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Amnesty International Group 471 North County San Diego |
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Success Stories - Thanks to you!
PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE, FEMI PETERS, RELEASED!
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Rebiya Kadeer is greeted with flowers as she is reunited with her family in the USA after her release from prison in China. © Amnesty International, all rights reserved |
China, March 17, 2005
Rebiya Kadeer, a prominent business woman, was arrested and jailed in 1999 for calling attention to discrimination and other violations against the China's Uighur ethnic group. The release of prisoner of conscience & Nobel Peace Prize nominee Rebiya Kadeer is a joyful victory, and our joy is only tempered by thoughts of the many others who remain unjustly jailed in China, including those jailed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Rebiya's release demonstrates that no government is immune to the persistent pressure applied by dedicated human rights activists worldwide, and Amnesty International will redouble its efforts to win further releases.
'I don't believe that I would be alive today without the support of Amnesty International.' - Rebiya Kadeer
At AI Group 471 we are very honored and excited to have Rebiya Kadeer join us and speak about her experience at our
20th Anniversary Candlelight Walk for Human Rights on Sunday, October 19, 2008 in Oceanside, CA
Attention by the US government and the scores of Members of Congress who had called for her release was critical to winning Rebiya's freedom.
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Rebiya Kadeer, Uighur activist and former AI prisoner of conscience, holds an Urgent Action that was issued on her behalf, whilst visiting AI Switzerland. © Amnesty International, all rights reserved |
Rebiya's daughter Akida Rouzi issued the following statement on
behalf of the family:
"We are beyond happy. We have waited for this
moment for five and a half years and want to thank everyone who
worked toward this joyful day."
GOOD NEWS FOR MEXICO!!!
Thanks in large
part to the overwhelming number of Amnesty members who took action;
we are happy to report that human rights protections were included
in Congress' first installment of the Merida Initiative.
US funding to Mexico and Central America to help fight drug cartels
and organized crime was signed into law by President Bush last week
and the most significant debate about the aid package was the human
rights component.
While some in the US and Mexico advocated to completely strip the
aid package of human rights safeguards your
voices were heard and the final legislation requires that 15 % of
the total funds for the Mexican military and police forces may be
made available only after certain human rights conditions have been
met.
These
conditions include:
May 7, 2008:
In the face of impossible odds, your thousands of letters made a
huge impact last week.
On May 1st, Sami al Hajj was released from Guantánamo Bay prison
after six and a half years in detention. Al Hajj was a focus of our
write-a-thon in December and was adopted by Amnesty groups across
the country.
Sami was a journalist for the television station al-Jazeera. In
2002, he was assigned to cover the conflict in Afghanistan. While
traveling in Pakistan, Sami al Hajj was stopped by Pakistani police
and detained.
He was handed over to U.S. forces, taken to Bagram Airbase in
Afghanistan, and ultimately to Guantánamo He was never charged with
a crime, yet was held and allegedly tortured for six years.
Upon being released, Sami flew to Khartoum, Sudan. His health was in
such bad condition that he had to be carried off on a stretcher.
Amnesty International won't stop until everyone held at Guantánamo
is given the chance to defend themselves in an impartial court of
law or set free.
This week, Amnesty launches a massive new initiative to
bring a life-sized replica
(3D tour) of
a maximum security Guantánamo Bay prison cell to cities across
America.
Thank you again for your passion and hard work.
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Belarus: Amnesty International welcomes the release from prison on January 23 of Zmitser Dashkevich, leader of a youth organization that advocates political freedom in Belarus. AI mounted a global campaign to win his release featuring his case in a Global Write-a-thon in December through which thousands of people across the United States appealed for his release. |
Myanmar should never have arrested
Aung San Suu Kyi or other prisoners of conscience
in the first place, locking them out
of the political process.
Help Amnesty fight to free
prisoners of conscience worldwide.
Marvyn Perez
Our focus guest speaker and success story at this year's
SAN DIEGO CANDLELIGHT
WALK FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Arrested in 1982 by the Guatemalan military for protesting violence
by the junta
against social leaders, Mr. Perez was continually subjected to
torture, in the course of 4 months of interrogations. Amnesty
International's letter writing campaign on behalf of the disappeared
contributed to Mr. Perez' release. Three students arrested with Mr.
Perez disappeared forever, along with countless others. Soon after,
Mr. Perez and his family left Guatemala; they were granted Political
Amnesty by the United States in 1989.
His
story will be of great inspiration for the 700+ students attending.
Marvyn is available for interviews
at 818 277 1880
or via e-mail marvyn7@yahoo.com
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Your Donations Make it Happen!
Group Coordinator: Kathryn Ford
Membership Chair:
Margaret Wernett - 760 731 9174
Media Committe Chair:
Alessandra Colfi
760 724 0319

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