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Day of Action in Support of John Bowden Monday 11th June

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Tue, 29 May 2012 11:36:46 PDT

Imprisoned since 1980, (and in fact for most of his life before that),
John Bowden has been a thorn in the side of the English and Scottish
prison systems for three decades. John has paid a heavy price for being a
staunch defender of prisoners’ rights and a committed opponent of
injustice, spending years in the most brutal conditions, and suffering
numerous physical assaults and treatment that has frequently amounted to
torture.

Over the past decade though, John’s captors have been using a new tactic
to keep him behind bars – the lies of prison social workers and quack
‘psychologists’.

First, a few years ago, Matthew Stillman alleged that the Anarchist Black
Cross were a ‘terrorist organisation’ and that John was therefore a
‘terrorist’ by implication. Brendan Barnett has now made even more
ludicrous allegations against John, but such is the corruption within
Edinburgh ‘Criminal Justice Services’ that John’s complaints have led to
his victimisation, rather than the disciplining of Brendan ‘Pinocchio’
Barnett.

You can read about the affair in these previous articles:
http://leedsabc.org/another-attempt-to-sabotage-john-bowdens-parole-by-prison-hired-social-worker/
,
http://leedsabc.org/update-from-john-bowden-about-lies-written-by-prison-hired-social
-worker-2/ , http://leedsabc.org/support-for-john-bowden/ ,
http://leedsabc.org/corrupt-social-workers-attempt-to-rid-themselves-of-prisoner-john-bowden/
,
http://leedsabc.org/end-lies-and-corruption-in-edinburgh-criminal-justice-
services/ , and
http://leedsabc.org/lying-prison-social-worker-invited-to-audition-for-pinocchio/

As John says in his most recent article
(http://leedsabc.org/corrupt-social-workers-attempt-to-rid-themselves-of-prisoner-john-bowden/):

“Edinburgh Criminal Justice Services, or what used to be known as the
plain Social Work Department, have seriously compromised their
professional integrity by defending a member of staff who deliberately
told lies in a report to the Parole Boards in an attempt to sabotage my
chances of release from prison. Behaving like corrupt policemen instead of
traditional social workers seems now to be acceptable practice at
Edinburgh Social Services.”

To rid themselves of John Bowden, so as to avoid having to deal with his
complaints, Edinburgh ‘Criminal Justice Services’ are now trying to
instigate John’s removal from the Scottish prison system back into the
English one. Two years ago, the Parole Board recommended that John be
moved to an open prison, something the Scottish Prison Service have
stubbornly ignored, and it is inevitable that if John is moved into a
different prison system any ‘progression’ to open conditions will be
delayed even further, if indeed it ever happens at all. John has been a
tireless critic of the human rights abuses frequently perpetrated by the
English Prison Service, and we believe that they would like him to die in
jail.

Once again, as with the Matthew Stillman campaign a few years ago, it is
time for supporters of John Bowden, and opponents of injustice everywhere,
to step up to defend John, and to send a message to the prison
authorities, that whether they are in jail or out of jail, no comrade of
ours is ever alone. Furthermore, these corrupt social workers need to know
that their lies and machinations will not go unchallenged.

We are therefore calling for a Day of Action in support of John Bowden on
MONDAY 11th JUNE. Please organise what you can – banner drops, demos,
phone-ins, letter writing, etc – and please help spread word of this call
as widely as possible.

Some useful contacts:

Brendan ‘Pinnochio’ Barnett, Grindlay Court Social Work Centre, Criminal
Justice Services, 2-4 Grindlay Court, Edinburgh, EH3 9AR. (Telephone: 0131
469 3408 Fax 0131 229 8628)

Michelle Miller, Chief Social Worker, Grindlay Court Social Work Centre,
Criminal Justice Services, 2-4 Grindlay Court, Edinburgh, EH3 9AR.
(Telephone: 0131 469 3408 Fax 0131 229 8628) NB Michelle Miller also works
out of Waverly Court, see details for Peter Gabbitas below.

Peter Gabbitas, Director, Health and Social Care Department, Waverly
Court, Level 1/8, 4 East Market Street, Edinburgh, EH8 8DG. (Telephone
0131 553 8201 Fax 0131 529 6218).

Social Work Advice and Complaints Service, Waverley Court, Level 1/7, 4
East Market Street, Edinburgh, EH8 8BG. (Telephone 0131 529 6217 Email
socialwork.complaints@edinburgh.gov.uk).

Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, 4 Melville Street, Edinburgh, EH3 7NS.
Scottish Prison Service HQ, Communications Branch, Room 338, Calton House,
5 Redheughs Rigg, Edinburgh, EH12 9HW. (Telephone 01259 760 471 Fax 01259
762 003 E-mail gaolinfo@sps.gov.uk

Ian Whitehead (Governor), HMP Shotts, Cantrell Road, Shotts, Scotland, ML7
4LE. (Telephone 01501 824000 Fax 01501 824 001 ).

Letters and cards of support to John at: John Bowden, 6729, HMP Shotts,
Cantrell Road, Shotts, Scotland, ML7 4LE.

You can also send e-mails to John (or any other prisoner) via:
http://www.emailaprisoner.com

You can download John Bowden’s pamphlet ‘Tear Down The Walls!’ free of
charge from the PDF section of the Leeds ABC website at www.leedsabc.org

Where's The Evidence?

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Tue, 29 May 2012 11:26:31 PDT

Angola 3 Newsletter: May 29, 2012

International Coalition to Free the Angola 3

VISITING WITH HERMAN: From left to right are Herman's sister Vicki Wallace, Herman Wallace, Jackie Sumell, Emily Posner, Angad Bhalla. Emily reports that "our group visited with Herman for the full day on Sunday, May 27, 2012. Conversation was lively and filled with hope around Albert's upcoming evidentiary hearing in Baton Rouge. Albert and Herman are currently being housed in adjacent tiers, and have been able to communicate for the first time in three years." Albert is with Herman at Elayn Hunt Correctional Center, in St. Gabriel for his hearing. He returns to David Wade Correctional Center in Homer on Friday.

Amnesty International Launches New Action as Albert Woodfox's Court Hearing Begins

Today Albert Woodfox will appear in court in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, seeking his conviction to be overturned for a third time. As we start this three-day evidentiary hearing, Amnesty International has released a statement about the significance of this hearing for Albert and everyone else's "right to trial, in full equality and free from discrimination, before a competent, independent and impartial tribunal." A3 supporters are invited to attend the May 29-31 hearing (read more here).

Determined to secure justice for the Angola 3, today Amnesty will simultaneously launch the second stage of their campaign demanding Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace's immediate release from solitary confinement. Amnesty's new online petition is calling for James M. LeBlanc, the Secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections to account for his comments that Herman and Albert were being kept in solitary to protect prison employees, other inmates and visitors. Amnesty asks "where's the evidence?"

We thank all of our supporters who signed the earlier petition to Governor Jindal and now ask you to please take action by signing the new petition to Secretary LeBlanc.

*Amnesty International's new petition and statement about Albert's court hearing are reprinted in full below.

*Keep updated by visiting our brand new Free All The Angola 3 facebook page.

USA: Crucial Hearing Could See Angola 3's Albert Woodfox Freed

(Posted by Amnesty International on May 28 2012)

40 years in solitary confinement could end

A three-day evidentiary hearing into a claim of racial discrimination in the selection of the grand jury foreperson prior to the 1998 retrial of Albert Woodfox is due to begin in a federal court in Baton Rouge, Louisiana tomorrow (29 May).

A ruling in his favour could result in Albert Woodfox's conviction being overturned for the third time, and could secure his release from prison after being held in solitary confinement for 40 years.

Albert Woodfox was convicted in 1973 - along with a second prisoner, Herman Wallace - of the 1972 murder of a prison guard called Brent Miller. Both men, who have vigorously denied involvement in the crime, were placed in solitary confinement in Closed Cell Restriction at Louisiana State Penitentiary (known as Angola prison). A third man, Robert King, who was accused of a different crime, was also held in these conditions and the three were jointly known as the "Angola 3". King was released in 2001 after serving 29 years in solitary.

Meanwhile, Woodfox's conviction was overturned in 1992, but he was re-indicted and convicted again at a 1998 trial. In 2008, a federal District Court judge ruled that Woodfox had been denied his right to adequate assistance of counsel at his 1998 retrial and ordered the state to re-try or release him. The District Court had also found that his lawyers had made a prima facie case of discrimination in relation to the selection of the grand jury foreperson, and that this warranted a federal evidentiary hearing to give the state an opportunity to rebut the claim. The state appealed against the District Court order for a retrial and in June 2010 a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit overturned the decision. The case was remanded to the District Court for an evidentiary hearing on the grand jury discrimination claim: it is this hearing that is about to begin.

The foreperson of the grand jury that indicted Albert Woodfox for his 1998 retrial was white. Woodfox's lawyers have presented evidence of the consistent under-representation of African Americans serving as grand jury forepersons compared to their numbers in the general population of the parish in which Albert Woodfox, who is himself African American, was tried.

Amnesty International considers the issue of discrimination in the selection of the grand jury foreperson to be a significant one. The right to trial, in full equality and free from discrimination, before a competent, independent and impartial tribunal lies at the heart of due process of law and requires that justice must not only be done, it must also be seen to be done. Actual impartiality and appearance of impartiality are both fundamental for maintaining respect for the administration of justice. The organisation will continue to monitor developments in this case.

On 17 April, Amnesty submitted a petition to the Governor of Louisiana with over 67,000 signatures from individuals in 125 countries urging that Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace be removed from long term isolation.

Take Action and Ask the Department of Corrections --Where's the Evidence?

The Angola 3. Left to right: Herman Wallace, Robert H. King, and Albert Woodfox.

Sign petition here!
(below is the full text of the new petition and accompanying statement by Amnesty Intl.)

On April 17th, Amnesty International submitted a petition to the Governor of Louisiana with over 67,000 signatures from individuals in 125 countries demanding that Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace be removed from long term isolation. The two men have spent nearly 40 years in solitary confinement in Closed Cell Restriction (CCR) at Louisiana State Penitentiary (known as Angola prison).

Despite the overwhelming number of signatures in the petition, and the presence of representatives from local and national organizations as well as political figures, Governor Jindal refused to meet with the delegation, and referred the issue to the Department of Public Safety and Corrections. The Secretary of the Department, James M. LeBlanc, in turn justified their continued placement in CCR by stating that they were a danger to prison employees, other inmates and visitors. He also denied that conditions for the men were inhumane.

After years of working on the case, Amnesty International is not aware of ANY evidence to suggest that the men are a danger to themselves or to others. Prison records show that neither man has committed any serious disciplinary infraction for decades nor do the prison mental health records demonstrate that they pose a threat to themselves or others.

Amnesty International is firm in its belief that conditions for the men in CCR - 23 hour cellular confinement in stark, tiny cells; limited access to books, newspapers and TV; no opportunities for mental stimulation, work and education; occasional visits from friends and family and limited telephone calls - amounts to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

PHOTO: Campaigners handing over a petition signed by more then 67,000 people in over 125 countries to the Governor of Louisiana, 17 April 2012.
© Amnesty International

Hold Secretary LeBlanc to account and add your voice to the 67,000 others to demand that the men be removed from long term isolation.

(full text of online petition below)

On 17 April 2012, you issued a statement that Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace are held separately from other prisoners to protect prison employees, other inmates and visitors. Where is the evidence to back up this statement?

Records show that neither man has committed any serious disciplinary infraction for decades. Prison mental health records indicate that the men pose no threat to themselves or to others.

In a recent report, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture condemned prolonged isolation as amounting to torture or inhuman and degrading treatment. He refers to the case of Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace in his report.

Along with over 67,000 others who signed a petition to Governor Jindal, I urge you to remove Albert and Herman from isolation.

Keep in Touch with Herman and Albert

Albert Woodfox #72148 Herman Wallace #76759

David Wade Correctional Center Elayn Hunt Correctional Center

N1 A3 CCR D #11

670 Bell Hill Road PO Box 174

Homer, LA 71040 St. Gabriel, LA 70776

Forward email

Prisoners at Virginia’s Red Onion State Prison on hunger strike

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Mon, 28 May 2012 22:21:29 PDT

May 27, 2012 SF BayView
by Mary Ratcliff

On May 22, brave prisoners at Virginia’s Red Onion State Prison began a hunger strike. Their decision to starve themselves in an effort to be heard is the latest in a recent series of prison strikes, one of the very few forms of peaceful recourse available to prisoners to protest intolerable conditions.

The series started Dec. 9, 2010, with a sit-down strike by thousands of prisoners in Georgia, tired of being forced to work for free like slaves, followed by Lucasville prisoners’ hunger strike at Ohio State Penitentiary in January 2011 and the mass hunger strikes in California beginning July 1, 2011, that involved 12,000 prisoners in 13 prisons simultaneously refusing food at their peak. Hunger strikes worldwide, from Palestine, where prisoners acknowledged being inspired by their peers in California, to Kyrgysztan, where prisoners literally sewed their mouths shut, have followed.
Red Onion State Prison in rural Virginia sits in the barren crater of a formerly lush green mountain whose top was blown off to remove the coal that used to be mined the old-fashioned way. Built in 1998, it’s the new economic development model for Appalachia: mountaintop removal covered by prisons and Wal-Marts, now the only job options for out-of-work miners and their families, according to JJ Heyward, a veteran activist who volunteered at the Bay View before moving to the East Coast.

Now the miners who used to mine “black gold” – coal – mind Black prisoners. Heyward says that Washington, D.C., has no prisons, so anyone sentenced to five years or more is shipped out of state, often to Red Onion, culturally a world away. Creative activists to the rescue, the staff of WMMT Mountain Community Radio in Whitesburg, Kentucky, broadcast a show connecting prisoners and their families back home that can be heard in Red Onion and seven more state and federal mountain prisons plus many regional jails and detention centers.

“Red Onion State Prison was opened a dozen years ago amid a major prison-building effort in Virginia. It was designed to confine the most dangerous criminals – often in solitary cells where they have almost no interaction with others,” reads the caption published with this photo by The Virginian-Pilot newspaper.

“In recent years, central Appalachia has seen a boom in prison construction, and many of those who have subsequently been incarcerated in our region’s growing prison system come from places far, far away from the coalfields,” explains WMMT. “Due to this distance and the often prohibitive cost of phone calls in prison, many have no contact with their friends and family, being far outside of a travel range that many loved ones can afford. In response, WMMT began the Holler to the Hood project 10 years ago in an effort to connect those in prison to their families, friends and the outside world.”

The show, now called Hot 88.7 – Hip Hop from the Hilltop and Calls From Home, airs Mondays 9-10 p.m. Eastern Time (6-7 p.m. Pacific Time). Go to WMMT to listen live. This week’s show will focus on the Red Onion hunger strike. Call 1(888) 396-1208 to record your message between 7-9 p.m. (4-6 p.m. PT) on Monday for broadcast that night.

A statement released by one of the hunger strike representatives says: “Regardless of sexual preference, gang affiliation, race and religion, there are only two classes at this prison: the oppressor and the oppressed. We the oppressed are coming together. We’re considered rival gang members, but now we’re coming together as revolutionaries. We’re tired of being treated like animals.”

After exhausting legal and administrative remedies, the Red Onion prisoners issued 10 demands (printed in full below) and vowed to starve themselves until their demands are met. They include the right to have fully cooked meals, the right to clean cells, the right to be notified of the purpose and duration of their detention in segregation and a call for an end to indefinite segregation. Red Onion has been repeatedly criticized since it opened in 1998. A 1999 Human Rights Watch report on Red Onion concluded that the “Virginia Department of Corrections has failed to embrace basic tenets of sound correctional practice and laws protecting inmates from abusive, degrading or cruel treatment.”

Torture, Red Onion style

I first heard of Red Onion when Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, a nationally known prison writer and artist often compared to George Jackson, designed what became the symbol of the California hunger strikes. It shows black, brown and white arms clasped together indicating racial unity around a fork and spoon on a map of California crossed out as in a “no smoking” sign.

Rashid Johnson, who drew this self portrait, is a founding organizer of the New African Black Panther Party-Prison Chapter (NABPP-PC) and author of the book “Defying the Tomb.” With a foreword by Russell “Maroon” Shoats and afterword by Sundiata Acoli, renowned political prisoners, the book has been banned as “gang literature” by Pelican Bay State Prison.

