Dear friends,
The Pennsylvania Acting Attorney General was named yesterday. There are now only a few days before the Pennsylvania Superior Court hears the oral arguments in its review of Jordan Brown's appeal (Urgent Action 97/10), and this is great opportunity to target the new Attorney General. Please make sure to include the new Attorney General's name when sending your appeals:
SEND APPEALS BEFORE 25 JANUARY 2011 TO:
Pennsylvania Acting Attorney General
William H. Ryan Jr.
Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
16th Floor, Strawberry Square
Harrisburg, PA 17120, USA
Fax: 1 717 787-8242
Email: http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/contactus/
Salutation: Dear Acting Attorney General
Please note that the address remains the same, but the name of the Attorney General has changed.
In solidarity,
Individuals at Risk Team
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/uaa09710.pdf
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on April 28, 2010. Thanks!
07 January 2010
Further information on UA 97/10 (28 April 2010) and follow-up (10 August 2010) – Legal concern/Juvenile at risk of life without parole
USA Jordan Brown (m)
On 25 January 2011, the Pennsylvania Superior Court will hear oral arguments in its review of Jordan Brown’s appeal against a court decision to try him as an adult for the killing of Kenzie Houk, his father’s fiancée. If tried in an adult court, the 13-year-old boy could be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. This sentence, when imposed on anyone who was under 18 years old at the time of the crime, violates international law.
On 27 July 2010, the Pennsylvania Superior Court issued an order granting a review of the appeal. Jordan Brown’s lawyers had filed the appeal following a judge’s decision to deny the transfer of the trial to juvenile court. The boy's lawyers filed their written arguments on 23 September. The state Attorney General was granted a delay and filed his written arguments on 29 November, in which he defended the original decision to try the boy in adult court. On 25 January 2011, oral arguments from both the state Attorney General and Jordan Brown’s lawyers will be heard.
Jordan Brown, who was 11 at the time of the crime, has been automatically charged for trial in adult court, as required by Pennsylvania law for cases involving murder. He has been charged with two counts of homicide, because the victim was eight and a half months pregnant and her unborn child also died. If convicted of first-degree murder in an adult court, Jordan Brown would be sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole.
The Superior Court’s review of the appeal remains a crucial step in the future of Jordan Brown’s case. Amnesty International is deeply concerned that the state Attorney General continues to seek an adult trial for Jordan Brown.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
A life without parole sentence when imposed on a defendant who was under 18 at the time of the crime violates international law and standards which are almost universally accepted around the world. These standards recognize that, however serious the crime, children, who are still developing physically, mentally and emotionally, do not have the same level of culpability as adults and require special treatment in the criminal justice system appropriate to their youth and immaturity. The standards emphasize that when children come into conflict with the law, the primary objectives should be the child's best interests and the potential for his or her successful reintegration into society. Life imprisonment without parole clearly is inconsistent with this international obligation.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which the USA ratified in 1992, specifically acknowledges the need for special treatment of children in the criminal justice system and emphasizes the importance of their rehabilitation. Article 14(4) of the ICCPR states: “In the case of juvenile persons, the procedure shall be such as will take account of their age and the desirability of promoting their rehabilitation”. In 2006, the UN Human Rights Committee, the expert body established by the ICCPR to oversee implementation of the treaty, reminded the USA that sentencing children to life imprisonment without parole is incompatible with the ICCPR. It called on the USA to ensure that no children were subjected to this sentence.
The 193 countries which have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) have further agreed to be bound by the principle, enshrined in Article 37(a), that no person under the age of 18 at the time of the offence should be sentenced to “life imprisonment without the possibility of release”. The USA is the only country apart from Somalia not to have ratified the CRC. However, the USA has signed the Convention and as a signatory, the USA is bound under international law to do nothing which would defeat the object and purpose of the treaty. Article 37(b) of the Convention also calls upon states to use imprisonment against a child “only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.”
In a General Comment on children’s rights in juvenile justice issued in 2007, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the expert body established under the CRC, emphasised that no children should be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The Committee reminded those countries which sentence children to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole that this punishment must “fully comply with and strive for the realization of the aims of juvenile justice”, including that the child should receive “education, treatment, and care aiming at his/her release, reintegration and ability to assume a constructive role in society”.
The USA is believed to stand alone in sentencing children to life without parole. Although several countries technically permit the practice, Amnesty International knows of no cases outside the USA where such a sentence has been imposed in recent years. Jordan Brown is the youngest person that Amnesty International knows of who is currently at risk of being sentenced to life without parole. However, there are at least 2,500 people in the USA serving life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for crimes committed when they were under 18. Jordan Brown's case is therefore starkly illustrative of a wider problem, and the organization is taking this action as part of its efforts to persuade authorities in the USA to bring their country into line with international standards on the treatment of child offenders (see USA: The rest of their lives: Life without Parole for Child Offenders in the United States: a joint Human Rights Watch/Amnesty International Report http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/162/2005/en). In such cases, Amnesty International does not specify in detail what sentence is appropriate, only that it should conform to international standards.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Explaining that you are not seeking to excuse the killing of Kenzie Houk;
- Pointing out that international law prohibits life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for anyone who was under 18 years old at the time of the crime, and that this principle of international law is recognized and respected around the world;
- Expressing concern that the state is seeking to have Jordan Brown tried in adult court which would expose him upon conviction for first-degree murder to a mandatory life imprisonment without the possibility of parole;
- Calling on the prosecution to meet its international obligation to ensure that Jordan Brown not be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole;
- Renewing appeals for the prosecution to take the opportunity of the Superior Court’s review to reconsider its position and drop its pursuit of a trial in adult court.
APPEALS TO:
Pennsylvania Attorney General
William H. Ryan Jr.
Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
16th Floor, Strawberry Square
Harrisburg, PA 17120
Fax: 1 717 787 8242
Email: http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/contactus/
Salutation: Dear Attorney General
COPIES TO:
Jordan Brown’s lawyer
David H. Acker, Esquire
414 N. Jefferson Street
New Castle, PA 16101
Email: David_Acker_Attorneyatlaw@hotmail.com
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 25 January 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
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Urgent Action 1-18-11
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/uaa00611.pdf
17 January 2011
UA 6/11 - Risk of forcible return
SWEDEN Several Iraqi asylum-seekers
Amnesty International has received credible reports that the Swedish authorities are planning to forcibly return several individuals whose asylum claims have been rejected to Baghdad, Iraq, on 19 January. Their lives could be at real risk in Iraq.
Credible sources have reported that several asylum-seekers are facing forced return to Baghdad, Iraq. Amnesty International understands that they include at least 14 individuals originally from particularly dangerous provinces [including Baghdad, Kirkuk and Ninewa (Mosul)], individuals from ethnic or religious minority groups who are at particular risk, or individuals who may face persecution on the basis of their gender or political opinion.
The Swedish authorities have maintained a policy of enforcing returns of Iraqis whose asylum claims have been dismissed, despite clear guidelines from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to the contrary. During 2009 and 2010 Swedish authorities forcibly returned Iraqis whose asylum claims were rejected on charter flights organized jointly with other European states, including Norway, the Netherlands and the UK. As recently as 15 December 2010, Sweden forcibly returned about 20 Iraqis to Baghdad. The UNHCR, reiterating its objection to such forced returns on 17 December, noted that there were five Christians originally from Baghdad among those forcibly returned. Christians have faced kidnapping and killing by armed groups. Dozens were killed in 2010, especially in Baghdad and Mosul, and churches were bombed.
Amnesty International believes that it is not safe to forcibly return anyone to the Iraqi provinces of Ninewa (Mosul), Kirkuk, Diyala, Salah al-Din and Baghdad, and to other particularly dangerous areas such as parts of Al Anbar province. Anyone facing forced return to any of these areas, regardless of whether they originate from those areas, should be granted asylum or alternative forms of protection. In those regions of Iraq serious risks, including the ongoing indiscriminate threats to life, physical integrity or personal freedom, arising from violence or events seriously disturbing public order are all valid grounds for international protection.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Sweden is obliged under domestic and international law, including the 1951 Refugee Convention, the Convention against Torture and the European Convention on Human Rights, not to return anyone to a country where they would be at risk of torture and other grave human rights abuses, including indiscriminate threats to life, physical integrity or freedom arising from generalized violence.
In April 2010, Amnesty International issued a report (Iraq: Civilians under fire, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE14/002/2010/en) highlighting the risks to people returned involuntarily to Iraq, who are among those particularly vulnerable to be targeted with violence.
At least five European countries - Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands - have forcibly returned hundreds of Iraqis whose asylum claims had been dismissed since 2009. In the month of September 2010 alone, more than 150 individuals were returned from these five countries to Iraq. Many of these removals have been conducted in breach of UNHCR guidelines issued in April 2009 (and repeatedly reiterated, including as recently as September 2010) that identify particularly dangerous regions in Iraq to where no one should be forcibly returned - namely the provinces of Ninewa (Mosul), Kirkuk, Salah al-Din, Diyala and Baghdad. UNHCR also advised that no forcible returns should be conducted to other areas of Iraq unless an individual assessment has been carried out which indicates that it would be safe to return the individual in question.
Hundreds of civilians are still being killed or maimed every month in Iraq, notwithstanding the overall reduction in the civilian death-toll seen since 2008. Perpetrators of human rights abuses in Iraq include armed groups, militias, security forces and members of tribes. The recent publication of US secret and confidential files on the situation in Iraq by the Wikileaks organization has demonstrated, again, that civilians are the main victims of the ongoing violence in the country.
In practice, the number of Iraqi refugees seeking asylum in European states is relatively small compared to the numbers of those currently residing in states neighboring Iraq. Syria hosts by far the greatest number of refugees from Iraq, followed by Jordan and other Middle Eastern states. Amnesty International is concerned that the increasing pattern of forcible returns from the Sweden and other European states sets a very poor example to these Middle Eastern states, whose resources have been stretched by the influx of people fleeing from Iraq, and may contribute to an overall weakening of the international system of refugee protection.
