Human Rights Watch

Click to expand Image A sign reads "check door lock" on a gate inside Tochigi prison, Japan's largest women's prison, January 31, 2019. © 2019 Yo Nagaya

During a Diet session last week, Japan’s Ministry of Justice announced it had broadened a directive initially sent to all penal institutions in 2014 that effectively bans the use of restraints on imprisoned pregnant women inside delivery rooms. The reform is a much-needed step in protecting the rights of women in Japan’s prisons.

The new directive, issued on March 18, now includes an effective ban on handcuffing pregnant women during “transportation to outside medical institutions” and “upon arrival at the medical institution and until entering the delivery room” as “situations during which use of restraints are inappropriate.”

The revision comes after Justice Minister Ryuji Koizumi admitted during a Diet session in February that prison authorities violated the 2014 directive six times between 2014 and 2022. At the time, the justice minister said the Japanese government would take “appropriate measures.”

In November, Human Rights Watch published accounts of formerly imprisoned women who described such violations happening to other women in prison.

Restraining imprisoned people during labor and childbirth contravenes international standards. The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Mandela Rules) state that “[i]nstruments of restraint shall never be used on women during labour, during childbirth and immediately after childbirth.” In addition, expert commentary on the Bangkok Rules says that using “body restraints, such as shackles ... on pregnant women during transfers to hospitals, gynecological examinations, and birth ... violates international standards.”

During the Diet session, opposition lawmaker Mizuho Fukushima pressed the government to clarify its prohibition on restraints. “We understand that the Mandela Rules and the Bangkok Rules state restraints should not be used on women when they’re in labor, and our new directive takes them into account,” a justice ministry official responded.

The Japanese government should further expand the ban by forbidding the use of restraints on pregnant prisoners during health checkups, including gynecological examinations, and immediately after giving birth. Authorities should ensure imprisoned people are adequately informed about their legal right to seek permission to keep their child with them in prison, subject to approval by the prison warden, and encourage prison wardens to consider such requests expeditiously and sympathetically.

The government should also encourage prosecutors to use Japan’s Code of Criminal Procedures and suspend sentences for imprisoned people who are 150 or more days pregnant, among other grounds. 

Click to expand Image Federal Security Service officials bring Dalderjon Mirzoev, a suspect in the Crocus City Hall's massacre, to the Basmanny District Court in Moscow on March 24, 2024. © 2024 Sefa Karacan/Anadolu via Getty Images

(Берлин) — Российские должностные лица применили пытки, зафиксировали их на видео и опубликовали записи пыток в отношении по меньшей мере двух мужчин, задержанных в качестве подозреваемых в совершении 22 марта 2024 года чудовищного теракта в концертном зале, заявила Human Rights Watch.

Фотографии и видеозаписи арестов и пыток подозреваемых, предположительно сделанные сотрудниками правоохранительных органов, начали появляться 23 марта в Telegram-каналах, освещающих работу российских военных и спецслужб. 24 марта на закрытом слушании суд в Москве назначил содержание под стражей четырем подозреваемым, которые были доставлены в суд с многочисленными и видимыми травмами.

«Ничто, даже такая чудовищная бойня, не оправдывает пытки и тем более не делает их законными», — говорит замдиректора Human Rights Watch по Европе и Центральной Азии Таня Локшина. «Похоже, быстрое и массовое распространение этих видео не случайность, а своего рода ужасающее бахвальство путинского режима своим вопиющим игнорированием основных прав человека, фундаментальных принципов гуманизма и верховенства закона».

22 марта в концертном зале «Крокус Сити Холл» в Красногорске, граничащим с Москвой подмосковном городе, вооруженные люди открыли огонь по зрителям и подожгли здание, после чего скрылись с места теракта. В результате погибли по меньшей мере 143 человека. 23 марта власти заявили, что арестовали четырех подозреваемых в нападении и семерых сообщников.

Следственный комитет России заявил, что подозреваемые в теракте были задержаны сотрудниками спецслужб и правоохранительных органов. Александр Богомаз, губернатор Брянской области, где были задержаны подозреваемые, публично утверждал, что задержание осуществлялось специальными силами Росгвардии, сотрудниками уголовной полиции, ГИБДД и полицейским спецназом при содействии военных и Федеральной службы безопасности.

