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HUMAN RIGHTS FOR EACH PERSON REGARDLESS OF AGE, RACE, RELIGION OR POLITICS
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PRISONER CAMPAIGNS & PETITIONS
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Update June 2007
Many people stop and ask me how Nick is now, all I can tell them is that he as lost more weight,
he had a bad chest infection and frost bite of the feet, hopefully this is all cleared up now, but Im not to sure of that.
I was thrilled to see that the UN had at last made a statement (which is at the bottom of this
this email) about the way people are treated by the Judicial system in Japan,
I am so pleased that this is at last make more serious headlines.
Nick Baker Case File
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Please Write to Ryner Christopher
I would very much welcome letters from people throughout the world.
This would help me to maintain a positive outlook for the future.
I am so lonely at times even though I am surrounded by hundreds of prisoners.
If you feel inclined to write to me then I would be so grateful.
Ryner Christopher Case Info
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Who are the Cuban Five?
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The Cuban Five are five Cuban men who are in U.S. prison, serving four life sentences and 75 years collectively, after being wrongly convicted in U.S. federal court in Miami, on June 8, 2001.
They are Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González.
The Five were falsely accused by the U.S. government of committing espionage conspiracy against the United States, and other related charges.
But the Five pointed out vigorously in their defense that they were involved in monitoring the actions of Miami-based terrorist groups, in order to prevent terrorist attacks on their country of Cuba.
The Five’s actions were never directed at the U.S. government. They never harmed anyone nor ever possessed nor used any weapons while in the United States.
Click Here for More Information
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"Campaign for Mon"
Help support Mon's repatriation.
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In September 2000, a Thai woman named 'Mon' [John-korn Jarearatikorn] was arrested in Laos on charges relating
to drug possession. She was sentenced by the Lao Municipal Court to an 11 year sentence. By Thai standards,
this would be considered quite a lenient sentence given that many prisoners in Thailand detained on drug charges
are either given the death sentence or jailed for life. In Laos however, and in this particular case, the sentencing is considered more appropriate to the alleged offence. The Laos court does not provide for adversarial proceedings in any case.
Whether Mon was justly detained or appropriately represented is of no consequence to her now. The facts are that she
has spent the last eight years of her life becoming the model prisoner as is expected of her. Mon does not complain
about her situation. She is a quietly spoken woman who believes that things happen for a reason and oneday she will
return home and begin a new life.
Click Here for More Information
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Please give your support to Jasmine Luong
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I had no choice, says courier facing death
AN AUSTRALIAN sentenced to death in Vietnam this week for heroin trafficking told officials she was forced into the crime to pay off her husband's gambling debts.
It is understood that 34-year-old Jasmine Luong will include the claim in her application for clemency, which must be handed to the Vietnamese President, Nguyen Minh Triet, by the middle of next week.
The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, and the Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, are expected to write to the President in support of Luong, whose two children are being looked after by relatives in Sydney.
Click Here for Full Story
Click Here for More Information
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Please give your support to Than Oo
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Dear Friends,
I received a lovely letter from Than Oo and he wrote beautifully.
I would like to encourage others to write to him and offer their support.
Life is very difficult for the Myanmar People. They are not wealthy by any means.
They have very little support and they often don't have relatives or friends visiting
because they can never afford to make the long journey to Thailand.
Than Oo genuinely needs your support, more so than the foreigners in Bangkwang
because unlike them, Than Oo doesn't have an Embassy helping him with daily living expenses.
He hopes one day that the King of Thailand may pardon him and allow him to return home to his family.
I truly hope our members and visitors to this campaign page will show him some compassion.
Kay Danes
Click Here for More Information
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It has been reported that Eric Volz has now been released
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 On December 21, 2007 at 2:00pm Central, after being declared innocent, then illegally imprisoned for five days, Eric signed the official Letter of Release. Although Eric is out of Nicaragua, the injustice of Doris’ death and Eric’s legal persecution continues.
Experience and gathered intelligence establishes a trail of violence and threats against Eric, his Nicaraguan attorney, and others in Nicaragua associated with this case. Eric remains in a secure location because of the danger of the situation and continues to take every precaution necessary to keep all involved out of harm's way.
Click Here for More Information
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Soe Paing Tinsoe
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Dear Friends,I received a lovely letter from Soe Paing Tinsoe and he wrote beautifully.
I would like to encourage others to write to him and offer their support.
Life is very difficult for the Myanmar People. They are not wealthy by any means.
They have very little support and they often don't have relatives or friends visiting
because they can never afford to make the long journey to Thailand.
Full Case Information - Click Here
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Help Free Harry Bout
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Who is Harry Bout?