For more detailed information regarding Amnesty International's concerns about forced returns to Iraq, see the statement issued on 10 November 2010 (European states must stop forced returns to Iraq, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR01/028/2010/en).
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
* Urging the Swedish authorities not to proceed with forcible returns of individuals to Iraq, particularly to the provinces of Ninewa (Mosul), Kirkuk, Diyala, Salah al-Din and Baghdad, and other particularly dangerous areas such as parts of Al Anbar province, due to their facing a real risk of persecution or serious harm;
* Calling on the Swedish authorities to grant Iraqi asylum-seekers facing return to these provinces asylum or alternative protection, and where Iraqis do not qualify for such protection, nonetheless not to forcibly remove them if doing so would place them at real risk of persecution or serious harm;
* Reminding the Swedish authorities that Sweden is obliged, under the 1951 Refugee Convention, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Convention against Torture, not to return or otherwise remove anyone to any country or territory where they would face a real risk of persecution or serious harm, including grave human rights abuses such as indiscriminate threats to life, physical integrity or freedom arising from generalized violence.
APPEALS TO:
Minister for Migration & Asylum Policy
Tobias Billstrom
Ministry of Justice
Rosenbad 4
103 33 Stockholm
SWEDEN
Fax: 011 46 8 20 27 34
Email: registrator@justice.ministry.se
Salutation: Dear Minister
Director-General
Swedish Migration Board
Dan Eliasson
601 70 Norrkoping
SWEDEN
Fax: 011 46 11 10 81 55
Email: dan.eliasson@migrationsverket.se
Salutation: Dear Mr Eliasson
COPIES TO:
Ambassador Jonas Hafstrom
Embassy of Sweden
2900 K Street NW
Washington DC 20007
Fax: 1 202 467 2699
Phone: 1 202 467 2611
Email: michael.westberg@foreign.ministry.se
ambassaden.washington@foreign.ministry.se
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 31 January 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
----------------------------------
END OF 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/uaa00611.pdf
17 January 2011
UA 6/11 - Risk of forcible return
SWEDEN Several Iraqi asylum-seekers
Amnesty International has received credible reports that the Swedish authorities are planning to forcibly return several individuals whose asylum claims have been rejected to Baghdad, Iraq, on 19 January. Their lives could be at real risk in Iraq.
Credible sources have reported that several asylum-seekers are facing forced return to Baghdad, Iraq. Amnesty International understands that they include at least 14 individuals originally from particularly dangerous provinces [including Baghdad, Kirkuk and Ninewa (Mosul)], individuals from ethnic or religious minority groups who are at particular risk, or individuals who may face persecution on the basis of their gender or political opinion.
The Swedish authorities have maintained a policy of enforcing returns of Iraqis whose asylum claims have been dismissed, despite clear guidelines from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to the contrary. During 2009 and 2010 Swedish authorities forcibly returned Iraqis whose asylum claims were rejected on charter flights organized jointly with other European states, including Norway, the Netherlands and the UK. As recently as 15 December 2010, Sweden forcibly returned about 20 Iraqis to Baghdad. The UNHCR, reiterating its objection to such forced returns on 17 December, noted that there were five Christians originally from Baghdad among those forcibly returned. Christians have faced kidnapping and killing by armed groups. Dozens were killed in 2010, especially in Baghdad and Mosul, and churches were bombed.
Amnesty International believes that it is not safe to forcibly return anyone to the Iraqi provinces of Ninewa (Mosul), Kirkuk, Diyala, Salah al-Din and Baghdad, and to other particularly dangerous areas such as parts of Al Anbar province. Anyone facing forced return to any of these areas, regardless of whether they originate from those areas, should be granted asylum or alternative forms of protection. In those regions of Iraq serious risks, including the ongoing indiscriminate threats to life, physical integrity or personal freedom, arising from violence or events seriously disturbing public order are all valid grounds for international protection.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Sweden is obliged under domestic and international law, including the 1951 Refugee Convention, the Convention against Torture and the European Convention on Human Rights, not to return anyone to a country where they would be at risk of torture and other grave human rights abuses, including indiscriminate threats to life, physical integrity or freedom arising from generalized violence.
In April 2010, Amnesty International issued a report (Iraq: Civilians under fire, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE14/002/2010/en) highlighting the risks to people returned involuntarily to Iraq, who are among those particularly vulnerable to be targeted with violence.
At least five European countries - Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands - have forcibly returned hundreds of Iraqis whose asylum claims had been dismissed since 2009. In the month of September 2010 alone, more than 150 individuals were returned from these five countries to Iraq. Many of these removals have been conducted in breach of UNHCR guidelines issued in April 2009 (and repeatedly reiterated, including as recently as September 2010) that identify particularly dangerous regions in Iraq to where no one should be forcibly returned - namely the provinces of Ninewa (Mosul), Kirkuk, Salah al-Din, Diyala and Baghdad. UNHCR also advised that no forcible returns should be conducted to other areas of Iraq unless an individual assessment has been carried out which indicates that it would be safe to return the individual in question.
Hundreds of civilians are still being killed or maimed every month in Iraq, notwithstanding the overall reduction in the civilian death-toll seen since 2008. Perpetrators of human rights abuses in Iraq include armed groups, militias, security forces and members of tribes. The recent publication of US secret and confidential files on the situation in Iraq by the Wikileaks organization has demonstrated, again, that civilians are the main victims of the ongoing violence in the country.
In practice, the number of Iraqi refugees seeking asylum in European states is relatively small compared to the numbers of those currently residing in states neighboring Iraq. Syria hosts by far the greatest number of refugees from Iraq, followed by Jordan and other Middle Eastern states. Amnesty International is concerned that the increasing pattern of forcible returns from the Sweden and other European states sets a very poor example to these Middle Eastern states, whose resources have been stretched by the influx of people fleeing from Iraq, and may contribute to an overall weakening of the international system of refugee protection.
For more detailed information regarding Amnesty International's concerns about forced returns to Iraq, see the statement issued on 10 November 2010 (European states must stop forced returns to Iraq, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR01/028/2010/en).
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
* Urging the Swedish authorities not to proceed with forcible returns of individuals to Iraq, particularly to the provinces of Ninewa (Mosul), Kirkuk, Diyala, Salah al-Din and Baghdad, and other particularly dangerous areas such as parts of Al Anbar province, due to their facing a real risk of persecution or serious harm;
* Calling on the Swedish authorities to grant Iraqi asylum-seekers facing return to these provinces asylum or alternative protection, and where Iraqis do not qualify for such protection, nonetheless not to forcibly remove them if doing so would place them at real risk of persecution or serious harm;
* Reminding the Swedish authorities that Sweden is obliged, under the 1951 Refugee Convention, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Convention against Torture, not to return or otherwise remove anyone to any country or territory where they would face a real risk of persecution or serious harm, including grave human rights abuses such as indiscriminate threats to life, physical integrity or freedom arising from generalized violence.
APPEALS TO:
Minister for Migration & Asylum Policy
Tobias Billstrom
Ministry of Justice
Rosenbad 4
103 33 Stockholm
SWEDEN
Fax: 011 46 8 20 27 34
Email: registrator@justice.ministry.se
Salutation: Dear Minister
Director-General
Swedish Migration Board
Dan Eliasson
601 70 Norrkoping
SWEDEN
Fax: 011 46 11 10 81 55
Email: dan.eliasson@migrationsverket.se
Salutation: Dear Mr Eliasson
COPIES TO:
Ambassador Jonas Hafstrom
Embassy of Sweden
2900 K Street NW
Washington DC 20007
Fax: 1 202 467 2699
Phone: 1 202 467 2611
Email: michael.westberg@foreign.ministry.se
ambassaden.washington@foreign.ministry.se
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 31 January 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
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Urgent Action 1-15-11
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa31208.pdf
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have
received the original UA when issued on November 11, 2008. Thanks!
14 January 2011
Further Information on UA 312/08 (11 November 2008) and follow up (08 June 2009) - Fear of Torture and other ill treatment /Prisoners of Conscience
SAUDI ARABIA
Sulieman al-Rushudi (m), retired judge
Dr Saud al-Hashimi (m), medical doctor
Al-Sharif Saif Al-Ghalib (m)
Dr Musa al-Qirni (m), university professor
Dr ‘Abdel Rahman al-Shumayri (m), university professor
Fahd al-Qirshi (m)
‘Abdel Rahman Khan (m)
‘Abdelaziz al-Khariji (m)
Dr Matrouk al-Faleh (m), university professor and human rights activist (released)
Prisoner of conscience Dr Saud al-Hashimi is alleged to have been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment in Saudi Arabia, and forced to sign a confession. He is a prisoner of conscience, detained for peacefully exercising his rights to freedom of expression and assembly.
Amnesty International has received information that Dr Saud al-Hashimi, a medical doctor aged 46, was subjected to torture or other ill-treatment at Dhahban prison in western Saudi Arabia. In December he was alleged to have been stripped of his clothes and placed in an extremely cold room for four days until he signed a statement confessing to allegations against him and stating that he did not want a lawyer during his court sessions. Days later, on 1 January, he was brought before a judge, but, when he tried to explain that he had signed under duress, the judge neither responded nor took any action with regards to his allegations. He is held in solitary confinement and is said to be suffering from a colon infection, to have high blood pressure and to be in need of medical treatment.
The statement which he signed listed allegations against him which include contacting the Al Jazeera television station, instigating young people to disobey Saudi Arabia’s ruler, contacting Sa’ad al-Faqih (founder and head of the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia, otherwise known as the Islah Movement, an opposition group based in the UK), collecting money without the permission of the ruler, forming a secret organization to overthrow the ruling regime, and money laundering.