На одном из видео мужчины в камуфляжной форме без знаков различия избивают лежащего на земле Саидакрами Рачабализоду, пытаясь получить от него информацию. На этом видео полицейские угрожают прострелить ему ноги, спустить на него собаку и отрезать голову. На другом видео мужчина в камуфляже отрезает у Рачабализоды часть уха и засовывает его ему в рот, приказывая съесть и угрожая отрезать и скормить ему его гениталии. На других видеозаписях видно, как силовики ведут из леса к машине Рачабализоду, из уха у него сильно течет кровь, и допрос начинается с того, как один из дознавателей напоминает забинтованному и окровавленному задержанному, что у него «одно ухо осталось».

На допросе присутствует офицер в камуфляже со знаками различия Федеральной службы безопасности. Во время суда у Рачабализоды было забинтовано ухо, на лице видны следы засохшей крови, синяки и отеки. Из-за отсутствия в видеозаписях контекстной информации Human Rights Watch не удалось определить точное место и дату записи видео.

На кадрах еще один предполагаемый участник вооруженного нападения Шамсидин Фаридуни, который лежит на полу с заведенными за спину руками и спущенными до колен брюками. По всей видимости, к нему подключены провода от полевого телефона той же модели, о которой известно, что она используется российскими правоохранительными органами для пыток током, в том числе и в Украине. Фаридуни предстал перед судом с заплывшим от синяков лицом и гематомой под глазом.

На сделанных во время судебного заседания снимках у Далержона Мирзоева вокруг шеи остатки рваного полиэтиленового пакета, а также раны на лице. Во время чтения постановления суда о заключении под стражу Мирзоев не смог встать и прислонился к стене. Хотя неясно, почему на шее подозреваемого остатки пакета, известно, что российские правоохранительные органы используют пластиковые пакеты для пытки удушением.

Проанализировав опубликованные материалы из зала суда, Human Rights Watch установила, что люди на фотографиях и видеозаписях арестов и задержаний — те же самые, в отношении которых суд избрал заключение под стражу на время предварительного расследования.

Рачабализода, Фаридуни, Мирзоев и Файзов — граждане Таджикистана, где власти задержали их родственников, в том числе престарелых родителей. По сообщениям СМИ, таджикистанские мигранты в России все чаще сталкиваются с проявлениями ксенофобии и насилия, от отказа российских граждан ездить с таксистами из Таджикистана до как минимум одного случая группового избиения. Правозащитники говорят, что к ним поступает множество сообщений и просьб о помощи от мигрантов из Центральной Азии, особенно в связи с необоснованными арестами и длительными сроками содержания под стражей.

Несмотря на убедительные свидетельства того, что сотрудники силовых ведомств и службы безопасности применяли пытки и предали их огласке, от представителей государственной власти не прозвучало ни одного требования привлечь их к ответственности. Одновременно с этим, военных, задержавших подозреваемых, наградили медалями. Human Rights Watch не располагают информацией, подтверждающей, что были награждены именно те военнослужащие, которые применили пытки. Высшие должностные лица России призывали к насилию над подозреваемыми.

Спикер нижней палаты парламента Вячеслав Володин заявил, что виновные в теракте «должны быть уничтожены». Заместитель председателя Совета безопасности России Дмитрий Медведев сказал, что арестованных подозреваемых нужно убить вместе со всеми причастными и сочувствующими. Пресс-секретарь президента Путина Дмитрий Песков отказался отвечать на вопрос по поводу обвинений в пытках.

В адрес сотрудников российских правоохранительных органов и силовых структур уже давно звучат обвинения в применении пыток и жестокого обращения к арестованным подозреваемым, в том числе к обвиняемым в терроризме. В 2017 году подозреваемые в организации взрыва в метро Санкт-Петербурга сделали заслуживающие доверия заявления о том, что сотрудники российских спецслужб похитили их и подвергли пыткам, а затем инсценировали их арест.

Пытки имеют абсолютным запрет в международном обычном праве. Запрет пыток также зафиксирован в имеющих обязательную силу международных договорных обязательствах России, в том числе в Международном пакте о гражданских и политических правах и Конвенции против пыток и других жестоких, бесчеловечных или унижающих достоинство видов обращения и наказания. Из запрета на применение пыток не существует исключений.

«Пытки не только незаконны и аморальны — они подрывают верховенство права и возможность справедливого правосудия для жертв, — говорит Таня Локшина. — Представители российской власти на самом высоком уровне должны заявить о политике нулевой терпимости к пыткам. Все акты пыток должны быть быстро и тщательно расследованы, а виновные — привлечены к ответственности.  

