.. and so does the fighting with a hospital destroyed this week
December 2024
The fighting still goes on in Gaza and the death toll is over 45,000 many of whom are women and children. This week, the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza was ordered to evacuate and has been largely destroyed by the IDF. It is claimed the hospital is a ‘terrorist hub’. There are reports of bombing next to the hospital denied by the IDF. As foreign media is denied access, the claims cannot be verified. The World Health Organisation said it was ‘appalled’ by the move and it does seem to be part of the undeclared plan to empty the area of all Palestinians. This is denied by the Israeli government.
We held our vigil again this evening (28 December) with over 30 in attendance. About 50 passers by took notice.
The prospects do not look good. Last weeks talk of peace talks do not look to be progressing well. Commentators are saying that Netanyahu has strengthened his position despite the court case. He has Donald Trump to look forward to who is pro-Israel and, importantly, pro the hard right in the Knesset. The new US Ambassador is very pro-Israel and speaks of the region in biblical terms.
A useful review of the year as far as human rights in the UK is concerned has just been produced by Each Other. They point to a number of human rights concerns in the UK. One issue were the calls for the country to leave the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). A leading proponent of this was the East Wiltshire MP Danny Kruger. According to Politics he says the ‘Conservatives will not get back into power unless they make a commitment to leave the Convention’. The anger felt by Kruger and some of his colleagues concerns the issue of immigration and how we deal with people arriving here.
Immigration has indeed been one of the hot political topics during the year and was a key feature during the July election. There was a long drawn out proposal to send people to Rwanda and the first flight with the first of the deportees was due to leave from nearby Boscombe Down airfield. At the last moment, the European Court stepped in. It said more time should be allowed to consider the issue. It was this intervention which angered so many in the then government. Rwanda was abandoned by the Labour government.
Another important development during the year was the effects of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 which increased police powers to prevent or limit protests. We have the right to free speech and to assembly. Protests frequently anger governments of all stripes and it does not seem the Labour government is in any rush to repeal the act. The act has a deadening effect on protests – at least that was its intention. Protests have taken place with climate and the Palestine issue chief among them.
The Online Safety Bill is another contentious issue. It pits the right to free expression against guarding against hate speech. The murder of three little girls in Southport brought the issue to a head. Social media accounts alleged the alleged murderer was a Muslim and had arrived by boat. He is neither. It sparked widespread rioting and attacks on police and asylum hotels.
However, although most of the opprobrium was directed at social media, legacy media have maintained a prolonged campaign against immigrants, the boat people and Muslims. The Media Diversity Institute provides a number of examples and others are not difficult to find. They laid a groundwork for demonising ‘others’ and the response to the murders in Southport was arguably a result. Blame focused almost entirely on the rioters (correctly) and social media. The role of print media largely escaped censure.
Democracy and human rights are under threat in the UK. Elon Musk’s alleged major investment in a party in the UK will distort our politics if it happens. Musk is strongly against trade unions, for example. He has turned his X platform into a mouthpiece of far-right views. He regards the UK as a ‘tyrannical police state’. The point is not the expression of his views, which are shared by many, but that he has enormous wealth to put them into action.
President Biden commutes 37 out of the 40 prisoners on death row
December 2024
It is gratifying to be able to report some good news concerning the death penalty particularly at this time of year. Yesterday, 22 December, President Biden commuted 37 death sentences turning the sentences into life without the possibility of parole. This, which will be one of his last acts of his presidency, was widely welcomed in the States and elsewhere.
Biden has come some way from his time as a Senator when he championed a bill to widen the scope of the death penalty to a further 60 new offences. It is ironic that some of those who are having their sentences commuted – with a preponderance of Black people – were condemned as a result of his bill.
Part of the reason is the worry about when President-elect Trump takes office in a month or so. Trump put more people to death than the previous ten presidents combined. He is committed to the penalty and with a compliant Supreme Court, there will be little to stop him. Biden said: “In all conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted”.
These are Federal death penalty cases and it does not affect state actions.
Amnesty is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances. The local group produces a monthly report on its use around the world.
Sources: The White House; BBC; NBC; ACLU; USA Today
Government restrictions on protest are damaging to our democracy
December 2024
A key part of our democracy is our ability to protest peacefully. We have a right to free speech and a right of assembly. The Conservative government passed several laws which restricted these rights but the new Labour government seems in no hurry to repeal previous legislation.
