“Human Rights Violations
• A teenage Bahrainian female was held in incommunicado detention, at risk of torture and ill-treatment for possessing illegal literature. She could have been arrested as a hostage so male relatives who have protested for parliament democracy would give up their fight- or maybe she was detained as a punishment to those males. She has not been brought to trial.
• Twenty-three Venezuelan people, 7 or 8 of them teens, were arrested during an ambush of 8 Venezuelans by Colombian guerrillas. The teens, along with the others, were likely to be tortured and held indefinitely. One, Juan Palmero, was killed, and another was tortured so that his left leg is fractured in three parts.
• Murati, a 16-year old Yugoslavian, was entering a police station when a blanket was thrown over his father’s head and he was punched, kicked and beaten with a rubber truncheon until he fainted. He refused the police order to beat his father, so he was also beaten up and both he and his father became physically disabled.
• Three teenage brothers in North Korea were summoned for interrogation for unclear reasons, but the likely cause is their father’s criticism of the human rights situation in the country. The three brothers, one in poor health, were shipped off to Sinuiji and may be in unacknowledged detention.
• Sixteen Burundi teens were arrested along with adult peasants for being the “enemies” of the Tutsi government during the civil war that started in 1993. They were at the risk of a “disappearance” and extra judicial execution as well as possible torture and death.
Relatives were not allowed to see the children.
Results
Result: The Bahranian girl was released.
Result: Everyone was released, though they were tortured and/or received ill treatment. Palmero was first reported killed, but is now reported to have “disappeared.” Amnesty is still pressing for information on his whereabouts.
Result: No change for Murati or his father. There was no trial for the police officers responsible.
Result: The Hwang brothers returned home, all in reasonably good health.
Result: Unknown.”