Georgia killed Troy Davis

After a torturous delay of more than 4 hours, the State of Georgia killed Troy Anthony Davis on the 21st September 2011. Davis was pronounced dead at 23:08 (03:08 GMT Thursday), 15 minutes after the lethal injection began.

"I am innocent," Davis said moments before he was executed. "I did not have a gun. For those about to take my life, may God have mercy on your souls. May God bless your souls. All I can ask... is that you look deeper into this case so that you really can finally see the truth. I ask my family and friends to continue to fight this fight."



Like many across the world my heart is heavy. I am sad and angry. The state of Georgia has proven what we already know. Governments cannot be trusted with the awful power over life and death. Today, Georgia didn't just kill Troy Davis; they killed the faith and confidence that many Georgians, Americans and Troy Davis supporters worldwide used to have in the criminal justice system.

The state of Georgia has proven that the death penalty is too great a power to give to the government. Human institutions are prone to bias and error and cannot be entrusted with this God-like power. The death penalty is a human rights violation whether given to the guilty or the innocent, and it must be abolished. While many courts examined this case, the march to the death chamber only slowed, but never stopped. Justice may be blind; but in this case, the justice system was blind to the facts.



The case against him consisted entirely of witness testimony which contained inconsistencies even at the time of the trial. Since then, all but two of the state's non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted or contradicted their testimony. Many of these witnesses have stated in sworn affidavits that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying or signing statements against Troy Davis. One of the two witnesses who has not recanted his testimony is Sylvester "Red" Coles — the principle alternative suspect, according to the defence, against whom there is new evidence implicating him as the gunman. Nine individuals have signed affidavits implicating Sylvester Coles.

Troy said the day before he was executed;

"The struggle for justice doesn't end with me. This struggle is for all the Troy Davises who came before me and all the ones who will come after me. I'm in good spirits and I'm prayerful and at peace."

It is only perhaps in America with its addiction to violence, to guns and to retribution that killing a person who did not commit a crime makes sense and gives false closure to the family of the victim. It is only in American with its obsession with retribution and vengeance that the huge diversion of resources to maintaining a fallible and brutal death penalty and imprisoning 1 in 10 young black men that this makes sense. It is only in America does it make sense to station troops in 143 countries of the world, not ask what the motive was for the vicious attack on 9/11 and launch a murderous war on Iraq which had nothing to do with the events of 9/11 to keep America “safe.”



The vicious death penalty does nothing to keep Americans safe nor does the sad addiction to guns. Only in the Deep South does it make sense to keep a black man in prison for 22 years and then take him out and execute him when the case against him has fallen apart. This "Freedom Loving Democracy" which refuses to sign up to the International Criminal Court and kills innocents with "precision" drones well away from media coverage is in no position to lecture other brutal execution luvin' regimes in China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and Saudi Arabia (the place the 9/11 guys came from) on Human Rights.

Let's take a moment to honour the life of Troy Davis and Mark MacPhail. Then, let's take all of our difficult feelings and re-double our commitment to abolition of the death penalty.

I am Troy Davis. You are Troy Davis. We will not stop fighting for justice.




See also;

Don’t execute Troy Davis

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/09/dont-execute-troy-davis.html

The Troy Davis Campaign Website

http://www.troyanthonydavis.org

Georgia killed Troy Davis

After a torturous delay of more than 4 hours, the State of Georgia killed Troy Anthony Davis on the 21st September 2011. Davis was pronounced dead at 23:08 (03:08 GMT Thursday), 15 minutes after the lethal injection began.

"I am innocent," Davis said moments before he was executed. "I did not have a gun. For those about to take my life, may God have mercy on your souls. May God bless your souls. All I can ask... is that you look deeper into this case so that you really can finally see the truth. I ask my family and friends to continue to fight this fight."



Like many across the world my heart is heavy. I am sad and angry. The state of Georgia has proven what we already know. Governments cannot be trusted with the awful power over life and death. Today, Georgia didn't just kill Troy Davis; they killed the faith and confidence that many Georgians, Americans and Troy Davis supporters worldwide used to have in the criminal justice system.

The state of Georgia has proven that the death penalty is too great a power to give to the government. Human institutions are prone to bias and error and cannot be entrusted with this God-like power. The death penalty is a human rights violation whether given to the guilty or the innocent, and it must be abolished. While many courts examined this case, the march to the death chamber only slowed, but never stopped. Justice may be blind; but in this case, the justice system was blind to the facts.



The case against him consisted entirely of witness testimony which contained inconsistencies even at the time of the trial. Since then, all but two of the state's non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted or contradicted their testimony. Many of these witnesses have stated in sworn affidavits that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying or signing statements against Troy Davis. One of the two witnesses who has not recanted his testimony is Sylvester "Red" Coles — the principle alternative suspect, according to the defence, against whom there is new evidence implicating him as the gunman. Nine individuals have signed affidavits implicating Sylvester Coles.

Troy said the day before he was executed;

"The struggle for justice doesn't end with me. This struggle is for all the Troy Davises who came before me and all the ones who will come after me. I'm in good spirits and I'm prayerful and at peace."

