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/uaa02911.pdf
15 February 2011
UA 29/11 - Freedom of Expression
BAHRAIN
'Ali 'Abdulhadi Mushaima' (m)
Fadhel 'Ali Matrook (m)
Two men have died in Bahrain after riot police shot at protesters peacefully demonstrating for more political rights and freedoms. Riot police have used tear gas, shotguns and reportedly live ammunition to contain the peaceful protests across Bahrain, which began on 14 February.
'Ali 'Abdulhadi Mushaima' was shot, reportedly with live ammunition, at a demonstration on 14 February in al-Daih village, in the north of Bahrain. He was taken to al-Salmaniaya hospital in Manama, the capital, but died one hour later. On 15 February, a funeral procession was organized to take his body from the hospital to the cemetery for burial. According to eye witnesses, high numbers of people were gathering at the gates of the hospital to join the procession, when riot police used tear gas and shotguns to disperse the crowd. One man, Fadhel 'Ali Matrook, was injured by shotgun pellets and later died in hospital.
Video footage taken by Bahraini human rights activists provides clear evidence of police brutality and excessive force in breach of international human rights law and standards. Article 3 of the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials, adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution 34/169 of 17 December 1979, states: "...the use of force by law enforcement officials should be exceptional; while it implies that law enforcement officials may be authorized to use force as is reasonably necessary under the circumstances for the prevention of crime or in effecting or assisting in the lawful arrest of offenders or suspected offenders, no force going beyond that may be used".
The 'Day of Rage' protests were called for on several websites, Facebook and twitter. The protests were organized to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the endorsement of Bahrain's National Action Charter. Inspired by the protests in Tunisia and Egypt, the protesters have been demanding more freedom, the release of all political prisoners, a new constitution and an elected government. The largest Shi'a political group, al-Wefaq, has reportedly suspended its participation in parliament in protest at the death of the two protesters and the methods used by the police.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Urge the authorities to immediately stop using excessive force against the protesters;
- Urge the authorities to set up an immediate, thorough and independent investigation into the deaths of 'Ali 'Abdulhadi Mushaima' and Fadhel 'Ali Matrook, and ensure that any police found to have used excessive force are brought to justice;
- Urge the authorities to respect and protect the right of freedom expression, movement and assembly in Bahrain.
APPEALS TO:
King
Shaikh Hamad bin 'Issa Al Khalifa
Office of His Majesty the King
P.O. Box 555
Rifa'a Palace,al-Manama,
BAHRAIN
Fax: 011 00973 17664587
Salutation: His Highness
Minister of Interior
Shaikh Rashid bin 'Abdullah bin Ahmad Al Khalifa
Minister of Interior
Ministry of Interior
P.O. Box 13, al-Manama,
BAHRAIN
Fax: 011 0097317232661
Salutation: His Excellency
COPIES TO:
Ambassador Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo
Embassy of the Kingdom of Bahrain
3502 International Drive. NW
Washington DC 20008
Phone: 1 202 342 1111
Fax: 1 202 362 2192
Email: ambsecretary@bahrainembassy.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 29 March 2011.
----------------------------------
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Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that promotes and defends human rights.
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Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
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Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.509.8193
Fax: 202.675.8566
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Urgent Action 2-10-11
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa02711.pdf
Or take action online at:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=15289
10 February 2011
UA 27/11 - Imminent Execution
USA (Texas) Timothy Adams (m), aged 42
Timothy Adams, a 42-year-old African American man, is scheduled to be executed in Texas on 22 February. He was sentenced to death for the murder of his young son in 2002. Three of the 12 jurors who voted for death at his trial in 2003 are among those now appealing for clemency.
Timothy (Tim) Adams shot his 19-month-old son Timothy ("TJ") during a stand-off with police in Houston, Texas, on 20 February 2002. After surrendering, he gave police a statement admitting to the murder. He pleaded guilty at his trial. The jury convicted him, and after a sentencing phase voted that, even though he had no prior criminal record, he would likely commit future acts of violence that would "constitute a continuing threat to society" – a prerequisite for a death sentence in Texas – and that there was insufficient mitigating evidence to warrant a life sentence.
Although the defense lawyers presented a number of character witnesses at the sentencing, they presented only one family member, the defendant's mother. Other relatives of Tim Adams – who are also members of the murder victim's family – are now appealing for clemency. For example, Tim Adams's father – the grandfather of the victim – has said: "Losing TJ was especially hard for me... However, I cannot imagine losing my son to this tragedy as well... I do not know what I will do if we lose Tim". The brother of Tim Adams has said "It's hard to explain why Tim did what he did... It was totally out of character... I still have a strong relationship with him. I often break down when I leave the prison after our visits. I cannot imagine losing my brother". His sister states: "It's going to affect my family in a bad way if he is executed. I would never wish this on anyone, even my worst enemy... This would just be another huge loss to our family". Tim Adams has a 23-year-old son from a previous relationship who has said: "I can't put my finger on why my father would do something like that. Yet, my father was very loving and taught me right from wrong when I was growing up. He was a good father. He is not a bad person. I wish I had had the opportunity to say something in support of my father at his trial".
Three of the jurors from the original trial are also supporting clemency. One of them has said that she initially voted for a life sentence, but "felt pressured by the other jurors to change my vote". She said that she has "carried the guilt around for years knowing that I sentenced Adams, a man who had done wrong but who was otherwise a good, religious, and hard-working person, to death". Another former juror recalled that "Adams was so remorseful during the trial, and I could tell that he was hurting a lot". However, she said that he too had felt "pressured" by other jurors "into believing that Adams was a cold-hearted man" and had voted for death. Both jurors said that they had learned more about Tim Adams since the trial that confirmed their original leaning to vote for a life sentence.
Tim Adams is reported not to have committed a single disciplinary infraction during his eight years on death row.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
A few days before the 20 February 2002 shooting in Houston, Tim Adams's wife had moved out of their flat, taking the baby with her. On 20 February, she returned to the apartment to collect her belongings. Confronted by her husband, she telephoned the police. Tim Adams fired a shot at her, and she fled the home, leaving the child behind. In the ensuing stand-off, Tim Adams told police that he was suicidal and would kill himself if anyone tried to enter the apartment. He was eventually talked into surrendering. His young son had already been shot.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases, unconditionally, regardless of the crime or the offender. To end the death penalty is to abandon a destructive, diversionary and divisive public policy that is not consistent with widely held values. It not only runs the risk of irrevocable error, it is also costly, in social and psychological terms as well as to the public purse (a fact which is drawing increasing public concern in the USA in the current economic climate). It has not been proved to have a unique deterrent effect. It tends to be applied in a discriminatory way, on grounds of race and class. It denies the possibility of reconciliation and rehabilitation. It promotes simplistic responses to complex human problems, rather than pursuing explanations that could inform positive strategies. It diverts resources that could be better used to work against violent crime and assist those affected by it. The death penalty extends the suffering of the victim's family to that of the condemned prisoner.
Today, 139 countries are abolitionist in law or practice, a clear majority. Such countries have concluded either that the death penalty is unnecessary, or that it is incompatible with modern standards of justice, or both. While international law recognizes that some countries retain the death penalty, this acknowledgment of present reality should not be invoked "to delay or to prevent the abolition of capital punishment", in the words of Article 6.6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In 2007, 2008 and 2010, the United Nations General Assembly passed resolutions calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions, pending abolition.
There have been 1,239 executions in the USA since judicial killing resumed there in 1977, including five so far this year. Of the 464 prisoners put to death in Texas (37 per cent of the national total), 115 were convicted in Harris County, where Tim Adams was sentenced to death. If Harris County was a state, it would account for more executions than any other state in the USA apart from the rest of Texas. See USA: One county, 100 executions: Harris County and Texas - a lethal combination, July 2007, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/125/2007/en; also USA: Too much cruelty, too little clemency: Texas nears 200th execution under current governor, April 2009, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/057/2009/en. There have been 225 executions in Texas since Governor Rick Perry took office in December 2000.
Arbitrariness, discrimination and error mark the death penalty in the USA, along with its inescapable cruelty. Public and political support for the death penalty has weakened in recent years, possibly a result of an erosion of belief in its deterrence value, an increased awareness of the frequency of wrongful convictions in capital cases, and a greater confidence that public safety can be guaranteed by life prison terms rather than death sentences. In 2008, Senior Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens revealed that he had decided, after more than three decades on the country's highest court, that the death penalty was a cruel waste of time. "I have relied on my own experience", he wrote, "in reaching the conclusion that the imposition of the death penalty represents the pointless and needless extinction of life with only marginal contributions to any discernible social or public purposes". Since retiring from the Supreme Court in June 2010, he has said that there was one vote during his nearly 35 years on the Court that he regretted – his vote with the majority in Gregg v. Georgia in 1976 that allowed executions to resume in the USA. See also USA: A learning curve, towards a 'more perfect world', October 2010, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/095/2010/en
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Acknowledging the seriousness of the crime for which Tim Adams was sentenced to death;
- Noting that three of the jurors are calling for commutation of the death sentence;
- Calling on the authorities to recognize the suffering that execution causes family members;
- Urging the parole board to recommend to Governor Perry that he commute the death sentence;
- Calling on Governor Perry to do all in his power and influence to stop this execution.
APPEALS TO:
Clemency Section, Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
8610 Shoal Creek Blvd.
Austin, TX 78757-6814
USA
Fax 512 467 0945
Email: bpp-pio@tdcj.state.tx.us
Salutation: Dear Board members
Governor Rick Perry
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711-2428
USA
Fax: 1 512 463 1849
Salutation: Dear Governor
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 22 February 2011.
----------------------------------
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 **
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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
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa12210.pdf
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on May 27, 2010. Thanks!
10 February 2011
Further information on UA 122/10 (27 May 2010) - Risk of forcible return
UGANDA
Mohammad Hassan Haji (m) ]
Abdu Rashid Abdulalli Omar (m) ] Somali nationals
The health of Mohammad Hassan Haji and Abdu Rashid Abdulalli Omar, both Somali nationals detained in Uganda, has greatly deteriorated in the past weeks. They face forcible return to Somalia, where they would be at risk of human rights abuses.
18-year-old Abdul Rashid Abdullahi Omar, who has been diagnosed with manic depression, and 25-year-old Mohammad Hassan Haji have been detained by the Ugandan authorities since November and December 2009. They are being held at the Central Police Station in Kampala, Uganda's capital. Their health is deteriorating because they are kept in unsanitary conditions in an overcrowded cell without natural light and are not allowed outside their cell to exercise. Their continuing detention without prospect of release and fear of deportation to Somalia is having a serious psychological impact. In mid January, Mohammad Hassan Haji was threatened with imminent deportation. They have also been told that they will not be released unless they pay a bribe to the police.
Mohammad Hassan Haji has been prevented from having his asylum claim examined by the Ugandan authorities. Further, he has been unable to challenge a March 2010 court decision that he should be deported back to Somalia. The Ugandan authorities have reportedly said that he represents a risk to state security, but after more than 13 months in detention, they have yet to charge him in relation to these allegations. Mohammad Hassan Haji was convicted of "illegal entry" after being arrested in Katuna, near the Ugandan border with Rwanda.
