Tag: USA

Meeting: update


UPDATE: The full minutes are now available here

September minutes

We held our monthly meeting on 11 September and a number of items were discussed some of which will be separately posted [P].

  • the treasurer reported we had around £334 in the bank.  The funds promised from one of the school groups have not arrived
    Amnesty logo
    Amnesty logo

    however and he will chase this up

  • North Korea.  We have a speaker – Bona Shin – for the November meeting so we will hold it in Sarum College [P].
  • Lesley presented the death penalty report which will be separately posted.  Executions continue apace in Saudi Arabia, Florida and Texas [P].
  • Peter gave an update on progress with the Magna Carta celebrations next year and said that we have held our third meeting with Seif at the Cathedral and arrangements were proceeding well.  Caroline was hoping to prepare tapestry with all the regional groups contributing a panel each to illustrate an aspect of the Human Rights Act.  Fiona is working with S Wilts on the idea of a film.
  • Cathedral service.  Jonathan will liaise with the Praecentor about dates and a speaker.
  • there is to be a coffee morning on Saturday 20 September in St Thomas’s starting at 09:30.
  • the second Citizenship day is to be held next month on 23 October run on similar lines to last year.  There is to be a repeat of the competition with 3 prizes totalling £100 from a supporter.  Peter is to contact the sixth form colleges and schools in the area [P].
  • the forthcoming campaign against torture stall was discussed and will take place on 15 October in the Cheese Market [P].
  • the film will take place again on 4 December at the Arts Centre and will be on the subject of Palestine.  The speaker is Samiha Abdeljebar [P].

Full minutes will be posted soon.

0

Gaza


The world has been horrified by the films, reports and photographs coming out of since the latest violence started.  Amnesty teams – along with other organisations – have been in Gaza to assess the damage and have found evidence of war crimes by both sides in the conflict.  There have been serious violations by both parties but since the Israel Defence Force is the best equipped army and air force in the region by far, the damage and destruction has been predominantly on the Palestinian side.

Hamas continues to fire rockets into Israel but with the protection of Iron Dome, few have resulted in casualties.  The casualties on the Palestinian side have now passed 2000 (12 August, Sky News) with 67 Israeli deaths.  Many of the Palestinian casualties are women and children, killed in strikes on schools, mosques and hospitals.

Israel is able to carry on its attacks secure in the knowledge that it has, and continues to have, the support of the United States.  Indeed, the USA has continued to supply weapons to replace those lost in the latest fighting.  The United Kingdom supplied £6.3m in weapons to Israel last year.

It seems clear to most outside observers that whatever the provocation Israel has suffered, the scale of destruction in Gaza has been disproportionate.  This latest incursion follows hard on operation Cast Lead which also wrought terrible destruction in the territory.

Nor is the suffering imposed limited to the fighting but comes on top of the relentless expansion of settlements and the blockade of Gaza which has now lasted over seven years.  Gaza is in effect a prison surrounded by a stifling regime of checkpoints, barriers and walls.  They are not allowed to catch fish in the sea.  Inhabitants also have to endure power and water cuts for no apparent reason.

Protest in the south of France
Protest in the south of France

Is there any hope in all this?  Surprisingly, there may be.  It will not come from the ceasefires and feeble political statements wishing peace while at the same time continuing to sell arms.  The key difference this time is that Israel is losing the propaganda war.  Such is the volume of evidence emerging from Gaza, the harrowing footage of injured children and pictures of the scale of destruction, that people around the world have been moved to protest (see picture).

British Ministers are forbidden to use the word ‘disproportionate’ in their various statements.  But the public can see that it is.  Nick Clegg described the attacks on schools as ‘outrageous’.  Israel is desperate to avoid its actions going to the International Criminal Court and will no doubt succeed with US help in so doing.

With Cast Lead, the Israelis were able to keep journalists out of Gaza so that very little was seen on our TV screens.  This time, with a range of devices, images are coming through loud and clear.  This is another example of the public seeing things for what they are and politicians being behind the curve.  Support for Israel is still strong in the United States certainly among Senators and Congressmen, but younger people are not so supportive.  This is likely to be the key difference this time.

