AII in town with call to free 'prisoner of conscience'
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, December 17 2013: Terming Irom Chanu Sharmila's campaign for repealing the infamous AFSPA 1958 as a democratic movement, Amnesty International, India and human rights supporters from across the country have demanded that Sharmila deserves unconditional release from imprisonment.

Speaking on behalf of human rights campaigners at Manipur Press Club today, Amnesty international India's chief executive G Ananthapadmanabhan describing Irom Sharmila as a 'prisoner of conscience' dismissed as ridiculous the rights campaigner's imprisonment on the charge of 'attempt to commit suicide' .

In addition to meeting and handing over memoranda to both the State and Central Government leaders Amnesty International had been campaigning to highlight Sharmila's cause and struggle, he said and added that a number of letters written by her supporters have also been handed over to the anti-AFSPA campaigners.

In a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister O ibobi Singh, Amnesty International India urged that all charges against Irom Sharmila be dropped and to release her immediately and unconditionally.

The AII team with Irom Sharmila

Noting among others that inspite of arrest for launching an indefinite fast since November 2, 2000 demanding lifting of AFSPA 1958 and a Delhi court charging her with attempting to commit suicide after staging a protest in Delhi for two days in October 2006, Irom Sharmila has never been convicted on the said charges or has pleaded not guilty to the charges, the representation describing Sharmila as a 'prisoner of conscience' said her campaign is peaceful expression of her beliefs, protest against human rights violations.

inferring that her campaign is different from self-starvation as a way to commit suicide, the memorandum also pointed out recognition by the Supreme Court that 'hunger strikes have long been accepted as a legitimate form of protest in India.

Applauding audacity of the State Government's decision to lift AFSPA from the seven assembly segments of Imphal and Greater imphal areas, Ananthapadmanabhan said the global rights body is keenly awaiting more such goodwill gestures from the Government which will enable the people in the entire State live without any inhibition.

"We ask you to release Irom Sharmila, consider the validity of her demands and not punish her for exercising her constitutional rights," said the Amnesty representation addressed to the CM.

Further stating that over 16,000 people have supported an Amnesty International India campaign seeking the immediate and unconditional release of human rights activist and 'Prisoner of Conscience' Irom Sharmila Chanu, he said "The governments of Manipur and Delhi should heed the thousands of voices urging them to drop all charges against Irom Sharmila and release her immediately" .

Asserting that her custody confinement is a continuing reminder of India's intolerance to dissent, he also regretted that visitors, including her family and friends have to go through a lengthy process of obtaining permission from the Manipur government to meet Sharmila, currently force-fed a diet of liquids through her nose.

Highlighting that On October 30, 2013, the National Human Rights Commission directed the Government of Manipur to immediately remove the restrictions on access to Irom Sharmila, calling them a "breach of India's obligations under international human rights standards and principles, and a grave violation of human rights", G Ananthapadmanabhan termed the procedural barrier as the Manipur government "trying to break her spirit through this enforced isolation, for which there is no judicial mandate" .

With thousands of people acknowledging that Sharmila's hunger strike is not an attempt to commit suicide but a protest against human rights violations, "authorities must not use charges of attempted suicide to deflect attention from the important issues that Irom Sharmila is raising at a huge personal cost," he observed.

Quoting a February 2012 Supreme Court observance in its ruling in the Ram Lila Maidan Incident case that a hunger strike is "a form of protest which has been accepted, both historically and legally in our constitutional jurisprudence" as well as The British Medical Association, in a briefing to the World Medical Association clarifying that, "(a) hunger strike is not equivalent to suicide.

Individuals who embark on hunger strikes aim to achieve goals important to them but generally hope and intend to survive," Ananthapadmanabhan reminded that the latter position has been embodied by the World Medical Association in its Malta Declaration on Hunger Strikers.

Speaking to Amnesty International India in September 2013, Irom Sharmila, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence, said, "My struggle is my message.

I love my life very much and want to have the freedom to meet people and struggle for issues close to my heart" .

Amnesty International India's public campaign seeking Irom Sharmila's release was launched on November 2, 2013, and has been supported by groups and individual supporters across the world, informed the Chief Executive.

Although attempting to commit suicide is a bailable offence in India, Sharmila has refused to sign the bail bonds, maintaining that she has not committed any offence.

Instead, she has called for the criminal charges against her to be dropped.

She has pleaded not guilty to the charges of attempting to commit suicide, saying she is involved in a non-violent protest.Amnesty International and several other rights organizations continue to demand the repeal of the AFSPA, he maintained.

The AFSPA, which has been in force in parts of North-eastern India since 1958, and a virtually identical law (The Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990) in force in Jammu and Kashmir since 1990, provides sweeping powers to soldiers, including the power to shoot to kill in certain situations and to arrest people without warrants.

The Act also provides virtual immunity from prosecution for security personnel, by mandating prior permission from the central government, which is almost never granted, Ananthapadmanabhan noted with remorse.

The AFSPA falls short of international human rights standards, including provisions of treaties to which India is a state party; and is inconsistent with India's international legal obligations to respect and protect the right to life, liberty and security of person, to freedom from torture and other ill-treatment, and to an effective remedy.

Several UN bodies and experts, including the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences; the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, have stated that the AFSPA must be repealed.

A number of Indian bodies, including the Second Administrative Reforms Commission, the Jeevan Reddy Committee and the Prime Minister's Working Group on Confidence-Building Measures in Jammu and Kashmir have also urged the repeal of the law, he highlighted with a stern reminder that the Justice Verma Committee, set up to review laws against sexual assault, said in January 2013 that the AFSPA legitimized impunity for sexual violence.

Moreover, the Justice Santosh Hegde Commission, set up by the Supreme Court in January 2013 to investigate cases of extrajudicial executions in Manipur, described the law (AFSPA) as "a symbol of oppression, an object of hate and an instrument of discrimination and high-handedness," Ananthapadmanabhan stated.