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June is Torture Awareness Month PDF Print E-mail
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Wednesday, 13 June 2007

Over 100 Cosponsors for HR 1707!

Update: We have 104 cosponsors! Representative McGovern has introduced HR 1707, the Latin America Military Training Review Act! The legislation was introduced with 71 bipartisan cosponsors and has grown to 104 cosponsors. This legislation would suspend operations at the SOA/ WHINSEC and investigate the history of torture and human rights abuses associated with the school.

What is SOA Watch? SOA Watch is an independent organization that seeks to close the US Army School of the Americas, under whatever name it is called, through vigils and fasts, demonstrations and nonviolent protest, as well as media and legislative work.

 

 

100 Cosponsors for HR 1707! You did it! Thanks to your emails, faxes and phone calls to your Representatives, we have now reached the 100 cosponsor mark for HR 1707!!!

Please continue to keep up the pressure in Congress by contacting your Representative's office and urge her/him to support HR 1707.

Email/Fax your Representative urging her/him to support HR 1707

Please take the time to call the D.C. office of your Representative by calling the Capitol Hill Switchboard (202-224-3121). Ask to speak with the foreign affairs legislative assistant. Visit the Legislative Action Index for a suggested message.

Find out more about our legislative campaign

Support our legislative campaign by making a donation to SOA Watch

Torture Survivors Demand End to Torture Law

June is Torture Awareness Month

Survivors of torture need our help. Some of you may know Sister Dianna Ortiz, an SOA Watch Council member, survivor of torture at the hands of SOA graduates, and the founder of the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC).

Each June 26, hundreds of TASSC members, all survivors of state sponsored torture, gather in Washington, DC to commemorate the United Nation's "Day in Support of Victims and Survivors of Torture".

This year, TASSC is launching a major campaign to repeal the Military Commissions Act of 2006, known to survivors as the Torture Law. This law allows for torture to be used in interrogations, it denies prisoners of their right to counsel and a fair trial and it allows perpetrators full immunity from prosecution.

Stand with survivors of torture and help bring and end to the practice of torture worldwide!.

Learn more and take action!

Don Haselfeld Presente!

February 2, 1926 - May 1, 2007

Donald J. Hasefeld was a longtime supporter and a protagonist in the campaign to close down the SOA/WHINSEC. He will be remembered by his family and friends as a loving father, a generous soul, and a social activist committed to justice and human rights. He crossed the line at Ft. Benning during the annual "Vigil to Close the SOA" on two occasions, first in November 2001 and the again in 2002. He subsequently spent 6 months at Lompoc Federal Prison Camp for protesting the SOA/WHINSEC. He also participated in SOAW/Witness for Peace delegation to Colombia and a Peacemaker delegation to Palestine, he remained an active member of SOA Watch West until the day of his passing.

Donald J. Haselfeld Presente! Ahora y Siempre!

Obituary:

Don passed away quietly in his room on May 1 at the age of 81. Don is survived by his son Mark; daughter-in-law, Georgia, and by hundreds of fellow prisoners of conscience and activists who knew him for his tireless work for School of the Americas Watch and on behalf of the poor, oppressed, and disenfranchised in other parts of the world. He was born in Arizona on February 2, 1926 and lived in Arizona and California. He served in the Army Air Corps as a control tower operator and later attended L.A. City College. After moving to San Francisco in the early 1970s, Don was able to retire from the City of San Francisco Parks Dept. and devoted his time to creative writing, personal education, and social activism. St. Ignatius became his central spiritual home and was a major focus of his daily life and a place where he was well-known and made numerous friends.

SOA Watch West celebrated Don's life on Saturday, May 12, at St. Ignatius Church in San Francisco. Bob Nixon and Guadalupe Chavez gave the eulogy. A reception followed and more stories of Don's life were shared among his family and friends.

Don's family suggests that donations be made payable to SOA Watch West and mailed to: SOA Watch West, c/o Judy Litkey, 167 Staples Ave., San Francisco, CA 94112

 

 

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."
 
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