Category: human rights

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Photo by William Widmer for the Innocence Project

Albert Woodfox Updates:

Died August 4, 2022 (75 years old)

“The Angola 3’s Albert Woodfox, who survived years of solitary confinement, dies” by Shauneen Miranda, NPR, August 5, 2022

Released from Prison on February 19, 2016 (43 years in solitary)

“‘Solitary’ Is an Uncommonly Powerful Memoir About Four Decades in Confinement” by Dwight Garner, The New York Times, March 4, 2019

Release Albert Woodfox: conviction overturned again

The Honorable James D. “Buddy” Caldwell
Attorney General of Louisiana
1885 North 3rd Street
Baton Rouge, LA 70802
Executive@ag.state.la.us

March 27, 2013

Dear Mr. Caldwell:

Let the federal district court’s ruling stand.

Once again Albert Woodfox’s conviction for the 1972 murder of a prison guard was overturned, this time on the basis of racial discrimination in the selection of the grand jury foreperson.

The court’s ruling adds to widespread concerns of significant flaws in the legal processes that have kept both Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace unjustifiably in prison for over 40 years. These flaws include:

  • Inadequate legal counsel
  • Prosecutorial misconduct
  • Lack of physical evidence
  • Potentially exculpatory evidence lost by the State
  • Evidence that the key eyewitness testimony was paid for in bribes by the State
  • Other eyewitnesses retracting their testimony
  • Racial descrimination

Since his conviction, Albert Woodfox has been denied access to work, to group activities and to rehabilitation programs. The void of essential social, mental and emotional interactions has resulted in negative physical and psychological effects for this senior citizen just as it would for any person subjected to the same inhumane conditions.

The case of Albert Woodfox was investigated in the Democracy Now video, After 40 Years in Solitary, Angola 3 Prisoner Albert Woodfox Ordered Freed for 3rd Time in Louisiana, and in the documentary, In the Land of the Free…, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson.

Based on the above-mentioned legal-process flaws, any appeal of this ruling would be questionable; an appeal would compound injustice and further delay the ruling of the federal district court. Therefore, the State should release Albert Woodfox or move to retry him.

Please withdraw your intent to appeal and let the federal district court’s ruling stand.

(Based on a template by Amnesty International Urgent Action, a letter-writing network on behalf of people facing human rights abuses worldwide.)

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Giovanni Lo Porto Still Missing

The President of Pakistan

Your Excellency, President Asif Ali Zardari:

Giovanni Lo Porto from Palermo, Italy, was abducted on January 19, 2012, in Qasim Bela, Punjab province, Pakistan.

I am gravely concerned for his safety and am requesting your urgent intervention and continued involvement in his case.

Giovanni Lo Porto arrived in Pakistan in October 2011 to help German NGO Welthungerhilfe construct emergency shelters in southern Punjab, where flooding had caused widespread damage. Just a few months before, he was a student in the Hiroshima and Peace program at Hiroshima University in Japan. Organizing Committee members at the university say Giovanni made many positive contributions to his class, demonstrating a strong commitment to building peace and understanding in the world.

I know this is a difficult time for your country as it faces great upheaval: a Supreme Court order for the arrest of Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, the return of General Musharraf, the appointment of Mir Hazan Khan Khoso as caretaker Prime Minister, and the upcoming elections on May 11. My strongest wishes for peace and stability go out to you and the people of Pakistan.

Please don’t let Giovanni Lo Porto fall through the cracks during this time of tectonic shifts in power and politics. He came to Pakistan in peace.

On behalf of his global family, please take immediate action for the release of Giovanni Lo Porto and ensure his safe and swift return home. If you feel additional action by the international community would be helpful in gaining Giovanni’s release, I welcome your recommendation.