Abdul Rashid Abdullahi Omar was arrested at the Sudan/Uganda border after he boarded a bus to Sudan. He was charged with "illegal entry," reportedly convicted and has since been under threat of deportation to Somalia. He is registered as a refugee with UNHCR in Kenya, where most of his family lives. The Ugandan authorities have reportedly agreed to deport him to Kenya instead of Somalia, provided his family is traced. However, despite his mental health condition and the fact that his brother lives in Uganda, he remains in police custody without adequate medical care and in unhealthy conditions of detention.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
All Somalis are at risk of being killed or injured in the generalized violence and indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks that occur in southern and central Somalia, given the consistent failure of all parties to the ongoing conflict to respect international humanitarian law. Therefore, Amnesty International opposes all forcible returns to southern and central Somalia and recommends that all Somalis from southern and central Somalia be granted international protection, in line with the most recent advice of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), unless they are ineligible for such protection.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Demanding that Mohammad Hassan Haji is immediately provided with the full opportunity to claim asylum;
- Urging the Ugandan authorities to immediately release the two men;
- Urging them to ensure that both men have access to adequate medical care, and that Abdul Rashid Abdullahi Omar is able to obtain medical and psychological treatment appropriate to his mental health condition;
- Urging the Ugandan authorities to comply with their non-refoulement obligations, immediately revoke deportation orders to Somalia against both men, and halt all forcible returns to southern and central Somalia, where all Somalis are at risk of serious human rights abuses;
- Reminding the Ugandan authorities that asylum-seekers should only be detained as a last resort, after justifying in each individual case that it is a necessary and proportionate measure, and that no other alternative will suffice;
APPEALS TO:
Minister of Internal Affairs
Hon. Ali Kirunda Kivejinja
Crested Towers
PO Box 7084
Kampala
UGANDA
Fax: 011 256 414 343 088
Salutation: Dear Minister
Commissioner for Disaster Preparedness and Refugees
Mr. Martin Owor
Office of the Prime Minister (OPM)
Post Office Building, Yusuf Lule Road
P.O. Box 341
Kampala, UGANDA
Fax: 011 256 414 341 139 (please keep trying if you don't get through first time)
Salutation: Dear Commissioner
COPIES TO:
Mrs Josephine Ali Ekwang
Commissioner, Inspections & Legal Services,
Directorate of Citizenship & Immigration Control
Ministry of Internal Affairs
Plot 75, Jjinja Road
PO Box 7191
Kampala, UGANDA
Fax: 011 256 414 343 088
Ambassador Professor Perezi Karukubiro Kamunanwire
Embassy of the Republic of Uganda
5911 16th St. NW
Washington DC 20011
Phone: 1 202 726 4758
Fax: 1 202 726 1727
Email: pkamunanwire@ugandaembassyus.org
info@ugandaembassyus.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 24 March 2011.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible to the date a case is issued.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.28 - Postcards
$0.44 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Canada:
$0.75 - Postcards
$0.75 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico:
$0.79 - Postcards
$0.79 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.98 - Postcards
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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
----------------------------------
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/uaa02711.pdf
Or take action online at:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=15289
10 February 2011
UA 27/11 - Imminent Execution
USA (Texas) Timothy Adams (m), aged 42
Timothy Adams, a 42-year-old African American man, is scheduled to be executed in Texas on 22 February. He was sentenced to death for the murder of his young son in 2002. Three of the 12 jurors who voted for death at his trial in 2003 are among those now appealing for clemency.
Timothy (Tim) Adams shot his 19-month-old son Timothy ("TJ") during a stand-off with police in Houston, Texas, on 20 February 2002. After surrendering, he gave police a statement admitting to the murder. He pleaded guilty at his trial. The jury convicted him, and after a sentencing phase voted that, even though he had no prior criminal record, he would likely commit future acts of violence that would "constitute a continuing threat to society" – a prerequisite for a death sentence in Texas – and that there was insufficient mitigating evidence to warrant a life sentence.
Although the defense lawyers presented a number of character witnesses at the sentencing, they presented only one family member, the defendant's mother. Other relatives of Tim Adams – who are also members of the murder victim's family – are now appealing for clemency. For example, Tim Adams's father – the grandfather of the victim – has said: "Losing TJ was especially hard for me... However, I cannot imagine losing my son to this tragedy as well... I do not know what I will do if we lose Tim". The brother of Tim Adams has said "It's hard to explain why Tim did what he did... It was totally out of character... I still have a strong relationship with him. I often break down when I leave the prison after our visits. I cannot imagine losing my brother". His sister states: "It's going to affect my family in a bad way if he is executed. I would never wish this on anyone, even my worst enemy... This would just be another huge loss to our family". Tim Adams has a 23-year-old son from a previous relationship who has said: "I can't put my finger on why my father would do something like that. Yet, my father was very loving and taught me right from wrong when I was growing up. He was a good father. He is not a bad person. I wish I had had the opportunity to say something in support of my father at his trial".
Three of the jurors from the original trial are also supporting clemency. One of them has said that she initially voted for a life sentence, but "felt pressured by the other jurors to change my vote". She said that she has "carried the guilt around for years knowing that I sentenced Adams, a man who had done wrong but who was otherwise a good, religious, and hard-working person, to death". Another former juror recalled that "Adams was so remorseful during the trial, and I could tell that he was hurting a lot". However, she said that he too had felt "pressured" by other jurors "into believing that Adams was a cold-hearted man" and had voted for death. Both jurors said that they had learned more about Tim Adams since the trial that confirmed their original leaning to vote for a life sentence.
Tim Adams is reported not to have committed a single disciplinary infraction during his eight years on death row.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
A few days before the 20 February 2002 shooting in Houston, Tim Adams's wife had moved out of their flat, taking the baby with her. On 20 February, she returned to the apartment to collect her belongings. Confronted by her husband, she telephoned the police. Tim Adams fired a shot at her, and she fled the home, leaving the child behind. In the ensuing stand-off, Tim Adams told police that he was suicidal and would kill himself if anyone tried to enter the apartment. He was eventually talked into surrendering. His young son had already been shot.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases, unconditionally, regardless of the crime or the offender. To end the death penalty is to abandon a destructive, diversionary and divisive public policy that is not consistent with widely held values. It not only runs the risk of irrevocable error, it is also costly, in social and psychological terms as well as to the public purse (a fact which is drawing increasing public concern in the USA in the current economic climate). It has not been proved to have a unique deterrent effect. It tends to be applied in a discriminatory way, on grounds of race and class. It denies the possibility of reconciliation and rehabilitation. It promotes simplistic responses to complex human problems, rather than pursuing explanations that could inform positive strategies. It diverts resources that could be better used to work against violent crime and assist those affected by it. The death penalty extends the suffering of the victim's family to that of the condemned prisoner.
Today, 139 countries are abolitionist in law or practice, a clear majority. Such countries have concluded either that the death penalty is unnecessary, or that it is incompatible with modern standards of justice, or both. While international law recognizes that some countries retain the death penalty, this acknowledgment of present reality should not be invoked "to delay or to prevent the abolition of capital punishment", in the words of Article 6.6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In 2007, 2008 and 2010, the United Nations General Assembly passed resolutions calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions, pending abolition.
There have been 1,239 executions in the USA since judicial killing resumed there in 1977, including five so far this year. Of the 464 prisoners put to death in Texas (37 per cent of the national total), 115 were convicted in Harris County, where Tim Adams was sentenced to death. If Harris County was a state, it would account for more executions than any other state in the USA apart from the rest of Texas. See USA: One county, 100 executions: Harris County and Texas - a lethal combination, July 2007, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/125/2007/en; also USA: Too much cruelty, too little clemency: Texas nears 200th execution under current governor, April 2009, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/057/2009/en. There have been 225 executions in Texas since Governor Rick Perry took office in December 2000.
Arbitrariness, discrimination and error mark the death penalty in the USA, along with its inescapable cruelty. Public and political support for the death penalty has weakened in recent years, possibly a result of an erosion of belief in its deterrence value, an increased awareness of the frequency of wrongful convictions in capital cases, and a greater confidence that public safety can be guaranteed by life prison terms rather than death sentences. In 2008, Senior Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens revealed that he had decided, after more than three decades on the country's highest court, that the death penalty was a cruel waste of time. "I have relied on my own experience", he wrote, "in reaching the conclusion that the imposition of the death penalty represents the pointless and needless extinction of life with only marginal contributions to any discernible social or public purposes". Since retiring from the Supreme Court in June 2010, he has said that there was one vote during his nearly 35 years on the Court that he regretted – his vote with the majority in Gregg v. Georgia in 1976 that allowed executions to resume in the USA. See also USA: A learning curve, towards a 'more perfect world', October 2010, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/095/2010/en
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Acknowledging the seriousness of the crime for which Tim Adams was sentenced to death;
- Noting that three of the jurors are calling for commutation of the death sentence;
- Calling on the authorities to recognize the suffering that execution causes family members;
- Urging the parole board to recommend to Governor Perry that he commute the death sentence;
- Calling on Governor Perry to do all in his power and influence to stop this execution.
APPEALS TO:
Clemency Section, Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
8610 Shoal Creek Blvd.
Austin, TX 78757-6814
USA
Fax 512 467 0945
Email: bpp-pio@tdcj.state.tx.us
Salutation: Dear Board members
Governor Rick Perry
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711-2428
USA
Fax: 1 512 463 1849
Salutation: Dear Governor
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 22 February 2011.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible to the date a case is issued.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.28 - Postcards
$0.44 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Canada:
$0.75 - Postcards
$0.75 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico:
$0.79 - Postcards
$0.79 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.98 - Postcards
$0.98 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable).
Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.509.8193
Fax: 202.675.8566
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa12210.pdf
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on May 27, 2010. Thanks!
10 February 2011
Further information on UA 122/10 (27 May 2010) - Risk of forcible return
UGANDA
Mohammad Hassan Haji (m) ]
Abdu Rashid Abdulalli Omar (m) ] Somali nationals
The health of Mohammad Hassan Haji and Abdu Rashid Abdulalli Omar, both Somali nationals detained in Uganda, has greatly deteriorated in the past weeks. They face forcible return to Somalia, where they would be at risk of human rights abuses.
18-year-old Abdul Rashid Abdullahi Omar, who has been diagnosed with manic depression, and 25-year-old Mohammad Hassan Haji have been detained by the Ugandan authorities since November and December 2009. They are being held at the Central Police Station in Kampala, Uganda's capital. Their health is deteriorating because they are kept in unsanitary conditions in an overcrowded cell without natural light and are not allowed outside their cell to exercise. Their continuing detention without prospect of release and fear of deportation to Somalia is having a serious psychological impact. In mid January, Mohammad Hassan Haji was threatened with imminent deportation. They have also been told that they will not be released unless they pay a bribe to the police.
Mohammad Hassan Haji has been prevented from having his asylum claim examined by the Ugandan authorities. Further, he has been unable to challenge a March 2010 court decision that he should be deported back to Somalia. The Ugandan authorities have reportedly said that he represents a risk to state security, but after more than 13 months in detention, they have yet to charge him in relation to these allegations. Mohammad Hassan Haji was convicted of "illegal entry" after being arrested in Katuna, near the Ugandan border with Rwanda.
