Amnesty International Group 22 Pasadena/Caltech News
Volume XIX Number 8, August 2011


UPCOMING EVENTS

Thursday, August 25, 7:30 PM. Monthly 
Meeting. Note new location at Avery Center.  
See Coordinator's Column for more info. 
Help us plan future actions on Sudan, the 
'War on Terror', death penalty and more.  

Tuesday, September 13, 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, September 18, 6:30PM.  Rights 
Readers Human Rights Book Discussion 
group. This month we read "Enemies of the 
People" by Kati Marton.


COORDINATOR'S CORNER

 Hi everyone

Thanks a million to Lucas, Joyce, and Stevi for 
doing the coordinator's column and putting the 
newsletter together for July.  It looked great! We 
were on vacation, a combo plane and car trip to 
the Southeastern US.  We had a great time and 
visited 10 cities and 7 states in 12 days! High-
lights were the swamp tour in Louisiana, the 
Smokey Mountains National Park (mama and 
bear cubs sighting!!), the Emerald Coast of 
Florida, Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, S. 
Carolina.

PLEASE NOTE:  The location for our August 
25th monthly meeting has changed - see the 
updated website.	  
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~aigp22/map.shtml
Here's the description:  For August 2011 only, 
our meeting room has changed to the conference 
room of Avery Center at the southwest corner of 
Del Mar and Holliston. There is parking on 
Holliston or in the parking lots off of Chester, 
just south of Del Mar.  Entrance to Avery is 
from the walkway south of it and the conference 
room is on the 2nd floor, there is an elevator in 
the foyer.

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, Sept. 18, 6:30 PM
Vroman's Bookstore
695 E. Colorado Boulevard
 In Pasadena

Enemies of the People
By Kati Marton

About the Author
Kati Marton, an award-winning former NPR 
and ABC News correspondent, is the author of 
Hidden Power: Presidential Marriages That Shaped 
Our History, a New York Times bestseller, as 
well as Wallenberg, The Polk Conspiracy, A Death 
in Jerusalem, and a novel, An American Woman. 
Mother of a son and a daughter, she lives in 
New York and was married to Richard 
Holbrook.

BOOK REVIEW by ALAN FURST
Published: October 30, 2009,New York Times

The year is 1955; most of the world has taken 
sides in the cold war. In Budapest, behind the 
Iron Curtain, a little girl, 6 years old, lives one of 
the more privileged lives in that city. In an 
apartment on a tree-lined street on one of 
Buda's hills, she is adored by her attractive 
parents, prominent journalists; she wears pink 
sweaters and cute shoes - patent leather Mary 
Janes - from America; she loves going to school; 
she loves her playmates. But then, on an icy 
February night at 2 in the morning, the light goes 
on in the room she shares with her sister and life 
changes forever.

ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE
My Family's Journey to America
By Kati Marton

Excerpt: 'Enemies of the People' (November 1, 2009) 

"'Get into our bed,' my mother said. As we 
slowly awoke, one of the searchers moved in. 
Like a hunter stalking big game, he sank his knife 
into our beat-up stuffed rocking horse. Straw 
spilled out of my oldest possession, as my sister 
and I ran to the room next door and dove into 
our parents' bed. We were too dazed to ask 
where Papa was. Or did we know somehow? 
'Elvittek,' Hungarian for 'they took him away,' 
was a word I often heard as a child. . . . So now 
my father had been elvittek, taken away." Four 
months later, her mother was also elvittek. Taken 
away.

To many in Budapest, this would come as no 
surprise. Endre and Ilona Marton were a high-
profile couple, intellectual celebrities. He was 
the Associated Press correspondent in 
Budapest, she reported for the rival U.P. 
Almost all foreign journalists had been forced to 
leave Hungary, but the Martons, Hungarians 
who spoke and wrote near-native English, 
seemed invulnerable. Endre Marton dressed 
well, smoked a pipe, drove a white Studebaker 
convertible and applied his Hungarian irony and 
wit to the gross distortions of government press 
releases. The Martons were welcome at the 
American Embassy and played bridge with 
American diplomats. So, they must be spies. 
Thus the AVO, the ferocious secret police of the 
Hungarian Stalinist state, was ordered to 
accumulate sufficient evidence of espionage so 
that the Martons could be arrested. It took some 
time, but by 1955, the AVO had what it needed.

