Amnesty International alerts:

Further Information on Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejía Castillo
21 July 2004

A hearing on prisoner of conscience Camilo Mejía's application for conscientious objector status was held on 23 June, at Fort Sill military prison, Oklahoma, where he is imprisoned for his conscientious objection to participating in war. A decision on this is expected in the next few weeks. An appeal against his court martial conviction on charges of desertion is also pending. Further appeals on this case are crucial now to ensure that the military authorities act now to secure Camilo Mejía’s immediate and unconditional release.

Camilo Mejía’s lawyer invited an Amnesty International representative to observe the 23 June hearing, but the hearing officer turned down this request on the day of the proceedings. However, Camilo Mejía’s lawyer was able to call Amnesty International’s representative to testify as a witness and explain that Amnesty International had adopted Camilo Mejía as a prisoner of conscience. Exhibits introduced at the hearing also included Amnesty International’s open letter to President Bush on the case. The hearing officer’s decision will take the form of a recommendation to Major General William G. Webster, Jr. the commander at Fort Stewart, Georgia, where his original court martial hearing took place.

Camilo Mejía’s lawyer will be submitting an appeal against his conviction on charges of desertion to Major General Webster once the army produces transcripts of the original proceedings.

Camilo Mejía has joint Costa Rican/Nicaraguan citizenship but has lived in the USA since 1994. He decided to join the armed forces one year later, aged 19, serving as an infantryman from 1995 to 1998. He then continued his contract as a reservist in the Florida National Guard. He was deployed to Iraq in April 2003.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Amnesty International considers a conscientious objector to be any person who, for reasons of conscience or profound conviction, refuses to perform service in the armed forces or participate in any other way, directly or indirectly, in wars or armed conflicts. This can include volunteer soldiers who have developed a conscientious objection after joining the armed forces. Wherever such a person is detained or imprisoned solely because they have been denied or refused their right to register an objection or to perform a genuinely civilian alternative service, Amnesty International considers that person to be a prisoner of conscience.

If conscientious objectors leave the armed forces without authorization, for reasons of conscience, and are imprisoned for doing so, Amnesty International considers them prisoners of conscience, provided they have taken reasonable steps to secure release from military obligations on grounds of conscience.
It is evident from the statement Camilo Mejía has made in his application for conscientious objector status that he is a genuine conscientious objector whose objection to war evolved in response to witnessing human rights violations in Iraq. He sought discharge as a non-US citizen with more than eight years' service with the US army on the basis of such objection, and subsequently applied for conscientious objector status. Accordingly, Amnesty International believes that he should not have been tried and imprisoned for "desertion" and should be released immediately and unconditionally.

Since April 2004, photographs of US agents mentally and physically torturing and abusing Iraqi detainees in Iraq have been published around the world. One US soldier has appeared before a military court in Baghdad and received the maximum sentence of one year's imprisonment, after admitting his involvement in torturing Iraqi detainees. Several others are awaiting trial.
Amnesty International has documented cases of torture and ill-treatment of detainees in Iraq and raised its concerns with the former governing body in Iraq, the Coalition Provisional Authority, as well as the US and UK governments. Detainees were forced to lie face down on the ground, handcuffed, hooded or blindfolded during arrest. During interrogation they were reportedly repeatedly beaten and restrained for prolonged periods in painful positions, while some were also subjected to sleep deprivation, prolonged forced standing, and exposed to loud music and bright lights to disorient them. Some died in custody allegedly as a result of torture.

FURTHER RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English or your own language, in your own words:
- urging that Camilo Mejía be released immediately and unconditionally, pointing out that Amnesty International considers him to be a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for his conscientious objection to war and to the human rights abuses he claims to have witnessed in Iraq;
- explaining that, although Amnesty International recognizes that Camilo Mejia went absent without leave, it considers that he took reasonable steps to secure his release from military obligations through legal means, including applying for conscientious objector status, and should therefore not have been tried and imprisoned for "desertion".

APPEALS TO:

Major General William G Webster Jr.
60 Macneely Road
Fort Stewart
Georgia 31314
USA
Fax: +1 912 767 3903
Email: william.webster2@us.army.mil
Salutation: Dear Major General

The Honorable Les Brownlee
Acting Secretary of the Army
102 Army Pentagon
Room 3E588
Washington DC 20310-0102
USA

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 1 September 2004.

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An open letter to President George W. Bush
14 June 2004

Dear Mr President,

On 21 May 2004, a US military court sentenced Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia Castillo of the Florida National Guard to the maximum penalty of one year's imprisonment for desertion. He had refused to return to his unit in Iraq, citing moral reasons and his misgivings about the legality of the war and the conduct of US troops towards Iraqi civilians and prisoners. He is currently detained in a military prison at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Amnesty International considers him to have been imprisoned because of his refusal on conscientious grounds to perform military service. The organization has accordingly adopted him as a prisoner of conscience and is calling for his immediate and unconditional release.

Camilo Mejia is Amnesty International's first prisoner of conscience in the USA since the first Gulf War, when the organization campaigned for the freedom of a number of prisoners of conscience in the USA.

Camilo Mejia's trial and sentencing went ahead despite a pending decision by the army on his application for conscientious objector status and despite his previous efforts, based on his nationality, to secure his discharge from military obligations. Amnesty International believes that in these circumstances he should not have faced a penalty for "desertion" and calls upon you to take steps to secure his immediate and unconditional release.

While recognizing that Camilo Mejia went absent without leave from the army, Amnesty International considers that he did take reasonable steps to secure his discharge from military obligations through legal means, including applying for conscientious objector status.

Amnesty International considers that Camilo Mejia has genuinely conscientious grounds for his objection to war, which evolved during the period he served in Iraq in 2003 and in particular in response to his witnessing human rights violations by US agents in Iraq. He has spoken about the abuses he witnessed, the conditions of detention and treatment of detainees and the killing of civilians, including children. His objections to such abuses were made before the publication in April 2004 of photographs of US agents submitting Iraqi detainees to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Amnesty International is of the view that the right to refuse to perform military service for reasons of conscience is inherent in the notion of freedom of thought, conscience and religion as recognised in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). In its general comment No. 22 on article 18 of the ICCPR, the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations has reaffirmed that the right to conscientious objection to military service is a legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

Thousands of Amnesty International members around the world are campaigning for the release of Camilo Mejia, calling on the US authorities to immediately and unconditionally release him. We ask you, as Commander-in-Chief of the US armed forces, to take action now to secure Camilo Mejia's release and to ensure that in future no-one in the USA is imprisoned for reasons of conscience. No member of the US armed forces who has, or who develops over time, a conscientious objection to performing military service should be imprisoned on that account where they have taken reasonable steps to secure their discharge.

I trust that you will give this matter your urgent attention,

Yours sincerely
Irene Khan
Secretary General

Cc Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld

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Prisoner of Conscience - Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia Castillo

On 21 May 2004, a US military court sentenced Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia Castillo of the Florida National Guard to the maximum penalty of one year's imprisonment for desertion. He had refused to return to his unit in Iraq, citing moral reasons, the legality of the war and the conduct of US troops towards Iraqi civilians and prisoners. Amnesty International considers him to be a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned for his conscientious opposition to participating in war.

The sentence was imposed despite a pending decision by the army on his application for conscientious objector status. During the trial his lawyers were not permitted to present arguments relating to his conscientious objection, including describing the abuse he witnessed. He is currently detained in a military prison at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. The sentence is under appeal, but the appeal process is expected to be lengthy.

Camilo Mejia was deployed to Iraq in April 2003. He began developing doubts about the morality and legality of the war. In October 2003 he returned home for two weeks leave. He failed to return to duty in Iraq and filed for discharge as a conscientious objector on 16 March 2004 stating that he believed the war and occupation of Iraq to be “illegal and immoral”.

In his conscientious objector application, Camilo Mejia described the conditions of detention and treatment of Iraqi prisoners, including instances where soldiers were directed to “break the detainees’ resolve”, and who took actions which included banging on metal walls with sledgehammers to enforce sleep deprivation, and loading pistols near the ears of prisoners. He also described witnessing the killing of civilians, including children.

Camilo Mejia has described the evolution of his beliefs, what he witnessed and did in Iraq, all of which compelled him to take a stand on the basis of conscience. His objections to such abuse were made before the publication of photographs of US agents physically and mentally torturing and abusing Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, but his trial came at a time of heightened media attention on this issue. A member of his defense team, former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, spoke of the “incredible irony that we’re prosecuting soldiers in Iraq for violations of international law and we’re prosecuting a soldier here because he refused to do the same things”.

Amnesty International has adopted Camilo Mejia as a prisoner of conscience and calls for his immediate and unconditional release. He is the first soldier known to be tried for “desertion” after service in combat in the current Iraq conflict. Amnesty International believes he has been imprisoned for his conscientious objection to the war in Iraq despite having taken reasonable steps to secure his discharge from the army.

Prior to his conviction, Camilo Mejia said “I have no regrets, not one… I will take it because I go there with my honor, knowing I have done the right thing”.

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