The public is in two minds about demonstrations. They object to the climate protestors and some are happy that they were jailed for throwing paint at pictures or obstructing the M25. In the last century, there was similar disquiet at the suffragettes who took actual violent action in their pursuit of their desire for votes for women. They were referred to as ‘terrorists’ and ‘anarchists’ in their day.
What is not understood or widely accepted is that governments are not too keen at having their policies objected to. They are able to force through poor or ill-thought through legislation by whipping or coercion of their MPs. If the public objects or points out inadequacies in their policies their instinctive reaction is to stifle them. Many reforms come about as a result of protest, rights for gay people for example. With the new legislation, they have given wider powers to the police to arrest or prevent such demonstrations. Forty people will be behind bars this Christmas, in already overcrowded prisons, for planning or taking part in protests either for climate change or Gaza. British police arrest environmental protesters at nearly three times the global average rate, research has found, revealing the country as a world leader in the legal crackdown on climate activism.
Public opinion is clearly influenced by the media which adopts a variety of different positions concerning protests. Some of the tabloids are keen to demonise climate protestors using words like ‘thugs’ or ‘eco zealots’. Some are happy to demonise those who are in support of Palestinians. Declassified has produced a video of a march in support of Palestine. The march was peaceful yet it was smeared by both the Times and Daily Mail. The latter suggested that it was sufficiently threatening for MPs to be frightened of leaving Parliament. The film shows this to be nonsense. There were two protestors and MPs were able to leave unmolested! Members of the public are seen strolling by. Police are stood about chatting. Orthodox Jews are present in support of the demonstration. This is but one example of our legacy media creating the impression of violent anti-Semites and anti-Israel protestors. It is interesting to note that the farmers held protests in London a week or so ago blocking roads with tractors. None were arrested and they were not demonised by the media.
Liberty are launching a campaign#WeProtest. They are on a mission to restore protest rights after years of decline, by making the case for how protest has made the UK a better place for everyone. We all have the right to speak out on issues that matter to us and our communities. Perhaps it’s saving your local library, or equal rights, or environmental justice. Whatever is important to you, you have the right to protest. This campaign is in partnership with the thinktank Demos.
Few reforms would come about without protests from the public. It is vital we retain that right.
Another detailed report into the disaster that is Gaza. Video of Vigil
December 2024
As if we need another report into the dreadful destruction that is Gaza. Médicins sans Frontières is an organisation that provides medical assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare. Their teams comprise tens of thousands of health professionals, logistic and administrative staff, most of whom are hired locally. Their actions are guided by medical ethics and the principles of impartiality, independence and neutrality. [Update: 23 December]. The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights has also published a report stating their belief that Israel is engaged in genocide in Gaza].
They have published a detailed report into the humanitarian disaster that is Gaza. As with previous reports by HRW, Amnesty and the UN, it consists of many pages of details concerning the destruction taking place there. The evidence is overwhelming. Whatever Israel suffered in the appalling attack on October 7th 2023, the wholesale demolition of huge chunks of the territory go beyond a reasonable response to the attack. As far as we are aware, there has been no Israeli government response to the report.
Systematic denial of humanitarian assistance
Part of their report says that MSF has witnessed 14 months of repeated attacks on civilians, the dismantling of essential civilian infrastructure including healthcare facilities, and a systematic denial of humanitarian assistance, seemingly underpinning Israel’s campaign to unravel the very fabric of society in Gaza. Over the first 12 months of hostilities, MSF staff themselves have endured 41 attacks and violent incidents, including airstrikes, shelling and violent incursions in health facilities, direct fire on its shelters and convoys and arbitrary detention by Israeli forces.
Eight MSF colleagues and many of their family members have been killed, many more have been injured. Medical personnel and patients alike have been forced to urgently evacuate health facilities on 17 separate occasions, often literally running for their lives. MSF has only been able to restart activities in three facilities.
MSF describes Israel’s actions in Gaza as “clear signs of ethnic cleansing.” 22 December
Throughout the offensive, Israeli forces have blocked essential items such as food, water and medical supplies from entering the Strip. They have either denied, delayed or instrumentalised humanitarian assistance, allowing insignificant quantities of aid into Gaza with a complete disregard for the actual needs and the level of suffering of the population. Gaza’s last remaining oncological hospital had to shut down as it ran out of fuel on 1 November 2023. MSF teams had to carry out surgery without sufficient anaesthesia. The consequences of these impediments are made even more harmful due to the uniqueness of a war being waged on a besieged area from which nobody can escape.
The report calls for an end of unconditional support by Western nations, for border crossings to be opened and aid supplies to resume and for Unwra to be allowed to operate. It also calls for an end to arms supplies.