Dr Saud al-Hashimi and at least six other men were detained in February 2007 in the cities of Jeddah and Madinah after they circulated a petition calling for political reform and discussed a proposal to establish an independent human rights organization in Saudi Arabia. They are all held in Dhahban prison.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Other men detained for their calls for reform along with Dr Saud al-Hasimi include al-Sharif Saif al-Ghalib, Dr Musa al-Qirni, Dr ‘Abdel Rahman al-Shumayri, Fahd al-Qirshi, ‘Abdel Rahman Khan and ‘Abdelaziz al-Khariji. They had also challenged the impunity enjoyed by Ministry of Interior officials who carry out arrests and detentions. The Ministry of Interior claimed in a statement that they were arrested because they were collecting money to support terrorism; the detainees deny this.
Dr Saud al-Hashimi has previously reported being tortured or otherwise ill-treated. In October 2010 he was said to have been subjected to electric shocks and in June 2009, he was stripped of all his clothes, except his underwear, shackled and dragged from his cell and placed in a severely cold cell for about five hours, because he was on hunger strike.
Critics of the Saudi Arabian government face gross human rights violations at the hands of branches of the security forces under the control of the Ministry of Interior. They are often held incommunicado without charge, denied access to lawyers and the courts to challenge the lawfulness of their detention, and tortured or otherwise ill-treated. Legal proceedings fall far short of international standards for fair trial: defendants are generally denied legal counsel, and in many cases they and their families are not informed of the progress of legal proceedings against them. Court hearings are often held behind closed doors.
Incommunicado detention and solitary confinement are routine practices in Saudi Arabia. Both are used, along with torture and other ill-treatment, to extract confessions from detainees, to punish them for refusing to “repent”, or to force them to make undertakings not to criticize the government. Incommunicado detention in Saudi Arabia often lasts until a confession is obtained, which can take months and occasionally years.
The UN Human Rights Committee has commented that routine prolonged solitary confinement is inconsistent with the obligation on states to ensure prisoners are treated with humanity and with respect for their inherent dignity (General Comment 21/44, 6 April 1992).
Saudi Arabia is a state party to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which prohibits the use of evidence extracted under torture or other ill-treatment. Article 15 states: “Each State Party shall ensure that any statement which is established to have been made as a result of torture shall not be invoked as evidence in any proceedings, except against a person accused of torture as evidence that the statement was made.”
For further information regarding the detention of peaceful critics of the state and human rights activists among thousands of others who have been arrested arbitrarily since 11 September 2001, please see Amnesty International’s report Saudi Arabia: Assaulting human rights in the name of counter-terrorism, 22 July 2009 (http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/saudi-arabia-human-rights-abuses-name-fighting-terrorism-20090722) and the update to the report Saudi Arabia: Countering terrorism with repression, issued on 11 September 2009 (http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE23/025/2009/en).
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Expressing concern about reports that Dr Saud al-Hashimi was tortured or otherwise ill-treated and asking for the allegations to be investigated by an independent and impartial body and those responsible to be brought to justice;
- Calling on the authorities to provide Dr Saud al-Hashimi with all necessary medical treatment without delay;
- Reminding them that any statements made by Dr Saud al-Hashimi as a result of torture or other ill-treatment should not be used as evidence against him, in accordance with the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, to which Saudi Arabia is a party;
- Calling on the authorities to release immediately and unconditionally Dr Saud al-Hashimi and all those held with him solely for the peaceful exercise of their right to express their conscientiously held beliefs;
- Urging the authorities to ensure that all the detainees are protected from torture and other ill-treatment, and given regular access to their families, their lawyers and any medical attention they may require.
APPEALS TO:
Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior
His Royal Highness Prince Naif bin ‘Abdul ‘Aziz Al-Saud,
Ministry of the Interior,
P.O. Box 2933, Airport Road
Riyadh 11134
KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA
Fax: 011 966 1 403 1185 (please keep trying)
Salutation: Your Royal Highness
King
His Majesty King ‘Abdullah Bin ‘Abdul ‘Aziz Al-Saud
The Custodian of the two Holy Mosques
Office of His Majesty the King
Royal Court, Riyadh
KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA
Fax: (via Ministry of the Interior) 011 966 1 403 1185 (please keep trying)
Salutation: Your Majesty
COPIES TO:
President, Human Rights Commission
Bandar Mohammed ‘Abdullah al-Aiban
Human Rights Commission
P.O. Box 58889, King Fahad Road,
Building No. 373, Riyadh 11515
KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA
Email: hrc@haq-ksa.org
Salutation: Dear Dr al-Aiban
Ambassador Adel A. Al-Jubeir
Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia
601 New Hampshire Ave. NW
Washington DC 20037
Fax: 1 202 944 5983
Email: info@saudiembassy.net
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 25 February 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: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
- From Amnesty International USA
To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa31208.pdf
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have
received the original UA when issued on November 11, 2008. Thanks!
14 January 2011
Further Information on UA 312/08 (11 November 2008) and follow up (08 June 2009) - Fear of Torture and other ill treatment /Prisoners of Conscience
SAUDI ARABIA
Sulieman al-Rushudi (m), retired judge
Dr Saud al-Hashimi (m), medical doctor
Al-Sharif Saif Al-Ghalib (m)
Dr Musa al-Qirni (m), university professor
Dr ‘Abdel Rahman al-Shumayri (m), university professor
Fahd al-Qirshi (m)
‘Abdel Rahman Khan (m)
‘Abdelaziz al-Khariji (m)
Dr Matrouk al-Faleh (m), university professor and human rights activist (released)
Prisoner of conscience Dr Saud al-Hashimi is alleged to have been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment in Saudi Arabia, and forced to sign a confession. He is a prisoner of conscience, detained for peacefully exercising his rights to freedom of expression and assembly.
Amnesty International has received information that Dr Saud al-Hashimi, a medical doctor aged 46, was subjected to torture or other ill-treatment at Dhahban prison in western Saudi Arabia. In December he was alleged to have been stripped of his clothes and placed in an extremely cold room for four days until he signed a statement confessing to allegations against him and stating that he did not want a lawyer during his court sessions. Days later, on 1 January, he was brought before a judge, but, when he tried to explain that he had signed under duress, the judge neither responded nor took any action with regards to his allegations. He is held in solitary confinement and is said to be suffering from a colon infection, to have high blood pressure and to be in need of medical treatment.
The statement which he signed listed allegations against him which include contacting the Al Jazeera television station, instigating young people to disobey Saudi Arabia’s ruler, contacting Sa’ad al-Faqih (founder and head of the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia, otherwise known as the Islah Movement, an opposition group based in the UK), collecting money without the permission of the ruler, forming a secret organization to overthrow the ruling regime, and money laundering.
Dr Saud al-Hashimi and at least six other men were detained in February 2007 in the cities of Jeddah and Madinah after they circulated a petition calling for political reform and discussed a proposal to establish an independent human rights organization in Saudi Arabia. They are all held in Dhahban prison.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Other men detained for their calls for reform along with Dr Saud al-Hasimi include al-Sharif Saif al-Ghalib, Dr Musa al-Qirni, Dr ‘Abdel Rahman al-Shumayri, Fahd al-Qirshi, ‘Abdel Rahman Khan and ‘Abdelaziz al-Khariji. They had also challenged the impunity enjoyed by Ministry of Interior officials who carry out arrests and detentions. The Ministry of Interior claimed in a statement that they were arrested because they were collecting money to support terrorism; the detainees deny this.
Dr Saud al-Hashimi has previously reported being tortured or otherwise ill-treated. In October 2010 he was said to have been subjected to electric shocks and in June 2009, he was stripped of all his clothes, except his underwear, shackled and dragged from his cell and placed in a severely cold cell for about five hours, because he was on hunger strike.
Critics of the Saudi Arabian government face gross human rights violations at the hands of branches of the security forces under the control of the Ministry of Interior. They are often held incommunicado without charge, denied access to lawyers and the courts to challenge the lawfulness of their detention, and tortured or otherwise ill-treated. Legal proceedings fall far short of international standards for fair trial: defendants are generally denied legal counsel, and in many cases they and their families are not informed of the progress of legal proceedings against them. Court hearings are often held behind closed doors.
Incommunicado detention and solitary confinement are routine practices in Saudi Arabia. Both are used, along with torture and other ill-treatment, to extract confessions from detainees, to punish them for refusing to “repent”, or to force them to make undertakings not to criticize the government. Incommunicado detention in Saudi Arabia often lasts until a confession is obtained, which can take months and occasionally years.
The UN Human Rights Committee has commented that routine prolonged solitary confinement is inconsistent with the obligation on states to ensure prisoners are treated with humanity and with respect for their inherent dignity (General Comment 21/44, 6 April 1992).
Saudi Arabia is a state party to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which prohibits the use of evidence extracted under torture or other ill-treatment. Article 15 states: “Each State Party shall ensure that any statement which is established to have been made as a result of torture shall not be invoked as evidence in any proceedings, except against a person accused of torture as evidence that the statement was made.”
For further information regarding the detention of peaceful critics of the state and human rights activists among thousands of others who have been arrested arbitrarily since 11 September 2001, please see Amnesty International’s report Saudi Arabia: Assaulting human rights in the name of counter-terrorism, 22 July 2009 (http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/saudi-arabia-human-rights-abuses-name-fighting-terrorism-20090722) and the update to the report Saudi Arabia: Countering terrorism with repression, issued on 11 September 2009 (http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE23/025/2009/en).
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Expressing concern about reports that Dr Saud al-Hashimi was tortured or otherwise ill-treated and asking for the allegations to be investigated by an independent and impartial body and those responsible to be brought to justice;
- Calling on the authorities to provide Dr Saud al-Hashimi with all necessary medical treatment without delay;
- Reminding them that any statements made by Dr Saud al-Hashimi as a result of torture or other ill-treatment should not be used as evidence against him, in accordance with the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, to which Saudi Arabia is a party;
- Calling on the authorities to release immediately and unconditionally Dr Saud al-Hashimi and all those held with him solely for the peaceful exercise of their right to express their conscientiously held beliefs;
- Urging the authorities to ensure that all the detainees are protected from torture and other ill-treatment, and given regular access to their families, their lawyers and any medical attention they may require.
