An update on some of our cases

Throughout July we’ve had some significant news in a number of our ongoing cases: Some has been very exciting, with a number of people being released from prison. Unfortunately there’s been some bad news too, which highlights how important it is for us to continue supporting these individuals as they face grave human rights abuses and are unable to defend themselves.

Some good news from Burma

U Win Htein, a senior assistant to Aung San Suu Kyi was released from prison in Burma on 15 July. His son, Hsan Win Htein, wrote to Amnesty immediately following his father’s release. Here’s what he had to say:

‘Thank you for your concern and all your tireless effort on pressing for my father’s release’

U Win Htein was just one of over 2,200 political prisoners being held in Burma so as we approach the first elections in the country for  20 years we’re asking people in the UK to stand in solidarity with those still wrongly imprisoned for their peaceful political activity. Get involved now by adding your photo to our collection.

More releases

Photo by www.rsf.org

Pablo Pacheco Avila, a Cuban journalist was released from prison and transferred to Spain on 13 July. Amnesty supporters have been campaigning for Pablo’s release for the last 5 years and in this time the international pressure on Cuba to release him has grown and grown. Thank you to everyone who took part in this campaign.

Earlier in the month in Indonesia Yusak Pakage a peaceful protester was released from prison on 7 July, meanwhile Filep Karma, who was arrested at the same time as Yusak has also received the urgent medical treatment he needed.

The campaign continues

On 23 July 2010, the Azerbaijani government contested a European Court of Human Rights judgment that ordered Eynulla Fatullayev to be freed.  Eynulla, a 33-year-old newspaper editor, has been beaten, received death threats and faced libel suits because of his work. Our campaign for his release continues with a new urgency.

We also recently issued an urgent appeal for Johan Teterissa who is being denied medical treatment in an Indonesian prison. He’s currently serving a 15 year sentence for being involved in a peaceful protest and we are concerned about reports of his deteriorating health.Please call on the Indonesian prison authorities to provide him with the urgent medical attention he needs.

Finally, to mark Patrick Okoroafor’s 30th birthday on 11 July, Amnesty youth groups sent hundreds of cards to him in prison. Many also joined a demonstration outside the Nigerian High Commission in London.

Photo by Marie-Anne Ventura

Patrick’s brother Henry was in London to attend the demonstration and read out a personal statement from Patrick to those present. The message thanked Amnesty supporters for their letters of solidarity to both him and his mother and appealed for people to ‘not give up’.

‘Thank you very much for the thousands of letters and petitions you signed and sent to the Nigerian authorities asking them to release me. Your efforts have not been in vain, it has yielded positive results.’

We should be proud of our efforts in helping to secure the release of U Win Htein, Pablo Pacheco and Yusak Pakage in such a short space of time, but for individuals such as Eynulla Fatullayev, Johan Teterissa and Patrick Okoroafor, the campaign for justice goes on.