Individuals at Risk Newsletter
Covering action updates from January through March, 2009
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Ma Khin Khin Leh Released after 10 Years in Detention
Ma Khin Khin Leh, a schoolteacher, was unexpectedly released from Insein Prison in Myanmar (also known as Burma) on February 21, 2009, along with 23 other political prisoners. She and her three-year-old daughter were arrested in 1999 after authorities failed to find her husband, a student activist, who was planning a demonstration to protest the deteriorating economic and human rights environment in Myanmar. Security agents released her daughter five days later, but Ma Khin Khin Leh was sentenced in December 1999 to life imprisonment under vaguely-worded security legislation. The sentence for her "crime" was unusually harsh, even by the standards of Myanmar's military government.
Ma Khin Khin Leh was believed to be held in Myanmar's notorious Insein Prison, where she reportedly suffered from a variety of medical issues including an unspecified lung problem, rheumatoid arthritis, and dysentery.
Most recently, Amnesty activists took action on Ma Khin Khin Leh's case through the 2008 Global Write-a-thon in December, which generated more than 250,000 letters worldwide on behalf of the featured cases. In the past, Ma Khin Khin Leh was the subject of an Action File for local groups and the Midwest Region's Special Focus Case for several years. Ma Khin Khin Leh's case was also featured along with that of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi as one of AIUSA's Priority Cases.
Women's Rights Defender Released in Iran
Prisoner of conscience Hana Abdi, an Iranian Kurd, was released from detention on February 26, 2009. She was arrested in October 2007 and detained solely because of her peaceful exercise of the rights to freedom of expression and association in connection with her work for women?s rights and the rights of Iran's Kurdish minority.
She is a member of two non-governmental organizations promoting women's rights in Iran: the Campaign for Equality and the Azar Mehr Women's Organization of Sanandaj.
Upon her arrest, Hana Abdi was sentenced to five years of imprisonment in exile for "gathering and colluding to commit a crime against national security." A court of appeal then reduced her sentence to 18 months.
Hana Abdi's case was featured in the 2008 Global Write-a-thon and in Urgent Action (UA) 297/07.
Teenage Girls Released from Detention in Israel
Cousins Salwa Salah and Sara Siureh were both finally released on January 1, 2009 from administrative detention in Israel after seven months of imprisonment.
The girls were arrested in their homes in Bethlehem in June 2008 by Israeli soldiers under claims that they were involved in activities that constituted a "security threat." Having been denied trials, neither of the girls nor their lawyers knew what the charges against them were. Both girls were due to be released on October 4, 2008, but the next day they were issued new military administrative detention orders for another three months in detention. The girls remained in Addamoun prison inside Israel for seven months with no knowledge of the charges against them or the possible length of their detention. This was the first time that girls under the age of eighteen had been put in administrative detention. The failure to inform Salwa and Sara of the charges against them violated their right to due process, making their detention arbitrary and illegal under international law.
AIUSA activists campaigned for Salwa and Sara's release in the November 2008 Freedom Writers Bulletin.
Binyam Mohamed Released from Guantanamo
UK resident Binyam Mohamed was released from the Guantanamo detention facilities on February 23, 2009 and flown back to London. He was arrested in Pakistan in 2002 and contends that he was a subject of the United States extraordinary rendition program, which eventually led to his detention in Guantanamo. Though the charges against him were dropped in October 2008, he remained at Guantanamo until his release in late February.
Binyam Mohamed and several other detainees went on a hunger strike while at Guantanamo, and he had been subjected to force-feedings three times per day in the weeks leading up to his release. He reported that he was strapped into a restraint chair during these force feedings, and sometimes left there?still strapped in?for hours afterwards.
Members of AIUSA's Urgent Action Network took action on behalf of Binyam Mohamed through UA 161/08 and UA 31/09.
Former Oil Company VP Released in Russia
Vasilii Georgievich Aleksanian was released on December 31, 2008, on bail money collected during a campaign in his support. He was detained on April 6, 2006, and accused of embezzlement and tax fraud. In October 2006, he was diagnosed as HIV-positive and subsequently developed AIDS and several other diseases, including lymphatic cancer, tuberculosis and a cataract. Although under Russian law he should have been released from pre-trial detention for medical treatment, he was denied necessary medical care. After his release, he spent December 31 with his family, including his six-year-old son, whom he last saw three years ago.
Members of AIUSA's Urgent Action Network took action on behalf of Vasilii Gegorgievich Aleksanian through UA 13/08.
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