Wednesday 5th May 2021, 7.30 start
Dear all,
Please find below, an exciting change of Agenda for this evening.
Emma Doriani is popping in to talk to us about:
Pentonville Prison the case for prison reform.
She is an expert on the subject and a regular musician in prisons.
You’ll be impressed and depressed.
So …….
Several items are removed from the agenda and written updates on: Mubarak Bala, Nazanin Ratcliffe and Barclays Mandate Change are given below.
Since Mo and Andrew are treading the boards, can we roll over your ‘Into the Woods’ contribution to next week please?
Thanks
Bob
56th zoom gathering
Music: Opera Sorpresa en Alto Rosario Shopping
Pentonville Prison and prison reform: Emma Dogliani
Cartoon of the week: Egghead.
Art: Brian (Bamber) GB, changes role to present art.
Play: to be performed by the wedded, woodland thespians A and M Ireland.
Casting: Broad Lane’s Billy Cotton, Aud.
The Quiz: Alistair!!!
Into the shivering Woods: Andrew and Mo
Recommendations: What have you read, listened to or heard this week?
Ed: The Killing
Classy Music: Kiri Te Kanawa & Norma Burrows | Rossini’s Cat Duet
Updates
Free Nazanin Ratcliffe, latest.
It seems that the pace may be quickening.
The Govt. is considering paying Iran the money owed for the cancelled arms deal. If it is paid, Iran may release Nazanin.
It’s a kind of blackmail, will it encourage more blackmail in the future?
C & W Hums: Barclays non-news.
I spoke to Caroline in Barclays Mandate Change section this morning (5th May 10:25) she says “We’re on the last leg, the paperwork is being done today, it will all be finished in 5 working days”.
Hope springs eternal …………….
Mubarak Bala: 372 days illegally detained.
From The Guardian, 7 days ago
UN condemns one year detention of Nigerian humanist Mubarak Bala
Prominent figure has been detained since April 2020 without charge and is accused of blasphemy
Mubarak Bala
In the weeks before his detention Bala had posted comments critical of Islam on Facebook. UN experts condemned Nigeria for a ‘flagrant violation of fundamental human rights’. Photograph: Handout
Emmanuel Akinwotu in Lagos
Wed 28 Apr 2021 17.51 BST
The United Nations has condemned Nigerian authorities for failing to release a prominent humanist accused of blasphemy, who has been detained for a year without charge.
Mubarak Bala, the president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, was arrested at his home in Kaduna state on 28 April 2020 and taken to neighbouring Kano, where calls for action against him had been made by religious figures.
In the weeks before, he had posted comments critical of Islam on Facebook that caused outrage among conservative groups in the mostly Muslim north of Nigeria.
For months the 37-year-old was denied contact with his lawyer or family and his whereabouts unknown before he was granted access, and a high court order for his release on bail has been ignored by Nigerian authorities. His case has been seen as an example of a clampdown on voices judged to be critical of religious orthodoxy, in a deeply conservative region.
A group of seven UN human rights experts on Wednesday condemned Nigerian authorities for a “flagrant violation of fundamental human rights.”
“Today marks one year since Mr Bala was arrested and detained in Kano state, without any formal charges, on allegations of blasphemy. His arbitrary detention has continued despite our appeals to the government in May and July last year,” they said, with the case causing “a chilling effect on the exercise of fundamental freedoms in Nigeria.”
“Through his continued detention, the government is sending the wrong signal to extremist groups that the silencing and intimidation of human rights defenders and minority non-believers is acceptable,” they added.
Last December, Nigeria’s high court ruled that Bala’s detention went against his rights to personal freedom, fair hearing, freedom of thought, expression, ordering his release on bail and damages of 250,000 Naira ($657). Yet authorities have continued to detain Bala.
“The government must take action to ensure that the responsible authorities respect the due process and enforce the judicial ruling,” the UN experts further said.
Bala, the son of a widely regarded Islamic scholar, has been an outspoken religious critic in a staunchly conservative region, where open religious dissent is uncommon. After renouncing Islam in 2014, he was forcibly committed to a psychiatric facility by his family in Kano before being discharged.
After Bala posted comments critical of Islam and religion on his Facebook profile last April, he received a surge of online accusations of blasphemy and threats.
A lawyer for Bala, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Guardian that police were able to detain Bala on “a holding charge” often used in arbitrary detentions, where formal charges are not presented.
“We are have filed another bail application in Abuja, in the high court,” he said but a judicial strike in the country had delayed proceedings.
Last year his wife, Amina Mubarak, described the toll of her ordeal while caring for their one-year-old child. “It is unbearable, going through this psychological and emotional trauma right now. I’ve tried all I can,” she said.
Coventry & Warwickshire Humanists 