Urgent Action files for October 19, 2007
Posted October 22nd, 2007 by April | Take Action
AIUSA issued 4 new Urgent Actions on Friday, on behalf of persons in Mexico, Turkey, Colombia and Yemen. For all of the cases below, please send appeals by November 30, 2007.
Aid Prisoner of Conscience Magdalena Durán in Mexico (UA 268/07) – Mazahua Indigenous activist Durán has won a third federal injunction against her detention, but authorities may continue to avoid releasing her.
Halt Incommunicado Detention of Tekes in Turkey (UA 265/07) – Ihsan Tekes, an alleged member of the armed separatist group, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), was reportedly detained by the Turkish Army on September 19. He may be at risk of torture or other ill-treatment.
Condemn Death Threats of Journalist in Colombia (UA 267/07) – Journalist Hollman Morris, director & presenter of the investigative television program CONTRAVIA, has received email death threats; AI fears that his life could be in danger.
Protect Mohammed from Fear of Torture in Yemen (UA 266/07) – Former Guantánamo detainee Mohammed Ali Nasser Mohammed was handed over by the US to the Yemeni authorities on October 1. He hasn’t been allowed to see his lawyers and is in grave danger of torture. It is not clear why he is being detained.
Urgent Action files for October 17, 2007
Posted October 17th, 2007 by April | Take Action
Four new Urgent Actions were issued yesterday evening, on behalf of persons in Belarus, Iran, and Iraq:
Rectify Ossanlu’s Medical Concern in Iran (UA 08/06) – Without urgent hospital treatment, the Evin prison doctor has told Mansour Ossanlu he may lose his sight within 2 weeks. The prison authorities have claimed, falsely, that he has been given treatment. Ossanlu is the Head of the Union of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company and is considered a prisoner of conscience. Please send appeals by November 27.
Denounce Imminent Execution of 3 Men in Iraq (UA 160/07) – ‘Ali Hassan al-Majid, Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Ta’i & Hussain Rashid al-Tikriti, all former senior officials under the government of Saddam Hussain, were sentenced to death for their roles in the so-called Anfal campaign of 1988 in which some 180,000 Iraqi Kurds died. Please send appeals immediately.
Save Koktysh from Forcible Return to Belarus (UA 264/07) – Igor Koktysh is threatened with extradition from Ukraine to Belarus, where he allegedly was tortured in an effort to have him admit to the murder of a close friend’s relative. There, he may also face an unfair trial which could result in the death penalty. Please send appeals by November 27.
Protest Torabi’s Imminent Execution in Iran (UA 263/07) – Ali Mahin Torabi has been convicted of a murder committed when he was 16 years old and is now at risk of imminent execution. He is held in Reja’i Shahr prison in Karaj. His death sentence could be carried out at any time. Please send appeals immediately.
Eyes Wide Open Exhibit in Phoenixville*
Posted October 11th, 2007 by April | Other Human Rights News
October 13, 2007, 10:00am-dusk
Schuylkill Friends Meeting
37 North Whitehorse Road, Phoenixville, PA
This is not an Amnesty International event, but may be of interest to AI members.
Eyes Wide Open Across Pennsylvania Is Coming To Phoenixville
The impact of the Iraq War on Pennsylvania is the focus of the exhibit Eyes Wide Open Across Pennsylvania. This exhibit features over 170 pairs of combat boots memorializing the US soldiers from Pennsylvania who have died in the Iraq War. In addition an Iraqi exhibit of 50 shoes and posters raises awareness of the huge number of Iraqi civilian causalities. Since the spring of 2006 Eyes Wide Open Across PA has been traveling around the state in urban areas and small towns, bringing awareness of the human cost of this war. The national death toll is now over 3,600 U.S. military casualties.
Schuylkill Friends Meeting is sponsoring the exhibit as one of the events marking its 200th anniversary. Eyes Wide Open Across PA is free and open to the public, although donations will be accepted. Further details of the exhibit can be found at www.afsc.org/pittsburgh
We need your help!
