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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 5, 1988)
News Digest By the Associated Press Edited by Bob Nelson Amnesty cites abuses in record 135 countries LONDON — Amnesty International on Wednesday accused a record 135 nations of human rights abuses ranging from the jailing of draft evaders in Western Europe to the mas sacre of unarmed civilians in Iraq and Sudan. The international human rights group said the list of offenders in its annual survey was the longest it has published since its establishment in 1961. Amnesty, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977, recorded abuses last year in more than 80 percent of the 159 U.N. member states. But it said it was encouraged by the mergence of more than 1,000 human rights groups m recent years and the proliferation of laws to protect prisoners’ rights. “In at least half the countries of the world, people are locked away for speaking their minds, often after trials that are no more than a sham,” the 278-page report said. “In at least a third of the world’s nations, men, women and even children are tortured. In scores of countries, governments pursue theii goals by kidnapping and murdering their own citizens.” It added: “More than ever before in world history, governments are exposed to the glare of international publicity — the greatest weapon we have.” The report cited the United States, where 25 prisoners were put to death last year, for execut ing John Brogdon, a man diagnosed as mentally retarded, and Edward Earl Johnson, despite “substantial doubts” about his guilt. Amnesty opposes the death penalty. In China, more than 200convicted criminals were put to death, but that represented “only a fraction of the total number of death sentences and executions,” it said. The report said at least 760 political prison ers were executed in 39 countries in 1987 but estimated the number probably was much higher because of secret executions. It said governments used a variety of meth ods to deflect criticism, including death squads in Latin America. Among other alleged abuses were reports that Sudanese forces massacred hundreds of unarmed Dinka tribespeople; the summary execution by Iraq of hundreds of unarmed Kurds; the disappearance of hundreds of Peru - vian farmers seized by government forces; and court-ordered executions in China, South Af rica and Iran. The report alleged politically motivated killings by pro-government assassins in Brazil, El Salvador and the Philippines, and arbitrary arrests, torture and killings in Sri Lanka, Af ghamstan ana uganaa. In Western Europe, Spain was cited for allegedly torturing Basque separatist prisoners, Britain for failing to publish a police inquiry into the killings of six unarmed Irish Republi can Army guerrillas in 1982, and France, Italy, Austria, Greece, Malta, Norway and Switzer land for jailing draft objectors. In Israel, the report said, a court permitted the secret service to use “a moderate measure of physical pressure” in interrogating suspects. The Soviet Union released 259 prisoners, most of them prisoners of conscience, but nearly 200 were pardoned under secret decrees that falsely implied they were criminals and “hid the fact that they had been unjustly impris oned in the first place,” the report said. Another 300 Soviet prisoners of conscience were held in prisons, in exile or in psychiatric hospitals, it said. Bentsen, Quayle polish lines for tonight s debate Vice presidential nominees Dan Quayle and Lloyd Bentsen polished their debate lines Tucsday in prepara tion for their 90 minutes in the cam paign spotlight. At the lop of the tickets, George Bush said he wanted to inspire affluent youths “to help our poor, while Michael Dukakis said the GOP offers only “slogans and symbols.” Republican Quayle and Democrat Bentsen were flying to Omaha, the site of Wednesday night’s debate. “We’re ready, Quayle said dur ing a tour of the Bush-Quayle cam paign headquarters. A new poll released Tuesday sug gested that the debate would give Quayle a chance to overcome some of the negative images about him that are driving undecided voters away from Bush. The CBS News-New York Times poll of 1,034 probable voters found 48 percent support for the Bush-Quayle ticket and 46 percent for the Dukakis Bentsen ticket But when voters were asked about their presidential prefer ence only, the support for Dukakis slipped to 43 percent. The poll, conducted Saturday through Monday, had a margin of error of plus or minus three percent age points. “We are very, very proud of you,” Republican campaign chairman James A. Baker III told Quayle. “We are very, very proud of the job you’re doing for this campaign, and we are very, very proud of the job we know you’re going to do tomorrow in Omaha.” When asked what tactics he’d use against Bentsen, Quayle said, “My debate strategy? Tune in tomorrow night.” “Feeling good,” said Bentsen, while walking from a practice studio to his hotel in Austin, Texas. Spokesman Mike McCurry said Bentsen was working on “the best way of making a point memorable or punchy.” Dukakiscampaign manager Susan Estrich, who was in Austin helping Bentsen, said, “We’re not teaching him new positions on issues. ... I think that’s what the Quayle people have lo do.” Bush was in Sacramento, Calif., and he outlined his plan for a quasi public foundation called Youth in Service to America to encourage young people to volunteer in commu nity activities. “I want our affluent to help our poor,” he said. “I want the young men and women of our tree-lined suburbs to get on a bus, or the subway, or the metro, and go into the cities where the want is.” The Republican presidential nominee described his proposal as an alternative to massive federal spend ing. He said years of federal programs designed to help the poor had proven that “we can’t buy our way out.” Dukakis spoke at