Promoting human rights from Salisbury UK
We are pleased to attach our monthly death penalty report for March – April 2022 thanks to group member Lesley for the work in compiling it. Singapore features quite strongly this month. Note that Chiana, which is believed to execute more of its citizens than the rest of the world combined, does not feature as details are a state secret.
We held our market stall in Salisbury market yesterday after an absence of three years. We had plenty of stuff to sell but overall, the results were down on previous years. Time was when we got to the stall at 7:30 there was already a crowd of a dozen or so and it activity was pretty hectic for the first hour. Those days seem to be gone and the first hour was very quiet. Activity began to pick up towards midday and we may think of extending the timing by an hour next year.
The City Council has also changed the location and instead of being adjacent to the main market, we were placed well off to the east of the market place. Also there are two stalls placed cheek by jowl with another charity which also did not help. Times are hard of course and this month (April) was when all the cuts and energy bills came into effect. So all in all …
We had an enjoyable day and many thanks to group member Ria who took the unsold items away for another go at a car boot sale. Other items, including a quantity of hardback Booker shortlist novels, went to Oxfam who were delighted apparently. Thanks also to all group members who came and manned the stall through the day.
Photo: Salisbury Amnesty
Mohammed al-Faraj’s hearing was postponed – so he remains in prison in Saudi Arabia at risk of the death penalty. Mohammed was only 15 years old when he was arrested outside a bowling alley in Saudi Arabia. That was in 2017.
The fifth anniversary of his imprisonment is coming up. He has endured five years away from his family. Five years away from his friends. And five years at risk of a death sentence.
When Mohammed was arrested, he was beaten, kicked and shackled with his arms above his head for up to four hours at a time. The Saudi Arabian authorities forced him to sign a “confession”.
The so-called “crimes” Mohammed committed included going to his uncle’s funeral when he was just nine years old. 20,136 people in this community signed the petition demanding Mohammed is not executed. Sending a message to Mohammed today will let him know we’re still fighting for him.
Will you let Mohammed know we’re thinking of him and fighting for his freedom?
Repost from Reprieve
You might remember Magai Matiop Ngong, who was only 15-years-old when he was sentenced to death in South Sudan. After two years and eight months on death row, we are thrilled to share that Magai has been released.
More than 765,000 people around the world took action for Magai, which resulted in his death sentence being sent back to the High Court for a review. This week, we are celebrating his release.
This is just one example of the change we can be part of when we come together, and the incredible difference campaigning can make in the lives of people facing injustice like Magai.
Execution is the ultimate punishment and we will always stand against it. Every human being on this planet has the right to life, and we need to ensure that right is protected no matter what.
After an absence of 2 years, we are back with our popular stall in the centre of Salisbury. As you would expect, we have masses of stuff including quality books, clothes, CDs, china items and so forth. We look forward to seeing you there.
If, by chance you are thinking of joining the group, please make yourself known to one of us on the stand.
In a significant development this week (21- 27 March 2022), the UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in the OPT published a landmark report concluding that Israel is committing the crime of apartheid. Due to his mandate, he was only able to look at the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories but his findings are similar to Amnesty’s. Amnesty’s detailed response can be read in full here.
This is a link to a short video made outside the Israeli Embassy in London to highlight the campaign against apartheid.
In a previous post, we discussed the issue in greater detail and provided links to two other reports by B’Tselem and Human Rights Watch which provide copious evidence of the Israeli government’s dreadful behaviour towards its Palestinian citizens. The UN report can be accessed here.
The response from Jewish groups has been fierce. A report in the Jewish Journal included the following quotes:
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva Meirav Eilon Shahar accused Lynk (the UN rapporteur) of promulgating “baseless and outrageous libels previously published by NGOs that share the same goal as the author of this report: to delegitimize and criminalize the State of Israel for what it is: the Nation State of the Jewish People, with equal rights for all its citizens, irrespective of religion, race or sex.”
Jewish Journal, 24 March 2022
Other comments include assert the report is ‘biased’ contains ‘outrageous libels’, ‘baseless allegations’ and a ‘gross distortion of the truth and should be placed in dustbin of antisemitic history’.
