Group 342 member’s letter printed in The Kennett Paper
Posted April 3rd, 2008 by April | Amnesty News, West Chester
I would like to belatedly draw attention to the good work of Fiona Allison, a member of Amnesty International Group 342 (West Chester/Chester County). Her opinion letter regarding the President’s veto of the Intelligence Authorization Bill appeared in The Kennett Paper on March 12. The letter is reproduced below. Thank you, Fiona, for spotlighting this decision.
Bush should not have vetoed ban on waterboarding
The Kennett Paper
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Recently, the U.S. House and Senate rejected the use of torture – a tactic rubber-stamped by high-ranking Bush administration officials – by passing the Intelligence Authorization Bill. The bill includes an important stipulation in the conference report that limits interrogators to the techniques permitted by the U.S. Army Field Manual. This would prevent the CIA and other U.S. agents from using waterboarding, sexual humiliation, dogs and other techniques that amount to torture and ill treatment. But President Bush vetoed the Intelligence Authorization Bill. Here’s one more mark on his administration’s shameful human rights record in the war on terror. Is the president confused? To affirm the ban on torture and prosecute U.S. agents responsible for its use is not surrendering to terrorists. But we can be certain that anything less than denouncing torture and cruel treatment is surrendering American values. The world needs to know that his veto does not represent my views on torture. Americans must send a clear, resounding message to this president and the next – do not torture in our name.
Fiona M. Allison
Pennsbury Township
Posted on The Kennett Paper website
The Nightmares of Interrogation (Villanova)*
Posted April 3rd, 2008 by April | Other Human Rights News
*This is not an Amnesty International event, but may be of interest to AI supporters.
The Nightmares of Interrogation
DATE: Wednesday, April 9
TIME: 4:30pm
LOCATION: Bartley 1001, 4:30 pm
Eric Fair will speak about his experiences while serving as an interrogator in Iraq at Abu Ghraib in early 2004. He will address the corrosive effects abusive interrogation has on those who wield it as a tool as well as the irrevocable damage it has done to our nation and its institutions. Ample time will be provided for questions from the audience.
ABOUT ERIC FAIR: In 2001, Mr. Fair was hired as a police officer in Bethlehem, PA. He left the department in 2003 in order to be a part of the war effort in Iraq. He was hired as an interrogator by CACI and worked in Baghdad, Abu Ghraib, and Fallujah. He resigned this position in the summer of 2004, was hired by the National Security Administration (NSA), and returned to Iraq in 2005 as an intelligence analyst. Mr. Fair left government service in early 2006 and published an op-ed in The Washington Post in early 2007 about his experiences with coercive interrogation. He is currently a student at Princeton Theological Seminary pursuing an MDIV and seeking ordination in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Sponsored by the Ethics Program, College of Liberal Arts, Villanova University
Eric Fair’s Op-Ed: “An Interrogator’s Nightmare”
Torture as a Moral Issue: People of Faith Respond (West Chester)*
Posted April 2nd, 2008 by April | Other Human Rights News
*This is not an Amnesty International event, but may be of interest to AI supporters.
Torture as a Moral Issue: People of Faith Respond
An Interfaith Forum on US-Sponsored Torture
When: Sunday, April 13, 2008, 2:00-4:00pm
Where: Unitarian Fellowship of West Chester, 501 S High St., West Chester, PA 19382 – (610) 692-5966
What: A panel of clergy and scholars of five different faith traditions (Christian and non-Christian) will speak on the teachings of their respective religious communities concerning US-sponsored torture and will answer questions from the audience.
Co-sponsored by the Chester County Religious Campaign Against Torture and the Chester County Peace Movement. First of a series of events celebrating Peace Week.
For more information:
Barbara Quintiliano
610-519-5207
grellet06@gmail.com
Guantánamo editorial published in The Morning Call
Posted January 16th, 2008 by April | Allentown, Amnesty News
Allentown group coordinator Dan Laxar’s editorial regarding Guantánamo Bay’s sixth anniversary was published in The Morning Call newspaper. Read it online here:
Guantánamo milestone is not a proud moment
Thanks Dan!
Maher Arar on Anderson Cooper 360º November 8
Posted November 8th, 2007 by April | Amnesty News
The Center for Constitutional Rights is working on the case of Maher Arar. From the CCR website: “Arar v. Ashcroft is a federal lawsuit challenging the rendition by the U.S. government of a Canadian citizen to Syria, where he was tortured, forced to falsely confess, and released after one year without ever being charged.” (Full report)
Amnesty International USA: “[Maher Arar] reports he was held alone in a tiny, basement cell without light, which he called “the grave”, for more than 10 months. A small grate in the ceiling opened up into a hallway above. Through it cats and rats urinated on him. There was no furniture in the cell, only two blankets on the floor. He had no exposure to natural light for the first six months.” (Full report)
Maher Arar has a hearing tomorrow morning, November 9 at 9:30 am at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Pearl Street and Centre Street, downtown Manhattan. A CCR Board member will be arguing on his behalf. CCR urges those who are able to attend the hearing and show their support.
For those of us who can’t be in Manhattan, tune in to CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360º tonight, Thursday, November 8, at 10 pm EST, to see an interview with Maher Arar and his wife Monia, who has worked tirelessly on his behalf.
