URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
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Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on November 9, 2009. Thanks!
3 December 2010
Further information on UA 301/09 (9 November 2009) and follow-ups (12 February 2010 & 26 May 2010) – Fear for safety
COLOMBIA
Ingrid Vergara (f), human rights defender
Cendy Torres Vergara (f), age 14
Members of MOVICE
The lives of Colombian human rights defender Ingrid Vergara and her family face new threats after an attack in their home. Ingrid Vergara has been documenting and exposing human rights violations committed by paramilitary groups.
On 1 December, two armed men entered the house of Ingrid Vergara in the city of Sincelejo, in the northern department of Sucre, while her mother and her 15-year old-daughter Cendy Torres Vergara were at home. The two men forced Ingrid Vergara's mother into a room and screamed "Where is the money, where are the millions?" One man then grabbed Cendy Torres by her throat and pointed an object into her back, which Cendy believes was a weapon. They screamed at her "Give us the documents and the camera. Don't look at me, don't look at me, we are going to kill you out here."
The men searched the room and forcefully removed the hard drive of a computer belonging to the National Movement of Victims of State Crimes (Movimiento Nacional de Victimas de Crimenes de Estado, MOVICE). Ingrid Vergara is one of the leaders of MOVICE. The hard drive contained information on work Ingrid had been carrying out related to land issues, specifically documentation for a public meeting scheduled on 3 December. The two men only took the hard drive, the monitor and 40, 000 Colombian Pesos (approx 20 US$), but no other valuables which were openly on sight. As they were leaving one man said "don't kill her, don't kill her".
This incident follows previous threats and acts of intimidation against Ingrid Vergara in the past weeks. On 20 November Ingrid Vergara received a call on her mobile phone. The caller told her "don't get into land issues" and then hung up after a silence. When she dialed the number, it was a public phone in Santa Catalina, a neighborhood of Sincelejo. Five days later, on 25 November two more calls were made from the same number.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
On 2 April 2008, unknown men threatened to kill Cendy Torres, supposedly in reprisal for her mother's work as a human rights defender. On 26 October 2009, Cendy Torres received a death threat addressed to Ingrid Vergara.
On18 May 2010 Rogelio Martinez, one of the leaders of MOVICE in Sucre department was shot dead. He had been campaigning for the right for truth, justice and reparation for displaced communities.
On 12 October 2010 Ingrid Vergara identified a possible attempt to kill her on the Majagual square in Sincelejo. One of her bodyguards, provided to her by the Ministry of Interior's protection programme, noticed three suspicious men near Ingrid Vergara talking about the absence of her second bodyguard. When two more men approached Ingrid Vergara on a motorcycle the bodyguard urged her to quickly leave the square.
MOVICE is a broad coalition of civil society organizations campaigning for truth, justice and reparation for the victims of Colombia's long-running internal armed conflict. Ingrid Vergara and her colleagues in MOVICE have documented and exposed many cases of killings and enforced disappearance carried out by the security forces and paramilitary groups in Sucre department.
The Colombian government has implemented some protection measures for Ingrid Vergara and Cendy Torres, including the provision of bodyguards, a mobile phone and a vehicle, but restrictions on the use of fuel have apparently limited Ingrid Vergara's mobility.
Activists campaigning for the return of lands stolen mainly by paramilitary groups over the course of the conflict have been particularly vulnerable to threats and killings in recent years. Most of these attacks are attributed to paramilitary groups. Guerrilla groups have also targeted human rights defenders and other social activists deemed to be a threat to their interests.
Despite government claims that all paramilitaries demobilized in a government-sponsored programme that began in 2003, such groups continue to operate and commit serious human rights violations against human rights defenders and other civilians. This is sometimes in collusion with the security forces, or with their consent.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Expressing concern for the safety of Ingrid Vergara and her family and urging the authorities to guarantee their safety in strict accordance with their wishes;
- Calling on the authorities to order a full and impartial investigation into the 1 December incident and previous death threats against Ingrid Vergara, her daughter Cendy Torres and her colleagues, publish the results and bring those responsible to justice;
- Reminding them to fulfill their obligations regarding the situation of human rights defenders, as laid out in the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
APPEALS TO:
Vice President
Senor Vicepresidente Angelino Garzon
Vicepresidente de la Republica,
Palacio de Narino
Carrera 8a No 7-57,
Bogota,
COLOMBIA
Fax: 011 57 1 444 2158 (say "Me da tono por favor")
Salutation: Dear Vicepresident Garzon/Excmo. Sr. Vicepresidente Garzon
Minister of Interior and Justice
Senor German Vargas Lleras
Ministerio Del Interior y De Justicia
Carrera 9a. No. 14-10, Bogota
COLOMBIA
Fax: 011 57 1 599 8961
Salutation: Dear Minister Vargas /Estimado Sr. Ministro Vargas
COPIES TO:
Movice
Movimiento Nacional de Victimas de Crimenes de Estado
Calle 38 No 28 A 30
Barrio Bogota
Sincelejo,
COLOMBIA
Ambassador Gabriel Silva Lujan
Embassy of Colombia
2118 Leroy Place, NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 232 8643
Email: embassyofcolombia@colombiaemb.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 13 January 2011.
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Fax: 202.675.8566
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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++++++++++++++++++
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa06310.pdf
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have
received the original UA when issued on March 15,2010. Thanks!
2 December 2010
Further Information on UA 63/10 (15 March 2010) - Fear for safety
MEXICO Obtilia Eugenio Manuel (f)
Cuauhtémoc Ramírez Rodríguez
Mexican Indigenous rights defenders Obtilia Eugenio Manuel and Cuauhtémoc Ramírez Rodríguez have received new death threats. They have been campaigning to bring soldiers to account for the rape of two Indigenous women in 2002. Their lives are at risk.
On 28 November a written death threat was delivered to the house where Indigenous rights defenders Obtilia Eugenio Manuel and Cuauhtémoc Ramírez Rodríguez live with their children in southern Mexico. Obtilia Eugenio Manuel is the president of the Me’phaa Indigenous People’s Organization (Organización del Pueblo Indígena Me’pha, OPIM) and Cuauhtémoc Ramírez is one of its leaders. They have been vocal in pursuing the case of two Me’phaa Indigenous women, Inés Fernández Ortega and Valentina Rosendo Cantú, who were raped by Mexican soldiers in 2002. In August the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered the Mexican state to deliver truth, justice and reparation and to take steps to avoid the repetition of this kind of abuses.
Parts of the threatening hand-written letter read: "Hello Obtilia. Now we know where you live why are you messing around with the Ines and Valentina issue stop fucking around with the issue of the sentence of the two women … calm down your organization’s members otherwise you’re dead" and "Cuauhtémoc calm down or you’re dead … stop fucking around saying that the government has to comply with the sentence the government is angry that’s why we are here stop fighting Ines and Valentina sentence" (Hola Obtilia. Ahora ya sabemo donde vive por que tanto molesta de la asunto Ines y Valentina deje estar chingando en la asunto sentencia de las dos mujeres … calmate con tu gente de la organización porque sino te va carga la chingada … calmate Cuauhtémoc porque se van carga la chingada … dejen estar chingando que el gobierno tiene cumplir la sentencia si esta enojado los gobierno poreso estamo aquí deje estar peleando sentencia Ines y Valentina) (sic).
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Defending human rights can be a life-threatening job in Mexico. Scores of activists have suffered death threats, intimidation, and harassment in the last few years. Some of them have been killed for doing their job. The authorities have recognized that adopting and implementing an effective and comprehensive protection programme (mecanismo de protección), as requested by human rights defenders, is paramount. However, they have yet to fulfill their promise.
As founder and director of OPIM, Obtilia Eugenio Manuel has been the target of numerous threats, acts of intimidation and surveillance. One of the most recent threats was a written message delivered to the OPIM office on 6 March 2010 and, later that day, a man was seen overtly watching the OPIM office and taking pictures with on his mobile phone. On 17 March 2009 Obtilia Eugenio Manuel received three death threats by text message to her mobile phone. One of the messages also warned her that no human rights organization could protect her. In January 2009 Obtilia Eugenio Manuel was followed several times. She recognized one of the men following her as a supporter of a local political boss (cacique).
On 9 April 2009 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered the Mexican state to provide Obtilia Eugenio Manuel, her family and others with effective protection measures and to investigate the attacks. To date, only some of the agreed measures have been put in place and those behind the attacks remain at large.
OPIM activist Raúl Hernández spent more than two years in prison on fabricated charges. Amnesty International named him prisoner of conscience and he was eventually released on 30 August 2010. Four other activists had also been imprisoned with him for 11 months.
