UPCOMING EVENTS
Thursday, May 24, 7:30 PM. Monthly
Meeting 1052 E. Del Mar. Avenue, Top Floor. Special guests: Sonali Kolhatkar
and Jim Ingalls update us on Human Rights in Afghanistan.
Tuesday, May 29 at 7:30 PM. California
Institute of Technology in 119
Kerckhoff Lab (located on the east side of Wilson Avenue just south of
San Pasqual Street), African
Press Freedom: An Evening with Ray Choto journalist
and torture survivor. Mr. Choto
was the Chief Writer for The Standard, Zimbabwe and recipient of the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
International Press Freedom award (1999) Details inside… PLUS! Meet
RAY CHOTO! Join us for pizza Tuesday, May 29, 6:00 - 7:15 PM, 1052 E.
Del Mar Blvd. (top floor).
Refreshments and informal discussion with members of Amnesty
International Group 22 and evening’s featured
speaker.
Tuesday, June 12, 7:30
PM. Letter-writing
Meeting at the Athenaeum. Corner of California & Hill in the
basement recreation area. An
informal meeting, a great place for first-timers to ask
questions!
Sunday, June 17, 7:30 PM. Rights
Readers Human Rights Book
Discussion Group at Borders Books on
S. Lake Avenue. This month we discuss Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje.(see
below).
COORDINATOR’S
CORNER
It's
been several months since my last column, and in that time Alexi and I have
moved into our new house and begun preparing in earnest for our baby (due early
July). The group has undertaken a
number of great activities, and it's been very gratifying to participate to the
extent of my ability, but unfortunately I've had a particularly difficult time
composing my monthly column in time for the newsletter to go out. I'm sorry to have missed the
opportunities
to share my thoughts with you and discuss what the group has been up to. Speaking of the newsletter, thanks to
Martha for her awesome work actually putting it together every month (whether
or not I get my column done!), as well as coordinating our very successful
monthly book discussion group (see inside for details) and on top of all that,
helping to coordinate AI's work in California to abolish the death
penalty.
A
particularly exciting development for the group is the opportunity to host a
talk at Caltech later this month (May 29; see calendar for details) by Ray
Choto, an award-winning journalist from Zimbabwe. The Committee to Protect
Journalists just announced its annual list of the ten countries most hostile to
freedom of the press, and Zimbabwe was prominent on the list. Choto suffered harassment, imprisonment
under trumped-up charges and torture in custody (documented in recent Amnesty
International reports), and his current speaking tour is sponsored by AI local
groups across the country, as part of AI's ongoing Campaign Against
Torture. Please try to attend the
talk (and the Pizza social with Choto beforehand); it's bound to be a very
informative and stimulating evening.
Special
thanks to group members Robert Adams and Lucas Kamp for organizing this event
from the beginning! I'm especially
glad, and grateful, for their initiative and resourcefulness throughout a
difficult and logistically challenging undertaking. Robert even managed to swing a radio interview with Choto on
KPCC. Well
done!
Our
next monthly meeting (May 24; see calendar for details) we'll have two very
special visitors, Sonali Kolhatkar and Jim Ingalls, who will be discussing the
human-rights situation in Afghanistan and the history of US involvement in the
region. Many of you will remember
our collaboration with Sonali last year, when we co-sponsored the talk at
Caltech by the two Afghani women, which turned out to be one of the most
successful events that the group has ever been involved in. I hope you will be
able to make this special monthly meeting.
Finally
and most crucially, I encourage you to keep writing letters, on the actions
included here and also at our festive monthly letter-writing meeting. That's how we can all make a
difference, any day we can take a few minutes out of our busy schedules to
learn about what someone across the globe is actually facing, and what we can
do to have a chance of helping.
Please make a special point of taking action for our group's prisoner of
conscience, Tibetan monk Ngawang Pekar, and don't forget to send a note of
encouragement directly to him, as suggested in last month's newsletter. Thanks to Robert and Joyce Wolf for
coordinating our ongoing work on his behalf. Lucas has volunteered to help
track the group's activity, so please drop a line to let us know about your
actions.