Abdul Rashid Abdullahi Omar was arrested at the Sudan/Uganda border after he boarded a bus to Sudan. He was charged with "illegal entry," reportedly convicted and has since been under threat of deportation to Somalia. He is registered as a refugee with UNHCR in Kenya, where most of his family lives. The Ugandan authorities have reportedly agreed to deport him to Kenya instead of Somalia, provided his family is traced. However, despite his mental health condition and the fact that his brother lives in Uganda, he remains in police custody without adequate medical care and in unhealthy conditions of detention.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
All Somalis are at risk of being killed or injured in the generalized violence and indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks that occur in southern and central Somalia, given the consistent failure of all parties to the ongoing conflict to respect international humanitarian law. Therefore, Amnesty International opposes all forcible returns to southern and central Somalia and recommends that all Somalis from southern and central Somalia be granted international protection, in line with the most recent advice of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), unless they are ineligible for such protection.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Demanding that Mohammad Hassan Haji is immediately provided with the full opportunity to claim asylum;
- Urging the Ugandan authorities to immediately release the two men;
- Urging them to ensure that both men have access to adequate medical care, and that Abdul Rashid Abdullahi Omar is able to obtain medical and psychological treatment appropriate to his mental health condition;
- Urging the Ugandan authorities to comply with their non-refoulement obligations, immediately revoke deportation orders to Somalia against both men, and halt all forcible returns to southern and central Somalia, where all Somalis are at risk of serious human rights abuses;
- Reminding the Ugandan authorities that asylum-seekers should only be detained as a last resort, after justifying in each individual case that it is a necessary and proportionate measure, and that no other alternative will suffice;
APPEALS TO:
Minister of Internal Affairs
Hon. Ali Kirunda Kivejinja
Crested Towers
PO Box 7084
Kampala
UGANDA
Fax: 011 256 414 343 088
Salutation: Dear Minister
Commissioner for Disaster Preparedness and Refugees
Mr. Martin Owor
Office of the Prime Minister (OPM)
Post Office Building, Yusuf Lule Road
P.O. Box 341
Kampala, UGANDA
Fax: 011 256 414 341 139 (please keep trying if you don't get through first time)
Salutation: Dear Commissioner
COPIES TO:
Mrs Josephine Ali Ekwang
Commissioner, Inspections & Legal Services,
Directorate of Citizenship & Immigration Control
Ministry of Internal Affairs
Plot 75, Jjinja Road
PO Box 7191
Kampala, UGANDA
Fax: 011 256 414 343 088
Ambassador Professor Perezi Karukubiro Kamunanwire
Embassy of the Republic of Uganda
5911 16th St. NW
Washington DC 20011
Phone: 1 202 726 4758
Fax: 1 202 726 1727
Email: pkamunanwire@ugandaembassyus.org
info@ugandaembassyus.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 24 March 2011.
----------------------------------
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Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that promotes and defends human rights.
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Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.509.8193
Fax: 202.675.8566
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Urgent Action 2-4-11
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa01911.pdf
04 February 2011
UA 19/11 Torture / Ill-treatment
LIBYA Mazigh Bouzakhar (m)
Madghis Bouzakhar (m)
Two brothers, who may be prisoners of conscience held solely for their interest in Amazigh culture, were arrested on 16 December in Tripoli. One has reported being tortured by the Libyan security forces in detention. Both are at risk of torture in Jdaida Prison where they are held.
Twin brothers Mazigh and Madghis Bouzakhar were arrested on 16 December at their home in Tripoli, allegedly by members of the External Security Agency (ESA), an intelligence body. They were reportedly accused of “spying and collaborating with Israel and Zionism”. Amnesty International believes their arrest was due to their membership of the World Amazigh Congress and other activities perceived to promote Amazigh (Berber) culture. They are currently held in Jdaida Prison following their transfer there on 27 January. Madghis Bouzakhar reported to his father that he had been kept in solitary confinement and had been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment while being interrogated by ESA agents during a period of almost a month. He described being subjected to falaqa, whereby the soles of the feet are beaten, and being beaten with sticks and gun butts. He was interrogated about an article he had written about the Amazigh and Jewish communities in Libya. Mazigh Bouzakhar was reportedly verbally abused during detention. Their father has said he fears for the safety of his sons due to the grave accusations they face.
The lawyer appointed to represent the brothers made a formal inquiry about them to the authorities on 19 January. He was told that they were under the supervision of the Department of Public Prosecution. However, on 23 January, that Department notified the lawyer that the brothers had been referred to the State Security Prosecution on 27 December. This contradicts a statement published by the ESA on its website on 12 January, which stated that they had been held under the supervision of the Public Prosecution since their arrest on suspicion of “working and collaborating with foreign intelligence”. Their father has been able to see them twice at an unknown location in the presence of security agents, and a third time on 31 January in Jdaida Prison, following their transfer. The lawyer appointed to represent them has reportedly not been permitted access to them or their case file.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Mazigh and Madghis Bouzakhar were held in the ESA for more than a month, from 16 December to 27 January, in breach of Libyan law. Article 26 of the Code of Criminal Procedures requires law enforcement officers to refer suspects to the Department of Public Prosecutions within 48 hours of arrest except in cases involving detainees suspected of committing offenses such as threatening state security, who can be held for up to seven days before being charged or released. Article 26 further stipulates that the Department of Public Prosecution must question an accused within 24 hours and then either issue an order for continued detention or release.
Amnesty International is concerned that the arrests and continuous detention of the two men might be a result of the Libyan authorities’ intolerance to activities perceived as promoting the Amazigh (Berber) cultural or linguistic heritage. As a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Libya is obliged to guarantee that all people are protected from discrimination on any grounds, including ethnic, linguistic or cultural ones, and have the right to take part in cultural life.
The Libyan authorities claimed in their submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 2003 that all Libyans are of a “common racial origin, all profess Islam and speak Arabic”. The state report added: “The fact that all Libyan citizens share a common origin, religion and language has undoubtedly been a determining factor in the absence of racial discrimination in the country”. Libyan NGOs based abroad, such as the Libyan Working Group, the Tabu Front for the Salvation of Libya and the World Amazigh Congress, disagree with this assessment and argue that the Libyan Nationality Code is inherently discriminatory in defining citizenship as “Arab”. Such groups also complain that the Amazigh language and culture is not recognized and that obstacles prevent the Amazigh community from preserving their language and culture. For example, Law No. 24 of 1369 prohibits the usage of languages other than Arabic in publications, official documents, public spaces and private enterprises. Additionally, Article 3 of Law No. 24 prohibits the use of “non-Arab, non-Muslim names” as determined by the General People’s Committee (equivalent to the prime minister’s office). The law provides no opportunity for parents to appeal against the decision of the General People’s Committee.
The Libyan authorities also seem to show little tolerance towards Amazigh cultural rights activists, even those based abroad. In November 2009, the Libyan authorities deported Khaled Zerari, deputy head of the Word Amazigh Congress, from Libya upon his arrival from Morocco to attend the funeral of a well known Amazigh figure in Libya. After questioning him for several hours at the airport, Libyan law enforcement officials forced him to board a flight to Rome, from where he returned to Morocco. No official reason for the deportation was provided, but it is believed that he was prevented from entering Libya due to his activism for the rights of the Amazigh people in North Africa.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Calling on the authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Mazigh and Madghis Bouzakhar if they are held solely for their interest in Amazigh culture and language;
- Urging the authorities to ensure that a full, independent and impartial investigation into the allegations of torture is conducted and that any officials responsible for abuse are brought to justice;
- Calling on the authorities to ensure the brothers are not subjected to torture or other ill-treatment in custody, are allowed regular visits by their family and lawyers, and receive any medical assistance they may require.
APPEALS TO:
Secretary of the General People’s Committee for Justice
Mustafa Abdeljalil
Secretariat of the General People’s Committee for Justice
Tripoli
Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Fax: 011 218 214 805427
Email: secretary@aladel.gov.ly
Salutation: Your Excellency
Gaddafi Development Foundation Executive Director
Youssef M. Sewani
El Fatah Tower, 5th Floor B No.57
PO Box 1101, Tripoli
Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Email: director@ggdf.org.ly
Salutation: Dear Sir
COPIES TO:
Secretary of the General People’s Committee for Public Security
General Abdul Fatah al Younis Ubeidi
Secretariat of the General People’s Committee for Public Security
Tripoli,
Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Fax: 011 218 214 442903
Email: minister@almiezan.net
Salutation: Your excellency
Mr. Ali Suleiman Aujali, Minister
Charge D'Affaires Ad Interim
Embassy of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
2600 Virginia Ave NW
Suite 705
Washington DC 20037
Fax: 1 202 944 9606
Email: libya@libyanbureau-dc.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 18 March 2011.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible to the date a case is issued.
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$0.75 - Postcards
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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/uaa01911.pdf
04 February 2011
UA 19/11 Torture / Ill-treatment
LIBYA Mazigh Bouzakhar (m)
Madghis Bouzakhar (m)
Two brothers, who may be prisoners of conscience held solely for their interest in Amazigh culture, were arrested on 16 December in Tripoli. One has reported being tortured by the Libyan security forces in detention. Both are at risk of torture in Jdaida Prison where they are held.
Twin brothers Mazigh and Madghis Bouzakhar were arrested on 16 December at their home in Tripoli, allegedly by members of the External Security Agency (ESA), an intelligence body. They were reportedly accused of “spying and collaborating with Israel and Zionism”. Amnesty International believes their arrest was due to their membership of the World Amazigh Congress and other activities perceived to promote Amazigh (Berber) culture. They are currently held in Jdaida Prison following their transfer there on 27 January. Madghis Bouzakhar reported to his father that he had been kept in solitary confinement and had been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment while being interrogated by ESA agents during a period of almost a month. He described being subjected to falaqa, whereby the soles of the feet are beaten, and being beaten with sticks and gun butts. He was interrogated about an article he had written about the Amazigh and Jewish communities in Libya. Mazigh Bouzakhar was reportedly verbally abused during detention. Their father has said he fears for the safety of his sons due to the grave accusations they face.
The lawyer appointed to represent the brothers made a formal inquiry about them to the authorities on 19 January. He was told that they were under the supervision of the Department of Public Prosecution. However, on 23 January, that Department notified the lawyer that the brothers had been referred to the State Security Prosecution on 27 December. This contradicts a statement published by the ESA on its website on 12 January, which stated that they had been held under the supervision of the Public Prosecution since their arrest on suspicion of “working and collaborating with foreign intelligence”. Their father has been able to see them twice at an unknown location in the presence of security agents, and a third time on 31 January in Jdaida Prison, following their transfer. The lawyer appointed to represent them has reportedly not been permitted access to them or their case file.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Mazigh and Madghis Bouzakhar were held in the ESA for more than a month, from 16 December to 27 January, in breach of Libyan law. Article 26 of the Code of Criminal Procedures requires law enforcement officers to refer suspects to the Department of Public Prosecutions within 48 hours of arrest except in cases involving detainees suspected of committing offenses such as threatening state security, who can be held for up to seven days before being charged or released. Article 26 further stipulates that the Department of Public Prosecution must question an accused within 24 hours and then either issue an order for continued detention or release.
