NEW TRANSFER HEARING FOR 13-YEAR-OLD BOY 
The Pennsylvania Superior Court has ruled against a lower court decision not to transfer Jordan Brown’s case to juvenile court for trial and has ordered a new transfer hearing. The Acting State Attorney General, who had until 10 April to appeal the ruling, did not do so. He should now drop his pursuit of an adult trial for Jordan Brown. On 11 March, the Pennsylvania Superior Court vacated a decision to try Jordan Brown in an adult court and asked the lower court to re-examine whether his case should be transferred to a juvenile court. This provides the Acting Attorney General with a clear opportunity to reverse his position and argue in favour of a juvenile trial for Jordan Brown. If tried in an adult court and convicted of first-degree murder, Jordan Brown would be sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole. This sentence, when imposed on anyone who was under 18 years old at the time of the crime, violates international law. The lower court judge had concluded that Jordan Brown failed to prove he could be rehabilitated and treated within the juvenile system, since he did not admit guilt or accept responsibility for the crime with which he has been charged. Jordan Brown’s lawyers appealed the decision, arguing that the way in which the judge had reached his conclusion had violated the boy’s right not to incriminate himself. In its decision on 11 March, the Pennsylvania Superior Court agreed with the lawyers’ arguments. Jordan Brown, who was 11 at the time of the crime, has been automatically charged for trial in an adult court, as required by Pennsylvania law for cases involving murder. He has been charged with two counts of homicide, because the victim, Kenzie Houk, was eight and a half months pregnant and her unborn child also died. PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in English or your own language: - Explain that you are not seeking to excuse the killing of Kenzie Houk;
- Highlight that international law prohibits life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for anyone who was under 18 years old at the time of the crime;
- Welcome the state’s decision not to appeal the Superior Court’s ruling;
- Call on the prosecution to meet its international obligation to ensure that Jordan Brown not be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole;
- Urge the prosecution to take the opportunity of the new transfer hearing to reconsider its position and drop its pursuit of a trial in an adult court.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 1 JUNE 2011 TO: Acting Pennsylvania Attorney General William H. Ryan Jr. Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General 16th Floor, Strawberry Square Harrisburg, PA 17120, USA Fax: +1 (717) 787-8242 Email: http://attorneygeneral.gov/contactus/ Salutation: Dear Acting Attorney General
And copies to Jordan Brown’s lawyer: David H. Acker, Esquire 414 N. Jefferson Street New Castle, PA 16101, USA Email: David_Acker_Attorneyatlaw@hotmail.com Salutation: Dear Mr Acker
Also send copies to: Mr David Huebner, Ambassador Embassy of the United States of America PO Box 1190, Wellington 6140 Fax: +64 (0)4 472 3537 Email: wellington.arc@state.gov Website: http://newzealand.usembassy.gov/ Salutation: His Excellency
Please check with your Urgent Action Team if sending appeals after the above date.
CHINESE ACTIVISTS DETAINED, AT RISK OF TORTURE
Housing rights activist and former lawyer, Ni Yulan, and her husband, Dong Jiqin, have been detained in Beijing. They are being held on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. They are at risk of torture and other ill-treatment. Police detained Ni Yulan and Dong Jiqin on 7 April. The Beijing Xicheng District Public Security Bureau issued a formal notice of Ni Yulan’s detention to her daughter on 13 April that said she was being held on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” The police issued her with a similar detention notice for Dong Jiqin on 15 April. The couple is reportedly held at the Changqiao police detention centre in Beijing. This is the third time Beijing police have detained Ni Yulan for an extended period of time. In 2002, as Ni Yulan was filming the demolition of a Beijing home, authorities took her to a nearby police station and tortured her for several days, breaking her feet and her kneecaps. Her injuries were so severe that she remains in a wheel chair. When Ni Yulan attempted to petition the authorities over the beatings, she was arrested, convicted of “obstructing official business,” and sentenced to one year in prison. Her husband Dong Jiqin was barred from attending her trial. When Ni Yulan was released in 2003, she continued fighting for the rights of people whose homes faced demolitions ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In 2008, just before the Olympics, Ni Yulan was arrested and imprisoned for two years after trying to stop the demolition of her own home. While in prison, she was tortured and suffered from other ill-treatment. She was also denied adequate medical care. Upon her release from prison April 2010, Ni Yulan and Dong Jiqin were homeless. They lived in a hotel before police forced them onto the street and blocked them from renting accommodation or even staying with friends. In June 2010, after dozens of supporters held a demonstration in solidarity with Ni Yulan and Dong Jiqin, police moved the couple into Beijing’s Yuxingong Guesthouse. However, the authorities have again been subjecting them to various forms of harassment, including cutting off their water and electricity supply, as well as their Internet access, and placing them under surveillance. PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in English, Chinese or your own language: - Call on authorities to release Ni Yulan and Dong Jiqin immediately and unconditionally, unless authorities can show reasonable grounds for suspecting them of having committed an internationally-recognized criminal offence;
