Promoting human rights from Salisbury UK
The latest death penalty report produced by the group is available and thanks to group member Lesley for the work in compiling it. In the report is a link to the Japanese man who has been imprisoned and on death row for four decades and is now of interest again because the Pope has become involved.
Four years ago, the Egyptian Government committed – on the world stage – to end the death penalty for children. But, despite this commitment, a loophole in Egypt’s Child Law continues to allow children to be tried alongside adults on capital offences. Children in Egypt remain at risk of the death penalty. That’s why some of my team are in Geneva this week.
My colleagues working against the death penalty in Egypt are at a United Nations event this week. Our aim is to make sure other countries like the UK hold Egypt to account on its failed promise from four years ago. We’re doing this in the lead up to Egypt’s Universal Periodic Review at the UN on November 13th.
That means we only have a few weeks to make the case to every other country that Egypt needs to be held accountable for its failure to close the loophole and protect the human rights of children. The more countries that speak up and put pressure on Egypt, the more likely they are to close the loophole.
In turn, UK officials are more likely to step up if they see that this is something UK citizens care about. That’s why we need your help in spreading this campaign, getting more signatures, and gathering as much support as possible for ending the death penalty for children for good.
Please could you add your support.
Alternatively go to supporters@reprieve.org.uk
In a recent post we described the situation Kris Maharaj has experienced in Florida USA where he has been imprisoned for 33 years for a crime he did not commit. There was to be a hearing on 17th of this month but we have just heard from Reprieve that this has been put back until January. The message from Reprieve is copied below:
Justice delayed is justice denied.
Since you wrote your message of support to Kris Maharaj and his wife Marita, I’m sorry to say there has been a frustrating development. Kris’ chance at justice was set for October 17th – but yesterday we heard it will not even happen this year.
That’s because the Florida Department of Corrections immediately sought and was granted a 90-day extension until January 18th 2020. 90 days may not sound like a lot, but Kris and his wife Marita have already been waiting 33 years for this nightmare to end.
Any delay is an injustice – and this will take us almost to Kris’ 81st birthday. We need to make sure they do not lose hope.
Can you share this latest instalment of injustice with your friends and family and ask them to add their own words of support? Here’s a suggested message you can send them:
Kris is a British man who was charged with a murder he could not have committed. Yet he remains in a Florida prison. His chance at justice has again been delayed, this time for another 90 days. Add your words of support to Kris and his wife Marita as they endure the latest instalment of their ordeal: https://act.reprieve.org.uk/page/s/send-a-message-of-support-to-kris-and-marita
Or, you can share this story on Facebook or WhatsApp using the below buttons.
UPDATE: Reprieve have sent through a request to send a message of support to Kris and this can be accessed here. (24 September 2019)
We report – via Reprieve – the good news that a Briton held for 33 years in Florida, has gained the chance of release about 4 years after it was proved he was innocent. We have received an email from them which is reproduced in full below:
I’ve [Clive Stafford Smith] just had some incredibly exciting news on the case of Kris Maharaj, the Brit who has already spent 33 unjust years in Florida’s prison system for a murder he did not commit. Kris will finally have an evidentiary hearing on October 17th. The meaning of that might not be initially obvious, but I assure you it’s a very significant development. It’s one I have been pushing for, for a long time. It means that Kris finally has the chance to prove in a US federal court that he should not have been deprived of his liberty for more than three decades, let alone have been sentenced to death.
I’ve been involved in more than 400 capital cases over the years, and Kris’ is the greatest injustice of them all. Evidence uncovered in 2014 proved beyond doubt that Kris is not guilty of the murders for which he has been imprisoned. The state trial court nevertheless refused to order a new trial at the time. That’s why I’ve been pushing for a Federal evidentiary hearing.
When I took on this case back in 1993, I had no grey hairs. Twenty-six years on, you’d be hard pushed to find a hair on my head that isn’t grey or white – and a fair number of them have been caused by the traumas of Kris’ case. But just imagine the impact of the last 33 years on Kris and his wife Marita. It is hard to believe that we could get justice after all the crushing disappointments we’ve been through over the years, but perhaps – just perhaps – Kris will finally come home for his first Christmas in more than three decades.
The possibility of justice would never have arisen were it not for the kindness of all his supporters. Both Kris and Marita have said their hope wouldn’t have lasted this long without the support they get from the Reprieve community.It’s going to be a busy month ahead as I prepare for this hearing, but the Campaigns team at Reprieve will be in touch to update you in the run-up to the 17th October. Thank you, as always, for your support of Reprieve so we can help many people like Kris and Marita.
We reviewed on these pages, a book, Injustice, on this case by Stafford Smith making the point how unsound the American system is. So Kris is likely to walk free but it is important to bear in mind that he might have been executed by now. The book goes into remorseless detail about the inadequacies of the American trial system. We are conditioned by Hollywood films and TV about how heroic it is but for the poor, the system is rotten. The police do not have to release evidence to the defence (defense) which helps the defendant, a situation which happened in the UK before PACE was passed.
This is an uplifting story but tragically, he has had to spend over 3 decades in gaol for a crime he did not commit.
A search of his name comes up with a photograph of him with the caption ‘Kris Maharaj, murderer’.
Piece by the Sun newspaper on this case.
The minutes of the September meeting are now available thanks to group member Lesley for compiling them. A full meeting with a number of future events in hand.
Septembers group meeting was held last night and the minutes will follow in a little while. Main points discussed;
More details in the minutes
The latest death penalty report is now available thanks to group member Lesley for compiling it. It contains information on death penalty matters in Bangladesh, Turkey, USA and other countries. The report, as ever, is unable to include any information about China where details of executions are a state secret. It is believed to be the world’s largest executioner.
August – September Report 2019
September 2019
Amnesty has issued a press release setting out serious concerns with respect to Brexit. Amnesty has no position on Brexit itself but it is pointing out some of the implications if we leave. The issue of the border in Ireland is receiving a great deal of attention at present and the threat to the Good Friday Agreement is a concern.
An additional worry is that the attitudes of most of the cabinet and our prime minister concerning human rights is to say the least, ambivalent.
For example, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the Chancellor Sajid Javid and the Salisbury MP John Glen have all, according to the ‘They Work for You‘ web site, generally voted against laws to promote equality and human rights. They have voted against largely retaining the EU ‘Charter of Fundamental Rights’ and the Chancellor and Mr Glen have voted for the abolition of the Human Rights Act. Being part of the EU combined with all the attention being devoted to the arguments about leaving, has limited the government’s ability to repeal the Act. If and when we leave, one of these constraints will largely disappear.
The protests in Hong Kong have been going on since 9th June 2019 and we have seen regular incidents of violent police actions to quell the demonstrations. There have also been what appear to be organised attacks by thugs wielding bars and clubs with no sign of any arrests or indeed of police at all.
A statement by Amnesty following the July events said:
The violent scenes in Yuen Long tonight were in part because Hong Kong police chose to inflame a tense situation rather than deescalate it. For police to declare today’s protest unlawful was simply wrong under international law.
While police must be able to defend themselves, there were repeated instances today where police officers were the aggressors; beating retreating protesters, attacking civilians in the train station and targeting journalists. Alarmingly, such a heavy-handed response now appears the modus operandi for Hong Kong police and we urge them to quickly change course. Man-kei Tam, Director of Amnesty International Hong Kong
The police have been using tear gas supplied by the UK company Chemring. The firm has a factory outside Salisbury (pictured) although the cannisters are made by their plant in Derby. It is still under investigation for money laundering, bribery and corruption by the Serious Fraud Office.
Following similar incidents in 2014 – the umbrella movement – it was thought that a licence to sell tear gas was withheld or at least under review but it seems as though the company was free to sell it to the Hong Kong police. This is part of a wider government policy of allowing UK companies to sell weapons to all kinds of regimes whilst allegedly claiming to enforce a strict control policy. Chemring were granted an open licence in 2015. The former foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, recently withdrew the licence following the weeks of violence which makes inviting HKPF to the DSEI arms fair odd. The firm’s human rights policy (2019) says:
[We will] seek to uphold all internationally recognised human rights wherever our operations are based. para 3.14, 2019
Hong Kong police withdrew from the DSEI arms fare to be held this week having been invited by the Dept. for International Trade the minister for which is Liz Truss. A statement by the department said:
an invitation does not imply that any future export licences will be granted to Hong Kong
Campaign Against the Arms Trade, CAAT said:
The UK government approved the export of an unlimited quantity of crowd control equipment to Hong Kong. Police in Hong Kong have used tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannon and batons to violently disperse protests opposing the new Extradition Bill. At least six people have been taken to hospital after inhaling tear gas.
There have been many protests about this fair which invites a number of countries many of which commit a range of human rights infringements, use torture and in the case of Saudi Arabia are bombing civilian targets in Yemen.
The Omega Research Foundation established in 1990, provides rigorous, objective, evidence-based research on the manufacture, trade, and use of, military, security and police (MSP) equipment. Such technologies range from small arms and light weapons to large weapon systems; from policing technologies and prison equipment to equipment used for torture, amongst others. A recent tweet from them shows a photograph of a CS gas cannisters which appears to be made by Chemring.
The substance of the Hong Kong protests is that they do not want individuals to be extradited to China whose legal system is corrupt. Britain has a delicate role to play in protecting the agreement with China for ‘one country – two systems’. We wish to see essential freedoms in the ex colony to be upheld. Our integrity is a key component in that. As in so many other countries around the world, our willingness to sell arms and MSP equipment risks compromising that integrity.
UPDATE 5 June 2020 see also the firm’s alleged activity in selling arms to the Egyptian regime which commits many human rights abuses.
If you would like to join the local group you would be most welcome. The best thing is to keep an eye on this site or on Facebook and Twitter, and make yourself known at an event.
Sources: Financial Times; CAAT; Morning Star; Guardian; Fieldfisher; Omega Research Foundation; Chemring website
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 