From the office

Dear WRI supporter,

As authoritarian rulers are finally toppled after decades in power, we have all been reminded of the power a united population can wield through nonviolent action. And again we have seen that the cynical support for dictatorship in the name of stability is a recipe for repression and injustice.

At the same time, there are two grave challenges arising from the events in North Africa and the Middle East for those of us who advocate nonviolent action and campaign against government policies that pursue unprincipled alliances of convenience and arms trading.

The trial against Egyptian pacifist Maikel Nabil Sanad, who was arrested on 28 March 2011, and who appeared in front of the military court in Nasr City in Cairo on charges of "insulting the military by publishing false news about it" and "obstructing public security", came to a close on Sunday, 10 April 2011, with a sentence of three years' imprisonment. In an outrageous move by the military, family and friends waiting in front of the military court were told the trial was postponed, while in fact Maikel Nabil Sanad was being sentenced at the same time - alone.

War Resisters' International - an international network of more than 80 antimilitarist groups in more than 40 countries - declares:

We are sick and tired of military interventions that shield behind false "humanitarian motives" - be that in Libya or elsewhere.
We are sick and tired of the logic of violence as a form of resolving social and political conflicts.
Yet once again we have to address these themes as if nothing has been learnt in the last hundred years.

We absolutely reject foreign military intervention in Libya, whatever the excuse.

Its author, Maikel Nabil Sanad, arrested after publicizing his findings on the net.

Below is a summary of some of the main findings of his report. For the full report go to the War Resisters International website at: www.wri-irg.org

Note: Maikel Nabil Sanad, 25, lives in Cairo, and is a political activist and blogger. In April 2009 he founded the "No to Compulsory Military Service Movement". As a pacifist, he declared his conscientious objection to military service and demanded to be exempted from it. He was arrested on 12 November 2010, by military police, but released two days later, and finally exempted from military service on medical grounds. He participated in the Tahrir demonstrations from the start.

In the case of the detained Egyptian pacifist and conscientious objector Maikel Nabil Sanad, who is being tried on charged of "insulting the military by spreading false information" and "disturbing public security" [1], War Resisters' International has now sent an observer to Cairo, to attend the hearing at the military court on Sunday, 3 April 2011.

Please read the updates at /node/12593, /node/12563 and /node/12524

War Resisters' International, the international network of pacifist and antimilitarist organisations with more than 80 affiliates in more than 40 countries, is concerned about the arrest of Egyptian pacifist and conscientious objector Maikel Nabil Sanad.

WRI/ofog Seminar and WRI Council meeting in Luleå, Sweden

This year's WRI Council meeting will take place from 19-21 July 2011 in Luleå, in the very north of Sweden. The Council meeting itself is part of a seminar and action camp under the title "War Starts Here", organised by WRI's new Swedish affiliate ofog. The camp and seminar will begin on 22 July, and last until 29 July.

Pinar Selek, Turkish feminist and antimilitarist writer and activist, framed on a charge of terrorism, has been the subject of an unresolved legal process for twelve years. On 9 February 2011 she was acquitted for the third time in an Istanbul court. Next day the prosecution appealed for the third time to the Supreme Court to over-rule the finding.This is not justice but judicial bullying.

War Resisters' International (WRI), an international network of pacifist and antimilitarist organisations with more than 90 affiliates in more than 40 countries, condemns the persecution of Turkish antimilitarist and feminist Pinar Selek. For 12 years now, Pinar Selek has been under prosecution for a crime she did not commit and in connection with which there is no evidence against her - the so-called bombing of the Spice Bazaar in Istanbul on 09 July 1998. Pinar Selek was arrested in 1998, tortured during investigation and spent two and a half years in prison.

We, members of War Resisters’ International (WRI), express our profound horror and deep sadness at the torture and murder of Nigerian pacifist, Chidi Nwosu, founder and president of the Human Rights, Justice and Peace Foundation, affiliate member of WRI. Nwosu, a lifetime human rights activist and promoter of nonviolent social change, was brutally assassinated in his home on December 29th, 2010.

WRI, a pacifist network with 90 affiliates in 40 countries, recognizes that this is the first time in its 90-year history that the founder and president of an affiliate member has been murdered.

Action

On 1 December, put aside at least one hour and write at least four cards to prisoners; Get your peace group or class or meeting place to organise a card-writing session; Set up a stall in your town centre, perform a bit of street theatre, or do whatever else it takes to attract attention and interest.

Sending cards and letters

Always send your card in an envelope; Include a return name and address on the envelope;

It is in Europe where War Resisters' International (WRI) was founded. It is also there and in the USA where it has its bigger number of members and supporters. Clearly this is reflected in the way it functions as also in the issues that takes on. For the same reasons the groups that identify most strongly with the international are those in Europe plus War Resisters League in the USA. Through the years WRI has worked to become - as its name says - truly international, by adding groups and having activities with groups in other regions of the world.