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Petition Tag - persecution
1. Free Young Chinese Girl's Mother from Prison 
Please help Chinese girl, Cheng Li Ellison, free her mother from prison in China. Her mother is a Falun Gong practitioner; and the only crime she committed was distributing pamphlets about the practice of Falun Gong.
She was put in prison without trial or sentence, and no one is able to contact her. Cheng's father too afraid of the power of the government, so is unwilling to help - even the person is his own wife.
Cheng is now married to an Australian citizen and planned to bring out her parents to Australia with her; however now, that dream seems very far away.
Please help her bring her dreams closer to reality.
2. Free Yaman Al Qadri, Syrian Medical Student Beaten and Held Incommunicado
Yaman Al Qadri, 19 year-old and a second year dermatology student at Damascus University, has been arbitrarily detained after she was severely beaten by security forces and armed government militia thugs (Shabeeha) in the guard gate of the University.
On 3 November 2011, an estimated 10 Syrian security agents viciously beat Yaman in front of her classmates at Damascus University, dragging her, throwing her into the walls, and brutally assaulting her. She was then forcibly taken along with a classmate to an unknown location. Her classmate was released an hour after the arrest but Yaman is still being held incommunicado.
Yaman faces grave danger and is at risk of torture, as the regime has systematically attacked health workers and professionals who are speaking up against repression and helping the injured.
3. Free Iranian Activist Peyman Aref, Re-Arrested After A Year In Prison -- And 74 Horrific Lashes
Peyman Aref, a student of political science at Tehran University, was sentenced in March 2010 to a year in jail after being found guilty of propaganda against the regime for speaking to foreign media.
Aref, who was initially arrested in the aftermath of Iran's disputed presidential elections in 2009, was also sentenced to 74 lashes for writing an "insulting" letter to Ahmadinejad and given a lifetime ban on working as a journalist or membership of any political parties.
His jail sentence came to an end on Sunday, October 9,. 2011-- but, hours before his release from Tehran's notorious Evin prison, Aref was told the lashing would be carried out.
A masked prison guard carried out the lashing in presence of Aref's wife and officials from Iran's judiciary. News of the lashing come only a few weeks after Somayeh Tohidlou, a female Iranian blogger and campaigner for former presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, was sentenced to a "symbolic" lashing for the same crime.
Unlike Tohidlou's symbolic punishment – designed to humiliate rather than harm – Aref was indeed whipped. Pictures taken after his release show his bloodied back covered in wounds.
"Lashing people sentenced to various charges such as those caught drinking alcohol is common in Iran but political activists are usually lashed for ambiguous charges such as desecrating Islam or prophets," said an Iranian journalist based in Tehran who asked not to be named. "Lashing Aref for insulting Ahmadinejad is shocking and unprecedented."
In a letter to the president during his 2009 election campaign, Aref attacked Ahmadinejad for his crackdown on students who had been politically active at university and barred from continuing with their studies.
Undergraduates and students who had criticised the government were given up to three "penalty points", according to the potential threat they were said to pose. Aref was among the "three-starred" MA students who were not not allowed to continue their studies. About 150 were starred.
Speaking to the website Rahesabz, Aref said after his release: "Whenever Ahmadinejad goes to New York [for UN general assembly], he boasts that Iran is the world's freest country but I was brutally flogged in my country for insulting him."
He added: "[My crime] was that I wrote an open letter to Ahmadinejad and reminded him of what he did to the universities." Authorities apparently have taken offense because Aref refused to begin his letter with the formal greeting "Salam" as a sign of protest. Iran's online community reacted with shock to Aref's lashing with many people sharing pictures of his back covered in blood on social networking websites.
On Tuesday, November 1, 2011, Peyman Aref was arrested once again, just days after his release.
The Rahana Human Rights House of Iran reported that Aref went to Evin Court on that day for processing of the charges against him and he was arrested once more.
Aref was previously arrested, along with fellow activists Assal Esmaizadeh and Sharar Konour Tabrizi, on Sunday, October 30, 2011 in Beheshte Zahra Cemetery. They were visiting the grave of Neda AghaSoltan, the young woman who was shot to death on the streets of Tehran during election protests in June 2009. The activists were released one day later.
After his release, Aref told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that there are no laws against visiting a grave and no arrest warrants were issued. He added that even after their arrest, they were not charged with any crimes.
The other two activists reportedly were released while Aref was rearrested. It is thought that Aref had angered the authorities by allowing his wounds from the vicious whipping ("lashing") to be photographed.
4. Free Iranian Student Majid Dorri And Provide Urgently Needed Medical Care!
Political prisoner Majid Dorri’s health is fast deteriorating while officials in Behbahan Prison continue to deny him the necessary medical care.
Majid Dorri is an imprisoned student activist expelled from Allameh Tabatabai University (ATU) in Tehran. He studied literature at ATU and was a member of the Advocacy Council for the Right to Education.
Dorri was suspended and eventually expelled from Alameh University when he objected to the flaws in the University’s leadership and the imposed security atmosphere on campus. He founded the Education Rights Committee along with several other students in 2008 (they became known as star students).
When Ahmadinejad denied the existence of star students (students deprived of continuing their education), Dorri participated in the protests to Ahmadinejad’s remarks.
In July of 2009, Majid Dorri was arrested by Iranian Intelligence Agency and locked up in Evin Prison. The lower court sentenced him to 11 years in prison for Moharebeh (waging war against God), acting against national security and disturbing public order on November 24, 2009. His sentence was reduced to 6 years of imprisonment by the appeals court but his exile sentence to Izeh remained the same.
In August 2010, without prior notice, prison officials placed Majid Dorri in shackles and transferred him to a prison in the city of Behbahan. Since then, he has been serving his prison term in exile.
According to a 19 October, 2011 report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), although Majid Dorri suffers from migraines and anemia and needs to be treated by a specialist, prison officials refuse to transfer him to a hospital outside the prison.
In an interview with HRANA, one of Majid Dorri’s family members reported that the officials have turned down the family’s request to transfer Majid to one of the prisons in Tehran.
