Hi all, Here is the final version of the statement as it went out last evening. We have got more signatures after that, and we have added them here. We are thinking of having a press conference here in Delhi, still working out the details. Hope we can coordinate with Bangalore as well
Thanks everyone for your support. It appeared in almost every Malayalam mainstream media space apart for the honourable exception of Mathrubhumi. We need to work this further in terms of media discourse creation and expect all your support again. Warmly Jenny/Sudeep/Bobby ------------------------- We, a group of concerned citizens from different walks of life, have come to know that the Kerala police has arrested Soofiya Madani for her alleged involvement in the 2005 Kalamassery bus burning case. We do not want to take a position for or against Soofiya Madani and we believe that the rule of the law and the constitution of India should prevail. However, during the past few years we have seen a number of activists, students, scholars and other citizens from the Muslim community being imprisoned and persecuted in the name of combating terrorism. After long years in prison, many of them have been acquitted, free of all charges, by the higher courts. In the meantime most of them have been subjected to all kinds of violations of their fundamental rights. The media has also played a huge role in subverting the judicial process by sensationalizing these cases and publishing baseless stories without any proper investigation. Soofiya Madani started appearing in news media in the context of the 10 year long imprisonment of her husband Abdul Nasser Madani without a trial. During this period, Soofiya was active in the affairs of the political outfit Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that her husband had founded. Abdul Nassar Madani was finally acquitted after this long incarceration without even as much as a whimper of apology, forget compensation. Following his acquittal, both Abdul Nasser and Soofiya Madani have been active in the electoral politics of Kerala, contesting the last Parliamentary elections along with the ruling Left Democratic Front. One of the cases against Soofiya Madani is that she was allegedly involved in conspiring the burning of a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation bus at Kalamassery, Kochi in September 2005 - and an anticipatory bail plea on this case is pending before the Kerala High Court today. However the media in Kerala has been extra-judicially trying Soofiya Madani -- often using highly questionable anti-Muslim representations -- equating a case of arson where her involvement has not been legally established yet -- to fundamentalist terrorism. This media campaign also needs to be seen in the context of a prevalent anti-Muslim rhetoric in the Malayalam language media in general. In that context we fear that her basic constitutional rights might be violated in the coming days. We want to raise our collective voices against such an event and we strongly call on all concerned authorities to prevent any such violation from happening without prejudice to the Rule of Law and any investigations that should be carried out against her. Sd/- 1. John Dayal, Member National Integration Council 2. K Satchidanandan, Poet 3. M Rasheed, Freedom fighter & Journalist 4. C K Vishwanath, Ekta, Mumbai 5. Sreerekha, Asst. Professor, Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi 6. Sreejitha Tabas, Assistant Professor , Kamala Nehru College, Delhi University 7. Jenny Rowena, Asst. Professor, Miranda House, DU 8. Hany Babu, Associate Professor, Dept. of English, Delhi University 9. Joe Athialy, Delhi Solidarity Group 10. Shahina K K, Development Professional, New Delhi 11. Rajeev Ramachandran, Journalist, New Delhi 12. Maymon Madathingal, Software Engineer, New Delhi 13. Sudeep K S, Blogger, New Delhi 14. Kamayani Bali Mahabal, Human Rights Activist, Mumbai 15. Anil Tharayath Varghese, Development Professional, Delhi 16. Bobby Kunhu, Human Rights Activist 17. K K Kochu, Dalit Scholar 18. G P Ramachandran, Film Critic 19. K K Baburaj, Dalit Activist 20. M B Manoj, Poet 21. Rekha Raj, Development Profeesional,Cochin 22. Sunny M Kapikadu, Dalit Activist 23. Dileep Raj, Editor, Penguin 24. Mahtab Alam, Civil Rights Activist 25. K Sunil Kumar, New Democratic Movement 26. P Thirumal, Associate Professor, Dept. Of Communications, University of Hyderbad 27. Ramlath Kavil, Mediaperson, Mumbai 28. Gro Vasu, Activist, Calicut 29. Renjith T, IGNOU, New Delhi 30. K P Girija, Research Scholar, CSCS, Bangalore 31. Carmel Christy, Asst. Professor, Kamala Nehru College, Delhi University 32. Anoop Kumar, Insight Foundation, New Delhi 33. S Anand, Publisher, Navayana, Delhi 34. K M Venugopal, Writer, Thrissur 35. Sukhvindr Kaur, Senior Faculty - Research, Amity, Bangalore 36. Ashokan Nambiar C, Consultant, National Translation Mission, Central Institute of India Languages, Mysore 37. Sreejith Paithaleyan, Dalit Activist, Kerala 38. Aryakrishnan Ramakrishnan, Researcher, Thiruvananthapuram 39. Biju Mohan, Filmaker, Delhi 40. S Sanjeev, Writer, Thiruvananthapuram 41. Bindu Menon, Asst. Professor, LSR College, New Delhi 42. Seema Duhan, Anhad, Delhi 43. P Kesava Kumar, Asst. Prof, Pondicherry University 44. Shibi Peter, Dalit Activist, Kottayam 45. Smitha Nair, Research Scholar, JNU 46. Wali Laskar, Narak Human Rights Protection Committee Assam 47. Janaki Abraham, Associate Professor, Delhi School of Economics 48. Reshma Bharadwaj, Social Work Department, Sri Sankara University of Sanskrit 49. Reny Ayline, Journalist, Thiruvananthapuram 50. Deepa P Gopinath, Lecturer, College of Engineering Thiruvananthapuram 51. Avin Chhangani, Student, Gujarat National law University, Gandhinagar 52. B R P Bhaskar, Writer, Kerala 53. Kalyani Mohan Sen, Gurgaon 54. Praveen Arimbrathodiyil, Swathanthra Software Advocate, Pune 55. Jenson Joseph, Research Scholar, Hyderabad Central University 56. Anuradha P, Cornell University 57. Pardeep Singh Attri, Researcher, Delhi 58. Bhanu Pratap Singh, New Delhi 59. Philip Vinod Peacock, New Delhi 60. D Sreejith, Journalist, New Delhi 61. Ram Puniyani, Ekta, Mumbai 62. Damodar Prasad, C-DIT _ Trivandrum 63. P S Rajashekaran, KILA, Thrissur 64. R Ramkumar, TISS, Mumbai 65. Bijulal, Indian Social Institute, New Delhi 66. G K Vinod, UAE 67. Afthab Eliath, Sultanate of Oman 68. R N Nayak, Social Activist, New Delhi 69. Kirity Roy, Masum Calcutta 70. Amit Bhaduri 71. Prakash Rao, Lok Raj Sanghatan 72. Madhumita Dutta, Chennai 73. Kim, Democracy and Human rights activist, New Delhi 74. Htun Surte, Democracy and Human rights activist, New Delhi 75. Alana, Executive member of Burma Centre Delhi, New Delhi 76. Plato, Rights activist, New Delhi 77. Geedha, Human rights activist, Thiruvananthapuram 78. Sona P M, Cochin 79. Rema K M, Wayanad 80. Meena Kandasamy, Writer 81. Sandhya P C, Lecturer 82. Seena Antony, Thrissur 83. Manisha Sethi, Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi 84. Elizabeth Philip, Sahaja, Thiruvananthapuram 85. Shamshad Hussein, Sri Sankara University, Kalady 86. Shabnam Hashmi, ANHAD, New Delhi 87. Dr. A K Jayasree, Kerala ------------------------- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