Little wonder. As the head of the Hungarian 
state security archives would put it, many years 
later, "Everybody in your circle, whether your 
parents trusted or did not trust them, was 
informing on them." And so they were - the 
governess, the dentist, the colleague. Recruited, 
most often (though not always) intimidated, by 
the AVO, they reported every contact with the 
Marton family. Meanwhile, AVO surveillance 
teams followed the Martons, bugged their 
telephone and opened their mail, filling file after 
file with the details of Kati Marton's childhood.

With an unforeseen, to say the least, result: 
"Enemies of the People," Kati Marton's seventh 
book, a powerful and absolutely absorbing 
narrative of her parents' journey - a series of 
escapes, from Hitler, from Stalin, eventually to 
America. Though if you think the AVO left them 
alone after that, you're wrong.

Marton is a highly respected author and 
journalist. She has worked for ABC News as a 
foreign correspondent, reported for NPR, won 
many awards, headed the Committee to Protect 
Journalists and worked with the International 
Rescue Committee. So, some years after the 
collapse of the Soviet empire in 1989, when the 
records of secret police operations in Hungary 
became available, Marton knew she had to read 
the file (one of the biggest, it turned out) on 
herself and her family. It was, after years of 
concern for the victims of totalitarian states, her 
turn.

And what came next, "Enemies of the People," 
has all the magnetism and, yes, the excitement, 
of the very best spy fiction. But would that it 
were fiction. Marton's a gifted writer, and she 
knows about suspense. As you watch the AVO 
watching the Martons, as you see Endre Marton, 
a sophisticated and courageous man of culture, 
slowly crushed by interrogators in prison, you 
wonder when he'll begin to cooperate, to give 
them what they want: names, dates, acts of 
espionage. There's some of Arthur Koestler's 
"Darkness at Noon" in this book, and more 
than a little of "The Lives of Others," the 
German film about the Stasi, the East German 
secret police.

Here is one Dr. Leo Benko - could Graham 
Greene have come up with a better name? - 
planted by the AVO on Endre Marton as his 
cellmate: "I do not perceive the slightest trace of 
regret in him. During our first days together he 
was quite worked up, but lately he is rather 
broken in spirit and apathetic and doesn't seem 
to notice anything around him. . . . In my 
opinion, . . . if he is still withholding any secrets, 
then, knowing his nature, there is only one way 
to force him to confess: by threatening his wife, 
and, even more, his children. I am certain, that if 
his wife and, even more, his children were 
placed in harm's way, there is not a secret that 
he would not disclose to save them." What 
Benko may not have known, and what Endre 
Marton certainly didn't know, was that his wife 
was in a cell just floors away.

There are other villains - what else would you 
call him? - in this book, but there are also 
heroes. When the Martons are finally allowed to 
meet, in an office in the prison, an AVO major 
leaves the room, permitting them a moment of 
privacy (maybe). As Ilona Marton takes her 
husband's hands in hers, she whispers, in 
English, "Darling . . . the Americans will free 
us." And so they did. Though there are 
American villains here, including one in the 
embassy who spied for the Hungarians, 
American news media and diplomatic efforts 
did save their lives. But the true central 
character in "Enemies of the People" is 
surveillance itself - the operatives, the 
informants, the cameras and microphones - 
and what it becomes once committed to paper:

"Surveillance record, Aug. 27, 1954:

"10:05 a.m. [Marton] in a gray and black 
striped suit . . . and his two little girls left their 
home and got into car (license plate CA894) 
drove to Alkotas Utca 1, where we 
photographed him stepping out of the car. He 
then went into a stationery store with the little 
girls. Inside, he bought them school supplies. Ten 
minutes later, the little girls carrying their school 
supplies, Marton left the store.

