amnesty international newsletterVol. IV No.11 November 1974 Founded 1961

SEAN MACBRIDEGIVEN NOBEL PEACE PRIZE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS WORKSEAN MacBRIDE, who retired in September as Chairman of AMNESTY INTERNATION-

AL's International Executive Committee (October Newsletter) was awarded the Nobel PeacePrize on 8 October in recognition of his lifelong work for human rights.

Mr MacBride, a former Foreign Minister of Ireland who is now the United Nations Com-

missioner for Namibia, shared the prize with former Japanese Prime Minister EISAKO SATO.News of the award to Mr MacBride, a founding member of AI was greeted with jubila-

tion throughout the organization. The IEC, the International Secretariat, national sectionsand many individual Al members quickly cabled their congratulations to him.

Secretary General MARTIN ENNALS, in a public statement, said the prize was a well-deserved tribute to Mr MacBride's work in the cause of human rights.

"On behalf of all the national sections,groups,members and staff of Amnesty Internation-al everywhere,1 would like to express my delight at the award of the Nobel Peace Prize toSean MacBride," Mr Ennals said. "Never has the prize been more merited, for no one hasever done more for peace and human rights in the world."

The Nobel Committee of the Norwegian Parliament, in its announcement of the award,said Mr MacBride had been chosen because of his "many years of efforts to build up and

protect human rights all over the world". It also cited the factthat as Irish Foreign Minister from 1948-1951 he had helpedshape Ireland's role in UN peace-keeping operations.

Although Mr MacBride, aged 70, has retired as Chairman ofthe IEC—a post he held since the IEC was founded in 1963 -heremains chairman of Ars Irish Section.

"Mr MacBride is still very much committed to and identi-fied with Amnesty International's ideals and with its work forpolitical prisoners throughout the world and for the abolitionof torture and capital punishment," Mr Ennals said.

Commenting on the award to Mr MacBride, an editorial inThe Irish Times said:

"As chairman of Amnesty International he has shown—whatis not always the case with idealists—that he is aware of indi-viduals, not only of people in the abstract. With his legal talents,he could easily have made a fortune at the Bar and relapsedinto selfish, moneyed complacency: others are doing it all thetime. Instead, he looked outward at the tormented world, andimmersed himself in it."

Russian,Bulgarian Pay Tribute to AI's Work

SEAN MacBRIDE

AI Officials Arrested in Peru and Nepal.Police Detain S.Korean Committee Member

Leading members of Ars sections in Peru, Nepal and SmithKorea were detained by police in their respective countriesduring October. Two, Dr LAURA CALLER, director of thePeruvian Section, and HAM SOK-HON, Honorary President ofthe South Korean Committee, were subsequently releasedfollowing protests from Al; but Professor SHESH KANTAARYAL, executive director of the Nepal Scetion, was still indetention as this Newsletter went to press.

Professor Aryal, aged 30, who teaches physics at Nepal Uni-versity, was arrested in Kathmandu on 30 September, apparent-ly in connection not with his Al activities but with the estab-lishment of a now-defunct social welfare organization, theKalyan Kari Sangh, under the auspices of the outlawed NelapliCongress Party leader, B.P. KOIRALA.

Political organizations are banned in Nepal and reports saythat security measures in the country have been tightened uprecently in advance of the coronation of KING BIRENDRAnext February. Reports said that Professor Aryal's arrestseemed purely for investigation purposes, but he is stilldetained in Shyanja Jail near Kathmandu.

Al cabled King Birenda on 10 October expressing concernon Professor Ayral's arrest and urging his immediate release.

Dr Caller, a lawyer who has been involved professionally inthe defence of peasants in Peru, was arrested on 7 October. Avisit to Peru's embassy in London by Al Secretary GeneralMARTIN ENNALS and the head of Al's Latin America depart-ment, INGER FAHLANDER, brought an official reply fromLima that Dr Caller had been "detained and brought before theCouncil of War in Police Judicial Zone 4 accused of disturbingpublic order and crimes against property, communications andothers". The reply went on:

"On Monday, 21 of this month [October] she was givenunconditional freedom because there were no grounds for acase to be brought against her."

Ham Sok-hon, who, in addition to his honorary post in theSouth Korean Section, is a leading Quaker spokesman in the

continued on page 4

VICTOR FAINBERG, a former Abadoptee in the SovietUnion who was on the Prisoners of the Month Campaign inSeptember 1972, said during a visit to the International Secre-tariat in October that Ars efforts and other expressions ofworld concern have had a direct effect on the fate of prisonersin the USSR.

