AI Index: ACT 40/009/2006
Terror and Counter-Terror

For further information about Amnesty International’s concerns and activities, please see www.amnesty.org

All Amnesty International documents mentioned in this booklet can be found online at http://web/amnesty.org/library/engindex (AI Index No. is given in brackets).

Terrorism is an assault on people’s fundamental human rights.

Amnesty International (AI) has consistently condemned the heinous attacks in recent years that have left thousands of civilians dead or maimed.

Among the targets of such attacks have been: New York and Washington DC, USA in September 2001; Bali, Indonesia in October 2002; Casablanca, Morocco in May 2003; Istanbul, Turkey in November 2003; Madrid, Spain in March 2004; London, UK in July 2005; Amman, Jordan in November 2005; Dahab, Egypt in April 2006; and Mumbai, India in July 2006.

AI condemns any deliberate attacks on civilians, whether through planting bombs in restaurants or railway stations or bringing down buildings killing thousands. The deliberate targeting of civilians constitutes a serious abuse of fundamental human rights and runs counter to basic principles of humanity. AI calls for those who commit such atrocities to be brought to justice. Deliberately attacking civilians can never be justified.

AI urges all armed groups and individuals to stop using violence against civilians in pursuit of their aims. Violence and terror only breed more violence and terror.

AI calls on leaders of armed groups to denounce human rights abuses – including torture, hostage-taking and direct or indiscriminate attacks on civilians – and to take action to prevent perpetrators from repeating such abuses. Where possible, AI addresses its concerns directly to the leadership of such groups: for example, in 2002 AI delegates met representatives of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE); and in 2005 it sent an open letter with other organizations to the leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) (Maoist) (ASA 31/046/2005). AI has also met and written directly to Hamas and Hizbullah expressing its concerns.

Crucially, AI urges all governments not to respond to terror with terror. It has repeatedly exposed and condemned human rights violations committed in the name of security as well as measures that undermine fundamental human rights, such as torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Torture does not stop terror. Torture is terror. The last five years have seen a backlash against human rights in the name of the "war on terror"

Not every human rights abuse can be attributed to the "war on terror", but there is no doubt that it has given a new lease of life to repression.

It has provided an effective smokescreen for governments to authorize arbitrary detention, torture, unfair trial, suppression of political dissent, and ethnic persecution, knowing that any international criticism will be muted.

But this "war" has other victims too. Across the world, forgotten conflicts have taken a bloody toll. In Darfur, more than two million people have been displaced, more than 200,000 have died, thousands have been raped, and the atrocities continue unabated. Intermittent attention and feeble action by the UN and the African Union have fallen pathetically short of what is needed.

In Israel and the Occupied Territories, people’s distress, despair and fear have grown as governments resolutely looked elsewhere. The international community also failed to challenge grave violations by both sides during the war in Lebanon in July/August 2006.

A narrow focus on "terror" by governments and international institutions has led to a scandalous neglect of the world’s poor. In the South, the poor have been betrayed by the failure to meet the Millennium Development Goals; and disparity, discrimination and alienation continue to fester in the heart of the richest countries in the world.

Women’s human rights have also been a casualty, as forces hostile to women’s rights have gained ground in the current security environment. "War on terror" grabs attention – the war on women goes unnoticed. Some 25 per cent of women globally face sexual abuse at the hands of their partner, and many are murdered with impunity.

This briefing shows how the backlash against human rights in the "war on terror" has been vigorously challenged by AI activists around the world, as well as by other human rights defenders. Campaigning on all rights must continue. Without them none of us can be safe – whether from arbitrary arrest, sexual abuse, violent attacks or starvation.

"Protecting our human rights is an essential component of protecting our security."AI Secretary General Irene Khan

"Amnesty International is outraged at the attacks carried out in the USA, involving the hijacking of civilian aircraft and resulting in thousands of men, women and children being killed, maimed or injured."
Public statement, 12 September 2001 (AMR 51/134/2001)

AI’s public statements condemning violent attacks by armed groups and individuals include:USA: Amnesty International appalled at devastating attack against civilians (AMR 51/134/2001)Saudi Arabia: Amnesty International condemns the killing of civilians by armed group in al-Khober (MDE 23/006/2004)UK: Amnesty International condemns bomb attacks in London (EUR 45/020/2005)Spain: Amnesty International condemns Madrid bombing (EUR 41/002/2005)Jordan: Attacks by armed groups show utter disregard for humanity (MDE 16/007/2005)Egypt: Amnesty International condemns attack against civilians in Dahab (MDE 12/006/2006)India: Amnesty International condemns multiple bomb attacks in Mumbai (ASA 20/017/2006)

Cruel. Inhuman. Degrades Us All.
Campaign homepage: www.amnesty.org/stoptorture

Cruel. Inhuman. Degrades us all. Stop torture and ill-treatment in the "War on Terror" (ACT 40/010/2005)

In the context of the "war on terror", the absolute ban on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment has been flouted by governments around the world. States have inflicted unspeak-able mental and physical suffering on detainees using methods so abhorrent and brutal that they have long been prohibited by interna-tional law. (See the AI website for reports – above left.)

