Minutes for April 2021 meeting

Wednesday, 21 April 2021 (via Zoom)

In attendance: Jeff, Barbara, Bob, Bill, Frank, Tilo, Struan, Marsha

Welcome and Introductions

Updates

• Barb gave a report on AIUSA's April 19 webinar on the recent release of its annual report "Death Sentences and Executions 2020" (report overview; complete report)
• Worldwide executions were down 26% (483 in 2020 versus 657 in 2019) during the pandemic
• The five countries that execute the most people are (in descending over) China, Iran, Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia
• At the end of 2020, over 28,000 people were known to be on death row globally
• The USA is the only country in the Americas to carry out executions in 2020
• AIUSA will soon be launching a campaign for clemency for Rocky Myers
• He has been on death row in Alabama for 26 years
• He is a Black man who was convicted by an all-white jury of the murder of a white woman
• The jury handed down a sentence of life in prison, but the judge overrode them (an action that is no longer allowed by state law)
• [NOTE: AIUSA has not yet published information about this online. Additional details are available from the ACLU page on this case.]

Film Recommendations

• Jeff: Nasrin, a 2020 documentary film about Nasrin Sotoudeh.
• From the IMDB listing: "An immersive portrait of one of the world's most courageous human rights activists and political prisoners, Nasrin Sotoudeh, and of Iran's remarkably resilient women's rights movement."
• Currently streaking (for a fee) at https://www.nasrinfilm.com/. 
• Barbara and Bob: The Mauritanian, a 2021 film about Mohamedou Ould Slahi
• Based on Slahi's 2015 memoir Guantánamo Diary
• Slahi was imprisoned in Guantánamo Bay by the U.S. government for 14 years without charge

Actions

• "Journalists Must Be Released Immediately" (Iraq: UA 28/21)
• "Assistant Judge Risks Double Prosecution" (Iraq: UA 10/20)
• "Four Bahraini Minors Tried as Adults" (Bahrain: UA 30/21)
• "Health of Death Row Prisoner in Sharp Decline" (Pakistan: UA 27/21)-->There are updates to this case; Bill will send out a new letter.
• "Activist Detained for Reporting Torture" (China: UA 31/21)

Other News

• Hoping for an update from Marksen next time
• He was going to meet with the AIUSA area expert on Algeria
• Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylie (MAK)
• Amnesty does not usually get involved in self-determination cases except where there are freedom of speech issues
• Thoughts about the verdict in the Derek Chauvin murder case

Next meeting (online): Wednesday, 19 May 2021, 7:30 p.m.