URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
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10 February 2011
UA 27/11 - Imminent Execution
USA (Texas) Timothy Adams (m), aged 42
Timothy Adams, a 42-year-old African American man, is scheduled to be executed in Texas on 22 February. He was sentenced to death for the murder of his young son in 2002. Three of the 12 jurors who voted for death at his trial in 2003 are among those now appealing for clemency.
Timothy (Tim) Adams shot his 19-month-old son Timothy ("TJ") during a stand-off with police in Houston, Texas, on 20 February 2002. After surrendering, he gave police a statement admitting to the murder. He pleaded guilty at his trial. The jury convicted him, and after a sentencing phase voted that, even though he had no prior criminal record, he would likely commit future acts of violence that would "constitute a continuing threat to society" – a prerequisite for a death sentence in Texas – and that there was insufficient mitigating evidence to warrant a life sentence.
Although the defense lawyers presented a number of character witnesses at the sentencing, they presented only one family member, the defendant's mother. Other relatives of Tim Adams – who are also members of the murder victim's family – are now appealing for clemency. For example, Tim Adams's father – the grandfather of the victim – has said: "Losing TJ was especially hard for me... However, I cannot imagine losing my son to this tragedy as well... I do not know what I will do if we lose Tim". The brother of Tim Adams has said "It's hard to explain why Tim did what he did... It was totally out of character... I still have a strong relationship with him. I often break down when I leave the prison after our visits. I cannot imagine losing my brother". His sister states: "It's going to affect my family in a bad way if he is executed. I would never wish this on anyone, even my worst enemy... This would just be another huge loss to our family". Tim Adams has a 23-year-old son from a previous relationship who has said: "I can't put my finger on why my father would do something like that. Yet, my father was very loving and taught me right from wrong when I was growing up. He was a good father. He is not a bad person. I wish I had had the opportunity to say something in support of my father at his trial".
Three of the jurors from the original trial are also supporting clemency. One of them has said that she initially voted for a life sentence, but "felt pressured by the other jurors to change my vote". She said that she has "carried the guilt around for years knowing that I sentenced Adams, a man who had done wrong but who was otherwise a good, religious, and hard-working person, to death". Another former juror recalled that "Adams was so remorseful during the trial, and I could tell that he was hurting a lot". However, she said that he too had felt "pressured" by other jurors "into believing that Adams was a cold-hearted man" and had voted for death. Both jurors said that they had learned more about Tim Adams since the trial that confirmed their original leaning to vote for a life sentence.
Tim Adams is reported not to have committed a single disciplinary infraction during his eight years on death row.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
A few days before the 20 February 2002 shooting in Houston, Tim Adams's wife had moved out of their flat, taking the baby with her. On 20 February, she returned to the apartment to collect her belongings. Confronted by her husband, she telephoned the police. Tim Adams fired a shot at her, and she fled the home, leaving the child behind. In the ensuing stand-off, Tim Adams told police that he was suicidal and would kill himself if anyone tried to enter the apartment. He was eventually talked into surrendering. His young son had already been shot.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases, unconditionally, regardless of the crime or the offender. To end the death penalty is to abandon a destructive, diversionary and divisive public policy that is not consistent with widely held values. It not only runs the risk of irrevocable error, it is also costly, in social and psychological terms as well as to the public purse (a fact which is drawing increasing public concern in the USA in the current economic climate). It has not been proved to have a unique deterrent effect. It tends to be applied in a discriminatory way, on grounds of race and class. It denies the possibility of reconciliation and rehabilitation. It promotes simplistic responses to complex human problems, rather than pursuing explanations that could inform positive strategies. It diverts resources that could be better used to work against violent crime and assist those affected by it. The death penalty extends the suffering of the victim's family to that of the condemned prisoner.
Today, 139 countries are abolitionist in law or practice, a clear majority. Such countries have concluded either that the death penalty is unnecessary, or that it is incompatible with modern standards of justice, or both. While international law recognizes that some countries retain the death penalty, this acknowledgment of present reality should not be invoked "to delay or to prevent the abolition of capital punishment", in the words of Article 6.6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In 2007, 2008 and 2010, the United Nations General Assembly passed resolutions calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions, pending abolition.
There have been 1,239 executions in the USA since judicial killing resumed there in 1977, including five so far this year. Of the 464 prisoners put to death in Texas (37 per cent of the national total), 115 were convicted in Harris County, where Tim Adams was sentenced to death. If Harris County was a state, it would account for more executions than any other state in the USA apart from the rest of Texas. See USA: One county, 100 executions: Harris County and Texas - a lethal combination, July 2007, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/125/2007/en; also USA: Too much cruelty, too little clemency: Texas nears 200th execution under current governor, April 2009, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/057/2009/en. There have been 225 executions in Texas since Governor Rick Perry took office in December 2000.
Arbitrariness, discrimination and error mark the death penalty in the USA, along with its inescapable cruelty. Public and political support for the death penalty has weakened in recent years, possibly a result of an erosion of belief in its deterrence value, an increased awareness of the frequency of wrongful convictions in capital cases, and a greater confidence that public safety can be guaranteed by life prison terms rather than death sentences. In 2008, Senior Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens revealed that he had decided, after more than three decades on the country's highest court, that the death penalty was a cruel waste of time. "I have relied on my own experience", he wrote, "in reaching the conclusion that the imposition of the death penalty represents the pointless and needless extinction of life with only marginal contributions to any discernible social or public purposes". Since retiring from the Supreme Court in June 2010, he has said that there was one vote during his nearly 35 years on the Court that he regretted – his vote with the majority in Gregg v. Georgia in 1976 that allowed executions to resume in the USA. See also USA: A learning curve, towards a 'more perfect world', October 2010, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/095/2010/en
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Acknowledging the seriousness of the crime for which Tim Adams was sentenced to death;
- Noting that three of the jurors are calling for commutation of the death sentence;
- Calling on the authorities to recognize the suffering that execution causes family members;
- Urging the parole board to recommend to Governor Perry that he commute the death sentence;
- Calling on Governor Perry to do all in his power and influence to stop this execution.