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Update: Patrick Okoroafor Released from Prison

“Child prisoner free after 17 years” Amnesty International, May 9, 2012

Patrick Okoroafor wrongfully sentenced to death at 16

January 4, 2009

His Excellency Chief Dr. Ikedi Ohakim
Governor of Imo State
Executive Governor’s Office
PMB 1183
Owerri, Imo State
NIGERIA

Your Excellency:

I am respectfully requesting your intervention in the case of Patrick Okoroafor, currently detained indefinitely in Aba prison.

Concern:
On October 18, 2001 the High Court of Imo State declared the sentence of death for Patrick Okoroafor to be illegal, null and void, but seven years have passed since the High Court decision and he has still not been released. Police reportedly tortured Patrick in custody: hanging and beating him, and pulling out his teeth with pliers

History:
May 1995  –  Patrick Okoroafor was 14 years old when he was arrested and arraigned with six others for robbery and kidnapping, a crime he says he never committed.
May 1997  –  at the age of 16, Patrick and his six co-defendants were sentenced to death. Patrick and another minor, Chidiebere Onuoha, petitioned for clemency based on their age.
July 1997  –  the death sentences of the six co-defendants were confirmed, while Patrick’s sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.  Later that month, the six men were publicly shot to death; Chidiebere was 17 years old when he was executed.

Current Status:
More than seven years have passed since the High Court judgment in his favor, yet Patrick is still in prison, hoping for his release. His health worsens daily; his asthma attacks are now frequent and life threatening.

Patrick Okoroafor has spent almost half his life in prison. I am concerned about his deteriorating health and the reported torture that he endured while in police custody.

I respectfully urge you to release him without delay.

Thank you for your consideration.

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Giovanni Lo Porto Kidnapped by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan

Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata, Minister for Foreign Affairs
gabinetto.ministro@cert.esteri.it

To Minister Terzi di Sant’Agata:

I’ve learned through the Hiroshima City University in Japan that Giovanni Lo Porto from Palermo, a student in the Hiroshima and Peace (H&P) program, was abducted earlier this year in Pakistan where he was working on the construction of emergency lodging in southern Punjab.

I am gravely concerned for his safety and am requesting your urgent intervention in his case.

According to the H&P Organizing Committee members, Giovanni made many positive contributions to his class, demonstrating a strong commitment to building peace and understanding as proven by his goodwill and peace work in Pakistan despite great personal risk.

Please take immediate action on behalf of Giovanni Lo Porto to ensure his safe and swift return home. If you feel additional action by the international community would be helpful in gaining Giovanni’s release, I welcome your recommendation.

Thank you

No Drinkable Water in Roma Settlements

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March 27, 2011

Office of the Prime Minister, Borut Pahor
Gregorčičeva 20, 25
1000 Ljubljana
SLOVENIA
gp.kpv@gov.si

Dear Prime Minister:

I’ve learned that Silvana Hudorovac and her family live in a Roma settlement near Ponova vas, with no water or sanitation while nearly 100% of Europeans, like Americans, enjoy free water anytime.

I can’t imagine the world she describes, but for Silvana the daily burden of finding drinkable water is a painful reality. She said, “We have to use the water from the stream which is very dirty. Children vomit and get diarrhea. They don’t allow us to take water from the pipe at the cemetery and at the petrol station; they say that Gypsies should go away.”

Silvana’s struggle for clean water, sanitation and electricity is the same plight of all families subsisting in the many isolated Roma settlements throughout Slovenia, all of which fall far below normal European health and sanitation standards. Roma people are denied these vital public services because their homes are in “irregular settlements,” but widespread discrimination in Slovenia forces Roma families out of towns and into these wastelands. Discrimination against Roma people in Slovenia is so entrenched that entire communities and local authorities prohibit Roma families from moving into towns and villages.

The only other option, social or subsidized housing, is extremely scarce.

I know you would agree that housing, water and sanitation are essential human rights and must be accessible to every person in Slovenia. I urge you to:

•  Ensure immediate provision of at least the minimum amount of safe water for personal and domestic use and a basic level of adequate sanitation to all informal settlements;

•  Ensure security of tenure to all residents of informal settlements and offer alternative housing options, in consultation with the affected Roma communities, which do not lead to further segregation;

•  Address the discrimination that the Roma face every day, especially in access to standard housing; and provide effective remedies for Slovenian victims of human rights violations.