 

Click to expand Image Federal Security Service officials bring Dalderjon Mirzoev, a suspect in the Crocus City Hall's massacre, to the Basmanny District Court in Moscow on March 24, 2024. © 2024 Sefa Karacan/Anadolu via Getty Images

(Berlin, March 29, 2024) – Russian authorities tortured, recorded, and shared recordings of the torture, of at least two men held as suspects for the monstrous March 22, 2024 attack on a concert hall, Human Rights Watch said today.

Photographs and videos of the arrests and torture of suspects, presumably taken by law enforcement officials, started surfacing on March 23 on Telegram channels that cover Russian military and security services. On March 24, a judge in Moscow in closed hearings imposed pretrial detention on the four suspects, who were taken to the court with visible, extensive injuries.

“Nothing, not even a massacre this heinous justifies torture, far less makes it legal,” said Tanya Lokshina, associate Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The rapid and widespread sharing of these videos appears to be no accident but rather some kind of appalling boast by the Putin government of its brazen disregard for basic rights, fundamental humanity, and the rule of law.”

On March 22, gunmen opened fire at concertgoers at the Crocus City Hall concert hall in Krasnogorsk, a city on the outskirts of Moscow, and set the building on fire before fleeing the scene. The attack claimed the lives of at least 143 people. On March 23, officials said they had arrested four alleged attackers and seven accomplices.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said that special services and law enforcement arrested the suspects. Aleksandr Bogomaz, governor of Bryansk region, where the suspects were apprehended, stated publicly that Russia’s National Guard special forces, police who work on criminal cases, traffic police, and police special forces were in charge of apprehending the suspects, assisted by the military and the Federal Security Service.

In one video, men in camouflage uniforms without insignias are seen beating Saidakrami Rachabalizoda, who is pinned to the ground, trying to extract information from him. The video shows the officers threatening to shoot him in the legs, unleash a dog on him, and cut off his head. Another video shows a man in camouflage cutting off a part of Rachabalizoda’s ear and forcing it into his mouth, ordering him to eat it, while also threatening to cut off and feed him his genitalia. Other videos show security forces leading Rachabalizoda, his ear bleeding profusely, from the forest to a car, and an interrogation that starts with one of the interrogators reminding the detainee, bandaged, and soaked in blood, that he has “only one ear left.”

An officer wearing camouflage with the Federal Security Service insignia is present during the interrogation. In court, Rachabalizoda wore a bandage on his ear, and had dried blood, bruises, and swelling on his face. Due to the lack of contextual information in the videos, Human Rights Watch was unable to determine the exact location and date the videos were recorded.

A photograph shows Shamsidin Fariduni, another suspected gunman, lying on the floor with his hands behind his back and his pants pulled down to around his knees. He is apparently connected by a wire to a field telephone, of the same model that that Russian law enforcement are known to use to administer electric shocks during torture, including in Ukraine. Fariduni appeared in court with half of his face swollen and a black eye.

Photographs from the court hearing show Dalerjon Mirzoev with a torn plastic bag still taped around his neck and injuries to his face. While the judge was reading the decision to send him to pretrial detention, Mirzoev could not stand up and leaned on the wall. Although it is not clear why the bag is on his neck, Russian law enforcement are known to use plastic bags for torture by asphyxiation.

Unable to walk on his own, Mukhammadsobir Faizov was wheeled in for his pretrial custody hearing in a wheelchair, visibly in a barely semiconscious state. Photographs from the courtroom show him in a hospital gown and with a urine drainage bag. During his arrest, law enforcement officers reportedly dislodged his eye, necessitating surgery. During the hearing, the judge ordered Faizov’s doctors out of the courtroom.

Based on an analysis of the published material from the courtroom, Human Rights Watch determined that the individuals seen in the photographs and videos of arrests and detentions are the same people the court has placed in pretrial detention.

Rachabalizoda, Fariduni, Mirzoev, and Faizov are all citizens of Tajikistan, where the authorities detained their relatives after the attack, including their elderly parents. According to media reports, Tajik migrants in Russia are facing an increase in xenophobic acts and violence, ranging from Russian citizens’ refusal to ride with Tajik taxi drivers to at least one instance of a group beating. Human rights defenders say they are facing a flood of reports and requests for assistance from migrants from Central Asia, particularly in reference to arbitrary arrests and prolonged detention.