Mr Fainberg was detained in psychiatric hospitals in Lenin-grad and Moscow for 5 years after taking part in 1968 in ademonstration against the Soviet military occupation of Czech-oslovakia. He was freed in December 1973 (April 1974 News-letter) and allowed to emigrate last summer.

Mr Fainberg said that Ars efforts to publicize the situationsof individual prisoners and to inform the Soviet authorities ofits concern often leads to an immediate improvement in theprisoner's conditions. He said in his own case it was such pub-licity, combined with letter-writing and telephoning centralauthorities and hospital officials that resulted in his transfer in

. late 1972 from a dreaded "special psychiatric hospital" to anordinary psychiatric hospital.

continued On page 2

2 Amnesty International Newsletter November 1974

continued from page 1

He said that such pressure had also affected the release of

his friend VLADIMIR BORISOV, another Abadoptee who was

jointly on the Postcard Campaignwith Mr Fainberg in Septem-

ber 1972. Mr Fainberg said the release was greatly influenced

by the pile of Al letters that arrived at the time of the decisive

courtber 1972. Mr Fainberg said the release was greatly influenced

by the pile of Al letters about Mr Borisov that arrived at the

time of the decisive court hearing in Moscow.

And Thanks From Heinrich SpetterDr HEINRICH SPETTER, the Bulgarian economist who

was allowed to leave the country in August after being under

sentence of death for alleged espionage (September NewsletterI

wrote to the International Secretariat at the end of September

"to express my heartfelt thanks for your active participation

in the worldwide campaign for my release, thus enabling me to

start a new life" [in Israel] .

Dr Spetter, aged 53, said it was "thanks to the untiring ef-

forts of Amnesty International and many other public institu-

tions and friends that voices of protest against my terrible

plight were raised all over the world."

Al had sent an observer to Dr Spetter's appeal hearing and

twice sent appeals to the Bulgarian government for commuta-

tion of the death sentence.

Swedish International Civil Servant NamedDeputy Secretary General of AI •

Ars International Executive Committee has appoin-ted HANS EHRENSTRALE of Sweden to the newly-created post of Deputy Secretary General of the or-ganization.

Mr Ehrenstrale, aged 60, is an international civilservant who, until his appointment at the Internatio-nal Secretariat in London, was Resident Representa-tive of the United Nations Development Program inAlgiers. He previously held the same position in theIvory Coast, the Congo and Ethiopia.

He has also been Area Director for UNICEF inthe Middle East, Yugoslavia and Romania. AfterWorld War II he directed in Warsaw Sweden's recon-struction mission to Poland and was Liaison Officerbetween the Swedish Government and Allied author-ities in Germany. During the war he was a delegateof the Neutral Swiss-Swedish Commission to Greece.

As Deputy Secretary General, Mr Ehrenstrale willhave special responsibility for the administration ofthe International Secretariat and will share responsi-bility with Secretary General MARTIN ENNALS invarious areas of Al's work for prisoners.

The next meeting of the International ExecutiveCommittee will be held in London 8-10 October. A-mong items on the agenda are implentation of thedecisions taken by the International Council meetingin Denmark in September (October Newsletter), elec-tion of a chairman in succession to SEAN Mac-BRIDE, missions to various countries and finance.

Fresh Arrests in Nigeria Follow AmnestyNew arrests were reported in Nigeria following the announ-

cement on 1 October by the Head of State, General YAKUBU

GOWON, that military detainees held without trial since the

end of the Nigerian civil war in January 1970 were being

released. Twelve of those released had been taken up as invest-

igation cases by Al groups, who had been instructed to press

for an amnesty on 1 October.In announcing the amnesty on the anniversary of Nigeria's

independence, General Gowon proclaimed his military regime's

intention to civilian rule. A number of prominent Nigerian

civilians protested against the change of plans and were arrested.

Among them is TAI SOLARIN, a prominent academic who in

January 1974 attempted to lead a public rally calling for the

release of the detainees whom General Gowon has now freed.

Ex-PoCs in Vietnamese 'Third Force' PartyTwo former Al adoptees in South Vietnam are in the

"Third Force" delegation currently in Europe for international

hearings on Vietnam organized by the Stockholm Conference.

The ex-detainees, the well-known lawyer NGUYEN LONG andBuddhist student leader VO NHU LANH, who were both re-

leased to areas held by the Provisional Revolutionary Govern-ment against their will, arrived in Paris during October with

composer TON THAT LAP, who escaped from prison to aPRG area.

Mr Long went to Geneva for the hearings on 13-14 October,

while Mr Lanh testified by amplified telephone from Paris onhis experiences in prison, which included torture.

