Urgent Action News December 2011, nsw, Amnesty International Australia

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Urgent Action News December 2011

Published on 29/11/2011
Urgent Action Network (NSW)

Some Good News

Iran (216/08)

Prisoner of conscience Doctor Arash Alaei was released from Evin Prison in Tehran on 27 August 2011 where he had been serving a six year sentence. His release followed a pardon by the Supreme Leader. His brother, Kamiar Alaei, another doctor, is also free.

Arash Alaei is an internationally renowned expert in the prevention and treatment of HIV and AIDS. He was arrested in June 2008 and sentenced to six years in prison after conviction of “co-operating with an enemy government”. He had not been politically active. He was held in pre-trial detention for months without access to a lawyer and was given an unfair trial in which secret evidence was produced that he was not allowed to see or challenge.

Iran (060/09)

Prisoner of conscience Mohammad Pour Abdollah was released from Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, west of Tehran, on 27 August 2011 where he had been serving a three-year sentence. He was released following a pardon by the Supreme Leader.

He was arrested at his house in Tehran on 12 February 2009. Held for over one month in solitary confinement at Evin Prison, he was transferred on 18 March 2009 to Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, west of Tehran. His six-year prison term, on charges of “gathering and colluding with the aim of harming national security, propaganda against the system and membership of groups opposed to the system”, was reduced to three years on appeal.

Students for Freedom and Equality is a left-wing student organization that was established around 2006 with objectives including the establishment of a nationwide students’ network and an end to a military presence in Iranian universities. It was involved in organizing peaceful demonstrations in December 2007, following which around 70 people were arrested, the majority of whom were members of Students for Freedom and Equality.

Iran (062/10)

Prisoner of conscience Milad Asadi was released from Evin Prison in Tehran on 27 August 2011 where he had been serving a seven year prison sentence. His release followed a pardon by the Supreme Leader.

Milad Asadi, aged about 24, was a student of electrical engineering at Khajeh Nasir University at the time of his arrest on 1 December 2009. He was also a leading member of the Office for the Consolidation of Unity, a national student body which has been prominent in demanding political reform and an end to human rights violations in recent years.

Milad Asadi was held for weeks in solitary confinement in a small cell of two square metres. He was sentenced to seven years in prison in May 2010 by Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court on charges which included “insulting Iran’s leaders” and “acting against national security”.

Sudan (123/11)

On 17 August, Darfuri activist Shakir Abdelrahman Adam, who was arrested in connection to protests at Nyala University, Sudan, was released without charge after a court ruled that he had been wrongfully arrested.

On 20 April around 100 people were arrested following demonstrations at Nyala University, Nyala, capital of South Darfur state in Sudan. Over 30 people were subsequently charged, and many were detained. Amongst those detained was Shakir Abdelrahman Adam, who has a severe stomach ulcer, and suffered from ill-health.

He was reportedly tortured in detention, but was released without charge on 17 August. He had been arrested with four other students: Habieb Yahya Abdellah, Abdelraziq Mohamed Omar, Saeed Adam Abdelrahim Abdellah, Mohamed Abdalla (also known as Mohamed Ali Clay), who were also released without charge in June.

On 20 April, students and activists took part in demonstrations at Nyala University. Security forces surrounded the university and arrested around 100 people. The students and activists were demonstrating against the poor living conditions and insecurity in Darfur as well as for accountability for human rights violations committed in Darfur.

Syria (290/11)

Syrian activist Ghassan Yasin was released from detention on 10 November. He had been held since 18 August.

A source has told Amnesty International that on 3 November Ghassan Yasin was brought before judicial authorities in his home town, Aleppo, northern Syria, on charges related to the organization of protests and insulting the president. According to the same source, a judicial official informed Ghassan Yasin that he would be among a number of detainees who the authorities were planning to release on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, a religious holiday.

Amnesty International's source stated that Ghassan Yasin was initially held at the Political Security branch in Aleppo, from where he was transferred to the central prison in Aleppo on 10 October. Two days later, he was reportedly moved to the Political Security branch in Syria's capital, Damascus, where he remained until 29 October. It appears that he was then taken to the Military Security branch in Aleppo, before being brought back to the central prison in Aleppo on 2 November.

