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JNV Delegation to Kabul December 2011-January
2012
Maya Evans of Justice Not Vengeance
visited Kabul on what we believe to be the first Briish peace
movement delegation to the country since the US/UK invasion in
October 2001. The delegation was organised by the US peace group
Voices for Creative Nonviolence,
and hosted by Afghan
Youth Peace Volunteers.
The JNV delegation was funded by generous
grants and by JNV supporters responding to an email appeal. Please
sign up here
to receive further reports from JNV.
Maya blogged during her delegation on the
From Hastings
to Kabul website. Below are the posts from that site.
Maya's writings
16 December 2011 Stranded
in London
17 December 2011 Arriving
in Kabul
18 December 2011 Maya's
birthday in Kabul
19 December 2011 Forgiving
the Taliban
23 December 2011 Meeting
Afghan Justice Seekers
2 January 2012 Tea
for Peace
3 January 2012 Visiting
an Afghan Refugee Camp in Kabul
Speaking tour 2012
During 2012, Maya will be speaking around
the UK. If you would like to invite her to speak to your group
then please contact her tour
organisers.
Please include:
- a phone number as well as an e-mail
- the name of the town where the event would take place (and the
name of the nearest public transport hub, if this is not the same)
- an estimate of how many people you expect to attend the event
- a list of possible dates (starting from 9 January) on which
you would be able to host an event with her
Please note that Maya is based in Hastings,
so groups that are more than a few hours travel away will be expected
to provide accommodation and vegan food. Groups will also be asked
to pay Maya’s travel expenses, though we hope to be able
to cap these at no more than £50.
Donations welcome
JNV is very grateful to everyone who contributed
to Maya's delegation costs. If you are able to make a financial
contribution towards Maya’s speaking tour and Afghan campaigning
activities, she would be very grateful for your support. You can
send a cheque, made out to ‘JNV’ (please write ‘Afghanistan’
on the back) to JNV, 29 Gensing Road, St Leonards on Sea, East
Sussex TN38 0HE.
Alternatively you can make a bank transfer
using the details below. If you choose to do this then please
email us at JNV at to let
us know that you’ve made a donation and that it's for Maya’s
speaking tour and Afghan campaigning work.
Account name: Justice Not Vengeance
Account number: 78520921
Bank: Nationwide Building Society, 40 London Road, St Leonards-on-Sea,
East Sussex TN37 6AN
Sort code: 07-00-55
About Maya Evans
In October 2005 Maya Evans was arrested for
reading out the names of British soldiers who had died as a result
of the war in Iraq, opposite the Cenotaph. In December 2005 she
became the first person to be convicted of participating in an
“unauthorized” demonstration within 1km of Parliament
[1].
In 2007, Liberty awarded her their annual
Peter Duffy Award “for her campaigning work and commitment
to the cause of liberty” and “courage in standing
up for our fundamental rights to peaceful protest and freedom
of speech”.
In June 2010, she won “a partial victory”
in the High Court, when it ruled that Afghans detained by British
forces could no longer be transferred to a detention centre in
Kabul run by Afghanistan’s intelligence agency (NDS), because
of the risk of torture [2]. Since then, the UN has found compelling
evidence of systematic torture in five facilities run by the NDS
– including at least one facility deemed safe for detainee
transfers by the High Court [3].
She is the author of the book “Naming
the Dead: A Serious Crime”, and is currently involved in
a bid to take the Ministry of Defence to court over alleged civilian
killings by British forces in Afghanistan [4].
[1] “MPs condemn arrest of woman who
spoke out”, Daily
Mail, 8 December
2005
[2] ”Partial victory’ in challenge to UK Taliban transfers’,
BBC, 25 June 2010
[3] “Treatment of Conflict Related Detainees in Afghan Custody”,
UNAMA, October 2011
[4] “Wikileaks killings: UK troops face legal challenge”,
Channel 4 News, 2
August 2010
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