On 30 and 31 August 2010 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered the Mexican state to address the human rights violations suffered by Me’phaa Indigenous women Inés Fernández Ortega and Valentina Rosendo Cantú. They were raped by soldiers in two separate incidents in early 2002. The state must now fulfill its international obligation to deliver truth, justice and reparation for the two women and to take steps to avoid the repetition of these abuses. This includes scrapping military jurisdiction for human rights violations committed by members of the military.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Expressing concern for the safety of Obtilia Eugenio Manuel, Cuauhtémoc Ramírez and their family;
- Urging the authorities to provide them with effective protection measures, in strict accordance with their wishes, and as requested by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights;
- Calling on the authorities to carry out a swift, full and impartial investigation into these and previous threats and attacks, to make the results public and to bring those responsible to justice.
- Calling on the authorities to promptly and fully comply with the Inter-American Court sentences on the cases of Inés Fernández and Valentina Rosendo
APPEALS TO:
Minister of the Interior
Lic. José Francisco Blake Mora
Secretaría de Gobernación
Bucareli 99, 1er. piso, Col. Juárez,
Delegación Cuauhtémoc,
México D.F., C.P. 06600,
MÉXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 5063 3405
Email: secretario@segob.gob.mx
Salutation: Dear Minister/
Estimado Señor Secretario
Federal State Attorney General
Lic. Arturo Chávez Chávez
Procuraduría General de la República
Av. Paseo de la Reforma 211-213,
Delegación Cuauhtémoc, México D.F., C.P. 06500,
MÉXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 5346 0908
Email: ofproc@pgr.gob.mx
Salutation: Dear Attorney General/
Estimado Señor Procurador
COPIES TO:
Local human rights organization
Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña "Tlachinollan"
Mina 77, Col. Centro, Tlapa de Comonfort, C.P. 41304, Guerrero,
MÉXICO
Email: tlachinollan.difusion@gmail.com
Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan Casamitjana
Embassy of Mexico
1911 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington DC 20006
Phone: 202 728 1600
Fax: 1 202 728 1698
Email: mexembusa@sre.gob.mx
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 13 January 2011.
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Thank you for your help with this appeal.
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Fax: 202.675.8566
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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================================================
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
2 December 2010
Further information on UA 221/10 (14 October 2010) - Death Penalty/ Risk of Imminent Execution
USA Stephen West (m)
On 29 November, the Tennessee Supreme Court granted a stay of execution in the case of Stephen West, who was due to be put to death on 30 November. The stay is to provide more time for litigation to continue on the constitutionality of Tennessee’s lethal injection procedures.
Stephen West had been due to be executed on 9 November 2010 for the murder in 1986 of Wanda Romines and her 15-year-old daughter Sheila. On 6 November, the Tennessee Supreme Court rescheduled the execution for 30 November to allow more time for proceedings in relation to Stephen West’s legal challenge to the state’s three-drug lethal injection procedures.
On 19 November, a Tennessee county judge ruled that the state’s lethal injection procedure was unconstitutional, on the grounds that, by not specifying a sufficient quantity of one of the three drugs, the anaesthetic sodium thiopental, the procedure “allows for death by suffocation while conscious”. On 24 November, the Tennessee authorities produced a revised lethal injection protocol. The new procedure included a process to assess the consciousness of the condemned prisoner after administration of the sodium thiopental, and to provide for an additional dose of this drug if the inmate was found to be conscious after the first dose. On 29 November, the Tennessee Supreme Court issued a stay of execution to Stephen West to allow the lower court judge to determine whether the revised protocol was sufficient to eliminate the deficiencies she had pointed to in the previous version of the protocol. At the same time, the state Supreme Court ruled that the burden was on Stephen West to show that the revised protocol carried a risk of harm that qualifies as “cruel and unusual” under the US Constitution.
The stay applied not only to Stephen West, but also to three other prisoners whose executions had been scheduled to be carried out in Tennessee in the next two months.
No further action by the UA Network is requested at present. Thank you to all who sent appeals.
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
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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Friday, December 3, 2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
SexconUrgent Action 11-30-10
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/uaa24610.pdf
30 November 2010
UA 246/10 Death Penalty/ Risk of Imminent Execution/ Legal Concern
IRAQ
Sa'doun Shakir
Mizban Khuder Hadi
‘Aziz Salih al-Noaman
A former Minister of Interior and two former top officials under Saddam Hussein were sentenced to death on 29 November and could be executed within 30 days if their sentences are confirmed by the appeal court. Amnesty International has stressed that the death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights and should never be used, whatever the gravity of the crime.
Sa'doun Shakir, former Interior Minister of Iraq in the 1980's, was sentenced to death on 29 November by the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal (SICT), together with Mizban Khuder Hadi and ‘Aziz Salih al-Noaman formerly senior officials under Saddam Hussain and members of regional Ba'ath party commands. All three were convicted of participating in the killings and displacement of Faili Kurds (Shi'a Kurds) during the Iran –Iraq war between 1980 and 1988. If their sentences are confirmed on appeal, they are likely to be executed by hanging within 30 days.
Sa'doun Shakir was previously sentenced to death by the SICT on 26 October, after he and Tariq Aziz were convicted in another trial of participating in the elimination of Shi'a religious parties under Saddam Hussain. Mizban Khuder Hadi was also previously sentenced to death on 1 August after the SICT convicted him on charges related to the deliberate drying of the southern marshes area and other offenses.
Sa'adoun Shakir was arrested by US forces in April 2003 and has been imprisoned since then. Before being made Minister of Interior he headed Iraq's Intelligence Service. He left politics in 1990 due to deteriorating health.
Amnesty International has previously questioned the fairness of trials before the SICT, which was established to try Saddam Hussain and others accused of responsibility for the crimes committed during his rule. In particular, the SICT has been subject to political interference, undermining its independence.
The death penalty was suspended for a time after the US-led invasion of Iraq but restored in August 2004. Since then, hundreds of people have been sentenced to death and many have been executed. Amnesty International considers the death penalty to be a violation of the right to life and the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Urging that the death sentences imposed on Sa'doun Shakir, Mizban Khuder Hadi, and ‘Aziz Salih al-Noaman are commuted if they are confirmed by the appeal court;
- Recognizing that governments have an obligation to bring to justice those responsible for serious crimes but insisting that the death penalty is a violation of the right to life and the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment, and should not be applied even for crimes of the greatest magnitude;
- Calling on the authorities to commute all death sentences and declare a moratorium on executions.
APPEALS TO:
President
His Excellency Jalal TalabaniPresident of the Republic of Iraq
Convention Centre (Qasr al-Ma'aridh)
Baghdad,
IRAQ
Salutation: His Excellency
Prime Minister
His Excellency Nuri Kamil al-Maliki Prime Minister
Convention Centre (Qasr al-Ma'aridh)
Baghdad,
IRAQ
Salutation: His Excellency
COPIES TO:
Minister of Foreign Affairs
His Excellency Hoshyar Zebari
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Convention Center (Qasr al-Ma'aridh)
Baghdad,
IRAQ
Ambassador Samir Shakir Mahmood Sumaida'ie
Embassy of the Republic of Iraq
3421 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington DC 20007
Email: amboffice@iraqiembassy.org
Fax: 1 202 333 1129
Phone: 1 202 742 1600 EXT 136
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 11 January 2011.
----------------------------------
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Urgent Action Network
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Email: uan@aiusa.org
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Phone: 202.509.8193
Fax: 202.675.8566
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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/uaa24610.pdf
30 November 2010
UA 246/10 Death Penalty/ Risk of Imminent Execution/ Legal Concern
IRAQ
Sa'doun Shakir
Mizban Khuder Hadi
‘Aziz Salih al-Noaman
A former Minister of Interior and two former top officials under Saddam Hussein were sentenced to death on 29 November and could be executed within 30 days if their sentences are confirmed by the appeal court. Amnesty International has stressed that the death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights and should never be used, whatever the gravity of the crime.
Sa'doun Shakir, former Interior Minister of Iraq in the 1980's, was sentenced to death on 29 November by the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal (SICT), together with Mizban Khuder Hadi and ‘Aziz Salih al-Noaman formerly senior officials under Saddam Hussain and members of regional Ba'ath party commands. All three were convicted of participating in the killings and displacement of Faili Kurds (Shi'a Kurds) during the Iran –Iraq war between 1980 and 1988. If their sentences are confirmed on appeal, they are likely to be executed by hanging within 30 days.
