URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa35008.pdf
23 December 2008
UA 350/08 Health concern/Legal concern
USA Ahmed Zaid Salem Zuhair (m), Saudi Arabian national, aged 44
Guantanamo detainee Ahmed Zuhair began a hunger-strike in mid-2005, and has been force-fed since August 2005. According to his lawyer, his health has deteriorated significantly since August 2008, and is now a cause for serious concern.
Ahmed Zuhair's lawyer met with him in Guantanamo on 14 and 15 November. On 27 November he filed an emergency motion in US District Court, saying that his client had vomited repeatedly during the first two hours of their meeting, and
appeared to have lost about a quarter of his body weight in the past three months, down from 137 pounds (62kg) in August to little over 100 pounds (45kg), and was now about 30 per cent below his medically ideal body weight. He said that Ahmed Zuhair's chest was "skeletal" and his "legs looked like bones with skin wrapped tight around them."
The emergency motion asserted that "Mr Zuhair--who does not physically resist force-feeding--is nevertheless painfully strapped into a six-point restraint chair for each of these twice-daily feeding sessions lasting two hours or more. At the beginning of his hunger strike, Mr Zuhair was force-fed in a bed, without restraints. As Mr Zuhair's counsel have previously brought to this Court's attention, prolonged restraint is medically unnecessary, is uncalled for by Mr Zuhair's conduct, and caused Mr Zuhair severe pain." Ahmed Zuhair began reporting intense stomach pain during force-feeding in mid-2008, telling his lawyer that he suffered pain "like a fire" in his stomach when he received the nutrients. Zuhair also told his lawyer that the restraint chair was like a "saw cutting through my spine."
In a declaration filed with the emergency motion, a doctor who has reviewed the lawyer's observations said that Ahmed Zuhair's medical condition was cause for substantial concern. In particular, the doctor considered that Zuhair's "profound weight loss, associated with constant vomiting, is a serious and potentially life-threatening medical problem which the medical staff at Guantanamo has failed to address."
The emergency motion sought an order from the District Court to force the government to "address, diagnose, and treat the cause of Mr Zuhair's chronic vomiting and to address the concomitant side-effects of his chronic malnutrition." The motion also asked the court to order the government to feed Zuhair with a corn-free solution (in case his vomiting is a result of an allergy to corn), to cease the use of the restraint chair for his force-feeding, to release Zuhair's medical records, and allow him an independent medical examination.
The government opposed the motion, arguing that the District Court did not have jurisdiction to consider the claim. It maintained that, in any event, Zuhair had been provided "timely, compassionate, quality healthcare," and his weight loss was due to "intentional vomiting." It made general allegations about assaults by hunger-striking detainees on guards and medical staff in 2005 and 2006 to justify its use of the restraint chair on Zuhair, who it did not allege had engaged in such misconduct. The government stated that staff at Guantanamo had determined that the use of the restraint chair facilitates the feeding process and protects staff. To grant Ahmed Zuhair’s request to end use of the chair against him, it argued, "would potentially place his comfort ahead of the maintenance of his health or the safety of the medical staff."
Ahmed Zuhair has told his lawyer that the restraint chair was introduced as a form of collective punishment. The emergency motion alleges that the Guantanamo authorities have sought to compel Zuhair to end his protest both through the use of force and by conditioning adequate medical treatment on his ending his hunger strike. It claims that on occasion members of the military guard force have conducted the force-feeding of hunger-strikers, and that these personnel had conducted the feeding in a violent manner. Feeding by medical personnel was only resumed, according to the petition, when Zuhair and other detainees began smearing themselves in their own feces to deter this treatment. The government's opposition to the emergency petition denies that the restraint chair was "being used to punish" Ahmed Zuhair.
On 18 December, District Court Judge Emmett Sullivan ordered the US authorities to allow a court-appointed independent medical expert to examine Ahmed Zuhair. Judge Sullivan ordered the parties to produce a list of proposed medical experts by 24 December. He also ordered the government to release Zuhair's medical records to his lawyers.
According to his 2008 petition for habeas corpus, in late December 2001 Ahmed Zuhair was seized in a market in Lahore, Pakistan, by a dozen men in civilian clothes. He was blindfolded and taken to a house in a residential area of
Lahore, where, he said, he was tortured and otherwise ill-treated. In early January 2002, he was transferred to a military facility in the capital, Islamabad, and held incommunicado there for about 10 weeks: in mid-March 2002 he was handed over to US custody and held in Bagram air base in Afghanistan. In June 2002 he was transferred to detention in Kandahar, where he was held for two weeks. He said he was ill-treated in US custody in Afghanistan, including forced prolonged kneeling and stripping during interrogations. He was transported to Guantanamo in mid- to late June 2002. Ahmed Zuhair began his hunger strike in mid- 2005, to protest at his indefinite detention without charge and the conditions in which he is detained.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
About 250 detainees of around 30 nationalities are still held in Guantanamo, most without charge or trial. President-elect Barack Obama has said that one of the measures of the success of his first two years in office will be whether the
Guantanamo detention facility is closed down "in a responsible way."
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- expressing concern about the health of Guantanamo detainee Ahmed Zuhair;
- welcoming Judge Emmett Sullivan's order for an independent medical examination of Ahmed Zuhair, and calling on the authorities to ensure this is done as soon as possible;
- calling for an immediate end to the use of the restraint chair against Ahmed Zuhair during force feeding;
- calling on the authorities to ensure that Ahmed Zuhair receives all necessary medical treatment;
- calling for the release of Ahmed Zuhair, unless he is immediately charged with recognizably criminal offenses for trial in ordinary US federal court.
APPEALS TO:
The Honorable Robert M. Gates
US Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington DC 20301
Fax: 011 1 703 571 8951
Salutation: Dear Secretary of Defense
(Until 20 January only)
The Honorable Gregory G. Katsas
Assistant Attorney General
US Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Room 3141
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Fax: 1 202 307 6777; or 1 202 616 8470
Email: Gregory.Katsas@usdoj.org
Salutation: Dear Assistant Attorney General
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Fax: 1 202 456 2461
Email: president@whitehouse.gov
Salutation: Dear Mr President
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office if sending appeals after 2 February 2009.
(If appealing after 20 January, send appeals only to Secretary Gates).
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible to the date a case is issued.
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that promotes and defends human rights.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
December 18th, 2008
To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa34608.pdf
18 December 2008
UA 346/08 - Imminent Execution
INDONESIA Jurit bin Abdullah (m)
Ona Denis (m)
The two men named above are in imminent danger of execution.
The Deputy Attorney for General Crimes told the Indonesian
news agency Antara on 5 December that the executions would
be carried out before the end of the year. According to
Antara, both men have exhausted all the legal avenues to
avoid execution, including an appeal for presidential
clemency. However, the president still has the power to
commute their sentences.
Jurit bin Abdullah has been sentenced to death twice, for
two murders, carried out in May and August 1997. He received
the second death sentence in April 2008.
Ona Denis was born in Nigeria but traveled to Indonesia 2001
on a Malawian passport. He was convicted of smuggling 1kg of
heroin into the country in 2001, and sentenced to life
imprisonment. He appealed, and the High Court of Appeal
sentenced him to death.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Death sentences in Indonesia are carried out by firing
squad. The prisoner can choose to stand or sit, and has the
option of a blindfold or a cover for the entire head. There
are 12 people in each firing squad, who fire from a distance
of between five and 12 meters. Six of the rifles are loaded
with blanks.
At least 107 people are known to be under sentence of death
in Indonesia, 11 of who were convicted and sentenced to
death in 2007. After a 14-month hiatus, Indonesia resumed
executions on 26 June 2008. Since then it has executed 10
people.
In 2006, Indonesia ratified the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which states that
“every human being has the inherent right to life.”
However, the Indonesian authorities did not authorize
ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR,
which requires the introduction of a moratorium on
executions, preparatory to complete abolition of the death
penalty.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly
as possible:
- calling on President Yudhono to commute the death
sentences imposed on Jurit bin Abdullah and Ona Denis;
- acknowledging that Indonesia has a right and
responsibility to address serious crime, and expressing
sympathy for its victims, but pointing out that there is no
clear evidence that the death penalty is an effective
deterrent;
- calling on the authorities to sign and ratify the Second
Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights and establish a moratorium on executions,
as a first step towards the abolition of the death penalty,
as advocated in the UN General Assembly Resolution of 18
December 2007.
APPEALS TO:
Please note that fax machines may be switched off outside
office hours (GMT+6).
President
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President RI, Istana Merdeka,
Jakarta Pusat 10110, INDONESIA
Fax: 011 62 21 345 2685
011 62 21 526 8726
Salutation: Dear President Yudhoyono
Attorney General
Mr. Hendarman Supandji, Jaksa Agung, J. Sultan Hasanuddin
No. 1, Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta, INDONESIA
Fax: 011 62 21 725 0213
Salutation: Dear Attorney General
COPIES TO:
Ambassador Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat
Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia
2020 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington DC 20036
Fax: 1 202 775 5365
Email: http://www.embassyofindonesia.org/detail/contactus.php
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals
after 31 December 2008.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Use shortcuts: Do whatever is necessary to make your letter
writing as quick and easy as possible. This way, letters
will not be put off and they can be sent out sooner. Start
by making a generic file for each type of concern;
paragraphs on torture, the death penalty, disappearances,
denial of medical care and so on, can be copied into your
working file and edited as needed.
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including
contact information and stop action date (if applicable).
Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa34608.pdf
18 December 2008
UA 346/08 - Imminent Execution
INDONESIA Jurit bin Abdullah (m)
Ona Denis (m)
The two men named above are in imminent danger of execution.
The Deputy Attorney for General Crimes told the Indonesian
news agency Antara on 5 December that the executions would
be carried out before the end of the year. According to
Antara, both men have exhausted all the legal avenues to
avoid execution, including an appeal for presidential
clemency. However, the president still has the power to
commute their sentences.
Jurit bin Abdullah has been sentenced to death twice, for
two murders, carried out in May and August 1997. He received
the second death sentence in April 2008.