"11:43 Marton drove to Gerbeaud and, after 
finding a table, ordered ice cream. The three 
consumed the above while chatting.

"12:20 p.m. Holding his children's hands, 
Marton walked back to his car. They drove to 
Vaci Ut 7 and entered a toy shop."

There is more of this report, then Marton writes: 
"To the AVO I owe a long-ago summer day, 
washed away by dramatic events to come. It is 
now restored to me."

If Marton was able to retrieve a sweet memory 
of her past, she was also to discover details, 
intimate details, of her parents' lives that she 
might well have preferred not to know. "A 
Pandora's box," the foremost historian of the 
AVO correctly called the Marton files. But, in 
the end, "Enemies of the People" becomes a 
treatise on human nature - at its best, at its 
worst - and Marton is enough of a good 
journalist, and a good human being, to take that 
for what it is: applaud the love and the heroism, 
deplore the cowardice and the cruelty, and go 
on with life. She doesn't dwell on her feelings, 
but it could not have been easy for her to 
undertake this project. Yet, as the narrative 
draws to a close, she understands that the 
twists and turns of Europe's brutal history can 
sometimes, with luck and courage, end well. 
And turn out to be, at least for Marton, and 
certainly for the reader, an honestly inspiring 
story.

Alan Furst's most recent novel is "The Spies of 
Warsaw."


A Trip to Washington D.C. for 
Falun Gong and Human Rights in 
China

By Wen Chen

This July 20, my husband Daniel, our 7-year-old 
daughter Sylvia, and I visited Washington D.C.  
It was a special trip to us, because July 20 is a 
very sad date to all Falun Gong practitioners. 
Twelve years ago on this date, the Chinese 
Communist Party (CCP) ordered the crackdown 
on practitioners of Falun Gong - a peaceful body 
and mind exercise. Although Falun Gong was 
just introduced to the public in 1992, its health 
benefits and the principle of "Truth-
Compassion-Tolerance" attracted over 70 
million practitioners by 1999; these new 
members included many government officials as 
well as communist party members. 

Independent thinking has always been a threat 
to the communist party, as evidenced by the 
killing of over 80 million Chinese in the past 
century. Their use of media propaganda and 
armed forces to maintain authority is well-
known. While both intellectuals and members of 
religious groups were a primary target of the 
Cultural Revolution (1966 - 1976), they never 
stopped cracking down on religious groups.  
These groups included Tibetan Buddhists, 
Christians, and in 1999, Falun Gong 
practitioners. These years of crackdown resulted 
in millions of Falun Gong practitioners detained 
in labor camps and jails. There are over 3,000 
cases of death of Falun Gong practitioners 
documented by international human rights 
organizations, but this number is probably only 
the tip of the iceberg since the majority of death 
cases are not reported due to an information 
blockade by the CCP.

I personally have experienced this blockade in 
information.  I came to the U.S. in 1994 as a 
student, stalwart member of the CCP.  I did not 
believe that the Tiananmen Massacre happened 
because we were told in China that nobody was 
killed; we were told that those students were 
manipulated by "foreign anti-China" forces and 
the students killed Chinese soldiers.  I still 
remember myself arguing with several Caltech 
staff and postdocs in 1995. When they told me 
to watch the videos and pictures about the 
massacre, I told them that those were created by 
Hollywood. Finally, it was my turn to be the 
victim of the CCP. 

Both Daniel and I started the practice of Falun 
Gong in 1998 when we were graduate students 
in USC and Caltech, respectively -it was before 
the crackdown. At that time, Falun Gong (also 
known as Falun Dafa) was introduced and 
recommended to Chinese students by the Los 
Angeles Chinese Consulate as traditional 
Chinese culture. What attracted me to the 
practice was the principle of "Truth-
Compassion-Tolerance" and the concept of self 
improvement through constantly looking inside 
whenever conflict happens. I greatly benefited 
from Falun Dafa. My bad temper disappeared 
and I became more considerate. My physical 
health also improved dramatically. I became a 
lot more efficient at work since I could focus 
better. In 2000, after letting go of anxiety about 
my career and marriage, which had bothered me 
for years, I smoothly got my Ph.D degree, found 
a good job, and met Daniel, who was to become 
my husband.   

