Derechos: Urgent Actions

PHL 004 / 1007 / OBS 120
October 2, 2007

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the Philippines.

Description of the situation:

The Observatory has been informed by the Alliance for the Advancement of Peoples’ Rights (KARAPATAN) of threats and acts of harassment against Mr. Roman Polintan, Chairperson of BAYAN in Central Luzon and regional coordinator of Bayan Muna[1]; Mr. Joseph Canlas, chairperson of the Peasant Alliance in Central Luzon (Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson –AMGL), a regional chapter of the Philippines Peasants’ Movement (Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas - KMP) and regional coordinator of ANAKPAWIS[2]; Ms. Angelina Ladera, chairperson of WAR3[3] and Jovelyn Suson, a staff member of BAYAN.

According to the information received, on September 20, 2007, Messrs. Roman Polintan, Joseph Canlas, Ms. Angelina Ladera and Ms. Suson, noticed two men, who hurriedly passed by them, as they were leaving Armando's Pizza in Angeles City, where they had held a press conference on the protest rally to be held the following day in commemoration of the declaration of the Martial Law. As they were about to board their vehicle, they noticed the two men ride a blue motorcycle, with plate number OH5948.

As they were driving in the direction of San Fernando, Pampanga, they noticed the blue motorcycle following them; it overtook them and then ran alongside their vehicle. The two men even tried to have a look inside the van by staying close to it. The men continued to tail the group until they reached Plaza Miranda in Brgy. San Nicolas, Angeles City, where the four human rights defenders took refuge at Police Station I to report the incident. When the men who were following them saw that they had entered a police station, they went back to a one-way street. However, as the group left the police station they were followed by two other men driving another motorcycle.

The day before the incident, Mr. Polintan had talked at Infomax 8, a radio station, about the Martial Law. He had shared some analysis made by Bayan and invited the listeners of the program to join the mobilisation on September 21, 2007, in commemoration of the 35th year of martial law. Mr. Polintan, Mr. Canlas and Ms. Ladera have also denounced the activities of then Major General Jovito Palparan Jr. during his stint as Commanding General of the 7th Infantry Battalion based in Nueva Ecija as well as the continuing human rights violations against their colleagues and members by elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

In a context of extreme violence, which includes extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances of human rights defenders involved in the defense of peasants’ rights in Central Luzon, the Observatory expresses its concern with such intimidation acts and recalls the obligation of the Philippines State to protect human rights defenders, according to article 12.2 of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, which states that “the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”.

Action requested:

Please write to the Philippine authorities asking them to:

i. guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Roman Polintan, Joseph Canlas, Angelina Ladera, and Jovelyn Suson;

ii. conduct a fait and independent investigation into those acts of harassment in order to identify those responsible, take them to trial and g them before a competent and impartial tribunal and apply to them the penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions provided by the law;

iii. End all forms of harassment and ill-treatment of human rights defenders in the Philippines, and guarantee in all circumstances that they be able to carry out their work without any hindrance;

iv. Conform with all the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, especially its Article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels” and above-mentioned Article 12.2;

v. More generally, ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards and international instruments ratified by the Philippines.

Addresses:

· H.E. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, President of the Republic, New Executive Building, Malacanang Palace, JP Laurel St., San Miguel, Manila 1005, Philippines. Tel: +63 2 735 6201 / + 63 2 564 1451 to 80; Fax: +63 2 736 1010 / 742-1641 / 929-3968; Cell#: (+ 63) 919 898 4622 / (+63) 917 839 8462; E-mail: corres@op.gov.ph / opnet@ops.gov.ph / kgma@yahoogroups.com;

· Mr. José de Venecia Jr., Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rm. MB-2, House of Representatives, Constitution Hills, Quezon City, Philippines; Tel: +632.9315001;

· Hon. Purificacion Valera Quisumbing, Commissioner, Commission on Human Rights, SAAC Building, Commonwealth Avenue, U.P. Complex, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines; Tel: + 632 928 5655 / 926 6188; Fax: 632 929 01 02; drpvq@yahoo.com

· Mr. Raul Gonzales, Minister of Justice, Department of Justice, Building Padre Faura, 1004 Manila, Philippines; Tel: +63 (2) 523-8481; Fax: +63 (2) 521-1614; Email: sechbp@info.com.ph

· Director General Oscar Calderon, Chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Camp General Rafael Crame, Quezon City, Philippines; Tel: +632 726-4361/4366/8763; Fax: +632 724-8763; Email: bluetree73@gmail.com

· Ambassador Enrique A. Manalo, Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the United Nations in Geneva, 47 Avenue Blanc, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 716 19 32, Email: mission.philippines@ties.itu.int

· Embassy of the Philippines in Brussels, 297 Avenue Moliere, 1050 Brussels, Belgium, Tel: +32 2 340 33 77 / 2 340 33 78, Fax: +32 2 345 64 25.

