Amnesty International Group 22 Pasadena/Caltech News
Volume XIX Number 4, April 2011
UPCOMING EVENTS
Thursday, April 28, 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 May 10, 7:30 PM. Letter writing
meeting at Caltech Athenaeum, corner of Hill
and California in Pasadena. This informal
gathering is a great way for newcomers to get
acquainted with Amnesty!
Sunday, May 15, 6:30PM. Rights Readers
Human Rights Book Discussion group. This
month we read "The Routes of Man" by Ted
Conover.
COORDINATOR'S CORNER
Hi everyone
Spring break is almost over and then it's back to
crazy time! I've enjoyed a nice rest, getting a
few important things done but mostly flaking
off!
Hope everyone has a nice holiday weekend.
Group 22 members have been busy lately -
Stevi, Joyce, and Lucas attended the AGM in
San Francisco last month. Read the reports
from Joyce and Lucas featured in this
newsletter. Stevi and Laura attended a
Pasadena City Council meeting with other DP
activists in order to persuade them to adopt a
resolution against it.
Doo Dah is coming up next weekend. It's not
too late to join the fun! This year's theme is
maternal health care. Rob and I will be in
Eastern Washington that weekend to celebrate
my aunt's 90th birthday along with a crowd of
relatives!
Con carino,
Kathy
RIGHTS READERS
Human Rights Book Discussion Group
Keep up with Rights Readers at
http://rightsreaders.blogspot.com
Next Rights Readers meeting:
Sunday, May 15, 6:30 PM
Vroman's Bookstore
695 E. Colorado Blvd
In Pasadena
The Routes of Man
by Ted Conover
About the Author
I feel lucky to do what I do. I write about real
people, often by living their lives for a while-
visiting their lives, you might say. Trying them
on for size. Though there are easier ways to
make a living, I suppose, none strike me as a
fraction so interesting.
My first real adventures were cross-country
bicycle rides, and a summer's work in a sausage
factory in Pamplona, Spain. During time off
from college, I did community organizing in
Dallas as a VISTA volunteer. Then came riding
the rails (Rolling Nowhere), which originated as
another escape from college, but doubled as
research for a senior anthropology thesis. A
transcendent moment occurred in a freight yard
in Bakersfield, California, where, as I spoke with
a guy my age named Enrique Jarra, it dawned on
me that Mexican illegals were the true, modern-
day incarnation of the classic American hobo.
Coyotes, my second book, recounts a year of
work and travel with these men.
A smart guy I met in New York (he now edits
the New Yorker magazine) introduced me at a
party as a writer who "made a living sleeping on
the ground," which got me thinking and led me
to Aspen and Whiteout, a very different sort of
first-person ethnography. And then came
Newjack, an account of immersion in a world
that is tough and dangerous and - if a person's
not careful - soul-shrinking. That research was
my hardest ever, but also paid an enduring
dividend of knowledge.
In my latest book, The Routes of Man, I link a
series of challenging first-person passages down
roads with reflections on how this most
extensive manmade artifact changes us all, both
intentionally and not. It's a book about roads,
yes, but like my others it's also a book about me.
I continue to admire writing where the writer has
something at stake; where he doesn't just
depend on experts but rather takes time to think
and research and participate, thereby
transforming himself into an expert; where his
caring and the urgency of the subject can
transform the writing into something that
matters, an act of witnessing.
From Ted Conover's website
ARMCHAIR TRAVELER
Book Review: 'The Routes of Man: How Roads Are
Changing the World and the Way We Live Today'
By Richard B. Woodward, New York Times
The symbolic value of the road may be as crucial
for civilization as its ancient function in easing
the transport of goods and soldiers. Poets have
long viewed the ups and downs of a tortuous
path worn smooth over time as a potent
metaphor for the course of life itself. To young
Americans after World War II, the highway
promised escape and happy fortuity, while for
less mobile societies it has been as much a
source of trouble as a way out of it - the means
by which the destructive stranger, novelty or
virus comes to town.
Ted Conover's absorbing book sifts the many
meanings of the concept and weighs the profit
and loss for various cultures (as well as wildlife)
attendant on this expanding form of
infrastructure. One of the leading participatory
journalists of our time, he has bushwhacked far
off the interstates before, sleeping in the
Mexican desert with immigrants heading north
in "Coyotes" and in boxcars with hobos in
"Rolling Nowhere".
