ORGANIZATIONS & INDIVIDUALS ACROSS THE GLOBE JOIN HE GROUP FAST
AGAINST THE BLACK LAWS & FOR RELEASE OF Dr. BINAYAK SEN, AJAY TG & Ors.
PUCL Chhattisgarh Press Release:
17th June, 2008: Raipur (Chhattisgarh)
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (Chhattisgarh Unit) release a list of more than 70 organizations from about 25 states of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, UK, USA, and other nations who have endorsed the campaign for the release of defenders of human rights like Dr. Binayak Sen, Ajay T G, and Ors, who have been detained under the draconian law called The Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act 2005 and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act 1967 (Amended in 2004).
In a press release issued today, Adv Rajendra K Sail, President, CG-PUCL informed that the 10-day Group Fast began on 16th June, 2008 at Raipur around 2 pm to express solidarity with Dr. Binayak Sen (Medical Doctor), Ajay T G (Film Maker), both members of the PUCL, and many others detained under the draconian Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act 2005, and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (1967) amended in 2004.
Read more
Related posts
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.
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.
Related posts
PUCL CHALLENGES THE VIRES OF THE CHHATTISGARH BLACK LAW IN THE SUPREME COURT
Press Release:
PEOPLE’S UNION FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES–CHHATTISGARH
Raipur, May 17, 2008: (Saturday): The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has challenged the Constitutional validity of the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act 2005 in the Supreme Court of India. The Petition was filed on 14th May, 2008, the day Dr. Binayak Sen, its National Vice-President & State General Secretary of Chhattisgarh PUCL completed one year in prison, having been illegally detained under the provisions of this draconian law.
The Petition has been drafted by Former Chief Justice of Delhi, Sri Rajendar Sachar, Senior Advocate Sanjay Parikh and Adv Anita Shenoy. It may be recalled that the PUCL had also challenged the notorious Prevention Of Terrorism Act (POTA), which was later repealed by the Indian Parliament in 2004.
Related posts
Call to resist Silent Emergency!.. Global protests for Binayak Sen’s Release
PRESS RELEASE
14th May 2008
Hundreds of activists in India and across the world today called for the unconditional release of jailed pediatrician Dr Binayak Sen, dubbing his incarceration a gross miscarriage of justice and a shame to Indian democracy.
On the first anniversary of the arrest of the renowned health and human rights activist they also demanded the scrapping of the Chhattisgarh State Special Security Act, a draconian legislation under which Dr Sen was detained. The protestors quoted the recent statement signed by 22 Nobel Laureates that says the internal security law does not ‘comport with international human rights standards’.
Candlelight vigils, fasts, public meetings and rallies in support of Dr Sen’s release were held in cities like New York, London, Paris, Stockholm, New Delhi, Raipur, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Pune. Apart from rights activists large number medical professionals all over the world took part in the protests.
In New Delhi in a memo to the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh, the Committee for the Release of Dr Binayak Sen said that the trumped up charges of ‘treason’, and ‘abetting unlawful activities’ foisted on Dr Sen have so far not been backed up with any evidence. The judicial process initiated against him is only meant to harass him personally and intimidate all those working for human rights in Chattisgarh.
The memo said that the arrest of Chhattisgarh PUCL executive member and independent filmmaker Ajay TG on 5 May 2008 on similar flimsy and vague charges exposed the desperation of the Chhattisgarh government following its inability to substantiate charges against Dr Sen.
The Committee for the Release of Dr Binayak Sen has made the following demands to the Chhattisgarh government:
- Drop all charges against Dr Binayak Sen, release him unconditionally and pay compensation for the harassment and loss of liberty he has suffered due to his detention;
- Drop all charges against Ajay TG, who is being victimised by your government for being an active member of PUCL and supporting the release of Dr Sen;
- Scrap the Chattisgarh State Public Security Act that violates the basic principles of the Indian Constitution as well as internationally accepted norms of justice and rule of law;
- Stop encouraging all-out civil war in Chattisgarh in the name of ‘Salwa Judum’, which even the Supreme Court has indicated is unconstitutional and amounting to abetment of murder by the state.
- Ensure a just and honest governance that improves the lives of millions of desperately poor people in Chattisgarh
Activists supporting Dr Sen have vowed to continue their peaceful agitation for his release and also raise the issue of other political prisoners around India who have been detained under various undemocratic laws. They have called upon the people of India to resist the imposition of a silent Emergency on the country in the name of ‘national security’ and containing terrorism.
For further information contact:
- Sreerekha Ph: 9868120339
- Satya Sivararaman Ph: 9818514952
- Kavita Srivastava Ph: 09351562965
Visit: www.binayaksen.net and www.freebinayaksen.org and www.pudr.org for more details
Related posts
Nobel Winners call for release of Dr Binayak Sen
Global protests on first anniversary of arrest
PRESS RELEASE
12 May 2008
In an unprecedented move twenty-two Nobel Prize winning scientists and economists have appealed to the Indian government to release the jailed paediatrician and humanitarian activist Dr Binayak Sen enabling him to go and receive the 2008 Jonathan Mann Award for Health and Human Rights in Washington later this month.