Please also write to the diplomatic missions or embassies of the Philippines in your respective country.

***

Geneva - Paris, October 2, 2007

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need. The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.

To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:

E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org

Tel and fax FIDH + 33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / +33 1 43 55 18 80

Tel and fax OMCT + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29

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[1] BAYAN is an alliance composed of organisations of peasants and workers, and Bayan Muna is a political party that promotes the rights and welfare of the marginalized sectors of the country.

[2] ANAKPAWIS is a national political party that promotes, advocates, and advances the patriotic and democratic aspirations of marginalized sectors of workers.

[3] WRA3 is a trade union alliance promoting and defending the rights and welfare of workers and union members in Central Luzon region.

ARTICLE 19 together with its fellow Tunisian Monitoring Group (TMG) members, condemns the court decision given on the 1st October to expel the officially acknowledged opposition party of the Tunisian ruling party; the Tunisian Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), and the PDP’s official newspaper Al-Mawkef from their premises. The weekly newspaper had been stationed in its headquarters for nearly 13 years and has suffered repeated and frequent harassment from Tunisian authorities.

The Director of Al-Mawkef, Nejib Chebbi, and the Secretary General of the PDP, Maya Jribi, have been on hunger strike since the 20th September. The hunger strike was initiated in protest to the authorities’ use of the judicial system to ‘silence the voices of freedom’; this came following a case brought against the Al-Mawkef director by his landlord for using the apartment he was hiring as PDP headquarters. This charge and subsequent conviction was brought against Chebbi at the behest of the Tunisian authorities who pressurise landlords to act. It is reported that similar branches of the same party have, in the past, also been evicted in similar ways.

The latest attack by the Tunisian security forces on Lotfi Hajji, a reporter for the television station Al-Jazeera, when he attempted to report on the hunger strike, demonstrates the poor level of recognition of freedom of expression rights in the country. Hajji had been prevented from entering PDP & Al-Mawkef headquarters three times already and was again on the 28th September and 2nd October prevented from entering the newspaper and party offices.

The TMG sees the blatant attempt to silence dissenting voices through censorship, intimidation and appalling use of judicial courts, as an obvious infringement on the fundamental human right to freedom of expression, enshrined in Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Tunisia has both signed and ratified.

The TMG calls on the Tunisian government to stop all procedures to expel the PDP from its office and to stop all censorship and blockage of Al-Mawkef and the Progressive Democratic Party’s websites. Two websites were blocked a few months ago by the authorities. Access to another website, hosted in Canada, has been blocked in Tunis since 2005 although it is currently accessible from overseas. The TMG lends its support to Nejib Chebbi and Mya Jribi in their campaign for greater acknowledgment of Tunisian human rights and calls on international society demonstrate their support for their case in signing the online petition http://www.petitiononline.com/pdpinfo/petition.html.

Members of the TMG are:
Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRInfo): www.hrinfo.net
ARTICLE 19: www.article19.org
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression: www.cjfe.org
Cartoonists Rights Network International: www.cartoonistrights.com
Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights: www.eohr.org
Index on Censorship: www.indexonline.org
International Federation of Journalists: www.ifj.org
International Federation of Library Association and Institutions: www.ifla.org/faife
International PEN - Writers in Prison Committee: www.internationalpen.org.uk
International Press Institute: www.freemedia.at
International Publishers' Association: www.ipa-uie.org
Journaliste en Danger: www.jed-afrique.org
Media Institute of Southern Africa: www.misa.org
Norwegian PEN: www.norskpen.no
World Association of Newspapers: www.wan-press.org
World Press Freedom Committee: www.wpfc.org
World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters: www.amarc.org

