Page 10
rhe Blue Banner
nouember 9,2000
news
Letter campaign to release prisoners
Series honors
Dexter Squibb
Sanna Raza
staff UJriter
The Amnesty International chap
ter at UNCA started a new cam
paign to shed Ught on human rights
violations in Saudi Arabia.
“Right now we are focusing on the
death penalty and torture,” said
Elizabeth Allen, a junior indepen
dent major in causes and conse
quences of American poverty. “We
consider (the) death penalty cruel
and unusual, and it violates basic
human rights. It is totally arbitrary,
(and) torture is a really big issue in
Saudi Arabia.”
The group works to raise aware
ness through letter writing and other
events. It is sponsored by Elmoiz
Abunura, professor of political sci
ence and director of the Africana
studies program.
“I became involved in AI when I
was a freshman student at the Uni
versity of Baghdad in Iraq,” said
Abunura. “I was imprisoned be
cause of my political beliefs, and
AI, at that time, considered me a
prisoner of conscience. I was re
leased as a result of the work of AI
and other human rights organiza
tions.”
Prisoners of conscience are indi
viduals in prison for their beliefs or
political reasons, not because they
have been breaking the law, accord
ing to Allen.
In 1996, Abunura established AI
here at UNCA, aiid since then the
AI chapter has become visible and
active, according to Abunura.
“The work of AI stimulates an
interest in establishing a human
rights program at UNCA,” said
Abunura.
Torture is very common in Saudi
Arabia, according to a May 27 ar
ticle in The London Free Press.
Authorities use torture as punish-
Ulilson —
ments and to get confessions.
“Religious adherents are jailed,
tortured, abducted or suffer harass
ment that is officially tolerated or
even encouraged in many countries
around the world,” said Janet Epp-
Buckingham, director of the reli
gious freedom project, in the ar
ticle. “In countries that have an
officially sanctioned religion, those
of other religions suffer harassment
and persecution. Christians are per
secuted in countries where funda
mentalist Muslims hold political
power, including
Saudi Arabia.”
“In Saudi
Arabia, torture
became a culture
ofbrutality,”said
Abunura. “Po
litical prisoners
in Saudi Arabia
have revealed a
culture of police
brutality, torture
and ill treatment
in many police
stations, prisons
and detention
centers across the
country. Beat
ings with sticks,
electric shocks,
cigarette burns
and nail pulling are some of the
torture methods often described.”
Flogging is another method of
punishment used for a variety of
offenses, according to the AI Web
site.
“It is applied for sexual offenses,
and can also be used by judges at
their discretion as a substitute, or in
addition, to other punishments,”
according to the site. “The number
of lashes handed down by courts in
each case is not clearly prescribed
by law, and can range from dozens
to thousands. (The lashes) tend to
be carried out at a rate of 50 lashes
every two weeks.”
Another focus of AI is the death
penalty and the increase in those
cases, according to Allen.
“People do not have a right to a
trial or a lawyer,” said Allen. “I
mean, they do on paper as far as the
law goes, but they do not other
wise.”
“The death penalty in Saudi Arabia
is frequently imposed following
summary and secret trials,” said
Abunura. “None of those executed
has had access to a lawyer. Some
have been convicted solely on the
basis of confessions extracted by
torture.”
“Saudi Arabia
executes people
for a wide range
of offenses, in
cluding adul
tery and homo
sexuality,” ac
cording to the
site. “Saudi
Arabia has one
of the highest
rates of execu
tions in the
world. At least
103 people
were executed
in 1999.”
The situation
for women in
Saudi Arabia is
also a concern
to AI, according to Abunura.
“Laws in Saudi Arabia discrimi
nate against vvomen in almost all
aspects of life, (like) decision mak
ing, employment, education and
family relations,” said Abunura.
Saudi Arabia tolerates men pun
ishing their wives for disobedience,
although they are not supposed to
cause pain or injury. Women face
the j udicial punishment of flogging
for‘moral crimes’ forwhich women
are more likely to be suspected than
men, according to the site.
“The unfairness of trial proceed
ings in cases of women facing capi
tal punishment is extretne,” accord
ing to the site.
AI is one of the largest human
“They came in saying that they
were checking up on something,
and asked everyone for identifica
tion,” said Muthanna. “The (sus
pect) said he did not have an ID.”
According to Muthanna, the sus
pect gave contradictory statements
to public safety officers. At that
time, officers began to get suspi
cious of his story, and took him to
the public safety office.
“The public safety ofFicer asked
(Wilson) what floor he lived on.
(Wislon) said that he lived ‘down
there,’” said Muthanna. “They
asked him for his name, and he gave
the name of Jason.
“Officers then told him to go down
to get his ID, and he then said he
did not know what room he lived
in,” said Muthanna. “He finally
told officers he was just visiting a
friend.”
According to AI Williams, assis
tant district attorney, Wilson will
probably not receive the maximum
penalty, due to the fact that he does
not have a criminal record. He said
the penalty for felony breaking and
entering isaminimumof25 months
to a maximum of 30 months in jail.
For both the indecent exposure and
obstruction of officer charges, Wil-
rights organizations in the world. It
was founded in 1961 in England,
according to Abunura. The organi
zation believes that human rights
and fundamental freedom tran
scend national, religious and cul
tural boundaries.
“AI works to promote civil and
political, social, economic, cultural,
women’s indigenous right to de
velop a sound environment,” said
Abunura. “The organization also
works to release all prisoners of
conscience.”
Within the U.S., A] has 400,000
members and has chapters around
N.C. In Asheville, there is a stu
dent chapter at UNCA and a local
group in the city, according to
Abunura.
“I hope to see more students in
volved with AI and other human
rights organizations, said Abunura.
“Human rights, to me, is more than
merely academic interest, it is my
destiny as a person who suffered
torture and has seen with his own
eyes his friends’ tortured to death in
Iraq or Sudan.”
Letter writing is one of the main
weapons that AI uses in its cam
paigns. A letter can be an important
weapon in improving the human
rights situation because it can make
the difference between life and death
for another person, according to
Abunura.
“AI spreads the message through
letter writing to the officials in
Saudi Arabia and in the U.S. and
building awareness of the situa
tion,” said Abunura. “From per
sonal experience, I feel the letter-
writing campaign will benefit the
prisoners of conscience in Saudi
Arabia.”
“Letters are really important,” said
Allen. “The governments think
they can just put (the people)
away, and nobody knows about
it. It is threatening to their power
because all these people are in
opposition to what they are do
ing.”
continued from page 1
son could receive a maximum sen
tence of 60 days in jail for each
offense.
“I think the bond should have
been higher, and he should not
have been released so quickly,” said
John Tan, senior computer science
major. “He could easily come back
to campus, or go to another college
campus nearby, and do the same
thing. Next time he could be more
violent.”
According to Nancy Williams,
associate director of housing, she
commends Muthanna, other resi
dent assistants and students for their
leadership and teamwork in this
matter.
“It is exciting to me that we have
such a sense of community watch
that when there are people in the
building that do not belong here,
students are asking questions and
calling our staff,” said Williams.
Students said that they are thank
ful for the quick response of public
safety and housing staff in appre
hending Wilson.
“It is good to know that we have
RAs like Muthanna around who
show good leadership skills,” said
Justin Lawlor, a sophomore com
puter science major.
Lauren Owens
staff Writer
The UNCA chemistry department
hosted the third annual series of
lectures in honor of Dexter Squibb,
former professor of chemistry at
UNCA. The lecture series lasted
from Oct. 29 to Oct. 31, and fea
tured several chemistry-related dis
cussions.
“The series is important because it
allows UNCA students to experi
ence more diverse fields of the chem
istry community that are not cur
rently available here at UNCA,”
said Stan Howell, a senior chemis
try major.
This year, the lecture series fea
tured Nancy H. Kolodny, chair of
chemistry at Wellesley College.
Kolodny specializes in researching
nuclear magnetic resonance, and
studies how it
can be applied to
problems in
medicine and
biology, accord
ing to her biog
raphy in the lec
ture program.
“Kolodny has
continued the
fine tradition of
teaching set
forth by Dexter
Squibb,” said
Howell.
The Dexter
Squibb lecture
series was cre
ated to honor the
retired UNCA
chemistry chair who held the posi
tion from 1964 to 1994, according
to the program. The series attempts
to feature well renowned chemistry
scholars whose studies reflect
Squibb’s accomplishments.
“I have really had a great time
during this series,” said Kolodny. “I
especially thank Squibb for making
me feel so welcome.”
Kolodny led two lectures for the
Unity
the graffiti in Founders Hall, ac
cording to Roberts.
Wingfield “told our class that, the
night before, she had seen some
vicious graffiti painted on the walls
of Founders Hall,” said Roberts.
“She gathered some friends to
gether, and they cleaned the walls,
but two hours later more hateful
graffiti had been painted on the
same walls.”
Roberts said the class began to
brainstorm for ways to react to the
graffiti.
“(Wingfield) said ‘I thinkweought
to do something about this,’” said
Roberts. “The students talked about
what they could do. They chose to
organize an event that would cel
ebrate the majority of UNCA stu
dents (who) show respect for people
of different cultures and different
opinions.”
According to Wingfield, the event
offered a time for UNCA faculty
and staff to embrace its diversity.
