Human Rights Watch researchers visited the State Security and Military Intelligence facilities in Raqqa, now under the de facto control of local armed opposition groups, in late April 2013.

Local opposition leaders with the support of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces and neutral international experts should safeguard potential evidence of torture and arbitrary detention in security forces centers in opposition-controlled areas, Human Rights Watch said.

“The documents, prison cells, interrogation rooms, and torture devices we saw in the government’s security facilities are consistent with the torture former detainees have described to us since the beginning of the uprising in Syria,” said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

“Those in control of Raqqa need to safeguard the materials in these facilities so the truth can be told and those responsible held accountable.”

In the State Security facility, Human Rights Watch researchers observed on the ground floor and in the basement, rooms that appeared to be detention cells.

Among the documents were what appeared to be lists of security force members who had worked there. Human Rights Watch researchers also saw a “bsat al-reeh” torture device in the facility, which former detainees have said has been used to immobilize and severely stretch or bend limbs.

Several former detainees held at other intelligence facilities in Syria have described to Human Rights Watch how security guards used “bsat al-reeh” torture devices in detention facilities across the country. They tie a detainee down to a flat board, sometimes in the shape of a cross, so that he is helpless to defend himself. In some cases, former detainees said guards stretched or pulled their limbs or folded the board in half so that their face touched their legs, causing pain and further immobilizing them.

Among the reams of documents and case files Human Rights Watch researchers saw in the Military Intelligence facility in Raqqa were some that appeared to list all of Raqqa’s college graduates, suggesting that they were of interest to the security branch by virtue of their college education.

Researchers also observed three solitary confinement cells and one group detention cell in the right half of the first floor of the facility.

Human Rights Watch researchers interviewed five people formerly held by Military Intelligence in Raqqa, who said that security forces detained and interrogated them there. They said that the security services questioned them about lawful activities, such as participating in peaceful demonstrations, providing relief assistance to displaced families, defending detainees, and providing emergency assistance to injured demonstrators. They believed that they were detained for these lawful activities, making their detention arbitrary.

Human Rights Watch has repeatedly documented widespread violations by Syrian government security forces and officials, including enforced disappearances, torture, and arbitrary and incommunicado detentions of peaceful protesters, activists, humanitarian assistance providers, and doctors.

Human Rights Watch has repeatedly urged the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

On January 14, a letter was sent to the Security Council on behalf of 58 countries calling for an ICC referral. The Security Council has taken no action in response.

“Learning the truth about the role intelligence services have played in spying on and terrorizing Syrians will enable them to guard against these abuses in the future,” Houry said.

“But for Syrians to learn the truth once the conflict ends, it is vital even under the tough conditions of war to preserve the potential evidence of the security forces’ role.”

CPJ’s census of journalists imprisoned on April 15 also highlights the severe deterioration of freedom of expression in Iran over time. In December 2004, during the last full year of President Mohammad Khatami’s tenure, CPJ documented just one journalist in prison during its annual worldwide prison census. By December 2009, after a contested presidential election returned Mahmoud Ahmedinejad to office, the number had grown to 23 in CPJ’s annual census. CPJ surveys since that time have consistently shown 35 to 50 journalists in prison in Iran at any given time.

Only Turkey, with 48 in jail, was detaining more journalists on April 15, CPJ research shows.

As devastating as the imprisonments are to the individual journalists and their families, the Iranian government’s tactics have had an intimidating effect on the press, choking off the flow of information. This census and CPJ’s past surveys are simply snapshots in time—they do not include the large numbers of journalists convicted of crimes or facing charges who are temporarily free on bail or furlough. Iran has pursued a revolving-door policy in imprisoning journalists, freeing some detainees on short-term furloughs even as they make new arrests. The pattern of rotating critical journalists in and out of prison has sown fear and self-censorship across the entire press corps, according to CPJ research. At least 68 Iranian journalists fled into exile between 2007 and 2012 due to harassment and the threat of imprisonment, according to CPJ research. Only Somali journalists have gone into exile in higher numbers during that period.

