Methodist Conference at Scarborough

This year's Methodist Conference will take place in Scarborough at the Spa Complex, from 5-10 July. It is the first time that the Conference has been to Scarborough in ten years.

The annual Conference is the governing body of The Methodist Church, debating and determining policy and legislation for the Church and considering issues of national and international concern. Over five days, 384 voting members of the Conference will be joined by thousands of visitors at the Spa Centre to celebrate church life and debate issues of both church and public interest.

Topics for discussion include embryology and early human life, equality and diversity in the Church and the Church's new Youth Participation initiative. There will also be an update on the Anglican-Methodist Covenant.

The full timetable for the Methodist Conference, including downloadable versions of all the reports to be debated, will soon be available online at http://www.methodistconference.org.uk.

Illegal Custody in Sri Lanka

I am printing this letter which has come to me so that you may be aware of the tense situation in Sri Lanka and to give you the chance to help by your action and/or prayers.


“I am a ministerial candidate of the Methodist Church in Sri Lanka and am presently studying at the Theological College of Lanka, Pilimatalawa. I was shocked to hear of an incident concerning my brother and brother-in-law.

On 30/1/2008 my brother, Mr. Thevaraj Pakiyarasa, and my brother-in-law, Mr. Sudarshan Selvarajah, were taken into custody by the Narahenpitiye Police on suspicion while they had gone to collect the passport of Mr. Thevaraj at the Passport Office in Borella. They had both come out of the Passport Office as they had been asked to collect the passport in the evening. So my brother-in-law suggested that they visited one of his friends who is working in Colombo. Unfortunately, they were then taken into police custody on suspicion.

They have shown their identity cards and explained to the Police why they had come to Colombo. But the Police keep on asking what has happened to the other person whom the Police believe had travelled with them, even though the two travelled on their own. The two have told the Police that only they came to Colombo to get a passport. However, theya re still kept in Police custody without any further interrogation. My brother is married and they have one son aged just six months.

These two men are entirely innocent and are being kept in custody without any accusation or charge. I feel that keeping people in custody in these circumstances is a violation of their human rights. My paents are unable to travel such a distance to visit every week because of financial difficulties. I humbly request you to take the necessary action to get them released without delay.”

Brother P. Arulraj

Ama Sumani

I have received a reply to my protest to my MP about the distressing case of ama Sunami who was taken from her hospital bed when on dialysis to be deported to Ghana.

He says "I agree with you that this is a distressing case, however, I am also conscious that the NHS is under considerable strain and unable to providemany of my constituents with the services they require. I understand that the UK offered to pay the cost of three months of Ms Sumani's treatment in Ghana.

I have written to the Home Secretary to pass on your comments and will let you have a copy of the response I receive."

Ihad not heard of this UK offer to pay for her treatment in Ghana before now and, if this is so, it certainly puts a more humane interpretation on her deportation, doesn't it?

Zimbabwe – your help needed.

You may have read as I did with some horror that the British Government is planning to resume sending failed asylum seekers back to Zimbabwe.

The policy was suspended some time ago and all the evidence seems to suggest that the situation in Zimbabwe is continuing to deteriorate, and that Mugabwe views all returnees as tainted by Western culture – and are therefore suspect. Those returned seem to ‘disappear’ and are never heard of again.

This particularly touches areas of the Uk where there are many asylum seekers, some of whom are members of our churches; those who come from Zimbabwe are currently in fear of their lives.

This is the story of one of them.

The youth work manager at the Vine, a Christian project in Walsall lost contact with his parents in December last year and found out a few days later that his father (both parents were then still in Zimbabwe) had been beaten up and seriously burned at the same time as thugs burned down the family business and home. He found out a few days later again that his mother had been seriously sexually abused at the same time.

Both parents are now out of Zimbabwe as a result of assistance from both Christians and secular movements but the youth worker is reporting that he now knows of many, even worse examples of atrocities being committed by people supporting the current evil regime.

What can we do?

The Britain Zimbabwe Society has launched a petition on the No. 10 website asking the Government to change its stance. The full petition – and link - is printed below. Please click on the link below and add your name to the petition asking Gordon Brown to reconsider this policy change in order to both save lives and give Zimbabwe a better model for human rights.



Britain Zimbabwe Society Petition to the UK Prime Minister

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to continue to allow
unsuccessful asylum seekers from Zimbabwe to remain in the UK, and to continue the suspension of forced removals to Zimbabwe.

