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Newsletter
Amnesty International USA Group 48

1.16
Marek Bernat Stock.Xchng

1 REPUBLIC OF CONGO:
Urgent Action - Release
Paulin Makaya

2 CHINA: Urgent Action Four Held For Supporting

Detained Lawyer
3 DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC
OF CONGO: Urgent
Action - Release Nine
Peaceful Protesters
4 U.S. Immigration
Authorities Must Abide by
International Obligations on
Detention of Immigrants
and Asylum Seekers
5 USA: Urgent Action for
Death Penalty - Halt Plans
to Adopt New Lethal
Injection Regulation
AIUSA-Group 48
http://aipdx.org
503-227-1878
Next Meeting:
Friday January 8th
First Unitarian Church
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NewsLetter Designed
By Michelle Whitlock
MichelleWhitlock.com

REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Urgent Action - Release

Paulin Makaya

Congolese political opposition mem-

ber, Paulin Makaya who has been detained since November 23rd was finally
brought before an investigating judge
of the High Court of Brazzaville on 1
December. He is held in pre-trial detention at the central prison of Brazzaville
facing three different charges.
Action

1) Please write immediately:

Calling on the Congolese authorities to ensure Paulin Makaya is tried in
accordance with international fair trial
standards ;
Urging the authorities to ensure that
during his detention, Paulin Makaya
is not subjected to torture or other illtreatment and has access to a lawyer of
his choice, to medical attention, to family visits and to all basic necessities.

2) For the full Urgent Action, including

appeal addresses and further information, please go to the AIUSA website
http://www.amnestyusa.org/get-involved/take-action-now/republic-ofcongo-release-paulin-makaya-ua-27415
3) Please let AIUSA Urgent Action
Team know if you took action so that
we can track our impact!
EITHER send a short email to uan@
aiusa.org with UA 274/15 in the
subject line, and include in the body of
the email the number of letters and/or
emails you sent,
OR fill out this short online form to let
us know how you took action.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/
r/2MMVGYB

AIUSA group 48 Newsletter January 2016 Pg 2

CHINA: Urgent Action - Four Held For Supporting Detained Lawyer

Zhang Zhan (m), Wang Su'e (f), Qu Hongxia (f), Ran Chongbi (f), Pu Zhiqiang (m)
Jyn Meyer Stock.Xchng

Four activists have been criminally detained after gathering

outside a court in Beijing during the trial of prominent human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang. It is not known what charges
they are being held under, and they have not had access to
their lawyers or families. Several other activists who were
taken away have not been heard from since, and it is feared
they may also be in detention.

On December 14th, several hundred supporters of Pu Zhiqiang gathered outside the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's
Court in Beijing, including many whose cases he had represented. Pu Zhiqiang was standing trial for "inciting ethnic hatred" and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble, primarily
on the basis of seven social media posts in which he criticized
the government. Approximately 20 people were taken away
by plain-clothes police officers, some of whom were later released, but activists Zhang Zhan, Wang Su'e, Qu Hongxia and
Ran Chongbi remain in criminal detention in Fengtai Detention Centre in Beijing. More than 12 people who were also
taken away have not been heard from since, and it is feared
they may also be detained.
According to eyewitnesses, people started being taken away
by police even though the crowd was peaceful. Foreign diplomats and journalists were also involved in scuffles with police
outside the trial, and were prevented from entering the court
building.
The four detainees have not had access to lawyers, and when
other activists tried to bring them money and clothes, police
at the detention centre refused to allow them in.

Action

Please write immediately in Chinese, English or your own

language:
Demanding that the authorities immediately and unconditionally release Zhang Zhan, Wang Su'e, Qu Hongxia and Ran
Chongbi and anyone else detained for peacefully expressing
their right to freedom of expression and assembly;
Calling on them to ensure that pending their release, they
have regular access to their lawyers, family and any medical
treatment they require, and are protected from torture and
other ill-treatment.
Appeals To

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE JANURY 29th 2016 TO:

Director
Fengtai District Detention Centre
No. 6 Shagang Village
Yuanpingcheng Dongnanbu
Fengtai District
Beijing 100071
Peoples Republic of China
Salutation: Dear Director
AIUSA Group 48 Contact Information
Group Coordinator
Megan Harrington
megan.harrington
@gmail.com
Treasurer
Tena Hoke
tena.hoke@gmail.com
Newsletter Editor
Dan Webb
write_to_dan@yahoo.com
OR Area Coordinator
Marty Fromer
martyfromer@gmail.com
Indonesia
Max White
maxw33@comcast.net