In one of his letters written from prison, Majid Dorri described his situation and wrote, “I have not only been behind bars since July 9, 2009, they have also given me the court’s verdict sentencing and exiling me to 6 years in prison so that I forgo my youth and make myself ready to face an unfair and unjust imprisonment as far from the smallest amount of fairness as possible. The judges condemned me to spend this prison term behind bars in the city of Izeh. It was as if Intelligence Agency’s interrogators had forgotten to tell the judges that Izeh had no prisons. Inevitably, I had to be exiled to another prison with the lowest and smallest amount of standards possible, a prison situated in the worst climate under primitive conditions similar to that of the Dark Ages.”
5. Justice for the victims of the Two Saints Church, Alexandria, Egypt
يعرب أهالي القتلى والمصابين وجموع الأقباط عن استيائهم من مرور أكثر من تسع شهور حتى الآن على حادث التفجير المأساوي الذي وقع أمام كنيسة القديسين في الاسكندرية بعد مرور دقائق قليلة من بدء العام الميلادي الجديد 2011 واثناء احتفالات الاقباط بهذه المناسبة، مما اسفر عن مقتل 21 من الرجال والنساء والاطفال، وأصابة أكثر من مائة من المصلين جراء هذا الفعل الجبان.
وبداية يسعى كل فرد من أفراد أسر القتلى والمصابين منذ فترة طويلة الى محاولة التغلب على احزانهم والبدء بالعيش في سلام، وبالتالي فأنه يلزم من منطلق الحرص على الوحدة الوطنية واسم الاسلام، معرفة هوية الجناة واعتقال المسؤولين عن هذا التفجير.
يرجى الأخذ بعين الاعتبار ان أسر الضحايا والاقباط عموماً، متضررون ومتألمون بسبب عدم اتخاذ السلطات المعنية لأي رد فعل ايجابي تجاه ايجاد حل لهذه المشكلة وذلك بالوقوف على هوية الجناة وتقديمهم للعدالة.
لذلك نرى من الأهمية بمكان أن يسلم الاشخاص الذين اعلنوا ، بعد ثورة يناير 2011 ، أن لديهم معلومات مباشرة ووثائق متعلقة بالحادث للسيد النائب العام لاتخاذ الاجراءات القانونية بشأنها.
ويخشى الاقباط من عدم وجود رغبة واضحة لدى السلطات المعنية في اتخاذ اي اجراء قانوني لضبط الجناة وتقديمهم للمحاسبة امام القضاء، حيث أن هذا التجاهل من شأنه الاسهام في زيادة الهجمات ضد الاقباط. كما انهم يخشون ايضاً ان يعتبر السلفيون هذا التجاهل من جانب السلطات المعنية بمثابة الضوء الاخضر لهم لمواصلة وتكثيف الاضطهاد والقتل.
ان تحديد المسئولين عن هذه الجريمة النكراء، وتقديمهم للعدالة امام القضاء سيضع حداً للمعاناة اليومية لأسر الضحايا. لذلك يجب أن يتعين على العدالة أن تأخذ مجراها فوراً وبدون تأخير لا مبرر له.
لذلك نرفع التماسنا التالي توخياً للعدالة لضحايا كنيسة القديسين بالاسكندرية الابرياء:
Minutes into the New Year, a terrorist act by detonating explosives at the Two Saints’ Coptic Church in Alexandria, Egypt, while New Years Eve prayers were being conducted killing 27 and injuring 79. The Egyptian government announced that it will bring the perpetrators to justice. Now after more than 7 months there is no charge brought against any one and justice is not in the horizon.
Neither this barbaric act of violence nor the government response is an isolated incident but small part in the cycle of persecution, intimidation and violence targeting many Egyptians that are taking place over the past 30 years. As to Coptic Christians there has been over 400 cases of Christians killed in cold blood over the past 30 years for no reason other than being Christians, their murder gone without prosecution by the Egyptian government justice system which has given green light to Islamic fundamentalists to continue and intensify their persecution and murder.
With the dawn of the Egyptian revolution we Copts felt an end is coming to over 30 years of systemic discriminated and persecutions against any one who is not Muslim Sunni. However events so far proved that the Copts optimism has not yet translated to deeds. The families of the dead and the injured have not seen that justice is done; the government does not seem concerned after the state failure to protect its citizens, an essential part of a state towards its citizen.
6. Call for Justice: Investigation into the New Year's Coptic Church Massacre
يعرب أهالي القتلى والمصابين وكثيرون من المصريين عن استيائهم لمرور أكثر من تسع شهور على حادث التفجير المأساوي الذي وقع أمام كنيسة القديسين في الاسكندرية بعد مرور دقائق قليلة من بدء العام الميلادي الجديد 2011، مما اسفر عن مقتل 21 وأصابة أكثر من مائة من المصلين.
ويُخشى من عدم وجود رغبة واضحة لدى السلطات المعنية في اتخاذ اي اجراء قانوني لضبط الجناة وتقديمهم للمحاسبة امام القضاء، حيث أن هذا التجاهل من شأنه الاسهام في زيادة الهجمات ضد الاقباط.
ان تحديد المسئولين عن هذه الجريمة النكراء، وتقديمهم للعدالة امام القضاء سيضع حداً للمعاناة اليومية لأسر الضحايا. مما يتعين أن تأخذ العدالة مجراها فوراً وبدون تأخير. لذلك نرفع التماسنا التالي لكم طالبين تحقيق العدالة لضحايا كنيسة القديسين بالاسكندرية الابرياء:
Minutes into 2011 a terrorist attack culminating in an explosion outside the Two Saints Church in Alexandria resulted in the loss of 21 lives and the severe injury of more than 100 worshippers. The Families of the victims and many Egyptians wish to express their disillusionment in that over 9 months have passed since this tragic event without prosecution or serious investigation of this hideous crime.
There is a growing feeling that the apparent unwillingness to make any concerted attempts to bring those responsible to justice could be a major contributing factor in the sudden increase attacks against Copts.
Only justice can end the daily suffering and anguish of the families, and this must be seen to be done promptly and with undue delay.
Accordingly we call for:
7. Free Chinese Human Rights Activist Wang Lihong
Wang Lihong, 56, was arrested in March on charges of "assembling a crowd to block traffic" amid a government crackdown on dissent following protests in the Middle East and North Africa. In the court, she pleaded not guilty.