Rashid’s acclaim did not protect him at Red Onion, where, in one of countless episodes of torture, he was assaulted by staff on Dec. 12, 2011. They dislocated his shoulder and pulled a 3-inch by 7-inch swath of his dreadlocks out by the roots. This occurred when he refused to turn his back on an officer as he came out of the exercise cage.

Mac Gaskins, a prisoner at Red Onion for 14 years released only last June, was interviewed May 22, the day the hunger strike began, on Voices with Vision on Pacifica station WPFW in Washington, D.C. Listen to the show here and read the transcript of the entire interview below, following the 10 demands.

Mac discusses torture at Red Onion: “having your fingers broken inside of these places, being bitten by dogs, being strapped to beds for days, as we’ve talked about many times, being forced to defecate on yourself – I mean all of this has led to these men demanding to be treated as human beings. It’s like if you are put inside prison, you forfeit that right to be treated as a human being. …

“Access to adequate medical care inside of prison, especially in supermax prison, it’s almost nonexistent. You have men there, they have chronic illnesses that aren’t being treated. There was one guy when I was at Red Onion, he died from undiagnosed advanced diabetes. This guy had diabetes for years and he was never diagnosed. …

“So maybe your fingers were broken, as mine were multiple times at these places, and then you’re denied any sort of medical care. Your bones are never reset, any of that. It’s like they don’t even have medical staff at the prison.

“They come in with riot gear – I’m talking about jump boots, shields, dogs, pepper spray – to assault you. Maybe eight men come in. They wrestle you down.

“You’re totally subdued – handcuffed, shackled – and then they proceed to break your fingers. They bend them back one by one, trying to break as many of your fingers as they can. They try to break your toes. And the whole time they are yelling out, ‘Stop resisting! Stop resisting!’ to make it look like you’re the one who is escalating the situation.

“When you’re taken out, they put the spit mask on your face ‘cause they usually bust your face up pretty bad. They put the spit mask on so the camera can’t see the damage that has been inflicted. The nurses come over allegedly to assess the damage.

John “Mac” Gaskins, a prisoner at Red Onion State Prison for 14 years, was released just last June.

“My hand looked like a volley ball. I mean you couldn’t even see the definition of my hand. My whole hand was like a ball. The nurse told me I had full range of movement and no bones in my hand were broken. …

“I have watched men eat feces in prison; I’ve watched men throw feces on each other. I would hear men in their cells screaming at night, basically just escaping to some place of insanity. They are driving men insane. …

“At Red Onion, all of the light is artificial in your cells – there are no windows in the cells – and it’s total sensory deprivation. So they asked this guy Ron D’Angelo, how do you justify sending men here? There are no educational programs, no vocational programs, men are just rotting and deteriorating in these places. …

“He said, ‘We didn’t bring these guys up to the mountains to rehabilitate them; we brought them to the mountains to die.’ …

“Now at Red Onion and Wallens Ridge, they are taking away books for guys that are in segregation. You have to meet a certain behavioral criteria to receive books. So, for guys in the old days like George Jackson, that was their only escape. Now you don’t even have that. They have taken that away.”

How you can help

Call WMMT’s Calls From Home show to give a shout out of support to the hunger strikers. The Monday, May 28, show is especially critical; it’s the first since the strike began and will air the 10 demands of the hunger strikers. Prison officials are likely to respond by removing all prisoner radios before the next Monday show, so this will be the last chance to let these brave men know we are out here standing in solidarity with them and doing our best to make their voices heard.

In order to preserve the longevity of the show – which is an important method by which men receive messages weekly from their loved ones back home – WMMT is asking everyone calling in to be conscious of some constraints on what you say:

Don’t mention the pending ROSP hunger strike directly.
No cursing!
Don’t mention any of the men by name.
Don’t make your statement a call to action; this is considered inciting a riot by officials and will give them fuel to impose restrictions on access to the show in the future

They suggest that you:

read a quote from a hunger striker in California, Ohio, Palestine or elsewhere.
offer vague solidarity and support for the “struggle”; those who need to know will know what you’re talking about.
read a short quote from George Jackson, their most beloved revolutionary, or other revolutionary figure.
keep it short; 50 short messages will be a more powerful display of support than fewer long messages. The men need to know that there are many people out here standing in solidarity.

Calls are taken and recorded from 7-9 p.m. ET (4-6 PT) and then these calls are aired from 9-10 p.m. ET (6-7 p.m. PT). The number to call is (606) 633-1208 or 1(888) 396-1208 to give a shout out. You can listen to the show live at http://appalshop.org/.

Write to Virginia prisoners to spread the word. Red Onion is a supermax prison; prisoners are isolated and communication among them is difficult. Supporters are calling for volunteers to send short, personal, creatively written letters into everyone in the Virginia prison system they have contact information for to inform them of what’s going on. Email katherinecolespiper@gmail.com or JJ Heyward at tortakin@gmail.com for prisoners’ names and addresses. The VDOC (Virginia Department of Corrections) will try hard and fast to silence this and keep the hunger strike from spreading as it did in California. We need to be harder and faster.

Call Virginia officials who have the power to meet the hungers strikers’ demands:

Gov. Bob McDonnell, Robert.F.McDonnell@Governor.Virginia.Gov, (804) 786-4273
Virginia Corrections Director Harold W. Clarke, Harold.Clarke@VADOC.Virginia.Gov, (804) 674-3118
Red Onion State Prison Chief Warden Randall Mathena, Randall.Mathena@VADOC.Virginia.Gov, (276) 796-7510
Western Region Corrections Operations Chief G.K. Washington, GK.Washington@VADOC.Virginia.Gov, (804) 674-3612

Sample phone call or email: Hello, I’m calling to express my support for the hunger strikers in Red Onion State Prison. These men are on hunger strike to call attention to inhumane conditions at Red Onion, from fully cooked meals and medical attention to sanitary living conditions and an end to solitary confinement. We demand an immediate response to the strikers’ demands. Red Onion has a long history of public scrutiny for conditions, and we, the broad movement to support the Red Onion hunger strikers, won’t let up until their demands are met and until Red Onion guarantees that there will be zero retaliation on the hunger strikers.

Sign the petition in support of the Virginia hunger strikers at http://www.change.org/petitions/grant-the-ten-demands-of-the-hunger-strikers-at-red-onion-state-prison. Sign and share!

Stay updated at http://virginiaprisonstrike.blogspot.com/ and, on Facebook, Solidarity for Virginia Prison Hunger Strikers.

The Red Onion hunger strikers, like those who preceded and will inevitably follow them, are dead serious. Their support website, Solidarity with Virginia Prison Hunger Strikers, reports the participants are in good spirits and are encouraged by the outside attention and response to their call for solidarity and support from their communities.

In addition to refusing to eat, the men are also refusing the three weekly showers they are allowed and the one hour of recreation they are permitted each day. They do not want to leave their cells until they are able to talk with a third party outside observer.

On the first day of the strike, strikers in one of the segregation pods were informed that the phone in their pod had “broken.” The same day, one striker was moved from his pod to a different pod in segregation and was threatened with losing his prison job and being charged with a false charge if he did not stop striking.

Strikers expect they will soon be split apart into separate pods (or cell blocks) in an attempt to break the strike. While being separated is not ideal, strikers also realize this could help them to spread word about the strike.

In the words of veteran prisoner advocate Marpessa Kupendua, “We must support these courageous comrades who are actively revolting against the incarceration nation. Go to http://virginiaprisonstrike.blogspot.com and take action!”

Ten demands of ROSP hunger strikers

We (prisoners at Red Onion State Prison) demand the right to an adequate standard of living while in the custody of the state!

1. We demand fully cooked food and access to a better quality of fresh fruit and vegetables. In addition, we demand increased portions on our trays, which allow us to meet our basic nutritional needs as defined by VDOC regulations.

2. We demand that every prisoner at ROSP have unrestricted access to complaint and grievance forms and other paperwork we may request.

The New York City Ad-Hoc Committee staged a solidarity action May 25 with the Red Onion prisoners on hunger strike.

3. We demand better communication between prisoners and higher-ranking guards. Presently higher-ranking guards invariably take the lower-ranking guards’ side in disputes between guards and prisoners, forcing the prisoner to act out in order to be heard. We demand that higher-ranking guards take prisoner complaints and grievances into consideration without prejudice.

4. We demand an end to torture in the form of indefinite segregation through the implementation of a fair and transparent process whereby prisoners can earn the right to be released from segregation. We demand that prison officials completely adhere to the security point system, insuring that prisoners are transferred to institutions that correspond with their particular security level.

5. We demand the right to an adequate standard of living, including access to quality materials that we may use to clean our own cells. Presently, we are forced to clean our entire cell, including the inside of our toilets, with a single sponge and our bare hands. This is unsanitary and promotes the spread of disease-carrying bacteria.

6. We demand the right to have 3rd party neutral observers visit and document the condition of the prisons to ensure an end to the corruption amongst prison officials and widespread human rights abuses of prisoners. Internal Affairs and Prison Administrator’s monitoring of prison conditions have not alleviated the dangerous circumstances we are living under while in custody of the state, which include, but are not limited to: the threat of undue physical aggression by guards, sexual abuse and retaliatory measures, which violate prison policies and our human rights.

7. We demand to be informed of any and all changes to VDOC/IOP policies as soon as these changes are made.

8. We demand the right to adequate medical care. Our right to medical care is guaranteed under the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, and thus the deliberate indifference of prison officials to our medical needs constitutes a violation of our constitutional rights. In particular, the toothpaste we are forced to purchase in the prison is a danger to our dental health and causes widespread gum disease and associated illnesses.

9. We demand our right, as enumerated through VDOC policy, to a monthly haircut. Presently, we have been denied haircuts for nearly three months. We also demand to have our razors changed out on a weekly basis. The current practice of changing out the razors every three weeks leaves prisoners exposed to the risk of dangerous infections and injury.

10. We demand that there be no reprisals for any of the participants in the Hunger Strike. We are simply organizing in the interest of more humane living conditions.

Interview with recently released Red Onion prisoner John ‘Mac’ Gaskins

This interview was broadcast on Pacifica station WPFW’s Voices with Vision, Washington, D.C., May 22, 11 a.m. It was transcribed by human rights advocate Kendra Castaneda.

Ryme Katkhouda: Good morning, Naji. Share with listeners what has been going on with the mobilizations about prisoners?

Naji Mujahid: As we speak, there’s a press conference going on in Richmond, Virginia, to announce the beginning of a hunger strike at Red Onion State Prison. Red Onion State Prison is a maximum security Virginia state prison down in the southwestern corner of the state where there has been a longstanding problem of abuse.

While in the torturous Red Onion State Prison in Virginia, Rashid Johnson drew what became the symbol of the California hunger strikes.

The prisoners, I would assume, have been inspired by other hunger strikes that have been going on around the country for the past year. We’ve seen them in Ohio, California; there was the work stoppage in Georgia. Also the Palestinian prisoners in Israel have been on strike for some time now. So it’s activity that has been gaining traction; what it seems to be is an attempt at the folks down there to tap into that.

In the studio with us we have John “Mac” Gaskins of the D.C. chapter of SPARC, Supporting Prisoners and Acting for Radical Change, and also somebody who has first-hand experience, having been at Red Onion, and he can speak further to that.

There is a list of 10 demands and the headline of them reads: “We the prisoners at Red Onion State Prison demand the right to an adequate standard of living while in the custody of the state.” And running down the list of demands is real basic stuff; it’s stuff that people shouldn’t have to ask for.
I guess, Mac, you can begin by explaining some of the demands; and one thing that strikes me, having known you and having discussed some of the things going on at Red Onion, you know, this list is kind of tame. It could be miles long but it’s just this basic stuff like toothpaste.

John “Mac” Gaskins: Right, in those prisons, not only in Red Onion, Wallens Ridge, in all those prisons in Southwest Virginia, you’re denied access to basic necessities such as toothpaste, soap. The toothpaste they sell is such low quality they actually sell it in a packet – it’s like a packet of ketchup – and it’s like a dollar. It will last you a couple of days – two days tops. That’s maybe brushing once a day.

All these things from having your fingers broken inside of these places, being bitten by dogs, being strapped to beds for days, as we’ve talked about many times, being forced to defecate on yourself – I mean all of this has led to these men demanding to be treated as human beings. It’s like if you are put inside prison, you forfeit that right to be treated as a human being. So this list is pretty basic. I feel that on this list, medical should be up at the top.

Ryme: What do you mean exactly by medical, Mac? For some listeners, they don’t have a clue about how bad it can be on the inside.

Mac: Access to adequate medical care inside of prison, especially in supermax prison, it’s almost nonexistent. You have men there, they have chronic illnesses that aren’t being treated. There was one guy when I was at Red Onion, he died from undiagnosed advanced diabetes. This guy had diabetes for years and he was never diagnosed.

The guards, which is common practice, they abuse prisoners. One of the demands on here is better communication with prisoners and higher ranking guards. They are demanding that the guards, the higher ranking officials, at least take prisoners complaints into consideration. Because right now they are basically forced to act out in order to get these guys’ attention.

So maybe your fingers were broken, as mine were multiple times at these places, and then you’re denied any sort of medical care. Your bones are never reset, any of that. It’s like they don’t even have medical staff at the prison. It’s totally nonexistent.

Ryme: We always see in the movies, Mac, and for some people that’s their only reference, that there is an infirmary, that there are nurses that are very well dressed and ready to serve you, doctors, and everything looks fine. And we always have this scene – until there is a major uprising – of a really smoothly running prison.

And here you are talking about broken bones and whatever. Where was everybody when your bones were broken? What was going on? Still, give people the story. I know it’s painful, but we need to hear painful. This idea of sugarcoating the world so we don’t see blood about the wars, we don’t hear the pain about what goes on in the prison keeps people complacent and they are not giving support on the outside.

Mac: Yes, yes, I totally agree. So one scenario: Maybe some guy is denied his tray at Red Onion, his meal tray, so he asks for a complaint form, which is totally denied to him. You have to go through the sergeant. They’re not accessible in the office or anything like that. You have to go through the sergeant, and he determines if your complaint is valid or not, which most of the time he’s going to say it isn’t. So maybe this guy floods his cell, which I’ve done, floods his cell or kicks his door to bring attention on himself.

Naji: About flooding his cell, what do you mean, like clogging up the toilet?

Mac: Clogging up the toilet, yeah, and like flooding his cell.

They come in with riot gear – I’m talking about jump boots, shields, dogs, pepper spray – to assault you. Maybe eight men come in. They wrestle you down.

You’re totally subdued – handcuffed, shackled – and then they proceed to break your fingers. They bend them back one by one, trying to break as many of your fingers as they can. They try to break your toes. And the whole time they are yelling out, “Stop resisting! Stop resisting!” to make it look like you’re the one who is escalating the situation.

When you’re taken out, they put the spit mask on your face ‘cause they usually bust your face up pretty bad. They put the spit mask on so the camera can’t see the damage that has been inflicted. The nurses come over allegedly to assess the damage.

My hand looked like a volley ball. I mean you couldn’t even see the definition of my hand. My whole hand was like a ball. The nurse told me I had full range of movement and no bones in my hand were broken.

The medical staff at the prison, they lie to protect the higher ranking officials at the prison. They would not allow me to go out to see an outside doctor. I never had an x-ray done on my hand, any of that.

So the medical staff there, I mean it’s like they are totally in cahoots with the corruption that’s going on inside the prison. There was another guy where the bone in his hand had been totally snapped in half, and only because of that where they forced to take him to the hospital. His family had come in, they saw it, they made a big fuss about it; but only in extreme cases do you have access to doctors or any sort of adequate medical care in prison. At Red Onion, it’s nonexistent.

They have this guy Ron D’Angelo – they asked him once how do you justify keeping a man in these sorts of conditions? Taking them outside to recreation cages that are like dog kennels. If you are about 6 feet tall, you have to duck down to get inside of this cage – very small, maybe half of this booth, not even that. And you go out there maybe four times a week, for about 45 minutes. And that’s at the discretion of the guards, since they have to get two officers, stripsearch you, handcuff you, both walk you outside, so maybe they don’t feel like giving you rec, so they don’t give you rec that day.

Ryme: And this means time to be in the yard outside your cell, right?

Mac: Yes, but not a yard, not a yard. They have this illusion that you’re outside on the yard. At Red Onion there is no yard; they have dog kennels which are inside of the building. They do have the roof cut off where it looks like you are outside, but you are in this plexiglas enclosure that is surrounded by fence, so you’re not outside.