Sa'doun Shakir was previously sentenced to death by the SICT on 26 October, after he and Tariq Aziz were convicted in another trial of participating in the elimination of Shi'a religious parties under Saddam Hussain. Mizban Khuder Hadi was also previously sentenced to death on 1 August after the SICT convicted him on charges related to the deliberate drying of the southern marshes area and other offenses.
Sa'adoun Shakir was arrested by US forces in April 2003 and has been imprisoned since then. Before being made Minister of Interior he headed Iraq's Intelligence Service. He left politics in 1990 due to deteriorating health.
Amnesty International has previously questioned the fairness of trials before the SICT, which was established to try Saddam Hussain and others accused of responsibility for the crimes committed during his rule. In particular, the SICT has been subject to political interference, undermining its independence.
The death penalty was suspended for a time after the US-led invasion of Iraq but restored in August 2004. Since then, hundreds of people have been sentenced to death and many have been executed. Amnesty International considers the death penalty to be a violation of the right to life and the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Urging that the death sentences imposed on Sa'doun Shakir, Mizban Khuder Hadi, and ‘Aziz Salih al-Noaman are commuted if they are confirmed by the appeal court;
- Recognizing that governments have an obligation to bring to justice those responsible for serious crimes but insisting that the death penalty is a violation of the right to life and the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment, and should not be applied even for crimes of the greatest magnitude;
- Calling on the authorities to commute all death sentences and declare a moratorium on executions.
APPEALS TO:
President
His Excellency Jalal TalabaniPresident of the Republic of Iraq
Convention Centre (Qasr al-Ma'aridh)
Baghdad,
IRAQ
Salutation: His Excellency
Prime Minister
His Excellency Nuri Kamil al-Maliki Prime Minister
Convention Centre (Qasr al-Ma'aridh)
Baghdad,
IRAQ
Salutation: His Excellency
COPIES TO:
Minister of Foreign Affairs
His Excellency Hoshyar Zebari
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Convention Center (Qasr al-Ma'aridh)
Baghdad,
IRAQ
Ambassador Samir Shakir Mahmood Sumaida'ie
Embassy of the Republic of Iraq
3421 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington DC 20007
Email: amboffice@iraqiembassy.org
Fax: 1 202 333 1129
Phone: 1 202 742 1600 EXT 136
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 11 January 2011.
----------------------------------
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Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible to the date a case is issued.
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Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable). Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.509.8193
Fax: 202.675.8566
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
Urgent Action 11-30-10
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/uaa24510.pdf
26 November 2010
UA 245/10 - Fear for Safety
ARGENTINA Members of Toba Qom indigenous community
On 23 November, police violently dispersed a roadblock by members of the Toba Qom indigenous community of La Primavera, in Northern-East Argentina, leaving two people dead and several injured. Police also burned temporary housing built by the community.
Around 100 members of the Toba Qom indigenous community have been blocking national highway (Ruta Nacional) 86 for 4 months claiming for their land and. in protest against construction of the National University Institute by the Government of Formosa Province on land the community claim as part of their ancestral territory. According to the community, between 400 and 500 heavily armed police officers demanded that they move out of the road, without showing an eviction order (orden de desalojo). The community refused to leave and were forcibly evicted by police.
During the eviction, at least one community member and one police officer were shot dead and at least five community members are in a serious condition in hospital. All temporary houses built by the communities alongside the highway were burned by the police. Around 30 community members were detained, including children. They have all been released except for Eugenio Fernandez, a young community member, who remains in detention. Felix Diaz, the leader of the community, was personally threatened by officers and called an "agitator".
Earlier on the same day, five members of a non-indigenous (criollo) family who claim property on the same piece of land arrived on horses, carrying arms. They were accompanied by around 18 police officers. When Felix Diaz approached them, they shot at him twice, missing both times. Coming to his aid, other members of the community threw stones at the horses to make them bolt. The family left, firing shots in the air. Terrified community members confronted the police who did nothing to protect them. According to members of the community, police officers told them "you deserve it; you have been looking for trouble" ("se lo tenian merecodp, ustedes se lo buscaron").
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
La Primavera community has been claiming the land alongside the National Highway 84 as part of their ancestral territory for years. The community claims that during the blockade, no state officials tried to start a dialogue or a negotiation with them, nor were their claims heard. Instead, the government is trying to go ahead with their plans to build a University Institute on the land, despite a precautionary measure the community secured against those plans and the fact that the ownership of the land is disputed.
This attitude is part of a pattern Amnesty International has been documenting in Formosa, where the state is failing to comply with its obligation to hold consultations and to seek free, prior and informed consent from indigenous communities before undertaking any development plan that may affect them. Authorities have also failed to solve land disputes and respect indigenous communities' right to their ancestral territories. In Formosa, the government refuses to engage in constructive dialogue with indigenous communities and instead imposes development and other plans on them without their consent. There have been also serious allegations of harassment and attempts of co-opting community leaders and their legal representatives to dissuade them from continuing with their claims.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Demanding that Felix Diaz and the Toba Indigenous Community of La Primavera are provided with the protection they need, according to their wishes.
- Calling on authorities to urgently solve the land claim of La Primavera and other Indigenous People in Formosa and in Argentina, so they can live on their ancestral lands without fear of attack or illegal eviction.
- Calling on them to order a full and impartial investigation into the killings and threats, and bring those responsible to justice.
- Calling on them to comply fully with the UN Declaration on the Indigenous Peoples and the International Labor Organization's Convention 169 and enshrine in law Indigenous People's rights to their ancestral lands and establish mechanisms whereby these rights can be recognized and exercised with their full participation.
APPEALS TO:
Minister of Justice, Security and Human Rights
Julio Cesar Alak
Ministro Ministerio de Justicia, Seguridad y Derechos Humanos
Presidencia de la Nacion
Sarmiento 329 - C1041AAG
Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires
ARGENTINA
Email: privada@jus.gov.ar
Salutation: Estimado Sr Ministro
Governor of Formosa
Dr. Gildo Insfran
Gobernador de Formosa
Belgrano No 878 - Casa de Gobierno - Formosa (3600)
ARGENTINA
Tel: 011 54 3717 4 26000/1
Fax: 011 54-3717-430872
Email: gobernador@formosa.gov.ar
Salutation: Estimado Sr. Gobernador
COPIES TO:
Hermanas de la Caridad,
Barrio 15 Viviendas, Casa Numero 3, Calle Nicolas Avellaneda
LAGUNA NAINECH, 3611, Formosa
ARGENTINA
Tel: 011 54 3718/ 49 10 62,
E-mail: paolagiolo@clorinda-fsa.com.ar
Ambassador D. Alfredo Vicente Chiadaria
Embassy of the Argentine Republic
1600 New Hampshire Ave. NW
Washington DC 20009
Fax: 1 202 332 3171
Email: politicainterna@embassyofargentina.us (Human Rights Section)
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 7 January 2011.
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- From Amnesty International USA
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26 November 2010
UA 245/10 - Fear for Safety
ARGENTINA Members of Toba Qom indigenous community
On 23 November, police violently dispersed a roadblock by members of the Toba Qom indigenous community of La Primavera, in Northern-East Argentina, leaving two people dead and several injured. Police also burned temporary housing built by the community.
Around 100 members of the Toba Qom indigenous community have been blocking national highway (Ruta Nacional) 86 for 4 months claiming for their land and. in protest against construction of the National University Institute by the Government of Formosa Province on land the community claim as part of their ancestral territory. According to the community, between 400 and 500 heavily armed police officers demanded that they move out of the road, without showing an eviction order (orden de desalojo). The community refused to leave and were forcibly evicted by police.
During the eviction, at least one community member and one police officer were shot dead and at least five community members are in a serious condition in hospital. All temporary houses built by the communities alongside the highway were burned by the police. Around 30 community members were detained, including children. They have all been released except for Eugenio Fernandez, a young community member, who remains in detention. Felix Diaz, the leader of the community, was personally threatened by officers and called an "agitator".
Earlier on the same day, five members of a non-indigenous (criollo) family who claim property on the same piece of land arrived on horses, carrying arms. They were accompanied by around 18 police officers. When Felix Diaz approached them, they shot at him twice, missing both times. Coming to his aid, other members of the community threw stones at the horses to make them bolt. The family left, firing shots in the air. Terrified community members confronted the police who did nothing to protect them. According to members of the community, police officers told them "you deserve it; you have been looking for trouble" ("se lo tenian merecodp, ustedes se lo buscaron").
