The minutes of the June meeting are now available thanks to group member Lesley for typing them up. We discussed the stall on Saturday; the film at the Arts Centre; the video based on North Korea and the death penalty among other things. The full minutes can be read below:
Funds from stall to go to Africa
At its meeting on Thursday evening, the group decided that the profits from the stall which will take place in the market square in Salisbury tomorrow – Saturday – will go to this month’s Amnesty Urgent Action. In the event we took £234 so over £460 will go the the African state. Thanks to all those who helped on the stall and who bought things from us.
This action concerns the treatment of women in Burkina Faso and in neighbouring Sierra Leone. They are subject to forced marriages often to men who are up to 50 years older than them. Some can be married as young as 10. They have no choice over these marriages nor when nor whether to get pregnant. Some have babies at such a young age that their lives can be threatened or they experience lasting medical complications including incontinence. Female Genital Mutilation is also common.
The Department for International Development DfID has agreed to match any funds raised by Amnesty for a programme of education in those countries.
So all funds will go to this cause (less the fee we have to pay Salisbury City Council for the pitch)
You can read further details if you wish
UPDATE: 23 June
Report sent to the Salisbury Journal and was published 23 June can be read here:
The funds raised by the Salisbury group of Amnesty International at their stall last Saturday are to be sent to Burkina Faso in Africa as part of a programme to help girls and women in those countries.The group managed to raise over £234 and this will be doubled by the Department for International Development to make £468. In Burkina Faso, whether you are a girl or a woman, you are prevented from making crucial decisions about marriage and whether or when to get pregnant. Some girls as young as 10 are married and their partners can be as much as fifty years their senior. Physical and sexual violence against women and girls is common and a particular concern is the large number of pregnancy complications and death among girls who bodies are not yet ready to bear children.Amnesty in Burkina Faso is working with 5 of the shelters which house girls who have been subject to early forced marriage or female genital mutilation.Andrew Hemming, the chair of the local group said “we are delighted to have contributed to this scheme and for the funds to go to such a good purpose. The doubling of the monies raised by DfID makes it extremely worthwhile.” Further details can be found on the group website
Wiltshire lawyer now in Florida
Swindon Lawyer goes to Florida to work on death row cases
A former Swindon Amnesty member and lawyer, Catherine Dunmore, has secured funds from a crowdsourcing site to enable her to go to the state of Florida in the USA to work on first degree murder cases. She has been there three weeks now and she has a blog which is worth reading. Florida is one of the states still using the death penalty.
We hope you will follow her blog and also be moved to send funds to her crowdfunding site.
Death penalty letter
This is the text of a letter sent to the Salisbury Journal but which was not published:
The Salisbury Group of Amnesty International is campaigning to end the use of the death penalty around the world. Of particular concern to the local group is its use in countries like Iran to execute juveniles.As the report recently published by Amnesty shows, around the world at least 1,634 people were executed last year, a 54% increase on the previous year. This excludes China where the numbers are a state secret.Frequently, after a high-profile murder or terrorist action in this country, someone will call for the death penalty to be re-introduced. When emotions run high it’s almost understandable, but it would be a mistake. The Amnesty report shows how in nearly every country where they still apply capital punishment, trials are grossly unfair, defendants are mistreated in prison, and legal representation is shockingly poor. In the USA, defence lawyers have fallen asleep during trials. In Iran, hearings may last only ten minutes. In China, where torture is rife, thousands are executed. This is not a club we want to join.Further details can be seen on the Group’s web site http://www.salisburyai.com/ and we would welcome anyone who would like to join us in our campaign to end the practice of the execution of juveniles in Iran.
Death penalty report
We attach the monthly death penalty report, this time for 2 months, prepared by group member Lesley. China doesn’t figure in the report as its executions are a state secret but is believed to be the world’s leader in the numbers executed.
Meeting
Monthly Meeting
The group meets this Thursday 9 June at 7.30 at 4, Victoria Road as usual. The agenda is below:
1 Apologies
2 Minutes of last meeting
3 Treasurer’s report
4 Update on Campaigns
- Death Penalty (inc World Day v DP 10/10)
- North Korea (inc video)
5 Social Media
6 Market Stall (Saturday)
7 Monthly Action
8 Arts Centre Film (15/12)
9 School Citizenship day (October)
10 Other forthcoming events (inc possible venue for coffee morning, barbecue)
11 AOB
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The Maldives
Running with the hare, hunting with the hounds
The Campaign Against the Arms Trade CAAT, has recently shared with the Observer some research it has done into the record level of arms sales to countries with dubious human rights records (Britain sells record £3bn of weapons in a year to regimes that violate human rights, 29 May 2016). We have over recent months posted several blogs concerning these arms sales to countries such as Saudi Arabia and also the involvement of British Service personnel in the bombing of civilians in Yemen.
