Hakamada 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.
In 2010, Ali Aarrass, a Belgian-Moroccan national, was forcibly returned to Morocco from Spain, where he had been supporting his ageing father. The extradition took place despite warnings from the UN Human Rights Committee and Amnesty International that doing so would put the father-of-one at risk.
Ali has been detained ever since. For the first 12 days he was held incommunicado and tortured in a secret detention centre: he was beaten on the soles of his feet, given electric shocks to his testicles, suspended from his wrists, and burnt with cigarettes.
In November 2011, Ali was convicted of illegal use of weapons and participation in a group intending to commit acts of terrorism, solely on the basis of a ‘confession’ extracted under torture. In September 2012 the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and an independent forensic doctor visited Ali in detention and confirmed his torture claims.
The Moroccan authorities have repeatedly failed to investigate Ali’s assertions that he was held incommunicado and tortured.
How you can help
1) Call on the Minister of Justice and Liberties in Morocco to:
• Implement the decision of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention calling for the immediate release of Ali Aarrass.
• Investigate reports that he was tortured or otherwise ill-treated.
• Introduce video-recording and make the presence of defence lawyers compulsory in pre-arraignment detention, as a safeguard against torture and other ill-treatment.
Address: Minister of Justice and Liberties El Mustapha Ramid, Ministère de la Justice et des Libertés, Place El Mamounia, BP 1015, Rabat, Morocco
2) Let Ali know that you are thinking of him and support his struggle for justice.
• Address: Ali Aarrass, Prison locale de Salé II, Salé, Morocco
• Preferred language: French, Spanish or English.
• Please do not send a religious card. It is ok to mention Amnesty and to include a return address if you wish.
At the June meeting of Amnesty International Taunton group, members wrote to Iraqi authorities on behalf of father-of-two Osama Jamal ‘Abdallah Mahdi.
He is detained in Kadhimiya Prison, northern Baghdad, following his conviction for killing an Iraqi army officer in 2008.
He is at imminent risk of execution and his case has now been forwarded to the President’s office, which has the authority to ratify the sentence, commute it or grant a pardon.
During his trial, Osama Jamal ‘Abdallah Mahdi withdrew “confessions” extracted from him under torture, but this was not accepted by the court. Witnesses confirm that he was at work at the time of the killing, 120km from where it took place.
Electric shocks. Beatings. Rape. Humiliation. Mock executions. Burning. Sleep deprivation. Water torture. Long hours in contorted positions. Use of pincers, drugs, and dogs.
The very words sound like the stuff of nightmares. But every day and across every region of the world, these unimaginable horrors are the reality for countless men, women and children.
Salil Shetty, Secretary General, Amnesty International
From Amnesty International USA:
An Egyptian court has sentenced 720 men to death, mostly in their absence, in two mass trials targeting alleged supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi.
Amnesty International believes both of these trials to be deeply flawed and grossly unfair.
Alone, each of these mass trials represents the largest number of death sentences handed down in one case in recent years. Taken together, the scale of injustice is staggering. It is a grotesque example of the shortcomings and selective, arbitrary nature of Egypt’s justice system.
This is definitely not justice. It’s the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, and it could be an attempt to wipe out political opposition.
In April 2011, Mahdi Abu Dheeb, a school teacher in Bahrain and then president of union the Bahrain Teachers’ Association, was arrested for encouraging members of the union to strike.
Along with his colleague Jalila al-Salman, Mahdi proposed a teachers’ strike to support widespread protests at the time, calling for governmental reform. Both Mahdi and Jalila were arrested soon after.
Jalila was freed a couple of years ago, but Mahdi remains in prison. He was interrogated by police at a secret location, subjected to 64 days in solitary confinement, reportedly beaten by the police, and tried in a military court despite being a civilian.
69-year-old Mohammad Asghar is physically and mentally frail. He was arrested under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws in 2010 and sentenced to death in January.
Mohammad was arrested for allegedly writing letters claiming he was a prophet. However, his lawyers maintain it was never established that he posted or even intended to post the letters.
He is both physically and mentally frail. He suffered a stroke in 2000 and has been diagnosed by an expert in Scotland as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. He attempted suicide in 2010.
His appeal has been lodged, but it could take up to five years to be heard. He remains in detention in Adiala jail, Rawalpindi.
Text ‘SAVE1’ and your full name now to 70505 to sign our petition to the Pakistani authorities. Over 14s only please.
OR
Write/Email/Fax the authorities in Pakistan, before 30 April 2014, at the following addresses:
Sample letter:
I am writing to call on your to immediately and unconditionally drop all charges against Mohammad Asghar, and that he has immediate access to appropriate medical and/or psychiatric treatment. I also ask that you provide his lawyers with all medical records made during his detention.
Mohammed Asghar’s lawyers maintain that it has never been established that Asghar posted, or even intended to post, letters claiming he was a prophet. In addition he is mentally frail and an expert in Scotland has diagnosed him as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. The charges against him should be dropped.
Last month 529 people sentenced to death in Egypt in the biggest single batch of death sentences seen in recent years.
Amnesty described the ruling as ‘grotesque’ and called for it to be quashed. Meanwhile there is an AVAAZ petition asking for the death sentences to be overturned.
Unfortunately AVAAZ did attempt to present this petition on Friday and were blocked. However, this demonstrates that the authorities are worried about petitions like this, which is all the more reason to add your signature and show that the pressure will not be dropped.
This is Hakamada Iawo as a young man. He is now 77 years old and is the world’s longest-serving death row prisoner. He has spent 45 years in prison since his trial in 1968 and always maintained his innocence.
The main evidence used to convict Hakamada was a confession, allegedly obtained under torture and later retracted. One of the trial judges, Kumamoto Norimichi, maintains that Hakamada is innocent and believes that he should not have sentenced Hakamada to death on such limited evidence.
Despite such grave doubts, Hakamada continues to await execution every day. New DNA evidence could finally prove his claim of innocence right. Click here to ask Japan to grant him a retrial.
Amnesty International Taunton Local Group 