Despite strong indications that law enforcement and security services have been committing and publicizing torture, public officials have made no calls to hold them accountable. Meanwhile, officers in the units that arrested the men received medals of distinction, although Human Rights Watch does not have information to confirm whether these were the same officers involved the torture. Top Russian officials have publicly called for violence against the suspects.

Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, said that those responsible for the attack “must be annihilated.” Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said the arrested suspects should be killed, along with all their accomplices and sympathizers. Dmitry Peskov, President Putin’s spokesperson, refused to address the torture allegations.

Russian law enforcement and security forces have long been accused of torturing and otherwise ill-treating suspects in custody, including those held on terrorism charges. In 2017, people suspected of staging a bombing in the St. Petersburg metro made credible allegations that Russian security agents forcibly disappeared and tortured them, then staged their arrests.

Torture is absolutely prohibited under customary international law, a prohibition which is also reflected in Russia’s binding treaty obligations such as in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. There are no exceptions to the prohibition of torture.

“Torture is not only illegal and immoral, it also jeopardizes the rule of law and justice for victims,” Lokshina said. “Russian authorities at the highest level should declare a zero tolerance policy for torture; all incidents should be promptly and thoroughly investigated, and those responsible brought to account.”

 

Click to expand Image Reuters' journalist Issam Abdallah films an interview amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine, April 17, 2022. © 2022 Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters

(New York) – The United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) should release the findings of its investigation into two Israeli strikes on a group of journalists in south Lebanon on October 13, 2023, 16 NGOs and journalist groups said today in a letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, force commander Lieutenant General Aroldo Lázaro Sáenz, the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka and  Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations. The strikes killed a Reuters journalist, Issam Abdallah, and injured six other media workers.

“The Israeli forces’ apparently deliberate attack on journalists should not go unpunished,” said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The UN peacekeepers’ investigation is an important step toward justice, and they should release their findings.”

ATTN: António Guterres Secretary-General of the United Nations
CC: Joanna Wronecka UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon and the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General   Lieutenant General Aroldo Lázaro Sáenz Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon   Jean-Pierre Lacroix  United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations

The undersigned, Victims/survivors, The National Human Rights Commission - Lebanon, International Human Rights Non-Governmental Organizations, Local Media Syndicates

Dear Secretary-General António Guterres,

We, the undersigned victims, survivors, and local and international human rights and civil society organizations, welcome the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) investigation into the October 13, 2023, Israeli attack on a group of journalists doing their job in south Lebanon, which killed Reuters videographer, Issam Abdallah, and wounded six other journalists from Reuters, Agence-France Presse (AFP), and Al Jazeera.

Reuters staff, who saw a copy of the seven-page report dated February 27, 2024, summarizing the investigation, reported that UNIFIL found that an Israeli tank killed Abdallah by firing two 120 mm rounds at a group of “clearly identifiable journalists” in violation of international law. The investigators said that UNIFIL personnel did not record any exchange of fire across the border between Israel and Lebanon for more than 40 minutes before the Israeli Merkava tank opened fire.

The Reuters report suggests that the UNIFIL investigation corroborated the findings of investigations conducted by Reporters Without Borders, Reuters, AFP, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. It will be an essential tool in seeking truth, accountability and redress for the victims and survivors.

We therefore request that UNIFIL make its full investigation public in accordance with the UN’s commitment to transparency. Since the UN does make findings related to internal investigations public, there is no shortage of precedents. If UNIFIL is currently unable to make the full report public, we ask you to make a public statement explaining why and providing a timeline for when publication will occur. In such instances, a redacted or summarized version of the report should be released in the interim.

The publication of the investigation findings is necessary to support other justice and accountability efforts that the victims' families want to pursue.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Signatories   Victims Carmen Joukhadar (Reporter, Al-Jazeera - Injured) Christina Assi (Videographer, Agence France Press - Critically Injured) Dylan Collins (Videographer, Agence France Press – Injured) Elie Brakhia (Videographer, Al-Jazeera - Critically Injured) Local and Regional Syndicates and Journalists' groups Alternative Press Syndicate - Lebanon Syndicate of workers in Audiovisual in Lebanon Local, Regional, and International Organizations Amnesty International Arab NGO Network for Development Committee to Protect Journalists Euromed Rights Helem Human Rights Watch Lebanese Center for Human Rights Maharat Foundation Media Association for Peace (MAP) MENA Rights Group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy The Legal Agenda Samir Kassir Foundation

Click to expand Image Somali members of Parliament vote on a resolution on the procedural rules for constitutional amendments, Mogadishu, Somalia, January 24, 2024.   © 2024 REUTERS/Feisal Omar

(Nairobi) – Somalia’s parliament should reject any proposed constitutional amendments that would weaken rights protections for children, Human Rights Watch said today.