This drawing by Rashid is called “Control Unit Torture.” To see a mind-blowing display of his work – all of it done while he himself is being tortured in a control unit – go to http://rashidmod.com/art/. Rashid encourages the use of his art for free. You’ll find a drawing on almost every topic you care about. – Art: Kevin “Rashid” Johnson

At Red Onion, all of the light is artificial in your cells – there are no windows in the cells – and it’s total sensory deprivation. So they asked this guy Ron D’Angelo, how do you justify sending men here? There are no educational programs, no vocational programs, men are just rotting and deteriorating in these places. He said in response, “We didn’t bring these guys …”

Ryme: What does that do to men mentally?

Mac: It destroys them. I have watched men eat feces in prison; I’ve watched men throw feces on each other. I would hear men in their cells screaming at night, basically just escaping to some place of insanity. They are driving men insane. I think all of us, I don’t think you can live under those sorts of conditions and not be damaged by that to some degree, so I think you slip in and out of insanity. For someone like me, I just happened to escape and still have some sense of sanity but …
Naji: What were you about to say about what Ron D’Angelo said?

Mac: He said, “We didn’t bring these guys up to the mountains to rehabilitate them; we brought them to the mountains to die.”

There’s this good video – if anyone listening hasn’t seen it, they need to see it – it’s called “Up the Ridge.” They have this footage of when they are doing the ribbon cutting for Wallens Ridge State Prison; there’s this big sign on top of it that says something like Future Home of Virginia’s Exiles, basically meaning all of the guys who can’t fit in the legitimate framework of society, this is where we exile them to, a supermax prison

Ryme: You are listening to Voices with Vision on WPFW, Washington D.C., 89.3FM on your dial. We have with us Mac, who is talking to us about the prisoners’ strike and about Red Onion. This was heavy, so you said there are the medical conditions and there’s also the mental pressure that’s put on the men?

Mac: Yes, and there’s nothing. At one point you couldn’t be sent to Red Onion because they didn’t have any sort of services that accommodated someone with a mental illness. But, in the interest of money, even though it’s a state prison, it’s pretty complicated, because Virginia is building prisons to hold prisoners from other states. That’s what this video “Up The Ridge” is all about.

They have one prison called Green Rock, which only has Pennsylvania prisoners. They don’t hold Virginia prisoners. And Red Onion, Wallens Ridge, was doing that to some degree for a while. They had prisoners from New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Virgin Islands, so they wanted to fill those beds.

When they first built the prisons, there was a criteria: You had to be one of the most violent prisoners in the state. But the guys weren’t really meeting that criteria to fill 1,500 beds or something, so they just started lowering what the required criteria was to be sent to a supermax prison so anyone could go.

When they first built the prisons, there was a criteria: You had to be one of the most violent prisoners in the state. But the guys weren’t really meeting that criteria to fill 1,500 beds or something, so they just started lowering what the required criteria was to be sent to a supermax prison so anyone could go.

Naji: I saw the Wallens Ridge documentary; if I remember correctly, like you said it is supposed to be for the worst of the worst. But you ended up having people come in there for nonviolent offenses and so forth. I think there was a kid from Connecticut, you know they were bringing guys all the way down from Connecticut to Virginia with relatively minor charges. You know, poor fellow ended up committing suicide from the stress that was put on him. I think you told me before, suicide – successful suicides and suicide attempts – is not at all uncommon.

Ryme: There is also a masquerade around suicides that all of us all know just too well, which is when somebody just needs to disappear, there’s suddenly a so-called suicide. This is pretty sad and intense. What besides these two conditions, Mac, are the demands of the prisoners that are on strike?

Mac: The prisoners’ first demand is the demand for fully cooked food and access to a better quality of fresh fruit and vegetables, in addition to increased portions on their food trays. This is a minimal request just to meet their basic nutritional needs as defined by the Virginia Department of Corrections. The food that you get – I can’t explain in words the poor quality of this food – you probably wouldn’t feed this food to your dog, not that a dog is anything less than a human being, that a dog deserves less. You wouldn’t even feed to an animal the food they are feeding to prisoners.
The second demand is that every prisoner at Red Onion State Prison have unrestricted access to complaint and grievance forms and other paperwork they may request. They will give you a grievance form but not a complaint form, and you have to have a complaint form in order to write a grievance form. So if you write the grievance, send that out to the regional director or whatever, he’s going to send it back saying you didn’t take the proper steps first. You’ve got to go through the warden first, but if they are denying you access to complaint forms, then it’s useless to have a grievance form.

Third, we talked about better communication between prisoners and guards.

The fourth, which is very important: “We demand an end to torture in the form of indefinite segregation through the implementation of a fair and transparent process whereby prisoners can earn the right to be released from segregation.” When you go to Red Onion State Prison, it’s not like the typical solitary confinement situation. When you go to Red Onion State Prison, we are talking years no matter what you go there for; everyone goes to segregation. You have to stay in segregation for multiple years. There are guys that have been in segregation since they built the place in 1998.
Naji: Can you explain what segregation is for those who are unfamiliar with it?

Mac: Segregation is, I guess we could, to make it easier, call it solitary confinement, where you are placed in a cell all by yourself for a minimum 23 hours a day, sometimes 23½. You have restricted access to books, media. Your food choices are a lot worse; you get the worst of the food that they serve at the prison. Even though all food they serve at the prison is horrible, in segregation it’s worse. You are only able to take showers three days a week. Your visits are restricted.

You are in this box and the conditions are horrible: sensory deprivation, no windows in the cell. When I came out, Naji, not to get released from prison but to go into a general population setting, it felt like I was getting released from prison.

One, because I had not smelled fresh air in six years because I had been in this cell for six years straight. I had not seen a tree or anything related to nature in years. It doesn’t mean that much until it’s taken away, where you are in some box 23½ hours a day in five or six years.

When I came out, Naji, not to get released from prison but to go into a general population setting, it felt like I was getting released from prison. One, because I had not smelled fresh air in six years because I had been in this cell for six years straight. I had not seen a tree or anything related to nature in years. It doesn’t mean that much until it’s taken away, where you are in some box 23½ hours a day in five or six years.

You haven’t seen another person other than guards that come to the door, and they are totally hostile towards you. Every time that you move from your cell, whether it’s from a visit or to go see a doctor or go to the dog kennels, whatever it is you have to strip naked to go through this humiliating process, bend over, spread your buttocks, open your mouth. They are going to make you do this multiple times until they’re satisfied with your level of humiliation.

Then they are going to chain you up – your wrists, your ankles – and put this belt around your waist, then put this dog leash on – that’s literally a dog leash – to the handcuffs wrapped around your hands. So it’s about a 2- or 3-inch span between you and the officers, like right up on your back, and they march you outside typically at a speed faster than you can walk, so the shackles scrape your legs. It’s horrible conditions, man; that’s solitary confinement.

Now at Red Onion and Wallens Ridge, they are taking away books for guys that are in segregation. You have to meet a certain behavioral criteria to receive books. So, for guys in the old days like George Jackson, that was their only escape. Now you don’t even have that. They have taken that away.

Ryme: So much is going on and so much is going on without us realizing it, while really it’s our tax dollars and other countries’ goods and assets that are being pulled to do these things. When we learned that it was happening in Abu Ghraib in Iraq, we said that it is torture and we said it was unacceptable. And here we are in the back yard of the United States, where we sit comfortably in our houses looking at TV and crying over what happens to prisoners abroad, and this is going on.
The strike started this morning. Can you tell the listeners what exactly they can do to support it and for how long is it going to be going on?

Mac: It is going to be going on for a minimum of four days, about four days, Naji?
Naji: I’m not certain.

Mac: In any case, in any hunger strike we want it to be as brief as possible. These are men’s lives we are talking about here. After a couple of weeks, organs start to shut down and men start to die. The hunger strike in any case is a short campaign. It can’t go on forever.

Ryme: How can people get to know more about what’s going on?

Mac: Well, there is some contact information.

Naji: is the website up?

Mac: Yes, contact Virginiasolidraity@gmail.com and the website is Virginiaprisonstrike.blogspot.com.

Naji: There is also a group on Facebook dedicated to solidarity and support of the Virginia hunger strikers. There are tweets coming out at hashtag VA hunger strike.

Ryme: And also, for full disclosure, all the producers and hosts of this show and co-hosts are with the prisoner solidarity movements in different ways. I’m with Stop Mass Incarceration. Naji and Netfa [Freeman] also work on that. This issue is so serious that you’ve got to cross the line, and is there really a line? We are people and this is Voices with Vision.

Mac: I want to add something else. I want folks to, even in your personal space, start to humanize prisoners. There’s this widespread belief that most prisoners are in prison for some heinous violent act, and that is totally untrue. Most of these guys are in prison for drugs and drug related offenses, property crimes.

I was having a discussion a couple nights ago and I said that for me, I want to redefine what it means to be a political prisoner. Not just because you are in prison because of a political act, but most folks in prison are political prisoners because the basis of their incarceration is all built around a political agenda: The war on poverty, that’s a political agenda. The war on drugs, that’s a political agenda. So these guys are political prisoners. Even though they don’t know it, they are political prisoners.

I want to redefine what it means to be a political prisoner. Not just because you are in prison because of a political act, but most folks in prison are political prisoners because the basis of their incarceration is all built around a political agenda: The war on poverty, that’s a political agenda. The war on drugs, that’s a political agenda. So these guys are political prisoners. Even though they don’t know it, they are political prisoners.

So the way we stay in solidarity, man, is getting involved with whatever efforts folks doing on the ground – standing in solidarity with that – maybe even doing a hunger strike ourselves out here on the outside. Contact your legislators. Wherever you are, man, do whatever you can to show support to prisoners, because this isn’t a Virginia issue; this is a human rights issue.

This thing with Wells Fargo is still going on, so we’ve got to ramp that up a little bit.
Ryme: Well Fargo funding private prisons?

Mac: Wells Fargo, the biggest funder of Geo Group, the second largest provider of private prisons in this country.

Ryme: Thank you, Mac. This is really important to keep in the consciousness in the people.]

Naji: Mac mentioned to contact the legislators. You can contact the state legislators in Virginia, or even if you don’t live in Virginia, the state legislators here. In Washington, the senators. Also send this out to different media outlets. Just support by getting the word out and by getting in touch with people whom you know to be possibly influential and helpful in this situation.

Anarchist Simos Seisidis acquitted by court and due to be released tomorrow (May 29)

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Tue, 29 May 2012 11:49:56 PDT

May 28, 2012 Occupied London

Earlier today, anarchist Simos Seisidis was acquitted in court and will be finally be released tomorrow (May 29th, 2012). Simos was shot in the leg by police on May 3, 2010 and had his leg amputated soon thereafter. He has been targeted by authorities for more than 15 years.

Full background on his case at the Simos Seisidis tag and Act for Freedom.

Athens – Solidarity Benefit Consert for the Revolutionary Struggle case

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Mon, 28 May 2012 22:11:11 PDT

May 24, 2012 Athens Indymedia

Athens – Solidarity Benefit Consert for the Revolutionary Struggle case

Athens, Saturday May 26th 2012, 21.00
PEDIO TOY AREWS (GREEN PARK)
Assembly for R.S. case
The concert is being held in order to cover a part of the court expenses of the comrades
who are tried for the case of the Revolutionary Struggle as well as for the organization of a two-day event on June 7th and 8th at Pandio university
– For the struggle and the Revolution- where will participate invited comrades from Europe.
http://actforfree.nostate.net/

Athens Greece – EVENT FOR THE STRUGGLE AND THE REVOLUTION 7 – 8 JUNE 2012

από S 15:03, Σάββατο 26 Μαΐου 2012

θεματικές: Καμμία θεματική

Athens Greece – EVENT FOR THE STRUGGLE AND THE REVOLUTION 7 – 8 JUNE 2012

May 26, 2012
by actforfreedom

Athens Greece – EVENT FOR THE STRUGGLE AND THE REVOLUTION 7 – 8 JUNE 2012

Translated Act for freedom now/boubourAs

POSTER SAYS:

7 – 8 JUNE 2012

Pandio University,

Athens Sakis Karagiorgas Amphitheatre

EVENT FOR THE STRUGGLE AND THE REVOLUTION

THURSDAY JUNE 7TH: Armed movements in Europe and
their history.

FRIDAY JUNE 8TH: The struggle today and the prospec
t of the international
social revolution as an answer to the systemic
crisis.

SPEAKERS: 1. Brigitte Asdonk, Germany– Red Army Faction (RAF)

2. Andreas Vogel, Germany – June 2nd Movement

3. Bertrand Sassoye, Belgium- Combatant Communist Cells

4. Jean Weir, England

5. Jose Rodriguez, Spain

6. Comminsion for an International Red Help – Switzerland

7. Christos Tsigaridas, Greece – Revolutionary Popular Struggle

8. Pola Roupa, Greece – Member of Revolutionary Struggle

9. Nikos Maziotis, Greece – Member of Revolutionary Struggle

Assembly for the case of
the Revolutionary Struggle

http://actforfree.nostate.net/?p=9700

Footballer’s dad asks sports world to speak out for hunger-striking son as Israel violates prisoner deal

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Mon, 28 May 2012 22:06:55 PDT

May 24, 2012 Electronic Intifada

The father of Mahmoud Sarsak, a member of the Palestinian national football team jailed without charge or trial by Israel for almost three years, has called on the sporting world to speak out for his son who remains on hunger strike after more than two months without food.

Ten days ago, more than 2,000 Palestinian prisoners ended a month-long mass hunger strike, but already Israel is violating the terms of the agreement that ended it, according to prisoners’ rights groups.

Sports community must not reward or be silent about Israeli abuses

“For us it is unbearable to see Israel has been awarded the hosting of the UEFA Under 21s football championship in 2013 and gears up to participate in the London Olympics, while it routinely arrests, tortures, imprisons and kills Palestinians, including football players, without consequence,” Mahmoud Kamel Muhammad Sarsak said in a statement given to Stop the Wall.

A poster of Mahmoud Sarsak, and some of his athletic trophies.
(Rami Almeghari / The Electronic Intifada)

The younger Mahmoud Sarsak, 25, was detained by Israeli forces as he traveled from his home in Gaza to the West Bank in 2009 to join the Palestinian national football team.

“We ask fellow football players and athletes to speak out in support of Mahmoud - don’t be silent when Israeli cruelty and arbitrariness has destroyed the aspirations of a rising athlete and keeps thousands under inhumane conditions in their jails,” Sarsak said, “We ask sports teams and anti-racist fan clubs to organize in support of Mahmoud and all the other Palestinian political prisoners. Your voice can contribute to saving his life and to a little victory against injustice.”

Earlier this month, Football Beyond Borders, a student-led international organization “which uses the universal power of football to tackle political, social and cultural issues” released a letter of solidarity with Sarsak and thousands of Palestinian prisoners and announced that it would boycott the UEFA 2013 Under-21 European Championships.

And last week, Amnesty International issued an action alert calling on people to contact Israeli authorities regarding Mahmoud Sarsak.

Two prisoners still on hunger strike

Sarsak, now on his 67th consecutive day of hunger strike, is one of two Palestinian prisoners still maintaining their fasts. Akram Rikhawi is on his 43rd day of hunger strike. Both men were visited on 23 May by Mona Neddaf, a lawyer from Palestinian prisoner’s rights group Addameer.

The two “remain on hunger strike and are in increasingly critical conditions, without access to independent medical care,” Addameer said.

Israel violating agreement that ended mass hunger strike

The elder Sarsak’s appeal for solidarity with his son and other prisoners came as Addameer reported in a statement that “Israel has already violated the terms of the agreement addressing the demands of approximately 2,000 Palestinian political prisoners just over one week since they ended their historic mass hunger strike.”

That agreement included limitations on the use of “administrative detention” without charge or trial.
Yet, Addameer said that it:

has already documented cases in which Israel has blatantly ignored the signed agreement as it pertains to the practice of administrative detention. Though the agreement stated that the use of administrative detention would be restricted, multiple extensions of orders for current administrative detainees have been issued this week. Newly arrested persons have also received administrative detention orders.

Currently, 322 Palestinians are held by Israel in administrative detention.

