ACAT (UK) - ACTION BY CHRISTIANS AGAINST TORTURE
CHRISTMAS CARD GREETINGS LIST - 2007

It is a tradition every year for ACAT members and churches to send greetings to prisoners at Christmas. Prisoners need our support all year and we can all take the opportunity at Christmas of telling them that they are not alone or forgotten. A card can mean such a lot to them. Please join us in bringing a little light into a prisoner's life. DO NOT ADD YOUR ADDRESS UNLESS YOU ARE PREPARED TO ENTER INTO A CORRESPONDENCE WITH A PRISONER SHOULD HE/SHE WRITE TO YOU.

Human rights defenders and human rights groups are also in great need of support, prayer and encouragement. Let them know that you are thinking of them and praying for them. So often they and their families are at risk of death because of the work they do.

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THERE ARE CERTAIN GUIDELINES THAT WE WOULD ASK YOU TO FOLLOW WHEN WRITING TO A PRISONER AT CHRISTMAS

1. Simple messages of goodwill are enough - PLEASE DO NOT ADVANCE YOUR POLITICAL OR RELIGIOUS VIEWS
2. Some prisoners will not be Christian - so please send an appropriate card.
3. Some of you may receive a reply from a prisoner but this should not be expected. If you receive a reply, inform the office, giving the prisoner's name, prison address and country and initiate a correspondence. Correspondence with someone from the outside world can be very important to prisoners and they can get very disappointed and disillusioned if letter writing is not continued.
4. YOU MUST POST YOUR OWN CARDS, PLEASE DO NOT SEND THEM TO US TO POST ON.
5. We would appreciate a small donation to help cover the costs from anyone requiring the Christmas Card List who is not an ACAT member or group.

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Do also try to involve others in this campaign by asking family and friends and members of your church to take part. A card is a small token but means so much to those prisoners whoreceive them. Even if they are not handed to the prisoners, the prison authorities know that someone is thinking of them and their prison conditions are often improved as a result.

A prisoner in Egypt wrote recently:- "I can assure you that your card filled the purpose for which it was sent. I was onverjoyed, comforted, encouraged and felt loved."

Please photocopy and distribute these lists to as many people as possible. Each can be cut into strips and may be distributed after your church service. Please also ask for the prisoners to be mentioned in prayer at your church services.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ACAT(UK) - Terry Newland, Information Officer, 8 Southfield, Saltash, Cornwall PL12 4LX Tel: 01752 843417
Email: uk.acat@gmail.com
Registered Charity : 1072628

Good News from last years campaign

• Professor Mesfin Woldemariam, aged 76, Ethiopia, human rights defender, was released in July
• Helen Berhane, Eritrea, was released at the end of 2006
• Alan John Davies, Thailand, was finally freed and returned to the UK - he had been imprisoned for 17 years
• Rahjha Masih, Pakistan - accused of blasphemy - was acquitted

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Human Rights Groups

Please send a Christmas Card, a religious card if you wish to:-

The Director, Conselho Indigenista Missionario (CIMI), SDS Ed.Venancio III salas 309 a 314, 70393-900 - Brasilia - DF, Brasil

Please sign your card and add your address to the back of the envelope and send by airmail. Small cards will cost less to post than larger ones. If you receive a reply please inform ACAT Office : Eleanor and Terry Newland 8 Southfield, Saltash, Cornwall PL12 4LX Tel 01752 843417

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Please send a Christmas Card, a religious card if you wish to:-

The Director, Comission Nacional de Derechos Humanos y Mision Medica, Carrera 15 N39 11, Barrio Teusaquillo, Bogota, Colombia

Please sign your card and add your address to the back of the envelope and send by airmail. Small cards will cost less to post than large ones. If you receive a reply please inform the ACAT office:- Eleanor and Terry Newland, 8 Southfield, Saltash, Cornwall PL12 4LX Tel 01752 843417

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Please send a Christmas Card, a religious card if you wish to:-

The Director, Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo, 8a Calle 3-11, Zona 1, Pasaje Fenix, apartamento 15, Ofic 5, Cuidad de Guatemala City, Guatemala

Please sign your card and add your address to the back of the envelope and send by airmail. Small cards will cost less to post than large ones. If you receive a reply, please inform the ACAT office: Eleanor and Terry Newland, 8 Southfield, Saltash, Cornwall PL12 4LX Tel 01752 843417

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Please send a Christmas Card, a religious card if you wish to:-

Centro de Derechos Humanos, Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez (PRODH) Serapio Rendon 57-B, Col. San Rafael, 06470, Mexico DF, Mexico

Please sign your card and add your address to the back of the envelope and send by airmail. Small cards will cost less to post than large ones. If you receive a reply please inform the ACAT office: Eleanor and Terry Newland, 8 Southfield, Saltash, Cornwall PL12 4LX Tel 01752 843417

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Please send a Christmas Card, a religious one if you wish to :-

ACAT Brasil, Praca Clovis Bevillacqua 351, 5 andar, sala 501, 01018-001 Sao Paulo, SP Brazil

Please sign your card and add your address to the back of the envelope and send by airmail. Small cards will cost less to post than larger ones. If you receive a reply please inform the ACAT office: Eleanor and Terry Newland, 8 Southfield, Saltash, Cornwall PL112 4LX Tel 01752 843417

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Please send a Christmas Card, a religious one if you wish to:-

Red de Apoyo por la Justicia y la Paz, Parque Central, edif. Caroata, nivel 2, ofic. 220, Apdo. Postal 17476, Caracas, 1015-A, Venezuela

Please sign your card and add your address to the back of the envelope and send by airmail. Small cards will cost less to post than larger ones. If you receive a reply please inform the ACAT office: Eleanor and Terry Newland 8 Southfield, Saltash, Cornwall PL12 4LX Tel 01752 843417

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Please send a Christmas Card, a religious one if you wish to:-

ACAT Cameroon, BP 4736, Doualla, Cameroon

Please sign your card and add your address to the back of the envelope and send by airmail. Small cards will cost less to post than larger ones. If you receive a reply please inform the ACAT office: Eleanor and Terry Newland, 8 Southfield, Cornwall PL12 4LX Tel 01752 843417

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PRISONERS

Please send a card- NOT a religious card to:-

Abdulsalam al-Hela Yemen/Guantanamo

A Yemeni national, he went to Egypt in 2002 to meet with Arab Contractors (he was their Yemeni representative); he was abducted by the Egyptian authorities and handed over to US officials; he ended up in Afghanistan where he was held in secret detention for 2 years in the notorious "dark prison"; he was moved to other prisons in Afghanistan and then to Bagram air-base - and from there in 2004 to Guantanamo; he has suffered greatly at the hands of the US security officials.

Address :- Abdulsalam 'al-Hela, Camp Delta, PO Box 160, Washington DC 20053, USA

Letters and cards sent to Guantanamo take many months to get to the prisoners - but it is so important that they receive mail that the US authorities know that the prisoners are not forgotten. Please sign your card and add your address to the back of the envelope and send by airmail. Small cards will cost less to post than larger ones. If you receive a reply please inform the ACAT office :- Eleanor and Terry Newland, 8 Southfield, Cornwall PL12 4LX Tel 01752 843417

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Please send a card, NOT a religious card to:

Amneh Muna, 29 and also 'Abeer Uda - transferred from Hasharon Prison, Israel

Palestinian women political prisoners in Neve Terze Prison, Israel, held under very difficult and harsh conditions.

Address: Amneh Muna and 'Abeer Uda, Neve Terze Prison, PO Box 229, Ramleh, 72100, Israel

Please sign your card and add your address to the back of the envelope. Send by airmail. Small cards cost less in postage than larger ones. If you receive a reply please contact the ACAT Office -Eleanor and Terry Newland, 8 Southfield, Saltash, Cornwall PL12 4LX Tel: 01752 843417

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Please send a NON religious card to

Mustafa Ait Idir, Bosnia/Guantanamo

Mustafa Aid Idir was originally from Algeria; he and others went to Bosnia to join the Bosnian Muslim side in the conflict from 1992-1995; they stayed in Bosnia and were granted citizenship. He and the others married local women and worked for Islamic charites there. He and others were arrested in October 2001 by the federal police accused of involvement in an alleged plot to bomb the US embassy in Sarajevo. The supreme court ordered their release in January 2002 and they were then arrested and handed over to US forces and transferred to Guantanamo; he has been tortured and ill-treated there.

Address: Mustafa Ait Idir, Camp Delta 160, Washington DC 20053, USA

Please sign the card and add your address to the back of the envelope. Send by airmail. Small cards will cost less in postage than larger ones. If you receive a reply please inform the ACAT office: Eleanor and Terry Newland, 8 Southfield, Saltash, Cornwall PL12 4LX Tel - 01872 843417

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Please send a non-religious card to:

Anteneh Getnet, Meqcha Mengistu, Woldie Dana (arrested May and June)
Wibit Legamo (wife of Woldie Dana) and Berrhanu Aba-Debissa (arrested August 2007)

All five are teachers and are also, except for Wibit Legamo, leaders of the Ethiopian Teachers' Association. They are accused of being members of the Ethiopian Patriotic Front, an armed opposition group. It is likely that they will have been tortured or subjected to ill-treatment.

Anteneh, Meqcha and Woldie have been previously arrested in December 2006 and released without charge in March, 2007; they had been tortured.

Address:- Kaliti Prison, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Send a card to each prisoner not one for the group. Please sign your card and add your address to the back of the envelope and send by airmail. Small cards will cost less in postage than larger ones. If you receive a reply please inform the ACAT office: Eleanor and Terry Newland, 8 Southfield, Saltash, Cornwall PL12 4LX Tel: 01752 843417

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Please send a card, a religious card if you wish to:

Pascual Vilchez, Peru

A community leader in a poor area of Lima, Peru, imprisoned since 1995 accused of belonging to the Shining Path guerilla movement. He was found guilty following a retrial in 2005 despite fresh evidence to the contrary.

Address: c/o Julio Cusihuaman Ccorahua, Iglesia Evangelica Peruana, Av/Calle Central 128, Vitarte, Lima, Peru

Please sign your card and add your address to the back of the envelope. Send by airmail. Small cards will cost less in postage than larger ones. If you receive a reply please inform the ACAT office :-Eleanor and Terry Newland, 8 Southfield, Saltash, Cornwall PL12 4LX Tel: 01752 843417

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Please send a card, NOT a religious card to:-

Taghreed Hajaija, 21, from Ramallah and Rasha Zbarah, 18, from Nablus, Israel

There are about 100 Palestinian women political prisoners in Hasharon, held under very difficult conditions

Address : Taghreed Hajaija, Rasha Zbarah and the women prisoners in Hasharon Prison, Tel Mond, Israel. Sign your card and add your address to the back of the envelope and send by airmail. Small cards will cost less in postage than larger ones. If you receive a reply please contact the ACAT office: Eleanor and Terry Newland, 8 Southfield, Saltash, Cornwall PL124LX Tel 01752 843417

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Please send a card, a religious card if you wish to:-

Younas Masih, Pakistan

Younas, a Christian, was sentenced to death for blasphemy. He will now appeal to the High Court. He lives in constant fear of attacks threats both from prison guards and from extremist inmates.

Address: Younas Masih, c/o LADS, Arslan st 6, D/Block Youhanabad Colony, Ferozpur Road, Lahore, Pakistan (LADS is the Legal Aid for Destitute and Settlements - a small group of Christian lawyers)

Please sign your card and add your address to the back of the envelope. Send by airmail. Small cards cost less in postage than larger ones. If you receive a reply, please contact the ACAT Office - Eleanor and Terry Newland, 8 Southfield, Saltash, Cornwall PL12 4LX Tel: 01752 843417

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Please send a card, NOT a religious card to :-

Jumah Mohammed Abdul-Latif al-Dossari, Bahrain/Guantanamo

Jumah was seized in Pakistan in late 2002 and sold to US agents who took him to Kandahar airbase, in Afghanistan; he was taken to Guantanamo in January 2002; he has been subjected to severe torture, beatings, long periods of solitary confinement, and appallingly cruel and degrading treatment; he is suffering physically and psychologically as a result of his treatment

Address: Jumah Mohammed Abdul-Latif al-Dossari, Camp Delta 160, Washington DC 20053, USA

Letters and cards take months to be handed over - it is so important that the prisoners receive cards - it helps to give them courage and to realise that someone is remembering them. Please sign your card and add your address to the back of the envelope. Send by airmail. Small cards cost less in postage than larger ones. If you receive a reply, please contact the ACAT Office - Eleanor and Terry Newland, 8 Southfield, Saltash, Cornwall Tel: 01752 843417

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Please send a card, a religious card if you wish to:-

Father Nguyen Van Ly, Vietnam

Father Ly is a Catholic priest, sentenced on 30 March to 8 years' imprisonment for "disseminating slanderous and libellous information". He had previously spent 14 years in prison.

Address: Father Nguyen Van Ly, c/o Duc Tong Giam Muc Nguyen Nhu The Toa Tong Giam Muc Hue, 69 Phan Dinh Phung, Hue, Vietnam

Please sign your card and add your address to the back of the envelope. Send by airmail. Small cards cost less in postage than larger cards. If you receive a reply, please contact the ACAT Office - Eleanor and Terry Newland, 8 Southfield, Saltash, Cornwall PL12 4LX Tel: 01752 843417

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Please send a card,a religious card if you wish, to:-

Shaiboub William Arsal, Egypt

He is one of hundreds of Christians rounded up and tortured in connection with a double murder in El Kosheh; he was convicted on the basis of testimony extracted under torture and is serving a 15 year prison sentence; you can send a Christian message but do not talk about evangelism, politics or criticise Islam or the President.

Address:- Shaiboub William Arsal, c/o Bishop Wissa, Diocese of Baliana, Baliana, Sohag Province, Egypt

Please sign your card and add your address to the back of the envelope; send by airmail. Small cards cost less in postage than larger ones. If you receive a reply please contact the ACAT office:- Eleanor and Terry Newland, 8 Southfield, Saltash, Cornwall PL12 4LX. tel: 01752 843417

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Please send a card, a religious card if you wish to:
Parvez Aslam Chaudhry, Pakistan

Parvez is the chairman of Legal Aid for Destitute and Settlements (LADS) a small group of Christian lawyers. He has received many physical attacks and threats against his life.

Address: Parvez Aslam Chaudhry, Advocate High Court Chairman LADS, Arslan st # 6, D/Block Youhanabad colony, Ferozpur Road, Lahore, Pakistan

Please sign your card and add your address to the back of the envelope. Send by airmail. Small cards cost less in postage than larger ones. If you receive a reply, please contact the ACAT office :-Eleanor and Terry Newland, 8 Southfield, Saltash, Cornwall PL12 4LX Tel:01752 843417

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Please send a card, a religious one if you wish, to:-

Pastor Isaias Prasca, Colombia
Pastor Otto Figueroa Otalova
Both pastors and their families have received death threats from the armed groups operating in the area; they carry out their ministry with very vulnerable communities in one of the hardest hit areas for violence in Colombia. Letters and cards give them and their congregations encouragement and remind them that they are not forgotten. Pastors and priests have been murdered in these areas over recent years and are still being killed.

Addresses: Pastor Isaias Prasca, Iglesia Cristo Reg, AIEC, Calle 15 16-76, Tierralta, Cordoba, Colombia Pastor Otto Figueroa Otalova, Iglesia Alianza Cristiana, Ca-12 No 9-45, Neiva, Huila, Colombia

Please sign your card and add your address to the back of the envelope. Send by airmail. small cards cost less in postage than larger ones. If you receive a reply, please contact the ACAT office -Eleanor and Terry Newland, 8 Southfield, Saltash, Cornwall PL12 4LX Tel: 01752 843417

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Please send a non religious card to:-

Dr Oscar Elias Biscet, Cuba

Dt Biscet, 46 is serving a 25 year sentence for his activities in promoting respect for human rights.

Address:- Dr Oscar Biscet, c/o Elsa Morejon Hernandez, Acosta, 464 e/8va y 9va, Lawton, Ciudad de la Habana, Cuba.

Please sign your card and add your address to the back of the envelope. Send by airmail. Small cards cost less in postage than larger ones. If you receive a reply, please contact the ACAT office: Eleanor and Terry Newland, 8 Southfield, Saltash, cornwall PL12 4LX tel: 01752 843417

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Please send a card, a religious one if you wish; you can also send a message of support and encouragement, to:-

• Alex Bob Chama
• Finch Maimbo
• Raphael Okafor
• Matthews K Tembo
• Patson Mwale
• Steven Kasanda
• Selyi Samungomba
• Raphael Mwamba
• Godfrey Chinyemba
• Arthuryoyo Chris Hamusonde
• Jason Mutepuka
• Anthony Mukanu

Address :- Maximum Security Prison, PO Box 80915, Kabwe, Zambia

Do not send one card to all of those named above; decide on one or perhaps two; it is important that they receive individual cards.

Please sign your card and add your address to the back of the envelope. Send by airmail. Small cards cost less in postage than larger ones.

Many of the prisoners in the Maximum Securitu Prison in Kabwe, Zambia are Christians. The conditions in prison are very bad. Many have lost contact with their families or their families live at a great distance from the prison and so have no one to visit them. Many have been in prison for years. It is important not to add your address unless you are prepared to enter into a correspondence with a prisoner. Many prisoners are seeking pen friends and also some "support".

If you do receive a reply, please send a copy to : ACAT Prisoner Support Scheme Co-ordinator, Ken Watson, 34 Wantage Road, Reading RG30 2SF, who will be only too happy to give advice.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

FROM KEN WATSON - for members of ACAT who support prisoners in Zambia

Because of the problems whih have arisen over trying to find out where prisoners receiving support are now held and which was only resolved at the end of October, I have decided to transfer funds, which had been due to be sent at the beginning of August, with those due in November. This will cut down on the costs which are involved with bank transfer fees. The final transfer will be made on 30th November. I would be glad if any cheques made payable to ACAT No 2 account could be with me by the 21st. November at the latest.