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Links to Recent Corrections:

US/Italy: Italian Court Challenges CIA Rendition Program

This April 16, 2007, news release was revised to correct a sentence that stated that nine Italian defendants are involved in the Milan prosecution. Instead, seven Italian defendants are involved, two had plea bargained.

Uzbekistan: Activists Released Before EU Meeting

Subsequent to the release of this press release, Human Rights Watch received new information indicating that Dilmurod Muhiddinov may have not been amnestied and has not been released from prison. Human Rights Watch is currently trying to confirm Muhiddinov's status and will provide additional updates as appropriate.

Human Rights Watch also learned that Bahodir Mukhtarov was released from prison on November 17, 2007 and not on February 4, 2008 as reported. (February 7, 2008)

Jordan: Rights Groups to Visit Intelligence Agency Prison

In a media statement released on August 15, 2007, Human Rights Watch described the National Center for Human Rights as "government-controlled." The Jordanian government appoints the Center's board members and sets a budget for its running costs, but the Center's work has shown its commitment to the protection and promotion of human rights and independence from government control. It would be more appropriate to describe the Center as the "governmental National Center for Human Rights." We apologize for this inaccurate description. (September 6, 2007 | Arabic Correction)

Burma: Arbitrary Detention of Protesters

This August 22, 2007, press release was revised to remove a sentence that incorrectly stated that three members of the Myanmar Development Committee (MDC), including MDC leader Ko Htin Kyaw, were arrested on August 21, 2007, following MDC's call for nationwide protests against a major fuel price hike. Instead, Htin Kyaw went into hiding on that date. He was subsequently arrested in Rangoon, together with a second activist, on August 25, 2007, after a city-wide manhunt by authorities. (August 27, 2007)

Apology to Yosri Fouda

Although a July 8, 2007 article by Kenneth Roth, entitled "Tap, tap, tap to wear down the terrorists" and accompanying photo caption published in the London Observer, suggested that the Karachi safe house of Al Qaeda's Khaled Sheikh Mohammed was discovered because a journalist who had interviewed him passed on critical information regarding his whereabouts, Mr. Roth did not say or intend to say that the journalist in question - Al Jazeera chief investigative reporter Yosri Fouda - provided any information to the authorities. As Mr. Fouda notes, Khaled Sheikh Mohammed was, furthermore, arrested in Rawalpindi (rather than Karachi) almost a full 11 months after the interview. We apologize to Mr. Fouda.

France: In the Name of Prevention

The June 2007 report, In the Name of Prevention: Insufficient Safeguards in National Security Removals, was revised to correct the date of Adel Tebourski’s conviction for a terrorism-related offense on p. 42. The date of his conviction should be May 2005. In addition, the text now clarifies on p. 42 that the ministerial expulsion order against Tebourski was issued on July 22, 2006. We also amended the text on p. 2 and p. 39 to clarify that Mahfoud Brada was criminally deported from France following a conviction for rape. (Published July 24, 2007)

France: Au nom de la prévention

Le rapport publié en juin 2007, Au nom de la prévention: Des garanties insuffisantes concernant les éloignements pour des raisons de sécurité nationale, a été révisé pour corriger la date de la condamnation d’Adel Tebourski pour un délit lié au terrorisme, p. 42. La date de sa condamnation devrait être mai 2005. En outre, le texte indique maintenant clairement en p. 42 que l’arrêté ministériel d’expulsion contre M. Tebourski a été émis le 22 juillet 2006. Nous avons modifié le texte en p. 2 et p. 39 pour indiquer clairement que Mahfoud Brada a fait l’objet d’un éloignement de la France dans un contexte pénal à la suite d’une condamnation pour viol.

Gaza: Armed Palestinian Groups Commit Grave Crimes

This June 2007 press release reported that on the night of Sunday, June 10, 2007, Fatah military forces shot and captured Muhammad al-Ra’fati, a Hamas supporter and mosque preacher, and threw him from a Gaza City high-rise apartment building.

Muhammad al-Ra’fati was captured, shot, and executed by Fatah forces as the press release states. However, he was not thrown from a Gaza City high-rise building. Fatah military forces threw a different person, 30-year-old Hosam Abu Qainas, to his death from a Gaza City high-rise building that evening.

China: “No One Has the Liberty to Refuse”

The June 2007 report, “No One Has the Liberty to Refuse”, misspelled the name of a town in Qinghai province, Mangra, as well as mistaking a prefecture for a region on the map situated on page 1. The map should read: ‘Mangra’ and ‘Tibet Autonomous Region.’ See http://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/tibet0607/1.htm#_Toc168745896 (Published June 14, 2007)

Uzbekistan: Imprisoned Rights Activist Sentenced Again

This May 2007, press release states that Uzbek human rights defender Gulbahor Turaeva received a prison sentence of five years and eight months, following her second trial on new slander charges. According to a May 13, 2007 statement by the Uzbek Foreign Ministry, Turaeva's sentence for both the April 24, 2007 conviction and the May 7 conviction is a total of six years of imprisonment and a fine of 648,000 soms, or about U.S. $648.

Turaeva’s husband was in the courtroom for the reading of the second verdict against his wife on May 7 but was not provided with a written copy of this verdict.