Prisoners Cases
Jane Kristof
kristofj@pdx.edu
Jama Chorush
jchorush@yahoo.com
Concert Tabling
Will Ware
ww_ware@yahoo.com
Central Africa/
OR State Death
Penalty Abolition
Terrie Rodello
tarodello@igc.org

AIUSA group 48 Newsletter January 2016 Pg 3

Minister of Public Security

Guo Shengkun
14 Dongchanganjie
Beijingshi 100741
Peoples Republic of China
Email: gabzfwz@mps.gov.cn
Salutation: Dear Minister
Copies To

President
Xin Jinping Guojia Zhuxi
The State Council General Office
2 Fuyoujie
Xichengqu, Beijingshi 100017
Peoples Republic of China
Fax: +86 10 6238 1025
Ambassador Cui Tiankai
Embassy of the People's Republic of China

3505 International Place NW

Washington, DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 495 2138
Additional Information

Prominent human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang was originally

detained by police on May 6th, 2014, after he attended a seminar in Beijing that called for an investigation into the 1989
Tiananmen crackdown. His prosecution has been marred
by repeated procedural irregularities including prolonged
pre-trial detention, the denial of adequate medical care and
prosecutors refusing to disclose evidence against him to his
defence lawyers.
Pu Zhiqiang has represented individuals in many sensitive
human rights cases, including those linked with the New
Citizens Movement, a loose network of activists who aim to
promote government transparency and expose corruption.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Urgent Action - Release Nine Peaceful

Protesters
Urging them to release the nine immediately and uncondiFPhilip Mason Stock.Xchng

Nine people, including two activists from Lutte pour le

tionally;
Urging them to respect the rights to freedom of expression,
association and peaceful assembly including of LUCHA activists, their sympathizers and supporters;
Urging the authorities to ensure that the nine are not subjected to any ill-treatment while in detention.
2) For the full Urgent Action, including appeal addresses and
further information, please click on this link: http://www.
amnestyusa.org/get-involved/take-action-now/democraticrepublic-of-congo-release-nine-peaceful-protesters-ua-17315

Changement (LUCHA), Juvin Kombi and Pascal Byumanine, 3) Please let the AIUSA Urgent Action Team know if you
took action so that we can track our impact!
are in detention. They were arrested on November 28th in
Goma during a peaceful demonstration in honor of victims of EITHER send a short email to uan@aiusa.org with "UA
the ongoing killings in the Beni area of Northern Kivu, DRC. 173/15" in the subject line, and include in the body of the
email the number of letters and/or emails you sent,
Action
1) Please write immediately:
OR fill out this short online form to let us know how you took
Urging the Congolese authorities to drop all charges against action. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/T5XH6SW
the nine immediately and unconditionally;

AIUSA group 48 Newsletter January 2016 Pg 4

U.S. Immigration Authorities Must Abide by International Obligations on

Detention of Immigrants and Asylum Seekers
December 22, 2015

Kovacs Orsi Stock.Xchng

Justin Mazzola, Deputy Director of Research for Amnesty

International USA, issued the following statement:

"Over the past two months, detainees in 10 immigration

detention facilities across Texas, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida
and California have staged hunger strikes to protest their
prolonged and indefinite detention and conditions of confinement. Many of the detainees are from South Asian, African
and Central American countries and are seeking asylum in
the United States. Despite passing credible fear interviews,
they have been held in detention for prolonged periods of
time, one as long as two years, as they seek protection, according to advocacy and immigrant rights organizations such
as D.R.U.M., #Not1more and Grassroots Leadership.

Detention center. Similarly, on December 21, a second federal

judge in Florida granted a petition that authorizes medical
staff to involuntarily draw blood and force feed 10 hunger
striking detainees through nasal-gastric tubes, if necessary, at
Krome Service Processing Center in Miami. While Amnesty
International is not in a position to know the details of these
cases, the forced feeding of protesters on hunger strike raises
issues of medical ethics, informed consent, detainee autonomy, confidentiality and the overall treatment of detainees.
"While it is generally accepted that countries have the right to
regulate the entry and stay of non-nationals in their territory,
they can only do so within the limits of their human rights
obligations. Detention is only appropriate when authorities
can demonstrate in each individual case that it is necessary
and proportionate to the objective being achieved and on
grounds prescribed by law and that alternatives would not be
effective. A limited number of specific purposes are recognized as legitimate grounds for detention under international
standards, including verifying identity, protecting national security or public order, and preventing a person from absconding following an objective assessment or flight risk. Amnesty
International USA has repeatedly called on immigration
authorities to reform U.S. detention practices, especially for
asylum seekers who are seeking protection from persecution
and insecurity.

