Non-Resident Indians (NRI) fast to demand release of Dr Binayak Sen

American Chronicle
Bobby Ramakant
June 24, 2008

Many concerned Indians in the USA, UK, Canada, UK, Australia, Thailand and other countries are fasting from 16 - 25 June 2008 along with hundreds of activists in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, demanding the annulment of the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CSPSA) 2005, and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) 1967, amended in 2004, and the release of Dr Binayak Sen (medical doctor and recipient of the prestigious Jonathan Mann award for Health and Human Rights), Ajay TG (filmmaker) and others.

These draconian laws (CSPSA and UAPA) sanction the violation of due process by the state, and thus contravene internationally accepted norms of jurisprudence as well as democratic governance. As Mr.Kannabiran, National President of PUCL, India, argues in his letter to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the CSPSA and UAPA operate by criminalizing the very performance of civil liberties activities, and culpability is decided upon not by direct proof, but through guilt by association.
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June 25, 2008 | Filed Under Press Reports | Leave a Comment 

Ten-day fast in protest against the black laws & for immediate release of dr. Binayak Sen, Ajay TG & Others (16th to 25th June, 2008)

AN APPEAL TO JOIN
June 1, 2008

Dear Friend,
Greetings from CG PUCL!

This is to share with you AN APPEAL TO JOIN TEN-DAY FAST IN PROTEST AGAINST THE BLACK LAWS & FOR RELEASE OF Dr. BINAYAK SEN, AJAY TG & Ors. (16th to 25th June, 2008).

The enclosed APPEAL is self-explanatory. So far, Sandeep Pandey ( Magasasay Award Winner), and Com. Prem Narain Verma (CMM Activist and President of Rajnandgaon Kapda Mill Mazdoor Sangh) have made a commitment to sit for full 10 days of Fasting.

You are requested to kindly consider:
a) Endorsing The Appeal;
b) Join the Group Fasting either for full 10 days, or any of the days according to your convenience.

We are planning to make public this announcement on 8th June 2008, preferably at a Press Conference at Raipur and New Delhi, etc. Thus, your response must reach us by 7th June 2008.

The Invitation & details of the National Convention on State Repression & Black Laws in India (June 25 & 26, 2008) will be shared later! However, it would be helpful to get confirmation for your participation by 7th June, 2008, so that we could arrange accordingly. Read more

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June 4, 2008 | Filed Under Protests | Leave a Comment 

International Federation of Health and Human Rights Organisations calls for immediate release of human rights activist Binayak Sen

Following the lead of other organisations worldwide, International Federation of Health and Human Rights Organisations sent a letter to a number of government officials in India to urge them to release Mr Binayak Sen, a medical doctor and human rights activist who has been in custody for over a year. Essential in the work of IFHHRO and its members is the defence of health professionals such as Dr Sen, who are promoting the implementation of the Right to Health and who are threatened by State agencies because they are exactly doing what their profession and international law expects them to do.

The letter urges the authorities to release Dr Sen immediately, to start an inquiry into his unlawful arrest and detention, and to ensure that redress will take place. IFHHRO also calls on national and international organisations of health professionals such as the Indian Medical Association and the World Medical Association to protest against the detention of Dr Sen and insist on his immediate release, as well as on international human rights organisations to join actions against the detention of Dr Sen.

Download Letter (as pdf)

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June 1, 2008 | Filed Under Press Release, statements | Leave a Comment 

One more Nobel Winner calls for the Immediate Release of Dr. Sen

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dr. Binayak Sen, in Custody in India, Unable to Travel to U.S. to Accept Prestigious Human Rights Award

Physicians for Human Rights Calls for the Immediate Release of Dr. Sen

Media Contacts::
Nathaniel Raymond
nraymond@phrusa.org
Tel: (617) 301-4232
Cell: (617) 413-6407

May 14th, 2008 marked the First Anniversary of the arrest and detention of Dr. Binayak Sen, a physician and human rights activist detained by Indian Authorities for his alleged involvement with prisoners who are a part of the banned Communist Party. Dr. Sen, a pediatrician who has dedicated his life to the service of the poor and underprivileged in India has been imprisoned in Raipur, Chhattisgarh for nearly one year. His trial began on April 30th of this year. Informed observers believe that the arrest of Dr. Sen is an effort by the authorities to intimidate advocates for human rights, especially those of the poor, including marginalized tribal populations in India.

dr-sen-small One more Nobel Winner calls for the Immediate Release of Dr. Sen

The Global Health Council announced on April 21st that Dr. Sen is the winner of the 2008 Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights. Leaders in the fields of health and human rights including Global Health Council President and CEO Nils Daulaire, Jim Yong Kim of Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health, as well as PHR’s CEO Frank Donaghue signed a letter to Indian officials supporting the release of Dr. Sen to travel to Washington, DC to receive the award in person on May 29th, 2008.

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May 23, 2008 | Filed Under Press Release, statements | Leave a Comment 

Binayak Sen’s wife to collect his award

DNA India

Ilina Sen says it’s been difficult to cope since her activist husband was jailed. But friends and civil liberties groups have helped

MUMBAI: If Ilina Sen is all smiles, it could be because she has just got a visa to America to collect an award that is being given to her husband Binayak Sen — the prestigious Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights. The reason her husband can’t be at the ceremony in Washington DC on May 29 is that for the past year Sen has been in a jail in Chhatisgarh.

“I wasn’t sure about the visa, but the US Consul General was very sympathetic,” a relieved Sen, who is in Mumbai now, told DNA. She will be travelling next week with her two young daughters. Although the circumstances of Binayak Sen’s arrest have compelled 22 Nobel Laureates to write to the government of India to free him, apart from some hectic civil liberties activity in India in the world, large parts of urban India seem unaware of him or the problem.

The reason is not far to seek. The government of Chhatisgarh has presented Sen as a Naxalite supporter — but without any evidence or acknowledgment of the basic rules of jurisprudence.

Says Ilina Sen: “Both Binayak and I have spoken against violence. But the crux of the matter in these areas is underdevelopment and the violence of underdevelopment. In 60 years of Independence, we have not managed to give Adivasis food or livelihood and now their lands are being taken away.”

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May 19, 2008 | Filed Under Press Reports | Leave a Comment 

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