Speaker on Terrorism and the Middle East (Berwyn)*
Posted November 7th, 2007 by April | Other Human Rights News
This is not an Amnesty International event, but may be of interest to AI supporters.
November 27, 7:30 pm
Tredyffrin Township Municipal Building Auditorium, 1100 Duportail Road, Berwyn PA
Professor Larry Davidson to speak on
“Terrorism and the Middle East in Perspective: What History Can Tell Us”
What causes terrorist behavior in the Middle East? Is there such a thing as state terrorism? What lessons from recent history can we learn to help contain terrorism?
Our speaker is Lawrence Davidson, a Professor of History at West Chester University whose specialization is the history of American relations with the Middle East.
Davidson, who has traveled extensively in the region, is the author of several books including “America’s Palestine: Popular and Official Perceptions from Balfour to Israeli Statehood” (University Press of Florida, 2001) and “Islamic Fundamentalism” (Greenwood Press, 2008). He is also the co-author, with Arthur Goldschmidt, of “A Concise History of the Middle East” (Westview Press, 2006, 8th edition).
This event will be moderated. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions of our speaker. Light refreshments will be served.
Ask Senators to Support the Security Contractor Accountability Act
Posted November 7th, 2007 by April | Allentown, Take Action
At their last meeting, the Allentown Amnesty International group discussed AI actions to support the Security Contractor Accountability Act (S.2147). This important bill would demand accountability for U.S. government and military contractors such as Blackwater.
“In this environment, serious allegations of contractor involvement in human rights violations–including the torture at Abu Ghraib and hundreds of shootings, sometimes lethal, of Iraqi civilians–have emerged, yet Bush administration officials have made virtually no effort to hold contractors accountable or compensate victims.”
Dan from the Allentown group notes that the bill “has been referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, of which our own Sen. Specter is Ranking Minority Member.”
Find out more about Amnesty’s position on the Security Contractor Accountability Act (S.2147). Then, take action!
You can also read the bill at the THOMAS website (Library of Congress).
AIUSA is supported in the effort to get this bill passed by Working Assests. You can also send a message using their website.
November 1 “Fresh Air” on Guantánamo
Posted November 1st, 2007 by April | Amnesty News
I’ve just found out that tomorrow’s “Fresh Air” NPR radio program will focus on Guantánamo. Tune in tomorrow from 3:00 to 4:00 pm on WHYY 90.9, Philadelphia. I will add more information when it’s available.
UPDATE: The guest on Fresh Air will be Clive Stafford Smith, a human rights lawyer who is one of the few to have had independent access to Guantánamo.
Clive Stafford Smith was also a speaker at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference when it was held in Philadelphia in 2005. The information he shared at the time, about the incarceration of juveniles at Guantánamo for instance, was truly shocking. Please tune into Fresh Air at 3:00 pm today.
A two-year anniversary for Guantánamo prisoner Adel Hamad
Posted October 31st, 2007 by April | Amnesty News
Our Philadelphia area Denounce Torture specialist, Barbara, directs our attention to the case of Adel Hamad (Detainee ISN 940), who has been imprisoned at Guantánamo for over five years.
Amnesty International case sheet for Adel Hassan Hamad
Sudanese national Adel Hamad is a hospital worker, teacher, and refugee aid worker. He was taken from his home in Pakistan at gunpoint in July 2002. He was transferred from a Pakistani prison to Bagram and then to Guantánamo, enduring very poor conditions along the way. Project Hamad, an advocacy organization formed on his behalf, says that “no allegations have been made against Adel Hamad that he engaged in terrorism, acts supporting terrorists, violence against the United States or any belligerent act.”
Amnesty International calls for Adel Hamad to be released from Guantánamo unless he is charged and tried in accordance with international standards.
The latest news from Project Hamad is that “Hamad’s lawyers have just now learned, from their recent trip to Sudan, that he was cleared for transfer in November of 2005, TWO YEARS AGO. The U.S. government never shared this information with his own defense team and obviously do not seem to feel any obligation to expedite the release of a man that they have charged with no crime.”
“Guantánamo Unclassified” (YouTube link) is a video about Adel Hamad’s case. In it, investigator and attorney William Teesdale interviews people who know Adel Hamad personally. This video is highly recommended as a touching portrait of one of Guantánamo’s prisoners.
Please also visit the website of Project Hamad for further information, as well as how to write a letter to Adel Hamad.
Philadelphia attorney fights for Abu Ghraib torture victims
Posted October 28th, 2007 by April | Amnesty News
The Inquirer’s website features a profile of Susan Burke, who has done some work pro bono on behalf of Abu Ghraib torture victims.
“PHILADELPHIA lawyer Susan Burke is an international heroine, though you’ve probably never heard of her.
She’s using her law degree – and her time, and her money – to seek justice in the courts for victims tortured at Abu Ghraib prison and slaughtered in the Blackwater shoot-out in Baghdad.
She left a partnership with a prominent Philadelphia law firm to pursue the pro bono work when it became a source of contention.”
– Read more: “Her quest? To fight for human rights,” philly.com, October 26 2007