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Update on Urgent Appeal

3 October 2007

[RE: UA-260-2007: BURMA: At least 65 persons reported arrested over protests against fuel prices; UP-114-2007: BURMA: Despite over 100 arrests, protests continue; still no action by UN; UP-119-2007: BURMA: Monks hold government officials as hostages; more protests and arrests around the country; UP-120-2007: BURMA: First report of death in fuel protests; courts closed; monks to refuse donations from officials; UP-124-2007: BURMA: Monks on the march, boycotting military regime across country; UP-126-2007: BURMA: Showdown ahead as protestors defy ban; UP-126-2007: BURMA: Riot police shoot, beat, gas protestors in Rangoon; rallies continue; UP-128-2007: BURMA: Protests continue despite heavy security; more people and monks taken away; townsfolk defend monasteries with slingshots]
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UP-132-2007: BURMA: Three teenage sisters and a young mother of two have disappeared

BURMA: Arbitrary and illegal arrest and detention; extrajudicial killing; forced disappearance; un-rule of law
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SPECIAL WEBPAGE
BURMA: 2007 PROTESTS
http://campaigns.ahrchk.net/burmaprotests/

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Dear friends,

Further to our previous recent updates on the situation in Burma, this is the first appeal by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) since last week on specific cases of disappearance in Rangoon: it includes details about the disappearance of a 30-year-old mother of two and three teenage sisters, as well as news on some other cases and incidents to which we are drawing your urgent attention.

For all statements, press releases, updates and media, visit the Burma Protests 2007 webpage of the AHRC.

DISAPPEARED PERSONS
The AHRC has already observed that all persons who have been taken by security forces in Burma during recent days must be considered as forcibly disappeared until shown otherwise (AS-237-2007). However, whereas some persons have been removed from their houses and their families may know who took them and have some means to trace their whereabouts and whether or not they are still alive, in other cases people have simply disappeared without a trace.

According to the Yoma 3 news service (Thailand), the following persons have not come home since September 27 and their circumstances are completely unknown.

Ma Ke Naing Zaw, 30, married with two small children (aged 5 and 1 1/2), a resident of Pazundaung, was coming home from studying a hospitality course at the Kandawgyi Palace Hotel when she disappeared. According to her relatives, her youngest child has not stopped crying since. The family has made inquiries at the township council office and local police station but has received no information. A witness has said that he saw her being taken into custody near the Sule Pagoda.

Ma Po Po Pyi Sone (18) and her two sisters, Ma Thida Aung and Ma Moe Moe Swe, left Dawpone briefly on September 27 purportedly with the intention to buy textbooks when they disappeared somewhere in the vicinity of the Sule Pagoda. Po Po Pyi Sone had graduated from high school this year and had come back from marketing classes at the KMD private school when the sisters went out. The family has made inquiries at the ward and township council offices and also has made a report to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) but has learnt nothing.

In another case documented by Yoma 3, Ashin Nanda Thiri, resident monk at Shwetheindhamatheingi Monastery in Thingangyun Township who had suffered a bullet wound to the leg has also disappeared. His family has heard but has not confirmed that he was cremated at the Rangoon Cemetery.

Armed troops, police and government-organised thugs are continuing to enter and patrol monasteries at night and day.

According to the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), at the Ngwekyaryan Monastery in South Okkalapa, which was raided and ransacked on September 26, a local youth fired a slingshot at riot police and Swan-arshin gang members entering the grounds on October 1. The gang and police tried to find him without success. Then a group of three riot police and three Swan-arshin broke into two nearby houses where three families reside and assaulted the occupants. When a regular police officer arrived he was ignored by the Swan-arshin, who continued to beat the house residents before taking them away to an unknown location. They were identified as:

Household 1: Daw Myin Myin Khaing and her sons, Maung Lwin Ko Oo, 18, second-year student at the Government Technical College; and, Maung Aung Paing Oo, 14, South Okkalapa HS student.

Household 2 (same premises): Daw Myint Myint Aye and her son, Maung Zaw Htet Kyaw, 15, South Okkalapa HS student.

Household 3: U Tin San, 50, a sandal/shoemaker

KILLED PERSON: NOT OFFICIALLY ACKNOWLEDGED
One person killed who was not included in the official list of dead is Ko Htun Htun Lin, 32, a resident of Ward 7 in South Okkalapa. According to Yoma 3, residents saw police and troops beat Htun Htun Lin to death with truncheons outside the South Okkalapa Post Office on September 27.