Amnesty International is concerned that the arrests and continuous detention of the two men might be a result of the Libyan authorities’ intolerance to activities perceived as promoting the Amazigh (Berber) cultural or linguistic heritage. As a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Libya is obliged to guarantee that all people are protected from discrimination on any grounds, including ethnic, linguistic or cultural ones, and have the right to take part in cultural life.
The Libyan authorities claimed in their submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 2003 that all Libyans are of a “common racial origin, all profess Islam and speak Arabic”. The state report added: “The fact that all Libyan citizens share a common origin, religion and language has undoubtedly been a determining factor in the absence of racial discrimination in the country”. Libyan NGOs based abroad, such as the Libyan Working Group, the Tabu Front for the Salvation of Libya and the World Amazigh Congress, disagree with this assessment and argue that the Libyan Nationality Code is inherently discriminatory in defining citizenship as “Arab”. Such groups also complain that the Amazigh language and culture is not recognized and that obstacles prevent the Amazigh community from preserving their language and culture. For example, Law No. 24 of 1369 prohibits the usage of languages other than Arabic in publications, official documents, public spaces and private enterprises. Additionally, Article 3 of Law No. 24 prohibits the use of “non-Arab, non-Muslim names” as determined by the General People’s Committee (equivalent to the prime minister’s office). The law provides no opportunity for parents to appeal against the decision of the General People’s Committee.
The Libyan authorities also seem to show little tolerance towards Amazigh cultural rights activists, even those based abroad. In November 2009, the Libyan authorities deported Khaled Zerari, deputy head of the Word Amazigh Congress, from Libya upon his arrival from Morocco to attend the funeral of a well known Amazigh figure in Libya. After questioning him for several hours at the airport, Libyan law enforcement officials forced him to board a flight to Rome, from where he returned to Morocco. No official reason for the deportation was provided, but it is believed that he was prevented from entering Libya due to his activism for the rights of the Amazigh people in North Africa.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Calling on the authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Mazigh and Madghis Bouzakhar if they are held solely for their interest in Amazigh culture and language;
- Urging the authorities to ensure that a full, independent and impartial investigation into the allegations of torture is conducted and that any officials responsible for abuse are brought to justice;
- Calling on the authorities to ensure the brothers are not subjected to torture or other ill-treatment in custody, are allowed regular visits by their family and lawyers, and receive any medical assistance they may require.
APPEALS TO:
Secretary of the General People’s Committee for Justice
Mustafa Abdeljalil
Secretariat of the General People’s Committee for Justice
Tripoli
Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Fax: 011 218 214 805427
Email: secretary@aladel.gov.ly
Salutation: Your Excellency
Gaddafi Development Foundation Executive Director
Youssef M. Sewani
El Fatah Tower, 5th Floor B No.57
PO Box 1101, Tripoli
Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Email: director@ggdf.org.ly
Salutation: Dear Sir
COPIES TO:
Secretary of the General People’s Committee for Public Security
General Abdul Fatah al Younis Ubeidi
Secretariat of the General People’s Committee for Public Security
Tripoli,
Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Fax: 011 218 214 442903
Email: minister@almiezan.net
Salutation: Your excellency
Mr. Ali Suleiman Aujali, Minister
Charge D'Affaires Ad Interim
Embassy of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
2600 Virginia Ave NW
Suite 705
Washington DC 20037
Fax: 1 202 944 9606
Email: libya@libyanbureau-dc.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 18 March 2011.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible to the date a case is issued.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.28 - Postcards
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To Canada:
$0.75 - Postcards
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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, February 3, 2011
Urgent Action 2-3-11
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa01811.pdf
02 February 2011
UA 18/11 Risk of torture or ill-treatment
SUDAN at least 20 protestors
On 30 January, protests spread across North Africa to Sudan’s capital Khartoum. Following a crackdown by the security service and police, more than 70 people were arrested, with 20 still held in detention. They are at risk of torture or other ill-treatment.
On 30 January, around 2,000 people gathered in Khartoum for a peaceful demonstration. More than 70 people were arrested, including a large number of people in the streets before they reached the demonstrations. The National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) and riot police reportedly began searching for demonstration organizers the night before. Armed riot police and the NISS reportedly used batons and teargas to break up the demonstrations. Many of those arrested were injured. Reports suggest that a student demonstrator, Mohamed Abdelrahman, died in hospital on 31 January, after being injured as the police dispersed the demonstrators.
The Sunday protests were followed by arrests on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday when the protests spread outside Khartoum, and the NISS specifically targeted student movements and universities.
More than 25 detainees had been released by the evening of 31 January. Seven journalists who were held by the NISS for covering the demonstrations were also released. Many of the detainees were reportedly tortured and otherwise ill-treated in NISS detention. An unknown number of people are still being held in NISS custody. Louis Awil Weriak, Youssif Mubarak Sadiq Al Mahdi and his brother Salah Mubarak Sadiq Al Mahdi, Mohammed Kamal Ibrahim Ahmed and Mahmoud Kamal Ibrahim Ahmed are among those reportedly still detained by the NISS. Witnesses say that Louis Awil Weriak, a southern Sudanese, was tortured and is in a very poor physical condition. He remains in NISS detention. None of the detainees have so far had access to their families or lawyers, and no charges have been made against them up to date.
On 31 January, the NISS banned opposition newspaper Ajrass Al Hurriya from going to print, and stopped independent newspaper Al Sahafa, from distributing its daily edition. Al Midan, a newspaper affiliated to the Sudanese communist party, was also stopped from distributing its printed edition on Tuesday morning.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Protests throughout the Middle East and North Africa began in Tunisia several weeks ago and extended to a number of other capitals. Inspired by these protests, the demonstrators in Sudan were calling for democracy and asking for an improvement in their socio-economic conditions.
The police and the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) in Sudan often arrest and ill-treat peaceful demonstrators, particularly when they are asking for their rights to be upheld. Student movements and organizations are regularly targeted by the NISS. Journalists suffer from harassment and various restrictions to their freedom of expression. Newspapers also suffer from the occasionally renewed censorship on newspapers. Three journalists – who are considered prisoners of conscience - are presently in prison, serving prison terms in relation to their work.
Torture or other forms of ill-treatment of students, human rights activists and journalists by the NISS is often reported in Sudan. The 2010 National Security Act (2010 NSA), passed in December 2009, gives members of the NISS extensive powers of arrest and detention. Under the same Act, NISS agents are also provided with immunity from prosecution for any act committed in the course of their work. The 2010 NSA maintained powers and immunities provided under the previous law, the 1999 National Security Forces Act. As a result of these laws, a culture of impunity has pervaded in Sudan and NISS members have been carrying out human rights violations with impunity.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Calling on the authorities to reveal the identities and whereabouts of those detained and grant them immediate access to their families, lawyers and to any medical treatment they might require;
- Calling on the authorities to release all those detained or charge them with recognizably criminal offense;
- Calling on the authorities to promptly and effectively investigate all allegations of torture and other serious human rights violations;
- Calling on the Sudanese government to immediately stop the harassment and intimidation of human rights activists and journalists in Sudan and to respect their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly;
- Calling for the 2010 National Security Act to be reformed to remove the excessive powers of the NISS, including powers of arrest and detention for four and a half months without judicial oversight.
APPEALS TO:
President
HE Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir
Office of the President
People’s Palace PO Box 281
Khartoum, SUDAN
Fax: 011 249 183 782 541
Salutation: Your Excellency
Minister of Justice
Mr Mohammed Bushara Dousa
Ministry of Justice, PO Box 302
Al Nil Avenue
Khartoum, SUDAN
Fax: 011 249 183 764 168
Salutation: Your Excellency
Minister of Interior
Mr Ibrahim Mohamed Hamed
Ministry of Interior
PO Box 873
Khartoum, SUDAN
COPIES TO:
Charge d'Affaires Akec Khoc Aciew Khoc
Embassy of the Republic of the Sudan
2210 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 667 2406
E-mail: info@sudanembassy.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 16 March 2011.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible
to the date a case is issued.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.28 - Postcards
$0.44 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Canada:
$0.75 - Postcards
$0.75 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico:
$0.79 - Postcards
$0.79 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.98 - Postcards
$0.98 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable).
Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.509.8193
Fax: 202.675.8566
----------------------------------
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/uaa01811.pdf
02 February 2011
UA 18/11 Risk of torture or ill-treatment
SUDAN at least 20 protestors
On 30 January, protests spread across North Africa to Sudan’s capital Khartoum. Following a crackdown by the security service and police, more than 70 people were arrested, with 20 still held in detention. They are at risk of torture or other ill-treatment.
On 30 January, around 2,000 people gathered in Khartoum for a peaceful demonstration. More than 70 people were arrested, including a large number of people in the streets before they reached the demonstrations. The National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) and riot police reportedly began searching for demonstration organizers the night before. Armed riot police and the NISS reportedly used batons and teargas to break up the demonstrations. Many of those arrested were injured. Reports suggest that a student demonstrator, Mohamed Abdelrahman, died in hospital on 31 January, after being injured as the police dispersed the demonstrators.
The Sunday protests were followed by arrests on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday when the protests spread outside Khartoum, and the NISS specifically targeted student movements and universities.
More than 25 detainees had been released by the evening of 31 January. Seven journalists who were held by the NISS for covering the demonstrations were also released. Many of the detainees were reportedly tortured and otherwise ill-treated in NISS detention. An unknown number of people are still being held in NISS custody. Louis Awil Weriak, Youssif Mubarak Sadiq Al Mahdi and his brother Salah Mubarak Sadiq Al Mahdi, Mohammed Kamal Ibrahim Ahmed and Mahmoud Kamal Ibrahim Ahmed are among those reportedly still detained by the NISS. Witnesses say that Louis Awil Weriak, a southern Sudanese, was tortured and is in a very poor physical condition. He remains in NISS detention. None of the detainees have so far had access to their families or lawyers, and no charges have been made against them up to date.
On 31 January, the NISS banned opposition newspaper Ajrass Al Hurriya from going to print, and stopped independent newspaper Al Sahafa, from distributing its daily edition. Al Midan, a newspaper affiliated to the Sudanese communist party, was also stopped from distributing its printed edition on Tuesday morning.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Protests throughout the Middle East and North Africa began in Tunisia several weeks ago and extended to a number of other capitals. Inspired by these protests, the demonstrators in Sudan were calling for democracy and asking for an improvement in their socio-economic conditions.
The police and the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) in Sudan often arrest and ill-treat peaceful demonstrators, particularly when they are asking for their rights to be upheld. Student movements and organizations are regularly targeted by the NISS. Journalists suffer from harassment and various restrictions to their freedom of expression. Newspapers also suffer from the occasionally renewed censorship on newspapers. Three journalists – who are considered prisoners of conscience - are presently in prison, serving prison terms in relation to their work.