Evidence of torture and ill-treatment by US forces in Abu Ghraib prison and other detention facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as in the US naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, shocked the world. The shock was compounded when previously secret documents were leaked indicating a US administration far from committed to the international prohibition on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
In countries where torture and other ill-treatment were already common, governments have been encouraged by the new climate of tolerance towards such abuses. In others, draconian laws and abusive practices have been introduced.

If governments use torture and other ill-treatment, they resort to the tactics of terror. Both torturers and terrorists rely on fear to achieve their aims. Both deny and destroy human dignity. Both assume the end justifies the means.

AI responded to the threat to perhaps the most universally accepted human right – the right not to be tortured – by launching an international campaign: Cruel. Inhuman. Degrades Us All. Stop Torture and Ill-treatment in the "War on Terror". It calls on all governments to:
· STOP the abuses by condemning and prohibiting all torture and other ill-treatment.
· INVESTIGATE all allegations of such abuses.
· PROSECUTE any official who condones, acquiesces in or commits torture or ill-treatment.

"There can be no justification or excuse for carrying out such attacks deliberately targeting civilians".
Public statement after bombings in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt on 23 July 2005 (MDE 12/030/2005)

AI TAKES ACTION AI Switzerland and AI Austria asked all their local members of parliament in 2005 to sign a declaration reaffirming the absolute prohibition of torture. AIUSA hosted an online discussion in August 2006 with former army interrogator Peter Bauer. Their collaboration led to other former interrogators telling the US Congress that torture and other ill-treatment are unnecessary to win the "war on terror". Read the interrogators' statement at www.amnestyusa.org/denounce_torture/statement_on_interrogation.pdf AI Australia organized a national newspaper advertisement listing eminent Australians supporting AI’s statement against torture. People at Adelaide airport dressed up as flight attendants and prisoners in orange jumpsuits for the Air Torture campaign, garnering national media coverage. AI Sweden organized activities in 32 cities on human rights day in 2005 with the message "Torture is Never OK".

ACTION WORKS After intensive lobbying by AIUSA and others of members of Congress, US senators voted 90-9 in October 2005 to incorporate the McCain amendment into a defence spending bill, affirming the ban on cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees. The bill was signed into law in December 2005.

Renditions

Hiding behind the rhetoric of the "war on terror", the US and other governments have illegally detained people and secretly flown them to third countries, where they may suffer additional crimes including torture. In some cases, it appears that the subsequent interrogation under torture has been the main purpose of the transfer.

This unlawful practice of transferring people is known as rendition and is shrouded in secrecy. AI has painstakingly analysed flight records around the world and matched these with known cases of victims of rendition. It has also interviewed victims of rendition, including those who had been held in "black sites" – secret locations.

The results were published in April 2006 in USA: Below the radar – secret flights to torture and "disappearance" (see next page) (AMR 51/051/2006). The report received extensive media coverage and prompted many government responses, including promises to launch official investigations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK.

In June 2006 AI published Partners in Crime: Europe’s role in US renditions (EUR 01/008/2006). This exposed in detail the involvement of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Macedonia, Italy, Sweden and the UK in six cases of rendition. In each case, the victims were bundled onto CIA planes and transferred abroad, without due process, to detention sites where all say they were tortured or otherwise ill-treated.
Torture is wrong and illegal wherever it happens and whoever carries it out. Governments do not escape their obligation under international law by exporting people abroad to be tortured.

AI continues to call on all states to stop renditions – no one should be forcibly transferred abroad outside the rule of law. It also calls on states to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the human rights violations connected to this practice, and ensure full reparation to the victims and their families.

Diplomatic assurances

WEB ACTION targeting President Bouteflika of Algeria: http://web.amnesty.org/pages/stoptorture-060710-features-eng
Governments that want to ignore the ban on sending people to countries where they risk torture have sought "diplomatic assurances" or memorandums of understanding from receiving governments that certain individuals will not be tortured or otherwise ill-treated (POL 30/002/2006).
These guarantees are virtually worthless. Why should anyone rely on the word of a government that already lies about torture in its detention centres?AI has campaigned against such assurances and highlighted countries that have used or sought them, including Austria, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Turkey, the UK and the USA.For example, it convened a two-day gathering of human rights organizations from the Middle East in Beirut, Lebanon, in January 2006. The meeting agreed that memorandums of understanding between the UK and Middle East and North African countries undermined the absolute ban on torture and that no detainees should be transferred on the basis of them (IOR 61/025/2005, MDE 01/001/2006).

