The organization has gathered testimonies from detainees who said that they were beaten upon arrest, subjected to electric shocks or hit with rifle butts.

The Egyptian authorities must respect the right to due process for those who have been rounded up and are facing accusations of inciting or participating in violence in the last two weeks. Allegations of ill-treatment must be investigated urgently.

“At this time of extreme polarization and division, it is more important than ever that the office of the Public Prosecutor demonstrates that it’s truly independent and not politicized,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International. “These cases risk being seen as mere retribution rather than justice.”

Since the news of Mursi’s ousting on 3 July, lawyers have told Amnesty International that more than 660 men have been arrested in Cairo alone, including prominent leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood and its political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP). Many were arrested on 8 July during the violence around the Republican Guard Club, which left at least 51 Morsi supporters dead.

While release orders were eventually issued for some 650 suspects, lawyers have told the organization that an unknown number remain in detention due to their inability to pay bail ranging from 1,000 to 5,000 Egyptian pounds (US$140-US$700). The whereabouts of the deposed President and his team of aides are still unknown.

Amnesty International fears that their conditions of detention may amount to an enforced disappearance. Family members who have asked have been denied information on their relative’s whereabouts and fate, and they appear not to have been brought before a judge or given access to a lawyer

“Establishing trust in the justice system will be impossible if only supporters of Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood are targeted while security forces are absolved of responsibility for unlawful killings and their failure to protect protesters from violence,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International.

“Everyone has the right to due process, no matter what the authorities think of their political affiliation or their position. Mohamed Morsi and his team, like anyone, should be granted their basic rights, including immediate access to their lawyers and family.”

Under international law, all detained suspects must be released or promptly charged with a recognizable criminal offence. Anyone deprived of their liberty should also have the right to challenge the lawfulness of their detention before a judge, as well as access to lawyers and their families, and receive any medical treatment that they might require. Lawyers must be permitted to assist their clients unimpeded.

Amnesty International urges the Egyptian authorities to launch full investigations into reports of detainees being beaten and ill-treated, particularly upon arrest, in the vicinity of the Republican Guard Club. This including being hit with rifle butts and given electric shocks. They also said that at police stations they were interrogated while blindfolded by men they believed to be intelligence officials from the National Security Agency, a practice that is eerily reminiscent of Mubarak-era tactics. Newly released detainees also complained about not being allowed to call their families or lawyers.

With at least nine senior Muslim Brotherhood leaders and supporters already detained, arrest warrants have also been issued for other prominent figures in the Muslim Brotherhood, including the group’s spiritual guide. The Muslim Brotherhood’s chief lawyer, Abdelmonim Abdelmaqsoud, has also been detained in Tora Prison, south of Cairo.

“The onus is on the prosecution and the authorities to charge and provide evidence to support the accusations against them,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui. “Without evidence that can be tested in court it is yet another crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Directly after the army announced the ousting on 3 July, at least six pro-Morsi television stations were taken off the air and then had their studios raided. The following day the FJP announced that the state’s printing press refused to print the party’s newspaper. On Sunday the Public Prosecution froze the assets of 14 men associated with the Muslim Brotherhood and parties supporting them.

After arriving in Lesvos, an island right next to Turkey, the first thing we saw on the way from the airport were backpacks and clothes dispersed over a nearby beach. ‘’Irregular migrants landed here this morning,’’ said the taxi driver indifferently.

Last December, 27 people (mostly Afghans) trying to reach Greece drowned close to the shores of Lesvos, after the boat they were in capsized. Only a 16-year-old Afghan boy survived. Our thoughts go back to our visits the previous days to one of Athens’ many detention facilities and to the houses where people fleeing the Syrian conflict are living. Bahrir, Ralya and Alia arrived in Greece in similar circumstances, on some other night.

We met 10-year-old Ralya on the first day of our visit in Athens. She was walking barefoot on the cold floor of a derelict house that no one else would want to live in. Her family is paying 165 euros every month for rent. They fled Syria because of the conflict. She lives here with her father and siblings, while her mother is in Germany.

“The plastic boat that was carrying us across the river Evros sank and we got separated from my wife,” explained the father.

Brahim, one of his sons, is 15. He told us how he likes playing football and scores many goals for his team. Brahim came home bleeding one day. He had been attacked by a group of young men wearing black. One of them had been shouting “Beat him, beat him,” he remembers.

In the past few years, asylum-seekers and irregular migrants in Greece face a new threat – the dramatic increase in the number of racist attacks by members of extreme right-wing groups.