- Urge the authorities to ensure they have immediate access to their families, legal representation of their choice, and any medical care they may require;
- Call on authorities to guarantee that Ni Yulan and Dong Jiqin will not be tortured or ill-treated in custody;
- Urge the authorities to take effective measures to guarantee the right to adequate housing, guaranteed in Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which China has signed and ratified.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 30 MAY 2011 TO: Director of the Beijing Public Security Bureau Fu Zhenghua Juzhang Beijingshi Gong'anju 9 Dongdajie, Qianmen Dongchengqu, Beijingshi 100740 People's Republic of China Fax: +86 10 65242927 Salutation: Dear Director Mayor of the Beijing Municipal People's Government GUO Jinlong Shizhang Beijingshi Renmin Zhengfu 2 Zhengyilu Dongchengqu, Beijingshi 100744 People's Republic of China Fax: +86 10 65192233 Salutation: Dear Mayor Premier WEN Jiabao Guojia Zongli The State Council General Office 2 Fuyoujie, Xichengqu, Beijingshi 100017, People's Republic of China Fax: +86 10 65961109 (c/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Salutation: Your Excellency Also send a copy to: Ambassador Mr Xu Jianguo Embassy of the People's Republic of China PO Box 17-257, Karori, Wellington 6147 Fax: +04 474 9613 Website: http://www.chinaembassy.org.nz/eng/ Salutation: His Excellency Check with the Urgent Action team if sending appeals after the above date. CHINESE ACTIVISTS DETAINED, AT RISK OF TORTURE
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION The detention of Ni Yulan and Dong Jiqin is another troubling development in a widening crackdown on dissent, during which dozens of activists have been detained, many in the last two months. Since 19 February, the police have detained or placed more than 100 activists across China under various forms of house arrest or surveillance, among those a dozen prominent human rights lawyers, seemingly in an attempt to prevent “Jasmine Revolution” inspired protest from taking place in China. At least five people have been formally arrested under suspicion of crimes endangering state security and at least one person has been sent to Re-education Through Labour, a form of detention handed down by police, rather than courts, and where detainees are often subjected to political “education.” Moreover, at least a dozen lawyers say they have been briefly detained and pressured by the authorities not to take up cases defending those detained, and even told by police to stop tweeting about Ni Yulan worked as a lawyer for 18 years. She took on many politically sensitive cases of petitioners and people protesting the demolition of their homes. Neither Ni Yulan nor Dong Jiqin have taken part on any of the Jasmine protests in China. While living in the small Beijing hotel, Ni Yulan has continued to stay in touch with activists, lawyers, and journalists and to publicize human rights abuses on her microblog. In his 2010 film, Emergency Shelter, documentary maker He Yang brought widespread attention to Ni Yulan’s persecution. The film showed her and her husband living in the Beijing park and also featured Ni Yulan describing her previous torture in detail. Ni Yulan suffers from respiratory, heart and digestive problems, and cannot walk, due to previous police torture. Individuals convicted of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, Article 293 in China’s Criminal Law, face a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Because of Ni Yulan’s history of being targeted for her activism, as well as her past history of being harassed and tortured by police, she and her husband face a high risk of torture and other ill-treatment. UA: 117/11 Index: ASA 17/020/2011 Issue Date: 19 April 2011
The Pennsylvania Superior Court has ruled against a lower court decision not to transfer Jordan Brown’s case to juvenile court for trial and has ordered a new transfer hearing. The Acting State Attorney General, who had until 10 April to appeal the ruling, did not do so. He should now drop his pursuit of an adult trial for Jordan Brown. On 11 March, the Pennsylvania Superior Court vacated a decision to try Jordan Brown in an adult court and asked the lower court to re-examine whether his case should be transferred to a juvenile court. This provides the Acting Attorney General with a clear opportunity to reverse his position and argue in favour of a juvenile trial for Jordan Brown. If tried in an adult court and convicted of first-degree murder, Jordan Brown would be sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole. This sentence, when imposed on anyone who was under 18 years old at the time of the crime, violates international law. The lower court judge had concluded that Jordan Brown failed to prove he could be rehabilitated and treated within the juvenile system, since he did not admit guilt or accept responsibility for the crime with which he has been charged. Jordan Brown’s lawyers appealed the decision, arguing that the way in which the judge had reached his conclusion had violated the boy’s right not to incriminate himself. In its decision on 11 March, the Pennsylvania Superior Court agreed with the lawyers’ arguments. Jordan Brown, who was 11 at the time of the crime, has been automatically charged for trial in an adult court, as required by Pennsylvania law for cases involving murder. He has been charged with two counts of homicide, because the victim, Kenzie Houk, was eight and a half months pregnant and her unborn child also died. PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in English or your own language: 