His six adventures here are no less far-flung. He
walks with a group of young Tibetan Buddhists
through the Indian region of Ladakh as they
make their annual 40-mile journey on a frozen
river from Himalayan villages to the city of Leh.
He rides with Peruvian truckers heading over the
Andes with an illegal shipment of mahogany
and with Kenyan truckers suspected of
spreading AIDS along their routes. In China and
Nigeria, countries afflicted with patchy
transportation networks, he reports on efforts to
build more and better roads, success that has
resulted in bigger traffic and social problems.
After each of these first-person travelogues,
which exhibit his remarkable gift for
companionship and impious eye for absurdity,
Mr. Conover pauses to reflect on everything
from the role of the military in highway
construction to the thrill of driving a Porsche
over the speed limit to the emerging discipline of
road ecology.
"For many animals, movement is not optional;
it's what they do to find food, to survive," he
writes, adding with chagrin that he himself has
probably killed tens of thousands of insects and
other tiny creatures by accident in his 30 years
as a driver.
"The road is very unfair, very harsh," observes a
Kenyan truck driver, and Mr. Conover agrees.
But it is also, a friend of his notes, an oddly
"self-effacing" feature of any landscape, one
that is "always receding." Loaded with
searching questions about the double edge of
connectivity and the future of the planet, this is
a book with few answers. The main comfort it
provides is the chance to spend time with such a
thoughtful and daring writer.
REPORT ON THE AIUSA 2011 AGM IN SF MARCH 18-20.
By Lucas Kamp
Joyce, Stevi, Veronica and I attended this event,
which was held in the historic (and expensive!)
Fairmont Hotel, where the UN Charter was
drafted in 1945. The weather was pretty bad
and delayed our flights up by several hours, but
we made it just in time to catch the last part of
the opening ceremonies, featuring Joan Baez
talking about her long-time experiences working
for human rights and AI and singing several
songs. She has aged, of course, but still looks
and sounds very good.
Saturday morning I attended an OCAN
breakfast caucus led by Kala Mendoza, where
more plans were made for the Organizing Cities
project, in which LA is one of the focus cities.
After that were the Opening Remarks, featuring
a video address by Jimmy Carter and a truly
great speech by Salil Shetty, the new Secretary
General of AI (who replaced Irene Khan, about
whose departure last year there has been a big
news flap - to which no reference at all was
made during the entire conference). Shetty is an
excellent speaker, both funny and eloquent; I
hope he will be equally effective as S-G. I
missed the first sessions block, but attended the
lunchtime Local Groups Caucus and an
interesting session entitled "Are UN
Investigative Reports Advancing International
Justice?" (consensus: they are, on the whole,
though some are pretty futile). I then attended a
rather strange "focus group" to which I had
been invited, supposedly by random selection,
though almost everyone there was a group
coordinator or some AI functionary; it was a
small closed session that focused mostly on PR
aspects of AI. After that there was a series of
plenary sessions that featured a number of
speakers, mostly good to excellent; one who
stood out was Jenni Williams of Women of
Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), who was both
colorful and eloquent.
Sunday morning was the voting plenary, which
processed 5 resolutions, 3 of which pertained to
environmental issues. None was particularly
controversial and all passed by large margins.
The most interesting one, to me, was one
addressing the human rights of environmental
cross-border migrants (e.g., inhabitants of island
nations that are sinking due to rising sea levels),
a category that has been neglected in
comparison to refugees from wars or political
oppression. After that was the closing plenary,
featuring four speakers all of whom were very
interesting: Salil Shetty again, giving another
fine turn, Paul Hoffman, a well known HR
lawyer and past AI functionary, who gave a
fascinating account of the development of AI
over the decades, Mike Posner, an official with
the Obama administration who offered some
unique insights into the struggle within that
administration to give voice to human rights,
and Larry Cox, the Executive Director of AIUSA
(in his final year in that role), to whom it's
always a pleasure to listen.
After the end of the conference on Sunday
afternoon I attended a 3-hour session of the
Regional Planning group at the Western
Regional Office, led by the Regional Director,
Rini Chakraborty. I did not have much to
contribute to this group, but it was interesting to
hear something about the inner workings of the
AIUSA administration. One small detail of
which I made note is that the WRO has a large
collection of films that can be obtained by local
groups for public viewings; there is a link to a
list of these in the Weekly Update email that
gets sent out regularly.