It is only perhaps in America with its addiction to violence, to guns and to retribution that killing a person who did not commit a crime makes sense and gives false closure to the family of the victim. It is only in American with its obsession with retribution and vengeance that the huge diversion of resources to maintaining a fallible and brutal death penalty and imprisoning 1 in 10 young black men that this makes sense. It is only in America does it make sense to station troops in 143 countries of the world, not ask what the motive was for the vicious attack on 9/11 and launch a murderous war on Iraq which had nothing to do with the events of 9/11 to keep America “safe.”



The vicious death penalty does nothing to keep Americans safe nor does the sad addiction to guns. Only in the Deep South does it make sense to keep a black man in prison for 22 years and then take him out and execute him when the case against him has fallen apart. This "Freedom Loving Democracy" which refuses to sign up to the International Criminal Court and kills innocents with "precision" drones well away from media coverage is in no position to lecture other brutal execution luvin' regimes in China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and Saudi Arabia (the place the 9/11 guys came from) on Human Rights.

Let's take a moment to honour the life of Troy Davis and Mark MacPhail. Then, let's take all of our difficult feelings and re-double our commitment to abolition of the death penalty.

I am Troy Davis. You are Troy Davis. We will not stop fighting for justice.




See also;

Don’t execute Troy Davis

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/09/dont-execute-troy-davis.html

The Troy Davis Campaign Website

http://www.troyanthonydavis.org

State of Georgia set to execute an innocent man

Southern trees still bear bitter fruit, nowhere it seems more so than in the State of Georgia, USA. It is with a very heavy heart and a deep sense of outrage that I let you know that the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles voted to deny clemency to Troy Davis. This means that very little is now standing in the way of the state of Georgia executing a potentially innocent man this Wednesday, September 21 st at 7pm.

The actions of the Board are astounding in the face of so much doubt in the case against Troy Davis. However, we should not be prepared to accept the decision and let anyone with the power to stop the execution off the hook. Join Amnesty in calling on the Board to reconsider its decision, and on the Chatham County (Savannah) District Attorney Larry Chisolm to do the right thing. They have until the final moments before Troy's scheduled execution to put the brakes on this runaway justice system.



“I am writing to urge you to seek a withdrawal of the death warrant against Troy Davis. He has been denied clemency by the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles despite the fact that significant doubts continue to plague his conviction. Executions when there are still substantial doubts about guilt should never be permitted to proceed, and the responsibility rests with you to ensure that does not happen in this case.

It would significantly undermine the credibility of the Georgia system of justice if an execution were carried out under such a persistent cloud of doubts about guilt. It would show a callous disregard for the very real possibility of putting an innocent person to death, and public faith in Georgia’s commitment to a fair justice system would be shattered.



You have it in your power to prevent this affront to justice from happening. I urge you to call for a withdrawal of Troy Davis’ death warrant without delay.”

Send on this link;

http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=6oJCLQPAJiJUG&b=6645049&aid=516533&msource=W1109EADP04D&tr=y&auid=9522344

Troy Davis was convicted on the basis of witness testimony – seven of the nine original witnesses have since recanted or changed their testimony. He has survived three previous execution dates, because people like you kept the justice system in check! Let Georgia authorities know you oppose the death penalty for Troy Davis!

NOTE: Due to high volume of supporters, please keep trying to sign this petition if your initial attempt does not succeed.

Or try contacting the Chatham County's District Attorney's office by phone/fax: Telephone: 912-652-7308 Fax: 912-652-7328.



Davis was given the death sentence for the August 1989 murder of Mark MacPhail, a police officer from Savannah who was shot and killed while trying to help a homeless man who was being beaten up in a restaurant car park. Davis was present at the scene, but has always insisted that another man, Sylvester Coles, attacked the homeless man and shot MacPhail when he intervened.

Davis was convicted at a 1991 trial almost exclusively on the basis of nine witnesses – including Coles himself – who all said they had seen him carry out the shooting. The murder weapon was never found, and there was no DNA or other forensic evidence. In the years since the trial, seven of the nine witnesses have come forward and recanted their evidence, saying they were put under pressure to implicate Davis by the investigating police. Other witnesses have come forward to say that they had heard Coles confess to killing the police officer.



The parole board heard from one of the jurors who originally recommended the death penalty for Davis. Brenda Forrest told the panel that she no longer trusted the verdict or sentence: "I feel, emphatically, that Mr Davis cannot be executed under these circumstances," she said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The execution of Troy Davis, a Georgia death row inmate scheduled to die in less than a week, should be halted because of "pervasive, persistent doubts" about his guilt, said William S. Sessions, a former federal district judge in Texas and FBI director under Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, in a sharply-worded editorial on Thursday.

"Serious questions about Mr. Davis' guilt, highlighted by witness recantations, allegations of police coercion, and a lack of relevant physical evidence, continue to plague his conviction," Sessions wrote. He urged a state pardons board to commute the sentence to life in prison.

Bob Barr, a former federal prosecutor and four-term Republican congressman from Georgia, urged the board to grant clemency for Davis in an editorial published in the Savannah Morning News on Wednesday. In 2007, the five-member board pledged that "it will not allow an execution to proceed in this state unless and until its members are convinced there is no doubt as to the guilt of the accused," Barr noted in the editorial.



