Our adopted POC (prisoner of conscious), Kareem Amer is not alone!

Thanks to letters from people around the world, including Amherst, that reaching him every day and giving him support and hope...

The online FreeKareemBlog campaign proved to be very effective in moblizing manyactivists on the ground.

We encourage our members and other human rights activists to either stop by our table this Sat at the Amherst Farmers Market (11-1pm), or to visit the above link and send few lines to Kareem in his soilitary confinement in Egypt (1108 days so far!)...

Come on down to our Table Sat 11/21

Yes, it's confirmed news: Sat 11/21 is the last Farmers Market in Amherst for this year... Today, the heavy rain forced us to fold up the Table and only leave the beautiful banner of our Chapter-128So we encouraged all our members to come out and celebrates this successful Tabling Season next week...The weather will be gorgeous, I was told by one farmer.... let's talk by email/phone to make next table the Best...!

mohamed

Farmers Market Table, etc

This Sat 10/17, our weekly Human Rights Table will be facilitated by 3 enthusiastic members: Ibrahim (Sudan); Cylvana (US/Phillippines/Sudan); and Yasmine (Morocco).

Amnesty International Table @ the Farmers Market became one of the common activities in Downtown Amherst. It "added more to the diversity of the Market" as noted by one activist who stopped by the table.
Two petitions on the Table find lot of signatures and discussions every Sat: Our adopted POC Karim Amer (Egypt); and the letter to President Obama to hold torturers accountable.

We are planning to continue the table until the end of the Farmers Market (first Sat in Nov)...

Do not forget our Octber monthly meeting @ Jones Library (second Floor) on Sat 10/31 @ 2pm.
The meeting will be devoted for a proposed event to bring together the local Amnesty Chapters in one event.

Tag Sale: Sunday 9/13

Our annual Fundraise Tag Sale is approaching (Sunday 9/13)..
We are looking for saleable items (books, school supplies, clothes in good condition, kitchen stuff, etc)...

Please contact Mohamed @ 413-256-4298 or Claudia @ 548-9522 to arrange for pick-up

Urgent: Send message to President Mubrak

Karim Amer,

Our New Adopted Prisoner

of Conscience

EGYPT

for the "crime" of publishing material on the internet that was critical of Islam and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The former al-Azhar University student was sentenced on 22 February 2007 and the Court of Appeal confirmed the

sentence on 12 March of the same year. He was 23 years old at the time.

Amnesty International considers Karim Amer to be a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely on account of the peaceful expression of his views. The organization calls for his immediate and unconditional release.
Please send politely worded letters to the president of Egypt, asking him to release Karim Amer immediately and unconditionally, as he is a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression.

President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak
Arab Republic of Egypt
'Abedine Palace
Cairo
EGYPT

Email: webmaster@presidency.gov.eg

Airmail postage: 98 cents

To take action for Karim Amer online, click here.

Send Messages of Solidarity!
Solidarity letters or cards can also be sent to the organization that has been defending Karim Amer and supporting bloggers and freedom of information. Send your cards to:

Karim Amer
c/o Gamal Eid
Arab Network for Human Rights Information
19, 26 July street
4th floor, Suite 55
Downtown
Cairo
EGYPT

Annual Tag Sale meeting

The Tag Sale planning committee will be meeting on 8/12 (7pm) @ the following address:
135 East Hadley Rd. (South Amherst)
The meeting is scheduled for one hour.

Mohamed Elgadi & Magda Ahmed

Observing the UN International Torture Survivors Day

Many activities around the country were taking place....Mohamed Elgadi, coordinator of our Group 128 travelled to Philadelphia, PA to speak at a forum hosted by AI (Group 112), Darfur Alert Org, Liberty Ctr for Survivors of Torture, Group Against Torture in Sudan-GATS, and the Philadelphia Ethical Society.

GATS issued a PR in English and Arabic and was circulated in the Valley to observe the UN day for torture survivors. The PR called for the formation of a unique Truth Committees in Diaspora within the Sudanese refugee communities to address and expose the crime of torture in Sudan.