Attempt at force-feeding

Addameer expressed concern about another prisoner, Muhammad Taj, who said Israeli prison guards had attempted to force-feed him:

Mohammad Taj broke his 60-day hunger strike for one day when he was told that his demand to be treated as a prisoner of war would be met, and re-launched it on 15 May when the Israeli Prison Service did not adhere to the verbal agreement. He since ended his hunger strike on 21 May and reported to Ms. Neddaf the details of the ill-treatment he was subjected to after re-launching his hunger strike. According to his affidavit, Mohammad was transferred from Ramleh to Al-Jalameh interrogation center on 15 May. He was severely beaten and his clothes were forcibly stripped from his body. Prison guards also attempted to force milk down his throat.

Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh update

Addameer also reported on the conditions of Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh:

Ms. Neddaf [Addameer’s lawyer] also visited Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh, who ended their 77-day hunger strikes on 14 May. According to Ms. Neddaf, Bilal is experiencing pain in his stomach and head and his body rejects most nourishment except for soup and milk. The prison doctor told him that his recovery period will most likely continue for the next two years. In spite of the agreement to ease restrictions on family visits, Bilal’s mother was denied permission to visit him on the basis of vague “security” reasons two days ago. Thaer is feeling sharp pains in his stomach, pancreas and back. On 20 May, he was transferred to Ofer for interrogation and then brought back to Ramleh prison medical center. Thaer and Bilal are scheduled to be released upon the expiration of their current administrative detention orders, on 5 June and 11 August, respectively. Both noted that they will immediately resume their hunger strikes if the agreement for their release is broken.

An Hour Before Release, Prisoner Transferred to Administrative Detention

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Mon, 28 May 2012 22:07:18 PDT

May 24, 2012 PNN

Wednesday, May 23rd, Al-Ahrar Centre for Prisoners' Studies and Human Rights stated that prisoner Sameh Elaiwe, 50, was transferred from Nablus city to Administrative detention one hour before his scheduled release date.

Administrative detention is detention without charge or trial that is authorized by administrative order as oppose to a fair and just judicial decree.
Foad al-Khafsh, head of Al-Ahrar, affirmed that on Tuesday the Israeli military brought Elaiwe's case before the courts, accompanied by his lawyer Fares Abu al-Hassan. The courts issued a release decision for Elaiwe for the following day.

However, Israeli intelligence overturned the decision after Elaiwe's lawyer had left the courts, and transferred the prisoner to the administrative detention centre for four months.

Al-Khafsh alleged that the Israeli intelligence deliberately intends to break the spirits of the prisoners, and that the military may not have agreed to stop administrative detention policies, but they have now increased it.

More than 25 cases have been transferred to administrative detention since Israel's prisons administration and the Supreme Committee for Prisoners signed their agreement on May 14th.

Living In Two Cities: Tarif And Evelyn Warren

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Mon, 28 May 2012 22:00:12 PDT

May 23, 2012 Gay City News

Tarif and Evelyn Warren at a May 14 press conference. | GAY CITY NEWS

BY SUSIE DAY | On May 14, Evelyn Warren and Michael Tarif Warren, attorneys at law, held a press conference. They stood outside the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse and announced that their case, Warren v. City of New York, had been settled. They had dropped their lawsuit against the city and the NYPD officers who had beaten and arrested them five years before.

Early in the evening of June 21, 2007, the Warrens were driving in Brooklyn when they saw police chasing a young man into a McDonald’s parking lot. The cops tackled the youth, handcuffed him, threw him to the ground, and began kicking him in the head. The Warrens pulled over, got out of their car, and respectfully asked one Sergeant Steven Talvy of the NYPD Street Narcotic Enforcement Unit why he and his officers were battering someone who was obviously helpless.

At the press conference, Tarif Warren, with his usual soft-spoken dignity, described how Sergeant Steven Talvy yelled at them to “get the ‘F’ back in your vehicle, stay the ‘F’ out of our business.” The Warrens got back into their car.

But, said Tarif, “because the police weren’t wearing identification or badges, we started taking down license plate numbers of what we thought were police vehicles. Sergeant Talvy saw us, came over, and began to punch me on the left side of my head, bursting both my lips. When my wife asked why he did that, he punched her in the jaw. Then he yanked me out of the vehicle with such force that he ripped all the buttons off my shirt and ripped the entire left pants leg of my suit. He slammed me up against the vehicle, handcuffed me, and shoved me in a police van, injuring my shoulder and my head. Something that will always be with me is the wild rage I saw in Steven Talvy’s eyes. Evelyn and I knew that if I had made one slight move, we would not be here today.”

Tarif and Evelyn were charged with resisting arrest, obstructing government administration, and disorderly conduct — offenses carrying seriously penalties. But after a year of court dates, prosecutors dismissed the charges, confessing to the judge that they had no evidence.

New York City, while admitting no wrongdoing in the settlement, awarded Evelyn and Tarif $360,000. And so a traumatic event upending the Warrens’ lives is resolved. Life for Evelyn and Tarif can return to normal. Right?

Have I mentioned that the Warrens are African-American? Did I need to? Do you need to ask the race of the youth whose beating they tried to stop?

China Miéville’s book “The City and the City” takes place in two cities occupying the same geographical space. One city is upscale and thriving; the other, in decline. What keeps the cities inviolably separate is the conscious perceptions, sculpted from birth, of their citizens. To travel between cities without a permit is worse than criminal; to be in both at once, unthinkable.
In New York, New York (they had to name it twice), there are also two cities.

On one hand is the city of Normal. Normal residents assume that, though unfairness may exist, their world is basically all right. Normal life allows one to ignore or “unsee” the city of Pogrom.
Pogrom, on the other hand, runs on fear and a paranoiac onslaught of police and the courts against mostly brown and black people. Pogrom operates impersonally, under the cool, reptilian assumption that atrocities are a useful way to manage a dangerous population. Pogrom’s stop-and-frisk practices, its beatings and arrests coexist alongside the hardworking, God-fearing people of Normal, who, given the benefit of the doubt, are simply trying to live their lives.

On June 21, 2007, the Warrens chose to transgress boundaries — they lived in both cities at once, without a permit.

At the press conference, Evelyn and I talked. “To witness Sergeant Talvy beating my husband, who was offering no resistance and doing nothing wrong,” she said, “has taken a mental and emotional toll on me. I’m no longer as open or receptive to people. I don’t nurture my relationships. It’s like I’ve gone into a shell.”

Though relieved the case is officially over, Evelyn described how disheartened she is that the NYPD hasn’t changed; that, after the incident, Sergeant Talvy was even promoted to lieutenant. In fact, Talvy and his officers were in court last week for jury selection, before the case settled.

“It was like they were at a ball game, laughing, kidding around like they had no real concerns. It’ll sound crazy, but the defendants’ table was behind ours, and it was just killing me that if we went to trial, Talvy would be sitting behind me.”

Later, I described this case to a friend. He’d seen a clip of the press conference on TV news; he was clearly upset that these upstanding people were treated unjustly. But when I mentioned two black men, Ramarley Graham and Kenneth Chamberlain — an 18-year-old in the Bronx and a 68-year-old in White Plains — who were recently shot to death in their own homes by police, my friend backed off a little.

“It’s always been this way,” he said, trying to Normalize the situation. “Maybe it’s worse under Kelly and Bloomberg, but things have always been this way.”

Tarif and Evelyn came of age during the era of civil rights and black nationalism. Different as Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were tactically, they shared a conviction in an inherent human goodness. They believed things don’t have to be this way.

That’s why Evelyn talks about “remaining vigilant.” “In spite of what’s happened to us,” she said, “I hope, if we were confronted with the same situation, we’d do the same thing.”

The point is, you usually don’t realize which city you live in until something like this happens to you.
“What they want is to frighten people so no one stops and bears witness,” Evelyn added. “If people have the courage to say, ‘No, what you’re doing is wrong and I’m not going to move on,’ then maybe one day, something will change.”

Then maybe one day, we will all live in the same city.

Oscar Lopez Rivera - Message for Anniversary of his arrest

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Mon, 28 May 2012 21:53:14 PDT

Oscar López Rivera is a Puerto Rican political
prisoner serving a 70 year sentence for seditious
conspiracy. He was arrested on May 29, 1981 and
as part of the campaign for his freedom, the
National Boricua Human Rights Network, Batey
Urbano and Latin@ Coalition have created "31 DAYS
FOR 31 YEARS" - A Multimedia and Interactive
Exhibit for the Release of Oscar López Rivera.

Oscar Lopez Rivera message for May 29, 2012

Greetings with Much Respect and Love

i want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the
Puerto Rican people in PR and in the diaspora for
the support you have given me during the past 31
years. i also want to express the same gratitude
to the freedom and justice loving people in the
u.s. and in different parts of the world for the
solidarity they've shared with me. The support
i've received has been a fountain of strength
that has helped me face and deal with the
difficult challenges i've experienced in prison
during the past 31 years, and to remain morally
and spiritually strong to continue struggling and resisting.

The 31 years seem to have passed fleetingly. Many
radical changes have occurred all over the world
during this period of time. In Latin America
progressive presidents rule in Venezuela,
Ecuador, Bolivia, Uruguay, El Salvador,
Nicaragua, Brazil and Argentina. In the last two
countries the presidents are progressive women.
And in Puerto Rico the us navy is no longer
present in Vieques. Unfortunately, the most
important change Puerto Ricans need has not taken
place. Because colonialism seems to be more entrenched now than ever.

It was Jose Marti who said that for a people to
be free they needed to be cultured. i believe
Puerto Ricans are a cultured people. Yet we still
are a colonized people. We are also a morally,
mentally, spiritually strong people. But we
haven't been able to make Puerto Rico a free and sovereign nation.

It was Albert Einstein who said that by repeating
the same experiment the results were always going
to be the same. Doing that is nothing else than
an exercise in futility. And Puerto Rican
independentists have been repeating the same
experiment for decades and obtaining the same
results without being able to achieve their goal
of an independent and sovereign nation. The
celebration of plebiscites has been such an
experiment. So why do we continue engaging in
Sisyphean tasks? What should we do? Let's pay
heed to Einstein's wise warning.

My proposal is a simple one. Let's work on the
problems we can resolve with the means and
resources we have at our disposal. For example,
let's take one problem related to the health
issue we are facing - obesity. To resolve this
problem a simple change in lifestyle will
do. Eat a healthy diet, exercise and create a
support network. We can also start programs of
urban gardening. There's space for such a program
in the 78 municipalities in Puerto Rico. And in
those spaces we can grow healthy products that
can help with a nutritional diet. We can look
for alternative sources of energy and of
transportation. Let's start thinking of changes
we can make in our lifestyles and we can resolve
some of the difficult problems we face. Problems
shouldn't intimidate or scare us. They should
produce ideas in our heads and challenge us to
find solutions. Finding solutions to problems
give us confidence, and help us transcend our
colonized mentality. And that transcendence gets
us closer to our goal of achieving an independent
and sovereign nation and a better and more just
world. We are intelligent enough to know what
needs to be done. We can change lifestyles in
Puerto Rico and in the Puerto Rican diaspora and
by doing so we will grow stronger morally,
physically, spiritually and mentally. We can
make Puerto Rico a free and sovereign nation.
En resistencia y lucha, OLR.

WE CAN FREE OSCAR LÓPEZ RIVERA

Alejandro Luis Molina
alejandrom@boricuahumanrights.org
Skype: alejandromann

Coordinating Committee
National Boricua Human Rights Network
2739 W. Division Street
Chicago IL 60622
www.boricuahumanrights.org

Join common days of action for Alexey Sutuga, Alexey Olesinov and all repressed anti-fascists

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Mon, 28 May 2012 21:50:53 PDT

May 25, 2012 Avtonom

In spring of 2012, anti-fascist movement of Russia has been targeted with new repressions. An excuse for the repressions was an incident in Moscow club "Vozdukh", where 17th of December, during a punk-hardcore concert, a conflict between public and the security took place. Security of the club consisted of supporters of the far right, and were provoking guests. Due to conflict, concert was got halted prematurely, but the security attempted to take some guests as hostages, promising them punishment from their friends - nationalistic football hooligans. Visitors of the concert resisted, the security opened fire with rubber coated metal bullets, but soon guests of the concert gained upper hand and the security was neutralised.

Alexey Olesinov was arrested 12th of February in Sankt-Petersburg. Alexey Sutuga was arrested in evening of 17th of April in Moscow. Currently, both of them are in a remand prison in Moscow.

But incident in club "Vozdukh" is just an excuse for yet another attempt to destroy anti-fascist movement in Moscow, and in Russia in general. Authorities of the Russian federation are not in a condition to stop nationalists - they are either ignoring the threat alltogether, or attempt to set up "a controllable nationalist movement", but in the end these attempts just becoming subsidies of the far right from the state - let us keep in mind the close cooperation between pro-Kremlin youth organisations and "Russkiy Obraz", which in turn was connected to armed Nazi underground organisation of Yevgeniya Khasis and Nikita Tihonov. But state is harshly intervening against any civic initiatives, which attempt to fight against nationalists using direct action.

Goal of the most recent operation of the authorities is to neutralise most known and most active anti-fascists of Moscow. Both activists have been in anti-fascist movement for a decade already. Olesinov was already once jailed with bogus charges - in November of year 2008 he was arrested, allegedly for a fight with security in club "Kult" in August of that year. Immediately after that incident, Olesinov was arrested, but released without any charges, as he was not committing even a misdemeanor and club security had no any demands. However, prosecutor demanded 5 years prison sentence on basis of Second part of Statute 213 of Russian criminal codex ("Hooliganism"), but thanks to a wide protest campaign and a number of protests both in Russia and abroad, eventually he was only jailed for a year. But this prison sentence damaged his health for good, and after new arrest in February, he has had continuous health problems. He was diagnosed an early form of tuberculosis, apparently contracted during his previous prison term, but he is not provided a proper medical care.

Remand court of Olesinov involved outrageous violations - prosecutor claims that he was hiding from the officials, and provided judge a warrant not to leave Moscow with a falsified signature, dated to beginning of the February. But there is no way Olesinov could have signed such a paper in Moscow, since he was continuously staying in St. Petersburg since December.

Alexey Sutuga is a member of Autonomous Action since early years of 2000s, he was first active in Irkutsk and then in Moscow. He participated to every single major campaign of anarchist movement during the last ten years, and supported journal Avtonom. In 2007, he joined ecological protest camp against uranium enrichment in city of Angarsk in Siberia, which was assaulted by nationalists in the early morning hours. Ilya Borodaenko from Nahodka of Pacific Ocean was murdered, and a number of other visitors of the camp were seriously wounded.

We should not let state to attack anti-fascist movement yet another time! We call everyoen to join
common days of actions for Alexey Sutuga, Alexey Olesinov and all repressed antifascists from 10th to 17th of July - during these days, new court decision on continuation of remand imprisonment will be made in Moscow.

Any kind of actions are welcome - marches, pickets, wheatpasting, graffiti, writing of protest letters and so on - choose whichever methods are the most actual where you live. But do not forget to contact s in prior, so that we could list you among the participating cities!

If you want to participate, write to info@avtonom.org, or call or send sms to Moscow group of Autonomous Action: +7-985-247-20-65

More on the case in section "Moscow case against anti-fascists", http://avtonom.org/en/mda
Print-quality banner

Oakland Police Chief Confronted & Shut Down at Justice 4 Alan Blueford Townhall

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Mon, 28 May 2012 21:47:31 PDT

Alan Blueford murdered by Oakland Police

May 24, 2012 Davey D's Hip Hop Corner

Since the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, there have been closed to 30 Black or Brown people shot and killed by law enforcement or in the case of Trayvon, wannabe law enforcement. Many of these shootings have been highly questionable, meaning the person killed was unarmed or there are strong conflicting statements from either the police or witnesses.

Here in Oakland, California, the shooting death Alan Dwayne Blueford is one such killing. Oakland police have been very shady with the stories they put forth to the public. It seems like a deliberate attempt to muddy the waters, cast seeds of doubt and cover up their own mistakes.. Initially police said they were in a shoot out and Blueford shot the officer in the stomach.. Later the police said Blueford shot the officer in the leg..Next the police said that it was possible the officer was shot in the leg by another officer in a case of friendly fire..Finally it came out that the officer shot himself. He shot himself in the foot..

Many believe the officer shot himself after he killed Blueford and saw the young man was unarmed.. The police then double back and said a gun was recovered, the community has yet to see any evidence of finger prints , gun residue etc.. Many have concluded it was the officer planting a gun near the scene.. This would not be unsual in a city that in the past 10 years has had to shell out over 58 million dollars in wrongful death shootings and police brutality incidents. This would not be far-fetched in a city that was home to a rogue group of cops known as the Riders who were found to routinely plant drugs and guns on suspects. One of the Oakland Riders is a still a fugitive at large..