"I am a longtime supporter of the death penalty. I make no judgment as to whether Davis is guilty or innocent. And surely the citizens of Savannah and the state of Georgia want justice served on behalf of Officer MacPhail," Barr wrote. "But imposing an irreversible sentence of death on the skimpiest of evidence will not serve the interest of justice."

Troy Davis has three major strikes against him. First, he is an African American man. Second, he was charged with killing a white police officer. And third, he is in Georgia.

More than a century ago, the legendary muckraking journalist Ida B Wells risked her life when she began reporting on the epidemic of lynching in the Deep South. She published Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All its Phases in 1892 and followed up with The Red Record in 1895, detailing hundreds of lynchings. She wrote:

"In Brooks County, Georgia, 23 December, while this Christian country was preparing for Christmas celebration, seven Negroes were lynched in 24 hours because they refused, or were unable to tell the whereabouts of a coloured man named Pike, who killed a white man … Georgia heads the list of lynching states."



The planned execution of Davis will not be at the hands of an unruly mob, but in the sterile, fluorescently lit confines of Georgia diagnostic and classification prison in Butts County, near the town of Jackson. The state doesn't intend to hang Troy Davis from a tree with a rope or a chain – to hang, as Billie Holiday sang, like a strange fruit:

>"Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black body swinging in the Southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees."

See also;

Don’t execute Troy Davis

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/09/dont-execute-troy-davis.html

The Troy Davis Campaign Website

http://www.troyanthonydavis.org

State of Georgia set to execute an innocent man

Southern trees still bear bitter fruit, nowhere it seems more so than in the State of Georgia, USA. It is with a very heavy heart and a deep sense of outrage that I let you know that the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles voted to deny clemency to Troy Davis. This means that very little is now standing in the way of the state of Georgia executing a potentially innocent man this Wednesday, September 21 st at 7pm.

The actions of the Board are astounding in the face of so much doubt in the case against Troy Davis. However, we should not be prepared to accept the decision and let anyone with the power to stop the execution off the hook. Join Amnesty in calling on the Board to reconsider its decision, and on the Chatham County (Savannah) District Attorney Larry Chisolm to do the right thing. They have until the final moments before Troy's scheduled execution to put the brakes on this runaway justice system.



“I am writing to urge you to seek a withdrawal of the death warrant against Troy Davis. He has been denied clemency by the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles despite the fact that significant doubts continue to plague his conviction. Executions when there are still substantial doubts about guilt should never be permitted to proceed, and the responsibility rests with you to ensure that does not happen in this case.

It would significantly undermine the credibility of the Georgia system of justice if an execution were carried out under such a persistent cloud of doubts about guilt. It would show a callous disregard for the very real possibility of putting an innocent person to death, and public faith in Georgia’s commitment to a fair justice system would be shattered.



You have it in your power to prevent this affront to justice from happening. I urge you to call for a withdrawal of Troy Davis’ death warrant without delay.”

Send on this link;

http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=6oJCLQPAJiJUG&b=6645049&aid=516533&msource=W1109EADP04D&tr=y&auid=9522344

Troy Davis was convicted on the basis of witness testimony – seven of the nine original witnesses have since recanted or changed their testimony. He has survived three previous execution dates, because people like you kept the justice system in check! Let Georgia authorities know you oppose the death penalty for Troy Davis!

NOTE: Due to high volume of supporters, please keep trying to sign this petition if your initial attempt does not succeed.

Or try contacting the Chatham County's District Attorney's office by phone/fax: Telephone: 912-652-7308 Fax: 912-652-7328.



Davis was given the death sentence for the August 1989 murder of Mark MacPhail, a police officer from Savannah who was shot and killed while trying to help a homeless man who was being beaten up in a restaurant car park. Davis was present at the scene, but has always insisted that another man, Sylvester Coles, attacked the homeless man and shot MacPhail when he intervened.

Davis was convicted at a 1991 trial almost exclusively on the basis of nine witnesses – including Coles himself – who all said they had seen him carry out the shooting. The murder weapon was never found, and there was no DNA or other forensic evidence. In the years since the trial, seven of the nine witnesses have come forward and recanted their evidence, saying they were put under pressure to implicate Davis by the investigating police. Other witnesses have come forward to say that they had heard Coles confess to killing the police officer.



The parole board heard from one of the jurors who originally recommended the death penalty for Davis. Brenda Forrest told the panel that she no longer trusted the verdict or sentence: "I feel, emphatically, that Mr Davis cannot be executed under these circumstances," she said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The execution of Troy Davis, a Georgia death row inmate scheduled to die in less than a week, should be halted because of "pervasive, persistent doubts" about his guilt, said William S. Sessions, a former federal district judge in Texas and FBI director under Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, in a sharply-worded editorial on Thursday.

"Serious questions about Mr. Davis' guilt, highlighted by witness recantations, allegations of police coercion, and a lack of relevant physical evidence, continue to plague his conviction," Sessions wrote. He urged a state pardons board to commute the sentence to life in prison.

Bob Barr, a former federal prosecutor and four-term Republican congressman from Georgia, urged the board to grant clemency for Davis in an editorial published in the Savannah Morning News on Wednesday. In 2007, the five-member board pledged that "it will not allow an execution to proceed in this state unless and until its members are convinced there is no doubt as to the guilt of the accused," Barr noted in the editorial.