When I watched the news fabricated by the CCP 
to slander Falun Gong, I realized that I had lived 
in a lie my whole life. I wished someone had told 
me the nature of the CCP before. I knew I should 
not let this happen again. I would tell the truth 
to as many people as possible. Thus we start to 
travel to DC every July to help tell the public 
what is happening in China and call for an end 
to the persecution.  To little Sylvia, this is her 
first trip for human rights in China.  Although I 
do not want to expose her to the atrocities I was 
lied to about, I also do not want to keep any 
truth from her; I want her to be able to make 
informed decisions as she develops her own 
belief system.

On Thursday morning, Daniel joined over 1,000 
Falun Gong practitioners in a public rally on 
Capitol Hill. During the event, more than 20 
congressmen and senators, as well as 
representatives from Amnesty International and 
Freedom House spoke for the right to practice 
Falun Gong and the right to freedom from 
religious persecution. 

In the afternoon, my friend Lulu and I visited 
Congressman Adam Schiff's office. Lulu's 
husband is currently detained in China for 
posting flyers about Falun Gong.  His human 
rights lawyer, Wang Yonghang,  was sentenced 
to 7 years in prison for defending him in court. 
We had a meeting with Rep. Schiff's chief of 
staff Tim Bergreen. We gave Tim a brief update 
about freedom of the press in China, the 
Tuidang movement, and Chinese human rights 
lawyers, including the efforts of AI Group 22 to 
support lawyer Gao Zhisheng. Lulu talked about 
the case of her husband and his human rights 
lawyer. Congressman Schiff has asked the State 
Department to contact the Chinese authorities 
to inquire into the case. Tim said they would 
continue to help Lulu, her husband, and her 
lawyer.  

Friday morning, we joined a parade. The grand 
march included several themes: "The Beauty of 
Falun Dafa", "End the Persecution" and 
"Chinese People Abandon the CCP". We saw 
Falun Gong practitioners from many other 
countries. Actually we walked next to a group 
of practitioners from Korea. They wore beautiful 
traditional Korean costumes. Although they 
cannot speak English, they smiled to us all the 
time and showed us with gestures on how to 
hold our banners better. 

The parade began at the National Mall, traveled 
down Constitution Avenue, and ended at the 
Washington Monument, a 1.4 mile parade of 
colorful banners, traditional Chinese waist 
drummers, and the Celestial Marching Band. 
Before the parade started, more than 2,500 
practitioners gathered together and did the 
Falun Gong exercise together at the National 
Mall.

Friday night was the most touching moment 
during our whole trip. All three of us joined 
more than 3,000 Falun Gong practitioners for a 
big candlelight vigil at the Washington 
Monument. We meditated and sat in a pattern 
that formed Chinese characters spelling "Falun 
Dafa is good." In China, Falun Gong 
practitioners risked their lives to say this. When 
they face torture, this is their reply to the police 
for not giving up their belief. It was a great honor 
for us to be there as three little candle lights to 
form this Chinese phrase. 

Little Sylvia sat through the whole two hours, 
proudly, on her own spot that was in sight of 
but not next to me or Daniel;  I can't believe it.  
After the candle vigil, she told me proudly that 
she took such a good care of her candle that the 
light did not go off at all.  I'm so proud of my 
daughter, and I am so happy that Daniel and I 
can share our passion for truth and humanity 
with our daughters, one of whom could 
experience it in such an intimate way during the 
trip.  

Over the past decade, we witnessed changes 
among Chinese people in China and overseas 
concerning recognition of human rights. I 
remember ten years ago, when I distributed 
Falun Gong flyers in a Chinese market, dozens 
of deceived Chinese people surrounded me and 
insulted me and the Falun Gong as an "evil cult" 
and "anti-China". Nowadays, Chinese people 
come up to us and say, "Well done, I support 
you!"

