Amnesty International Group 22 Pasadena/Caltech News
Volume XIV Number 1, January 2006
UPCOMING EVENTS
Thursday, January 26, 7:30 PM. Monthly Meeting Caltech Y is located off
San Pasqual between Hill and Holliston, south side. You will see two
curving walls forming a gate to a path-- our building is just beyond.
Help us plan future actions on Sudan, the War on Terror, death penalty
and more.
Tuesday, February 14, 7:30 PM. Letter-writing Meeting at the Athenaeum.
Corner of California & Hill. Look for our table downstairs in the
cafeteria area. This informal gathering is a great for newcomers to
get acquainted with Amnesty!
Sunday, February 19, 6:30 PM. Rights Readers Human Rights Book
Discussion Group. Vroman's Book Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd.,
Pasadena. This month we read Lorraine Adams' novel about Algerian
immigrants, Harbor (More below.)
Monday, February 20. Vigils and Demonstrations on the eve of the
scheduled execution of Michael Morales. See www.deathpenalty.org for a
list of events.
Thursday, March 9, 7:00 PM. Conscientious Projector Screening of
"Deadline." Metro Gallery, 64 North Raymond Avenue, Old Pasadena.
Save the date for this film, doubly important as we strategize for a
moratorium on executions in our state: What would you do if you
discovered that 13 people slated for execution had been found innocent?
That was exactly the question that Illinois Governor George Ryan faced
in his final days in office. He alone was left to decide whether 167
death row inmates should live or die. In the riveting countdown to
Ryan's decision, Deadline details the gripping drama of the state's
clemency hearings. Documented as the events unfold, Deadline is a
compelling look inside America's prisons, highlighting one man's
unlikely and historic actions against the system.
COORDINATOR'S CORNER
Hi everyone! Hope you had a good and restful holiday. Now it's a new
year. Hope your new year's resolutions include becoming more involved
with Amnesty. Mine includes spending more time with family (including
cat!) as well as making time for personally meaningful activities such
as amnesty activism, reading and art classes.
Speaking of reading, has everyone checked out Martha's "book blog", at
http://www.rightsreaders.blogspot.com? It is really neat, with all
kinds of fun links to topics related to the books we are reading. You
can purchase the books via a link to amazon.com on the site, but please
remember to support Vromans Bookstore, one of the few remaining
independent bookstores in the Los Angeles area, for allowing us to use
the store to hold our meetings! In December, we read Persepolis (# 1),
a "graphic novel" about a young woman in Iran during the Islamic
revolution and Iran-Iraq war. I received Persepolis 2 for Christmas,
and am currently reading it. It is also a graphic novel. I haven't
finished it yet. This book is the continuation of the story of Marjane
leaving Iran to live in Austria with relatives at the age of 14. The
drawings are very expressive.
December 11th, Group 22 held a letter-writing marathon at Cafe' Culture
in Altadena for Human Rights Day. A total of 123 letters and cards were
written and the ambience was very relaxing in the cafe'. Their food is
very good too! We hope to hold more letter writing events at Cafe'
Culture or other venues in the future.
Group 22 members attended 2 vigils at All Saints Church in Pasadena in
December and January as California executed 2 death row inmates.
Unfortunately, the proposed moratorium on executions in California did
not make it through the State Assembly according to today's LA Times
(1-20-06) and we also face another execution on February 21--see inside
for details.
Finally, as we approach Bush's State of the Union speech, tell the
President how you feel about torture by signing this Amnesty online
petition at: http://www.tellthe truthabouttorture.org.
Hope to see you in 2006.
Kathy aigp22@caltech.edu
DEATH PENALTY
California Execution set for February 21
California death row inmate Michael Morales faces execution on February
21. Please send letters and emails requesting clemency for him to the
Governor and the Parole Board:
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-445-4633
To send an Electronic Mail please visit:
http://www.govmail.ca.gov
Board of Parole Hearings
1515 K Street
Suite 600
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 445-4072
http://www.bpt.ca.gov/about_us.asp
Some background from Death Penalty Focus follows which you can use for
your letters:
Michael Morales, 45, grew up in San Joaquin County. Morales is a 4th
generation American, devoutly religious, and the father of three adult
children. He was sentenced to death for the 1981 rape and murder of
17-year old Terri Winchell. Morales was 21 years-old at the time of the
crime. Morales's co-defendant, Ricky Ortega, who is also his cousin,
orchestrated the murder; yet Ortega received a sentence a life without
the possibility of parole. Michael Morales's request for relief was
denied by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in March 2005. The U.S.
