Open Meeting Summary – January 2022

Norwich Amnesty Open Meetings

Due to the current advice and restrictions the January Open Meeting has been cancelled   This is a brief summary of what we would have discussed at the meeting  and actions  that can be taken.
A decision on whether to hold an open meeting in February will be taken in early Feb but cancelation is likely. However an Open Meeting will take place on Wedneday 16th  March  at 7.30 pm at the new bookshop in St Benedict’s St and will be our 2022 Annual General Meeting. We hope that you will be able to attend

News from Amnesty UK

New regional post

AIUK have advertised the new post of Regional Activism  Representative. This replaces the  former regional rep posts. We hope that a representative will have been appointed by our AGM in March.

Actions and letter writing by the Group

North Africa cases

The Norwich group continues to support the Amnesty North Africa region by working on cases mainly in Egypt ,and cases in Tunisia and Morocco. The North Africa Regional Newsletter for Jan 22  has been received and has information about 9 cases  some of which we have been working on and with some good news about Aser Mohamed. See  below?

The newsletter also had an item about our group at the Norwich Peace Camp last year.

Norwich Group: Action for peace and rights

Thank you to all of you who take action regarding the many urgent actions we send out. The Norwich group at an annual Peace Camp (a forum for local causes concentrating on the issues of peace and rights) held in the city on Saturday 25th September, focussed on urgent actions for Tunisian, Yassine Ayari and Egyptians Zyad el-Elaimy, Hassan Moanis and Hisham Fouad.

The Lord Mayor pictured, signed letters for the above and 30 letters in all were signed for each case.

Omar Radi Imprisoned Morroccan Journalist

We indicated that we were interested in taking on this case. We have now received the case file from AIUK and having reviewed it the committee have decided that we do not have the resources to take this case on at present and will return the case file We will be able to support the case, which is also being taken on by other Amnesty groups, by responding to Urgent Actions on the case and which we will receive from AIUK.

Sultana Khayer Morrocco / Western Sahara Human  Rights  Activist  raped by Moroccan security forces

A sample Urgent Action letter was included in the December Summary  on this horrific case and we will respond  to any further UA requests.

Ibrahim Ezz el-Din  Egyptian  rights  activist

An extract from the North Africa regional Newsletter is attached as an appendix and contains background information and  a model letter about the case which you may wish to use.

Amnesty Children’s Human Rights Network

The Norwich Group supports a variety of actions for individuals including an ongoing action for Aser Mahomed who was arrested when 14 years old and imprisoned in 2019 following a confession extracted under torture.

Aser Mohamed  Acquitted

Aser’s lawyer filed a cassation request to the criminal court at the end of 2019 and after much delay this was heard on 2nd January 2022 .   Norwich and many groups  from the UK, France, Belgium, USA and Germany  pressed the authorities in Egypt about the case   I am pleased to report that he was acquitted of all the charges  He is yet to be released and Amnesty is not making a public statement until his release is confirmed.

Kashmir

Norwich put forward a resolution at the 2020 AGM on the human rights situation in Indian administered Kashmir which was approved and passed to the International Secretariat who have to approve any international campaign. The IS were unable take any action, partly because the AI India office had been closed by the government. It is now being reopened
Also a UK activist led campaign is being planned by an Amnesty group based in Birmingham  and which has been approved by AIUK and awaits formal approval by the AI International Secretariat. We are awaiting information about how the Norwich group might be able to contribute.

Norwich Amnesty 50th anniversary

The Norwich group was founded in1972. Publicity in local media, a celebration and other activities are being considered  by the committee.   More information to follow.  Any photographs  or leaflets or other memorabilia about the early days of the group  and the people involved would be most helpful. We hope to make this both a celebration  of the work of the group and to attract new supporters.

Write for Rights
11 December 2021 St Peter Mancroft

A very successful day in spite of the shorter time we had available. St Peter Mancroft were very welcoming as usual. The Vicar and Assistant Priest turned up as did the Lord Mayor.
We wrote 61 cards/ letters and £73.60 was donated to postage costs.

Other Matters

Amnesty Christmas cards

These have done well with a total income  of  nearly £1200 from cards sold  and the profit will boost our funds.

Amnesty Bookshop in St Benedict’s Street

As noted above the  next Open Meeting and our AGM in March will be held in the bookshop which the manager hopes will be a venue for other activities such as bookclubs and talks.

Quiz  and Dips

We hope to restart this popular fundraising event  in the spring  Date to be announced.

New Group Secretary

The Norwich Committee is pleased to welcome a new member who has taken over the vacant role of Group Secretary. This will allow us to improve our communications  with members and supporters by developing our website and social media including starting an Instagram account and making more use of Twitter.

Stop the Nationality and Borders Bill – Day of Action

Amnesty UK is campaigning against this Bill including the recently added Clause 9 which gives the government the power to remove a person’s citizenship without notice or appeal.

A range of local activist groups are planning a Day of Action against the Bill, starting at City Hall  at 1pm  on  Saturday the 5th February. Amnesty members and supporters may wish to attend as individuals and more information should be reviewed on the organiser’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/events/4869620579768213

We hope that you find this summary useful. Please contact us if you need more information or have comments.

David Bissonnet
Chair Norwich Amnesty on behalf of the committee

Open Meeting Summary – December 2021

Due to the current advice and restrictions the December Open Meeting has been cancelled.

This is a brief summary of what we would have discussed at the meeting  and actions  that can be taken.

A decision on whether to hold an open meeting in January will be taken in early January

News from Amnesty UK

New regional post

AIUK have advertised the new post of Regional Activism  Representative. This replaces the  former regional rep posts.

Activism Reps will have a vital role in building the Amnesty movement by helping Amnesty’s local groups to develop and maintain relationships with diverse people and organisations in their communities. They support our local groups to organise campaigns for human rights, connect local groups with each other and with other activist structures (student and school groups and workplace groups) in their areas. Activism Reps represent Amnesty International UK both in their respective communities and online.

If you are interested in this post please contact the chair. It is unpaid but expenses are paid

Local Groups Monthly Mailing

This has articles on activity by Amnesty including:

Action by the West and Central Africa Group

This action is to encourage Burkino Faso to implement its strategy to end Forced Chlld Marriage If you wish to help we can put you in touch with the  Amnesty group who can provide sample letters.

A Report on Amnesty Action during COP26

A report and video calling for the UK firm JCB  to address the human rights risks and their role in providing equipment used in the illegal destruction of Palestinian homes and constructing illegal  new settlements.

Information about  an Introductory course on Equity and Inclusion and  what anti-racism  means for Amnesty UK

A course on Climate Change and Human Rights the way that they influence each other and how improving one issue can help the other.

For more information on all these items please contact the chair at chair@amnestynorwich.org.uk  

Actions and letter writing by the Group

North Africa cases

The Norwich group continues to support the Amnesty North Africa region by working on cases mainly in Egypt,and cases in Tunisia and Morocco.

