Vol. II No. 12 DECEMBER 1972

amnesty international newsletterMISSIONS

AFRICA:The Secretary General, MARTIN ENNALS,left November 18 fOr a two week tour of EastAfrica, visiting Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, Eth-iopia and Egypt. In Tanzania he was to speakto officials about persons detained withouttrial on the mainland and about the numerousinstances of violations of human rights inZanzibar. In Zambia he hoped to discuss de-tained members of the opposition United Pro-gressive Party and Rhodesian and other refugeesheld without trial there. In Uganda he hopedto speak to President IDI AMIN and the Ministerof Justice about the disappearance of promin-ent Ugandans in recent months and about thestatus of Asians in the country. In Ethiopiahe was attending the meeting of the Organisa-tion of African Unity's Refugee Committee onwhich Amnestyhas observer status. In Cairohe hoped to visit the one Egyptian prisonerunder AI adoption. Details of the tour willappear in the January Newsletter.

TURKEY:MUIR HUNTER QC, a leading British law-yer, his wife and SIR OSMOND WILLIAMS, ViceChairman of the British Section, arrived inAnkara November 24 for talks with governmentofficials about the position and treatment ofpolitical prisoners and detainees. Details inthe next Newsletter.

SOUTH KOREA:A.J.J. SANGUINETTI, a Hong Kongbarrister representing both Amnesty and theInternational Commission of Jurists, attendedthe appeal trial in Seoul on November 23 ofSOH SUNG, a student sentenced to death for es-pionage. Mr Sanguinetti was asked to urge thecourt to commute Mr Soh's sentence. He willalso report to AI on grave torture allegations

made in court by Mr Soh.

ORGANISATION

INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:The IEC metNovember 10-12 in the new IS headquarters. Itsmain topic was the Campaign for the Abolitionof Torture (seenext column),the 1973 Parisconference and general plans for it. The exis-ting budget does not provide for the Campaignand additional funds are being sought fromtrusts and individuals. The IEC discussed AI'sinitiative for the release of civilian prison-ers in Indo-China (see Countries)and paid tri-bute to the Chairman, SEAN MacBRIDE SC, for hiswork in drafting the proposed protocol and cir-culating it to the governments concerned. TheIEC also considered the appropriate action totake on decisions reached in Utrecht. A fullreport of the meeting will be sent shortly toNational Sections. The next IEC meeting willbe held January 19-21 1973.

ELECTION:In accordance with the amendments tothe statutes passed by the International Coun-cil in Utrecht, a ballot of the IS staff washeld November 1 and ANNE BURLEY was electednon-voting staff representative on the IEC fora one year term. She joined Amnestyas a vol-unteer in 1968 and became a fulltime researcherin 1971. She currently works on Greece, Iran,Israel and Turkey.

TORTURE CAMTAIGN:All information for the laun-ching of the Campaign on December 11 has nowbeen sent to National Sections. Arrangementsare being made for publication of the new tor-ture report in September 1973. National Sectionsare asked urgently to send the IS all informa-tion they have about any torture of their adop-ted prisoners. Scandinavian sections will beorganising a regional conference during Prisonerof Conscience Week 1973 on the medical aspectsof torture. Other sections should send theirown plans and ideas to the IS as soon as poss-ble. Details of the December 1973 Paris confer-ence will be sent to sections soon.

CHRONICLE OF CURRENT EVENTS:Despite harrassmentby the KGB, issue number 27 has appeared in Mos-cow and is now being translated into English inLondon. Among other material it contains de-tails of the many Ukrainian trials of well-knowndissidents held during the past few months whichresulted in unusually heavy sentences.

STAFF VACANCIES:The IS occasionally needs ex-perienced executive assistants (who mostly con-duct correspondence with groups) and secretaries.The positions require good shorthand, typing andEnglish. National sections should inform GEORGEGOMEZ, the Administrative Manager, of suitablecandidates who are prepared to work in Londonfor at least one year. Their names will be pla-ced on a list for consideration when vacanciesoccur.