Below the radar: Secret flights to torture and "disappearance" (AMR 51/051/2006) andPartners in Crime: Europe’s role in US renditions (EUR 01/008/2006) can be ordered on:www.amnesty.org/shop/index/

AI TAKES ACTION AI France created various web campaigns using "viral" technology to spread the message against renditions, also working closely with rap artist Leeroy Kesiah. www.terrorairlines.comAI Chile members organized a publicity event in the main street of downtown Santiago, during which they displayed "Thanks for Flying CIA" posters.

Guantánamo and beyond

Guantánamo web action at http://web.amnesty.org/pages/usa-100106-action-eng
Since 11 September 2001 the USA has held approximately 70,000 people outside its shores. More than 10,000 people are believed to be still held in US custody in prisons and camps in the USA, Cuba, Iraq and Afghanistan. An unknown number are held in secret detention elsewhere.

More than 400 people of around 35 different nationalities remain in detention without charge or trial in Guantánamo. Indefinite detention causes great distress to detainees and their families. In June 2006, three detainees were found dead in their cells; they had apparently hanged themselves. Numerous detainees have attempted suicide. Others have in desperation embarked on hunger strikes, being kept alive, sometimes against their will, through painful force-feeding procedures. The totality of the detention regime – harsh, indefinite, isolating and punitive – can in itself amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in violation of international law. Military investigations into allegations of direct torture and other ill-treatment of detainees in the base have been inadequate.

Guantánamo has become a symbol of injustice and abuse in the US administration’s "war on terror". AI was one of the first international organizations to call for its closure – it continues to campaign to this end.
Elsewhere, so-called high-value detainees are being held in secret US custody in unknown locations ("black sites"). Some have never been heard of since their detention began.

AI calls for all US detention centres to be immediately opened up to independent scrutiny. Any detention facility used to hold people beyond the protection of international human rights and humanitarian law should be closed. All "war on terror" detainees should be promptly charged with a recognizably criminal offence and given a fair trial, or else released. It is imperative they not simply be sent somewhere else to have their rights abused.

Who are the Guantánamo detainees?
The identities and details of many of the men held in Guantánamo were initially kept secret by the US authorities. AI publicized as much information as it could uncover about individual detainees and contributed to the successful campaign that eventually resulted in the USA releasing the names of detainees. When the world knows personal details about prisoners – their name, age, appearance, occupation and so on – it is more difficult for governments to abuse them. They are not "forgotten prisoners" any longer but known human beings with rights.

Among many case sheets issued by AI was one on Jumah al-Dossari (pictured below), a Bahraini national (AMR 51/129/2005). AI also published his personal account of his ordeal in Pakistani and US custody, and issued Urgent Actions on his behalf as it was believed he was repeatedly attempting suicide in Guantánamo (AMR 51/067/2006, AMR 51/122/2006).

ACTION WORKS Murat Kurnaz was released from Guantánamo on 24 August 2006, after being held for nearly five years without charge or trial. He is a Turkish national who was born in Germany in 1982. It was only after intense lobbying by his family, lawyers and AI members that the German authorities began to act on his behalf. Since AI began drawing public attention to the cases of individual Guantánamo detainees, 17 of them have been released: three Bahrainis – Abdullah al-Nuaimi, Adil Haji and Salman al-Khalifah; six Kuwaitis– Abdullah al-Ajmi, Abdul-Aiz al-Shamari, Adel Abdul Mohsen, Saad al-Azmi, Mohammed al-Dehani and Nasser al-Mutairi; one Australian – Mamdouh Habib; two Yemenis – Karama Khamisain and Waleed al-Qadassi; and five people from the UK – Moazzam Begg, Feroz Abassi, Jamal Kiyemba, Martin Mubanga and Richard Belmar. Of those detainees transferred to their home countries some faced further detention – sometimes at the request of the USA. Three are still in detention.

ACTION WORKS In June 2006, the US Supreme Court ruled that military commissions as established by President Bush are illegal under US and humanitarian law (AMR 51/101/2006). AI urged President Bush to react to the ruling by rethinking his administration’s "war on terror" detention policies and practices at home and abroad (AMR 51/102/2006).