APPEALS TO:
Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior
His Royal Highness Prince Naif bin ‘Abdul ‘Aziz Al-Saud,
Ministry of the Interior,
P.O. Box 2933, Airport Road
Riyadh 11134
KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA
Fax: 011 966 1 403 1185 (please keep trying)
Salutation: Your Royal Highness
King
His Majesty King ‘Abdullah Bin ‘Abdul ‘Aziz Al-Saud
The Custodian of the two Holy Mosques
Office of His Majesty the King
Royal Court, Riyadh
KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA
Fax: (via Ministry of the Interior) 011 966 1 403 1185 (please keep trying)
Salutation: Your Majesty
COPIES TO:
President, Human Rights Commission
Bandar Mohammed ‘Abdullah al-Aiban
Human Rights Commission
P.O. Box 58889, King Fahad Road,
Building No. 373, Riyadh 11515
KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA
Email: hrc@haq-ksa.org
Salutation: Dear Dr al-Aiban
Ambassador Adel A. Al-Jubeir
Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia
601 New Hampshire Ave. NW
Washington DC 20037
Fax: 1 202 944 5983
Email: info@saudiembassy.net
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 25 February 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: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
Thursday, January 13, 2011
3 Urgent Actions 1-13-10
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/uaa00911.pdf
13 January 2011
UA 9/11 Death Penalty
USA Urge Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to sign abolition bill
The Illinois legislature has passed a bill to abolish the death penalty in the state. This historic bill now goes to the state governor who can sign it into law or veto it. Governor Pat Quinn has said he will look at the bill “very carefully”. He has a maximum of 60 days to act on it. Appeals to the Governor at this stage could help convince him to sign the bill into law.
The Illinois Senate approved the abolitionist bill – Senate Bill 3539 – on 11 January by 32 votes to 25. The Senate’s vote follows passage of the bill through the state House of Representatives on 6 January, by 60 votes to 54. The bill would abolish the death penalty, and would also reallocate funds earmarked for capital punishment cases to be used for services for families of murder victims and for the training of law enforcement personnel.
Illinois has executed 12 people since judicial killing resumed in the USA in 1977. During the same period, 20 people have been released from the state’s death row, the second highest number of such exonerations among the USA’s death penalty states. Illinois has not carried out an execution since 1999, and in 2000 then-Governor George Ryan declared a moratorium on executions after concluding that the capital justice system was fundamentally flawed. In 2003, he pardoned four death row inmates whom he concluded were innocent, and commuted the death sentences of 167 other prisoners. Although capital prosecutions have continued – there are currently 15 men on death row in Illinois – Governor Ryan’s successors, Rod Blagojevich and Pat Quinn, have supported the continuation of the moratorium on executions.
If Governor Quinn signs the bill, Illinois would become the 16th abolitionist state in the USA, and the third state to enact legislation to abolish the death penalty since 2007, following New Jersey in 2007 and New Mexico in 2009.
At a press conference on 12 January, Governor Quinn said that he will look at the bill “very carefully”, that it is a “very important matter” that “deserves lots of study”. He said that he will consider opinions expressed to him in the coming period by people in Illinois, and “listen, reflect and follow my conscience”. He referred to the state’s history of wrongful convictions in capital cases, which would have “resulted in terrible tragedies” if any of the prisoners concerned had been executed. He noted that he has a maximum of 60 days from when the bill arrives before him to take action on it. He can sign the bill into law or he can veto it. If he does not act on the bill during the 60-day period, it would pass into law.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases, unconditionally. 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 prolongs the suffering of the murder victim’s family, and extends that suffering to the loved ones of the condemned prisoner. It diverts resources that could be better used to work against violent crime and assist those affected by it.
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 more than 1200 executions in the USA since judicial killing resumed there in 1977, and more than 3200 men and women are on death row today. However, the number of death sentences passed each year in the USA continues to fall well below the peak in the mid-1990s. The number of people sentenced to death in the USA in each of the past five years, for example, was only about a third of what it was in each of the five years from 1992 to 1996. This pattern is reflected in Illinois too. In the 10 years between 2000 and 2009, on average, 3.3 death sentences were passed each year in Illinois. In the preceding decade, the average was more than three times greater, at 11.3 death sentences per year.
Arbitrariness, discrimination and error mark the death penalty in the USA, along with its inescapable cruelty. More than 130 people have been released from death rows on grounds of innocence since 1976. 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.
Among other things, the Gregg v. Georgia ruling cited Section 210.6 of the Model Penal Code issued by the American Law Institute in the 1960s. This had sought to provide legislators in states which decided to retain the death penalty with rules aimed at maximizing fairness and reliability in capital sentencing. In 2009, the American Law Institute voted to withdraw §210.6 “in light of the current intractable institutional and structural obstacles to ensuring a minimally adequate system for administering capital punishment”. In assessing whether to withdraw §210.6, the Institute had considered, among other things, the inadequacies of the US Supreme Court’s constitutional regulation of the death penalty and of federal habeas corpus review generally, the politicization of the death penalty, racial discrimination, systemic juror confusion in capital cases, the under-funding of defense counsel services, and death sentences against the innocent. 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:
- Welcoming the vote by the legislature to pass the bill to abolish the death penalty;
- Urging Governor Quinn to sign the bill into law;
- If you know anyone in Illinois, ask them to call the Governor’s Office and urge that he sign the bill.
APPEALS TO:
Governor
Pat Quinn
Office of the Governor
207 State House
Springfield, IL 62706, USA
Fax: 1 217 524 4049 OR
1 312 814 5512
Email via: http://www2.illinois.gov/gov/Pages/ContacttheGovernor.aspx
Salutation: Dear Governor
COPIES TO:
If possible, please call Governor Quinn with the simple message that you are excited and ask him to please sign the death penalty abolition bill.
Phone number: 312-814-2121
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 24 February 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
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
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/uaa26410.pdf
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on 21 December 2010. Thanks!
12 January 2011
Further information on UA 264/10 (21 December 2010) and follow-up (23 December 2010) – Torture/Arbitrary arrest/ Legal concern
BELARUS
Andrei Sannikau (m)
Iryna Khalip (f)
Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu (m)
Natalya Radzina (f)
and others
Amnesty International is calling for the release of 15 Belarusian activists and journalists who have been charged with ‘organizing mass disorder’ following a demonstration on 19 December to protest against the results of the Presidential election.
Over 700 people were detained for their participation in the demonstration. Most have since been released after serving short administrative sentences, but key political figures, activists and journalists are still detained in what appears to be a clampdown on opposition activity.
To date, there are 30 opposition activists and journalists, including five Presidential candidates, who have been detained and charged. Their trials are expected to be held in two to three months and they risk being sentenced to up to 15 years’ imprisonment. They are reportedly being denied adequate access to lawyers and doctors despite some sustaining injuries during the demonstration after being beaten by riot police.
Amnesty International is gathering information on all 30 detainees. Currently, the organization has sufficient information to confirm that 15 of them did not resort to or incite violence before or during the demonstration. The organization believes that these 15 detainees are facing charges solely because of the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression and is calling for their immediate and unconditional release and for the charges against them to be dropped. Additionally, a further 14 people are in detention awaiting charge, having also been detained following the demonstration. As further information is collated, it is likely that more prisoners of conscience will be identified.
One Presidential candidate, Vital Rymasheusky, and two opposition activists, Anatol Paulau and Aleg Korban
have been charged with ‘organizing mass disorder’ but they have been released from detention. Amnesty
International is calling for the charges brought against them to be dropped.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
To date, the 15 prisoners of conscience are:
Presidential candidates: Alyaksei Mihalevich, Mykalau Statkevich, Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu and Andrei Sannikau
Journalists: Natallya Radzina, Editor of Charter 97 website, Iryna Khalip correspondent for the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, and Syargei Vaznyak, Editor of the newspaper “Comrade”
Political commentator: Alyaksandr Fyaduta
Opposition activists: Pavel Sevyarynets an opposition activist and member of Vital Rymasheusky’s campaign team, Anatol Lyabedka a member of the United Civic Party, Uladzimir Kobets, a member of Alyaksandr Sannikov’s campaign team, Zmitser Bandarenka, the coordinator of the opposition European Belarus campaign, Alyaksandr Arastovych, and Syargei Martseleu, members of Mykalau Statkevich’s campaign team, and Anastasiya Palazhanka, the deputy leader of the Young Front movement.
Prior to the election, opposition groups called on their supporters to gather in central Minsk after voting finished on 19 December. Up to 30,000 demonstrators gathered and marched to the parliament building unhindered by law enforcement officers, who stopped traffic to allow the demonstrators to pass. At around 9pm, they gathered outside the parliament building and opposition leaders gave speeches. At around 10pm, a group of about 20 masked young men who stood by the doors of parliament armed with batons called on the crowd to storm the building and started to break windows. Eyewitnesses report that presidential candidate, Mykalau Statkevich, who was speaking at the time, called on the crowd to be peaceful. Shortly after this, riot police moved in and cleared the demonstrators from the Square. Many opposition activists were detained at the demonstration and during the following night.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Calling on the Belarusian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all 15 prisoners of conscience, listing their names as given in the background information;
- Calling on the Belarusian authorities to drop the charges against all 15 prisoners of conscience, listing their names, as well as the charges against Vital Rymasheusky, Anatol Paulau and Aleg Korban;
- Reminding Belarus that as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, it has an obligation to guarantee freedom of expression and assembly to all on its territory, and that anybody prosecuted for the legitimate and peaceful expression of their political views will be considered a prisoner of conscience.