This AGM commemorated the 50th anniversary
of the founding of AI and AIUSA pulled out all
the stops to make it a success. I think it
succeeded, with some really outstanding
speakers and about 1300 attendees.
MORE ABOUT AGM
By Joyce Wolf
Here are a few notes of mine to supplement
Lucas's excellent summary. Because of our plane
delays, we missed the Opening Ceremony, but
arrived just as the Joan Baez tribute was
beginning. Steve Earle sang "I Dreamed I Saw Joe
Hill" and got a big cheer when he changed the
words to "From San Diego to Madison."
(Throughout the conference any mention of
Wisconsin was greeted with huge applause!)
You can watch at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9S9OiyyxvE
and also find links to Joan's performances
at AGM of "Imagine" and "There But for
Fortune." We posted Stevi's beautiful photo of
Joan on our Group 22 facebook page.
I attended the workshop "Holding Oil
Companies Accountable: Human Rights in the
Gulf Coast and the Niger Delta." Amnesty's
renewed emphasis on environmental issues
warmed my heart, since the Just Earth campaign
back in 2000 was my first bit of activism. I
picked up the new Niger Delta petition to use
for the theme of Group 22's table at Pasadena's
Earth Day festival. Stage 2 of the Nigeria
campaign is planned to coincide with the
November anniversary of Ken Saro-Wiwa's
execution.
A highlight of the Saturday afternoon plenary
was the live phone call to Aung San Suu Kyi.
She couldn't see the standing ovation we gave
her, but she could certainly hear it! Another
inspiring speaker was Jenni Williams of WoZA. I
remember writing cards to these women during
Amnesty write-a-thons. Jenni told a story about
how various local police stations did not want
to hold a group of arrested WOZA women,
because "too many letters would be coming".
My favorite resolution was the one about
promoting a healthy and safe environment as a
human right. An AIUSA Board amendment
(passed overwhelmingly) added language
mentioning the previous Just Earth campaign.
The final texts of the resolutions passed by the
AGM are not yet online, although I suppose that
will happen eventually. More articles about the
AGM are posted at
http://blog.amnestyusa.org/tag/agm11/.
PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE
GAO ZHISHENG
By Joyce Wolf
It was one year ago on April 20 that human
rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng disappeared for the
second time into the custody of China's secret
police. Members of Group 22 marked the
anniversary by signing a card of support and
encouragement for Geng He, Gao's wife, who
fled with their children to the U.S. in 2009.
European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek
noted the anniversary. On April 20 he said, " I
remain seriously concerned about the fate of Mr.
Gao Zhisheng. ...[the Chinese authorities]
should provide a credible account of Gao
Zhisheng's whereabouts and his state of health."
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/president/view/en/press.html
Gao has been in the news a lot in the past
month. On March 24 he received the 2011
Bindmans Law and Campaigning Award from
the Index of Censorship organization. Geng He
stated, "I wish Gao Zhisheng could receive this
award, instead of me accepting on his behalf. I
would have been proud to see him here, I would
have cheered for his regained freedom and once
again I would have been able to breathe freely,
to think freely, and to speak freely."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWwWJ09JcZQ
On March 28 the organization Freedom Now
made public a judgment from the United
Nations Working Group on Arbitrary
Detentions. Senator John Kerry responded, "I
commend the thorough investigation by the
independent UN Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention into the disappearance of Gao
Zhisheng, the Chinese lawyer and human rights
advocate. I am deeply concerned for Gao's
welfare, and I call on the Chinese government to
release him immediately and reunite him with
his wife and family." http://freedom-now.org/news
The arrest of renowned artist Ai Weiwei has
sparked worldwide reactions concerning human
rights in China. See Martha's excellent articles of
April 15 and April 17 at
http://rightsreaders.blogspot.com. The annual
springtime human rights dialog between the
USA and China, scheduled for next week in
Beijing, should have some interesting topics to
discuss. Assistant Secretary Michael Posner will
lead the US delegation. He was a speaker at the
AGM's last plenary session and acquitted
himself well under relentless questioning, so
here's wishing him luck!