Vigil
We reported yesterday on the 55th Vigil held in Salisbury. As we said, it was well attended with over 40 people there. There is a moving video of the event with a reference to the MSF report. With thanks to Peter Gloyns for permission to post the video and for producing it in quick time.
Over 40 attended the 55th Vigil this evening (21 December) in the days before Christmas. Over 45,000 are now dead in Gaza with thousands more unaccounted for. There are peace talks underway but how successful they will be remains to be seen. Without a Palestinian state being established and international pressure – including an arms embargo – on Israel to put a stop to the violence, a lasting peace looks unlikely.
This week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published its report Extermination and Acts of Genocideclaiming that Israel is deliberately depriving Palestinians in Gaza of water. This was stated quite openly by the then Defense Minister Yoav Gallant when he talked of a ‘complete seige’ including depriving the territory of water. The report is detailed and the Israeli government was invited to respond. It says:
[…] Israeli authorities and military forces have matched these statements with actions. Israeli authorities and forces cut off the water supply piped into Gaza from Israel and later restricted the supply, cut off the electricity supply from Israel to Gaza that was needed to operate water pumps, desalination plants, and sanitation infrastructure within Gaza, and blocked and restricted the fuel needed to run generators in the absence of electricity. They have also blocked United Nations agencies and humanitarian aid organizations from delivering critical water-related materials and other humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, damaged, and in some cases, deliberately destroyed water and sanitation infrastructure, including where Israeli forces were in control of the area, and prevented repairs by blocking imports of nearly all water-related material. Some Israeli strikes have killed water utility workers as they were trying to make repairs, while others have destroyed the main water-utility warehouse in Gaza which housed spare parts, equipment, and supplies critical to water production.
This report is another in the sequence which shines a light on Israel’s action in Gaza and accuses them of genocide. It includes a report by Amnesty.
Readers may recall a quite disgraceful remark by Sir Keir Starmer in an LBC interview in October last year where he supported Israel’s right to cut off water supplies. He was questioned about the use of collective punishment which is against International Humanitarian law but did not respond. Spokesmen for the Labour Party tried subsequently to defuse the comments by saying that Sir Keir only meant Israel had a right to defend itself. The fact remains he made the remarks and did not withdraw them. It is clear now from the HRW report that Israel is using water as a weapon against the population.
After the Vigil, there was a short session Voices from Bethlehem where we sang a carol. Marina Barham is the cofounder and General Director of al Harah Theater in Bethlehem. They are not having Christmas celebrations for a second year as ‘our children in Gaza, Jenin, Tulkarm, Salfit and other places are under rubble’. Since the terrible attack of October 7th, last year, killing around 1,200 Israelis and taking 254 hostages, over 45,000 have died in Gaza. 20,000 have been children and 15,000 were women. Over 2 million have been displaced, some many times. She emphasised that the violence did not start on October 7th but has been going on for 76 years. More and more land is being confiscated on the West Bank.
A spate of executions in US prompts rage and frustration
December 2024
The authoritative Death Penalty Information Center in the US has published its 2024 report on executions in the USA. The number of new death sentences in 2024 increased from 2023, with 26. The number of people on death row across the United States has continued to decline from a peak population in the year 2000. Support for the penalty in the US has continued to decline.
Three of the cases it highlights are those which the Salisbury group has campaigned on: Marcellus Williams, Robert Roberson and Richard Glossip.
It has mainly been the Southern states that stick to this penalty. Indeed, it is just four states that conducted 76% of executions: Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas and Missouri. Concern has been expressed that too many people are executed who have a credible defence of innocence. Many of those who await execution or who were executed demonstrate classic vulnerabilities, including intellectual disability or brain damage, serious mental illness, or a history of severe childhood trauma or abuse.
The US joins a motley crew of countries which execute significant numbers of its citizens. China leads the way with large numbers executed but the numbers are a state secret. Others include North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
Why should it be banned? There are five good reasons:
It is not a deterrent. If it was, one would expect to see a fall in violent crime in the states using the penalty. There is no such correlation.
It is irreversible. Mistakes cannot be put right. There is no comeback from an execution. We can quote Andy Malkinson who was released after 17 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Had he been executed …
It is often used as a political tool especially in countries such as Iran, Saudi and China. There are elements of this in the Southern states of the US with disproportionate numbers of Black people on death row.
It is often used after unfair justice. Readers of Clive Stafford-Smith’s work, for example, Injustice, will know that the process of criminal trials in the US is far from perfect or fair. There is no obligation on police to produce evidence that proves a plaintiff’s innocence. Plea bargains are frequently used to enable one participant to escape justice at the expense of another. Juries are often biased.