Ars European sections have been asked to arrange a pro-

gram for the delegation while it is here because of its unique

ability to give first-hand accounts of prison conditions in

South Vietnam.

Ethiopia Asked Not to Sacrifice JusticeAl wrote to the new military regime in Ethiopia on 17 Oct-

ober urging it not to sacrifice justice to a spirit of revenge in

the impending trial by military tribunals of some of the 200

persons detained since the regime took over power from

Emperor HAILE SELASSIE.Most of the 200, who were members or supporters of the

ousted civilian government, are detained at the barracks of the

Ethiopian Army's Fourth Division in Addis Ababa.

In a letter to General AMAN MICHAEL ANDOM,Chairman

of the ruling Provisional Military Council, Al Secretary General

MARTIN ENNALSasked him to ensure that those detained

"will be allowed adequate opportunity to defend themselves

against the serious charges which they face, and that the

judicial procedures about to be instituted against them will be

of such a kind as to enable friends of Ethiopia throughout the

world to be confident that both the guilty and the innocent

receive justice."

AI Observer Attends Trial of 2 YugoslaysDr DJURO DJUROVIC, aged 74, an Al adoptee who is

seriously ill, was sentenced to 5 years' rigorous imprisonment,

after a trial in Belgrade 14-21 October. His co-defendant Mrs

ZAGORKA KOJIC-STOJANOVIC,aged 50, who is also being

adopted, received 3 years. They were charged with establishing

contact between 1964 and 1969 with an emigré organization

in Paris.Professor FRITZ RUTER, a Dutch specialist in criminal

law attended the trial on behalf of AI.Both defendants denied charges that they had been in

touch with exiled former members of the anti-communist

-Cetniks, a world war II rival resistance movement to the part-

isans who were led by JOSIP BROZ TITO, who is now Presi-dent of Yugoslavia. Dr Djurovic and Mrs Kojic-Stojanovic had

already spent long years of rigorous imprisonment after 1945

for their wartime activities. Fears have been expressed about

the effects of another term of imprisonment on Dr Djurovic.

because of his health and age.

The well-known Yugoslavian dissident writer MIHAJLO MI-HAJ LOV, a former Al adoptee, was arrested on 7 October at

his home in Novi Sad. He has already been tried twice in thepast, spending 31/2 years in jail. He was released in 1970.

November 1974 Amnesty International Newsletter 3

Syria Releases Two AI-Adopted JewsJOSEPH SWED and NISSEM KATRI, two Syrian Jews who

were adopted by Al in January 1972, have been released after

being imprisoned for three years without trial or charge. The

exact date of their release is unknown, but reports received by

AI said that Mr Swed is still limping as a result of the ill-treat-

ment he received while in detention.

Prisoner Releases And CasesThe International Secretariat learned in September

of the release of 71 Al-adopted prisoners and tookup 251 new cases.

PRISONERS OF THE MONTHFrom Past Campaigns

Infitkar Mahmood Randhawa RepatriatedIftikar Mahmood RANDHAWA, a Pakistani detained in

India who was on the Prisoners of the Month Campaign

(formerly called the Postcards for Prisoners Campaign) in

May 1974, has been repatriated to Pakistan. The Indian

Embassy in Washington said he was sent back to Pakistan

on 26 August in accordance with the Delhi agreement in

April between Pakistan and India.

This Month's CampaignRodney ARISMENDI, Uruguay

Secretary General of the Communist Party in Uruguay,

Rodney ARISMENDI is widely regarded as one of the

cleverest and most flexible communist leaders in Latin

America. He is a respected intellectual and politician and

has been a member of the Uruguayan Congress fo'r 27

years.In Uruguay's 1971 elections, the Communist Party for-

med part of the broad leftwing coalition Frente Amplio.

As the country's internal conflict sharpened, Congress was

closed and there was an overt military takeover.in June

1973, although a nominal civilian president was maintain-

ed. Many congressmen and senators went into exile, others

others were arrested, among them Rodney Arismendi.

He was released shortly afterwards and was reported to

be living underground, as all but one of the political

groups forming the Frente Amplio were banned and many

of their leaders went into exile, were detained or went

into hiding to escape warrants of arrest.In May 1974 Rodney Arismendi was arrested again and

has since been held in police headquarters in Montevideo.

It is alleged that he was in possession of false identity

papers when he was arrested, but the reasons for his ar-

rest are obviously his position as leader of the Commun-

ist Party. As far as known, he has not been formally

charged. He suffers from high blood pressure and was re-

cently reported to be in very poor health.Please send courteously-worded appeals for his release

(stressing that your appeal is from a strictly non-political

and so non-communist concern for Mr Arismendi's wel-

fare) to: Sr Jefe, Estado Mayor Conjunto, Montevideo;

and to: Sr Secretario, Consejo de Seguridad Nacional,

Montevideo; and to: the Uruguayan Embassy in your

country.