AI TAKES ACTION AI Israel ran a stall at a music concert calling for an investigation into illegal activities in Guantánamo. AI Uruguay erected a huge poster in front of the US embassy in Montevideo in 2006 that called for the closure of Guantánamo and an end to torture. AI Paraguay demonstrated outside the US embassy in Asunción to raise awareness about Guantánamo. AI Luxembourg ran a stall in the city centre and launched 200 orange balloons in the air, each with a message calling for an end to torture and the closure of Guantánamo. AI Bahrain organized a public event around the release of the film The Road to Guantánamo and a "Close Guantánamo" web petition: www.amnestybahrain.org/Petition.htm USA: Human dignity denied: Torture and accountability in the "war on terror" (AMR 51/145/2004) USA: Guantánamo and beyond: The continuing pursuit of unchecked executive power (AMR 51/063/2005) USA: Guantánamo: Lives torn apart – The impact of indefinite detention on detainees and their families (AMR 51/007/2006) Guantánamo: Four years too many – new torture testimonies (AMR 51/008/2006)USA: Memorandum to Government on torture and closing Guantánamo (AMR 51/093/2006)

AI-Reprieve conference
‘The Global Struggle against Torture: Guantánamo Bay, Bagram and Beyond’
This hugely successful conference was jointly organized by AI and Reprieve, a UK-based non-governmental organization, in London in November 2005. It brought together former detainees, family members, lawyers and other activists to inform and encourage action against torture and the practices that lead to it, such as secret detentions and unlawful transfers of people between countries. It was also the first time that several "war on terror" detainees had seen each other since their release. For two, it was the first time they had met, even though they had been held in neighbouring cages in Guantánamo.

Justice not revenge

AFGHANISTANAfter the attacks in the USA in September 2001 AI members around the world campaigned for "Justice not Revenge".

Since the US-led military intervention in Afghanistan in October 2001, US military and other allied forces have committed serious human rights violations on Afghan territory. US forces have used Afghan government facilities and sometimes involved Afghan officials in abusive practices in the context of the "war on terror".

Thousands of Afghans and some non-Afghans have been arbitrarily detained, held incommunicado and scores tortured by US and other forces under effective US command; by the Afghan security services, including the Afghan National Army and National Security Directorate; and by various provincial police authorities. Hundreds of detainees still held in US-controlled facilities have no recourse to human rights safeguards. Armed groups opposed to the government have also committed human rights abuses.

AI established a field presence in Kabul between 2002-2003 and AI’s Secretary General visited Afghanistan in 2003 to meet President Karzai and others. AI delegates have visited the country regularly since 2002 to monitor human rights. AI has publicized its findings in several reports including: Protect Afghan civilians and refugees (ASA 11/012/2001) and US detentions in Afghanistan – an aide-mémoire for continued action (AMR 51/093/2005). A factsheet (ASA 11/005/2006) also highlights the responsibilities of the Afghan authorities.IRAQFollowing the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the toppling of the Iraqi government, violence became endemic across the country – whether in the form of unlawful killings, torture and other abuses by US-led coalition troops and Iraqi security forces, or attacks against civilians by armed groups. As the months turned into years, the lawlessness increased and the torture – symbolized so shockingly by images taken in Abu Ghraib prison – became endemic. This was publicized by AI, for example in Beyond Abu Ghraib: detention and torture in Iraq (MDE 14/001/2006).

AI delegates visited Iraq in 2003, the first time they had been allowed to do so for 20 years, and researched current and past human rights violations. Between May and August that year AI maintained a full-time presence in Baghdad, and visited Kurdish-controlled Arbil, Kirkuk and Mosul to carry out research. Key reports published included Iraq: civilians under fire (MDE 14/071/2003), People come first – protect human rights during the current conflict (MDE 14/093/2003), One year on the human rights situation remains dire (MDE 14/006/2004) and Killings of civilians in Basra and al-‘Amara (MDE 14/007/2004).

In Cold Blood – abuses by armed groups (MDE 14/009/2005) highlighted the killing of at least 6,000 civilians by armed groups in direct or indiscriminate attacks. AI urged all such groups to immediately stop all attacks against civilians and other non-combatants.

AI TAKES ACTION AI Nepal produced 2,000 postcards based on an AIreport, Iraq: In cold blood – abuses by armed groups, and sent them to local AI groups for signature and posting to Shaikh Harith al-Dhari of the Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq. Public events were also held in different parts of Nepal.