Imprisoned Morroccan Journalis Omar Radi

This is the Norwich Amnesty group’s new case.

We have received the case file from AIUK and action on this case will start  in the new year.

Morrocco / Western Sahara Human Rights Activist Sultana Khayer raped by Morroccan security forces

A sample letter is below for Urgent Action on this horrific case.

Amnesty Children’s Human Rights Network

The Norwich Group supports a variety of actions including an ongoing action for Aser Mahomed who was arrested when 14 years old and imprisoned in 2019 following a confession extracted under torture.

Aser Mahomed

In October 2019, a criminal court sentenced Aser to 10 years’ imprisonment after finding him guilty of membership in the banned Muslim Brotherhood group and attacking a hotel in January 2016.  He was 14-years-old at the time of his arrest.
Aser’s lawyer filed a cassation request to the criminal court at the end of 2019 and after much delay this has been  set  for 2nd January 2022 .   It is important to let the Egyptian Ambassador know that we are concerned as we understand that  he does inform  the authorities in Egypt about letters that he receives.

A Model letter to him is below, Please send as soon as possible.

Aser suffers from a chronic allergy which gives him respiratory problems.
In February 2021, Aser was transferred to Liman Tora prison to take his exams. His sister has visited him and reports him feeling desperate and sad, and being thinner with black rings round his eyes.

Kashmir

Norwich put forward  a resolution at the 2020 AGM on the human rights situation in Indian administered Kashmir which was approved and passed to the International Secretariat who have to approve any international campaign. The IS have recently responded that they do not have plans to take any action, partly because the AI India office has been closed by the government. A  UK activist campaign is being planned by an amnesty group based in Birmingham and we are awaiting information  from them about how the Norwich group might be able to contribute.

Norwich Amnesty 50th Anniversary

The Norwich group was founded in1972. Publicity, a celebration  and other activities are being considered  by the committee.
More information to follow.

Any photographs or leaflets or other memorabilia  about the early days of the group would be most helpful.

Please email us if you have anything at anniversary@norwichamnesty.org.uk

Amnesty Christmas cards

These have done well and will boost our funds.

Amnesty Bookshop in St Benedict’s Street

Don’t forget to visit for your last minute presents.

For more details please visit the Amnesty Bookshop website.

We hope that you find this summary useful.

Please contact us if you need more information or have comments.

Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year from the committee.

17th November 2021 Open Meeting Minutes

Chair  David B welcomed us to the meeting.

9 people present

Apologies None

Committee roles

Chair outlined roles of committee members and others.  David B introduced Evie M-E as our new group secretary and Evie outlined her aims for the post which she will take up in the new year

AIUK How it works

David F gave a short review of how Amnesty UK, the Amnesty Charity and  Amnesty International are related, their Board and management structures and how cases that we work on progress from  research  to work on individual cases by groups such as Norwich

Action Networks

  • North Africa – Mohad Gasmi Algeria a new case reported and letters sent to the Ambassador
    Action for  Asser Mohamed  sending postcards   in support of his appeal being considered by the Egyptian court on 21st November
  • Children’s Human Rights Network –   No new cases   received
  • Feminist Network – There were no new cases, but Roz C directed the meeting  to 4 online actions drawn from the Amnesty quarterly magazine and outlined below
    • Nasrin Sotoudeh, Iranian human rights lawyer faces 38 years imprisonment and 148 lashes.
    • Loujain al- Hathloul, Saudi women’s rights defender sentenced to 5 years 8 months in 2020 currently on conditional release.
    • Yulia Tsvetkova, Russia, facing criminal charges for sharing her drawings of the female body, online.
    • Nazanin Zaghari Radcliffe has lost her latest appeal against a second jail sentence.   Richard Ratcliffe has ended his hunger strike but the patchwork quilt he asked supporters to contribute towards continues and the meeting made several patchwork squares using amnesty motifs which Roz C will send to AIUK
  • Proposed Rainbow Network – David Y will work on establishing this local group in the new year.
  • Giulio Regeni. An Italian research student from Cambridge university murdered by Egyptian security personnel who are being prosecuted by an Italian court – No current developments to report
  • Kashmir – UK Activist led campaign underway. As previously reported the group will contact us when  the campaign  and actions have been decided and approved by AIUK
  • New Case    David F reported that that our offer to take on the case, an imprisoned Moroccan journalist Omar Radi has been accepted. The case folder will arrive shortly Our new secretary will act as the case coordinator

Local news and events

  • Amnesty bookshop moved on Saturday 23rd October to St Benedicts Street. The group organized an all-day Writeathon on the day and about 40 letters were written on various current cases. A poster advertising the Open meetings will be displayed and links between the bookshop and our group have been added to both websites.
  • Quaker vigil – First Saturday of the month 12-1 outside St Peter Mancroft Church.
  • Write for Rights – Saturday 11 December 10.30 -2.30 St Peter Mancroft Church. Chair has invited the Mayor and MP for Norwich South. Children’s author Mitch Johnson will pop in during his lunch hour for a photo which we will submit to the EDP. His book Kick has been endorsed by Amnesty.
  • Norwich Open Rights Group. The Chair has cosigned a letter to the Norwich MP’s asking them to support an exemption from a forthcoming trade arrangement which would reduce the protection of personal data transferred to other countries.
  • Possible future change of Open Meeting venue from the Charing Cross Centre to the new Amnesty bookshop. David F reported on a helpful meeting with the shop manager and the committee will decide in the new year
  • We await information from Shan B. who will let us know about a Peace tree to be planted in Chapelfield and to which individuals may wish to contribute.

Fundraising

  • Quiz and Dips – Delayed until 2022

AOB

  • David B led a brief discussion about the Amnesty position on Trans Rights and freedom of speech and a recent twitter contribution from the AIUK Board Chair.

Next Open Meeting 15th December 2021

20th October 2021 Open Meeting Minutes

Chair:  David B welcomed us to the meeting.

9 people present

Apologies: Evie, Louise

Committee roles

Chair outlined roles of committee members and others.

AIUK How it works

Postponed until November.

Action Networks

North Africa

Action for Alaa Abdel Fattah and Mohamed Baker in Egypt will go on the group website.

Children’s Human Rights Network

Day of Action to Defend the Right to Asylum in Europe, 23 October 2021. Action will focus on the Italian and Maltese Embassies and the Home Office.

According to UNHCR 21% of those who reached Europe via the central Mediterranean between January and March 2021 were children, the majority unaccompanied. On 22 April 2021, up to 130 men, women and children died in a shipwreck, despite documentation from the Alarm Phone showing that the Italian, Maltese and Libyan maritime authorities were first alerted about the migrant boat in distress and its location well over a day earlier.