The day after, we were in a cold cell in the Petrou Ralli detention facility in Athens. We met Alia, a woman from an African country. She spoke out loud, not caring if the guards could hear her or not, ‘’ I want all the world to know about us’’ she said. She has applied for asylum and they told her that they will keep her detained for 12 months. ‘’I am going crazy’’ she continued, “I have done nothing wrong and yet I am punished’’.

Alia told us that she likes to write. The guards have given her paper but no pen. From time to time they can spend some time in the open air, but not every day, she said. She told us how one day, the women spontaneously started singing and dancing during their time outside, prompting the guards to shout at them and order them to stop immediately. ‘’I’m asking everyone who has humanity to help us.’’

Back on Lesvos, our taxi came to a sudden halt as we reach our destination, turning our thoughts back to the task at hand. We were there to speak with the people of the island and despite the grim situation we took heart from what they had to say.

Refugees and migrants landing on their island’s shores is part of their daily lives. Since last summer, many asylum-seekers and irregular migrants arriving in Lesvos have been held in poor conditions in police stations on the island – anyone not detained was left with no shelter. But people on the island stepped in to help. Among the initiatives was the establishment of a network to help new arrivals, called the “Village of all together”.

“Over the past year we have seen more and more people arriving,” some Lesvos residents told us. “Those people clearly were in need. Many of us got actively involved and helped them. Basically we did for them what we would do for anyone in need.”

This was only one of the many stories of solidarity we heard over the last few days. Many of these solidarity actions often go unreported, which is not to say unnoticed by those in need. Such actions by ordinary people, in Greece and elsewhere, should remind governments across Europe of their duty to uphold and respect the rights of migrants and refugees.

By Giorgos Kosmopoulos, Amnesty International’s EU team campaigner and Carmen Dupont, European campaign coordinator on migration.

On Saturday 17 February, at least 84 people, mostly Shiite Hazaras, were killed when a bomb exploded in a vegetable market in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province.

The bombing was claimed by the anti-Shiite armed group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). LeJ also claimed responsibility for a series of bombings targeting Hazaras in Quetta on 10 January 2013 that claimed more than 90 lives.

“These attacks demonstrate Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’s utter disregard for human rights and basic principles of humanity,” said Isabelle Arradon, Amnesty International’s Deputy Asia-Pacific Director.

“Also shocking is the continued failure of the authorities to bring to justice any of those responsible for committing these killings, or inciting others to carry them out.”

To Amnesty International’s knowledge, no one has been prosecuted for the January 2013 attacks or other targeted killings of Hazaras in recent years.

The authorities also have a poor record of prosecuting those who incite attacks on people on the basis of their religious beliefs, including prominent leaders of groups like LeJ.

“The failure to bring these perpetrators to justice sends the signal that they can continue to commit these outrageous abuses with impunity,” said Arradon.

Amnesty International has documented 91 separate attacks on Shiites across Pakistan since January 2012 that have resulted in around 500 fatalities.

Amnesty International calls on the Pakistani authorities to immediately carry out an impartial and independent investigation into the persistent failure of civil and military authorities to end such attacks.

“The Pakistani security authorities must be held accountable for their failure to protect Quetta’s Hazara community and the population at large,” Arradon said.

In a joint letter to the Council, Switzerland and 56 other states from all continents noted the Syrian authorities’ failure to investigate and prosecute crimes against humanity and war crimes committed since March 2011.

Since then, according to the letter, “the situation on the ground has only become more desperate, with attacks on the civilian population and the commission of atrocities having become almost the norm”. 

“For almost two years, the Security Council has stood by as crimes against humanity, as well as war crimes after the internal armed conflict began, have been committed with complete impunity against the Syrian people,” said José Luis Díaz, Amnesty International’s UN Representative in New York. 

“This must not be allowed to continue. A referral to the ICC must be made immediately to ensure that persons from all sides are investigated and – where there is sufficient admissible evidence – prosecuted for the most serious crimes under international law.”

Amnesty International, too, began calling for the situation to be referred to the Prosecutor of the ICC as early as April 2011. Since the beginning of the unrest the organization has documented systematic as well as widespread human rights violations which amount to crimes against humanity. 

The organization has also found evidence of serious violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes, carried out by the Syrian authorities since the situation evolved into an internal armed conflict in most parts of the country.

A UN-backed independent international Commission of Inquiry also found evidence of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Syria and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has also repeatedly called for the Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the ICC.

But the Security Council has so far failed to act on such calls, only going as far as making statements that “those responsible for the violence should be held accountable.” Russia and China in particular have blocked resolutions which would have allowed greater international pressure on the Syrian authorities.

“The Security Council’s weak rhetoric on Syria has failed to achieve any justice for victims, and has given human rights violators free rein to carry on committing serious crimes under international law without facing any consequences,” said Díaz. 