Ona Denis was born in Nigeria but traveled to Indonesia 2001
on a Malawian passport. He was convicted of smuggling 1kg of
heroin into the country in 2001, and sentenced to life
imprisonment. He appealed, and the High Court of Appeal
sentenced him to death.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Death sentences in Indonesia are carried out by firing
squad. The prisoner can choose to stand or sit, and has the
option of a blindfold or a cover for the entire head. There
are 12 people in each firing squad, who fire from a distance
of between five and 12 meters. Six of the rifles are loaded
with blanks.
At least 107 people are known to be under sentence of death
in Indonesia, 11 of who were convicted and sentenced to
death in 2007. After a 14-month hiatus, Indonesia resumed
executions on 26 June 2008. Since then it has executed 10
people.
In 2006, Indonesia ratified the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which states that
“every human being has the inherent right to life.”
However, the Indonesian authorities did not authorize
ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR,
which requires the introduction of a moratorium on
executions, preparatory to complete abolition of the death
penalty.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly
as possible:
- calling on President Yudhono to commute the death
sentences imposed on Jurit bin Abdullah and Ona Denis;
- acknowledging that Indonesia has a right and
responsibility to address serious crime, and expressing
sympathy for its victims, but pointing out that there is no
clear evidence that the death penalty is an effective
deterrent;
- calling on the authorities to sign and ratify the Second
Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights and establish a moratorium on executions,
as a first step towards the abolition of the death penalty,
as advocated in the UN General Assembly Resolution of 18
December 2007.
APPEALS TO:
Please note that fax machines may be switched off outside
office hours (GMT+6).
President
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President RI, Istana Merdeka,
Jakarta Pusat 10110, INDONESIA
Fax: 011 62 21 345 2685
011 62 21 526 8726
Salutation: Dear President Yudhoyono
Attorney General
Mr. Hendarman Supandji, Jaksa Agung, J. Sultan Hasanuddin
No. 1, Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta, INDONESIA
Fax: 011 62 21 725 0213
Salutation: Dear Attorney General
COPIES TO:
Ambassador Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat
Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia
2020 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington DC 20036
Fax: 1 202 775 5365
Email: http://www.embassyofindonesia.org/detail/contactus.php
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals
after 31 December 2008.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Use shortcuts: Do whatever is necessary to make your letter
writing as quick and easy as possible. This way, letters
will not be put off and they can be sent out sooner. Start
by making a generic file for each type of concern;
paragraphs on torture, the death penalty, disappearances,
denial of medical care and so on, can be copied into your
working file and edited as needed.
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including
contact information and stop action date (if applicable).
Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa33608.pdf
10 December 2008
UA 336/08 - Possible enforced disappearance/Fear for safety
MEXICO Javier Torres Cruz (m), aged 28
Peasant farmer Javier Torres Cruz may have been subjected to enforced disappearance on 3 December. The authorities have denied knowledge of his whereabouts and there are concerns for his safety following earlier attempts to detain him which may be connected to his role as a witness in a high profile murder case.
According to an unconfirmed witness report, Javier Torres was detained after being stopped at military roadblock. His sister last heard from him when he telephoned her to enquire about his children on 3 December. The conversation however ended when the phone was cut off abruptly.
Javier Torres Cruz is from the tiny community of La Morena, Petatlan municipality, Guerrero state, and a member of a grassroots organization, Organizacion Ecologista de la Sierra de Coyuca y Petatlan (Environmental Organization of the Coyuca and Petatlan Mountains). At 5 am on 13 November, a group of about 100 soldiers went to La Morena in order to find Javier Torres and two of his brothers. The three brothers were not there at the time, but according to relatives, soldiers searched four houses. They also threatened, slapped and pointed their guns at women and children. That same evening, a group of about 30 armed men in plain clothes also came to the community in order to find Javier Torres and his brothers. They too, could not locate them.
In September 2007, Javier Torres and his uncle had testified against a local political boss (cacique) following his alleged involvement in the killing of human rights defender, Digna Ochoa y Placido, in Mexico City in 2001. A local human rights organization believes that Javier Torres’ possible disappearance may be connected to his role as a witness in this case.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- expressing concern for the safety of Javier Torres Cruz, who may have been detained by members of the military on 3 December 2008 near La Morena community, Petatlan municipality, Guerrero state;
- urging the authorities to make every effort to locate Javier Torres Cruz and to promptly establish his fate and whereabouts;
- calling on the authorities to conduct an independent and impartial investigation into the disappearance of Javier Torres Cruz and bring those responsible to justice;
- calling for a full enquiry into reports that he was detained by members of the military at a road block;
- if Javier Torres Cruz is in custody, call on the authorities immediately acknowledge his detention, ensure that he is given access to his family, medical assistance and legal advice, and is charged with a recognizable criminal offense or released.
APPEALS TO:
Minister of National Defense
Gral. Guillermo Galvan Galvan
Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional
Blvd. Manuel Avila Camacho s/n, esq. Av. Industria Militar
Col. Lomas de Sotelo, Del. Miguel Hidalgo
Mexico D.F., C.P. 11640
MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 55575571
Email: dn_sdn@mailsedena.gob.mx
Salutation: Senor Secretario / Dear Minister
Attorney General of the Republic
Lic. Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza
Procurador General de la Republica
Procuraduria General de la Republica
Av. Paseo de la Reforma no 211-213, Piso 16
Col. Cuauhtemoc, Del. Cuauhtemoc
Mexico D.F., C.P. 06500
MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 5346 0908
Salutation: Senor Procurador General/Dear Attorney General
Governor of Guerrero
Lic. Zeferino Torreblanca Galindo
Gobernador del Estado de Guerrero
Palacio de Gobierno
Edificio Centro, piso 2, Ciudad de los Servicios
CP 39075, Chilpancingo, Guerrero
MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 747 471 9956
Email: gobernador@guerrero.gob.mx
Salutation: Senor Gobernador/Dear Governor
Attorney General of Guerrero
Lic. Eduardo Murueta Urrutia
Procurador del Estado de Guerrero
Carretera Nacional Mexico-Acapulco Km. 6+300
Tramo Chilpancingo-Petaquillos
Chilpancingo 39090, Guerrero
MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 747 472 2328
Email: cprocurador@pgjgro.gob.mx
Salutation: Senor Procurador / Dear Attorney
COPIES TO:
Human rights organization
Colectivo Contra la Tortura y la Impunidad
Calle Pitagoras 1210-16
Col. Del Valle 03100
Mexico DF
MEXICO
Email: Colectivo@contralatortura.org
Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan Casamitjana
Embassy of Mexico
1911 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington DC 20006
Fax: 1 202 728 1698
Email: mexembusa@sre.gob.mx
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 21 January 2009.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Use shortcuts: Do whatever is necessary to make your letter
writing as quick and easy as possible. This way, letters
will not be put off and they can be sent out sooner. Start
by making a generic file for each type of concern;
paragraphs on torture, the death penalty, disappearances,
denial of medical care and so on, can be copied into your
working file and edited as needed.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.27 - Postcards
$0.42 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico and Canada:
$0.72 - Postcards
$0.72 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.94 - Postcards
$0.94 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including
contact information and stop action date (if applicable).
Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
- From Amnesty International USA
To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa33608.pdf
10 December 2008
UA 336/08 - Possible enforced disappearance/Fear for safety
MEXICO Javier Torres Cruz (m), aged 28
Peasant farmer Javier Torres Cruz may have been subjected to enforced disappearance on 3 December. The authorities have denied knowledge of his whereabouts and there are concerns for his safety following earlier attempts to detain him which may be connected to his role as a witness in a high profile murder case.
According to an unconfirmed witness report, Javier Torres was detained after being stopped at military roadblock. His sister last heard from him when he telephoned her to enquire about his children on 3 December. The conversation however ended when the phone was cut off abruptly.
Javier Torres Cruz is from the tiny community of La Morena, Petatlan municipality, Guerrero state, and a member of a grassroots organization, Organizacion Ecologista de la Sierra de Coyuca y Petatlan (Environmental Organization of the Coyuca and Petatlan Mountains). At 5 am on 13 November, a group of about 100 soldiers went to La Morena in order to find Javier Torres and two of his brothers. The three brothers were not there at the time, but according to relatives, soldiers searched four houses. They also threatened, slapped and pointed their guns at women and children. That same evening, a group of about 30 armed men in plain clothes also came to the community in order to find Javier Torres and his brothers. They too, could not locate them.
In September 2007, Javier Torres and his uncle had testified against a local political boss (cacique) following his alleged involvement in the killing of human rights defender, Digna Ochoa y Placido, in Mexico City in 2001. A local human rights organization believes that Javier Torres’ possible disappearance may be connected to his role as a witness in this case.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- expressing concern for the safety of Javier Torres Cruz, who may have been detained by members of the military on 3 December 2008 near La Morena community, Petatlan municipality, Guerrero state;
- urging the authorities to make every effort to locate Javier Torres Cruz and to promptly establish his fate and whereabouts;
- calling on the authorities to conduct an independent and impartial investigation into the disappearance of Javier Torres Cruz and bring those responsible to justice;
- calling for a full enquiry into reports that he was detained by members of the military at a road block;
- if Javier Torres Cruz is in custody, call on the authorities immediately acknowledge his detention, ensure that he is given access to his family, medical assistance and legal advice, and is charged with a recognizable criminal offense or released.
