February 29, 2016 By administrator

122671-480x270 There are no political prisoners in Armenia for nearly 20 years, said Friday Armen Rustamyan, a leader of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun).

Speaking two days after the FRA has finalized a new agreement to share power with President Serzh Sargsyan, Rostamian has insisted that no one was imprisoned in Armenia for their opinions or political activities since he himself and other members of his party were pursued in the 1990s.

As a result, he added, none of the hundred leaders and opposition supporters arrested during and after the post-election unrest in Yerevan in 2008 was persecuted unfairly and improperly. Only the Council of Europe can determine whether a person arrested is a political prisoner, he said.

“There were no declarations of the Council of Europe to this effect,” he recalled at a news conference. “It is a fact. There is no list of people considered political prisoners. “

In fact, the Council of Europe for years argued that some mass arrests in Armenia in March 2008 were politically motivated.

A few weeks after the bloody suppression of the opposition movement of former President Ter-Petrosian, an ad hoc body representing the organization based in Strasbourg said: “We support the calls of many international organizations seeking the release of those who have been arrested since March 1 because of their political activities. “

In a resolution in April 2008 on Armenia, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) had even demanded “the urgent release of the persons detained on seemingly artificial and politically motivated charges.”

Since, the Commissioner of Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Thomas Hammarberg, echoed repeatedly these requirements. “It is unacceptable to continue to detain or condemn (…) a person solely because of his political beliefs or non-violent activities,” he advised in a report released in September 2008 on the repression of Armenians.

Rustamian was among dozens of ARF members arrested in 1995, during the presidency Ter-Petrosian’s and sentenced to prison terms on controversial charges of coup. Ter-Petrosian banned the pan-Armenian party strongly opposed him in 1994, accusing it of running a secret squad to his death. Most members of the FRA imprisoned, including Rustamian, were released shortly after Ter-Petrosian resigned in 1998. However, they have never been paid.

The FRA has supported Ter-Petrosian’s successor, Kocharian, and was represented in his government throughout the ten years he was head of state. She first stayed in the government during the arrival of Sarkisian.

The party, which currently holds five seats in the 131 Parliament, left the coalition in power in 2009. Sargsyan was offered to join the government last month after the ratification of the controversial constitutional amendments.

Monday, February 29, 2016,
Claire © armenews.com

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says police in Turkey have abused prisoners in southeast Turkey

September 3, 2015 By administrator

Turkish police officers work at the site where shots were reportedly fired at police officers in Istanbul, August 19, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says police in Turkey have abused prisoners while responding to perceived security threats in the troubled southeastern part of the country.

The HRW released a report on Wednesday that listed the alleged abuse of detainees at the hands of police officers in the southeastern Turkish province of Sirnak.

The New York-based group revealed documents showing that at least three Kurdish detainees were harshly beaten, kicked and forced to remain in kneeling positions for hours. The three men were reportedly detained during an August 7, 2015 security operation in the predominantly Kurdish district of Silopi near the Iraqi Kurdistan border.

“Three men were taken into police custody on suspicion of being Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) members in front of a hospital to which they had driven relatives and neighbors in need of treatment for injuries sustained during armed clashes. Six other men were also arrested at the hospital that day. The three interviewed said they had been beaten while being taken into custody, and again on arrival at the police station, with rifle butts, fire extinguishers, chains, batons and brass knuckles, and threatened with further abuse and death,” the report read.

Meanwhile, Benjamin Ward, the Europe and Central Asia division deputy director at the HRW, has expressed serious concerns over the alleged abusive behavior by the Turkish security forces.

“It’s deeply worrying that police in Turkey’s southeast seem to be returning to abusive tactics in response to the security threats,” Ward said.

The group said that, in another case, police denied adequate medical treatment to a seriously wounded 17-year-old boy who was taken into police custody in the town of Cizre on July 30.

The HRW also demanded that those behind the alleged acts be brought to justice. “The authorities should urgently investigate and prosecute those responsible, and ensure that people in custody are protected from ill-treatment and have prompt access to proper medical treatment.”

Senior officials at the HRW say they have made several efforts to discuss such issues with the governor of Shirnak Province and other authorities but have not received responses, yet.

The report comes as Turkey has been launching airstrikes against purported Daesh targets in Syria as well as PKK positions in Iraq since a Daesh bomb attack on July 20 left 32 people dead in the southeastern Turkish town of Suruc, which lies across the border from the northern Syrian town of Kobani

A shaky ceasefire that had stood since 2013 was declared null by the PKK following the Turkish airstrikes against the group, narrowing chances for the two sides to reach a deal in the near future.

Reports say over 60 Turkish soldiers have been killed in clashes with PKK militants over the past weeks.

The PKK has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey since the 1980s. The conflict has left tens of thousands of people dead.

Source: presstv.com

USCIRF: Azerbaijani government must free prisoners of conscience

August 25, 2015 By administrator

Top US independent watchdog panel created by Congress to monitor religious freedom conditions worldwide, condemns the violations of religious freedom and human rights taking place in Azerbaijan, Contact.az reports, citing TURAN’s Washington correspondent.

“These violations are evident in the arrests, detentions, and harsh sentences given to human rights defenders, members of religious groups, and civil society activists,” the US Commission on International Religious Freedom said on Monday in a statement. “Such violations are at odds with Azerbaijan’s strong tradition of secularism and religious tolerance.”

