Newsletter

Amnesty International USA Group 48

9.15
Jerad Williams Stock.Xchng

1 13th World Day Against the

Death Penalty: Drug Crimes
2 SUDAN: Urgent Action Three Opposition Members
Harassed By Niss
4 BURUNDI: Urge End of Use
of Torture to Extract Confessions and Crush Dissent
5 EGYPT: Urgent Action Prison Sentences For Al
Jazeera Journalists

13th World Day Against the Death Penalty: Drug

Crimes
AIUSA-Group 48
http://aipdx.org
503-227-1878
Next Meeting:
Friday September 11th
First Unitarian Church
1011 SW 12th Ave
7:00pm informal gathering
7:30pm meeting starts

by Terrie Rodello, Amnesty International USA Oregon State Death

Penalty Abolition Coordinator

On October 10, 2015, the 13th World

Day Against the Death Penalty is raising

awareness around the use of the death
penalty for drug-related offenses, to
reduce its use.
Running against the abolitionist worldwide movement, many countries added
the death penalty for drug crimes in
their legal system between 1980 and
2000. Although this trend is going down
today, in some countries, drug crimes
are the main cause of death sentences
and executions.
Facts about the use of the death
penalty in the world for drug
crimes:

NewsLetter Designed
By Michelle Whitlock
MichelleWhitlock.com

an execution for drug crimes in the past

five years.
12 of the 33 countries retain a mandatory death penalty for certain categories
of drug crimes.
5 of the 33 countries are abolitionist
in practice.
Find out everything about World
Day against the Death Penalty at
www.worldcoalition.org including:

The 2015 World Day poster

The mobilization kit
Detailed factsheets on the death penalty around the world
The 2014 World Day Report An education guide

33 countries and territories retain the

What can you do for World Day
death penalty for drug crimes:
Against the Death Penalty?
13 of the 33 countries have carried out Organize a public debate or a movie

AIUSA group 48 Newsletter September 2015 Pg 2

screening with exonerees, murder victims families, and experts, to raise awareness on the reality of the death penalty.
Join a local anti-death penalty organization or attend its
event.
Organize an art exhibition (photos, drawings, posters) or
a theatre performance.
Organize a demonstration, a sit-in, and a die-in, a flash
mob
Sign petitions against the death penalty and encourage
others to sign.

Follow the social media campaign on Facebook and Twitter: #nodeathpenalty

Write a letter to the editor in your local newspaper or campus newspaper
Write to a prisoner on death row. For information on how
you or your group may write to a prisoner on Oregons death
row, email me at tarodello@igc.org.
Any ideas for events, need assistance to organize an event at
your church or campus, please contact me at tarodello@igc.
org.

SUDAN: Urgent Action - Three Opposition Members Harassed By Niss

Khalid Omer Yousif (m), Magdi Okasha Amed (m) and Widad Abdelrahman Derwish (f)

Nate Brelsford Stock.Xchng

Khalid Omer Yousif, Magdi Okasha Amed and Widad

Abdelrahman Derwish, opposition members of the Sudanese

Congress Party (SCP), were arrested by the Sudanese National Intelligence Service (NISS) and released without charge.
However, they are required to report to the NISS office every
day.
Khalid Omer Yousif, a civil engineer by profession and a
secretariat member of the SCP, was arrested on August 6th by
NISS officers at his house at around 8.00 am as he was leaving
for work. The NISS officers told him to follow them to the
NISS office in his car on the assurance that he would be free
to return home. His car was however confiscated along with
several other documents in his car including his daughters
passports at the NISS office. Khalid Omer Yousif was released at around midnight without any formal interrogation
or charge. He was instructed by NISS to report to their office
every day.
Two days later, Magdi Okasha Amed, also a member of the
SCP, was arrested at his home at 8.00 am. About 10 armed

