Urgent Action files for October 16, 2007
Posted October 16th, 2007 by April | Take Action
One new Urgent Action case was added today, October 16:
Halt Fear of Torture for Htay Kywe & 5 Burmese Protesters (UA 262/07)
Six people, including prominent activists Htay Kywe, Mie Mie (also known as Thin Thin Aye) and Aung Thu, were detained in the early hours of 13 October in the city of Yangon as part of a continuing crackdown by the military authorities. The three are believed to be the last high-profile members of the 1988 Generation Students group who were still at large. There is no information on where they are being detained. Amnesty International is seriously concerned for the safety of all six people, who are at grave risk of torture and ill-treatment.
Please write on behalf of these six people. Send letters by November 26, 2007.
Penn’s Vigil for Burma: Debrief
Posted October 13th, 2007 by April | Amnesty News, Student Groups, University of Pennsylvania
Jules from the University of Pennsylvania group writes:
Our vigil for Burma, co-promoted with Penn Awake, event received coverage in the Daily Pennsylvanian, raising awareness about the ongoing tragedy in Burma, with input from the same Burmese students (Aung, May, Aung, and Yee) that visited us at our General Body Meeting on Wednesday, October 3rd. We received close to 140 signatures on both paper petitions, which were sent to their respective destinations yesterday. Please go here for updated actions.
Meanwhile, we can keep the momentum going by protesting at the UN and Chinese consulates in New York. A trip will be organized with sufficient interest at the next meeting. We will also continue to look into commercial ties, specifically the trade of Burman rubies.
Update: Penn’s vigil was also covered in their paper! Students march to support monks, The Daily Collegian, October 4, 2007
Penn group to collaborate with South Asia Society on Fall Show
Posted October 13th, 2007 by April | Student Groups, University of Pennsylvania
Jules writes:
For our upcoming collaboration with the South Asia Society at their Fall Show on October 26th, we’ve been invited to submit a performance act as well as table to raise awareness of South Asian human rights issues. Ilana and Brianne have worked hard on preparing excellent potential scripts (one solo monologue about the intimidation of journalists in Pakistan and one multi-player reading exploring the Bhopal Union Carbide/Dow disaster). An excerpt:
“For six long months, my family heard nothing. My wife was distraught. My sons and daughter desperately begged my captors to release me. All the while, the government maintained its innocence, saying I had been taken by the Taliban or a rebel force. Finally, they told my family that they had located me, and that I would soon be back in their arms. They were so relieved and excited to see me again. But the next time they saw me I was dead, handcuffed and riddled with bullets in a ditch close to where I had disappeared all those months before.”
Burma talk at Lehigh University*
Posted October 11th, 2007 by April | Allentown, Bethlehem, Other Human Rights News
This is not an Amnesty International event, but may be of interest to AI members.
ArtsLehigh and the Global Union present:
Crisis in Burma
Why are they killing monks and shutting off the internet?
As told by Lehigh’s Burmese students
Tuesday, October 11 at 7:00 pm
Sinclair Auditorium
Lehigh University
Radio show on China and diplomacy
Posted October 6th, 2007 by April | Amnesty News, Philly Center City
From Center City group member Cindy
On October 4, NPR’s Diane Rehm Show hosted a show on “China and Diplomacy” talking about China’s role in Burma and Sudan, human rights and Olympics.
You could listen to the story at:
http://wamu.org/programs/dr/07/10/04.php#13748
Protect Human Rights Lawyer Zhisheng in China
Posted October 6th, 2007 by April | Philly Center City, Take Action
Center City group member Cindy asks that we participate in this Urgent Action.
I would like to forward you a call for urgent action by the AI Australia on rescue Mr. Gao Zhisheng. Gao Zhisheng, a leading Chinese dissident and a human rights attorney, sent an open letter to the U.S. Congress recently and soon he was arrested and his whereabouts is unknown.
Known as “China’s conscience”, Mr. Gao Zhisheng is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee and American Board of Trial Advocates’ Courageous Advocacy award recipient. He recently sent a 15-page letter with first hand information, statistics and evidence to the US Congress expressing his deep concerns over the Beijing Olympics: the human rights in China have deteriorated even more ahead of the Olympic Games. This letter represents voices of many other Chinese in China.
Background:
Mr. Gao Zhisheng has been featured on the cover of The New York Times. He authored China More Just: My Fight as a Rights Lawyer in the World in the Largest Communist State and was named as one of China’s top ten lawyers in 2001 and has worked for the gamut of China’s vulnerable groups, including coal miners, home-demolition victims, and house church members.
While facing surveillance, house arrest, detention, interrogations, threats, and even attempts on his life, Gao managed to rally China’s activists and legal community around the cause of human rights like no one before him. He has publicly renounced his Chinese Communist Party membership, along with 26 million other Chinese people.
Gao has dealt with many high-profile cases. He wrote open letters to the National People’s Congress, stating that the prison terms and fines imposed on Falun Gong practitioners are in complete violation of basic legal principles and contemporary legal norms. He revealed the suppression of Christian house churches, challenged corruption by local officials, and provided legal assistance to Chen Guangcheng, a blind rights advocate working on rural poverty, forced abortion, and forced sterilization.
Gao is widely regarded as the “conscience of China” and “the symbol of China.” He volunteered to be an investigator for CIPFG (the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong) despite the danger of carrying out such missions in China.
Cindy
Here is Gao Zhisheng’s Urgent Action file from the AIUSA website. Please download it and write a letter on his behalf.
UPenn students wear red and hold vigil, table for Burma
Posted October 4th, 2007 by April | Student Groups, University of Pennsylvania
Tomorrow, October 6, is an being marked as an international day of solidarity action for Burma. As you may know, security forces in Burma (Myanmar) have begun a violent crackdown on the pro-democracy protests, led by 30,000 red-robed monks.
At their October 3 meeting, the University of Pennsylvania group heard from four Burmese students who have firsthand knowledge of the situation there.
Tomorrow, Penn students will be wearing red on campus to raise awareness of the national day of action, and in remembrance of the victims of the Myanmar government’s repression. The group will also be holding a table tomorrow from noon to 5 pm on the Penn campus.
You can take action online here: