Webcasts: UN CAT Reviews USA on DP and More

By: UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) GENEVA, Nov. 6, 2014 - The UN Committee against Torture is due to review the USA on 12 and 13 November in sessions that will be webcast live.

The USA is one of the 156 States parties to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and is required to undergo regular examinations of its record before the Committee of 10 independent experts. The Committee will engage in a dialogue with the US government delegation and also hear from NGOs.

Public sessions: 10:00-12:00 (04:00-06:00 EST) on 12 November, 15:00-18:00 (09:00-12:00 EST) on 13 November
Venue: Room XVII, Palais des Nations, Geneva - Live webcast: 

http://www.treatybodywebcast.org/

Among the possible issues to be discussed: extraterritorial application of the Convention; CIA’s secret detention, extraordinary rendition and interrogation programme; Guantanamo Bay detainees held indefinitely without charge or trial; investigation and prosecution of those responsible for torture or ill-treatment of detainees; immigration enforcement abuses; death penalty, alleged administration of untested lethal drugs; police brutality; prolonged solitary confinement; protection of prisoners against violence; sexual violence in US military.

Further information and the USA’s report are available at: 

http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=930&Lang=en

The Committee will publish its concluding observations here on Friday 28 November.
A news conference is scheduled for Friday 28 November at 14:00 at Palais des Nations in Geneva when the Committee will discuss its concluding observations on the USA and the other countries being reviewed – Sweden, Ukraine, Venezuela, Australia, Burundi, Croatia, and Kazakhstan.

To learn more about the Committee against Torture, please visit: 

http://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/cat/pages/catindex.aspx

You are invited watch the webcasts and discuss them during broadcasts on "Human Rights Demand" channel at Blogtalkradio on Nov. 12 and 13 (the time will be announced here). The Davis-MacPhail Truth Committee is interested in solitary confinement, capital punishment, prisoner rape, and other tortures. Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill ("AIMI") is especially interested in the executions of persons with mental illness and low I.Q. scores. AIMI plans an action in International Court in 2015 involving up to 100 claimants of (i) persons with mental illness and/or drug/alcohol addictions, and (ii) people who were victimized by mentally ill people and/or drug/alcohol addicts who were denied timely, appropriate treatment. We seek restitution for and/or relief from police brutality, prison torture, long-term homelessness, and other discrimination against mentally disabled people in the USA. Visit the blog AIMI-HumanRights for more information at

http://AIMI-HumanRights.blogspot.com

Four url links and three photographs are on this web page.

***********"
Continue to fight this fight" ~Troy Anthony Davis

Anti-DP message by Mary Neal, director of

~Davis/MacPhail Truth Committee

~Dog Justice for Mentally Ill

~Human Rights for Prisoners March

~Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill ("AIMI")

MaryLovesJustice@gmail.com

Fed and State Employees Support NCADP

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty CFC # is:  11946

Dear Mary,

If you are an employee of our federal or state government, you can stand up as part of the 90 million strong and show your support for an end to the death penalty by contributing to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty using payroll deduction through the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC)? Be sure to use the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty's CFC number (11946) when you sign up, and your tax-deductible donation will be automatically deducted from your paycheck.  It's that easy!  

Committing to support the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty through your CFC designation is one of the best ways you can help in our struggle to end the death penalty. And it's an easy way that you can show that the 90 million strong includes people who serve our country daily.

Remember to use CFC number (11946) to help us abolish the death penalty once and for all.  Thank you for standing with us.

Sincerely,

Diann Rust-Tierney
Executive Director

P.S. Designating CFC number (11946) with your charitable contribution will enable the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty to engage the millions of Americans who believe the death penalty is unfair. It is time to take a stand and end the death penalty once and for all. Please also consider an extra one-time contribution to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty at this time.

******

"Continue to fight this fight" ~Troy Anthony Davis

Anti-DP message by Mary Neal, director of

~Davis/MacPhail Truth Committee

~Dog Justice for Mentally Ill

~Human Rights for Prisoners March

~Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill ("AIMI")

DP with Mystery Drugs Resumes

Dear Friends,

It happened again. Last night, the state of Missouri put to death Earl Ringo, Jr., despite concerns about the role that race played in determining his death sentence and despite an outpouring of pleas to Missouri Governor Jay Nixon from people of faith, civil rights leaders and activists to halt the execution. This execution, like so many others, took place under a cloud of secrecy with Department of Corrections officials dissembling about when and whether they were using or would use Midazolam, the drug that has been at the center of controversy in the recent spate of botched and horrific executions.

