Tag Archives: Amnesty

Happy Valentine’s Day!

14 Feb

keepyourbodily600x600My Body My Rights

Being able to make our own decisions about our health, body and sexual life is a basic human right. Yet all over the world, people are persecuted for making these choices – or prevented from doing so at all.

A woman is refused contraception because she doesn’t have her husband’s permission. A man is harassed by police because he’s gay. A teenager is denied a life-saving termination because abortion is illegal in her country. Whoever you are, wherever you live, you have the right to live without fear, violence or discrimination.

Find out more about Amnesty’s My Body My Rights campaign here.

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Next Taunton Amnesty Group Meeting Tues 10th February

3 Feb
178228-My Body My Rights briefingOur next monthly meeting is on Tuesday 10th February at the Silver Street Baptist Church, Taunton, TA1 3DH.  8pm start.
All are most welcome to join us for campaign updates, news and actions and to find out more about human rights and the work of Amnesty International. Our monthly action is for the My Body My Rights campaign and we’ll also
be discussing our casefile on the Mansoura women in Egypt.
Note: there is parking at the rear of the church; ring the bell at the rear entrance if there is no-one there to let you in. Check the board by the entrance door for which room we are in.
We look forward to seeing you there.

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Good news from Burma

21 Jan
Dr. Tun Aung

Dr. Tun Aung

We have received confirmation that our group’s ‘adopted’ prisoner of conscience in Burma, Dr Tun Aung, was released at about 10am GMT on Monday and is now with his family. Our group Chairman, Martin Shirley, said: ‘We are delighted to hear that Dr Tun Aung had been released from his unjust sentence, and hope that there will soon be no more prisoners of conscience left in Burma’s prisons. Heartfelt thanks to everyone who has written on behalf of Dr Tun Aung since we took up his case just over two years ago. This is very much part of what Amnesty is all about.’

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Stop the Execution of Reggie Clemons in Missouri

13 Jan

action.retrievefileOn February 4th, the Missouri Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Reggie Clemons’ case. He was sentenced to death in St. Louis as an accomplice to a 1991 murder. Allegations of police coercion, prosecutorial misconduct, and a ‘stacked’ jury in his case were compounded by inadequate trial attorneys. Despite so many lingering questions, Missouri still might execute Reggie Clemons.

The Clemons case illustrates many of the flaws of the US death penalty system. Urge Missouri Governor Jay Nixon to prevent an execution.

Please write to Governor Jeremiah W. Nixon to ask him stop the execution of Reggie Clemons. You can do this via this link.

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Next Taunton Amnesty Group meeting Tuesday 13th January

5 Jan
wordcardOur next monthly meeting is on Tuesday 13th January at the Silver Street Baptist Church, Taunton, TA1 3DH.  8pm start.
All are most welcome to join us for campaign updates, news and actions and to find out more about human rights and the work of Amnesty International.
Note: there is parking at the rear of the church; ring the bell at the rear entrance if there is no-one there to let you in, and check the board by the entrance door for which room we are in.
We look forward to seeing you there.

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Next Amnesty Taunton Group meeting Tuesday 9th December

3 Dec

Amnesty_Bauble_largeJoin us at our next monthly meeting on Tuesday 9th December at the Silver Street Baptist Church, Taunton TA1 3DH. 8pm start.

We will be writing greetings cards to prisoners of conscience for Amnesty’s Write for Rights campaign, making decorations for our tree at the United Reformed Church’s Christmas Tree Festival (12-14 December), and consuming a mince pie or two!

All are welcome to join us.

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Report from our November meeting

18 Nov

 

imagesWrite for Rights Campaign 2014: Amnesty’s greetings card campaign for Christmas is under way!

‘It only takes a few minutes to write a card or letter. But this simple act brings hope and comfort to people suffering human rights abuses.’ Amnesty received this message from Serkalem Fasil, whose husband is serving 18 years in jail in Ethiopia. The family received thousands of messages last year:

‘I want to convey Eskinder’s gratitude and my own to everyone who has taken part, taken action or sent us letters. For him, it’s a huge source of encouragement and moral strength. The regime will be forced to release him and other prisoners of conscience. That kind of pressure, they can’t resist for ever.’

Look out for Taunton Amnesty’s Write for Rights Campaign Tree at the United Reformed Church’s Christmas Tree Festival 12th-14th December.

