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Amnesty International USA Group 48
Newsletter 08.12
1 Texas On Verge o Executing
Mentally Disabled Man
2 Urge US Government
Leaders to Support the UN
Arms Trade Treaty
4 IRAQ: Urgent Action - Iraq
Intends To Execute 196
Prisoners
5 TAJIKISTAN: Urgent Action
- "Murder Suspect" Tortured
To Coness
7 CHINA: Urgent Action -
Chinese Housing Activists’
Sentences Upheld
9 NIGERIA: Oil spill
investigations ‘a asco’ in
the Niger Delta
Texas On Verge of Executing Mentally Disabled Man August 3, 2012
Amnesty International USA today
called on exas to reverse its “utterly
shameul” decision to go orward on
uesday with the execution o Marvin
Wilson, who has an IQ o 61. I exas
won’t commute the death sentence, then
the U.S. Supreme Court must step in
to stop exas rom deying its ban on
executing mentally disabled prisoners.
“exas seems to think it can buck even
the Supreme Court,” said Laura Moye,
director o Amnesty International’s
Death Penalty Abolition Campaign.
“Te Supreme Court must hear this
case, i exas reuses to commute the
sentence.”
Wilson, 54, who is Arican American, is
due to be put to death by lethal injec-
tion this coming uesday or a murder
committed in 1992. A clinical neuro-
psychologist has concluded that he has
“mental retardation.” According to his
most recent test, Wilson has an IQ o
61 (most states bar executions or those
with IQs at 70 or below).
“Tat puts Wilson below the rst per-
centile o human intelligence, and he’s
in an even lower percentile or adaptive
unctioning,” said Moye. “It’s utterly
shameul or exas to be considering anexecution in this case.”
A decade ago, in Atkins v. Virginia, the
Supreme Court prohibited the execu-
tion o oenders with “mental retarda-
tion” while leaving it up to the indi-
vidual states as to how to comply with
the ruling.
Beore the Atkins ruling, exas ex-
ecuted more inmates diagnosed with“mental retardation” than any other state
A decade later, its legislature has yet to
enact a law to comply with Atkins, and
it appears that “temporary” guidelines
developed by the exas Court o Crimi-
nal Appeals (CCA) in 2004 are letting
the state execute oenders who should
be exempted rom this punishment
under the Constitution.
L E WE D2 4 S t o c k .X c h n g
NewsLetter Designed
By Michelle Whitlock
MichelleWhitlock.com
AIUSA-Group 48
http://aipdx.org
503-227-1878
Next Meeting:
Friday August 10th
First Unitarian Church
1011 SW 12th Ave7:00pm inormal
gathering
7:30pm meeting starts
»
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AIUSA group 48 Newsletter August 2012 Pg 2
Tese temporary guidelines are a set o seven questions that
the CCA itsel suggested were inspired by Lennie Small, the
mentally impaired ranch hand in John Steinbeck’s O Mice
and Men. Te American Association o Intellectual and
Development Disabilities (AAIDD) has written that these
7 questions “…are based on alse stereotypes about mental
retardation that eectively exclude all but the most severely
incapacitated.” Te AAIDD (known then as AAMR), was the
main scientic authority noted by the U.S. Supreme Court in
Atkins.
In 2003, Wilson’s lawyers led an “Atkins claim” to challenge
the constitutionality o his death sentence. Tey presented
the courts with the detailed conclusions o a court-appointed
neuropsychologist with 22 years o clinical experience who
assessed Wilson as meeting the criteria or “mental retarda-
tion”.
Te state o exas has presented no expert testimony to rebut
that evidence, but state courts, applying the CCA’s much-
criticized guidelines, rejected the Atkins claim. Te ederal
courts, required under U.S. law to give a high level o deer-
ence to state court rulings, upheld the denial. Wilson’s lawyers
are seeking U.S. Supreme Court intervention on his case.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty uncon-
ditionally in all cases as the ultimate cruel, inhuman and
degrading punishment; in the United States the process is
riddled with discrimination, inconsistency and error.
Tis would be the seventh execution in exas this year, as the
state heads or its 500th execution since resuming judicial
killing 30 years ago.
Nationwide, 1,301 people have been executed since the death
penalty was reinstated in 1976, including 24 this year.
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning
grassroots activist organization with more than 3 million sup-
porters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries
campaigning or human rights worldwide. Te organization
investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the
public, and works to protect people wherever justice, reedom
truth and dignity are denied.
Urge US Government Leaders to Support the UN Arms Trade TreatyAmnesty International and other organizations were greatly
disappointed and surprised by the call or the delay o this
treaty .
“With one person dying every minute because o armed vio-
lence, there is an imperative or powerul states to lead. Presi-
dent Obama has asked or more time to reach an agreement.
How much more time does he want?” Salil Shetty, Secretary
General o Amnesty International.
“Tis was stunning cowardice by the Obama administration,
which at the last minute did an about-ace and scuttled prog-
ress toward a global arms treaty, just as it reached the nish
line. It’s a staggering abdication o leadership by the world’s
largest exporter o conventional weapons to pull the plug on
the talks just as they were nearing an historic breakthrough
that would have required all nations to deny arms export
licenses where there was an overriding risk that the weapons
would be used to acilitate serious crimes against humanity.
Te negotiations are the culmination o six years o U.N. work
on the treaty and over a decade o campaigning by Nobel
On July 27, 2012, China, Russia and the USA acted to delay
the UN Arms rade reaty, a treaty that could have been a
landmark agreement to end the irresponsible trade in arms
trade. Te treaty included small arms and light weapons
and rules to stop arms transers rom being used or crimes
against humanity, war crimes and serious violations o human
rights are in the dra treaty. »
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AIUSA group 48 Newsletter August 2012 Pg 3
Peace Laureates and groups including Amnesty International.”
Suzanne Nossel, Executive Director o Amnesty International
USA.
According to Amnesty International, the US Government
bears a great responsibility to get these talks restarted and
bring to a successul conclusion this all at the U.N. General
Assembly.
Action
Send a letter or email to Oregon’s US Senators urging their
support o the Arms rade reaty similar to the ollowing
sample letter. Either mail a letter or use the web orm on the
senators’ website.
Appeals To
Senator Jef Merkley
313 Hart Senate Oce Building
Washington DC 20510
Web Form: www.merkley.senate.gov/contact/
Senator Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Oce Building
Washington DC 20510
(202) 224-5244Web Form: www.wyden.senate.gov/contact/
Sample Letter
Dear _________,
I am writing in support o an eective Arms rade reaty, a
treaty that will stop irresponsible arms transers. Te U.S.
Government should be leading the eort to stop the unregu-
lated fow o weapons that contribute to confict and humani-
tarian crises throughout the world and not the cause o the
delay o its passage.
I call on the United States Government to ensure this treaty
stipulates that arms transers shall not be permitted where
there is a substantial risk the arms are likely to be used to
commit or acilitate serious violations o international human
rights law or international humanitarian law .
Please encourage President Obama and your colleagues to en-
sure that a broad scope o weapons, all types o arms transers
as well as ammunition are included in the scope o the treaty.
Tese elements are critical to achieving a “bullet proo” treaty
that will stop weapons rom reaching the hands o those
behind global conficts and humanitarian crises.
Please do everything in your power to ensure that the United
Nations adopts a strong and eective Arms rade reaty that
will keep arms out o the hands o human rights abusers.
I look orward to your response.