Human Rights Watch maintains that Turaeva has been prosecuted on politically motivated charges and should be immediately and unconditionally released. She is appealing her sentence. (Published May 14, 2007)

Russia: The “Stamp of Guantanamo”

The March 2007 report, The “Stamp of Guantanamo”: The Story of Seven Men Betrayed by Russia's Diplomatic Assurances to the United States , was revised to correct the date of the letter to US officials in Appendix I on page 45. The date of the letter should be September 27, 2006. See http://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/russia0307/8.htm#_Toc162429437 (Published April 24, 2007)

Burma: Natural Gas Project Threatens Human Rights

This March 2007 press release incompletely identified the corporate affiliation of the fourteen executives who are being prosecuted in Seoul on charges of illegally exporting weapons equipment and technology used to build an arms factory in Burma. Prosecutors accuse Daewoo International of being the lead company in the project, but it is not the case that all fourteen of the accused worked for that company. The former president and chief executive of Daewoo International, Lee Tae-yong, is on trial together with executives from a total of seven firms. (Published April 4, 2007)

United States: Ghost Prisoner

The February 2007 report, “Ghost Prisoner: Two Years in CIA Detention”, misspelled the name of a prisoner, Majid Khan, on page 22. The sentence should read: “It said: ‘Majid Khan, 15 December 2004, American-Pakistani.’” See http://hrw.org/reports/2007/us0207/2.htm#_Toc159752299 (Published March 23, 2007)

Survey of Cluster Munition Policy and Practice

The February 2007 backgrounder, “Survey of Cluster Munition Policy and Practice” incorrectly references the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs as the Swedish Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. The information referenced on pages 55 and 56 in footnotes 257-259, 261, and 262 was obtained through communication from the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Directorate of International Law, to Pax Christi Netherlands, June 7, 2005. (Published: March 5, 2007)

Turkmenistan: World Report Chapter

The World Report 2007 chapter on Turkmenistan incorrectly stated that the former mufti of Turkmenistan, sentenced in 2004 to 22 years in prison on charges of anti-government activities, had been amnestied. According to Forum 18, a religious freedom organization based in Norway, “No verified information on the whereabouts or state of health” of the mufti has been received “since he was sentenced to 22 years' imprisonment at a closed trial in Ashgabad in March 2004. Relatives say rumours he was freed at the time of last October's prisoner amnesty are not true.” (February 21, 2007)

Indonesia: Too High a Price

The June 2006 report, Too High a Price: The Human Rights Cost of the Indonesian Military’s Economic Activities, was revised to remove a phrase that incorrectly quoted from a 2001 law on foundations. The revised sentence, at p. 31, reads: “That law specified that foundations could take part in business activities only indirectly through related entities whose activities were consistent with the foundation’s designated social (or religious or humanitarian) purpose.”

We also amended text at p. 77 to indicate that Newsweek “reported” (rather than “revealed”) the alleged extortion by Indonesian soldiers of tsunami victims seeking to board an evacuation flight. The corresponding footnote was changed to indicate that an investigation by New Zealand authorities, whose air force operated the flight, did not uncover evidence to substantiate the allegation. The earlier edition stated that their investigation was inconclusive. (February 15, 2007)

Ukraine On the Margins

The November 2005 Human Rights Watch report Ukraine On the Margins - Rights Violations against Migrants and Asylum-seekers at the New Eastern Border of the European Union was amended in January 2007 to correct errors. The original version of the report incorrectly characterized the role of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Ukraine. The section on IOM has been removed. The information in the corrected report was accurate as of November 2005. A related December 2005 Human Rights Watch statement to the IOM Governing Council has been removed permanently from the HRW website. (February 1, 2007)

The Balkans : Weighing the Evidence

In the December 2006 report “Weighing the Evidence: Lessons from the Slobodan Milosevic Trial” there is a mistaken reference to Bosnian Serbs where it should have stated Bosnian Croats. On page 11 of the report, the sentence should read: “The Bosnia indictment similarly alleges that Milosevic participated in a joint criminal enterprise, the aim of which was the forcible removal of Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats from large areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina.” See http://hrw.org/reports/2006/milosevic1206/3.htm#_Toc153263142 (Published January 16, 2007)

Bahrain: World Report Chapter

The World Report 2007 chapter on Bahrain incorrectly stated that the Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS) was established by the government of Bahrain in 2002. The BHRS is in fact an independent association whose activities the government authorized in 2002. The chapter also incorrectly stated that Bahrain was not a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; Bahrain acceded to the ICCPR on September 20, 2006. (Published: January 16, 2007)

Jordan: Suspicious Sweeps

The Arabic translation to the September 2006 report Suspicious Sweeps – The General Intelligence Department and Jordan’s Rule of Law Problem contains an error. In the report, we mention an Iraqi woman “who may be related by marriage to Nidal `Arabiyyat, one of the key Jordanian followers of the late Abu Mus`ab al-Zarqawi.” This was rendered to Arabic to suggest, incorrectly, that she was the wife of Nidal `Arabiyyat. See http://hrw.org/arabic/reports/2006/jordan0906/3.htm#_Toc145925921 (Published: November 15, 2006)

Croatia: A Decade of Disappointment

The September 2006 report Croatia: A Decade of Disappointment - Continuing Obstacles to the Reintegration of Serb Returnees contains an error, which arose from a misunderstanding about information provided to Human Rights Watch by a judge. Pages 12 and 14 of the report wrongly states that there was a pending case in the Knin municipal court against Ante Pesic for allegedly beating another man in a bar in Devrske village, Croatia, in January 2006. Although police filed criminal charges against Mr. Pesic in connection with the alleged incident, the case was never brought. (Published: October 25, 2006)

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