This past year, South Korea passed an "anti-terror" bill that limits free speech; Jordan altered its penal code to make "terrorism" punishable by death; and India created a "terrorism" law enabling police to detain people without charge. These are just a few of the countries that have exploited the September 11 terrorist attacks and the Bush administration’s subsequent "war on terrorism" to stomp on human rights, according to a new report by Amnesty International.

The human-rights organization’s 2002 Annual Report, released on Tuesday, documents the tension between human rights and security that has arisen since September 11 — in the US and across the globe. Some governments rushed through laws defining new crimes and curbing civil liberties, while others beefed up their militaries and detained citizens without cause. All in the name of fighting international terrorism. Says Joshua Rubenstein, of Amnesty International’s Northeast regional chapter, "We think the changes were opportunistic for these countries."

By contrast, our government’s response has only undermined the US’s worldwide standing on human rights, the group charges. First off, Rubenstein and fellow advocates take issue with the number of civilian casualties in the war in Afghanistan. Second, the group objects to the Bush administration’s pronouncement last fall that it would seek to convene military tribunals to try immigrants suspected of terrorism. Third, it questions the treatment of Afghan prisoners, former Taliban and Al Qaeda soldiers, who are being held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Finally, the group opposes the round-up of nearly 1500 immigrants, mostly Middle Eastern men, who were arrested but not charged. "This flies in the face of our constitutional traditions," Rubenstein says.

Of course, the report, published every year since 1961, also details information on typical human-rights violations — i.e., torture, the death penalty, and political repression. Entries can be found about rogue states such as China (where the government persecutes its political prisoners by hanging them by the arms), Zimbabwe (where some 40 journalists were attacked for criticizing government policies), and US allies such as Saudi Arabia. In that country, for instance, the government has a long, sordid history of conducting what Rubenstein calls "mutilating punishments." One Saudi man, convicted of throwing acid onto another man’s face, met a brutal penalty: the courts ordered that the man’s eyes be surgically removed.

Rubenstein hopes that the report "provides a different prism" through which people can view the war on terrorism and its players. Immediately following September 11, one senior government official declared activists like Rubenstein dead. "He said that the role of human-rights organizations had collapsed with the collapse of the twin towers," Rubenstein recalls. But he and his colleagues find their work even more relevant today. As he puts it, "It’s only natural for the government to try to expand its powers. Our role is to challenge so we don’t compromise our constitutional freedoms."

Amnesty International’s 300-page 2002 Annual Report, detailing the human-rights records of 152 countries over the past year, is available online at ww.amnestyusa.org.