Posts Tagged ‘reading’
RIF2011 Event: PALESTINE: A People in Resistance.
October 20th, 2011 • Events, News
Tags: 2011, Barnard-Boecker Foundation Centre, Events, festival, free, reading, Reading International Festival, risc, Steven Sizer, Theresa Wolfwood
Click to download the flyer
Monday 24th October 2011 @ 7.30pm
PALESTINE: A People in Resistance.
Don’t miss this powerful and moving presentation of a story of non violent resistance and the amazing resilience of a people who live daily under Israeli occupation by Theresa Wolfwood. Theresa is Director of the Barnard-Boecker Foundation Centre in Canada and a longstanding human rights activist. She has over the years built up deep contacts in all areas of Palestinian society, in the villages and cities of the West Bank to the refugee camps of Lebanon and Jordan. Often at the cutting edge of that resistance, she has been tear gassed and threatened by Israeli soldiers.
7.30pm Monday 24th October 2011 – Room 3, RISC (Above Global Cafe), 35- 39 London Street, RG1 4PS.
Free Entrance. A Joint RISC/Reading Palestine Solidarity Campaign Event.
Join us for the Reading International Festival 2011!
September 29th, 2011 • Events, News
Tags: 2011, Barnard-Boecker Foundation Centre, Events, festival, free, reading, Reading International Festival, risc, Steven Sizer, Theresa Wolfwood
We’re happy to announce two FREE events as part of the Reading International Festival 2011!
Click to download the flyer
Wednesday 19 October 2011 @ 7.45pm
THE MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT: A Christian Perspective
A free talk by the Reverend Dr Stephen Sizer, author and frequent visitor to the Middle East discussing the negative roll of the USA on the Israeli/Palestine peace process. He will discuss the negative and perverse way these beliefs distort the American political understanding of the Israeli/Palestine conflict. The Reverend Stephen Sizer is a leading expert on Christian Zionism especially in the USA.
7.45pm Wednesday 19th October 2011 – Large Hall, RISC (Above Global Cafe), 35 – 39 London Street, Reading, RG1 4PS
Refreshments, Palestinian Fairtrade Goods And Handicrafts Will Be Available.
&
Click to download the flyer
Monday 24th October 2011 @ 7.30pm
PALESTINE: A People in Resistance.
Don’t miss this powerful and moving presentation of a story of non violent resistance and the amazing resilience of a people who live daily under Israeli occupation by Theresa Wolfwood. Theresa is Director of the Barnard-Boecker Foundation Centre in Canada and a longstanding human rights activist. She has over the years built up deep contacts in all areas of Palestinian society, in the villages and cities of the West Bank to the refugee camps of Lebanon and Jordan. Often at the cutting edge of that resistance, she has been tear gassed and threatened by Israeli soldiers.
7.30pm Monday 24th October 2011 – Room 3, RISC (Above Global Cafe), 35- 39 London Street, RG1 4PS.
Free Entrance. A Joint RISC/Reading Palestine Solidarity Campaign Event.
Book Launch: Afif Safieh’s “The Peace Process From Breakthrough to Breakdown” – 10 March
February 13th, 2011 • Events, News
Tags: Afif Safieh, book, launch, reading, risc, The Peace Process from Breakthrough to Breakdown, World Shop
Afif Safieh will be in Reading to launch his new book, “The Peace Process from Breakthrough to Breakdown”, on Thursday 10 March 2010 at 6pm. Reading PSC is supporting the event which will be held at the RISC World Shop.
This is a FREE event, but PLEASE book your place with Bente from RISC, by phone: 0118 958 6692 or email bente [at] risc.org.uk
TALK: “Where Now for Palestine?”
January 16th, 2011 • Events, News
Tags: discussion, mark thomas, Nasim Ahmed, Palestinian Return Centre, prc, reading, risc, talk
Flyer: 8pm Thu 20/1/11 @ RISC
Don’t miss our exclusive talk and discussion with Nasim Ahmed, Senior Researcher at the Palestinian Return Centre.