APPEALS TO:
President
Alyaksandr Lukashenka
Administratsia Prezidenta Respubliki Belarus
ul.Karla Marksa, 38
220016 Minsk
BELARUS
Fax: 011 375 17 226 06 10 OR
011 375 17 222 38 72
Email: contact@president.gov.by
Salutation: Dear President Lukashenka
Prosecutor General
Grigory Alekseevich Vasilevich
Internatsionalnaya str. 22
220050 Minsk
BELARUS
Fax: 011 375 17 226 42 52
Salutation: Dear Prosecutor General
COPIES TO:
Ambassador Oleg Kravchenko
Embassy of the Republic of Belarus
1619 New Hampshire Ave NW
Washington DC 20009
Fax: 1 202 986 1805
Email: usa@belarusembassy.org OR
politics@belarusembassy.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 23 February 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
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
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/uaa00711.pdf
12 January 2011
UA 7/11 Risk of torture or other ill-treatment
INDONESIA Buchtar Tabuni (m)
Indonesian prisoner of conscience Buchtar Tabuni is at risk of torture or other ill-treatment. He has been moved to an isolation cell, prompting fears for his safety.
Buchtar Tabuni, a peaceful political activist and chair of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), a pro-independence organization, was moved to an isolation cell at the Jayapura police station in Papua province on 7 January. Buchtar was not informed by the police of the reasons for the transfer. He has fears about his safety and that he might be forced by the police to give a confession. He is also suffering from gastric problems.
In recent years, Amnesty International has reported on a number of peaceful political activists in Indonesia who have been tortured or otherwise ill-treated by police during arrest, detention and interrogation. Furthermore, the Criminal Procedure Code does not explicitly prohibit the use of statements obtained as a result of torture or other ill-treatment in court proceedings.
Buchtar Tabuni and another prisoner Filep Karma were transferred to the Jayapura police station after a riot erupted at the Abepura prison, also in Papua province, on 3 December. The Head of the Jayapura police station said on 4 December that the men were arrested for “allegedly provoking other prisoners which caused damage in the correctional facility”. However, according to reliable sources, they were not involved in the violence and had attempted to mediate between the prisoners and prison guards. Both were denied access to lawyers and family during the first few days of their detention at the police station and there was a delay in providing adequate food to them, which exacerbated Bucthar Tabuni’s gastric problems. On 15 December, an investigation letter from the police identified Filep Karma and Buchtar Tabuni as witnesses to the riot. No charges have been brought against the men with regard to the riots.
As a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Indonesian government has an obligation to ensure anyone who is arrested is immediately told the reason for arrest and promptly informed of the charges; they must be brought promptly before a court and have the opportunity to challenge the detention. An isolation regime intentionally imposed in order to apply psychological pressure on prisoners can become coercive and should be absolutely prohibited.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Buchtar Tabuni and Filep Karma have been in prison in the Indonesian province of Papua for their peaceful pro-independence activities for two and six years, respectively. Amnesty International considers both of them prisoners of conscience.
Buchtar Tabuni was arrested in October 2008 for having organized a demonstration in support of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua (IPWP), a coalition of parliamentarians supporting the right to self-determination for Papua. He was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for inciting hatred against the Indonesian government.
Filep Karma was arrested for organizing a flag-raising event in the town of Jayapura in December 2004. He was convicted of “rebellion” and sentenced in May 2005 to 15 years’ imprisonment. Filep Karma had suffered from health problems before his arrest, but the conditions at the Abepura prison where he has been held and the refusal of the authorities to provide him adequate medical care between August 2009 and July 2010 exacerbated his medical condition. In July 2010 he was allowed to travel to Jakarta for medical treatment.
Amnesty International takes no position whatsoever on the political status of any province of Indonesia, including calls for independence. However the organization believes that the right to freedom of expression includes the right to peacefully advocate referendums, independence or other political solutions.
West Papua and Papua provinces occupy the western half of the island of New Guinea. Papua province borders the independent state of Papua New Guinea. The arrest and detention of people in Papua are part of a larger crackdown on political activists in areas where there has been a history of separatist movements, including Papua and Maluku. The Indonesian authorities have reacted strongly towards individuals who have called for independence. Amnesty International has documented dozens of arrests in past years of such peaceful political activists. Some were sentenced to terms of imprisonment for raising the prohibited pro-independence “Morning Star” flag in Papua.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- To immediately remove Buchtar Tabuni from solitary confinement and guarantee that he will not be tortured or otherwise ill-treated while he remains in custody;
- To ensure that Buchtar Tabuni and Filep Karma receive ongoing access to legal counsel, their families and adequate medical care;
- To charge Buchtar Tabuni and Filep Karma with an internationally recognizable criminal offense or immediately and unconditionally release them, as they had been originally imprisoned solely for peacefully expressing their views;
To ensure that all detention and judicial procedures comply with Indonesia’s obligations under the ICCPR.
APPEALS TO:
Inspektur Jenderal Bekto Suprapto
Papua Police Chief
Regional Head of Police (Kapolda)
Jl. Samratulangi No. 8 Jayapura,
Papua, INDONESIA
Fax: 011 62 967 533763
Salutation: Dear Kapolda
Mr. Patrialis Akbar
Minister of Justice and Human Rights
Ministry of Justice and Human Rights
Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said Kav No. 4-5
Kuningan, Jakarta Selatan 12950 INDONESIA
Fax: 011 62 21 525 3095
Salutation : Dear Minister
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/contactform/contact-form.php
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 23 February 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
----------------------------------
END OF 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/uaa00911.pdf
13 January 2011
UA 9/11 Death Penalty
USA Urge Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to sign abolition bill
The Illinois legislature has passed a bill to abolish the death penalty in the state. This historic bill now goes to the state governor who can sign it into law or veto it. Governor Pat Quinn has said he will look at the bill “very carefully”. He has a maximum of 60 days to act on it. Appeals to the Governor at this stage could help convince him to sign the bill into law.
The Illinois Senate approved the abolitionist bill – Senate Bill 3539 – on 11 January by 32 votes to 25. The Senate’s vote follows passage of the bill through the state House of Representatives on 6 January, by 60 votes to 54. The bill would abolish the death penalty, and would also reallocate funds earmarked for capital punishment cases to be used for services for families of murder victims and for the training of law enforcement personnel.
Illinois has executed 12 people since judicial killing resumed in the USA in 1977. During the same period, 20 people have been released from the state’s death row, the second highest number of such exonerations among the USA’s death penalty states. Illinois has not carried out an execution since 1999, and in 2000 then-Governor George Ryan declared a moratorium on executions after concluding that the capital justice system was fundamentally flawed. In 2003, he pardoned four death row inmates whom he concluded were innocent, and commuted the death sentences of 167 other prisoners. Although capital prosecutions have continued – there are currently 15 men on death row in Illinois – Governor Ryan’s successors, Rod Blagojevich and Pat Quinn, have supported the continuation of the moratorium on executions.
If Governor Quinn signs the bill, Illinois would become the 16th abolitionist state in the USA, and the third state to enact legislation to abolish the death penalty since 2007, following New Jersey in 2007 and New Mexico in 2009.
At a press conference on 12 January, Governor Quinn said that he will look at the bill “very carefully”, that it is a “very important matter” that “deserves lots of study”. He said that he will consider opinions expressed to him in the coming period by people in Illinois, and “listen, reflect and follow my conscience”. He referred to the state’s history of wrongful convictions in capital cases, which would have “resulted in terrible tragedies” if any of the prisoners concerned had been executed. He noted that he has a maximum of 60 days from when the bill arrives before him to take action on it. He can sign the bill into law or he can veto it. If he does not act on the bill during the 60-day period, it would pass into law.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases, unconditionally. 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 prolongs the suffering of the murder victim’s family, and extends that suffering to the loved ones of the condemned prisoner. It diverts resources that could be better used to work against violent crime and assist those affected by it.
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 more than 1200 executions in the USA since judicial killing resumed there in 1977, and more than 3200 men and women are on death row today. However, the number of death sentences passed each year in the USA continues to fall well below the peak in the mid-1990s. The number of people sentenced to death in the USA in each of the past five years, for example, was only about a third of what it was in each of the five years from 1992 to 1996. This pattern is reflected in Illinois too. In the 10 years between 2000 and 2009, on average, 3.3 death sentences were passed each year in Illinois. In the preceding decade, the average was more than three times greater, at 11.3 death sentences per year.
Arbitrariness, discrimination and error mark the death penalty in the USA, along with its inescapable cruelty. More than 130 people have been released from death rows on grounds of innocence since 1976. 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.
Among other things, the Gregg v. Georgia ruling cited Section 210.6 of the Model Penal Code issued by the American Law Institute in the 1960s. This had sought to provide legislators in states which decided to retain the death penalty with rules aimed at maximizing fairness and reliability in capital sentencing. In 2009, the American Law Institute voted to withdraw §210.6 “in light of the current intractable institutional and structural obstacles to ensuring a minimally adequate system for administering capital punishment”. In assessing whether to withdraw §210.6, the Institute had considered, among other things, the inadequacies of the US Supreme Court’s constitutional regulation of the death penalty and of federal habeas corpus review generally, the politicization of the death penalty, racial discrimination, systemic juror confusion in capital cases, the under-funding of defense counsel services, and death sentences against the innocent. 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:
- Welcoming the vote by the legislature to pass the bill to abolish the death penalty;
- Urging Governor Quinn to sign the bill into law;
- If you know anyone in Illinois, ask them to call the Governor’s Office and urge that he sign the bill.
APPEALS TO:
Governor
Pat Quinn
Office of the Governor
207 State House
Springfield, IL 62706, USA
Fax: 1 217 524 4049 OR
1 312 814 5512
Email via: http://www2.illinois.gov/gov/Pages/ContacttheGovernor.aspx
Salutation: Dear Governor
COPIES TO:
If possible, please call Governor Quinn with the simple message that you are excited and ask him to please sign the death penalty abolition bill.
Phone number: 312-814-2121
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 24 February 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
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
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/uaa26410.pdf
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on 21 December 2010. Thanks!
