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.
On Saturday 15 November the group carried out a signing for the #stoptorture campaign. Cards for five
Preparing for the signing
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.
Torture wheel
Don’t forget the Salisbury Arts Centre film on 4 December.
Group welcomes speaker on #Korea. On Thursday 13 November, the group was pleased to welcome a Korean speaker as part of our activities to keep the problems in North Korea in the limelight. Bona Shin is a member of a large community of Koreans who live in London, the largest such community in Europe. There are thought to be around 32,000 living in the UK and 691 of whom from North Korea.
Bona Shin
Other speakers have mentioned the difference between Pyongyang and the rest of the country. People who live in Pyongyang are the elite and they are reasonably well fed by North Korean standards. It is the rural areas which are impoverished and where people struggle to survive. She said there are no disabled people in the capital either: they are all moved out to the rural areas.
She mentioned the propaganda initiative recently where the North Korean embassy hosted an art exhibition. Developments in the last week or so at the UN where there are attempts to get the regime and Kim Jong un indicted for crimes against humanity.
There are reports of the infamous Yodok camp being closed and prisoners being moved to Camp 14 or Camp 16 as part of the propaganda by the North but this cannot be confirmed at the time of writing. Bilateral talks may begin with the EU on the question of human rights.
There are still survivors from the Korean war which Britain contributed large troop numbers second only to the USA. There is a British Korean Veteran Association
The meeting took place tonight with a speaker from South Korea. A full report will appear soon.
#stoptorture And a reminder that we are running a stall on Saturday 15th in the Market Place to highlight the issue of torture around the world. If you can come along and sign or better still, help for an hour that would be great. It will be the first outing of the torture wheel based on the Philippine’s security services wheel used to decide on how they are going to torture a suspect.
Amnesty group makes YouTube video. The #Salisbury group of Amnesty International broke new ground today when they prepared
Joo il Kim at the signing
a short YouTube video clip to highlight the appalling situation in the North Korean prison camps. Fifteen members held up cards which spelled out the message ‘Close the Camps’ to mimic the huge displays which take place in Pyongyang. It was part of a morning spent collecting signatures which unfortunately had to be curtailed because of the heavy rain which made it impossible to continue. Despite this, in the hour or so we were able to operate, 84 people signed.
Jooil Kim (pictured) an escapee was able to attend and take part and we were pleased to have a member of the South Korean Embassy come and sign as well.
Thanks for all who came and made this a success and especially to Karen (and husband) who did all the work preparing the cards. Now watch the video …!
Jonathan, Fiona and Andrew went to Bishop Wordsworth’s school last month for the annual #Citizenship Day, an event for Year 12 students from the Bishops Wordsworth School and South Wilts Grammar. More than 50 students opted to attend our sessions – about the same number as last year – choosing over other charities, pressure groups and political parties.
Citizenship
Three sessions were held and following an introduction by Andrew, Jonathan got them to work thinking about human rights in general and Fiona finished with a “what you can do” chat. To judge from talking to other presenters, ours was probably one of the more interactive sessions, and the students seemed to respond well, overcoming a natural reticence. Groups had interesting thoughts about what rights consisted of, and one group even came up with a definition, although knowledge of Magna Carta was surprisingly spotty.
We hope some will take up the essay challenge and a good number of forms were taken away. Feedback has been positive, and we are hopeful of encouraging the students to take up Amnesty causes for themselves.
We have re-launched the #essay competition this year and invited members of the 6th forms in the #Salisbury area to contribute. A pdf of the full entry details is here:
In his speech to the Tory party conference today, the prime minister David Cameron pledged to get rid of the Human Rights Act #HRA and replace it with a British Bill of Rights. Problem? Where is it? A bit like Lewis Carroll’s snark, it is often spoken of but never actually seen. It has been talked about off and on for around 7 years now but it still hasn’t seen the light of day.
David Cameron Photo, BBC
Second problem: how will it be any different to the HRA it will replace? It will presumably contain many of the clauses about fair trials, no torture, knowing what one is accused of, no slavery, arbitrary arrest etc. etc. that are contained in the HRA.
It is likely that the ire is directed at some individual cases which get the tabloid press in a stew such as Abu Qatada. The issue here of course was that he could not be deported because it was likely that either, he would be tortured or, evidence gained by torture would be used against him.
The problem is the same as it always has been with the act. It is European and in the fevered atmosphere of anti-Europeanism stoked up by Ukip, anything from Europe is a bad thing. The second problem is the media – or sections of it – who dislike the act and print all manner of misinformation and disinformation about its rulings. They don’t like it because the question of privacy has a higher standing under the act than they would like. As we have seen with News International – and are beginning to see with the Mirror Group newspapers – newspapers are sold by penetrating the private lives of the famous by a variety of dubious and illegal means.
The benefits of the act, such as that reported today of people in Essex who were able to use it to take action against the police, are seldom reported.
Unless we pull out of the Council of Europe, we will still be subject to the rulings of the European Court. It is strange to report that with all the venom and anger directed against Strasbourg nearly 99% of cases applications against the UK are struckout. That is because we have good legal systems here. The HRA was brought in to stop the trail of people having to go to Europe to get justice.
Note added in April 2026.
This post was written 12 years ago and a lot has happened since. David Cameron resigned as PM following the ‘no’ vote in the Referendum to leave the EU. The Conservatives had a long and tortuous relationship with the EU (and still do). Many believe in human rights but are fearful of the right wing press which – as discussed – do not like it. They were then and still are, frightened of he popularity of UKIP which is now the Reform party.
Immigration still makes waves and is often a deciding factor in our politics.
Interesting to note that this speech was in all likelihood written by one Danny Kruger who is now the MP for East Wiltshire where this is being typed. Kruger left the Conservatives last year and is now a Reform MP. He is still anti the EU and was on the BBC radio programme only a few days ago speaking against it.
We are delighted that this post still is attracting views after 12 years so thank you for those who landed here.
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.
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 