Meeting report

The group met yesterday for its regular monthly meeting and the following items were discussed:

It was sad to record the death recently of group member Ursula Milner-White who has been a stalwart supporter almost from the start of the local group. The group expressed its sympathies to the family and its thanks for the support Ursula gave to us over many years. She was a regular at stall signings and rarely missed a meeting
Lesley reported on the workshop which was held at the last meeting and tabled the activity chart. There were a number of actions some of which were discussed during the meeting
Death penalty report. See separate blog on this
Vigil. There is to be a vigil at St Thomas’s and the date has changed. Jonathan is to advise of the new date and time.
North Korea. Karen gave a brief update on the UN Report of the Commission of Enquiry on Human Rights in the People’s Republic of North Korea which documented the appalling situation in that country. It is Kim Jung Un’s birthday on 15 April and we are planning an event on that day to highlight the situation there
John Glen MP. An invitation sent last month to Mr Glen to come and discuss his desire to see the Human Rights Act abolished has not so far received a response. A reminder will be sent
Conference. Peter presented the initial plan for the human rights Magna Carta event being planned for September or October 2015. The idea is to link the 800th anniversary to human rights today. Partners and speakers and sponsors are now being sought. More details in future postings
Web site. Members will notice we have a new dedicated web site now and the address is in the url field. We may pay a small sum to have the word ‘wordpress’ dropped. The new site is a great improvement on the Amnesty hosted one which has limited functionality and was difficult to use. Members are asked to include the link http://amnestyai.wordpress.com at the bottom of emails and on other material to help promote the site. It will be possible for more people to contribute items to the site if they wish
Venue. There was a discussion about the venue of future meetings and the results of these discussions will be posted here soon. Thanks to Fiona for hosting this meeting
DoNM. 10 April at a venue to be notified.

Minutes will be posted here once they are received.

March 14, 2014 0

Death row man released

When we run campaigns to end the use of the death penalty, we get a variety of responses. Many people walk by not wanting to be involved. Some will come and readily sign the petition. A few will shout at us or say that they agree with the death penalty and want to see it reintroduced into the UK.

Glenn Ford at his release. Picture: AP

Quite apart from the moral case against the practice, the major problem is that mistakes cannot be undone. Once someone is executed, discovering that they were innocent is not a lot of use. Evidence of this is the recent release of Glenn Ford in Louisiana, USA, after having served 30 years in the notorious Angola Prison.

The case has all the familiar hallmarks of other people released in these circumstances. Firstly he was black and that is still a problem in the southern states. Secondly, the prosecution ensures that there is an all-white jury. Thirdly, the defence council is inexperienced and in this case, he was a corporate lawyer and it was his first time in front of a jury. Add in dodgy expert testimony and a man now known to be innocent spends 30 years of his life in gaol waiting to be executed. It now appears the key witness lied and she has admitted that and the Shreveport Times – Shreveport is where the murder was committed – reports that key evidence that would have exonerated him was withheld. This or other evidence, was discovered by a Sherriff’s investigator and led to his release.

Glenn goes adds to the list of 144 other people released from death row since 1973. Of course we cannot read across to this country the circumstances of the south in the USA. Even so, this should give pause for thought to those keen on a reintroduction of the penalty to this country. Recent revelations about the activities of the Metropolitan Police show that ensuring a scrupulously fair trial cannot be relied upon.

Amnesty is opposed to the use of the death penalty in all cases.

March 13, 2014 0

Opening post

This is the first post to the Amnesty International Salisbury (United Kingdom) Group’s own web site. We will no longer be using the AIUK site – accessed at amnesty.org.uk/Salisbury – and you will in future be posted here.