APPEALS TO:
Minister of National Defense
Gral. Guillermo Galvan Galvan
Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional
Blvd. Manuel Avila Camacho s/n, esq. Av. Industria Militar
Col. Lomas de Sotelo, Del. Miguel Hidalgo
Mexico D.F., C.P. 11640
MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 55575571
Email: dn_sdn@mailsedena.gob.mx
Salutation: Senor Secretario / Dear Minister
Attorney General of the Republic
Lic. Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza
Procurador General de la Republica
Procuraduria General de la Republica
Av. Paseo de la Reforma no 211-213, Piso 16
Col. Cuauhtemoc, Del. Cuauhtemoc
Mexico D.F., C.P. 06500
MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 5346 0908
Salutation: Senor Procurador General/Dear Attorney General
Governor of Guerrero
Lic. Zeferino Torreblanca Galindo
Gobernador del Estado de Guerrero
Palacio de Gobierno
Edificio Centro, piso 2, Ciudad de los Servicios
CP 39075, Chilpancingo, Guerrero
MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 747 471 9956
Email: gobernador@guerrero.gob.mx
Salutation: Senor Gobernador/Dear Governor
Attorney General of Guerrero
Lic. Eduardo Murueta Urrutia
Procurador del Estado de Guerrero
Carretera Nacional Mexico-Acapulco Km. 6+300
Tramo Chilpancingo-Petaquillos
Chilpancingo 39090, Guerrero
MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 747 472 2328
Email: cprocurador@pgjgro.gob.mx
Salutation: Senor Procurador / Dear Attorney
COPIES TO:
Human rights organization
Colectivo Contra la Tortura y la Impunidad
Calle Pitagoras 1210-16
Col. Del Valle 03100
Mexico DF
MEXICO
Email: Colectivo@contralatortura.org
Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan Casamitjana
Embassy of Mexico
1911 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington DC 20006
Fax: 1 202 728 1698
Email: mexembusa@sre.gob.mx
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 21 January 2009.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Use shortcuts: Do whatever is necessary to make your letter
writing as quick and easy as possible. This way, letters
will not be put off and they can be sent out sooner. Start
by making a generic file for each type of concern;
paragraphs on torture, the death penalty, disappearances,
denial of medical care and so on, can be copied into your
working file and edited as needed.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.27 - Postcards
$0.42 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico and Canada:
$0.72 - Postcards
$0.72 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.94 - Postcards
$0.94 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including
contact information and stop action date (if applicable).
Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
Friday, December 5, 2008
December 5th
5 December 2008
UA 332/08 Fear of torture or other ill-treatment/Prisoner of conscience
CHINA Ji Sizun (m) aged 59
Prisoner of conscience Ji Sizun, from Fujian Province, was detained on 11 August in Beijing when he went to a police station to hand in an application to hold a demonstration in one of the designated protest zones for the Beijing Olympics. Amnesty International believes he has been detained in violation of his rights to freedom of expression and assembly and that he is at risk of torture and ill-
treatment.
Ji Sizun is being held on suspicion of “forging an official seal”, and could face trial and sentencing at anytime. He is currently held at Fuzhou No.2 Detention Center. His family or his friends have not been allowed to meet with him but he has met twice with a lawyer.
On 9 August, Ji Sizun, accompanied by foreign journalists, applied for the first time at the Deshengmenwai Public Security Bureau for permission to hold a demonstration. The officials refused to process his application and asked him to come back later. On 11 August, Ji Sizun returned to the Public Security Bureau where, according to eye witnesses, the police summoned him to an unmarked police vehicle and drove off. No one knew of Ji Sizun’s whereabouts until the end of September when friends learned that he was held at the Fuzhou No.2 Detention Center. Ji Sizun has been communicating with his friends by sending them postcards, but it seems that he has not received the letters his friends have sent him in response.
Ji Sizun was planning to protest against corruption and to call for greater participation of the Chinese people in the political processes. A picture of Ji Sizun is available online at: http://www.canyu.org/n3498c6.aspx.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Human rights activists in China who attempt to report on human rights violations, challenge policies which are deemed politically sensitive, or try to rally others to their cause, face serious risk of abuse. Many are charged and imprisoned as prisoners of conscience after politically motivated trials, while growing numbers are being detained as prisoners in their own homes by the police conducting intrusive surveillance and standing guard outside.
On 23 July, the Chinese authorities announced the set up of Olympic protest zones in three Beijing parks where individuals would express their grievances. However, all applications required advance permission from the police. According to reports, some individuals who planned to apply for permission were verbally told that their applications would not be successful and were subsequently placed under surveillance or detention. There were also reports of potential protestors being prevented from traveling to Beijing to protest or being escorted back to their homes. The case of two elderly women, Wu Dianyuan, 79, and Wang Xiuying, 77, who had applied for a permission to hold a protest in one of the zones and were sentenced to Re-education through Labor was widely reported in the international media. Subsequently, their terms of Re-education through Labor were revoked.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- calling on the authorities to immediately and unconditionally release prisoner of conscience, Ji Sizun, who was detained solely for peacefully exercising his rights to freedom of expression and assembly;
- urging the authorities to guarantee that he is not tortured or ill-treated while he remains in custody;
- urging the authorities to ensure Ji Sizun has access to his family and lawyer of his choice and any necessary medical treatment.
APPEALS TO:
Chief Procurator of the Fujian Provincial People’s Procuratorate
NI Yingda Jianchazhang
Fujiansheng Renmin Jianchayuan
253 Hualinlu
Fuzhoushi 350003
Fujiansheng
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Fax: 011 86 591 87762163
Salutation: Dear Procurator
Director of the Fujian Provincial Department of Public Security
BAO Shaokun Tingzhang
Fujiansheng Gong’anting
12 Hualinlu
Fuzhoushi 350003
Fujiansheng
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Fax: 011 86 591 87093516
Salutation: Dear Director
Director of Fuzhou No. 2 Detention Center
Fuzhou di er kanshousuo
Xiadongzirancun, Zhanglancun
Chengmenzhen, Cangshanqu
Fuzhou 350011
Fujiansheng
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Salutation: Dear Director
Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China
WEN Jiabao Guojia Zongli
The State Council General Office
2 Fuyoujie
Xichengqu
Beijingshi 100017
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Fax: 011 86 10 65961109 (c/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Salutation: Your Excellency
COPIES TO:
Governor of the Fujian Provincial People’s Government
HUANG Xiaojing Shengzhang
Fujiansheng Renmin Zhengfu
76 Hualinlu
Fuzhoushi 350003
Fujiansheng
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Fax: 011 86 591 87855770
Salutation: Dear Governor
Ambassador Wen Zhong Zhou
Embassy of the People’s Republic of China
2300 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington DC 20008
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 16 January 2009.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible to the date a case is issued.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
UA 332/08 Fear of torture or other ill-treatment/Prisoner of conscience
CHINA Ji Sizun (m) aged 59
Prisoner of conscience Ji Sizun, from Fujian Province, was detained on 11 August in Beijing when he went to a police station to hand in an application to hold a demonstration in one of the designated protest zones for the Beijing Olympics. Amnesty International believes he has been detained in violation of his rights to freedom of expression and assembly and that he is at risk of torture and ill-
treatment.
Ji Sizun is being held on suspicion of “forging an official seal”, and could face trial and sentencing at anytime. He is currently held at Fuzhou No.2 Detention Center. His family or his friends have not been allowed to meet with him but he has met twice with a lawyer.
On 9 August, Ji Sizun, accompanied by foreign journalists, applied for the first time at the Deshengmenwai Public Security Bureau for permission to hold a demonstration. The officials refused to process his application and asked him to come back later. On 11 August, Ji Sizun returned to the Public Security Bureau where, according to eye witnesses, the police summoned him to an unmarked police vehicle and drove off. No one knew of Ji Sizun’s whereabouts until the end of September when friends learned that he was held at the Fuzhou No.2 Detention Center. Ji Sizun has been communicating with his friends by sending them postcards, but it seems that he has not received the letters his friends have sent him in response.
Ji Sizun was planning to protest against corruption and to call for greater participation of the Chinese people in the political processes. A picture of Ji Sizun is available online at: http://www.canyu.org/n3498c6.aspx.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Human rights activists in China who attempt to report on human rights violations, challenge policies which are deemed politically sensitive, or try to rally others to their cause, face serious risk of abuse. Many are charged and imprisoned as prisoners of conscience after politically motivated trials, while growing numbers are being detained as prisoners in their own homes by the police conducting intrusive surveillance and standing guard outside.
On 23 July, the Chinese authorities announced the set up of Olympic protest zones in three Beijing parks where individuals would express their grievances. However, all applications required advance permission from the police. According to reports, some individuals who planned to apply for permission were verbally told that their applications would not be successful and were subsequently placed under surveillance or detention. There were also reports of potential protestors being prevented from traveling to Beijing to protest or being escorted back to their homes. The case of two elderly women, Wu Dianyuan, 79, and Wang Xiuying, 77, who had applied for a permission to hold a protest in one of the zones and were sentenced to Re-education through Labor was widely reported in the international media. Subsequently, their terms of Re-education through Labor were revoked.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- calling on the authorities to immediately and unconditionally release prisoner of conscience, Ji Sizun, who was detained solely for peacefully exercising his rights to freedom of expression and assembly;
- urging the authorities to guarantee that he is not tortured or ill-treated while he remains in custody;
- urging the authorities to ensure Ji Sizun has access to his family and lawyer of his choice and any necessary medical treatment.
APPEALS TO:
Chief Procurator of the Fujian Provincial People’s Procuratorate
NI Yingda Jianchazhang
Fujiansheng Renmin Jianchayuan
253 Hualinlu
Fuzhoushi 350003
Fujiansheng
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Fax: 011 86 591 87762163
Salutation: Dear Procurator
Director of the Fujian Provincial Department of Public Security
BAO Shaokun Tingzhang
Fujiansheng Gong’anting
12 Hualinlu
Fuzhoushi 350003
Fujiansheng
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Fax: 011 86 591 87093516
Salutation: Dear Director
Director of Fuzhou No. 2 Detention Center
Fuzhou di er kanshousuo
Xiadongzirancun, Zhanglancun
Chengmenzhen, Cangshanqu
Fuzhou 350011
Fujiansheng
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Salutation: Dear Director
Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China
WEN Jiabao Guojia Zongli
The State Council General Office
2 Fuyoujie
Xichengqu
Beijingshi 100017
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Fax: 011 86 10 65961109 (c/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Salutation: Your Excellency
COPIES TO:
Governor of the Fujian Provincial People’s Government
HUANG Xiaojing Shengzhang
Fujiansheng Renmin Zhengfu
76 Hualinlu
Fuzhoushi 350003
Fujiansheng
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Fax: 011 86 591 87855770
Salutation: Dear Governor
Ambassador Wen Zhong Zhou
Embassy of the People’s Republic of China
2300 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington DC 20008
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 16 January 2009.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible to the date a case is issued.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
Friday, November 28, 2008
28 November 2008
Further Information on UA 325/08 (26 November 2008) – Incommunicado detention/ Risk of torture
SUDAN Osman Hummaida (m), aged 45, human rights defender
Abdel Monim Elgak (m), aged 34, human rights defender
At half past midnight on the morning of 28 November, Osman Hummaida was released after being detained incommunicado for three days by the National Security and Intelligence Services (NISS) in Khartoum. Although he is not believed to have been charged, he may face charges in the coming days or weeks.
