European Convention on Human Rights


Dominic Grieve was sacked by David Cameron in the last reshuffle and it was widely interpreted as a clearing of the decks by the prime minister of supporters of the Human Rights Act #HRA.  Grieve has now spoken on the issue and below is a link to the interview in the Guardian newspaper.

In an earlier piece, Dominic Grieve expressed his dismay that David Cameron had narrowed the range of views held by his senior team. The attorney general sacked by David Cameron over his dogged support for the European convention on human rights (#ECHR) says he fears the prime minister will use this week’s party conference to dilute the UK’s commitment to the international treaty.

The Conservatives have misgivings about the act partly because of their distaste for things European.  There has been a concerted tabloid campaign against the act and the ECHR because allegedly it gives rights to criminals and terrorists.  The benefits of the act to ordinary people is rarely given a mention however. They also publish a great deal of misinformation which is seldom corrected.

Readers may like to look at an earlier post following a meeting the group had with the Salisbury MP, John Glen.  He has said he wants to see the HRA abolished but after some of the benefits of the act for ordinary people – including some of his constituents – were explained, he did agree to be more balanced in future.

Guardian article

 

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Nigeria


Moses Akatugba
Moses Akatugba

On Saturday 11 October we shall be manning a stall in Salisbury market to highlight the human rights situation in #Nigeria.  In particular, the case of Moses Akatugba who was tortured by Nigerian police to secure a conviction.  He was 16 when arrested, shot in the hand, beaten, and hung in an interrogation room for hours.  Pliers were used to extract his finger and toe nails.  His alleged crime was to steal three mobile phones.  Unfortunately, this ill-treatment is now a commonplace in Nigeria and there are reported to be ‘torture officers’ in police stations.

Executions were resumed in June last year when four men were executed in Benin city.  The bodies were not returned to the families for burial nor is the location of the graves known.

Amnesty has serious concerns about the increasing use of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment in Nigeria.  Recent research by Amnesty indicates that police and military personnel routinely use torture and other ill-treatment to extract confessions and to punish and exhaust detainees.

Nigeria fact sheet (pdf)

You can also read about corruption in Nigeria here: Human Rights Watch: Nigeria

We look forward to seeing you in the market place on 11th.

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Film: Omar


Each year we team up with the Salisbury Arts Centre and host a film which has a human rights element to it.  This year the Oscar nominated film is #Omar which is set in the occupied territories of Palestine.  Omar is a freedom fighter who is used to dodging bullets to cross the separation wall to visit his girl friend, Nadia.  After he is captured after a deadly act of resistance he is tricked to act as an informant. The film is directed by Hany Abu-Assad.

The film will show in the evening of 4 December at the Arts Centre and early booking is advised.

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Death penalty


No to the death penaltyEach month we prepare notes on the latest situation on the #deathpenalty around the world and these are appended, thanks to Lesley.

Death penalty notes: August/September

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Meeting: update


UPDATE: The full minutes are now available here

September minutes

We held our monthly meeting on 11 September and a number of items were discussed some of which will be separately posted [P].

  • the treasurer reported we had around £334 in the bank.  The funds promised from one of the school groups have not arrived
    Amnesty logo
    Amnesty logo

    however and he will chase this up

  • North Korea.  We have a speaker – Bona Shin – for the November meeting so we will hold it in Sarum College [P].
  • Lesley presented the death penalty report which will be separately posted.  Executions continue apace in Saudi Arabia, Florida and Texas [P].
  • Peter gave an update on progress with the Magna Carta celebrations next year and said that we have held our third meeting with Seif at the Cathedral and arrangements were proceeding well.  Caroline was hoping to prepare tapestry with all the regional groups contributing a panel each to illustrate an aspect of the Human Rights Act.  Fiona is working with S Wilts on the idea of a film.
  • Cathedral service.  Jonathan will liaise with the Praecentor about dates and a speaker.
  • there is to be a coffee morning on Saturday 20 September in St Thomas’s starting at 09:30.
  • the second Citizenship day is to be held next month on 23 October run on similar lines to last year.  There is to be a repeat of the competition with 3 prizes totalling £100 from a supporter.  Peter is to contact the sixth form colleges and schools in the area [P].
  • the forthcoming campaign against torture stall was discussed and will take place on 15 October in the Cheese Market [P].
  • the film will take place again on 4 December at the Arts Centre and will be on the subject of Palestine.  The speaker is Samiha Abdeljebar [P].

Full minutes will be posted soon.

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#Saudi executions


Over the last two weeks there has been considerable outrage over the gruesome execution of the American #JamesFoley by beheading allegedly by a jihadist from the UK, possibly London.  That someone nurtured on these shores should go to another country and commit such a crime horrifies people in this country and of course the USA.  The execution has added to the degree of urgency in the government and there are plans to bring in legislation to confiscate passports and monitor the movement back to this country of jihadists from ISIS areas of Iraq.

ISIS forces
ISIS forces

The barbaric and medieval nature of the crime has shocked many in the west.

In the last three weeks – between 4 and 22 August – 23 people in Saudi Arabia have been executed by beheadings. These executions take place in public and frequently, the bodies are left on public display as some kind of deterrent. Around 2000 have been executed in this fashion since 1985.  Around half are foreign nationals.

The executions follow trials where confessions are read out.  Many or even most of the confessions are extracted following torture.  Defendants often do not have legal representation and may not be able to follow the trials such as they are.  You will have to look long and hard to find much about these executions in western newspapers.

How are the two connected?

Saudi Arabia, along with Qatar, are in receipt of considerable quantities of arms from western countries including the UK.  David Cameron visited the country to promote trade and arms sales.  The Campaign Against the Arms Trade #CATT has found out that we exported £113 million of arms to Saudi in 2013.

With American support, both countries were arming the Syrian rebels of which the Islamic State is one.  So we support and provide arms to countries which are in turn supporting the Islamic State and which carry out barbaric executions in public.  Almost nothing is said about this and it receives very little coverage.

We need to be more balanced in our policies and attitudes to some of these despotic regimes.  If we are going to say nothing about barbaric behaviour because it might upset an arms deal to Saudi or Qatar, it is then inconsistent to start making speeches when no arms deals are in the offing.

 

 

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Increased #terrorthreat


There were announcements by Theresa May, the Home Secretary, and by the Prime Minister last week saying that the terror threat has been raised to ‘severe,’ one down from the highest.  This came about following news that people have been leaving this country to fight for the #IslamicState formerly known as #ISIS.  Some are said to be returning and having been radicalised, pose an increased threat to this country.

A package of anti-terrorism measures are currently being worked on for presentation to Parliament when it reconvenes.  The decision was taken following advice from the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre.

Governments – and ours is no different – are frequently looking for more powers especially of an intelligence nature.  They want to demonstrate that they care for our safety and it is a way to be seen to take action.  The fact that inaction has been clear in terms of what is going on in Iraq and our policy towards it doesn’t seem to matter: at home new powers are needed and MPs will no doubt airing their views inside and outside the House of Commons.

Are these extra powers really needed?  The government and its agencies already have a huge armoury of powers at their disposal enabling them to intercept messages, phone calls, internet traffic, emails and so forth.  As has been shown, there is too little control being exercised by parliament over this activity and the key committee had little idea of the scale of it.

These proposals, combined with the parallel plans to make people stateless, show that there is a degree of knee-jerk reaction to events in Iraq.

The worry has to be that the proposals will represent a further erosion of our liberties.  Once the new powers are enshrined into law and the terror threat is reduced, will they be removed?  Unlikely on past form and they will have represented a ratcheting up of intrusion into our lives.

Our liberties and freedoms were hard won and we need to be especially vigilant when governments seek to limit or curtail them.  It will be interesting to follow the debate when it happens.

 

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Helen Bamber


We are sad to record the death of Helen Bamber #helenbamber who set up Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture following many years as a member of Amnesty International and later the Helen Bamber Foundation.  The foundation helped many people who had suffered torture in various countries from which they had managed to flee.

Helen Bamber
Helen Bamber

The local group was privileged to hear Helen speak at one of its meetings some years ago.  She will be sadly missed.

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#Gaza letter


We attach a letter published in the Guardian newspaper on 15th of August from survivors of the Holocaust.  It is an extremely moving letter, particularly bearing in mind the people who signed it.  It is unequivocal in its criticism of the violence by the IDF in Gaza.  It is worthy of a wider audience.

“As Jewish survivors and descendants of survivors and victims of the Nazi genocide, we unequivocally condemn the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza and the ongoing occupation and colonisation of historic Palestine.  We further condemn the United States for providing Israel with the funding to carry out the attack, and western states more generally for using their diplomatic muscle to protect Israel from condemnation.  Genocide begins with the silence of the world.

We are alarmed by the extreme, racist dehumanisation of Palestinians in Israeli society, which has reached fever-pitch.  Politicians and pundits in the Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post have called openly for genocide of Palestinians and rightwing Israelis are adopting neo-Nazi insignia.

Furthermore, we are disgusted and outraged by Elie Wiesel’s abuse of our history in these pages (advertisement, 11 August; Report, 11 August) to promote blatant falsehoods used to justify the unjustifiable: Israel’s wholesale effort to destroy Gaza and the murder of nearly 2,000 Palestinians, including many hundreds of children.  Nothing can justify bombing UN shelters, homes, hospitals and universities. Nothing can justify depriving people of electricity and water.

We must raise our collective voices and use our collective power to bring about an end to all forms of racism, including the ongoing genocide of Palestinian people.  We call for an immediate end to the blockade of Gaza.  We call for the full economic, cultural and academic boycott of Israel. “Never again” must mean “Never again for anyone”. ”
Hajo Meyer survivor of Auschwitz; The Netherlands, Henri Wajnblum survivor and son of an Auschwitz victim from Lodz, Poland; Belgium, Norbert Hirschhorn refugee of Nazi genocide and grandson of three people who died in the Shoah; London, Suzanne Weiss survived in hiding in France, whose mother died in Auschwitz; Canada, Felicia and Moshe Langer survivors from Germany, Moshe survived five concentration camps, family members were exterminated; Germany, Michael Rice child survivor, son and grandson of survivor; United States and 30 Jewish survivors of the Nazi genocide and 260 children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and other relatives of survivors
See full list at ijsn.net/gaza/survivors-and-descendants-letter/

 

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Prisoner voting


After a decade of argument, the European court of human rights #ECHR has decided that the 10 prisoners denied the vote should not be paid compensation for the infringement of their article 3 rights to vote.  It did decide that the government is in breach of the convention.

This is a debate which has generated a lot of heat and a great deal of passion.  The prime minister David Cameron said that prisoners ‘damn well shouldn’t [get the vote]’ and previously was quoted as saying the idea made him feel ‘physically sick.’  It was a topic which came up with the local group’s meeting with John Glen the MP for Salisbury.

It seems that politicians have difficulty in understanding what prison is for.  Someone commits a crime and the court decides that a custodial sentence is appropriate.  There are two purposes to this: to deprive the person of their liberty as a mark of disapproval by society for the crime they have committed.  Then we want to rehabilitate them into society.  Unless we want everyone to go to prison for ever, then with a very few exceptions, they will be back into society.

It therefore makes sense as part of this second purpose that prisoners be allowed the vote.  In a small way it would help facilitate their entry into society.

See the South Region site of Amnesty International

 

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