Ghani BOLOURIAN, IranGhani BOLOURIAN is one of hundreds of Kurds in

Iran who have been imprisoned because of their support

for Kurdish nationalism. Although the Shah is currently

supporting the Iraqi Kurds in their fight for autonomy,

his treatment of his own Kurdish subjects has always

been extremely repressive and many of them have been

executed.Between 1948-1954 Ghani Bolourian was frequently

arrested because of his political activities and in 1954 he

was sentenced to three years imprisonment. In 1959 he

was again arrested and it is alleged that he was badly

tortured before being brought to trial. He was sentenced

to death by a secret military tribunal, but his sentence

was later commuted to life imprisonment.Please send courteously-worded cards appealing for his

release to: His Imperial Majesty the Shahanshah of Iran,

Niavaran Palace, Tehran, Iran.

Drazen BUDIA, YugoslaviaDrazen BUDISA, aged 28, former president of the Stu-

dent Union of Zagreb, received the highest sentence of 4

years during the trial of Croatian student leaders in Aug-

ust-October 1972. Together with three colleagues, he was

charged with having organized a student strike in Zagreb

in November-December 1971, which was followed by

widespread unrest in Croatia. They were found guilty of

"conspiring to overthrow Yugoslavia's social and political

system". While demanding greater autonomy for Croatia—

such as membership in the United Nations along the same

lines as the Ukraine or Belorussia—the student leaders

never advocated violence as a means of achieving the de-.sired reforms. Their appeals against the sentence were

dismissed.Drazen Budisa is held in Stara Gradiska prison and his

health is reported in great danger. His right leg is slowly

becoming paralyzed and the prison authorities are not

providing him with medical attention. It would be most

appropriate to time your appeals with the anniversary of

Republic Day on 29 November when amnesties are usual-

ly granted in Yugoslavia.Please send courteously-worded cards appealings for his

release to: His Excellency Josip Broz Tito, Bulevard

Oktobarske Revolucije 70, Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

Appeal to South Africa for Winnie MandelaAl Secretary General MARTIN ENNALS cabled South African

Prime Minister JOHN VORSTER and Justice Minister JAMES

KRUGER on 11 October urging them to exercise clemency in

the case of Al adoptee WINNIE MANDELA. The cable was

sent in response to a plea for Al help from Mrs Mandela's two

teenage daughters.Mrs Mandela is the wife of African nationalist leader NELSON

MANDELA who is serving a life sentence on Robben Island for

his political activities. Mrs Mandela herself has now been jailed

for 6 months for contravening the terms of the banning order

that placed her under virtual house arrest. Early in October her

appeal against the penalty was rejected, although her sentence

was reduced from its original 12 months.

Soviets Asked to Free 'Near-Death' MorozAl cabled an appeal to Soviet Communist Party leader LEON-

ID BREZHNEV on 18 October asking him to free VALENTYN

MOROZ, the 38-year-old Ukrainian historian and Al adoptee

who, according to Soviet physicist ANDREI SAKHAROV, is

near death in Vladimir Prison.Dr Sakharov told an Al representative in a Moscow-London

telephone conversation that Mr Moroz, who has been on hunger

strike since 1 July in protest against his detention conditions,

was still being fed artificially. Dr Sakharov said Mr Moroz is in

critical condition. Prison officials confirmed in October that

Mr Moroz has developed a serious bladder infection.

Mr Moroz was sentenced in 1970 to 6 years in prison, 3 years

in a labour camp and 5 years' exile for a report he wrote on

conditions in Soviet prisons. The sentence was among the harsh-

est meted out in recent years to a political defendant in the

4 Amnesty International Newsletter November 1974

USSR. Vladimir Prison, where Mr Moroz is now held, is notori-ous as a place of detention for prisoners marked out for specialpunishment.Al groups are asked to lend further weight to the current cam-

paign on Mr Moroz' behalf (October Newsletter) by sending

courteously-worded appeals for his release to: SSSR, Vladimir-skaya Oblast, g. Vladimir, UCHR. OD/1-st.2, Nachal'nikuTyur'my, Lt. Col. V.F. Zavyal'kinu.

Threat to Extend Death Penalty in CyprusAl has written to President GLAFKOS CLERIDES of Cyprus

asking his government not to extend the death penalty on theMediterranean island. The letter from Secretary General MAR-TIN ENNALS followed reports that the Cypriot cabinet hassent the House of Representatives a draft bill providing suchpunishment for anyone involved in the trafficking of arms.