We have also highlighted the government’s steady watering down of its human rights policies to enable more arms sales to take place. The CAAT’s statistics show that more than £3bn of British-made weaponry was licensed for export to 21 of the Foreign Office’s 30 ‘human rights priority countries’ that is countries where the worst of the human rights violations take place.
Countries such as Saudi and Bahrain are familiar to us but less attention has been paid to the Maldives which does have a Salisbury connection. The first elected leader of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheen (pictured) – who went to school in the city – has been sentenced to 13 years in prison allegedly for terrorist offences. Amnesty has said the sentence was ‘politically motivated’. It released a report in February which said that the government had been:
effectively undermining human rights protection by failing to strengthen the independent institutions of the state.
A local NGO, Transparency Maldives, issued a statement expressing concern about ‘irregularities’ in the legal process.
The MP for Salisbury Mr John Glen has also been busy making speeches, writing in the Salisbury Journal and on his blog about the situation there. He says that Nasheed’s sentence was ‘illegal’ (Time to promote freedom in the Maldives, 17 May 2016). He goes on to say:
Last year, Nasheed was put on trial on politically-motivated and completely false charges of “terrorism”, found guilty and sentenced for 13 years. In the course of his trial Nasheed was prohibited from presenting any evidence or calling witnesses, with the court pre-emptively concluding that no testimony could refute the evidence submitted by the prosecution.
Another 1,700 people face criminal charges for peaceful political protest or speech, and journalists have been assaulted, arrested or disappeared. Attacks on the Maldives’ independent press have intensified in recent weeks to the extent that the Maldives’ oldest newspaper, Haveeru, has been prohibited by court order from publishing its daily print edition.
He concludes his blog by arguing that pressure should be applied to the Maldivian government:
Pressure must be increasingly and continually applied to compel the Maldives Government to release its political prisoners and allow freedom of the press. I hope that CMAG [Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group] will be able to greatly improve the situation but if not we should not be afraid to countenance targeted sanctions, such as travel bans and asset freezes, on the leadership of the Maldivian Government.
All this is commendable and it is good to see an MP arguing forcefully for human rights in a place such as the Maldives. The problem however is the arms sales. As the Observer article makes clear, quoting Andrew Smith of CAAT ‘These arms sales are going to countries that even the Foreign Office accepts are run by some of the most brutal and repressive regimes in the world.’
So while we may praise Mr Glen for raising this matter in Parliament and in the Journal and on his blog, the fact remains that the department granting these licenses is the Department for Business Innovation and Skills in which Mr Glen is the PPS to the Minister. The Ministry simply says that the department
The Government takes its arms export responsibilities very seriously and operates one of the most robust arms export controls regimes in the world.
Some may argue that Mr Glen’s position is inconsistent: making speeches about human rights violations in the Maldives while working for a department which is busy allowing the sale of arms to them. Others may choose to use a harsher word.
Jumble sale
Every year the group runs a jumble sale to raise funds and this year it will be in the market square starting early on Saturday 11 June. Early indications are that we have a decent amount of material after a lean couple of years. If you have anything to contribute or can come along to buy or even help, that would be appreciated. Generally books are not needed and nothing electrical please.
May minutes
The minutes of the May meeting are available and can be accessed below. Thanks to Fiona for preparing them. The meeting contained general updates and a discussion on the film evening.
Death penalty review
DEATH PENALTY SUMMARY: mid to end of April 2016
Interim International Update (from 14.4.16 – 28.4.16)
Date format: day/month/year
UK –
o 14.4.16 – Mya Foa, Death Penalty Director of Reprieve stated, ‘
It is easy for Ministers to condemn the death penalty from Foreign Office briefing rooms. But if the words are to mean anything, the UK must be willing to engage in targeted ways on specific cases, including making its concerns public where appropriate. The countries driving a global surge in executions are amongst the country’s closest allies. This gives us a voice and we should use it in service of our values.