Feminist Network

Roz directed us to 3 online actions:

  • Nasrin Sotoudeh, Iranian human rights lawyer faces 38 years imprisonment and 148 lashes.
  • Loujain al- Hathloul, Saudi women’s rights defender sentenced to 5 years 8 months in 2020 currently on conditional release.
  • Yulia Tsvetkova, Russia, facing criminal charges for sharing her drawings of the female body, online.
  • Nazanin Zaghari Radcliffe has lost her latest appeal against a second jail sentence. She faces possible return to prison.

Proposed Rainbow Network

David Y will follow up in the new year.

Giulio Regeni

Italian authorities are pursuing a trial, in absentia, of the alleged perpetrators from the Egyptian security services.

Kashmir

Activist led campaign underway. There have been two online meetings. The group will contact us when actions have been decided and approved by AIUK.

Local news and events

Amnesty bookshop

The shop is moving this Saturday 23rd October to St Benedicts Street. AIUK sent a press release to the EDP. We’ll have a Writeathon on the day 10-5.30. David Y circulated a rota for supporters and has submitted the event to the EDP What’s On.

Peace Camp (25/9/21)

30-40 signatures collected for each letter, including Mayor and Sheriff.

Quaker vigil

First Saturday of the month 12-1 outside St Peter Mancroft Church.

Write for Rights

Saturday 11 December 10-3 St Peter Mancroft Church. Chair has invited the Mayor and MP for Norwich South. Children’s author Mitch Johnson will pop in during his lunch hour for a photo. We’ll submit to the EDP. His book Kick has been endorsed by Amnesty.

AIUK Week of Action on Human Rights

11 – 17 October Amnesty has joined with Liberty, Stonewall, Freedom from Torture, the British Institute for Human Rights. David F outlined the focus of the actions, The Police Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, The Nationality and Borders Bill and The Human Rights Act Review. David F circulated a detailed letter for MPs, based on the AIUK information. We are encouraged to send letters to a wide a circle of MPs as possible.

Possible future change of open meeting venue

Assess viability of the bookshop.

Fundraising

Quiz and Dips

Delayed until 2022

Street collection (2/10/21)

7 collectors £67 collected which include two large donations

Amnesty Christmas Cards

Cards will be on sale at St peter Mancroft Church at the Charity Cards shop. (Note EDP reports it is now open until 18 December 10.30-2.30 Monday to Saturday)

AOB

A poster Shows details of regular monthly Open meeting with space to advertise specific events. Thanks given to Matt for designing it. It will be displayed at the bookshop.

Shan B. let us know about a Peace tree to be planted in Chapelfield. Any individuals may contribute to cost.

Norwich Amnesty, along with another organization at the CXC has received a scam letter asking for money to pay for unlicensed use of photos. David F has let AIUK know and not responded to the letter

Next Open meeting 17 November 2021 at 7.30

15th September 2021 Open Meeting Minutes

Chair: DB
Apologies: SM, JK
Present: Ten people including Committee, a member and three guests

DB welcomed everyone to the first meeting since March 2020 and the first one that he was chairing since DH stood down as he has left Norwich.

Committee roles:

DB explained the roles of each committee member.

Activities since the last open meeting:

AIUK long term strategy:

DB outlined the items that will be the future focus of work- economic, social and cultural rights, antiracism, freedom of expression, individuals and communities at risk, human rights crises, human rights frameworks. We await further information on these.
DB pointed out that national members and activists may become community organisers planning and developing their own campaigns.

Group survey:

DB pointed out that group members had been sent a survey.

About 20 replies from over 100 names on our database.
Letter writing was a low priority but help with fundraising was more popular.

Speakers at meetings was popular.

Actions and reports:

Giulio Regeni:

DF explained the case and the decision to reduce activity on the case due to the limited available information. The writing group has been disbanded. DF and DB will keep a watch on any activity and call upon the group if required. ACTION DB, DF
Kashmir campaign: Groups in the Midlands were proposing a campaign. As our group proposed the AGM resolution we need to take part. DB will attend an online meeting on 16th Sept and report to the next meeting. ACTION DB

North Africa network:

We have opted into this network during 2020. We receive regular newsletters detailing cases, and background information. The network is run very efficiently. JK had prepared a case action on Aser Mohamed and ten copies were circulated. The network covers all N Africa countries.

Children’s network:

A newsletter is regularly sent but the emphasis of the group is now on youth activism and human rights, and not working on individual cases.
Feminist network: RC detailed two cases and circulated a letter action about the case of Aster Fisserhatsion in Eritrea. 23rd Sept marks 2000 days since Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was detained in Iran. There is a vigil in Westminster on that day.

Rainbow network:

DY reported that the coordinator is moving from Norwich but he hoped that a meeting will be held in the new bookshop in November to progress setting up a group. DY offered to act as coordinator for its first year to see if it becomes established. ACTION DY

Local news:

Bookshop

This is moving to St Benedicts, very likely in October. It is closed now in Unthank Rd preparing for the move. The committee will consider moving our monthly meetings to this venue. The new shop may offer events, such as poetry and music.

Writeathon:

DY reported that he hoped to organise this for 16th October in the new shop. He hoped it would last for 10 hours and attract local media publicity. ACTION DY

Peace Camp:

This will be held in the Forum on Sat 25th September. We have a stall booked and helpers are required. ACTION DY

Peace vigil:

This is held on the first Sat of the month, noon to 1pm, next to the railings of St Peter Mancroft. All members are welcome to attend.

Write for Rights:

This will be held at St Peter Mancroft 10am to 3pm on Sat 11th December.
The Mayor, Sherriff, local MPs and the local author of a children’s book will be invited. ACTION DB, DF

Week of Action:

This will be held in October. DF will prepare an action for the next meeting. ACTION DF

Fundraising

Quiz and Dips:

This is a major fundraiser and will be planned for some time next year.

Street collection:

Sat 2nd October 10am to 3pm. HQ is the Friends Meeting House. A rota was circulated and help will be asked for on the website. ACTION DB

Christmas Cards:

These will be on sale in St Peter Mancroft in the charity shop. Our order has been delivered and the shop opens in October.

AOB:

MS suggested we should advertise our meetings with posters in the bookshop and other venues.
DF offered to give a brief description of the structure and organisation of AI at the next meeting. It was hoped this would be useful to the newcomers attending the meeting.

Next meeting: Wednesday 20th October 7.30pm Charing Cross Centre

Open Meeting Summary – May 2021

During the Covid-19 period when physical Open Meetings do not take place a Summary of the items that would have been on the Agenda, together with information and updates is noted below and will be available on the Amnesty Norwich website.

Norwich Amnesty Open Meetings

We are not sure when we will be able to restart physical open meetings but based on current predictions we have booked Wednesday the 21st July at the Charing Cross Centre.

Our AGM is normally held in February to allow discussion of resolutions being considered by the Amnesty UK AGM.
However as noted below, this is in June this year and online.
Amnesty members will need to vote online following instructions recently issued by Amnesty UK.
The Norwich committee will consider the date of our delayed 2021 AGM.