Thu 20/1/11 @ 8pm, Room 3, RISC, Reading
And don’t forget we’ll be drawing our raffle of SIGNED Mark Thomas merchandise!
Reply to Our Open Letter on Universal Jurisdiction
December 31st, 2010 • Action, Awareness, News
Tags: alok sharma, amnesty international, human rights watch, justice, ken clarke, MP, open letter, parliament, reading, rob wilson, uk, universal jurisdiction, vote
The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill was debated recently in the Commons. Within the bill is Clause 151: “Arrest warrants : Restriction on issue of arrest warrants in private prosecutions”, which gives the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) a veto over whether or not an arrest warrant can be issued for war crime suspects.
As part of our effort to defeat this change, we sent an open letter from Members of Reading PSC to Rob Wilson (Con), Member of Parliament for Reading East.
This is the reply from Rob Wilson, sent 23 December 2010:
Thank you for contacting me about universal jurisdiction.
I believe it is vital for Israeli Government Ministers for example to be able to travel to foreign capitals. A country such as the UK needs to be able to tell Israelis that their actions are not acceptable, and this would not be possible if their travelling to western capitals was prohibited. I do not think it is advisable to further reinforce a bunker mentality within Israel.
As you know, the United Kingdom has asserted universal jurisdiction over war crimes under the Geneva Conventions Act, and over a few other offences of exceptional gravity, because of our international obligations and our commitment to ensuring that there is no impunity for those accused of such crimes. This commitment is unwavering.
It is important, however, that universal jurisdiction cases should be proceeded with in this country only on the basis of solid evidence that is likely to lead to a successful prosecution, otherwise there is a risk of damaging our ability to help in conflict resolution or to pursue a coherent foreign policy. It is unsatisfactory that, as things stand, an arrest warrant for these grave offences can be issued on the application of a private prosecutor on the basis of evidence that would be insufficient to sustain a prosecution.
Currently, anyone can apply to the courts for an arrest warrant. That is a right that the Government wants to protect. However, because the evidence necessary to issue an arrest warrant may be far less than would be needed for a prosecution, the system is open to possible abuse by people trying to obtain arrest warrants for grave crimes on the basis of flimsy evidence to make a political statement or to cause embarrassment.
The Government’s has, after careful consideration, decided that it would be appropriate to require the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions before an universal jurisdiction arrest warrant can be issued to a private prosecutor. The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill includes provisions to introduce this change. As such, I will not be signing EDM 108.
However, let me reiterate that this will interfere as little as possible with the existing rights of private prosecutors, and will not prevent them from initiating prosecutions for these offences where the evidence justified that course.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
ROB WILSON MP
Member of Parliament for Reading East
- Our original letter can be read here…
- Watch coverage of the commons debate here…
“WHAT CAN I DO?”
It is important that you send a message to YOUR MP asking them to vote against the proposed changes. PSC have set up an easy to use e-tool to allow you to send a model letter to your MP: click here…
Background Information
- PSC Briefing: No Change to Universal Jurisdiction
- UK Government announcement, 22/7/10: New rules on universal jurisdiction
- Amnesty International UK, 1/12/10: War crimes arrests: New measures show UK is ‘soft’ on war crimes and torture
- The Guardian, 1/12/10: Amnesty International say police bill will let war criminals go free
- Human Rights Watch, 27/1/10: Briefing to Parliamentarians by the UK Universal Jurisdiction Group
- HRW, 10/01: The Case For Universal Jurisdiction
NEW YEAR Street Stall! – Sat 1st January 2011 @ 12.30pm
December 31st, 2010 • Events
Tags: broad street, reading, stall, street
Broad Street 12.30pm–3pm
Reading PSC will be holding the first street stall of 2011 this SATURDAY on Broad Street in Reading.
We’ll be there from 12.30pm to 3pm – find us in the pedestrian area between Marks & Spencer and the entrance to The Oracle.
Please come along and say ‘Hello’ – if you’d like to help out please email us or give us a call on 0844 7743409
Mark Thomas Coming to Reading!
