Iran: Narges Mohammadi's Trial Set for 20 April - URGENT ACTION (Send appeals before May 16)

Amnesty International
        Prominent human rights defender and prisoner of conscience, Narges Mohammadi, is scheduled to go on trial on 20 April on charges including “spreading propaganda against the system” and “gathering and colluding to commit crimes against national security”, all of which stem from her peaceful human rights activism. Her court hearings have been postponed several times in the past months without any explanation provided by the court. She also faces a new charge of “insulting officers while being transferred to a hospital” in a separate case. This charge was brought against Narges Mohammadi after she filed a complaint with regards to the degrading and inhumane treatment she received by the prison guards when she was transferred to hospital for examinations, including their refusal to allow her a confidential consultation with her doctors. 
       She has not been allowed to make any contact with her children for over eight months. She remains critically ill. 

Click here for more information and URGENT ACTION.  

“When Home is Where the Harm Is: Family Law Reform to Challenge Gender-Based Violence" - VIDEOS

 March 18, 2016

 

"Family law and similar status or civil laws, in particular, are at the core of power, and it translates into what happens in the economy and society at large. Family law reform is a key priority for women everywhere." - Yakin Ertürk, former UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women

      About the event: Women's Learning Partnership launched its historic research and global advocacy campaign on the reform of discriminatory laws against women in the family at The New School in New York during the 60th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. WLP's global campaign focuses on the relationship between articles of the law and perpetration of violence against women and girls.

This event was co-sponsored by Gender and Sexuality Studies at The New School for Social Research and Ethics, Power and Justice at the Schools of Public Engagement.

Watch “When Home is Where the Harm Is:
Family Law Reform to Challenge Gender-Based Violence"

Panel 1 - Perspectives: Law, Culture, Conflict, and Religion (1:52:45)

Panel 2 - Reports from the Field (1:09:26 min)

GOOD NEWS Myanmar: Activist, Chaw Sandi Tun, Released after 6 Months - URGENT ACTION UPDATE

Amnesty International

     Chaw Sandi Tun, also known as Chit Tha Mee, was released from Maubin prison in Ayeyarwady Region on 30 March. She has served six months in prison for a Facebook post mocking Myanmar Army Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. She was arrested in Yangon on 12 October 2015 and sentenced on 28 December under Article 66(d) of Myanmar’s 2013 Telecommunications Act, which provides for up to three years’ imprisonment for “extorting, coercing, restraining wrongfully, defaming, disturbing, causing undue influence or threatening any person by using any Telecommunications Network”.

     Chaw Sandi Tun should have never been imprisoned in the first place. Amnesty International is continuing to campaign for the release of all prisoners of conscience in Myanmar.

Click here for ENTIRE URGENT ACTION UPDATE. 

Frontline PBS Special: Saudi Arabia Uncovered - VIDEO (54:11 min)

PBS
March 29, 2016

     Please watch this undercover video (~ 50  mins) of men/women protesting for freedom in Saudi Arabia. This film exposes human rights abuses by King Abdullah and King Salman especially after the Arab Spring movement in 2011. Amnesty International (including ourselves in Madison) have been campaigning on behalf of the prisoners (Raif Badawi and Ali Nimr)who are being shown in this PBS / Frontline documentary film. -Azam

     With undercover footage and on-the-ground reporting, FRONTLINE reveals a side of Saudi Arabia that's rarely seen, and traces the efforts of men and women who are working to bring about change.

California, USA: Investigate the treatment of my brother at Corcoran State Prison - ONLINE PETITION

Change.org
     My brother, Rodney Barno, is an inmate at the Corcoran State Prison’s Substance Abuse Treatment Facility. Two months ago, rumors began circulating that other inmates had a hit on him, so, in order to protect him, they put him in administrative segregation, also known as “the hole.” Since then, we have received letter after letter from him describing horrific conditions and treatment by guards who are supposed to protect him.
He says he was stripped of all his personal belongings (food, clothing, hygiene necessities) and forced to sleep on a bare mattress. He has told us that he fears for his life, and I am worried sick that something will happen to him if we don’t put an end to this treatment now.

Click here for more information and ONLINE PETITION. 

Elie Wiesel - Messenger for Peace

Brainpickings
     In 1986, at the age of fifty-eight, Romanian-born Jewish-American writer and political activist Elie Wiesel (b. September 30, 1928) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel committee called him a “messenger to mankind.” Wiesel lived up to that moniker with exquisite eloquence on December 10 that year — exactly ninety years after Alfred Nobel died — as he took the stage at Norway’s Oslo City Hall and delivered a spectacular speech on justice, oppression, and our individual responsibility in our shared freedom. The address was eventually included in Elie Wiesel: Messenger for Peace 

Click here for ARTICLE. 

 

Published on May 14, 2012

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel has inspired generations to social action. He celebrated the power of law to change people's lives when he accepted the 2012 William O. Douglas Award. "This is what we must do -- not to sleep well when people suffer anywhere in the world," Professor Wiesel told the audience of more than 1,000. "Not to sleep well when someone's persecuted. Not to sleep well when people are hungry all over here or there. Not to sleep well when there are people sick and nobody is there to help them. Not to sleep well when anyone somewhere needs you. You don't sleep well. And for this... we are very grateful to you." (10:55 min)

Nowruz Actions 2016: FINAL REPORT!

Amnesty International Madison Group #139

Dear Friends:

I would also like to thank you for writing Nowruz Greetings Cards to seven Prisoners of Conscious in Iran on occasion of Persian New Year, Nowruz (March 20, 2016). We wrote a total of 88 Cards / Post Cards as detailed in this report. Click on the link below for the number of Nowruz Greetings Cards written for each AI-USA case that were sent to the specified address.

Regards, 

Azam Niroomand-Rad, PhD

Coordinator, AI-USA Local Group 139, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

Click here for FINAL REPORT.