Regards,
Take an online action to urge President Obama to support
the Arms Trade Treaty
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/Action-
Item.aspx?c=6oJCLQPAJiJUG&b=6645049&aid=517422
To learn more about the Arms Control Treaty
http://www.amnesty.org/en/campaigns/control-arms
http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/military-police-
and-arms/arms-trade
http://blog.amnestyusa.org/us/act-vs-ction-arms-trade-
treaty-and-gun-ownership-in-the-us/
Group Coordinator
Joanne Lau
Treasurer
Tena Hoke
Newsletter Editor
Dan Webb
Concert Tabling
Will Ware
Legislative Coordinator
Dan Johnson
Indonesia
Max White
Central Africa / OR
State Death Penalty
Abolition
Terrie Rodello
Central America
Marylou Noble
marylou_noble@
yahoo.com
Darfur (Sudan)Marty Fromer
Prisoners’ Cases
Jane Kristof
[email protected] Cerf
Ron Noble
AIUSA Group 48 Contact Inormation
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IRAQ: Urgent Action - Iraq Intends To Execute 196 Prisoners196 prisoners (m)
about executions. Hundreds o people are said to be undersentence o death. Amnesty International is opposed to the
death penalty in all cases because it is a violation o two
undamental human rights, as laid down in Articles 3 and 5
o the Universal Declaration o Human Rights: the right to
lie and the right not to be tortured or subjected to any cruel,
inhuman or degrading punishment. Te organization consid-
ers the death penalty to be the ultimate cruel, inhuman and
degrading punishment.
Amnesty International has repeatedly condemned human
rights abuses by armed groups in Iraq, some o which are war
crimes and crimes against humanity, including kidnapping,
torture and killing o civilians, and continues to call or those
responsible to be brought to justice.
Action
Please write immediately in English or Arabic:
◌ Expressing concern that 196 people are acing imminent
execution;
◌ Urging the authorities to commute these and all other death
sentences; ◌ Calling on them to establish an immediate moratorium on
executions;
◌ Insisting that, while governments have an obligation to
bring to justice those responsible or serious crimes, the death
penalty violates the right to lie and is the ultimate orm o
cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, and should not
be applied even or the most serious crimes.
Appeals ToPLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 4 SEPEMBER 2012 O
Prime Minister and Acting Minister o Deence and Interior
His Excellency Nuri Kamil al-Maliki, Prime Minister
Convention Centre (Qasr al-Ma’aridh)
Baghdad, IRAQ
Salutation: Your Excellency
Minister o Human Rights
His Excellency Mohammad Shayaa al-Sudani
Convention Centre (Qasr al-Ma’aridh)
Baghdad, IRAQ
Salutation: Your Excellency
Some 196 people are at imminent risk o execution in Iraq:the Ministry o Interior has announced their sentences are at
the nal stage and should be implemented soon.
Te Iraqi Ministry o Interior published on its website on 23
July recent news rom the chie o police in Anbar province,
west o Baghdad, about the nal stage o 196 death sentences
in the province. He said that the Court o Cassation had up-
held all the sentences and that he hoped they would be imple-
mented soon. It is unclear i any o the 196 death sentences
have already been ratied by the Iraqi Presidential Council.
Te news published on the Ministry o Interior’s website gave
no details about any o the 196 people acing execution, such
as their names or what charges they were convicted of.
Since the beginning o 2012 at least 70 people have been
executed in Iraq. Te death penalty was suspended or a time
aer the US-led invasion o Iraq but restored in August 2004.
Since then, hundreds o people have been sentenced to death
and many have been executed. Amnesty International consid-
ers the death penalty to be a violation o the right to life, and
the ultimate orm o cruel, inhuman and degrading
treatment.
Additional Information
Te death penalty has been used very extensively in Iraq.
Hundreds o people have been sentenced to death since the
death penalty was reinstated by the Iraqi government in
2004, ollowing a one-year suspension by the then head o
the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), Paul Bremer. Te
government gives very little inormation, such as statistics, »
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Minister o Justice
Hassan al-Shammari
Convention Centre (Qasr al-Ma’aridh)
Baghdad, IRAQ
Salutation: Your Excellency
Copies To
Ambassador Jabir Habeb Jabir, Embassy o the
Republic o Iraq
3421 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington DC 20007
el: 1 202 742 1600 EX136
Fax: 1 202 333
Email: [email protected]
Alternate Email: [email protected]
witter: @IraqiEmbassyUSA
Please check with AIUSA Urgent Action Oce i sending ap-
peals aer the above date.
