As Iraq faces some of the most grave violations of human rights, anti-war demonstrators around the world are also seeing a violation of their rights to protest, Amnesty International says in a report released Sunday.

The human rights organisation looked at the violation of the right to protest in 14 countries: Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Jordan, Norway, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Turkey, the US and Yemen.

Cases documented

The report, entitled In the shadow of war: Backlash against human rights , says human rights abuses connected to the war o­n Iraq have not been limited to that country.

"The war's impact o­n human rights has been seen in many countries around the world. Governments appear to be using the world's focus o­n the theatre of war to violate human rights shielded from public scrutiny," AI said in the report.

"From Egypt to the US, from Belgium to Sudan, governments must respect fundamental rights and refrain from using the war in Iraq as a pretext for curtailing or abusing these rights."

"People have been killed in demonstrations in Yemen, three students were killed in police firing in Khartoum in Sudan," spokesperson Judit Arenas said. "We believe it is important to highlight this sort of thing so that it does not escalate."

Many of the countries cracking down o­n demonstrations have a record of not allowing peaceful protests, she said.

In Athens the police beat up a group of Iraqi protesters, which Arenas described as "drastic and unethical". In Spain, 34 formal complaints have been made to the courts against police action. Many demonstrators were beaten up, and three of them are still in hospital recovering from their injuries.

In Germany, Arenas said, the police used water canons and excessive force o­n demonstrators in Hamburg.

"In very strange action, the police in Belgium have detained 450 people just as a preventive measure. In o­ne village a group of residents was arrested o­nly because they had met to plan a demonstration," she revealed.

Authorities act

AI is also concerned about measures being taken against asylum seekers particularly in the US and in Britain.

"They are trying to limit the access of asylum seekers," Arenas said. "This is ironic because they are the o­nes who are causing people to flee. They are creating the human rights crisis, and then refusing to accept the consequences."

Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Britain have frozen decisions o­n Iraqi asylum claims, the AI report says. In the US, 'Operation Liberty Shield' mandates the detention of asylum-seekers from Iraq and at least 33 other as-yet unnamed countries who seek asylum at points of entry.

The report says "anti-terrorism" legislation has been used to support these violations in several countries. The Terrorism Act has been invoked in some areas in Britain to allow special police powers to stop and search people without reasonable suspicion.

"Such moves have in the past tended to target the minorities, who have found it discriminatory, and complained of ill treatment," Arenas said. In o­ne instance, a person was arrested for filming policemen trying to restrain a child demonstrator.

Police brutality

In the US, two winners of the Nobel Prize for Peace, Joddy Williams who won it in 1997 for her work against landmines, and Mairead Corrigan who won the prize in 1976 for her campaign for peace in Northern Ireland were among the peace demonstrators detained.

In Turkey, riot police used batons to disperse about 5,000 people who had gathered after Friday prayers o­n March 21 to protest against the war outside a mosque.

In Jordan, Fawaz Zurayqat, station manager of Arab Television and a leading activist in a local committee for the defence of Iraq, was detained o­n March 3 at his office. He remains held at the headquarters of the General Intelligence Department in Amman. Ibrahim Alloush, a well-known anti-war activist, was arrested o­n March 24. At least 15 other anti-war activists have been arrested, AI says.

In Egypt, dozens of anti-war activists were beaten severely and hundreds injured when police used water cannons, clubs and dogs against demonstrators.

Manal Ahmad Mustafa Khalid was badly beaten by security officers when she returned from a demonstration at Tahrir Square in central Cairo, leaving her with a serious eye injury. Journalists were among those injured by security forces as they were covering the anti-war demonstrations. - IPS