men came into his house and took him to the NISS office in
their vehicle. He was released the same day, but like Khalid
Omer Yousif, he was also asked to report to the NISS office
every day. Widad Abdelrahman Dirwesh was also arrested
on the same day as Magdi Okasha and later released without
being charged. She too was asked to report to the NISS office
every day. For two days, she reported to the NISS office, but
on August 12th she refused to show up. The NISS called her
on August 12th asking her to report to their office and when
she refused, six armed NISS officers were sent to collect her
from her house. She was later released at 11 pm.
All three individuals report to NISS offices every day at
around 8 am, they are kept in different rooms and are released between 11pm and midnight. They spend the whole
day in the NISS office with occasional questioning on the
activities of the SCP and sometimes they are asked to identify
people in videos and photographs. They are allowed to pray
in the mosque in NISS office. The SCP has been holding public gatherings in Khartoum state and North Kordofan state in
which they discuss the situation in Sudan including state policies and the armed conflicts in Darfur, South Kordofan and
Blue Nile. Amnesty International has documented an increase
in the daily summoning of individuals by NISS as a tactic to
avoiding due process and curtailing their movements.
Action

Please write immediately in Arabic or your own language:

Urging the Sudanese authorities to immediately inform

AIUSA group 48 Newsletter September 2015 Pg 3

Khalid Omer Yousif, Magdi Okasha Amed and Widad Abdelrahman Derwish the reasons for their arrest and the restrictions on their freedom of movement;
Urging them to either charge the three with an internationally recognizable criminal offense or else lift the restrictions
on their freedom of movement, including the requirement to
show up at the NISS office every day;
Reminding them of their obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to
which Sudan is a state party, to respect the rights to freedom
of association and freedom of expression.
Appeals To

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE SEPTEMBER

28th 2015 TO:
President
HE Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir
Office of the President
Peoples Palace
PO Box 281
Khartoum, Sudan
Salutation: Your Excellency
Minister for Justice
Awad Al Hassan Alnour
Ministry of Justice
PO Box 302
Al Nil Avenue
Khartoum, Sudan
Salutation: Your Excellency
Copies To

Minister of Interior
Ismat Abdul-Rahman Zain Al-Abdin
Ministry of Interior
PO Box 873
Khartoum, Sudan
Charg dAffaires
Maowia Osman Khalid Mohammed
Embassy of the Republic of Sudan
2210 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington, DC 20008
Phone: 202 338 8565

Fax: 202 667 2406

E-mail: ggoraish@gmail.com
Please let us know if you took action so that we can track
our impact! Send a short email to uan@aiusa.org with UA
179/15 in the subject line, and include in the body of the
email the number of letters and/or emails you sent, to let
us know how you took action. Thank you for taking action!
Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office if taking
action after the appeals date.
Additional Information

Amnesty International has received numerous reports since

the end of Sudans general elections in April 2015 that the
NISS crackdown on activities of political opposition groups
and civil society has intensified.
In May 2015, 12 members of the opposition Sudanese Congress Party (SCP) were detained by the NISS. Four members
of the SCP were charged with criminal offenses including
capital offenses under the 1991 Penal Code complicity to execute a criminal agreement, undermining the constitutional
system and calling for opposition of the public authority by
violence or criminal force. Other SCP members Asim Omer
Hassan, Ibrahim Mohammed Zain and Mastoor Ahmed
were on June 6th sentenced to 20 lashes for participating in
activities supporting the boycotting of the April 2015 general
AIUSA Group 48 Contact Information
Group Coordinator
Joanne Lau
jlau@aipdx.org

Prisoners Cases
Jane Kristof
kristofj@pdx.edu

Treasurer
Tena Hoke
tena.hoke@gmail.com

Megan Harrington
megan.harrington
@gmail.com

Newsletter Editor
Dan Webb
write_to_dan@yahoo.com

Concert Tabling
Will Ware
ww_ware@yahoo.com

Darfur (Sudan)
Marty Fromer
martyfromer@gmail.com

Central Africa/
OR State Death
Penalty Abolition
Terrie Rodello
tarodello@igc.org