For the November Monthly Action we called on the USA to ratify the 25 year old Convention on the Rights of the Child. Despite having signed the Convention in 1995, the USA has still not ratified it – the only country, besides Sudan, to fail.

We meet at 8pm on the second Tuesday of the month at the Silver Street Baptist Church, Taunton. Join us in December to send off Write for Rights Cards and eat mince pies!

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Report from our October meeting

23 Oct

 

egyptwomenNeil Guild, prospective Labour Parliamentary candidate for Taunton, was our speaker this month (Rebecca Pow, Conservative Parliamentary candidate, spoke in May).   In a very interesting talk he sketched in his life so far: University, Army, service in Iraq, Civil Service, and then moved on to how these experiences had shaped his current concerns, with particular reference to those issues that concern Amnesty.

This month’s Action is a call for Asylum Support rates to be increased; currently asylum seekers (who are not allowed to work) receive 50% of Income Support – about £7 a day for all living expenses outside accommodation. This is not enough to live on, and those left thus stranded may resort to illegal work, prostitution and begging.

Asylum seekers get a terrible press in the UK. Contrary to popular belief, they’re not entitled to council housing. An increase in support rates in other countries has not led to an increase in applicants there. The UK is only fourth in popularity among asylum seekers – Germany, France and Sweden all receive higher numbers of applicants.

We were asked to write to our MPs on the issue.

We now have prisoners of conscience in Egypt: 3 Egyptian women from Mansoor University, imprisoned for peaceful protest. We signed letters to President el-Sisi on their behalf, as we did for a number on Death Row in the US and other countries.

There is no further news about Dr Tun Aung, our prisoner of conscience in Burma; 3000 prisoners were released in Burma last week (in advance of the ASEAN conference), but only 3 of them were political prisoners.

We meet on the second Tuesday of the month in the Silver Street Baptist Church, Taunton. Do join us there, and follow us on our website: amnestytaunton.wordpress.com

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Stop Torture Casefile: Uzbekistan: Dilorom Abdukadirova

21 Oct

Dilorom Abdukadirova

Dilorom Abdukadirova worked with her husband and mother-in-law on their small farm. In May 2005, she joined thousands at a protest in Andizhan to voice concerns about the economy. The protest was mostly peaceful, but security forces fired on the crowds, killing hundreds.

Dilorom fled across the Kyrgyzstani border, and arrived in Australia on a refugee visa in February 2006. She desperately missed her family, however, so after receiving assurances from the Uzbekistani authorities that nothing would happen if she went back, she returned in January 2010. At the airport, however, she was detained for four days.

In March 2010, Dilorom was detained again and charged with attempting to overthrow the constitutional order and leaving the country illegally. She was kept in a cell for two weeks without access to a lawyer or her family. At her trial in April 2011 relatives said she looked unusually thin, had a bruised face and was not wearing her headscarf, something she would not have done voluntarily.

Following an unfair trial, Dilorom was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in prison. She was then accused of breaking prison rules, and her sentence was extended by a further eight years following a closed trial inside the prison.

Take Action: How you can help

1) Write to the Uzbekistan authorities and urge them to:

• Drop all charges against Dilorom Abdukadirova and release her immediately and unconditionally
• Conduct a prompt, impartial and effective investigation into the allegations that Dilorom Abdukadirova was tortured in
custody and make sure anyone found responsible is brought to justice.
• Allow the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment to visit
Uzbekistan.

Please write to: President Islam Karimov, Rezidentsia Prezidenta, ul. Uzbekistanskaia 43, Tashkent 700163, UZBEKISTAN

2) Let Dilorom know that you are thinking of her and support her struggle for justice

  • Address: Dilorom Abdukadirova, C/o IAR Programme, Amnesty International UK, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London, EC2A 3EA
  • Preferred language: English
  • Suggested message: I stand with you as you seek justice and will campaign for your freedom.
  • Please do not send a religious card.  It is ok to mention Amnesty and to include a return address if you wish

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Japan – please don’t send Hakamada back to death row

19 Oct

hakamadaHakamada Iwao‘s freedom is hard-won, but it could be lost at any moment.

After 46 years on Japan’s death row, he was freed in March and granted a retrial based on new DNA evidence that could prove his innocence.

Now prosecutors are appealing his retrial – they want to send the 78-year-old back to death row.

Please ask them to drop the appeal.

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