Amnesty International USA Group 48

Newsletter
5.13
1 BURUNDI: Action -
Journalists at Risk from
Restrictive Law
3 CHINA: Urgent Action -
activist detained, risks
torture
4 Maryland Joins Global
Trend Against the Death
Penalty
6 REPUBLIC OF CONGO:
Urgent Action - Teachers
freed, strike leaders
still harassed
7 Amnesty International
Welcomes Presidents
Remarks on Guantanamo,
Calls for Action
BURUNDI: Action - Journalists at Risk from
Restrictive Law
Journalists in Burundi, as in their
neighboring countries, Rwanda and the
DRC, have been working courageously
to report on issues their governments
have tried to keep quiet. Whether it
entails reports on the health of the
president, an insurgent movement, a
shooting in a bar, or simply the acts and
words of the opponents of the regime,
journalists have been frequently killed,
threatened, or imprisoned. Now Bu-
rundi is attempting to formalize the re-
straints on journalists by creating a legal
code that will impede normal journal-
istic work. For instance, as the Urgent
Action states, Article 19 restricts the
right to report on anything that relates
to state and public security, information
that threatens the national economy,
or insulting the President (outrages et
injures lendroit du Chef de lEtat).
For most Americans, the latter stipula-
tion is most laughable, although it is
actually widely employed throughout
the world, and not in repressive regimes
alone. Amnesty International is con-
cerned that at this very moment when
both Rwanda and Burundi are shaping
a new legal approach to the laws and
codes that regulate journalism that
freedom of the press be respected. It
is all the more crucial as this is a key
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NewsLetter Designed
By Michelle Whitlock
MichelleWhitlock.com
AIUSA-Group 48
http://aipdx.org

503-227-1878
Next Meeting:

Friday May 10th
First Unitarian Church
1011 SW 12th Ave
7:00pm informal gathering
7:30pm meeting starts

