I got this from Amnesty International:
Dear Tracy,
I just got some disturbing news - a man was viciously beaten, burned and asphyxiated into "confessing" to being a member of al-Qaida. That's not all. Today, Abdullah al-Qahtani could be executed in Iraq for a false confession.
Four of Abdullah's six co-defendants were executed this week. Abdullah is next. We have only hours to save his life.
Drop everything. Raise your voice to save a man's life.
Abdullah is a Saudi Arabian man convicted of robbery and murder under Iraq's Anti-Terrorism Law. Amnesty is monitoring his case closely due to the very serious concerns that have been raised by his lawyers about his treatment in detention and the fairness of his trial. This is what they tell us about how Abdullah was treated:
I just got some disturbing news - a man was viciously beaten, burned and asphyxiated into "confessing" to being a member of al-Qaida. That's not all. Today, Abdullah al-Qahtani could be executed in Iraq for a false confession.
Four of Abdullah's six co-defendants were executed this week. Abdullah is next. We have only hours to save his life.
Drop everything. Raise your voice to save a man's life.
Abdullah is a Saudi Arabian man convicted of robbery and murder under Iraq's Anti-Terrorism Law. Amnesty is monitoring his case closely due to the very serious concerns that have been raised by his lawyers about his treatment in detention and the fairness of his trial. This is what they tell us about how Abdullah was treated:
They put a plastic bag over his head so he could not breathe. After his near asphyxiation, they pulled on his genitals and burned him with cigarettes. After they broke his sternum, his torturers put a hood over Abdullah's head and applied his thumbprints to 80 pages of documents.They put a plastic bag over his head so he could not breathe. After his near asphyxiation, they pulled on his genitals and burned him with cigarettes. After they broke his sternum, his torturers put a hood over Abdullah's head and applied his thumbprints to 80 pages of documents.
Even now, when his lawyers say they are offering evidence of his innocence, the sentence of death remains. Please, a man's life is on the line - help stop the imminent execution of Abdullah al-Qahtani.
Abdullah's case is not unusual.
Ten years after the US-led invasion ended the brutal rule of Saddam Hussein, Iraq's government remains enmeshed in a grim cycle of human rights abuses. Amnesty's recent report -- Iraq: A Decade of Abuses1 - catalogs years of torture and ill-treatment of detainees by Iraqi security forces and by foreign troops. Serious concerns persist about the integrity of the criminal justice system.
Today Iraq is one of the world's leading executioners. Since Iraq restored the death penalty in 2005, at least 447 prisoners have been executed. Hundreds of prisoners await execution on death row. Iraq's government faces high levels of violence by armed groups, but it is still obliged to refrain from torture or ill-treatment and to respect the right to a fair trial.
Take this action with me now - fight for the life and basic human rights of Abdullah and others who face the death penalty in Iraq.
Abdullah's execution is imminent. Please act quickly.
Thank you,
Samir Goswami
Director, Individuals and Communities at Risk Program
Amnesty International USA
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