The Iranian government has used several other tactics to intimidate journalists. Authorities have blocked millions of websites, banned reformist publications, and conducted widespread electronic surveillance in an effort to make a wide range of topics off-limits to public debate. “Many of the topics we could cover five years ago, like cultural issues, we couldn’t do anymore,” Omid Memarian, an exiled Iranian journalist, told CPJ. “Journalists were even prevented from covering the earthquake relief efforts that happened in Iran last year.”

In 2013, as the Iranian government began a new wave of detentions aimed at silencing journalists ahead of the elections, Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi announced that 600 Iranian journalists were part of an anti-state network. He said the arrests were an attempt to “prevent the emergence of sedition prior to the elections.”

“The United States must respect and guarantee the life, health and personal integrity of detainees at the Guantánamo Naval Base, particularly in the context of the current hunger strike,” a group of international experts on human rights, arbitrary detention, torture, counter-terrorism and health said in a news release from the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR).

The experts, who comprise the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, added that they have received specific information about severe and prolonged physiological and psychological damage caused by the high degree of uncertainty the detainees face over basic aspects of their lives, such as not knowing whether they will be tried or whether they will be released and when; or whether they will see their family members again.

The Commission also urged the US Government to adopt concrete measures to end the indefinite detention of persons; to ensure the detainees are either released or prosecuted in accordance with due process and the principles and standards of international human rights law; and to allow for independent monitoring by international human rights bodies.

President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that he would recommit himself to closing the Cuba-based prison, a goal he has voiced at least three times in the past four years but which is hampered by Congressional opposition.

“You can’t just set up something like that and keep it in perpetuity, which is in fact what Congress has made possible by bringing in a new law in the beginning of the year called the National Defence Authorization Act which essentially provides for the indefinite military detention without charge or trial of detainees at Guantánamo Bay,” Rupert Colville, a spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office told UN Radio.

In a statement, the Special Rapporteur on torture, Juan E. Méndez, noted that the indefinite detention of individuals, most of whom have not been charged, “goes far beyond a minimally reasonable period of time and causes a state of suffering, stress, fear and anxiety, which in itself constitutes a form of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.”

Around half of the 166 detainees in the centre have been cleared for transfer to their home countries or third countries for resettlement. “All relevant security-related Government agencies or authorities have expressly certified that those detainees do not represent a threat to US security,” said the Special Rapporteur on countering terrorism, Ben Emmerson.

However, the cleared detainees continue to remain in the centre, alongside those reportedly designated for indefinite detention.

“Of those, 56 are Yemeni nationals who have been denied release based solely on their nationality and on the political situation in Yemen, which constitutes a clear violation of the principle of non-discrimination and renders their detention arbitrary and constitutes a flagrant violation of international law,” explained El Hadji Malick Sow, who currently heads the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

Last month, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said she was “deeply disappointed” by the US inaction on closing the centre. She also noted that the continued incarceration of cleared detainees raised serious concerns under international law and severely undermined US stance as an upholder of human rights.

Speaking with UN Radio today, Mr. Colville said the ongoing hunger strike is a manifestation of the uncertainty felt by the detainees.

“One can only imagine the feelings of these people who one minute they’re told they’re cleared for transfer home and then it doesn’t happen. You’ve got now this hunger strike which is really a symptom of extreme desperation,” he said.

According to media reports, 21 of the reported 100 striking detainees are being force-fed a nutritional supplement through tubes inserted in their noses.

While the individual circumstances of those detainees are unclear, the UN Special Rapporteur on health, Anand Grover, stressed that “health care personnel may not apply undue pressure of any sort on individuals who have opted for the extreme recourse of a hunger strike.”

She added that it is also not acceptable to use threats of forced feeding or other types of physical or psychological coercion against individuals who have voluntarily decided to go on a hunger strike.

