Ramsey Clark awarded UN Human Rights prize

Dear Friends,

This is wonderful news about Ramsey Clark. This past summer when I contacted Ramsey about the Jeff Wood case, he did not hesitate when asked to write a letter to the governor and the Board of Pardons.

Ramsey was the attorney for my friend Carlos Santana who was executed by the state of Texas in March of 1993. After witnessing Carlos' murder, I remember thanking Ramsey for all the work he had done for Carlos, who was convicted under the law of parties. He told me that Carlos was dead because he was poor and didn't have a good attorney at his trial. That is why we must stop the death penalty, he told me.

The ruling class hates Ramsey because he turned his back on them and has never looked back. Whether it is the death penalty or the genocide against Iraq or the threats against Iran, Ramsey will not tolerate injustice.

At our January meeting, we should all sign a card for him congratulating him on this award. I know he is not concerned about awards, but there is no one more deserving and we should thank him for all he does.

Ramsey is from Texas. His father Tom, was on the US Supreme Court. Ramsey was the US Attorney General under LBJ, I think. After that he totally did an about face and has stood with the poor and oppressed of the US and the world.

Gloria

International Action Center

Congratulations to Ramsey Clark

Ramsey Clark receives UN Human Rights Award 2008

International Action Center founder Ramsey Clark, a former US Attorney General and internationally renown human rights defender, received the respected United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights on the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 10 December 2008.

The announcement of the award was presented by the President of the General Assembly, Miguel d´Escoto Brockmann, who is one of the five members of the selection committee. The award is made every five years to five human rights defenders whose life's work has been outstanding. It is presented on December 10, International Human Rights Day, every five years

At the UN Press Conference after accepting the award, Ramsey Clark emphasized the UN's role in ensuring world peace reminding journalists that “The greatest threat to human rights is war.”

The award is given to individuals and organizations in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Previous recipients have included Nelson Mandela, Amnesty International, Jimmy Carter, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Reverend Dr. Martin L. King.”

Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto said “As we mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we acknowledge the tireless work and invaluable contribution of these individuals and organizations that have fought to see the rights and freedoms embodied in this historic document become a reality for people in all corners of the world.”

“These awardees constitute symbols of persistence, valour and tenacity in their resistance to public and private authorities that violate human rights. They constitute a moral force to put an end to systematic human rights violations.”

The UN announcement described Ramsey Clark as “a veteran human rights defender and rule of law advocate, played a key role in the civil rights and peace movements in the US, and more recently has spoken out against abuses committed in the name of “counter-terrorism.”

The International Action Center, founded by Ramsey Clark in 1992 is known internationally for its major role in the anti-war movement in the U.S. and its actions in the forefront of extending solidarity to countries and peoples facing U.S. attack and threats.

The many activists and the large all-volunteer staff of the International Action Center along with hundreds of people who have worked with him over many years extend their enthusiastic congratulations to Ramsey Clark for his tireless and courageous efforts. This United Nations Human Rights Award is well deserved.

We remain committed to solidarity with peoples and countries under U.S. attack. We are determined to continue developing ever wider opposition to U.S. policies of endless war, expanding militarism, racism and growing poverty for millions. Si se puede!

Ramsey Clark's Letter for Jeff Wood

RAMSEY CLARK

37 WEST 12TH STREET

NEW YORK, N.Y. 10011

212-989-6613

212-979-1583 FAX

August 12, 2008

The Honorable Rick Perry

Governor, State of Texas

State Capitol, Room 2S.I

Austin, Texas 78701

Ms. Rissie Owens, Chair

Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles

8610 Shoal Creek Boulevard

Austin, Texas 78757

Re: Jeffrey Wood, TDJC No. 999256

Dear Governor Perry and Chair Owens,

Jeffrey Wood is scheduled to be executed on August 21, 2008. I write you to request the commutation of Mr. Wood's sentence from death to a period of imprisonment for the number of years you find the facts of the case warrant.

As the records before you show, Daniel Reneau was executed on June 13, 2002 as the person who committed the murder of Kris Keiran. He was alone with the victim in the store when he fired the fatal shot.

There are three major reasons why the death penalty imposed on Mr. Wood is improper on the facts of this case.

1. Mr. Wood was not present in the store in which the victim was murdered at the time of the murder. He had no reason to believe Mr. Reneau intended to murder Mr. Keiran because he understood the original plan to fake a robbery of the store with the participation of its manager had been abandoned the day before. Mr. Wood believed Mr. Reneau was not armed when he entered the store and that he had no intention of committing any crime.

2. Mr. Wood has suffered from severe mental, emotional and learning disabilities all his life either caused by or resulting from beatings by his parents from earliest childhood, or both. He was initially found not fit to stand trial and hospitalized. The jury never heard testimony concerning his mental condition, because during the penalty phase of this trial, after the Court refused to let him represent himself, he ordered his lawyers not to call any witnesses who would have testified about his mental handicap and severe beatings as a child.

3. Mr. Wood, over 30 at the time of his trial, had no previous criminal record.

I am an 80 year old third generation Texan on my mother’s side, second generation Texan on my father’s side, whose children are multi generation Texans on both their mothers and fathers side with relatives still resident in Dallas, Corpus Christi, Beaumont and Houston. I have opposed the death penalty in all cases since before I entered the University of Texas. I was licensed to practice

law in Texas in 1951. Though I left Texas in 1961 to join the Kennedy Administration, I retain a deep concern for the quality of justice in Texas and its reputation in the nation.

Texas should act now to restrict its death penalty to the individual who personally commits the act of killing. I represented Carlos Santana in his last appeals before his execution on April 23, 1993. Carlos, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, was one of the seven persons executed in Texas since 1976 under a charge of felony murder, or law of parties. He left a young widow and two orphaned children. Carlos raised his head from the gurney moments before his death to face his audience and said “Violence is not the way, love is the way.” For me, at the time, this confirmed his profound moral character. His execution was a tragic miscarriage of justice. He killed no one.

The execution of Jeffrey Wood on the facts of his case, mentality impaired, outside, unarmed, not expecting any crime to be committed, would be the most extreme execution in Texas of a person who had killed no one, and could not have anticipated that anyone would be killed, of all the unfortunate executions under legal theories of felony murder, or law of parties.

I urge you to commute this death sentence and limit application of the death sentence to the actual killer.

Sincerely,

RAMSEY CLARK

Ramsey Clark on planned execution of Saddam Hussein, other defendants in Iraq

"The sudden decision of the so-called appeals court in Iraq, which did
not take the time to examine the trial record and defense briefs, has
set the stage for the imminent execution of Saddam Hussein, two other
defendants and the surrender of four other defendants to the Iraqi
government, exposing them to summary executions, torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading punishment - all in violation of U.S. and international
law.

"The decision could take place at any moment. The Iraqi government and
the Bush administration apparently plan to carry out this execution
quickly.

"The great weight of international legal opinion has found the Iraqi
Special Tribunal subject to political pressures, lacking independence and
not impartial, and that the trial failed to provide due process of law
and was unfair. The Iraqi Study Group found political interference with
Iraqi courts 'ruthless.' Executions following such a notoriously unfair
trial will severely harm the rule of law.

"Executions, if they occur in the midst the present violence, are
expected to cause a long term increase in the level of violence causing more
U.S. and Iraqi casualties.

"Saddam Hussein and his co-defendants are in the custody of the U.S.
military in Iraq. They will be turned over to Iraq only on the order of
or with the approval of President Bush. His pending decision will have
long term consequences for the peace and stability of Iraq, and for the
rule of law as a means to peace."