Torture or other forms of ill-treatment of students, human rights activists and journalists by the NISS is often reported in Sudan. The 2010 National Security Act (2010 NSA), passed in December 2009, gives members of the NISS extensive powers of arrest and detention. Under the same Act, NISS agents are also provided with immunity from prosecution for any act committed in the course of their work. The 2010 NSA maintained powers and immunities provided under the previous law, the 1999 National Security Forces Act. As a result of these laws, a culture of impunity has pervaded in Sudan and NISS members have been carrying out human rights violations with impunity.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Calling on the authorities to reveal the identities and whereabouts of those detained and grant them immediate access to their families, lawyers and to any medical treatment they might require;
- Calling on the authorities to release all those detained or charge them with recognizably criminal offense;
- Calling on the authorities to promptly and effectively investigate all allegations of torture and other serious human rights violations;
- Calling on the Sudanese government to immediately stop the harassment and intimidation of human rights activists and journalists in Sudan and to respect their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly;
- Calling for the 2010 National Security Act to be reformed to remove the excessive powers of the NISS, including powers of arrest and detention for four and a half months without judicial oversight.
APPEALS TO:
President
HE Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir
Office of the President
People’s Palace PO Box 281
Khartoum, SUDAN
Fax: 011 249 183 782 541
Salutation: Your Excellency
Minister of Justice
Mr Mohammed Bushara Dousa
Ministry of Justice, PO Box 302
Al Nil Avenue
Khartoum, SUDAN
Fax: 011 249 183 764 168
Salutation: Your Excellency
Minister of Interior
Mr Ibrahim Mohamed Hamed
Ministry of Interior
PO Box 873
Khartoum, SUDAN
COPIES TO:
Charge d'Affaires Akec Khoc Aciew Khoc
Embassy of the Republic of the Sudan
2210 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 667 2406
E-mail: info@sudanembassy.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 16 March 2011.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible
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Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
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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
----------------------------------
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Urgent Action 2-1-11
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa01611.pdf
1 February 2011
UA 16/11 - Risk of Ill-Treatment/Fear for Safety
MEXICO Guadalupe Calzada (f)
Guadalupe Calzada, who runs the migrants shelter, San Juan Diego, in Lecheria, outside the capital Mexico City, and the volunteers and migrants at the shelter, are at risk of attack and arson after a threat was made against them.
On 30 January, a Guatemalan man informed Guadalupe Calzada, who runs the irregular migrants (those without official travel documents) shelter in Lecheria, that he had been told while at work to take care by an unknown man as there were plans to burn the shelter down, murder Guatemalan migrants and kill Guadaplupe Calazada "like a dog" ("como un perro") within three days. The threat is believed to originate from people smuggler gangs operating in the area who consider the shelter a threat to their criminal activities.
Earlier the same day, Guadalupe Calzada had filed a report with police against a man who was loitering outside the shelter and who begun to shout insults at her. Police arrived and arrested the man. He was later released. Migrants rights defenders suspect the incident may be linked to the threat.
As a result of the threat, the shelter has requested protection from the municipal authorities and has presented the incident to the National Human Rights Commission.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
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.
A network of shelters, usually located near the freight railway line which migrants often use, provide humanitarian assistance to migrants and encourage them to file criminal complaints when they suffer abuses. The migrants rights defender running or volunteering these shelters frequently face threats and intimidation from criminal gangs and sometimes public officials. Those behind the threats are rarely held to account.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
-Expressing concern for the safety of Guadalupe Calzada, volunteers and migrants at the shelter in Lecheria after the threat;
-Calling for immediate protection measures to be implemented in accordance with the wishes of Guadalupe Calzada and others at risk;
-Calling for a full, prompt and impartial investigation into the threat again the shelter and for those response to be held to account;
-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. Jose Francisco Blake Mora
Secretaria de Gobernacion
Bucareli 99, 1er. piso, Col. Juarez
Delegacion Cuauhtemoc
Mexico D.F., C.P.06600, MEXICO
Fax: 011 55 5093 3414
Email: secretario@segob.gob.mx
Salutation: Dear Minister/Estimado
Senor Secretario
Governor of Mexico state
Enrique Pena Nieto
Lerdo Poniente Numero 300,
Primer Piso, Puerta 216,
Palacio Del Poder Ejecutivo,
Colonia Centro, CP 50000
Toluca, Estado de Mexico
MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 722 2760046
Email: cnm@gem.gob.mx
Salutation: Dear Governor/Estimado Gobernador
COPIES TO:
Migrants rights organization:
Dimension Pastoral de la Movilidad Humana
Email: jornalerosdpmh@hotmail.com
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 15 March 2011.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible
to the date a case is issued.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
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To Canada:
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To Mexico:
$0.79 - Postcards
$0.79 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.98 - Postcards
$0.98 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable).
Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.509.8193
Fax: 202.675.8566
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa23610.pdf
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!
1 February 2011
Further information on UA 236/10 (12 November 2010) and follow-ups (24 November 2010, 23 December 2010, 25 January 2011) – Risk of Forced Eviction/Fear for safety
ISRAEL Residents of Bedouin village al-'Araqib
The Bedouin village of al-'Araqib in the Negev, southern Israel, has been destroyed yet again, following eight demolitions in 2010. The Jewish National Fund (JNF), a semi-governmental organization, has started preparations for planting a forest on the village lands.
Israeli Land Administration (ILA) personnel arrived in al-'Araqib at 8.OO am on 31 January, accompanied by at least 25 police officers in full riot gear, and members of the Green Patrol (which falls under the authority of the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority). With two bulldozers, they destroyed over 20 makeshift homes which residents had rebuilt following the last demolitions, which took place on 16 and 17 January.
After the demolitions on 31 January, JNF workers – who have been located around the village for around two weeks – began digging irrigation ditches and building terraces in preparation for extensive tree planting on the village lands. A court injunction preventing the JNF from foresting the village land expired on 23 January, although the judge strongly recommended that all parties refrain from making "inalterable" changes to the land. Despite this, the JNF are pursuing their plans with the evident support of the Israeli authorities, who have taken no steps to engage al-'Araqib's Bedouin residents in genuine consultations in order to resolve their lack of access to adequate housing.
Israeli security forces are confining al-'Araqib residents to the village cemetery, the only part of the village left intact. Here, residents try to shelter from the wind and rain, with women and children taking refuge in the small mosque. The residents have no alternative housing and still hope to remain on their land and rebuild their homes.
Three residents and one of their supporters – Haia Noach, the Director of the Negev Coexistence Forum (NCF) –appeared in court on 1 February, charged with resisting the demolitions of 16 and 17 January. Four other villagers are expecting to be charged in the near future. During these previous incidents, at least 10 people, five aged under 18 years, were injured after police fired tear gas and rubber-coated and sponge-tipped bullets, in some cases directly at residents and their supporters at close range.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The village of al-'Araqib is one of more than 40 Palestinian villages in Israel not recognized by the Israeli authorities, despite the residents' Israeli citizenship and long-established claims to their lands. Residents of these "unrecognized" villages, many of which are located in Israel's Negev desert, lack security of tenure and services including water and electricity.
Al-'Araqib village was first demolished by the authorities on 27 July 2010, when residents were forcibly evicted by more than 1,000 riot police officers, and at least 46 homes and other structures were destroyed. Thousands of olive and other trees were uprooted, destroying the villagers' livelihood, and the villagers' possessions 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. During Ramadan, on 17 August, while the residents were fasting, the authorities demolished the village. On 12 September at dawn, dozens of police arrived again at al-'Araqib with bulldozers and destroyed newly erected tents and other structures. On 13 October the entire village was again razed, and the director of the Negev Coexistence Forum was arrested and banned from entering al-'Araqib for 10 days. On 22 November approximately 30 structures were demolished in the village and some 1,600 olive trees located 2km away from the village and belonging to relatives of al-'Araqib residents were uprooted by the Israeli authorities. On 23 December, approximately 30 makeshift structures were again demolished, and the residents' water tank was confiscated. The village was destroyed on 16 January 2011 and again the following day after villagers re-erected temporary structures overnight. At this time police used rubber bullets and tear gas against the residents and their supporters, injuring at least 10 people, and arrested 13 people for protesting the demolitions and trying to rebuild homes.
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 they 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 Land Administration (ILA) 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. ILA Development Director Shlomo Zeiser told Hebrew-language media on 16 January: "we are preparing the ground for planting... and making an effort to find a final solution to what's happening in al-'Araqib".
In addition to the demolitions in al-'Araqib and other Palestinian communities inside Israel, during 2010 the Israeli authorities intensified demolitions of Palestinian homes located in the occupied West Bank. According to figures from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), over 430 Palestinian structures – homes, animal shelters, commercial structures, and water cisterns – in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, were demolished by the Israeli authorities during 2010, a 60 per cent increase in demolitions compared with 2009. These demolitions in the occupied West Bank left almost 600 Palestinians homeless, half of them children, and affected a further 14,000 people who lost parts of their homes or structures crucial to their livelihoods.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
-Urging them to put an immediate stop to the JNF foresting operations, as well as evictions and demolitions in the area, pending a resolution of relevant land claims and a solution based on genuine consultation with residents that guarantees their right to safe and adequate housing and enables them to continue their traditional livelihoods;
-Urging the Israeli authorities to ensure that residents are allowed to remain in the village and rebuild their homes pending a resolution of their land claims in the Israeli courts;
-Urging the Israeli authorities to respect the Bedouin population's right to their ancestral land and to officially recognize al-'Araqib and other "unrecognized" 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
Chairman of the JNF
Effie Stenzler
Keren Kayemet Yisrael Street
PO Box 7283, Jerusalem 91072
ISRAEL
Fax: 011 972-2-6707500
Email: efis@kkl.org.il
Salutation:Dear Chairman
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.il
Salutation: Dear Prime Minister
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 15 March 2011.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible
to the date a case is issued.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.28 - Postcards
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To Canada:
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To Mexico:
$0.79 - Postcards
$0.79 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
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$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/uaa01611.pdf
1 February 2011
UA 16/11 - Risk of Ill-Treatment/Fear for Safety
MEXICO Guadalupe Calzada (f)
Guadalupe Calzada, who runs the migrants shelter, San Juan Diego, in Lecheria, outside the capital Mexico City, and the volunteers and migrants at the shelter, are at risk of attack and arson after a threat was made against them.
On 30 January, a Guatemalan man informed Guadalupe Calzada, who runs the irregular migrants (those without official travel documents) shelter in Lecheria, that he had been told while at work to take care by an unknown man as there were plans to burn the shelter down, murder Guatemalan migrants and kill Guadaplupe Calazada "like a dog" ("como un perro") within three days. The threat is believed to originate from people smuggler gangs operating in the area who consider the shelter a threat to their criminal activities.
Earlier the same day, Guadalupe Calzada had filed a report with police against a man who was loitering outside the shelter and who begun to shout insults at her. Police arrived and arrested the man. He was later released. Migrants rights defenders suspect the incident may be linked to the threat.
As a result of the threat, the shelter has requested protection from the municipal authorities and has presented the incident to the National Human Rights Commission.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
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.