Defending human rights around the world

All reports referenced in this document can be found on http://web.amnesty.org/library/engindex

"AI condemns in the strongest terms the bomb attacks which, according to official reports, killed at least 18 people and injured more than a hundred others in the Red Sea resort of Dahab in the Sinai Peninsula on 24 April… Such attacks can never be justified under any circumstance… [However] the bombings in Dahab must not be used to justify any human rights violations by the Egyptian authorities."
(MDE 12/006/2006)

The US-led "war on terror" and the selective disregard by the USA for international human rights law has meant other governments have used the "security excuse" to trample on human rights without fear of international condemnation. AI and its members around the world have campaigned to put pressure on governments, armed groups and individuals to respect human rights at all times, however difficult the circumstances.

Algeria
Algeria has become a prime ally of the USA and other governments in the "war on terror". This is despite the fact that Algerian security forces routinely use torture and other ill-treatment in terrorism-related arrests. The most serious abuses are committed in barracks of a military intelligence agency, the Military Security, where detainees are held illegally and without any contact with the outside world.

The Military Security operates with great secrecy and without any effective oversight by the civilian authorities. It is thought to have played a major role in thousands of killings and enforced disappearances during the 1990s.The report Unrestrained Powers – Torture by Algeria's Military Security (MDE 28/004/2006) helped to break the silence about abuses by the Military Security in Algeria. AI has called on the Algerian President to end arrests and detentions by the Military Security and repeal recent amnesty laws that entrench impunity for security forces.

Austria
AI campaigned against the proposed forcible return of Muhammad ‘Abd al-Rahman Bilasi-Ashri from Austria to Egypt, where he would be at serious risk of torture (EUR 13/001/2005). To date, he has not been deported.

China
Rebiya Kadeer, a former prisoner of conscience from the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in northwest China, visited several European AI sections in November 2005 (pictured while visiting AI Switzerland and holding an Urgent Action issued on her behalf). The tour aimed to increase international opposition to China’s attempts to brand Uighurs as terrorists. Some 17 Uighurs have been detained for more than four years at Guantánamo. Five others were released to Albania in May 2006 and are recognized as refugees.

Against the background of the "war on terror", China passed new anti-terrorism provisions in 2001 making more explicit existing measures to punish "terrorist" crimes. It has also intensified its repression of the mainly Muslim Uighur community in XUAR.

Reports by AI on this issue include China’s anti-terrorism legislation and repression in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (ASA 17/010/2002) and Uighurs fleeing persecution as China wages its "war on terror" (ASA 17/021/2004).

Egypt
Serious human rights abuses have continued in Egypt since the "war on terror" was declared – abuses that AI investigated on the ground during visits in 2002 and 2005. Egypt: No protection – systematic torture continues (MDE 12/031/2002) highlighted the continuing blight of torture and confirmed that people accused of terrorism in Europe or elsewhere should never be transferred to Egypt.

Bomb attacks targeting tourist resorts in Egypt in 2004, 2005 and 2006 by armed groups left hundreds of civilians dead. The authorities responded by making sweeping arrests and denying detainees their basic rights. AI is campaigning to ensure that a draft law on terrorism does not entrench powers that have facilitated torture, unfair trials and other grave human rights violations under Egypt’s long-running state of emergency (MDE 12/014/2006).

Jordan
Within a month of the attacks in the USA in 2001, Jordan rushed through new anti-terrorism legislation that broadened the definition of terrorism, restricted freedom of expression and the press, and widened the scope of the death penalty. Jordan: Security measures violate human rights (MDE 16/001/2002) summarized these concerns and called on the government to bring its legislation in line with international standards and to end incommunicado detention and other abuses.

Jordan’s involvement in the US-led "war on terror" generated further concern about the country’s long history of carrying out and facilitating torture and other ill-treatment. Jordan: "Your confessions are ready for you to sign" – Detention and torture of political suspects (MDE 16/005/2006) documented the abuses and called on the authorities to end incommunicado detention, bring torturers to justice, and end Jordan’s participation in renditions.

WEB ACTION
On Jordan: www.amnesty.org/pages/jor-240706-action-eng

Kenya
Anti-terrorism operations that involved serious human rights violations began in Kenya in 2002 following a bombing of a hotel in Mombasa that killed 15 people. At the launch (pictured) of its report Kenya: The impact of "anti-terrorism" operations on human rights (AFR 32/002/2005), AI gave extensive details of the violations, including arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detention without charge, torture, and harassment of relatives of security detainees. The report called on the authorities to respect the rights of detainees, and to ensure that all police receive special training in human rights law.

Malaysia
In 2004 AI launched a series of actions on Malaysia’s "forgotten prisoners" – people detained without trial in the context of the "war on terror". This focused on people held under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows detainees to be held for up to 60 days for police investigation. During this period, while held incommunicado and in secret locations, detainees are subject to prolonged interrogations and are at risk of torture or other ill-treatment, including beatings, sleep deprivation and threats to their families. After 60 days detainees, without being charged or tried, can be issued two-year detention orders, renewable indefinitely, and transferred to a recognized detention centre.