I know the tiny efforts of millions of people like 
us are creating history. 


PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE
Gao Zhisheng

by Joyce Wolf

Vice-President Joe Biden visited China August 
16-24. Geng He, wife of Group 22's adopted 
prisoner of conscience Gao Zhisheng, implored 
Biden to raise the issue of Gao's disappearance 
with Chinese authorities during his visit. 

Geng He said that Biden's visit coincides with 
the fifth anniversary of her husband's first 
disappearance into police custody on August 
15, 2006. "Over the past five years he has 
disappeared into police detention no less than 
six times, and each time he was tortured.  Each 
time that he has been kidnapped by the police, 
they have held him for a longer period.  And 
each time, the torture has been worse."

Geng He went on to say, "If my husband had 
been allowed to serve his three-year sentence 
'safe and sound' in prison, we would at least 
have known where he was, and we should have 
been allowed regular visits and mail and phone 
communication." (Source: Chinaaid.org. 
http://tinyurl.com/3sxv8l2)

Here is an excerpt form the U.S. Department of 
State August 17 press briefing:

"MS. NULAND: Well, let me take this 
opportunity to again urge the Chinese 
Government to ensure that Gao Zhisheng is 
immediately released from custody and to 
clarify the details surrounding his case and his 
whereabouts. You know that the protection of 
human rights is a central part of President 
Obama's foreign policy, both in China and 
elsewhere. Vice President Biden will raise our 
concerns about the human rights situation 
throughout China on this visit, as we 
consistently do. We've repeatedly raised our 
concerns about Mr. Gao's whereabouts and 
well-being with the Chinese Government, and 
we've expressed our deep concern about the 
reports that he may have been tortured by 
security officials." 
(http://tinyurl.com/4ykbftd )

The Los Angeles Times reported on August 21 
that Biden "gently prodded China on human 
rights." Let's hope that Biden's visit has some 
positive effect for Gao Zhisheng!  
http://tinyurl.com/4y2vv9f 

Please observe International Day of the 
Disappeared on August 30 by taking action for 
Gao Zhisheng. Amnesty USA has an online 
action for Gao, valid until Dec. 31. You can 
reach it by clicking 
http://tinyurl.com/3btmk26.


VIOLATIONS AGAINST WOMEN

by Cheri Dellelo

A Call to End Sexual Violence in Haiti 
(from Madre.org)

Last fall, the women's human rights group 
MADRE, along with the International Women's 
Human Rights Clinic at CUNY Law School, 
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, 
Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, Center for 
Constitutional Rights, Women's Link 
Worldwide, KOFAVIV, FAVILEK, and 
KONAMAVID, submitted a petition to a 
regional human rights judicial system calling for 
immediate action to protect women and girls 
facing sexual violence in Haiti's displacement 
camps. This petition included the demands of 
Haitian women for medical and psychological 
care for rape survivors, increased security and 
lighting in the camps and meaningful 
participation by grassroots women's groups in 
decisions about combating sexual violence in the 
camps where they reside. These demands, which 
the Commission endorsed in a ground-breaking 
decision in December 2010, offer a blueprint for 
responding to disaster in ways that protect 
women and girls against violence. The following 
site offers you the opportunity to sign an open 
letter to the Haiti government, International 
Donor States, and the Interim Haiti Recovery 
Commission demanding that these urgent steps 
be implemented by the Haitian government and 
with the support of the international 
community. http://tinyurl.com/3hp4zek

Demand Justice for Rape Survivors in the 
Democratic Republic of Congo
(from Amnestyusa.org)

Two years ago, Secretary Clinton met with rape 
survivors in the Eastern Democratic Republic of 
Congo and promised to prevent and respond to 
the widespread sexual violence associated with 
the conflict there. Yet, recent research finds rape 
rates are higher than ever suspected, and 
emerging reports expose mass rapes affecting 
more than 100 women throughout the Eastern 
regions. In the face of such astounding injustice, 
the U.S. must keep its promises to the women of 
the Democratic Republic of Congo. At the 
following site, take action by urging Secretary 
Clinton to redouble U.S. commitment to help 
stop the violence and issue a progress report on 
her efforts to respond to sexual violence in the 
Democratic Republic of Congo. 
http://tinyurl.com/3pyaw9t