APPEALS TO:
Clemency Section, Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
8610 Shoal Creek Blvd.
Austin, TX 78757-6814
USA
Fax 512 467 0945
Email: bpp-pio@tdcj.state.tx.us
Salutation: Dear Board members
Governor Rick Perry
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711-2428
USA
Fax: 1 512 463 1849
Salutation: Dear Governor
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 22 February 2011.
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa12210.pdf
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on May 27, 2010. Thanks!
10 February 2011
Further information on UA 122/10 (27 May 2010) - Risk of forcible return
UGANDA
Mohammad Hassan Haji (m) ]
Abdu Rashid Abdulalli Omar (m) ] Somali nationals
The health of Mohammad Hassan Haji and Abdu Rashid Abdulalli Omar, both Somali nationals detained in Uganda, has greatly deteriorated in the past weeks. They face forcible return to Somalia, where they would be at risk of human rights abuses.
18-year-old Abdul Rashid Abdullahi Omar, who has been diagnosed with manic depression, and 25-year-old Mohammad Hassan Haji have been detained by the Ugandan authorities since November and December 2009. They are being held at the Central Police Station in Kampala, Uganda's capital. Their health is deteriorating because they are kept in unsanitary conditions in an overcrowded cell without natural light and are not allowed outside their cell to exercise. Their continuing detention without prospect of release and fear of deportation to Somalia is having a serious psychological impact. In mid January, Mohammad Hassan Haji was threatened with imminent deportation. They have also been told that they will not be released unless they pay a bribe to the police.
Mohammad Hassan Haji has been prevented from having his asylum claim examined by the Ugandan authorities. Further, he has been unable to challenge a March 2010 court decision that he should be deported back to Somalia. The Ugandan authorities have reportedly said that he represents a risk to state security, but after more than 13 months in detention, they have yet to charge him in relation to these allegations. Mohammad Hassan Haji was convicted of "illegal entry" after being arrested in Katuna, near the Ugandan border with Rwanda.
Abdul Rashid Abdullahi Omar was arrested at the Sudan/Uganda border after he boarded a bus to Sudan. He was charged with "illegal entry," reportedly convicted and has since been under threat of deportation to Somalia. He is registered as a refugee with UNHCR in Kenya, where most of his family lives. The Ugandan authorities have reportedly agreed to deport him to Kenya instead of Somalia, provided his family is traced. However, despite his mental health condition and the fact that his brother lives in Uganda, he remains in police custody without adequate medical care and in unhealthy conditions of detention.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
All Somalis are at risk of being killed or injured in the generalized violence and indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks that occur in southern and central Somalia, given the consistent failure of all parties to the ongoing conflict to respect international humanitarian law. Therefore, Amnesty International opposes all forcible returns to southern and central Somalia and recommends that all Somalis from southern and central Somalia be granted international protection, in line with the most recent advice of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), unless they are ineligible for such protection.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Demanding that Mohammad Hassan Haji is immediately provided with the full opportunity to claim asylum;
- Urging the Ugandan authorities to immediately release the two men;
- Urging them to ensure that both men have access to adequate medical care, and that Abdul Rashid Abdullahi Omar is able to obtain medical and psychological treatment appropriate to his mental health condition;
- Urging the Ugandan authorities to comply with their non-refoulement obligations, immediately revoke deportation orders to Somalia against both men, and halt all forcible returns to southern and central Somalia, where all Somalis are at risk of serious human rights abuses;
- Reminding the Ugandan authorities that asylum-seekers should only be detained as a last resort, after justifying in each individual case that it is a necessary and proportionate measure, and that no other alternative will suffice;
APPEALS TO:
Minister of Internal Affairs
Hon. Ali Kirunda Kivejinja
Crested Towers
PO Box 7084
Kampala
UGANDA
Fax: 011 256 414 343 088
Salutation: Dear Minister
Commissioner for Disaster Preparedness and Refugees
Mr. Martin Owor
Office of the Prime Minister (OPM)
Post Office Building, Yusuf Lule Road
P.O. Box 341
Kampala, UGANDA
Fax: 011 256 414 341 139 (please keep trying if you don't get through first time)
Salutation: Dear Commissioner
COPIES TO:
Mrs Josephine Ali Ekwang
Commissioner, Inspections & Legal Services,
Directorate of Citizenship & Immigration Control
Ministry of Internal Affairs
Plot 75, Jjinja Road
PO Box 7191
Kampala, UGANDA
Fax: 011 256 414 343 088
Ambassador Professor Perezi Karukubiro Kamunanwire
Embassy of the Republic of Uganda
5911 16th St. NW
Washington DC 20011
Phone: 1 202 726 4758
Fax: 1 202 726 1727
Email: pkamunanwire@ugandaembassyus.org
info@ugandaembassyus.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 24 March 2011.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible to the date a case is issued.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.28 - Postcards
$0.44 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Canada:
$0.75 - Postcards
$0.75 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico:
$0.79 - Postcards
$0.79 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.98 - Postcards
$0.98 - 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: 202.509.8193
Fax: 202.675.8566
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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