Wang Lihong's lawyers say they had limited access to her case documents, in violation of legal provisions on lawyers’ rights, and that during the trial - which only lasted a few hours - they were not given enough time to present a proper defence. The judge repeatedly interrupted both the defendant and her lawyer during the proceedings.
Wang Lihong is a widely known human rights activist who often provides food and clothes for those living on the street waiting to seek justice.
She frequently moves in with activists under police surveillance to provide emotional support. She has visited the wives of detained activists to help them with cooking and child care, and often has helped them find financial support and secure legal aid for their spouses.
Wang Lihong suffers from chronic back pain and her health has deteriorated after several months in detention.
"Wang Lihong is one of many Chinese activists locked up in recent months on spurious charges, simply for exercising their right to peaceful freedom of expression," said Catherine Baber, Asia-Pacific Deputy Director at Amnesty International.
"Her trial is a farce and she should be released immediately."
8. Free Iranian Blogger Bahnam Darvishan
July 29, 2011--Blogger Bahnam Darvishan was sentenced to three years in prison by the Revolutionary Court in Qazvin. He was arrested on November 21, 2010 by IRGC security forces and has been banned from having any visitors for the last eight months.
According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a number of plain clothes officers raided Bahnam Darvishan’s family house on November 21, 2010 and confiscated his personal belongings such as subsidy checks, books, notes and CDs. He was arrested and locked up in a solitary confinement in IRGC Intelligence Agency’s detention center. Following his family’s repeated pleas and appeals, he was allowed to call his family last week. During this brief phone call, Bahnam Darvishan informed his family that he was suffering from a respiratory disease acquired in prison.
Iranian judicial officers have told Bahnam Darvishan’s family that he has been charged with propaganda against the regime and connections with the opposition groups abroad. Citing articles 498 and 500 from Islamic Criminal Law, the Qazvin Province Revolutionary Court, Branch 2, sentenced Bahnam Darvishan to three years in prison.
After Bahnam Darvishan’s incarceration, Iranian intelligence agents also attempted to arrest two of his colleagues. On November 21, 2010, Ali Shafi was detained, and a computer and several CDs were seized from his house. Ali Shafi’s whereabouts and current condition are not known.
Families of Bahnam Darvishan and Ali Shafi have been placed under tremendous pressure in order to prevent them from disseminating any news of these prisoners.
9. Free Iranian HIV Treatment Pioneer Dr. Arash Alaei
Kamiar and Arash Alaei, brothers bound by their dedication as doctors, made it their mission to educate Iranians about HIV and provide treatment for patients shunned by society.
They pushed for a nation-wide needle exchange program, reached out to the most marginalized, vulnerable communities, and traveled abroad to study and share their work at international health conferences. That all came to an abrupt end when in June of 2008 the brothers were arrested, and eventually convicted of “communicating with an enemy government” and “seeking to overthrow the Iranian government.”
The Alaeis were apparently targeted because of their travels abroad and speaking about their HIV work in Iran, according to Physicians for Human Rights.
Kamiar was sentenced to three years in prison, Arash to six years. Speaking for the first time publicly since his release in October of 2010, Kamiar paid tribute to his still-imprisoned brother as he accepted the 2011 Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights Thursday night in a ceremony hosted by NewsHour senior correspondent Ray Suarez.
“No prison walls can break the spirit of a human being with a cause,’’ Kamiar said with tears in his eyes."My brother and I are the evidence of that spirit. I believe our strength comes from each other."
He described the brothers' close bond and his profound loneliness in being away from Arash.
They were united by the drive to be “the voice of the voiceless, and the face of the faceless,” he said, and found ways to spread their message while in prison. They educated prisoners on HIV, and tried to improve general health by helping inmates quit smoking and teaching them how to avoid tuberculosis and other preventable diseases.
Speaking with the NewsHour Friday, Kamiar said he feels it is the right time to speak because the full time frame of his sentence has expired, and he wanted to thank the many international organizations that lobbied for their release.
In the early days of the Alaeis' sentence, the two were unaware that Physicians for Human Rights, and professors at Harvard’s School of Public Health, among others, had begun a campaign on their behalf.
During a short visit from their mother several months later, she hugged them and whispered in their ears, “The world supports you.”
“We were crying and very emotional,” Kamiar said. “We thought we were forgotten.”
Arash, who is half way through his prison sentence, was informed of the award through family, Kamiar said, and relayed that he was honored by the recognition.
The family is hopeful that Arash may be released early. Kamiar is currently working on his second doctorate in health policy at the State University of New York, but said it has been a struggle to remain focused with his brother's future still uncertain.
“It's difficult for me because the majority of the time I am just thinking about him, what is he doing now, is he sleeping,” Kamiar said. “But I know if I was in prison and he was out, I'd want him to continue our work.”
10. Free Iranian Social Activist Kourosh Kohkan - Provide Medical Care He Needs as a Result of Torture
Iranian government officials have denied medical care to Kourosh Kohkan who is a social activist locked up in Evin Prison since January 2010.
According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Kourosh Kohkan suffers from meniscus tear (torn cartilage) of the knee caused while intelligence agents were interrogating and torturing him in Evin Prison.
In April 2011, Kourosh Kohkan went on hunger strike to demand medical care and surgery for his knee. Subsequently, he was transferred to Taleghani Hospital and had a knee operation. Upon his return to Evin Prison after the surgery, due to the lack of medical care, the surgical site became severely infected. So far, prison officials have refused to provide further medical treatment to this political prisoner.
Judge Pierabasi presiding over the Revolutionary Court, Branch 26, has sentenced Kourosh Kohkan to three years and six months in prison and 74 lashes. For the time being, Kourosh Kohkan is serving his sentence in Evin Prison, Ward 350.
11. Free Iranian Labor Activist Bahman Ebrahimzadeh
Bahman Ebrahimzadeh, labor activist, stood trial for the second time after spending more than a year in prison. During the second trial, Judge Moqayaseh presided over the Revolutionary Court, Branch 28.
According to a report by the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, Bahman Ebrahimzadeh was initially tried by the Revolutionary Court, Branch 15, and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Following his request for appeal and the Supreme Court’s approval, he was tried again. It has been reported that Bahman Ebrahimzadeh’s attorney is optimistic about the second trial and hopeful that his client will receive a lighter sentence.
