Urgent Action News: June 2009, nsw, Amnesty International Australia

nsw Resources:: Home; About; Action groups; Events; News; Volunteer

Urgent Action News: June 2009

Published on 2/06/2009
Urgent Action Network (NSW)

Stop Action Summary

What follows is a complete list of Stop Actions received over the past two months, together with an indication of the outcome. If there are any here of interest to you, which have not been covered in the current Newsletter, please contact the Service Centre on 1300 300 920 or send an email to uansw@amnesty.org.au, requesting details on the specific Stop Action.

012-09 Chad Good
073-09 Italy Bad
076-09 USA - Ohio (DP) Fair
077-09 Iran Good
085-09 China Good
088-09 Mexico Bad
098-09 Iran (DP) Bad
100-09 Yemen (DP) Bad
101-09 Sudan Good
107-09 USA - Oklahoma (DP) Bad
124-09 USA - Missouri (DP) Bad

Some Good News

Chad (012/09)

Issa Palkoubou was released on the morning of 21 May. He was weak and sick, and did not know why he had been detained.

He had not been seen since September 2008, when he was abducted at the school where he works. He is now known to have been held in a cell run by the security services in the capital, N'Djamena.

Iran (077/09)

Prisoner of conscience Roxana Saberi, was released from prison on 11 May 2009. Branch 14 of the Tehran Appeal Court heard an appeal against her conviction on 10 May and commuted her eight-year sentence to a suspended two-year term. She also received a five-year ban on working as a journalist in Iran.

Roxana Saberi was arrested on 31 January 2009. She was initially accused of illegally buying alcohol, which is banned in Iran. She was later accused of continuing to work as a journalist after her press credentials were revoked. She was eventually convicted in a closed trial of unspecified “espionage”. She had been charged under Article 508 of the Penal Code, which criminalizes “collaborating with a hostile state”, for which Tehran’s Revolutionary Court sentenced her to eight years’ imprisonment on 18 April 2009.

According to her father, Roxana Saberi was deceived into “confessing” to certain activities when questioned in pre-trial detention. She had been told that she would be released from detention if she cooperated. Roxana Saberi retracted her “confessions” during the trial.

On 19 April, Iran’s President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, instructed the Tehran General Prosecutor to ensure that Roxana Saberi was granted her full legal rights in defending herself. On 20 April, the Head of the Judiciary gave instructions to ensure that her appeal happened quickly and was fair. On 10 May, Branch 14 of the Tehran Appeal Court overturned her conviction and commuted her eight-year sentence to a suspended two-year term on the charge of “collecting classified information” and a five-year ban on working as a journalist in Iran. One of her lawyers, Saleh Nikbakht, told the international news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the appeal court had overturned this conviction on the grounds that the United States and Iran could not be defined as hostile towards each other.

Roxana Saberi, who was born in the USA to an Iranian-born father and Japanese-born mother, has reported for the BBC, Fox News and US-based National Public Radio (NPR), which produces news and cultural programming. She has been living in Iran for six years.

Roxana Saberi was quoted by AFP after her release stating: “I am very happy and thankful to all the people who helped me. I want to be with my family... with my mother and my father”. She is expected to return to the United States soon

China (085/09)

Human rights lawyer Wei Liangyue and his wife Du Yongjing have been released and returned home after 30 days of detention. Both were released on bail on 30 March pending further investigation. Wei Liangyue remains under suspicion of “gathering a crowd to disturb social order” and Du Yongjing is still under suspicion of “using a heretical organization to undermine implementation of the law”.

Wei Liangyue’s colleagues told Amnesty International that they were released on bail pending investigation because of insufficient evidence to further the charge. In mid-March, according to sources, the police thought of sending Wei Liangyue to Re-education Through Labour, a form of administrative detention imposed without charge, trial or judicial review, but gave up the idea because of insufficient evidence to back up the measure.

On 28 February, Wei Liangyue drove to pick up his wife Du Yongjing from a gathering at her friend’s home. The police accused them of “attending a Falun Gong meeting” and took them to Nangang District Detention Centre in Harbin. Both of them were interrogated repeatedly during the detention. Wei Liangyue was once interrogated throughout the entire night, but was not tortured.

