Archie Downie OBE, tireless campaigner, dies aged 85

originally published by: Manchester News
28th April 2010

A race equality campaigner who was instrumental in dealing with the aftermath of the Moss Side riots has died aged 85. Archie Downie OBE co-founded the Manchester Council for Community Relations MCCR in 1966 to fight for immigrants’ rights.

In 1981, following the riots in Moss Side, he played a crucial role in getting disaffected young black men to engage with the authorities – leading a delegation to meet then-Home Secretary William Whitelaw.

Mr Downie, who lived in Heywood Road, Prestwich, and was a magistrate in Manchester, fell ill and died at North Manchester General Hospital last week.

4 May 201016 December 2022 4WardEverUK

US Supreme Court refuses to hear the case of Linda Carty

originally published by: Reprieve
3rd May 2010

Reprieve is deeply disappointed by today’s Supreme Court decision not to consider the disastrous case of Linda Carty, a British grandmother facing imminent execution thanks to a flawed trial in Texas.

Linda has always protested her innocence and had hoped for the chance to persuade the highest court that her conviction is dangerously unreliable. Although the Supreme Court accepts only a small minority of cases, Linda’s was widely believed to be crying out for consideration because of critically important issues of fairness and due process.

The British Government had filed a strongly-worded amicus brief to the Court, detailing serious errors by the State of Texas and stating that that had they been allowed to assist Linda, she would likely not be facing execution today.

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30 March 201015 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Death row inmate protests his innocence more loudly each time execution is cancelled

originally published by: irishtimes.com
27th March 2010

Troy Davis fasted and prayed, chose his last visitors, and gave instructions for his own burial. “We had to order a hearse,” recalls Davis’s older sister, Martina Davis Correia. “It was parked in front of the prison door; our sister passed out when she saw it.

We were told we’d have to pay $1,000 for the autopsy. The state was about to kill Troy, and they didn’t know the cause of death? They told us we couldn’t witness the execution because they needed the chairs for the family of the victim . . .”

Davis, who is black, will turn 42 this year. He has spent more than half his life in prison for the murder of Mark MacPhail, an off-duty white policeman, a crime he has always denied.