AIUSA group 48 Newsletter May 2013 Pg 2

historical moment for both countries as they are working
through post-genocide attempts to reformulate the shape of
their democracy.
Action
Please write to the authorities indicated on the accompany-
ing Urgent Action urging them to respect the freedom of the
press. A sample letter is included below:
Pierre Nkurunziza
Ofce of the President
Boulevard de lUprona
BP 1870
Bujumbura, Burundi
Copies To
Republic of Burundi Ambassador to US
Her Excellency, Ambassador Angele Niyuhire
Embassy of the Republic of Burundi
2233 Wisconsin Ave NW, Suite 408, Washington, DC 20007
Email: burundiembassy@erols.com
Sample Letter
Dear President Nkurunziza,
I am writing you as a member of Amnesty International,
concerned over matters of freedom of the press. It is crucial
for a democratic society that the workings of the press be
respected and protected. In recent years a number of inci-
dents suggesting that journalists have been jailed or repressed
have occurred in Burundi, including the case of Jean-Claude
Kavumbagu, the editor of a Burundian online news agency,
Netpress, who was released from prison on May 16 2011. He
had been detained since July 2010 afer suggesting that the
Burundian security forces could not defend the country.
Jean-Claude Kavumbagu had published an article on July 12
2010, one day afer suicide bombings in Kampala, Uganda,
criticizing the capacity of Burundian security forces to protect
the country from a terrorist attack. Other similar arrests and
acts of intimidation against journalists have also occurred
in recent years. Te solution to the issue of the international
right of the press to be free to practice their work is not to
create laws impeding them.
I urge you reject the draf press law in its current form. Please
guarantee freedom of expression to all journalists in Burundi
and allow them to carry out their legitimate work freely and
independently.
Best Regards,
"Why do we have this tradition of fnal meals, I
wondered, after seeing a request for six tacos, six
glazed donuts, and a cherry Coke. Fifteen years
later, I still wonder." -Julie Green
In 1998, Julie Green was living and teaching in Nor-
man, Oklahoma, when she frst read a prisoners
last meal request in the newspaper. These reports
of the fnal meal requests of death row inmates were
regularly published in the paper in Oklahoma and,
as Green would discover, in many others states with
the death penalty. Green began making sketches
based on the descriptions of these last meals and
thinking about what they meant and how to repre-
sent them. She considered embroidering images
of the meals on napkins, but eventually decided to
paint images of the meal requests on plates. In the
summer of 2000, she moved to Oregon and started
the series, applying blue mineral paint to second-
hand plates, which were then kiln-fred. The series,
which Green intends to continue as long as the
death penalty is legal anywhere in the United States,
has grown to more than 500 plates.
5ead more at: http://www.marylhurst.edu/arts-and-
events/art-gym/art-gym-exhibitions/current-exhibi-
tion.html
Open and free to the public through Friday, May 17
The Art Gym, Marylhurst University
17600 Pacifc Highway (Hwy 43)
Marylhurst OR 97036-0261
(800) 634 9982
The Last Supper Exhibit:
Artwork by Julie Green at
Marylhurst University
AIUSA group 48 Newsletter May 2013 Pg 3
CHINA: Urgent Action - activist detained, risks torture
Action
Please write immediately in English, Chinese or your own
language:
Calling on the authorities to give Liu Yuandong immediate
access to his family, legal representation of his choosing and
any medical attention he may require;
Calling on them to release Liu Yuandong immediately and
unconditionally;
Calling on them to ensure that Liu Yuandong is not tor-
tured or otherwise ill-treated.
Appeals To
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE MAY 31 2013 TO
Director, Tianhe District Peoples Procuratorate
Liu Zhimin Jianchazhang
Guangzhoushi Tianhequ Remin Jianchayuan
19 Longkou West Road, Tianhequ
Guangzhoushi 510630
Peoples Republic of China
Salutation: Dear Director
Director, Tianhe District Public Security Sub-branch
Jin Wei Juzhang
Guangzhoushi Tianhequ Gong'anfenju
613 Shougoulinglu, Tianhequ
Guangzhoushi 510640
Peoples Republic of China
Salutation: Dear Director
Copies to
Premier
Li Keqiang Guojia Zongli
Activist Liu Yuandong, a businessman, was detained on 23
February in Guangzhou, China afer he took part in a protest
against North Koreas nuclear tests. He is at risk of torture and
other ill-treatment.
Liu Yuandong, a 35-year-old businessman, protested with
several other people against North Koreas nuclear tests on
February 23 in the southern city of Guangzhou. Tey were all
detained, and given administrative detention orders ranging
from seven to 15 days for violating the Law on Assemblies,
Processions and Demonstrations. All but Liu Yuandong have
since been released, and have told the media they were de-
prived of sleep in custody.
Te police told his wife that they were holding him on the
grounds that he had "withdrawn the contributed capital afer
the incorporation of the company" and that they were in the
process of issuing a formal arrest notifcation. His wife, how-
ever, has not received any formal arrest notice. Liu Yuandong
is detained in Guangzhou city's Tianhe district detention
centre.
Liu Yuandong has taken an active part in a number of social
movements or protests in China. He was briefy detained afer
he took part in a solidarity action for the people of the nearby
village of Wukan who were protesting against local corruption
and land grabs. More than 500 people across China signed
a petition in March, within three days, calling for him to be
released.
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Within the United States
$0.33 - Postcards
$0.46 - Letters and Cards up to 1 oz.
To all international destinations
$1.10 - Postcards
$1.10 - Airmail Letters and Cards up to 1 oz.
Postage Rates

AIUSA group 48 Newsletter May 2013 Pg 4

Te State Council General Ofce
2 Fuyoujie, Xichengqu
Beijingshi 100017
Peoples Republic of China
Fax: 011 86 10 6596 1109
Email: Notice@scio.gov.cn
Additional Information
Activist and lawyers in China believe that the police decision
to investigate Liu Yuandongs business activities is politically
motivated. Te police have told his wife that he is suspected
of having violated the Criminal Law, Article 159: Any spon-
sor or shareholder of a company who, in violation of the pro-
visions of the Company Law, makes a false capital contribu-
tion by failing to pay the promised cash or tangible assets or
to transfer property rights, or surreptitiously withdraws the
contributed capital afer the incorporation of the company
shall, if the amount involved is huge, and the consequences
are serious, or if there are other serious circumstances, be
sentenced to fxed-term imprisonment of not more than fve
years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be
fned not less than two percent but not more than 10 percent
of the false capital contribution or of the amount of the capi-
tal contribution surreptitiously withdrawn.
Maryland Joins Global Trend Against the Death Penalty
May 2, 2013
Amnesty International urges Governor OMalley to commute
the death sentences of the fve men who remain on death row
in Maryland despite todays abolition bill. Tis would avoid
the cruel prospect of the state applying a punishment that it
has rightly rejected.
Marylands abolition of the death penalty is consistent with
a global trend towards ending capital punishment. Accord-
ing to the organizations most recent yearly report on death
penalty statistics, despite some disappointing setbacks in 2012,
worldwide movement away from the death penalty continued
last year. Maryland has joined the overwhelming global trend to-
wards ending the death penalty, Amnesty International said
today afer Governor Martin OMalley signed the abolition of
capital punishment into law.
Te abolition bill, passed by the state legislature in March
2013, makes Maryland the 18th U.S. state to relinquish use of
the death penalty since the U.S. Supreme Court approved new
capital laws in 1976.
Maryland has abandoned a punishment that should have no
place in a society that claims to respect human dignity, and
that in the U.S.A is riddled with discrimination and error,
said Brian Evans, Amnesty International U.S.As Abolish the
Death Penalty campaign director. More than a third of U.S.
states have now abolished the death penalty, and we urge the
remaining 32 states, and the federal government, to follow
suit.
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1. Last Thursday
Alberta Street
6 - 9pm
We need volunteers!
Please contact Lauren Zielinski
at oregonabolition@gmail.com
2. nterested in doing more to abolish the death
penalty in Oregon? Join our Faith Outreach or
Membership Teams!
Contact us at oregonabolition@gmail.com.
Volunteers Needed for Anti-Death
Penalty Work