Actions and Letter Writing by the Group

North Africa cases

The Norwich group continues to support the Amnesty North Africa region by working on cases mainly in Egypt,and cases in Tunisia and Morocco.

We receive a regular newsletter from the Egypt  Country Organiser, Debora Singer, with  information that we can use on Egyptian cases that can be supported

We also receive information from the North Africa Regional Organiser Beverley Foulkes-Jones, often as Urgent Actions requiring an immediate response by those who have signed up for this network.
Recent news
is that on 12th March the UN Human Rights Council issued a joint statement on Human Rights in Egypt signed by 31states including the UK. The statement highlights “restrictions on freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly, the constrained space for civil society and political opposition.”  It also condemns the use of counter-terrorism laws to punish peaceful critics.  The statement follows major lobbying by Amnesty International and other international NGOs.  It is hoped that the statement could lead to stronger UN action such as a UN monitoring and reporting mechanism on Egypt’s human rights violations.
Egyptian authorities dismissed the joint statement as “groundless discourse based on inaccurate information.”  However, Amnesty sees it as a clear message to the Egyptian authorities that the world will no longer turn a blind eye to their relentless campaign to crush peaceful dissent.

Urgent Action

Egypt Feb 2021

Following his arrest on 1 February, researcher and master’s student Ahmed Samir Santawy was subjected to enforced disappearance for five days. During this time, security forces beat him and kept him blindfolded, while interrogating him about his social media engagement and academic research. On 6 February, the Supreme State Security Prosecution ordered his detention pending investigations into terrorism-related charges. He has been denied contact with his family, raising concerns about his wellbeing and health amid COVID-19 outbreaks in Egypt’s overcrowded and unhygienic prisons.

If you join the Urgent Action Network you will be able support actions by letter or email for cases such as this.

Not Good News

Monk Wael Tawadros (known as Father Isaiah)  was at imminent risk of execution by the Egyptian authorities when Amnesty launched a campaign to stop his execution but unfortunately,  he was executed recently without notice to his family. He was subjected to serious human rights violations including enforced disappearance, torture and unfair trial. A court convicted and sentenced him to death in April 2019 on the basis of his torture-tainted “confessions”. The sentence was upheld on appeal.

Better News

Three staff members from the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) Mohamed Basheer, Karim Ennarah, and Gasser Abdel-Razek, respectively, Administrative Director, Criminal Justice Unit Director and Executive Director were arrested in late November 2020 after meeting with a number of western diplomats in Cairo. They were released on 3rd December 2020 after major international activity including Amnesty and UK officials. However they are still subject to travel bans and had their assets frozen.

Giulio Regeni: latest news

We are continuing to work on the long term case of Giulio Regeni, a murdered Italian student working in Egypt for a Cambridge University PhD and who was almost certainly killed by the security forces in 2016.
The recent news that the Italian prosecutors have formally charged several named Egyptian security officers with his murder and a trial will take place in Italy. Their trial will be in abstentia as the cooperation of Egypt is needed to bring them to  court. Nevertheless this is a step forward and shows that this is still an active issue in Italy. We have been asked to  continue to write letters and we have issued revised draft letters to the Writing Group

We are continuing to work with the Cambridge Amnesty group who marked, in January 2021, the 5thanniversary of his murder, with a vigil. We  sent a Christmas card, on behalf of the Norwich group, to his family expressing solidarity and our support.

If you wish to join the writing group working on this case the contact is chair@norwichamnesty.org.uk

Activist Survey

The Activism Sub Committee of the Board is overseeing the survey on the demographics of AIUK lead activists.
We  have completed the survey and await feedback from Amnesty UK.

We have just issued our own membership survey. See details later in this summary

Amnesty East Anglia Region

A group for Amnesty UK activists in East Anglia  has recently been formed by AIUK to coordinate and help links between individual local groups.
Racism at the International Secretariat  and AIUK   Received from AIUK
I am sorry to let you know that we have had some media coverage in relation to accounts of racism at the International Secretariat and at Amnesty UK It’s possible that you may have already seen the articles in The Guardian  but in case you have not, I wanted to bring it to your attention  so that you are not caught unawares if approached by friends and family on this. This link is here, but please do only read this if you want to.
AI UK was already planning to implement antiracist training and education widely across the organisation and we await more information about this very important matter.  The current CEO  Kate Allen has recently retired and a reorganisation of the UK office is underway and which will we expect to  deal with this as a matter of urgency.

Ian Gibson

I am sure that many of you will now be aware of the very sad news that Ian Gibson,  a longstanding supporter of Norwich Amnesty, has died at the age of 82. There is a very comprehensive obituary in the Guardian and online.

New immigration Bill

Amnesty UK provided a detailed guide on how to respond to the recent government consultation paper and several committee members spend some time in completing this complex document which we hope will improve this legislation.

Amnesty Children’s Human Rights Network

The Norwich Group supports a variety of actions including an ongoing action for Aser Mahomed who was arrested when 14 years old and imprisoned in 2019 following a confession extracted under torture.

Aser Mohamed

In October 2019, a criminal court sentenced Aser to 10 years’ imprisonment after finding him guilty of membership in the banned Muslim Brotherhood group and attacking a hotel in January 2016.  He was 14-years-old at the time of his arrest.
Aser’s lawyer filed a cassation request to the criminal court at the end of 2019 and is still waiting for the court to set a hearing date. The process usually takes 12 to 18 months.  No hearing date has been set.
Aser suffers from a chronic allergy which gives him respiratory problems.
In February 2021, Aser was transferred to Liman Tora prison to take his exams. His sister has visited him and reports him feeling desperate and sad, and being thinner with black rings round his eyes.
Amnesty International is calling for the Egyptian authorities to quash his conviction, immediately release him and launch investigations into his enforced disappearance and torture allegations.

Several members and supporters wrote on Universal Children’s Day 20th November 2020 to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi about the case as part of Amnesty UK Children’s Human Rights Festival November 20th – 22nd and took part in the online sessions.

As part of the AIUK strategic plan for the next 10 years the Children’s Network will become an element of a developing Youth Strategy aimed at bringing more young people into the organisation as activists. There is more detail about this in the Resolutions  being considered at the AGM  on 19thJune. See Ordinary Resolutions 01,04 and 05.

News from Amnesty UK

We receive a  quarterly  newsletter,  “Amnesty Local Groups News” which has lots of ideas about fundraising and information about events and actions by groups around the country. It is now online rather than hard copy   which we used to distribute at open meetings.    The May 2021 edition includes a photo of a Norwich amnesty action on the front page.