Indonesia
Max White
maxw33@comcast.net

AIUSA group 48 Newsletter September 2015 Pg 4

elections. Amnesty International also documented the arrest and other forms of ill-treatment. Under the same Act, NISS
and detention of Yasir Mirghani Abdalrahman, an activist and agents are provided with protection from prosecution for any
member of the Sudanese Congress Party.
act committed in the course of their work, which has resulted
in a pervasive culture of impunity. The constitutional amendThe NISS maintains broad powers of arrest and detention
ments passed by Parliament on January 5th, which accorded
under the National Security Act 2010, which allows suspects
sweeping powers to the NISS giving it unlimited discretion to
to be detained for up to four-and-a-half months without judi- interfere in political, economic and social issues, have exacercial review. NISS officials often use these powers to arbitrarily
bated the situation.
arrest and detain individuals, and to subject them to torture

BURUNDI: Urge End of Use of Torture to Extract Confessions and Crush Dissent
by Terrie Rodello, AIUSA Central Africa Activist Network Coordinator

paper Just tell me what to confess to: Torture and other ill
treatment by Burundis police and intelligence services since
April 2015 a piece on torture against protesters and those
suspected to be against President Pierre Nkurunzizas third
term in office, by the Burundian Intelligence Services (SNR)
and Burundi National Police, PNB.

Ensure that victims of human rights violations and their

families can obtain full reparation, in the form of restitution,
compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of
non-repetition.
Take immediate measures to prevent torture and other illtreatment of detainees - such as maintaining an official register of detainees, upholding the right to receive independent
legal assistance and independent medical assistance without
delay and to contact relatives, and making judicial remedies
available that such persons may use to challenge the legality
of their detention or treatment.
Establish an independent and effective national preventive
mechanism against torture in accordance with the guidelines
established by the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Invite the ACHPR and UN Special Procedures to investigate allegations of torture by the SNR and Burundi Police.

Action

Appeals To

Thiago Rodrigues da Silva Stock.Xchng

On August 24th, Amnesty International issued a briefing

Write a letter to the President of Burundi urging him to take

the following actions and send a copy to the Burundi Ambassador in Washington DC:
Remove from active duty anyone suspected of having committed crimes under international law such as torture until
the allegations against them have been independently and
impartially investigated.
Ensure that no person is subjected to arbitrary, secret or incommunicado detention, and that the rights of detainees are
respected in all cases in accordance with international human
rights law.

President of Burundi
Pierre Nkurunziza
Office of the President
Boulevard de lUprona
BP 1870
Bujumbura, Burundi
Fax: 011 257 22 24 89 08
Email: president@burundi.bi
Salutation: Your Excellency

H.E. Ernest Ndabashinze

Ambassador of the Republic of Burundi

AIUSA group 48 Newsletter September 2015 Pg 5

Embassy of the Republic of Burundi

2233 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Suite 408
Washington, DC 20007
E-mail: burundiembassy@erols.com
Fax: 1 202 342 2578
Background

Demonstrations broke out in Burundis capital, Bujumbura,

between April 26th and mid-June 2015 in protest against
President Pierre Nkurunzizas decision to run for a third term
in the July 2015 elections which was seen by many as unconstitutional and a violation of the Arusha Agreement.

tion against demonstrations where children were present.

Burundi is bound by a number of international and regional
treaties that prohibit torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the African
Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR), and the
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT).

The CAT defines torture as any act by which severe pain or

suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a
In July this year, Amnesty International released the
third person information or a confession, punishing him for
report: "Braving Bullets: Excessive Force in Policing Demon- an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of
strations in Burundi" highlighting a pattern of serious violahaving committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third
tions in the police response to the demonstrations. Police
person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind,
used excessive and disproportionate force, including lethal
when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigaforce, against protesters, at times shooting unarmed protesters tion of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official
who were fleeing. Police even used tear gas and live ammuni- or other person acting in an official capacity."