For more information contact Barbara Quintiliano of Schuylkill Friends Meeting at 610-519-5207 or the AFSC Pennsylvania State office in Pittsburgh at 412 371 3607 or swahrhaftig@afsc.org
Speaker: Crisis in Iraq – Politics, Oil, and Refugees*
Posted October 9th, 2007 by April | Other Human Rights News
October 14, 4:30 pm
University Lutheran Church
3637 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
This is not an Amnesty International event, but may be of interest to Amnesty supporters, particularly those interested in issues of asylum. This invitation was sent by the Brandywine Peace Community.
This Sunday, October 14, there will be a rare opportunity to hear an Iraqi and political analyst with a deep knowledge of what has happened in Iraq as a result of the U.S. occupation, including what is considered the worst refugee crisis in the world.
Crisis in Iraq: Politics, Oil, and Refugees
You Are Invited to hear Raed Jarrar, Iraqi political analyst and Iraq Oil Law expert, speak at the Brandywine Peace Community Monthly Potluck Supper & Program, 4:30PM, University Lutheran Church, 3637 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA. (*Bring main dish, salad, or dessert to share.)
Raed Jarrar, currently based in Washington, D.C, is an Iraqi political analyst and consultant to AFSC’s Iraq Program. After the U.S.-led invasion, Jarrar returned home to become country director for CIVIC Worldwide, the only door-to-door casualty survey group in post-war Iraq. He then established Emaar, (meaning “reconstruction” in Arabic), a grassroots organization that provided humanitarian and political aid to Iraqi internally displaced persons (IDPs). Emaar delivered medicine and food as well as helped initiate micro-enterprise projects for IDPs, with specific concern directed towards women and children. Additionally, Emaar engaged in political advocacy on behalf of populations displaced due to ethnic discrimination.
Film: Ghosts of Abu Ghraib (First Prebyterian)*
Posted October 2nd, 2007 by April | Other Human Rights News, West Chester
First Presbyterian Church
Miner and Darlington Streets, West Chester
Oct. 24, 7:30pm
This is not an Amnesty International event, but may be of interest to AI members.
West Chester group member Marlou encourages everyone to go see the film, “Ghosts of Abu Ghraib.” For more information about the film, please see the HBO Documentary website.
Acclaimed filmmaker Rory Kennedy investigates the psychological and political context surrounding the torture that occurred at Abu Ghraib through interviews with both Iraqi victims and the guards directly involved in the torture at the prison. Through these interviews, the film traces the events and the political and legal precedents that led to the scandal, beginning with the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sep. 11, 2001. “How could ordinary American soldiers come to engage in such monstrous acts?” Kennedy asks. “What policies were put into place that allowed this behavior to flourish while protections granted to prisoners under the Geneva Conventions were ignored?”
Presented by the Chester County Religious Campaign Against Torture.
Article on female circumcision in Egypt
Posted September 21st, 2007 by April | Amnesty News
Yesterday, the New York Times reported on the practice of female circumcision (called female genital mutilation, or FGM, by opponents) in Egypt (“Voices Rise in Egypt to Shield Girls from an Old Tradition,” September 20 2007). FGM has been practiced in Egypt for generations and is apparently still very common there today:
“For centuries Egyptian girls, usually between the ages of 7 and 13, have been taken to have the procedure done, sometimes by a doctor, sometimes by a barber or whoever else in the village would do it. As recently as 2005, a government health survey showed that 96 percent of the thousands of married, divorced or widowed women interviewed said they had undergone the procedure — a figure that astounds even many Egyptians. In the language of the survey, ‘The practice of female circumcision is virtually universal among women of reproductive age in Egypt.’”
However, they report that there are indications that opposition to this traditional practice is growing. The subject is no longer taboo in public discussion or in the news. The media is increasingly reporting on botched operations and deaths due to the procedure.
Amnesty International works to oppose FGM as part of its Stop Violence Against Women campaign. For more information, see the FGM fact sheet.