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2011/04/161492.htm
Please take a moment to observe the anniversary
of Gao Zhisheng's disappearance by expressing
your concern to one or more authorities in
China. Addresses and guidelines are at
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~aigp22/GaoPOC
/GaoZhisheng.html.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL GROUP 22 APPEALS TO CITY HALL
By Laura Brown
Members of the Los Angeles County Coalition
for Death Penalty Alternatives met Thursday,
April 21, 2011 with Pasadena City
Councilwoman Margaret McAustin to press
their case against California executions. Stevi
Carroll and Laura Brown represented Group 22
at the meeting. McAustin seemed very receptive
to the group's ideas, asking questions and
revealing that she personally opposes the death
penalty, and that her strongest objection to it is
that an innocent person may be executed. In
materials handed out by James Clark, the
coalition leader, a Senate commission has found
that 138 people so far have been exonerated
from death row in the U.S.
Clark urged McAustin to initiate a move by the
Pasadena City Council to go on record as
opposing the death penalty. He and other
members noted that the council took such a
position on a prominent issue earlier when they
opposed the Patriot Act. In addition, some city
councils have expressed their support for
equality in marriage. Clark told McAustin that
California may repeal the death penalty only by
an initiative of the voters. However, he said that
Governor Jerry Brown has the power to convert
the sentences of all of those on death row to life
without parole, should he choose to do so.
In the meantime, Clark asked McAustin to help
introduce a resolution to the legislative
committee of Pasadena's city council the
purpose of the resolution, Clark said, is to
prevail upon Los Angeles County District
Attorney Steve Cooley to not pursue additional
death penalty sentences. Each county
prosecution seeking death costs the county
budget $1 million, Clark said. Senior Minister
Jim Nelson of the Neighborhood Unitarian
Universalist Church of Pasadena told McAustin,
that economic issues are not the only important
ones for elected officials to consider. Leading the
community in doing the right thing is also their
duty, he said. "We elected you to be
courageous," he told McAustin.
Clark told the councilwoman that California has
more people on death row (715) than any other
state. The California legislature is considering
building a new death row facility at a cost of
$400 million, in addition to the nearly $1 million
spent recently on renovating the death chamber.
McAustin met with the coalition members for
more than 40 minutes, and ended by agreeing to
bring up the resolution to Pasadena Mayor Bill
Bogaard immediately. Clark said that the
coalition has already met with Pasadena council
member Jacque Robinson on the issue, and
plans to meet soon with council member Steve
Madison and Bogaard.
VIOLATIONS AGAINST WOMEN
By Cheri Dellelo
Make It a Meaningful Mother's Day
AI is campaigning to have the Maternal Health
Accountability Act of 2011 passed. This act
would establish accountability, fight maternal
health disparities, and combat severe maternal
complications.
As we told you last month, every 90 seconds a
woman dies from complications related to
pregnancy and childbirth. This is a global
problem, but you may be surprised to hear that
it is a serious concern in the U.S. as well.
Women in the U.S. have a higher risk of dying of
pregnancy-related complications than those in
49 other countries, including Kuwait, Bulgaria,
and South Korea. And California rates an
appalling 35th among the United States in
maternal health.
This Mother's Day (May 8), please consider
making a donation to AI in your mother's name
to honor her and to help support the passage of
the Maternal Health Accountability Act of 2011.
Visit AIUSA's site to make to make your tax-
deductable donation --
http://tinyurl.com/3rw9h5d.
Pakistan Considers Life Sentence for Acid
Attacks On Women
Pakistan's National Assembly is considering a
bill that would toughen the punishment for
people who commit acid attacks on women. The
bill was prepared by the National Commission
on the Status of Women, a government
committee that oversees women's rights in
Pakistan. Tahira Noor, head of the commission,
said that life imprisonment and a fine of 1
million rupees ($11,800) had been proposed in
the bill as punishment for anyone involved in
carrying out an acid attack on women. (The
current penalty for those convicted of acid
attacks is between five and 14 years in prison.)
People selling the acid used in the attacks would
also be subject to legal action.
Reports suggest that an average of about 150
incidents of acid attacks on women are reported
in Pakistan each year. Men attack women with
acid and usually throw it at their heads or faces,
often leaving them grotesquely disfigured. The
attacks are sometimes carried out for religious
reasons. But more often they are used by men
against disgruntled wives, because a woman has
rejected a man, or to settle family feuds.