The AHRC earlier reported that eight corpses had been found on the road in the same area but that they had been removed from people's houses later by security forces (UP-128-2007). The body of Htun Htun Lin is believed to have been one of those. The AHRC is still attempting to obtain further details on these and other deaths.

RELEASES & MORE CAPTURED
There are constant reports both of more people being released and also captured.

For instance, 70 persons were released from Hmawbi Police Battalion camp near Rangoon, including 20 women, on October 1. A released female detainee said there are still six women in custody there, one named as Ma War War Kyaw from Hinthada.

In Thingangyun, Rangoon, after three carloads of detainees were brought to the township office on the morning of October 3, news spread that they some also would be released and a large crowd of relatives gathered outside.

Meanwhile, in Yenanthar Ward of Bahan, Rangoon, on the night of October 2 soldiers reportedly rounded up three truckloads of youths accused of having thrown rocks at them during the protests.

FURTHER COMMENTS
These are a handful of the total number of killings and disappearances that are believed to have occurred during the last week. Reports of new incidents are also coming in daily. The AHRC will in the coming days attempt to document further details of as many specific cases as possible.

Please also visit the news sites and other links on the AHRC Burma protests page (http://campaigns.ahrchk.net/burmaprotests/) for up-to-date accounts and discussion.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please refer back to our previous appeal for general actions that you can take concerning the situation in Burma. Bloggers may also be interested in this campaign: http://www2.free-burma.org/index.php

Please send a letter to the concerned domestic and international agencies on the continued disappearances and killings following last week's protests in Burma. Please note that for the sake of this letter the country should be referred to by its official title of Myanmar rather than Burma, and Rangoon as Yangon.

For the sample letter below we have concentrated on the cases of Ma Ke Naing Zaw and Ma Po Po Pyi Sone and her two sisters.

To support this appeal, please click here:

Sample letter:

Dear ___________,

MYANMAR: Three sisters and a mother of two disappeared in Yangon on September 27

I share in the international outrage over the killings, abductions and disappearances of members of the Buddhist clergy and ordinary civilians in Myanmar during the last week, and call upon the national authorities to reveal the whereabouts of detained people; guarantee their safety, and treat them in accordance with the domestic law.

I am especially concerned about reports that three daughters of one family and the mother of two small children disappeared while travelling in Yangon on September 27 and despite attempts by their families to get information about what happened to them, nothing is so far known.

The details of those cases are as follows:

1. Ma Ke Naing Zaw, 30, National ID No. 12/PaZaTa(Naing)001843, married with two small children (aged 5 and 1 1/2), residing in Bochote Road, Pazundaung Township, Yangon, was coming home from a hospitality course at the Kandawgyi Palace Hotel when she disappeared. A witness saw her being taken into custody near the Sule Pagoda. Her family has made inquiries at the Pazundaung Township Peace and Development Council office and Pazundaung Township Police Station but has received no information.

2. Ma Po Po Pyi Sone (18) and her two sisters, Ma Thida Aung and Ma Moe Moe Swe (parents U Myint Win Maung and Daw Aye Aye Maw), left Batheinmye Ward, Dawpone Township, Yangon to buy textbooks when they disappeared somewhere in the vicinity of the Sule Pagoda. The family has made inquiries at the Batheinmye Ward Peace and Development Council office and Dawpone Township Peace and Development Council Office and has also reportedly made a complaint to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) but has again learnt nothing.

These are just two among the many incidents of which I have heard at this time. I am very concerned not only because the whereabouts of these persons are unknown but also because they may be vulnerable to torture and cruel or inhuman treatment, including sexual abuse.

Others cases of which I have learnt include the apparent disappearance of a monk from the Shwetheindhamatheingi Monastery in Thingangyun Township, Yangon, named Ashin Nanda Thiri, who had suffered a bullet wound to the leg. His family has heard but has not confirmed that his body was already cremated.

Recently, six persons were also reportedly taken from houses adjacent to the Ngwekyaryan Monastery in South Okkalapa Township, Yangon, on October 1 after a local youth fired a slingshot at riot police and government-organised gang members (Swan-arshin). The six have been identified as Daw Myin Myin Khaing and her sons, Maung Lwin Ko Oo, 18, second-year student at the Government Technical College; and, Maung Aung Paing Oo, 14, South Okkalapa HS student; and Daw Myint Myint Aye and her son, Maung Zaw Htet Kyaw, 15, South Okkalapa HS student, all residing at No. 792, 20th Street, Ward 9, South Okkalapa. The sixth person was U Tin San, 50, a sandal/shoemaker, from the house next door (No. 793).

