THEY CALL IT RELIGIOUS FREEDOM!!

        An appeal from Amnesty International.

Stoning.

       It’s designed to cause maximum suffering. It generally takes between 20 minutes and two agonising hours to kill someone. Those sentenced to death are more likely to be poor and marginalised, particularly women.

And as you read this, 14 people in Iran are at risk of this inhumane death.

Take action: stop stoning 

How to stone someone to death.

      Stoning is mandatory under Iranian law for men and women convicted of ‘adultery while married’.

The Penal Code explains in chilling detail how to carry out the punishment, from how deeply to bury the victim in the ground to the size of the stones to use: not so large as to kill too quickly, not so small as to cause too little hurt.

Watch Shappi Khorsandi explain how a stoning is carried out 

How to help stop stoning.

        However, right now the Iranian authorities are reviewing that very document - the Penal Code - which details all the country’s criminal law. They can and should remove stoning from it.

With your pressure we can encourage them to end this barbaric practice, once and for all.

Call on the Iranian authorities to stop stoning

Thank you,

Clare Bracey
Death Penalty Campaigner

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THE STATE, - A COLD BLOODED KILLER.

       

         The state is the most brutal organisation on the face of the planet, it has no hesitation in sending its own people to foreign lands to kill and maim innocent civilians in their homeland, it will unleash weapons of unimaginable devastation on cities and villages in country after country killing and injuring thousand, and claim the actions are legitimate. These brutal actions do not make the state's cold blooded legalised killing of one of its own citizens any less barbaric.

         This is a statement from Amnesty International on the recent execution of Troy Davis.

          In the early hours of this morning, after a torturous delay of more than 4 hours, the state of Georgia executed Troy Anthony Davis by lethal injection. Despite the serious doubts about his guilt. Despite millions calling on Georgia to reconsider.

Write a message of solidarity to Troy's family

         Like you, I am not only sad but outraged that this has happened. I was there last night with hundreds of others at a vigil outside the US embassy. We continued to hope, right up until the last moment, that those with the power to do so would wake up and prevent this injustice. They did not

       Today, Georgia didn't just kill Troy Davis, they killed the faith and confidence of Georgians, Americans and Troy Davis supporters worldwide in the US criminal justice system.

My colleague, Wende at AIUSA met with Troy yesterday to convey the support that he has had from all of you. He asked us to deliver this message back to you:

"The struggle for justice doesn't end with me. This struggle is for all the Troy Davises who came before me and all the ones who will come after me. I'm in good spirits and I'm prayerful and at peace." Troy Davis

Soon we will channel all the outrage we’re feeling into redoubling our efforts for all the other Troy Davises. But today, we simply stand in solidarity with Troy’s family on this darkest of days. Send a message to Troy’s family now

You must know that your support has been a huge comfort to Troy and his family. Thank you for everything you have done.

I am Troy Davis. You are Troy Davis. We will not stop fighting for justice.



Kate Allen
Amnesty UK Director

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SAVE TROY DAVIS.

                                                                                                             An appeal from Amnesty International, this could be our last chance the life of Troy Davis. A judge in the US state of Georgia has ordered the execution of Troy Davis to take place on Wednesday 21 September 2011. After 20 years on death row, Troy has exhausted every avenue  for appeal from the state level to the Supreme Court. We now  have only one hope: clemency. The Georgia parole board meets on Monday 19 September. They could decide to allow Troy’s execution to go ahead as scheduled – or they could grant clemency and therefore commute  his sentence to life in prison or life without parole. This is Troy’s last chance to avoid execution. Please email the Georgia parole board and urge them to grant clemency Over 300,000 of you have already signed a global petition for Troy, and many more have written to him personally over the years.  But right now we must continue to remind the state of Georgia that in a matter of life and death there is no room for doubt - and there are massive doubts in this case: No physical evidence links Troy to the crime of which he was convicted. Seven of the nine non-police witnesses on whose evidence he was convicted have since recanted or contradicted their testimony. Many witnesses stated they were pressured or coerced by police. Nine individuals have signed affidavits implicating an alternative suspect. As long as there is hope we must continue to fight – for Troy, for his family, for his fundamental human right to life and to be spared this ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. Take action – send an email now These are dark days for Troy and all of us who have supported him over the years – but remember: execution is not inevitable. I will be in touch soon to update you on events and any other ways you can help. However, for now it is essential that you email the parole board straight away. Time is fast running out for Troy. In hope, Clare Bracey Death Penalty Campaigner ann arky's home.

PROFIT FROM KILLING!!!

        We all know that the corporate world is not a compassionate beast and it will try to squeeze a profit out of anything, including wars, death and destruction. However there must be limits and making investments in cluster bombs when over 100 countries have banned them, is surely the bottom of the barrel, even for the greed merchants in the corporate world.

The following appeal is from Amnesty International.