Northwestern University in Evanston, III., and at tacked what he called Bush’s “record of failure.” “Mr. Bush was given five impor tant missions by this administration and he failed every one,” said the Democratic presidential nominee. “And that was before they asked him to pick a running mate in this elec tion.” Dukakis listed the five assign ments as resolving trade problems with Japan, heading an anti-terrorism panel, leading the war on drugs, in vestigating problems in the banking industry ana heading a task force on regulatory reform. Group urges new boycott of Nestle Co. WASHINGTON—The people who engineered a seven-year boy cott against the Nestle company to fight thepromoiion of infant for mula in Third World nations called on Tuesday for a renewal of the protest on an even larger scale. Douglas A. Johnson, chairman : of Action tor Corporate Accounts I bility, called for a resumption of the boycott at a news conference, arguing that Nestle hast Wed to : in 1984 that*ended tH original Action. - ”r--> ‘ • This time, said Johnson, the group is expanding the boycott to American Home Products, which it said is the second larges! distribu tor of infaoiibrmula in developing nations. mute within days of birth by mak ing their product available for free at hospitals and other facilities. Johnson's group, based in Min neapolis, says it is immoral for manufacturers to encourage the formula’s use in powdered form in Third World countries whers moat mothers don’t have the money, education or sanitary (hciUttee to mix It properly. Boycott leaders said the compa nies’ actions tea* undercut the premise that mothers’ mi& it hem, especially for Third World babies. Rcpressrtatives of both firms de nied the assertion. Illness often occurs when (be mothers take their babies home, Dr. RK. Anand, a pediatrician from Bombay, India, said at the news conference. “In the hands {^gMfcoor, the feeding bottle ojHpSSbcomes a passport to deathior the young child,” sai^^nand, ^R.—.— . j ante*’ with national ad interna tlouni codes. He also denied that the COffOMV is dumohia infant formula w foreign hospitals and said U never gives the product di rectly to mothers. Carol Emeiiuig, a spokes woman for American Home Prod ucts, said, “This whole activity is based on allegations that we violate the WHO code • and we flat out deny i^.” Iii..i* — .«T»U.mUk. - . Nuclear plant accidents unreported for 28 years WASHINGTON — Serious mis haps over 28 years at a government plant in South Carolina that produces materials for nuclear weapons were kept secret for national security rea sons and not reported to Washington, federal officials said Tuesday. But the situation is changing, in part due to pressure from Congress, they said. One senior Energy Department official has compared the attitude toward safety at the Savannah River facility near Aiken, S.C., to that which led to the explosion of the shuttle Challenger on Jan. 28, 1986. “There has always been a mind set, a culture, that we are doing work that is important for national security and perhaps that may override any obliga tion toward public accountability,” Will Callicott, a spokesman for the Department of Energy, said Tuesday. E.I. du Pont Nemours & Co. runs the Savannah River facility under contract for the energy department. The plant, which has five reactors, produces plutonium and tritium, which are used in making nuclear weapons. According to a 1985 memoran dum, 30 “reactor incidents of the greatest significance” occurred there and were not disclosed to the public. One of the most serious was the melting in November 1970 of a rod used to start an atomic chain reaction, causing radioactive contamination of an adjacent room, k took 900 people three months to clean up the contami nation, according to the memo, which does not specify whether radioactiv ity escaped from the facility. Energy Department officials said on Friday that they had not been in formed of the incidents, but on Mon day senior department spokesman C. Anson Franklin said those statements were incorrect and that the incidents had been reported to the department’s regional office in Aiken. He said that the information appar ently had not been relayed to head quarters from the regional office. The reactors at Savannah River were closed after the most recent incident, in August, and had been scheduled to reopen on Tuesday. But Energy Department officials assured members of Congress last week that production would not resume until safety was assured, possibly after 30 to 45 days. ■ ■ ■■■■■ ■ ■ ■ ■ i ■ — "I Nebraskan Editor Managing FcHtor Assoc. News Editors Editorial Page Editor Wire Editor Copy Desk Editor Sports Editor Arts a Entertain mem Editor Diversions Editor Sower Editor Graphics Editor Photo Chief Curt Wegner 471-17U Diane JoHteon Lee Reed Mlto Rtilitv Sob Neteon Chuck Oreen Sieve Sipple Mkkl Heller Joeth Zucco Andy Pollock Darryl Mattox ■He Drugory Asst Photo Chief Night News E ditor Asst Night News Editor A. Ibrar Ian Art Directors General Manager Production Manager Advertising Manager Sales Manager Circulation Manage' Publications Board Chairman Professional Adviser David PiMsson Amy Edwards Anna Mohrt John trues Andy Wanhart DanShahM Katharkw Pollcky Robert Bales David TMamann Brto Shanks Toritoacy 47S-SNS Don Walton . ' P* u®iy Net>r**kan(USPS 144-080) n published by the UNL Publication* Board. Ne sess^or^™00 ^ ™ Lincoln, NE (except holiday*), weekly during the summer Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by phqning 472jT 763 between 9 a m and i p m Monday through Friday The public also ,u th# Publications Board For information contact Tom Mscy, 4759868 Subscription prce Is 135 lor one year a 10 ^ Da,|y Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34,1400 H St .Lincoln, NE 6M«F0448 Second class postage paid at Lincoln, NE. _ ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1888 DAILY NEBRASKAN