I also take this opportunity to express my concern that the numbers of dead are likely to be far below the nine officially acknowledged. I have been informed that at least eight corpses were found on the road between the Punnami and Post Office intersections in South Okkalapa Township on the evening of September 27. Among them was Ko Htun Htun Lin, 32, a resident of 13th Street, Ward 7 in the township, who witnesses allege was beaten to death by police and troops with truncheons outside the South Okkalapa Post Office. The corpses were taken back to houses in the neighbourhood, but after a short time, security forces allegedly entered the area, searched and located the bodies and took them away.

I call for the prompt locating and securing of the physical integrity of all persons who have been taken into custody, and the granting of immediate access to all detainees by the ICRC, concerned United Nations agencies, lawyers and family members. I demand that they be treated in accordance with domestic law and be brought before courts within 24 hours or released. And I call for judicial inquests into the deaths of all persons fired upon or assaulted by security forces, followed by appropriate legal action where government officials are found to have acted with unnecessary force.

Yours sincerely

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Lt-Gen. Thein Sein
Acting Prime Minister
c/o Ministry of Defence
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: + 95 1 372 681
Fax: + 95 1 652 624

2. Maj-Gen. Maung Oo
Minister for Home Affairs
Ministry of Home Affairs
Office No. 10
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 412 040/ 069/ 072
Fax: +95 67 412 016/ 439
E-mail: ddg.gad@gad.gov.mm

3. U Aye Maung
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
Office No. 25
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 404 088/ 090/ 092/ 094/ 097
Fax: +95 67 404 146/ 106

4. Brig-Gen. Khin Yi
Director General
Myanmar Police Force
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: + 95 1 549 196/ 228/ 209

5. U Aung Bwa
Director-General, ASEAN-Myanmar
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Pyinmana
MYANMAR
Tel: +951 229 214; 221 191
Fax: +951 222 950; 221 719
E-mail: dgaseanmofa@myanmar.com.mm

6. Mr. Patrick Vial
Head of Delegation
ICRC
No. 2 (C) - 5 Dr. Ba Han Lane
Kaba Aye Pagoda Road, 8th Mile
Mayangone Township
Yangon
MYANMAR
Tel.: +951 662 613 / 664 524
Fax: +951 650 117
E-mail: yangon.yan@icrc.org

7. Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro
Special Rapporteur on Myanmar
Attn: Mr. Laurent Meillan
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: + 41 22 9179 281
Fax: + 41 22 9179 018 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR MYANMAR)
E-mail: lmeillan@ohchr.org

8. Mr. Diego Garcia-Sayan
Chairperson
UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances
C/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: WORKING GROUP DISAPPEARANCES)

9. Prof. Manfred Nowak
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
C/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9230
Fax: +41 22 917 9016 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR TORTURE)

10. Mr. Philip Alston
Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions
Room 3-016
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS)

11. Ms. Yakin Erturk
Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women
Room 3-042
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9615
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN)

12. Mr. Ong Keng Yong
Secretary General
ASEAN Secretariat
70A, Jalan Sisingamangaraja
Jakarta 12110
INDONESIA
Tel: +62 21 7262991/ 7243372
Fax: +62 21 7398234/ 7243504
Email: public@aseansec.org; termsak@aseansec.org; amelia.b@aseansec.org

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) (ua@ahrchk.org)

GLOBAL MARCH FOR BURMA

“Please use your liberty to promote ours”
Aung San Suu Kyi

JOIN TOMORROW’S MARCH IN LOCATIONS WORLDWIDE AND SUPPORT THE PEOPLE OF BURMA

Possibly hundreds have died and many more have been detained for
participating in the peaceful protests held across Burma in the last month.
The severing of the country’s main internet connection late last week has
severely and unacceptably limited the flow of information about events
inside Burma to the international community. It is now unclear what is
happening to the unknown number of monks and civilians who have and
continue to be rounded up and taken away to anonymous locations. The UN
Security Council must act now and we can urge them to do so by joining in
tomorrow's global march in solidarity with the people of Burma. The
message we are getting from Rangoon is: “please help us”.

March: London, UK
If you are in the UK, join ARTICLE 19 at the UK’s biggest ever
demonstration in support of the people of Burma.

