Amnesty International
Solidarity Files: Human Rights cases
by other Amnesty International groups
Group 27, Victoria

group 27
Amnesty International
Victoria, BC

update: 5 December 2005 


  Group 27
  P.O. BOX 5217 Stn. B
  Victoria BC V8R 6N4

e-mail address Group 27: aivictoria@wraytimes.com website: group27@wraytimes.com

Web master © tvh Systems,Inc.
Host of this web page:
Wray Times

launched on January 18, 2001

About the solidarity site

Join Hands for Human Rights

At the 2004 Annual General Meeting of Amnesty International, Canada (English Speaking) the desire to communicate and co-operate was stronger then ever. As with Group 65's action to free prisoner of conscience Thich Huyen Quang of Vietnam, other groups, too, asked for support for their causes. Group 27 will update the Solidarity site to the best of our ability and invites fellow members to link up.

If you have questions regarding taking action, please contact Groups. Also, it helps a lot if you let Groups know when you had taken action and in case you have received responses.

Viet Nam:
Thich Huyen Quang     Top

Prisoner of Conscience

(freedom of religion and freedom of expression)
  • For: the Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, Supreme Patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Viet Nam
  • Concern: Ill-health and continued house arrest - release him and drop charges
  • Issued by: Group 65
  • For taking action, please contact: Stan and Kay at Group 65 group65@yahoo.com

USA: Death Penalty     Top

Death Penalty

Texas, USA, accounted for 23
of the 59 executions
carried out in the USA in 2004.
    Eight people prosecuted in the Texas jurisdiction of Harris County were executed during the year, despite concern around the reliability of forensic evidence processed through the Houston Police Department (HPD) crime laboratory where serious problems had been uncovered in 2003.
    In October 2004 a judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said that there should be "a moratorium on all executions in cases where convictions were based on evidence from the HPD crime lab until the reliability of the evidence has been verified". His was the only dissenting voice when the Court denied death row inmate Dominque Green’s request for a stay of execution on the basis of concern around the accuracy of the HPD’s ballistics work in his case, and the discovery of 280 boxes of mislabelled evidence that could affect thousands of criminal cases. Dominque Green was executed on 26 October.
    (See also Amnesty International USA: Dead wrong: The case of Nanon Williams, child offender facing execution on flawed evidence, January 2004, AI Index: AMR 51/002/2004.)

The death penalty worldwide: developments in 2004 (5 April 2005), AI Index: ACT 50/001/2005

Israel/ OT:
The impact of movement restrictions on the right to work		 Top

new report: Women carry the Burden

(freedom of movement, freedom to work, education, health, culture)
  • For: People affected by the fence/wall, by curfews and roadblocks within the Occupied Territories
  • Concern: restrictions, discrimination, ill-treatment
  • Issued by: Group 27

  Myanmar: Human Rights Concerns

 Top

About: Human Rights Concerns in Myanmar (Burma)


issued by: Group 79 Malmø, Sweden  
go to: Senaste burmanytt

contact: Group 79   Malmø Sweden
also see: Osmo Vallo

  China: Death Penalty

 Top

Death Penalty Abolition


  • For: Persons with death sentence in the People’s Republic of China
  • Concern: Death Penalty - impose moratorium
  • Issued by: Amnesty International, Canada

    Information


    • see Avdo Palic update

    Release on humanitarian grounds

    • For: Dr. May Win Myint
    • Concern: Prolonged prison sentence and ill-health
    • Issued by: Group 45, Markham/Stouffville Canada
      contact:achalk@pathcom.com
    At least 24 political prisoners remained in detention after they had served their sentences. They included six student leaders and around 10 alleged members of the Communist Party of Burma, the majority of whom had been imprisoned since 1989 or 1991. They also included two prisoners of conscience, Daw May Win Myint and Than Nyein, both NLD MPs elect, who suffered severe and chronic health problems during the year. AI annual report, 2005
    current documents:
    • News and Documents
    • 1 March 2005
      MEDICAL DOCTORS AND MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT
      Ill and imprisoned without charge or trial - AI Index: ASA 16/012/2005
    sample appeal, issued by Group 45: (May 2005)

    Prime Minister Lt.- General Soe Win
    Office of the Prime Minister
    Theinbyu Road
    Botahtaung Toenship
    Yangon
    Union of Myanmar

        Dear Prime Minister,

        As a citizen of Canada, I am dismayed to learn of the indefinite extension of the prison sentence of Dr. May Win Myint. She has almost completed her original sentence of seven years in Insein Prison for the peaceful expression of her political views. At 55 years of age, she has developed multiple physical disorders.

        Believing that her severely deteriorating health would be better addressed outside of prison, I respectly appeal for her immediate and unconditional release on humanitarian grounds.