AIUSA group 48 Newsletter May 2013 Pg 5

Such a trend can also be seen in the U.S.A where four states
have legislated to abolish the death penalty in the past fve
years New Mexico (2009), Illinois (2011), Connecticut
(2012) and now Maryland.
In addition New Jersey abolished the death penalty in law in
2007, the same year neighboring New York state commuted
its last death sentence, following a 2004 court ruling that its
capital law violated the states constitution.
On the other hand, seven U.S. states Texas, Oklahoma,
Virginia, Missouri, Ohio, Alabama and Florida account
for nearly three-quarters of the more than 1,000 executions
nationwide since 1994. Texas alone accounts for 37 percentof
all U.S. executions since 1976 (when the U.S. Supreme Court
gave its approval to new capital laws) and today is approach-
ing its 500th execution.
Background information
In January 2013, when Governor OMalley introduced a bill
in the Maryland state legislature to abolish the states use of
the death penalty, he said it does not work in terms of pre-
venting violent crime and the taking of human life. Pointing
to the global picture, he noted that abolitionist countries were
a much more expansive community than the number who
still use the death penalty.
His position is in line with that what Amnesty International
has been saying since it started to campaign against death
penalty 36 years ago: there is no convincing evidence to indi-
cate that the death penalty works as a special deterrent against
crime.
Te organization opposes the death penalty in all cases
without exception, regardless of the nature or circumstances
of the crime; guilt, innocence or other characteristics of the
individual; or the method used by the state to carry out the
execution. Te death penalty violates the right to life and is
the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.
More than two thirds of the worlds countries 140 have
abolished the death penalty in law or practice. In 2012, at
least 682 executions were known to have been carried out in
21 countries worldwide. At least 1,722 newly imposed death
sentences in 58 countries could be confrmed, compared to
1,923 in 63 countries the year before.
On April 9th, I sent an update about Oregon House
Joint Resolution 1 (HJR 1), the legislation resolu-
tion sponsored by Representative Mitch Greenlick
to abolish the death penalty in Oregon. On April
16, the Oregon House Judiciary was scheduled to
hold a working session to move HJR 1 to the House
Rules Committee for further action. However, for
some reason, HJR 1 did not move to the Rules
Committee and on April 18th, HJR 1 'died' in the
Judiciary Committee due to lack of action. No other
action is possible on this resolution during the rest of
this legislative session.
The reasons why House Joint Resolution 1 failed to
move to the House Rules Committee as expected
are being investigated. Despite this result, Repre-
sentative Greenlick deserves our thanks for his
efforts to end the broken death penalty system
in Oregon.
Action Request: Please write a letter, send an
email or make a phone call to Representative
Greenlick thanking him for his efforts to end the use
of the death penalty in Oregon.
Capitol Address:
900 Court St. NE,
H-493
Salem, OR 97301
Capitol Phone:
503-986-1433
In Solidarity,
Terrie Rodello
AIUSA Oregon State Death
Penalty Abolition Coordinator
Oregon Death Penalty:
Thank Representative Greenlick
for his proposal to end the death
penalty in Oregon
District Address:
412 NW Couch St #104
Portland, OR 97209
District Phone:
503-297-2416
Email: rep.mitchgreenlick
@state.or.us
AIUSA group 48 Newsletter May 2013 Pg 6
REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Urgent Action - Teachers freed, strike leaders
still harassed
Leaders of the CPRE (m), Hilaire Eyima (m) and Claude Nzingoula (m),
Expressing concern for the safety of leaders of the CPRE
currently in hiding and seeking assurances that leaders of
CPRE will not be arrested or threatened for exercising their
right to freedom of expression and association;
Calling on the Congolese authorities to ensure that the ha-
rassment and intimidation of leaders of the CPRE by agents
of the DGST will be stopped;
Appealing to the authorities to respect the rights of the teach-
ers and to engage in a constructive dialogue with CPRE as a
means to peacefully resolve the teachers
Appeals to
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE JUNE 10th 2013 TO:
President of the Republic of Congo
SE M. Denis Sassou-Nguesso
Palais du Peuple
Brazzaville, Republic of Congo
Fax: 011 242 222 81 4557 (keep trying)
Two teachers in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, detained
for a week in connection with an on-going strike, have now
been released without charge. However leaders of the union
still face harassment and intimidation by the Congolese
authorities.
Hilaire Eyima and Claude Nzingoula were released on April
25th 2013 without charge, but only afer they were forced to
read a statement to the national media calling on other teach-
ers to end the strike and asking forgiveness for their part in it.
However, teachers continued to strike and leaders of the Co-
alition for Improving the Teaching Profession (Concertation
pour la revalorisation de la profession denseignant) CPRE, a
coalition of teachers trade unions, are still being harassed and
intimidated by the authorities.
Te chairman of the CPRE, who is still in hiding, was called
on April 4th 2013 on his mobile phone by an agent of the
General Directorate for the Surveillance of the territory
(Direction gnrale de Surveillance du Territoire, DGST) who
threatened him and urged him to call of the strike. Te agent
told him that unless he leaves the country, security agents will
fnd him and other members of CPRE currently in hiding.
Action
Please write immediately in French, English or your own
language
Expressing concern at reports that leaders of teachers
unions taking part in the on-going strike are being forced
against their will to make statements to call of the strike and
denouncing their participation;
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Group Coordinator
Joanne Lau
jlau@easystreet.net
Treasurer
Tena Hoke
tena.hoke@gmail.com
Newsletter Editor
Dan Webb
write_to_dan@yahoo.com
Concert Tabling
Will Ware
ww_ware@yahoo.com
Legislative Coordinator
Dan Johnson
daniel.p.johnson@gmail.com
Central Africa / OR State
Death Penalty Abolition
Terrie Rodello
tarodello@igc.org
Indonesia
Max White
maxw33@comcast.net
Central America
Marylou Noble
marylou_noble@
yahoo.com
Darfur (Sudan)
Marty Fromer
martyfromer@gmail.com
North Korea
Erica Swiberg
eswiberg@gmail.com
Prisoners Cases
Jane Kristof
kristofj@pdx.edu
Cornelia Cerf
Ron Noble
ronald0216@yahoo.com
AIUSA Group 48 Contact Information

