Amnesty
International
U. S.
Group 55
Wheaton, Illinois
Amnesty
International is an independent worldwide human rights movement which
seeks the release
of those detained anywhere for their beliefs, color, sex, ethnic
origin, language or religion, provided
that they have not used or advocated violence. We oppose the use
of torture and the death
penalty without reservation.
Meeting
Time & Place
Please
contact the email address at the bottom of the page to find out when
and where our next meeting will take place.
The
members of Amnesty International are a diverse group united by their
concern for human rights. We
need people who can squeeze just a wee bit more out of their already
very busy lives to work on
behalf
of human rights. All are welcome.
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Our
newest Individuals at Risk
Hnin May Aung, physics student now
approximately 31
years old, (sentenced to 42 years) was arrested in 1998. She was
alleged to have taken part in or organized small-scale demonstrations
of between 150 and 500 students which took place during August and
September of 1998 and to have distributed leaflets about student
concerns calling for improvements to the educational system in Myanmar,
and for the release of political prisoners. We are concerned that she
was sentenced following an unfair trial and may have been subjected to
torture and other forms of ill-treatment in detention and is suffering
from health problems. We call for her immediate and unconditional
release.
Ko
Aye Aung,
also known as Aye Aung, was
student at the Distance Education
University (Dagon University) at the time of his
arrest. He was arrested on the 14th of September
1998 in Yangon (Rangoon).
At that time he was a second year Physics student
and is believed to have been a leading member of the All Burma
Federation of
Student Unions (ABFSU). ABFSU has been at the forefront of peaceful
anti-government protests since 1988.
Ko Aye Aung was initially given a sentence of 14 years
imprisonment, but this has subsequently been extended to 24 years. He
had been arrested along with Myo Min Zaw, who was given a
sentence of 52 years. Ko Aye Aung is
being held at Kalay Prison, Sagaing Province, with eight other
political
prisoners and is
believed to have been tortured. He is suffering from malaria and,
possibly, typhoid. It is reported that his exercise
period has been moved to the hottest time of day, and he is being
denied access
to religious books.
Ko Aye Aung is considered by Amnesty International to
be a Prisoner
of Conscience detained solely because of the non-violent
expression of his
beliefs. He has not used or advocated violence.
In a report
issued in
September, 2005, Amnesty International
detailed reports of tens of thousands ethnic minorities in Myanmar
being forced by the armed forces into forced labor, subjected to
beatings and land confiscations. One in six people are reported to
suffer from inadequate nutrition with malnourishment found in a third
of the children. Hundreds of thousands have been forced migrate to
neighboring countries. Myanmar has been a military dictatorship for
decades. Its human
rights record has been horrendous. The pro democracy movement that
sprang up throughout Myanmar in the late 1980's and early 1990's has
been violently crushed by the dictatorship. The military junta, which
now calls itself the State Peace and Development Council, has refused
to accept the results of the national elections of 1990 which gave a
landslide victory to Nobel Laureate Anug San Suu Kyi's National League
for Democracy and has refused to give up power.
Please write letters to demand
the immediate and unconditional release
of Ko
Aye Aung to:
Senior
General Than Shwe
Chairman
State
Peace and Development Council
c/o Embassy of the Union of
Myanmar
2300 S Street NW
Washington, DC 20008
Salutation:
Dear General
Most
of you are in the U.S. and should
send a copy to Myanmar's embassy in D.C. Direct it to:
U Han Thu
Minister-Counselor
Charge d'affaires ad interim
Embassy
of the Union of Myanmar
2300
S Street NW
Washington,
D.C. 20008
U Than
Aung
Minister of Education
Ministry of Education
c/o Embassy of the Union of Myanmar
2300 S Street NW
Washington, DC 20008
Please
write or type the name Burma in
parentheses next to Union of
Myanmar on the address on the envelope, but not IN the letter
itself.
This is for the benefit of the U.S. Postal Service for whom the name
Myanmar does not exist.
Note:
The
capital of Myanmar was moved by the
military junta some 200 miles north of the old capital of Yangon
(Rangoon) to a place called Naypyitaw. It is a place with little in the
way of existing infrastructure. The new addresses of the government
offices are still uncertain so please write to the officials in care of
their embassy in Washington, DC. Hopefully the letters will be
forwarded by their embassy to the proper destinations. This also has
the advantage of cheaper postage as well.
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Our
Ethiopian Prisoner of Conscience Amha-Yesus
Gebre-Yohannes Released!