USCIRF Commissioners recently visited Azerbaijan to raise concerns about these detentions and religious freedom conditions.

“The Azerbaijani government continues to hold prominent prisoners of conscience including RFE/RL investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova and Leyla and Arif Yunus. These courageous advocates who support religious freedom and human rights should be honored for their work rather than facing false accusations and detention and, in the case of the Yunuses, being held in pre-trail detention for over a year and denied much-needed medical care. Sadly, their treatment is only the tip of the iceberg, as more than 100 prisoners of conscience languish in Azerbaijan’s prisons and still others stand accused,” said USCIRF Chairman Robert George.

Ismayilova, whose trial just ended in Baku with the prosecution seeking a nine-year sentence, is a well-known atheist who publicly has supported Muslims’ right to religious expression and won awards for her coverage of official corruption in Azerbaijan. She is falsely accused of embezzlement, tax evasion, and abuse of power.

Leyla Yunus is the head of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, and her husband Arif is an expert on Islam. Supporters of religious freedom, they had been falsely accused of tax evasion, illegal business activities and abuse of authority and given prison terms on August 14 of eight and one-half and seven years respectively.

Lawyer Rasul Jafarov was sentenced in April 2015 to 6 ½ years in prison on false charges of financial crimes; he had worked with Leyla Yunus to document cases of religious prisoners – both were arrested shortly after publicizing their lists of prisoners.

In early-July meetings with Azerbaijani officials in Baku, a USCIRF delegation raised concerns about religious freedom in the country, including the detention of the Yunuses, according to the statement.

The delegation also raised the cases of Zakariyya Isakh Mammadov and Shahin Hasanov, two readers of Turkish theologian Said Nurs, whose texts are banned in Azerbaijan, and two female Jehovah’s Witnesses, Valida Jabrayilova and Irina Zakharchenko, who are in pre-trial detention for distributing religious texts which the government had not officially approved.

“These actions contrast with the government’s support for other religious minorities, including Jews, Catholics, and Russian Orthodox,” reads the statement.

“The Azerbaijan government must free these and other prisoners of conscience. The recent release from prison of prominent Shi’a cleric Tale Bagirov – however belatedly – is a step in the right direction, but the government needs to do more to uphold its religious freedom and human rights commitments. It is vitally important that Azerbaijan’s strong tradition of religious tolerance be reflected in its support for the right of religious freedom and human rights of all its citizens,” said Chairman George.

USCIRF placed Azerbaijan in Tier 2 in the 2015 Annual Report because of its restrictions on freedom of religion or belief. These restrictions include: almost all Protestant denominations denied legal status; members of unregistered religious groups raided; state permission required to produce, import, export, or distribute religious material; and state-approved religious education required to preach, teach religion, or lead ceremonies. Muslims, who constitute 96 percent of the population, are subject to further government restrictions.

Syrian president declares amnesty for prisoners

June 9, 2014 By administrator

By ALBERT AJI and BARBARA SURK 1 hour ago

June 9, 2014 – 17:42 AMT

Syrian President Bashar Assad declared a general amnesty Monday for prisoners in the country, state media reported.

It was not clear how many — if any — prisoners would be freed after the presidential decree, issued just five days after Assad had won a third, seven-year term in office amid the 3-year-old civil war in his country.

The official SANA news agency did not say if the amnesty would apply to the tens of thousands of anti-government activists, protesters, opposition supporters and their relatives that international rights groups say are held in the country. However, SANA’s report suggested the decree would reduce prisoners’ sentences without freeing them.

The decree appears to cover at least some of those who have taken up arms against the government, including foreign fighters, according to SANA. They will not be prosecuted if they “surrender to the authorities within a month of the issuing of the decree,” the report said. Those behind taking hostages will also be pardoned, SANA said, if they “release their captives safely and without any ransom or hand (hostages) over to the authorities” within a month.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Syrian lawmaker Issam Khalil called the decree “a gift from the president after he was elected for another term.”

The amnesty includes those who participated in the armed opposition supporters, Khalil said. The government routinely refers to rebels as terrorists.

“All those who committed errors against their homeland will benefit,” Khalil said. “It will allow them to return to their normal lives.”

Syria’s pro-government Al Ikhbariya television station quoted the justice minister as saying that the presidential decree was issued in the “context of social tolerance and national unity.”

“(It comes) against the backdrop of the victories by the Syrian army,” Minister Najem al-Ahmad said.

Assad’s forces have been on the offensive in several parts of Syria over the past year, capturing villages and towns the government previously lost to rebels.

A peaceful uprising that began against Assad’s rule turned into an armed conflict and later morphed into a full-fledged civil war. More than 160,000 people have been killed.

Also Monday, activists said fighting between rival jihadi groups in an oil-rich eastern Syrian province bordering Iraq had killing at least 45 fighters in two days.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the infighting flared up in eastern Deir el-Zour province Sunday and continued into Monday, pitting al-Qaida affiliate the Nusra Front against an al-Qaida breakaway group called the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

The two jihadi groups were allies but had a falling out earlier this year and have since intermittently clashed in some of the fiercest rebel infighting in the 3-year-old conflict. The Observatory said a month of infighting in Dier el-Zour alone has killed nearly 300 fighters and displaced 100,000 civilians.

Surk reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Diaa Hadid in Beirut contributed to this report.

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