        Cluster bombs kill and maim indiscriminately – 98 per cent of victims are civilians and a third of those are children. This is why over 100 countries – including the UK – have signed up to an international treaty banning their manufacture and use.

       Yet over a year after this treaty came into force, and despite the fact that cluster bombs are now banned in the UK, some UK-based banks continue to invest in companies which make them.

Stop investment in companies that make cluster bombs

        The worst of these is the Royal Bank of Scotland – which, don’t forget, is now over 80 per cent owned by UK taxpayers. RBS is known to have invested $80 million in companies which manufacture cluster bombs in the past year¹.

Take action: email the Chief Executive of RBS now

        Cluster bombs can remain deadly for years, much like landmines. So civilians in places like Georgia, Kosovo, Lebanon and Laos are at risk long after the fighting has ended. As a member of the global Cluster Munition Coalition², we’re working to end the suffering cluster bombs cause. But we need organisations like RBS to take responsibility for the part they play.

        Should a taxpayer-funded bank be investing in companies making weapons which are banned by this country? Should any bank invest in companies which make these appalling weapons?

If you think not, please take action now

Thank you.

1. Worldwide investment in Cluster Munitions: a shared responsibility – May 2011 update [IKV Pax Christi (the Netherlands) and Netwerk Vlaanderen (Belgium)]

2. The Cluster Munition Coalition is an international civil society campaign working to eradicate cluster munitions, prevent further casualties from these weapons and put an end for all time to the suffering they cause. The Coalition works through its members in around 100 countries to change the policy and practice of governments and organisations towards these aims and raise awareness of the problem amongst the public.

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THE TORTURE OF TRADE UNIONISTS.

     

      As we here in the West struggle with the repression and exploitation inflicted on us by corporate capitalism, let's not forget those in the developing world who suffer  far more harsh exploitation and a far more brutal repression, sometimes even death for doing what we do,  fight for a better life. This brutality takes place on a daily basis across countless countries, below is just one more of this sickening onslaught against ordinary people, another case of brutal repression to safeguard the wealth and power of that toxic, festering marriage of state and corporate capitalism.

Solidarity.

       Basile Mahan Gahé, general secretary of the national trade union center Dignité (whose food and hotel section is affiliated to the IUF) has been transferred from detention in Abidjan to a prison in Boundiali, where he is reportedly only given one meal a day. The trade union leader was kidnapped from his Abidjan home on May 26 and held without charges. Amnesty International believes it has credible reports that he was tortured, particularly in the early days of his detention.

       On June 2, he was visited by an ILO mission which included Mody Guiro, ITUC African regional president/ITUC vice-president. For the mission, Gahé was transferred from his police cell to the Hotel Pergola (transformed into a detention center). The mission over, the prosecutor brought charges - reportedly involving sedition and armed action against the state. - and had him transferred on July 9 to the remote location in the northeast.

We all need a hand.

      Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara has repeatedly called for national reconciliation - yet a trade union leader is being illegally held without charges. All of the country's trade union organizations, other national and international trade union organizations have called for his release. Amnesty International considers him a prisoner at risk of torture.

       Act now! - click here to send a message to President Ouattara (with copies to Ivory Coast embassies in France and Belgium) calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Basile Mahan Gahé.

Ron Oswald.

General Secretary, IUF.

International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF)

8, rampe du Pont-Rouge
1213 Petit Lancy, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 793 22 33
Fax: +41 22 793 22 38
web-site: http://www.iuf.org/

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NOBODY SHOULD DIE LIKE THIS.

     This is an appeal through Amnesty International, it is an appeal from one human being to another, deportation should not mean death. Migration is not a crime, the system we live under means that on occasions migration is the only way to survive. Nor should you be punished for trying to seek a better life for you and your family under what is a very brutal and exploitive system, corporate capitalism.

     Last October, my husband Jimmy Mubenga was put on a plane accompanied by three private security guards to be forcibly removed from the UK. We had lived in the UK for 16 years and our five children were born here.

      Jimmy died during the removal process. I found out that his death was probably due to the dangerous and abusive techniques used to restrain him. Before he died, witnesses on the plane heard Jimmy cry out that the guards were going to kill him. No one should die like this. Please stop it from happening again

      The guards are under investigation for alleged manslaughter and are currently on bail. I am left struggling to bring up our five children without a father.

      I would not want anyone to have to go through what our family is suffering. Yet there have been many other reports of people being injured while being removed from the UK. If nothing is done it is only a matter of time before there is another death.

      To prevent this, I ask that you write to Home Secretary Theresa May urging her to make the system more humane. This must include proper training of staff carrying out removals, independent monitoring, and making private companies more accountable.

Please take this action in memory of my husband, Jimmy Mubenga.

Thank you,
Adrienne Makenda Kambana  (Jimmy Mubenga's widow)

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