Refusing to Kill is not a Crime

www.refusingtokill.net   JUNE 2009 UPDATE 

REFUSENIKS STAND UP AND WIN
 Watada - No court martial!

Lt Ehren Watada cannot be court martialed again! In 2006, because he refused to go to Iraq, he faced seven years in jail. His 2008 court martial ended in a mistrial. The Army attempted to prosecute him again, but on 6 May, the Justice Department compelled the Army to drop its case. It is a key victory, including for an international support campaign. Lt. Watada's lawyers are pressing for his release from the Army now that the Army's legal case has evaporated. See details here. 

Other refuseniks in the US, Canada, Turkey have also won significant victories:

§ Kurdish Halil Savda declared his conscientious objection in 2004, was jailed repeatedly and was finally freed from the Turkish army in 2008. Threatened again with prison for supporting Israeli refuseniks, he is still free. Interview in The Guardian.

§ Turkish CO Mehmet Bal has been discharged after years of refusal, prison and torture.

§   A refugee in Canada since 2007, US soldier and mother of four Kimberley Rivera won the right to appeal an imminent deportation. Her hearing is 12 July. In the same period, the Canadian Parliament adopted another motion supporting US refuseniks.  Fellow resister Joshua Key won a second refugee hearing on 3 June, where he will present evidence of Geneva Convention violations during house raids in Iraq.  (See War Resisters Support Campaign)


Lt Watada, first officer to refuse war in Iraq


Kimberley Rivera, 1st US woman soldier to desert to Canada


Halil Savda

Iraqi refusal & resistance


Hanaa Ibrahim

 Hanaa Ibrahim (Women's Will Association of Iraq) said that in April 2004, a division of Iraqi soldiers were ordered by the US to attack Fallujah. Instead they shot in the air, in salute to the people of Fallujah’s resistance, and left the city.


Troy, sisters Ebony & Martina who campaigns for him
Refusing to Be Killed
Campaigns against the death penalty and miscarriages of justice in the US took a new turn on 19 May when people took action in 80 US cities and 20 internationally to defend Troy Davis. In jail since 1991, Troy is demanding that witnesses who recanted their statements should testify again. Read his sister Martina’s article in The Guardian. Troy's stay of execution has expired – a fourth execution date could be set soon. Ask the Governor of Georgia to commute his death sentence.

Mumia Abu Jamal

Osiris Abu Ameer

Internationally known journalist and “voice 		of the voiceless”. Railroaded for killing a police officer in 1981 in a trial drenched in racism. On death row for over 25 years, his recent Supreme Court appeal has been denied, contradicting the appeal court’s own precedents. Prosecutors have petitioned for his execution. Write to him.
Convicted of murder in 1991 for the deaths 		of an off-duty police officer and woman in a bar, in a Philadelphia district notorious for police corruption and racism.  His trial was marked by police intimidation, an unfair judge, tainted jury and ineffective lawyers.  Fighting for a new trial to prove his innocence, he awaits a court decision by August on a trial that could take him off death row.  Write to him

Support artist Osiris by buying his works.

Contact us.

ISRAEL: Soldiers and civilians expose and refuse the occupation

SOLDIERS’ TESTIMONIES

Over 1300 Palestinians, including 300 children, were killed during Israel’s  22-day military offensive in Gaza. In March, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz published accounts by soldiers - one soldier revealed: "A company commander with 100 soldiers saw an elderly woman walking down a road - whether she raised any suspicion, I don't know. But what the officer did in the end was to put men on the roof and with the snipers bring her down. I felt it was simply murder in cold blood.” ( Source Terra Viva)

SHMINISTIM

Israeli teens who refuse to join the army. Read their public letter.

STOP PRESS: After time in jail, Raz Bar-David Varon and Maya Yechieli Wind were both exempted from military service on medical grounds in April, and are no longer in danger of further imprisonment. 

Refuseniks support  Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions

“There are people who are doing all they can to end this Occupation... who call upon the world to boycott any state that oppresses millions of people - any racist state.  Sahar Vardi, 19, Shministim, (Source Yesh Gvul)


Neta Mishli
Sent to jail for 20 days on 24 April, Neta could be sent back repeatedly.  Write to her     
“I am not willing to be part of an organization committing war crimes, taking the lives of civilians.”

NEW PROFILE HARASSED BY THE POLICE

New Profile has provided support to conscientious objectors in Israel. On 26 April, some of their members had their computers confiscated, were called for interrogations, and were only released upon signing agreements not to contact their political friends for 30 days. See what you can do

Refusing Afghanistan occupation

More soldiers have refused to go to Afghanistan, proving that the occupation there is no less objectionable than in Iraq. Support Victor Agosto (with peace activists from Fort Worth), Sgt. Travis Bishop, Dustin Che Stevens, Benji Lewis who decided to risk prison, but keep their conscience. (Source: Courage to resist)

US refuseniks write to Shministim

We stand in solidarity with the Israeli Shministim ... We have also refused to participate in unjust acts of military aggression, and many of us have gone to prison or currently live with that possibility ...  The Global War on Terror, like the Israeli occupation, is propped up by racism and dehumanization and sets the stage for never-ending war & occupation. We are inspired by the brave refusal of our brothers and sisters in Israel to take part in these destructive policies.

Signed by over two dozen US military war resisters who have refused or are currently refusing to fight in Iraq & Afghanistan 

18 Dec 2008 (Source: Courage to Resist)

UK - Money for MPs, Not for the Troops!

The grandmother of Gordon Gentle, a Scottish soldier killed in Iraq aged 19, expressed her anger over MPs' expenses. She accused politicians of not providing vital equipment for troops. Gordon died in an armoured vehicle - the right equipment could have saved his life. Pauline’s daughter, Rose Gentle, has been campaigning for troops’ welfare and to get them back home (Source: MFAW)


Pauline Graham

16th trial for Lazaros!

On 31 March, tireless Greek conscientious objector Lazaros Petromelidis, 46, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for insubordination. The sentence was suspended until the hearing in the Supreme Court. (Source Greek Association of Conscientious Objectors)

WINTER SOLDIER EUROPE

In March 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War organised Winter Soldier, a two-day conference during which refuseniks and other war resisters revealed what really happened in Iraq & Afghanistan. Since then, similar events took place in the US and on 16 March 2009 in Germany. View testimonies here, including Shepherd’s - the first Iraq veteran to seek asylum in Europe.

US Soldier seeks asylum in Germany

When U.S. Army Specialist André Shepherd applied for asylum last November, he said: “I applied for asylum in Germany, where the Nuremburg trials established that one cannot defend one’s actions by claiming to have merely been following orders.” (Source: Connection e.V.)

Soldiers against war!   Invest in Caring, not Killing!

Without obedient soldiers there can be no wars. An international network of refuseniks – veterans, serving soldiers, conscientious objectors, deserters, draft refusers, whistle-blowers – and their supporters, women & men, is undermining the war machine that destroys the lives of so many of us and usurps the resources we need for caring and to ensure human and environmental survival. Keep in touch with this growing movement.  Join our mailing list.

Payday men’s network, working with the Global Women’s Strike

PO Box 287 London NW6 5QU
Tel +44 207 209 4751 

PO Box 11795 Philadelphia, PA 19101
Tel +1 215 848 1120

payday@paydaynet.org      www.refusingtokill.net

 

Download page one of the update (pdf)

 

Download page two of the update (pdf)

 

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