Zimbabwe: human rights concerns despite a peaceful election

13 Aug

ZimbabweAt least six women and their young children have been forced to flee their homes in Mukumbura district after being threatened with violence and forcible evictions after the 31 July election. Some of the women had to leave children behind.

The women alleged they had been targeted for refusing to follow instructions from ZANU-PF supporters to feign illiteracy, blindness or physical injury, which would have allowed someone else to ‘assist’ them by marking the ballot on their behalf .  One of the women reported that she had first been threatened in her village two weeks before the election and reported the matter to the police but no action was taken. The six displaced political activists told us that there are more families in the same predicament who remain stranded in the district under threat of violence.

Please click here to generate a fax to the Police Officer in command of Mashonaland Central Province asking him to investigate these allegations of harrassment.

Note: Amnesty does not endorse or oppose any political party and will engage with any government to emerge from these elections to address human rights violations in Zimbabwe – past and present.

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Let Okunishi clear his name before he dies

12 Aug
Okunishi Masaru on death row in Japan © private

Okunishi Masaru on death row in Japan © Private

Okunishi Masaru has spent more than half his life on death row in Japan, knowing he could be executed any day.

In 1961, he was accused of poisoning five women and ‘confessed’ after prolonged police interrogation. He retracted his confession as soon as trial began, and was acquitted for lack of evidence. But a higher court reversed the decision, and sentenced Okunishi to death.

Okunishi’s lawyers have repeatedly requested a retrial, without success. Okunishi is now 87 years-old and his health is failing him, he slips in and out of consciousness and is unable to breathe on his own. But he’s desperate for a chance to clear his name before he dies.

Click here to call on the Japanese authorities to grant Okunishi a retrial.

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Summer social group meeting – Tuesday 13th August at the Racehorse Inn

5 Aug

Join us for our Summer Social group meeting on Tuesday 13th August at the Racehorse Inn.  All are welcome to come along and meet the group, discuss human rights and learn more about Amnesty in an informal surrounding.

Please note this is instead of the usual monthly meeting at the Silver Street Baptist Church

4MP859 Digital Camera

The address of the pub is The Racehorse Inn, East Reach, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 3HT.  It is less that a minute’s walk from our usual meeting place at Silver Street Baptist Church and a 5 minute walk from Taunton town centre.

Please click here to view location on a map.

Watch Nolwandle’s Story and sign a petition calling for violence-free elections in Zimbabwe

27 Jul

Zimbabwe’s 2013 elections are just days away.

When the last elections were held in 2008, a wave of politically motivated violence spread across the country after the first round of polling. More than 200 people were killed, 10,000 injured and 28,000 forced to flee their homes.

Click here to sign a petition asking the Southern African Development Community to help ensure this year’s elections are violence-free.

Call on the government of Sri Lanka to “Tell the Truth” about human rights abuses

21 Jul

flagsrilankaAmnesty International USA is calling on the Government of Sri Lanka to “Tell the Truth” on arbitrary detention and torture.

Four years have passed since the end of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan authorities continue to deny mounting evidence of crimes under international law committed by its forces during Sri Lanka’s protracted armed conflict. They also attempt to stop their own citizens from communicating with the UN and other international bodies about serious violations they have witnessed.

Click here to call on the President of Sri Lanka to “Tell the Truth”.

Please note the petition closes on 1 September.

End the use of torture in Tajikistan

14 Jul

Dilshod Murodov’s mother Lubat Burhanova cuts a single rose from her garden to lay on her son’s grave © Amnesty International/BHR

In 2009, Lubat Burhanova was told that her son Dilshodbek had died in prison from heart failure. When his body was returned for burial she lifted the shroud to find that he had been severely beaten. Lubat believes her son died because he was tortured, and she has been campaigning for justice since.

In Tajikistan, the police and security forces frequently resort to torture and other ill-treatment to obtain confessions. Many victims of torture in pre-trial detention are left with physical and psychological injuries requiring long-term treatment, some die in custody. Those who do survive, often end up in prison after an unfair trial.

Click here to sign a petition to help Lubat Burhanova and many others get justice and to end torture and impunity in Tajikistan.

Amnesty Taunton Group meeting tomorrow (Tuesday 9th July)

8 Jul

AI Taunton Local Group

Just a reminder that our monthly group meeting takes place tomorrow (Tuesday 9th July) from 8PM at Silver Street Baptist Church, Taunton.  Click here to view location on a map.

All are welcome to come along and discuss human rights, receive campaign updates, and take part in letter writing and other actions to promote human rights.

Demand Egypt’s political leaders condemn sexual violence

7 Jul
egyptwomen

© Amnesty International

In recent months, women protesters standing up for their rights have faced horrific sexual violence around Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square.

Authorities have done little to stop the sexual violence or bring those responsible to justice. They have also failed to end discrimination against women in law and practice, or to appoint women to key positions in government.

 It’s time for Egypt’s political leaders to condemn sexual violence in all its forms, and to put in place a comprehensive plan to protect women’s rights.

Click here to email  the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood Mohammed Badie, and the Secretary General of the Conference Party Amre Moussa.

Stop the execution of Reggie Clemons in Missouri

6 Jul
Reggie Clements

Reggie Clemons was sentenced to death in St. Louis as an accomplice to a 1991 murder of two young white women. Since his conviction allegations have arisen of police coercion, prosecutorial misconduct, and a ‘stacked’ jury. Yet inadequate legal representation at trial hampered appeal efforts, and a ruling overturning his death sentence was reversed on technical grounds. From the investigation through the appeals process, his case illustrates many of the flaws in the U.S. death penalty system.

Despite so many lingering questions, Missouri is still planning to execute Reggie Clemons.

Shortly after a 2009 execution date was stayed, the Missouri Supreme Court assigned a judge (a “Special Master”) to investigate the reliability of his conviction and proportionality of his sentence. Amnesty International urges the state of Missouri to recognise the serious problems with Reggie Clemons’ case and to commute his death sentence.

If you are able to, please write on Reggie’s behalf.  Click here for a template letter.

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Zimbabwe: Stop this year’s elections descending into violence

30 Jun

Illustrative of violence in Zimbabwe. Copyright AP.

In 2008 it took the intervention of Zimbabwe’s neighbours in the Southern African Development Community (SADC)  to stem the bloodshed. This time, we want them to use their influence to prevent the violence from happening in the first place, and send in human rights monitors so that human rights defenders and activists can carry out their work without fear.

Tanzania is chair of the group responsible for peace and security within the region. Help prevent the bloodshed returning in 2013 – click here to sign our petition to the Tanzanian President, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete.

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