Minutes of Previous Meeting These Were Agreed

Amnesty International Salisbury Group

Minutes of the Monthly Meeting on Thursday 10th November 2016 7.30 pm 4 Victoria Road 1 Chairman’s Welcome AH Present: Andrew, Fiona, Tony, Michael C, Eddie, Peter, Lesley Apologies: Michael P

2 Minutes of previous Meeting – These were agreed LC

3 Treasurer’s Report - £941.38 (Bank Account) MP £30.06 (Cash)

Funds will be needed for the White Room at the Arts Centre for the film ‘Fire at Sea’. A deposit of £42.00 has been paid, with the balance of £126 and for the hire of the film (approx. £80.00) to follow.

Travel expenses for the speaker at the film showing of “Mustang’ will also be needed, together with a fee of £30.00.

4 Campaign Reports

Death Penalty LC Please see the Salisbury Group Website www.salisburyai.com for the full international update, covering the USA, Belarus, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the UK, the Philippines, Indonesia, Burma and Sierra Leone

Of particular note:

 Three States in the USA have voted on the death penalty:

o Nebraska has voted to restore the death penalty o Oklahoma has voted to provide explicit constitutional protections for its death penalty o California rejected the measure to repeal the death penalty. The decision on Proposition 66 – to speed up the process is ‘too close to call’.

 The Cornell Law School has launched the first US Centre on the death penalty worldwide, with a focus on international human rights norms that favour abolition, and bringing together defence lawyers to share strategies .  Belarus, the last European country to retain the death penalty, has resumed executions. A report documenting systematic abuses of prisoners has been published by FIDH and Viasna HR Centre.

 The final appeal of Asia Bibi in Pakistan has been postponed.  The Supreme Court of Pakistan has ruled that schizophrenia is not a mental illness, paving the way for the execution of Imdad Dali.

 The Director of Reprieve has warned the UK Home Secretary regarding the negative consequences of funding the counter- narcotics programme in Pakistan.

 Two of the candidates for the UKIP leadership in the UK are calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty for those convicted of serious crimes against children

 The execution of Zeinab Lokran in Iran is no longer imminent but she remains under sentence of death. Her lawyers are seeking a new trial.

 The Justice Minister in Iran, while stating that the death penalty should be retained, is calling for its use to be lessened.

Urgent Actions

 USA – Georgia – received from the National Coalition – an Execution Alert for Gregory Paul Lawler, scheduled to be executed on 19.10.16. He was convicted in 2002 for the murder of a Police Officer. If executed, he will be the 44th prisoner on death row in Georgia to be put to death by lethal injection. (Circulated to DPLWG – 14.10.16) Gregory Paul Lawler was executed on 19.10.16 – the seventh execution in Georgia this year.

 USA – Alabama – received from the National Coalition – an Execution Alert for Thomas Arthur, scheduled to be executed on 3rd November. Convicted of murder in 1983, he is now 73 and the third longest serving prisoner on death row. This is the seventh time Mr Arthur has had an execution date set. (Circulated to DPLWG 24.10.16). 3.11.16 – Late in the night, the United States stayed the execution, following arguments by Mr Arthur’s attorneys that Alabama’s lethal injection protocol, which includes midazolam, was deficient. This was the 7th stay of execution for Mr Arthur. (Source: National Coalition Against the Death Penalty)

 Pakistan – UA 222/16 Update – Imdad Ali – Following the Supreme Court’s ruling that the diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia is not sufficient grounds to halt his execution, another execution warrant was expected to be issued imminently. (Circulated to DPLWG 26.10.16). 31.10.16 – The Supreme Court issued a last minute reprieve. A fresh legal challenge to his death sentence will be heard in the second week of November.

 China – UA 243/16 – The Supreme People’s Court have approved the death sentence of Jia Jinglong, who had been found guilty of killing his Village Chief after being evicted from his home, suffering injuries to his head, and witnessing the beating of two of his cousins. He had voluntarily turned himself in, which usually results in a death sentence with a two-year reprieve following good behaviour. Jia Jinglong’s sentence, however, is for immediate execution. (Circulated to DPLWG 26.10.16). This month’s group Urgent Action.

 Iran – 26.10.16 – An email UA on behalf of Zeinab Lokran was received from AI UK – (Circulated to DPLWG 27.10.16).

 USA – Georgia – Steven Spears, convicted of the murder of his former girlfriend, is due to be executed on 16th November. If the sentence is carried out, he will be the eighth prisoner on death row to be executed this year, making Georgia the state with the highest number of executions this year. (Circulated to DPLWG – 7.11.16)

Campaigning

 The Letter Writing Group have written/emailed in support of the 6 Death Penalty Urgent Actions listed above.

 There is no further news in respect of Reggie Clemons. Cards will be signed for him at the December meeting.

 The New Forest Group of AI are hosting an important meeting at 1.30-3.15 pm on Saturday 12th November at the Lymington Centre, New Street, Lymington. The speaker is Dan Dolan, Head of Death Penalty Policy at Reprieve. His talk will be on the topic ‘Will we see an end to the Death Penalty?’ and will focus on the use of lethal injection as a means of execution in the US. (Circulated to the Membership. A Group from Salisbury will be attending, and a report will be published on the website)

North Korea

TM contacted Jihyen Park but, receiving no response, contacted Kenny Latunde-Dada. He has been advised Jihyen Park will be happy to come to speak to the Group, but will need to fit it around a commitment early in the New Year. She would like to speak alongside a showing of the film ‘The Other Interview’.

On 5th December, the Bath Amnesty Group are hosting an event at which Joo il Kim, a NK border guard defector, is speaking, together TM with Ben Rogers of CSW. It was agreed that PC would contact Ben PC to ask if he would be prepared to attend our meeting with Jihyen Park as a fellow speaker.

PC showed the first of the NK YouTube films on which he has been working. It was agreed that the revisions had resulted in a more succinct and focused film. The sound levels need more work. Once completed, the film will go on line.

PC will then work on the second film, involving Claire Moody.

Note: the first video is now available to view on YouTube. Refugees

A meeting was held on 18th October. It was agreed that the aims of the campaign were to change attitudes and to urge the Government to do more. There was a need locally to investigate what Wiltshire Council were doing within the Quota System. AH Possible options for the local campaign:  Following the Facebook Medics campaign, a card signing of I Welcome Refugee Cards, with photos and statements identifying their occupations. The results would be posted on a wall in Salisbury and on Facebook  Piles of rice identifying the numbers of refugees accepted by different countries, including the UK – highlighting the differences  Linking the campaign with the showing of the film ‘Fire at Sea’ – possibly with a sheet on the wall for people to sign  A display of photos of immigrants  A ‘guided conversation’ to discuss immigration and refugees  Projecting images onto a sheet on the tower of St Thomas’s  Working with other Organisations – eg The Greens, Quakers, some political Parties.

AH would speak to John Proctor of Alabare. He has now done so but John Proctor is currently needing to focus on other aspects of his work.

It was agreed that a further meeting should be held at 2.00 pm on 30th November. In the meantime, AH will contact the St Albans Group, who had worked so successfully with their local Council, for advice and suggestions. It was also agreed that further research was needed into the basic facts around refugee policy – ie the numbers, Government policy and what has happened so far.

The Amnesty on line training course on refugees is commencing on 15.11.16 – AH, LC and PC will be taking the course.

5 Social Media Report PC

Another good month with more interest all round. Facebook and Twitter continue to make progress. Some extraordinary statistics from Facebook.

Web site No real change in activity. The figures are: April May June July Aug Sept Oct 286 152 171 184 167 211 201

Views All time: 6,402

Country views, top 4. We have single views include Iran and Saudi Arabia. USA 91 UK 59 Australia 7 Germany 6

Top posts: 1. Human Rights and armed forces. Comments on the media and some politicians’ complaints about the application of human rights to our armed forces. 2. Forthcoming film – Mustang 3. Urgent Action in Iran Followers: a further increase this month and we now have 152. Twitter Impressions: April May June July Aug Sept Oct 1727 3431 4510 2111 1784 3050 3045

Top tweet: Select committee findings on arms supplies to Yemen. This Web post was quite lengthy but has attracted quite a lot of interest: 304 We now have 101 followers, an increase of 8, and 167 following, an increase of 2 on last month. This is the first time we have broken through 100 followers.

Facebook The top post on Facebook was on the legal aids cuts to justice which received 47 views. Other posts did not come near that. However, there is a statistics facility on Facebook and this reveals some extraordinary data. Three pieces (out of scores of columns of data) which are of interest for the month: No: of people who have engaged with pages 306 No: of views of any content 2949 No: of impressions seen of any content with the12,510 page

PC was not entirely sure what some of this data means and the words in the boxes above are taken from the headings used by Facebook. It seems to show a lot of interest on the page however, more than he had realised previously. Tumbler We have 5 followers on Tumbler. No change.

