Obama to Close Guantanamo and Overseas Prisons with A Year

Excellent news:

President Obama is expected to sign executive orders Thursday directing the Central Intelligence Agency to shut what remains of its network of secret prisons and ordering the closing of the Guantánamo detention camp within a year, government officials said.

From the New York Times here.

Congratulations, President Obama!

As many, I have great hopes pinned on the new U.S. administration.

AI is asking us to email the new president, urging him to close Guantanamo, issue an executive order to ban torture, and bring about an independent review on U.S. interrogation and detention practices. You can email Obama on AI's site here, or via president at whitehouse.gov.

My email is below.

Congratulations President Obama.

My name is Ole Koksvik. I am a Norwegian citizen, an Australian permanent resident, and a PhD student in philosophy at the Australian National University.

As many people around the world, I have high hopes to your administration. I have listened to your speeches, and I have believed that you are sincere. For me, that is rare. I believe you can bring to an end the previous US administration's seven-year assault on human rights in the 'war on terror'. I was heartened by your rejection of the choice between safety and ideals, and I took this as a reaffirmation of your conviction that human rights must not be sacrificed, for any reason.

As a member of Amnesty International I am calling on you to demonstrate your commitment to justice by announcing a timeline to close Guantanamo Bay, issuing an executive order to ban torture and other ill-treatment as defined under international law, and by ensuring an independent inquiry into the US's detention and interrogation practices in its "war on terror".

These are three key steps on Amnesty International's checklist for your first 100 days in office.

You can counter terror with justice. We are counting on you.

Thank you for considering our message.

Sincerely yours,

Ole Koksvik

Closure of Guantanamo

AI Australia is asking that we email the US president-elect Mr Barack Obama, and call on him to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. Read more here.

Australian citizens and residents can email the embassy, on usrsaustralia at state.gov. Others could either email their local embassy (find the details here), or use the contact form here.

My email is below.

Dear President-elect Obama,

My name is Ole Koksvik. I am a Norwegian citizen, an Australian permanent resident, and a PhD student at the Australian National University.

You have inspired and brought hope to millions around the world. A hope shared by many is that you will reverse the atrocious trend manifested under the Bush administration, of human and civil rights being subjected to summary approval or rejection by the executive power of the US.

Human rights may not be set aside when convenience or dire circumstance seems to demand it. They are inviolable. Using torture to defend what we hold dear destroys it instead.

You can bring to an end the previous administration's seven-year assault on human rights in the 'war on terror'.

I call on you to demonstrate your commitment to justice by:

* Announcing the timeline to close Guantanamo
* Issuing an executive order to ban torture and other ill-treatment as defined under international law
* Ensuring that an independent inquiry into the USA's detention and interrogation practices in its "war on terror" is set up
* Ensuring that an immediate review of Bush’s “signing statements” is carried out, and that commitment to separation of powers is reaffirmed and strengthened


You can counter terror with justice. We are counting on you.


Sincerely

Ole Koksvik

Mr Zuhair, Guantanamo Detainee on Hunger Strike

AMR 51/156/2008

This regards Mr Ahmed Zuhair. He has been on a hunger strike since mid-2005, and has been force fed since August that year. There is a significant concern for his health, according to his lawyer he has lost 1/4 of his body weight, and does now appear skeletal. He vomits often.

Despite not resisting treatment, he is being force fed in a restraint chair, a process which causes him very great pain. Mr Zuhair alleges that this process is being used as collective punishment.

Read the brief from AI for further details.

Please send appeals to the President of the USA, Mr Bush, on president at whitehouse.gov, and to the secretary of defence, Mr Gates, via fax +1 703 571 8951 or regular mail: US Secretary of Defence, 1000 Defense Pentagon, Washington DC 20301, USA. My letter to the president is below.

As always, send copies to your local embassy.

Dear Mr President,

My name is Ole Koksvik. I am a Norwegian citizen, an Australian permanent resident, and a PhD student at the Australian National University. I am writing to express my grave concern about the health of Guantánamo detainee Ahmed Zuhair.

It has come to my attention that Mr Zuhair is being force fed in a restraint chair, a process which is causing him very significant pain. There are indications that this practice is used as a form of collective punishment, and it is clear that the practice is unnecessary in the case of Mr Zuhair, who is not resisting the treatment. I therefore call for the immediate cessation of this method of feeding Mr Zuhair.

I welcome Judge Emmett Sullivan's order for an independent medical examination of Ahmed Zuhair, and I call on you to ensure that this examination is carried immediately, and that Mr Zuhair receives all necessary medical treatment. The treatment must always be carried out by medical personnel and in a gentle and humane fashion. It must never be carried out by guards, and never in a manner that produces suffering.