The  link  to a PDF version is below;  http://email.amnestyuk.org.uk/files/amf_amnesty/project_58/GNL_Spring_2021_for_web.pdf

Digital Training

Amnesty are offering training in how to use social media in our work.  We are lucky to have an active member who manages our website and twitter account but the committee would benefit from help from other media savvy members and supporters so if you are interested in this training please contact us, on Chair@norwichamnesty.org.uk

National  AGM

19-20 June 2021

The 2021 AGM will be a digital event hosted at the Amnesty UK offices in London Amnesty members will have received voting information about this recently.

Kashmir

Norwich put forward  a resolution at the 2020 AGM on the situation in Indian administered Kashmir which was approved and passed to the International Secretariat who must approve any campaign. The IS have recently responded that they do not have plans to take any action, partly because the AI India office has been closed by the government.  We hope that our government use their influence to persuade the Indian government to allow Amnesty to reopen the office and to operate freely and this may allow Amnesty to  carry out research and consider a campaign about Kashmir.

Amnesty UK Future Strategy 2022-2030

The Amnesty UK Board have developed a draft Strategy for 2022 -30 for consideration at the 2021 UK AGM on 19th June and the Global AGM later in the year. The Norwich committee received initial consultation papers but with very little time to respond to a long and complex documents and we were unable to do so. We believed that there would be a second round consultation but in fact the reviewed document was approved by the UK Board in March and is contained in Ordinary Resolution 01 which is being considered at the AGM in June. The nature of the organisation will change quite radically so it is worth looking at the  resolution.

You can access the resolutions at:

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/files/2021-04/AGM%202021%20resolutions.pdf?rBK5e3I4I_n2MX_0Pv0WX2Crs23oye7d=

or search” Amnesty AGM 2021 Resolutions”

The priorities set out in the strategy are;

  • Economic Social and Cultural Rights
  • Antiracism
  • Freedom of Expression
  • Human Rights  Frameworks
  • Individuals and communities at risk
  • Human Rights Crises

Amnesty National members will have received the information about the AGM  and can respond as individuals by voting on all the resolutions. The Norwich committee will consider a group response to Ordinary Resolutions 01-06.
National amnesty members can contribute to this by emailing their views  to chair@norwichamnesty.org.uk  by Monday 7th June.

Fundraising and Finance

Fundraising has not been possible during the lockdown and we hope to reinstate our fundraising activities over the next few months.

Christmas Cards

In the past we have sold Amnesty Christmas cards through the Charity Card outlet More information to follow about sales in 2021

Street Collection

A date of Saturday 2nd October has been booked with the City Council   More information to follow.

Quiz and Dips

This was suspended during the lockdown but we hope to reinstate it later in the year.

Future Events and Activities

Write for Rights

We regularly support the national annual Amnesty campaign where we meet and write letters and postcards to governments and to Prisoners of Conscience. We have booked St Peter Mancroft as the venue on Saturday 11th December.

Peace Vigil

This is held outside St Peter Mancroft on the first Saturday of each month and has been subject  to Covid restrictions.

Some Amnesty members attend this monthly silent vigil to raise awareness of global issues around the subject of Peace. It is organised by the Norwich Quakers and can normally be joined without needing to book. Please check with Quaker website  for details of forthcoming vigil dates. https://norwichpeace.org/?page_id=4056

Cambridge Amnesty Zoom meetings

A number of  Zoom talks were arranged by Cambridge Amnesty last year and some Norwich members took part and reported that they were excellent.
Details of a future talk is noted below.

Cambridge Amnesty

The talk coming up next is  on Artificial Intelligence used in Surveillance in USA and China is on 10 June.

Please see details at:

All are welcome to these free talks.

Norwich Amnesty 50th anniversary

This significant milestone coincides with the 60th anniversary of the founding of Amnesty International in  May 1961 and the committee is considering how we might celebrate our  anniversary in Norwich. More information to follow.

Amnesty Bookshop

The good news is that the bookshop on the Unthank Road has reopened after the lockdown and welcomes customers and donations.

Membership Survey

We have just issued a short online survey to the 140 or so people who are on our local  amnesty members and supporters mailing list. It should take less than 5 minutes to complete and will help the committee plan future events and the information that we send.

https://www.norwichamnesty.org.uk/membership-review-2021/

Please complete the survey if you can.

We hope that you find this summary useful. Please contact us if you need more information or have comments.

David Bissonnet

Chair Norwich Amnesty on behalf of the committee

Contact email:  chair@norwichamnesty.org.uk

Open Meeting Summary – January 2021

During the Covid-19 period when physical Open Meetings do not take place a Summary of the items that would have been on the Agenda, together with information and updates will be available on the Amnesty Norwich website.

Web: www.norwichamnesty.org.uk
Contact Email: info@norwichamnesty.org.uk

Actions and letter writing by the Group

North Africa cases

The Norwich group supports the Amnesty North Africa region by working on cases mainly in Egypt, and some recent cases in Tunisia and Morocco. There has been a recent surge of concern and activity about the worsening human rights situation in Egypt and information about cases and sample letters are posted on the Group website.

We receive a regular newsletter (or Ezine) from the North Africa Regional Organiser, Debora Singer, with case information that we can use and in the most recent September E-zine includes Egyptian cases that can be supported:

  1. Aser Mohamed – see below in the Children’s Network section
  2. Ibrahim Ezz El -Din  – a Housing Rights activist see below
  3. Case 173  Azza Sollman – a lawyer and Woman Human Rights Defender
  4. Hoda Abdelmoniem An imprisoned 63-year-old human rights lawyer.
    Background information and a sample letter are available in the appendix document,
    https://www.norwichamnesty.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/January-2021-Summary-Appendix-doc.pdf

Ibrahim Ezz El-Din

We have been writing about Ibrahim for some time.

Ibrahim’s birthday was on Sunday 15th November 2020.  He was 28.  By then he will have been in prison in Egypt for 17months simply for standing up for housing rights.   To mark this occasion, Amnesty organised a well-supported international birthday Twitterstorm which someNorwich members joined.  We will report on the reaction of the Authorities

Some Good News

Amnesty has been calling for the release of Karim Emarah, Mohamed Bashir and Gasser Abdel Razek, who were arrested and detained in Egypt in November 2020 for speaking up on human rights.  They all work for the same human rights NGO, Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.

We are pleased to share the news that thanks to the international pressure and action from people like you, Karim, Mohamed and Gasser were released from prison on 3rd December.

Whilst we are glad that they are safe and back with their families, the charges against them still stand. Furthermore, the Egyptian authorities have frozen Karim, Mohamed and Gasser’s personal assets demonstrating the authorities’ intent to eradicate the Egyptian human rights movement and making it difficult for them to continue their human rights.

Giulio Regeni: Some better news

We are continuing to work on the long term case of Giulio Regeni, a murdered Italian student working in Egypt for a Cambridge University PhD and who was almost certainlykilled by the security forces in 2016.