(Based on a template for one of 3 cases presented in March 2011 by Amnesty International Freedom Writers Network, a letter-writing campaign on behalf of people facing human rights abuses worldwide.)

Healthcare for Aimee

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August 5, 2009

President of the United States, Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC  20500

Dear President Obama:

I want to tell you about my longtime friend, Aimee Silver. Like millions of Americans, she is fighting debilitating illness yet receiving only a fraction of her required and rightful health insurance coverage.

For the past year and a half, she has spent much of her out-of-bed time fighting for the 30% coverage she receives from her insurance plan of last resort, which has skyrocketed from $180 per month to $450 per month. If Aimee loses her current coverage, which is possible since she’s unable to work, certainly no other insurance company will accept her pre-existing condition, which means her meager coverage will go from 30% to zero.

When I first met Aimee, she was just leaving her position as a well-respected software developer in San Francisco and taking time to travel. She taught me to salsa dance and together we attended the Carnaval festival in the City’s Mission District, where we danced in the streets and enjoyed the colors and rhythms and flavors of “Rio by the Bay.” We were joined by a welcoming crowd of Aimee’s friends, representing several countries and Aimee’s worldwide travels. Delightful, vivacious, well-loved, and glowing with youthful health—that’s how I remember her on that day.

Today, Aimee struggles with a rare condition that requires treatment, rest, and multiple compromises including relocating far from her home, family, and friends.

My friend is in danger of falling through the cracks. Our healthcare system is so full of holes that people who need care and treatment are getting a fraction or none of what each of us pays insurance companies to provide.

No more healthcare holes; enough is enough.

People need and deserve comprehensive coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions, regardless of work status, regardless of income.

Please actively support:

  • Health reform with a public option, for real health reform
  • Health coverage independent of employment
  • Healthcare that is realistic and fair and covers pre-existing conditions

Thank you.

Roma Children Forced into Schools for Learning Disabled

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January 4, 2009

Jozef Vook, Director
Košice Regional School Authority
Zádielska 1
040 78 Košice
SLOVAKIA
 
Dear Director Vook:
 
I respectfully request your immediate attention and decisive action on behalf of mentally capable Romani children inappropriately placed in “special schools” for children with mental disabilities in Pavlovce nad Uhom in the Košice region.
 
Your Attention:  I respectfully urge your office of Košice Regional School Authority to ensure the following in Pavlovce nad Uhom and throughout the Košice region:
  •  An independent re-assessment of all students currently attending the special school
  • The swift integration of mentally capable students into the mainstream school
  • The distribution of reparations to students inappropriately placed in the special school
  • Appropriate measures against all employees who participated in the misplacement of capable Romani children

History:  Independent studies suggest that as many as 80% of children placed in special schools in Slovakia are Roma.
 
According to Amnesty International, nearly two-thirds of Romani children attending primary school in Pavlovce nad Uhom are unofficially segregated and placed in the special school.
 
Approximately 99.5% of the students assigned to the special school in Pavlovce nad Uhom are Roma.
   
General Issue:  Schools with learning levels and curricula aimed at children with mental disabilities provide substandard education for mentally capable children. Additionally, mentally capable students who graduate from such special schools are severely and unfairly limited in their pursuit of further education or employment.
 
Segregation of Romani children in special schools, which provide an inferior education to mentally capable children, constitutes discrimination and is prohibited.
 
Incorrectly assessing and denying an appropriate education to Roma children in Pavlovce nad Uhom also underscores the continuing discrimination and segregation faced by Romani people around the world.
 
A strong action by the Regional School Authority on behalf of Romani children in Pavlovce nad Uhom places your office, the region of Košice, and Slovakia in the unique position of leading a long overdue international movement to recognize Romani people everywhere and extend to them the justice and equality that all people deserve.
 
