Updates on what has been happening in the past week and upcoming events.
Contents
1. Intro
2. Alerts
3. Campaigns
4. IHRC in Media
5. Briefing
6. Event Report
7. Upcoming Events
8. Press Release
9. Multimedia – Video
10. Shop
1. Intro
Join IHRC and Sandew Hira in London this Sunday 22nd September 2013 9am-5pm or Birmingham 28 and 29 September 2013 9am-5pm. Book your tickets now, more information below. Following the success of last year’s course, IHRC is delighted to be holding more Decolonising the Mind courses led by Sandew Hira from the International Institute for Scientific Research in the Netherlands.
Find out how you can help the Bangladeshi Jamat-e-Islaami activists be given a fair trial. Sana Mushtaq looks at the case of Lynne Stewart.
Please remember us in your duas, and consider giving us a donation by any of the methods below. We rely on your contribution to enable us to support victims of hatred and violence.
The IHRC newsletter is here, and below you can find details on how to download it and distribute it. Other facets of IHRC’s work have been reported on including our hate crime monitoring activities and research in the UK and USA.
If you would like to donate you can:
Visit us on-line and donate here
Or call the IHRC office on +44 20 8904 4222 between 9am – 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday and 10am – 6pm on Saturdays
Or download a copy of our latest newsletter and fill in one of the donation forms and return to us.
Don’t forget you can follow us on Facebook, Twitter @ihrc or on Youtube.
2. Alerts
Action Alert: Bangladesh – Demand a Fair Trial for Jamat-e-Islaami Activists
Jamat-e-Islaami activists should be given a fair trial, find out how you can help.
Please write to the High Commissioner of Bangladesh in your country, the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh and to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh as a matter of urgency and demand a fair trial for the the Jamat-e-Islaami activists who have been implicated in alleged war crimes they claim to have not committed.
Help IHRC – Become a Newsletter Distributor
From just a few copies to a few thousand, help get IHRC’s message heard
Free Advice Surgeries – London, UK
Islamic Human Rights Commission offers free weekly Information and Advice surgeries every Wednesday. Our professional caseworkers can provide people with information and advice on a whole range of issues.
Our service is confidential, independent and free.
3. Campaigns
Don’t forget this notorious case of US injustice
Dr. Aafia Siddiqui languishes in a US jail after a harrowing ordeal of kidnapping in Pakistan, detention in the notorious Bagram airbase, a prolonged period where no-one knows where she was followed by a sham trial and sentencing, over a period of almost a decade. More information on her case can be found on the Justice for Aafia page.
Find out more about Lynne and join the campaign for her release.
IHRC is urging campaigners to contact the prison where Lynne Stewart is held, and to Lynne herself to show support to this tireless campaigner for justice.
Lynne Stewart was the lawyer for Sheikh Omer Abderrahmane, and was convicted of aiding terrorism by sending messages to Abderrahmane’s supporters. She is in her 70s and has terminal cancer. Her campaign, Justice for Lynne Stewart is calling for her immediate compassionate release and IHRC urges campaigners to join the campaign. An action alert with model letters can be found below, as well as links to more information on her case, and the case of Sheikh Omer Abderrahmane.
Send a pack to a prisoner this Eid
Following the successful distribution of Eid packs to 600 prisoners for the last two years (see below), IHRC is organising to send more packs for Eid ul Adha 2013. If you would like to donate please call us on +44 20 8904 4222 or email advocacy[AT]ihrc.org or donate on-line here.
You can pay for 10 packs at £50, 20 packs at £100 or 100 packs at £500. If you want to donate a different amount please call us.
Know Your Rights: Schedule 7 Resources
A compilation of resources and links from IHRC in relation to the Schedule 7 and know your rights.
4. IHRC in Media
Justice in America: The Pelican Bay Prison Hunger Strike, Lynne Stewart, Ramsey Muñiz, Assata Shakur
In California the ‘Pelican Bay’ prisoners’ hunger strike was suspended Sept. 5th by the prisoners without gaining all its objectives. Among these were the end of long term solitary confinement and group punishments. The movement breaks new ground with its statement of solidarity and no violence between warring gangs and racial groups. This third hunger strike since July 1, 2011 resumed July 8th 2013, with 100,000 California prisoners participating and over 40 at its final week when 10 prisoners per day were collapsing or in need of medical attention.
5. Briefing
Lynne Stewart: Yet another victim of the draconian American legal code
Sana Mushtaq looks at this alarming case.
Lynne Stewart, a former criminal defence lawyer, born on October 8, 1939, was found guilty of assisting an Egyptian cleric (Omar Abdul Rahman, otherwise known as the “The Blind Sheikh”) relay jailhouse messages to his followers and issuing press releases on his behalf. She was lead trial counsel in the aforementioned case and represented this Islamic scholar since 1995 until the arrest of her and her paralegal including the interpreter for the case in April 2002, on grounds of materially aiding a terrorist organisation.
6. IHRC at UN
IHRC concerns over police brutality and institutionalised racism.
In this submission, the Islamic Human Rights Commission raises concern in relation to ill treatment by law enforcement officials in Portugal towards people of colour, people of low socio-economic background and peaceful demonstrators. IHRC also raises concerns over the alleged complicity of the Portuguese authorities in the CIA rendition flights of terror suspects to Guantanamo Bay.
7. Upcoming Events
Decolonising the Mind – Training Course
Join IHRC and Sandew Hira in London or Birmingham this September. Following the success of last year’s course, IHRC is delighted to be holding more Decolonising the Mind courses led by Sandew Hira from the International Institute for Scientific Research in the Netherlands.
London (One Day Course) 22 September (Sunday) 2013
The cost of the course is £23 (full rate) and £18 (concessions). Buy your ticket by clicking here or calling us on 020 8904 4222.
The concessionary rate is available to OAP’s, Students, the unwaged and regular IHRC supporters.
Birmingham (Two Day Course) 28 and 29 September 2013
The cost for the two day course is £40 (full rate) and £25 (concessions). Buy your ticket by clicking here or calling us on 020 8904 4222.
The concessionary rate is available to OAP’s, Students, the unwaged and regular IHRC supporters.
8. Press Release
Press Release: Beyond the Veil – Exhibition
Visionary Awakening – Challenging the Narrative of Muslim Women.
With the idea of Muslim women’s agency under ‘discussion’ again in the UK, Nasreen Shaikh Jamal al-Lail’s solo exhibition is a timely and ironically relevant contribution to the narrative. Her installation ‘Beyond the Veil’ will be opening the overview of Jamal al-Lail’s work at the IHRC Gallery spaces in North West London.
9. Multimedia – Video
IHRC concerned over UK Niqab ‘debate’
UK following disturbing precedent. Laura Stuart is English. She became a Muslim thirteen years ago and three years later she started wearing the Niqab.
PressTV interviewed Arzu Merali from IHRC for her take on the veil also known as the ‘niqab’.
10. Shop
Check out our online shop for many more books
Twitter @ihrcbookshop