Independent experts, such as the special rapporteurs cited, are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back, in an unpaid capacity, on specific human rights themes.

At a White House press briefing on Tuesday Obama said the prison at Guantanamo “needs to be closed” and committed to reviewing administrative steps and reengaging with Congress to do so. The president’s remarks came amid reports that more than 100 prisoners at Guantanamo were participating in a hunger strike and that the military is force feeding many of them.

US President Barack Obama should move swiftly to fulfill newly repeated promises to end indefinite detention without trial at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

“President Obama’s call to end indefinite detention at Guantanamo is encouraging after his long silence on the issue,” said Laura Pitter, counterterrorism advisor at Human Rights Watch.

“Though he blamed Congress for the problems at Guantanamo, there are actions he could have taken and can still take now to end indefinite detention there.”

When Obama first took office in 2009, he promised to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay within one year. More than four years later, 166 prisoners remain imprisoned, only a handful of whom face charges.

Obama has pointed to congressional restrictions on transfers of prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay prison as an obstacle to closure of the prison, but he himself has repeatedly signed those restrictions into law, Human Rights Watch said. And the restrictions are not a complete bar – instead, they require the Defense Secretary to ensure certain conditions have been met in the transfer countries.

Of the prisoners now at Guantanamo, the Obama administration has in the past designated 86 for transfer to their home or third countries if security conditions could be met.

The media has reported that the military has deployed “medical reinforcements” to the prisons to assist with feedings of at least 21 of the hunger strikers who have refused sustenance. Five prisoners are reportedly hospitalized.

“The harsh prison terms handed down to bloggers exemplify the severe restrictions on freedom of expression in Viet Nam,” said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay.

On Monday, three prominent journalists were sentenced to several years in prison for “conducting propaganda” against the State under article 88 of the penal code, for posting articles on the website of the Vietnamese Club of Free Journalists.

Nguyen Van Hai, also known as Dieu Cay, received 12 years’ imprisonment and five years’ probation; Ta Phong Tan received ten years’ imprisonment and three years’ probation; and Pan Thanh Hai four years’ imprisonment and three years’ probation.

Pillay noted that the fact that the court’s decision came after only a few hours of deliberation raises questions about the defendants’ right to due process and a fair trial, and expressed concern about reports that several supporters were detained and prevented from attending the trial.

In 2009, during the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Viet Nam’s human rights record, the State accepted a number of recommendations on freedom of expression, including one to “fully guarantee the right to receive, seek and impart information and ideas in compliance with article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”

Pillay stated that Monday’s verdicts are “an unfortunate development that undermines the commitments Viet Nam has made internationally, including during the UPR, to protect and promote the right to freedom of expression.”

Nadia Jelassi and Mohamed Ben Salem, whose works were exhibited in a show in La Marsa in June 2012, could be sentenced to up to five years in prison if convicted. Their mixed-media work provoked protests during the exhibit.

“Time and again, prosecutors are using criminal legislation to stifle critical or artistic expression,” said Eric Goldstein, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Bloggers, journalists and now artists are being prosecuted for exercising their right to free speech.”

Jelassi’s contribution to the “Printemps des arts” exhibit was a work entitled “Celui qui n’a pas…” (“He who hasn’t…”), which includes sculptures of veiled women in the midst of a pile of stones. Ben Salem’s contribution depicted a line of ants streaming out of a child’s schoolbag to spell “Allah.”

The investigative judge of the First Degree Court of Tunis informed the two artists in August that they faced charges under article 121.3 of the penal code.

The exhibition was in a state-owned hall in La Marsa known as al-Abdelliya, in the northern suburbs of Tunis, from June 1 to 10. On June 10, three people, including a court official, asked one of the gallery directors to remove two paintings they judged offensive by 6 p.m. Meanwhile, a campaign gathered steam on Facebook condemning the exhibit as anti-Islamic.