Supreme Court rejected his appeal on Oct. 11, 2005.
This case depends on the testimony of an unreliable informant witness.
According to an article published in the Daily Journal on March 29,
2005: "The Morales case prominently featured the testimony of a
jailhouse informant who claimed that Morales had confessed to him. This
purported confession was the only evidence to support the special
circumstance; it was crucial to securing Morales' death sentence. It
was later discovered that, prior to trial, Morales' prosecutor entered
into a secret agreement with
jailhouse informant Bruce Samuelson. In exchange for Samuelson's
testimony, the prosecutor agreed to dismiss four of six felony charges
pending against Samuelson in another case. The prosecutor also secured
court approval of a minimal county jail sentence for Samuelson, and
then hid this deal from Morales's attorney, the judge and the jury.
Even more disturbing, the prosecutor promised Samuelson these benefits
before Morales allegedly confessed to him. When asked on the stand
whether he had received anything in return for his testimony, Samuelson
falsely stated that the prosecutor would be making only a
"recommendation" on his behalf. The prosecutor let this false testimony
stand in front of the jury, without correction or clarification." "The
circumstances surrounding Morales' so-called confession to Samuelson
are questionable at best. Samuelson was never housed in the same jail
cell with Morales. Given the physical layout of the jail, in order for
Morales to confess to Samuelson, other inmates would have heard the
conversation. Yet no other inmates ever corroborated Samuelson's story.
Inmates also knew that guards monitored all of their conversations with
an intercom system. In 1993, the California Attorney General's Office
confronted Samuelson with these facts. Samuelson stated that he and
Morales spoke together in Spanish so others would not listen in.
Unbeknownst to Samuelson, however, Morales does not speak Spanish."
"An FBI expert who examined Samuelson's polygraph test years later
concluded that the test unequivocally established that Samuelson was
lying when he said Morales confessed. But the polygraph report that the
prosecutor gave Morales' attorneys at the time of the trial claimed
that Samuelson was telling the truth."
Race is a factor in this case. The first state-wide study on the impact
of race and place on death sentencing in California was just released
showing that the race and ethnicity of the victim and the location of
the are key factors in determining who will be sentenced to death. The
study found that those who murder whites are four times more likely to
receive a death sentence than those who murder Latinos and three times
more likely to receive a death sentence than those who murder
African-Americans. The victim in this case, Terri Winchell, is white.
In addition, the study finds that those convicted in rural,
predominately white counties like Ventura, where this crimes was tried,
are up to three times more likely to be sentenced to death as those
convicted of similar crimes in diverse, urban communities. In addition,
the California Attorney General does not dispute that in this case,
during the 1980s, the San Joaquin District Attorney's Office engaged in
discriminatory charging practices, seeking the death penalty in white
victim cases 20 times more often than in Latino victim cases. Further,
the Office was 57 times more likely to seek a death sentence for a
white female victim. Finally, one California Supreme Court justice
concluded that Morales's death sentence should be reversed based on
evidence that Ventura County systematically excluded Latinos from
serving on juries.
Morales had an ineffective, poorly qualified lawyer. This case was
tried long before standards were put in place for defense counsel.
Morales's attorney was not sufficiently trained to handle a death
penalty case.
Other serious mistakes were made. Several legal mistakes were made in
this case. For example, the judge failed to give any cautionary
instructions about the unreliability of testimony from informant
witnesses.
How can we execute Morales while the Justice Commission investigates
these issues? The California Commission on the Fair Administration of
Justice has been established to study exactly these kinds of mistakes.
The Justice Commission must report its recommendations to the Governor
and Legislature by Dec. 31, 2007. No one should be executed while the
Justice Commission is conducting this in-depth study.
The Co-defendant. It has never been clear whether Michael Morales or
his co-defendant, Ricky Ortega, played a greater role in causing the
death of Terri Winchell. What we do know is: a) that Morales was
sentenced to death and Ortega was sentenced to life without parole; and
b) that more than $80,000 was spent during the penalty phase to defend
Ortega, while next to nothing was spent on the penalty phase of
Morales's trial.
CORPORATE ACTION NETWORK
Pass Resolution to Review Ken Saro-Wiwa case
Use this sample letter to urge Senators Boxer and Feinstein to support
a resolution urging the Nigerian government to review the Ken Saro-Wiwa
case.