I'll
look forward to seeing you in our various activities!
Cheers,
Larry Romans
818-354-5809
Group Coordinator ljr@ljr.net
LETTER
COUNT
Prisoner of Conscience (Ngawang Pekar): 1
Death Penalty: &nb
sp;
3
Campaign Against Torture
5
Government Action Network
10
Urgent Actions: &nb
sp;
7
Total: &nb
sp;
26
Want to add your letters to the total? Get in touch with lucas.kamp@jpl.nasa.gov
AFRICAN PRESS
FREEDOM
Journalist Speaks About Government
Repression
Be there Tuesday, May 29
WHAT:
Ray Choto, award-winning Zimbabwean author and journalist, will speak
about repression of journalists in southern Africa. In 1999, Mr. Choto was
arrested and tortured by the Zimbabwean government for publishing an
article that criticized government
officials and policies. At the time of his arrest, he was Chief Writer of The
Standard, a leading independent newspaper in Harare, Zimbabwe. He is currently
a journalism research scholar at Stanford
University
as a Knight Fellow.
WHEN/WHERE:
o Tuesday, May 29 at 7:30 pm:
California Institute of Technology in 119
Kerckhoff Lab (located on the east side of Wilson Avenue just south of
San Pasqual Street),
Pasadena
o Wednesday, May 30 at 7:30 pm: Midnight Special Bookstore,
1318 3rd Street Promenade, Santa Monica (
COST:
Free
BACKGROUND: "Enemies
of the State"
Freedom of the Press is
under seige in the southern African countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe. Both governments regularly use the
reason of "causing public
alarm" to harass, detain, and in some cases torture the editors and writers in the independent press.
Zimbabwe's Official Secrets Act makes the
publication of information not authorized by the government an
imprisonable offence. President
Mugabe has called the independent
press the "enemies of the state." The Zimbabwean government recently announced that it would
require all journalists to obtain official government press credentials, providing yet another means
for the government to track the
independent press and apply pressure to it. A similar situation exists in Zambia. The government banned the February 5, 1996
edition of The Post for revealing
government plans to hold a referendum on proposed constitutional
changes. When The Post published
an article critical of Zambia's military capacity in March 1999, police attempted to arrest the entire staff of
the paper. Twelve journalists
were formally charged with
espionage and later acquitted.
Ray
Choto has won three national journalism prizes in Zimbabwe since he joined The Standard as Chief Writer in
1998.
Later that year Mr Choto
researched and wrote a story regarding the arrest of 23 senior Zimbabwean army officers alleged to have incited
their colleagues to rebel against
the government of President Robert Mugabe. In January 1999, he and The Standard editor
Mark Chavunduka,
were illegally detained by the
military and tortured for refusing to divulge sources for the story,
which the government claimed was
fabricated.
Released
on bail, they were flown by Amnesty International to London, where they were treated for the physical and
psychological effects of torture at the medical Foundation for the Care of
Victims of Torture.
In
May of last year the Zimbabwean Supreme Court ruled that the laws under which they had been charged were
unconstitutional. The case against them was dropped.
Both
men were nominated for awards by the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, and Mr Choto received the
special James Cameron prize for 1999
for his activism promoting freedom of the press in
Zimbabwe.
Mr.
Choto is currently a visiting journalism research scholar at Stanford University. He is past chairman of the Zimbabwe African Languages
Writers Association, the current
secretary-general of the Independent Journalists Association of Zimbabwe, and sits on the
national executive
board of the Southern African
Writers Council. He is also an established
novelist.
Please
join us on the 29th!
JUST EARTH
NETWORK
Defend Three Gorges Dam Project
Protestors!
Torture/arbitrary
detention/legal concern
PEOPLE'S
REPUBLIC OF CHINA
He Kechang
Ran Chongxin
Jiang Qingshan Wen
Dingchun
The
four farmers named above have reportedly been detained incommunicado since
March. He Kechang has reportedly been tortured, and the others are also
believed to be in danger. They are among thousands of people whose homes will
be flooded by the Three Gorges Dam, and they were arrested when they tried to
complain that local officials had embezzled funds intended to pay for
resettling them.
