P.O. Box 130901, Houston, TX 77219-0901
281-587-5386
http://www.amnestyhouston.org
mail@amnestyhouston.org

Monthly meeting first Wednesday of every month (except holidays).

NEWS AND NOTES

Monthly Meeting Agenda:

       Introductions
       Reports by Coordination Groups:
       Group case (Bárbara Italia Méndez)
       Avdo Palic
       Death Penalty
       Radio Committee
       Stop Violence Against Women Campaign
       Counter Terror With Justice Campaign
       South Asian Regional Action Network (SARAN)
       Refugees
       Out Front Campaign
       Who Will Bring Letter Next Meeting
Old Business:
       Fall Art Show (Esmeralda and Kathryn)
       9th Annual March to Stop Executions, October 25
New Business:
 

Local Group 23 News:

• We had a table at the Maroon 5 concert and Ceci and Linda Abad did the tabling.
• Juli Kring set up a screening of "ABC News Primetime Basic Instincts 5: The Milgram Experiment Re-Visited" at the Stella Link Branch of the Houston Public Library.

• We have openings for Group Coordinator, Secretary and New Member coordinator.

(Washington) --Rich and powerful individuals and groups involved in land disputes in Cambodia are increasingly using their power to silence opponents through the criminal justice system, said Amnesty International today, as it called for greater protection for human rights defenders.

In the briefing paper, A risky business - defending the right to housing, Amnesty International provides examples of abuses of human rights defenders working for the promotion of land rights and against forced evictions in Cambodia in the last two years.

Informal village leader Chhea Ny, released in December 2007 after 16 months in prison, told Amnesty International: "I was chained and held in a dark prison cell for one week. I was so miserable. And I was not allowed to wash. After one week they removed the chain from my legs. When they took off the chain they let me stay outside in daylight, and they offered an apology; they said they had made a mistake and [punished] the wrong man.”

He had been arrested in August 2006 over a long-standing land dispute with local officials, business people and high-ranking military in Boeung Pram village, in Battambang province.

"His case is a blatant example of what happens when the legal system fails to protect human rights and to serve justice," said Brittis Edman, Amnesty International’s Cambodia researcher.

According to local human rights groups, over the past two years, the number of land activists arrested has practically doubled from 78 in 2006 to 149 in 2007. This trend corresponds with an increase in the number of reports alleging that police have unfairly arrested land activists, prosecutors have pressed groundless criminal charges against them, and law enforcement and court officials have threatened people protesting against forced evictions with arrest or imprisonment.

"The rapid increase in the number of peaceful land activists in prison is a serious concern in its own right. But every imprisoned human rights defender becomes a tool for intimidation of other activists, demonstrating that detention, trials and imprisonment are a real threat," said Edman.

"The Cambodian authorities must ensure that the legal system fairly protects all parties involved in land disputes and protecting human rights, and must investigate allegations of intimidation and unlawful arrests of human rights defenders."

Several people were attacked at the end of the first day of the Sarajevo Queer Festival on Wednesday. Eight people, policemen included, were reported to have been injured after dozens of young men attacked visitors to festival. According to the organizers of the four-day event police allowed anti-gay protestors to get too close to the venue thus endangering the participants.

The festival, organised by the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) non-governmental organization, Udruženje Q, opened in the Academy of Fine Arts in the centre Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The attacks forced the organizers to make the rest of the festival a private event.

Amnesty International called on the authorities to promptly and thoroughly investigate the attacks and bring those responsible to justice. The organization also called on the authorities to provide adequate security for the participants of the festival.

"The call of gay rights activists for equality before the law and an end to discrimination was met with intolerance and violence," said Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia Programme Director at Amnesty International.

The organizers of the festival and their sympathisers, including journalists, have and continue to receive death threats. Homophobic posters are widely distributed and put in prominent places. Some media outlets have used homophobic language and misrepresented the aims of the festival.

In a letter to the Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina Nikola ŠpiriÄ? earlier this month, Amnesty International expressed concern at the atmosphere of increasing intimidation against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the country and called on him to ensure that their rights are protected.

To date, Amnesty International has not received an answer. The apparent lack of adequate measures by the authorities to guarantee an atmosphere free of intimidation and violence for the festival shows that the organization's recommendations have not been heeded.

On 18 September 2008, the Court of Appeal in Agadir overturned the two-year sentence imposed on blogger Mohamed Erraji by the Court of First Instance for “lack of respect for the king” and dropped all charges against him on the grounds of procedural irregularities in the previous trial.

Amnesty International welcomes the decision by the Court of Appeal. The organization stresses that Mohamed Erraji should never have been charged in the first place and calls on the Moroccan authorities to promptly abolish all provisions in Moroccan law which violate the fundamental right to freedom of expression.

Letter writing actions have moved to a special section of our website.