MONEY: Anyone sending money to the IS mustalways indicate who it comes from and whatit is for. The IS regularly receives moneyorders and cheques without such details.

CHANGE OF ADDRESS:The new secretary of theSwiss Section from December 1 is FRITZ BIERI.All correspondence concerning the section shouldbe addressed to him at Amnesty International,Swiss Section, Postfach 1051, 3001 Bern. Tele-phone number: (031) 45 04 06.

REQUEST:HOWARD BLUE of the American Sectionwill be in Europe from February to July 1973doing research for a book about Amnesty.Hewould welcome the addresses of non-Americanformer AI prisoners of conscienEF-how living in

Europe or the USA. Please write (beforeJanuary

International Secretariat, 53 Theobald's Road, London, WC1X 8SP Telephone 01-404 5831

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1) to Howard Blue, 2 Leland Street, E. North-port, New York 111731 USA, or (afterJanuary 1)c/o The International Secretariat.

COUNTRIES

SOUTH KOREA:The IEC cabled President PARK onNovember 12 expressing Amnesty'sconcern aboutthe house arrest reportedly imposed on fourleading members of the Korean Section, inclu-ding the chairman, Bishop DANIEL TJI. BishopTji was released the following day but there isstill no news of the other three members.

INDO- CHINA: In a major initiative early in Nov-ember Amnestysent all parties to the Indo-China conflict a draft protocol providing forthe release, rehabilitation and resettlement ofan estimated 200,000 civilians detained in theregion (November Newsletter).SEAN MacBRIDE un-veiled the protocol at a news conference inParis November 2 and urged its considerationduring the peace negotiations. He expressedAI's fear that the ceasefire might result in awholesale massacre of the prisoners unless pro-vision was made for them. Private approachesalso were made to the governments involved, andlater in the month new letters were sent toPresident NIXON and North Vietnam's Prime Mini-ster PHAM VAN DONG and other heads of partici-pant governments urging prompt action on theprotocol. National Sections are urged to takestrong supporting action to publicise the pro-tocol and to approach their own governments andembassies concerned.

BRAZIL:A circular was sent recently to Nation-al Sections asking for reactions to the BrazilReport from journalists and politicians andparticularly anyone who has been to Latin Amer-ica lately or who plans to go there soon. TheIS is trying to assess the usefulness of suchreports in view of their cost in time, effortand money. The IS is particularly interestedin how the Brazilian authorities reacted to thereport (October Newsletter). Note: The IS hasjust ordered more copies of the Brazil Reportin English and still has a number of coniesleft in French (fl each for non-members, 50peach for members).

TO ALL GROUPS WITH BRAZILIAN PRISONERS:The President of the Superior TribunalMilitar is now WALDEMAR de FIGUEIREDOCOSTA. The address is the same as be-fore: Praca da Republica, 123, Rio deJaneiro Gb.

GHANA:A military tribunal in Accra November 14sentenced three civilians and five soldiers todeath by firing squad for their alleged part ina plot to overthrow the military regime of Col-onel I.K. ACHEAMPONG which took power in a coupin January 1972. Amnestywas dissatisifed withvarious aspects of the trial and appealed toColonel Acheampong on November 15 to spare thelives of the eight men. Earlier in the monthMARTIN ENNALS, in a letter to Colonel Acheam-

pong drafted by JOHN HUMPHREYS, Head of theAfrica Department, expressed concern at evi-dence that fundamental human rights were beingviolated in Ghana where more than 250 membersof the previous government, members of parlia-ment and supporters of the Progress Party havebeen detained without trial since January.

AUSTRALIA: Amnestycabled Prime Minister WIL-LIAM McMAHON on November 14 appealing for cle-mency for MICHAEL MATTESON, a conscientious ob-jector who was sentenced to 18 months hard la-bour in Sydney for refusing compulsory militaryservice. Mr Matteson had surrendered voluntari-ly to police the week before after 14 months inhiding.