EGYPT: Urgent Action - Prison Sentences For Al Jazeera Journalists

Mohamed Fahmy (m), Baher Mohamed (m), Sohaib Saad Mohamed Mohamed (m), Khaled Mohamed Abdulraouf Mohamed (m), Shadi Abdul Hameed Abdul Azeem Ibrahim (m), Khalid Abdulrahman Mahmoud Ahmed Abdulwahab (m), Noura Hassan al-Banna (f)
Mike Swope Stock.Xchng

Journalists Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were

half years, also sentencing Peter Greste in his absence to three

years in prison. Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed are
prisoners of conscience, detained solely for exercising their
right to freedom of expression.
In a brief address before the sentencing, the judge said that
the court did not recognize the men as journalists, that they
had been in possession of unauthorized broadcasting equipment, and that they had broadcast lies about Egypt on the
Al Jazeera news network while operating without official authorization from a Cairo hotel. These charges led to three-year
prison sentences.

jailed by a Cairo court on August 29th on charges of broadcasting false news and operating without authorization.
The court sentenced journalist Peter Greste to prison in his
absence.

The court sentenced Baher Mohamed to an additional

six months in prison and a fine of 5,000 Egyptian pounds
(around US$640) for possessing a bullet, which he had argued
was a souvenir from his work as a journalist in Libya.

On August 29th the Cairo Criminal Court jailed Mohamed

Fahmy for three years and Baher Mohamed for three-and-a-

The court also sentenced students Khaled Mohamed Abdulraouf Mohamed, Shadi Abdul Hameed Abdul Azeem

AIUSA group 48 Newsletter September 2015 Pg 6

Ibrahim and Sohaib Saad Mohamed Mohamed to three years

each in prison, apparently on similar charges of broadcasting false news." Sohaib Saad Mohamed Mohamed had told
other defendants that security forces tortured and otherwise
ill-treated him after rearresting him in early June 2015.
The court acquitted Khalid Abdulrahman Mahmoud Ahmed
Abdulwahab and Noura Hassan al-Banna.
Action

Please write immediately in Arabic, English or your own

language:
Calling on the Egyptian authorities to release Mohamed
Fahmy and Baher Mohamed immediately and unconditionally, ensure their convictions are quashed and facilitate Mohamed Fahmys request for deportation;
Urging them to ensure that the other mens convictions are
quashed to the extent that they are based on charges relating
solely to the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of
expression;
Calling on them to investigate effectively, independently
and impartially Sohaib Saad Mohamed Mohameds allegations of torture and other ill-treatment.
Appeals To

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE OCTOBER 17th 2015

TO:
President
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
Office of the President
Al Ittihadia Palace
Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt
Fax: 011 202 2 391 1441
Salutation: Your Excellency
Public Prosecutor
Deputy Public Prosecutor Ali Omran Office of the Public
Prosecutor
Supreme Court House, 1 26 July Road
Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt
Fax: 011 202 2 577 4716
011 202 2 575 7165
(switched off after office hours, GMT+2)
Salutation: Dear Counsellor

Copies To

Deputy Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Human

Rights
Mahy Hassan Abdel Latif
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Corniche al-Nil, Cairo
Arab Republic of Egypt
Fax: 011 202 2 574 9713
Email: Contact.Us@mfa.gov.eg
Group 48 Taking on Case of Iranian
Physicist

Omid Kokabee

Group 48 has taken on a

new case! Omid Kokabee
is a young Iranian physicist
who was pursuing postgraduate studies in optics
at the University of Texas
when he returned home to
visit his family.

In January2011, he was arrested, tried on

vague charges related to national security, and
sentenced to ten years in prison. The real issue
seems to be Omid Kokabees principled refusal to engage in military or nuclear weapons
research.
Calls for his release have come from the American Physical Society, 33 Nobel Physics Prize
laureates, and the Committee of Concerned
Scientists, as well as Amnesty International.
Last year, the American Association for the Advancement of Science gave Kokabee its 2014
Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award
for his courageous stand and willingness to endure imprisonment rather than violate his moral
stance that scientific expertise not be used for
destructive purposes and his efforts to provide
hope and education to fellow prisoners.
Lets work to get this brilliant and admirable
young man out of prison!