Adding to all this was the fact that Blueford was left to on the ground for 4 hours to die while the officer who lied and then finally admitted to shooting himself was treated. The public still does not know the name of the officer thanks to California’s Policeman’s Bill of Rights which prevents the public from knowing the name of officers involved in these and other brutality incidents.. Community investigators have revealed the officer who murdered Blueford is Miguel Masso a former military man who lives in Los Banos which is more than 100 miles outside of Oakland..

Blueford’s parents were not aware of their son’s death for more than 6 hours. They went down to the police station were treated like crap and not told for more than 2 hours. Their mistreatment led to the unusual move by Chief Howard Jordan to meet and apologize to the family.

In an attempt to do more damage control, OPD held a town hall meeting at Acts Full Gospel Church. Folks showed up only to discover the police chief would only answer questions that were pre-written. This annoyed folks to no end.. Then he seemed ill prepared or unable to answer basic questions.. He also hawked what many saw as blatant lies.. This led to more than half the room turning their backs on the chief and throwing up fist..

The chief cut the meeting short and left the building with angry residents in tow.. They got at him and let him know that there needs to be accountability and the community would not stand for his lies..The chief was definitely embarrassed.. Later that night we learned Oakland police came after one of the community members shown in the video holding a bullhorn..Chris M They claimed he assaulted an officer at the church… If that was the case when and where did that happen and why not arrest him on the spot?

Here’s a video of last night’s Townhall Meeting and dispersal..Please note I’m trying to re-render this so the quality is better… * quick note.. here’s the better quality video.. of last nights confrontation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCQ9F5hypow

Show Solidarity with VA Hunger Striking Prisoners

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Wed, 23 May 2012 13:20:29 PDT

Wednesday, May 23, 2012 Solidarity with the Virginia Prison Hunger Strikers

Take Action Today

Make four phone calls today. Send four emails today.

Governor Bob McDonnell
Robert.F.McDonnell@Governor.Virginia.Gov
(804) 786-4273

VA DOC Director Harold W Clarke
Email: Harold.Clarke@VADOC.Virginia.Gov
Business Phone: 804 674 3118

ROSP Chief Warden Randall Mathena
Email: Randall.Mathena@VADOC.Virginia.Gov
Business Phone: 276 796 7510

Regional Operations Chief, Western Region Corrections Operations G.K. Washington
Email: GK.Washington@VADOC.Virginia.Gov
Business Phone: 804 674 3612

Sample phone call:

Hello,

I'm calling to express my support for the hunger strikers in Red Onion State Prison. These several dozen men are on hunger strike to call attention to inhumane conditions at Red Onion, from fully cooked meals and medical attention to sanitary living conditions and an end to solitary confinement. We demand that (the Governor/Director/Warden/Operations Chief) take action immediately to respond to their demands. Red Onion has a long history of public scrutiny for conditions, and we, the broad movement to support the Red Onion hunger strikers, won't let up until their demands are met, and that Red Onion guarantees that there will be zero retaliation on the hunger strikers.

Sample email.

I'm writing to express my support for the hunger strikers in Red Onion State Prison. These several dozen men are on hunger strike to call attention to inhumane conditions at Red Onion, from fully cooked meals and medical attention to sanitary living conditions and an end to solitary confinement. I have included the prisoners' demands below. We demand an immediate response the strikers' demands. Red Onion has a long history of public scrutiny for conditions, and we, the broad movement to support the Red Onion hunger strikers, won't let up until their demands are met, and that Red Onion guarantees that there will be zero retaliation on the hunger strikers.

Ten Demands of ROSP Hunger Strikers

We (Prisoners at Red Onion State Prison) demand the right to an adequate standard of living while in the custody of the state!

1. We demand fully cooked food, and access to a better quality of fresh fruit and vegetables. In addition, we demand increased portions on our trays, which allows us to meet our basic nutritional needs as defined by VDOC regulations.

2. We demand that every prisoner at ROSP have unrestricted access to complaint and grievance forms and other paperwork we may request.

3. We demand better communication between prisoners and higher- ranking guards. Presently higher-ranking guards invariably take the lower-ranking guards’ side in disputes between guards and prisoners, forcing the prisoner to act out in order to be heard. We demand that higher- ranking guards take prisoner complaints and grievances into consideration without prejudice.

4. We demand an end to torture in the form of indefinite segregation through the implementation of a fair and transparent process whereby prisoners can earn the right to be released from segregation. We demand that prison officials completely adhere to the security point system, insuring that prisoners are transferred to institutions that correspond with their particular security level.

5. We demand the right to an adequate standard of living, including access to quality materials that we may use to clean our own cells. Presently, we are forced to clean our entire cell, including the inside of our toilets, with a single sponge and our bare hands. This is unsanitary and promotes the spread of disease-carrying bacteria.

6. We demand the right to have 3rd party neutral observers visit and document the condition of the prisons to ensure an end to the corruption amongst prison officials and widespread human rights abuses of prisoners. Internal Affairs and Prison Administrator's monitoring of prison conditions have not alleviated the dangerous circumstances we are living under while in custody of the state which include, but are not limited to: the threat of undue physical aggression by guards, sexual abuse and retaliatory measures, which violate prison policies and our human rights.

7. We demand to be informed of any and all changes to VDOC/IOP policies as soon as these changes are made.

8. We demand the right to adequate medical care. Our right to medical care is guaranteed under the eight amendment of the constitution, and thus the deliberate indifference of prison officials to our medical needs constitutes a violation of our constitutional rights. In particular, the toothpaste we are forced to purchase in the prison is a danger to our dental health and causes widespread gum disease and associated illnesses.

9. We demand our right as enumerated through VDOC policy, to a monthly haircut. Presently, we have been denied haircuts for nearly three months. We also demand to have our razors changed out on a weekly basis. The current practice of changing out the razors every three weeks leaves prisoners exposed to the risk of dangerous infections and injury.

10. We demand that there be no reprisals for any of the participants in the Hunger Strike. We are simply organizing in the interest of more humane living conditions.

Online Petition:

http://www.change.org/petitions/grant-the-ten-demands-of-the-hunger-strikers-at-red-onion-state-prison

New Grand Jury Subpoenas Related to UC-Santa Cruz Investigation

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Wed, 23 May 2012 13:10:54 PDT

by Will Potter May 15, 2012 Green is the New Red

Resist grand jury witch hunts.

At least two individuals have been subpoenad to a federal grand jury that appears to be investigating a 2008 fire at the home of an animal experimenter at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
One of the people subpoenaed, José Palafox, said:

“I was approached by two FBI agents at the BART Station at 19th and Broadway in Oakland. They asked my name, identified themselves as Carrie and Matt from the FBI, and served me a subpoena to testify before a federal Grand Jury. They informed me that I had been served and left without asking me any other questions….

“I know nothing about the Santa Cruz action but believe this is a political prosecution and part of a government attempt to gather information on activists, specifically involved in the animal rights movement.”

Grand juries are often used to compel political activists to testify about their political beliefs and political associations. When activists enter a grand jury, they check their rights at the door. Those who refuse to take part in these political witch hunts face prison time. [Utah animal rights activist Jordan Halliday is currently in prison for his principled stand .]

In addition to Palafox, at least one other person has been subpoenaed, and another received a visit from the FBI.

Grand juries are secret, but there is some information about the scope of this one. The 2008 fire was also at issue in the prosecution of the “AETA 4″ on animal enterprise terrorism charges (which were all dismissed). And the prosecutor in that case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Elise Becker, is also involved in this grand jury.

I’ll post more information as it becomes available. In the meantime, if you are contacted by the FBI or receive a grand jury subpoena, immediately contact the National Lawyers Guild hotline, (888) 654-3265. Also, watch this video.

'Frequent and severe' sexual violence alleged at women's prison in Alabama

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Wed, 23 May 2012 13:05:54 PDT

Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Alabama is facing complaints of sexual
misconduct by guards.

May 23, 2012 By Elizabeth Chuck, msnbc.com

Sexual misconduct by male correctional staff toward inmates at Alabama's
Tutwiler Prison for Women is "commonplace" and has resulted in numerous
women becoming pregnant while incarcerated, a complaint filed with the
U.S. Department of Justice alleges.

Equal Justice Initiative, a private nonprofit organization, filed the
complaint about the all-female prison in Wetumpka, Ala., Tuesday after
receiving dozens of claims of sexual misconduct involving male staff
between 2004 and 2011.

In interviews with more than 50 women incarcerated at the prison, EJI said
it discovered "frequent and severe officer-on-inmate sexual violence,"
ranging from women being coerced into performing sexual favors in exchange
for contraband goods to rape by a male correctional staff member while
another male officer served as a lookout.
Advertise | AdChoices

Even in instances in which abuse was confirmed, perpetrators received
little more than a slap on the wrist, EJI Executive Director Bryan
Stevenson told msnbc.com.

"In the last two years, the person who received the harshest sentence was
a man who got six months in jail," Stevenson said. "This was for a woman
who was raped and became pregnant. The baby was born, and DNA confirmed it
was his."

Had the rape occurred outside prison confines, the sentence could have
been 50 years to life in prison, he said.

"It actually makes you think you can do this with impunity," he said.

Instead of punishing the staff committing the offenses, Tutwiler punished
the women when they tried to report the incidents, Stevenson said. Anyone
who reported sexual abuse at Tutwiler was called a liar by the warden and
routinely placed in segregated cells with privileges revoked.

Tutwiler Prison Warden Frank Albright did not return a phone call from
msnbc.com on Wednesday, but the Alabama Department of Corrections said it
has a zero-tolerance policy for sexual offenses.

“This is a matter of grave concern to me,” Alabama Corrections
Commissioner Kim Thomas said in a press release. “From the beginning of my
watch, I have made it very clear to my staff that custodial sexual
misconduct will not be tolerated and is an especially egregious offense to
me. We take every action possible to prevent it from happening and if it
does, we undertake prompt corrective employee discipline and pursue
criminal prosecution where applicable.”

But according to EJI's investigation, the Alabama Department of
Corrections has been under-reporting data on sexual misconduct. None has
been provided since September 2010, despite at least four Tutwiler
employees being indicted on charges of abuse during 2011, according to
court records.

Report: Nearly 10 percent of inmates suffer sexual abuse

The Department of Justice did not respond to msnbc.com's questions about
how they are handling the complaint.

It's not clear from the EJI's investigation how many claims of sexual
harrassment the group has received from the prison, which has a capacity
of 956 inmates.

Just last week, the Justice Department published a report on sexual abuse
in state prisons, local jails, and post-release treatment facilities
across the country. Nearly one in 10 prisoners suffers sexual abuse while
incarcerated, the report said.

In 2007, a Justice Department report ranked Tutwiler as the women's prison
with the most sexual assaults, and 11th among all the prisons studied.

Even after the 2007 federal report, Tutwiler policies on sexual
miscconduct continued to be lax, Stevenson alleged.

"Male guards shouldn't be going into the showers and exploiting the
vulnerability of women when they're naked and exposed," Stevenson said.
"Many states have regulations that restrict these kind of breaches. They
haven't done that at Tutwiler."

In fact, Stephenson thinks sexual assault is even more widespread at the
prison than his group has found.

"We think there are a lot more people who have information that they want
to share that didn't feel comfortable doing that," he said. "I'm hoping
the public exposure and scrutiny will make people feel comfortable to step
forward."

Since filing the complaint, EJI has heard from many women who alleged abuse.

"We've gotten some calls this morning from women who seemed so grateful
and relieved that finally, some light has been shed on this."

PP/POW Updates and Announcements - 22 May 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Wed, 23 May 2012 13:01:34 PDT

From: "NYC ABC" <nycabc@riseup.net>
Date: Wed, May 23, 2012

Hey:

Here's the latest compilation of every other week updates. We've mailed
hard copies to Sundiata Acoli, Joe-Joe Bowen, David Gilbert, Marie Mason,
Eric McDavid, Daniel McGowan, Jalil Muntaqim and Sekou Odinga. Please feel
free to share this link:

http://nycabc.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/updates-22-may-2012.pdf

NYC ABC

--
NYC ABC
Post Office Box 110034
Brooklyn, New York 11211

nycabc[at]riseup[dot]net
http://nycabc.wordpress.com
http://www.facebook.com/nycabc
http://twitter.com/nycabc
http://www.abcf.net/nyc

Free all Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War!
For the Abolition of State Repression and Domination!

Stand With Pax

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:59:30 PDT

May 4, 2012 - http://freepax.org/

On the morning of May 3rd over a dozen members of the Portland Police
Department stormed a North Portland house and tore it apart on a warrant
to indict our friend Bryan Michael Wiedeman (widely known as Pax) on 72
felony charges for “conspiracy to commit criminal mischief” and “criminal
mischief” as apparently part of a two year grand jury investigation. The
preposterousness of these charges (64 were dropped within a couple days),
is clearly intended to terrorize and silence radical communities
throughout the pacific northwest. But we’re going to show them how strong
our solidarity is.

As of his arraignment May 14th, Pax is currently facing ten felony charges
and out on $4k bail. Next court date: July 2, at 1:30PM. Further updates,
public announcement listserv, resources, calender and a direct donations
jar to follow shortly. We have tshirts for preorder. Updates can also be
found on his facebook support page.

Urgent Call for Support: Red Onion State Prison Hunger Strikers in VA

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Tue, 22 May 2012 13:12:10 PDT

May 21, 2012 Prison Hunger Strike Solidarity

Dear Friends,

Tomorrow morning, 45 prisoners at Red Onion State Prison in Virginia will begin a hunger strike to protest inhumane and torturous treatment and the warden’s refusal to resolve their grievances. We’re working to build exposure and a list of endorsers as fast as possible.

We’re also asking people to send short, personally written letters to everyone possible within the VA prison system to inform them of what’s going on. We have contact information for dozens of men detained in both Red Onion State Prison and Wallens Ridge State Prison. We’ll prioritize ROSP and WRSP and then branch out across the state. The Virginia Department of Corrections will try hard and fast to silence this and keep it from spreading, so we will have to act quickly.

If you’re willing to write a letter, please email katherinecolespiper@gmail.com and we will send you the contact info you need. We will also provide you with suggestions for creative ways to talk about the strike that have a better chance of getting through the mail room censors.
In solidarity, Heyward and Supporters of VA Prison Hunger Strikers

10 DEMANDS OF RED ONION STATE PRISON (ROSP) HUNGER STRIKERS:

We (Prisoners at Red Onion State Prison) demand the right to an adequate standard of living while in the custody of the state!

1. We demand fully cooked food, and access to a better quality of fresh fruit and vegetables. In addition, we demand increased portions on our trays, which allows us to meet our basic nurtritional needs as defined by VDOC regulations.

2. We demand that every prisoner at ROSP have unrestricted access to complaint and grievance forms and other paperwork we may request.

3. We demand better communication between prisoners and higher‐ ranking
guards. Presently, higher‐ranking guards invariably take the lower‐ranking
guards’ side in disputes between guards and prisoners, forcing the prisoner to
act out in order to be heard. We demand that higher‐ ranking guards take
prisoner complaints and grievances into consideration without prejudice.

4. We demand an end to torture in the form of indefinite segregation through
the implementation of a fair and transparent process whereby prisoners can
earn the right to be released from segregation. We demand that prison
officials completely adhere to the security point system, insuring that
prisoners are transferred to institutions that correspond with their particular
security level.

5. We demand the right to an adequate standard of living, including access to
quality materials that we may use to clean our own cells. Presently, we are
forced to clean our entire cell, including the inside of our toilets, with a single
sponge and our bare hands. This is unsanitary and promotes the spread of
disease‐carrying bacteria.

6. We demand the right to have 3rd party neutral observers visit and
document the condition of the prisons to ensure an end to the corruption
amongst

Internal Affairs and Prison Administrator’s monitoring of prison conditions
have not alleviated the dangerous circumstances we are living under while in
custody of the state which include, but are not limited to: the threat of undue
physical aggression by guards, sexual abuse and retaliatory measures, which
violate prison policies and our human rights.