Bahman Ebrahimzadeh is also an advocate against child labor and has supported the Society to Defend Child Laborers and Street Children. He was arrested in June 2010 and was locked up in one of the solitary confinements in Evin Prison’s ward 2A. Bahman Ebrahimzadeh has been denied furlough since then.
12. Free Iranian Economist Fariborz Raisdana
Fariborz Raisdana, an Iranian economist who criticized government-subsidy cuts by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s administration, has been sentenced to one year in prison.
According to Aftab news, the charges against Fariborz Raisdana range from “membership in Writers’ Association, preparing press releases for seditionists, issuing announcements against the regime and propaganda for leftist and Marxist groups, interviews with the BBC and VOA, and accusing the Islamic Republic of prisoner abuse.”
The Iranian government implemented the so-called “targeting of subsidies” law last year, causing Iranians to pay higher prices for energy and food staples. The government gave cash benefits to households to help them adjust to the higher costs of everyday needs. The plan was criticized by many experts, including Raisdana, who predicted rising inflation and hardship for the working class.
Raisdana was arrested last December after he spoke against the subsidy changes with the BBC. He was released on bail after a month. This is not the first time Fariborz Raisdana has been in prison, as he has been imprisoned before for questioning the political system in Iran, nevertheless he has continued to call for reforms within Iran.
13. Free Masoud Bastani, Iranian Journalist And Prisoner Of Conscience
Masoud Bastani, 32-year-old journalist was born in Arak. He has been editor of Jomhouriat website, and has had journalism backgrounds in Shargh newspaper, Jomhouriat and Kargozaran. He was arrested in 2002 and 2005 before of his recent arrest.
He was sentenced to six months imprisonment for defending Akbar Ganji and other political prisoners, and he spent this term in 2005 in prison of Arak.
Masoud Bastani was arrested on 5th July 2009, while he was referred to the court to track the status of his arrested wife, Mahsa Amrabadi. Earlier, security forces had gone to his house to arrest him, but when he was not at home, they arrested his wife and she had been transferred to Evin prison.
Masoud Bastani was arrested along with other political activists and journalists in Iran after the disputed presidential election. He was forced to confess against himself – in one of the Stalinist show trials which followed the post-election protests- due to severe physical and psychological pressure during interrogation, as was also the case with other defendants.
In the fourth trial, he was forced to discuss subjects and heavy charges against himself, rather than defense. One of the factors in his confessions was his detained wife who had been kept in prison to pressure him.
Mohamed Sharif – Masoud Bastani’s lawyer – was not allowed to meet with his client or to access the case file. He said about the court on 26th August 2010: “One cannot call this ceremony a judicial trial.”
Bastani was sentenced to six years in prison in September. This sentence includes: one year on charge of propaganda against the system, and five years on charge of gathering and colluding to create anarchy. He also was sentenced to a fine of the amount that was uncertain.
Bastani was transferred from Evin prison to Rajaei -Shahr prison on 25th January 2010, and was kept in “Prison for murderers”. It was unlawful act and contrary to the principle of separation and classification of prisoners. Additionally, and contrary to Iranian prison statutes, Bastani has been denied any prison leave.
On June 2, 2011 Bastani was viciously beaten by a prison guard in front of his visiting mother, wife and mother-in-law. After simply requesting that the guard allow him a couple of extra minutes to say goodbye to his loved ones, the guard grabbed him by the collar and banged his head against the wall.
14. Repeal Harsh Sentence For Kurdish Iranian Cleric Mamosta Sedigh Hasani
Mamosta Sedigh Hasani has been sentenced to 14 years in prison by the first branch of the Revolutionary Court in Saghez, Kurdistan Province.
In an interview with Mukrian News Agency, Khalil Bahramian, Mamosta Sedigh Hasani’s attorney, reported the news of the verdict and stated, “Mamosta Hasani was arrested a while ago in Saghez and has been sentenced by this city’s Revolutionary Court to 14 years in prison on charges of collaborating with the opposition parties and concealing a weapon.”
Khalil Bahramian added, “As the attorney handling this case, I have objected to the court’s ruling, and the case has been referred to the Kurdistan’s Appeals Court. In the briefing submitted to the appeals court, I have stated that facts of this case together with legal reasoning don’t support the verdict. The truth is that Mamosta Sedigh Hasani was easily deceived by another individual whose party affiliations were not known by my client. This person placed a gun with two rounds of clips in my client’s barn in the village where Mamosta Sedigh Hasani lives. This weapon has neither been fired nor are any bullets missing from either clip.”
At the end, Khalil Bahramian mentioned, “The second reason for the appeal is that my client has no connections or party affiliations with the opposition groups. He is merely a farmer and a cleric. Perhaps the only charge against him could be the concealment of a weapon. For this crime, the punishment is light and doesn’t exceed one year in prison.”
Mamosta Sedigh Hasani is currently being held in Saghez’s central prison.
15. Free Saman Ostevar, Baha'i Faith Prisoner In Iran
Saman Ostevar, a Baha'i citizen and children’s rights activist, who was arrested on March 2, 2011 in the city of Kerman, still remains in Bam’s Prison, and uncertainty surrounds his future.
According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Saman Ostevar is a Baha'i citizen who resided in Kerman. He was arrested on March 2, 2011 and transferred to Bam’s prison. For a period of 48 days, Saman Ostevar was locked up in solitary confinement and placed under horrific psychological pressure. During this time, he was cut off from the world without being able to see or contact anyone.
Judicial authorities refuse to tell his family what charges have been filed against him. Saman Ostevar’s arraignment was held on April 17, 2011 in one of the courts in the city of Bam. Although Saman Ostevar’s wife has repeatedly visited judicial authorities to inquire about his case, they have refused to answer any of her questions.
It has been reported that on the morning of March 2, 2011, five security officers raided Saman Ostevar’s house and after searching the property, they seized his PC, laptop, books and CDs containing Baha'i teachings and cell phone. Saman Ostevar’s wife had no news of him and didn’t know his whereabouts for 48 days following the arrest.
Saman Ostevar was a member of a charity organization dedicated to help children orphaned after the 2003 earthquake in Bam. Currently, there are 100-120 children sponsored by this organization.
Following the court session, Saman Ostevar’s family asked the prosecutor to release him on bail. However, the prosecutor opposed the bail sighting new evidence against the defender.