The news that the Italian prosecutors have charged several Egyptian security officers with his murder is encouraging news although the cooperation of Egypt is needed to bring them to trial. The Norwich and Cambridge groups took part in an Email storm on Human Rights Day 10th December with an email and snail mail letter to the Egyptian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Human Rights, highlighting the recent Italian action and pressing his government to support this.   Emails and letters were copied to the Egyptian Ambassador in London.

There is lots more information about the current status of the case in the links below

https://carnegie-mec.org/diwan/83401

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/30/cairo-rome-conflicting-statements-giulio-regeni-case-egypt-suspend-investigation

We are continuing to workwith the Cambridge Amnesty group and we are considering how to mark in 2021 the 5th anniversary, of his murder. We have sent a Christmas card, on behalf of the group, to his family expressing solidarity and our support.

Debora Singer has told us that she has been contacted by a journalist who is planning to make a documentary film about Giulio’s case and the subsequent investigations. Deborais going to be interviewed about Amnesty’s role and will keep us informed. This is excellent news and will help to increase the pressure on the Egyptian authorities.

If you wish to join the writing group  working on this case the contact is chair@amnestynorwich.org.uk

Please join us on these ongoing actions on the cases noted above. You can find information on the website or contact  info@norwichamnesty.org.uk

Amnesty Children’s Human Rights Network

The Norwich Group supports a variety of actions including an ongoing action for Aser Mahomed who was arrested when 14 years old and given 10 years imprisonment in 2019following a confession extracted under torture.

Several members and supporters wrote on Universal Children’s Day 20th November to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi about the case as part of Amnesty UK Children’s Human Rights Festival November 20th – 22nd and took part in the online sessions

News from Amnesty UK

We receive a regular newsletter,’ Amnesty Local Groups News which has lots of ideasabout fundraising and events and actions by groups around the country.
The December edition describes an Amnesty UK report about the UK government’s failure to protect people in care homes during the Covid pandemic and calling for a public inquiry This is on the basis that resident’s human rights were violated.
The report can be found on the Amnesty UK website.
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/care-homes-report

Digital Training Amnesty are offering training in how to use social media in our work.

We are lucky to have an active member who manages our website, Facebook and Twitter accounts but the committee would benefit from help from other media savvy members and supporters so if you are interested in this training please contact us, on Chair@amnestynorwich.org.uk

Amnesty UK Future Strategy 2022-2030

The Amnesty UK Board are developing a draft Strategy for consideration at the 2021 Global AGM. The Norwich committee have received initial consultation papers.These will lead to further development of the strategy in January.   The papers are for Amnesty members only at the moment and contain some quite radical views aboutthe future of the global and UK movement.
If Amnesty members wish to have more information, please contact  chair@amnestynorwich.org.uk

National Conference and AGM – 19-20 June 2021

The 2021 Conference will be a digital event hosted at the Amnesty UK offices in London Amnesty members will receive more information about this in the next few months.

Fundraising and Finance

Christmas Cards

We were selling Amnesty Christmas cards through the Charity Card outlet which this year was in St Peter Mancroft and the Amnesty Cards were all been sold, and they were also on sale in the Amnesty Bookshop on the Unthank Rd until Christmas.

Using QR Codes in fundraising

Amnesty are trialling the use of QR codes and other virtual methods of fundraising which will help deal with the restrictions caused by Covid and we will consider how we might usethem in the future subject to Covid guidelines.

Future Events and Activities

Write for Rights

We regularly support the annual Amnesty campaign where we meet and write letters and postcards to governments and Prisoners of Conscience. We were unable to hold the event this year due to the second lockdown. This year’s cases that you can write about, and the associated links are in the Norwich Amnesty website and the campaign runs until 31st December.

Peace Vigil

This is held outside St Peter Mancroft on the first Saturday of each month.  The next Vigil is the 9th of January 12 noon to 1pm. and subject to Covid restrictions which may prevent it taking place .

Please check with Quaker website https://norwichpeace.org/?page_id=4056

Some Amnesty members attend this monthly silent vigil to raise awareness of global issues around the subject of Peace and organised by the Norwich Quakers and which can be joined without needing to book

Cambridge Amnesty Zoom meetings

A number of Zoom talks were arranged by Cambridge Amnesty in recent months and some Norwich members took part and reported that they were excellent. We attended a Cambridge Zoom committee meeting and details of future talks, which they are planning for 2021,will be provided.

Norwich Amnesty open meetings

We are not sure when we will be able to restart physical open meetings.Our AGM is normally held in February to allow discussion of resolutions being considered by the Amnesty UK AGM. However as noted above, this is now is in June this year. The Norwich committee are considering a zoom meeting for our AGM in the next two months and details will be provided.

We hope that you find this summary useful. Please contact us if you need more information or have comments

Best wishes for 2021

David Bissonnet
Chair Norwich Amnesty on behalf of the committee

Contact email chair@norwichamnesty.org.uk

Open Meeting Summary – November 2020

During the Covid-19 period when physical Open Meetings do not take place a Summary of the items that would have been on the Agenda, together with information and updates is noted below and will be available on the Amnesty Norwich website below. We hope to have a physical meeting in the early New Year subject to Covid guidelines.

Web: www.norwichamnesty.org.uk
Contact Email: info@norwichamnesty.org.uk

Actions and letter writing by the Group

Write for Rights 2020

This years Write for Rights campaign starts in December with a range of cases you can take part in.

We won’t be able to have our usual day in Norwich for people to come and write with us but are hoping to arrange a virtual event.

You can see this years cases and how to take part on our specula Write for Rights page.

North Africa cases

The Norwich group supports the Amnesty North Africa region by working on cases mainly in Egypt, and some recent cases in Tunisia and Morocco. During the lockdown information about cases and sample letters are posted on the Group website,
We receive a monthly newsletter (or Ezine) from the North Africa Regional organiser, Debra Singer, with case information that we can use and in the September E-zine there are 3 Egyptian cases that can be supported:

1 Aser Mohamed – see below in the Children’s Network section

2 Ibrahim Ezz El -Din -a Housing Rights activist see below

3 Case 173 Azza Sollman – a lawyer and Woman Human Rights Defender

Ibrahim Ezz El-Din in prison in Egypt URGENT

We have been writing about Ibrahim for some time
Ibrahim Ezz El-Din’s birthday is on Sunday 15th November 2020. He will be 28. By then he will have been in prison in Egypt for 17months simply for standing up for housing rights.
To mark this occasion, Amnesty are planning a birthday Twitterstorm on Sunday 15th November 2020. This summary may not reach you in time to participate but there will be other opportunities to support Ibrahim.

The aim is to reach the Egyptian authorities with our message to free Ibrahim. We want them to know that we are concerned about him. In addition, we expect this message will reach his lawyers and family and they will tell Ibrahim himself so it will serve as solidarity.