Help Protect Human Rights Defender 
 Lydia Cacho
(from Amnestyusa.org)

Lydia Cacho is a journalist and human rights 
defender who is based in Cancun, Quintana Roo 
state, southern east Mexico. She first received 
multiple threats and harassment after publishing 
a book in 2005, in which she exposed a child 
pornography ring which allegedly operated with 
the knowledge and protection of politicians and 
business people of the Quintana de Roo and 
Puebla states. She continued to receive threats in 
the following years, on some occasions in 
reprisal for her work as a journalist and as a 
human rights defender at a women's shelter in 
Cancun. 

In April, Cacho published Memoirs of a Scandal -
the story of how Nacif, Kuri and other powerful 
men targeted her after the publication of her first 
book - and dedicated it to assassinated 
journalists. Then she began her current project, a 
book about the trafficking of women and girls in 
Mexico, which is a top destination for sex 
trafficking from countries like Colombia and 
Guatemala. In the wake of her recent work, she 
has received new death threats by email and 
telephone and there has been serious concern 
about her safety and security. Please take action 
on Cacho's behalf by sending the letter at the 
following site to Mexico's Attorney General. 
http://tinyurl.com/3lasrr9 

The Whistleblower
 (from imbd.com and Wikipedia.org)

Be sure to catch the movie The Whistleblower 
when it comes to a theatre near you this month. 
The plot: Based on the true story,  policewoman 
Kathryn Bolkovac (played by Rachel Weisz) 
risks her job and her own safety to uncover and 
bring to light a wide-scale, child sex-slave and 
human-trafficking scandal involving a U.S. 
military contractor, Democro Corp (a 
pseudonym for the real world DynCorp), and 
the United Nations in post-war Bosnia. Watch 
the trailer here - 
http://youtu.be/al3anBiHwmI. 

AIUSA Women's Rights Group Now on Twitter
Follow them at 
http://twitter.com/#!/AmnestyWomenRts. 


DEATH PENALTY NEWS

by Stevi Carroll

Summer's winding down and executions 
continue in the USA.  In Oregon, Gary Haugen 
has volunteered to be executed.  This means he 
waives his appeals in favor of lethal injection.  
Because the last execution in Oregon took place 
when Harry Charles Moore was executed on 
May 16, 1997, the Oregon State Penitentiary in 
Salem was on lockdown on Tuesday, August 16, 
from 4 PM to 7:30 PM while the staff went 
through a practice run, complete with a staff 
person playing the role of Mr. Haugen.  Right 
now Mr. Haugen has a stay of execution because 
he has a mental competency hearing set for 
September 27 just to make sure he really knows 
what he's agreeing to.

Troy Davis

Troy Davis awaits execution.  At the mid-
August Amnesty Organizing City meeting, 
Jessica Farley said we need to be ready to blitz 
the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles 
with phone calls, faxes and emails.  We'd like to 
set up a 'phone tree' rapid response team.  If you 
are interested in being a part of this action, 
please let me know.  We could start here by 
sending letters or making phone calls to

State Board of Pardons and Paroles 
2 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, SE 
Suite 458, Balcony Level, East Tower 
Atlanta, Georgia 30334-4909
Telephone:  (404) 656-5651

At this time, other actions we can take include 
signing the petition for Troy at 
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/ad
vocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=6oJCLQPAJiJUG&b
=6645049&aid=12970
I know many of us have already signed this, so 
you might consider passing it along to other 
people you may know who would be interested.

