Release Dr. GN Saibaba Immediately and Unconditionally!

Statement of the Alliance for Peoples Health

http://aphvan.wordpress.com/

The Alliance for Peoples Health, a grassroots organization of progressive health workers, condemns the assault and abduction of Dr. Saibaba by Indian state police on May 9th, and call for his immediate and unconditional release.

Dr. Saibaba is a professor at Delhi University and is known for his outstanding work in solidarity with movements of the most oppressed sectors of Indian society: Dalit people, Adivasi people, women, and the poor, all of whom have faced intensified oppression and exploitation under Indian capitalism.

Despite its democratic and public character, Dr. Saibaba’s organization, the Revolutionary Democratic Front has been targeted violently by Indian police, military and paramilitary forces. This tagging of activists as ‘maoist’, justifying violent repression, has become a major tactic of the Indian state in its attempt to silence, marginalize and liquidate those who organize and struggle for social, economic and environmental justice.

As health activists we are very concerned about Dr. Saibaba’s health and well being while in detention. As health workers who choose to side with the excluded, the exploited and the oppressed we add our voice to many others around the world who are calling for Dr. Saibaba’s immediate and unconditional release!

Alliance for Peoples Health

Vancouver – Unceded Coast Salish Territories, Canada

May 13, 2014