Saturday, June 27, 2015

Free Chelsea Mannning! Defend The Military Resisters!

REFUSING TO KILL
CAMPAIGNING WITH & FOR MILITARY REFUSERS, WHISTLEBLOWERS & PRISONERS
TO BUILD A MOVEMENT TO INVEST IN CARING, NOT KILLING 
JUNE / JULY 2015        Follow links on WWW.REFUSINGTOKILL.NET
With Stand Up for Truth, organizing to support whistleblowers goes global. During the 1-7 June Week of Action, whistleblowers speak in webminars and meetings in London, Oslo, Stockholm, Berlin, Reykjavik, Los Angeles, Minnesota…
Compassion in Care and supporters demonstrated at the opening of the UK Parliament (27 May) to press for "Edna's law" which would protect whistleblowers and make it a criminal offence to fail to act on whistleblowers' evidence and disclosures.  Sign the petition and send your own "support photo" – you holding a sign saying I am Edna.
Whistleblower seaman William McNeilly was arrested on 18 May after disclosing a dossier to Wikileaks about the safety of the UK Trident nuclear submarine. His disclosure triggered a debate in Parliament. Please sign Scottish CND’s Petition to protect him. The £100 billion plan to renew Trident has been opposed by the Scottish National Party, the Green Party, Plaid Cymru and many protestors.  Protect William McNeilly!
Positive development for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, still at the Ecuadorean embassy: the Swedish public prosecutor Marianne Ny agreed to come to London to question him over rape allegations.  Listen to his recent interview where he speaks about McNeilly. Join the vigil at the embassy: Tue, Wed, Thu 4-6pm, Sat 4.30 – 6.30pm and on 19 June 5pm to mark his 3rd year inside
International whistleblower Chelsea Manning will be honoured as Queer Hero at London Pride after being proposed by Queer Strike. Join the whistleblowers contingent at Pride on 27 June. There was similar honour for Chelsea last year in San Francisco – the largest Pride demo in the world!, Jailed for 35 years, Chelsea, recently published an article in the Guardian on her 5 years detention experience. Write to Chelsea to support her as she supports us!
Anders Kompass, field operations director for the High Commissioner for Human Rights leaked to French prosecutors in 2014an internal UN report on the sexual abuse of children by French troops in the Central African Republic. His employer suspended him, but an appeals tribunal just ordered the suspension of the whistleblower to be lifted.
 

 
CLOSE DETENTION CENTRES FOR IMMIGRANTS
15- 21 June is an International Week of actions to close detention centres for immigrants and asylum seekers.  The times they are a-changing!  In the UK, a cross-parties parliamentary report proposes to limit indefinite detention to 28 days. In the US a Bill calls for reform while the New York Times calls for an end to detention. The All African Women's Group is calling a protest to end the practice of detention: Parliament Square in London on 15 June, 12 - 2pm.
Wikileaks has recently disclosed European Union documents exposing military plans to destroy ships in Libya which are used to transport migrants, thereby preventing them from reaching Europe. The plans foresee a year-long campaign which could include putting troops on the groundaka war. Scheduled for late June, the plans were formally approved by 28 countries on 18 May.
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Kevan Thakrar was convicted in 2007 of murders under the “Joint Enterprise” law despite no forensics, hearsay evidence and inconsistent eyewitness testimony. He has been in solitary ever since. On 22 May, a hearing for allegedly throwing excrement at a guard in self defence was postponed because the prison guards refused to release him for the hearing and the prosecution refused to turn over documents to the defence.  
Mumia Abu-Jamal was hospitalised on 30 March in a diabetic coma. An international protest denouncing this "execution by medical neglect" forced the prison authorities to provide some care and to stop keeping Mumia out of contact with family, colleagues and his own medical people. But the campaign to bring Mumia home continues.  Keep on the pressure on the authorities!
On 3 May the Israeli group Breaking the Silence issued a report of soldiers’ testimonies about the intentional savagery, criminality and murder committed by the Israeli military during its attack on Gaza in Summer 2014. Meanwhile conscientious objector Efi Drishner started a third term in prison on 26 May. Please write to him and to the authorities!
 

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