NEW DELHI: Over 16,000 people have supported an Amnesty International India campaign seeking the immediate and unconditional release of human rights activist and Prisoner of Conscience Irom Chanu Sharmila.
"The governments of Manipur and Delhi should heed the thousands of voices urging them to drop all charges against Sharmila and release her immediately," said G Ananthapadmanabhan, chief executive of Amnesty International India adding, "Sharmila is a Prisoner of Conscience, detained solely for the peaceful expression of her beliefs, and her time in custody is a continuing reminder ofIndia'sintolerance to dissent."
Sharmila has been on a prolonged hunger strike for the last 13 years, demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. She was arrested by the Manipur police shortly after she began her hunger strike on November 2, 2000, and charged with attempting to commit suicide - a criminal offence under Indian law. In March 2013, a Delhi court also charged Sharmila with attempting to commit suicide in October 2006, when she staged a protest in Delhi for two days.
Sharmila is being detained in the security ward of a hospital in Imphal, the capital of Manipur, where she is force-fed a diet of liquids through her nose. Visitors, including her family and friends have to go through a lengthy process of obtaining permission from the Manipur government. On October 30, 2013, India's National Human Rights Commission directed the Government of Manipur to immediately remove the restrictions on access to Sharmila , calling them a "breach of India's obligations under international human rights standards and principles, and a grave violation of human rights.""
The Commission acknowledged that Sharmila was being detained solely for the peaceful expression of her beliefs, and said that the Manipur government was "trying to break her spirit through this enforced isolation, for which there is no judicial mandate."" "Thousands of people have acknowledged that Sharmila's hunger strike is not an attempt to commit suicide but a protest against human rights violations,"said Ananthapadmanabhan adding that authorities must not use charges of attempted suicide to deflect attention from the important issues that Sharmila is raising at a huge personal cost.
In February 2012, the Supreme Court of India observed in its ruling in the Ram Lila Maidan Incident case that a hunger strike is "a form of protest which has been accepted, both historically and legally in our constitutional jurisprudence."
The British Medical Association, in a briefing to the World Medical Association, has clarified that, "[a] hunger strike is not equivalent to suicide. Individuals who embark on hunger strikes aim to achieve goals important to them but generally hope and intend to survive." This position is embodied by the World Medical Association in its Malta Declaration on Hunger Strikers.
Speaking to Amnesty International India inSeptember 2013, Sharmila, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence, said: "My struggle is my message. I love my life very much and want to have the freedom to meet people and struggle for issues close to my heart."
Amnesty International India's public campaign seeking Sharmila's release was launched on November 2, 2013, and has been supported by groups and individual supporters across the world.
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