Liberian Woman Forced to Undergo Female
Genital Mutilation
In Liberia, in January 2010, Ruth Berry Peal had
an argument with two women from the Gola
ethnic group and was summoned by the Gola
Chief who ruled that she be genitally mutilated
despite her belonging to an ethnic group that
does not practice FGM. The following day, Ruth
was forcibly taken from her home to the 'bush'
where she was genitally mutilated in an
initiation ritual, was forced to take an oath of
secrecy and was threatened with death if she
broke the oath. She was kept in the 'bush' for
one month and developed health complications,
which required three months of treatment
following her release. Ruth filed a lawsuit
against the two women who forcibly mutilated
her. However, because Ruth has invoked the
wrath of the Gola community by exposing their
practice after taking an oath of secrecy, she and
her husband received several threats demanding
they drop the case. Ruth's case has been moved
to Monrovia, where she currently resides apart
from her husband and children due to threats
against her. She has been receiving support from
the Women NGOs Secretariat of Liberia
(WONGOSOL), Women of Liberia Peace
Network (WOLPNET) and the Association of
Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL).
Please write to the Liberian authorities urging
them to honor Liberia's international and
regional human rights commitments by enacting
and enforcing comprehensive legislation against
FGM as well as supporting educational outreach
to relevant communities and local chiefs on the
harms of FGM. Please also urge the Minister of
Internal Affairs to immediately cease the
practice of issuing permits to schools where
FGM is conducted, and ask them to ensure that
Ruth Peal obtains justice and remedy for the
abuse she suffered. Because Ruth is threatened
by members of the secret society and traditional
heads who support the secret society, please
also request that the government provide her
with immediate protection. A sample letter,
street addresses, and email addresses can be
found at Equality Now's website -
http://tinyurl.com/6f4h5g3.
Libyan Woman Detained and Slandered
After Rape Claim
Libyan postgraduate law student Iman al-
Obeidi attracted worldwide media attention on
March 26 during the 2011 Libyan Civil War,
when she burst into the restaurant of the Rixos
Hotel in Tripoli and told the international press
corps staying there that 15 of Muammar
Gaddafi's government troops had detained her
at a checkpoint, held her against her will for two
days, beaten, and gang-raped her. Her insistence
on telling her story in public had the effect of
challenging both the Gadaffi regime and the
taboo that surrounds discussion of sex crimes in
that country.
A scuffle took place in which government
security forces dragged her out of the hotel and
drove her to an unknown destination, using
violence against journalists who tried to help
her. Government spokespersons told reporters
she was drunk, mentally ill, a whore, and a
thief. A Libyan state television anchor called her
a whore and a traitor, and said she would be
charged with slander. The Washington Post
described her as a "symbol of defiance against
Gaddafi."
Police "minders" tried to prevent al-Obeidi from
speaking to foreign journalists.
She was released from government detention
after three days, and was interviewed several
times by Libya TV - an opposition satellite
channel - and by CNN, during which she offered
graphic details of her rape and subsequent
detention by government officials. As of April
11, she remained out of detention, but was being
prevented from leaving Tripoli. Please urge the
Gaddafi Development Foundation to:
- Ensure Iman el-Obeidi's right to freedom of
movement is guaranteed and that clear
instructions are issued to all pro-Gaddafi forces
not to obstruct her safe passage to eastern
Libya.
- Demand the Libyan authorities conduct an
immediate, full, and thorough independent
investigation into her alleged rape and ill-
treatment by members of the Libyan security
forces and bring those responsible to justice.
AI's UK site has a sample email you can send:
http://tinyurl.com/6z3r8em.
Egyptian Women Protesters Forced To Take
'Virginity Tests'
AI called on the Egyptian authorities to
investigate serious allegations of torture,
including forced 'virginity tests,' inflicted by the
army on women protesters arrested in Tahrir
Square last month. After army officers violently
cleared the square of protesters on March 9, at
least 18 women were held in military detention.
AI has been told by women protesters that they
were beaten, given electric shocks, subjected to
strip searches while being photographed by male
soldiers, then forced to submit to 'virginity
checks' and threatened with prostitution charges.
All the women detained in the military prison
were brought before a military court on 11
March and released on 13 March. Several
received one-year suspended prison sentences.