GUATEMALA: Amnestywrote to the Minister of theInterior, DR HERRERA IBARGUEN, on November 10about the disappearance of hundreds of peoplein the country over the past two years. Theletter, drafted by BECKY BABCOCK and the LatinAmerica Department and signed by MARTIN ENNALS,appealed to Guatemala to ensure human rightsfor all her citizens and to take concrete mea-sures to find those who had been kidnapped andeither release them or bring them to trial.

MOROCCO:Eleven military personnel were senten-ced to death by a military tribunal at Kenitarafor their alleged part in the plot to assassi-nate KING HASSAN II in August. On November 9Amnestycabled King Hassan pleading for clem-ency.

SOUTH AFRICA:German group 404, helped by theGerman Section, has raised 9,000 rand (about£4,500) bail for their prisoner MAX TABATA andfor two others, ALBERT KWEZI and MONTFORD MZOLIMABUTO, who received five year sentences inwhat has become known as the 'Maritzburg Trialof the 13'. The 13, all members of the AfricanPeople's Democratic Union, were found guilty onApril 4 1972 after being charged under the Ter-rorism Act of conspiring with fellow party mem-bers to recruit guerrillas abroad. Only thethree for whom Group 404 raised the money wereallowed bail pending an appeal which is likelyto be heard in February 1973.

EAST GERMANY (GDR):The amnesty for politicaland other prisoners announced in October beganon November 1 with a steady release of bothWest and East German citizens. Children of re-fugees to the west and women (not prisoners)with husbands or fiances in the west were al-lowed to leave the GDR and join their relations.Under a new citizenship law refugees no longerwill be regarded as citizens of the GDR and mayvisit their relations in East Germany withoutdanger of arrest. Dr ZBYNEK ZEMAN, AI Directorof Research, welcomed the amnesty in an inter.-view on West German television.

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DECEMBER 10 is HUMAN RIGHTS DAY * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

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POSTCARDS FOR PRISONERS CAMPAIGN

NEWS OF EARLIER PRISONERS

Nikos POLITIS - Greece(September 1972): Be-cause o i ea t e has just been given asix months suspension of the 20-year sentencehe received in 1969. This means he is out ofprison temporarily and living with his familywhile receiving continuous medical treatment.He has written a letter to the Rugby (England)group that has adopted him saying how much heappreciates the interest it has shown in him.

Otini and Matti ah KAMBONA - Tanzania(August: ecen repor s say mni am ona has

been moved from Ukonga prison in Dar es Salaamto Butimba prison in Mwanza on the shore ofLake Victoria in Northern Tanzania. But Matti-yah Kambona is still in Ukonga prison.

THIS MONTH'S PRISONERS

Muhammed Isaak GERAR - SomaZia

Muhammed Isaak Gerar, a former headmaster ofAbud Waq School in Somalia, was arrested inFebruary 1971 and tried before the Dusa Narobdistrict national security court on the chargeof "holding the nation in contempt". He wassentenced to two years' imprisonment.

A number of persons have been convicted of sim-ilar charges under article 18 of the 1970 Nat-ional Security Law which prescribes the deathpenalty (although lesser sentences such as im-prisonment may be imposed) for persons who"distribute or disseminate information aimed atdamaging the sovereignty of the revolution ofthe Somali nation". Charges may include "sprea-ding false rumours against the government","spreading malicious propaganda" and "utteringcontemptuous remarks".

Please send your cards to:Sheikh AbdulganiAhmed, Secretary of State for Justice, Religionand Labour, Mogadish, Somalia; and MajorGeneral Mohamed Siad Barre, Prgiaent of theSupreme Revolutionary Council, Mogadishu,Somalia.

Nikos KALOUDIS - Greece

Nikos Kaloudis, born in 1907, was a member ofthe politburo of the Central Committee of theGreek Communist Party. From 1949 to 1957 he wasGeneral Secretary of the Federation of GreekMaritime Unions.