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17. Petition for Religious Freedom in Iran
As Friday 12th of 2009 the Islamic Republic of Iran re-elected Mahmud Ahmadinejad for the presidency it is risen the concern about the Christian minority in this Country.
The legal deterrence as the opposition to cult in Persian, the official language, for instance, implies in the non-observation of the freedom of religion issued in several international treaties binding the Islamic Republic of Iran.
18. People against anti-Semitism
History has demonstrated that wave after wave of anti-Semitism or Judeophobia has provoked acts of incredible brutality against the Jewish people the intensity of which knows no bounds. Almost as bad is the indifference that common people have shown to these atrocities.
As anti-Semitism increases once again, it is time to take a stand. This petition provides a voice to those who would stand against such ignorance. A voice that cries "Leave the Jews in peace", for we will not allow the episodes of past violence against the Jews to ever happen again.
Anti-Semitism; (also known as Judeophobia) is a term used to describe prejudice against or hostility towards Jews, often rooted in hatred of their religious/cultural/ethnic background.
Dear Secretary of State Clinton,
Falun Gong is a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline that is Buddhist in nature. It consists of moral teachings, a meditation, and four gentle exercises that resemble tai-chi and are known in Chinese culture as “qigong.” The latter are a truly unique, and very much enjoyable, way to improve the health and condition of one’s body.
At the core of Falun Gong are the values of truth, compassion, and forbearance (or in Chinese, Zhen, Shan, Ren). Falun Dafa teaches that these are the most fundamental qualities of the universe itself, and takes them to be a guide for daily life and practice. Falun Gong is also known as “Falun Dafa.”
By 1999 Falun Gong was reported to have grown to become the largest, and fastest growing, practice of the sort in Chinese if not world history. In just seven years since its 1992 introduction to the public, an estimated 70-100 million persons in China were by then making Falun Gong a part of their daily lives.
In Asia spiritual practices of this variety are often referred to as ways of “cultivation”, or “self-cultivation,” and form an important part of traditional Chinese culture. Various Daoist, Buddhist, and Confucian practices fit this rubric.
Through consistent and dedicated practice, the student of Falun Gong comes to achieve a state of selflessness, greater insight and awareness, inner purity, and balance—the inner workings of what might be called true health. Ultimately he or she approaches what in the Asian tradition is known as “enlightenment” or “attaining the Dao” (or “Way”).
While Falun Gong aspires to inner transformation of the self, it nevertheless typically translates outwardly into positive change in the world, insofar as the practitioner becomes a more patient family member, a more conscientious employee, a more giving member of the community, and so on.
Falun Gong has thus been the subject of many citations, awards, and proclamations as conferred by government officials and a variety of organizations. Many who practice Falun Gong have been the recipients of service awards in their communities. The practice’s founder, Mr. Li Hongzhi, is a four-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee and was nominated by the European Parliament for the Sakharov Prize For Freedom of Thought.
Few people today are aware that the practice and its followers received much in the way of official recognition in China during the 1990s, prior to a dramatic, and violent, change in political winds in 1999 which saw the practice banned.
In 1993, Mr. Li Hongzhi was named the “Most Welcomed Qigong Master” in Beijing and bestowed by an official body with the Award for Advancing Frontier Science. That same year, The People's Public Security News—the official newspaper of China’s Ministry of Public Security—praised Mr. Li for his contributions “in promoting the traditional crime-fighting virtues of the Chinese people, in safeguarding social order and security, and in promoting rectitude in society.”
By 1999, Chinese officials went so far as to quantify Falun Gong’s benefits, such as when one official from China’s National Sports Commission, speaking with U.S. News & World Report, declared that Falun Dafa “can save each person 1,000 yuan in annual medical fees. If 100 million people are practicing it, that’s 100 billion yuan saved per year in medical fees.” The same official went on to note that, “Premier Zhu Rongji is very happy about that.”
Today Falun Gong is practiced freely in more 70 countries around the world, with clubs and associations existing in a range of cities, companies, universities, and other settings. Regrettably in China, its country of origin, it is currently banned and the subject of gross human rights violations at the hands of communist rulers.
While Falun Gong is practiced openly in the 70-plus countries where it is found, today in its homeland of China it is subject to well-documented egregious human rights violations. The scale and scope of abuses taking place make this possibly the largest religious persecution in the world today.
Suppression officially began on July 22, 1999 following years of escalating state abuses (timeline).
One basic explanation for the seemingly irrational campaign is the proclivities of China’s atheist Communist Party (the CCP), which fears all groups outside its control – particularly ones that subscribe to a different ideology.
The Party has tried several times to eradicate all expressions of religion from China (a country traditionally referred to as "the land of the divine"). To this day Roman Catholics, many Protestants, and Tibetan Buddhists cannot worship freely in China and are at constant risk of detention and torture. By 1999, Falun Gong became a natural target as it was the largest - and fastest growing - spiritual group in China with 100 million practitioners nation-wide, according to Chinese Government reports at the time.
Others have noted that the decision to launch the campaign is linked to former-Party head Jiang Zemin’s "fear" and "jealousy" of Falun Gong. According to analyst Willy Lam (news), Jiang has been seen as "using the mass movement to promote allegiance to himself." Sources cited by the Washington Post, state that, "Jiang Zemin alone decided that Falun Gong must be eliminated," and "picked what he thought was an easy target." (more about the origins of the campaign).
Perhaps the most prominent feature of the campaign has been its prevalent use of extreme torture. Torture of Falun Gong adherents has been documented in each of China’s provinces, in jails, labor camps, brainwashing centers, and schools in China’s big cities, small towns, and villages.
Popular torture techniques include shocking with electric batons, burning with irons, tying the body in painful positions for days, force-feeding saline solutions through a plastic tube inserted up the nose, and prying out fingernails with bamboo shoots, to name a few; rape and sexual torture of the Falun Gong in detention are prevalent as well.
To date over 3,000 deaths have been documented, as well as over 63,000 accounts of torture. An estimate of the real figure puts the actual death toll in the tens of thousands (more about torture)
When the persecution was launched in 1999, tens of millions of Chinese who practiced the meditation discipline were faced with a choice. One option was to again surrender to the Communist Party and abandon a practice that had brought them better health, spiritual guidance, and, invariably, newfound hope. A second option seemed to be to continue practicing quietly at home – but as raids quickly showed, this was impossible even if one were able to turn a blind eye to the persecution of family and friends. A final option was to openly resist the persecution in spite of knowing full well what the painful consequences might be.
