Tag Archives: human rights

December group meeting: Tuesday 10th December at 8pm.

7 Dec

wordcardOur last Taunton Amnesty meeting of 2013 will be an informal seasonal one.  

Join us at 8pm on Tuesday 10th December at the Silver St Baptist Church, for festive food & drink and the opportunity to send messages of hope to those suffering human rights abuses around the world.  This year, Dr Tun Aung (the group’s adopted prisoner of conscience) features in the Write for Rights campaign.

We would like to thank everyone for their continued interest and support throughout the year.

Wishing you all a joyful festive season and peaceful New Year.

About Write for Rights: Every year during November and December, Amnesty International asks people to write a letter and send a message of hope to someone suffering human rights abuses. Presidents, police chiefs and prison governors do take note when they receive hundreds of appeals to release a prisoner, stop the harassment of an activist or change an unjust law. For more information on this year’s cases please click here.

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Reminder: Monthly meeting tomorrow (Tuesday 12th November)

11 Nov

wordcloudJust a reminder that our monthly group meeting takes place on Tuesday 12th November from 8PM at Silver Street Baptist Church, Taunton. Click here to view location on a map.

We hope to see you there!

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Take Action: Woman at risk of flogging for not wearing a headscarf

6 Nov

AmiraAmira is a civil engineer and women’s rights activist. She is charged with being in public with her head uncovered, and will soon go on trial in Sudan. If convicted, she could face 40 lashes.

Text SUDAN1 and your full name to 70505 now to call on Sudan to drop the charges against Amira.

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Sri Lanka: No commonwealth seal of approval for abuses

2 Nov

As Sri Lanka gears up to host the leaders of the Commonwealth from 15-17 November, it’s time for the Sri Lanka Government to come clean about torture and countless other abuses.

Follow this link to call on the UK Foreign Secretary William Hague to send a clear message that Sri Lanka’s human rights abuses will not be given a Commonwealth seal of approval.

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Missed our October meeting? Read all about it here…

20 Oct

The Journalist Who Disappeared: Prageeth Eknaligoda, journalist and cartoonist, disappeared on his way home from work in Sri Lanka in January 2010. He has not been seen or heard of since. His wife believes his work displeased someone in power, and he has been ‘disappeared’. His fate? Unknown.

The Commonwealth Heads of Government meet in Sri Lanka next month, and our Action this month has been to write to the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, and to the Commonwealth Secretary General to draw their attention to the dismal human rights record of the Sri Lankan government, and urge action.

We discussed affairs in the Middle East, North Africa, Burma and China, and the continued use of the death penalty, and signed letters written by Group members on a selection of these topics.

Don’t forget our fund-raising concert later this month: the Taunton Deane Male Voice Choir, together with the Farey family, are putting on a concert at St Michael’s Church, Galmington, at 7.30pm on Saturday 26th October, in aid of the Church and of the Taunton Group of AI. Tickets £10 from the Group Treasurer (01823 284001) or from the Church Office (01823 332371). It sounds like a rousing evening. Hope to see you there!

The Group meets on the second Tuesday of the month at 8pm in the Silver Street Baptist Church. Interested in human rights? Do join us there.

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New group newsletter now available!

24 Sep

The latest version of our group newsletter is published today.

Click here to download your copy.

Includes details of our upcoming concert with Taunton Deane Male Voice Choir on Saturday 26th October 2013 at St Michael’s Church and our next monthly meeting on Tuesday 8th October, incorporating a workshop on human rights in the Middle East.

Please feel free to pass on our newsletter to anyone you think may find it interesting, or print a copy and display at your local community venue.

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Burma: Send messages of support to family of Dr Tun Aung

7 Sep
Dr. Tun Aung

Dr. Tun Aung

In 2012, Dr Tun Aung was asked by the Burmese police to help  defuse tensions during a riot between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Maungdaw.  However he was later arrested for inciting communal violence, held incommunicado and denied the right to appoint his own lawyer or meet them in private

Please send a supportive message to Dr Aung’s family.  “Dr Tun Aung’s Family, c/o Myanmar Team, International Secretariat, Amnesty International, 1 Easton Street, London, WC1X 0DW”.  Please write in English, Burmese or your own language. Please do not send religious cards and please do make sure the card arrives at the address above by September 15th 2013.

Click here to read more about this case and how you can help.

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Free the Guesthouse Six

20 Aug

Ding HongfenSix human rights defenders in China are being detained by authorities after freeing activists who were being illegally detained in a guest house.

Three are now missing, their whereabouts unknown. One (Ding Hongfen, pictured) has already been subjected to torture.

Please click here to send an email to the Chinese authorities and ask them to release the activists immediately.

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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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Please take action for Hakamada Iwao

24 Jun

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Hakamada Iwao is 77 years old. He has spent the majority of his life on death row, awaiting execution every day for a crime he claims he did not commit.  Hakamada is said to be suffering from a severe mental illness as a result of many years spent in solitary confinement. New DNA evidence could reinforce his claims of innocence. Please help us to ask for a retrial for Hakamada.

Click here to write to the Minister of Justice Sadakazu Tanigaki and call for Hakamada’s execution to be stayed.

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