I also call for the immediate release of Mr Zuhair, unless he is immediately charged with recognizably criminal offences for trial in ordinary US federal court.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter, and for considering my concerns.

Sincerely,


Ole Koksvik

Gaza

AI in Australia are asking people to write to the Australian Foregin Minister Stephen Smith, urging him to do his utmost to influence the UN to put pressure on Israel and Hamas to obtain an immediate seize fire. Please go here to follow AI's request, or email him at stephen.smith.mp at aph.gov.au.

My letter is below.

Dear Minister,

I am writing to express my grave concern at the escalating conflict in the Gaza strip and Southern Israel.

I urge Australia to take all available measures to encourage the UN Security Council and the international community take firm and decisive action to halt the violence.

The Security Council has a key responsibility to help ensure that the parties to the conflict respect international human rights and humanitarian law. It is imperative that the Council urgently adopt a strong resolution condemning attacks against civilians by both Israel and Hamas and demanding that such attacks cease immediately.

Israel is the strongest party in this conflict, that much is obvious. Particular pressure must be put on Israel to end the completely disproportionate use of violence.

Israel's president Shimon Peres said that Hamas needs a "serious lesson" and that they are now getting it. It is, however, the innocent civilians on Gaza that are paying the price of this supposed lesson. That is unacceptable. Israel must seize the attacks that are killing civilians on a massive scale and in brutal ways.

The Security Council should also urge Israel to lift restrictions on the passage of humanitarian aid into Gaza - medicines, food, fuel and other necessities urgently required to alleviate civilian suffering - and to allow humanitarian and human rights workers and journalists unfettered access to Gaza.

Humanitarian workers and journalists have been barred from Gaza by the Israeli military since early November. Their presence is urgently required to independently assess humanitarian needs and report on the situation on the ground, including abuses of international law. Their exclusion is absolutely unacceptable, and Israel must be forced to let them in.

The Security Council should also consider the deployment of international monitors. Civilians on both sides continue to pay a heavy price, which might be alleviated if international monitors were to be deployed. Their functions should include verifying compliance with international law by both Israel and the Palestinian administration in Gaza.

Sincerely

Ole Koksvik

Forcible Return and Torture

This Urgent Action is about the extradition from Spain of the ethnic Chechen Murad Gasayev to the Russian Federation. There is grave risk of torture, other ill treatment and an unfair trial.

See the full information from Amnesty HERE.

Mr Gasayev has been denied asylum in Spain on the basis of information neither he, nor his lawyers, have ever seen. He is wanted by the Russian Federation in relation to an armed attack in the Republic of Ingushetia in 2004. He says that he has been detained and tortured in relation to this incident.

Amnesty writes:

In recent years the CPT [Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture] has taken the extraordinary step of publishing its damning reports on the problem of torture in Chechnya. ... The CPT ... is only authorized to make public statements when a country "fails to co-operate or refuses to improve the situation in the light of the Committee's recommendations." The fact the CPT has felt obliged to resort to a public statement three times ... indicates that the CPT considers Russia is failing to effectively tackle torture in Chechnya.

And:

The Russian human rights organisation Memorial has researched and documented the cases of several people convicted in connection with the June 2004 attack. Memorial has found evidence that during ... those suspected of involvement in the attack were tortured, and were denied a fair trial. Amnesty International has interviewed several people whose statements support these findings.

The below is an email I sent to Spain's minister for Justice, Mr Mariano Fernández Bermejo, via ministro at mju.es. I sent similar emails to the Vice President, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega via the contact form here (the email address I got from Amnesty bounced) and to Spain's ambassador to Australia, His Excellency Mr Carlos Sánchez de Boado y de la Válgoma, on emb.canberra at maec.es.

To:
Mariano Fernández Bermejo
Ministerio de Justicia
San Bernardo, 45
28015 Madrid, Spain

From:

Ole Koksvik
Welhavensv 4
3613 Kongsberg

Regarding the Extradition of Mr Murad Gasayev

Dear Sir,

My name is Ole Koksvik. I am a Norwegian citizen, a permanent resident of Australia, a PhD student at the Australian National University and a visiting researcher at the University of Oslo. Thank you for reading this letter and for considering my concerns.

It has come to my attention that mr Murad Gasayev, an ethnic Chechen and Russian national, is in immediate danger of extradition to the Russian Federation.

I urge you in the strongest possible terms not to extradite Mr Gasayev. He is at clear risk of an unfair trial, torture and other ill-treatment, the "diplomatic assurances" from the Russian Federation notwithstanding.

