Weekly Action and News 22/04/2022
Manchester Amnesty Weekly Action and News
Please do these actions and make a difference.
ACTION 1. Twitter storm in support of Mohammed Al-Roken.
This week our first action has been organised by our own UAE subgroup. We have been active in support of Mohammed Al-Roken for some time. Dr Al-Roken was imprisoned 10 years ago for speaking out about human rights. His sentence is due to end on 17th July 2022, but nine prisoners of conscience in the UAE have continued to be detained after their release dates. We demand that when Dr Al-Roken reaches the end of his sentence, he is released promptly, in accordance with international & UAE law.
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JOIN THE TWITTER STORM TUESDAY 26th APRIL
JOIN US AT 12-1pm IF YOU CAN FOR MAXIMUM EFFECT
OR TWEET AT ANY TIME DURING THE DAY
Here are some tips for those new to twitter
1. Search on twitter for #FreeAlRoken and retweet each tweet by selecting ‘quote tweet’ then add #FreeAlRoken. You can add anything else as well but the minimum is to repeat the hashtag #FreeAlRoken so others can retweet it.
2. Create one or two tweets of your own and add #FreeAlRoken in all tweets. You can also add two more hashtags: #FreeAlRoken17thJuly and #FreeEmiratiActivists
3. Add one of these images to your tweet
4. Include the names of the two main leaders in the UAE so it comes to their twitter inboxes.
@HHShkMohd, @MohamedBinZayed
Here are some sample tweets:
Manchester Amnesty calls on @HHShkMohd and @MohamedBinZayed to
release @DrAlRoken on July 17th 2022 when his sentence ends!
Detaining people beyond their sentence is a brazen contempt for the rule of law.
#FreeAlRoken #FreeAlRoken17thJuly
Ten years ago @DrAlRoken was imprisoned in the #UAE for his peaceful human rights work.
His release date is 17th July.
The UAE has been unjustly detaining prisoners beyond their release dates.
We urge @HHShkMohd @MohamedBinZayed to #FreeAlRoken #FreeEmiratiActivists
ACTION 2. Government plan to send people seeking asylum to Rwanda.
Everyone will have heard about the government’s announcement that they plan to send people seeking asylum in the UK to Rwanda. As well as being cruel and inhumane, these plans would contravene our obligations under the Refugee Convention. They would be costly, and history suggests that they would be doomed to failure – as we have learned from similar schemes operated by Israel and Australia. You can read Amnesty International UK’s reactions to these appalling proposals here and here. AIUK have now provided a template letter for you to send to your MP to express your concern about these proposals.
http://email.amnestyuk.org.uk/c/1GtyL1uYE8oIyAF7YDHfAOm8Ul
Freedom From Torture
Many thanks to Ann Salter for her excellent talk given at the April online group meeting about the work of Freedom from Torture. FfT works with survivors of torture and volunteers to provide therapy and legal advice and has an important role in documenting torture. You can make a donation here to support FfT’s work – donations are used directly to fund vital therapy for torture survivors.
Events
Manchester Climate Justice Summit, 15th May, 12-5pm, Manchester University Students Union, Oxford Road. Organised by Manchester Cop26 and the Campaign against Climate Change Trade Union group. More details and sign up here.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/manchester-climate-justice-summit-tickets-298689035947
Manchester Amnesty Subgroups
If you would like to join any of our subgroups, please contact the current convenors.
UAE – Kathryn Fletcher, bussk@btinternet.com.
HR in UK – Matthew Sherwood, m.j.sherwood@outlook.com, next meeting TBA. At the next online group meeting on Monday 9th May a speaker from AIUK will introduce the work the UK Section is doing in this area, in particular concerning Government’s plans to repeal and replace the Human Rights Act 1998.
Anti-racism – Hazel Errey, hazelerrey@gmail.com, next meeting 16th May
Refugees – Alison Wearden, alison.wearden@gmail.com, next meeting 8th May (TBC)
Good news
From Indonesia - On April 12, 2022, for the first time in the country’s history, parliament passed a law against sexual violence. The law punishes nine crimes: sexual harassment, forced contraception, forced sterilization, forced marriage, sexual torture, sexual exploitation, sexual slavery, and online sexual violence. Rape and forced abortion are omitted as they were already included in the penal code.
Alison Wearden
Communications Secretary
Manchester Group of Amnesty International
Please contact me with items for our Weekly Action and News email, or with ideas for longer articles for the quarterly Manchester Amnesty Group Bulletin.
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