TAJIKISTAN: Urgent Action - "Murder Suspect" Tortured To Confess, Torture,Ill-treatment, Legal concern
being denied ood, drink or sleep, being made to stand up allnight, and being beaten on the ears. He had his nose broken
and is being subjected to psychological torture including
threats to his amily.
Te man, whose name has not been ormally disclosed, is
reportedly only allowed ood and rest when his lawyer visits
him, though his amily takes him ood parcels three times a
day. He has said he is beaten aer each visit rom his lawyer,
to get him to coness: he was taken to the scene o the crime
by the Ministry o Internal Aairs Department o Criminal
Investigation in a car with tinted windows, and beaten.
On 21 July his lawyer asked the investigator o the General
Prosecutor’s oce to conduct a orensic medical examination
but the request was reportedly reused. Te suspect’s wie and
son have reportedly been orced to give alse evidence against
him.
Additional Information
ajikistan is a landlocked country bordering China to the
east, Aghanistan to the south and Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan
to the north, with an estimated population o 7.2 million. It
gained independence rom the Soviet Union in 1991. Te eco
nomic decline o the country aer the collapse o the Soviet
Union was compounded by a devastating civil war, lasting
rom 1992 to 1997. President Emomali Rahmon, in power
since 1994, has been successul in consolidating ajikistan
aer the civil war. He views himsel as the indispensable
guarantor o stability and peace in the ace o possible new
unrest, especially with the unstable economic situation in the
country and the politically unstable situation in neighboring
Aghanistan.
A 45-year-old man was arrested on 13 July on suspicion o
the murder o President Rahmon’s brother-in-law. He is now
in police custody in the capital, Dushanbe, where witnesses
say he has been tortured and otherwise ill-treated to orce
him to coness.
Te husband o President Rahmon’s elder sister was ound
dead on 13 June: he had been shot several times in the head.
A 45-year-old man is known to have been arrested on 13 July
on suspicion o murder (Article 104 o the Criminal Code)
and o participation in a terrorist act (Article 179.3) aer am-
munition was ound in a water tank at his home. He has said
the ammunition was not his, but planted by police the third
time they searched the premises. Although a lawyer was pres-
ent at the start o his rst interrogation, the suspect was not
allowed to see a lawyer rom 16 to 21 July. According to local
sources, he was badly tortured in the Dushanbe police tem-
porary detention center, where he is still held: this included »
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Human rights violations in the country are signicant, in-
cluding torture and other ill-treatment by law enorcement
ocers; impunity or torturers; violence against women; and
restrictions on reedom o speech. In recent years indepen-
dent media outlets and journalists have aced prosecution
or criticizing the authorities. orture practices reported in
ajikistan include the use o electric shocks; attaching plastic
bottles lled with water or sand to the detainee’s genitals;
rape; and burning with cigarettes. Beating with batons, trun-
cheons and sticks, kicking and punching are also believed to
be common.
Te authorities have recently taken measures to address en-trenched practices o torture, amending the Criminal Code in
March 2012 to include a denition o torture in line with in-
ternational standards. Te Minister o the Interior is believed
to have instructed law enorcement ocials on 13 July to take
steps to prevent torture and other ill-treatment in the early
stages o detention. However Amnesty International believes
that a number o specic additional measures are needed to
ensure that torture and other ill-treatment in pre-trial deten-
tion are brought to an end in practice. Such measures include
ensuring that key saeguards against torture are implemented,
such as access to a lawyer. Te Criminal Procedural Code
stipulates that detainees are entitled to a lawyer as soon as
they are detained, but, in practice lawyers are at the mercy o
police investigators who can deny them access or many days.
During this period o incommunicado detention, the risk o
torture and other ill-treatment is particularly high. Amnesty
International’s research indicates that torture and other ill-
treatment are particularly prevalent in to the case o people
detained on charges relating to national security .
For further information see the report:Shattered Lives: orture and other Ill-treatment in ajikistan
AI Index EUR 60/004/2012 and brieng No Justice, No Pro-
tection: orture and Other Ill-treatment by Law Enorcement
Ocials in ajikistan AI Index EUR 60/005/2012
Action
Please write immediately in ajik, Russian, English or your
own language:
◌ Urge the authorities to ensure that the individual being held
as a suspect or the murder o the President’s brother-in-law
is protected rom torture and other ill-treatment, order a
prompt, independent investigation into allegations that he has
been tortured and bring those responsible to justice;
◌ Urge them to ensure that he is examined promptly by an
independent doctor and the results provided to his lawyer
and amily;
◌ Express concern that he was not allowed to see his lawyer
between 16 and 21 July and urge them to ensure that he is
interrogated only in the presence o his lawyer;
◌ Urge the authorities to take immediate measures to protect
his amily.
Appeals ToPLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 4 SEPMEBER 2012 O
President
I. S. Rakhmon Dom Pravitelstva
pr. Rudaki 80
734023 Dushanbe
AJIKISAN
Email: [email protected]
Salutation: Dear President Rakhmon
Minister o Internal AfairsR. Rahimov
ekhron Street, 29
734025 Dushanbe
AJIKISAN
Fax: 011 992 372 21 26 48
Salutation: Dear Minister
Copies To
Minister o Foreign Afairs
H. Zaripov
42 Rudaki Avenue734051
Dushanbe
AJIKSAN
Email: [email protected]
Ambassador Abdujabbor Shirinov,
Embassy o the Republic o ajikistan
1005 New Hampshire Avenue, NW,
Washington DC 20037
Fax: 1 202 223 6091 »
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AIUSA group 48 Newsletter August 2012 Pg 7
el: 1 202 223 6090
Email: [email protected]
Alternate Email: [email protected]
Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Oce i sending
appeals aer the above date.
CHINA: Urgent Action - Chinese Housing Activists’ Sentences Upheld, Prisonersof conscience, Freedom of expression, Fear if ill-treatmentNi Yulan (f) and Dong Jiqin (m)
peaceul human rights and legal aid activities and considers
them prisoners o conscience. Te couple’s daughter, who
was able to attend the appeal hearing, is under police surveil-
lance.
Additional Information
Lawyers are increasingly in the oreront o human rights
activism in China as more and more people turn to the law
to push or democracy and basic rights. Te Chinese govern-
ment’s response has been uncompromising. Human rights
lawyers are subject to increased silencing tactics - rom
suspension or revoking o licenses, to harassment, enorced
disappearance or even torture. Tis persecution has kept the
number o human rights lawyers down. Out o more than
204,000 lawyers in China, only a brave ew hundred risk tak-
ing on cases that deal with human rights.
Ni Yulan worked as a lawyer or 18 years. She took on many
politically sensitive cases o petitioners and other people pro-
testing the demolition o their homes.
Tis is the third time Beijing police have held Ni Yulan or an
extended period o time. In 2002, as Ni Yulan was lming the
demolition o a Beijing home, authorities took her to a nearby
police station and tortured her or several days, breaking her
eet and her kneecaps. Her injuries were so severe that she
remains in a wheel chair. When Ni Yulan attempted to
petition the authorities about the beatings, she was arrested,convicted o “obstructing ocial business,” and sentenced to
one year in prison. When convicted, she also lost her proes-
sional license to practice law. Dong Jiqin was barred rom
attending her trial.
When Ni Yulan was released in 2003, she continued ghting
or the rights o people whose homes aced demolitions ahead
o the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In 2008, just beore the Olym-
pics, Ni Yulan was arrested and imprisoned or two years
On 27 July, a Beijing court overturned the sentence o
housing rights activist and ormer lawyer Ni Yulan on a raud
charge. However, the court upheld her and her husband Dong
Jiqin’s sentences or “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”,
criminalized in Article 293 o China’s Criminal Law.
On 10 April, Ni Yulan was sentenced to two years and eight
months in prison or “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”
and “raud.” Her husband Dong Jiqin was sentenced to two
years or “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. Tey had
been detained in April 2011 and were tried in December 2011.
Tey appealed their sentences, and on 27 July, Beijing Shijin-
shan No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court heard their appeal.
Ni Yulan appeared to be in better health than during her
rst trial in December 2011 which she spent mostly lying
down, needing a respirator to breathe. Now she was able to sitthroughout the hearing although she appeared to have swell-
ing in her neck. According to her lawyers, she is malnour-
ished in prison. Ni Yulan suers rom respiratory, heart and
digestive problems, and cannot walk, due to previous police
torture.
Because Ni Yulan’s sentence or “raud” was overturned, her
sentence is now two years and six months in prison. Dong
Jiqin’s sentence remains as beore. Amnesty International be-
lieves that the couple has been targeted because o Ni Yulan’s»
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aer trying to stop the demolition o her own home. While
in prison, she was tortured and suered rom other ill- treat-
ment. She was also denied adequate medical care.
Upon her release rom prison in April 2010, Ni Yulan and
Dong Jiqin were homeless. Tey lived in a hotel beore police
orced them onto the street and blocked them rom renting
accommodation or even staying with riends. In June 2010,
aer dozens o supporters held a demonstration in solidarity
with Ni Yulan and Dong Jiqin, police moved the couple into
Beijing’s Yuxingong Guesthouse. However, the authorities
continued to subject them to surveillance and other orms o
harassment, including cutting o their water and electricity supply, as well as their Internet access.
While living in the guesthouse Ni Yulan continued to stay in
touch with activists, lawyers, and journalists and to publi-
cize human rights abuses on her microblog. In his 2010 lm,
Emergency Shelter, documentary maker He Yang brought
widespread attention to Ni Yulan’s persecution.
Action
Please write immediately in English, Chinese or your own
language: ◌ Calling on the authorities to immediately and uncondition-
ally release Ni Yulan and Dong Jiqin;
◌ Urging them to guarantee that the couple are not tortured
or otherwise ill-treated whilst they remain in detention;
◌ Calling on the authorities to ensure that they have access to
their amilies, legal representation o their choice, adequate
ood, and any medical care they may require.
Appeals To
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 7 SEPEMBER 2012Director o the Beijing Public Security
Bureau
Fu Zhenghua Juzhang
Beijingshi Gong’anju
9 Dongdajie, Qianmen
Dongchengqu, Beijingshi 100740
People’s Republic o CHINA
Fax: 011 86 10 6524 2927
Salutation: Dear Director
Minister o Justice o the People’s
Republic o China
WU Aiying Buzhang
Siabu
10 Chaoyangmen Nandajie
Chaoyangqu, Beijingshi 100020
People’s Republic o CHINA
Fax: 011 86 10 6529 2345
Email: [email protected]
Salutation: Dear Minister
Premier
WEN Jiabao Guojia ZongliTe State Council General Oce
2 Fuyoujie, Xichengqu,
Beijingshi 100017,
People’s Republic o CHINA
Fax: 011 86 10 6596 1109 (c/o Ministry o
Foreign Aairs)
Salutation: Your Excellency
Copies To
Ambassador Zhang Yesui,
Embassy o the People’s Republic o China
3505 International Place, NW, Washington DC 20008, USA
Fax: 1 202 495-2138
Email: [email protected]
Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Oce i sending
appeals aer the above date.
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NIGERIA: Oil spill investigations ‘a fasco’ in the Niger Delta Audrey Gaughran, Director of Global Issues at Amnesty International
“Shell have said locally that the spill looks like sabotage, and
they completely ignore the evidence o corrosion. Tis has
generated a lot o conusion and some anger in the com-
munity,” said Stevyn Obodoekwe, Director o Programmes
at CEHRD. “We have seen the pipe and brought an expert to
look at it, and it seems pretty clear it is corroded.” When Am-
nesty International contacted Shell’s headquarters to ask or
evidence to support the claim o sabotage in Bodo, Shell said
the company has not claimed that the cause o the spill was
sabotage and the joint investigation has not been completed.
However Shell could not explain the statements made locally
to the community.