In the evening of 26 November, Abdel Monim Elgak was released after having been detained by the NISS that morning. Although he was requested to present himself at the NISS offices for another interrogation on 27 November, he did not report because he was in poor health and is believed to have received hospital treatment that day.
Both Osman Hummaida and Abdel Monim Elgak were subjected to torture and other forms of ill-treatment while in detention by the NISS. Information available to Amnesty International indicates that during interrogations they were beaten. They were allegedly also subjected to the “waterboarding” technique, which means they would have been immobilized on their backs with their heads inclined downward and water poured over their faces, obstructing their breathing.
Osman Hummaida, who suffers from high blood pressure and asthma, was denied access to a doctor during his time in detention. Both men were held without access to the outside world. A visit request by a family member of Osman’s was denied. Reports indicate that UK embassy representatives were also refused access to Osman Hummaida, who holds a British passport, although they were providing him and his next of kin with consular assistance.
Amnesty International believes that both Osman Hummaida and Abdel Monim Elgak were detained solely because of the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and association, and more specifically for their involvement and outspokenness on human rights issues in Sudan. They were prisoners of conscience.
Thank you to all who sent appeals. No further action is needed.
Further Information on UA 325/08 (26 November 2008) – Incommunicado detention/ Risk of torture
SUDAN Osman Hummaida (m), aged 45, human rights defender
Abdel Monim Elgak (m), aged 34, human rights defender
At half past midnight on the morning of 28 November, Osman Hummaida was released after being detained incommunicado for three days by the National Security and Intelligence Services (NISS) in Khartoum. Although he is not believed to have been charged, he may face charges in the coming days or weeks.
In the evening of 26 November, Abdel Monim Elgak was released after having been detained by the NISS that morning. Although he was requested to present himself at the NISS offices for another interrogation on 27 November, he did not report because he was in poor health and is believed to have received hospital treatment that day.
Both Osman Hummaida and Abdel Monim Elgak were subjected to torture and other forms of ill-treatment while in detention by the NISS. Information available to Amnesty International indicates that during interrogations they were beaten. They were allegedly also subjected to the “waterboarding” technique, which means they would have been immobilized on their backs with their heads inclined downward and water poured over their faces, obstructing their breathing.
Osman Hummaida, who suffers from high blood pressure and asthma, was denied access to a doctor during his time in detention. Both men were held without access to the outside world. A visit request by a family member of Osman’s was denied. Reports indicate that UK embassy representatives were also refused access to Osman Hummaida, who holds a British passport, although they were providing him and his next of kin with consular assistance.
Amnesty International believes that both Osman Hummaida and Abdel Monim Elgak were detained solely because of the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and association, and more specifically for their involvement and outspokenness on human rights issues in Sudan. They were prisoners of conscience.
Thank you to all who sent appeals. No further action is needed.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
11-23-08
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa27108.pdf
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on September 23, 2008. Thanks!
21 November 2008
Further Information on 271/08 (23 September 2008) Fear for safety/fear of torture or ill treatment / possible prisoners of conscience
IRAN
Maqsoud Ahdi (m) ]
Mansour Aminian (m) ]
Dariush Hatemi (m), 29 ]
Aydin Khaje’i (m), 23 ] student activists for the cultural rights of Iranian Azerbaijanis
Amir Mardani (m) ]
Majid Makuyi (m) ]
Sejjad Radmehr (m) ]
Feraz Zahtab (m), 23]
All the student activists named above, except for Dariush Hatemi, were released on bail from Tabriz prison in north-western Iran on 28 October. Dariush Hatemi continues to remain in detention because he was unable to raise the bail of US$50,000 required for his release. All the student activists have been charged with “establishing and membership of illegal groups in order to disrupt national security” and “propaganda against the state”.
According to the Vancouver-based Association for the Defense of Azerbaijani Political Prisoners (ADAPP), the police searched the students’ houses after their detention and confiscated their computers, CDs, documents and books. All the students were detained for three months in Tabriz prison, where they were regularly interrogated by Ministry of Intelligence officials. During their detention they were denied family visits although some of the activists were occasionally allowed telephone calls.
None of the activists were allowed their preferred legal representation. According to the ADAPP, family members of the student activists claimed that the students “were tortured during the detention in the Ministry of Intelligence in Tabriz and the authorities subjected them to 24-hour interrogations, sleeplessness, torture and abuses.”
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Iranian Azerbaijanis, who are mainly Shi’a Muslims, are recognized as the largest minority in Iran and are generally believed to constitute between 25-30 per cent of the population. They are located mainly in the north and north-west of Iran. Although generally well integrated into society, in recent years they have increasingly called for greater cultural and linguistic rights, such as the right to education through the medium of the Azerbaijani Turkic language, which they believe is provided for under the Constitution, and the right to celebrate Azerbaijani culture and history at cultural events.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- welcoming the release on bail of Maqsoud Ahdi, Mansour Aminian, Aydin Khaje’i, Amir Mardani, Majid Makuyi, Sejjad Radmehr and Feraz Zahtab;
- expressing concern that the charges brought against the seven, as well as against fellow student activist Dariush Hatemi, who remains in detention, relate solely to their peaceful expression of their right to freedom of expression and assembly and urging the authorities, if this is the case, to release Dariush Hatemi immediately and unconditionally and to drop the charges against all eight;
- urging the authorities to ensure that Dariush Hatemi is protected from torture or other ill-treatment;
- call for the authorities to allow Dariush Hatemi immediate and regular access to his family and a lawyer of his choice, and to any medical treatment he may require.
APPEALS TO:
Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh / Office of the Head of the
Judiciary
Pasteur St, Vali Asr Avenue, south of Serah-e Jomhouri
Tehran 1316814737,
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Email: info@dadgostary-tehran.ir (In subject line write: FAO Ayatollah Shahroudi)
Salutation: Your Excellency
President
His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Presidency
Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection
Tehran, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Fax: 011 98 21 6 649 5880
Email: via website: http://www.president.ir/email/
COPIES TO:
Director, Human Rights Headquarters of Iran
His Excellency Mohammad Javad Larijani
Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh (Office of the Head of the Judiciary)
Pasteur St, Vali Asr Avenue, south of Serah-e Jomhouri
Tehran 1316814737,
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Fax: 011 98 21 3390 4986 (please keep trying)
Email: int_aff@judiciary.ir (In the subject line: FAO Mohammad Javad Larijani)
Salutation: Your Excellency
Iran does not presently have an embassy in the United States. Instead, please send copies to:
Iranian Interests Section
Embassy of Pakistan
2209 Wisconsin Ave NW
Washington DC 20007
Fax: 1 202 965 1073
Email: requests@daftar.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 02 January 2009.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible to the date a case is issued.
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable). Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
- From Amnesty International USA
To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa27108.pdf
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on September 23, 2008. Thanks!
21 November 2008
Further Information on 271/08 (23 September 2008) Fear for safety/fear of torture or ill treatment / possible prisoners of conscience
IRAN
Maqsoud Ahdi (m) ]
Mansour Aminian (m) ]
Dariush Hatemi (m), 29 ]
Aydin Khaje’i (m), 23 ] student activists for the cultural rights of Iranian Azerbaijanis
Amir Mardani (m) ]
Majid Makuyi (m) ]
Sejjad Radmehr (m) ]
Feraz Zahtab (m), 23]
All the student activists named above, except for Dariush Hatemi, were released on bail from Tabriz prison in north-western Iran on 28 October. Dariush Hatemi continues to remain in detention because he was unable to raise the bail of US$50,000 required for his release. All the student activists have been charged with “establishing and membership of illegal groups in order to disrupt national security” and “propaganda against the state”.
According to the Vancouver-based Association for the Defense of Azerbaijani Political Prisoners (ADAPP), the police searched the students’ houses after their detention and confiscated their computers, CDs, documents and books. All the students were detained for three months in Tabriz prison, where they were regularly interrogated by Ministry of Intelligence officials. During their detention they were denied family visits although some of the activists were occasionally allowed telephone calls.
None of the activists were allowed their preferred legal representation. According to the ADAPP, family members of the student activists claimed that the students “were tortured during the detention in the Ministry of Intelligence in Tabriz and the authorities subjected them to 24-hour interrogations, sleeplessness, torture and abuses.”
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Iranian Azerbaijanis, who are mainly Shi’a Muslims, are recognized as the largest minority in Iran and are generally believed to constitute between 25-30 per cent of the population. They are located mainly in the north and north-west of Iran. Although generally well integrated into society, in recent years they have increasingly called for greater cultural and linguistic rights, such as the right to education through the medium of the Azerbaijani Turkic language, which they believe is provided for under the Constitution, and the right to celebrate Azerbaijani culture and history at cultural events.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- welcoming the release on bail of Maqsoud Ahdi, Mansour Aminian, Aydin Khaje’i, Amir Mardani, Majid Makuyi, Sejjad Radmehr and Feraz Zahtab;
- expressing concern that the charges brought against the seven, as well as against fellow student activist Dariush Hatemi, who remains in detention, relate solely to their peaceful expression of their right to freedom of expression and assembly and urging the authorities, if this is the case, to release Dariush Hatemi immediately and unconditionally and to drop the charges against all eight;
- urging the authorities to ensure that Dariush Hatemi is protected from torture or other ill-treatment;
- call for the authorities to allow Dariush Hatemi immediate and regular access to his family and a lawyer of his choice, and to any medical treatment he may require.