December 18th, 2010 • Events, Film & Documentary, News
Tags: comedy, EXTREME RAMBLING, mark thomas, reading, show, south street, stage, Walking The Wall
EXTREME RAMBLING – Walking The Wall
South Street, Reading / 11-14 January 2011 / Book Now…
OPEN LETTER: Universal Jurisdiction
December 9th, 2010 • Action, Awareness, News
Tags: alok sharma, amnesty international, human rights watch, justice, ken clarke, MP, open letter, parliament, reading, rob wilson, uk, universal jurisdiction, vote
UPDATE #1 – Monday 13/12/10
The police reform bill debate started at 6pm, watch live on BBC’s Democracy Live or BBC Parliament on Freeview 81, Freesat 201, Sky 504, Virgin 612.
Also, a letter was published in The Guardian today: “Grave dangers in police reform bill” – signed by Baroness Jenny Tonge, Jeremy Corbin MP, Michael Mansfield QC, Betty Hunter, Hugh Lanning, Gerald Kaufman MP and many others.
-
On Monday 13th December the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill will be debated in the Commons. Within the bill is Clause 151: “Arrest warrants : Restriction on issue of arrest warrants in private prosecutions”, which gives the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) a veto over whether or not an arrest warrant can be issued for war crime suspects.
As part of our effort to defeat this change, we have sent an open letter from Members of Reading PSC to Rob Wilson (Con), Member of Parliament for Reading East. The open letter appears below:
Dear Rob,
You are receiving this open letter on behalf of the members of the Reading branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC). We are sure you are aware of our organisation as you have met several of our members in the past to discuss our concerns about the treatment of Palestinians at the hands of the State of Israel.
Our organisation represents a wide spread of people in both Reading East and West. We are men and women. We are young and old. We are people of faith and no faith. We are the people of Reading.
We spend our time trying to raise awareness of the issues surrounding the catastrophe that has befallen the Palestinians, not because we enjoy it, but because we feel compelled by our conscience and simple human understanding and empathy to do so.
We understand that you are planning to support changes to the current Universal Jurisdiction laws in the UK. As we are sure you are aware, the current position is that a private individual may apply to a magistrate for an arrest warrant if a war crimes suspect is visiting the country or a visit is anticipated.
The issue of an arrest warrant for a war crime is decided only by specialist and legally qualified magistrates. In any case, the consent of the Attorney General is currently required for any prosecution to go ahead, but, in the absence of consent, a warrant may be issued if the magistrate considers that:
- there are reasonable grounds to suspect that an offence under such legislation has been committed;
- admissible evidence has been presented which (if uncontradicted) establishes the elements of the offence alleged;
- s/he has jurisdiction to issue the warrant and has ruled out the immunity of the suspect.
Any belief, therefore, that arrest warrants have ever been – or can still be – issued with little or no evidence to support a legitimate prosecution is a fundamental misconception of the existing law. If you think otherwise, we invite you to cite a single case in which an arrest warrant has been issued under Universal Jurisdiction law which could reasonably be considered an abuse of the existing system.
In the case of visiting Israeli ministers or leaders, the Goldstone Report, accepted by the UN, concluded that war crimes had been committed in Gaza by Israel during Operation Cast Lead in December 2008 – January 2009. It is not surprising, therefore, that a senior magistrate found there was enough evidence to warrant the arrest of former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni had she visited the UK.
The argument that we must allow elected ministers to visit the UK and be immune from our laws in order to engage them diplomatic talks is misleading. There is nothing, for instance, to stop British ministers from visiting the home countries of suspected war criminals where they are immune from prosecution. Additionally, the serving Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Minister of Defence of any sovereign country can visit the UK under the principle of sovereign immunity.