AIUSA group 48 Newsletter May 2013 Pg 7

Salutation: His Excellency/Son Excellence
Minister of State for Justice and Human Rights;
Keeper of the Seals
M. Aim Emmanuel Yoka
Ministry of Justice and Human Rights
BP 2497
Brazzaville, Republic of Congo
Fax: 011 242 222 81 4167 (keep trying)
Salutation: Dear Minister/Monsieur le Ministre
Copies To
Minister of the Interior and Decentralization
M. Raymond Zephyirin Mboulou
Ministry of the Interior and Decentralization
BP 800
Brazzaville, Republic of Congo
Fax: +242 222 81 3317 (Keep trying)
Also send copies to the Republic of Congo
ambassador in the US:
His Excellency, Ambassador Serge Mombouli
Embassy of the Republic Of Congo
1720 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009
Email: info@ambacongo-us.org
Tis is the frst update of UA 104/13. Further information:
http://amnesty.org/en/library/info/AFR22/001/2013/en
Additional Information
Congolese teachers have been on an indefnite strike since
February 25th 2013 demanding an improvement in the teach-
ing profession, including higher wages and efective and fair
recruitment within the public education system. Te strike
was called by CPRE afer negotiation with the government
failed.
Amnesty International Welcomes Presidents Remarks on Guantanamo,
Calls for Action
Aprl 30, 2013
In response to President Obamas remarks today about Guan-
tanamo, Zeke Johnson, Director of Amnesty International
USAs Security with Human Rights Campaign, issued the
following statement:
President Obama is right to recommit to closing Guanta-
namo. But its time to do more than talk. Instead of send-
ing more medics to force feed detainees, a process that can
amount to ill-treatment, he should take concrete steps to keep
his promise to close the detention facility.
Even under current Congressional restrictions he can trans-
fer out people like Shaker Aamer. Aamer has been cleared to
leave and the UK government says he should be free with his
wife and children in London.Tat process should start today.
Furthermore, President Obama should again make the case
to Congress and the American people about why it is so
important to close the detention facility, and show hes serious
by appointing a high level White House position to manage
the closure process. All detainees must either be charged and
fairly tried in federal court, or released.
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Postage
AIUSA group 48 Newsletter May 2013 Pg 8
AIUSA group 48 Newsletter May 2013
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