"In violation of both U.S. and international law, authorities

at the El Paso Processing Center in Texas, where the hunger
strikes originated, brought the consul from Bangladesh to
the facility to speak to the detainees, despite many of the
hunger strikers seeking protection from the very government
the consul represents. Following the meeting, images of the
detainees along with several of their names were published by "The U.S. government has an obligation under international
human rights law to ensure that its laws, policies and pracmedia outlets in Bangladesh.
tices do not place immigrants at an increased risk of human
"While several of the initial hunger strikers were released, oth- rights abuses. Amnesty International continues its call for
ers have been placed in solitary confinement, transferred to
U.S. immigration authorities to reform policies to ensure they
remote facilities, undergone abusive strip searches or alleged
adhere to international standards by:
other abuse from guards, including one detainees claims of
Postage Rates
a forced catheterization by medical staff. Many of the detention facilities where hunger strikes have occurred have been
Within the United States
previously reported for poor conditions and lack of access
$0.35 - Postcards
to services by advocacy organizations in the past, including
$0.49 - Letters and Cards up to 1 oz.
Etowah County Detention Center in Alabama.
"On December 8, a federal judge in Alabama approved an order to force feed a hunger striking detainee at Etowah County

To all international destinations

$1.20 - Postcards
$1.20 - Airmail Letters and Cards up to 1 oz.

AIUSA group 48 Newsletter January 2016 Pg 5

Utilizing immigration detention only as a measure of last

resort; it must be justified in each individual case and be
subject to judicial review.
Authorities must provide detained immigrants access to
competent counsel and interpretation services, medical and
mental health care, and regular and meaningful reviews of
their detention status.
"Non-custodial

alternatives to detention should always be

considered before the decision to detain, and the least restrictive alternative should be used in each individual situation.
Federal, private, state and local facilities detaining immigrants should be required to abide by enforceable human

rights standards of treatment and be held accountable when

the standards are transgressed."
In 2009, Amnesty International released Jailed Without Justice: Immigration detention in the USA, which demonstrates
how immigrants are often arbitrarily detained for indefinite
periods of time without any meaningful opportunity to
review their detention, while held in prisons and jails that do
not meet international standards for administrative detention including a lack of access to proper medical care. During
the course of their detention, detained immigrants are often
moved multiple times to remote facilities, far from legal and
family support.

USA: Urgent Action for Death Penalty - Halt Plans to Adopt New Lethal Injection
Regulation

Reminding them that the USA is among the minority of

countries that still executes, and that there is no humane way
to kill.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE JANUARY 22nd 2016

TO:
Chief, Regulation and Policy Management Branch
Ramona Alt Stock.Xchng
Timothy M. Lockwood
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
he California Department of Corrections and RehabilitaRegulation and Policy Management Branch
tion has launched a public consultation on its proposed new
P.O. 942883
lethal injection protocol. The public has until January 22, 2015 Sacramento, CA 94283-0001
to submit comments on the regulation, the adoption of which Fax: 1 916 324 6075
would allow for the resumption of executions in the US state
Email: LI.comments@cdcr.ca.gov
with the highest death row population. Officials are required Salutation: Dear Mr. Lockwood
by law to read all comments.
2) For the full Urgent Action, including appeal addresses and
Action
further information, please go to this website:http://www.am1) Please write immediately to the California Department of
nestyusa.org/get-involved/take-action-now/usa-halt-plans-toCorrections and Rehabilitation using the address below:
adopt-new-lethal-injection-regulation-ua-28715
Urging the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation to immediately halt its plans to adopt the new
3) Please let the AIUSA Urgent Action Team know if you
lethal injection regulation and work with other state authori- took action so that we can track our impact!
ties to abolish the death penalty;
EITHER send a short email to uan@aiusa.org with "UA
Urging the California authorities to establish an official
287/15" in the subject line, and include in the body of the
moratorium on all executions as a first step towards aboliemail the number of letters and/or emails you sent,
tion of the death penalty, in line with the international and
OR fill out this short online form to let us know how you
national trend and five UN General Assembly resolutions
took action. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TR3JGBQ
adopted since 2007;

AIUSA group 48 Newsletter January 2016 Pg 6

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AIUSA group 48 Newsletter January 2016