On March 30, 2024, both houses of parliament are expected to vote on the proposed amendments, which would reduce the age of majority – increasing the risk of child marriage and lowered juvenile justice standards – and possibly permit certain forms of female genital mutilation.

“Somalia’s parliament should resist efforts to weaken constitutional protections for children, especially girls,” said Laetitia Bader, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Somalia’s donors should press the government to carry through on its claims that it is taking significant steps to meet its international human rights commitments.”

Somalia’s 2012 provisional constitution has been under review for nearly a decade, but efforts to finalize the review have picked up since late 2023. In February, the Independent Constitutional Review and Implementation Commission sent parliament suggested amendments to the provisional constitution’s first four chapters, which includes articles on the age of majority and on the criminalization of female genital mutilation.

Under Somalia’s provisional constitution, a child is defined as a person under the age of 18. The proposed amendment states that the term child “refers to a person under the age of 15 years of maturity while the age of responsibility is 18 years, as defined in the law of the Federal Republic of Somalia.” Adopting this standard would be contrary to Somalia’s obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which defines a child as anyone under 18.

The proposed amendment to set the age of “maturity” at 15 would place girls in particular at greater risk of child marriage, which affects their health, notably reproductive health, their access to education, and their protection from other forms of abuse, Human Rights Watch said. Girls Not Brides, an international group that works to prevent child marriage, has reported that 17 percent of girls in Somalia were married before by 15, and 36 percent by 18.

The proposed amendments also include physical development as the determining factor in a person’s majority. This is contrary to international standards, which call upon governments to make determinations of adult competence based on “emotional, mental and intellectual maturity,” and not physical maturity.

The proposed amendments distinguish the 15-year age of maturity from an 18-year age of responsibility, suggesting that everyone under 18 would remain protected by juvenile justice standards. However, in practice, this new age of majority risks reinforcing existing ambiguities in Somali law around the age of majority that could heighten children’s vulnerabilities, Human Rights Watch said. Children in Somalia have long been subject to arrest, detention, and custodial sentences as adults, including in capital cases.

During President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s first term in office, Human Rights Watch found that authorities across Somalia had treated boys suspected of affiliation with the armed Islamist group Al-Shabab as adults in violation of international law. Intelligence agencies threatened, beat, and in some cases tortured boys in custody. Military courts have also tried children as adults.

The proposed constitutional amendments also raise concerns regarding other harmful practices, such as female genital mutilation (FGM). The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reported that Somalia has one of the highest rates of FGM in the world with 99 percent of girls and women ages 15 to 49 having undergone genital cutting.

Somalia’s provisional constitution is ambiguous with respect to female genital mutilation. It states that: “Female circumcision is a cruel and degrading customary practice and is tantamount to torture. The circumcision of girls is prohibited.” However, the provision does not define female circumcision, which may or may not be interpreted to mean the same thing as female genital mutilation.

The constitutional review should ensure that a complete ban on all forms of FGM is enshrined in the constitution, which would facilitate the government’s development of a legislative and policy framework to eradicate all forms of FGM, Human Rights Watch said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has classifed four types of FGM. All forms of female genital mutilation are a form of violence and discrimination against women and girls, involving the partial or complete removal of external female genitalia or injuring female genital organs without medical cause. It has no health benefits and leads to immediate and long-term harm for women and girl’s physical, mental, sexual, and reproductive health, including death in some cases.

Human Rights Watch research in various countries across the world shows that women and girls experienced fear before being cut, and the cutting had a serious toll on their health, including excessive bleeding, shock, infection, complications during childbirth, complications during menstruation, lack of or reduced sexual pleasure, infertility, and other long-term gynecological issues. Depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and psychosexual problems are also common.

UN human rights treaty bodies have repeatedly called on Somalia to pass legislation criminalizing all forms of this harmful practice. In 2021, the Somali government committed during its review by the Committee on the Rights of the Child to “eradicating traditional harmful practices.”

“Somalia’s parliament appears poised to adopt amendments to the country’s constitution that could subject generations of children to harmful practices,” Bader said. “Constitutional reform should instead assist the government to better protect the rights of children.”