REPORTED TORTURE OF IRANIAN ELECTION PROTESTORS CONCERN UN RIGHTS EXPERTS

A group of independent United Nations human rights experts voiced serious concern today over accusations of torture and rough interrogation tactics in connection with trials of protesters of Iran's disputed presidential elections.

The victims include lawyers, journalists and other human rights defenders, as well as members of the opposition who took to the streets to demonstrate over the results of the 12 June polls, according to the UN experts.

"No judicial system can consider as valid a confession obtained as a result of harsh interrogations or under torture," stressed Manfred Nowak, the Special Rapporteur on Torture.

"These confessions for alleged crimes such as threats against national security and treason must not, under any circumstances, be admitted as evidence by the Revolutionary Court," added El Hadji Malick Sow, the Vice-Chairperson of the Working Group on arbitrary detention.

Foreign media have been banned from covering the judicial proceedings and it is unclear whether the defendants have adequate legal counsel, noted the experts, which also include the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya.

The experts added that many detainees are kept without any communication with the outside world, without knowing the charges they face, medical treatment, legal assistance or family visits.

The group said they continue to receive reports of people dying in custody, and whose families are given false or contradictory information regarding the cause of death.
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TORTURE ALLEGATIONS IN KAZAKHSTAN CONCERN UN RIGHTS EXPERT

TORTURE ALLEGATIONS IN KAZAKHSTAN CONCERN UN RIGHTS EXPERT
New York, May 13 2009 2:00PM
While lauding the efforts made by authorities in Kazakhstan to improve conditions in prisons and other facilities, an independent United Nations expert today expressed his concerns about allegations of torture in the Central Asian nation.

"I conclude that the use of torture and ill-treatment certainly goes beyond isolated instances," Manfred Nowak said in a <"http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/0BE9B42AD9B38DD6C12575B500527CC8?opendocument">statement issued today in Astana, following a nine-day visit to the country.

Mr. Nowak, the UN Human Rights Council's Special Rapporteur on Torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment, said he received many "credible allegations" of beatings with hands and fists, plastic bottles filled with sand and police truncheons.

He was also told of kicking, asphyxiation through plastic bags and gas masks used to obtain confessions from suspects. "In several cases, these allegations were supported by forensic medical evidence."

The Special Rapporteur added that there are some groups that run larger risks of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment than others, noting that the likeliness for foreigners to be subjected to such treatment seems to be "higher than average."

Another concern is the "almost total absence" of official complaints, which raises doubt about whether there is in fact a meaningful complaint mechanism. "It appears that most detainees refrain from filing complaints because they do not trust the system or are afraid of reprisals," noted Mr. Nowak.

On prisons, the expert said the country has made considerable efforts in recent years to improve the conditions in its prisons, including bringing physical conditions and food supply in line with minimum international standards.

At the same time, he noted that one of the key-requirements of international human rights law is that penitentiary systems put the rehabilitation and reintegration rather than the punishment of the individual offender at their core.

"This has clearly not been achieved: the current law still provides for different prison regimes as a form of punishment and places heavy restrictions on contact with the outside world; exacerbated by the fact that the locations of the facilities per se make family visits difficult,"
he stated.

Furthermore, only a very small percentage of the prison population appears to have access to meaningful activities, and the hierarchy among prisoners appears to lead to discriminatory practices and, in some cases, violence, Mr. Nowak said, adding that the same is true for pre-trial detention and custody facilities.
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UN RIGHTS EXPERT URGES URUGUAY TO END ‘APPALLING’ PRISON CONDITIONS

Concluding his visit to Uruguay today, a United Nations human rights expert said he could not find hard evidence of torture, but urged action against what he called other "large-scale human rights violations" in detention facilities.

"I received few allegations of torture in police stations that could be proven beyond reasonable doubt by forensic examinations and other means of evidence," Manfred Nowak, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, said after his five-day visit to the South American country.

"However, I did receive numerous credible allegations of ill-treatment and excessive use of force in prisons, police stations and juvenile detention centres," added Mr. Nowak, who, like all Special Rapporteurs, reports in an independent and unpaid capacity to the UN Human Rights Council.

He said he found Libertad Penitentiary particularly appalling, with convicted prisoners and pre-trial detainees held together "like animals in metal boxes" for almost 24 hours a day, often drinking from toilets because of restricted access to water.

Many detainees cut themselves in order to be taken to a doctor because of limited access to medical care, he reported.

"During the military dictatorship, Libertad Penitentiary became an infamous symbol for torture and ill-treatment. Two decades later, it is renowned for its sub-human conditions," Mr. Nowak said.

Describing similarly disturbing conditions in juvenile detention centres, he said that many of the problems in the criminal justice system resulted from the lack of policy direction and little strategy for rehabilitation and reinsertion into society.

"The risk of a total collapse of the penitentiary system and the lack of an alternative concept is a serious source of insecurity, violence, and deterioration of basic values that severely impacts society as a whole," he said.

"The people of Uruguay, a country known for its democracy and social development, do not deserve such a penitentiary system," he stressed.

He applauded the Government's ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and the recent adoption of a law establishing a National Human Rights Commission that includes a national mechanism for the prevention of torture.

He expressed hope that the new institution will build on the mechanism now under the Parliamentary Commissioner on Penitentiaries, maintaining that the Commissioner's current mandate should be extended to cover all places of detention and sufficient resources should be provided for its activities.

Among other recommendations, Mr. Nowak urged the creation of a Ministry of Justice to be responsible for comprehensive reform of criminal justice and penitentiary policy; an increase in non-custodial measures as a means to reduce the overcrowding of prisons; and specific measures to improve conditions of facilities.

He also recommended that torture be criminalized in full accordance with the UN Convention and that every suspected case of torture and ill-treatment be fully investigated, with the perpetrators brought to justice.

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