Indeed, those who chose the latter have most commonly faced forms of oppression that do not make headlines – dismissal from work, expulsion from universities, deprivation of health care and pensions, divorce, homelessness, and a range of other forms of discrimination (more about: persecution in the family, persecution at work and school, and destitution).
For hundreds of thousands, the most basic reality of the campaign has been long periods of detention in "reform through labor" camps – China’s Gulag system. There they are forced to work up to 20 hours per day, producing – without pay – toys, Christmas tree lights, chopsticks, and soccer balls for export. Those who refuse are tortured (more about arbitrary detention and slavery).
Be it in labor camps, jails, or in special reeducation centers, all detained Falun Gong practitioners have been forced to undergo what can only be described as brainwashing. The Communist Party’s goal is to force these people to renounce their spiritual beliefs and come to view Falun Gong as dangerous, as well as to turn in others who are active in exposing the persecution.
The key ingredients of the brainwashing process, or what the Party calls "transformation," is sleep deprivation, hours on end of staring at videos vilifying Falun Gong, threats, and Cultural Revolution-style "struggle sessions". Some particularly "stubborn" individuals who refuse to transform are injected with psychotropic drugs in asylums as treatment for the mental disorder of incorrect political thinking (more about psychological persecution).
The Party’s ultimate solution for the vast number of incarcerated Falun Gong adherents, however, is much more terrifying. According to current and former hospital employees, the Falun Gong have been used in reverse organ-matching – they have been killed by the thousands so that their organs can be used for on-demand transplants.
Livers, kidneys, hearts, and cornea are removed from the living, anesthetized Falun Gong adherents with matching blood-types and sold to Party officials and other desperate-yet-wealthy individuals from China and abroad. Undercover investigators’ phone calls to Chinese hospitals have caught doctors boasting about this practice on tape (more about organ harvesting).
But, as in every genocide of the twentieth century, extreme violence first required dehumanization of "the other" through propaganda. Indeed, one key measure in the Party’s suppression has been to limit, and distort, information about Falun Gong—both in China and elsewhere.
From day one of the suppression, the regime banned all books and informational media produced discussing Falun Gong positively. All websites relating to the practice were immediately blocked. Millions of Falun Gong books were forcibly seized and burned publicly. The regime feared people might learn, if they knew not already, that Falun Gong was a healthy, normal, and positive way of life embraced by millions (more about censorship).
These censorship efforts have, of course, extended to cyberspace, thanks in no small part to Western companies who have enthusiastically sold Internet surveillance technology to the Party’s security apparatuses. As a result, Chinese people are now in jail for posting evidence of torture online or even downloading articles about Falun Gong (more about the persecution and the Internet).
Alongside censorship, the Party has sought to scandalize Falun Gong through an aggressive propaganda blitz. The regime has been determined to paint Falun Gong as dangerous, deviant, and abnormal.
Former Party Chairman Jiang Zemin led the way, attaching onto Falun Gong the label of "cult" three months after his ban as means to further bend public opinion. The Ministry of Propaganda thus launched numerous publications, radio and TV shows, and even plays, comic books, and exhibitions meant to criminalize Falun Gong (more about this propaganda campaign).
Government officials around the world, meanwhile, report receiving defamatory materials from Party emissaries. These are often accompanied by attempts to pressure the elected officials to stay silent about abuses perpetrated against the Falun Gong, to rescind proclamations in recognition of Falun Gong’s contributions to the community, and to block local Falun Gong activities such as parades or conferences.
Business owners, journalists, and scholars have also been subjected to similar pressure tactics and threats (more about pressure overseas), leading to a sometimes eerie silence in Western press and academia (see "Out of the Media Spotlight").
Beyond mere threats, Falun Gong adherents overseas have been physically assaulted and spied on by agents directly connected to the Chinese Communist regime (more about persecution overseas).
The Falun Gong have responded to all of this with markedly peaceful means. Throughout nearly a decade of persecution, they have refused to adopt violence. Instead, adherents first tried to reason with Communist Party rulers through letters and petitions. When these fell on deaf ears, the Falun Gong turned to Tiananmen Square where – through quietly meditating or displaying banners before being arrested - they sought to call upon the conscience of the Chinese people as well as world leaders. As the persecution continued, the Falun Gong began countering state propaganda by distributing information exposing the persecution through leaflets, VCDs, emails, and phone calls.
Collectively, this resistance movement - composed of bold individual acts in spite of great personal risks – constitutes what is probably today’s largest non-violent movement in the world (see "Righteous Resistance").
Outside of China, Falun Gong practitioners and supporters have also engaged in a range of activities aimed at exposing the persecution on the mainland. Since the Falun Gong in China are denied any legal rights there (more about violations of China’s law and the complicity of the judiciary), a group of leading rights lawyers are carrying out one of history’s broadest international campaigns legal campaigns with the aim of bringing CCP officials to justice for what these attorneys are calling the genocide of Falun Gong (more about lawsuits around the world and violations of international law).
20. Preserve Religious Liberty - Amend the Lanham Act
I am requesting your intervention in a legal matter that has far-reaching implications for the future of our nation’s liberty. The Creation Seventh Day Adventist movement was recently ruled against in Federal Court for "Trademark Infringement" in the name of their Church.
Currently, Federal intellectual property law under the Lanham act allows for religious organizations to apply for and receive a trademark for their church name in various classes. Class 42 may be registered in the field of “Conducting religious observances and missionary services” as evidenced by Trademark No. 1177185 of the name “Seventh-day Adventist.”
The First Amendment implications of this are enormous. The result is that the Federal Government is presently regulating religious observances and missionary services and even handing down civil judgments against those who hold them in a registered name. This is, in the truest sense, religious persecution - the Federal Government can and will rule against you for the name of your religion if you are decided by the Court to not be within it's graces. The alternative is to "give up the name" - which is identical to the demands of past ages of persecution, i.e. "Confess that you are not a [Christian/Muslim/Pagan/etc]."