The Honorable Barbara Boxer
United States Senate
112 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-0505
The Honorable Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-0001
Dear Senator _____
I urge you to cosponsor Senate Resolution 303, introduced by Senators
Leahy, Kennedy, Feingold, Obama, Dodd and Durbin. The resolution calls
on the Nigerian government to conduct a thorough judicial review of the
Ken Saro-Wiwa case. In addition, it calls upon the State Department to
ensure that oil companies operating in the Niger Delta comply, at a
minimum, with the Voluntary Principles for Security and Human Rights,
and calls upon the Nigerian government to ensure that all members of
the security forces receive training in international standards for the
use of force and firearms.
Senate Resolution 303 offers a small but meaningful step forward in
addressing these issues. A completed review of the Saro-Wiwa case could
help bring closure to the survivors of the former Abacha regime's
brutality. In addition, passage of this resolution will signal that the
United States respects and supports the struggles of the Niger Delta
people and expects the Nigerian government to reform its policies and
practices in those communities.
I urge you to actively support Senate Resolution 303 and recognize the
contribution that it can make to the human rights of the Ogoni and
other ethnic groups in the Niger Delta.
Sincerely, Your NAME and ADDRESS
LETTER COUNT
Death Penalty 13
Urgent Actions 6
Total: 19
To add your letters to the total contact lwkamp@sbcglobal.net
RIGHTS READERS
Human Rights Book Discussion Group
Vroman's Bookstore
695 E. Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena
Sunday, February 19, 6:30 PM
Harbor by Lorraine Adams
A powerful first novel that engages the tumultuous events of today: at
once an intimate portrait of a group of young Arab Muslims living in
the United States, and the story of one man's journey into--and out
of--violence.
We first meet Aziz Arkoun as a 24-year-old stowaway--frozen, hungry, his
perceptions jammed by a language he can't understand or speak. After 52
days in the hold of a tanker from Algeria, he jumps into the icy waters
of Boston harbor and swims to shore. Seemingly rescued from isolation
by Algerians he knew as a child, he instead finds himself in a world of
disillusionment, duplicity, and stolen identities, living a raw comedy
of daily survival not unlike what he fled back home.
As the story of Aziz and his friends unfolds--moving from the
hardscrabble neighborhoods of East Boston and Brooklyn to a North
African army camp--Harbor makes vivid the ambiguities of these men's
past and present lives: burying a murdered girl in the Sahara; reading
medieval Persian poetry on a bus, passing for Mexican. But when Aziz
begins to suspect that he and his friends are under surveillance, all
assumptions--his and ours--dissolve in an urgent, mesmerizing complexity.
And as Harbor races to its explosive conclusion, it compels us to
question the questions it raises: Who are the terrorists? Can we
recognize them?
UNITED NATIONS
Reform Human Rights Council
Urge the US to take a leadership role in the creation of the new UN
Human Rights Council. Sample letter follows:
The President
The White House
Washington, DC 20500-0003
Mr. President,
A strong and effective Human Rights Council is essential for the future
protection of human rights and for the success of efforts to reform the
United Nations. The engagement and leadership of the United States are
crucial at this final stage of the negotiations if the UN is to create
a strong and effective Human Rights Council. We fully share the views
expressed by your representative at the United Nations, John Bolton, to
the General Assembly that merely recreating the UN Commission on Human
Rights under a different name would be entirely unsupportable. We are
also encouraged by the emphasis your representative has placed on the
need for the United States to show flexibility in the negotiations to
create the Council, as will be required in the coming weeks.
Historically, the United States has been a leader in setting the agenda
for human rights work in the United Nations. Immediately after the
Second World War, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was instrumental in the
creation of the Commission on Human Rights and in the drafting of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Sixty years later, you and the
United States government have the rare opportunity, once more, to shape
the UN's principal human rights body. We urge you to maintain the rich
human rights tradition of the United States in the process of the
Council's creation.
To be effective the Human Rights Council must protect all human rights
in all countries. No country has a claim to membership. The Council's
membership will be improved if all members are required to be elected
through genuine contested elections which exclude regions determining
Council membership in disregard of a country's human right record, As
your representative indicated, the Council must meet frequently and
regularly to deal more effectively with human rights situations in
countries, including unfolding crises. It is crucial that the Council
retain the current level of NGO participation as well as the system of
independent human rights experts known as the Special Procedures. We
urge the US government to work to ensure that these essential elements
become part of a Human Rights Council.