I learned for the first time last Wednesday that DOC officials in Missouri administer Midazolam to prisoners before the execution actually “begins.” They claim that this procedure is consistent with the practice of offering the condemned prisoner a sedative to calm nerves before the execution.

But lawyers for Earl Ringo point out that Midazolam is not the drug normally prescribed as a sedative for nerves and the amount administered prior to the start of an execution is far more than the dosage that would be consistent with a simple ‘calming effect.’

It’s sophistry at best and government at its worst.

We are disappointed that Governor Nixon did not take full responsibility for ensuring that the death penalty system in Missouri operates in a manner that is free of racial bias and discrimination, and that Earl Ringo’s death sentence in particular was not the product of racial bias.

But here is what we are proud of: We are proud of and grateful for the legal team that was courageous, resourceful and compassionate in their efforts to save Mr. Ringo’s life.

We are proud of Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and our allies in the NAACP, ACLU of Missouri, the Catholic Conference and others, and hundreds of volunteers who wrote letters, called, worked and prayed, and organized vigils to make their concerns known to Governor Nixon.

We are proud of the national coalition of organizations and leaders that came together to send a joint statement to Governor Nixon urging him to be reasonable and not go forward with this execution, given so many unanswered questions concerning the racial bias in his case.

We joined with the NAACP, the National Action Network, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice, The Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Racial Justice, Hip Hop Caucus, Dr. Virgil Wood, and Reverend McBride, Director of Urban Strategies, Live Free Campaign, PICO National Network.

Unfortunately, Governor Nixon did not heed our request. We do believe in accountability.

Please contact Governor Nixon to express your deep disappointment with his failure to stop Earl Ringo’s execution. Ask him to halt all executions from now on.

Act with us. We are 90 Million Strong!

Peace,
Diann Rust-Tierney
Executive Director
admin-info@ncadp.org

p.s. Texas is set to execute Willie Trottie later today. Please contact your friends and families in Texas and urge them to make their voices hear

OK Plans Double Lynching April 29; Botched Execution

Update: *Condemned black man tortured with mystery drugs in Oklahoma's death chamber.* Second execution that was planned for April 29 was postponed. "Lockett was writhing on the gurney and shaking uncontrollably . . . Robert Patton, the director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, halted Lockett's execution about 20 minutes after the first drug was administered." Lockett died later of heart failure.
http://www.wfmj.com/story/25382850/okla-halts-execution-after-botching-drug-delivery

Rather than stopping after 20 minutes, according to an AP reporter in a story by NPR, it was stopped after 34 minutes. 

"According to the AP reporter on the scene, about 34 minutes after the execution was scheduled to begin, Lockett was still conscious.

"He was lifting [his] head at [7:39 p.m. ET.] and he was still alive and DOC closed [the] curtain and stopped it," Cary Aspinwall tweets.

At 8:06 p.m. ET., more than an hour after the execution was scheduled to begin, Lockett died of a massive heart attack.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/04/29/308081252/oklahoma-poised-to-use-new-drug-mixture-in-double-execution

This is the worst slaughter since the Tulsa Wall Street Riot in 1921.  An estimated 10,000 blacks were left homeless, and 35 city blocks composed of 1,256 residences were destroyed by fire. Estimates of black fatalities have been up to about 300. (Wikipedia)

This photo combo of images provided by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections shows Clayton Lockett, left, and Charles Warner. Lockett and Warner, two death-row inmates who want to know the source of drugs that will be used to execute them, have placed Oklahoma’s two highest courts at odds and prompted aggravated members of the Legislature to call for the impeachment of Oklahoma Supreme Court justices.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/After-court-drama-Oklahoma-to-have-2-executions-5426209.php 

Message from National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Tomorrow (April 29, 2014), the state of Oklahoma is set to carry out the first double execution in nearly 80 years. Charles Warner and Clayton Lockett are scheduled to be executed despite an extended legal and political tussle around the constitutionality of the state’s lethal injection procedure that still has not been adequately resolved. 

