Asia

With escalation of violence against ethnic Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan, those Kyrgyzstani human rights defenders of Uzbek ethnicity, who were monitoring and documenting the situation, fell under great risk of persecutions and attacks by the Kyrgyz authorities. Human rights defender and ethnic Uzbek, Azimzhan Askarov, was detained on 15 June 2010 in southern Kyrgyzstan. It has been reported that he is being tortured, denied medical care and his life is in danger. He is a prisoner of conscience and must be released immediately.

The convicted journalist, Ramasan Esergepov has embarked on hunger strike in prison. The organization 'Journalists in Trouble' express their concern with regards to tortures the journalist is subject to. He is also ill. His life is under threat. According to the current Kazakhstan legislation he is entitled to be released on parole, but he is still in prison.

CIVIL society organisations are becoming increasingly concerned about the health of the 43 health workers arrested by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as local agencies report the separation of a mother and her newborn baby.

The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP), a member of OMCT SOS-Torture Network, about the alleged extrajudicial killing of Mr. Sumar K. Abdulwahab, a 47-year-old Muslim Purok leader from Maguindanao, by members of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), on 3 June 2010, in Mindanao.