USA (308/11)

The Governor of Oregon has blocked an imminent execution, of Gary Haugen, which would have been the first in this US state since 1997 and only the third since 1962 – and said that he will allow no further executions while he is governor.

He said that Oregon’s death penalty was “neither fair nor just”, nor “swift or certain”, and that it was a “perversion of justice that the single best indicator of who will and who will not be executed” in Oregon is whether a prisoner “volunteers” for execution by giving up their appeals. He noted that many judges, prosecutors, legislators and victim family members were now in agreement that Oregon’s capital justice system is “broken”. He also pointed to the fact that in recent years, legislators and governors in Illinois, New Jersey and New Mexico had banned the death penalty, recognizing its unfairness, risks, costs and inequities.

He concluded by saying that he was sure that Oregon can find a “better solution”, one that ensures public safety and “supports the victims of crime and their families”. Fourteen years ago, he said “I struggled with the decision to allow an execution to proceed. Over the years I have thought that if faced with the same set of circumstances I would make a different decision. That time has come”.

Governor Kitzhaber was elected to a third four-year term as governor in 2010, taking office in January 2011. His term runs until January 2015.

Some Fair News

Iran (195/11)

Farzad Haghshenas, an environmental activist and member of the NGO, Sabzchia (The Green Mountain Society), was released on bail on 1 October.

A member of the Kurdish minority in Iran, Farzad Haghshenas, 35, was released from the Marivan Intelligence detention facility in Kordestan Province, north-western Iran, after the payment of about 520 million rials bail (about US$ 50,000). Throughout his detention he was held in solitary confinement. He is likely to face prosecution in the future.

Farzad Haghshenas was arrested on 18 May in front of his confectionary shop in Marivan by members of the Ministry of Intelligence. No reason was given for his arrest, and it is not known whether he has been charged.

Syria (255/11)

Syrian activist Walid al-Bunni and his son Mu’ayad al-Bunni, who had been held incommunicado after their arrest on 6 August 2011, appear to no longer be at risk of torture.

Walid al-Bunni has been charged and is currently awaiting trial. He now has regular contact with his family and lawyers. Mu’ayad al-Bunni, aged 18, was released on bail. Walid al-Bunni is a prominent activist in Syria. On 6 August, Walid al-Bunni and his two sons, Mu’ayad al-Bunni and Iyad al-Bunni, aged 18 and 19 respectively, were arrested by armed men believed to be part of the Syrian Political Security forces. While Iyad al-Bunni was later released, no information on the whereabouts of his father and brother were made public, raising fears that they were at serious risk of torture and other ill-treatment.

Mu’ayad al-Bunni was released on bail in mid-September on charges related to participation in demonstrations and protests. His next appearance before a criminal court is set for 28 October.

On 27 September, Walid al-Bunni was referred to an investigating criminal court judge. The judge ordered his transferral to ‘Adra prison, where he is awaiting trial. His next court appearance is scheduled for 27 November but Amnesty International was advised that his lawyers will be applying for his release on 9 October. The charges raised against him reportedly relate to incitement, funding of pro-reform demonstrations and causing sectarian strife.

According to Amnesty International’s contacts, Walid al-Bunni and his son were beaten during the first two days of their detention but were not subjected to further ill-treatment during the rest of their detention.

Zimbabwe (288/11)

Two leaders of the Zimbabwean social justice movement Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) have been released from prison, and are due to appear in court on 12 December. They had been arrested in September, while attempting to join a peaceful march, and denied bail.

Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu were arrested with 10 other WOZA activists on 21 September after police used excessive force to break up a peaceful march marking United Nations International Day of Peace. Ten of these activists were released without charge after prosecutors refused to prosecute them, but Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu were charged with “kidnapping and theft”, denied bail and remanded in custody at Mlondolozi Prison, near Bulawayo. They were detained for 13 days without access to necessary medication, despite the fact that both women were recovering from recent surgical operations.