A network of shelters, usually located near the freight railway line which migrants often use, provide humanitarian assistance to migrants and encourage them to file criminal complaints when they suffer abuses. The migrants rights defender running or volunteering these shelters frequently face threats and intimidation from criminal gangs and sometimes public officials. Those behind the threats are rarely held to account.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
-Expressing concern for the safety of Guadalupe Calzada, volunteers and migrants at the shelter in Lecheria after the threat;
-Calling for immediate protection measures to be implemented in accordance with the wishes of Guadalupe Calzada and others at risk;
-Calling for a full, prompt and impartial investigation into the threat again the shelter and for those response to be held to account;
-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. Jose Francisco Blake Mora
Secretaria de Gobernacion
Bucareli 99, 1er. piso, Col. Juarez
Delegacion Cuauhtemoc
Mexico D.F., C.P.06600, MEXICO
Fax: 011 55 5093 3414
Email: secretario@segob.gob.mx
Salutation: Dear Minister/Estimado
Senor Secretario
Governor of Mexico state
Enrique Pena Nieto
Lerdo Poniente Numero 300,
Primer Piso, Puerta 216,
Palacio Del Poder Ejecutivo,
Colonia Centro, CP 50000
Toluca, Estado de Mexico
MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 722 2760046
Email: cnm@gem.gob.mx
Salutation: Dear Governor/Estimado Gobernador
COPIES TO:
Migrants rights organization:
Dimension Pastoral de la Movilidad Humana
Email: jornalerosdpmh@hotmail.com
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 15 March 2011.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible
to the date a case is issued.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.28 - Postcards
$0.44 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Canada:
$0.75 - Postcards
$0.75 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico:
$0.79 - Postcards
$0.79 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.98 - Postcards
$0.98 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable).
Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.509.8193
Fax: 202.675.8566
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa23610.pdf
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!
1 February 2011
Further information on UA 236/10 (12 November 2010) and follow-ups (24 November 2010, 23 December 2010, 25 January 2011) – Risk of Forced Eviction/Fear for safety
ISRAEL Residents of Bedouin village al-'Araqib
The Bedouin village of al-'Araqib in the Negev, southern Israel, has been destroyed yet again, following eight demolitions in 2010. The Jewish National Fund (JNF), a semi-governmental organization, has started preparations for planting a forest on the village lands.
Israeli Land Administration (ILA) personnel arrived in al-'Araqib at 8.OO am on 31 January, accompanied by at least 25 police officers in full riot gear, and members of the Green Patrol (which falls under the authority of the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority). With two bulldozers, they destroyed over 20 makeshift homes which residents had rebuilt following the last demolitions, which took place on 16 and 17 January.
After the demolitions on 31 January, JNF workers – who have been located around the village for around two weeks – began digging irrigation ditches and building terraces in preparation for extensive tree planting on the village lands. A court injunction preventing the JNF from foresting the village land expired on 23 January, although the judge strongly recommended that all parties refrain from making "inalterable" changes to the land. Despite this, the JNF are pursuing their plans with the evident support of the Israeli authorities, who have taken no steps to engage al-'Araqib's Bedouin residents in genuine consultations in order to resolve their lack of access to adequate housing.
Israeli security forces are confining al-'Araqib residents to the village cemetery, the only part of the village left intact. Here, residents try to shelter from the wind and rain, with women and children taking refuge in the small mosque. The residents have no alternative housing and still hope to remain on their land and rebuild their homes.
Three residents and one of their supporters – Haia Noach, the Director of the Negev Coexistence Forum (NCF) –appeared in court on 1 February, charged with resisting the demolitions of 16 and 17 January. Four other villagers are expecting to be charged in the near future. During these previous incidents, at least 10 people, five aged under 18 years, were injured after police fired tear gas and rubber-coated and sponge-tipped bullets, in some cases directly at residents and their supporters at close range.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The village of al-'Araqib is one of more than 40 Palestinian villages in Israel not recognized by the Israeli authorities, despite the residents' Israeli citizenship and long-established claims to their lands. Residents of these "unrecognized" villages, many of which are located in Israel's Negev desert, lack security of tenure and services including water and electricity.
Al-'Araqib village was first demolished by the authorities on 27 July 2010, when residents were forcibly evicted by more than 1,000 riot police officers, and at least 46 homes and other structures were destroyed. Thousands of olive and other trees were uprooted, destroying the villagers' livelihood, and the villagers' possessions 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. During Ramadan, on 17 August, while the residents were fasting, the authorities demolished the village. On 12 September at dawn, dozens of police arrived again at al-'Araqib with bulldozers and destroyed newly erected tents and other structures. On 13 October the entire village was again razed, and the director of the Negev Coexistence Forum was arrested and banned from entering al-'Araqib for 10 days. On 22 November approximately 30 structures were demolished in the village and some 1,600 olive trees located 2km away from the village and belonging to relatives of al-'Araqib residents were uprooted by the Israeli authorities. On 23 December, approximately 30 makeshift structures were again demolished, and the residents' water tank was confiscated. The village was destroyed on 16 January 2011 and again the following day after villagers re-erected temporary structures overnight. At this time police used rubber bullets and tear gas against the residents and their supporters, injuring at least 10 people, and arrested 13 people for protesting the demolitions and trying to rebuild homes.
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 they 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 Land Administration (ILA) 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. ILA Development Director Shlomo Zeiser told Hebrew-language media on 16 January: "we are preparing the ground for planting... and making an effort to find a final solution to what's happening in al-'Araqib".
In addition to the demolitions in al-'Araqib and other Palestinian communities inside Israel, during 2010 the Israeli authorities intensified demolitions of Palestinian homes located in the occupied West Bank. According to figures from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), over 430 Palestinian structures – homes, animal shelters, commercial structures, and water cisterns – in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, were demolished by the Israeli authorities during 2010, a 60 per cent increase in demolitions compared with 2009. These demolitions in the occupied West Bank left almost 600 Palestinians homeless, half of them children, and affected a further 14,000 people who lost parts of their homes or structures crucial to their livelihoods.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
-Urging them to put an immediate stop to the JNF foresting operations, as well as evictions and demolitions in the area, pending a resolution of relevant land claims and a solution based on genuine consultation with residents that guarantees their right to safe and adequate housing and enables them to continue their traditional livelihoods;
-Urging the Israeli authorities to ensure that residents are allowed to remain in the village and rebuild their homes pending a resolution of their land claims in the Israeli courts;
-Urging the Israeli authorities to respect the Bedouin population's right to their ancestral land and to officially recognize al-'Araqib and other "unrecognized" 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
Chairman of the JNF
Effie Stenzler
Keren Kayemet Yisrael Street
PO Box 7283, Jerusalem 91072
ISRAEL
Fax: 011 972-2-6707500
Email: efis@kkl.org.il
Salutation:Dear Chairman
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.il
Salutation: Dear Prime Minister
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 15 March 2011.
----------------------------------
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Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
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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
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Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.509.8193
Fax: 202.675.8566
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
Monday, January 31, 2011
Urgent Action 1-31-11
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa00311.pdf
31 January 2011
Further information on UA 3/11 (7 January 2011) - Legal concern/ possible prisoners of conscience
IRAN Fatemeh Masjedi (f),
Maryam Bidgoli (f)
Women's rights activist Fatemeh Masjedi was arrested on 28 January while travelling from Qom to Tehran. Her current place of detention is unknown, but it is feared she may have been arrested to begin serving a six-month prison sentence imposed for her peaceful collection of signatures for a petition demanding an end to discrimination against women in law in Iran. If so, she is a prisoner of conscience who should be released immediately and unconditionally.
Fatemeh Masjedi is a member of the One Million Signatures Campaign (also known as the Campaign for Equality), a grass-roots movement working towards an end to discrimination against women in Iranian law. On 29 December 2010, she and Maryam Bidgoli were summoned to report within three days to prison officials in Qom to begin serving a six-month prison sentence, but they remained free after submitting a further legal challenge against their convictions and sentences. Maryam Bidgoli, though currently free, could also be imprisoned at any moment.
Both women were arrested on 7 May 2009 for peacefully gathering signatures in support of ending discriminatory laws against women in Iran and were released after two weeks in detention. They were sentenced to one year's imprisonment by Branch Two of the Revolutionary Court in Qom on 29 August 2010 for "spreading propaganda against the system in favor of a feminist group (the Campaign) by distributing and collecting signatures for a petition to change laws discriminating against women, and for publication of materials in support of a feminist group opposed to the system". This was reduced to six months on appeal by Branch Three of the provincial appeal court.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The One Million Signatures Campaign, also known as the Campaign for Equality, launched in 2006, is a grass-roots initiative composed of a network of people committed to ending discrimination against women in Iranian law. The Campaign gives basic legal training to volunteers, who travel around the country promoting the Campaign. They talk with women in their homes, as well as in public places, telling them about their rights and the need for legal reform. The volunteers are also aiming to collect one million signatures of Iranian nationals for a petition demanding an end to legal discrimination against women in Iran. Dozens of the Campaign's activists have been arrested or harassed for their activities for the Campaign for Equality, some while collecting signatures for the petition.
This case is the first in which a court in Iran has ruled that the Campaign constitutes a group which "aims to harm national security". In all previous cases, individuals charged with security offenses relating to their collection of signatures for the Campaign were acquitted either by lower or by appeal courts. Fatemeh Masjedi and Maryam Bidgoli had asked for a further judicial review on these grounds.
Article 19 of the Iranian Constitution provides for equal rights for all Iranians. Article 21 requires the rights of women to be protected and Article 26 allows the "formation of parties, societies, political or professional associations… provided they do not violate the principles of independence, freedom, national unity, the criteria of Islam, or the basis of the Islamic republic." Members of the One Million Signatures Campaign have always stressed that their activities fully conform to Iranian law.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
-Asking to be informed of the reason for Fatemeh Masjedi's arrest and her current place of detention, and calling for her to be granted immediate access to her family and her lawyer;
-If she has been arrested to begin serving her six-month prison sentence, urging that she be released immediately and unconditionally, as she is a prisoner of conscience imprisoned solely for the peaceful exercise of her right to freedom of expression and association, including human rights activities such as gathering signatures for a petition to end discrimination against women in Iranian law;
-Urging the Iranian authorities not to imprison Maryam Bidgoli, as she would also be a prisoner of conscience;
-Reminding the authorities that the peaceful gathering of signatures to petitions demanding changes in the law is not a crime and is covered by the right to freedom of expression, provided for by Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a state party.
APPEALS TO:
Leader of the Islamic Republic
Ayatollah Sayed 'Ali Khamenei
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Islamic Republic Street - End of Shahid Keshvar Doust Street
Tehran,
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Email: Via website:
http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter (English)
http://www.leader.ir/langs/fa/index.php?p=letter (Persian)
Head of the Qom Provincial Judiciary
Mr Hamzeh Khalili
Office of the Head of the Judiciary
PO Box 184-37195, Azadegan Square, Shahid Abedi Boulevard,
Qom
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Email: ryasat@dadgostariqom.ir OR
In Persian and English, send via feedback form on the website: http://www.dadgostariqom.ir/tabid/85/Default.aspx
Salutation: Your Excellency
COPIES TO:
Secretary General, High Council for Human Rights
Mohammad Javad Larijani
High Council for Human Rights
C/O Office of the Head of the Judiciary
Pasteur St, Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhuri
Tehran 1316814737
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Email: info@humanrights-iran.ir (In subject line: FAO Mohammad Javad Larijani)
Iran does not presently have an embassy in the United States. Instead, please send copies to:
Iranian Interests Section
2209 Wisconsin Ave NW
Washington DC 20007
Fax: 1 202 965 1073
Email: requests@daftar.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 14 March 2011.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible
to the date a case is issued.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.28 - Postcards
$0.44 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Canada:
$0.75 - Postcards
$0.75 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico:
$0.79 - Postcards
$0.79 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.98 - Postcards
$0.98 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable).
Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.509.8193
Fax: 202.675.8566
----------------------------------
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/uaa00311.pdf
31 January 2011
Further information on UA 3/11 (7 January 2011) - Legal concern/ possible prisoners of conscience
IRAN Fatemeh Masjedi (f),
Maryam Bidgoli (f)
Women's rights activist Fatemeh Masjedi was arrested on 28 January while travelling from Qom to Tehran. Her current place of detention is unknown, but it is feared she may have been arrested to begin serving a six-month prison sentence imposed for her peaceful collection of signatures for a petition demanding an end to discrimination against women in law in Iran. If so, she is a prisoner of conscience who should be released immediately and unconditionally.
Fatemeh Masjedi is a member of the One Million Signatures Campaign (also known as the Campaign for Equality), a grass-roots movement working towards an end to discrimination against women in Iranian law. On 29 December 2010, she and Maryam Bidgoli were summoned to report within three days to prison officials in Qom to begin serving a six-month prison sentence, but they remained free after submitting a further legal challenge against their convictions and sentences. Maryam Bidgoli, though currently free, could also be imprisoned at any moment.
Both women were arrested on 7 May 2009 for peacefully gathering signatures in support of ending discriminatory laws against women in Iran and were released after two weeks in detention. They were sentenced to one year's imprisonment by Branch Two of the Revolutionary Court in Qom on 29 August 2010 for "spreading propaganda against the system in favor of a feminist group (the Campaign) by distributing and collecting signatures for a petition to change laws discriminating against women, and for publication of materials in support of a feminist group opposed to the system". This was reduced to six months on appeal by Branch Three of the provincial appeal court.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The One Million Signatures Campaign, also known as the Campaign for Equality, launched in 2006, is a grass-roots initiative composed of a network of people committed to ending discrimination against women in Iranian law. The Campaign gives basic legal training to volunteers, who travel around the country promoting the Campaign. They talk with women in their homes, as well as in public places, telling them about their rights and the need for legal reform. The volunteers are also aiming to collect one million signatures of Iranian nationals for a petition demanding an end to legal discrimination against women in Iran. Dozens of the Campaign's activists have been arrested or harassed for their activities for the Campaign for Equality, some while collecting signatures for the petition.
This case is the first in which a court in Iran has ruled that the Campaign constitutes a group which "aims to harm national security". In all previous cases, individuals charged with security offenses relating to their collection of signatures for the Campaign were acquitted either by lower or by appeal courts. Fatemeh Masjedi and Maryam Bidgoli had asked for a further judicial review on these grounds.
Article 19 of the Iranian Constitution provides for equal rights for all Iranians. Article 21 requires the rights of women to be protected and Article 26 allows the "formation of parties, societies, political or professional associations… provided they do not violate the principles of independence, freedom, national unity, the criteria of Islam, or the basis of the Islamic republic." Members of the One Million Signatures Campaign have always stressed that their activities fully conform to Iranian law.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
-Asking to be informed of the reason for Fatemeh Masjedi's arrest and her current place of detention, and calling for her to be granted immediate access to her family and her lawyer;
-If she has been arrested to begin serving her six-month prison sentence, urging that she be released immediately and unconditionally, as she is a prisoner of conscience imprisoned solely for the peaceful exercise of her right to freedom of expression and association, including human rights activities such as gathering signatures for a petition to end discrimination against women in Iranian law;
-Urging the Iranian authorities not to imprison Maryam Bidgoli, as she would also be a prisoner of conscience;
-Reminding the authorities that the peaceful gathering of signatures to petitions demanding changes in the law is not a crime and is covered by the right to freedom of expression, provided for by Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a state party.
APPEALS TO:
Leader of the Islamic Republic
Ayatollah Sayed 'Ali Khamenei
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Islamic Republic Street - End of Shahid Keshvar Doust Street
Tehran,
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Email: Via website:
http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter (English)
http://www.leader.ir/langs/fa/index.php?p=letter (Persian)
Head of the Qom Provincial Judiciary
Mr Hamzeh Khalili
Office of the Head of the Judiciary
PO Box 184-37195, Azadegan Square, Shahid Abedi Boulevard,
Qom
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Email: ryasat@dadgostariqom.ir OR
In Persian and English, send via feedback form on the website: http://www.dadgostariqom.ir/tabid/85/Default.aspx
Salutation: Your Excellency
COPIES TO:
Secretary General, High Council for Human Rights
Mohammad Javad Larijani
High Council for Human Rights
C/O Office of the Head of the Judiciary
Pasteur St, Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhuri
Tehran 1316814737
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Email: info@humanrights-iran.ir (In subject line: FAO Mohammad Javad Larijani)
Iran does not presently have an embassy in the United States. Instead, please send copies to:
Iranian Interests Section
2209 Wisconsin Ave NW
Washington DC 20007
Fax: 1 202 965 1073
Email: requests@daftar.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 14 March 2011.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible
to the date a case is issued.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.28 - Postcards
$0.44 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Canada:
$0.75 - Postcards
$0.75 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico:
$0.79 - Postcards
$0.79 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.98 - Postcards
$0.98 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable).
Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.509.8193
Fax: 202.675.8566
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Urgent Action 1-27-11
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
----------------------------------
26 January 2011
Further information on UA 6/11 - (17 January 2011) - Risk of forcible return
SWEDEN Several Iraqi asylum-seekers
On 19 January, Swedish police confirmed that Sweden had forcibly returned 20 Iraqis to Baghdad, on a charter flight organized with Danish authorities, who also forcibly returned a further six Iraqis. Amnesty International considers that their lives could be at real risk in Iraq.
Amnesty International believes that it is not safe to forcibly return anyone to the Iraqi provinces of Ninewa (Mosul), Kirkuk, Diyala, Salah al-Din and Baghdad, and to other particularly dangerous areas such as parts of Al Anbar province. Anyone facing forced return to any of these areas, regardless of whether they originate from those areas, should be granted asylum or alternative forms of protection. In those regions of Iraq serious risks, including the ongoing indiscriminate threats to life, physical integrity or personal freedom, arising from violence or events seriously disturbing public order are all valid grounds for international protection.
The authorities in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom have maintained a policy of enforcing returns of Iraqis whose asylum claims have been dismissed, claiming that it is “sufficiently safe” to return people to Iraq, despite clear guidelines from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to the contrary. The UNHCR has repeatedly reiterated its objection to such forced returns by European states.
UNHCR officials reportedly met with several of those forcibly returned on 19 January from Sweden and Denmark, and continued to express concern about the practice of enforcing returns to Iraq.
Amnesty International continues to monitor the issue of forced returns to Iraq from Europe. In this instance, action taken by activists was unsuccessful, and the Swedish authorities proceeded notwithstanding any appeals they received. We hope, however, that in future the action taken by the UA network will prove decisive in stopping forced returns to Iraq.
No further action is needed on this appeal at the moment from the UA network. Many thanks to all who took action.
----------------------------------
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.509.8193
Fax: 202.675.8566
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa10210.pdf
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on April 30, 2010. Thanks!
26 January 2011
Further information on UA 102/10 (30 April 2010) and follow up (21 May 2010 and 5 August 2010 and 5 January 2011) – Imminent risk of execution
IRAN
Abdloreza Ghanbari (m),
Ahmad Daneshpour Moghaddam (m),
Mohsen Daneshpour Moghaddam (m)
Javad Lari (m)
Farah (or Elmira) Vazehan
Ali Saremi (or Sarami) (m), executed
Ja’far Kazemi (m), aged 47, executed
Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaei (m), executed
Ja’far Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaei were executed on 24 January in Evin Prison, Tehran. They were convicted of moharebeh (enmity against God) for links with the banned political group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), and “propaganda against the system”. Arrested in 2009 their death sentences were confirmed in 2010. Four others remain at risk of imminent execution.
Ja’far Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaei were arrested in September 2009 at a time of mass protests and tried together. Both men had visited relatives at Camp Ashraf in Iraq, where 3,400 PMOI supporters reside in exile. Ja’far Kazemi had previously been imprisoned in Iran for PMOI membership. He may have been tortured while being interrogated at Evin Prison after his arrest in 2009 and is said to have been pressured to make a televised “confession”, but to have refused. He and Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaei were sentenced to death in April 2010.For more information, please see http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/iran-hangs-two-activists-detained-during-2009-unrest-2011-01-24
Another prisoner, Ali Saremi (or Sarami) was executed without warning on 28 December. He was sentenced to death in December 2009 for “enmity against God” because of his alleged membership of the PMOI. According to media reports the death sentence on Farah (also known as Elmira) Vazehan was overturned on 19 January and her case was referred to Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court for re-examination. However, four men remain at risk of imminent execution: Abdolreza Ghanbari (or Qanbari), father and son Ahmad and Mohsen Daneshpour Moghaddam, and Javad Lari.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Teacher Abdolreza Ghanbari, aged 42, and father and son Ahmad and Mohsen Daneshpour Moghaddam, were all arrested after demonstrations which took place in Iran in late December 2009 marking the Ashoura religious commemorations. All three were sentenced after “show trials” in January and February 2010.
Tehran’s prosecutor announced on 15 May that the death sentences of,Abdolreza Ghanbari and father and son, Ahmad and Mohsen Daneshpour Moghaddam, were upheld by the Appeal Court after they were found guilty of "enmity against God" in relation to their alleged links to the PMOI. The death sentences of Ja’far Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaei, both executed on 24 January 2011; and Mohammad Ali Saremi (or Sarami), executed on 28 December 2010 were also confirmed at the same time.In August 2010, Amnesty International received reports that another man, Javad Lari, a Tehran bazaar merchant in his 50s, had been sentenced to "death without pardon" for "enmity against God and corruption on earth". He is also held in Evin prison, where he was reportedly tortured and forced to ‘confess’.
Farah (also known as Elmira) Vazehan was arrested two days after the December 2009 Ashoura protests. She was sentenced to death for “enmity against God” in August 2010, after conviction of participation in the protests, including taking photographs and sending them abroad and support for the PMOI. A report on 19 January 2011 stated that her physical condition is poor, noting that in November 2010 she had complained of chest pains.
The execution of these two men are amongst the latest in a wave of executions which has seen the Iranian authorities execute at least 71 prisoners since the beginning of this year – an average of more than 20 each week, including Ali Saremi. Kurdish political prisoner Hossein Khezri, is believed to have been executed on 15 January (see: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/009/2011/en) .Three other men were hanged in Tehran on 24 January after they had been convicted of male rape while thousands more prisoners are on death row.
Two members of the Kurdish minority, known only as Ayoub and Mosleh, are among those reportedly facing execution. They are alleged to have taken part in and filmed sexual acts between men. Amnesty International wrote to the Head of Iran's Judiciary last week seeking clarification of their current legal situation and urging him to prevent their execution if they have been sentenced to death.