Before the detention, Wei Liangyue has been repeatedly warned by the local authorities that he had to stop representing detained Falun Gong practitioners and should stop giving them not guilty defence.

Wei Liangyue believes that international attention and pressure contributed to him and his wife’s temporary release, and would like to thank those who have taken actions for them.

Sudan (101/09)

Mohamed Al Mahjoub was released without charge on 17 April. He had spent six days detained incommunicado by the National Security and Intelligence Services (NISS) in El Fasher, North Darfur. He is in good health, and has said that he was not tortured. He is not allowed to leave El Fasher.

He appears to have been detained solely because of his peaceful professional activities as Director of the Amal centre for the treatment and rehabilitation of victims of torture, in El Fasher.

Some Fair News

USA - Ohio (076/09)

Brett Hartman received a stay of execution from the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on 31 March. He was due to be put to death in Ohio on 7 April for the murder of Winda Snipes in 1997.

Lawyers for Brett Hartman had appealed to the Sixth Circuit to stay the execution and allow them to file a new habeas corpus petition on the grounds that there was new evidence supporting Brett Hartman's claim of innocence. The court has stayed the execution but has not at this time allowed the petition to go ahead under the stringent rules that apply in US federal law to filing successive habeas corpus petitions. The Sixth Circuit panel of three judges granted the stay on the grounds that “the harm in executing Hartman, if he is indeed innocent, would be irreversible, and temporarily staying the execution would not cause substantial harm to others”. In addition, it said, “while the state has an important interest in enforcing its criminal judgments, executing an innocent man would not be in the state’s interest, and could undermine the public’s confidence in Ohio’s criminal justice system”.

Brett Hartman’s lawyers have said that the evidence they want to put before the courts shows that one of the state’s key witnesses, a jailhouse informant, may have committed perjury when he testified at the trial that Hartman had confessed to the murder. The lawyers are also seeking access to crime scene evidence for DNA testing. In its 31 March decision, the Sixth Circuit noted that the US Supreme Court is considering in another case the question of the state’s obligation relating to DNA testing of evidence that could be relevant to a prisoner’s claim of innocence, and that “depending on the scope of the Supreme Court’s holding, its decision could create a constitutional right entitling Hartman access to the crime scene evidence he currently seeks”. The Sixth Circuit would then be “in a better position” to consider whether Hartman could make the necessary showing for the court to authorize a new habeas corpus petition challenging his conviction and death sentence.

The Ohio authorities did not appeal the Sixth Circuit stay to the US Supreme Court.

The Ohio Parole Board had recommended that Governor Ted Strickland not intervene to stop the execution. The governor, who is not bound by this recommendation, had not made a decision on the case by the time the judicial stay was handed down.

And Some Bad News

Italy (073/09)

Milan authorities forcibly evicted a community of about 150 Roma people living under an overpass in the north of the city early in the morning of 31 March. According to local newspapers, 70 out of about 150 Roma people were dispersed without being given alternative accommodation. Some families had been already rehoused in temporary shelters provided by NGOs. One family accepted temporary shelter in the city’s dormitory.

It appears that there has been no consultation with the community on the proposed evictions, nor consistent attempts to consult with them on any feasible alternatives to the evictions. The authorities appear not to have prepared any plans for adequate alternative housing nor held discussions with all individuals likely to be affected. The municipality's practice on previous occasions has been to offer some form of shelter in the short term (weeks or a few months), and only to women and small children, in the city’s dormitories for homeless people. Before being evicted, the community were living in tents and makeshift shelters under the Bacula overpass, with no running water, sewerage or electricity. Without alternative accommodation, the families face having to move to another makeshift camp or risk complete homelessness.

Most of the Roma people living in the Bacula camp have previously experienced at least one forced eviction. Approximately 110 of them are believed to have been forcibly evicted, in April 2008, from another unauthorized camp in the city, in via Bovisasca. Several of the previous forced evictions involved the destruction of property, including shelters, clothes, mattresses, and, in some instances, medicines and documents.

Amnesty International will continue monitoring the situation of the community, and take further campaigning action as necessary.

Mexico (088/09)

The charred bodies of Miguel Alejandro Gama Habif, Israel Ayala Martínez and Aarón Rojas de la Fuente, were found 15km south of the town of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas state, on 5 May.