AI has campaigned against the Malaysian government’s use of the ISA for many years. Since the attacks in the USA in 2001, the authorities have increasingly sought to justify the law as a necessary tool to fight terrorism, even though the law is over 45 years old. Since 2001 hundreds of individuals accused of being Islamist militants have been arrested, and at least 70 remain held under the ISA. AI has highlighted its concerns in the reports Malaysia: The Internal Security Act (ASA 28/006/2003) and Malaysia: Towards human rights-based policing (ASA 28/001/2005) and recently with the factsheet Malaysia: Amnesty International’s campaign to stop torture and ill-treatment in the "war on terror" (ASA 28/003/2006).

ACTION WORKS After an AI Quick Action, three "war on terror" detainees in Malaysia were released in October 2005: Mohammed Zulkifli Mohd Zakaria, Alias Ngah and Solehan Abdul Ghafar.

Morocco
In 2002 the government began a crackdown on suspected Islamist activists. Its campaign intensified after bombings of civilian targets in Casablanca in May 2003. Hundreds of people were rounded up, tortured and imprisoned.

AI sent a memorandum in 2004 to the government, based on its report Morocco/Western Sahara: Torture in the "anti-terrorism" campaign (MDE 29/004/2004), which detailed its findings about torture. Having originally dismissed the allegations as baseless, the authorities subsequently said that a limited number of abuses may have taken place and an investigation would be initiated.

Pakistan
Soon after the "war on terror" was declared it became clear that Pakistan was colluding in the arbitrary arrest and unlawful transfer of people from Pakistan to US custody. These people were transported to detention in Bagram in Afghanistan, Guantánamo, prisons in countries such as Egypt and Morocco, or secret detention. Most were tortured. Pakistan: Transfers to US custody without human rights guarantees (ASA 33/014/2002) highlighted individual victims and called on the Pakistan authorities to abide by international standards.

AI delegates visited Pakistan in 2002 and 2004 to conduct research into human rights concerns relating to the "war on terror" and other issues. In 2004 AI highlighted serious abuses committed during security operations to arrest terrorism suspects in South Waziristan in the tribal region of Pakistan (ASA 33/011/2004).

Russia
The Russian authorities have used the language of the "war on terror" to try to justify repressive measures used in Chechnya and elsewhere. Torture, "disappearances" and alleged unfair trials in Russia’s North Caucasus (EUR 46/039/2005), demonstrated that systematic human rights violations were integral to the Russian government’s so-called anti-terrorist operations.

ACTION WORKS After an Urgent Action on the arbitrary detention in Russia of Airat Vakhitov and Rustam Akhmiarov, the two former Guantánamo detainees were released unharmed (EUR 46/035/2005). They told AI they were convinced their release was due to the campaigning by AI and others.

Syria
Since the "war on terror" was declared, several people suspected of terrorism have been arrested and tortured in Syria with the apparent collusion of Western intelligence agencies. In addition, victims of rendition have ended up in Syria, where they have been interrogated under torture (MDE 24/114/2005). AI issued an appeal case on behalf of five men forcibly returned to Syria and then detained incommunicado and tortured (MDE 24/085/2005).

There could never have been any doubt that sending people to Syria would put them at risk of abuse. AI has long publicized torture and other serious human rights violations in Syria, and in 2004 recorded the deaths of at least nine people in custody following torture.

Tunisia
In 2003 AI raised serious concerns about draft anti-terrorism legislation (MDE 30/021/2003). The law entered into force in December 2003 and has been used extensively against people arrested in Tunisia or returned from abroad. It undermines human rights, including by restricting freedom of expression and belief.

"Deliberately attacking civilians can never be justified. Targeting commuters going about their daily business shows complete contempt for the most fundamental principles of humanity."
AI statement following the 7 July 2005 bombings in London (EUR 45/020/2005)

UK: Human rights are not a game (EUR 45/043/2005) summarized for campaigners AI’s many concerns about counter-terrorism measures being rushed through parliament and put into practice.

UK
For many years the UK authorities have been undermining human rights, the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary in the name of combating terrorism. They have persecuted people labelled a "threat to national security" on the basis of secret intelligence, with devastating consequences for the victims and their families. They have undermined the ban on torture both at home and abroad.

