Dear all,
I have recieved the following message from an Iraqi friend, about the situation of the three Iraqi women who are facing death penalty for being against the US occupation and because they are Sunni Arabs!
THE MESSAGE as it is:

Labels: 3 Iraqi women facing death penalty for their stand against US occupation

  ¶ 3:17 AM

  Dear All, here is the latest news on the 3 Iraqi women who are facing danger in Iraqi prisons of the puppet Iraqi government:

A short update on the status of Wassan Talib, Zainab Fadhil and Liqa Omar Muhammad, the three Iraqi women who face imminent execution:1. This week we received from Iraq an account of a prison visit to the three women one person was able to make. We believe there is credibility to this account. The account corroborates initial information that these women were subject to unfair trials. We are trying to get precise detail on their trials in order to formally petition the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has expressed willingness to take up the case, and indeed did some checking of its own. If we gain a more detailed account, we can push the Working Group to go further. An accomplished international human rights lawyer is willing to work with us on behalf of the three women.2. The account of the prison visit leads us to believe that the women are still alive. Another mail came to us from another source relaying that the executions have been postponed. However, we can not confirm either detail. Despite the immense response to our appeal, and all the letters and emails sent to the holding authorities, no official statement has reached us that addresses the case of these three women. We continue to seek further information.3. The trial of Wassan and Zeinab allegedly lasted 25 minutes with no evidence or witnesses presented. Wassan, Zeinab and Liqa deny the charges brought against them.4. The account of the prison visit confirms that the three women are held in an unsafe location, Al-Kadhimiya Prison.5. The account of the prison visit also mentions that 16 children are in Al-Kadhimiya Prison, some of which are the children of Zainab and Liqa.6. We cannot yet confirm what exact article of the Iraqi Penal Code the three Iraqi women were convicted under. However, the fourth woman mentioned in Amnesty International's appeal, allegedly convicted on criminal charges and facing imminent execution, is mentioned in the prison visit account as being in Al-Kadhimiya Prison and having also been subject to an unfair trial.We believe it very necessary for all to continue in their mobilization in solidarity with Iraqi women and the struggle of the Iraqi people for independence, freedom, justice and the right to life.The theme of this year's International Women's Day -- "Ending Impunity for Violence against Women and Girls" -- allows us to recall what is happening without censure every day in occupied Iraq: sexual abuse, humiliation, rape and torture, as well as murder. Our mobilization stands to expose the abyss between the occupation and its puppet government and the directive of the United Nations, which reads: "States have an obligation to protect women and girls from violence, to hold perpetrators accountable and to provide justice and remedies to victims. The failure to meet these obligations is unacceptable."There is no national jurisdiction under occupation. This puppet government is in no situation to pass sentences and is unwilling and incompetent to protect these women. We call for the end of this criminal occupation and the release of Wassan, Zeinab and Liqa along with all political prisoners held illegally.We congratulate the protests and campaigns thus far initiated against these imminent executions. We salute our Moroccan sisters and activists who staged on 5 March a 24-hour hunger strike and a sit-in outside the UN office in Rabat. It is time for us all, in our actions, to push mandated authorities, including the UN, to end their hypocrisy and complicity in the horrendous crime that is the occupation of Iraq. We remind holding authorities that it is prohibited under international law to hold prisoners in an unsafe place, and that an international movement of solidarity is awaiting confirmation of the well being of Wassan Zeinab and Liqa.We will update all endorsers as and when we have additional significant information. The situation in Iraq is extremely volatile and we are conscious at all times of the security and safety of those on the ground in Iraq who are assisting in our efforts.Please keep us informed of all actions and progress you are making.Ian DouglasHana Al BayatyAbdul Ilah AlbayatyDirk AdriaensensIman SaadoonAyse BerktayAmnesty International appeal: http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE140052007

Labels: A short update on the status of Wassan Talib, the three Iraqi women who face imminent execution:, Zainab Fadhil and Liqa Omar Muhammad

  ¶ 12:54 PM

 

Statement by Hana Al Bayaty, Ian Douglas, Abdul Ilah Albayaty, Iman Al Saadoon, Dirk Adriaensens, Ayse Berktay, Matthias Chang, Arundhati Roy, Michel Chossudovsky and Eduardo Galeano (7 March 2007)

THIS DEFEATED OCCUPATION
We must pre-empt it

On 10 March 2007 in Baghdad a stillborn regional conference will convene in which the Iraqi people will again be absent, their resistance not represented. Instead, a defeated US occupation will continue attempting to write the fate of the Iraqi people, conspiring with an undemocratic Security Council, as well as neighbouring and regional states, supposedly invited by a puppet government.

What kind of government collaborates with foreign powers against its own people?

What kind of government invites foreign forces to kill its own population?

What kind of government substitutes militias for regular national armed forces?

What kind of government bequests the nation’s oil wealth to foreign powers?

And what kind of government goes begging to its neighbours to let its own citizens flee by millions into their countries?

What is a government that rewards rapists?

What is a government that rewards death squads?

What is a government that lacks so much legitimacy that it has to “surge” for the fourth time its own capital?

What is a government that kidnaps and imprisons and tortures the people?

What is a government that invents new extremes of martial law?

What is a government whose finances cannot be accounted for?

What is a government that shamelessly degrades civil infrastructure?

What is a government that cannot even provide basic services, like clean water and electricity?

And what is a government that is never in the country?

Such a government is the proof that occupation is the highest form of dictatorship.

All peoples in the world aspire to democracy as it is supposed to be the expression of their will. The will of the Iraqi people could not be subjugated to force for the fourth consecutive year. The Iraqi Resistance is democratic by definition, because it is an upsurge of popular will, and is progressive by definition, because it defends the interests of the people.

The only solution in Iraq is the sovereignty of the Iraqi people.

Only the national popular Iraqi Resistance is capable and empowered, both as an objective reality and under international law, to determine a path towards peace and stability in Iraq and end this illegal occupation.

We must pre-empt any new US attempt to impose a lackey government on the Iraqi population by recognizing its resistance as the sole representative of the will of the Iraqi people.

Retrieve recognition from this foreign-imposed backward government and recognize the Iraqi Resistance!

Hana Al Bayaty

Ian Douglas

Abdul Ilah Albayaty

Iman Saadoon

Dirk Adriaensens

Ayse Berktay

Matthias Chang

Arundhati Roy

Michel Chossudovsky

Eduardo Galeano

To read the Arabic translation of the above article

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Labels: THIS DEFEATED OCCUPATION We must pre-empt it

  ¶ 5:07 AM