This is a short film about the case.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE1WXKEdoLo&feature=share

We are continuing to work on the long term case of Giulio Regeni, a murdered Italian student working in Egypt for a Cambridge University PhD and who was almost certainly killed by the security forces in 2016. Updated information and addresses have been recently sent to the writing group supporting this case. If you wish to join the contact is chair@amnestynorwich.org.uk

Other Individual cases in Egypt that Norwich has supported included an
Urgent Action for detained lawyers Mohamed el-Baqer and Journalist Alaa Abdelfattah
Mohamed el-Baqer is a prisoner of conscience, held solely for his human rights work

Please join us on these ongoing actions Find information on the website or contact info@norwichamnesty.org.uk

Amnesty Children’s Human Rights Network

The Norwich Group supports a variety of actions including an ongoing action for Aser Mahomed who was arrested when 14 years old and given 10 years imprisonment in 2019 following a confession extracted under torture.

Recent message from Debra Singer the Egypt case coordinator

The 20th November is Universal Children’s Day.

Aser Mahomed

Please write to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at Office of the President, Al Ittihadia Palace, Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt
Send a copy of your letter to the Egyptian ambassador to the UK- His excellency Mr Tarek Ahmed Ibrahim Adel, 26 South street, London, W1K 1DW)

Set out the background to Aser’s case and asking him on Universal Children’s Day to quash Aser’s conviction, to immediately release him and to launch an investigation into his enforced disappearance and torture allegations.

Further state that pending his release Aser should be provided with the means to communicate with his family and lawyers and that the authorities should take measures to protect Aser’s health. Aser suffers from a chronic allergy that causes respiratory difficulties which puts him at particular risk of Covid 19 according to the World Health Organisation’s list of vulnerable groups.
Thank you for your ongoing support for Aser.

Amnesty UK Children’s Human Rights Festival November 20th – 22nd

The Festival of Children’s Rights is made up of 3 online sessions, each exploring an issue of what it is like to be a child in the UK today. Register and book through the link below

Friday 20th November at 6pm: Children’s Voting rights
Children are one of the groups with the least political power globally, but decisions that are being made without our say are detrimental to our future. It is essential that all children and young people have the right to vote and participate in democracy if they so wish.
In this session, we will discuss barriers to children participating in the political process, and whether an age limit is intrinsically discriminatory.

Saturday 21st November at 12noon: Tackling Racism in Education
Racism is a serious human rights issue, impacting all areas of our lives, including the classroom. In this session we will be joined by ‘The Black Curriculum’ and ‘Kids of Colour’ to discuss their work and how we can tackle racism in education.

Sunday 22nd November at 12noon: Covid-19 and Children’s Rights
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed all of our lives significantly, however children’s lives have been affected in many ways that were not discussed publicly. Many children have been denied their basic rights throughout the pandemic, such as right to food and shelter, right to education, right to family, right to leisure and right to safety. Despite this, children were not allowed to ask questions during major press conferences. Once again, children were disempowered and not heard.

In this session, children will be able to ask questions about the Covid-19 pandemic and the government’s plans to uphold their rights that they were not given the opportunity to ask throughout the pandemic. MPs from different parties will be answering those questions.

(Adults will be able to participate but not ask questions).

Tickets
Tickets are available for each session individually, so to attend all three, please book tickets for each. The tickets are separated into adults and under 18s to ensure that under 18s are most attendees, please book the appropriate tickets for you.

News from Amnesty UK

We receive a newsletter, for local and student groups’ Amnesty Groups News which has lots of ideas about fundraising and events from groups around the country. We expect to receive the Autumn edition soon but the latest one had some useful links such as;

Amnesty UK Future Strategy 2022-2030

The Amnesty UK Board are developing a draft Strategy for consideration at the 2021 Global AGM The Norwich Committee have received initial consultation papers and will comment. This will lead to further development of the strategy in the New Year. The papers are for Amnesty members only at the moment and contain some quite radical views about the future of the global and UK movement. If Amnesty members wish to have more information please contact chair@amnestynorwich.org.uk

Fundraising and Finance

Christmas Cards

We were selling Amnesty Christmas cards through the Charity Card outlet which this year is in St Peter Mancroft and is open from 20th October (but has now closed until 3rd Dec) until the 12th. The Amnesty Cards have all been sold but they will be on sale in the Amnesty Bookshop on the Unthank Rd which will be open until Christmas

Future Events and Activities

Write for Rights

Our regular support for the annual Amnesty campaign, where we meet and write letters and postcards to governments and Prisoners of Conscience, will be a virtual event this year possibly in conjunction with St Peter Mancroft. Details will follow. This year’s cases that you can write about, and the associated links are in the Norwich amnesty website and the campaign runs until 31st December.

Peace Vigil outside St Peter Mancroft on the first Saturday of each month. The next Vigil is Saturday 6th of December, 12 noon to 1pm. Some Amnesty members attend this monthly silent vigil to raise awareness of global issues around the subject of Peace and organised by the Norwich Quakers and which can be joined without needing to book.

Cambridge Amnesty Zoom meetings

A Zoom meeting arranged by Cambridge Amnesty took place on.12th November and was a talk by Paul Bridges on AI’s Anti-Death Penalty campaign., A longstanding Amnesty concern. For example, Egypt has executed103 people in 2020 so far and 59 since October!
Details of future talks will be provided

We hope that you find this summary useful Please contact us if you need more information or have comments

David Bissonnet
Chair Norwich Amnesty on behalf of the committee

Contact email chair@norwichamnesty.org.uk

Open Meeting Summary – October 2020

During the Covid-19 period when physical Open Meetings do not take place a Summary of the items that would be on the Agenda, Information and Updates will be available on the Amnesty Norwich website.

Actions and letter writing by the Group

North Africa cases

The Norwich group supports the Amnesty North Africa region by working on cases mainly in Egypt, and some recent cases in Tunisia and Morocco.During the lockdown informationabout cases and sample letters are posted on the Group website.

We are continuing to work on the long term case of a Giulio Regeni a murdered Italian student working in Egypt for a Cambridge University PhD and who was almost certainly killed by the security forces in 2016. Updated information and addresses have been recently sent to the writing group supporting this case.

If you wish to join please contact chair@amnestynorwich.org.uk

Other Individual cases in Egypt that Norwich has supported includes:

Urgent Action for detained lawyers Mohamed el-Baqer and Journalist Alaa Abdelfattah

On 30 August 2020, the Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP) interrogated lawyer Mohamed el-Baqer over unfounded charges, including “joining a terrorist organization”, as part of a recently opened case (No.855/2020). Mohamed el-Baqer is a prisoner of conscience, held solely for his human rights work

Information is available via the link below if you wish to take part in the action

https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde12/3237/2020/

Amnesty Children’s Human Rights Network

The Norwich Group supports a variety of actions including an ongoing action for Aser Mahomed who was arrested when 14 years old and given 10 years imprisonment in 2019following a confession extracted under torture.

Please join us on these ongoing actions.