"I am a longtime supporter of the death penalty. I make no judgment as to whether Davis is guilty or innocent. And surely the citizens of Savannah and the state of Georgia want justice served on behalf of Officer MacPhail," Barr wrote. "But imposing an irreversible sentence of death on the skimpiest of evidence will not serve the interest of justice."

Troy Davis has three major strikes against him. First, he is an African American man. Second, he was charged with killing a white police officer. And third, he is in Georgia.

More than a century ago, the legendary muckraking journalist Ida B Wells risked her life when she began reporting on the epidemic of lynching in the Deep South. She published Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All its Phases in 1892 and followed up with The Red Record in 1895, detailing hundreds of lynchings. She wrote:

"In Brooks County, Georgia, 23 December, while this Christian country was preparing for Christmas celebration, seven Negroes were lynched in 24 hours because they refused, or were unable to tell the whereabouts of a coloured man named Pike, who killed a white man … Georgia heads the list of lynching states."



The planned execution of Davis will not be at the hands of an unruly mob, but in the sterile, fluorescently lit confines of Georgia diagnostic and classification prison in Butts County, near the town of Jackson. The state doesn't intend to hang Troy Davis from a tree with a rope or a chain – to hang, as Billie Holiday sang, like a strange fruit:

>"Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black body swinging in the Southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees."

See also;

Don’t execute Troy Davis

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/09/dont-execute-troy-davis.html

The Troy Davis Campaign Website

http://www.troyanthonydavis.org

Save Troy Davis

I stand with Amnesty and their Death Penalty Abolition Campaign to fight for the life of Troy Davis, who within weeks could be executed for a crime he may not have committed. There remain serious doubts of his guilt. His death sentence defies all logic and morality.

The day is now here - the state of Georgia has set Troy Davis' execution date for September 21st, just 10 days from today. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his final appeal earlier this year. But the story remains the same - Troy Davis could very well be innocent.

Troy Davis and his mother

However, in the state of Georgia, the Board of Pardons & Paroles holds the keys to Troy's fate. In the days before Davis' execution, this Board will hold a final clemency hearing - a final chance to prevent Troy Davis from being executed. Davis was convicted on the basis of witness testimony - seven of the nine original witnesses have since recanted or changed their testimony.


Martina Correia, sister of Troy Anthony Davis, in front of the O'Connell Monument in Dublin, Ireland with supporters. She received The Sean McBride Award for Outstanding Contribution to Human Rights 2010.

One witness said in a CNN news interview "If I knew then, what I know now, Troy Davis would not be on death row." I know it's difficult to believe that a system of justice could be so terribly flawed, but keep in mind that Troy has survived three previous execution dates, because people like you kept the justice system in check!
We've been bracing for this moment and the time for action is now! Here's what you can do to join the fight:

Sign Amnesty’s petition to the Board of Pardons & Paroles urging them to grant clemency! They'll deliver your signatures next week.
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=6oJCLQPAJiJUG&b=6645049&aid=12970&msource=W1109EADP01&tr=y&auid=9445274

Organise locally for Troy: Take to the streets with us. Soon we'll be announcing the date for the official Troy Davis Day of Action. Sign up now to rally in the coming days to stop the execution of Troy Davis.

Tell everyone you know! Spread the word about this injustice on Twitter by using the hashtag #TooMuchDoubt. Be sure to tell your Facebook friends Troy's story too!
https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2Fo93bAE



The death penalty is costly, arbitrary, and ineffective. Yet one of the great disappointments for those of us who supported Barack Obama is that the US Justice system is still heavily focused towards revenge not rehabilitation, criminalises a huge proportion of young black men and in a number of states despite the evidence of legal shabbiness, miscarriages and innocents being killed by the state a huge amount of penal resources are devoted to putting people to death. In this the United States is right up with those other Great Democracies, China, Iran, Russia and Saudi Arabia. Who says you can’t judge a country by the friends it keeps?

Whilst the situation is complicated by the separation of powers in the United States between the Federal and State Governments for many the bell weather case of whether Obama’s American is any different is the case of Troy Davis. Troy Anthony Davis, who is African American, was convicted in 1991 of murdering Mark McPhail, a white police officer. Davis' conviction was not based on any physical evidence, and the murder weapon was never found.

The prosecution based its case on the testimony of purported "witnesses," many of whom allege police coercion. Seven of the nine non-police witnesses for the prosecution have recanted their testimony in sworn affidavits. One witness signed a police statement declaring that Davis was the assailant, and then later said, "I did not read it because I cannot read." In another case a witness stated that the police "were telling me that I was an accessory to murder and that I would ... go to jail for a long time and I would be lucky if I ever got out, especially because a police officer got killed ... I was only 16 and was so scared of going to jail."



There are also several witnesses who have implicated another man in the murder. According to one woman, "People on the streets were talking about Sylvester Coles being involved with killing the police officer, so one day I asked him ... Sylvester told me that he did shoot the officer."

Troy's case is so powerful because it has inspired:

A majority of witnesses to admit that they lied 19 years ago

Four witnesses to finally testify against the person whom they suspect to be the real killer of police officer Mark MacPhail

Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to all call for clemency

A movement of human rights supporters to unite and pass Troy's story along from one person to the next to the next...