“The people that came got a chance
to show us, and everybody else, that
they believed in unity and they did
series. Her first lecture was entitled
“Ancient Microbes through
Twenty-First Century Eyes” and
her second lecture was called “Look
ing through the Eye with Magnetic
Resonance Imaging (MRI).” Her
second lecture focused on the ways I
in which MRI (the medical appli
cation of field magnetic resonance, i
is the common method used fori
clinical diagnoses like spinal prob
lems) can be used to study the eye
disease uveitis.
“Uveitis is the inflammation of!
the sandwich of the eye,” said!
Kolondy. “Its symptoms include I
eye pain, eye pain in light and
clouded vision. It may lead to glau
coma and blindness.”
According to Kolondy, she and
several research students at
Wellesley studied the ways that uvei
tis could affect rabbits that were left
untreated or treated with the dis
ease. They used MRI to study the
effects of uvei
tis on rabbits,
and then the
MRI could
function as a
type of snapshot
to study the rab
bits’ eyes.
“We used rab
bits because
they have
broader lenses,”
said Kolondy.
“We did not
wanttohurt the
animals, but we
also want to
help people. We
studied the ani
mals over time
to see what processes were occur
ring. We also wanted to find out if
uveitis causes problems.”
Once the research was concluded,
according to Kolondy, three con
clusions could be made regarding
uveitis and MRI. First, MRI can be
used over time in studies, MRI can
show changes in blood barriers and
two parameters regarding the rab
bits emerged as normal.
continued from page 1
not feel the same way as the people
who wrote the graffiti,” said
Wingfield.
The class wrote a unity pledge for
students and faculty to sign during
the event Oct. 31. They also of
fered information on violence and
sexually transmitted diseases, ac
cording to Kandria Long, an unde
clared freshman.
“We had a pledge table, where
people could sign our unity pledge, ”
said Long. “They received a ribbon
for their support and information
on everything. We had informa
tion on AIDS, date rape and vio
lence.”
The African dance class performed
during the celebration, and stu
dents served ethnic foods. Accord
ing to Bray, participants could also
paint a square for a patchwork quilt
that Robert’s class will sew to
gether and hang in the Highsmith
Center.
“We had a table where you could
make a patch of a quilt as a sym
bol of what your beliefs are,” said
Bray.
was arrested and taken to the Bun
combe County Detention Center
for processing. Wilson was released
ona$3,800 bond Oct. 31, accord
ing to Adams.
“At this time, he waived his rights
so he could speak to us, and, in the
process of that interview, he gave a
statement admitting to one of the
indecent exposures,” said Adams.
“Based on his description, eye wit
ness accounts and positive identifi
cations, he was also charged with
(the other counts).”
On Oct. 30, ofiFicers received a
report that someone had exposed
himself to a woman in the fifth
floor study lounge, according to
Adams.
“A subject came into the room,
and)made several trips in and out,”
said Adams. “On his last trip he
exposed himself to the girl in the
room.”
Soon after that report was taken,
public safety received a report of
another indecent exposure that oc
curred, this time on the first floor of
Founders Hall in the snack room
area, according to Adams.
“There were two girls sitting out
side the door. A subject was in the
snack room and exposed himself to
those girls,” said Adams. “In each
of these incidences, we got a very
good description (of the subject),
which, in both cases matched the
description of the subject who
opened the shower curtain on the
^irl Oct. 29.
After these incidences occurred,
the housing office gave the descrip
tion of the suspect to all the Resi
dent Assistants. After being given
the description, Somanna
Muthanna, resident assistant on the
third floor of Founders Hall, said
he spotted someone who looked
like the suspect in the computer
lab.
“I went to a friend’s room, and, on
my way back, I noticed someone
who I never saw before and matched
the description of the flasher,” said
Muthanna. “I went back, and called
the person involved in the shower
incident to take a look at him. She
came with me, and was pretty sure
that was the person.”
Muthanna said that after the vic
tim identified the suspect, he im
mediately called public safety.
Muthanna then returned to the
computer lab to make sure the sus
pect did not leave until public safety
officers arrived.
The Women’s Resource Center will be open Monday through
Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., 3 to 6 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m.
The office is located on second floor of Mills Hall. The work of
Debbie Misch, a senior art student, is on exhibit until Nov. 16.
For more information, contact Afaf Omer at aomer@unca.edu.
"Letters are really
important. The gov
ernments think they
can just put (the
people) away, and no
body knows about it.
It is threatening to
their power, because
all these people are in
opposition to what
they are doing.”
-Elizabeth Allen, a
junior causes and
consequences of
American povery
major.
"I have really
had a great time
during this se
ries. 1 especially
thank Squibb for
making me feel
so welcome.”
-Nancy H. Kolodny,
chair of chemistry
at Wellesley Col
lege.
Students, faculty and staff are in-
vited to register for carpool/ride
share online, available through the
UNCA Web for Students menu. For
more information, call Carol Diak
mond at (828) 689-5399.