We also urge you to use the influence of the United States at the
highest level to dissuade countries that wish simply to recreate the
Commission on Human Rights under a different name or even less, and
instead encourage them to work for a strong and effective UN Human
Rights Council that includes the above elements. Amnesty International
is encouraged by your government's efforts to improve human rights in
countries such as North Korea and Burma. We hope that the same
determination and effectiveness can now be brought to bear on creating
a new human rights institution that will inspire confidence in the
United States and throughout the world and that will have a
longstanding impact on the protection of human rights everywhere.
Mr. President, we urge you not to miss this historic opportunity and to
demonstrate, with you representative in New York, the leadership of the
United States in the creation of a strong and effective Human Rights
Council. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely, Your NAME and ADDRESS
SUDAN/Egypt
Prevent Forcible Return of Refugees
The Egyptian authorities announced on 4 January that they will be
delaying the deportation of up to 650 Sudanese nationals for 72 hours
(up to the morning of 8 January), and have allowed the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) access to them for this period.
The UNHCR is visiting the three detention centers where they are held
in order to identify those who may be refugees or asylum-seekers and
therefore, in accordance with international law, should not be
deported.
On 3 January, the Egyptian authorities had announced that they intended
to forcibly return up to 650 Sudanese nationals, who have been
detained, to Sudan on 5 January. The group is believed to include
asylum-seekers and refugees recognized by the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) who were not carrying their residency
documents when they were arrested. Some would be at risk of torture if
returned to Sudan.
There are serious concerns that 72 hours may not be long enough for the
UNHCR to identify all those who are refugees or asylum-seekers. No one
should be deported except as a result of a decision reached in
accordance with law, with access to appeal procedures. It is feared
that the Egyptian authorities may simply expel the entire group of
Sudanese nationals at the end of the 72 hour period.
Egypt is a state party to the Convention Against Torture and other
international agreements which expressly prohibit the forcible return
of anyone to a country where they would be at risk of torture or
ill-treatment. An Egyptian government spokesperson said on 3 January
that the individuals would be sent back because they had "broken the
law of the host country." However, under customary international law
and international human rights law, the prohibition on forcibly
returning people to countries where they would be at risk of serious
human rights violations is absolute in all cases, regardless of whether
the people in question have broken any laws. The use of torture against
certain individuals and groups by the Sudanese authorities is widely
documented by Amnesty International. Deporting the entire group,
without giving each member of the group access to adequate procedural
guarantees, would violate Article 13 of the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, which states that non-citizens may be
expelled "only in pursuance of a decision reached in accordance with
law."
BACKGROUND. Tens of thousands of Sudanese nationals have sought asylum
in Egypt since the late 1990s, many of them fleeing the civil war in
the south of the country and the conflict in Darfur, in the east. The
UNHCR has recognized a large number of them as refugees, and large
numbers have been resettled in other countries. At the beginning of
2005, there were over 14,000 Sudanese in Egypt whom the UNHCR had
recognized as refugees, and thousands more whose asylum applications
had been rejected.
The 650 are part of a group of over 2,500 Sudanese nationals who had
been involved in a peaceful protest in the Egyptian capital, Cairo,
since 29 September 2005. Their demands included improvements to their
work and educational opportunities, protection from forcible return to
Sudan, and resettlement in third countries. The police broke up the
protest violently on 30 December, in an action that left at least 27
protesters dead and dozens of protestors and police injured.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals:
- welcoming the Egyptian authorities' decision to delay the deportation
of the 650 Sudanese nationals, but expressing concern that the 72-hour
period they have allowed may not be long enough for the UNHCR to
identify all those who may be entitled to refugee status, and calling
on the authorities to give the UNHCR as much time as it needs to carry
out its assessment;
- calling on the Egyptian authorities to immediately release all those
identified by the UNHCR as refugees or asylum-seekers, or otherwise of
concern to the UNHCR, unless charged with a recognizably criminal
offence;
- calling on the authorities to ensure that those Sudanese nationals
not identified as refugees or asylum-seekers, or otherwise of concern
to the UNHCR, are only expelled on the basis of a decision reached in
accordance with law, in compliance with Egypt's obligations under
Article 13 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
APPEALS TO:
H.E. Muhammad Hosni Mubarak
President of the Arab Republic of Egypt
Abedine Palace, Cairo, EGYPT
E-mail: webmaster@presidency.gov.eg
General Habib Ibrahim El Adly
Minister of the Interior, Ministry of the Interior
Al-Sheikh Rihan Street, Bab al-Louk, Cairo, EGYPT
E-mail: moi@idsc.gov.eg, moi1@idsc.gov.eg, moi2@idsc.gov.eg
COPIES TO:
Ambassador M. Nabil Fahmy
Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt
3521 International Ct NW
Washington DC 20008-2023
Email: embassy@egyptembdc.org
MEXICO
Protect Dam Protestors in Guerrero
On 16 December, at least eight people were injured during clashes
between police and inhabitants of the town of Dos Arroyos in the
municipality of Acapulco, Guerrero State, who are opposing plans to
flood a large area of farmland in order to construct a hydroelectric
dam. The authorities have reportedly failed to consult local
communities fairly and transparently about the plans, leading to an
atmosphere of increasing tension and violence in the area. It is feared
that the lives of people in these communities may be at risk.