        Sincerely,

    Name:

    Address:

    Date:

    Other sources
    • Democratic Voice of Burma (February 2005)
    • Physicians for Human Rights: Update on the case
    • Resolution adopted unanimously by the IPU Governing Council at its 176th session (Manila, 8 April 2005)
    • US Campaign for Burma (21 March 2005)
    • The National League for Democracy (NLD) (April 2005)

    Prisoner of Conscience

    (freedom of expression)
    • For: Siamak Pourzand, Journalist in Iran
    • Concern: held in hospital in ill health apart from family - release him to his daughter in Canada and drop all charges
    • Issued by: daughter
      Contact: pourzandcampaign@yahoo.ca

    As of April 2005, Pourzand has been on conditional medical leave from prison.

    Every two weeks, he is required to submit to the medical office at Evin a medical report on his condition. Family members have secured a small apartment for him in Tehran. The charges against Pourzand remain.
    Source, (not Amnesty International): PEN Canada

    Updates - some sources:

    • Iran AI annual report 2005Covering events from January - December 2004

    "Disappeared"

    • For: Avdo Palic
    • Concern:
      "We have been working since March 2001 on the case of Avdo Palic, a disappeared prisoner from Bosnia. Please visit our Palic page at mindswithoutborders.org. We would like to increase exposure for our action file [...] Thank you for your help."
    • Issued by: Brigitte C., AIUSA Group 23 in Houston, Action file co-ordinator
    Latest Developments

    Greetings from Amnesty International Group 23 in Houston, USA.

    Some of you have been kind enough to write letters over the years on behalf of our "disappeared" prisoner, Avdo Palic of Bosnia. His wife Esma emailed us last week saying that the Commission for Human Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina has given the Republika Srpska (RS) till the end of the year to make up for its omissions in investigating the Palic case. This means that the RS has to carry out a complete investigation into the fate of Avdo Palic and give his wife full information about the case before the end of the year [2005].

    We must take this opportunity to put pressure on the RS to fulfill its obligations and we ask you to send a quick email to the RS Minister of Defense asap. Go to and just copy and paste. It will take you just a few seconds. A few hundred emails at this time may be just what we need to push the RS into resolving this case once and for all.

    This case will also be included in the write-a-thon. If you want to refresh your memory about the case, go to mindswithoutborders.org.

    If you have the time, please forward this request as widely as possible. We thank you, and Mrs Palic thanks you. I quote below from her email to us:

    "I take advantage of the opportunity to write to you and say that, at the time of the tenth anniversary of the arrest of my husband Avdo Palic, along with the closeness of a small number of friends, I feel your sincere support that has not, even after so many years, lost the firm intention of your organization for us both to continue on the road to the truth about my husband. It is superfluous to say "thank you" but I must admit that it is a satisfaction for me when I know that I am not alone, that there are people and organizations in the world that struggle for human rights. I am firm about continuing to the end in connection with the fate of my husband, no matter how others may see this, but still, I am happy when people understand my struggle and give me support as you and your organization have done." 

    Phivan Wright 
Amnesty International Houston
281-587 5386
    amnestyhouston.org

    Human Rights workers under threat

    • For: Irene Fernandez, sentenced to 12 months in prison for reporting on migrant worker’s plight in Malaysia
    • Concern: Release Fernandez, allow organisation to work unhindered
    • contact: AICS(ES)
    • Gallery of Human Rights Defenders: Irene Fernandez
    • Irene Fernandez defends rights of migrant workers despite conviction

    Prisoners of Conscience


    (freedom of assembly and expression) Khin Maung Win was arrested on 18 August 2002 for staging a peaceful demonstration outside City Hall in Yangon, with fellow law student Thet Naung Soe. He had reportedly handed out leaflets the previous day, calling on authorities to initiate political dialogue with the NLD. He was sentenced to 7 years and is held in Insein Prison

    source: AI Index: ASA 16/007/2004 (1 December 2004)

    Prisoner of Conscience

    (freedom of association)
    • For: Quin Yongmin, tried to register a political organisation
    • Concern: imprisonment, ill-health - immediate release
    • Issued by: AI Edmonton Group 12/26 

    [date]

Zhang Fusen Buzhang
Sifabu
10 Chaoyangmen Nandaijie Chaoyanqu
Beijingshi 1000029
People's Republic of China

Your Excellency;

In 1998 Qin Yongmin was sentenced 
to 12 years' imprisonment 
for his peaceful activities in support
of democracy and human rights. 
He is held in Hanyang Prison 
and is reported to be in very poor health.

I respectfully appeal for his 
immediate and unconditional release. 
This would respect Articles 19 and 20 of the 
declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations, 
of which China is a leading member.

Sincerely;

name:

address: