Saturday, June 30, 2018

TIBET: Support Religious Freedom in Tibet - ONLINE ACTION

Free Tibet, June 29, 2018.

Every aspect of Tibetan life is under siege.
Tibetans have even fewer civil and political rights than Chinese people also ruled by the Chinese Communist Party. 

The Chinese government enforces its control on Tibet through threats and use of arbitrary detentions and punishments, including severe violence. Any act deemed to threaten its rule can be made a criminal offence. 

OHIO: Halt Execution - URGENT ACTION

Amnesty International, USA, June 29, 2018.

The Ohio parole board has recommended against clemency for Raymond Tibbetts despite a juror telling them that he would have voted for life if the jury had heard mitigation evidence revealed since the trial. The Governor can still grant clemency.
On 8 February 2018, five days before Raymond Tibbetts was due to be executed for the 1997 murder of Fred Hicks, the Ohio Governor issued an eight-month reprieve and sent the case back to the parole board after he received a letter in favour of clemency from a man who had served as a juror on the case and had since learned of the mitigation evidence not presented at the 1998 trial. 

The juror wrote that “[b]ased on what I know today I would not have recommended the death penalty.”  In 2011, a federal judge described the trial lawyer’s “failure to engage in basic preparation” of evidence about Raymond Tibbetts’ traumatic upbringing, and wrote that evidence revealed since showed “a much more chaotic and abusive environment” in parental and foster care than the jurors heard about. 


These “shocking” and “utterly disturbing” details would have given jurors “compelling” reasons to vote for life. Under Ohio law, just one juror voting against the death penalty would have made resulted in life imprisonment.


TURKEY: Free Taner Kilic - ONLINE ACTION

Amnesty International, UK, June 29, 2018.




Monday, June 25, 2018

THAILAND: Executions Resume - URGENT ACTION

Amnesty International, USA, June 21, 2018.

Thai prison authorities carried out the country’s first execution in nearly a decade on 18 June 2018. 

Amnesty International fears that others on death row may be at imminent risk after receiving unconfirmed reports that prisoners have in recent weeks had their applications for a royal pardon rejected.



Tuesday, June 19, 2018

IRAN: Execution of Iranian Dervish - NEWS

Iran Human Rights, June 18, 2018.


IHR Strongly Condemns Execution Of  The Iranian Dervish MOHAMMAD SALAS.


Saturday, June 16, 2018

USA; OHIO; Stop Pending Execution - URGENT ACTION

Amnesty International, USA, June 15, 2018.
The Ohio parole board held a clemency hearing on 24 May 2018, at which Robert Van Hook’s lawyers gave details of his abusive and dysfunctional childhood and its impact on him. A psychiatrist/psychologist testified that he presented a classic case of post-traumatic stress disorder which, with borderline personality disorder, rose to the level of a major mental disability. The board voted against clemency, over the dissent of one of its members whowrote that “despite the heinous nature of the crime”, the prisoner’s childhood and its effects on him “serve to mitigate the offense”. The execution is set for 18 July. The governor should reject the board’s denial of clemency.



Friday, June 15, 2018

COLOMBIA: Indigenous Nasa Embera Chami Displaced - URGENT ACTION

Amnesty International, USA, June 15, 2018.

More than 200 indigenous Nasa Embera Chamí from La Delfina reservation in Buenaventura (West), Colombia, are currently displaced following an armed attack to a member of their community on 8 June. They are in need of decisive security measures to protect them and access to humanitarian aid such as food, health services and shelter.

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

IRAN: Human Rights Lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh Arrested - NEWS

Iran Human Rights, June 13, 2018.

Prominent lawyer and human rights defender, Nasrin Sotoudeh, was arrested at her home on Wednesday, June 13. She was previously imprisoned for her professional and HR activities.

Iran Human Rights (IHR) strongly condemns this arrest and demands her immediate and unconditional release. The spokesperson and director of IHR, Mahmoud Amiry-Moghaddam, said, “Iran is probably one of the few countries where defense lawyers are persecuted for doing their job”. He added, “We ask the world community to play a more active role in defending the Iranian human rights lawyers and to ask for immediate release of the detained lawyers and end persecuting them."

MOLDOVA: DETAINEE WITH CIRRHOSIS - URGENT ACTION

Amnesty International, USA, June 13, 2018.

Moldovan businessman Serghei Cosovan is unable to access essential health care in pre-trial detention for his acute cirrhosis. 

Authorities are ignoring medical grounds to support treatment in an external specialised hospital and have recently remanded him to 30 more days in pre-trial detention. 

Serghei Cosovan’s health is rapidly deteriorating and there are serious risks to his life.


Friday, June 8, 2018

USA: Free Trans Rights Activist - ONLINE PETITION

Amnesty International, USA, June 7, 2018.

Alejandra is a transgender woman from El Salvador who fought for the rights of transgender people in her home country for over a decade. Her transgender identity resulted in repeated sexual assaults and abuses from gangs and Salvadoran military personnel. After enduring these attacks she was forced to flee her home and request asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. But instead of helping her, the U.S. Government put her behind bars.

Now she is living at the Cibola detention center in New Mexico, despite the fact that she has family in the U.S. willing to host her. It is cruel and unnecessary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain people fleeing to the U.S. in search of safety from persecution and violence — including brave people like Alejandra.


MILWAUKEE: Protest of Israel's Ambassador Ron Dermer - NEWS

Amnesty International, USA, June 5, 2018.

The conflict and controversy surrounding international policies in the Middle East turned toward Milwaukee as the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations spoke to the Milwaukee Rotary Club at the Milwaukee County War Memorial Center on Tuesday, June 5.





Tuesday, June 5, 2018

SYRIA: Accountability for Destruction in Raqqa - ONLINE PETITION

Amnesty International, USA, June 5, 2018.

Last year, the US-led Coalition killed entire families in Raqqa, a city in the North East of Syria.

In June 2017, the Coalition - including the US, France and UK - launched a military operation to oust the armed group calling itself the Islamic State from its so called “capital”.

But instead of just targeting Daesh, they caused the deaths of hundreds and injury of thousands of civilians, and destroyed much of the city.

Our researchers visited Raqqa, and reported a level of destruction beyond anything they have seen in decades of covering the impact of wars. Homes, private and public buildings and infrastructure were reduced to rubble, or damaged beyond repair.

Saturday, June 2, 2018

SAUDI ARABIA - Women's Rights Campaigners Jailed - ONLINE ACTION

Amnesty International, Australia, June 1, 2018.

Loujain, Iman and Aziza are three brave women. Together, they have lead a successful campaign giving women the right to drive in Saudi Arabia. 

They now face up to 20 years in prison just for their peaceful human rights work. 

Thanks to Loujain, Iman, Aziza and many others, Saudi Arabia’s King has committed to lifting the driving ban on women within weeks. 
But they’re now being punished. The authorities have detained the three women and are denying them access to legal representation and communication with the outside world, including with their families.

Following their arrest, the media ran a smear campaign against the three campaigners, sharing pictures of them with "traitor" stamped in red across their faces.