Saturday, May 17, 2008

Free Binayak Sen Campaign

Her Excellency Mrs. Pratibha Patil May 9, 2008
President

His Excellency Dr. Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister

His Excellency Mr. Hans Raj Bhardwaj
Minister of Law and Justice

His Excellency Mr. Shri E S L Narsimhan
Governor of Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh State

The Honorable Dr. Raman Singh
Chief Minister
Chhattisgarh State

The Honorable Mr. Ramvichar Netam
Home Minister
Chhattisgarh State

The Honorable Mr. Shivraj Singh
Chief Secretary
Chhattisgarh State

We, the undersigned Nobel Laureates, congratulate you on the prestigious international honour that will be bestowed for the first time on a citizen of India. As you are no doubt aware, the Global Health Council (GHC), the world’s largest membership alliance of public health organizations and professionals, has selected Dr. Binayak Sen of Raipur, Chhattisgarh to be the recipient of the 2008 Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights. We write to request that Dr. Sen be enabled to receive the award in person at the GHC's Annual
Conference in Washington, D.C., on May 29, 2008.

We also wish to express grave concern that Dr. Sen appears to be incarcerated solely for peacefully exercising his fundamental human rights, in contravention of Articles 19 (freedom of opinion and expression) and 22 (freedom of association) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights—to which India is a state party—and that he is charged under two internal security laws that do not comport with international human rights standards. We are pleased to learn that Dr. Sen’s trial has, after numerous delays, now begun. While the judicial process involving our professional colleague moves forward, we respectfully request that Dr. Sen be freed from incarceration on humanitarian grounds to receive his award and to continue his important medical work.

Yours sincerely,

PETER AGRE
Chemistry 2003

KENNETH J. ARROW
Economics 1972

CLAUDE COHEN-TANNOUDJI
Physics 1997

ROBERT CURL
Chemistry 1996

JOHANN DEISENHOFER
Chemistry 1988

PAUL GREENGARD
Physiology or Medicine 2000

ROGER GUILLEMIN
Physiology or Medicine 1977

FRANCOIS JACOB
Physiology or Medicine 1965

ERIC KANDEL
Physiology or Medicine 2000

SIR HARALD KROTO
Chemistry 1996

FINN KYDLAND
Economics 2004

YUAN T. LEE
Chemistry 1986

CRAIG C. MELLO
Physiology or Medicine 2006

JOHN POLANYI
Chemistry 1986

RICHARD J. ROBERTS
Physiology or Medicine 1993

F. SHERWOOD ROWLAND
Chemistry 1995

JENS C. SKOU
Chemistry 1997

PHILLIP A. SHARP
Physiology or Medicine 1993

CHARLES TOWNES
Physics 1964

HAROLD VARMUS
Physiology or Medicine 1989

SIR JOHN E. WALKER
Chemistry 1997

TORSTEN WIESEL
Physiology or Medicine 1981

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