Dr Sen, who is the first south Asian to be selected for the prestigious award, was arrested under the Chattisgarh State Public Security Act last year on false charges of ‘supporting’ unlawful activities of an armed underground movement. There is no evidence to prove these charges however and it is widely believed that Dr Sen is being victimised for his human rights work and exposure of violations carried out by police and the state-sponsored militia called Salwa Judum in Chattisgarh.
“While the judicial process involving our professional colleague moves forward, we respectfully request that Dr. Sen be freed from incarceration on humanitarian grounds to receive his award and to continue his important medical work” says the letter from the Nobel Prize winners, dated 9 May and addressed to a host of top Indian officials including Smt. Pratibha Patil, President of India, Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister and Dr Raman Singh, Chief Minister of Chattisgarh.
Signatories to the letter include 9 Nobel Laureates in Physiology or Medicine, 9 in Chemistry, 2 in Physics and 2 in Economics. These luminaries are John Polanyi (Chemistry 1986), Francois Jacob (Medicine 1965), Roger Guillemin (Medicine 1977), Charles Townes (Physics 1964), John Polanyi (Chemistry 1986) Peter Agre (Chemistry 2003,) Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (Physics 1997), Robert Curl (Chemistry1996), Johann Diesenhofer (Chemistry 1988), Paul Greengard (Physiology or Medicine 2000), Eric Kandel (Physiology or Medicine 2000), Sir Harald Kroto (Chemistry 1996), Yuan T. Lee (Chemistry 1986), Craig C. Mello( Physiology or Mediicne 2006), F. Sherwood Rwoland (Chemistry 1995), Jens C. Skou (Chemistry 1997), PHILLIP A. SHARP (Physiology or Medicine 1993, HAROLD VARMUS (Physiology or Medicine 1989), SIR JOHN E. WALKER (Chemistry 1997), TORSTEN WIESEL (Physiology or Medicine 1981) and the world-renowned economists Kenneth J. Arrow (Economics 1972) Finn Kydland (Economics 2004).
The Nobel Prize winners statement also raises concerns that Dr. Sen appears to be incarcerated solely for peacefully exercising his fundamental human rights, in contravention of Articles 19 (freedom of opinion and expression) and 22 (freedom of association) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights—to which India is a state party. Further it says “…he is charged under two internal security laws that do not comport with international human rights standards.”
This is not the first time that prominent intellectuals from around the world have appealed for the release of Dr Binayak Sen, an outstanding humanitarian physician who has spent over three decades in the service of rural and tribal communities in Chattisgarh. In a statement last month Dr. Nils Dulaire, President of the Global Health Council, which selected Dr Sen for the Jonathan Mann Award said “We believe, however, that allowing Dr. Sen to attend the award’s ceremony would send a strong signal internationally that would help to restore faith that India and its states are indeed committed to fairly addressing this and other cases related to civil conflicts and civil liberties”
However the coming together of twenty-two Nobel Prize winners in support of a political prisoner in India is unprecedented and speaks volumes of the admiration evoked by Dr Sen among his global peers.
“It provides clear evidence of the level of concern that Binayak’s case has engendered around the world,” said Dr Ilina Sen, wife of Dr Binayak Sen, herself a well-known scholar and rights activist.
In the meanwhile on 14 May, 2008, the first anniversary of Dr Sen’s arrest, hundreds of people across the globe are planning to stage demonstrations, hold vigils and organise public meetings demanding his immediate release.
Apart from cities like New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Mumbai in India protests are also planned in ten North American and three European cities including New York, Toronto, London, Paris and Stockholm. Most of these protests, organised by members of the Indian diaspora along with global activist groups, will be staged outside Indian embassies and consulates in these cities.
All told, the international attention proves, as was noted in the Global Health Council’s statement of support, that the “world is watching” to see whether India will maintain its proud democratic tradition.
Download Nobel Winners Statement
For further information contact:
- Satya Sivaraman, New Delhi Ph: +91–9818514952
- Dr P.Zachariah, Vellore Ph: +91-9442607116
- Dr Rakhal, Chennai Ph: +91- 9940246089
- Dr Punyabrata Gun, Kolkata Ph: +91-9830922194
- Dr Abhay Shukla, Pune Ph: +91-9422317515
- Somu Kumar, US somukumar@gmail.com
- Shalini Gera, US shalinigera@yahoo.com
- Kalpana Wilson, London sasg@southasiasolidarity.org
VISIT: WWW.BINAYAKSEN.NET AND WWW.FREEBINAYAKSEN.ORG
Download Nobel Winners Statement
Related posts
-
Gallery
From freebinayaksen.org- Chief of Police of Indian State under Fire for Human Rights Record at Berkeley Conference
- Letter by concerned academics to the Director-General of Police, Chhattisgarh
- Scrap Salwa Judum : Brigandry in the name of self-defence
- UPDATE On Dr. Binayak Sen’s TRIAL (15 Sep 2008)
- The Right to a Fair Trial Compromised in the Name of Security: The Case of Dr. Binayak Sen
- Updates from Google News
- Chhattisgarh DGP under Fire for Human Rights Record at Berkeley ... - MyNews.in
- BINAYAK SEN - ZNet
- Dada (Original version - English) - MediaPart
- Spiritual guru offers to mediate between government, Maoists - Fresh News
- Community to protest Indian police official's participation in UC ... - World Sikh News
- Living to tell the tale of Tyranny - Express Buzz
- Reports From Indian Media
- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.