If this news leaves you feeling as outraged as I feel, I encourage you to make your voice heard and share why you believe the death penalty is wrong. Only by speaking out will we be able to demonstrate the size and diversity of the community of people who believe the death penalty is wrong.

This case has changed rapidly over the past week, so in case you’re behind, here’s a quick refresher on how things have unfolded in Oklahoma:

~Oklahoma Courts originally issued stays of execution for the condemned prisoners, overriding the State’s position that it could keep the drugs and their source a secret from the prisoners and the public.
~Lawmakers in Oklahoma responded by seeking to impeach five members of the State Supreme Court.
~Governor Fallin issued an Executive Order to override the Supreme Court ruling.
Fallin’s actions became moot when the Court reversed itself and lifted the stay.
~The effort to impeach the Oklahoma Justices continues.

What we see here is an attachment to the death penalty that has moved to the extreme. Basic principles of good government including government transparency and public accountability, let alone the Constitution, have been trampled underfoot.

Ironically, these desperate and disturbing attempts to maintain the death penalty in Oklahoma may well be its undoing.

As more people confront the ugly reality of this practice, more will be moved to stand up and get involved. 90 million Americans believe that the death penalty is wrong, unfair and must end. They’re energized, they’re engaged, and they’re ready to put an end to the death penalty, sooner rather than later.

Are you one of the 90 million strong who believes the death penalty is wrong? Join us. Share your story today at NCADP.tumblr.com.

Sincerely,
Diann Rust-Tierney
Executive Director

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
(link to NCADP at Facebook)

Paragraph 1 repeated: Update: *Condemned black man tortured with mystery drugs in Oklahoma's death chamber.* Second execution that was planned for April 29 was postponed. "Lockett was writhing on the gurney and shaking uncontrollably . . . Robert Patton, the director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, halted Lockett's execution about 20 minutes after the first drug was administered." Lockett died later of heart failure.
http://www.wfmj.com/story/25382850/okla-halts-execution-after-botching-drug-delivery

Published as a public service by
Mary Neal, director of
~Davis/MacPhail Truth Committee
~Dog Justice for Mentally Ill

~Human Rights for Prisoners March
~Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill

SUPPORT THE

CNN Death Row Stories Documentaries

On Sunday, March 9th, CNN will premiere its original series Death Row Stories, described by CNN as:

Death Row Stories is a series of one-hour documentaries. Each episode attempts to unravel the truth behind a different capital murder case. Executive produced by Alex Gibney and Robert Redford and narrated by Susan Sarandon, these stories call into question various beliefs surrounding America's justice system and the death penalty.

Director Alex Gibney said, “The series provides stark examples of the struggle between the powerful and the powerless.  The stakes – life or death – couldn’t be higher.”

We see this as more evidence of a change in the debate around capital punishment and a shift away from this practice. Will you help us get the word out to your networks and ask everyone you know to watch it?

NCADP staff will be watching and tweeting about the show using the hastags #deathrowstories and #90millionstrong. Please watch and tweet your comments too!

We encourage you to host a watch party either virtually or at your home. Send us a picture if you do, and we will post it!

We also encourage you to post your reflection and a summary of the episode on Facebook to share with your network. Be sure to tag us so we can share your post!

The momentum away from the death penalty is undeniable! This is not the type of thing that we would have expected to see seven years ago, but with more states taking a closer look at the practice and concluding that it is unworkable it is certainly timely.

Death Row Stories will screen every Sunday for five weeks starting this Sunday, March 9th at 9pm ET/PT. Be a part of the conversation!

Here are two other easy ways you can plug into the growing national dialogue about the flaws and failure of the death penalty:

1. Express why you are among the 90 million Americans who believe the death penalty is wrong by posting your statement to our Tumblr page if you have not done so already.
2. Contact friends and family in New Hampshire! The state House of Representatives is set to debate and vote on a death penalty repeal bill onWednesday, March 12th. Please tell people you know in New Hampshire to contact their representatives today to express their support for ending the death penalty.

We look forward to hearing from you!
Anita

Anita Grabowski
Communications Director
National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty