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.
Group minutes: April
Minutes of our last meeting in April are now available thanks to group member Lesley for doing them. We discussed the death penalty report; social media statistics; filming of Fiona Bruce MP and Clare Moody MEP for the North Korean video; Arts Centre film; future events including the stall in June, and the HRA
Timbuktu
The award winning film Timbuktu was shown at the Salisbury Arts Centre tonight and it was a gripping and powerful film. If you did not see it here try and catch it somewhere else. Most of the people attending signed the cards to Cameroon – thank you for those that did.
Timbuktu film
The film, Timbuktu, is to be shown in the Salisbury Arts Centre 
this Thursday evening 3 December. The film is extremely topical both because of the horrific activities of jihadists in Paris and today’s news of a terrorist attack in Mali which is where Timbuktu is. This is the latest in our joint presentations with the Arts Centre. The film has received many favourable reviews and mostly 4 stars.
Timbuktu has entered the English language as a place which is remote and unknown yet recent events have brought the country and the town into the limelight.
There will be a short presentation by an Amnesty director before the film starts and afterwards, an opportunity for people to sign a petition or some cards.
Tickets from the Arts Centre via the link above or by phoning 01722 321744.
November group minutes
The November minutes of the Salisbury group are now available thanks to Lesley.
Correction: the Death Penalty vigil took place on 17 October and not November as stated in the minutes
Group meeting
The group met last night to review campaigns and ahead of the minutes here is a brief resume:
- Discussed North Korea and the idea for a YouTube video. Next meeting at the Red Lion
- Received the death penalty report
- Citizenship went well and two teams members will be at the Shaftesbury School today (13th)
- Film Timbuktu on 3 December at the Arts Centre
- Tapestry to be moved to the Cathedral in the next week or so
- HRA. Watching brief ahead of government plans to scrap/alter it. We will get materials from AIUK. It is likely to be a major part of our activities next year if the government do go ahead with either abolition or a major overhaul
- Discussed Write for Rights and the four people we will campaign for agreed
- Carol signing will take place on 21 December (photo of last year)
Farrant Singers in Park Street - Statistics on website hits and social media were presented (see statistics tab for the report)
#Morocco film
UPDATE 25TH MARCH
The film Bastards (12A) was shown this Wednesday 25 March starting at 7.30 and the audience reaction was very positive indeed. There were many questions to the producer Deborah Perkin.
This is a fascinating and highly-acclaimed documentary about one Moroccan woman’s struggle to legitimise her daughter and the director, Deborah Perkin will be there to answer questions. The film follows an illiterate young woman who took on her own family and the Moroccan justice system for the sake of her illegitimate child. It is a gripping, moving and uplifting documentary from the cutting edge of Islam.
Deborah Perkin is the first person to film in a court in Morocco, a country which leads the world in its legal efforts to give women and children more rights under Sharia law.
In Morocco, as in all Muslim countries, sex outside marriage is illegal and women bear the brunt of society’s disapproval. But what is the fate of the children of those single mothers? They cannot attend the better schools, are turned away from infant immunisation clinics and refused government posts. Jobs, housing and a huge range of social advantages are denied them. They are despised outcasts, condemned to a life of discrimination. Bastards is the first film to tell this story from a mother’s point of view.
We shall have a petition to sign about torture in Morocco. Morocco is one of the five countries highlighted by Amnesty International in its #StopTorture campaign. We are pleased to say many people signed our petitions at the end of the showing. Thanks to the Arts Centre.#Palestine film
A documentary film is being shown at the Studio Theatre in Salisbury called Open Bethlehem. It is on Friday 13 March and details are on the attached flyer. The phone number for tickets is 01722 349740 and they can be purchased in the tourism office in Fish Row, Salisbury.
Film, Omar
Last night the Salisbury Arts centre hosted the film #Omar in the fourth of our collaborations with the Centre. The film is a gripping story of love and betrayal in the occupied territories of Palestine and shows the grim realities of life for Palestinians living there. Many people signed our cards at the end of the showing which concerned five individuals at risk of, or who have been, tortured (but not in Palestine). A total of 103 were signed.
Several people expressed interest in the group and may come here to find out about us. Details are to be found in the ‘About Us’ tab and we look forward to seeing you again. ‘Every little helps’ is true and if you are able to help now and again at our events that is always appreciated. From time to time we post urgent actions and if you can find time to write that is also a help.
We are possibly entering a difficult time as far as human rights are concerned with a concerted attack on the Human Rights Act by sections of the media. It is fuelled often by misreporting of cases and the almost complete absence of reporting of the benefits the act has brought for ordinary people. Hence the myth has become established that it helps terrorists, mass murderers and the like and it is all to do with the European Union imposing their beliefs on us. The Conservative government have said they would like to abolish the act and replace it with a new version.
#stoptorture
On Saturday 15 November the group carried out a signing for the #stoptorture campaign. Cards for five
individuals who have allegedly been tortured were available for people to sign and we secured the magnificent total of 267. It was the first time out for the torture wheel which is modelled on the infamous wheel used by the Philippine police. Various forms of abuse are put on a wheel which they spin to decide on what method to use on a victim.
Although we achieved a good response, many refuse to sign and one person ventured the opinion that ‘they must have deserved it.’ Torture is widely used around the world and is practised in 141 countries despite nearly every nation having signed the UN protocol against its use.
The cards will be posted over the net few days to the relevant authority where the victims are held.
Don’t forget the Salisbury Arts Centre film on 4 December.
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 