All
four are from Gaoyang township, Yunyang county, in Chongqing municipality.
Gaoyang is in the centre of what will become a giant reservoir in 2003, when
the dam on the Yangzi river becomes operational. The dam project has been
plagued with problems, including reported widespread corruption, embezzlement
of resettlement funds intended to compensate people whose homes will
be flooded,
and environmental problems.
The
four were reportedly among eight farmers' representatives from Gaoyang, who
planned to go to Beijing in early March to present a petition to the
government, complaining that local officials had embezzled resettlement funds.
The local police found out, and arrested Wen Dingchun on 8 March. Four of the
others reportedly fled the area, while He Kechang, Ran Chongxin and Jiang
Qinshan went to Beijing. Yunyang county police apparently followed them there,
arrested them on 12 March and took them back to Yunyang.
All
are reportedly held in the Yunyang county police Detention Centre. It is
believed they may be charged with "disturbing social order" or
"leaking state secrets". They are expected to be tried at the end of
April.
BACKGROUND. The Three Gorges dam will be the
largest in the world. Over a million people will have to be resettled by the
time the dam is completed, of whom 300,000 have already moved. The government
in Beijing introduced new regulations in February this year, to try to rid the
project of corruption and prevent social unrest over forced resettlement.
According to some experts, even though the regulations are a positive step,
they fail to address some contentious issues and are being implemented without
the public scrutiny that would be required to alleviate the problems
surrounding the massive displacement of people.
RECOMMENDED
ACTION: Please send letters in English, Chinese or your own
language:
o
expressing concern that
He Kechang, Ran Chongxin, Jiang Qingshan and Wen Dingchun are reported to have
been arbitrarily detained by Yunyang county police, Chongqing municipality, for
peacefully attempting to exercise their constitutional right to petition the
government in Beijing;
o
expressing concern that
He Kechang has reportedly been tortured in custody, and urging the authorities
to take action immediately to ensure that he and the others do not face further
torture or ill-treatment, and to order an impartial investigation into the
allegations;
o
urging the authorities
to order that the men are released immediately and unconditionally, unless they
are to be charged with a recognisably criminal offence, and to ensure that
while they are in custody they have access to their families, lawyers and
doctors of their choosing.
APPEALS
TO:
Premier
of the People's Republic of China
ZHU
Rongji Zongli
Guowuyuan
9
Xihuangchenggenbeijie
Beijingshi
100032
People's
Republic of China
Salutation: Your
Excellency
Procurator-General
of the Supreme People's Procuratorate of the People's Republic of
China
HAN
Zhubin Jianchazhang
Zuigao
Renmin Jianchayuan
147
Beiheyan Dajie
Donganmen,
Dongchengqu
Beijingshi
100726
People's
Republic of China
Acting
Mayor of Chongqing Municipality, Bao Xuding
Email:
cqgov@cq.gov.cn
Email:
master@cq.gov.cn
PRISONER OF
CONSCIENCE
Ngawang Pekar, Tibetan
Monk
Group
22 remains committed to work on behalf of Ngawang Pekar, a Tibetan monk held in
Lhasa's infamous Drapchi Prison since 1989, when he was arrested for
participating in a peaceful demonstration.
Tibet
may receive special attention from the news media this month, as the Dalai Lama
is touring the U.S. May 7-28. His
last stop is Los Angeles, where he will give a public talk at UCLA May 26 at 6
pm; call (310)546-6222 or go to http://www.speakersla.com/related.htm for
ticket information. He will also conduct religious teachings at Pasadena Civic
Auditorium May 25-27.
Tibet
Awareness Day will take place Friday May 25 10am-8pm at the Pasadena Masonic
Temple, 200 S Euclid. This free daylong festival will feature Tibetan food, a
bazaar, a sand mandala, photo exhibit, slide shows, and more. The evening
program (6pm-8pm, $15) includes sacred music and dance by the Gaden Shartse
Monks and folk dancing by professional Tibetan performers. For information or
tickets, phone 714-974-6118 or 310-458-6231.