Our Table @ the Amherst Farmers Market has drawn more crowd on Sat 6/27. Thanks Ibrahim, Ismail, and Cylvana (our next table will be on 7/11 at the same location by the Information kiosk).

The following links and actions were coppied from our Amnesty International website that addresse torture-related actions:

• Take Action

1. Demand Congress & President Obama investigate and prosecute torture

2. Urge Presidential Task Force on interrogation to end torture for good» Write letters on behalf of people at risk of torture worldwide
3. Host a screening of the powerful 30-minute documentary Torture on Trial
Counter Terror With Justice

Torture News
TUNISIA: END DENIAL, ADDRESS HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN THE NAME OF SECURITY June 26, 2009
Former Bagram detainees allege abuse while in US custody June 24, 2009
USA: Judge orders Guantánamo detainee released after seven and a half years in detention without charge June 24, 2009

Fathi el-Jahmi: Sad News

photo source: http://phrblog.org/


Scott Allen, MD, of Physicians for Human Rights, examines Fathi al-Jahmi at Tripoli Medical Center on March 13, 2008.


Libyan activist dies in hospital
in Jordan21 May 2009





A prominent Libyan political activist died in hospital in Jordan on Thursday following his release from detention in Libya just over two weeks ago. Fathi el-Jahmi was detained in Libya in March 2004 and held without charge or trial, most recently at the Tripoli Medical Centre. He was flown to Amman in Jordan for medical treatment just over two weeks ago.

Amnesty International has said that the organization is greatly distressed by the news of the Fathi el-Jahmi's death. "Amnesty International is still seeking clarification from the Libyan authorities as to the circumstances in which Fathi el-Jahmi, who was a prisoner of conscience, became seriously ill and was transferred to Jordan," said Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme. "At this time, however, our most immediate thoughts are with his family to whom we extend our deepest sympathy."

AI Tabling at the Amherst Farmers Market

Atlas Farm, South Deerfield,

one of the popular Farmer Market vendors

Summer is almost here in Amherst and our Tabling activity just resumed last week.


Ismail Elgadi, my nephew and one of our our youngest Amnesty members, was very active and busy in his first tabling event.

AI-Group 128 in Amherst will be meeting at the jones Libray on Sat 6/13 (12-1pm), Room to be determined, to discuss the economic crisis and how it's affecting Amnesty International, in addition to discussing our Summer plans.

Please come with your ideas t the meeting...

mohamed elgadi, Coordinator


Tel. 256-4298

Tabling this Sat

image source www.theadvocatesforhumanrights.net/

in Amherst Common this Sat 3/14 from 11am to 1pm... stop by and sign petition to save lives in prisons and to stop violence against women...

New Report from Amnesty

Middle East and North Africa: More protection and guarantees needed for people defending human rights

Human rights activists in the Middle East and North Africa still face imprisonment, torture, persecution and repression for seeking to uphold the rights of others, more than ten years after the UN called on all states to support the work of people defending human rights,

read more in the above link of Amnesty International

Join us in the coming Annual General Meeting

Where: Boston Park Plaza Hotel and Towers,
When: March 27-29, 2009


Confirmed speakers include:

Sharon Asetoyer: Executive Director, Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center
Congressman Michael Capuano
Larry Cox: Executive Director, AIUSA
Sherif Elsayed-Ali: Head, Refugee and Migrants Rights, Amnesty International, International Secretariat
Margaret Huang: Executive Director, Rights Working Group
Juan Melendez, Death Row Exonoree
Eva Millona: Executive Director, Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition
Stephen Oleskey, Attorney, WilmerHale, attorney for Guantanamo detainees and co-lead counsel in the case of Boumediene v. Bush
Sarnata Reynolds: Policy Director, Refugee and Migrants Rights, Amnesty International USA
Gouri Sadhwani: Deputy Executive Director, AIUSA
Lhadon Tethong, Students for a Free Tibet
Jenni Williams: Women of Zimbabwe Arise
Ginetta Sagan Human Rights Award Winner (A Colombian Human Rights Defender)

The AGM Program Agenda is now posted. Check out the schedule and plan to arrive early on Friday to take part in our action at the State House and to join a special pre-conference training.