12 January 2011
Further information on UA 264/10 (21 December 2010) and follow-up (23 December 2010) – Torture/Arbitrary arrest/ Legal concern
BELARUS
Andrei Sannikau (m)
Iryna Khalip (f)
Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu (m)
Natalya Radzina (f)
and others
Amnesty International is calling for the release of 15 Belarusian activists and journalists who have been charged with ‘organizing mass disorder’ following a demonstration on 19 December to protest against the results of the Presidential election.
Over 700 people were detained for their participation in the demonstration. Most have since been released after serving short administrative sentences, but key political figures, activists and journalists are still detained in what appears to be a clampdown on opposition activity.
To date, there are 30 opposition activists and journalists, including five Presidential candidates, who have been detained and charged. Their trials are expected to be held in two to three months and they risk being sentenced to up to 15 years’ imprisonment. They are reportedly being denied adequate access to lawyers and doctors despite some sustaining injuries during the demonstration after being beaten by riot police.
Amnesty International is gathering information on all 30 detainees. Currently, the organization has sufficient information to confirm that 15 of them did not resort to or incite violence before or during the demonstration. The organization believes that these 15 detainees are facing charges solely because of the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression and is calling for their immediate and unconditional release and for the charges against them to be dropped. Additionally, a further 14 people are in detention awaiting charge, having also been detained following the demonstration. As further information is collated, it is likely that more prisoners of conscience will be identified.
One Presidential candidate, Vital Rymasheusky, and two opposition activists, Anatol Paulau and Aleg Korban
have been charged with ‘organizing mass disorder’ but they have been released from detention. Amnesty
International is calling for the charges brought against them to be dropped.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
To date, the 15 prisoners of conscience are:
Presidential candidates: Alyaksei Mihalevich, Mykalau Statkevich, Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu and Andrei Sannikau
Journalists: Natallya Radzina, Editor of Charter 97 website, Iryna Khalip correspondent for the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, and Syargei Vaznyak, Editor of the newspaper “Comrade”
Political commentator: Alyaksandr Fyaduta
Opposition activists: Pavel Sevyarynets an opposition activist and member of Vital Rymasheusky’s campaign team, Anatol Lyabedka a member of the United Civic Party, Uladzimir Kobets, a member of Alyaksandr Sannikov’s campaign team, Zmitser Bandarenka, the coordinator of the opposition European Belarus campaign, Alyaksandr Arastovych, and Syargei Martseleu, members of Mykalau Statkevich’s campaign team, and Anastasiya Palazhanka, the deputy leader of the Young Front movement.
Prior to the election, opposition groups called on their supporters to gather in central Minsk after voting finished on 19 December. Up to 30,000 demonstrators gathered and marched to the parliament building unhindered by law enforcement officers, who stopped traffic to allow the demonstrators to pass. At around 9pm, they gathered outside the parliament building and opposition leaders gave speeches. At around 10pm, a group of about 20 masked young men who stood by the doors of parliament armed with batons called on the crowd to storm the building and started to break windows. Eyewitnesses report that presidential candidate, Mykalau Statkevich, who was speaking at the time, called on the crowd to be peaceful. Shortly after this, riot police moved in and cleared the demonstrators from the Square. Many opposition activists were detained at the demonstration and during the following night.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Calling on the Belarusian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all 15 prisoners of conscience, listing their names as given in the background information;
- Calling on the Belarusian authorities to drop the charges against all 15 prisoners of conscience, listing their names, as well as the charges against Vital Rymasheusky, Anatol Paulau and Aleg Korban;
- Reminding Belarus that as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, it has an obligation to guarantee freedom of expression and assembly to all on its territory, and that anybody prosecuted for the legitimate and peaceful expression of their political views will be considered a prisoner of conscience.
APPEALS TO:
President
Alyaksandr Lukashenka
Administratsia Prezidenta Respubliki Belarus
ul.Karla Marksa, 38
220016 Minsk
BELARUS
Fax: 011 375 17 226 06 10 OR
011 375 17 222 38 72
Email: contact@president.gov.by
Salutation: Dear President Lukashenka
Prosecutor General
Grigory Alekseevich Vasilevich
Internatsionalnaya str. 22
220050 Minsk
BELARUS
Fax: 011 375 17 226 42 52
Salutation: Dear Prosecutor General
COPIES TO:
Ambassador Oleg Kravchenko
Embassy of the Republic of Belarus
1619 New Hampshire Ave NW
Washington DC 20009
Fax: 1 202 986 1805
Email: usa@belarusembassy.org OR
politics@belarusembassy.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 23 February 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
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
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/uaa00711.pdf
12 January 2011
UA 7/11 Risk of torture or other ill-treatment
INDONESIA Buchtar Tabuni (m)
Indonesian prisoner of conscience Buchtar Tabuni is at risk of torture or other ill-treatment. He has been moved to an isolation cell, prompting fears for his safety.
Buchtar Tabuni, a peaceful political activist and chair of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), a pro-independence organization, was moved to an isolation cell at the Jayapura police station in Papua province on 7 January. Buchtar was not informed by the police of the reasons for the transfer. He has fears about his safety and that he might be forced by the police to give a confession. He is also suffering from gastric problems.
In recent years, Amnesty International has reported on a number of peaceful political activists in Indonesia who have been tortured or otherwise ill-treated by police during arrest, detention and interrogation. Furthermore, the Criminal Procedure Code does not explicitly prohibit the use of statements obtained as a result of torture or other ill-treatment in court proceedings.
Buchtar Tabuni and another prisoner Filep Karma were transferred to the Jayapura police station after a riot erupted at the Abepura prison, also in Papua province, on 3 December. The Head of the Jayapura police station said on 4 December that the men were arrested for “allegedly provoking other prisoners which caused damage in the correctional facility”. However, according to reliable sources, they were not involved in the violence and had attempted to mediate between the prisoners and prison guards. Both were denied access to lawyers and family during the first few days of their detention at the police station and there was a delay in providing adequate food to them, which exacerbated Bucthar Tabuni’s gastric problems. On 15 December, an investigation letter from the police identified Filep Karma and Buchtar Tabuni as witnesses to the riot. No charges have been brought against the men with regard to the riots.
As a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Indonesian government has an obligation to ensure anyone who is arrested is immediately told the reason for arrest and promptly informed of the charges; they must be brought promptly before a court and have the opportunity to challenge the detention. An isolation regime intentionally imposed in order to apply psychological pressure on prisoners can become coercive and should be absolutely prohibited.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Buchtar Tabuni and Filep Karma have been in prison in the Indonesian province of Papua for their peaceful pro-independence activities for two and six years, respectively. Amnesty International considers both of them prisoners of conscience.
Buchtar Tabuni was arrested in October 2008 for having organized a demonstration in support of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua (IPWP), a coalition of parliamentarians supporting the right to self-determination for Papua. He was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for inciting hatred against the Indonesian government.
Filep Karma was arrested for organizing a flag-raising event in the town of Jayapura in December 2004. He was convicted of “rebellion” and sentenced in May 2005 to 15 years’ imprisonment. Filep Karma had suffered from health problems before his arrest, but the conditions at the Abepura prison where he has been held and the refusal of the authorities to provide him adequate medical care between August 2009 and July 2010 exacerbated his medical condition. In July 2010 he was allowed to travel to Jakarta for medical treatment.
Amnesty International takes no position whatsoever on the political status of any province of Indonesia, including calls for independence. However the organization believes that the right to freedom of expression includes the right to peacefully advocate referendums, independence or other political solutions.
West Papua and Papua provinces occupy the western half of the island of New Guinea. Papua province borders the independent state of Papua New Guinea. The arrest and detention of people in Papua are part of a larger crackdown on political activists in areas where there has been a history of separatist movements, including Papua and Maluku. The Indonesian authorities have reacted strongly towards individuals who have called for independence. Amnesty International has documented dozens of arrests in past years of such peaceful political activists. Some were sentenced to terms of imprisonment for raising the prohibited pro-independence “Morning Star” flag in Papua.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- To immediately remove Buchtar Tabuni from solitary confinement and guarantee that he will not be tortured or otherwise ill-treated while he remains in custody;
- To ensure that Buchtar Tabuni and Filep Karma receive ongoing access to legal counsel, their families and adequate medical care;
- To charge Buchtar Tabuni and Filep Karma with an internationally recognizable criminal offense or immediately and unconditionally release them, as they had been originally imprisoned solely for peacefully expressing their views;
To ensure that all detention and judicial procedures comply with Indonesia’s obligations under the ICCPR.
APPEALS TO:
Inspektur Jenderal Bekto Suprapto
Papua Police Chief
Regional Head of Police (Kapolda)
Jl. Samratulangi No. 8 Jayapura,
Papua, INDONESIA
Fax: 011 62 967 533763
Salutation: Dear Kapolda
Mr. Patrialis Akbar
Minister of Justice and Human Rights
Ministry of Justice and Human Rights
Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said Kav No. 4-5
Kuningan, Jakarta Selatan 12950 INDONESIA
Fax: 011 62 21 525 3095
Salutation : Dear Minister
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/contactform/contact-form.php
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 23 February 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
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Urgent Action 1-8-11
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/uaa09710.pdf
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on April 28, 2010. Thanks!
07 January 2010
Further information on UA 97/10 (28 April 2010) and follow-up (10 August 2010) – Legal concern/Juvenile at risk of life without parole
USA Jordan Brown (m)
On 25 January 2011, the Pennsylvania Superior Court will hear oral arguments in its review of Jordan Brown’s appeal against a court decision to try him as an adult for the killing of Kenzie Houk, his father’s fiancée. If tried in an adult court, the 13-year-old boy could be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. This sentence, when imposed on anyone who was under 18 years old at the time of the crime, violates international law.
On 27 July 2010, the Pennsylvania Superior Court issued an order granting a review of the appeal. Jordan Brown’s lawyers had filed the appeal following a judge’s decision to deny the transfer of the trial to juvenile court. The boy's lawyers filed their written arguments on 23 September. The state Attorney General was granted a delay and filed his written arguments on 29 November, in which he defended the original decision to try the boy in adult court. On 25 January 2011, oral arguments from both the state Attorney General and Jordan Brown’s lawyers will be heard.
