Tag Archives: children’s human rights

Urgent: China – Do not send refugees back to North Korea

15 Aug

Four families, including a one-year-old baby, fled to China to escape the tyranny of North Korea.  Now China might send them home where they could face torture, labour camps and possibly death.

They have already been taken to a detention centre on the border with North Korea.

North Korea is in a category of its own when it comes to human rights violations. It is a totalitarian state where tens of thousands of people are enslaved and tortured.  All forms of freedom of expression are repressed and anyone attempting to assert their rights is crushed.  No one is safe from arrest and imprisonment

Call on Chinese authorities to let them seek asylum in China or another country, or travel onwards to South Korea.

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Stop Torture Casefile: Nigeria: Moses Akatugba

28 Jun

Moses Akatugba

On 27 November 2005, 16-year-old Moses Akatugba was awaiting the results of his secondary school exams when his life changed forever. He was arrested by the Nigerian army and, he says, shot in the hand, beaten on the head and back, and then charged with stealing mobile phones.

When he was unable to name a dead man shown to him by soldiers, they beat him. After being transferred to Epkan police station in Delta State, Moses was tortured again. He said that the police beat him severely with machetes and batons, tied him up and hung him for several hours in interrogation rooms, and used pliers to pull out his finger and toe nails to force him to sign two ‘confessions’.

Moses was convicted solely on the basis of the alleged victim’s statement and ‘confessions’ Moses made under duress. After eight years in prison, he was sentenced to death by hanging and remains on death row. His claims of torture have still not been investigated.

‘The pain of torture is unbearable. I never thought I would be alive till this day. The pain I went through in the hands of the officers was unimaginable. In my whole life, I have never been subjected to such inhuman treatment,’ Moses, February 2014

Take Action: How you can help

1) Write to the Governor of Delta State, urging him to commute Moses Akatugba’s death sentence and institute an independent investigation into his allegations of torture.

Address: His Excellency Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, Governor of Delta State, Office of the Governor, Government House, Asaba, Delta State

2) Let Moses know you are thinking of him and support his struggle for justice.

  • Address: Moses Akatugba, c/o Human Rights, Social Development and Environmental Foundation, P .O. Box 1800, Diobu, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, NIGERIA
  • Preferred language: English
  • Suggested message: I am thinking of you and support your fight for justice
  • It is ok to mention Amnesty, include a return address and send a religious card if you wish.

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