|
COMMITTEE HEARINGS UPDATE
Irish Freedom Committee ACTION REQUEST
Friday July 21, 2006
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearings on the US-UK Extradition Treaty are over for the day. Senators Richard Lugar (R- IN) and Chris Dodd (CT- D) presided over the hearings.
Witnesses including UIC Law Professor Francis Boyle offered strong testimony against the Treaty (testimony available at
http://www.irishfreedomcommittee.net).
PRESSURE NEEDED NOW MORE THAN EVER
Senator Lugar, SFRC Committee Chairman, announced that he would like to see the Treaty out of Committee next week. Tony Blair is due to visit Washington DC next week for what is clearly a planned photo-op clutching the new Treaty in hand. LET’S PREVENT THAT PHOTO-OP.
PLEASE PHONE
We are asking everyone to please call your own state Senator (http://www.senate.gov/index.htm) as well as standing members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (see below) - and urge that they oppose this dangerous, un-American Treaty which allows a foreign, alien-based government to have judicial powers over American citizens; and the right to seize their assets and property. An enormous British effort is being made to push this through the US Senate to save Tony Blair from further embarrassment back home. UK CITIZENS DON’T VOTE HERE – WE DO. The US won its Independence over Britain two hundred years ago – WHY HAND IT BACK?
It is vital that your US Senator and all members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee be made aware of your opposition to the US/UK Extradition Treaty. Committee hearings begin again on Monday. PLEASE CALL TODAY AND MONDAY. Keep calling every day through the remainder of hearings.
1. Phone the Foreign Relations Senator's offices – DC numbers for each are listed below. Also phone your local state Senator
(http://www.senate.gov/index.htm).
2. Tell the receptionist you are calling regarding the US/UK Extradition Treaty, ask if they are aware of the issue. Ask to speak to the Senator's Foreign Relations staffer.
3. Identify yourself, and the organization you represent, if applicable.
4. Ask if the staffer if the Senator has an opinion on the proposed US/UK Extradition Treaty and if she/he will be opposing it or supporting it.
5. Ask that the senator oppose this draconian and un-American Treaty that allows a foreign government judicial and punitive powers against US citizens. Explain that:
a. This proposed Treaty will permit a foreign government, Britain, to virtually kidnap American citizens for up to 60 days, even if no federal law has been violated.
b. Americans could be arrested and charged on the word of a sole, unnamed witness.
c. Americans would be tried in a British court and imprisoned in a British jail, and the British government would seize all of the accused's property and assets.
d. "Crimes" could be acts such as signing a human rights petition over ten years ago. There is no statute of limitations in this proposed Treaty and it would be applied retroactively.
e. The requirement for "prima fascea" evidence is made irrelevant. Merely a government's allegation could result in criminal charges.
f. The cherished "political offense exemption" clause, a pillar of US extradition law since the days of our founding fathers, would be rendered obsolete under this Treaty.
g. The rule of law in the United States, the entitlement to due process for all American citizens, and the rights and freedoms guaranteed us by the US Constitution would be forever altered, perhaps irreparably, by the sweeping terms written into this Treaty.
h. This Treaty is vastly un-American and must be blocked. Please urge the Senator to oppose the US/UK Extradition Treaty in Hearings next week!
6. Ask to be apprised of the Senator's decision next week.
7. Provide your contact details including name, address, and zip code; and telephone and email if desired.
8. Thank the representative for their prompt action.
PLEASE KEEP UP THE PRESSURE. To call all Senators on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will take perhaps an hour of your time – how long will it take to undue the damage caused by this proposed Treaty??
PHONE THESE MEMBERS OF US SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE. Keep calling to urge that they OPPOSE the draconian and un-American US/UK Extradition Treaty.
Senator Richard G. Lugar - R
Chairman
Indiana (202)224-4814
Senator Joseph R Biden Jr. - D
Ranking Minority Member
Delaware (202)224-5042
Chuck Hagel - R
Nebraska (202)224-4224
Lincoln Chafee - R
Rhode Island (202) 224-2921
George Allen - R
Virginia (202)224-4024
Norm Coleman - R
Minnesota (202)224-5641
George V. Voinovich - R
Ohio (202)224-3353
Lamar Alexander - R
Tennessee (202)224-4944
John E. Sununu - R
New Hampshire (202)224-2841
Lisa Murkowski - R
Alaska (202) 224-6665
Mel Martinez - R
Florida (202)224-3041
Paul S. Sarbanes - D
Maryland (202)224-4524
Christopher J. Dodd - D
Connecticut (202)224-2823
John F. Kerry - D
Massachusetts (202)224-2742
Russell D. Feingold - D
Wisconsin (202)224-5323
Barbara Boxer - D
California (202)224-3553
Bill Nelson - D
Florida (202)224-5274
Barack Obama - D
Illinois (312)886-3506 / (202)224-2854
*****************
For more information and talking points please see the Irish Freedom
Committee central Action Page on the Treaty at:
http://www.irishfreedomcommittee.net/IFC_INFO/CAMPAIGNS/USUK_EXTRADITIONTREATY/extradition_treaty_ACTION.htm
FAX LETTERS TO YOUR SENATORS - Link to Sample letter
http://www.irishfreedomcommittee.net/IFC_INFO/CAMPAIGNS/USUK_EXTRADITIONTREATY/sample_letter_to_us_senators_re_.htm
*****************
© The Irish Freedom Committee – Please forward widely with credits
http://www.irishfreedomcommittee.net
|