Visit the South Region site of Amnesty

Amnesty International comments on Gaza

Stop arming Israel

1

Death penalty report


No to the death penaltyHere is the monthly death penalty report thanks to Lesley.

July 2014

0

Death penalty


DEATH PENALTY SUMMARY – JUNE 2014

No to the death penaltyGeneral 

  • USA
    • Tennessee – are reported to be considering bringing back the electric chair in the light of the recent difficulties with the use of lethal injections
    • Wyoming – are reported to be considering using a firing squad
    • New Hampshire – disappointingly, the second attempt at the repeal of the death penalty was defeated in the Senate on 22nd May. The death sentence remains.
    • Missouri – a stay of execution was granted for Russell Bucklew on 22nd May following his claim that a congenital illness would probably cause additional suffering under the current regime of lethal injection
    • A report appeared on Google that the US Supreme Court has said states must look beyond an intelligence test score in borderline cases of mental disability to determine whether a death row inmate is eligible to be executed

Urgent Actions 

  • – Meriam Ibrahim – a Christian woman has been sentenced to hang (and to a flogging) for the ‘apostasy’ of marrying a non-muslim, and for refusing to renounce her Christian faith.  An AI email UA was circulated to the DPLWG on 26th May.  Information in media on 31.5.14 that she was to be released but there are doubts as to the truth of this.  Note – Nesrine Malik expressed concern in the Guardian (4.6.14) that western media are harming Meriam’s chances of release.  Initial local opposition had been having an effect, and Government pride is an issue.  She criticised David Cameron’s approach.  Latest news – Meriam gave birth in chains. She is to be hanged in 2 years.

 

  • # USA – Florida – Michael Duane Zak – UA 140/14 – has exhausted his ordinary court appeals and is seeking executive commutation of his death sentence of life imprisonment. Circulated to DPLWG 28.5.14 (this month’s Urgent Action)

 

  • – UA 151/13 – Osama Jamal ‘Abdullah Mahdi’s files are now with the office of the President for review. If his death sentence is ratified, he could be executed at any time. Circulated to DPLWG 30.5.14

 

 Campaigning 

  • Hakamada Iwao – information has been received from Caroline Butler that the Devizes Group have been in contact with AI in Japan in order to send cards and messages to Hakamada. Would the Salisbury Group like to do so?

 

  • – a response has now been received from SCT with contact details of Barry Hay for seeking further advice – an email was sent on 10th June. Note: 

 

Belarus is the last UN member state in Europe to have retained the death penalty.  In 2013 there were no reported executions, but the death penalty was reinstated this year, and to date two men are believed to have been executed. Death row prisoners receive no advance notice and are executed by a bullet through the back of the head. This month the UN Human Rights Council will be focusing on the human rights situation in Belarus – making it a particularly appropriate time for action by Amnesty.

 

 

0

Death penalty report


Attached is the monthly #deathpenalty report prepared by Lesley.

Summary, May 2014

0

Oklahoma


The botched execution this week of Clayton Lockett in has shocked many people around the world.  The focus has mainly been on the time it took for him to die – 43 minutes – during which he was seen to writhe in agony and struggle against the straps of the gurney.  Towards the end, the curtains were drawn across the execution chamber and it was reported later that he had died from a ‘reported heart attack.’

The southern states of the USA have a particular devotion to the death penalty with #Texas in the lead.  The penalty has a high degree of support from sections of the public despite the lack of any evidence that it has a deterrent effect.  On the blog posts of an Oklahoma newspaper there is a selection of comments both against and for the execution.  There are many Americans who find the process barbaric and the fact that it took Lockett 43 minutes to die is especially upsetting.  But there are plenty who relish it, for example;

‘how can people feel pity for these cons?’

‘I am glad he died a slow and painful death.  I only wish he suffered more.’

‘NO SYMPATHY from me.’

‘I only hope this happens to each and every other inmate where the death sentence is carried out.’

And so on and so forth.  This is a selection and there are people who found it repugnant.  Although the particular circumstances of this man’s death has caused a storm of outrage, the fact remains that many people are being executed and in the southern states at least, it remains in rude health.  The posts show that a significant number of people relished the suffering and were not afraid of expressing this, albeit anonymously.  On another blog post we reported on the governor of Texas’s use of the penalty as a draw for people to come to his state – a kind of promotional tool.

