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September 07, 2010 |
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2003 Human Right Dedication By Edward Morneau Thursday, April 10, 2003 Injustice may pain the body, mind and heart, but the soul shall heal all of these. Indifference-to not care, to just stand by, to look away-this bleaches the soul entirely and justice disappears, leaving the rest as invisible. - W. Santiago In 1989 the James Joyce Ramble added to its mission the effort to make people aware of human rights. Because of our namesake and because writers and free thinkers are frequently targeted by authoritarian regimes that are intolerant of criticism and democratic ideals, we have petitioned on behalf of such writers as dramatist and Czech President Vaclav Havel; Xu Wenli, founder of China's Democracy Wall Movement; Burma's Nobel laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi; Wei Jingsheng, a leading voice for human rights in China; Ismail Besikci, a Turkish sociologist; Myanmar journalist, Daw San San New; Tibetan exile, Ngwang Choephel; and Guatemalan journalists--Carlos Rivas, Arnulfo Augustin Guzman, Deccio Serrano, Jose Candido Barrillas, Ana Lucia Ramirez and Nery de la Cruz. Last year we dedicated the race to Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street Journal foreign correspondent who was kidnapped and murdered by Pakistani extremists.  For our 20th anniversary, Xu Wenli has accepted our invitation to be this year's Grand Marshall. We are humbled by his participation. Mr. Wenli suffered greatly as a Chinese activist and has been exiled to America where he continues to work on behalf of human rights. He honors our mission and encourages us to continue sponsoring individuals who have invariably suffered official state and military-enforced sanctions, imprisonment, house arrest, censorship, and personal loss, humiliation, torture and injury merely for exercising speech and expressing ideas. This year we are acting on behalf of Mohamed Zaki, Ibrahim Moosa Luthfee, and Ahmed Ibrahim Didi, who were arrested in January and February 2002 and given life imprisonment for publishing articles critical of their government in an Internet publication called Sandhaanu. Their secretary, Fathimath Nisreen, was given a ten year sentence. They were charged with defamation and committing acts hostile to the government-the Republic of Maldives. Throughout the proceedings they were denied access to a lawyer. After the hearing all four were transferred to the prison on the island of Mafushi where they were reportedly kept in solitary confinement in small cells and were denied visits from their families. They are all currently held in Mafushi island prison. Though no longer in solitary confinement, conditions in the prison are said to be very harsh. Prisoners are at times kept in handcuffs for days, access to health care is severely limited, and visits from relatives are allowed only once a month. We join Amnesty Internationaland all human rights organizations in petitioning on behalf of these Maldives writers/publishers and their right to practice speech common to journalists without the threat of harassment, threat, intimidation, reprisals, punishment, arrest, torture or imprisonment by the Maldives state. Injustice may pain the body, mind and heart, but the soul shall heal all of these. Indifference-to not care, to just stand by, to look away-this bleaches the soul entirely and justice disappears, leaving the rest as invisible. - W. Santiago In 1989 the James Joyce Ramble added to its mission the effort to make people aware of human rights. Because of our namesake and because writers and free thinkers are frequently targeted by authoritarian regimes that are intolerant of criticism and democratic ideals, we have petitioned on behalf of such writers as dramatist and Czech President Vaclav Havel; Xu Wenli, founder of China's Democracy Wall Movement; Burma's Nobel laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi; Wei Jingsheng, a leading voice for human rights in China; Ismail Besikci, a Turkish sociologist; Myanmar journalist, Daw San San New; Tibetan exile, Ngwang Choephel; and Guatemalan journalists--Carlos Rivas, Arnulfo Augustin Guzman, Deccio Serrano, Jose Candido Barrillas, Ana Lucia Ramirez and Nery de la Cruz. Last year we dedicated the race to Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street Journal foreign correspondent who was kidnapped and murdered by Pakistani extremists. For our 20th anniversary, Xu Wenli has accepted our invitation to be this year's Grand Marshall. We are humbled by his participation. Mr. Wenli suffered greatly as a Chinese activist and has been exiled to America where he continues to work on behalf of human rights. He honors our mission and encourages us to continue sponsoring individuals who have invariably suffered official state and military-enforced sanctions, imprisonment, house arrest, censorship, and personal loss, humiliation, torture and injury merely for exercising speech and expressing ideas. This year we are acting on behalf of Mohamed Zaki, Ibrahim Moosa Luthfee, and Ahmed Ibrahim Didi, who were arrested in January and February 2002 and given life imprisonment for publishing articles critical of their government in an Internet publication called Sandhaanu. Their secretary, Fathimath Nisreen, was given a ten year sentence. They were charged with defamation and committing acts hostile to the government-the Republic of Maldives. Throughout the proceedings they were denied access to a lawyer. After the hearing all four were transferred to the prison on the island of Mafushi where they were reportedly kept in solitary confinement in small cells and were denied visits from their families. They are all currently held in Mafushi island prison. Though no longer in solitary confinement, conditions in the prison are said to be very harsh. Prisoners are at times kept in handcuffs for days, access to health care is severely limited, and visits from relatives are allowed only once a month. We join Amnesty Internationaland all human rights organizations in petitioning on behalf of these Maldives writers/publishers and their right to practice speech common to journalists without the threat of harassment, threat, intimidation, reprisals, punishment, arrest, torture or imprisonment by the Maldives state. |
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