In order to do this the United States Patent and Trademark Office must decide what organization is entitled to Federal protection; in this case they must decide who is the true “Seventh-day Adventist” church. In other words, they must establish one organization above all others as the one and true Church of a given type. This is in direct violation of the "Establishment" clause of the First Amendment.
Traditionally there have been two sides to the argument of what constitutes the Church – one side argues that it is organizational succession, while the other argues that it is doctrinal succession. In the situation that has arisen, the government has been placed in the undesirable and unconstitutional position of having to decide for one side of this debate and decidedly against the other. Therefore, though one may hold to the original doctrines of Seventh-day Adventism, and though the organization may no longer holds to those doctrines, it has nonetheless been established by the State as the true and only Seventh-day Adventist church.
Because the faith of some remains unchanged that they are Seventh-day Adventists in belief and practice, they cannot in good conscience deny that name and what it stands for. This has placed before them a choice that our Forefathers never envisioned for an American on his own soil; the choice between obeying our nation’s laws and obeying the dictates of our consciences.
Nor is this the first time that this matter has arisen. In Hawaii a pastor named John Marik was held in contempt of court for maintaining that he and his congregation were Seventh-day Adventists outside of the organizational umbrella. He was sentenced to fines and jail time before finally signing a settlement agreement. Similar cases have been brought around the country, such as against Raphael Perez and the Eternal Gospel Church in Florida. While few take notice of this violation of liberty today, what will happen tomorrow?
In short, if religious observances can be enforced under civil power in the name of “Seventh-day Adventist” today, what is to stop them from being regulated under the name of “Christianity,” “Islam,” or “Judaism” tomorrow? The door is opened through this "backdoor" of calling religion a business - and thus subject to State regulation - for just such a future. For some, it is already here.
The misuse of trademark law as a means for the regulation of religious observances and missionary services is a gross abuse of the fair and well-intentioned laws of our nation, and a violation of Constitutional rights. We seek for Congress to propose an amendment to the Lanham act, preventing it from being used in such a manner as to violate the “establishment” clause of the First Amendment. This is imperative not only for the freedom of the Creation Seventh Day Adventist movement, but the liberty of future generations as well.
"If the principle is once established that religion or religious observances shall be interwoven with our legislative acts, we must pursue it to its ultimatum." - U.S. Senate Report on Sunday Mails, 1829
21. Support Hmong Human Rights
Through out the past years after the Vietnam war there existed what is called a "Secret War". Many American soldiers fought in this war along side our people, the Hmong. After all those years, there was a promise made to the Hmong that after the war, the U.S. would accept them into a place that will provide safe haven, the United States of America.
Many have come over but for those Hmong who are still in Thailand they are living in mosquito infested cells in the Nong Khai detention center and being forcibly repatriated back to Laos like those in the Huay Nam Khao camp. We urge the U.S. government to pressure the Thai embassy to allow UNHCR into the camps to allow proper screening of these people who are labeled "economic migrants" to be screened as "political refugees". Also for the U.S. government to pressure the Thai embassy to stop the repatriation of these people.
Also to free those 158 still in the Nong Khai detention center and allow these people, who already are labeled as political refugees, to resettle in third countries.
THIS TREATY IS PROTECTED BY U.S. COPYRIGHT TX-16017 & U.S. COPYRIGHT, INTERNAL TRACKING # TX-99399
To ask the U.S. Government to develop a TREATY OF FAITHS. The objective, to join hands with all faiths to tell the world that we are love, and that we recognize our unique beliefs and will attempt to stop judging each other. All Church Leaders should talk to their constituencies and tell them that interfaith judgement should stop, and that tolerance and understanding heal our faiths, heal us, and lead us to understand that we are unique and can work next to each other in love. I would like to see this happen as a Worldwide endeavor, a true Universal occurrence. If we did this, it would be the first in history, and all people would agree to stop persecuting each other due to their Faith, their Spiritual beliefs, or Life choices (Re: Abortion. Ex: to disagree is one thing. To hurt or maim is another.)Churches of all Faiths should state that holding one's beliefs is beloved, but to act upon or judge another based on Faith or Life Choices cannot happen.
WE MUST FACE OUR LOVE.
WE MUST FACE OURSELVES.
WE MUST FACE OUR BELOVED CHURCHES, HOLD HANDS, AND REALIZE WE ARE NOT SO VERY DIFFERENT AFTER ALL. WE MUST SIGN A TREATY TO END JUDGEMENTAL PERSECUTION OF PEOPLE ON THIS EARTH. AND IT MUST BE A TREATY BETWEEN ALL PEOPLES, FORGED IN LOVE, TO BE MAINTAINED KNOWING WE ARE A UNIQUE BEAUTIFUL RACE, AND THAT TRUE RACE IS HUMANITY ITSELF.
If we understand this, and start the petition in the United States, and we set the example, we might also be able to reach out worldwide to find a way to touch all Religious Traditions in love. We will submit this petition to the U.S. Government and ask for GLOBAL RECOGNITION of a TREATY OF FAITHS that will attempt to heal our Nation, heal our people, and, hopefully, eventually, the World itself. Once we have forged the TREATY OF FAITHS, we will ask the U.S. Government to build THE CHURCH OF LOVE in Washington D.C., to set a new precedent for Love in our world. This church would respect all religions, all faiths, and all philosophies. The Church of Love’s true
Philosophy, that Love and the perfection of our own souls be first and foremost, and that love bind and connect all religions in Respect and Beauty. It would support the beliefs of all people, and demonstrate that all people on this earth are born and remain equal. Love is the only True Natural Religion...Rebecca Tacosa Gray, Author/Intellectual Owner
The full proposal is viewable online at
http://auniverseofangels.wetpaint.com/
REBECCA TACOSA GRAY
FOUNDER & OWNER, UN UNIVERS DES ANGES/A UNIVERSE OF ANGELS
3417 E. REDWOOD ROAD
CERES, CALIFORNIA 95307
209-765-1099
sterlingparker9@yahoo.com
23. Please Stop the Persecution of Christians In India
For the last one year there has been an increase in persecutions against Christian living in India. Many Christians have been persecuted, killed. Many Christians have lost their homes and churches. Many orphanages that were being run by Christian organizations have been destroyed. Many families have lost loved ones. Many children have lost their homes.
The government and local authorities are not doing as much as they can , to protect the Christians, especially those living in the states of Orrisa, Karnataka and Kerala.