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
La Primavera community has been claiming the land alongside the National Highway 84 as part of their ancestral territory for years. The community claims that during the blockade, no state officials tried to start a dialogue or a negotiation with them, nor were their claims heard. Instead, the government is trying to go ahead with their plans to build a University Institute on the land, despite a precautionary measure the community secured against those plans and the fact that the ownership of the land is disputed.
This attitude is part of a pattern Amnesty International has been documenting in Formosa, where the state is failing to comply with its obligation to hold consultations and to seek free, prior and informed consent from indigenous communities before undertaking any development plan that may affect them. Authorities have also failed to solve land disputes and respect indigenous communities' right to their ancestral territories. In Formosa, the government refuses to engage in constructive dialogue with indigenous communities and instead imposes development and other plans on them without their consent. There have been also serious allegations of harassment and attempts of co-opting community leaders and their legal representatives to dissuade them from continuing with their claims.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Demanding that Felix Diaz and the Toba Indigenous Community of La Primavera are provided with the protection they need, according to their wishes.
- Calling on authorities to urgently solve the land claim of La Primavera and other Indigenous People in Formosa and in Argentina, so they can live on their ancestral lands without fear of attack or illegal eviction.
- Calling on them to order a full and impartial investigation into the killings and threats, and bring those responsible to justice.
- Calling on them to comply fully with the UN Declaration on the Indigenous Peoples and the International Labor Organization's Convention 169 and enshrine in law Indigenous People's rights to their ancestral lands and establish mechanisms whereby these rights can be recognized and exercised with their full participation.
APPEALS TO:
Minister of Justice, Security and Human Rights
Julio Cesar Alak
Ministro Ministerio de Justicia, Seguridad y Derechos Humanos
Presidencia de la Nacion
Sarmiento 329 - C1041AAG
Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires
ARGENTINA
Email: privada@jus.gov.ar
Salutation: Estimado Sr Ministro
Governor of Formosa
Dr. Gildo Insfran
Gobernador de Formosa
Belgrano No 878 - Casa de Gobierno - Formosa (3600)
ARGENTINA
Tel: 011 54 3717 4 26000/1
Fax: 011 54-3717-430872
Email: gobernador@formosa.gov.ar
Salutation: Estimado Sr. Gobernador
COPIES TO:
Hermanas de la Caridad,
Barrio 15 Viviendas, Casa Numero 3, Calle Nicolas Avellaneda
LAGUNA NAINECH, 3611, Formosa
ARGENTINA
Tel: 011 54 3718/ 49 10 62,
E-mail: paolagiolo@clorinda-fsa.com.ar
Ambassador D. Alfredo Vicente Chiadaria
Embassy of the Argentine Republic
1600 New Hampshire Ave. NW
Washington DC 20009
Fax: 1 202 332 3171
Email: politicainterna@embassyofargentina.us (Human Rights Section)
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
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Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Two Separate Urgent Actions 11-24-10
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
----------------------------------
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24 November 2010
UA 244/10 Fear for Safety
BRAZIL Manoel Santana Costa (m)
20 other members of the Charco community
Flaviano Pinto Neto, a leader of the Charco community in Maranhão state, north-east Brazil, was shot dead on 30 October. Manoel Santana Costa, another leader of the community, along with over twenty other members of the community, have received a series of death threats and now fear for their lives. Manoel Santana Costa has gone into hiding and is seeking police protection.
The community is being targeted due to their fight to be officially recognized as a quilombo – an afro-descendent community – against the interests of powerful local farmers. In spite of the fact that the community has existed for almost 200 years, it has been threatened by eviction orders. They are now going through the administrative process of gaining official recognition as a quilombo community, which would give them secure land title.
On 30 October, Flaviano Pinto Neto, a leader of the community and the president of the Association of Rural Small Producers of the Charco Community (Associação dos Pequenos Produtores Rurais do Povoado do Charco), was killed with seven shots to the head. According to members of the community the police are currently investigating the case.
Manoel Santana Costa, also known as Manoel do Charco, is the treasurer and union officer of the local rural workers union. He is now hiding in fear for his life and has requested police protection from the State Secretary of Public Security for himself and other members of the community also under threat. Although the National Human Rights Defenders’ Program does not yet have coordinators working in Maranhão state, Manoel could still be included in the program directly through the national office in Brasília.
In August 2009, Manoel received an anonymous call in which he was asked if he was afraid of being burned to death (“tu não tem medo de morrer queimado?”). A few days later, the community association building was set on fire. In the same year, when Manoel was at the Court House gathering information about the status of the land dispute, he received another anonymous phone call asking the same question.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Quilombos are Afro-Brazilian settlements, which were first established at the end of the 16th century in remote rural areas in Brazil, by escaped and free slaves that resisted slavery. The 1988 Brazilian Constitution (Articles. 215 and 216) acknowledges the right of descendant communities to the lands historically occupied by quilombos. In particular, Article 68 of the Transitory Dispositions states that ‘Final ownership shall be recognized for the remaining members of the quilombo communities who are occupying their lands and the state shall grant them the respective land titles’. ("Aos remanescentes das comunidades dos quilombos que estejam ocupando suas terras é reconhecida a propriedade definitiva, devendo o Estado emitir-lhes os títulos respectivos.”). A series of federal and state laws has been issued to regulate how the quilombos’ lands are identified and how titles are to be given to the remaining communities.
In 2003, a new Decree (No. 4887) issued by the President, made several changes to the titling process and removed it from the competence of the Palmares Cultural Foundation (FCP) under the Ministry of Culture to the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA) under the Ministry of Agrarian Development. Under this new procedure, the FCP has the authority only to issue quilombos certification of self-identification, which is a pre-requisite to initiate the titling process under Decree No. 4887.
In October 2009, INCRA published the Normative Regulation No.57/2009 establishing the various steps of the administrative procedure to give the remaining quilombo communities the title to their lands i.e. identification, recognition, delimitation, demarcation, removal of illegal occupants, titling and land registration.
In addition to the national legislation, Brazil is also a party to the International Labor Organization’s Convention 169, the American Convention on Human Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which reaffirm the rights of Afro-descendant groups to cultural and land rights as well as the principles of non-discrimination and equality before the law.
There are over 3000 quilombo communities in Brazil, hundreds of administrative procedures have been initiated before the INCRA but to date less than 10 per cent of the communities have received their land titles. The Charco community, with over 70 families, has been fighting for their land rights for more than 60 years and has been previously threatened with various eviction orders. In 2009, the community initiated the administrative process to have their land recognized as the remaining of a quilombo settlement.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Urging the authorities to include Manoel Santana Costa on the Human Rights Defenders’ Program and immediately provide him with full protection, and fully investigate all threats against him and members of the community;
- Urging the authorities to thoroughly investigate the killing of Flaviano Pinto Neto and bring perpetrators to justice;
- Urging the authorities to carry out, as quickly as possible, the administrative processes which would give the community the title of the land they have lived on for almost two centuries, so as not to place the families at risk of violence and intimidation.
APPEALS TO:
Federal Minister of Justice
Exmo. Ministro
Sr. Luiz Paulo Teles Ferreira Barreto
Esplanada dos Ministérios,
Bloco "T"
70712-902 - Brasília/DF
BRASIL
Fax: 011 55 61 3322 6817 OR 011 55 61 3224 3398
Salutation: Dear Minister
National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária)
Exmo. Presidente Rolf Hackbart
SBN Qd. 01 Bloco D - Edifício Palácio do Desenvolvimento
CEP: 70.057-900 – Brasília/DF
BRASIL
PABX: 011 55 61 3411-7474
Salutation: Dear President
COPIES TO:
Federal Human Rights Secretary
Secretaria Especial de Direitos Humanos
Exmo. Secretário Especial
Sr. Paulo de Tarso Vannuchi Esplanada dos Ministérios- Bloco "T" - 4º andar, 70064-900 Brasília/DF –
BRASIL
Fax: 011 55 61 3226 7980
Salutation: Dear Secretary
Ambassador Mauro Vieira
Brazilian Embassy
3006 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 238 2827
Email: ambassador@brasilemb.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 5 January 2011.
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----------------------------------
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
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Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on November 12, 2010. Thanks!
24 November 2010
Further information on UA 236/10 (12 November 2010)- Risk of Forced Eviction/Fear for safety
ISRAEL 250 Residents, including 1/3 children
On 22 November, Israeli authorities demolished approximately 30 structures in the Bedouin village of al-‘Araqib in the Negev in southern Israel for the seventh time since July. The residents – citizens of Israel with a long-established claim to the area – are trying to rebuild their homes yet again but face increasing hardship as winter approaches.
