January 2019 Minutes

Truro and District Amnesty International Group

Minutes of Meeting. 9 January 2019

1. Present: Meike Koops, Hetty Tye; Chris Ramsey; Blaise Hinshelwood; Zak Burridge; Karen Cooper; Wailim Wong

Apologies: Margaret George, Georgie Wong

2. Matters arising from the Minutes of the previous meeting:
   Sanctuary conference: brief report of conference Meike and Karen attended on 1 Dec at All Saints Church. Many different groups represented. If there are future conferences more members would like to attend
   Christmas Cards.  Decided not to order more this year and just sell off existing stock. Hetty remarked that several people had asked about calendars.
   Azza Soliman. Karen to send information on Cambridge action to Hetty

3. Correspondence and UI UK Monthly Updates:
   We haven’t received these. Chris to ask if they can be emailed to our group email address
    
4. Social Media Update:
   Princess Latifa. We discussed Mary Robinson’s visit to UAE and the recent developments in Princess Latifa’s case.
   Shawkan.  There is a twitter countdown for Shawkan, the Egyptian photojournalist, who is due to be released in mid February.
   Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun. We discussed the case of Rahaf, the Saudi teenager seeking asylum.
    
5. Treasurer’s report: Karen reported that our balance is £941.47  but we will pay 4 months’ rent of £100 + our annual AIUK affiliation fee of £72 in January.
   We had a brief discussion on fundraising and subscription fees in response to a question on where our funds come from.
   The bank account has not been moved yet and Karen asked for help with this.
    
6. Nae Pasaran will be shown at The Poly in Falmouth on 19th Feb. Meike to ring venue and see if we can have a stall at this event.

7. Amnesty Pub Quiz February 2019
   Meike reported that there have been several responses, in both Truro and Falmouth, to her email requesting a venue
   Decided to hold event at The Kings, 32 Church Street,  Falmouth on 5^th Feb. If this is successful we may put on another one in Truro.
   Meike and Chris have the AI guides to organising this event
   Event needs to be advertised.
    
8. AI AGM. This will be held on 13^th and 14^th April in Nottingham
   Chris (and possibly Wailim) will attend – this is funded by AI
    Suggested that Zak and Blaise look at funding for youth/school groups.
   Meike may attend.
    
9. Butterflies for Raif Badawi. We did a photo action for social media for Raif Badawi’s birthday on 13th January.

10. North Africa. The North Africa newsletter is attached.
    Aser Mohamed is an Egyptian and was arrested at the age of 14, three years ago. He is still on trial and due back in court on 19^th January. We signed a letter regarding his case
    We discussed the Hand in Hand with Azza campaign and Hetty has requested more action postcards. Chris will take these to his next talk and Meike will send some to women’s groups.
    We signed a letter for Ahmed Mansoor, an activist from UAE  who lost his appeal against his 10 year sentence for social media posts
     
11. Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories. Newsletter attached
    The Occupation 50 campaign: AirBnB will remove any bookings listed in the illegal colonies in the West Bank. 
    Suha Jabra, is a social justice activist supporting Islamic charities and families of Palestinian prisoners in Israel. She is being held by Palestinian authorities  is on hunger strike. We signed a letter to the Minister of Justice expressing our concern.
    Ahmad Yasir Sabri Abid is the youngest person yet to be killed during Great March of Return Protests. He was  4 years and 8 months old
     
12. Mexico and Central America. Newsletter attached.
    We signed a letter asking the Mexican legislature not to support the bill that Congress may soon sign. This would create a new security force called the 'National Guard' which would be made up of the army and navy and replace the Federal police. Amnesty's concern is that armed forces should not be used for policing. 
     
13. AOB
    Zak and Blaise explained that there is an AI group at Richard Lander. The school sometimes undertakes fundraising activities for charities and organisations.

NEXT MEETING: Wed 13 February at 6.30pm, Sambells café, Truro Methodist Church.