"While sympathizing greatly with the wish of the Governmentof Cyprus to combat the use of violence, Amnesty Internationalfeels very strongly that any step towards extending capital pun-ishment is retrogressive and against the best interests of yourcountry." Mr EnnaIs wrote. He said that while AI would never

defend murder or the use of violence, it regarded the death pe-nalty "as a cruel and inhuman punishment, beneath the dignityof a modern state".

AI Asks Uruguay to Probe Abduction of 6Al asked the Uruguayan government in a letter on 18 October

whether six Uruguayan exiles who had been abducted by para-police vigilante groups in Argentina had been taken back toUruguay. A kidnapper in one of the abductions was recog-nized as a militant member of an extremist rightwing organi-zation in Uruguay.

Argentine police officials have already denied all knowledgeof the whereabouts of the six Uruguayans, one of whom hadbeen under the protection of the United Nations High Commis-sioner for Refugees.

Zambia Lets 41 Rhodesians Go to BritainForty-one Rhodesian Africans who had been detained in Zam-

bia since June 1971 have arrived in Britain to take up scholar-ships provided by the British government. All had been detain-ed in Zambia after openly disagreeing with the leadership of theRhodesian liberation movements to which they belonged.Al took up 18 of them as investigation cases and pressed the

Zambian and British governments for their release. One of theRhodesians said Al had been "instrumental in my release".

Fundraising: The Sweet Smell of RosesGroup 41 of Winterthur, Switzerland, raised 1,304

Swiss francs in August by selling roses on the street topassersby. In a letter to the International Secretariat inSeptember, the group wrote:

"Our sale of roses was planned as a money-raising plusexposure campaign. A stand was set up on a busy malland with a sunny blue sky and the pretty red roses cre-ating a festive atmosphere, passersby were approachedwith a rose, a smile and a request for SFr 2—for Amnes-ty International. Refusals were few and we soon realizedthat our pessimistic estimate of our rose requirementwould not nearly cover our needs. An additional supplywas quickly obtained "

The group displayed Al posters, had information sheetsavailable, and kept one member always on hand for dis-cussions or to collect signatures where possible.

Groups and national sections are asked to continue tosend suggestions for fundraising to the secretariat for in-clusion in the Newsletter. One of the working parties atthe International Council meeting in Denmark in Septem-ber discussed ways of expanding Ars fundraising and ap-proved the draft handbook for fundraising prepared by

Mridulah Sarabhai of Indian Section DiesMRIDULAH SARABHAI, founder member of Ars

Indian Section and a former prisoner of conscienceherself, died on 27 October. Miss Sarabhai was a se-cretary of the section from its foundation.

She was frequently imprisoned for her stand onthe Kashmir question and was adopted by AI afterarrest in November 1965. When she was released inFebruary 1967, she worked hard to develop Al inher country.

The International Secretariat cabled Ars condolen-ces to the Indian Section when news of her deathwas received. In a follow-up letter to A.0 SEN, Sec-retary of the Indian Section, Secretary General MAR-TIN ENNALS described Miss Sarabhai as "a resoluteand fearless fighter for human rights throughout theworld. Miss Sarabhai's warmth of personality was thesubject of inspiration to us all."

DIRK BORNER of the International Executive Commit-tee. The handbook is being revised to include the sugges-tions of the working party and will shortly be sent toall national sections which are advised to study it careful-ly and to circulate it to all groups.

AI Officials Arrestedcontinued from page 1country, was detained for questioning and later released aftermembers of the South Korean Central Intelligence Agencyvisited the section to inquire about Ars activities in the country.

Martin Ennals wrote to President PARK CHUNG-HEE re-affirming that Al sections do not work for the release of prison-ers in their own countries and that the South Korean Sectionhad not violated this ruling.

In August, another honorary president of the South KoreanSection, Monsigneur TJ1 HAK-SUN, Roman Catholic Bishop ofWonju, was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment under thecountry's since-repealed emergency regulations (SeptemberNews/etter). Bishop Tji. an outspoken critic of the Park regime,was alleged to have provided money to dissident students. He isstill detained.Amnesty International News in Brief

MARTIN ENNA LS wrote to Czechoslovak Communist Partyleader GUSTAV HUSAK on 3 October appealing for an improve-ment in the worsening conditions of Litomerice and Ostrava pri-sons. He also urged adequate medical treatment for seven AI ad-optees whose physical and mental states are reportedly critical.They are JAROSLAV MEZNIK, JIR1 MULLER, ZDENEK PRIK-RYL, ANTONIN RUSEK and JAROSLAV SABATA, all in Lito-merice, and MILAN HUBL, ZDENEK POKORNY and JAN TE-SAR, in Ostrava.