The clashes occurred after the state and federal authorities convened a
meeting at short notice in the neighboring town of Tierra Colorado, at
which community representatives voted on the plans to construct the "La
Parota" dam. Some 300 police officers reportedly attempted to stop
inhabitants of Dos Arroyos opposed to the dam from attending the
meeting by blocking the roads leading out of the town. According to
reports, those opposing the dam barricaded a bridge in the path of the
police in order to stop them entering the town. The community members
were reportedly carrying machetes and catapults. When police, also
carrying machetes, attempted to cross the barricade, the inhabitants
allegedly threw stones at them. The police reportedly responded by
throwing stones and using tear gas. At least eight people were injured,
including Marco Antonio Suastegui, the leader of the Consejo de
Ejidatarios y Comuneros Opositores a la Parota (CECOP), a group opposed
to the construction of the dam. Four community members were detained as
a result of the clashes, and charged with causing harm, damage and
resistance to the authorities. They were released on bail the following
day.
According to reports, the authorities had provided buses to take those
who approve of the dam's construction from Dos Arroyos to the meeting
in Tierra Colorado, in order to secure a favorable vote. The meeting
lasted for no more than 15 minutes and resulted in a unanimous vote in
favor of the construction of the dam. However, according to the CECOP
and other human rights organizations, this vote did not represent the
views of all the people affected. The CECOP claims that 15 similar
meetings with local community representatives from the area which would
be affected by the dam have deliberately excluded those opposed to the
dam, and that others attending the meetings have been misled, resulting
in an unfair process lacking transparency. It is feared that this may
increase resentment among communities in the area, and thus the two
remaining consultation meetings, scheduled to take place in December,
could be flashpoints for further violence.
In September 2005, Tomas Cruz Zamora, who lived in the hamlet of
Huamuchitos, was killed by someone from the same community. He had
reportedly expressed his opposition to the dam. In November, Cristino
Cruz Hernandez, who was allegedly in favor of the dam, was also
killed. In 2004, Marco Antonio Suastegui was threatened and intimidated
after campaigning against the dam.
BACKGROUND. The CECOP and other human rights organizations claim that
the construction of La Parota dam could lead to the flooding of some
140,000 square kilometers of farmland, affecting 17,000 inhabitants,
and threatening the livelihood of 20 farming communities. The project
has divided local communities, with some accepting compensation for the
destruction of their land, and others strongly opposed.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals:
- calling on the authorities to take measures to ensure the safety of
members of the communities affected by the construction of the dam
according to their wishes;
- expressing concern at the apparent lack of effective steps carried
out by the authorities to prevent the climate of violence from
increasing surrounding the construction of the dam, and urging them to
ensure the two remaining consultation meetings are conducted
peacefully, fairly and transparently;
- calling on the authorities to ensure that all criminal complaints
against the four people released on bail are investigated according to
the law and adhere to international fair trial standards;
- calling on the authorities to ensure that a genuine consultation is
carried out, including all who are affected by the construction of the
dam.
APPEALS TO:
State Governor:
Lic. Zeferino Torreblanca Galindo
Gobernador Electo del Estado de Guerrero.
Horacio Nelson numero 15 Fraccionamiento Costa Azul
C.P. 39850, Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico
Minister of the Interior:
Lic. Carlos Abascal Carranza
Secretario de Gobernacion
Secretaria de Gobernacion
Bucareli 99, 1er. piso, Col. Juarez
Delegacion Cuauhtemoc, Mexico D.F., C.P.06600, Mexico
COPIES TO:
Ambassador Carlos Alberto De Icaza Gonzalez
Embassy of Mexico
1911 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington DC 20006
Editor's Last Word:
Read us on line: http://www.its.caltech.edu/~aigp22
Martha Ter Maat, 626-281-4039 / rightsreaders@yahoo.com