Amnesty International, UK - Death Penalty Report - NEWS

Amnesty International, UK, April 10, 2019

Global executions fell by almost one-third last year to the lowest figure in at least a decade, Amnesty International said in its 2018 global review of the death penalty published today. The statistics assess known executions worldwide except in China, where figures thought to be in their thousands remain classified as a state secret.

2018 global review of the death penalty 

COLOMBIA: 7000 in Danger - URGENT ACTION

Amnesty International, April 22, 2019.

7,000 persons from Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities in Bojayá, Chocó (western Colombia) face live-threathening and forced displacement risk as the guerrilla National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional, ELN) and the paramilitary group Gaitanistas Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia) are increasing hostilities in their territory. The communities of Unión Baquiaza, Union Cuití, Carrillo, Playita, Mesopotamia and Egoróquera are at risk. In Chocó several assassinations of community leaders recently occurred, and communities are constantly under threats from armed groups without any preventive action from national authorities.

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MAURITANIA: Bloggers Arrested - URGENT ACTION

Amnesty International, USA, April 17, 2019.

Bloggers Cheikh Jiddou and Abderrahmane Weddady were arbitrarily arrested on 22 March in Nouakchott. 

Both were arrested after posting comments on Facebook condemning corruption. Their comments came after media articles were published, accusing some Mauritanian officials of corruption. 

The two bloggers have been charged with ‘malicious accusation’. On 27 March, they were transferred to the Central prison of Nouakchott.

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EGYPT: Activist Released - GOOD NEWS

Amnesty International, USA, April 11, 2019.

On 26 March 2019, Egyptian activist Islam Khalil was released on probation after more than a year in arbitrary detention. 

A judge in the terrorism circuit of the Cairo Criminal Court had ordered his release on 19 February. Instead of releasing Islam, the authorities held him incommunicado since 25 February, refusing to inform his family of his whereabouts. 

Despite his release, Islam is still facing bogus charges and must spend two hours at a police station twice a week as per his probation terms.

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Annual Death Penalty Report - NEWS

Amnesty International, April, 2019.

https://amnesty.app.box.com/s/izkp4ss2sonbr5rlc5pmkamxouhpe2w2

Please click on above link, then click on Report; select English--to the right using the box with 3 dots, you may click to download the full report.

You may also view the Press Release in similar fashion.

EVENT: 71 Years Without a Country: Nakba Tour 2019 - Monday, April 22 @ 7pm in Madison

Mariam Fathalla was just 18 years old in 1948 when her 4,000 year old village was leveled and she was forced to flee Palestine along with hundreds of thousands of others to make way for the establishment of the State of Israel. For the past 71 years she has lived in crowded, makeshift refugee camps in Lebanon. Now an 89-year-old great-grandmother, she has seen five Israeli invasions of Lebanon, as well as the 1976 Tel al-Zaatar massacre that killed more than 2000 refugees. Don’t miss this extraordinary opportunity to hear Mariam’s eye-witness story and learn the true story of the event that Palestinians call the Nakba (catastrophe). She will be joined by 24-year-old Palestinian journalist and translator Amena ElAskhar, herself the great-granddaughter of Nakba survivors. Co-sponsored by Madison-Rafah Sister City Project, UW-Madison Students for Justice in Palestine, and WUD Society and Politics.

Monday, April 22
7 pm, Old Red Gym
716 Langdon St.
UW-Madison Campus

For more information visit Madison-Rafah.org or see the Facebook event.

ALSO: Amena ElAshkar will be a guest on WORT Radio's Morning Buzz show with host Jan Miyasaki on Wednesday, April 17 between 8 and 8:30 am. Tune in at 89.9 FM or listen live on line.

Help #FreeAlejandra from ICE Detention - URGENT ACTION

We need your help putting pressure on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and elected officials to #FreeAlejandra and stop her deportation. Alejandra is the longest detained trans woman in the Cibola County Correctional Center. She is a transgender Latina asylum-seeker who was forced to flee El Salvador due to discrimination and violence, her home country in which she has spent years fighting for the respect and dignity of transgender people. Alejandra’s situation is not unique; there are many more transgender people seeking asylum in the United States who are stuck waiting indefinitely in detention centers where they are at risk of ill-treatment because of their gender identity, medical needs, or trauma they have endured. 

We recently learned that Alejandra could now be at risk of deportation. We need to drive as many calls to ICE by Monday, April 15th urging them not to deport her back to the very danger she fled from. Join our partners at the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center and TransLatin@ Coalition to stop ICE!

This is how you can help:

1. Use this SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLKIT to raise awareness about Alejandra’s case.
2. Make calls today to ICE staff who can determine the future of Alejandra’s life. The contact information to these targets are here:
• Head of Operations in El Paso, the Deputy Field Office Director
• CALL: (915) 856-5510
• Head of the Albuquerque Office, Bill Jepsen
• CALL: (505) 452-4801

Call script:
Hello, my name is __________. I am calling you today to ask that you stop the deportation of Alejandra, a transgender woman held in ICE detention at Cibola County Correctional Center in New Mexico. She is seeking safety in the U.S. after fighting for the rights of trans people in El Salvador. An activist for over a decade, Alejandra finally had to flee El Salvador to escape persecution on the basis of her transgender identity. Alejandra is a 44-year-old transgender woman from El Salvador who requested asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border in November 2017 but has been held in immigration detention by ICE ever since.

(Include a personal experience or story as to why Alejandra is important to you.)

We need to #FreeAlejandra NOW. She has support from community here on the outside and her friends and family miss her. Alejandra shouldn’t be behind bars, she should be free to do the life-changing work she has done for so many years. We understand that Alejandra's rights may have been violated by DHS and we urge you to stop her deportation while that is determined. Thank you for your time.

IRAN: Free Women's Rights Defender - ONLINE ACTION

Amnesty International, USA, April 5, 2019

After two grossly unfair trials, world renowned Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been sentenced to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes for defending women's rights. 

Nasrin has dedicated her life to peaceful human rights work, including defending women who peacefully protest against an Iranian law which compels women to wear hijab (headscarf) and loose clothing.   

Nasrin has been jailed for defending the right of women to choose whether or not they wear hijab. Amnesty International supports the rights to freedom of religion and freedom of expression, including the right of Muslim women to decide whether to wear the hijab or other forms of Islamic dress. 

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Philipines: Journalist Arrested Second Time - ONLINE ACTION

Amnesty International, Australia, April 2, 2019.

Maria Ressa, human rights defender and executive editor of online news outlet Rappler, was arrested again on 29 March for allegedly violating the Philippines’ Anti-Dummy Law, which punishes Filipinos who allow their names or citizenship to be used to evade laws on the nationalization of certain rights, franchises or privileges. 

Ressa was released several hours later after posting bail of PhP90,000 (approx. USD1,700); this was the second time she has been arrested in a matter of weeks. ....Ressa’s arrest appears to be part of broader campaign to silence critics of the government.

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