In July 1970 he was sentenced to life imprison-ment by the Athens Military Tribunal on acharge of "attempting the violent overthrow ofthe government and the abolition of the consti-tution". He was tried together with ten otherCommunists. The trial was observed by juristsfrom the USA, France, Sweden, Belgium and WestGermany, who criticised the conduct of the pro-ceedings. According to one observer: "No evi-dence in the true sense of the word was presen-ted" by the prosecution to support the charge.

The defence maintained that the accused wantednothing else but the restoration of the legalconstitution of Greece.

Mr Kaloudis is now in Corfu Prison, one of theworst prisons in Greece. He is reported tohave suffered at least two heart attacks sincehis imprisonment. The most recent report isthat he is in a critical state of health andthat in spite of the appeals of his fellow pri-soners and a hunger strike by them, he has notbeen transferred to hospital.

Send your cards appealing for MY. Kaloudis' re-lease or transfer to hospital to:His Excellen-cy George Papadopoulos, Prime Minister, PalaiaAnaktora, Athens, Greece; and His ExcellencyAnghelos Tsoukalas, MinisteT7of Justice, Sok-ratous K. Zinonus, Athens, Greece.

Oanilo Lavrentevish SHUMUK - Ukraine USSR

Danilo Shumuk, a 58 year-old Ukrainian writer,has already served 27 years in labour camps andprisons. Before World War II he was imprisonedfor 7-8 years for membership of the CommunistParty whichl was then illegal in the Polish-occupied Ukraine. After his release, he enlis-ted in the Soviet Army and in 1941-42 he was ina German war camp for a year. He escaped fromthere and joined the Ukrainian Insurgent Army(UPA), an underground nationalist force thatdefied first German and then Soviet authorityin the Ukraine until its suppression in 1950.Shumuk was arrested in 1945 and spent 10 yearsin a labour camp for his nationalist activities.In 1956 he moved to Dnepropetrovsk. He wasarrested there a year later, reportedly on atrumped-up political charge; he was promisedimmediate release in return for co-operationnwith the KGB (the Soviet Secret Police), but herefused and consequently was sentenced to a fur-ther 10 years in penal servitude, this time inSiberia.

On his release in 1967, Shumuk obtained a permitto live in Kiev where he met and married NadyaSvitivchna, sister of the prominent Ukrainiandissident Ivan Svitlychny whose trial is im-minent. Shumuk was arrested once again in Jan-uary 1972, during a wave of political arrests- particularly in the Ukraine. The arrests werepart of a reinforced clampdown on dissent by theSoviet authorities which is still continuing.At his trial in June, Shumuk was charged withanti-Soviet agitation and propaganda for hisactivities with samizdat(unofficial public-ations): he had apparently circulated his mem-oirs on the post-war Stalin labour-camps andworks by Milovan Djilas, the former YugoslavVice-President. He received a sentence of 10years strict-regime in 'labour camps and 5 yearsexile. This sentence, like the others passed onUkrainian dissidents this year, is unusuallyharsh: and in view of the many years Shumuk hasalready spent in prison, it is particularly dis-tressing.

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Please send your cards, asking that he be rel-eased on humanitarian grounds, to the Chairmanof the Supreme Soviet, N. Podgorny, and theUSSR-Procurator-General, R. BUdenko. Theiraddresses are:SSSR, g. Moskva, Kreml, Pred-sedatelyu Prezidiuma Verkhovnogo Sovieta SSSR,N. Podgornomu;and SSSR, g. Moskva, Pushkin-skaya Ul. 15 a,—Fokuratura SSSR, GeneralnomuProkuroru,R. Rudenko.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS

LUNDQUIST, Sven. The Shadow: Latin Americafaces the seventies. 1972. Penguin Books,Harmondsworth, England.55p.

Good background to general social andpolitical study of Latin America.