AI has organized numerous campaigns in response to such attacks on human rights. For example, in 2005 it produced a briefing on the Terrorism Bill being debated by parliament (EUR 45/047/2005) and a submission to the UK Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights that was looking into "counter-terrorism policy and human rights" (EUR 45/050/2005). It also published research that showed that CIA flights had used UK airfields to refuel hours after transferring detainees to countries where they risked torture (EUR 45/059/2005). Among many reports highlighting AI’s concerns were Rights Denied – The UK’s response to 11 September 2001 (EUR 45/016/2002) and Human rights – a broken promise (EUR 45/004/2006).

The launch of this last report prompted so many emails in Spain that the UK embassy’s server in Madrid crashed: around 15,000 emails were sent within a few weeks. Soon after, on 2 June 2006, the UK ambassador and a government minister met AI Spain to discuss the protection of human rights in the UK in the context of the country’s counter terrorism measures.

ACTION WORK SIn October 2005, AI and 13 organizations jointly intervened in a case before the UK’s highest court, the Law Lords, for a ruling that would render torture "evidence" inadmissible in UK court proceedings except in those against the alleged torturer (EUR 45/041/2005, EUR 45/044/2005). In December 2005 the Law Lords confirmed that torture "evidence" is unacceptable (EUR 45/057/2005).

Yemen and other Gulf states
Soon after 11 September 2001, security forces in Yemen embarked on mass arrests, arbitrary detentions and deportations of foreign nationals with total disregard for the rule of law. AI publicized these serious human rights violations in Yemen: The rule of law sidelined in the name of security (MDE 31/006/2003). Government officials told AI that they had to take such action to "fight terrorism" and to avert the risk of military reprisals by the USA. In 2004 further information on Yemen and other states was published in The Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula: Human rights fall victim to the "war on terror" (MDE 04/002/2004) as part of a cross regional project looking at the impact of the "war on terror" on the ground.

In partnership with the National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms (HOOD), a local non-govern-mental organization, AI held an international conference in Sana’a on 10-11 April 2004 under the slogan "Human Rights for All".

The conference brought together 180 participants including the families of "war on terror" detainees as well as activists from Yemen, other Gulf states and elsewhere in the world. The conference identified steps to challenge the unlawful detentions in Guantánamo and elsewhere, established the Sana’a Committee to continue the campaign, and issued the "Sana’a Appeal", which called on relevant governments to end the legal limbo of all "war on terror" detainees.

Three Yemenis, Muhammad al Assad (pictured), Muhammad Bashmilah and Salah Nasser Salim ‘Ali Qaru, were imprisoned on their return to Yemen in 2005 after long periods in secret US detention. AI delegates flew to Yemen and were given permission to interview them. The men’s statements helped AI campaign for their final release and gave unique insight into the network of covert US-run detention centres, including one apparently located in Eastern Europe – information that was published in USA/Yemen: Secret detention in CIA "black sites" (AMR 51/177/2005) and received wide international media coverage.

Elsewhere
AI has initiated many campaigns and issued numerous documents highlighting human rights concerns in the context of terror and counter-terror in other countries in recent years. They include:European UnionHuman rights dissolving at the borders? Counter-terrorism and criminal law in the EU (IOR 61/013/2005)Israel and the Occupied Territories and the Palestinian AuthorityIsrael and the Occupied Territories: The place of the fence/wall in international law (MDE 15/016/2004)Israel and the Occupied Territories: Israel must put an immediate end to the policy and practice of assassinations (MDE 15/056/2003)Middle East: Israel and the Occupied Territories and the Palestinian Authority – Killing the future: Children in the line of fire (MDE 02/005/2002)Middle East: Israel and the Occupied Territories and the Palestinian Authority: Without distinction – attacks on civilians by Palestinian armed groups (MDE 02/003/2002)

Nepal
Nepal: Fractured country, shattered lives (ASA 31/063/2005)Nepal: Human rights abuses escalate under the state of emergency (ASA 31/036/2005)Nepal: Open letter regarding attacks on civilians by Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (ASA 31/139/2004)Nepal: A spiralling human rights crisis (ASA 31/016/2002)PhilippinesHuman rights must be respected to secure peace and stability in southern Philippines (ASA 35/001/2002)Sri LankaOpen letter to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and Sri Lankan Police concerning recent politically motivated killings and abductions in Sri Lanka (ASA 37/004/2003)UzbekistanUzbekistan: Lifting the siege on the truth about Andizhan (EUR 62/021/2005)

"Amnesty International condemns in the strongest possible terms the multiple bombings that took place on Tuesday, 11 July in the Indian city of Mumbai."Public statement, 11 July 2006 (ASA 20/017/2006)

"Thank you to you all…You have of course not only helped Rasul but to some extent many other detainees."
Fatimat Tekaeva, mother of Rasul Kudaev, a former Guantánamo detainee feared tortured in detention in Russia. See EUR 46/003/2006 for more information.