Thank you for your attention. I look forward to your response.
 

(Based on a template for one of 3 cases presented in January 2009 by Amnesty International Freedom Writers Network, a letter-writing campaign on behalf of people facing human rights abuses worldwide.)

Two Egyptian Doctors

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January 4, 2009

King ‘Abdullah Bin ‘Abdul ‘Aziz Al-Saud
The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques
Office of His Majesty the King
Royal Court
Riyadh
KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA                     fax: 011 966 1 403 1185

Your Majesty:

I am respectfully requesting your intervention in the case of two Egyptian doctors, Raouf Amin al-Arabi and Shawqi Abd Rabbuh, both convicted and sentenced under questionable circumstances and currently detained in Saudi Arabia.

History:
Dr. Raouf Amin al-Arabi was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 1,500 lashes. Dr. Shawqi Abd Rabbuh was sentenced to 20 years and 1,700 lashes.The doctors were alleged to have facilitated the addiction of an unnamed Saudi Arabian patient to morphine after prescribing the medicine for her pain relief following an accident. However, very little information has been made public about their case.

Concern:
1) Amnesty International reports that an unfair trial appears to be the basis for the both the convictions and sentences.

2) Flogging contravenes the following:
-Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”
-Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

I urge you, The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, to immediately commute the sentences of flogging against Raouf Amin al-Arabi and Shawqi Abd Rabbuh and ensure that their case is reviewed or retried in accordance with international fair trial standards and humane sentencing.

I respectfully request your influence in the Royal Office and Court to move Saudi Arabian laws and practices into accordance with international laws and standards prohibiting torture and other ill-treatment, and to consider abolishing judicial corporal punishments in this new year.

Please know that Americans are requesting our own government to align the United States with the same international laws and standards prohibiting torture and other ill-treatment. Together, the United States and Saudi Arabia united in favor of human rights could herald a new era of leadership that would earn the indelible respect and support of the world.

(Based on a template for one of 3 cases presented in January 2009 by Amnesty International Freedom Writers Network, a letter-writing campaign on behalf of people facing human rights abuses worldwide.)

Teacher Imprisoned for Peaceful Protest

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March 9, 2006

Senior General Than Shwe
Chairman, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)
Ministry of Defense
Signal Pagoda Road
Dagon Post Office
Yangon
UNION OF MYANMAR (Burma)

Dear Senior General:

Throughout my life I have been guided and shaped by teachers. I have not always agreed with their political and religious or even social views, but from each teacher I have learned the value of critical thinking and healthy debate, and most importantly the often difficult yet mature position of respecting every person’s freedom of opinion and expression. Today I respectfully exercise that right to express my deep concern for Ma Khin Khin Leh, a teacher sentenced to life imprisonment for exercising her right to peacefully protect government policies.

Ma Khin Khin Leh and her husband participated in a group planning a demonstration on July 19, 1999, in the town of Bago. Days before the protest date, security agents arrested Ma Khin Khin Leh and her 3-year-old daughter. Although her daughter was released after five days in detention, Ma Khin Khin Leh was eventually transferred to Insein Prison in Yangon. On December 3, 1999, the Insein Special Court sentenced her to life imprisonment based only on vaguely worded security legislation.

We are told that Ma Khin Khin Leh is being held in Insein Prison, where she reportedly suffers from an unspecified lung disorder, rheumatoid arthritis, and dysentery. Amnesty International and citizens around the world are concerned for her safety and well-being.

Of related concern is the fact that authorities in Myanmar routinely use general security laws, such as the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act, to prosecute people for peaceful political and religious activities. As guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, all people have the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the right to peaceful assembly and association.

It is merely an accident of place and time that I was not a student of Ma Khin Khin Leh before her wrongful arrest. But in her respect for human rights, which includes us all, she is my teacher.

I join with Amnesty International in urging you to bring about the immediate and unconditional release of Ma Khin Khin Leh and all prisoners of conscience in Myanmar.

Thank you.