That night, dozens of people broke into the palace and vandalized some of the artworks before the police dispersed them. On June 11, riots erupted in several locations across the country, with protesters setting fire to courts, police stations, and other state institutions. One civilian died in the violence and dozens were wounded. Several preachers in mosques across the country condemned the art show, some openly calling on their followers to put the artists to death as apostates.

Jelassi told Human Rights Watch that she received a phone call from the judicial police some days after the incidents informing her that they had opened an inquiry into the events of “al-Abdelliya.” On August 17, she went to the First Degree Court of Tunis, at their request, where the investigative judge of the second bureau informed her that she faced charges of “harming public order and public morals,” under penal code article 121.3. On August 28, the investigative judge questioned her.

“I felt like I was in the times of the Inquisition,” she told Human Rights Watch. “The investigative judge asked me about my intentions behind my works that were on exhibit at the show, and whether I had intended to provoke with this work.”

The United Nations Human Rights Committee has said that laws prohibiting expression deemed to show a lack of respect for a religion or other belief system are incompatible with international law, apart from the very limited circumstances in which religious hatred amounts to incitement to violence or discrimination.

The case is at least the fourth in which prosecutors have used article 121.3 of the penal code to bring charges for speech deemed offensive to public morality and public order since the country’s new National Constituent Assembly convened in November 2011. On March 28, the first instance tribunal of Mahdia sentenced two bloggers to prison terms of seven and a half years for publishing writings perceived as offensive to Islam.

On May 3, Nabil Karoui, the owner of the television station Nessma TV, was fined 23,000 dinars (US$1,490) for broadcasting the animated film Persepolis, denounced as blasphemous by some Islamists. On March 8, Nasreddine Ben Saida, publisher of the newspaper Attounssia, was fined 1,000 dinars (US$623) for publishing a photo of a football star embracing his naked girlfriend.

The penal code’s article 121.3 makes it an offense to “distribute, offer for sale, publicly display, or possess, with the intent to distribute, sell, display for the purpose of propaganda, tracts, bulletins, and fliers, whether of foreign origin or not, that are liable to cause harm to the public order or public morals.”

“Many Tunisians expected that repressive laws like article 121.3 would not long outlast the dictator who adopted it,” Goldstein said. “We now see that as long as the transitional government does not make it a priority to get rid of these laws, the temptation to use them to silence those who dissent or think differently is irresistible.”

“I am concerned about the new indictment brought against Ahmet Şık, which threatens him with three to seven years’ imprisonment for comments he made upon leaving Silivri prison in March,” said the Representative. “The new charges add to the climate of intimidation that Turkish journalists face when expressing critical or differing views.”

Ahmet Şık was released pending trial on 12 March 2012, after spending one year in pre-trial detention. In the trial that continues in September, he faces up to 15 years in prison for membership of an alleged terrorist conspiracy known as Ergenekon. Upon leaving prison, he accused judges, prosecutors and police officers of a conspiracy that put him, among many others, in prison, and said that justice would be served when those officials were imprisoned. The new charges, collected by 39 judges and prosecutors, accuse him of threatening and insulting public officials.

“I hope that the charges against Ahmet Şık will be dropped soon. Freedom of expression can not stop at speech deemed appropriate by the authorities. In democracies even critical and offending statements must be protected by the law, and public officials must tolerate a higher level of criticism from society,” Mijatović said.

“Authorities should fight speech they deem offensive by encouraging more speech and greater debate of all issues of public importance,” the Representative added. “Punishing critical statements with imprisonment or the threat of incarceration not only runs against OSCE commitments that Turkey has taken upon itself to meet, it also significantly harms pluralistic discourse and can lead to silencing democratic debate in society.”

During her visit to Turkey last December, Mijatović called for the release of all journalists from prison, and in March she publicly welcomed the release, pending trial, of Ahmet Şik and other journalists.