Salwa Hosseini was convicted of disorderly
conduct, destroying private and public
property, obstructing traffic, and carrying
weapons. AI opposes the trial of civilians before
military courts in Egypt, which have a track
record of unfair trials and where the right to
appeal is severely restricted.
Demand that Egyptian officials investigate the
allegations and stop this shocking and
degrading treatment of women protestors. Call
on Secretary Clinton to use her influence to
demand immediate action by sending the email
provided by AI at http://tinyurl.com/3lh4ow5.
DEATH PENALTY NEWS
By Stevi Carroll
LACCDPA
As Laura discussed, she and I along with other
members of the Los Angeles County Coalition
for Death Penalty Alternatives met with
Pasadena City Councilmember Margaret
McAustin. The meeting did go well, and I am
looking forward to continuing with this work.
The LACCDPA is adding the city council of
West Hollywood to pursue for support in our
resolution to DA Steve Cooley. A LGBT group
called IDAHO (International Day Against
Homophobia and Transphobia) has taken a
stand linking gay rights and human rights
including death penalty abolition. We thought
this would be a perfect entry to the West
Hollywood city council. Also James Clark said
that years ago West Hollywood supported a
resolution against the death penalty. More news
to come.
Gil Garcetti
Former LA country DA, Gil Garcetti who
pursued death sentences while DA recently
went on record saying that the California "death
penalty is dysfunctional." He said that the
resources used to pursue the death penalty
would be better spent "keeping kids in school,
keeping teachers and counselors in their schools
and giving the juvenile justice system the
resources it needs." He thinks we should use
our shared tax money on preventing crimes.
This is a boost for our cause!
Troy Davis
March 28, 2011, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled
that Troy Davis did not prove his innocence and
while the court does not believe guilt has been
undeniably established, he still may face
execution. This ruling removes Mr. Davis's last
remaining court challenge to his execution.
Jason Ewart, one of Mr. Davis' lawyers, says he
will now take the appeal back to the Georgia
pardons and paroles board. An online petition
is available at
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/ad
vocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179
&template=x.ascx&action=12970
At the AGM, I had the opportunity to hear
Martina N. Davis-Correia, Mr. Davis' sister, and
Antone De'Juan Davis-Correia, his nephew,
speak. They have not given up hope for Mr.
Davis and continue to work for him. Meeting
them allowed me to see the human faces of this
campaign.
On April 12, 2011, Virginia Davis, Mr. Davis's
mother, unexpectedly died. Martina Davis-
Correia said that her mother had been upset
since the Supreme Court's decision. Ms Davis-
Correia also said, "I think she just had a broken
heart."
If you would like to send Troy Davis a letter or
card, please write to
Troy A. Davis #657378
GDCP PO Box 3877 G-2-39
Jackson, GA 30233
An interesting video about Mr. Davis, Life and
Trials of Troy Anthony Davis, can be found at
http://bcove.me/cmwrvvlt.
Death Penalty in 2010
Amnesty has released a report, Death Penalty in
2010: Executing Countries Left Isolated After
Decade of Progress. The report is available at
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-
updates/report/death-penalty-2010-executing-
countries-left-isolated-after-decade-progress
An interesting short video, Death Penalty in
2010, can be found at
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-
updates/report/death-penalty-2010-executing-
countries-left-isolated-after-decade-progress
Drugs for Killing
As you will see from the recent executions, the
drugs used are changing. Because of the
shortage of sodium thiopental - one drug used
in the three-drug injection, states have begun to
use one drug, pentobarbital, even though "the
drug's manufacturer argues against its use in
capital punishment." Some states are now
swapping drugs to be ready for their executions.
Stays of Execution
April
5 Cleve Foster Texas
5 Daniel Wayne Cook Arizona
6 Wayne Kubsch Indiana
Executions
March
29 Eric King Arizona
Lethal Injection
3-drug w/sodium thiopental
31 William Glenn Boyd Alabama
Lethal Injection
3-drug w/sodium thiopental
April
12 Clarence Carter Ohio
Lethal Injection
1-drug pentobarbital
MONTHLY LETTER COUNT
UAs 25
DP 4
Total 29
To add your letters to the total contact
lwkamp@gmail.com.
Amnesty International Group 22
The Caltech Y
Mail Code 5-62
Pasadena, CA 91125
www.its.caltech.edu/~aigp22/
http://rightsreaders.blogspot.com