Any attempt to involve the Attorney General in the decision to issue the arrest warrant would be a regressive step in many ways. You must surely agree that the independence of the judiciary in the UK from political interference is critical. In fact, your voting record, Rob, proves this. In the past you voted against giving Ministers the right to intervene in inquests. But you apparently now think that the Attorney General – not exactly a wholly independent branch of Government – should have the right to intervene in cases brought by private individuals against people reasonably suspected of war crimes. How do you explain or justify this stance given that there is no case that you can cite where an arrest warrant was issued under the principle of Universal Jurisdiction which was not a valid use of the legal process?
Having to wait for an Attorney General decision on issuing an arrest warrant will simply allow suspected war criminals time to flee the country as well as the possibility of political interference in the rule of law.
Our views are not outlandish. They are supported by many other respected Human Rights organisations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, International Federation for Human Rights, Global Witness, Justice and REDRESS who issued a joint statement saying they were:
“… gravely concerned that any changes to existing law and procedure will undermine the capacity of victims of serious international crimes to hold accountable alleged perpetrators who come within the UK’s jurisdiction by making all arrest decisions in such cases subject to political considerations rather than being based on the legal merits. Suspects may therefore find a safe haven in the UK, and the already considerable barriers to bringing such suspects to justice will be heightened.
Instead of making it more difficult to arrest with a view to prosecuting such suspects, the UK should be seeking to enhance its capacity to do so, and mooted legislative changes are a step entirely in the wrong direction.”
The Conservative party itself advocates the Big Society, a society where power is removed from a central political entity, and given to local people and communities. It seems it is fine for the general public to on the one hand ‘share the pain’ of budget cuts, but on the other they can not be trusted to share the responsibility of holding war criminals to account. A responsibility which you apparently wish to now restrict to a small but elite minority in Government.
In the the past the point has been made to us by you, Rob, to different members of our organisation, at different times, that not enough ‘pressure’ is being applied on parliament on the issues that we discuss with you. Please consider this letter as pressure. Please also consider the fact that the major Human Rights related organisations in the UK do not support any change to Universal Jurisdiction as pressure – and we know that they are undertaking to lobby MPs across the political spectrum. Consider the fact that no one has yet produced any example of a case where the existing Universal Jurisdiction law can be said to have been abused as further pressure upon your judgement.
We implore you to oppose any change to the law on Universal Jurisdiction on behalf of the people of Reading. We believe this is an issue that fundamentally alters the moral integrity of our country, and could well call your personal integrity into question should you support the changes.
Kind Regards,
Reading PSC
info@readingpsc.org.uk
http://readingpsc.org.uk
Sent via email @ 3.40pm Thursday December 9th, 2010
- All replies to this letter will be posted on the Reading PSC website.
- The Open Letter will also be sent to Alok Sharma, Member of Parliament for Reading West.
“WHAT CAN I DO?”
It is important that you send a message to YOUR MP asking them to vote against the proposed changes. PSC have set up an easy to use e-tool to allow you to send a model letter to your MP: click here…
Background Information
- PSC Briefing: No Change to Universal Jurisdiction
- UK Government announcement, 22/7/10: New rules on universal jurisdiction
- Amnesty International UK, 1/12/10: War crimes arrests: New measures show UK is ‘soft’ on war crimes and torture
- The Guardian, 1/12/10: Amnesty International say police bill will let war criminals go free
- Human Rights Watch, 27/1/10: Briefing to Parliamentarians by the UK Universal Jurisdiction Group
- HRW, 10/01: The Case For Universal Jurisdiction
Reading Street Stall – SUNDAY 24 October @ 12.30pm
October 18th, 2010 • Events
Tags: broad street, reading, stall, street
Broad Street 12.30pm–3pm
Reading PSC will be holding a street stall this SUNDAY on Broad Street in Reading.
We’ll be there from 12.30pm to 3pm – find us in the pedestrian area between Marks & Spencer and the entrance to The Oracle.
Please come along and say ‘Hello’ – if you’d like to help out please email us or give us a call on 0844 7743409
Reading Street Stall – Sunday 1 August @ 12.30pm
July 30th, 2010 • Events
Tags: broad street, reading, stall, street
Broad Street 12.30pm–3pm