The three men were driving through Nuevo Laredo on 17 March when they were stopped and detained by soldiers. At first only Miguel Alejandro Gama Habif and Israel Ayala Martínez were reported missing, presumed detained by the military, but subsequent information confirmed that another man, Aarón Rojas de la Fuente, was in the car with them. On 8 May, the Ministry of National Defence announced that 12 soldiers had been formally charged after a military prosecutor had ordered their arrest in connection with the three men’s deaths. No further information regarding the charges or the investigation has been provided by the authorities.

A local human rights organization aiding the relatives of the three men has claimed that other members of the army may have been implicated in the men's disappearance.

On numerous occasions, Amnesty International has expressed deep concern at the application of military jurisdiction for the investigation, prosecution and trial of serious human rights violations committed by members of the Mexican armed forces. Over many years, Amnesty International has documented that this practice consistently results in lack of information for victims and relatives, deficient investigations and systematic impunity for those members of the army implicated in serious human rights violations. The organization continues to call for such crimes to be passed to civilian justice system for investigation and trial.

Iran (098/09)

On 1 May 2009, Delara Darabi was executed in Rasht Prison, northern Iran. Neither her parents nor her lawyers were notified before her execution, though under Iranian law her lawyer should receive 48 hours' notice.

According to her lawyer, on the day before her execution, Delara Darabi’s mother visited her in prison. Delara told her “If I come out of prison, I want to continue my education. I would like to be free. One of the judges promised that I would be pardoned. Delara Darabi added: “Mother, I am innocent”. At 7am on 1 May, Delara Darabi phoned her family saying that she was about to be executed and asking her parents to save her. During the conversation, someone took the phone receiver away from Delara Darabi and told her parents that their child would be killed and that there was nothing they could do about it. The Darabi family then rushed to the prison asking to see their daughter and were denied a final meeting with her. Whilst they were standing outside the prison, their daughter was executed. Delara Darabi’s parents informed her lawyers of her execution.

Delara Darabi was buried on 2 May, in a cemetery in Rasht called "Heaven's Garden". Hundreds of people attended her funeral. Her father could not attend the ceremony as he was in hospital.

In September 2003, Delara Darabi, then aged 17, and her 19-year-old boyfriend Amir Hossein Sotoudeh broke into her father’s female cousin’s house to commit a burglary. Amir Hossein allegedly killed the woman during the burglary. Delara Darabi initially confessed to the murder in order to protect her boyfriend from execution, claiming that he had told her that as she was 17 she could not be executed. She subsequently retracted her confession.

Delara Darabi was initially sentenced to death by Branch 10 of the General Court in Rasht on 27 February 2005. In January 2006, the Supreme Court found "deficiencies" in the case and sent it to a children’s court in Rasht for retrial. Following two trial sessions in January and June 2006, Delara Darabi was sentenced to death for a second time by Branch 107 of the General Court in Rasht. Amir Hossein Sotoudeh was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for complicity in the murder. Both received sentences of three years’ imprisonment and 50 lashes for robbery, and 20 lashes for an "illicit relationship". Delara Darabi’s death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court on 16 January 2007.

In March 2007, her lawyer filed an appeal against her death sentence. In April 2007 the sentence was confirmed following a further review by Branch 7 of the Supreme Court, after which the verdict was sent to the Head of the Judiciary for consideration. In December 2007, as a result of procedural flaws having been identified, the Head of Judiciary reportedly returned the case to Rasht for a further review. In February 2008, human rights lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei was reported to have visited Delara Darabi in prison. She was said to be very depressed and told Mohammad Mostafaei that she was tired of the waiting and of her unbearable life in prison (for further information see UA 04/06, MDE 13/001/2006, 6 January 2006 and follow-ups).

Iran has now executed at least 43 juvenile offenders since 1990, eight of them in 2008. Delara Darabi was the second juvenile offender to be executed this year. There are at least 137 juvenile offenders on death row in Iran. The execution of juvenile offenders is prohibited under international law, as stated in Article 6(5) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), to which Iran is a state party, and so has undertaken not to execute anyone for crimes committed when they were under 18.

For more information about executions of child offenders in Iran, please see Iran: The last executioner of children (Index: MDE 13/059/2007), June 2007, (http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engmde130592007).