Changes of AddressThe Danish Section has moved to Frederiksborggade 1, 1360

Copenhagen K, Denmark. Its telephone number remains the same:Copenhagen 117541;

The new address of Al in Nigeria is: Amnesty InternationalNigerian Section, c/o Samuel Ade Oyewole, 17 Kobiti Street,Alakarandi-Oro, Yaba/Lagos, Nigeria.

The new address of the United States Section's West CoastOffice is: Amnesty International, West Coast Regional Office,3618 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, California 94118.

Letters Through London, PleaseThe International Committee of the Red Cross has asked us to

remind groups and national sections that all correspondence to theICRC must be channelled through the International Secretariat andnot sent directly to it. National sections are asked to put thisnotice in their own bulletins. No group should ever write to theICRC directly or to other non-governmental and regional bodies.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER is published monthlyby Amnesty International Publications, 53 Theobald's Road, London

WC1X 8SP, England and printed by T.B. Russell & Co., 1 LudgateSquare, London EC4M 7NN, England

United Nations General Assembly Expected

To Adopt New Resolution on TortureThe new draft resolution on torture that had been prepared by

a number of Western European countries, following AI's persis-

tent efforts towards this end (October 1974 CAT Bulletin), was,

with a few minor changes, passed with an overwhelming majori-

ty by the United Nations General Assembly's Third Committee

(Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) on 22 October.The resolution will now come before the assembly's plenary

session at the beginning of November, and seems likely to be

passed there as well. Sponsors of the resolution also includethe United States, Jordan, Bangladesh and the Philippines.

In the resolution, member states are requested to report to

the UN Secretary General on existing legislative, administrative

and judicial safeguards against torture. An analytical summary

is then to be submitted to the Fifth United Nations Congress

on Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders,which will be held in September 1975 in Toronto, Canada.This congress is requested to give urgent attention to the ques-

tion of the development of an international code of ethics for

police and related law enforcement agencies, and to the streng-thening of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment

of Prisoners with a view to protection against torture.

Furthermore, the World Health Organization and UNESCO

are asked to prepare draft principles of medical ethics for thetreatment of persons subjected to any form of detention or

imprisonment, and to submit these to the Toronto congress.The congress will have to report on these matters to the next

(the 30th) session of the General Assembly.Finally, the resolution will put the question of torture as a

separate item on the agenda of the assembly's 30th session.x x

Another resolution passed by the Third Committee calls for

a UN investigation of reports of human rights violations inChile.Writer Made to Confess by Torture

On September 30 the Colombian jurist LISANDRO MARTI-

NEZ sent to Al and the International Commission of Juriststhe report of his five-day visit to Ecuador, where he had beensent by both organizations as legal observer to study thecase against Ecuadorian writer and known critic of the govern-

ment JAIME GALARZA and other political detainees. Mr

Galarza, a 43-year-old former Professor of the Central Univer-

sity of Quito and writer of such well known works as El Festin

de Petroleo (The Petroleum Orgy), had been arrested in Novem-

ber 1972, and sentenced by a special tribunal in May 1973 to3 years imprisonment for alleged involvement in a bank robbery.

His lawyers had consistently pleaded his innocence, assertingthat false confessions had been extracted by torture.

The report of Dr Martinez substantiates the earlier reports of

Ecuadorian lawyers. Dr Martinez asserts that the confessions

as a result of which Galarza was convicted were in fact extrac-ted by torture, and that the marks of torture can still be seen

on his body (Dr Martinez has been able to visit Mr Galarza inprison). The Colombian lawyer also has severe criticism of the

legal proceedings, contends the competence of the SpecialTribunal in this case, and asserts in conclusion that the proceed-

ing is null and void from the legal standpoint, in accordancewith internationally accepted legal standards.

Warders Found Guilty of AssaultThree warders of Leeuwkop Prison, South Africa, were sen-

tenced to 18 months' imprisonment and two others to suspend-

ed sentences on 9 October by the Rand Supreme Court inJohannesburg, after they had been found guilty of barbaric,

cruel and inhuman assaults on tOo black prisoners, as a result

of which one of the prisoners had died.The prisoners, LUCAS KHOARIPE and ISAAC GUMEDE,

were suspected of having stolen money from one of the warders

amnesty international

CAMPAIGN FOR THE

ABOLITION OF

TORTUREBulletin No. 6 November 1974

on 26 December 1973, although subsequent events showedthat they probably did not know where this money was. That

day and the following day the prisoners were subjected tovarious forms of brutal assault and torture, including near-

drowning, kicking, and beating with wooden and rubber batons

on the soles of their feet and on other parts of the body.Mr Khoaripe died during the night of 27 December, according

to medical evidence presented in court, of heart failure caused

by bruising of the heart through tremendously hard kicks and

blows to the breastbone and on the ribs, two of which werecracked.