7. We demand to be informed of any and all changes to VDOC/IOP policies as
soon as these changes are made.

8. We demand the right to adequate medical care. Our right to medical care is
guaranteed under the eight amendment of the constitution, and thus the
deliberate indifference of prison officials to our medical needs constitutes a
violation of our constitutional rights. In particular, the toothpaste we are
forced to purchase in the prison is a danger to our dental health and causes
widespread gum disease and associated illnesses.

9. We demand our right as enumerated through VDOC policy, to a monthly
haircut. Presently, we have been denied haircuts for nearly three months. We
also demand to have our razors changed out on a weekly basis. The current
practice of changing out the razors every three weeks leaves prisoners
exposed to the risk of dangerous infections and injury.

10. We demand that there be no reprisals for any of the participants in the
Hunger Strike. We are simply organizing in the interest of more humane living
conditions.

Red Onion Prisoners Unite in a Hunger Strike Protesting Abuse

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—MAY 22, 2012

Press Contacts: Solidarity with Virginia Prison Hunger Strikers
John Tuzcu /216.533.9925 / vasolidarity@gmail.com
Adwoa Masozi / 973.494.4266 / vasolidarity@gmail.com
What: Press Conference
When: 11 AM
Where: VA Department of Corrections, 6900 Atmore Dr. Richmond VA (at the DOC sign on the corner of Atmore and Wyck St.)

RICHMOND – On Tuesday May 22 as many as 45 prisoners at Red Onion State Prison, comprising at least 2 segregation pods, will enter the first day of a hunger strike protesting deplorable conditions in the prison and ongoing abuses by prison staff. For the men participating in the strike this is their only recourse to get Red Onion warden Randy Mathena to officially recognize their grievances and make immediate changes to food, sanitation and basic living conditions at the prison.

Supporters from DC and Virginia along with prisoner family members will hold a press conference at 11 AM in front of the VA Department of Corrections, in Richmond at 6900 Atmore Dr., to urge Warden Mathena, the Virginia Department of Corrections under Harold Clarke, Governor Bob McDonell, state Senators Mark Warner and Jim Webb and other state and congressional legislators to act on behalf of justice and human rights.

A statement released by one of the hunger strike representatives said, “We’re tired of being treated like animals. There are only two classes at this prison: the oppressor and the oppressed. We, the oppressed, despite divisions of sexual preference, gang affiliation, race and religion, are coming together. We are rival gang members but now are united as revolutionaries.”

Some of the prisoner’s demands include the right to have fully cooked meals, the right to clean cells, the right to be notified of the purpose and duration of their detention in segregation, and a call for the end to indefinite segregation. Red Onion has been repeatedly criticized since it opened in 1998. A 1999 Human Rights Watch report on Red Onion concluded that the “Virginia Department of Corrections has failed to embrace basic tenets of sound correctional practice and laws protecting inmates from abusive, degrading or cruel treatment.”

After exhausting legal and administrative channels, prisoners are holding this hunger strike to bring these abusive prison conditions to light. This action comes at a time when many are speaking out against the expanding prison system in the United States in an effort to uphold their human dignity and basic human rights.

Letters signed by residents in Congressional District 9 will be delivered to the Senators office later in the week and concerned citizens from across Virginia and the nation will be pressuring the Virginia DOC to meet the prisoner’s demands.

###

Read here for more info: http://virginiaprisonstrike.blogspot.com

2 in Israeli jail still on hunger strike

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Tue, 22 May 2012 13:01:27 PDT

Soccer players in Mahmoud al-Sarsak's hometown Rafah called for his release.

May 22, 2012

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Mahmoud al-Sarsak, a 25-year-old forward in Palestine's national soccer team, has been on hunger strike in an Israeli jail for over two months, officials said Tuesday.

Al-Sarsak and Akram al-Rekhawi, a diabetic who has refused food since April 17, are both being held in Ramle prison clinic.

Israeli Prison Service spokeswoman Sivan Weizman told Ma'an they were both in a stable condition and receiving all necessary medical treatment.

Al-Rekhawi's lawyer Fadi Ubeidat, who visited both detainees on Monday, said al-Rekhawi was in a critical condition.

Al-Rekhawi has vowed to remain on hunger strike until his next court hearing, scheduled for June 5, Ubeidat told Ma'an.

Physicians for Human Rights - Israel has asked to visit the detainees, but Israeli authorities have not approved the request, a representative said Tuesday, adding that the group would file a court petition for access.

PHRI has expressed concern that prison clinics are not equipped to treat long-term hunger strikers, who it says must be hospitalized.

Al-Rekhawi was in Ramle prison clinic prior to his hunger strike. He suffers from diabetes, asthma and cataracts and is protesting inadequate medical care.

Meanwhile, Mahmoud al-Sarsak has been on strike since March 19, the prisoner rights group Addameer says.

His lawyer Mohammad Jabarein says his weight has dropped from 65 kg to under 40 kg.

Israeli forces arrested al-Sarsak at the Erez crossing in July 2009. He was leaving the Gaza Strip after winning a year's contract to play for the Balata club in the West Bank.

Since then Israel has issued al-Sarsak consecutive six-month detention orders, without ever informing him or his lawyers of any charges.

He is the only prisoner in Israel being held under the "unlawful combatant" law, which is only applied to residents of Gaza and foreign nationals.

Al-Sarsak needs surgery in his right eye and Israel offered to release him to to Germany for treatment, his brother Imad told Ma'an.

Al-Sarsak rejected the deal, under which he would be forced to spend three months in Germany before being allowed to return home, his brother said.

Israel also offered to release al-Sarsak in August but he also rejected that offer, demanding to be freed immediately, his brother said.

Entrapment of Cleveland 5 and NATO 3 is Nothing New

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Mon, 21 May 2012 22:47:04 PDT

Police Entrapment of Nonviolent Movements

May 21, 2012 by JAKE OLZEN Counterpunch

The old trope of the bomb-throwing anarchist is back in the news, with a round-up in Ohio on May 1 and the three would-be NATO protesters arrested on Wednesday who are now charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism. While the impression that appears in the media is one of remnants of the Occupy movement verging toward violence, the driving forces behind these plots are the very agencies claiming to have foiled them.

The five activists arrested in Cleveland, Ohio, are facing multiple charges for conspiring and attempting to destroy the Brecksville-Northfield High Level Bridge on May Day to protest corporate rule. According to the FBI press statement released shortly after the May 1 arrests, FBI Special Agent in Charge Stephen D. Anthony said “the individuals charged in this plot were intent on using violence to express their ideological views.” But that is only one side of the story.

The mainstream media and blog reports, both nationally and in Cleveland, have emphasized that the young activists were part of Occupy Cleveland and self-identified anarchists (here, here, and here). The men — Douglas L. Wright, 26, of Indianapolis; Brandon L. Baxter, 20, of nearby Lakewood; Connor C. Stevens, 20, of suburban Berea; and Joshua S. Stafford, 23, and Anthony Hayne, 35, both of Cleveland — were arrested and remain in jail after they attempted to detonate a false bomb that they had set, in conjunction with the FBI.

It’s an old script: Violence-prone anarchists devise a nefarious plan and, just before they can carry it out, law enforcement swoops in to save the day, catching them red-handed. But there’s another script being acted out here too, one much more sinister, complex, and morally and legally dubious: Agents of the state infiltrate an activist group and, through techniques of psychological manipulation, lead its most vulnerable members into a violent plan — for which explosives, detonators, contacts and case mysteriously become available — until SWAT teams and prosecutors suddenly arrive and haul the accomplices off to jail for the rest of their lives. In both cases, at the end of the story, officials congratulate each other for their bravery and bravado and the public breathes a sigh of relief as more of their civil liberties are stripped away.

I recently spoke with Richard Schulte, a veteran activist who has known the Five from groups like Food Not Bombs and is helping to organize their legal and jail support. Schulte explained that under the influence of undercover federal agents and informants, the activists — particularly the youngest, Baxter and Stevens — found themselves increasingly vulnerable and reliant on their informant. Baxter’s lawyer, a public defender named John Pyle, recently identified the informant working with the group as Shaquille Azir, a 39-year old ex-con.

“[Azir] became something of a role model, stepping in as a father figure, offering guidance on emotional and social stuff,” said Schulte. “Connor and Brandon thought he was a rad dude but getting more and more pushy.”

Collectively, according to accounts from friends and associates, statements from lawyers, and the FBI affidavit, members of the Cleveland Five have backgrounds that include mental illness, substance abuse, homelessness and social marginalization.
Brandon and Connor had been part of the full-time occupation over the winter in Cleveland’s Public Square. After having grown frustrated with what they perceived as the Occupiers’ timidity — Schulte called it “passive gradualism” — the Five were encouraged by Azir to break off from Occupy Cleveland and form their own, much smaller group, “The People’s Liberation Army.” At first it was mostly just a graffiti crew — tagging the phrase “rise up” around the city and putting up stickers, said Schulte.

Azir would give them a case of beer in the morning, according to Schulte, have them work outside on houses all day, and then give them a case of beer at night. He gave them marijuana and would wear them down by keeping them up late into the night with drinking and conversation — all the while urging them to break away from other groups, keep their arrangement secret and not to trust other activists.

Looking back, Schulte said Azir and the FBI used “security culture against activists” and “developed patterns of trust to seem legit.” The Cleveland Five, he explains, “were coached by the federal government.”

In a letter Stevens wrote from jail, Schulte told me, he described the feeling of helplessness he experienced right before the bust: “We saw this coming,” Stevens wrote.

“Brought to the edge of the swimming pool”
Andy Stepanian knows a thing or two about state repression of activists. As one of the animal-rights activists known as the SHAC 7, Stepanian has served three and a half years in federal prison after having been prosecuted under the Animal Enterprise Protection Act for costing animal testing laboratories more than $380 million in lost profits simply by operating a website. While the SHAC 7 case did not involve FBI entrapment or property destruction, the specific targeting of activists because of their anti-capitalist activism was reflective of a new era of post-9/11 state surveillance and repression.

When I talked to him on the phone about the Cleveland Five, Stepanian surmised, “These folks would not have gone out and done this if not brought to the edge of the swimming pool by federal agents and urged to jump in.”

The FBI affidavit — analyzed here by RT — confirms, again, what many have warned about regarding the growing surveillance and security agencies in the United States: To keep themselves employed and justify their budgets, people in agencies like the FBI are orchestrating plots to catch “terrorists” who, otherwise, seem to be quite unable to do anything on their own. Last fall,Mother Jones reported on FBI efforts against Muslim extremists and concluded that many of those were instances of entrapment as well.

In activist circles, there are a series of notorious cases of entrapment by federal authorities. In 2006, for instance, environmental activist Eric McDavid, encouraged by an informant known as “Anna,” was convicted on conspiracy charges. Another more notorious case is that of Brandon Darby — a well-known anarchist and activist-turned-informant — and his entrapment of David McKay and Bradley Cowder. The award winning film, Better This World, tells the story of how McKay and Cowder were convicted on charges of conspiracy to commit terrorism.

“In most cases,” said Stepanian, “this is not one coordinated crackdown with a puppet-master. It’s a bottom-up [phenomenon] where special investigators are creating things for themselves to do. They go to potential targets to justify their position and create work for themselves.”

Perhaps even more troubling than the manipulation of vulnerable individuals — whether they be political activists or members of mosques — is the way in which law enforcement meanwhile manipulates public discourse about terrorism, Islam or, in this case, a growing social movement.

According to Schulte, the operation in Cleveland appears to have been part of a pre-planned narrative meant to paint Occupiers as a group with terrorist thugs in their midst, discouraging others from joining the movement. The FBI had a media statement prepared for immediate release on May Day after the arrests, and it hosted an unusually high-profile press conference the following day. There have been more than 300 pleas involving FBI informants in six years and such kind of overt media blitz from the feds is rare. Rolling Stone reporter Rick Perlstein observes, comparing two different anti-terrorism operations at the end of April, “that the State is singling out ideological enemies.” He reports that authorities are much less likely, for instance, to use tactics of entrapment against violent white supremacist groups.

Investigative journalist Will Potter is an expert on state-sponsored targeting of radical activist groups who has testified before Congress on FBI entrapment and is the author of a book (and an accompanying blog) titled Green is the New Red.Potter calls the Cleveland Five conspiracy “part of the ongoing focus on demonizing anarchists.” Just a cursory look at the headlines in Chicago and Cleveland confirms a growing association of anarchism with violence and terrorism while alienating radical movements from potential supporters.

Occupy Cleveland responds
Each of the Cleveland Five entered pleas of not guilty in federal court last week. As the trial of these young men plays out, their fates rest in which story is more compelling — their own victimhood, or the cunning of the federal agents. Although they were not taking action in the name of Occupy Cleveland, the future of Occupy and related movements in the United States is at stake in which story the public chooses to believe.

Occupy Cleveland, one of the movement’s longest-lasting encampments, had the remnants of its occupation removed by police in the middle of the night on May 3. There was little public outcry, when the city revoked its permit after the May 1 arrests.

Occupy Cleveland spokesperson Katie Steinmuller stressed that it was only a matter of time before the camp was evicted, and that it wasn’t entirely a result of the bomb scare. “There was a casino planned to be opened in view of the tents,” said Steinmuller referring to Occupy Cleveland’s camp when I spoke with her by phone about the eviction. “This [conspiracy] was just a good excuse to get us out.”

In a media statement following the arrests of the Cleveland Five, Occupy Cleveland affirmed its commitment to “active non-violence.” Individual occupiers have chosen to join the support team for the Five, but Occupy Cleveland as a whole is steering clear of commenting on it further.

“The FBI was successful in … what they set out to do,” said Schulte about theinitial negative reaction the Occupy movement and other activists experienced in Cleveland. “People were exploited and trapped.”

“When you take away a space of legitimate protest,” adds Stepanian, “less legitimate forms of protest become more prevalent.” Events like the arrests of the Cleveland Five can create schisms within movements, which the state exploits to create a climate of fear within and about activist groups. The NATO 3 arrests and bond hearing, for instance, just before this weekend’s mass No NATO demonstration, will serve to deter people from participating and obscure the reality of the protest’s message.

In Chicago, the NATO 3 are each being held on $1.5 million bail. More details will emerge in the coming weeks, but Michael E. Deutsch, legal counsel for the NATO 3, has said that two of the 11 arrested during a house raid in Bridgeport were Chicago Police Department informants and have since disappeared. The truth of what really happened in Cleveland and Chicago may or may not emerge in the courtroom. But it is clear regardless that Occupy is now being exposed to a new level of state repression, and that it is taking a toll on what has still remained a nonviolent protest movement.

Jake Olzen is an activist/organizer, farmer, and graduate student at Loyola University Chicago. He is part of the White Rose Catholic Worker community.

Exhibit highlights plight of Puerto Rican political prisoner

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Mon, 21 May 2012 22:41:26 PDT

By Starla Muhammad -Staff Writer- | Last updated: May 21, 2012 - The Final Call¡Libertad Para Oscar López Rivera! Free Oscar López Rivera!

CHICAGO (FinalCall.com) - Free Oscar López Rivera! That is the cry from supporters of the longest imprisoned freedom fighter for Puerto Rican independence. To make their point, friends and family of Mr. López Rivera along with community activists have sentenced themselves to “jail.”

In a show of solidarity, they are each spending 24 hours “behind bars” in a six by six foot cell to highlight the plight of Mr. López Rivera and other political prisoners currently languishing in America’s prison industrial complex. Mr. López Rivera was sentenced to prison in 1981 for seditious conspiracy and minor arms charges and has spent the last three decades incarcerated.

Oscar Lopez Rivera has been in prison three decades and is currently incarcerated in Indiana.

Advocates for Mr. López Rivera, 69, are showing their support through “31 Days for 31 Years,” an interactive, multi-media art exhibit housed in Batey Urbano, a cultural youth center located in Chicago’s predominately Puerto Rican, “Paseo Boricua” neighborhood.

His supporters said the continued imprisonment is unjust and starting April 29, 31 activists each began spending one day in a makeshift storefront prison cell with “guard” posted outside.
“All the campaign is saying is 31 years is a horrendous, disproportionate sentence for this man to have served when you have rapists, prisoners, pedophiles getting out in 12 to 15 years,” said Alejandro Luis Molina of the National Boricua Human Rights Network that along with Batey Urbano and Latin@Coalition are coordinating the exhibit and fighting on behalf of Mr. López Rivera.

Many Puerto Ricans in the U.S. and Puerto Rico view Mr. López Rivera, a Vietnam Veteran as a hero and servant of his people.