“The continued failure to act would send a disturbing message that the international community has lost the will to protect civilians from harm in conflict.”

In addition to the ICC referral, Amnesty International has repeatedly called on all states to exercise universal jurisdiction over those suspected of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria.

The briefing “We are foreigners, we have no rights” is based on fact-finding visits to Libya between May and September 2012, and examines the plight of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in Libya.

During Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi’s 42-year rule, foreign nationals –particularly those from Sub-Saharan Africa–lived with the uncertainty of shifting policies and fear of arbitrary arrest, indefinite detention, torture and other abuses.

Following the 2011 conflict, their situation has worsened amid the general climate of lawlessness, with powerful armed militias continuing to act outside the law, and the failure of the authorities to tackle racism and xenophobia, further fuelled by the widespread belief amongst Libyans that “African mercenaries” had been used by the ousted government to crush the 2011 uprising.

“It is shameful that Gaddafi-era abuses against foreigners, especially those from Sub-Saharan Africa, have not only continued but worsened. The Libyan authorities must acknowledge the extent of the abuse by militias and put in place measures to protect all foreign nationals from violence and abuse, regardless of their origin or immigration status,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International.

“Amnesty International has repeatedly and consistently warned the Libyan authorities of the threat posed by the militias in Libya. We again urge them to rein in these militias, and hold them accountable. The authorities must also take concrete measures to tackle racism and xenophobia head-on, especially considering how heavily Libya relies on migrant labour.”

Migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees in Libya are at risk of being arrested and detained in the streets, markets, checkpoints or their homes. Some are intercepted while trying to board boats to Europe or crossing the desert or sea.

Between May and September 2012, Amnesty International visited nine detention centres across Libya where, at the time of the visits some 2,700 foreign nationals, including pregnant women, women with young children, and unaccompanied children detained alongside adult strangers, were held for “migration-related offences”. 

The detainees told Amnesty International that they had been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, including beatings. Most frequently, detainees are beaten for prolonged periods with various objects such as metal wires, rubber hoses, sticks and water pipes. Many showed their scars or bruises corroborating their testimonies. 

 rifles and sticks. He sustained several injuries including to his left eye.

Despite the risks, foreign nationals from countries such as Chad, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan continue to enter Libya through its porous borders fleeing war or persecution or in search of better economic opportunities. Individuals entitled to international protection are caught-up in Libya’s mixed-migration flows. 
 
The Libyan authorities and militias do not make a distinction between migrants, asylum seekers and refugees. Because of their irregular status, individuals in need of international protection are similarly at risk of arbitrary arrest, indefinite detention and torture or other ill-treatment.

Asylum seekers and refugees in Libya remain in a state of legal limbo, as Libya lacks a functional asylum-system and refuses to sign a memorandum of understanding with the UN Refugee Agency, the UNHCR. 

Libya is not a state party to the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and its 1967 Protocol. 

For those held indefinitely for “migration offences” pending deportation, there is no possibility to challenge the legality of their detention and their forcible removal from the country.

The organisation wrote to the Turkish and Iraqi authorities calling on them to open all border crossings to refugees from Syria, after both nations continued to prevent access to safety for those fleeing the escalating violence by delaying entry to their territories.

“Civilians have born the brunt of large-scale crimes against humanity, war crimes and other human rights abuses committed in Syria, and any obstacles or delays in allowing refugees to reach a place of safety would place them at risk of further serious human rights abuses in breach of international law,” said Ann Harrison, Amnesty International’s Deputy Programme Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“Amnesty International calls upon countries neighbouring Syria to keep their borders open to those fleeing the conflict, and urges all countries in the region and elsewhere to ensure they do not force anyone to return.

“Amnesty International also calls on the international community to urgently and generously respond to calls for funding for relief efforts, directed at Syrian refugees in the region, in the spirit of solidarity and responsibility-sharing.”

More than a quarter of a million people who have fled from Syria since March 2011 have either been registered as refugees or are awaiting registration in neighbouring countries, namely Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon, with numbers growing daily, according to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

Many more Syrian refugees are believed to have reached these countries but have not registered.

There are more than 10,000 people stranded inside Syria, close to the Turkish border provinces of Kilis and Hatay, waiting to be admitted to Turkey, according to information received by Amnesty International.

Although small groups of people are being allowed to cross into Turkey and are transferred to camps, significant delays in screening and registration have meant that thousands have remained stranded inside Syria since the end of August, Amnesty says.

In its letter to the Turkish authorities, Amnesty International also reiterated previous concerns that the camps should be relocated to a safe distance away from the border, as their proximity to it poses a serious security threat to those living there.

The organization also called again for human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, and civil society organizations to be allowed access to the camps to independently monitor conditions and speak to the refugees there.