Emergency call: Pussy Riot Appeal

The Pussy Riot singers are having their appeal on Monday October 1.
Please join the call to release them.

Human Rights Update Sep. 21-27

Yom Kippur is behind us and we wish you all a happy Succot.
I received an alert from Guy about an ill prisoner in China.  I quote Guy on how AI is functioning:

PLEASE MAKE A POINT of doing this one. The Urgent Action on which it is based (UA 271/12) was written on Sep. 20, but the folk at the Amnesty International USA office apologize for not being able to get it out to us till Sep. 25 - because of "diminished capacity". That probably refers to skilled people who have been laid off. Amnesty is in financial trouble. If sufferers of cruelty have to wait more days before we appeal for them - that is horrible. Amnesty, and the whole human-rights endeavor, need just a little bit more shove from good people.

He is absolutely right of course. 
An Uighur man, Abdukiram Abduveli, suffering from bone and joint cancer, is being
denied urgent medical treatment in prison in China.
 Here is the link

From India via I Save Lives Belgium Francophone AI
The police in Tamil Nadu state, India are cracking down on those engaged in year-long peaceful protests against a nuclear power plant project in Kudankulam. Since 9 September, more than 25 protestors have been arrested, and many others face imminent arrest. 
Please act.

Prisoner of Conscience in USA
On 20 September, US servicewoman Kimberly Rivera was arrested and detained by US military authorities after losing her deportation case in Canada and returning to the USA. She faces a court martial for desertion and a prison sentence. As she is being detained solely because of her conscientious objection to participating in the armed conflict in Iraq, she is a prisoner of conscience. 
Please act. 

Human Rights Update Sept. 14-20

Rosh Hashana has past and Yom Kippur is coming up and human rights violations go on.  Chatima tova to all and may freedom and justice triumph this year.

We have three cases this week, the first a disappearance in Angola and two labor relations actions.
For the Angola case I have placed a template letter at the link


 The action call itself is from AIUSA.

There is serious worker oppression going on in North Africa. 

Workers at the Maldives Hilton are not in an island paradise.

Human Rights Updates Sept. 8-14, 2012

This week we have three action cases for your attention.

SRI LANKA :JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED
Ragihar Manoharan was one of five Sri Lankan Tamil students killed by security forces in January 2006 in the city of Trincomalee. Authorities have failed to prosecute anyone for their murder. Read and act.

HORROR IN PAKISTAN:

The horror of it all is almost unimaginable.

 

Over 300 workers burned and suffocated to death in their workplaces, a garment factory and a shoe factory.   Call for justice and accountability!

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST ROMA IN ITALY

 

Please join the call to Prime Minister Monti to end housing discrimination and forced evictions of Roma in Italy.

Emergency Death Penalty Post

I am coming at you at short notice because of two urgent matters involving the death penalty.  In Gambia the government appear determined to carry out its plan to empty death row by executing dozens of people who are imprisoned there.
“One can only imagine the terror the death row inmates and their families are facing knowing that at any moment they could be pulled from their cells and put in front of a firing squad,” said Paule Rigaud, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Africa. 

“Amnesty International remains concerned that many inmates have been convicted after unfair trials where they have not had access to lawyers or an appeals process. Some were sentenced after being tried on politically-motivated charges and have been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment to force confessions.”
Please act to call upon the government of Gambia to end this action.

In the US State of Missouri Reggie Clemens is facing execution for a crime he well may not have committed.

In 2009 the Missouri Supreme Court assigned a ‘special master’ judge to investigate the reliability of his conviction. The review starts on 17 September. Please tell the Missouri Authorities to use this opportunity and stop the execution of Reggie Clemons.

Want to help get more signatures? Download a paper petition and get collecting (pdf)

To the Missouri authorities We, the undersigned, call on you to ensure that the death sentence of Reggie Clemons is commuted. We are concerned by numerous questions that have been raised in his case, including prosecutorial misconduct, allegations of police coercion, possible racial bias and inadequate legal representation. We note that Reginald Clemons has consistently maintained his innocence.

Human Rights update Sept1-6, 2012

We have three actions for this week. Let us hope to have many weeks with fewer calls to action.  All three of them are single click actions with no letter writing involved.
1. The first action is labor rights related.  Kraft has sacked 5 members of the board of the newly-created independent union at the former Cadbury chocolate factory in Alexandria following a protest over the non-payment of a government-decreed social allowance. 

2.  Help Protect Human Rights Defender Lydia Cacho-this involves death threats.

 3. A labor leader is imprisoned in Ivory Coast.  Please act.

Basile Mahan Gahé

Emergency Urgent Action Gambia

URGENT ACTION
AT LEAST 39 PRISONERS AT RISK OF EXECUTION
The Gambian government has confirmed the execution of nine death row prisoners by firing squad.
The individuals were taken from their cells the evening of 23 August and executed shortly after. The
Gambian government should immediately halt any further executions and impose an official
moratorium on executions.
There are growing fears that at least 38 people remaining on death row are at imminent risk of execution following the
Gambian government’s confirmation that nine death row prisoners were executed by firing squad and its public
commitment that executions will continue.
For details and instructions for appeals go to this site.

For a template letter go to this google site.