PRESS RELEASE September 6, 2010 Reference: Chester Amparo , Secretary General, KPD ( 0922 876 5851) As USS George Washington Comes to Manila Again KPD Says No Goodwill Visit Here, Just US Military Muscle Flexing Manila--- “It’s no social visit , but a deterrent to any and all US-perceived threats in the region such as China and North Korea.” “It’s part of the US military strategy to ensure continued supremacy in the region. In fact, they’re trying to soft-sell the continued intrusive presence of the US military in sovereign countries like the Philippines. According to Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya (KPD) Secretary-General Chester Amparo, a 100,000 ton nuclear-powered supercarrier like the USS George Washington do not make port calls for ‘family reunions’ for a third of its five thousand crew members or to soak up on local Filipino culture’. “They are not tourists but enlisted men, foreign military personnel allowed into the country courtesy of the unequal Visiting Forces Agreement,” pointed out Amparo. He added that the 1986 Constitution expressly states that the country is supposedly nuclear-free. Allowing these US nuke-powered battle ships entry into our seas is a clear violation of our Constitution. According to KPD, no goodwill can be fostered if relations between the US and the Philippines continue to remain unequal and travesties of justice remain like the acquittal of Lance Corporal Daniel Smith in the Subic Rape Case or the suffering of victims of toxic wastes left by US troops when they closed down the US Bases in 1992. By packaging this visit as a ‘goodwill visit’ the government is pathetically attempting to water down the international fiasco of the hostage crisis. Amparo added that many cases of abuse and violation of national laws and human rights have already been documented by various groups stemming from the continued deployment of US troops in Mindanao. It would be recalled that USS George Washington along with Carrier Air Wing 5 (CVW5) and guided missile-destroyers USS John S McCain (DDG56), USS McCampbell (DDG 85) arrived last Saturday for a four-day ‘goodwill visit.’ “ We would be better off if we move to end their long-drawn out visit-cum-deployment in the country.As long as they remain, they mock our sovereignty and national patrimony as they remain ‘untouchables’ in our laws, “ ended Amparo. ####
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Press Statement September 13, 2010 Contact Person: Atty Virginia Suarez-Pinlac Iran Should Abolish Death by Stoning KAISA KA joins the millions of voices in the whole world in condemning the death-by- stoning sentence given by an Iranian judge against Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani. It calls on the Iranian government to abolish this kind of penalty as this is cruel, and, most often victimizes women. Ashtiani, a 43 year-old mother of two, has been languishing in prison since 2005, was sentenced to 99 lashes for adultery in 2006 and was about to die by stoning until a worldwide outcry against the sentence forced the Iranian government to suspend the execution. According to reports, she endured another 99 lashes for the publication of a picture of a woman without veil mistaken for Ashtiani’s. Clearly, for Iran, what Ashtiani has endured is not yet enough because she is a woman. Despite her having been acquitted for the murder of her husband, later government statements justify the ruthless punishment for Ashtiani by saying that she participated in the plot to murder her husband. While KAISA KA is not advocating death penalty, it has to point out its incongruity: the man who was convicted for the said murder did not receive a death sentence. In male-dominated societies like Iran, women suffer disproportionately from this kind of punishment for adultery. More women than men do not get higher education and are more likely to sign confessions to crimes they did not commit. And factoring in other kinds of discrimination against women, they would be more vulnerable to unfair trials, to convictions. While death by stoning is also meted out for other grave crimes, KAISA KA believes that this kind of punishment especially for adultery in Iran is a remnant of an archaic patriarchal culture that controlled women’s sexuality but condoned men’s philandering and even allowed men to have many wives and concubines. This should stop in a modern and humane society. KAISA KA calls for the abolition of death-by-stoning. We also call for the elimination of other forms of death penalty or flogging or imprisonment for those convicted of adultery. No more Soraya Manutchehris! Save about 50 more women lined-up for stoning! Free Sakineh Mahammadi Ashtiani now! |
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