Amnesty International
Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights to be respected and promoted.

Amnesty International has a vision of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards.
Amnesty International is independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion. It does not support or oppose any government or political system, nor does it support or oppose the views of the victims whose rights it seeks to protect. It is concerned solely with the impartial protection of human rights.

Amnesty International is a democratic, self-governing movement. It has more than 1.8 million members and supporters in over 150 countries and territories in every region of the world.

Amnesty International is funded largely by its worldwide membership and public donations. No funds are sought or accepted from governments for Amnesty International’s work investigating and campaigning against human rights abuses.

YOU CAN PROTECT HUMAN RIGHTS BY JOINING AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL NOW!

Please send me more information. · I would like to join Amnesty International. Please send me details. · I would like to make a donation to support Amnesty International’s work: Credit card number: Expiry date: Amount: NAME:ADDRESS:Signature:Please send the form to the address in the box, or to Amnesty International, (Tact06)International Secretariat, Peter Benenson House, I Easton Street, London WC1X 0DW, UK.

Make Some Noise, a web action, is a ground-breaking venture from AI that mixes music, celebration and action to protect individuals wherever justice, freedom and equality are denied. It includes classic John Lennon songs. www.amnesty.org/noise

First published in August 2006 byAmnesty International PublicationsPeter Benenson House1 Easton Street London WC1X 0DWUnited Kingdomwww.amnesty.org© Amnesty International Publications 2006ISBN: 0-86210-406-8 978-0-86210-407-8AI Index: ACT 40/009/2006Original language: EnglishPrinted by: Lynx DPM, Chalgrove, UK All rights reserved. This publication is copyright, but may be reproduced by any method without fee for advocacy, campaigning and teaching purposes, but not for resale. The copyright holders request that all such use be registered with them for impact assessment purposes. For copying in any other circumstances, or for re-use in other publications, or for translation or adaptation, prior written permission must be obtained from the publishers, and a fee may be payable.

Photo captions
All photos © AI
Cover: a demonstration in Oslo, Norway in December 2001 at the time of the Nobel peace prize, used the slogan "No security without human rights".

Right: Irene Khan, AI Secretary General, lays flowers at Kings Cross station following bomb attacks on London’s commuters in July 2005. The attacks killed 52 people and injured about 700.

Below: A Pakistan Peace Coalition vigil in Karachi, Pakistan, attended by various non-governmental organizations, including AI Pakistan, shortly after the attacks in the USA on 11 September 2001.

The launch of AIUSA’s mobile billboard urging President Bush to "Tell the Truth about Torture" during the State of the Union address, Washington, January 2006.

AI Australia broke a world record by lighting 11,000 candles at the same time portraying STOP TORTURE and AI’s logo in Brisbane in June 2006.

The launch of AI Poland’s action, "Stop torture in the war on terror", Lublin, May 2006.

AI Greece stages a "Torture Free Skies" demonstration during the 4th European Social Forum in Athens, May 2006. AI Greece staged several successful actions during the Forum, including a well-attended stall on Torture/"War on Terror" and a street theatre show called "CIA airlines" condemning renditions.

AI demonstrates opposite the UK Prime Minister’s residence in London during a visit to the UK by Algeria’s President in July 2006.

Jumah al-Dossari

Members of AI Denmark form a line with each person symbolizing one of the men detainedin Guantánamo, May 2006.

(above L-R): Irene Khan, AI’s Secretary General; Alvaro Gil-Robles, the Council of Europe’s first Commissioner for Human Rights; Kate Allen, Director AIUK; Sir Nigel Rodley, member of the UN Human Rights Committee; Moazzam Begg, released Guantánamo detainee; Clive Stafford Smith, Legal Director, Reprieve.

AI Secretary General Irene Khan with Section Chairs and Directors of AI demonstrate in London, 30 March 2003.

AI delegate Drewery Dyke records testimony in Ghazni in December 2005 while researching human rights concerns in Afghanistan.

Left: Demonstrators in Malaysia protesting against the continuing detention without charge or trial of people held under the Internal Security Act. Al called for the detainees to be charged and given a fair trial, or else immediately released.

AI members in France demonstrate in front of the US embassy in Paris, calling for Guantánamo to be closed, September 2005

A candlelit vigil at the Quezon Memorial Circle in front of Quezon City Hall, the Philippines, March 2003. The vigil, "Iraq, the Human Cost of War: People Come First – Protect Human Rights", was led by AI Philippines and attended by more than 200 people from 23 different organizations.

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AI Index: ACT 40/009/2006

26 August 2006

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