We
are looking into getting a table at both the Pasadena and UCLA events to
distribute Pekar postcards and other Amnesty materials. If you want to help us staff this
table, please contact Robert Adams at 626/441-2338 or
robadams@compuserve.com
UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
Statement by William F. Schulz,
Executive Director of Amnesty International USA
(New
York) - Amnesty International USA believes that the removal of the United
States from the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) is due in part
to an effort by nations that routinely violate human rights to escape scrutiny
of their human rights' records. The commission's member governments are failing
in their principal duty to protect victims of appalling human rights
violations, preferring instead to preserve economic ties and strategic
alliances. Despite continuing problems with the United States' own human rights
record, the US was among the few nations willing to actively push for
condemnation at the UNHRC of the brutal human rights violations committed by
nations like China.
The
Administration and the Congress have in recent years weakened US influence
within the UN through a combination of neglect and wilful exceptionalism and
should not make the error of taking this decision as an excuse for not
providing the necessary support - including financial contributions - to the
United Nations and specifically the Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights. The administration must also take steps to end its increasing
isolationism on international human rights treaties. In response to the United
States’ removal from the UNCHR, James B. Cunningham, the acting US
ambassador to the UN, stated that the decision would not
“affect our commitment
to human rights issues, in and outside the UN.” Amnesty International USA
welcomes this statement and expects the Bush administration to put this
commitment into practice by backing initiatives supportive of human rights at
the United Nations and in other venues.
In
particular, Amnesty International USA urges President Bush to signal that the
U.S. joins with the world community in defending justice and human rights by
opposing any effort to retract US signature of the International Criminal Court
(ICC) treaty. The ICC will prosecute people accused of the most heinous crimes
known to humanity - genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. It will
function as a deterrent to those who would commit grave crimes under
international law; as a means to justice and truth for victims and their
families; and as a major step toward ending impunity for human rights
violators. It will only act in cases where national courts are either unwilling
or unable to meet their responsibility to investigate or prosecute
these crimes.
By remaining engaged with the ICC treaty and other treaty processes, the Bush
Administration can help confirm its commitment to opposing human rights
violations whenever and wherever they occur, and assert the principle that
grave human rights abuses cannot escape scrutiny.
McVEIGH EXECUTION
UPDATE
Amnesty’s Reponse to the
Missing FBI Files
Amnesty
International Calls for an Immediate Moratorium on the Federal Death
Penalty
(Washington, DC) Reacting to
news today that documents related to the Timothy McVeigh case were not shared
with the lawyers involved in the trial of McVeigh, Amnesty International called
for an immediate moratorium on the federal death penalty.
"This is an enormous blow to those who think
that the death penalty system in
this country works," said
William F. Schulz,
Executive Director of Amnesty
International USA (AIUSA). "Here we have a case that was monitored
and scrutinized by teams of lawyers, legal
scholars, and government
officials. And yet there was still a critical error. In how many cases does
this happen when no one is paying attention?"
"Unfortunately, this news does not surprise us at
all," said Ajamu Baraka, Director
of AIUSA's
Program to Abolish
the Death Penalty. "It is time for the US
government to wake up and realize that this is a
system rife with human error -- both
deliberate and accidental -- that can have fatal
consequences."
The organization cited a recent Columbia Law School study on the US death
penalty, which concluded that US death sentences are "persistently
and systematically fraught with error." It found that the huge error rate in
capital cases at a state level was mainly the
result of "egregiously incompetent
defense lawyers" and police or prosecutors who did discover important evidence that could have proved that a
defendant was innocent or did
not deserve to die, but
suppressed it. The study expressed doubt that all such errors were being
discovered.
"The
response from the federal government to such evidence has been to hide
behind federalism -- suggesting that the federal
government has little or
no responsibility for errors," said Schulz.
"Well, the federal government has
nowhere left to hide. We now have further evidence -- if any is needed
-- that the fatal flaws that plague state systems also infect the
federal system."