Although slow progress is being made with abolition, it will be many years before it is removed from states like Oklahoma and Texas.  But why focus on this when the level of executions in China (a state secret but known to thousands) and Iran are at very much higher levels?  The difference is that the USA is a leading nation and sets the moral tone in all sorts of situations.  It is hard to persuade other countries in the world to stop this practice if the USA is still very publicly using it.

Amnesty is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances.

 

 

0

Texas


It is sad to record that a Mexican, Ramiro Hernandes Llanas  has been executed in .  This is despite many misgivings about the mental capacity of Ramiro.  It is Governor Rick Perry’s 275th execution in the state which must be some kind of a record.

Most cities, towns and states promote their location as an ideal place to live.  They say how attractive it is, how well connected it is to the highway or rail network, they talk about the culture and leisure activities on offer and so on.  The governor of Texas by contrast promotes the use of the death penalty.  In an article in the New Yorker in February, following a decision by the governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, to suspend the death penalty there, Rick Perry was quoted as saying ‘vote with your feet and move to Texas, where the death penalty is thriving.’   Thriving?  In what was described as an emotional speech, he added ‘Come to Texas, the death penalty is alive and well here.’  ‘We believe in the sanctity of death.’  It is truly extraordinary to be promoting this barbaric penalty as an encouragement to move to your state.

There appear to be several reasons to explain why Texas executes more than any other state in the Union.  One is that judges are elected and accordingly have to respond to the wishes of those who elected them.  Presumably, there are many who see a benefit to executions and hence elect those who campaign for it to be used.  It is suggested that the quality of judges appointed by this method is lower than in other states as evidenced by the failure by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to publish most of its death penalty decisions.

A frequent problem in the cases we have asked you to write about, is the poor quality of the lawyers representing the accused many of whom do not have any relevant experience of murder trials.

Although Texas does not sentence more people to death than other states, it does execute more because it has speeded up the process from conviction to execution.

But where does this desire to use the penalty come from?  In his book The American Future, a History (Bodley Head), Simon Schama describes the violent history and founding of the state.  It essentially involved the removal of the indigent Mexican population and the introduction of slaves.  Following the near liquidation of the native Indians, then the expulsion of the Mexicans and the introduction of slavery, it is a state where there is a ‘cultural tradition of dehumanising certain groups of people’ (Ned Walpin, Frontline, Online).  This applies to all the states of the former Confederacy and accounts for the fact that 90% of all executions are carried out within them (ibid).  It is further argued that there is a link between executions and lynching, both of which go to show ‘who’s boss’ and as a means to exclude certain groups from society.  It is no coincidence that this latest appeal is for Ramiro a Mexican.  Gradually, executions replaced the illegal lynchings but served the same purpose of satisfying the predominantly white population’s desire to exclude black and Mexican people from society.

There is a lot of debate in America surrounding Rick Perry’s faith which is said to be strong and genuine.  He started life as a Methodist but has recently become an Evangelical and moved away from GW Bush’s church in Austin to support a mega church at Lake Hill.  He is in favour of teaching creationism and intelligent design and regards evolution as ‘just a theory’.

All this matters because he wants to run for president of the USA and so his attitude to execution and what that says about his political and liberal beliefs could be important.

Amnesty is opposed to the death penalty in all cases and it is unsettling to see it being promoted, not as some kind of necessary evil, but as though it is a thriving industry to be encouraged and lauded.  Poor quality advocacy, packed juries and a dismissal of proper analysis by the appeals process results in many unnecessary deaths.

Sources:

Frontline, Online; http://www.pbs.org

The American Spectator

The New Yorker

Texas April 14

2

Death Penalty summary


This is the April summary for the group on the #deathpenalty and its use around the world prepared by Lesley (Word).

Death penalty summary April 14

 

1

Death penalty update


Each month, the group receives an update on the death penalty which can be accessed below.  A lot focuses on the USA3925 which still provides some grim news although there is good news that Glenn Ford was released after 30 years on death row.  In fairness however, although a large number of people are executed in the USA, they are some way behind China and Iran in terms of the numbers who are executed sometimes after brief trials and the use of torture to extract confessions.  How many are executed in China is a state secret.

Death penalty summary March

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.

0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