Two other groups of people being enlisted in 
Troy's campaign are religious leaders and legal 
professionals.  If you know any religious leaders 
or people who may know religious leaders who 
may be moved to support Troy, please send 
them this link:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1576/p/
dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5928.  One of 
the ministers I sent this plea to emailed me to 
say he'd signed the petition and forwarded it on 
to a dozen other clergy colleagues he knows 
around the country.  Each little bit adds up, yes?

Legal professionals can take action at 
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/site/c.jhKPI
XPCIoE/b.6696673/k.602/Legal_Professionals_
Troy_Davis_needs_you/apps/ka/ct/contactus.
asp?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=6696673&en=6pJBKLM
nF5LKKVOqG4JGJXOHLjLOKZOCJmJMLWPIJtE.  

Troy's execution date is imminent.  I found an 
interesting video at 
http://youtu.be/1DGqRFM443Y.  And of 
course as those of you who are my Facebook 
friends know, links can be shared via FB thus we 
can reach a wider support group.

Anthony Portantino

On August 2, 2011, a group of us from the Los 
Angeles Coalition for Death Penalty 
Alternatives met with Assemblyman Anthony 
Portantino.  Mr. Portantino admitted the death 
penalty is an issue he struggles with.  On the 
one hand if someone he knows and loves is 
murdered, he wants the harshest justice served 
he can legally have, and on the other hand, he 
never wants an innocent person executed.  He is 
also concerned that present death row inmates 
would not have their sentences carried out.  He 
did agree to have his lawyers research SB 490, 
should the bill reach the point in the process at 
which it needs his attention, to help him reach a 
decision regarding his vote on it.   Sadly, this 
visit for SB 490 may have little legislative value.

SB 490 - and Cut This

Lucas and I attended the Los Angeles Coalition 
for Death Penalty Alternatives Sunday, August 
21.  According to James Clarke, SB 490 isn't 
going to make it out of the appropriations 
committee.  As of this writing, the California 
Taxpayers for Justice still has a petition in 
support of SB 490.  You can go to to 
http://www.change.org/petitions/california-
legislature-pass-sb-490-to-replace-the-death-
penalty to support this bill; however, after the 
vote on Wednesday, August 24, you may be 
directed to take another action.  

Given the demise of SB 490, the next campaign 
for allowing Californians to vote on a death 
penalty related initiative will be a signature 
petition drive to take it to the ballot November 
20, 2012.  James said two million signatures are 
needed to qualify since many people who will 
sign will not be registered to vote or may sign 
multiple times.  This initiative will NOT abolish 
the death penalty - that would require an 
amendment to the State constitution - but rather 
would make it so the state's district attorneys 
would prosecute cases with life without 
possibility of parole as the most stringent 
sentence.  

As more information about this initiative drive 
is available, I will keep you posted.

While Governor Brown cannot abolish 
California's death penalty, he can convert all 
death sentences to life without parole. The Cut 
This: Death Penalty petition to Governor Brown 
is still available at 
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1265/p/
dia/action/public/?action_KEY=4602.

Stays of Execution

August 2011

2	Manuel Valle		Florida
16	Brett Hartman		Ohio
16	Bruce Ward		Arkansas
16	Gary Haugen		Oregon
18	Larry Swearingen	Texas
23	Randall Mays		Texas
30	Ivan Cantu		Texas
31	Edward Edwards	Ohio (died of 
natural causes)


Executions

July 2011

21	Andrew Grant DeYoung		37	
	Georgia		Lethal Injection
			3-drug w/pentobarbital

29	Robert Jackson III		38	
	Delaware	Lethal Injection
			3-drug w/pentobarbital

August

10	Martin Robles			33	
	Texas		Lethal Injection
			3-drug w/pentobarbital

18	Jerry Jackson			30	
	Virginia	Lethal Injection
			3-drug w/pentobarbital


GROUP 22 MONTHLY LETTER COUNT
UAs   14
POC    4
DP     1
Total 19
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


Amnesty International's mission is to undertake 
research and action focused on preventing and 
ending grave abuses of the rights to physical 
and mental integrity, freedom of conscience and 
expression, and freedom from discrimination, 
within the context of its work to promote all 
human rights.