Sunday 8 February 2015

Please help to #Keephopealive in #Ballarat against he death penalty - particularly in #Indonesia

The information below is cross-posted with permission from Advocacy @ St Paul's


Dear Advocates,
Apologies for the short notice of to-nights's event.
Have only received notification this morning.
Details are in the re-published email below.
Please do your best to support this event.
Remember the mercy you give is the mercy you get! 

 The Ballarat group is part of the worldwide Amnesty International movement that opposes the death penalty in any circumstance, for any person.  Residents are invited to the

Spiritual Centre, 
Ballarat Base Hospital
7.00p.m.-8.00p.m. 
To-night 
Sunday 8th.February 
(entry from Sturt Street) 

to light the flame of justice, and send a public message that Australians oppose state-sanctioned executions.

The event is a response to comments by Indonesian President Joko Widodo that he would not grant clemency to at least 64 individuals who have been sentenced to death for drug-related crimes and that there were plans to execute all of them.

These include Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran in the next batch of 11 whose claims for clemency have been rejected.

Amnesty International is asking Australians 
to use the hashtag #KeepHopeAlive
 and sign
Amnesty International’s petition
calling for the executions to be stopped. 

The death penalty has been proven not to work in deterring crime. It is a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and it has no place in today’s justice system.

Amnesty International has been campaigning against the death penalty for the last 30 years, and most countries in the world have recognised the justice in this stance. When Amnesty International first pledged to abolish executions in the ‘70s, only a handful of countries had stopped killing people as a form of punishment; now 140 countries have abolished the practice.

Vigil for Hope ("Stop the Executions") 
 7.00-8.00p.m. 
Sunday 8th. February 
 Spiritual Centre, Ballarat Base Hospital. 
 Media Contact: Max White 5331 2502