A/HRC/36/39 F. Press releases and statements 31. On 1 June 2016, the Working Group issued a press release 3 welcoming the decision by the Congress of Peru to approve the draft law on the search for disappeared persons. 32. On 15 July 2016, the Working Group, jointly with other mandate holders, welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court of El Salvador to declare unconstitutional the amnesty law of 1993, which allowed crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as serious or systematic violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed during the internal armed conflict, to be treated with impunity. 4 33. On 19 August 2016, the Working Group issued a press release, jointly with other mandate holders, urging the Government of Turkey to uphold its obligations under international human rights law, even during the state of emergency declared after the attempted coup.5 34. On 23 August 2016, the Working Group issued a press release, jointly with other mandate holders, urging the Government of Bangladesh to annul the death sentence against a senior member of the Jamaat-e-Islami opposition party, Mir Quasem Ali, and to retry him in compliance with international standards. They also expressed alarm at reports that Mr. Ali’s son, who was also a member of his legal defence team, Mir Ahmed Bin Quasem, was abducted from his home on 9 August 2016 by Bangladeshi security forces, two weeks before his father’s review hearing.6 35. On 26 August 2016, the Working Group issued a press release, jointly with the Committee on Enforced Disappearances, on the occasion of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, calling on States to prevent and eradicate enforced disappearances, including short-term enforced disappearances, and to ensure that relatives of persons deprived of their liberty are informed accurately and promptly of their detention.7 36. On 15 September 2016, on the occasion of the presentation by the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group’s annual report to the Human Rights Council, the Working Group issued a press release warning States that enforced disappearances were on the rise and expressing deep concern and frustration for what it defined as “a very frightening trend”.8 The Working Group also issued separate press releases in relation to its reports on the visits to Peru,9 Sri Lanka10 and Turkey.11 37. On 23 September 2016, at the conclusion of its 110th session, the Working Group issued a statement.12 38. On 10 October 2016, the Working Group issued a press release, jointly with other mandate holders, urging the Ethiopian authorities to end their violent crackdown on peaceful protests and calling upon the Government to allow an international commission of inquiry to investigate the protests held and the violence used against peaceful demonstrators.13 39. On 19 October 2016, the Working Group issued a press release, jointly with other mandate holders, calling on the Government of India to immediately release human rights defender Khurram Parvez, who had been arrested in September 2016 for alleged activities 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 6 See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20046&LangID=E. See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20275&LangID=E. See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20394&LangID=E. See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20403&LangID=E. See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20416&LangID=E. See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20505&LangID=E. See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20501&LangID=E. See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20499&LangID=E. See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20500&LangID=E. See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20578&LangID=E. See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20663&LangID=E.