North Korea The demonstration outside the Guildhall still bears fruit. On Flickr, the still image has had 2,872 views and the video, 565 – both increases. On YouTube it has 1,320 views giving a viewing total of 4,757. www.flickr.com www.YouTube.com The link to Flickr is https://www.flickr.com/photos/peter_curb/23610658620/in/photolist- BYoNe3-q6murP

Group actions There was one group action during this period concerning a journalist in Burundi. Web site: www.salisburyai.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/salisburyai Facebook: www.facebook.com/salisburyai

As ever, contributions to the sites are welcome. Engaging with the sites also helps build profile. For example, we hit 85% response rate on Facebook, just short of the 90% needed to get further promotion and a badge!

6 Human Rights Act All

There have been no recent Government announcements in connection with their plans to repeal the Act.

The Annual Human Rights Lecture, hosted by the Southampton Amnesty Group, will take place on 10th January 2017 at 6.00 pm at the Avenue Campus of the University of Southampton. The lecture, entitled East West Street – Reflections on the Origins of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity, will be given by Professor Philippe Sands, Lawyer at Matrix Chambers and Professor of Laws and Director of the Centre on International Court and Tribunal at the University College of London. Booking details will be posted on the website as soon as they become available.

7 Evensong at the Cathedral – Monday 21st November, 5.00 pm All

 JP will prepare the candles and prisoner names  EB will read the WH Auden poem ‘Refugee Blues  The Salisbury pledge will be available for signing  AH will bring the factsheet on refugees produced for the NWR Conference  AH will speak to Tom Clammer regarding the possibility of a reading of the international refugee statistics.

8 Monthly Action FD  I Welcome Refugees – Children of Aleppo are being deliberately targeted. An on line petition is available to sign on the Amnesty UK website  Stop Torture Campaign – On 4th October the European Parliament voted to close many of the loopholes in the EU laws prohibiting the trade in torture equipment, including banning the advertising and brokering of torture equipment. Amnesty’s Stop Torture campaigning contributed to this result.  Write for Rights – see below.

9 Regional News FD Farshid Talaghani is temporarily fulfilling the role of our Regional AH Rep.

10 School Visits AH  FH has contacted St Mary’s. There is a new contact. It has EB been proposed that a session could be provided on alternate FD years. JP  FH has had no response from attempts to contact a number of people at the 6th Form College  AH’s attempt to make contact with Wiltshire College has been referred to the Line Manager  AH is awaiting a response from Sarum Academy.

11 Arts Centre Film FD The film ‘Mustang’ will be shown on 15th December. PC  The Turkish lawyer Eren Keskin, who is facing a life sentence for defending human rights, will be the focus of the Group action for the evening.  PC will be producing a poster  There will be a letter to the Minister of Justice for signing.

12 Write for Rights All The card signing stall will take place in the Market Walk on Saturday 10th December from 9.00 to 12.00 mid-day  JP has sufficient cards  4 prisoners have been selected – Nazanin Zagharu-Ratcliffe (Iran); Formusoh Ivo Feh (Cameroon); Mahmoud Abu Zeid (Shawkan) (Egypt) and Annie Alfred (Malawi).  Greetings cards/solidarity cards will be signed and sent as appropriate.

AH had met with Barbara Hickman from the Methodist Church. The Church will be hosting a Write for Rights display at the Church from 3rd-16th January. AH will help to set this up. Members of the Group are asked to provide a presence when possible.

13 Fire at Sea The film will be shown at the Arts Centre on 3rd February 2017  Peter will produce a poster for sending out to schools  Tickets are printed and will be brought to the December meeting.  A letter to the Home Secretary Amber Rudd, calling for more positive action for refugees was suggested as a possibility for signing after the event. 14 Forthcoming Events  New Forest Group Talk on the Death Penalty – Saturday 12th November  Refugee Campaign Planning Meeting – 30th November  Evensong – 21st November  Write for Rights Card Signings – Saturday 10th December  Arts Centre Film – 15th December  Carol Singing – 19th December  Southampton Amnesty Lecture – Tuesday 10th January 2017 (note change of date)  ‘Fire at Sea’ – 3rd February 2017  Magna Carta Event – 15th June 2017

15 AOB - None was raised

Next Meeting: Thursday 8th December 2016 Time: 7.30 pm Venue: 4 Victoria Road

www.salisburyai.com www.twitter.com/salisburyai Campaign box and banner: Andrew.