Shell has claimed that the joint investigation team, which
includes community members, the regulators, Shell sta
and representatives o the police and Joint ask Force, was
not able to complete the oil spill investigation because local
youths threw stones at them. Witnesses on site say that they
did not see any such incident and that the security services
were present during investigation.
Shell will now remove the aected length o pipe to a Shell a-
cility where, according to the company, tests will be done. Te
community and local environment and human rights activists
are araid that this process – totally under the control o Shell
– lacks transparency and the outcome will not be credible.
Shell’s pipelines are old and many have not been properly
maintained or replaced, with local people and NGOs report-
ing that the pipes in the Bodo area have not been replaced
since 1958. When Amnesty International asked Shell to
conrm the age and status o the pipes the company did not
respond.
One year ago, the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) issued a major report on the eects o oil pollution
in the Ogoniland region o the Niger Delta. Little has changed
as this latest oil spill at Bodo demonstrates. Among its nd-
ings, UNEP conrmed that Nigerian regulatory agencies “are
at the mercy o oil companies when it comes to conducting
site inspections”. UNEP also ound that Shell had ailed to
adhere to its own standards in relation to maintaining its
inrastructure.
he investigation process into oil spills in the Niger Deltahas been challenged today by Amnesty International and the
Centre or Environment, Human Rights and Development
(CEHRD), as inconsistencies in Shell’s claims about sabotage
were revealed.
Experts have examined evidence rom the latest oil spill rom
Shell’s poorly maintained pipelines in the Bodo creek area
and conrmed that it strongly indicates that the leak is due to
corrosion o the pipeline. However, Shell appears to be ignor-
ing the evidence o corrosion.
“Te investigation process into oil spills in the Niger Delta is a
asco. Tere is more investment in public relations messaging
than in acing up to the act that much o the oil inrastruc-
ture is old, poorly maintained and prone to leaks – some
o them devastating in terms o their human rights impact,”
said Audrey Gaughran, Director o Global Issues at Amnesty
International. “No matter what evidence is presented to Shell
about oil spills, they constantly hide behind the ‘sabotage’ ex-
cuse and dodge their responsibility or massive pollution that
is due to their ailure to properly maintain their inrastructureand make it sae, and to properly clean up oil spills.”
Amnesty International and CEHRD asked US company, Ac-
cuacts, which has many years experience in examining oil
inrastructure, to examine photographs o the pipe at the leak
point. Tey stated: “Tis is apparently due to external cor-
rosion. Notice the layered loss o metal on the outside o the
pipe around the "stick" rom pipe wall loss (thinning) due to
external corrosion. It is a very amiliar pattern that we have
seen many times on other pipelines." »
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AIUSA group 48 Newsletter August 2012
“Years o bad practice with regard to oil spill investigations
have le communities highly distrustul o the process and
outcomes,” said Stevyn Obodoekwe. "Shell has never ad-
dressed evidence o bad practice in the oil spill investigation
process, o which the situation at Bodo is one more example.
Spills can be attributed to sabotage when they are in act due
to corrosion and Shell knows this has occurred in the past.”
Tousands o oil spills have occurred in the Niger Delta since
the oil industry began operations in the late 1950s. Corrosion
o the pipes and equipment ailure were responsible or the
majority o spills. In recent years sabotage, vandalism and
the o oil have also contributed to pollution. However, cor-rosion and equipment ailure remain very serious problems
which have never been addressed. Oil companies are respon-
sible or ensuring that, as ar as possible, their equipment is
not vulnerable to tampering. However, Shell has not respond-
ed to request to or inormation on any measures it has taken
to prevent sabotage and vandalism.
On 3 August Amnesty International and CEHRD published a
report on an oil investigation at Bodo in June/July 2012. Te
report ocuses on the lack o transparency in the process and
the ailure o shell to disclose any inormation on the condi-
tion or age o its pipes. Since 2011 Shell has posted oil spill
investigation data on its website. Tis move was welcomed by
Amnesty International and CEHRD. However, as research by
both organizations has made clear, the process on the groundremains highly problematic, and there is a lack o indepen-
dence and transparency in the investigations themselves.
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