The superior officer who had ordered the interrogation hadbeen promoted after the incident to the rank of captain, which,in the words of Judge HIEMSTRA "exposes a cynism on the

part of the prison authorities which I cannot condemn strongly

enough". The judge in his final verdict also noted that the trialhad revealed "serious evils in the Prisons Department", in that

such assaults and torture were not a rare occurrence, and had

happened in the prison on previous occasions.South African Minister of Justice JAMES KRUGER has

promised strong action in the light of the judge's findings,although he declined to extend the terms of reference of therecently appointed Commission of Inquiry into South Africa's

Penal System to include the Leeuwkop judgement. In answerto questions in the House of Assembly, Mr Kruger said he was

sending a letter of strong disapproval to all commanding offi-

cers of prisons regarding assaults on prisoners. He also statedthat during the period of mid-1971 to mid-1973 11 prisoners

were killed and 36 seriously injured by warders. All 11 deaths

and 21 of the injuries, according to Mr Kruger, occurred during

attempted escapes.Three warders from another prison are now on trial on char-

ges of assaulting three prisoners with rubber batons and a whip

last July.It should be noted that South African legislation concerning

political prisoners, notably the Terrorism Act, allows fordetainees to be held incommunicado for an indefinite period

of time, and numerous allegations of torture of political de-tainees have been received over the past 10 years. At least 25

members of the black South African Students Organizationhave recently been arrested and are now held incommunicado

under the Terrorism Act. The arrests followed a forbiddenpro-Frelimo (the Mozambique liberation organization) rallyheld on 25 September in Durban.

New Allegations of Brutality in IranAlthough hard information from Iran remains sparse, there

are no indications that the SHAH's regime has toned down itsruthless persecution of political dissidents. General allegations

of torture and disappearances continue to reach the outside

world, and although it is extremely difficult to substantiatesuch allegations, they are in line with similar reports that have

been received over the past years.

2 Campaign for the Abolition of Torture November 1974 Bulletin

An article in the 14 October issue of Newsweek describesthe prominent role that SAVAK, the Iranian Secret Police,plays in this very efficient repressive system. It estimates that

one out of every eight adult Iranian citizens is an occasionalSAVAK informer, and mentions the alleged ties that SAVAK

has with the United States and Israeli intelligence agencies. It

also reports a recent incident at a brick factory in Teheran,where a strike was allegedly put down by a group of SAVAK

agents who beat 14 workers to death with clubs. Accordingto Al's own information, executions during 1972 and 1973totalled almost 300.

The CAT Department in October made an urgent appeal to

the CAT coordinators of Al's national sections to act on

behalf of three recently arrested detainees, one of them a wo-

man seven months' pregnant, for whom fears about their treat-

ment have been expressed.

Uruguay Government Halts Torture InquiryThe Uruguayan authorities recently ordered a halt to the

judicial investigation into the dath under torture of the student

HUGO DE LOS SANTOS, who died in September 1973 while

detained in a military barracks. The government has curtailed

the inquiry on the grounds that it might endanger the secrecy

of official military matters relevant to "the security of theState in its struggle against subversion".

The case of Hugo de los Santos became an important issuewhen an autopsy performed in the presence of legal and medi-

cal authorities and corroborated by the Medical Institute of the

Judiciary proved irrefutably that he had been subjected to se-

vere torture, and that he had not died of acute lung oedema,as the military doctor who signed the death certificate hadclaimed. The case was taken up to the highest civilian judicial

bodies, but after the recent government order there are no

indications that the incriminated officials will be punished.Another appalling case of death through alleged torture

occurred on 29 June 1974, when Miss NIBIA SABALSAGA-RAY, a 24-year old teacher and member of the Young Com-munists Union, died in a military barracks, within 10 hoursafter her arrest. Her family was informed that she had commit-

ted suicide. Although a witness reported to have seen signs oftorture on her body, requests for an objective medical report

were refused. AI has appealed to the competent militaryjudge, the Council of State and the military Commanders inChief, asking for an official inquiry and for a public statement

giving details of the circumstances of her detention and death,

but no such steps appear to have been taken.The report by the International Commission of Jurists and

AI after a joint mission to Uruguay in May 1974, stated that:"The general view among defence lawyers is that almost all

persons detained in military barracks and some of those de-tained in police stations are still being severely ill-treated eitherduring or preliminary to interrogation".

