Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Amnesty International speaks out against Yemen's treatment of suspectedterrorists

Carol Forsloff -Amnesty International  declares a broad reach in its advocacy of human rights
issues around the world that includes the protection of citizens in all countries, including the United States.



In other words, if you are a
citizen of the U.S.  in a foreign country, and a terrorist
activity takes place and you are imprisoned as a spy and treated cruelly, Amnesty
International says it will speak on your behalf.




It has spoken out against the treatment of Baha'is
in Iran, against journalists captured and held without cause and about
the false imprisonment of people throughout the world that even includes
Chinese asylum seekers in the United States.



In other words, it declares it is not a
political agenda-driven organization in the sense it belongs to no
particular government, although it is within the umbrella of United
Nations groups.




Presently Amnesty International is exposing tactics used to combat terrorism in Yemen.



Amnesty International states Yemen
is violating human rights in its efforts to combat terrorism, using
questionable means to target people they consider enemies or spies.




Some of the work of Yemen has been
done at the behest of U.S. officials, and this too is exposed in their
press releases, along with the documentation of abuses around the world
relative to human rights.


“An
extremely worrying trend has developed where the Yemeni authorities,
under pressure from the USA and others to fight al-Qa’ida, and Saudi
Arabia to deal with the Huthis, have been citing national security as a
pretext to deal with opposition and stifle all criticism.” said Malcolm
Smart, Amnesty International's Director for the Middle East and North
Africa Program."

“All
measures taken in the name of countering terrorism or other security
challenges in Yemen must have at its heart the protection of human
rights.”

The
number of death sentences passed in trials of people accused of having
links to al-Qa’ida, or to the Huthi armed group has noticeably
increased. In 2009, at least 34 people accused of links to Huthi armed
groups were sentenced to death.

The
security forces have killed at least 113 people since 2009 in
operations the government says target “terrorists”. Attacks have become
more frequent since December 2009 with security forces in some cases
making no attempt to detain suspects before killing them.

Some
of this has occurred with little evidence to support guilt and using
methods of torture to extract "truth" from individuals who are killed,
Amnesty International claims.











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