# URGENT ACTION

### TWO INDIGENOUS ACTIVISTS FACE LIFE IMPRISONMENT

Adivasi activists Judhishtira Jena and Babula Samal have been arrested for their role in the resistance to forced acquisition of land for a steel plant. Both men also face numerous other cases, some of which are with regard to alleged actions ten years ago. If convicted, they could face life imprisonment. Judhishtira Jena and Babula Samal were arrested on 18 and 19 December 2017 respectively, in relation to a criminal case registered against them in 2010 for their peaceful activism. Both are indigenous residents of Dhinkia village in Odisha state in eastern India. They are two of many residents of Jagatsinghpur district who have been active in resisting the efforts of the government to forcibly acquire farmland and common land for a plant previously proposed by steel giant POSCO. Accused of numerous offences including rioting, criminal intimidation, attempt to murder and unlawful assembly, they are currently being held in the Kujang sub-jail in Jagatsinghpur, while their bail pleas are pending at the district court. If convicted, both could face life imprisonment. The First Information Report on the basis of which the activists were arrested relates to an incident on 15 May 2010 when the police used tear gas and batons to disperse about 1,000 peasant protestors, some of whom threw stones at the police. The report does not mention any names. On several previous occasions, anti-steel plant activists in the region have been arrested on politically motivated charges. Amnesty International believes the charges against Judhishtira Jena and Babula Samal to be politically motivated as well. Both Judhishtira Jena and Babula Samal are active members of a local resistance group called POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) which was founded after the announcement by POSCO in 2005 that it would open operations in the area. Indigenous residents of the area have organised peaceful protests to call for an end to forcible land acquisition and the destruction of forests and vineyards. From 2006 to 2014, over 2000 indigenous villagers, including Judhishtira Jena and Babula Samal, had criminal cases filed against them after they exercised their right to freedom of expression.

- 1) TAKE ACTION

###### Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet:

- n Judhishtira Jena and Babula Samal, and drop all politically motivated charges against them; n Judhishtira Jena and Babula Samal, and drop all politically motivated charges against them;
- n all politically motivated criminal cases against other activists, and end the repression of communities in the n all politically motivated criminal cases against other activists, and end the repression of communities in the

######## project area;

- n individual and community forest rights claims before putting the acquired land to any other use. n individual and community forest rights claims before putting the acquired land to any other use.

###### Contact these two officials by 1 March, 2018:

Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik Odisha Secretariat 3rd Floor Bhubaneshwar-751001 Odisha, India Phone: +91674-2530700 Email: cmodisha@nic.in Salutation: Dear Chief Minister

Ambassador H.E. Navtej Sarna, Embassy of India 2107 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington DC 20008 Phone: 1 202 939 7000 | Fax: 1 202 265 4351 Email: navtej.sarna@gmail.com Twitter: @NavtejSarna Facebook: https://goo.gl/FxcMH7 Salutation: Dear Ambassador

- 2) LET US KNOW YOU TOOK ACTION

######## Click here to let us know if you took action on this case! This is Urgent Action 3.18

Here's why it is so important to report your actions: we record the actions taken on each case—letters, emails, calls and tweets—and use that information in our advocacy.