APPEALS TO:
Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh / Office of the Head of the
Judiciary
Pasteur St, Vali Asr Avenue, south of Serah-e Jomhouri
Tehran 1316814737,
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Email: info@dadgostary-tehran.ir (In subject line write: FAO Ayatollah Shahroudi)
Salutation: Your Excellency
President
His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Presidency
Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection
Tehran, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Fax: 011 98 21 6 649 5880
Email: via website: http://www.president.ir/email/
COPIES TO:
Director, Human Rights Headquarters of Iran
His Excellency Mohammad Javad Larijani
Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh (Office of the Head of the Judiciary)
Pasteur St, Vali Asr Avenue, south of Serah-e Jomhouri
Tehran 1316814737,
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Fax: 011 98 21 3390 4986 (please keep trying)
Email: int_aff@judiciary.ir (In the subject line: FAO Mohammad Javad Larijani)
Salutation: Your Excellency
Iran does not presently have an embassy in the United States. Instead, please send copies to:
Iranian Interests Section
Embassy of Pakistan
2209 Wisconsin Ave NW
Washington DC 20007
Fax: 1 202 965 1073
Email: requests@daftar.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 02 January 2009.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible to the date a case is issued.
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable). Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
Thursday, November 13, 2008
LETTERS, leave them in Niebuhr Center ASAP
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa27808.pdf
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on October 8, 2008. Thanks!
12 November 2008
Further information on UA 278/08 (08 October 2008) – Legal concern
USA 17 Uighur detainees held at Guantanamo
Seventeen Uighurs remain in indefinite military detention in
the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba more than a
month after a federal judge ruled that their continued
detention was unlawful and ordered their release into the
USA. The government obtained an emergency stay of the order
from a higher court, which will now hold oral arguments on
the issue on 24 November.
On 7 October, Judge Urbina of the District Court for the
District of Columbia (DC) ordered the government to release
into the USA the 17 Uighurs whom the government had earlier
conceded are not “enemy combatants”, the label it had
attached to them for years to purport to justify their
indefinite detention without charge or trial. A majority of
the Uighurs have been cleared for release since 2003.
The USA has accepted that the Uighurs cannot be returned to
their native China because they would face a serious risk of
torture or execution there. However, it has been unable to
find a country willing to accept them in more than four
years of trying. It says it has approached and re-
approached nearly 100 countries. Clearly, the only current
way to end the indefinite detention of the Uighurs is for
them to be released into the USA. The administration is
refusing to countenance such an outcome, however, and has
turned to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit to
overturn Judge Urbina’s order and allow the detainees to be
held at Guantanamo pending emergence of the third country
solution that has eluded the US government for years.
The US administration argues that Judge Urbina’s order
should be reversed because “unless otherwise authorized by
law, no court has the power to review the Executive’s
decision to exclude an alien from this country”. Judge
Urbina had recognized the sensitivity of judicial
intervention in “a field normally dominated by the
political branches”, but pointed out that it was the
government that had taken the Uighurs to Guantanamo; had not
charged them with any crime or presented any “reliable
evidence that they would pose a threat to US interests”;
and it is the government that has “stymied” its own
efforts to find a third country solution by labeling the
Uighurs until recently as “enemy combatants”. Judge Urbina
also noted that there were individuals and organizations
ready and willing to support the Uighurs upon resettlement
in the USA “by providing housing, employment, money,
education and other spiritual and social services”.
Judge Urbina had asked the government what threat the
Uighurs would pose if released into the USA, but the
government did not produce any evidence of such a threat.
Now, in its bid to have the order overturned, it has
portrayed the Uighurs as dangerous individuals, who “sought
to wage terror on a sovereign government” and who had
received “weapons training” in Afghanistan after they fled
there from China. A Court of Appeals judge has since noted
that the government had presented “no evidence” that the
Uighurs pose a threat to the US national security “or the
safety of the community or any person”. She added that the
fact that one or more of the Uighurs received training in
firearms “cannot alone show they are dangerous, unless
millions of United States resident citizens who had received
firearms training are deemed to be dangerous”.
The government argues that even if the Uighurs “were
standing at the Nation’s borders”, they would likely not be
allowed in on security grounds, under the broadly worded US
immigration law. Even if the Uighurs were “somehow entitled
to be brought into and released in the United States”, the
government argues, they would be subject to immediate and
indefinite detention under immigration law pending removal
from the USA.
The government has asserted that “negotiations are ongoing
regarding the possibility of their resettlement in third
countries”. It argues that a decision requiring the
government to release the Uighurs into the USA could
complicate such negotiations. If the 17 Uighurs were brought
to the USA, it suggests, “even our friends and allies might
be less likely to participate in resettlement efforts for
petitioners (or, indeed, for any other detainee)”. The fact
is, however, that any such efforts by the US State
Department – unsuccessful for years – have already been
undermined by the government’s own conduct – its prior
labelling of the detainees as “enemy combatants” and its
more recent campaign of innuendo labeling them as dangerous.
In its briefs to the Court of Appeals, the government has
painted a benign picture of the conditions in which the
Uighurs are now “housed” in Guantanamo’s Camp Iguana:
“special communal housing with access to all areas of the
camp, including an outdoor recreation space and picnic
area”, sleeping quarters “in an air conditioned bunk
house”, and “the use of an activity room equipped with
various recreational items, including a television with VCR
and DVD players”. The Uighurs also “have access to special
food items, shower facilities, and library materials”.
While the Uighurs’ current conditions are less harsh than
those they have endured previously, particularly in Camp 6,
they are incarcerated nonetheless. They are isolated from
the outside world, surrounded by fencing and razor wire,
monitored by armed guards and 24-hour camera surveillance,
and with only a small space for recreation. They are
shackled to the floor for visits with lawyers.
For further information, see USA: Justice Years Overdue:
Federal court hearing for Uighur detainees in Guantanamo, 7
October 2008,
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/110/2008/en;
USA: Federal judge orders release of Uighurs held at
Guantanamo, government appeals, 8 October 2008,
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/111/2008/en;
USA: US Court of Appeals blocks release of Guantanamo
Uighurs as government resorts to ‘scare tactics’, 10 October
2008,
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/113/2008/en;
and USA: Indefinite detention by litigation: ‘Monstrous
absurdity’ continues as Uighurs remain in Guantanamo, 12
November 2008,
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/136/2008/en.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly
as possible:
- expressing concern that the Uighurs remain in indefinite
detention at Guantanamo, and that the government continues
to litigate to keep them there pending the third country
solution that has eluded the USA for years;
- expressing concern at the US administration’s
unsubstantiated portrayal of the Uighurs in its litigation
strategy as dangerous individuals, innuendo that can only
work against third country solutions;
- welcoming the local community support in the USA that has
been pledged to help the Uighurs adjust to life outside
Guantanamo;
- calling on the US government, in the name of
humanitarianism and justice, to release the Uighur detainees
into the USA, and to work to ensure fair, safe and lasting
outcomes for these men.
APPEALS TO:
The Honorable Gregory G. Katsas
Assistant Attorney General
US Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Room 3141, Washington, DC 20530-0001
Fax: 1 202 307 6777
1 202 616 8470
Email: Gregory.Katsas@usdoj.org
Salutation: Dear Assistant Attorney General
John Bellinger, Legal Adviser
US Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Fax: 1 202 647 7096
Salutation: Dear Mr. Bellinger
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Fax: 1 202 456 2461
Email: president@whitehouse.gov
Salutation: Dear Mr President
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals
after 24 December 2008.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Use shortcuts: Do whatever is necessary to make your letter
writing as quick and easy as possible. This way, letters
will not be put off and they can be sent out sooner. Start
by making a generic file for each type of concern;
paragraphs on torture, the death penalty, disappearances,
denial of medical care and so on, can be copied into your
working file and edited as needed.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.27 - Postcards
$0.42 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico and Canada:
$0.72 - Postcards
$0.72 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.94 - Postcards
$0.94 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including
contact information and stop action date (if applicable).
Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
- From Amnesty International USA
To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa27808.pdf
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on October 8, 2008. Thanks!
12 November 2008
Further information on UA 278/08 (08 October 2008) – Legal concern
USA 17 Uighur detainees held at Guantanamo
Seventeen Uighurs remain in indefinite military detention in
the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba more than a
month after a federal judge ruled that their continued
detention was unlawful and ordered their release into the
USA. The government obtained an emergency stay of the order
from a higher court, which will now hold oral arguments on
the issue on 24 November.
On 7 October, Judge Urbina of the District Court for the
District of Columbia (DC) ordered the government to release
into the USA the 17 Uighurs whom the government had earlier
conceded are not “enemy combatants”, the label it had
attached to them for years to purport to justify their
indefinite detention without charge or trial. A majority of
the Uighurs have been cleared for release since 2003.
The USA has accepted that the Uighurs cannot be returned to
their native China because they would face a serious risk of
torture or execution there. However, it has been unable to
find a country willing to accept them in more than four
years of trying. It says it has approached and re-
approached nearly 100 countries. Clearly, the only current
way to end the indefinite detention of the Uighurs is for
them to be released into the USA. The administration is
refusing to countenance such an outcome, however, and has
turned to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit to
overturn Judge Urbina’s order and allow the detainees to be
held at Guantanamo pending emergence of the third country
solution that has eluded the US government for years.
The US administration argues that Judge Urbina’s order
should be reversed because “unless otherwise authorized by
law, no court has the power to review the Executive’s
decision to exclude an alien from this country”. Judge
Urbina had recognized the sensitivity of judicial
intervention in “a field normally dominated by the
political branches”, but pointed out that it was the
government that had taken the Uighurs to Guantanamo; had not
charged them with any crime or presented any “reliable
evidence that they would pose a threat to US interests”;
and it is the government that has “stymied” its own
efforts to find a third country solution by labeling the
Uighurs until recently as “enemy combatants”. Judge Urbina
also noted that there were individuals and organizations
ready and willing to support the Uighurs upon resettlement
in the USA “by providing housing, employment, money,
education and other spiritual and social services”.