Jordan Brown, who was 11 at the time of the crime, has been automatically charged for trial in adult court, as required by Pennsylvania law for cases involving murder. He has been charged with two counts of homicide, because the victim was eight and a half months pregnant and her unborn child also died. If convicted of first-degree murder in an adult court, Jordan Brown would be sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole.
The Superior Court’s review of the appeal remains a crucial step in the future of Jordan Brown’s case. Amnesty International is deeply concerned that the state Attorney General continues to seek an adult trial for Jordan Brown.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
A life without parole sentence when imposed on a defendant who was under 18 at the time of the crime violates international law and standards which are almost universally accepted around the world. These standards recognize that, however serious the crime, children, who are still developing physically, mentally and emotionally, do not have the same level of culpability as adults and require special treatment in the criminal justice system appropriate to their youth and immaturity. The standards emphasize that when children come into conflict with the law, the primary objectives should be the child's best interests and the potential for his or her successful reintegration into society. Life imprisonment without parole clearly is inconsistent with this international obligation.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which the USA ratified in 1992, specifically acknowledges the need for special treatment of children in the criminal justice system and emphasizes the importance of their rehabilitation. Article 14(4) of the ICCPR states: “In the case of juvenile persons, the procedure shall be such as will take account of their age and the desirability of promoting their rehabilitation”. In 2006, the UN Human Rights Committee, the expert body established by the ICCPR to oversee implementation of the treaty, reminded the USA that sentencing children to life imprisonment without parole is incompatible with the ICCPR. It called on the USA to ensure that no children were subjected to this sentence.
The 193 countries which have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) have further agreed to be bound by the principle, enshrined in Article 37(a), that no person under the age of 18 at the time of the offence should be sentenced to “life imprisonment without the possibility of release”. The USA is the only country apart from Somalia not to have ratified the CRC. However, the USA has signed the Convention and as a signatory, the USA is bound under international law to do nothing which would defeat the object and purpose of the treaty. Article 37(b) of the Convention also calls upon states to use imprisonment against a child “only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.”
In a General Comment on children’s rights in juvenile justice issued in 2007, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the expert body established under the CRC, emphasised that no children should be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The Committee reminded those countries which sentence children to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole that this punishment must “fully comply with and strive for the realization of the aims of juvenile justice”, including that the child should receive “education, treatment, and care aiming at his/her release, reintegration and ability to assume a constructive role in society”.
The USA is believed to stand alone in sentencing children to life without parole. Although several countries technically permit the practice, Amnesty International knows of no cases outside the USA where such a sentence has been imposed in recent years. Jordan Brown is the youngest person that Amnesty International knows of who is currently at risk of being sentenced to life without parole. However, there are at least 2,500 people in the USA serving life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for crimes committed when they were under 18. Jordan Brown's case is therefore starkly illustrative of a wider problem, and the organization is taking this action as part of its efforts to persuade authorities in the USA to bring their country into line with international standards on the treatment of child offenders (see USA: The rest of their lives: Life without Parole for Child Offenders in the United States: a joint Human Rights Watch/Amnesty International Report http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/162/2005/en). In such cases, Amnesty International does not specify in detail what sentence is appropriate, only that it should conform to international standards.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Explaining that you are not seeking to excuse the killing of Kenzie Houk;
- Pointing out that international law prohibits life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for anyone who was under 18 years old at the time of the crime, and that this principle of international law is recognized and respected around the world;
- Expressing concern that the state is seeking to have Jordan Brown tried in adult court which would expose him upon conviction for first-degree murder to a mandatory life imprisonment without the possibility of parole;
- Calling on the prosecution to meet its international obligation to ensure that Jordan Brown not be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole;
- Renewing appeals for the prosecution to take the opportunity of the Superior Court’s review to reconsider its position and drop its pursuit of a trial in adult court.
APPEALS TO:
Pennsylvania Attorney General
Tom Corbett
Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
16th Floor, Strawberry Square
Harrisburg, PA 17120
Fax: 1 717 787 8242
Email: http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/contactus/
Salutation: Dear Attorney General
COPIES TO:
Jordan Brown’s lawyer
David H. Acker, Esquire
414 N. Jefferson Street
New Castle, PA 16101
Email: David_Acker_Attorneyatlaw@hotmail.com
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 25 January 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
----------------------------------
END OF 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/uaa09710.pdf
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on April 28, 2010. Thanks!
07 January 2010
Further information on UA 97/10 (28 April 2010) and follow-up (10 August 2010) – Legal concern/Juvenile at risk of life without parole
USA Jordan Brown (m)
On 25 January 2011, the Pennsylvania Superior Court will hear oral arguments in its review of Jordan Brown’s appeal against a court decision to try him as an adult for the killing of Kenzie Houk, his father’s fiancée. If tried in an adult court, the 13-year-old boy could be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. This sentence, when imposed on anyone who was under 18 years old at the time of the crime, violates international law.
On 27 July 2010, the Pennsylvania Superior Court issued an order granting a review of the appeal. Jordan Brown’s lawyers had filed the appeal following a judge’s decision to deny the transfer of the trial to juvenile court. The boy's lawyers filed their written arguments on 23 September. The state Attorney General was granted a delay and filed his written arguments on 29 November, in which he defended the original decision to try the boy in adult court. On 25 January 2011, oral arguments from both the state Attorney General and Jordan Brown’s lawyers will be heard.
Jordan Brown, who was 11 at the time of the crime, has been automatically charged for trial in adult court, as required by Pennsylvania law for cases involving murder. He has been charged with two counts of homicide, because the victim was eight and a half months pregnant and her unborn child also died. If convicted of first-degree murder in an adult court, Jordan Brown would be sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole.
The Superior Court’s review of the appeal remains a crucial step in the future of Jordan Brown’s case. Amnesty International is deeply concerned that the state Attorney General continues to seek an adult trial for Jordan Brown.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
A life without parole sentence when imposed on a defendant who was under 18 at the time of the crime violates international law and standards which are almost universally accepted around the world. These standards recognize that, however serious the crime, children, who are still developing physically, mentally and emotionally, do not have the same level of culpability as adults and require special treatment in the criminal justice system appropriate to their youth and immaturity. The standards emphasize that when children come into conflict with the law, the primary objectives should be the child's best interests and the potential for his or her successful reintegration into society. Life imprisonment without parole clearly is inconsistent with this international obligation.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which the USA ratified in 1992, specifically acknowledges the need for special treatment of children in the criminal justice system and emphasizes the importance of their rehabilitation. Article 14(4) of the ICCPR states: “In the case of juvenile persons, the procedure shall be such as will take account of their age and the desirability of promoting their rehabilitation”. In 2006, the UN Human Rights Committee, the expert body established by the ICCPR to oversee implementation of the treaty, reminded the USA that sentencing children to life imprisonment without parole is incompatible with the ICCPR. It called on the USA to ensure that no children were subjected to this sentence.
The 193 countries which have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) have further agreed to be bound by the principle, enshrined in Article 37(a), that no person under the age of 18 at the time of the offence should be sentenced to “life imprisonment without the possibility of release”. The USA is the only country apart from Somalia not to have ratified the CRC. However, the USA has signed the Convention and as a signatory, the USA is bound under international law to do nothing which would defeat the object and purpose of the treaty. Article 37(b) of the Convention also calls upon states to use imprisonment against a child “only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.”
In a General Comment on children’s rights in juvenile justice issued in 2007, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the expert body established under the CRC, emphasised that no children should be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The Committee reminded those countries which sentence children to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole that this punishment must “fully comply with and strive for the realization of the aims of juvenile justice”, including that the child should receive “education, treatment, and care aiming at his/her release, reintegration and ability to assume a constructive role in society”.
The USA is believed to stand alone in sentencing children to life without parole. Although several countries technically permit the practice, Amnesty International knows of no cases outside the USA where such a sentence has been imposed in recent years. Jordan Brown is the youngest person that Amnesty International knows of who is currently at risk of being sentenced to life without parole. However, there are at least 2,500 people in the USA serving life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for crimes committed when they were under 18. Jordan Brown's case is therefore starkly illustrative of a wider problem, and the organization is taking this action as part of its efforts to persuade authorities in the USA to bring their country into line with international standards on the treatment of child offenders (see USA: The rest of their lives: Life without Parole for Child Offenders in the United States: a joint Human Rights Watch/Amnesty International Report http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/162/2005/en). In such cases, Amnesty International does not specify in detail what sentence is appropriate, only that it should conform to international standards.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Explaining that you are not seeking to excuse the killing of Kenzie Houk;
- Pointing out that international law prohibits life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for anyone who was under 18 years old at the time of the crime, and that this principle of international law is recognized and respected around the world;
- Expressing concern that the state is seeking to have Jordan Brown tried in adult court which would expose him upon conviction for first-degree murder to a mandatory life imprisonment without the possibility of parole;
- Calling on the prosecution to meet its international obligation to ensure that Jordan Brown not be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole;
- Renewing appeals for the prosecution to take the opportunity of the Superior Court’s review to reconsider its position and drop its pursuit of a trial in adult court.
APPEALS TO:
Pennsylvania Attorney General
Tom Corbett
Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
16th Floor, Strawberry Square
Harrisburg, PA 17120
Fax: 1 717 787 8242
Email: http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/contactus/
Salutation: Dear Attorney General
COPIES TO:
Jordan Brown’s lawyer
David H. Acker, Esquire
414 N. Jefferson Street
New Castle, PA 16101
Email: David_Acker_Attorneyatlaw@hotmail.com
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 25 January 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
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Good news + Urgent Action 1-6-10
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
----------------------------------
6 January 2011
Further information on UA 43/10 (24 February 2010) and follow-ups (23 March 2010 and 20 April 2010) – Arbitrary detention/Legal concern
RUSSIAN FEDERATION Yulia Privedennaia (f)
In November 2010, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation reduced on appeal the conditional prison sentence given to Yulia Privedennaia, a civil society activist. She was originally sentenced to four and a half years, which has now been reduced to three and a half years. Charges against her under article 127 (unlawful imprisonment) were dropped on grounds of statutes of limitations.