The Russian human rights organisation Memorial has found evidence that during the investigations by the investigation unit of the Directorate of the General Procuracy in the Southern Federal District, those suspected of involvement in the crime for which Mr Gasayev is wanted were tortured, and were denied a fair trial. Amnesty International has interviewed several people whose statements support these findings. The evidence is clear. Spain must not extradite Mr Gasayev.

I furthermore urge that you do not send Mr Gasayev to a third country, where he might also be at risk of extradition.

The forcible return of Gasayev to the Russian Federation would be a breach of Spain's obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Sincerely yours

Ole Koksvik

Death threats to members of the Embera Indigenous Community, Columbia

This Urgent Action relates to members (former or current leaders) of the the Embera Indigenous community, of the Bajo Atrato Camizba Indigenous reservation, in the municipality of Riosucio, in Columbia. They have received a written death threat, stating that they will be killed on December the 24th this year.

Full information from Amnesty here.

Amnesty writes:

The leaders have talked publicly about previous attacks on the Bajo Atrato Camizba Indigenous reservation. These attacks have been perpetrated by all parties involved in Colombia's internal armed conflict, including the security forces, paramilitary groups and guerrilla forces. The leaders' work has also included the defence and promotion of the Indigenous community's land rights, as the area is rich in natural resources, including minerals and oil, and is therefore in demand for the implementation of large-scale economic projects by private and public companies.
(My emphasis.)

There have also been previous threats, on November the 18th female relatives of two of the male leaders listed below were in a house when four armed men broke in, looking for the indigenous leaders. They were threatened with kidnapping if they did not reveal the whereabouts of the leaders.

The below letter is to the president, Señor Álvaro Uribe Vélez. I also wrote to the minister for the interior and justice and the national ombudsman for indigenous and ethnic groups. Copies to the National Indigenous Organisation and the Columbian Ambassadors to Norway and to Australia. Further below I have copied in the email I sent to the Columbian Ambassador to Australia, His Excellency Mr Diego Betancur, at embassyofcolombia at bigpond.com.

Señor Presidente Álvaro Uribe Vélez
Presidente de la República,
Palacio de Nariño,
Carrera 8 No.7-2, Bogotá, Colombia


Ole Koksvik
Welhavensv 4
3613 Kongsberg
NORWAY 18.12.2008


Dear President Uribe,

My name is Ole Koksvik. I am a Norwegian citizen, a permanent resident of Australia, and a PhD student at the Australian National University.

It has come to my attention that Julio Mecheche Manyoma, Aquileito Mecheche Barahona, Milciades Chamorro Marmolejo, Herminio Lana Guaseruca, Diomedes Rubiano, Eleciana Chajito, Iris Nayibi Cabrera and Morelia Marmolejo, members of the Embera Indigenous community of the Bajo Atrato Camizba, have received a death threat stating that they will be killed on 24 December this year.

I am writing to urge you to take effective action to protect these people, along with all other members of the Embera Indigenous community in Riosucio, Chocó Department, in the manner deemed appropriate by those under threat themselves.

I furthermore urge you to immediately ensure that a full and impartial investigation into the threats is carried out, and that the results of that investigation are made public, and the perpetrators brought to justice.

Finally, I urge you to see to it that immediate action is taken to dismantle paramilitary groups, in line with the stated commitments of the government and recommendations made by the UN and other intergovernmental organizations.

I thank you for taking the time to read this letter, and for considering these concerns.

Sincerely yours

Ole Koksvik

---------------------------------

To:
His Excellency Mr Diego Betancur
Ambassador
Embassy of the Republic of Colombia
Level 2, 161 London Circuit
Canberra ACT 2601


From
Ole Koksvik
4/56 Bandjalong Crescent
Aranda ACT 2614


Regarding Members of the Embera Indigenous community of the Bajo Atrato Camizba Indigenous reservation.


Dear Sir,

My name is Ole Koksvik, I am a Norwegian citizen, and a permanent resident of Australia, as well as a PhD student at the Australian National University.

Please find attached a letter I have sent to the President, Señor Álvaro Uribe Vélez. I sent similar letters to the Minister of Interior and Justice Señor Carlos Holguín Sardi and to the National Ombudsman for Indigenous and Ethnic Groups, Señor Horacio Guerrero. The letters relate to death threats against members of the Embera Indigenous Community. I urge you to read these letters, and to communicate to your government the grave concern I feel for the wellbeing of these people at your earliest opportunity.

I thank you very much for your time and consideration.

Let me end by apologising for not writing to you in Spanish. In 1998 I would have been able to do so properly, alas today I was afraid of not being able to properly express myself.

Sincerely yours


Ole Koksvik