At around 7am, Israel Lands Administration officials with bulldozers, accompanied by dozens of police officers equipped with riot gear, arrived at al-‘Araqib village and quickly destroyed the shacks, tents and other structures that villagers had managed to erect following the previous demolition on 13 October. As in previous demolitions, no eviction or demolition order was presented to the inhabitants.
Some 30 structures were destroyed, including tents and shacks where the residents slept and cooked, and makeshift toilets and chicken pens. In addition, approximately 1,600 olive trees located some 2km from the village and belonging to relatives of al-‘Araqib residents were uprooted by the Israeli authorities. The villagers have already started rebuilding some of the tents and shacks so that they have some protection, as the Negev desert gets very cold at night during the winter months.
This is the seventh time that al-‘Araqib, one of the more than 40 “unrecognized” villages in Israel whose residents lack security of tenure and government services, has been destroyed since July. Some of al-‘Araqib’s 250 residents are camping out in makeshift shacks and tents in the village cemetery, while others are temporarily staying with relatives in the nearby town of Rahat or in Kafr Qassem, near Tel Aviv. However, at least 50 people, including at least 30 children, decided to rebuild their homes in the village in order to remain on their land, and are living in the remains of structures that were demolished.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
On 27 July, at least 46 homes and other structures in al-‘Araqib, including animal pens and water tanks, were destroyed by officials of the Israel Lands Administration accompanied by over 1,000 police officers. The entire village was razed by bulldozers, and thousands of olive and other trees were uprooted, destroying the villagers’ livelihood. Possessions including electricity generators, refrigerators and vehicles were confiscated by the police. On 4 and 10 August, makeshift shelters that the villagers had built were demolished and buried by bulldozers, supported by a large police force in riot gear equipped with a water cannon. Building materials and water tanks were seized; seven residents were arrested but later released, four on condition that they not enter al-‘Araqib. Then on 17 August, the authorities recommenced demolitions at dawn during Ramadan, while the villagers were fasting. On 12 September at dawn, dozens of police arrived again at al-‘Araqib with bulldozers and destroyed newly erected tents and other structures. The sixth and latest demolition was on 13 October, when the entire village was razed to the ground, and the director of the Negev Coexistence Forum, a group supporting the villagers, was arrested by police and banned from entering al-‘Araqib for 10 days.
In its concluding observations in July 2010, the UN Human Rights Committee stated its concern about “allegations of forced evictions of the Bedouin population based on the Public Land Law (Expulsion of Invaders) of 1981 as amended in 2005” and about what it described as the Israeli authorities “inadequate consideration” of the agricultural and other traditional needs of the Bedouin population of the Negev and the difficulties that the Bedouin face in accessing “health structures, education, water and electricity” due to Israeli policies. The Committee called for the Israeli authorities to “respect the Bedouin population’s right to their ancestral land and their traditional livelihood based on agriculture” and to “guarantee the Bedouin population's access to health structures, education, water and electricity, irrespective of their whereabouts” in Israel. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has also expressed concern about Israel’s relocation of Bedouin residents of “unrecognized” villages to towns and called for their villages to be officially recognized, and for Israel to “enhance its efforts to consult” the villagers and seek their agreement or consent in advance of any process of relocation.
Despite an apparent governmental plan to regularize the status of some of the “unrecognized” villages, it was reported in the Israeli media in early 2010 that the Interior Ministry, the Israel Lands Administration and the police had decided to triple the demolition rate of Bedouin construction in the Negev, and the marked increase in the number of demolitions and demolition orders this year accords with such reports.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Condemning the latest destruction of al-‘Araqib and urging the Israeli authorities to allow the villagers to rebuild their homes;
- Urging the Israeli authorities to respect the Bedouin population’s right to their ancestral land by ending the policy of home demolitions in al-‘Araqib and other “unrecognized” villages in Israel, and to take steps to officially recognize al-‘Araqib and other “unrecognized” villages so as to allow residents security of tenure and the possibility of developing their villages without threat to their homes and livelihoods;
- Urging the Israeli authorities to take immediate steps in line with the UN Human Rights Committee’s recommendations of July 2010 to guarantee access to health structures, education, water and electricity for residents of these villages.
APPEALS TO:
Director-General of the Israel Lands Administration (ILA)
Yaron Bibi
Israel Lands Administration
6 Shamai Street
P.O. Box 2600
Jerusalem 94631,
ISRAEL
Fax: 011 972 2 620 8427
Email: natalil@mmi.gov.il
Salutation: Dear Director-General, ILA
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior
Eliyahu Yishai
2 Kaplan Street
PO Box 6158
Kiryat Ben Gurion
Jerusalem 91061,
ISRAEL
Fax: 011 972 2 666 2909
Email: sar@moin.gov.il
Salutation: Dear Minister
COPIES TO:
Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu
Office of the Prime Minister
3 Kaplan Street
Kiryat Ben-Gurion, Hakirya
PO Box 187, Jerusalem,
ISRAEL
Fax: 011 972 2 566 4838
Email: pm_eng@pmo.gov.i
Ambassador Michael Oren
Embassy of Israel
3514 International Dr. NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 364 5607
Email: info@israelemb.org OR info@washington.mfa.gov.il
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 5 January 2011.
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Friday, November 19, 2010
Urgent Action 11-19-10
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
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18 November 2010
UA 241/10 - Death Penalty
PAKISTAN Aasia Bibi (f)
Aasia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman, has been sentenced to death under the country's blasphemy laws.
On 8 November, the 45-year-old mother of five children was found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to death under Section 295B and 295C of Pakistan's Penal Code, for insulting the Prophet Muhammad, by a court in Nankana, around 75km (45 miles) west of the city of Lahore in Punjab province.
Aasia Bibi, a resident of Ittanwali, was arrested in June 2009. She was working as a farm laborer and was asked by a village elder's wife to fetch drinking water. Some other female Muslim farmhands reportedly refused to drink the water, saying it was sacrilegious and "unclean" to accept water from Aasia Bibi, as a non-Muslim. Aasia Bibi took offense, reportedly saying: "are we not human?" which led to an argument between them. The women allegedly complained to Qari Salim, the local cleric, that Aasia Bibi had made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad. The cleric informed local police who arrested and charged her with insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
Aasia Bibi denies the allegations and her husband, Ashiq Masih, claims her conviction was based on "false accusations". However, the trial judge, Naveed Iqbal, "totally ruled out" the possibility of false charges and said that there were "no mitigating circumstances". Aasia Bibi has now filed an appeal against the judgment in the Lahore High Court. She has been detained in prison and held in isolation since June 2009. She has claimed that she has not had access to a lawyer during her detention and the final day of her trial.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The blasphemy laws introduced in 1982 and 1986, while purporting to protect Islam and religious sensitivities of the Muslim majority, are vaguely formulated and arbitrarily enforced by the police and judiciary in a way which amounts to harassment and persecution of religious minorities and Muslims alike. Accusations of blasphemy have sometimes resulted in the murder of both Muslims and members of religious minorities.
Evidence from Amnesty International and other human rights groups suggests that charges brought against individuals under the blasphemy laws are founded solely on the individuals' minority religious beliefs or unfounded malicious accusations stemming from personal enmity, often with the motivation to imprison people to gain advantage in business or land disputes. Police frequently fail to record and investigate complaints and justice is impeded by the biased attitude of some judges against religious minorities.
Many of those accused or suspected of blasphemy have been assaulted or tortured. Some people detained on blasphemy charges in prisons have been killed by fellow detainees or prison wardens. Others suspected of blasphemy, but not under arrest, have been unlawfully killed without police taking any action to protect them.
"Defiling the name of the Prophet Mohammed" is a capital offense under Section 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code, which states, "Whoever by words, either spoken or written or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to a fine". The Federal Shariat Court, whose tasks include reviewing laws to ensure they conform with Islamic doctrine, ruled in 1991 that anyone convicted of blasphemy should face the death penalty, not life imprisonment.
Articles 18 and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights set out that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, opinion and expression. International human rights law provides that any limitations placed on these freedoms should be only such as are prescribed by law as well as being necessary and proportionate for, among other things, the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Calling on President Zardari to commute the death sentence use his powers under Article 45 of the Constitution;
- Calling for the immediate release of Aasia Bibi, unless she is charged with internationally regognizable offenses and tried in proceedings and under laws that meet international human rights standards;
- Calling on the authorities to take immediate measures to guarantee the safety of Aasia Bibi and her family;
- Expressing concern that the blasphemy laws are used indiscriminately against religious minorities and Muslims alike, and urging the government to amend or abolish laws, particularly section 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code which carries the death penalty for anyone found guilty of blasphemy; and
- Calling on the Supreme Court of Pakistan to take Suo Moto notice of the case;
- Urging the government to fulfill its pledge to review and improve "laws detrimental to religious harmony", announced by Prime Minister Giliani in August 2009;
- Calling for an immediate moratorium on all executions in the country, in line with the worldwide trends to abolish the death penalty with a view to an eventual abolition of the death penalty.