| A man sentenced to death for an offence when he was a child has had his sentence overturned by the Iranian Supreme Court after 18 years on death row. Mohammad Reza Haddadi was 15 years old when he was arrested in 2002 on charges of committing murder while stealing a car. Although he initially pleaded guilty he later explained that his two co-defendants had coerced him by promising him money to take the rap for the murder telling him that he would not receive the death penalty as he was underage. Iran is one of the few countries in the world that still uses the death sentence against minors even though it is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which prohibits the use of the death sentence for crimes committed by anyone under the age of 18. However, in Sharia law, the “age of criminal responsibility” for children is defined as the age of maturity, which means that females over 9 lunar years of age and boys over 15 lunar years of age are both eligible for execution if convicted of “crimes against God” (such as apostasy) or “retribution crimes” (such as murder). The law grants judges the discretion to replace the death penalty with an alternative sentence if they find that there are doubts about the individual’s comprehension of the nature of the crime or consequences, or their full “mental growth and maturity” at the time of the crime. International human rights organizations say Iran is responsible for more than 70% of all juveniles executed in the last 30 years with at least 63 in the last decade, including at least six in 2018 and four in 2019. Given the security state, suppression of civil society activists, and limited interaction with detainees, the number of juvenile executions is likely to be significantly greater than reported. In 2020 Iran carried out at least 246 executions with 194 were for murder; 23 for drug-related offences; 12 for rape; four for “armed insurrection against the state”; five for “enmity against God”; two for espionage; one for “spreading corruption on earth” and one for drinking alcohol. One execution was carried out in public and nine women were executed. Hanging and shooting were the methods of execution. The Islamic Penal Code continued to provide for execution by stoning, for some consensual same-sex sexual conduct and extramarital sexual relations. The death penalty was increasingly used as a weapon of political repression against dissidents, protesters and members of ethnic minority groups. |
Repost from Amnesty
In the early hours of yesterday morning (29 March) morning, Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, a man with intellectual disabilities on death row in Singapore, lost his fight in court against his execution. The courts may have rejected his appeal, but Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong could still save him. Nagen still needs this community to keep fighting for a life-saving pardon. The decision has received world wide condemnation. Singapore does not have a favourable human rights record and uses repressive laws against political opponents and human rights defenders. Human Rights Watch describes the country’s political environment at ‘overwhelmingly repressive’ with severe restrictions on free expression, association and assembly.
Nagaenthran claims he was coerced into carrying a package of heroin but that he was unaware of the contents. The UN has said the sentence is disproportionate and no allowance had been made by the authorities for his disabilities. His IQ is said to be 69.
In the 48 hours before his hearing, over 4,000 people made their voices heard and tweeted Lee Hsien Loong asking for Nagen to be spared. Only the Singaporean government can save him now, should they decide to show compassion and grant him a pardon that will spare his life.
Because of your support, Nagen is not standing alone in his fight for his life. For details and how you can help follow this link to the Reprieve site.
We include a link to a video of an interesting talk by Kirsten Han on the subject of the death penalty in Singapore.
Sources: Amnesty; Guardian; Reprieve; Human Rights Watch.
Despite the enormous scale of death and destruction taking in place in Yemen by Saudi Arabia, the F1 Grand Prix still took place there (Saudi). The Saudi regime is desperately keen to use sport as a means to whitewash its appalling human rights record. Not only is it causing misery in Yemen but it has recently executed 81 people in a single day in Saudi itself almost certainly after torture was used to extract confessions. Executions are usually carried out by beheading.
There was a time when sport was confined to the back pages of newspapers or at the end of news bulletins. It was about sport itself with reports of competitions, league tables or medals won. The use of sport to promote nations has a long history and in recent times we have seen enormous sums spent by regimes to secure medals at the Olympics. Recently, the notion of ‘sports washing’ has become established with Saudi Arabia a prominent player. In addition to boxing promotions, golf and Formula 1, it has poured a huge sum into Newcastle United football club.
A recent edition of the Campaign Against the Arms Trade, CAAT, newsletter (Issue 262) provides an update on the destruction in Yemen. In November, the UN estimated that 377,000 will have died. This would be the total to the end of 2021. Unfortunately, they say, ‘the escalating death toll and overwhelming evidence of repeated breaches of international humanitarian law have done little to curb the arms dealers: to them it represent a business opportunity’. Since the bombing of Yemen began in 2015, the value of UK sales to Saudi Arabia amounts to £20 billion. Further details and background can be found on the Mwatana site.
CAAT reports that the UN failed to renew the mandate in October for the Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen following intense lobbying of council members by the Saudi regime.
Saudi Arabia
Human rights infringements continue in the country itself. Critics of the government or ruling family are routinely jailed. Prejudice against women and the LGBT community is practised. Many people are executed in barbaric fashion after wholly unsatisfactory trials. Reports from Human Rights Watch and Amnesty provide further details.
None of this seems to have an impact on Formula 1. It is interesting to note however that, following the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces, the F1 race due to take place in Sochi this year was quickly cancelled. It seems truly bizarre that they were able to act with great speed following the Ukraine invasion but prolonged death, destruction and egregious human rights abuses in Yemen and Saudi has not made any impression. Could it be the considerable publicity the war has attracted and the actions being taken against Russian oligarchs meant that any attempt by F1 to carry on as usual was simply not possible? Whereas, what is going on in Saudi and Yemen only rarely makes it onto the front pages thus enabling them to carry on with business as usual.
Saudi is spending billions on its campaign to improve its image and holding various sporting events and some sporting authorities seem immune to what is going on. It seems as though the lure of money – and lots of it – is too great. They exist, as one commentator puts it, in a vacuum. Perhaps we should not be too surprised at F1’s flimsy approach to human rights when its former boss Bernie Ecclestone was interviewed on Times Radio defending President Putin as an ‘honourable man’.
Sources: HRW; Amnesty; Daily Express; Guardian; al Jazeera; BBC
The Institute for Human Rights and Business has been added to our list of human rights sites to be found at the bottom of this page. The institute says it is ‘the leading international think tank on business and human rights. IHRB’s mission is to shape policy, advance practice, and strengthen accountability in order to make respect for human rights part of everyday business’.
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 