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Tag: Stan Swamy

India Is Targeting Defenders of Indigenous Rights as “Terrorists”

India Is Targeting Defenders of Indigenous Rights as “Terrorists”

Scientific American / by Virginius Xaxa

Adivasis and their allies are being persecuted for protesting development that destroys the environment.
On October 8, 2020, Indian authorities arrested Stan Swamy, an 83-year-old Jesuit priest affected by Parkinson’s disease, from his home in the state of Jharkhand. Swamy is being held under an antiterrorism law, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), that a group of United Nations’ Special Rapporteurs has condemned for enabling the Indian state to designate dissidents as terrorists and detain them for months without access to courts.
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21 MEPs sent a letter to the Prime Minister of India asking the release Stan Swamy SJ

21 MEPs sent a letter to the Prime Minister of India asking the release Stan Swamy SJ

JESC / by JESC

With the advocacy efforts of JESC Secretary for European Affairs, Martin Maier, 21 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from the main political Groups sent a letter to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, and to the Ambassador of India to Belgium, Mr. Santosh Jha, asking the immediate liberation of Stan Swamy on humanitarian grounds.
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Endorse: Petition for release of Stan Swamy by Socialist Party (India)

Endorse: Petition for release of Stan Swamy by Socialist Party (India)

Indian Cultural Forum / by Socialist Party (India)

Stan Swamy has been a thorn against the establishment for decades. He has always stood on the side of the Adivasis of Jharkhand whose plight he understands well. His methods have always been peaceful – often making use of the vehicle of Public Interest Litigation. Yet, now the government  – through the NIA – has arrested and jailed Stan Swamy for conspiring to incite violence in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon episode and of being a part of the banned CPI (Maoist) party.
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Why is India denying prisoners spectacles and straws?

Why is India denying prisoners spectacles and straws?

BBC News / by Geeta Pandey

Life in prison is expected to be tough.
But in recent weeks, jail authorities in India have been called out for being especially cruel to prisoners, particularly the government’s critics who are described as “human rights defenders” by international rights groups.
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How Does an 83-Year-Old Jesuit End Up in Prison? / Video: In Conversation with Fr Stan Swamy

How Does an 83-Year-Old Jesuit End Up in Prison? / Video: In Conversation with Fr Stan Swamy

Solidarity poster & Crib in Mumbai

Christmas message: Where are we heading to?

25/12/2020

The Telegraph / by Fr J Felix Raj, SJ

It is now a global festival that has transcended the perimeters of religion and symbolises different sentiments – love, friendship, hope, benevolence, forgiveness and amity.
This Christmas, I remember my fellow Jesuit, Fr. Stan Swamy. December 25 is his 79th day in jail. I wonder how he is celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ at Taloja.
As a true Jesuit, I am confident that he is reaching out to the fellow prisoners and sharing with them the joy of the newborn divine Baby Jesus, and if the jail authorities do not ask him to appeal to the court for permission, he would distribute some sweets and wish them all a Feliz Navidad.
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How Does an 83-Year-Old Jesuit End Up in Prison?

24/12/2020

The New York Times / by Nikhil Kumar

Father Stan Swamy spent decades fighting for the rights of India’s marginalized people. In October, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government imprisoned him under antiterrorism laws…
Before he was arrested in October under India’s antiterrorism laws, Father Swamy spent decades championing the welfare of the Indigenous tribespeople who account for around a quarter of the population in Jharkhand, one the country’s most resource-rich yet impoverished states.
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In Conversation with Father Stan Swamy

24/12/2020

Countercurrents / by Vidhya Bhusan Rawat

None would ever have imagined that an octogenarian Stan Swamy would face such a harsh treatment for his committed work for the Adivasis of Jharkhand. When the governments of the world over honor activists who work in tiring circumstances and devote their time to areas far away from their places than we must realise that it is not for money or fame but for pure committment and convictions. Father Stan Swamy was born in Trichy and as a Tamilian Christian he had enormous opportunities for him but he dedicated over thirty years of his life to the service of Adivasis in Jharkhand.
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Video: In Conversation with Father Stan Swamy

en | 34 min | 2017

This conversation was recorded about three years back at the Ranchi office of Father Stan Swamy when I visited Jharkhand. Hailing from Trichy district in Tamilnadu, Father worked tirelessly for the Adivasis in different parts of the country. He was also associated with Indian Social Institute, Banglore but his love was Jharkhand where he dedicated his entire life since 1990s.
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Prison life, a great leveller: Stan Swamy shares a poem from jail

Prison life, a great leveller: Stan Swamy shares a poem from jail

Sabrang India / by Sabrangindia

Jesuit Priest Father Stan Swamy (83) writes he’s pained to see so many young inmates in Taloja Jail, shares a christmas message of compassion.
Jesuit Priest Father Stan Swamy, the 83-year-old human rights defender, who is lodged in Taloja Jail, has written a short poem in his latest communication from jail. As he prepares to spend Christmas in jail, instead with his beloved tribal community and his colleagues back home in Ranchi, Swamy shares thoughts on equality, compassion, and even of oneness with nature, that is perhaps what most inmates hold on to as they await justice.
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Rights award for jailed Stan Swam

Rights award for jailed Stan Swam

The Telegraph / by Animesh Bisoee

The award would be sent to the priest at Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai and the money to his organisation in Ranchi.
Father Stan Swamy, the 83-year-old jailed priest, has been selected for an award honouring the late Mukundan C. Menon, journalist and founder of the human rights organisation People’s Union for Civil Liberties.
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