APPEALS TO:
President Zardari
Pakistan Secretariat, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: 011 92-51-9207458
E-mail: publicmail@president.gov.pk
Salutation: Dear President Zardari
Dr. Zaheeruddin Babar Awan
Federal Minister
Ministry of Law, Justice & Parliamentary Affairs
Room 305, S-Block,
Pakistan Secretariat, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: 011 92 51 9202628
E-Mail: minister@molaw.gov.pk
Salutation: Dear Minister
COPIES TO:
Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
Chief Justice of Pakistan
Supreme Court of Pakistan
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: 011 92-51-9213452
Salutation: Dear Chief Justice Chaudhry
Ambassador Hussain Haqqani
Embassy of The Islamic Republic of Pakistan
3517 International Ct NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 686 1534
Email: info@embassyofpakistanusa.org
ambassador@embassyofpakistanusa.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 29 December 2010.
----------------------------------
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$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/uaa24110.pdf
18 November 2010
UA 241/10 - Death Penalty
PAKISTAN Aasia Bibi (f)
Aasia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman, has been sentenced to death under the country's blasphemy laws.
On 8 November, the 45-year-old mother of five children was found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to death under Section 295B and 295C of Pakistan's Penal Code, for insulting the Prophet Muhammad, by a court in Nankana, around 75km (45 miles) west of the city of Lahore in Punjab province.
Aasia Bibi, a resident of Ittanwali, was arrested in June 2009. She was working as a farm laborer and was asked by a village elder's wife to fetch drinking water. Some other female Muslim farmhands reportedly refused to drink the water, saying it was sacrilegious and "unclean" to accept water from Aasia Bibi, as a non-Muslim. Aasia Bibi took offense, reportedly saying: "are we not human?" which led to an argument between them. The women allegedly complained to Qari Salim, the local cleric, that Aasia Bibi had made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad. The cleric informed local police who arrested and charged her with insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
Aasia Bibi denies the allegations and her husband, Ashiq Masih, claims her conviction was based on "false accusations". However, the trial judge, Naveed Iqbal, "totally ruled out" the possibility of false charges and said that there were "no mitigating circumstances". Aasia Bibi has now filed an appeal against the judgment in the Lahore High Court. She has been detained in prison and held in isolation since June 2009. She has claimed that she has not had access to a lawyer during her detention and the final day of her trial.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The blasphemy laws introduced in 1982 and 1986, while purporting to protect Islam and religious sensitivities of the Muslim majority, are vaguely formulated and arbitrarily enforced by the police and judiciary in a way which amounts to harassment and persecution of religious minorities and Muslims alike. Accusations of blasphemy have sometimes resulted in the murder of both Muslims and members of religious minorities.
Evidence from Amnesty International and other human rights groups suggests that charges brought against individuals under the blasphemy laws are founded solely on the individuals' minority religious beliefs or unfounded malicious accusations stemming from personal enmity, often with the motivation to imprison people to gain advantage in business or land disputes. Police frequently fail to record and investigate complaints and justice is impeded by the biased attitude of some judges against religious minorities.
Many of those accused or suspected of blasphemy have been assaulted or tortured. Some people detained on blasphemy charges in prisons have been killed by fellow detainees or prison wardens. Others suspected of blasphemy, but not under arrest, have been unlawfully killed without police taking any action to protect them.
"Defiling the name of the Prophet Mohammed" is a capital offense under Section 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code, which states, "Whoever by words, either spoken or written or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to a fine". The Federal Shariat Court, whose tasks include reviewing laws to ensure they conform with Islamic doctrine, ruled in 1991 that anyone convicted of blasphemy should face the death penalty, not life imprisonment.
Articles 18 and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights set out that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, opinion and expression. International human rights law provides that any limitations placed on these freedoms should be only such as are prescribed by law as well as being necessary and proportionate for, among other things, the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Calling on President Zardari to commute the death sentence use his powers under Article 45 of the Constitution;
- Calling for the immediate release of Aasia Bibi, unless she is charged with internationally regognizable offenses and tried in proceedings and under laws that meet international human rights standards;
- Calling on the authorities to take immediate measures to guarantee the safety of Aasia Bibi and her family;
- Expressing concern that the blasphemy laws are used indiscriminately against religious minorities and Muslims alike, and urging the government to amend or abolish laws, particularly section 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code which carries the death penalty for anyone found guilty of blasphemy; and
- Calling on the Supreme Court of Pakistan to take Suo Moto notice of the case;
- Urging the government to fulfill its pledge to review and improve "laws detrimental to religious harmony", announced by Prime Minister Giliani in August 2009;
- Calling for an immediate moratorium on all executions in the country, in line with the worldwide trends to abolish the death penalty with a view to an eventual abolition of the death penalty.
APPEALS TO:
President Zardari
Pakistan Secretariat, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: 011 92-51-9207458
E-mail: publicmail@president.gov.pk
Salutation: Dear President Zardari
Dr. Zaheeruddin Babar Awan
Federal Minister
Ministry of Law, Justice & Parliamentary Affairs
Room 305, S-Block,
Pakistan Secretariat, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: 011 92 51 9202628
E-Mail: minister@molaw.gov.pk
Salutation: Dear Minister
COPIES TO:
Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
Chief Justice of Pakistan
Supreme Court of Pakistan
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: 011 92-51-9213452
Salutation: Dear Chief Justice Chaudhry
Ambassador Hussain Haqqani
Embassy of The Islamic Republic of Pakistan
3517 International Ct NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 686 1534
Email: info@embassyofpakistanusa.org
ambassador@embassyofpakistanusa.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 29 December 2010.
----------------------------------
** 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, November 18, 2010
Urgent Action 11-18-10
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/uaa24110.pdf
18 November 2010
UA 241/10 - Death Penalty
PAKISTAN Aasia Bibi (f)
Aasia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman, has been sentenced to death under the country's blasphemy laws.
On 8 November, the 45-year-old mother of five children was found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to death under Section 295B and 295C of Pakistan's Penal Code, for insulting the Prophet Muhammad, by a court in Nankana, around 75km (45 miles) west of the city of Lahore in Punjab province.
Aasia Bibi, a resident of Ittanwali, was arrested in June 2009. She was working as a farm laborer and was asked by a village elder's wife to fetch drinking water. Some other female Muslim farmhands reportedly refused to drink the water, saying it was sacrilegious and "unclean" to accept water from Aasia Bibi, as a non-Muslim. Aasia Bibi took offense, reportedly saying: "are we not human?" which led to an argument between them. The women allegedly complained to Qari Salim, the local cleric, that Aasia Bibi had made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad. The cleric informed local police who arrested and charged her with insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
Aasia Bibi denies the allegations and her husband, Ashiq Masih, claims her conviction was based on "false accusations". However, the trial judge, Naveed Iqbal, "totally ruled out" the possibility of false charges and said that there were "no mitigating circumstances". Aasia Bibi has now filed an appeal against the judgment in the Lahore High Court. She has been detained in prison and held in isolation since June 2009. She has claimed that she has not had access to a lawyer during her detention and the final day of her trial.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The blasphemy laws introduced in 1982 and 1986, while purporting to protect Islam and religious sensitivities of the Muslim majority, are vaguely formulated and arbitrarily enforced by the police and judiciary in a way which amounts to harassment and persecution of religious minorities and Muslims alike. Accusations of blasphemy have sometimes resulted in the murder of both Muslims and members of religious minorities.
Evidence from Amnesty International and other human rights groups suggests that charges brought against individuals under the blasphemy laws are founded solely on the individuals' minority religious beliefs or unfounded malicious accusations stemming from personal enmity, often with the motivation to imprison people to gain advantage in business or land disputes. Police frequently fail to record and investigate complaints and justice is impeded by the biased attitude of some judges against religious minorities.
Many of those accused or suspected of blasphemy have been assaulted or tortured. Some people detained on blasphemy charges in prisons have been killed by fellow detainees or prison wardens. Others suspected of blasphemy, but not under arrest, have been unlawfully killed without police taking any action to protect them.
"Defiling the name of the Prophet Mohammed" is a capital offense under Section 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code, which states, "Whoever by words, either spoken or written or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to a fine". The Federal Shariat Court, whose tasks include reviewing laws to ensure they conform with Islamic doctrine, ruled in 1991 that anyone convicted of blasphemy should face the death penalty, not life imprisonment.
Articles 18 and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights set out that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, opinion and expression. International human rights law provides that any limitations placed on these freedoms should be only such as are prescribed by law as well as being necessary and proportionate for, among other things, the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Calling on President Zardari to commute the death sentence use his powers under Article 45 of the Constitution;
- Calling for the immediate release of Aasia Bibi, unless she is charged with internationally regognizable offenses and tried in proceedings and under laws that meet international human rights standards;
- Calling on the authorities to take immediate measures to guarantee the safety of Aasia Bibi and her family;
- Expressing concern that the blasphemy laws are used indiscriminately against religious minorities and Muslims alike, and urging the government to amend or abolish laws, particularly section 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code which carries the death penalty for anyone found guilty of blasphemy; and
- Calling on the Supreme Court of Pakistan to take Suo Moto notice of the case;
- Urging the government to fulfill its pledge to review and improve "laws detrimental to religious harmony", announced by Prime Minister Giliani in August 2009;
- Calling for an immediate moratorium on all executions in the country, in line with the worldwide trends to abolish the death penalty with a view to an eventual abolition of the death penalty.
APPEALS TO:
President Zardari
Pakistan Secretariat, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: 011 92-51-9207458
E-mail: publicmail@president.gov.pk
Salutation: Dear President Zardari
Dr. Zaheeruddin Babar Awan
Federal Minister
Ministry of Law, Justice & Parliamentary Affairs
Room 305, S-Block,
Pakistan Secretariat, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: 011 92 51 9202628
E-Mail: minister@molaw.gov.pk
Salutation: Dear Minister
COPIES TO:
Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
Chief Justice of Pakistan
Supreme Court of Pakistan
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: 011 92-51-9213452
Salutation: Dear Chief Justice Chaudhry
Ambassador Hussain Haqqani
Embassy of The Islamic Republic of Pakistan
3517 International Ct NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 686 1534
Email: info@embassyofpakistanusa.org
ambassador@embassyofpakistanusa.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 29 December 2010.
----------------------------------
** 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/uaa24110.pdf
18 November 2010
UA 241/10 - Death Penalty
PAKISTAN Aasia Bibi (f)
Aasia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman, has been sentenced to death under the country's blasphemy laws.
On 8 November, the 45-year-old mother of five children was found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to death under Section 295B and 295C of Pakistan's Penal Code, for insulting the Prophet Muhammad, by a court in Nankana, around 75km (45 miles) west of the city of Lahore in Punjab province.
Aasia Bibi, a resident of Ittanwali, was arrested in June 2009. She was working as a farm laborer and was asked by a village elder's wife to fetch drinking water. Some other female Muslim farmhands reportedly refused to drink the water, saying it was sacrilegious and "unclean" to accept water from Aasia Bibi, as a non-Muslim. Aasia Bibi took offense, reportedly saying: "are we not human?" which led to an argument between them. The women allegedly complained to Qari Salim, the local cleric, that Aasia Bibi had made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad. The cleric informed local police who arrested and charged her with insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
Aasia Bibi denies the allegations and her husband, Ashiq Masih, claims her conviction was based on "false accusations". However, the trial judge, Naveed Iqbal, "totally ruled out" the possibility of false charges and said that there were "no mitigating circumstances". Aasia Bibi has now filed an appeal against the judgment in the Lahore High Court. She has been detained in prison and held in isolation since June 2009. She has claimed that she has not had access to a lawyer during her detention and the final day of her trial.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The blasphemy laws introduced in 1982 and 1986, while purporting to protect Islam and religious sensitivities of the Muslim majority, are vaguely formulated and arbitrarily enforced by the police and judiciary in a way which amounts to harassment and persecution of religious minorities and Muslims alike. Accusations of blasphemy have sometimes resulted in the murder of both Muslims and members of religious minorities.
Evidence from Amnesty International and other human rights groups suggests that charges brought against individuals under the blasphemy laws are founded solely on the individuals' minority religious beliefs or unfounded malicious accusations stemming from personal enmity, often with the motivation to imprison people to gain advantage in business or land disputes. Police frequently fail to record and investigate complaints and justice is impeded by the biased attitude of some judges against religious minorities.
Many of those accused or suspected of blasphemy have been assaulted or tortured. Some people detained on blasphemy charges in prisons have been killed by fellow detainees or prison wardens. Others suspected of blasphemy, but not under arrest, have been unlawfully killed without police taking any action to protect them.
"Defiling the name of the Prophet Mohammed" is a capital offense under Section 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code, which states, "Whoever by words, either spoken or written or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to a fine". The Federal Shariat Court, whose tasks include reviewing laws to ensure they conform with Islamic doctrine, ruled in 1991 that anyone convicted of blasphemy should face the death penalty, not life imprisonment.
Articles 18 and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights set out that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, opinion and expression. International human rights law provides that any limitations placed on these freedoms should be only such as are prescribed by law as well as being necessary and proportionate for, among other things, the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Calling on President Zardari to commute the death sentence use his powers under Article 45 of the Constitution;
- Calling for the immediate release of Aasia Bibi, unless she is charged with internationally regognizable offenses and tried in proceedings and under laws that meet international human rights standards;
- Calling on the authorities to take immediate measures to guarantee the safety of Aasia Bibi and her family;
- Expressing concern that the blasphemy laws are used indiscriminately against religious minorities and Muslims alike, and urging the government to amend or abolish laws, particularly section 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code which carries the death penalty for anyone found guilty of blasphemy; and
- Calling on the Supreme Court of Pakistan to take Suo Moto notice of the case;
- Urging the government to fulfill its pledge to review and improve "laws detrimental to religious harmony", announced by Prime Minister Giliani in August 2009;
- Calling for an immediate moratorium on all executions in the country, in line with the worldwide trends to abolish the death penalty with a view to an eventual abolition of the death penalty.
APPEALS TO:
President Zardari
Pakistan Secretariat, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: 011 92-51-9207458
E-mail: publicmail@president.gov.pk
Salutation: Dear President Zardari
Dr. Zaheeruddin Babar Awan
Federal Minister
Ministry of Law, Justice & Parliamentary Affairs
Room 305, S-Block,
Pakistan Secretariat, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: 011 92 51 9202628
E-Mail: minister@molaw.gov.pk
Salutation: Dear Minister
COPIES TO:
Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
Chief Justice of Pakistan
Supreme Court of Pakistan
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: 011 92-51-9213452
Salutation: Dear Chief Justice Chaudhry
Ambassador Hussain Haqqani
Embassy of The Islamic Republic of Pakistan
3517 International Ct NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 686 1534
Email: info@embassyofpakistanusa.org
ambassador@embassyofpakistanusa.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 29 December 2010.
----------------------------------
** 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
----------------------------------
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Urgent Action 11-17-10
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/uaa24010.pdf
16 November 2010
UA 240/10 Fear for Safety
MEXICO José Alberto Donis Rodríguez (m)
Migrants' rights defender José Alberto Donis Rodríguez was assaulted and threatened with death on 11 November by a suspected gang member in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. Local sources believe the gang member is part of a migrant trafficking ring operating in the area. José Alberto Donis and his colleagues are at risk.
José Alberto Donis is a staff member at the "Brothers on the road" ("Hermanos en el camino") migrants' shelter in Ixtepec city, Oaxaca state. He is a Guatemalan migrant himself who arrived at the shelter in 2008 and decided to stay to support the work of the other staff and volunteers.
On 11 November at around 11am, José Alberto Donis approached a man who was standing at the entrance of the migrants' shelter. As José Alberto Donis had seen the man wandering near the shelter for several days, he told the man that all those who stay at the shelter or who regularly visit the shelter have to be photographed and have their personal details recorded for security reasons. The man refused, and José Alberto Donis asked him to leave the shelter. An argument began and the man attempted to punch José Alberto Donis, threatened to kill him, and left the shelter. At around 2pm a colleague of José Alberto Donis ran into the man at the local train station and overheard him telling others that he was going to kill José Alberto Donis.