Yulia Privedennaia is a member of the organization FAKEL-PORTOS (Formation of Altruistic Candidates for the Evolution of People - Poeticized Association for the Elaboration of a Theory of All-People’s Happiness). She had been on a police list of wanted suspects since 2000 when a criminal case against the group's leaders was opened.
She was charged with taking part in beating some teenage members of FAKEL-PORTOS, being involved in forcibly holding the teenagers at the premises where FAKEL- PORTOS was based, and creating an illegal armed group to forcibly maintain order in the organization. Yulia Privedennaia denied all the charges. According to reports, all the alleged victims in the case withdrew their statements, claiming that they had given them under pressure from investigators. According to Yulia Privedennaia’s lawyer, there were also several procedural violations during the trial.
In February 2010, while on trial before the Moscow Regional Court, she was detained by order of the court in a Moscow psychiatric hospital for three weeks, despite independent psychiatrists saying that there was no basis for hospitalizing her. She was ruled to be "sane" after being released on 11 March.
As Yulia Privedennaia is not being detained, no further action is required from the UA network at this stage.
Many thanks to all who sent appeals. No further action is requested from the UA network.
----------------------------------
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
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
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/uaa00111.pdf
6 January 2011
UA 1/11 - Fear for safety
NIGERIA Patrick Naagbanton (m), Coordinator, CEHRD
Patrick Naagbanton, Coordinator of the Center for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD) in Port Harcourt, in Rivers State, southern Nigeria, has received a number of death threats in the last two weeks. Amnesty International believes his life to be in danger.
On 30 December 2010, two people followed Patrick Naagbanton into the offices of the CEHRD and threatened him with death in front of another staff member. A third staff member reported that she had also been threatened by the same individuals. The following day, at around 11pm, a third individual telephoned Patrick Naagbanton and demanded a sum of money be delivered to them before 1 January 2011.
On 1 January 2011, Patrick Naagbanton received a call ordering him to a local shrine in Rivers State. The caller warned that he would be killed if he did not attend. Patrick Naagbanton attempted to contact the Commissioner of Police for Rivers State, but was unsuccessful. Later that day, and again on 2 January, Patrick Naagbanton received two more death threats by phone.
Amnesty International believes the death threats to be linked to Patrick Naagbanton's work as a human rights defender.
CEHRD works to respond to environmental, human rights, health and underdevelopment problems in the Niger delta region.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Human rights defenders and journalists in Nigeria regularly face intimidation, harassment and death.
On 29 December 2010, Chidi Nwosu was shot dead by unknown gunmen in his house in Abia State. He was the President of Human Rights of Justice and Peace Foundation (HRJPF) and was known for his work against corruption and human rights violations.
Several journalists have been killed in suspicious circumstances in recent years. Bayo Ohu, the Assistant News Editor of The Guardian newspaper, based in Lagos, was shot dead in 2009. In October 2008, Eiphraim Audu, a radio journalist with the Nasarawa State Broadcasting Service, was shot by six unknown gunmen near his home in Lafia, central Nigeria. In August 2008, Paul Abayomi Ogundeji, a member of the editorial board of the newspaper Thisday was killed by unknown gunmen in Lagos. He was the second member of the Thisday editorial board to be murdered in two years. Godwin Agbroko, the chairman of Thisday’s editorial board, was killed in similar circumstances in December 2006. A chief witness in the inquest into the death of Ogundeji was also killed by unknown gunmen in her house in Ogun state in June 2009.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Expressing concern for the safety of Patrick Naagbanton.
- Urging the authorities to take immediate and effective action to protect Patrick Naagbanton, and any other CEHRD staff members who may be at risk, in consultation with the persons concerned.
- Calling the authorities to order an immediate, thorough and independent investigation into the threats made with the results made public and those responsible brought to justice.
- Reminding the authorities that human rights defenders have the right to carry out their activities without any restrictions or fear of reprisals, as set out in the UN Declaration on the Rights and Responsibilities of Individuals, Groups and Institutions to Promote and Promote Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
APPEALS TO:
Commissioner of Police for Rivers State
Suleiman Abba(Jan 2007)
Commissioner of Police
Rivers State Command Headquarters
Moscow Road
Port Harcourt
NIGERIA
Salutation: Dear Commissioner of Police
COPIES TO:
Hafiz Ringim
Force Headquarters
Loius Edet House
Shehu Shagari Way
Area 11 Garki, Abuja
NIGERIA
Salutation: Dear Inspector General
Ambassador Babagana Wakil
Embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
3519 International Court NW
Washington DC 20008
Phone: 1 202 986 8400
Fax: 1 202-362-6541
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 17 February 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
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
----------------------------------
6 January 2011
Further information on UA 43/10 (24 February 2010) and follow-ups (23 March 2010 and 20 April 2010) – Arbitrary detention/Legal concern
RUSSIAN FEDERATION Yulia Privedennaia (f)
In November 2010, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation reduced on appeal the conditional prison sentence given to Yulia Privedennaia, a civil society activist. She was originally sentenced to four and a half years, which has now been reduced to three and a half years. Charges against her under article 127 (unlawful imprisonment) were dropped on grounds of statutes of limitations.
Yulia Privedennaia is a member of the organization FAKEL-PORTOS (Formation of Altruistic Candidates for the Evolution of People - Poeticized Association for the Elaboration of a Theory of All-People’s Happiness). She had been on a police list of wanted suspects since 2000 when a criminal case against the group's leaders was opened.
She was charged with taking part in beating some teenage members of FAKEL-PORTOS, being involved in forcibly holding the teenagers at the premises where FAKEL- PORTOS was based, and creating an illegal armed group to forcibly maintain order in the organization. Yulia Privedennaia denied all the charges. According to reports, all the alleged victims in the case withdrew their statements, claiming that they had given them under pressure from investigators. According to Yulia Privedennaia’s lawyer, there were also several procedural violations during the trial.
In February 2010, while on trial before the Moscow Regional Court, she was detained by order of the court in a Moscow psychiatric hospital for three weeks, despite independent psychiatrists saying that there was no basis for hospitalizing her. She was ruled to be "sane" after being released on 11 March.
As Yulia Privedennaia is not being detained, no further action is required from the UA network at this stage.
Many thanks to all who sent appeals. No further action is requested from the UA network.
----------------------------------
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
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
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/uaa00111.pdf
6 January 2011
UA 1/11 - Fear for safety
NIGERIA Patrick Naagbanton (m), Coordinator, CEHRD
Patrick Naagbanton, Coordinator of the Center for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD) in Port Harcourt, in Rivers State, southern Nigeria, has received a number of death threats in the last two weeks. Amnesty International believes his life to be in danger.
On 30 December 2010, two people followed Patrick Naagbanton into the offices of the CEHRD and threatened him with death in front of another staff member. A third staff member reported that she had also been threatened by the same individuals. The following day, at around 11pm, a third individual telephoned Patrick Naagbanton and demanded a sum of money be delivered to them before 1 January 2011.
On 1 January 2011, Patrick Naagbanton received a call ordering him to a local shrine in Rivers State. The caller warned that he would be killed if he did not attend. Patrick Naagbanton attempted to contact the Commissioner of Police for Rivers State, but was unsuccessful. Later that day, and again on 2 January, Patrick Naagbanton received two more death threats by phone.
Amnesty International believes the death threats to be linked to Patrick Naagbanton's work as a human rights defender.
CEHRD works to respond to environmental, human rights, health and underdevelopment problems in the Niger delta region.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Human rights defenders and journalists in Nigeria regularly face intimidation, harassment and death.
On 29 December 2010, Chidi Nwosu was shot dead by unknown gunmen in his house in Abia State. He was the President of Human Rights of Justice and Peace Foundation (HRJPF) and was known for his work against corruption and human rights violations.
Several journalists have been killed in suspicious circumstances in recent years. Bayo Ohu, the Assistant News Editor of The Guardian newspaper, based in Lagos, was shot dead in 2009. In October 2008, Eiphraim Audu, a radio journalist with the Nasarawa State Broadcasting Service, was shot by six unknown gunmen near his home in Lafia, central Nigeria. In August 2008, Paul Abayomi Ogundeji, a member of the editorial board of the newspaper Thisday was killed by unknown gunmen in Lagos. He was the second member of the Thisday editorial board to be murdered in two years. Godwin Agbroko, the chairman of Thisday’s editorial board, was killed in similar circumstances in December 2006. A chief witness in the inquest into the death of Ogundeji was also killed by unknown gunmen in her house in Ogun state in June 2009.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Expressing concern for the safety of Patrick Naagbanton.
- Urging the authorities to take immediate and effective action to protect Patrick Naagbanton, and any other CEHRD staff members who may be at risk, in consultation with the persons concerned.
- Calling the authorities to order an immediate, thorough and independent investigation into the threats made with the results made public and those responsible brought to justice.
- Reminding the authorities that human rights defenders have the right to carry out their activities without any restrictions or fear of reprisals, as set out in the UN Declaration on the Rights and Responsibilities of Individuals, Groups and Institutions to Promote and Promote Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
APPEALS TO:
Commissioner of Police for Rivers State
Suleiman Abba(Jan 2007)
Commissioner of Police
Rivers State Command Headquarters
Moscow Road
Port Harcourt
NIGERIA
Salutation: Dear Commissioner of Police
COPIES TO:
Hafiz Ringim
Force Headquarters
Loius Edet House
Shehu Shagari Way
Area 11 Garki, Abuja
NIGERIA
Salutation: Dear Inspector General
Ambassador Babagana Wakil
Embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
3519 International Court NW
Washington DC 20008
Phone: 1 202 986 8400
Fax: 1 202-362-6541
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 17 February 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
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