Mr Brown, we have noted your concern for the population of Zimbabwe,
and your wish to send unmistakable signals of this concern to the
Zimbabwean government.

So we are disturbed by the recent determination of the UK Asylum and
Immigration Tribunal, in the case of HS, that unsuccessful Zimbabwean
asylum seekers may safely be deported back home. It would be ironic
if the first unmistakable signal from your Government were to be the
resumption of forced deportations. These were suspended in January
2002, and human rights in Zimbabwe have not improved since then.

The AIT's determination is permissive but not mandatory. There is no
legal or other compulsion on your Government. We ask that the current
suspension on forced removal to Zimbabwe remains in place. This would
be more consistent with your public position on Zimbabwe.

We also ask that the Zimbabweans involved be freed from detention and
harassment and that they be enabled both to support themselves and to
take part in the debate about the future of their country. They
should be allowed to seek employment and so relieved from
destitution. In this way Britain would give Zimbabwe a real example
of how to implement human rights.




http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/ZimbabweHSruling

Urgent Appeal for Clemency and Pardon

Sri Lankan national and domestic worker Rizana Nafeek was sentenced to death on 16 June after being accused of murdering a baby of four months while, aged 17 years, she was employed as a cleaner and for other household duties. She had only been working in the household for a few days when given the duty of feeding the infant. When attempting to bottle feed the child it choked, resulting in its death. Her working day began at 3am and continued until very late each night. Herself a child, she was tasked with looking after 10 children.

Saudi Arabia is a state party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which expressly prohibits the execution of offenders for crimes committed when they were under 18 years old. Rizana Nafeek has appealed against her sentence, but if her appeal is unsuccessful she could be executed within days.

She was arrested in May 2005 in Jeddah on charges of murdering an infant in her care. She had no access to lawyers either during interrogation or at her trial and was believed to have confessed to the murder during police questioning. She has since retracted her confession.

She apparently told the authorities that she was born in February 1988, but they seem to have ignored this on the basis that her passport indicated that she was born in February 1982. According to information available to Amnesty International no medical examination is believed to have been carried out to ascertain her age, nor was she given the opportunity to present her birth certificate, which reportedly shows that she was born in 1988.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Saudi Arabia applies the death penalty for a wide range of offences. Court proceedings fall far short of international standards for fair trial, and take place behind closed doors. Defendants normally do not have formal representation by a lawyer, and in many cases are not informed of the progress of legal proceedings against them. They may be convicted solely on the basis of confessions obtained
under duress, torture or deception. The rate of executions in Saudi Arabia has recently increased sharply, and the authorities have executed at least 100 people so far this year, although the true figure may be much higher. Death sentences are usually carried out by beheading.

Saudi Arabia assured the Committee on the Rights of the Child (who monitor states' implementation of the CRC) in January 2006 that no children had been executed in the country since the CRC came into force in Saudi Arabia in 1997. This is a weaker commitment than is required by the CRC, which demands that no one is executed for crimes committed when they were under 18, no matter how old they are now.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals for clemency and pardon on behalf of Rizana Nafeek to -
King Abdullah Bin' Abdul Aziz Al-Saud,
The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques,
Office of His Majesty the King,
Royal Court,
Riyadh,
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

to arrive as quickly as possible:
- urging the King to intervene and commute Rizana Nafeek’s death sentence;
- pointing out that the execution of juvenile offenders is expressly prohibited by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Saudi Arabia ratified in 1997.

YOGA ROW: HINDU COUNCIL SPARKS LEGAL THREAT

Lawyers for the Hindu Council UK are exploring whether two Taunton churches who refused to allow a children’s yoga group to meet on their premises have acted contrary to the Religion and Belief Section of the 2006 Equality Act. The Revd Tim Jones, vicar of St James’ Church, and the Revd Simon Farrar of Silver Street Baptist Church, turned down the group’s request to use church rooms for the classes. ‘Any alternative philosophies or beliefs are offering a sham,’ Mr Jones said. But now the HCUK claims the priests’ decision may be illegal – and is also considering whether to ask the Commission for Equality and Human Rights to investigate whether their comments amount to ‘instructing or causing discrimination’.

Sources: Christian Today (4/9), Church of England Newspaper (6/9), Baptist Times (6/9)