FLEMING, Amalia. A Piece of Truth: Lady Fle-ming on the Colonels' Greece. 1972. JonathanCape, 30 Bedford Square, London. £2.95.

The author, widow of the discoverer ofpenicillin and herself a doctor, was im-prisoned by the Colonels' regime inGreece, interrogated, tried and laterforcibly deported to England. At the .end of the book there are a number ofstatements by people in various Greekprisons. Highly recommended, especi-ally for groups with Greek prisoners.

TODD, Judith. The Right to Say No. 1972.Sidgwick and Jackson, Z Tavistock Chambers,Bloomsbury Way, London WCZ. £2.75.

When Africans met to discuss the termsof the proposed Anglo-Rhodesian settle-ment, Judy Todd was one of the few whitepersons present as a friend and not asa representative of the British orRhodesian governments. She describesthe period during the Pearce Commis-sion's visit to Rhodesia and her own ex-periences in prison with competence,sincerity and fervour. The result isfascinating as well as informative.

NO FUTURE WITHOUT US: The story of the AfricanNational Council in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia). 1972.Obtainable from S.R.G.N. Ngube, 106 MauriceAvenue, Wood Green, London N22 6PU. 25p.

This deals with the proposals for a set-tlement, the Pearce Commission, theAfrican National Council and 'Rhodesianpolitics since Pearce'.

THE FOURTH WORLD: Victims of Group Oppression.1972. Sidgwick and Jackson, 1 Tavistock Cham-bers, Bloomsbury Way, London WCZ. £3.95. Alsoobtainable from The Minority Rights Group, 36Craven Street, London WC2.

This highly recommended hardback volumecollects together in permanent form thefirst eight reports which the Minority

Rights Group has produced on minorityproblems throughout the world (revisedand updated, with maps), together withspecially commissioned new essays on thesituation of minorities by MILOVAN DJILAS,PHILIP MASON, BEN WHITAKER and RICHARDand HEPHZIBAH HAUSER. The eight reportsare on: Asian Minorities of East andCentral Africa; Southern Sudan and Er-itrea; Africans in Rhodesia*: Blacksin Brazil; Ireland; Religions in theSoviet Union*: Crimean Tartars and VolgaGermans*: and Japan's Outcasts.The starred (*) reports may be of par-ticular interest to AI groups.

ISVS Statistical Directory of Volunteer andDevelopment Service Organisations.1972.Published in EngZish, French and Spanish. Int-ernational Secretariat for Volunteer Service,10 chemin de Surville, 1213 Petit-Lancy, Geneva,Switzerland. 8 Swiss Francs (US$2.25) pluspostage.

The new 148 page directory is twice thesize of the 1971 edition and is the mostcomprehensive of its kind ever published.About 160 countries and territories arethe subject of entries. The directoryincludes table of statistics by countryand by continent of the numbers of vol-unteers and development service person-nel, as well as the world totals. Amonga host of other useful information thereis a listing by country of over 260 vol-unteer and national development serviceorganisations and their addresses.

APARTHEID. The testimony given to the UnitedNations Special Committee on Apartheid lastAugust in London by a former prisoner on Robb-en Island (South Africa) is printed in full inSECHEBA, volume 6 No. 10, October 1972, pages11- 16. Obtainable from SECHEBA, 49 RathboneStreet, London W14 4NL. lOp.

CALENDAR

DECEMBER4 Gen. Franco of Spain's 80th Birthday (1892)10 Human Rights Day: Universal Declaration of

Human Rights adopted by UN (1948); Indep-endence days of Cuba (1898), Tanzania (1961)

11 Start of Campaign for the Abolition of Tor-ture

12 Kenya's Independence Day30 Soviet Union's 50th anniversary (1922)

JANUARY1 Independence days of Haiti (1804), Sudan

(1956), Cameroon (1960)2 Fidel Castro assumes power in Cuba (1959)21 Death of Lenin (1924)

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTERDECEMBER1972