If you would like to join the ARTICLE 19 delegation, please contact Catrina
Pickering, Programme Officer, ARTICLE 19 (07791 679626) or meet us at
10.40am outside Pimlico tube station. The march will start at 11am outside
Tate Britain and will finish at 12.45pm in Trafalgar Square.

March: Other locations
If you are not in the UK, or cannot make the march in London, visit
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/links.html to find out about protests in
your city or country or visit the face book Burma campaign page:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=6524045893

Please forward this mail to friends who may be willing to join the march.

ARTICLE 19 is an independent human rights organisation that works globally
to protect and promote the right to freedom of expression. It takes its
name from Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which
guarantees free speech.

ARTICLE 19
6-8 Amwell Street London EC1R 1UQ United Kingdom
Tel: +44 20 7278 9292 - Fax: +44 20 7278 7660 - info@article19.org -
www.article19.org

The ACLU’s FISA Flood Campaign — a monumental outpouring of grassroots energy — is in full swing. Congress is feeling the pressure to remedy the August legislation that handed expansive and unnecessary new powers to the Administration.

Two bills aimed at cleaning up the mess were introduced in the House yesterday, but only one, the FISA Modernization Bill, does the job.

Tell your Representative to support the FISA Modernization Act instead of the RESTORE Act.


Dear Friend,

Thanks to the vocal outcry from activists like you, the ACLU’s FISA Flood campaign is getting through to Congress. But our work is not over.

Congress must remedy the situation it created in August when it handed the Bush Administration vast new powers to invade our privacy with no meaningful oversight from the courts or Congress. When Congress failed freedom, it caused a massive outcry from freedom-loving people across the country.

Tell your representative: Stand up for the Constitution, fix FISA.

As the result of the outcry, two bills were introduced yesterday to fix the disastrous Protect America Act that was rushed through Congress in August, rubberstamping the administration's warrantless wiretapping program. Both were efforts to fix FISA, but we must make it clear that only the FISA Modernization Bill does the job.

Tell your representative to support the FISA Modernization Bill instead of the RESTORE Act.

The RESTORE Act caves in to Bush’s fear-mongering in a major way by allowing for program or basket “warrants,” which aren't really warrants at all. They're the modern-day equivalent of allowing government agents to sit in our living rooms, recording our personal conversations. Only they're more frightening, because the government now has the capacity to monitor us remotely and without our knowledge, and to save the information in a secret database forever.

Please, call your representative now to stop basket warrants from being used against Americans.

Tell him or her to support the FISA Modernization Bill of 2007 instead of the RESTORE Act.

Here are some talking points for your call:

1. Please support the FISA Modernization Act of 2007 introduced by Representative Rush Holt, instead of the RESTORE Act. Only pass a FISA modernization bill that has individualized warrants.

2. Blanket or program “warrants” that allow the government to vacuum up the international telephone calls and emails of Americans aren’t really warrants at all, and they aren’t constitutional.

3. Americans are looking to Congress to stand up to the Bush Administration, not cave in to threats of being labeled soft on terrorism.

It’s no surprise that the Bush Administration is again using the threat of terror to bully Congress into giving them more power than they need to keep us safe. To counter these misrepresentations, Congress needs to hear that America can be both safe and free by passing a FISA Modernization bill that protects our constitutional rights.

Once you’ve called your representative, please tell us that you called and if possible, how your call went. This information is extremely helpful to our staff when they meet with Members of Congress, because they’re able to convey how many of their constituents care about fixing FISA. Please tell us if you called and how your call went.

Thank you for taking action and being involved.

Sincerely,

Caroline Fredrickson, Director
ACLU Washington Legislative Office

P.S. We won’t let a single member of Congress off the hook when it comes to abandoning the Constitution. Our Don’t Wait for ’08 campaign needs your help as we approach our October 17 deadline. Please take a few minutes now to ask your member of Congress: Will you defend the Constitution?

Then, watch for updates on which Members of Congress have made the Commitment to the Constitution and news of how you can help us target the ones who haven’t.

© ACLU, 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor New York, NY 10004

On the occasion of the World Day Against the Death Penalty, OMCT urges you to spread and sign the international petition calling for a universal moratorium on death penalty initiated by the World Coalition against the Death Penalty of which OMCT is member. The petition is available on the following link:

http://www.worldcoalition.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=10&sel_lang=english

Thank you for your support

Best regards

The International Secretariat