Nearly two decades later, Davis remains on death row with an execution date in 10 days time– even though the case against him has completely fallen apart. Don’t let the state of Georgia put finality before Justice.

See also;

Don’t execute Troy Davis

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/09/dont-execute-troy-davis.html

The Troy Davis Campaign Website

http://www.troyanthonydavis.org/



Audio recording from Troy Davis, who faces execution despite the fact that there was no physical evidence and 7 out of 9 non-police witnesses have recanted or contradicted their testimony.

Save Troy Davis

I stand with Amnesty and their Death Penalty Abolition Campaign to fight for the life of Troy Davis, who within weeks could be executed for a crime he may not have committed. There remain serious doubts of his guilt. His death sentence defies all logic and morality.

The day is now here - the state of Georgia has set Troy Davis' execution date for September 21st, just 10 days from today. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his final appeal earlier this year. But the story remains the same - Troy Davis could very well be innocent.

Troy Davis and his mother

However, in the state of Georgia, the Board of Pardons & Paroles holds the keys to Troy's fate. In the days before Davis' execution, this Board will hold a final clemency hearing - a final chance to prevent Troy Davis from being executed. Davis was convicted on the basis of witness testimony - seven of the nine original witnesses have since recanted or changed their testimony.


Martina Correia, sister of Troy Anthony Davis, in front of the O'Connell Monument in Dublin, Ireland with supporters. She received The Sean McBride Award for Outstanding Contribution to Human Rights 2010.

One witness said in a CNN news interview "If I knew then, what I know now, Troy Davis would not be on death row." I know it's difficult to believe that a system of justice could be so terribly flawed, but keep in mind that Troy has survived three previous execution dates, because people like you kept the justice system in check!
We've been bracing for this moment and the time for action is now! Here's what you can do to join the fight:

Sign Amnesty’s petition to the Board of Pardons & Paroles urging them to grant clemency! They'll deliver your signatures next week.
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=6oJCLQPAJiJUG&b=6645049&aid=12970&msource=W1109EADP01&tr=y&auid=9445274

Organise locally for Troy: Take to the streets with us. Soon we'll be announcing the date for the official Troy Davis Day of Action. Sign up now to rally in the coming days to stop the execution of Troy Davis.

Tell everyone you know! Spread the word about this injustice on Twitter by using the hashtag #TooMuchDoubt. Be sure to tell your Facebook friends Troy's story too!
https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2Fo93bAE



The death penalty is costly, arbitrary, and ineffective. Yet one of the great disappointments for those of us who supported Barack Obama is that the US Justice system is still heavily focused towards revenge not rehabilitation, criminalises a huge proportion of young black men and in a number of states despite the evidence of legal shabbiness, miscarriages and innocents being killed by the state a huge amount of penal resources are devoted to putting people to death. In this the United States is right up with those other Great Democracies, China, Iran, Russia and Saudi Arabia. Who says you can’t judge a country by the friends it keeps?

Whilst the situation is complicated by the separation of powers in the United States between the Federal and State Governments for many the bell weather case of whether Obama’s American is any different is the case of Troy Davis. Troy Anthony Davis, who is African American, was convicted in 1991 of murdering Mark McPhail, a white police officer. Davis' conviction was not based on any physical evidence, and the murder weapon was never found.

The prosecution based its case on the testimony of purported "witnesses," many of whom allege police coercion. Seven of the nine non-police witnesses for the prosecution have recanted their testimony in sworn affidavits. One witness signed a police statement declaring that Davis was the assailant, and then later said, "I did not read it because I cannot read." In another case a witness stated that the police "were telling me that I was an accessory to murder and that I would ... go to jail for a long time and I would be lucky if I ever got out, especially because a police officer got killed ... I was only 16 and was so scared of going to jail."



There are also several witnesses who have implicated another man in the murder. According to one woman, "People on the streets were talking about Sylvester Coles being involved with killing the police officer, so one day I asked him ... Sylvester told me that he did shoot the officer."

Troy's case is so powerful because it has inspired:

A majority of witnesses to admit that they lied 19 years ago

Four witnesses to finally testify against the person whom they suspect to be the real killer of police officer Mark MacPhail

Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to all call for clemency

A movement of human rights supporters to unite and pass Troy's story along from one person to the next to the next...

Nearly two decades later, Davis remains on death row with an execution date in 10 days time– even though the case against him has completely fallen apart. Don’t let the state of Georgia put finality before Justice.

See also;

Don’t execute Troy Davis

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/09/dont-execute-troy-davis.html

The Troy Davis Campaign Website

http://www.troyanthonydavis.org/



Audio recording from Troy Davis, who faces execution despite the fact that there was no physical evidence and 7 out of 9 non-police witnesses have recanted or contradicted their testimony.

Suu Kyi will be free only when Burma is free

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

Let us not have any false optimism about Burma now that Nobel Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been “released” from house arrest. Suu Kyi will only be free when Burma and its long suffering people are free. The Burmese military authorities have released the pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, from house arrest. Appearing outside her home in Rangoon, Ms Suu Kyi told thousands of jubilant supporters they had to "work in unison" to achieve their goals. The Nobel Peace Prize winner has been detained for 15 of the past 21 years. It is not yet clear if any conditions have been placed on her release.

