Human Rights

4WardEverUK

Mao Hengfeng was delivered home from detention unconscious and in a wheelchair

provided by: Amnesty International
15th August 2011

The last time Mao Hengfeng was home from jail, the celebration was short-lived. She had roughly two days of freedom before being re-detained on vague charges. Two weeks ago, when Chinese police returned Mao Hengfeng home from her most recent term of “Re-Education through Labor” – it didn’t feel right to celebrate at all. She was home, but she was delivered unconscious in a wheelchair…severely beaten…clearly tortured… barely alive.

It gets worse. Shanghai authorities have been known to return detainees to their homes shortly before they die so that they can later wash their hands of all culpability. Because her release was completely unexpected, Mao’s husband and family could only expect the worst.

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4WardEverUK

‘Forgotten’ terror suspect nears 5 years in prison

originally by: Your Local Guardian
13th July 2011

The family of Tooting’s ‘forgotten’ terror suspect, who remains in jail without trial, are preparing to mark the fifth anniversary of his imprisonment. Syed Talha Ahsan – a 31-year-old writer with Asperger syndrome – was arrested at his home in Franciscan Road, Tooting, on July 19, 2007, after US authorities requested his extradition.

Read about Syed here >

He is accused in the US of terrorism-related offences arising out of an alleged involvement with a series of websites between 1997 and 2004. Mr Ahsan’s case is linked to that of Babar Ahmad – but he has received much less media attention than Mr Ahmad, who was arrested in 2003 and is also still in prison.

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4WardEverUK

"Eventually, science will kill capital punishment"

originally by: Sentencing Law and Policy
29th May 2011

We don’t know if the recently executed child rapist and killer Donald Beaty had the genetic defect that scientists call the “murder gene.” I’m pretty sure we didn’t want to know. We wanted him dead. Just as we wanted the murderer Jeffrey Landrigan executed last October, although Landrigan’s attorneys claimed he might have possessed the gene, which is believed to create a predisposition to violence when linked with other factors.

But the U.S. Supreme Court decided that Landrigan had waived his right to raise that issue, and there was no reprieve coming from the governor.

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