Find information on the website or contact  info@norwichamnesty.org.uk

News from Amnesty UK

The National AGM was held without members this year. I am pleased to say that an excellent resolution about the situation in Kashmir following the actions of the Indian Government that was proposed by Norwich Amnesty was passed. Thanks to all Norwich group supporters who voted for it. This was one of only four group resolutions being considered this year. The resolution instructs Amnesty UK to press the International secretariat to campaign for a UK Parliamentary visit to Kashmir to establish what has taken place.

Other news from Amnesty

We receive a monthly newsletter (or Ezine) from the North Africa Regional organiser with case information and an Amnesty Groups News newsletter which has lots of ideas about fundraising and events from groups around the country.

Fundraising and Finance

We will be selling Amnesty Christmas cards through the Charity Card outlet which this year is in St Peter Mancroft and is open from 20th October until 12th December.
They will also be on sale in the Amnesty Bookshop on the Unthank Rd.

Future Events and Activities

Write for Rights

Our regular support for the annual Amnesty campaign, where we meet and write letters and postcards to governments and Prisoners of Conscience, will be a virtual event this year.

Details will follow.

Peace Vigil

Peace Vigil outside St Peter Mancroft on the first Saturday of each month.  The next Vigil 7th November 12 noon to 1pm. (subject to Some Amnesty members attend this monthly silent vigil to raise awareness of global issues around the subject of Peace and organised by the Norwich Quakers and which can be joined without needing to book.

Cambridge Amnesty Zoom meetings

Zoom meetings have been arranged by Cambridge Amnesty which you may wish to join.

12th November. Talk by Paul Bridges on AI’s Anti-Death Penalty campaign.

The meetings are likely to be at 7.30 pm.

If you wish to take part, please contact info@norwichamnesty.org.uk

We hope that you find this summary useful.

Please contact us if you need more information or have comments.

David Bissonnet

Chair, Norwich Amnesty
on behalf of the Committee

Contact: info@norwichamnesty.org.uk

Open Meeting Summary – September 2020

Norwich Amnesty and Covid-19

As you know the Open Meeting in September, the first since February, had to be cancelled due to the latest government Covid restrictions. This is a summary of the issues that would have been discussed at the meeting and an update on actions and future events which the committee hope will be helpful in keeping us all in touch. Depending upon future restriction the next open meeting may have to be on Zoom and the committee will consider this in the next few weeks.

The Norwich Committee meets every two months and comprises, the chair, treasurer and four members and normally a secretary although currently a committee member acts as the correspondent with Amnesty UK. We welcome new members who would like to take a more active role in the group

The Agenda items that were planned for the Open Meeting with information and activity by the group are noted below.

Actions and letter writing by the Group

North Africa cases

The Norwich group supports the Amnesty North Africa region by working on cases mainly in Egypt We receive the monthly Region Newsletter and actions for individual cases are distributed at the meeting with sample letters.
During the lockdown this information is posted on the Group website:
https://www.norwichamnesty.org.uk/get-involved/campaigns/

Those who have signed up for the email Urgent Action requests will receive some of this information direct by email, The Chair also receives the North Africa Journal a US based web site that has useful information about the political situation in the region

We are currently working on a long term case of a Giulio Regini a murdered Italian student working in Egypt for a Cambridge University PhD and who was almost certainly killed by the security forces in 2015. We are working with The Cambridge group and supporting his family in obtaining the truth about his death. A writing group of 12 write letters each month on the case. The next public action is likely to be a vigil outside the Egyptian Embassy in London in February.

Other Individual cases in Egypt that Norwich supports includes people at risk such as Ibrahim Ezz El din a housing specialist detained and tortured and at risk of Covid and Aser Mahomed who was arrested when 14 years old and given 10 years imprisonment in 2019 following a confession extracted under torture.

Please join us on these ongoing actions by contacting us on info@norwichamnesty.org.uk

Amnesty Children’s Human Rights Network

The Aser case is also publicised by the Amnesty Children’s Human Rights Network which the Norwich Group has supported for many years and is currently more active.

We have just responded to an action on the use of lethal force against children in Angola.

Pride Event

The Norwich group has always supported the Norwich Pride event which was replaced this year by a virtual event to which we contributed a visual image using the recycled signs from a previous campaign found in the chair’s garage, (the garage also contains the timber cage that we used in the earlier campaign against torture and which we will find a use for I am sure!). A member from Cambridge who has links with Norwich intended to set up an LGBT subgroup in the city, but this has been delayed by the Covid situation

News from Amnesty UK

The AGM is going to be held without members this year but the Norwich group can vote on resolutions which include an excellent resolution about the situation in Kashmir following the actions of the Indian Government. This is supported by the group and is one of only a small number of resolutions being considered this year. Amnesty subscribing members can vote individually by post or online and we encourage them to do so.

As noted above we receive a monthly newsletter (or Ezine) from the North Africa Regional organiser and an Amnesty Groups News newsletter which has lots of ideas about fundraising and events from groups around the country.

We have been informed that Amnesty UK are having a fundraising campaign in 3 locations including Norwich. This does not directly involve local groups but for information the campaign will be in the near future and two professional firms, SMILE Fundraising and APPCO UK will be contacting people door to door asking them to Join the Amnesty Lottery.

Fundraising and Finance

The Committee receive regular accounts from the Treasurer and the committee have recently agreed to a further donation of £1750 to Amnesty UK. Over the years Norwich has been a significant donor of funds.

A concert in St Peter Mancroft just before the lockdown raised £403. We are very grateful to Martin Wyatt and his orchestra for holding the concert.

We hope to sell Amnesty Christmas cards through the Charity Card outlet and they will be on sale in the Amnesty Bookshop on the Unthank Rd.

Future Events and Activities

Write for Rights

Our regular support for the annual Amnesty campaign where we meet together and write letters and postcards to governments and Prisoners of Conscience takes place during November and December.

Details will follow.

Peace Vigil

Outside St Peter Mancroft on Saturday 3rd October 2020 12 noon to 1pm.

A monthly silent vigil to raise awareness of global issues around the subject of Peace and organised by the Norwich Quakers. Several Amnesty members have regularly supported this vigil, which can be joined without needing to book. They display the Amnesty banner publicising subjects such as the situation in Yemen.

Amnesty Quiz

The very popular Amnesty Quiz will not take place this year due to Covid-19.

Cambridge Amnesty Zoom meetings

Zoom meetings have been arranged by Cambridge Amnesty which you may wish to join.

  • 8th October
    Talk by Oscar Jenz, Country coordinator for the Middle East on Iran.
  • 12th November
    Talk by Paul Bridges on AI’s Anti Death Penalty campaign.

The meetings are likely to be at 7.30 pm. If you wish to take part please contact info@norwichamnesty.org.uk

We hope that you find this summary useful.

Please contact us if you need more information or have comments

David Bissonnet

Chair Norwich Amnesty on behalf of the Committee

Contact: info@norwichamnesty.org.uk