APPEALSLeonid PLYUSHCH, Russia

According to recently received information, the Russiannathematician LEONID PLYUSHCH, detained in theDnepropetovsk special psychiatric hospital (August 1974

CAT Bulletin), is still being subjected to injections with drugs,

including insulin and haloperidol. His health condition re-mains critical, and your letters on his behalf are still needed.

Send courteously worded appeals for his release to: N.V.Podgorny, Chairman of the Supreme Soviet, and to : R.A.Rudenko, Attorney-General of the USSR. Addresses : SSSR,g. Moskva, Kreml, Predsedatelyu Prezidiuma VerkhovnogoSovieta SSR, N.V. Podgornomu; and SSSR, g. Moskva,Pushkinskaya ul. 15a, Prokuratura SSSR, GeneralnomuProkuroru, R.A. Rudenko. Also write to : SSSR,

Ukrainskaya SSR, g. Dnepropetrovsk, ulitsa Chicherna,Spetsialnaya Psikhiatricheskaya Bolnitsa, Nachal' Niku.

Jose Luis CANCHO Beltran, SpainA student teacher at the University of Valladolid, Jose Luis

CANCHO BELTRAN, was arrested on 17 January 1974. The

arrest took place in the wave of police action against left wing

activists that followed the assassination of Prime MinisterLUIS CARRERO BLANCO, in December 1973. Jose Luis

Cancho and 42 other students arrested at the end of Januaryin Valladolid were suspected of being responsible for "distribu-

ting clandestine propaganda, painting slogans on walls, andorganizing demonstrations and unauthorized meetings forclandestine groups in order to disturb the normal course ofacademic activities and the public peace".

It is reported that from the moment of his arrest, Jose Luis

Cancho was continuously ill-treated during interrogation. He

was beaten by policemen taking turns; his fingertips were burntwith cigarettes; and he was made to remain standing all night.The next morning he jumped out of the third-floor window of .

the room where he was being held, fracturing his skull, pelvis,

hips and several ribs. It is not clear whether he was forced tojump by his interrogators, or whether it was a desperate attempt

to escape further torture. After having spent a month in hospi-

tal, he was transferred to the provincial prison of Valladolid,

where he is still awaiting trial presumably on a charge of illicit

association for which the prosecution is asking a 6-year sentence.

He has to use crutches in order to walk, and is reportedly de-

nied permission to visit the hospital every morning for therapy.Please send courteously worded letters, expressing concern

about his alleged ill-treatment after arrest, and urging that he

receive adequate medical care to: Don Carlos Arias Navarro,

Presidente del Gobierno, Presidencia del Gobierno, Castellana

3, Madrid; to : Don Francisco Ruiz-Jarabo Baquero, Ministro

de Justicia, Ministerio de Justicia, San Bernardo 47, Madrid;and to : El Director, Prision Provincial de Valladolid, Valladolid.

THIEU Thi Tao, South Vietnam

THI EU Thi Tao was 17 when she and her sister were arrested

in November 1968 on charges of "spreading communist propa-

ganda". Having been held for four months in the National Po-lice Headquarters in Saigon, where she was subjected to severe

tortures, Tao was sentenced by a military tribunal to 2 yearsimprisonment and transferred to Thu Duc Women's Prison.She has been in prison ever since, including 11/2 years in a tiger

cage in Con Son island, from 1972 until spring 74.In 1971 the South Vietnamese Department of Justice stated

that she was still "disturbing the public order". Her sister was

released in March 1974 in an exchange of prisoners with theProvisional Revolutionary Government, but Tao was transfer-

red from Con Son to Tan Hiep Prison.As a result of the prolonged torture she has suffered and of

the extremely poor prison conditions, Tao is partly paralyzed,

and has become mentally deranged. Also suffering fromtuberculosis and heart trouble, she has recently been moved to

the Bien Hoa Mental Hospital, opposite Tan Hiep Prison.Please send courteously worded letters, urging for her release

and for adequate medical and psychiatric treatment to:

President Nguyen Van Thieu, Independence Palace, Dinh Doc

Lap, Saigon, Republic of Vietnam; to: His Excellency Le CongChat, Minister of the Interior, 164 Tu Do, Saigon, Republic of

Vietnam; and to: The Director, Tan Hiep Rehabilitation Center,

Trung Tam Cai Huan, Tan Hiep, Bien Hoa, Republic ofVietnam.

A French edition of the Amnesty International Report on Tor- .

ture has been published by Editions GALLIMARD, in Paris .The report can also be obtained from Al's French Section, 20rue de la Michodiere, 75002 Paris. Price: 33 francs.