Harry Bout is a Dutchman who has been wrongfully imprisoned in the USA since 1985.
Visit Harry's Campaign here
freeharrybout.org
He was arrested together with the actual murderer, who entered a plea-bargain, giving her a way out, while the lay-out of the crime-scene was altered by police in a way that Harry would seem the murderer. A witness was not heard at the original case, and the Vienna Convention was violated by the United States, in which Harry should have been able to notify his consulate immediately on arrest. Harry has always kept his Dutch nationality. He speaks and understands Dutch.
We want the Dutch government to bring Harry home to the Netherlands, if the US courts do not give him a new fair trial.
We also want to notify the public of the living conditions Harry has been forced to live in. He has to pay the courts for trying to prove his innocence, but he has no income. We have a Trustfund to have Harry's costs paid. Also we need to help pay to keep Harry healthy: the prison in Michigan has struck a deal with a private company and because of this, Harry is lacking crucial health care. We are going to negotiate about paying to have his health in better hands
Our petition to ask the Dutch Foreign Affiars Adm. to start negociations with the governor of Michigan to have Harry transported to The Netherlands will be presented on July 3rd 2007. Until then you can sign it here:
Click Here for Petition
Thank you FPSS for your support to the Harry Bout Campaign!
We have just established our Foundation "Support for Justice" this week, we aim to help,
support Dutch overseas inmates, especially those in US prisons, we also support their family with information and moral support.
Our new website is here:
www.supportforjustice.nl
Thank you,
Annabelle Parker
Free Harry Bout Supportgroup The Netherlands
Secretary of Support for Justice foundation,
www.supportforjustice.nl
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The Trial of Peter Laking [UK] detained in Vietnam
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![Peter Laking [UK]](img-prisoners/peter-laking01.jpg)
Update from Fair Trials Abroad [as of June 2007]:
Since April 2006 Peter Laking has been faced with an agonising wait for news of his fate, during which time he has suffered a stroke. Whilst in recovery, he was told that his trial would start on 23rd April 2007. This was postponed at the last minute. The trial finally started on 12th June 2007 only to be adjourned for reinvestigation once more, as the prosecution had no evidence to support the charges against Peter.
The story thus far...Click Here for More Information
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Roisin Zoe Savage [IRE]
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Yet another sad story where advantage has been taken of someone's good nature. Irish girl, Zoe, thought she was helping a friend, but instead was being exploited as a drug courier.
"I am not bitter with the Ecuadorian Government or the justice system. They did their job according to their rules. I am innocent of the charges and I know that my friend planted drugs in my bag. But he fled and the police found them sewn in a bag that my friend had bought for me. I now just want to go home and feel no anger at all against the government of Ecuador," said Zoe Savage.
Zoe Savage is a 29 year old Irish mother of two, who works as a freelance journalist. She was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment in Ecuador in July 2004 for allegedly trying to smuggle 2.5 kilos of cocaine which was sewn into the seams of her bag.
Click Here for More Information
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Aung San Suu Kyi
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Urgent Action for Ali Farahbakhsh
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Ali Farahbakhsh
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A Revolutionary Court in Tehran reportedly sentenced journalist Ali Farahbakhsh to
three years' imprisonment and a fine of about US$71,000 on 26 March, on charges of
espionage and "receiving money from foreigners". He had been arrested on 27 November 2006,
when he returned from a conference in the Thai capital, Bangkok, on government and the media,
organised by Thai NGOs. Amnesty International fears that he is a prisoner of conscience,
detained solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression and association.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Persian, Arabic, English, French or your own language:
expressing concern that the trial of journalist Ali Farahbakhsh appears to have been summary in nature: his lawyer was unable to prepare adequately for the trial since his access to the relevant documents was delayed or denied, and that neither he nor his client were given adequate time to meet to prepare for the trial;
stating that Ali Farahbakhsh appears to have been detained solely for the peaceful exercise of his internationally recognized right to freedom of expression or association, which would make him a prisoner of conscience who should be released immediately and unconditionally;
asking for a detailed account of the reasons for his arrest, the specific charges brought against him and the details of his trial;
calling on the authorities to ensure that he is not tortured or ill-treated, and to allow him immediate access to any medical treatment he may require.
Click Here for More Information
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Brain-damaged Briton needs Blair plea to save him from firing squad
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SAVE LUONG
Click below to sign the petition at 10 Downing St.
Luong is set to be executed
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A personal appeal by Tony Blair is the last hope for a brain-damaged British man who faces death by firing squad after being convicted of drug smuggling in Vietnam.
Le Manh Luong, 46, a British citizen of Vietnamese origin, could be executed in the next few weeks after losing his final appeal against a death sentence imposed last November for heroin smuggling. He can be saved only if the Vietnamese President, Nguyen Minh Triet, grants him clemency.
According to Reprieve, a British organisation that helps with the defence of death row inmates, such pleas are rarely granted to condemned foreign convicts without the personal intervention of a head of government. Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, has made a request for clemency but there has so far been no word on the case from Mr Blair.
Mr Luong’s relatives in Britain and New Zealand insist that he has been easily manipulated by others since sustaining brain damage as a child during the Vietnam War. A report from a British psychiatrist concludes that his ability to make good decisions has been impaired by the head injury.
“Normally the Prime Minister waits until the 11th hour to intervene,” says Clive Stafford Smith, the legal director and founder of Reprieve. “That is not an option in this case — in Vietnam they do not give execution dates, and so there is no way to tell when the 11th hour is. Without Mr Blair’s personal representations to the President of Vietnam we are faced with the real danger of Luong being executed. It would be a terrible stain on Tony Blair’s legacy to see this man executed because he failed to act.”
In 1967 Mr Luong’s family home in the city of Haiphong was hit by an American bomb that caused him brain damage and killed two of his brothers. “He fades in and out,” said his British niece, Thanh Le. “He tends to wander off and fall asleep sometimes. He suffers from chronic depression and he’s taken medication.
“If he is guilty it’s because he is a simple, naïve man who has always been easily led. I think he was led astray without knowing the implications of what he was doing.” In a report for Reprieve, Jon Kennedy, a forensic psychiatrist, wrote that there was evidence that Mr Luong was “suffering from a mental disorder . . .which would have directly impacted on his capacity to make good decisions”.
Click Here for More Information
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Iran: A political prisoner in critical condition while on huger strike
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Valiyollah Feiz-Mahdavi, a PMOI sympathizer, has been on huger strike in prison since August 23
Iranian Resistance calls for international efforts to save his life
Valiollah Feiz-Mahdavi, a PMOI sympathizer, is in critical situation while on huger strike in prisonNCRI - The following statement was issued on September 4 by the Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran:
According to information received by the Iranian Resistance, Mr. Valiyollah Feiz-Mahdavi, a sympathizer of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran imprisoned in Iran who has been on hunger strike since August 23, 2006, is in a critical condition. The prison guards, who are Revolutionary Guardsmen, have turned a blind eye to his deteriorating health condition and have not taken him to a hospital, according to witnesses inside the prison. When faced with protests by his inmates for not seeing to his condition, a high-ranking prison official said, "Do not worry, he will not die until tomorrow." Late in the evening, due to strong protests by Mr. Feiz-Mahdavi's fellow inmates, he was transferred from Ward 2 of Gohardasht Prison in Karaj to an unknown location.
Click Here for Full Story
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Help Sibel Yalvac
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On 10 July 2003, the 21 year old, mentally retarded Sibel Yalvac from Rotterdam was arrested in the airport of the Indonesian capital Jakarta. On 6 april 2004 she was convicted to 10 years imprisonment for smuggling drugs.
Two independent Dutch experts, a psychologist and a probation officer, tested Sibel. They declare she cannot be held responsible for her actions. She cannot distinguish cause and consequence, is credulous, has too much fantasy and she cannot even count to twelve.
Sibel has been used by ruthless criminals for their drugs trade and will now spend years in hell.
Every year around Indonesian independence day (17 August) there is a possibility for amnesty. We ask the Indonesian government to consider the special situation of Sibel and grant her amnesty.
The campaign 'Help Sibel' asks, on behalf of Sibel and her family, your support for this request. The petition has 6047 signatories. Will you help us?
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CAMBODIAN SISTERS ON DEATH ROW
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Montha Kuan [born 1979] -
Sai Kuan [born 1971]
On April 3, 2001 Montha Kuan (age 27) and Sai Kuan (35, mother of four children under the age of 18) were sentenced to death on drug charges in Thai courts. Despite concerns over the conduct of the arrest and prosecution, the appeals process for the Cambodian sisters has now been exhausted. Human rights organisation including LICADHO, Amnesty International, Forum Asia, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Human Rights in Cambodia and others in the human rights community have petitioned His Majesty Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand, to commute the death sentences to prison terms. This is the last available option for the Kuan sisters, who could be executed by lethal injection before the end of the year without the intervention of the King.
Foreign Prisoner Support Service opposes the death penalty in accordance with the most fundamental human right of all people.... the right to life. We have deep sympathy for the victims of drug-related crimes and respect the need to take strong action against these serious offenses, but we also hope that human dignity might be preserved to enable redemption.