Judge Urbina had asked the government what threat the
Uighurs would pose if released into the USA, but the
government did not produce any evidence of such a threat.
Now, in its bid to have the order overturned, it has
portrayed the Uighurs as dangerous individuals, who “sought
to wage terror on a sovereign government” and who had
received “weapons training” in Afghanistan after they fled
there from China. A Court of Appeals judge has since noted
that the government had presented “no evidence” that the
Uighurs pose a threat to the US national security “or the
safety of the community or any person”. She added that the
fact that one or more of the Uighurs received training in
firearms “cannot alone show they are dangerous, unless
millions of United States resident citizens who had received
firearms training are deemed to be dangerous”.
The government argues that even if the Uighurs “were
standing at the Nation’s borders”, they would likely not be
allowed in on security grounds, under the broadly worded US
immigration law. Even if the Uighurs were “somehow entitled
to be brought into and released in the United States”, the
government argues, they would be subject to immediate and
indefinite detention under immigration law pending removal
from the USA.
The government has asserted that “negotiations are ongoing
regarding the possibility of their resettlement in third
countries”. It argues that a decision requiring the
government to release the Uighurs into the USA could
complicate such negotiations. If the 17 Uighurs were brought
to the USA, it suggests, “even our friends and allies might
be less likely to participate in resettlement efforts for
petitioners (or, indeed, for any other detainee)”. The fact
is, however, that any such efforts by the US State
Department – unsuccessful for years – have already been
undermined by the government’s own conduct – its prior
labelling of the detainees as “enemy combatants” and its
more recent campaign of innuendo labeling them as dangerous.
In its briefs to the Court of Appeals, the government has
painted a benign picture of the conditions in which the
Uighurs are now “housed” in Guantanamo’s Camp Iguana:
“special communal housing with access to all areas of the
camp, including an outdoor recreation space and picnic
area”, sleeping quarters “in an air conditioned bunk
house”, and “the use of an activity room equipped with
various recreational items, including a television with VCR
and DVD players”. The Uighurs also “have access to special
food items, shower facilities, and library materials”.
While the Uighurs’ current conditions are less harsh than
those they have endured previously, particularly in Camp 6,
they are incarcerated nonetheless. They are isolated from
the outside world, surrounded by fencing and razor wire,
monitored by armed guards and 24-hour camera surveillance,
and with only a small space for recreation. They are
shackled to the floor for visits with lawyers.
For further information, see USA: Justice Years Overdue:
Federal court hearing for Uighur detainees in Guantanamo, 7
October 2008,
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/110/2008/en;
USA: Federal judge orders release of Uighurs held at
Guantanamo, government appeals, 8 October 2008,
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/111/2008/en;
USA: US Court of Appeals blocks release of Guantanamo
Uighurs as government resorts to ‘scare tactics’, 10 October
2008,
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/113/2008/en;
and USA: Indefinite detention by litigation: ‘Monstrous
absurdity’ continues as Uighurs remain in Guantanamo, 12
November 2008,
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/136/2008/en.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly
as possible:
- expressing concern that the Uighurs remain in indefinite
detention at Guantanamo, and that the government continues
to litigate to keep them there pending the third country
solution that has eluded the USA for years;
- expressing concern at the US administration’s
unsubstantiated portrayal of the Uighurs in its litigation
strategy as dangerous individuals, innuendo that can only
work against third country solutions;
- welcoming the local community support in the USA that has
been pledged to help the Uighurs adjust to life outside
Guantanamo;
- calling on the US government, in the name of
humanitarianism and justice, to release the Uighur detainees
into the USA, and to work to ensure fair, safe and lasting
outcomes for these men.
APPEALS TO:
The Honorable Gregory G. Katsas
Assistant Attorney General
US Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Room 3141, Washington, DC 20530-0001
Fax: 1 202 307 6777
1 202 616 8470
Email: Gregory.Katsas@usdoj.org
Salutation: Dear Assistant Attorney General
John Bellinger, Legal Adviser
US Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Fax: 1 202 647 7096
Salutation: Dear Mr. Bellinger
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Fax: 1 202 456 2461
Email: president@whitehouse.gov
Salutation: Dear Mr President
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals
after 24 December 2008.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Use shortcuts: Do whatever is necessary to make your letter
writing as quick and easy as possible. This way, letters
will not be put off and they can be sent out sooner. Start
by making a generic file for each type of concern;
paragraphs on torture, the death penalty, disappearances,
denial of medical care and so on, can be copied into your
working file and edited as needed.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.27 - Postcards
$0.42 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico and Canada:
$0.72 - Postcards
$0.72 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.94 - Postcards
$0.94 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including
contact information and stop action date (if applicable).
Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
Thursday, November 6, 2008
11-6-08
This is another version of the letters I wrote that Sara E wrote:
Dear President Zardari,
I am calling upon you to please commute the death sentence of Mr. Zulfiqar Ali. Please, please use your powers under Article 45 of the Constitution to save the life of a fellow human being. Mr. Ali is the father of two young daughters. His wife passed away in 2006 so he is their only living parent. Mr. President, these children need their father. The June 21 announcement that the death sentences of more than 7,000 people on death row would be commuted must be upheld. There is presently a worldwide trend towards the abolition of the death penalty. I believe in your power to be among the leaders of this movement. The UN General Assembly resolution on a moratorium on executions adopted on 18 December 2007 was an important moment in history. Please be among the supporters of this resolution. Please commute the death sentence of Zulfiqar Ali. Please save a human life. Please help end execution.
Thank you Sir,
Sara Earhart
=================================================
Here are the letters I have sent you in an e-mail:
You PRINT IT. SIGN IT. and DROP IT OFF IN THE NIEBUHR CENTER.
+++++++
SAMPLE LETTERS:
++++++++
Mr. Asif Ali Zardari,
On behalf of ZULFIQAR ALI and his daughters, I ask for you to use your
power under Article 45 of the Constitution to COMMUTE HIS DEATH SENTENCE.
I ask that you would implement the announcement from June 21 that stated
the death sentences of 7,000 people on death row would be commuted. Please
implement an immedaite MORATORIUM OF ALL EXECUTIONS, in accordance with
the UN General Assembly resolution adopted on 18 December 2007, which
reinforced the global trend of ABOLISHING THE DEATH PENALTY.
Sincerely,
-your name- (preferably sign it by hand in cursive, then print your name
underneath)
=============
Write Separately
================
Ambassador Mahmud Ali Durrani,
On behalf of ZULFIQAR ALI and his daughters, I ask for you to use your
power under Article 45 of the Constitution to COMMUTE HIS DEATH SENTENCE.
I ask that you would implement the announcement from June 21 that stated
the death sentences of 7,000 people on death row would be commuted. Please
implement an immedaite MORATORIUM OF ALL EXECUTIONS, in accordance with
the UN General Assembly resolution adopted on 18 December 2007, which
reinforced the global trend of ABOLISHING THE DEATH PENALTY.
Sincerely,
-your name- (preferably sign it by hand in cursive, then print your name
underneath)
==================================================
HERE IS THE INFORMATION ABOUT THE PEOPLE YOU ARE WRITING TO SAVE
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa30208.pdf
31 October 2008
UA 302/08 - Death Penalty
PAKISTAN Zulfiqar Ali (m), aged 38
Zulfiqar Ali was scheduled to be executed on 22 October, but his sentence
was not carried out, for reasons not known to Amnesty International. He
could be hanged at any time.
Zulfiqar Ali was arrested on 14 April 1998 on a charge of murder. Since
then, he has been detained at Adiala Central jail, in the city of
Rawalpindi, Punjab province. According to Pakistani non-governmental
organizations Ansar Burney Trust, his family could not afford to hire a
lawyer to represent him. It is unclear whether Zulfiqar Ali was provided
with a defense lawyer by the court, or whether he defended himself. If he
did not have the option to be assisted by a defense lawyer, his trial
would be in breach of international fair trial standards.
He had been scheduled to be executed on 8 October, but President Asif Ali
Zardari issued a two-week stay of execution on 7 October even though he
had previously rejected Zulfiqar Ali's mercy petition. President Zardari's
rejection of Zulfiqar Ali’s mercy petition occurred after an announcement
on 21 June by Prime Minister Gilani of the government's commitment to
commute death sentences to life imprisonment. However, this decision has
yet to be implemented.
Zulfiqar Ali is the only surviving parent of his two daughters, aged 10
and 11. His wife died of leukemia in 2006. While on death row, Zulfiqar
Ali gained a Masters degree in political science and is currently studying
for a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Article 45 of the Constitution of Pakistan clearly states: "The President
shall have power to grant pardon, reprieve and respite and to remit,
suspend or commute any sentence passed by a court, tribunal or authority".
It is estimated that 159 people have been sentenced to death in Pakistan
in 2008, and around 35 people have been executed so far this year. Prime
Minister Gilani's announcement on June 21 that all existing death
sentences would be commuted is being considered by the Supreme Court of
Pakistan, which is to rule on its constitutionality. Fifteen of people
have been put to death after the Prime Minister’s statement.
There are currently more than 7,000 people who are on death row in
Pakistan. The former Human Rights Minister, Ansar Burney, stated that 60
to 65 percent of death row prisoners were innocent or "victims of a faulty
system".
On 18 December 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a
resolution on a worldwide moratorium on the use of the death penalty. The
former government of Pakistan, under President Pervez Musharraf, voted
against the resolution.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases. The death
penalty is a symptom of a culture of violence, and not a solution to it.
It has not been shown to have any greater deterrent effect than other
punishments, and carries the risk of irrevocable error. The death penalty
is the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and a
violation of the right to life, as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- calling on the President to use his powers under Article 45 of the
Constitution to commute the death sentence handed down to Zulfiqar Ali;
- calling on the President Zardari to urgently implement the June 21
announcement that the death sentences of more than 7,000 people on death
row would be commuted;
- calling for an immediate moratorium on all executions in the country, in
accordance with the UN General Assembly resolution on a moratorium on
executions adopted on 18 December 2007, reinforcing the worldwide trend
towards abolition of the death penalty.
