You can do it! There’s a petition asking President Obama to speak out on behalf of jailed Indonesian atheist Alexander Aan. It needs 25,000 signatures by mid-August to get a response from the White House. Easy, right?
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Er… Alexander Aas is a Norwegian soccer player. “Aan” is the right one.
Important issue aside for a second (sorry):
What?
Who made up this New Rule?
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/how-why/terms-participation
Of course, CFI doesn’t appear to have read the previous paragraph:
This could easily be ignored on grounds that this case is being handled properly within the jurisdiction of Indonesia.
Still, worth signing.
Signed.
I’m trying to sign but they’re making me jump through the email hoop again. Their message is completely bogus…”Too many failed log ins.” What!? I just set up this password yesterday when I tried to sign a petition, and I only entered it once. Jeez…
Ok, done. Over 23k have already signed, so mid-August should be a snap.
Actually, no, that’s a terrible UI fail (and was my first impression before I read closer).
1,777 have signed. They still need 23,223 signatures to hit their goal.
It still seems likely that it should get to that threshold easily enough, but it’s hardly at “it’s a snap” yet. Perhaps within a couple days, if momentum doesn’t die.
Amnesty International are also doing a write in/petition campaign, so give them a look too please.
Louis
Don’t they kill people in indonesia for drug offenses?
A worthy cause, and I hope Mr Obama consents to speak on this. It is great when America uses its clout for Good.
However, this website is awful :(
The pop-up mouseover link for why you need an account doesn’t actually explain the reasons, just again that you do and in more detail. Furthermore, it contains links that you can’t click because the pop-up doesn’t persist after you take your mouse away from ‘why’. Argh!
Some IT type needs a sharp jab in the ribs for that.
It wasn’t easy creating the login but I finally got the petition signed.
@Paul #3
That’s debatable. Indonesia’s state philosophy (Pancasila) requires belief in one and only one God through one of six state-sanctioned religions, but it also “guarantees all persons the freedom of worship, each according to his/her own religion or belief.” Does that freeze out the atheists or the many animist tribes in this country? There’s also the question of whether Pancasila conflicts with the myriad international human rights charters Indonesia has signed.
@skeptifem #8
Yes, drug smugglers can receive the death penalty here, but application of the country’s laws is nebulous at best. Alexander got three and a half out of a possible six years for admitting to being an atheist and causing “outrage” among the local populace, but you can spend as little as three months in jail for murder as long as you kill the right person (i.e. an Ahmadiyah Muslim).
I have this feeling neither Obama, nor any other western leading politician, is going to say anything much about Alexander Aan. Indonesia’s got cheap labour, and possibly oil reserves.
Seriously? What’s the point? We’ve actually made enough signatures before on other petitions, and all we got was ‘The Administration feels it’s not worth looking at, but thanks for your input.’
They only promise to answer, not to do what you are asking. So far, the answer has always been, ‘No’.
My point wasn’t that it was Just, my point was that Obama or his handlers in the Executive could decide that this is an issue the Indonesian Justice System has proper juristiction over and needs to deal with themselves, thus nulling the “required response” to the poll. I still encourage people to sign, and if needed raise hell if it gets ignored (which I think would be an easy thing for them to “justify”, if they wanted to, as it is not within their jurisdiction by any stretch to demand Indonesia remedy contradictions in their judicial code). I just don’t expect much from Obama.
#1508, y’all.
Heh, now that PZ fixed it, my first comment makes no sense. Hindsight…
I just noticed something else on the site. Michelle Obama and Jill Biden are both listed as members of the “Administration”. WTF?
chakolate@13 said:
The point is that we don’t give up on any issue, no matter how many ‘no’s we get. A man has been jailed for coming out as an atheist. Just sign the petition. It causes you no harm and may very well lessen the harm done to another human being. Imagine you’re Alexander Aan and some privileged American can’t be bothered to sign a simple petition because “What’s the point?”