Recent CO Action alerts

Israeli conscientious objector
Hadis Amit (ISR14913), a 19 years' old woman CO, was today sentenced to
14 days in prison for refusing to serve. In a letter to the military
authorities, announcing her refusal to perform military service, Hadas
wrote:

War Resisters' International learned today that Luis Fernando
Callejas (COL14912), who will turn 25 on 13 December, was recruited by
force on 9 December during a search of Colombian military in Cali.
Between 11 and 12 at night, soldiers of the 3rd brigade of the
Colombian military carried out a search of the neighbourhoods of
Mariano Ramos and Republica de Israel of Cali, and rounded up youth of
recruitment age.

Luis Fernando Callejas is officially a "remiso" (draft evader), and did
so far not publicly declare his conscientious objection. However,

Today Turkish conscientious objector Halil Savda (TK14682) has been
arrested while attending trial at the Corlu Military Court.

War Resisters' International is very concerned about the treatment
of Carlos Andrés Giraldo Hincapié (COL14911), a Colombian youth who has
been forcefully recruited by the military on 4 August 2006. Since his
recruitment, he has received maltreatment and abuse from the side of
the military. Carlos Andrés Giraldo Hincapié is presently in the
military hospital, and maintains a position that he does not want to be
part of any armed group in Colombia.

Two Israeli conscientious objectors began their second prison term
on 5 November.

Omri Evron (ISR14905) was first sentenced to 14 days in military prison
on 15 October 2006 (see co-alert, 17/10/06). On
5 November, he again refused to enlist and to wear a uniform and
received, as during his previous imprisonment, additional punishment
for this: he was put in solitary confinement. He commented: I
refused to wear a uniform because I am not prepared to consider myself
a soldier.

On 1 November, declared conscientious objector Andrés Daniel Giraldo has been detailed by the military. He was travelling on the Bogota-Medellin road, when he was stopped by a squad of soldiers at Facatativa, and asked for his military papers. As a declared conscientious objector, Andrés Daniel Giraldo does not have any military papers. However, the soldiers did not understand his arguments and detained him. They brought him to the military base of Guaduas - Timate, where he has been kept at the time of writing.

On 10 October 2006, the military court of Sivas finally ruled in the
case of Turkish conscientious objector Mehmet Tarhan
(TK14724), who had been unexpectedly released from prison on 9 March 2006,
following an order
of the Military Court of Appeal in Ankara.

On Sunday, 15 October 2006, occupation refuser Omri Evron was sentenced to 14 days imprisonment after he announced his refusal to enlist for military service in the Israeli military. Omri Evron was put in solitary confinement having refused to wear a uniform and to obey orders.
In his letter of refusal he wrote:

War Resisters' International is presently aware of three Israeli
soldiers imprisoned for refusing to take part in the war in Lebanon.
According to Yesh Gvul, several more reservists might refuse in the
near future.

US Army Specialist Suzanne Swift was arrested by police on Sunday, 10 June. Suzanne Nicole Swift (US14796), 21, refused to deploy with her Army unit to Iraq for a second tour. After Swift became part of the military police, her company was deployed to Iraq in February 2004. She was stationed in Karbala, about 60 miles southwest of Baghdad. She came home to Fort Lewis in February 2005, believing she had the standard 18 months decompression time before she would be redeployed.

War Resisters' International received updated information on several
imprisoned Israeli conscientious objectors.

Katherine Jashinski, an Army National Guard specialist who refused to
deploy to Iraq, and who was denied conscientious objector status, was
sentenced to 120 days of imprisonment on 23 May 2006. In a statement
explaining her conscientious objection, Katherine Jashinski said:

War Resisters' International is very concerned about the sentencing of
British conscientious objector Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith
(UK14787). The RAF doctor refused to serve in Iraq because he believed
the war to be illegal. He was jailed for eight months on 13 April 2006.

According to a report in The
Independent of 14 April 2006, bitter accusations and
recriminations dominated the trial, which took place at Aldershot
barracks. At an earlier hearing, Assistant Judge Advocate Jack Bayliss

War Resisters' International fears for the safety of Turkish/Kurdish conscientious objector Halil Savda (TK14682). Following the recent eruption of violence in the Kurdish provinces of Turkey, which left several people dead (see for example BBC, 3 April 2006, Indymedia UK, 4 April 2006), Halil Savda issued a press release on 8 April 2006. On April 10 he gave an interview on Roj TV. As a conscientious objector, he called for conscientious objection in light of the recent violence.

Israeli conscientious objector Aviv Sela (ISR14786) was sentenced to a
first prison term of 21 days on 5 April 2006, after he refused to be
enlisted for military service in the IDF. Dozens of friends, family
members and supporters demonstrated at the gates of the induction
center in support of Aviv Sela.

Aviv Sela wrote in his letter to the Minister of Defence:

“I, Aviv Sela, hereby present you with my request to be exempted
from military service on grounds of conscience, according to section 36
of the 1986 law of military service (combined version). I would like to

Two total objectors were sentenced to prison on 21st of March by the Loviisa district court. 19-years old Erno Pennanen (FIN14783) from Hyvinkää was sentenced to 197 days imprisonment, and another young man, a student from Kerava who wishes to remain anonymous (FIN14784) got an unconditional sentence of 181 days. Pennanen did not do any service before his refusal, whereas the student from Kerava had done 32 days of substitute service.