The sisters have had no contact with their respective families for 9 years due to a lack of funds that would enable the families to travel to Bangkok.
Click Here for More Information
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URGENT ACTION Health concern/Torture: Jumah al-Dossari
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Guantánamo detainee Jumah al-Dossari attempted suicide in March. He says he
has been tortured in custody, and is believed to have made numerous suicide
attempts since he was detained, in January 2001. US officials have refused
to give his lawyers any information about his current condition.
Lawyers visiting other detainees at Guantánamo in late March were told that
Jumah al-Dossari had recently attempted suicide, for what may have been the
12th time, by slitting his throat. Official notes from Guantánamo which have
recently been declassified also record the suicide attempt. Despite requests
for information, his lawyers have been unable to determine his current
condition.
US Navy commander Robert Durand, a spokesperson at Guantánamo, told US
journalists earlier this month that there was a suicide attempt at the camp
on 11 March and that the unnamed detainee is "clinically stable".
He has also
noted that a single detainee, believed to be Jumah al-Dossari, accounts for
12 of the 39 reported suicide attempts at Guantánamo.
Click Here for Full Story
USA: The secretive and illegal US programme of 'rendition'
Guantanamo Bay Information & Other Prisoners
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Testimony of Jumah al-Dossari
"When I took up a pen and decided to write about what I have suffered and my
tragedy, I was unable to decide where and how I should start. What I have
seen is a huge tragedy and a weighty matter, far weightier than I can put to
paper. Indeed, the enormous horrors that my eyes have seen have and continue
to see renew my anxiety and pain and my very being and feelings are shaken
at the mere thought or flash of them in my memory. How can my heart forget
them and how can my soul who bore these horrors continue with life? As I
hold my pen, my hand is shaking. How will I write about these tragedies? Yes
tragedies, in all the possible meanings of the word. How will I write about
these horrors and must I swallow the bitter lump that forms in my throat
when I remember them? The revolting torture and those vile attacks which
were a humiliation and will continue to be a vile stain on history, memories
that whenever I look back on them, I wonder how my soft heart could bear
them, how my body could bear the pain of the torture and how my mind could
bear all that stress. How I wish my memories and my thoughts could be
forgotten. But for me, in forgetting it and its effects, there are still
memories, lifelong evidence of what happened to me in my wounds, my
afflictions, my pain and my sadness. From here, in the gloom of prisons and
from the depths of the detention camp, I am writing about what I have
suffered. I am writing about my pain and my suffering.
Click Here for complete testimony
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Lynne Stewart Fights For Her Freedom
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Radical human rights attorney Lynne Stewart reviewed her own continuing legal struggle at a
Workers World Party forum in New York on June 3. Stewart and her supporters charge that she
has been falsely accused of "helping terrorists." She was convicted and faces a possible 30
years in prison at her Sept. 23 sentencing at the U.S. courthouse in downtown Manhattan.
The attorney’s defenders are working on both legal and popular challenges to her conviction.
Their hope is to either get the case thrown out based on her First Amendment rights or to minimize
the sentence to no actual jail time.
Specifically, Stewart was convicted for violating
Special Administrative Measures (SAMS), imposed by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, by issuing a news
release about her client Sheik Abdel-Rahman in 1995. There was a gag order on the case of her client.
He had been convicted of planning the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
Click Here for Complete Story
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Australian Family's heartbreak awaiting DIMIA's four year long decision
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May 2006 Case Update
Prasith Khay won his fight for freedom and has been reunited with his family in Queensland. On behalf of the family, we would like to extend our thanks and theirs to all those who kept supporting this family through a most difficult ordeal.
It is nice to finally have a happy ending! Particular thanks to Karen Stewart, Roger Salis, Libby Hogarth, Sandra Dahlter and Kay Danes.
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Appeal by Kay Danes
Foreign Prisoner Support Services
28 July 2004
The Khay family desperately needs your help NOW by writing letters of
support to the Minister of the Department of Immigration and
Mulitcultural & Indigenous Affairs [DIMIA]
in the hope that she may find a way to support the reunification of this
family with their beloved Husband/father - Prasith Khay.
Click Here to give your support to the Khay Family
1 October 2005 Update
The Khay case is now before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). Mr.
Prasith Khay is being represented by Roger Sallis [Lawyer]. FPSS are
continuing their support to the family as are, Libby Hogarth & Associates
[Migrant Agents].
Excerpt:
Michael Khay [13] is a young Cambodian boy living in Brisbane with his
step-mother Lynda Khay, his step-sister Jennifer [12] and his young
brother Joshua Khay [4].