AIUSA group 48 Newsletter September 2015 Pg 7

Ambassador Mohamed Tawfik

Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt
3521 International Ct NW, Washington, DC 20008
Fax: 202 244 4319 -OR- 202 244 5131
Email: embassy@egyptembassy.net

2014 law allowing the authorities to transfer foreign nationals

to their home countries to face trial or serve their sentences,
if such a move would be in the highest interest of the State."
The authorities deported Australian national Peter Greste
from Egypt under the law on February 1st 2015. Mohamed
Fahmy, originally an Egyptian-Canadian national, gave up
Please let us know if you took action so that we can track our his Egyptian citizenship in prison in December 2014, after ofimpact! Send a short email to uan@aiusa.org with UA 83/14 ficials told him it would be his only way to secure deportation.
in the subject line, and include in the body of the email the
He has not received adequate medical treatment in detennumber of letters and/or emails you sent, to let us know how tion for Hepatitis C or his broken arm, which has limited the
you took action. Thank you for taking action! Please check
movement in his shoulder.
with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office if taking action after
Sohaib Saad Mohamed Mohamed was arrested on June 1st
the appeals date.
2015, along with two of his friends, held for at least three days
Additional Information
in National Security premises and then transferred to a miliThe court will produce a written ruling, detailing for each de- tary facility where he was held until June 16th, when he was
fendant which charges it upheld and which ones it acquitted
transferred to Tora Istiqbal Prison. Sohaib Saad Mohamed
them of. Amnesty International considers that the charges of was held under conditions of enforced disappearance for 16
broadcasting false news are not in accordance with interna- days, without access to his family or lawyers, in the National
tional human rights law and considers the charges of working Security premises and an unknown military facility where he
was questioned and tortured. The Defense Ministry released
without official authorization to be politically motivated and
a film on July 11th about dangerous terror cells in which
aimed at punishing the men for their journalistic work and
Sohaib
Saad Mohamed Mohamed appeared, confessing to
for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression.
buying a firearm for use against the security forces. The video
The Cairo Criminal Court sentenced the journalists and
showed a number of other people making similar confesstudents in June 2014 to prison terms of seven to 10 years for sions." He told his co-defendants in the trial that the security
broadcasting false news, possessing unauthorized equipforces had subjected him to torture and other ill-treatment
ment and aiding or joining the Muslim Brotherhood moveduring questioning by Military Intelligence and National
ment. The court also tried and sentenced a number of people Security, including electric shocks and hanging him by his
in their absence, including other Al Jazeera staff and a Dutch hands. He, along with 15 others are now facing a separate trial
freelance journalist. Egypts highest court of appeal, the Court before a military court that is due to begin on September 6th.
of Cassation, overturned the convictions and sentences of
The Cairo Criminal Court retried Noura Hassan al-Banna in
those jailed in the case on January 1st 2015. They were then
her presence, acquitting her of joining and assisting the Mus-
retried before a new panel of judges at the Cairo Criminal
Court, which ordered their release on bail in February, before
Postage Rates
issuing the verdicts on August 29th. All those jailed in the
case may now appeal once more before the Court of CassaWithin the United States
tion. Under Egypts Code of Criminal Procedures, all those
$0.35 - Postcards
sentenced in their absence have the right to retrial if they
$0.49 - Letters and Cards up to 1 oz.
present themselves before the court.
Mohamed Fahmys representatives have said that they are
seeking a presidential pardon. The journalist has also applied
for deportation from Egypt to Canada under a November

To all international destinations

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

AIUSA group 48 Newsletter September 2015 Pg 8

Over 20 other journalists are detained in Egypt, according to

Amnesty Internationals monitoring, many on similar charges
of broadcasting false news."

Kimberly Vohsen Stock.Xchng

lim Brotherhood, of possessing unauthorized communications and broadcasting equipment, and of broadcasting false
news." The court, headed by different judges, had tried her in
her absence at the first trial and sentenced her to 10 years in
prison.

Postage

AIUSA group 48 Newsletter September 2015