Mr. López Rivera was well-known as a community activist in Chicago, helping to fund a halfway house for convicted drug addicts, founder of a high school, the Puerto Rican Cultural Center and other programs.

A vocal advocate for the independence of Puerto Rico, the U.S. government accused Mr. López Rivera and others of being behind a series of bombings in the 1970s in Chicago and New York, resulting in five deaths. Mr. López Rivera and the others were accused of belonging to Fuezas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (Armed Forces of National Liberation), described as a Puerto Rican nationalist group. The group was accused of trying to overthrow the U.S. government in Puerto Rico.
However, according to reports, during his trial, Mr. López Rivera was not linked to specific bombings. Offered conditional clemency by then President Bill Clinton in 1999, Mr. López Rivera rejected the offer because it did not include two other political prisoners. His sister Zenaida reportedly said on parole Mr. López Rivera said he would be “in prison outside of prison.”

Community activists participate in 31 Days for 31 Years exhibit to call attention to plight of Oscar Lopez Rivera and other Puerto Rican political prisoners. L-r, Abel Muhammad, Jessica Fuentes, Alejandro Molina and Matt McCanna. Photos: Starla Muhammad

“None of the prisoners including Oscar when they were arrested in 1980, 81 and 83 were charged with anything like causing a death, causing bodily harm, causing the spilling of a drop of blood. They weren’t charged with that,” Mr. Molina told The Final Call. Each day of the exhibit, features a 31 second video clip of the “prisoner” voicing support for the freedom campaign. Each video can be seen online.

Shuffled around to several prisons around the country he is currently confined in a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., where he has been the past eight years and has a scheduled release date of July 27, 2027. Mr. López Rivera has had a perfect disciplinary record, although he spent a dozen years in solitary confinement his supporters point out.
The idea for the exhibit began six years ago said Mr. Molina. The concept for the symbolic cell was so young people, community residents, activists and family members of Mr. López Rivera could take one day staying in the mock cell to educate and familiarize the community about the freedom fighter he added.

Through the years the exhibit featured artwork and letters by Mr. López Rivera, art by former political prisoner Carlos Alberto and literature from the campaign to free others behind bars.
“The idea was that whoever walked in would be saturated in educational material as well as be able to walk out with reading material that addressed both the international legal aspects of the campaign as well as aspects of the campaign in Puerto Rico, Chicago and the Puerto Rican Diaspora,” said Mr. Molina.

“The project that we have here, 31 Days For 31 Years, is a way to build and learn upon historical memory. The reality of our youth in this community is they don’t know about their history because of the way CPS (Chicago Public Schools) history department is set up,” said Jessica Fuentes, director of Batey Urbano.

Ms. Fuentes said, as she began learning about her Puerto Rican and Afro-Caribbean history including the story of Mr. López Rivera, it moved her to become active in the community. Learning that Puerto Rico is a colonial property of the United States impacted her deeply, she added.

The 21-year-old activist spent day two in the mock cell and said young Puerto Ricans she comes into contact with go through a “culture shock” when they begin learning about their true history but become active once they learn.

“It’s a calling. You cannot learn about your history, understand the conditions that your people are in and not feel like you have to do something about that. Most of our young people feel that way. They feel like they have to be part of this transformative process,” said Ms. Fuentes.

Abel Muhammad is a student minister in the Nation of Islam and the National Latino Representative of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. Mr. Muhammad spent day 4 in the exhibit and has met several former Puerto Rican political prisoners.

“I personally wanted to do whatever I could to bring attention to it because it’s really an unjust sentence that has been given to him. Not so much because I’m Mexican. My brothers are Puerto Rican, my sisters are Puerto Rican, Black, Indigenous, all those who fight and struggle for justice,” said Mr. Muhammad.

“Hopefully we can do something to get our brother home because he’s already sacrificed more than should have been sacrificed in terms of the time of his life, which he can’t get back and he should be home with his family so that we can give him the honor and respect that he’s due,” added Mr. Muhammad.

According to Mr. Molina there are two other Puerto Rican political prisoners, Avelino González-Claudio arrested four years ago and his brother Noberto arrested in 2011. Accused of being members of a Puerto Rican independence group, “Los Machetero,” the brothers were accused of participating in an armed robbery in 1983 of a Wells Fargo depot in Connecticut. Avelino is scheduled to be released in October due to a medical issue.

The independence of Puerto Rico is an important crusade for many in the Puerto Rican community. Claimed by Christopher Columbus in 1493, Tainos, the original indigenous inhabitants of Puerto Rico were enslaved by the Spaniards.

Now, a Commonwealth of the U.S., Puerto Ricans were granted U.S. citizenship in 1917. They elect their own governor. The president of the U.S. is also over Puerto Rico though Puerto Ricans are not permitted to vote in U.S. elections.

A debate has raged for years on whether Puerto Rico should remain a U.S. territory, be granted statehood or be independent. Puerto Ricans are scheduled to vote on their fate again Nov. 6, later this year.

“It’s absolutely true the root cause of Oscar being in jail is that Puerto Rico is a colony. And it’s absolutely true there have been succeeding generations since the 1950s of Puerto Ricans who have been willing to fight for Puerto Rico’s freedom and that’s the reason they’re in prison,” said Mr. Molina.

“These people were not social criminals, they didn’t have criminal backgrounds. If anything, they were people who little by little became involved in the patriotic movement to decolonize Puerto Rico,” he added.

“Over the years representatives from every political strata in Puerto Rico, the Statehood party, the Commonwealth party, the Independence party have signed letters and openly and vocally supported Oscar’s freedom because his crime is that of wanting his country free,” said Mr. Molina.
May 29 will mark the 31st day of the exhibit. Organizers will hold a press conference that day along with his family and friends.

(For more information on “31 Days For 31 Years” and to visit the exhibit, visit www.boricuahumanrights.org or www.bateyurbano.net)

Miss. prison riot leaves guard dead, 8 hurt

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Mon, 21 May 2012 22:38:42 PDT

By HOLBROOK MOHR | Associated Press – May 20, 2012

BRANDON, Miss. (AP) — A prison guard was killed Sunday during a riot that
also injured five other correctional officers and hurt three inmates at a
privately run facility in Mississippi that holds illegal immigrants,
authorities said.

The riot began about 2:40 p.m. CDT and involved dozens of inmates before
it was brought under control late Sunday night. Adams County Coroner James
Lee confirmed that a guard died, but said he could not provide any other
details until the correctional officer's family was notified.

Emilee Beach, a spokeswoman at the Adams County Correctional Center in
southwest Mississippi, said the uprising involved multiple inmates but she
wasn't sure exactly how many because the investigation was still ongoing.

She said that after the disturbance was brought under control Sunday
night, inmates were being searched and sent back to their cells.

Beach said the prison, owned and operated by Corrections Corp. of America,
holds illegal immigrants, most for charges of re-entering the United
States after being deported.

The five injured guards were taken to a hospital and treated for injuries
that weren't considered life-threatening.

The 2,567-bed prison in Natchez houses adult male illegal immigrants for
the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

CCA spokesman Steve Owen confirmed in an email "there has been one
employee death" but he said he could not provide more details immediately.

He said in an email early Monday "it is my understanding that all staff
are accounted for." He said the company was investigating what prompted
the uprising.

Adams County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Emily Ham said no inmates
had escaped the facility.

After the uprising began, CCA's Special Response Team and the Mississippi
Highway Patrol's SWAT team sought to quell activities within the prison
while state and local law-enforcement officers secured the perimeter of
the complex, Adams County Sheriff Chuck Mayfield said in a statement.

Mayfield told the Natchez Democrat that 15 employees were freed at one
time during the uprising by opening a fence and protecting the route with
guns.

The sheriff said in a statement early Monday that there were at least two
dozen hostages being held at one time.

Mayfield added that prison personnel had "gained total control" of the
complex.

"Right now, we have three inmate injuries that were probably sustained
from other inmates - one being a stab wound, concussion and rib injuries,"
Mayfield added. "There were no escapes."

__

Associated Press writer Norman Gomlak contributed to this report from
Atlanta.

Police use tear gas, smoke bombs after Molotov cocktails reportedly tossed

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Sun, 20 May 2012 02:01:49 PDT

By Monique Muise, The Gazette May 19, 2012

Tuition-hike protesters continue to march the streets of Montreal on Friday, May 18, 2012.
Photograph by: Tijana Martin , The Gazette

MONTREAL - Appeals for calm from various student associations and political leaders following the passage of a controversial new law in Quebec appeared to be largely heeded as several thousand people protested peacefully in Montreal from Friday night until 3:30 a.m. Saturday.

About two hours into the event, however, police reported a series of Molotov cocktails had been thrown at officers by a handful of protesters, prompting the riot squad to deploy smoke bombs, percussion bombs and CS gas against the entire crowd.

Until that point, Friday's demonstrators had followed a sequence of events that has become familiar to police, event organizers and the average Montrealer over the last three months; leaving Parc Émilie-Gamelin around 9 p.m. and winding their way slowly toward the downtown core. As usual, police followed closely and adjusted as the march changed course several times; at one point stopping in front of the Montreal courthouse and completely reversing direction.

Also as per usual, a small group of violent protesters attempted to cause mayhem, getting into scuffles with police shortly after the event began. But for the most part, all seemed to be unfolding peacefully.

The police response just before 10 p.m. came fast and furious, however, allegedly in response to attacks by a small group of violent demonstrators near the entrance to Montreal's Chinatown along René-Lévesque Blvd. The huge crowd immediately scattered in panic, then regrouped and kept marching peacefully en masse, chanting, "We stay together!"

While police declared the gathering illegal, they still had not intervened again as of midnight. The crowd continued to walk, splitting into smaller groups that eventaully met up again. There were scattered reports of broken windows and at least one altercation involving a bystander. Four arrests were made: two for armed aggression related to the Molotov cocktails, one for assault on an officer and one for being nude in public. Report reported that the window of a Bank of Montreal was broken and the building itself vandalized.

There was a palpable undercurrent of anger rippling through the crowd throughout the evening, likely stemming from the passage just hours before of new provincial legislation that will have a direct impact on public protests in Quebec.

The law, Bill 78, which passed in the National Assembly at 5:30 p.m. and came into effect hours later with the signature of the province’s Lieutenant Governor, stipulates that protest organizers must disclose the start time, end time and route of their planned demonstration to police eight hours before the event begins. Montreal police said they were provided with that information Friday night. Near midnight, however, the police tweeted, via @SPVM, that "Bill 78 can't be enforced this evening, because the #SPVM has to ensure the modalities of application before."

Many of those who came out for the event said they want to see the law scrapped entirely.

"I read the law, and it doesn't make sense," said high school student Laurence Simard, 16, before the march began. "The government is just closed off to the demands of students."

Her friend, Oliver Cohen, 15, said he wasn't too concerned about possible violence during the event, but added that "people are angry. And they have the right to be angry."

Friday night’s demonstration also came on the heels of the passage a controversial new municipal regulation. A bylaw adopted by Montreal city council early in the day made it illegal to wear a mask, scarf or hood during a public demonstration in the city without a valid excuse, or hold that demonstration without first providing police with a route.

Those rules are expected to come into force on Saturday morning.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Police+tear+smoke+bombs+after+Molotov+cocktails+reportedly+tossed/6647402/story.html#ixzz1vOlYIrJd

Attacks on Chicago police stations, Obama office were planned, prosecutors say

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Sun, 20 May 2012 01:47:30 PDT

By Miranda Leitsinger, msnbc.com May 19, 2012

Updated at 2:30 p.m. ET CHICAGO -- Three anti-NATO protesters charged with
terrorism conspiracy planned to attack four Chicago police stations, the
local campaign headquarters for President Barack Obama and the home of
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, prosecutors alleged in court Saturday.

While friends of the three men insisted they were just operating a home
brewery, prosecutors stated that police found a gun that fires mortar
rounds, swords, a hunting bow, ninja-like throwing stars and knives with
brass knuckle handles. The beer-brewing operation, prosecutors added, was
used to fill bottles with gasoline that would later be thrown as Molotov
cocktails.

"Plans were made to destroy police cars and attack four CPD stations with
destructive devices, in an effort to undermine the police response" to
attacks on the Obama office and the Emanuel home as well as unspecified
financial institutions, the charging statement said.

The three were being held on charges of conspiracy to commit terrorism,
possession of an explosive or incendiary device and providing material
support for terrorism.

The men were identified as 20-year-old Brian Church, of Ft. Lauderdale,
Fla.; 24-year-old Jared Chase, of Keene, N.H.; and 24-year-old Brent
Betterly, of Oakland Park, Mass.

Mike Barrett, CEO of Diligent Innovations Consulting and former director
of strategy for the Bush administration's Homeland Security Council, talks
the G8 summit being held at Camp David, and the upcoming NATO Summit
kicking off in Chicago this weekend where Occupy Wall Street protesters
are already waiting.

Defense attorneys told a judge on Saturday that undercover police were the
ones who brought the Molotov cocktails, and that their clients were
entrapped.

Bond of $1.5 million was set for each defendant.

Michael Deutsch, one of their attorneys, later told reporters outside the
courtroom that it was all a setup. Two informants "ingratiated themselves"
with the three men and "this was all their idea," he insisted.

It was "entrapment to the highest degree," Deutsch said.

But Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy told reporters "the evidence
speaks for itself" about what he called an "imminent threat."

"They were making the bombs ... (and had) directions on how to implement
this," added Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez.

The charging document states that "while the Molotov Cocktails were being
poured, Church discussed the NATO Sumrnit, the protests, and how the
Molotov Cocktails would be used for violence and intimidating acts of
destruction. At one point, Church asked if others had ever seen a 'cop on
fire' and discussed throwing one of the Molotov Cocktails into" a police
station.

Six others initially arrested have been released. They were all detained
in a raid Wednesday on a home in Bridgeport on Chicago's South Side,
NBCChicago.com reported.

Beer or bombs?
But the group of protesters said what police thought was suspicious was
actually a home beer-brewing operation.

“We were handcuffed to a bench and our legs were shackled together. We
were not told what was happening,” one of those detained but later
released, Darrin Ammussek, told NBCChicago.com.

“I believe very strongly in non-violence, and if I had seen anything that
even resembled any plans or anything like that, we wouldn’t have been
there," he added.

Scenes from Chicago protests surrounding NATO summit

He claimed that during 18 hours in custody, police never told him why he
was arrested, read him his rights or allowed him to make a phone call, The
Associated Press reported. He said he remained handcuffed to a bench, even
after asking to use a restroom.

"There were guards walking by making statements into the door along the
lines of 'hippie,' 'communist,' 'pinko,'" a tired-looking Ammussek told
reporters just after his release.

Nurses (yes, nurses) lead charge for Wall Street 'sin' tax

Security has been high throughout the city in preparation for the summit,
where delegations from about 60 countries, including 50 heads of state,
will discuss the war in Afghanistan and European missile defense.

Among the pre-NATO protests planned for Saturday was a march on the home
of Mayor Emanuel. The big show will be on Sunday, the start of the two-day
NATO summit, when thousands of protesters are expected to march 2½ miles
from a band shell on Lake Michigan to the McCormick Place convention
center, where delegates will be meeting.

3 men charged with terror conspiracy ahead of NATO

By SHANNON MCFARLAND and TAMMY WEBBER | Associated Press – May 19, 2012

CHICAGO (AP) — Three men arrested earlier this week when police raided a
Chicago apartment were being held Saturday on terrorism conspiracy
charges, accused of trying to make Molotov cocktails ahead of the NATO
summit.

Their attorney, Sarah Gelsomino, said the men are "absolutely in shock and
have no idea where these charges are coming from."

They were scheduled to be in court later Saturday for a bond hearing on
charges of conspiracy to commit terrorism, possession of an explosive or
incendiary device and providing material support for terrorism.

Six others arrested Wednesday in the South Side raid were released Friday
without being charged.

Among the items seized by federal authorities was beer-making equipment,
Gelsomino said.

Chicago police Lt. Kenneth Stoppa declined to elaborate on the case beyond
confirming the charges against the three who were still in custody.

Police identified the men being held as Brian Church, 20, of Ft.
Lauderdale, Fla.; Jared Chase, 24, of Keene, N.H.; and Brent Vincent
Betterly, 24. A police spokesman gave Betterly's hometown as Oakland Park,
Mass., but no such town exists. There is an Oakland Park, Fla., that is
near Fort Lauderdale.