On 4 October a Bulawayo High Court judge ordered that Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu be released from custody and granted bail, after lawyers appealed against the decision to deny them bail. They are set to appear in court on 12 December.

And Some Bad News

USA (225/11)

Manuel Valle, a 61-year-old Cuban national, was executed on the evening of 28 September in the US state of Florida.

He had been convicted of the murder of a police officer in 1978 and was 27 years old when first sent to death row. He had spent over three decades under the threat of execution. The execution was delayed for three hours while the US Supreme Court considered and ultimately denied Manuel Valle’s final appeal seeking a stay of execution on the grounds that an execution following decades of incarceration was a cruel and unusual punishment. In his dissenting opinion, Justice Breyer wrote “I have little doubt about the cruelty of so long a period of incarceration under sentence of death… The commonly accepted justifications for the death penalty are close to nonexistent in a case such as this one.”

There have been 37 executions in the USA this year with Manuel Valle being the first person executed in Florida in 2011. There have been 1,271 executions in the USA since judicial killing resumed there in 1977 after almost a decade without them. Florida accounts for 69 of this national total.

Iraq (226/11)

Tunisian national Yosri ben Fakher Trigui was executed in Iraq on 16 November along with 10 other people.

The Iraqi Deputy Justice Minister appeared to confirm this information on 17 November, saying, as reported by the Associated Press (AP) that a Tunisian national had been executed on 16 November along with an Egyptian man and nine Iraqis.

Yosri ben Fakher Trigui was arrested for his alleged involvement in terrorist acts. In October 2006 he was sentenced to death by the Central Criminal Court of Iraq (CCCI) in Baghdad. He was convicted of participating in the 2006 bomb attack on the al-‘Askari Shi’a shrine in Samarra, Salahuddin province, and of involvement in the killing of a journalist from the Al Arabiya TV channel.

USA (331/11)

Reginald Brooks, a 66-year-old man diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was executed in Ohio, USA on 15 November, after nearly three decades on death row. He was sentenced to death in November 1983 for killing his three sons in March 1982.

Reginald Brooks’ lawyers continued their efforts in the courts to obtain a stay of execution. On 14 November, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit refused to grant a stay to allow further litigation on the question of whether Reginald Brooks was incompetent to be executed under US constitutional law (whether his mental illness meant he did not have a rational understanding of his punishment), and on the claim that the state had withheld from Reginald Brooks’ trial lawyers evidence pointing to his mental illness around the time of the crime. The federal court ruled that the rejection of these claims by the state courts had not been unreasonable.

The Sixth Circuit noted the recent sworn statement from one of the judges who had sentenced Reginald Brooks to death in 1983 that he would not have voted for death if he had known then what he knew now in relation to Brooks’ mental illness. His statement was “not the kind of thing we see every day”, the Sixth Circuit noted, but “it does not change things, and it would set a dangerous precedent if it did”.

Reginald Brooks was pronounced dead at 2.04pm.

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.

216-08 Iran Good

021-09 Saudi Arabia (DP) Bad

060-09 Iran Good

062-10 Iran Good

261-10 Tajikistan Good

123-11 Sudan Good

184-11 Kuwait Good

195-11 Iran Fair

211-11 Tajikistan Fair

225-11 USA (DP) Bad

226-11 Iraq (DP) Bad

245-11 UK Bad

253-11 Serbia Bad

255-11 Syria Fair

258-11 Syria Fair

270-11 Pakistan Good

277-11 China (DP) Bad

288-11 Zimbabwe Fair

290-11 Syria Good

308-11 USA (DP) Good

325-11 USA (DP) Bad

327-11 Sth Sudan Good

331-11 USA (DP) Bad

You can also read about other Amnesty International Urgent Action good news on our web site at http://www.amnesty.org.au/iar/archive/C28/

The UA Team

Also, if you are still receiving Urgent Actions and this newsletter via post, and you have an email address that we can use instead, please let us know at uansw@amnesty.org.au and we will move you over to our email distribution.