24. Help stop the persecution of the Roma people
In recent weeks, Romany people in Italy have been subjected to police registration, by means such as fingerprinting, and to forcible rehousing. The Italian government claims this is part of their efforts to control immigration but the actions smack of racism and are a gross violation of basic human rights.
In May 2008 rumours of an abduction of a baby girl by a Gypsy woman in Naples led to an outbreak of racist violence against Roma camps. The response by Italy's Interior Minister Roberto Maroni to this was “that is what happens when gypsies steal babies”.
That this can happen in Europe in the 21st century, 53 years after the defeat of Nazism and Italian fascism is extremely worrying. On 10th July the European Parliament called the fingerprinting of Gypsies in Italy a clear act of racial discrimination and urged the authorities to stop it. The EU assembly said the measure is not supported by EU human rights treaties and that EU citizens of Roma, or Gypsy, origin must not be treated differently from others in Italy, who are not required to submit their fingerprints.
In Austria, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which monitors and reports on the human rights situation in its 56 participating states, including Italy, also expressed serious reservations about Italy's handling of Gypsies.
The Roma suffered greatly in the Holocaust and I worry that the relative apathy towards the actions of the Italian Government, let alone to far right parties and those with far right sympathies across Europe, will give the far right more confidence to undertake more extreme actions that recall terrible memories of the 1930s and 40s. As history shows, if people and nations remain silent bystanders then fascism can take root and I think that a hard stand is required.
I am well aware that Italy, like many countries in Europe, is concerned about immigration, crime and so on, but am also keenly aware that treating the Roma as second class citizens is not an answer and is a fall-back to the less glorious days of Europe's recent history.
For further information, please visit the facebook site: http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=20168217599
I would also be very grateful if you would pass on news of this petition to people you know.
25. Petition to investigate China's concentration camps
Update May 15, 2006
This petition is now closed. Thanks to all who signed. Thanks to gopetition.com! More people have discovered the terrible news of concentration camps and signed to ask for investigation.
April 14, 2006
Recent reports have revealed several concentration camps in China where tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners are being held and face possible deaththis is an urgent situation that requires attention from the international community, especially the United States.
According to multiple sources, concentration camps similar to the one in Sujiatun, Shenyang, have been set up in provinces across China to detain large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners. In those camps, the authorities have been harvesting the organs of practitioners while they are still alive and cremating the remains to destroy the evidence, then selling the organs for profit. Clearwisdom.net and The Epoch Times exposed these atrocities to the world in early March, and within three weeks, before Chinese officials addressed the issue to foreign media, the practitioners held in underground concentration camp in Sujiatun had been quickly relocated.
According to tips from Mainland China and different investigations, the Chinese communist regime hastily published the "Interim Regulation for Human Organ Transplant Practice" after the Sujiatun concentration camp was exposed. However, the regulation will not take effect until July 1, 2006, and thus we suspect the regime was allowing time to destroy all evidence of the crimes. Investigations have confirmed that hospitals and transplant centers in Tianjin, Heilongjiang, Hunan, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Yunnan, Anhui, Shan'xi, Xinjiang and etc. are operating overtime to perform transplant operations. Hospital staff members told undercover investigators that patients should come in quickly if they want a transplant, as the hospital can find matching organs in as short as one or two days and it will be difficult after this batch of organs is used up.
This information, supported by multiple investigations, leads to one conclusion: A slaughter to eliminate witnesses and victims of the concentration camps is underway. Because of this urgent situation, the Falun Dafa Association has initiated IGFG (Investigate Genocide against Falun Gong in China) where many credible organizations have been and will be invited to join, aiming to go to China to perform an independent investigation of the persecution of Falun Gong in all the labor camps, jails, hospitals and relevant facilities.
After World War II, the international community deeply regretted its failure to stop the Holocaust and solemnly promised "Never Again." We urgently ask you to take immediate action and activate all possible mechanisms to stop this new genocide in Mainland China. In particular, the U.S. government owns satellites that can provide information on the past and present activities in the concentration camps and labor camps etc.
In the meantime, we know that you are meeting with Hu Jintao later this month. We hope that you can bring up the following points:
1. Open up all of China's labor camps/jails/hospitals for international investigation.
2. Allow IGFG to go into China and research the facts of the persecution of Falun Gong.
We believe such requests are fair, just, necessary, and urgent considering the current situation. Every minute of delay will result in irremediable loss of innocent lives and will be a disgrace to the human race!
26. DEMONSTRATION AGAINST CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION IN ERITREA
We, the concerned Eritreans who live in the United States of America are holding a rally against Christian persecution in Eritrea. Christian Eritreans are being harassed, persecuted and detained for the only reason of their belief in Jesus Christ.
We believe that freedom of religion is one of the basic rights of any human being. The Eritrean government is not only violating international human rights declaration that the country is party to but also the provisions of article 19 of its unimplemented Constitution.
27. Investigation into Workers' Compensation Boards in Canada
We the people of Canada respectfully request the Government of Canada to begin an investigation into all Workers' Compensation Boards in Canada in order to stop the suffering and persecution of hundreds of thousands of workers who have been injured on the job.
28. Stop the worldwide persecution of Christians
On Sunday, October 28, 15 Pakistani Christian martyrs and their security guard were massacred as they quietly worshipped in their church in the Punjab town of Bahawalpur . Nine more were wounded. In China, Christians are routinely persecuted, beaten and jailed, and the same persecution of Christians goes on in some African nations as well.
Many Islamic countries routinely persecute Christians to various degrees and Christians are often forced to meet and worship in secret in the Muslim world. Dayna Curry and her fellow Shelter Now relief workers are held prisoner by the Taliban in Afghanistan -their alleged offense, preaching Christianity. http://www.christianactivities.com/missions/story.asp?ID=1701.
In Pakistan, a country considered to have a tolerant view of Christians, churches must have a security guard to protect them, and on Sunday, October 28, even that extreme measure was not enough to insure that these people could worship in peace without fear of attack.
It is time for the leaders of the world to take note that the people of the world object to this widespread persecution of Christians around the world.
29. Human rights, yes. Marriage rights, no
Homosexuals should be able to exist without persecution. However, not being allowed to marry is not persecution. Please do not allow them to do this.