She highlights Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and also Iran, where the recent resumption of diplomatic relations demonstrates how we can make a difference. She quotes the instance of how David Cameron’s intervention in 2013 in the cases of three young men who had faced torture and abuse, and were given death sentences, had contributed to their pardon and release.
o 24.4.16 – Catherine Dunmore, a young lawyer from Swindon, who supported Amnesty while at secondary school, is about to spend 3 months in Florida, working as an unpaid volunteer for Amicus. This organisation provides legal representation for those on death row – For anyone who might wish to support her, please go to Crowdfunder appeal The Salisbury Group wishes Catherine well.
- USA –
o 14.4.16 – Non Profit Quarterly have reported on the steady decline in executions since 2009 – from 52 
to 28 in 2015. They attribute this in part to changing public opinion and increased media scrutiny, but also to the activism of death penalty opponents which has led to the limited availability of drugs essential in the use of the lethal injection.
The review shows that, while 31 states have the death penalty, only 4 are actively executing prisoners using lethal injection – Missouri, Texas, Alabama and Georgia. Florida are currently reviewing their procedures, while Louisiana, Virginia, Arizona and Arkansas have, or are about to, use the last of their supplies. Ohio have had to re- schedule their executions, and Nebraska are looking for a legal source of drugs.
The Danish Company Lundbeck were exposed as the suppliers of phenobarbital by Maya Foya of Reprieve, and the campaign against its supply and use was joined by Amnesty International. One of Lundbeck’s straplines on its UK site is: ‘Improving human life for almost a century.’ Although a number of states are considering alternative methods of execution, it is hoped that the delays and setbacks will provide sufficient time for the Supreme Court to consider the constitutionality of the death penalty.
o Texas –
- Pablo Vasquez, convicted of murder and on death row for 17 years, was executed on 6.4.16
- Robert Pruett’s execution, scheduled for 27th April, will now take place on 21.6.16
- Charles Flores is to be executed on 2.6.16
- Robert Roberson 21.6.16
- Perry Williams 14.7.16
- Ramino Gonzales 10.8.16
- Rolando Ruiz 31.8.16
- Robert Jennings 14.9.16
- Terry Edwards 19.10.16
United Nations – 19.4.16 – The first special session held in nearly 20 years to address drug policy resulted in tensions between countries as to whether criminalisation and punishment, or health and human rights, should be the main focus. AI reported that 30 countries have laws supporting the use of the death penalty for drug related offences, with at least 685 executions in 2015.
The outcome adopted by the member states included no criticism of the death penalty, stating only that countries should ensure punishments were ‘proportionate’ with the crimes.
UK/Indonesia –
o 19.4.16 – AI called on Mr Cameron to challenge the President, Mr Widodo, on his decision to re-implement the death penalty for drug related offences, and to raise the case of the British woman, Lindsay Sandiford.
o 28.4.16 – The Guardian reports that, a year after the execution of eight people convicted of drug trafficking, there are rumours of preparations for further executions, which could take place in the next few weeks. Prisoners on death row include two Britons – Lindsay Sandiford and Gareth Cashmore, and a young man – Yusman Telaumbana – believed to have been a minor at the time of the crime, and to have been tortured. (Note: Indonesia was booed at the United Nations session on drug policy).
Nigeria – 21.4.16 – It was reported in the Nigerian media that prosecutors in Kaduna were seeking the death penalty for members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) for the killing of a soldier in the course of two days of violence in December 2012 in the northern city of Zaria.
Urgent Actions
Iran – UA 65/16 – Alireza Pour Olfat was scheduled to be executed on 16.4.16 for a fatal stabbing committed at 16 in the course of a group fight. His execution was postponed to allow more time for seeking a pardon from the victim’s family. (Circulated to DPLWG 15.4.16).
Iran – New Zealand Amnesty petition – an online petition from Amnesty New Zealand calling on the Iranian Authorities to cease the execution of those who were children at the time of their sentences.(Circulated to DPLWG 27.4.16 and on the website)
Campaigning
- Reggie Clemons – we continue to await news
- The Group continues to focus on the sentencing to death of juveniles in Iran and to press AI UK for a coordinated action.
- This month’s Group Urgent Action – New Zealand petition (see above)
China remains the country with the highest level of executions – believed to be in the thousands – but the statistics are a state secret.
Thanks to group member Lesley for compiling this report.
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Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 