We have gotten a report February 2006 that
Amha-Yesus Gebre-Yohannes of Ethiopia has been released. Thank
you for all of you who helped us in
this effort. Please continue helping us with our efforts in Myanmar.
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MAMUNAL-HUMSI
and other prisoners of conscience in Syria were reported to be RELEASED
on January 18,
2006. Mr.
al-Humsi, featured in AIUSA's Special Focus Case project since 2002,
was reported to be released from prison along with Riad Seif, Habib
‘Isa,
Fawwaz Tello and Walid al-Bunni. Each of the men had participated in
peaceful calls for reforms in Syria following the election of Syria's
current
president,Bashar al-Assad but were soon arrested afterwards.
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Our
previous prisoner in Myanmar was RELEASED!
On 19
November 2001, we were informed that our prisoner, Thiha Thu of Myanmar
(Burma) , was released
from prison along with Soe Mynint and Pyi Soe. We have no further
details at the moment
but this is wonderful news. Thank you to all of you who have
helped in this effort of many years.
I'm sure that your letters on his behalf have helped. More
details will be provided when they become
available.
For the
last several years, A. I. U. S. Group 55 had been working on a case
involving the arrest and imprisonment
of, a physics student, Thiha Thu of Myanmar (previously known as
Burma). He was arrested
in December 1991 for taking part in the demonstrations calling for the
transfer of power from
military to civilian authorities, and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi
(awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1991) and other political prisoners. He had been jailed since
that time. We had been trying
to
gain his release.
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Death
Penalty Abolition
A.I. U.
S. Group 55 is actively engaged in the abolition of the death penalty.
18th
Illinois Death Row Prisoner Released! Gordon Randall Steidl, 52,
convicted in Illinois killings goes
free
after 17 years in prison! He became the 18th person since Illinois
reinstated the death penalty
in 1977 to be freed because of a questionable conviction after serving
time on death row. He was
convicted of killing Dyke and Karen Rhoads in Paris, Illinois. They
were stabbed to death and their
home was set ablaze in 1986. His death sentence was later reduced to
life in prison without parole in
1999, but the conviction still stood. Months of fresh investigations
including DNA testing were
begun last June when a federal judge ruled it was "reasonably probable"
that Steidl would have been
acquitted if his defense attorney had done more to challenge the
state's case. Also, since the
conviction in 1987, the prosecution witness has recanted. Another
defendant, Herbert Whitlock,
was also convicted of killing Karen Rhoads and is serving a life
sentence. He, too, has maintained
his innocence.
AIUSA
launched a global campaign focused on abolishing the death penalty for
all child offenders – those
who were under 18 at the time of their crime. Georgia, Louisiana,
Missouri, Oklahoma, South
Carolina, Texas and Virginia have executed juvenile offenders since the
death penalty was reinstated
in the US in 1976. Since 1977, Texas has executed 13 juvenile offenders.
The laws
of Texas prohibit the use of pancuronium bromide to kill dogs and other
animals. The reason
for this prohibition is due to the pain and suffering that it can
induce when used. In Texas where
it
was first used and in 35 other states in the United States, pancuronium
bromide is used in conjunction
with other drugs to carry out the death penalty sentence. Although the
protocol for lethal
injection of condemned prisoners has been in used since 1982, the
procedure has never been closely
scrutinized. What is known is that there are cases where things went
horribly wrong during medical
procedures involving pancuronium bromide. Surgical patients injected
with pancuronium bromide
have been known to awaken during operations. These patients were awake
but totally unable to
indicate their suffering of excruciating pain because of the paralyzing
effects of that drug. The
standard method used in lethal injection is to first administer
intravenously a normal saline solution.
It is followed by a lethal dose of sodium thiopental, an anesthetic.
The fast acting anesthetic
is followed by the injection of the pancuronium bromide which paralyzes
the muscle system
and thereby interrupts breathing. The final drug administered is
potassium chloride to stop the
heart. Because of the paralyzing effects, there is no way to know if
the condemned person is awake,
in
pain and is suffering while the pancuronium bromide is taking effect
but before death. (For more
details, please consult the 21 January 2004 edition of the Chicago
Tribune, page 8 of Section 1,
for the article written by the Tribune senior correspondent Howard
Witt.)
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Contact
Us
Any
questions or comments about A. I. U. S. Group 55 or this home page
should be sent to us by e-mail
(mention A.I. in subject or your message may not be trashed as spam
without opening) to
:
"The only
thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for enough good people to do
nothing."
(seen on
an Amnesty International T-shirt)
Last update: 18 Oct 2010