FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 11, 2008

An Urgent Plea for Assistance: UNITE / CHAADA Members Demand Immediate Release and Protection of Rebecca Merhav; Survivors and Activists Protest Cruel Experiments & Call For Restoration of Human Rights

Contact:
Amy Philo 214-705-0169 home or 817-793-8028 cell (USA numbers)
email: amy@uniteforlife.org
www.uniteforlife.org, www.chaada.org

Ben Merhav benjaminmerhav@hotmail.com

Camille Milke 505-269-2286 direct or 505-213-0999 fax (USA numbers)
email: sarinasvoice@aol.com 
www.copesfoundation.com, http://www.drugawareness.org/home.html
 

The 265-plus individual members and affiliated organizational members of CHAADA (Children and Adults Against Drugging America), together with sister organization UNITE (United Non-Profits and Individuals for Truth and Ethics), call for the urgent assistance of all allies and human rights organizations, as well as individuals who defend human rights. It is imperative that all capable parties intervene on behalf of Rebecca Merhav (and her father Ben Merhav) to preserve her life and safety, and to achieve freedom and an end to psychiatric torture in her case.

Rebecca Merhav of Australia is the daughter of Benjamin Merhav. Rebecca's mother had her hospitalized as a teen when she became defiant and would not do her chores. Psychiatrists have placed a CTO or Compulsory Treatment Order on Rebecca and she has been forcibly "medicated" (drugged) for over 30 years. Despite the fact that Rebecca does not want to take drugs, and her father (a cancer survivor who used natural therapies to recover) wants her to be free from drugs, psychiatrists continue experimenting on her.

Rebecca has been subjected to Clozapine, the most dangerous of all "antipsychotic" drugs, and now she is being forced to take 400 mg of Seroquel daily and 75 mg injections of Risperdal every 10 days. She is being held in a clinic against her will to ensure she takes the drugs. Her chances of continued survival diminish with each passing day because these drugs have a proven risk of sudden death in addition to gradual deterioration of the body from the toxic effects of the drugs.

The right to life, the right to control over one's own choices, freedom to live in the place of one's choosing, freedom over one's own body - these are basic human rights that all people should expect to have. Rebecca has not posed any danger to herself or others or committed any crime, and despite the cruel and toxic drugs and incarceration which so often lead to hopelessness and despair, Rebecca's will to live has prevailed and enabled her to survive with hope of rescue. She has persevered through torture for 30 years. Prior attempts and pleas, petitions, and evidence of harm presented to the authorities have failed. Your assistance and expertise are therefore desperately needed.

Whether you normally reach out to help individuals, or prefer to address systemic issues by tackling larger organizations and issues, if we allow this torture of Rebecca to go on, what is to prevent this from happening to us, or to our own children?

Furthermore, solving this once and for all and freeing Rebecca will set a meaningful precedent, thereby increasing the chances that more victims can now be saved.

All those interested in offering their assistance can start by sending a letter to the following addresses as soon as possible:

To: s.wilkins@alfred.org.au
cc: lisa.neville@minstaff.vic.gov.au; jesse.martin@minstaff.vic.gov.au; hsc@dhs.vic.gov.au;
kuruvilla.george@dhs.vic.gov.au; benjaminmerhav@hotmail.com; amy@uniteforlife.org; sarinasvoice@aol.com

A proposed sample letter is available at http://uniteforlife.org/rebeccaletter.htm
For additional information please see: http://uniteforlife.org/help%20rebecca%20now.htm

To offer additional assistance, please use whatever non-violent means are available to you to ensure Rebecca's freedom and safety and achieve the cancellation of her Compulsory Treatment Order (CTO) and release from the psychiatric doctors' so-called care. You can write or call Amy Philo or one of the other contacts listed above if you require further information.

Tomorrow could be too late. Please act today.

Sincerely,

Amy Philo
Founder, www.uniteforlife.org
Co-Founder, www.chaada.org

Camille Milke
Founder, www.copesfoundation.com
New Mexico State Director of the ICFDA (http://www.drugawareness.org/home.html)
Mother of a victim of psychiatric drug-induced suicide and grandmother to a now motherless child

 

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(Online readers: Click here to see a list of contacts who are being sent a press release. If you would like to contact them to follow up, please do so. The more help we have, the better.)