US President Barack Obama welcomed her release as "long overdue". UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Ms Suu Kyi was an "inspiration", and called on Burma to free all its remaining political prisoners. Ms Suu Kyi, 65, was freed after her latest period of house arrest expired and was not renewed by the military government. Her release comes six days after the political party supported by the military won the country's first election in 20 years. The ballot was widely condemned as a sham.



The ecstatic crowd swelled to three or four thousand before Ms Suu Kyi, in a traditional lilac dress, finally appeared, about 30 minutes later, on a platform behind the gate of her compound. She took a flower from someone in the crowd and placed it in her hair. Ms Suu Kyi then tried to speak, but was drowned out by the noise of the crowd, many singing the national anthem and chanting her name repeatedly.

"I have to give you the first political lesson since my release. We haven't seen each other for so long, so we have many things to talk about. If you have any words for me, please come to the [NLD] headquarters tomorrow and we can talk then and I'll use a loud speaker," she joked. "There is a time to be quiet and a time to talk," she added. "People must work in unison. Only then can we achieve our goal."

She then went back inside her home for the first meeting with NLD leaders in seven years. She also spoke to her youngest son, Kim Aris, who was awaiting her release in neighbouring Thailand. Ms Suu Kyi had two sons with late husband, British scholar Michael Aris.


Buddist Monks protesting in 2007

During her early years of detention, she was often in solitary confinement. She was not allowed to see her two sons or her husband, who died of cancer in March 1999. The military authorities offered to allow her to travel to the UK to see him when he was gravely ill, but she felt compelled to refuse for fear she would not be allowed back into the country. She has grandchildren she has never met.

Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of the country's independence hero, General Aung San. He was assassinated during the transition period in July 1947, just six months before independence. Aung San Suu Kyi was only two years old at the time. In 1960 she went to India with her mother Daw Khin Kyi, who had been appointed Burma's ambassador to Delhi. Four years later she went to Oxford University in the UK, where she studied philosophy, politics and economics. There she met her future husband, academic Michael Aris.


Suu Kyi as a child with her father General Aung San and mother Daw Khin Kyi

After stints of living and working in Japan and Bhutan, she settled down to be an English don's housewife in Oxford and raise their two children, Alexander and Kim. But Burma was never far from her thoughts. When she arrived back in Rangoon in 1988 - to look after her critically ill mother - Burma was in the midst of major political upheaval.

Thousands of students, office workers and monks took to the streets demanding democratic reform. "I could not, as my father's daughter remain indifferent to all that was going on," she said in a speech in Rangoon on 26 August 1988. Ms Suu Kyi was soon propelled into leading the revolt against the then-dictator, General Ne Win. Inspired by the non-violent campaigns of US civil rights leader Martin Luther King and India's Mahatma Gandhi, she organised rallies and travelled around the country, calling for peaceful democratic reform and free elections.



But the demonstrations were brutally suppressed by the army, who seized power in a coup on 18 September 1988. The military government called national elections in May 1990. Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD convincingly won the polls, despite the fact that she herself was under house arrest and disqualified from standing. But the junta refused to hand over control, and has remained in power ever since.

Less than a week ago, Myanmar's military party swept the country’s first elections in more than 20 years amid heavy criticism and allegations of widespread fraud. As a result, thousands are fleeing the region as violence erupts.




In a famous speech given to the National League for Democracy Suu Kyi brought the concepts of Mahatma Gandhi into clear focus when she said:

“It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it… Fearlessness may be a gift but perhaps more precious is the courage acquired through endeavour, courage that comes from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one’s actions, courage that could be described as ‘grace under pressure’ – grace which is renewed repeatedly in the face of harsh, unremitting pressure….

Within a system which denies the existence of basic human rights, fear tends to be the order of the day. Fear of imprisonment, fear of torture, fear of death, fear of losing friends, family, property or means of livelihood, fear of poverty, fear of isolation, fear of failure. Fear of imprisonment, fear of torture, fear of death, fear of losing friends, family, property or means of livelihood, fear of poverty, fear of isolation, fear of failure.

A most insidious form of fear is that which masquerades as common sense or even wisdom, condemning as foolish, reckless, insignificant or futile the small, daily acts of courage which help to preserve man’s self-respect and inherent human dignity.


Suu Kyi under house arrest in her family's lakeside villa on University Road, Rangoon

It is not easy for a people conditioned by fear under the iron rule of the principle that might is right to free themselves from the enervating miasma of fear. It is not easy for a people conditioned by fear under the iron rule of the principle that might is right to free themselves from the enervating miasma of fear. Yet even under the most crushing state machinery courage rises up again and again, for fear is not the natural state of civilized man.

The wellspring of courage and endurance in the face of unbridled power is generally a firm belief in the sanctity of ethical principles combined with a historical sense that despite all the setbacks condition of man is set on an ultimate course for both spiritual and material advancement. It is his capacity for self-improvement and self-redemption which most distinguishes man from the mere brute.

At the root of human responsibility is the concept of perfection, the urge to achieve it, the intelligence to find a path towards it, and the will to follow that path if not to the end at least the distance needed to rise above individual limitations and environmental impediments.