Ali Saremi, executed 28 December 2010, then aged about 63, has a son in the PMOI who lives in Camp Ashraf, Iraq, whom he visited. He was arrested on his return and sentenced to a year in prison, and was released in May 2007. Ali Saremi had previously spent 20 years in prison for his political activities both before and after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran (see Iran: Halt executions of Kurdish and other political prisoners, MDE 13/007/2010, 12 January 2010 http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/007/2010/en). He was arrested in September 2007 after speaking at an event commemorating the summary executions of thousands of people in Iranian prisons in 1988 (see UA 286/07: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/128/2007/en ). In May 2010 he told Amnesty International from prison:
“I was tried in October 2008 before Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court, on the charge of “enmity against God” for membership of PMOI. I again denied this and defended myself as they had no evidence against me to prove the charge. I was sentenced to death in December 2009 and appealed through my lawyer. I only learnt about the confirmation of my sentence via the Tehran Prosecutor’s press conference [on 15 May]. Even though I have a lawyer, they do not recognize him. They do not communicate legal proceedings to him and do not notify him.” His lawyer has said publicly that he was never served with the execution verdict and had never received any information concerning his client’s case after the initial trial, including about appeals. He was not informed of the execution 48 hours in advance, as is required by Iranian law.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Deploring the executions of Ja’far Kazemi and Mohammad Haj Aghaei, and urging the Iranian authorities not to execute, Abdolreza Ghanbari (or Qanbari),Ahmad and Mohsen Daneshpour Moghaddam, and Javad Lari.;
- Reminding the Iranian authorities that under international law, the death penalty can only be carried out for “the most serious crimes”, which must be “intentional crimes with lethal or other extremely grave consequences."
- Urging that any person held solely on account of their family links to the PMOI should be released immediately and unconditionally. Any others sentenced after unfair trials should have their convictions and sentences reviewed as a matter of urgency, and none should face the death penalty.
APPEALS TO:
Leader of the Islamic Republic
Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Islamic Republic Street – End of Shahid Keshvar Doust Street,
Tehran,
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Email Via website:
http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter (English);
http://www.leader.ir/langs/fa/index.php?p=letter (Persian)
Salutation: Your Excellency
Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani
Office of the Head of the Judiciary
Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhouri,
Tehran, 1316814737,
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Email: info@dadiran.ir or bia.judi@yahoo.com
Salutation: Your Excellency
COPIES TO:
Secretary General, High Council for Human Rights
Mohammad Javad Larijani
High Council for Human Rights
[Care of] Office of the Head of the Judiciary
Pasteur St, Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhuri
Tehran 1316814737
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Email: info@humanrights-iran.ir
(In subject line: FAO Mohammad Javad Larijani)
Iran does not presently have an embassy in the United
States. Instead, please send copies to:
Iranian Interests Section
2209 Wisconsin Ave NW
Washington DC 20007
Fax: 1 202 965 1073
Email: requests@daftar.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 25 February 2011.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible
to the date a case is issued.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.28 - Postcards
$0.44 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Canada:
$0.75 - Postcards
$0.75 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico:
$0.79 - Postcards
$0.79 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.98 - Postcards
$0.98 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable).
Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.509.8193
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
----------------------------------
26 January 2011
Further information on UA 6/11 - (17 January 2011) - Risk of forcible return
SWEDEN Several Iraqi asylum-seekers
On 19 January, Swedish police confirmed that Sweden had forcibly returned 20 Iraqis to Baghdad, on a charter flight organized with Danish authorities, who also forcibly returned a further six Iraqis. Amnesty International considers that their lives could be at real risk in Iraq.
Amnesty International believes that it is not safe to forcibly return anyone to the Iraqi provinces of Ninewa (Mosul), Kirkuk, Diyala, Salah al-Din and Baghdad, and to other particularly dangerous areas such as parts of Al Anbar province. Anyone facing forced return to any of these areas, regardless of whether they originate from those areas, should be granted asylum or alternative forms of protection. In those regions of Iraq serious risks, including the ongoing indiscriminate threats to life, physical integrity or personal freedom, arising from violence or events seriously disturbing public order are all valid grounds for international protection.
The authorities in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom have maintained a policy of enforcing returns of Iraqis whose asylum claims have been dismissed, claiming that it is “sufficiently safe” to return people to Iraq, despite clear guidelines from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to the contrary. The UNHCR has repeatedly reiterated its objection to such forced returns by European states.
UNHCR officials reportedly met with several of those forcibly returned on 19 January from Sweden and Denmark, and continued to express concern about the practice of enforcing returns to Iraq.
Amnesty International continues to monitor the issue of forced returns to Iraq from Europe. In this instance, action taken by activists was unsuccessful, and the Swedish authorities proceeded notwithstanding any appeals they received. We hope, however, that in future the action taken by the UA network will prove decisive in stopping forced returns to Iraq.
No further action is needed on this appeal at the moment from the UA network. Many thanks to all who took action.
----------------------------------
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.509.8193
Fax: 202.675.8566
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa10210.pdf
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on April 30, 2010. Thanks!
26 January 2011
Further information on UA 102/10 (30 April 2010) and follow up (21 May 2010 and 5 August 2010 and 5 January 2011) – Imminent risk of execution
IRAN
Abdloreza Ghanbari (m),
Ahmad Daneshpour Moghaddam (m),
Mohsen Daneshpour Moghaddam (m)
Javad Lari (m)
Farah (or Elmira) Vazehan
Ali Saremi (or Sarami) (m), executed
Ja’far Kazemi (m), aged 47, executed
Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaei (m), executed
Ja’far Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaei were executed on 24 January in Evin Prison, Tehran. They were convicted of moharebeh (enmity against God) for links with the banned political group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), and “propaganda against the system”. Arrested in 2009 their death sentences were confirmed in 2010. Four others remain at risk of imminent execution.
Ja’far Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaei were arrested in September 2009 at a time of mass protests and tried together. Both men had visited relatives at Camp Ashraf in Iraq, where 3,400 PMOI supporters reside in exile. Ja’far Kazemi had previously been imprisoned in Iran for PMOI membership. He may have been tortured while being interrogated at Evin Prison after his arrest in 2009 and is said to have been pressured to make a televised “confession”, but to have refused. He and Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaei were sentenced to death in April 2010.For more information, please see http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/iran-hangs-two-activists-detained-during-2009-unrest-2011-01-24
Another prisoner, Ali Saremi (or Sarami) was executed without warning on 28 December. He was sentenced to death in December 2009 for “enmity against God” because of his alleged membership of the PMOI. According to media reports the death sentence on Farah (also known as Elmira) Vazehan was overturned on 19 January and her case was referred to Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court for re-examination. However, four men remain at risk of imminent execution: Abdolreza Ghanbari (or Qanbari), father and son Ahmad and Mohsen Daneshpour Moghaddam, and Javad Lari.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Teacher Abdolreza Ghanbari, aged 42, and father and son Ahmad and Mohsen Daneshpour Moghaddam, were all arrested after demonstrations which took place in Iran in late December 2009 marking the Ashoura religious commemorations. All three were sentenced after “show trials” in January and February 2010.
Tehran’s prosecutor announced on 15 May that the death sentences of,Abdolreza Ghanbari and father and son, Ahmad and Mohsen Daneshpour Moghaddam, were upheld by the Appeal Court after they were found guilty of "enmity against God" in relation to their alleged links to the PMOI. The death sentences of Ja’far Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaei, both executed on 24 January 2011; and Mohammad Ali Saremi (or Sarami), executed on 28 December 2010 were also confirmed at the same time.In August 2010, Amnesty International received reports that another man, Javad Lari, a Tehran bazaar merchant in his 50s, had been sentenced to "death without pardon" for "enmity against God and corruption on earth". He is also held in Evin prison, where he was reportedly tortured and forced to ‘confess’.
Farah (also known as Elmira) Vazehan was arrested two days after the December 2009 Ashoura protests. She was sentenced to death for “enmity against God” in August 2010, after conviction of participation in the protests, including taking photographs and sending them abroad and support for the PMOI. A report on 19 January 2011 stated that her physical condition is poor, noting that in November 2010 she had complained of chest pains.
The execution of these two men are amongst the latest in a wave of executions which has seen the Iranian authorities execute at least 71 prisoners since the beginning of this year – an average of more than 20 each week, including Ali Saremi. Kurdish political prisoner Hossein Khezri, is believed to have been executed on 15 January (see: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/009/2011/en) .Three other men were hanged in Tehran on 24 January after they had been convicted of male rape while thousands more prisoners are on death row.
Two members of the Kurdish minority, known only as Ayoub and Mosleh, are among those reportedly facing execution. They are alleged to have taken part in and filmed sexual acts between men. Amnesty International wrote to the Head of Iran's Judiciary last week seeking clarification of their current legal situation and urging him to prevent their execution if they have been sentenced to death.
Ali Saremi, executed 28 December 2010, then aged about 63, has a son in the PMOI who lives in Camp Ashraf, Iraq, whom he visited. He was arrested on his return and sentenced to a year in prison, and was released in May 2007. Ali Saremi had previously spent 20 years in prison for his political activities both before and after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran (see Iran: Halt executions of Kurdish and other political prisoners, MDE 13/007/2010, 12 January 2010 http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/007/2010/en). He was arrested in September 2007 after speaking at an event commemorating the summary executions of thousands of people in Iranian prisons in 1988 (see UA 286/07: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/128/2007/en ). In May 2010 he told Amnesty International from prison:
“I was tried in October 2008 before Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court, on the charge of “enmity against God” for membership of PMOI. I again denied this and defended myself as they had no evidence against me to prove the charge. I was sentenced to death in December 2009 and appealed through my lawyer. I only learnt about the confirmation of my sentence via the Tehran Prosecutor’s press conference [on 15 May]. Even though I have a lawyer, they do not recognize him. They do not communicate legal proceedings to him and do not notify him.” His lawyer has said publicly that he was never served with the execution verdict and had never received any information concerning his client’s case after the initial trial, including about appeals. He was not informed of the execution 48 hours in advance, as is required by Iranian law.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Deploring the executions of Ja’far Kazemi and Mohammad Haj Aghaei, and urging the Iranian authorities not to execute, Abdolreza Ghanbari (or Qanbari),Ahmad and Mohsen Daneshpour Moghaddam, and Javad Lari.;
- Reminding the Iranian authorities that under international law, the death penalty can only be carried out for “the most serious crimes”, which must be “intentional crimes with lethal or other extremely grave consequences."
- Urging that any person held solely on account of their family links to the PMOI should be released immediately and unconditionally. Any others sentenced after unfair trials should have their convictions and sentences reviewed as a matter of urgency, and none should face the death penalty.
APPEALS TO:
Leader of the Islamic Republic
Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Islamic Republic Street – End of Shahid Keshvar Doust Street,
Tehran,
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Email Via website:
http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter (English);
http://www.leader.ir/langs/fa/index.php?p=letter (Persian)
Salutation: Your Excellency
Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani
Office of the Head of the Judiciary
Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhouri,
Tehran, 1316814737,
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Email: info@dadiran.ir or bia.judi@yahoo.com
Salutation: Your Excellency
COPIES TO:
Secretary General, High Council for Human Rights
Mohammad Javad Larijani
High Council for Human Rights
[Care of] Office of the Head of the Judiciary
Pasteur St, Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhuri
Tehran 1316814737
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Email: info@humanrights-iran.ir
(In subject line: FAO Mohammad Javad Larijani)
Iran does not presently have an embassy in the United
States. Instead, please send copies to:
Iranian Interests Section
2209 Wisconsin Ave NW
Washington DC 20007
Fax: 1 202 965 1073
Email: requests@daftar.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 25 February 2011.
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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