[act-ma] 11/13 Rally in solidarity with Pakistani Lawyers

[Charlie Welch]

PRESS RELEASE Contact:

Judy Somberg, Attorney Executive Vice President
Urszula Masny-Latos, Executive Director

National Lawyers Guild
National Lawyers Guild Massachusetts Chapter
617-497-5364 617-227-7335

MASSACHUSETTS LAWYERS, LEGAL WORKERS, AND LAW STUDENTS
TO DEMONSTRATE IN SOLIDARITY WITH LAWYERS IN PAKISTAN
Boston, Nov. 12, 2007. The National Lawyers Guild, in conjunction with 
other bar
organizations, will hold demonstrations in cities with Pakistani 
Consulates – Boston, New York
City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles -- on 
Tuesday, November 13,
2007. We stand in solidarity with lawyers in Pakistan who have been 
beaten and jailed for
opposing the suspension of constitutional rights in their country.

Boston demonstration:
State House (entrance), Beacon St.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007, 1:00 p.m.

On November 3, Pakistan President Musharraf issued an emergency 
declaration, Provisional
Constitutional Order No. 1 of 2007, which suspends Pakistan's 
Constitution. This declaration
includes suspension of the right to life and liberty, freedom of speech, 
assembly and association,
and equal protection of the law, all of which are guaranteed by the 
International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights.
Pakistan’s Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry is being held under 
house arrest. Over
2,500 lawyers in different parts of Pakistan, including the President of 
the Supreme Court Bar
Association and officials of the Democratic Lawyers Association of 
Pakistan, have been
detained.
We demand the immediate release of all those detained after the 
declaration of a "state of
emergency," the immediate reinstatement of the Supreme Court and 
Provincial High Courts, the
immediate revocation of the Provisional Constitution Order and the 
scheduling of fair and free
general elections monitored by international observers.
Other participating organizations:
Amnesty International USA
Boston Bar Association
Massachusetts Association of Hispanic Attorneys
Massachusetts Bar Association
Massachusetts Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union

_______
NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD, Massachusetts Chapter, Inc.
14 Beacon St., Suite 407, Boston, MA 02108