The man, who is in his late twenties, could be part of a trafficking ring which operates in the area. The gang has tried to lure migrants with the promise of taking them to the US border. Hundreds of migrants are kidnapped every year in Mexico, and many of them are eventually killed after they fall prey to these trafficking rings.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Defending human rights can be a life-threatening job in Mexico. Scores of activists have suffered death threats, intimidation, and harassment in the last few years. Some of them have been killed for doing their job. The authorities have recognized that adopting and implementing an effective and comprehensive protection programme (mecanismo de protección), as requested by human rights defenders, is paramount. However, they have not fulfilled their promises yet.
Father Alejandro Solalinde, the director of the “Brothers on the road” shelter, has suffered arbitrary arrest and intimidation at the hands of local authorities and members of the community. On 10 January 2007, Father Solalinde was arrested and detained for several hours by police while carrying out human rights work. On 24 June 2008, a group of about 50 residents of Ciudad Ixtepec led by municipal officials, including the mayor and 14 municipal police, broke into the shelter and threatened to set the building on fire if it was not shut down within 48 hours.
Following further acts of intimidation in late 2009, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ordered the Mexican authorities to provide Father Solalinde and his colleagues with adequate protection. Since 23 April 2010, when the request was issued, Father Solalinde has held meetings with representatives of the Ministry of the Interior and they have agreed on a plan to implement specific protection measures. To date, very few of these measures have been put into practice.
Every year, thousands of undocumented migrants from Central America travel across Mexico in order to reach the US border. Many of them suffer beatings, kidnapping, rape, and even murder. In most of the cases the attacks are carried out by criminal gangs, but officials are known to have been complicit or acquiescent in many of the attacks. By and large, the authorities fail to investigate attacks against migrants and to bring those responsible to justice.
On 8 November Amnesty International and Mexican actor and director Gael García Bernal launched a series of films on the situation of undocumented migrants in Mexico. The films are available on: http://www.youtube.com/invisiblesfilms
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Expressing concern at the assault and death threat suffered by human rights defender José Alberto Donis on 11 November;
- Urging the authorities to provide José Alberto Donis and his colleagues with effective protection, in strict accordance with their wishes and in compliance with the request issued by Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on 23 April 2010;
- Calling on the authorities to carry out a full and prompt investigation into the operations of trafficking rings around the migrants’ shelter;
- Reminding the authorities of their duties to guarantee that human rights defenders can carry out their work without fear of reprisals as established in the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
APPEALS TO:
Minister of the Interior
Lic. José Francisco Blake Mora
Secretaría de Gobernación
Bucareli 99, 1er. piso, Col. Juárez
Delegación Cuauhtémoc
México D.F., C.P.06600,
MÉXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 5093 3414
Email: secretario@segob.gob.mx
Salutation: Dear Minister/Estimado Señor Secretario
Governor-elect of Oaxaca state (takes office on 1 December)
Lic. Gabino Cué Monteagudo
Gobernador electo del Estado
Representación del Estado de Oaxaca en la Ciudad de México
Shakespeare 68, Col. Nueva Anzures, Del. Miguel Hidalgo,
México, D.F., C.P. 11590,
MÉXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 5531 4041 OR 011 52 55 5545 7362
Email: goboaxdf@prodigy.net.mx
COPIES TO:
President of the National Human Rights Commission
Dr. Raúl Plascencia Villanueva
Presidente, Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos (CNDH)
Blvd. Adolfo López Mateos 1922, 6° piso,
Col. Tlacopac San Ángel, Del. Álvaro Obregón,
México D.F., C.P. 01040,
MÉXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 5668 0767
Email: secpartpresidencia@cndh.org.mx
Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan Casamitjana
Embassy of Mexico
1911 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington DC 20006
Fax: 1 202 728 1698
Email: mexembusa@sre.gob.mx
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 28 December 2010.
----------------------------------
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.)
- 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/uaa24010.pdf
16 November 2010
UA 240/10 Fear for Safety
MEXICO José Alberto Donis Rodríguez (m)
Migrants' rights defender José Alberto Donis Rodríguez was assaulted and threatened with death on 11 November by a suspected gang member in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. Local sources believe the gang member is part of a migrant trafficking ring operating in the area. José Alberto Donis and his colleagues are at risk.
José Alberto Donis is a staff member at the "Brothers on the road" ("Hermanos en el camino") migrants' shelter in Ixtepec city, Oaxaca state. He is a Guatemalan migrant himself who arrived at the shelter in 2008 and decided to stay to support the work of the other staff and volunteers.
On 11 November at around 11am, José Alberto Donis approached a man who was standing at the entrance of the migrants' shelter. As José Alberto Donis had seen the man wandering near the shelter for several days, he told the man that all those who stay at the shelter or who regularly visit the shelter have to be photographed and have their personal details recorded for security reasons. The man refused, and José Alberto Donis asked him to leave the shelter. An argument began and the man attempted to punch José Alberto Donis, threatened to kill him, and left the shelter. At around 2pm a colleague of José Alberto Donis ran into the man at the local train station and overheard him telling others that he was going to kill José Alberto Donis.
The man, who is in his late twenties, could be part of a trafficking ring which operates in the area. The gang has tried to lure migrants with the promise of taking them to the US border. Hundreds of migrants are kidnapped every year in Mexico, and many of them are eventually killed after they fall prey to these trafficking rings.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Defending human rights can be a life-threatening job in Mexico. Scores of activists have suffered death threats, intimidation, and harassment in the last few years. Some of them have been killed for doing their job. The authorities have recognized that adopting and implementing an effective and comprehensive protection programme (mecanismo de protección), as requested by human rights defenders, is paramount. However, they have not fulfilled their promises yet.
Father Alejandro Solalinde, the director of the “Brothers on the road” shelter, has suffered arbitrary arrest and intimidation at the hands of local authorities and members of the community. On 10 January 2007, Father Solalinde was arrested and detained for several hours by police while carrying out human rights work. On 24 June 2008, a group of about 50 residents of Ciudad Ixtepec led by municipal officials, including the mayor and 14 municipal police, broke into the shelter and threatened to set the building on fire if it was not shut down within 48 hours.
Following further acts of intimidation in late 2009, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ordered the Mexican authorities to provide Father Solalinde and his colleagues with adequate protection. Since 23 April 2010, when the request was issued, Father Solalinde has held meetings with representatives of the Ministry of the Interior and they have agreed on a plan to implement specific protection measures. To date, very few of these measures have been put into practice.
Every year, thousands of undocumented migrants from Central America travel across Mexico in order to reach the US border. Many of them suffer beatings, kidnapping, rape, and even murder. In most of the cases the attacks are carried out by criminal gangs, but officials are known to have been complicit or acquiescent in many of the attacks. By and large, the authorities fail to investigate attacks against migrants and to bring those responsible to justice.
On 8 November Amnesty International and Mexican actor and director Gael García Bernal launched a series of films on the situation of undocumented migrants in Mexico. The films are available on: http://www.youtube.com/invisiblesfilms
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Expressing concern at the assault and death threat suffered by human rights defender José Alberto Donis on 11 November;
- Urging the authorities to provide José Alberto Donis and his colleagues with effective protection, in strict accordance with their wishes and in compliance with the request issued by Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on 23 April 2010;
- Calling on the authorities to carry out a full and prompt investigation into the operations of trafficking rings around the migrants’ shelter;
- Reminding the authorities of their duties to guarantee that human rights defenders can carry out their work without fear of reprisals as established in the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
APPEALS TO:
Minister of the Interior
Lic. José Francisco Blake Mora
Secretaría de Gobernación
Bucareli 99, 1er. piso, Col. Juárez
Delegación Cuauhtémoc
México D.F., C.P.06600,
MÉXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 5093 3414
Email: secretario@segob.gob.mx
Salutation: Dear Minister/Estimado Señor Secretario
Governor-elect of Oaxaca state (takes office on 1 December)
Lic. Gabino Cué Monteagudo
Gobernador electo del Estado
Representación del Estado de Oaxaca en la Ciudad de México
Shakespeare 68, Col. Nueva Anzures, Del. Miguel Hidalgo,
México, D.F., C.P. 11590,
MÉXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 5531 4041 OR 011 52 55 5545 7362
Email: goboaxdf@prodigy.net.mx
COPIES TO:
President of the National Human Rights Commission
Dr. Raúl Plascencia Villanueva
Presidente, Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos (CNDH)
Blvd. Adolfo López Mateos 1922, 6° piso,
Col. Tlacopac San Ángel, Del. Álvaro Obregón,
México D.F., C.P. 01040,
MÉXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 5668 0767
Email: secpartpresidencia@cndh.org.mx
Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan Casamitjana
Embassy of Mexico
1911 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington DC 20006
Fax: 1 202 728 1698
Email: mexembusa@sre.gob.mx
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 28 December 2010.
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