Michael endured the nightmare at 8 years of age when his mother was
gunned down execution-style in Phnom Phen, Cambodia. His father,
Prasith Khay was living in Australia at the time of the shooting and
married to an Australian-Cambodian named Lynda, herself a survivor of
the 'Killing Fields'.
Click Here to read Complete story ...
Click Here for background info on this case ...
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PRISONER PETITIONS
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PETITION for Randy James Sachs
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Please take the time to show your support for this young Canadian
currently in prison.
CLICK HERE FOR PETITION
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PETITION for the Lao-Hmong
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The documentary "The secret war in Laos", broadcasted on Thursday 16 June
2005 in the France 2 channel programme "Envoyé Spécial", revealed to the
world a ferocious repression campaign, if not an extermination programme,
led for 30 years in all impunity by the leaders of the unique party in
power in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (LPDR), against thousands of
populations of Lao-Hmong in the Lao jungle of Xaysomboun and Bolikhamsay.
Click here for more...
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PETITION for Michael Connell
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Please would you take a look at this website and sign the petition and
even write a letter if you have the time. Would you send the link to as
many people as possible with this message.
CLICK HERE FOR PETITION
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South African Women requesting prisoner tranfer
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The FPSS recently received a letter from 18 women in Thailands Lard Yao Prison
who are serving various crimes.
The conditions in Thailand Prisons are very bad and
in many cases contrvine the UN Convention for the fair treatment of prisoners.
Many countries now have exchange treaties with Thailand, including Spain,
Nigeria, Australia, USA and UK.
Most of these women have served more than 7 years in Thailand and are sitting
by watching their fellow inmates from other countries be returned home,
while their own country sits and does nothing!
Letters and requests for information to the South African
Embassies have gone unanswered and the general feeling is of abandonment!
Please Help these women, and the many South African Men be returned home
by petitioning for a Exchange Treaty between Thailand and South Africa.
Read More Here...
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Nepali Inmates requesting prisoner tranfer
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There are many Nepali men & women currently incarcerated in Thailand Prisons.
In many cases the story is the same, as in the case of Chandra Kumar Rai.
Chandra is a 32-year-old Nepalese man who is currently in jail for drug
trafficking.
Evidence against Chandra wass flimsy at best. He was brought to Thailand by an
agent who promised him work in South Korea, like many others he quickly found that there was no work to be had.
After contacting the Nepalese Embassy he was told that they would not cover his airfare back to Nepal, which effectivly left Chandra alone in a foreign country stranded with no money, they would not even contact his family on his behalf.
The Nepalese Ambassador to Thailand Janak Bahadur Singh has stated that
"We do not have concrete evidence, but have found hints that some
of the Nepalese convicts in Thai jails are innocent of the crimes they
have been convicted of"
Chandra in a letter to the president of the Supreme Court has pleaded
innocent and urged that his case be reopened.
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Innocent Nigerian Man pleads for retrial
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It is quite rare to receive a letter from someone serving a long sentence in Thailand who still maintains their innocence after 10 years or more. It is far easier to admit to guilt and count on a pardon. However Kenneth still maintains his innocence.
Kenneth Chikwendu
is a 42 year old Nigerian who is a psycologist by profession. Due to circumstances in which his own legitimate business dealings conflicted with others in Thailand he was framed on drug charges.
Kenneth was sentenced to Death! .. he spent 4 years in solitary on death row with shackles welded to his feet, not knowing when or if he was to be killed! In Bang Kwang the death row inmates all get a little toey each afternoon as at any time they might be dragged out of their cells and given a few minuites to prepare to be killed!
After 4 years on death row Kenneth's sentence was commuted to life, and then later to 40 years. He has now spent over 13 years in prison with the prospect of spending another 27 before his release!
In his own words he beleives that he will be "emotionally and phisically finished if intervention does not come"
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FREEDOM IS A RIGHT OF ALL HUMAN BEINGS IN A WORLD WHERE LIFE IS VALUED AND PEACE MAY FINALLY BE A POSSIBILITY
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Just in case you forgot - read the Universal declaration of Human Rights
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Copyright - An important message to website owners:
All information at this site is © Copyright 1996 - 2008 'Save-A-Life' , 'Foreign Prisoner Support Service' & 'ForeignPrisoners.com'
unless stated otherwise. As with all our information AND more specifically, information relating to
CAMPAIGNS AND/OR PRISONERS we have been granted special permission to disclose this type of
information by the families and/or by the detainee themselves. Therefore, if you wish to use
any of this information to re-create in your own website or elsewhere, please contact us -
save breach of copyright. News stories are reprinted for archival, news reporting and information use only and are credit where possible.
Click here for the legal stuff
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