It is discriminatory with a preponderance of black people or those with mental impairment who find themselves on death row.
In Oklahoma, Richard Glossip (pictured) is one of the cases the group has pursued which illustrates several of the
above points. Doubts around the death sentence of Glossip also provoked intense soul-searching. Glossip was convicted of the 1997 murder of Barry Van Treese, the owner of a motel in Oklahoma City which Glossip managed.
He was convicted based on the testimony of a co-worker who later admitted he was the actual murderer. It was also recently revealed that prosecutors destroyed evidence before trial that could have cleared Glossip.
The Report notes that the Supreme Court has largely abandoned its role of critical appraisal of cases which come before it. When Donald Trump assumes the role of President a month from now, he is committed to accelerating the pace of Federal executions. It is likely that a number of death row inmates will die who have credible doubts about their convictions.
Tribunal finds that police illegally spied on journalists
December 2024
Viewers of news programmes last evening (17 December) will have noticed journalists and David Davies MP standing outside the Royal Courts of Justice holding Amnesty signs saying ‘Journalism is not a Crime’. This was as a result of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal ruling that both the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Metropolitan Police had acted unlawfully by spying on journalists during the Troubles*.
Journalism is an important part of our society and is sometimes the only means we have of getting some glimpse of the truth. Police actions in spying on journalists is to be deprecated. Two journalists, Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey produced a film called No Stone Unturned which documented the alleged collusion between the Police and the suspected murderers in the massacre which took place in Loughinisland in 1994. Six Catholic men were shot dead in the UVF attack, which was later found to involve collusion. In making enquiries to the PSNI this set off the surveillance operation in a bid to find the sources the journalists had relied on. It seemed relatively easy for the police at the time to acquire these orders.
‘Landmark case for press freedom‘ – Amnesty
Responding to a judgment from the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) which today ruled that the police acted unlawfully and breached the human rights of Northern Ireland journalists, Amnesty declared it a ‘landmark case for press freedom’.
The Investigatory Powers Tribunal, which is the only British court with statutory powers to investigate secret police surveillance, ruled that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the Metropolitan Police Service unlawfully spied on the journalists in a bid to uncover their sources.
At the conclusion of a five-year investigation, the Tribunal found that the PSNI had repeatedly acted unlawfully, in breach of the European Convention of Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998. The unlawful behaviour reached all the way to the top of the PSNI with the then Chief Constable Sir George Hamilton being found by the Tribunal to have acted unlawfully by failing to “consider whether there was an overriding public interest justifying an interference with the integrity of a journalistic source” when he authorised a spying operation against an official at the Office of the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland.
There are increasing concerns about police and security service surveillance, which is becoming easier with new technology. Software can be placed on phones to intercept messages, whether the phone is switched on or not.
Sources: Amnesty International; Irish Times; Irish News; The Guardian
*The ‘Troubles’ were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed to have ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Although the Troubles mostly took place in Northern Ireland, at times violence spilled over into parts of the Republic of Ireland, England, and mainland Europe. (Wikipedia)
The 54th Vigil was held in Salisbury on Saturday 14th with good attendance. There is a powerful video produced by Peter Gloyns with images from Gaza. The death toll continues to rise and is now in the region of 45,000 with no sign of a let up.
Last week saw the fall of Assad in Syria who has fled to Moscow. The speed of HTS’s swoop on Damascus and the fall of the much hated regime has surprised the world. We hope of course that the Syrian people will have a future with a normal government that will be tolerant of minorities and will not rule by fear. Assad, supported by Russia, was spectacularly brutal. He used chemical weapons on his people and also dropped deadly barrel bombs on many towns and cities, particularly Aleppo. His regime tortured thousands many of whom were murdered in large numbers.
It is sad to note that no sooner had the regime fallen than Israeli forces used the hiatus to seize land in Syria. The UN has asked them to leave Syrian territory. They have entered the buffer zone. Now should be a time for the nation to come together and start the lengthy process of rebuilding the state. Peace and human rights should be the norm now. They have been plagued by outside interference from Turkey, Iran and the US with Russia a willing helper to enable them to establish a port in the Mediterranean.
We have pleasure in attaching the minutes of our December meeting thanks to group member Lesley for preparing them. They contain details of the group’s recent activities including a schools talk, carol singing and Write for Rights. Future activities are also listed and if you are thinking of joining us, coming along to one of those would be a good place to start. Seasons greetings to our readers!
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 