"The only reasonable
response is to declare a moratorium halting this dangerous system," said Baraka.
"Regardless of whether this newly
discovered evidence would have changed the outcome of this case, this is an
incident that is symptomatic of a
wider problem. We urge President Bush to exercise courageous leadership and
institute an immediate moratorium on the federal death
penalty."
ACTION. It’s not too late to send a message to
President Bush calling for a federal death penalty moratorium
now!
President
George W. Bush
The
White House
1600
Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington,
DC 20500
Fax:
1 202 456 2461
E-mail:
president@whitehouse.gov
VIGILS. If you
are interested in attending vigils or demonstrations in the event of a
reschedule execution date, call the Death Penalty Coalition office for
information: 213-637-7402
RIGHTS
READERS
Human
Rights Book Discussion Group
Borders Books & Music
475 South Lake
Avenue, Pasadena
Sunday, JUNE 17, 7:30
PM
|
|
Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje Anil’s Ghost
transports us to Sri Lanka, a country steeped in centuries of tradition, now
forced into the late twentieth century by the ravages of civil war. Into this
maelstrom steps |
Anil Tissera, a young woman
born in Sri Lanka, educated in England and America, who returns to her homeland
as a forensic anthropologist sent by an international human rights group to
discover the source of the organized campaigns of murder engulfing the island.
What follows is a story about love, about family, about identity, about the
unknown enemy, about the quest to unlock the hidden past--a story propelled by
a riveting mystery. Unfolding against the deeply evocative background of Sri
Lanka’s landscape and ancient civilization, Anil’s Ghost is a
literary spellbinder? Michael Ondaatje’s most powerful novel
yet.
"The
layers of human history, the depth of the human body, the heartache of love and
fratricide have rarely been conveyed with such dignity and translucence. I was
enthralled as I have not been since The English Patient."--
Ariel Dorfman
"Ondaatje's
willingness to look human suffering in the face is one of his compelling
virtues, and gives his dreamlike montages their stern depth." -- John
Updike, The New Yorker
BOOK BONUS
New book by executive Director
William Schulz
In Our
Own Best Interest:
How
Defending Human Rights Benefits Us All
Sierra
Leone, Kosovo, East Timor, the Bronx. The nightly news brings vivid images into
our living rooms of the mistreatment of people all over the world. In the
secure comfort of those rooms, we may feel sympathetic to the victims of these
atrocities but far removed from them. "What does all this have to do with
a person in east Tennessee?" is the question, from a radio program host,
that prompted William Schulz to write this book.
Schulz
provides answers with an insightful work, generously laced with compelling
stories of women and men from all continents, which clearly delineates the
connection between our prosperity here in the United States and human rights
violations throughout the globe. The book reveals the high cost of indifference
not only in ethical and moral terms, but in terms of the political, economic,
environmental and public health consequences in our own back yards.
Consider
the high cost to U.S. military personnel and their families of radical
political instability in the Balkans, for example--costs that might well have
been avoided if the U.S. and the international community had conscientiously
defended human rights. Or the devastating economic impact on U.S. businesses of
systemic corruption in Asia. Or the serious environmental hazards of nuclear
fuel leaks in Russia, the spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis and the
expensive dangers of inhumane prison conditions in the U.S., to name just a few
examples. At the heart of each of these problems lies the abuse of basic human
rights.
Through
the stories of Natasa Kandic and Alexander Nikitin, of Samia Sarwar and Han
Dongfang, of Jaime Garzon and Sister Dianna Ortiz, Schulz introduces us to the
front-line of the international battle for rights and builds a powerful case
for defending our own interests by vigorously defending the human rights of
people everywhere.
DEATH PENALTY WEB
TIP
http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish
Check out this new report on the issue of “voluntary”
executions. The Illusion of
Control: ''Consensual'' executions, the impending death of Timothy McVeigh, and
the brutalizing futility of capital punishment
Editor's Last
Word:
Read us on line:
http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~aigp22
Martha Ter Maat, 626-281-4039 /
mtermaat@hsc.usc.edu