It is man’s vision of a world fit for rational, civilized humanity which leads him to dare and to suffer to build societies free from want and fear. It is man’s vision of a world fit for rational, civilized humanity which leads him to dare and to suffer to build societies free from want and fear.

Concepts such as truth, justice and compassion cannot be dismissed as trite when these are often the only bulwarks which stand against ruthless power.”

Let us not forget that the military junta which imprisons the Burmese People, has squandered a fortune on building a make believe “Capital” in the jungle and which enriches itself and its families whilst keeping the people in poverty has over 2,100 political prisoners rotting in its squalid jails. As Daw Suu Kyi has said;



"The release of political prisoners is the most important thing for all those who truly wish to bring about change in Burma."

So let us not let the loathsome Military Junta which still rules Burma off the hook – there is still a long road to travel before the Burmese people enjoy freedom and an economy which meets their needs and aspirations. Suu Kyi’s father, General Aung San, would have been the first leader of Independent Burma if he was not assassinated in 1947. Daw Suu Kyi is the democratically elected leader of the Burmese people with her National League for Democracy having convincingly won the 1990 General election. She was denied the fruits of victory by the successors of those who killed her father. By the brave leadership of an “Army” which has only ever fought against and killed its own people. By sham generals with sham medals who have set up an oppressive kleptocracy which flogs off Burma’s natural resources to China, India and others to fatten themselves and their families whilst running Burma with spectacular incompetence.

The struggle is only beginning. Let us say it loud, let us say it clear; Aung San Suu Kyi will only be free when Burma and its long suffering people are free of the Goon Squad Junta. The struggle continues.


Daw Suu Kyi

Born 1945, daughter of Burma's independence hero, General Aung San, assassinated in 1947

1960: Leaves Burma and is later educated at Oxford University

1988: Returns to care for sick mother and is caught up in revolt against then-dictator Ne Win

1989: Put under house arrest as Burma junta declares martial law

1990: NLD wins election; military disregards result

1991: Wins Nobel Peace Prize

1995: Released from house arrest, but movements restricted

1999: Her husband Michael Aris died of cancer in the UK, she could not visit him for fear of being exiled

2000: Near continuous period of house arrest begins

Sept 2007: First public appearance since 2003, greeting protesting Buddhist monks

November 2010: NLD boycotts first election in 20 years and is disbanded; House arrest ends

Radios for Burma from Amnesty International on Vimeo.

Suu Kyi will be free only when Burma is free

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

Let us not have any false optimism about Burma now that Nobel Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been “released” from house arrest. Suu Kyi will only be free when Burma and its long suffering people are free. The Burmese military authorities have released the pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, from house arrest. Appearing outside her home in Rangoon, Ms Suu Kyi told thousands of jubilant supporters they had to "work in unison" to achieve their goals. The Nobel Peace Prize winner has been detained for 15 of the past 21 years. It is not yet clear if any conditions have been placed on her release.

US President Barack Obama welcomed her release as "long overdue". UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Ms Suu Kyi was an "inspiration", and called on Burma to free all its remaining political prisoners. Ms Suu Kyi, 65, was freed after her latest period of house arrest expired and was not renewed by the military government. Her release comes six days after the political party supported by the military won the country's first election in 20 years. The ballot was widely condemned as a sham.



The ecstatic crowd swelled to three or four thousand before Ms Suu Kyi, in a traditional lilac dress, finally appeared, about 30 minutes later, on a platform behind the gate of her compound. She took a flower from someone in the crowd and placed it in her hair. Ms Suu Kyi then tried to speak, but was drowned out by the noise of the crowd, many singing the national anthem and chanting her name repeatedly.

"I have to give you the first political lesson since my release. We haven't seen each other for so long, so we have many things to talk about. If you have any words for me, please come to the [NLD] headquarters tomorrow and we can talk then and I'll use a loud speaker," she joked. "There is a time to be quiet and a time to talk," she added. "People must work in unison. Only then can we achieve our goal."

She then went back inside her home for the first meeting with NLD leaders in seven years. She also spoke to her youngest son, Kim Aris, who was awaiting her release in neighbouring Thailand. Ms Suu Kyi had two sons with late husband, British scholar Michael Aris.


Buddist Monks protesting in 2007

During her early years of detention, she was often in solitary confinement. She was not allowed to see her two sons or her husband, who died of cancer in March 1999. The military authorities offered to allow her to travel to the UK to see him when he was gravely ill, but she felt compelled to refuse for fear she would not be allowed back into the country. She has grandchildren she has never met.

Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of the country's independence hero, General Aung San. He was assassinated during the transition period in July 1947, just six months before independence. Aung San Suu Kyi was only two years old at the time. In 1960 she went to India with her mother Daw Khin Kyi, who had been appointed Burma's ambassador to Delhi. Four years later she went to Oxford University in the UK, where she studied philosophy, politics and economics. There she met her future husband, academic Michael Aris.


Suu Kyi as a child with her father General Aung San and mother Daw Khin Kyi

After stints of living and working in Japan and Bhutan, she settled down to be an English don's housewife in Oxford and raise their two children, Alexander and Kim. But Burma was never far from her thoughts. When she arrived back in Rangoon in 1988 - to look after her critically ill mother - Burma was in the midst of major political upheaval.