The three came to Chicago in late April to take part in May Day protests,
said activist Bill Vassilakis, who said he let them stay in his apartment.

He said Betterly was an industrial electrician and had volunteered to help
wire service at The Plant, a former meatpacking facility that has been
turned into a food incubator with the city's backing.

Vassilakis said he thought the charges were unwarranted.

"All I can say about that is, if you knew Brent, you would find that to be
the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard. He was the most stand-up guy
that was staying with me. He and the other guys had done nothing but
volunteer their time and energy," he said."

Authorities in Oakland Park, Fla., said Betterly and two other young men
walked into a public high school last fall after a night of tequila
drinking and took a swim in the pool, according to a report in the South
Florida Sun-Sentinel.

They stole fire extinguishers from three school buses, discharged one and
smashed a cafeteria window with another. The vandalism caused about $2,000
in damage, the newspaper said.

Betterly was charged with burglary, theft and criminal mischief.

Security has been high throughout the city in preparation for the summit,
where delegations from about 60 countries will discuss the war in
Afghanistan and European missile defense.

Elsewhere, Chicago was mostly quiet. Downtown streets were largely empty,
though that is not unusual for a weekend. Security guards stood watch
outside many downtown buildings. In places, the guards almost outnumbered
pedestrians.

Outside the Chicago Board of Trade, a frequent target of Occupy
protesters, a lone protester wore a sign about wasteful military spending.

Closer to the summit site, commuter rail service was halted for a short
time so police could investigate a suspicious package on a train running
beneath the convention center where diplomats will be meeting.
Investigators determined there was no threat.

Among the pre-NATO protests planned for Saturday was a march on the home
of Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

The bigger show will be on Sunday, the start of the two-day NATO summit,
when thousands of protesters are expected to march 2½ miles from a band
shell on Lake Michigan to the McCormick Place convention center, where
delegates will be meeting.

On Friday, police on bicycles and foot tailed activists through the
streets but ignored taunts and went out of their way to make as few
arrests as possible. Protesters made a lot of noise and tried to evade
police, but otherwise were relatively uneventful.

In all, police said there was a single arrest on a charge of aggravated
battery of a police officer. Another man was briefly taken into custody,
but he was released a short time later after being questioned by police, a
department spokesman said.

Michael Olstewski, a recent music school graduate who came to Chicago from
Atlanta, was one of hundreds of protesters who took to the streets Friday
for a spontaneous march. He said he would not rule out provoking police to
arrest him later "if I feel it's strategic and a powerful statement."

___

Associated Press writers Ryan Foley, Jason Keyser, Jim Suhr and Jeffrey
McMurray contributed to this report.

Far right arson against DIY bar in Yerevan, Armenia

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Sun, 20 May 2012 01:34:10 PDT

May 20, 2012 Avtonom

8th of May, 5:30 AM two neo-Nazi brothers, Ambik and Arame attacked club "D.I.Y" in Yerevan. They broke window of the door and threw bottles filled with flammable mixture. At first, fire brigade which arrived in minutes claimed fire was due to a short circuit, but CCTV camera of a shop next door fixed how a bald young man in a bomber jacket and combat boots with white shoelaces committed the attack.

9th of May 4:30 PM two Nazis were arrested, but they were soon released with a bail of one million dram (around 80 000 euros). Money for bail was donated by deputies of nationalist ARF (Dashnaktsyutyun) party (ironically, co-formed by anarchists 121 years ago), Artsvik Minasyan and Grayr Karapetyan. Now police is ignorant towards the investigation.

A bit about the club

D.I.Y. club is an unique phenomena in Armenia. It has small but comfortable premises, and is owned by Tsomak, who is singer of punk band Pintset, and her friend, human rights activist Lalu Aslikyan. Aslikyan told to Epress.am, that on Thursday around 5 PM, a group of four or five persons came to burned down club which is currently being repaired, and spat on her and threatened her not to reopen bar, and promised to burn it again in case it is reopened.

In social networks, supporters of the arsonist are accusing hosts of the bar for "propaganda of homosexuality", "destruction of Armenian identity" and "threatening national security", but all of this is a lie. Tsomak and her supporters are being threatened . There are groups in social networks with photos of Tsomak and her friends, with calls to "destroy and burn ones like them".

Deputy Minasyan, who bailed out the accused, told in an interview to Panorama.am website, that he is personally familiar with the young arsonists. "I consider them as normal guys, and police still has to find out to which extent they are a threat to society". To question if deputy has some position in regards to sexual minorities, he answered "For sure I have, but I would not like that to be the main argument against (the pub). In this case, I am certain that these young guys acted right - in context of our national ideology. It is another issue that damages they caused should be compensated.

Owner of the bar told journalists, that a group of 30-40 nationalists, to which suspected brothers belong, was threatening her since pub was opened in spring of 2011. Tsomak also refused clams, that D.I.Y. is a gay club - "We have different kinds of guests. I do not plan to put a gender detector or whatever on the door. Nobody has a right to infringe ones private life, and I do not plan to do that either".

In a press conference, writer Violet Grigoriyan condemned the attac. "Armenian people should be tolerant, because we were victims of a genocide just because we differ from Turkish. With this approach, they could go and burn home-museum of Sergey Paradzhanov, where homosexual art is exhibited. Our society should not accept a position, which refuses existence of other people.
Vanya Akopan, A.A.S.

"We must sustain hunger strike solidarity," says leading prisoner rights campaigner

noreply@blogger.com (Break the Chains) — Sun, 20 May 2012 01:30:38 PDT

18 May 2012 Nora Barrows-Friedman The Electronic Intifada

Israel agreed to restrict its use of administrative detention, one of the demands of the hunger strikers.
(Ryan Rodrick Beiler)

On Monday, nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners ended their historic mass hunger strike in Israeli jails, as prisoner representatives entered into an Egyptian-mediated agreement with Israeli prison officials.
As part of the agreement, Israel agreed to limit the use of administrative detention — indefinite imprisonment without charge or trial — and said it would ease years-long harsh restrictions on families, especially from the Gaza Strip, from visiting their loved ones in Israeli jails. Meanwhile, Palestinian human rights organizations press on with legal and political advocacy for Palestinian prisoners.

On Thursday, The Electronic Intifada’s Nora Barrows-Friedman interviewed Sahar Francis, director of Addameer, the Palestinian prisoner support and human rights organization. Addameer has been at the forefront of advocacy work and public information about the recent hunger strikes.
Nora Barrows-Friedman: First off, what did this mass hunger strike reveal about Israel’s policies against Palestinian prisoners and their families — policies that have been going on for decades inside and outside the prisons?

Sahar Francis: Actually, I think the hunger strikes highlighted the most problematic practices against the prisoners and their families. For example, solitary confinement for long periods as a punishment, like the case of Mahmoud Issa, who spent more than 10 years in isolation; the family visit restrictions and the total banning of families from Gaza since June 2007; the violations that these prisoners face on a daily basis under [harsh] conditions, like the health conditions, [restrictions on] education, the punishments that they face inside the prisons with different [justifications], as well as treatment of the families during visits — for example the strip searches that the families [have to go through] when they enter the prison to visit.

And of course the policies of administrative detention, the arbitrary detention without charge or trial for long periods — [challenging] this was one of the main demands in this hunger strike.
NBF: Talk about the five provisions that were agreed upon between representatives of the hunger strikers and the Israeli Prison Service. How would you assess the process of coming to that agreement, and now, just a few days later, what are some of the prisoners with whom Addameer works saying about the agreement?

SF: Actually the agreement was reached after a lot of pressure from the different sides, whether at the local level or the international level. And definitely at the end, I think it was the Egyptian mediation that made this happen [in a practical way] on the ground to agree on the five issues that were demanded by the prisoners. We should highlight that what was published by the Israeli officials was the commitment that the prisoners’ committee, the nine prisoners who represented all of the prisoners who were on hunger strike, signed in the name of the other prisoners.

And according to the report from the members of the prisoners’ committee, the Egyptians were reaching an agreement with the Israelis that first they should stop their hunger strike, and secondly that all people in [solitary confinement] would be taken out to the normal sections with the other Palestinian prisoners within 72 hours of signing the agreement. Thirdly, establishing a special committee within the IPS in order to check all the different conditions that prisoners were complaining about, and, of course, the Israelis [agreed] that within one month they would start again with all the family visits from Gaza and to solve the security problems that families from the West Bank were facing. Finally, there was the case of administrative detention.

And here actually there was an argument in the negotiation itself on the day they signed the agreement — the Israelis were claiming that it would just include the five prisoners who were in Ramle prison — the [longer-term] hunger strikers. The prisoners insisted, according to the Egyptian mediator, that no, it was about all the issue of administrative detention [as a whole], and actually what we were told by the prisoners is that the Egyptian mediator insisted that it include the administrative detention as such. … It means that the Israeli side would restrict the use of administrative detention to very high security cases and not in an arbitrary manner like they were using until today, and that the court would be more effective in its restriction of the extension of administrative detention in the future.

I think they will consider the position of the judge in the case of Bilal [Diab] and Thaer [Halahleh] in the high court, about [Israel’s use of] secret [evidence]: how to find a way with another lawyer besides the Palestinian lawyers who would usually represent the administrative detainees — maybe a lawyer from the state’s side who can review the secret files and can defend the detainees as well.
But it’s not yet clear — I don’t think that there will be a decision about this issue in the near future.

NBF: And, of course, we know that Israel has a long and entrenched history of not abiding by agreements, whether it’s international laws or agreements related to specific cases. How can you assess whether Israel is going to respect the agreements laid out this week related to the hunger strikes?

SF: Actually, the prisoners as well informed that the Egyptian side promised them that they will guarantee and follow the implementation of the agreement. It was reported today that the prisoners ended their isolation [in solitary confinement], and we got some information from families of the prisoners who were in isolation that they were moved into the [general prison population].
I think that the issue of isolation is going to be solved within this week — hopefully the family visits as well will be solved very soon. But, of course, it should always be monitored and followed very closely in order to get to be sure that they are really committing themselves to the agreement.
Today also we are aware that some of the prisoners have remained on their hunger strike. One prisoner is still on hunger strike because he is demanding prisoner of war status. He was transferred a couple of days ago to Jalameh detention center, and yesterday he was subjected to a physical attack from a policeman there. He’ s still on hunger strike, and he’s in [solitary confinement].
So we expect that some violations will take place, and this is why all the human rights NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] should be following this very closely.

NBF: What about the legal implications? What is being done to challenge Israel’s use of administrative detention, torture and interrogation? And could one of the effects of this mass hunger strike be that more will be done in the legal venue to challenge and eventually stop these practices?

SF: First, we should be aware that I don’t think it will affect much the use of torture and other methods that are used in interrogation or in the processes of arrest or trial, when they transfer the prisoners — because the agreement is not [related] to such specific issues. And this is why we have to keep following and working on the legal level with the case of the prisoners — the success in this hunger strike doesn’t mean that the problem of the Palestinian political prisoners has reached an end, and they would be now living in perfect conditions, no. As well, the changes with administrative detention — until we get to monitor it on the practical level, we have to wait and see how it would work.

For example, Bilal is supposed to be released in August. Thaer is supposed to be released in June. But the others, there are different dates for their releases. We should be following how the courts, and how the military governor — who are responsible for issuing such administrative detention orders — will react on this level.

I don’t believe that this is the end of the practice of administrative detention, but I think that a very good point here is that this hunger strike seriously highlighted Israel’s problematic issue of the practice of administrative detention so in the future we can keep up this pressure — especially from the UN and other international human rights organizations and political [strategies] on the practice of administrative detention. Almost everyone was condemning the way that Israel was using it, and saying that it contradicts international law and international standards. Although the Fourth Geneva Convention gives an option for the use of administrative detention, it’s very limited and very restricted, and there are guarantees for a fair trial procedure, which Israel violates.

This is why we were getting a lot of support this time during the hunger strikes on the issue of administrative detention.

NBF: This history-making hunger strike mobilized not just communities across Palestine but international solidarity groups as well. And the agreements to end the hunger strike came on the same day of the 64th anniversary of the Nakba. What are your thoughts on how can people around the world in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle keep the issue of Palestinian prisoners at the forefront of activism?

SF: I think that the Israelis were pressured and they wanted to end the hunger strike before Nakba Day [15 May]. This is why the agreement came in the night before the 15th, in order not to have all the attention in the activities on Nakba Day towards the issue of the prisoners — they were afraid that this would cause a lot more tension and activism especially in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip and on the international level.

But I think that the issue of the hunger strike showed that public activism and civil support that all the different groups were giving on the issue of the political prisoners shows that this should be a [sustained movement], and by such struggle we can succeed. This is why we should look at the prisoners’ issue as just one part of the whole — the settlements, the prisoners, the wall, the house demolitions, the checkpoints — all the different aspects of the occupation should be connected under such kind of civil resistance which includes boycott, divestment and sanctions, demonstrations, and other activities like we experienced in the last two months for the support of the hunger strikes.
Nora Barrows-Friedman is an associate editor for The Electronic Intifada.

BreaktheChains.info

Day of Action in Support of John Bowden Monday 11th June

Where's The Evidence?

Prisoners at Virginia’s Red Onion State Prison on hunger strike

Torture, Red Onion style

How you can help

Ten demands of ROSP hunger strikers

Interview with recently released Red Onion prisoner John ‘Mac’ Gaskins

Anarchist Simos Seisidis acquitted by court and due to be released tomorrow (May 29)

Athens – Solidarity Benefit Consert for the Revolutionary Struggle case

Athens Greece – EVENT FOR THE STRUGGLE AND THE REVOLUTION 7 – 8 JUNE 2012

Translated Act for freedom now/boubourAs

7 – 8 JUNE 2012

Pandio University,

Athens Sakis Karagiorgas Amphitheatre

EVENT FOR THE STRUGGLE AND THE REVOLUTION

THURSDAY JUNE 7TH: Armed movements in Europe and their history.

FRIDAY JUNE 8TH: The struggle today and the prospec t of the international social revolution as an answer to the systemic crisis.

SPEAKERS: 1. Brigitte Asdonk, Germany– Red Army Faction (RAF)

2. Andreas Vogel, Germany – June 2nd Movement

3. Bertrand Sassoye, Belgium- Combatant Communist Cells

4. Jean Weir, England

5. Jose Rodriguez, Spain

6. Comminsion for an International Red Help – Switzerland

7. Christos Tsigaridas, Greece – Revolutionary Popular Struggle

8. Pola Roupa, Greece – Member of Revolutionary Struggle

9. Nikos Maziotis, Greece – Member of Revolutionary Struggle

Assembly for the case of the Revolutionary Struggle

Footballer’s dad asks sports world to speak out for hunger-striking son as Israel violates prisoner deal

Sports community must not reward or be silent about Israeli abuses

Two prisoners still on hunger strike

Israel violating agreement that ended mass hunger strike

Attempt at force-feeding

Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh update

An Hour Before Release, Prisoner Transferred to Administrative Detention

Living In Two Cities: Tarif And Evelyn Warren

Oscar Lopez Rivera - Message for Anniversary of his arrest

Join common days of action for Alexey Sutuga, Alexey Olesinov and all repressed anti-fascists

Oakland Police Chief Confronted & Shut Down at Justice 4 Alan Blueford Townhall

Show Solidarity with VA Hunger Striking Prisoners

Take Action Today

New Grand Jury Subpoenas Related to UC-Santa Cruz Investigation

'Frequent and severe' sexual violence alleged at women's prison in Alabama

PP/POW Updates and Announcements - 22 May 2012

Stand With Pax

Urgent Call for Support: Red Onion State Prison Hunger Strikers in VA

2 in Israeli jail still on hunger strike

Entrapment of Cleveland 5 and NATO 3 is Nothing New

Exhibit highlights plight of Puerto Rican political prisoner

Miss. prison riot leaves guard dead, 8 hurt

Police use tear gas, smoke bombs after Molotov cocktails reportedly tossed

Attacks on Chicago police stations, Obama office were planned, prosecutors say

3 men charged with terror conspiracy ahead of NATO

Far right arson against DIY bar in Yerevan, Armenia

"We must sustain hunger strike solidarity," says leading prisoner rights campaigner

THURSDAY JUNE 7TH: Armed movements in Europe and
their history.

FRIDAY JUNE 8TH: The struggle today and the prospec
t of the international
social revolution as an answer to the systemic
crisis.

Assembly for the case of
the Revolutionary Struggle