APPEALS TO:
Mr Asif Ali Zardari
Pakistan Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: 011 92 51 9221422
011 92 51 2282741 (Faxes may be switched off outside office hours.
Pakistan is 6 hours ahead of GMT)
Salutation: Dear President Zardari
COPIES TO:
Ambassador Mahmud Ali Durrani
Embassy of Pakistan
3517 International Ct., NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 686 1544
Email: info@embassyofpakistanusa.org
ambassador@embassyofpakistanusa.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
++++++++++++++++++++++++
In Peace,
Sara Schroeder
Dear President Zardari,
I am calling upon you to please commute the death sentence of Mr. Zulfiqar Ali. Please, please use your powers under Article 45 of the Constitution to save the life of a fellow human being. Mr. Ali is the father of two young daughters. His wife passed away in 2006 so he is their only living parent. Mr. President, these children need their father. The June 21 announcement that the death sentences of more than 7,000 people on death row would be commuted must be upheld. There is presently a worldwide trend towards the abolition of the death penalty. I believe in your power to be among the leaders of this movement. The UN General Assembly resolution on a moratorium on executions adopted on 18 December 2007 was an important moment in history. Please be among the supporters of this resolution. Please commute the death sentence of Zulfiqar Ali. Please save a human life. Please help end execution.
Thank you Sir,
Sara Earhart
=================================================
Here are the letters I have sent you in an e-mail:
You PRINT IT. SIGN IT. and DROP IT OFF IN THE NIEBUHR CENTER.
+++++++
SAMPLE LETTERS:
++++++++
Mr. Asif Ali Zardari,
On behalf of ZULFIQAR ALI and his daughters, I ask for you to use your
power under Article 45 of the Constitution to COMMUTE HIS DEATH SENTENCE.
I ask that you would implement the announcement from June 21 that stated
the death sentences of 7,000 people on death row would be commuted. Please
implement an immedaite MORATORIUM OF ALL EXECUTIONS, in accordance with
the UN General Assembly resolution adopted on 18 December 2007, which
reinforced the global trend of ABOLISHING THE DEATH PENALTY.
Sincerely,
-your name- (preferably sign it by hand in cursive, then print your name
underneath)
=============
Write Separately
================
Ambassador Mahmud Ali Durrani,
On behalf of ZULFIQAR ALI and his daughters, I ask for you to use your
power under Article 45 of the Constitution to COMMUTE HIS DEATH SENTENCE.
I ask that you would implement the announcement from June 21 that stated
the death sentences of 7,000 people on death row would be commuted. Please
implement an immedaite MORATORIUM OF ALL EXECUTIONS, in accordance with
the UN General Assembly resolution adopted on 18 December 2007, which
reinforced the global trend of ABOLISHING THE DEATH PENALTY.
Sincerely,
-your name- (preferably sign it by hand in cursive, then print your name
underneath)
==================================================
HERE IS THE INFORMATION ABOUT THE PEOPLE YOU ARE WRITING TO SAVE
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa30208.pdf
31 October 2008
UA 302/08 - Death Penalty
PAKISTAN Zulfiqar Ali (m), aged 38
Zulfiqar Ali was scheduled to be executed on 22 October, but his sentence
was not carried out, for reasons not known to Amnesty International. He
could be hanged at any time.
Zulfiqar Ali was arrested on 14 April 1998 on a charge of murder. Since
then, he has been detained at Adiala Central jail, in the city of
Rawalpindi, Punjab province. According to Pakistani non-governmental
organizations Ansar Burney Trust, his family could not afford to hire a
lawyer to represent him. It is unclear whether Zulfiqar Ali was provided
with a defense lawyer by the court, or whether he defended himself. If he
did not have the option to be assisted by a defense lawyer, his trial
would be in breach of international fair trial standards.
He had been scheduled to be executed on 8 October, but President Asif Ali
Zardari issued a two-week stay of execution on 7 October even though he
had previously rejected Zulfiqar Ali's mercy petition. President Zardari's
rejection of Zulfiqar Ali’s mercy petition occurred after an announcement
on 21 June by Prime Minister Gilani of the government's commitment to
commute death sentences to life imprisonment. However, this decision has
yet to be implemented.
Zulfiqar Ali is the only surviving parent of his two daughters, aged 10
and 11. His wife died of leukemia in 2006. While on death row, Zulfiqar
Ali gained a Masters degree in political science and is currently studying
for a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Article 45 of the Constitution of Pakistan clearly states: "The President
shall have power to grant pardon, reprieve and respite and to remit,
suspend or commute any sentence passed by a court, tribunal or authority".
It is estimated that 159 people have been sentenced to death in Pakistan
in 2008, and around 35 people have been executed so far this year. Prime
Minister Gilani's announcement on June 21 that all existing death
sentences would be commuted is being considered by the Supreme Court of
Pakistan, which is to rule on its constitutionality. Fifteen of people
have been put to death after the Prime Minister’s statement.
There are currently more than 7,000 people who are on death row in
Pakistan. The former Human Rights Minister, Ansar Burney, stated that 60
to 65 percent of death row prisoners were innocent or "victims of a faulty
system".
On 18 December 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a
resolution on a worldwide moratorium on the use of the death penalty. The
former government of Pakistan, under President Pervez Musharraf, voted
against the resolution.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases. The death
penalty is a symptom of a culture of violence, and not a solution to it.
It has not been shown to have any greater deterrent effect than other
punishments, and carries the risk of irrevocable error. The death penalty
is the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and a
violation of the right to life, as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- calling on the President to use his powers under Article 45 of the
Constitution to commute the death sentence handed down to Zulfiqar Ali;
- calling on the President Zardari to urgently implement the June 21
announcement that the death sentences of more than 7,000 people on death
row would be commuted;
- calling for an immediate moratorium on all executions in the country, in
accordance with the UN General Assembly resolution on a moratorium on
executions adopted on 18 December 2007, reinforcing the worldwide trend
towards abolition of the death penalty.
APPEALS TO:
Mr Asif Ali Zardari
Pakistan Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: 011 92 51 9221422
011 92 51 2282741 (Faxes may be switched off outside office hours.
Pakistan is 6 hours ahead of GMT)
Salutation: Dear President Zardari
COPIES TO:
Ambassador Mahmud Ali Durrani
Embassy of Pakistan
3517 International Ct., NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 686 1544
Email: info@embassyofpakistanusa.org
ambassador@embassyofpakistanusa.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
++++++++++++++++++++++++
In Peace,
Sara Schroeder
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Urgen Action Appeal October 8th, 2008
URGENT ACTION: GUANTANAMO BAY
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa27808.pdf
08 October 2008
UA 278/08 - Legal concern
USA 17 Uighur detainees held at Guantanamo
In a landmark ruling on 7 October 2008, Judge Ricardo Urbina of the US District Court for the District of Columbia (DC) ordered the government to release into the USA the 17 Uighur detainees still held in the US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The government had earlier conceded that the 17 men are not "enemy combatants", the label it had attached to them for almost seven years to justify their indefinite detention without charge or trial.
The government is appealing the order, arguing that it "directly conflicts with the basic principle that the decision whether to admit an alien into the United States rests exclusively with the Executive". The administration has claimed the authority to continue to detain at Guantanamo those it no longer considers "enemy combatants", but who cannot be returned to their countries, under the executive's "necessary power to wind up wartime detentions in an orderly fashion". Judge Urbina rejected this, saying that whatever authority the government had to detain the men had "ceased".
The Uighurs cannot be returned to their native China because they would face a serious risk of torture or execution there. The US government argues that it should be allowed to keep them at Guantanamo until it finds a country willing to accept them, however long that may take. It says that, despite "extensive diplomatic efforts", it has been unable to find any other country willing to take them. It is now more than four years since then Secretary of State Colin Powell said that the USA would not return the Uighurs to China and was "trying to find places for them" in "all candidate countries". In its appeal just filed, the government asserts that "diplomatic negotiations continue in an effort to find an appropriate country to which the detainees can be sent", adding that Judge Urbina's order "short-circuits that diplomatic process".
In his order of 7 October 2008, Judge Urbina ordered that the 17 detainees be brought to his court in Washington, DC, at 10am on 10 October. The Uighurs would then be released, with the assistance of members of the local Uighur community, religious groups and refugee settlement agencies who have offered their support to help the released detainees adjust to their lives outside Guantanamo. Judge Urbina also set a hearing for 16 October to determine the conditions of the Uighurs' release, and ordered that an official from the US Department of Homeland Security be present at that hearing.
After the hearing, the US Department of Justice announced that it was filing an emergency motion for a stay of Judge Urbina's order pending an appeal to the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. The government indicates in its petition to the Court of Appeals that it will go to the US Supreme Court, "if necessary". The government's decision to appeal is the latest illustration of the pursuit of unfettered executive power that has characterized the USA's conduct in the "war on terror" and led to systematic human rights violations, including arbitrary detention and torture and other ill-treatment.
Amnesty International believes that the government should comply with Judge Urbina's order, drop its appeals, bring the Uighur detainees into the USA, and work to find lawful, fair, safe and durable solutions in all their cases.
The 17 Uighur detainees are: Huzaifa Parhat, Abdul Semet, Jalal Jaladin, Khalid Ali, Sabir Osman, Abdul Sabour, Abdul Nasser, Hammad Memet, Edham Mamet, Arkin Mahmud, Bahtiyar Mahnut, Ahmad Tourson, Abdur Razakah, Anvar Hassan, Dawut Abdurehim, Abdul Ghappar Abdul Rahman and Adel Noori. Most of them were taken into custody in Pakistan in late 2001 having fled there from Afghanistan after the Uighur camp to which they had fled from China was bombed by US forces. They are alleged to have been sold by Pakistani forces to the USA for a substantial bounty. The detainees were transferred to Guantanamo in 2002. See USA: Justice Years Overdue: Federal court hearing for Uighur detainees in Guantanamo, 7 October 2008, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/110/2008/en.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Amnesty International continues to call for all the detainees at Guantanamo to be brought to full and fair trials or released with full protections against further human rights abuses. There are approximately 255 detainees still held in the base, including the 17 Uighurs. Of the more than 500 detainees released from Guantanamo since detention operations began there in January 2002, none has been released by judicial order, all by executive discretion. Except in the case of Yaser Hamdi, who was transferred from Guantanamo to military custody in South Carolina in April 2002 after it was discovered that he had US citizenship, no Guantanamo detainee has been transferred to the US mainland.