Thousands of students, office workers and monks took to the streets demanding democratic reform. "I could not, as my father's daughter remain indifferent to all that was going on," she said in a speech in Rangoon on 26 August 1988. Ms Suu Kyi was soon propelled into leading the revolt against the then-dictator, General Ne Win. Inspired by the non-violent campaigns of US civil rights leader Martin Luther King and India's Mahatma Gandhi, she organised rallies and travelled around the country, calling for peaceful democratic reform and free elections.



But the demonstrations were brutally suppressed by the army, who seized power in a coup on 18 September 1988. The military government called national elections in May 1990. Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD convincingly won the polls, despite the fact that she herself was under house arrest and disqualified from standing. But the junta refused to hand over control, and has remained in power ever since.

Less than a week ago, Myanmar's military party swept the country’s first elections in more than 20 years amid heavy criticism and allegations of widespread fraud. As a result, thousands are fleeing the region as violence erupts.




In a famous speech given to the National League for Democracy Suu Kyi brought the concepts of Mahatma Gandhi into clear focus when she said:

“It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it… Fearlessness may be a gift but perhaps more precious is the courage acquired through endeavour, courage that comes from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one’s actions, courage that could be described as ‘grace under pressure’ – grace which is renewed repeatedly in the face of harsh, unremitting pressure….

Within a system which denies the existence of basic human rights, fear tends to be the order of the day. Fear of imprisonment, fear of torture, fear of death, fear of losing friends, family, property or means of livelihood, fear of poverty, fear of isolation, fear of failure. Fear of imprisonment, fear of torture, fear of death, fear of losing friends, family, property or means of livelihood, fear of poverty, fear of isolation, fear of failure.

A most insidious form of fear is that which masquerades as common sense or even wisdom, condemning as foolish, reckless, insignificant or futile the small, daily acts of courage which help to preserve man’s self-respect and inherent human dignity.


Suu Kyi under house arrest in her family's lakeside villa on University Road, Rangoon

It is not easy for a people conditioned by fear under the iron rule of the principle that might is right to free themselves from the enervating miasma of fear. It is not easy for a people conditioned by fear under the iron rule of the principle that might is right to free themselves from the enervating miasma of fear. Yet even under the most crushing state machinery courage rises up again and again, for fear is not the natural state of civilized man.

The wellspring of courage and endurance in the face of unbridled power is generally a firm belief in the sanctity of ethical principles combined with a historical sense that despite all the setbacks condition of man is set on an ultimate course for both spiritual and material advancement. It is his capacity for self-improvement and self-redemption which most distinguishes man from the mere brute.

At the root of human responsibility is the concept of perfection, the urge to achieve it, the intelligence to find a path towards it, and the will to follow that path if not to the end at least the distance needed to rise above individual limitations and environmental impediments.

It is man’s vision of a world fit for rational, civilized humanity which leads him to dare and to suffer to build societies free from want and fear. It is man’s vision of a world fit for rational, civilized humanity which leads him to dare and to suffer to build societies free from want and fear.

Concepts such as truth, justice and compassion cannot be dismissed as trite when these are often the only bulwarks which stand against ruthless power.”

Let us not forget that the military junta which imprisons the Burmese People, has squandered a fortune on building a make believe “Capital” in the jungle and which enriches itself and its families whilst keeping the people in poverty has over 2,100 political prisoners rotting in its squalid jails. As Daw Suu Kyi has said;



"The release of political prisoners is the most important thing for all those who truly wish to bring about change in Burma."

So let us not let the loathsome Military Junta which still rules Burma off the hook – there is still a long road to travel before the Burmese people enjoy freedom and an economy which meets their needs and aspirations. Suu Kyi’s father, General Aung San, would have been the first leader of Independent Burma if he was not assassinated in 1947. Daw Suu Kyi is the democratically elected leader of the Burmese people with her National League for Democracy having convincingly won the 1990 General election. She was denied the fruits of victory by the successors of those who killed her father. By the brave leadership of an “Army” which has only ever fought against and killed its own people. By sham generals with sham medals who have set up an oppressive kleptocracy which flogs off Burma’s natural resources to China, India and others to fatten themselves and their families whilst running Burma with spectacular incompetence.

The struggle is only beginning. Let us say it loud, let us say it clear; Aung San Suu Kyi will only be free when Burma and its long suffering people are free of the Goon Squad Junta. The struggle continues.


Daw Suu Kyi

Born 1945, daughter of Burma's independence hero, General Aung San, assassinated in 1947

1960: Leaves Burma and is later educated at Oxford University

1988: Returns to care for sick mother and is caught up in revolt against then-dictator Ne Win

1989: Put under house arrest as Burma junta declares martial law

1990: NLD wins election; military disregards result

1991: Wins Nobel Peace Prize

1995: Released from house arrest, but movements restricted

1999: Her husband Michael Aris died of cancer in the UK, she could not visit him for fear of being exiled

2000: Near continuous period of house arrest begins

Sept 2007: First public appearance since 2003, greeting protesting Buddhist monks

November 2010: NLD boycotts first election in 20 years and is disbanded; House arrest ends

Radios for Burma from Amnesty International on Vimeo.