The mainly Muslim Uighur community is the majority ethnic group in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in the northwest of China. (See UA 356/03, 4 December 2003 http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/147/2003/en.)
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- welcoming District Court Judge Ricardo Urbina's order to the government to release the 17 Uighur detainees held in Guantanamo without charge or trial since 2002;
- expressing regret and concern that the government has elected to appeal this ruling;
- welcoming that the US government has said that it will not return the Uighurs to China, and noting that it has been unable, despite years of "extensive diplomatic efforts", to find a country willing to accept them;
- noting that the USA does not consider the Uighurs to be "enemy combatants";
- welcoming the local community support in the USA that has been pledged to help the Uighurs adjust to life outside Guantanamo;
- calling on the US government, in the name of humanitarianism and justice, to comply with Judge Urbina's order to release the Uighur detainees into the USA, to drop all appeals against his order, and to work to ensure fair, safe and durable outcomes for these men.
APPEALS TO:
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Fax: 1 202 456 2461
Email: president@whitehouse.gov
Salutation: Dear Mr President
The Honorable Michael B. Mukasey
Attorney General
US Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Fax: 1 202 307 6777
Email: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov
Salutation: Dear Attorney General
Secretary Michael Chertoff
US Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528
Fax: 1 202 456 2461
Salutation: Dear Secretary Chertoff
The Honorable Dr Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
US Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Fax: 1 202 261 8577
E-mail: Secretary@state.gov
Salutation: Dear Secretary of State
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Use shortcuts: Do whatever is necessary to make your letter
writing as quick and easy as possible. This way, letters
will not be put off and they can be sent out sooner. Start
by making a generic file for each type of concern;
paragraphs on torture, the death penalty, disappearances,
denial of medical care and so on, can be copied into your
working file and edited as needed.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.27 - Postcards
$0.42 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico and Canada:
$0.72 - Postcards
$0.72 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.94 - Postcards
$0.94 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa27808.pdf
08 October 2008
UA 278/08 - Legal concern
USA 17 Uighur detainees held at Guantanamo
In a landmark ruling on 7 October 2008, Judge Ricardo Urbina of the US District Court for the District of Columbia (DC) ordered the government to release into the USA the 17 Uighur detainees still held in the US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The government had earlier conceded that the 17 men are not "enemy combatants", the label it had attached to them for almost seven years to justify their indefinite detention without charge or trial.
The government is appealing the order, arguing that it "directly conflicts with the basic principle that the decision whether to admit an alien into the United States rests exclusively with the Executive". The administration has claimed the authority to continue to detain at Guantanamo those it no longer considers "enemy combatants", but who cannot be returned to their countries, under the executive's "necessary power to wind up wartime detentions in an orderly fashion". Judge Urbina rejected this, saying that whatever authority the government had to detain the men had "ceased".
The Uighurs cannot be returned to their native China because they would face a serious risk of torture or execution there. The US government argues that it should be allowed to keep them at Guantanamo until it finds a country willing to accept them, however long that may take. It says that, despite "extensive diplomatic efforts", it has been unable to find any other country willing to take them. It is now more than four years since then Secretary of State Colin Powell said that the USA would not return the Uighurs to China and was "trying to find places for them" in "all candidate countries". In its appeal just filed, the government asserts that "diplomatic negotiations continue in an effort to find an appropriate country to which the detainees can be sent", adding that Judge Urbina's order "short-circuits that diplomatic process".
In his order of 7 October 2008, Judge Urbina ordered that the 17 detainees be brought to his court in Washington, DC, at 10am on 10 October. The Uighurs would then be released, with the assistance of members of the local Uighur community, religious groups and refugee settlement agencies who have offered their support to help the released detainees adjust to their lives outside Guantanamo. Judge Urbina also set a hearing for 16 October to determine the conditions of the Uighurs' release, and ordered that an official from the US Department of Homeland Security be present at that hearing.
After the hearing, the US Department of Justice announced that it was filing an emergency motion for a stay of Judge Urbina's order pending an appeal to the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. The government indicates in its petition to the Court of Appeals that it will go to the US Supreme Court, "if necessary". The government's decision to appeal is the latest illustration of the pursuit of unfettered executive power that has characterized the USA's conduct in the "war on terror" and led to systematic human rights violations, including arbitrary detention and torture and other ill-treatment.
Amnesty International believes that the government should comply with Judge Urbina's order, drop its appeals, bring the Uighur detainees into the USA, and work to find lawful, fair, safe and durable solutions in all their cases.
The 17 Uighur detainees are: Huzaifa Parhat, Abdul Semet, Jalal Jaladin, Khalid Ali, Sabir Osman, Abdul Sabour, Abdul Nasser, Hammad Memet, Edham Mamet, Arkin Mahmud, Bahtiyar Mahnut, Ahmad Tourson, Abdur Razakah, Anvar Hassan, Dawut Abdurehim, Abdul Ghappar Abdul Rahman and Adel Noori. Most of them were taken into custody in Pakistan in late 2001 having fled there from Afghanistan after the Uighur camp to which they had fled from China was bombed by US forces. They are alleged to have been sold by Pakistani forces to the USA for a substantial bounty. The detainees were transferred to Guantanamo in 2002. See USA: Justice Years Overdue: Federal court hearing for Uighur detainees in Guantanamo, 7 October 2008, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/110/2008/en.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Amnesty International continues to call for all the detainees at Guantanamo to be brought to full and fair trials or released with full protections against further human rights abuses. There are approximately 255 detainees still held in the base, including the 17 Uighurs. Of the more than 500 detainees released from Guantanamo since detention operations began there in January 2002, none has been released by judicial order, all by executive discretion. Except in the case of Yaser Hamdi, who was transferred from Guantanamo to military custody in South Carolina in April 2002 after it was discovered that he had US citizenship, no Guantanamo detainee has been transferred to the US mainland.
The mainly Muslim Uighur community is the majority ethnic group in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in the northwest of China. (See UA 356/03, 4 December 2003 http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/147/2003/en.)
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- welcoming District Court Judge Ricardo Urbina's order to the government to release the 17 Uighur detainees held in Guantanamo without charge or trial since 2002;
- expressing regret and concern that the government has elected to appeal this ruling;
- welcoming that the US government has said that it will not return the Uighurs to China, and noting that it has been unable, despite years of "extensive diplomatic efforts", to find a country willing to accept them;
- noting that the USA does not consider the Uighurs to be "enemy combatants";
- welcoming the local community support in the USA that has been pledged to help the Uighurs adjust to life outside Guantanamo;
- calling on the US government, in the name of humanitarianism and justice, to comply with Judge Urbina's order to release the Uighur detainees into the USA, to drop all appeals against his order, and to work to ensure fair, safe and durable outcomes for these men.
APPEALS TO:
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Fax: 1 202 456 2461
Email: president@whitehouse.gov
Salutation: Dear Mr President
The Honorable Michael B. Mukasey
Attorney General
US Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Fax: 1 202 307 6777
Email: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov
Salutation: Dear Attorney General
Secretary Michael Chertoff
US Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528
Fax: 1 202 456 2461
Salutation: Dear Secretary Chertoff
The Honorable Dr Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
US Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Fax: 1 202 261 8577
E-mail: Secretary@state.gov
Salutation: Dear Secretary of State
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Use shortcuts: Do whatever is necessary to make your letter
writing as quick and easy as possible. This way, letters
will not be put off and they can be sent out sooner. Start
by making a generic file for each type of concern;
paragraphs on torture, the death penalty, disappearances,
denial of medical care and so on, can be copied into your
working file and edited as needed.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.27 - Postcards
$0.42 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico and Canada:
$0.72 - Postcards
$0.72 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.94 - Postcards
$0.94 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Write a Letter to President Alyaksandr Lukashenka - Belarus
LET'S STAND UP FOR OUR FELLOW STUDENT ACTIVISTS!
If they are in jail, WE are in jail.
Call for Belarus to abolish Article 193-1
It's already written for you, just add your personal statement for practice, and be sure to read the letter to get the hang of how to write these letters and appeals.
Peace to you
Sara
If they are in jail, WE are in jail.
Call for Belarus to abolish Article 193-1
It's already written for you, just add your personal statement for practice, and be sure to read the letter to get the hang of how to write these letters and appeals.
Peace to you
Sara
Thursday, August 28, 2008
A Revolution at Your Fingertips
Here is a VERY detailed .pdf file detailing anything you could ever possibly want to know about letter writing, including words that Amnesty International uses frequently that you may not understand. There is even a listing of laws, articles, policies, etc. outlining human rights as stated by international documents.
Obviously you cannot read all of this in one sitting, but it's a fantastic help when you have questions.
PDF Toolkit
A few very basic introductions to letter writing for Urgent Action Appeals
Canada's take
AI USA's website
Includes some sample letters. Don't get confused, they have people's names in them that you would need to change.
What the Urgent Action Network is
AI USA's explanation
Frequently Asked Question Guide on AI USA's website
FAQs
Some current online actions (don't cop out and only do these! ...but you should do these, too)
Online AI Action Network
Obviously you cannot read all of this in one sitting, but it's a fantastic help when you have questions.
PDF Toolkit
A few very basic introductions to letter writing for Urgent Action Appeals
Canada's take
AI USA's website
Includes some sample letters. Don't get confused, they have people's names in them that you would need to change.
What the Urgent Action Network is
AI USA's explanation
Frequently Asked Question Guide on AI USA's website
FAQs
Some current online actions (don't cop out and only do these! ...but you should do these, too)
Online AI Action Network
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
