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Press Release

On the tenth anniversary of the murder of prominent Chechen human rights defender Natalia Estemirova, Amnesty International and 12 international and Russian human rights groups are calling on the Russian authorities to fulfill their long-overdue obligation to effectively investigate this horrendous crime and bring the perpetrators to justice in fair trials. “The courage and selflessness of Natalia Estemirova, who investigated abductions, extrajudicial executions and other grave violations of human rights in Chechnya, was unparalleled. There is no doubt that she paid with her life for this fearless work. Ten years on, the Russian authorities have manifestly failed to find the…

July 15, 2019

Report

Since 2018, the US government has conducted an unlawful and discriminatory campaign of intimidation, threats, harassment, and criminal investigations against people who defend the human rights of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers on the US–Mexico border, Amnesty International said in a new report released today. ‘Saving lives is not a crime’: Politically motivated legal harassment of migrant human rights defenders by the USA reveals how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have increasingly misused the criminal justice system to deter activists, lawyers, journalists, and humanitarian volunteers from challenging – or simply documenting – the systematic human…

July 2, 2019

Update

To view PDF, click here. After a series of brutal crackdowns in India in the summer of 2018, nine prominent human rights activists remain imprisoned. Many of these activists were specifically targeted because of their work on behalf of some of India’s most vulnerable populations, including the Adivasis and Dalits.  The arrests were conducted under the justification of a draconian counter-terrorism law—the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA)—that is often used to silence government critics. The UAPA violates several international human rights standards and circumvents fair trial guarantees available under Indian criminal law.  Ironically, these crackdowns came in the same year…

June 14, 2019

Press Release

More than a million people in more than 200 countries and territories across the globe have come together to express their outrage at the sentencing of prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh to 38 years and six months in prison and 148 lashes after two grossly unfair trials, Amnesty International announced today, as signatures demanding her release were handed in to Iranian embassies around the world. To mark one year since Nasrin Sotoudeh’s arrest, Amnesty International is organizing a global handover of the signatures collected, calling on the Iranian authorities to release her immediately and unconditionally. Under Iran’s sentencing…

June 12, 2019

Press Release

Responding to the arbitrary arrests of over 400 people in Moscow who were peacefully protesting the treatment of journalist Ivan Golunov, Denis Krivosheev, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Office, said: “Today’s arbitrary and often brutal arrests of over 400 peaceful protestors, including children, are a perfect example of the cruel repression that brought protestors to the streets in the first place. Amnesty International observers witnessed police violence and recorded complaints of detainees being beaten. Yet again, the Russian authorities met peaceful dissent with an assault on rights and freedoms. “Those who took to the streets…

June 12, 2019

Press Release

Responding to news that Shali City Court in Chechnya has granted parole to the imprisoned human rights defender Oyub Titiev after almost one-and-a-half years behind bars, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia said: “We have been calling for Oyub Titiev’s immediate and unconditional release since his detention. The real agenda behind his criminal prosecution on trumped up charges was to stop a human rights defender from doing his lawful human rights work. “In spite of overwhelming evidence that the case against him had been fabricated, the authorities in Chechnya crudely abused the justice system to convict an innocent man.…

June 10, 2019

Press Release

Following the suspension of Sudan from the African Union after the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led the horrific slaughter of more than 100 peaceful protestors over the past three days, Amnesty International’s Secretary General Kumi Naidoo said: “The Transitional Military Council of Sudan must immediately withdraw all members of the Rapid Support Forces from policing and law enforcement anywhere in Sudan and especially in Khartoum. They must be ordered off the streets and confined to their barracks in the interests of public safety. “What we have witnessed in the past three days is horrific and barbaric. The senseless killing of protestors must…

June 6, 2019

Press Release

Amnesty International is supporting a legal action to take the Israeli Ministry of Defence (MoD) to court, to demand that it revokes the export license of NSO Group, an Israeli company whose spyware products have been used in chilling attacks on human rights defenders around the world.

May 12, 2019

Update

April 10, 2019 The Honorable James E. Risch                                   The Honorable Bob Menendez Chairman                                                                  Ranking Member Foreign Relations Committee                                      Foreign Relations Committee U.S. Senate                    …

April 9, 2019

Press Release

Nine people have been reportedly killed in Sudan since protesters began a sit-in at the military’s headquarters in Khartoum on April 6, with police and security forces using excessive force to try and disperse protesters calling for President Omar al-Bashir to step down, Amnesty International has learned.

April 9, 2019

Press Release

Egypt’s authorities must end their crackdown against critics who oppose amendments to the Egyptian constitution, proposed by members of parliament, that will strengthen impunity for human rights violations. Many of those who have criticized the changes have been arrested or publicly vilified in the media.

April 8, 2019

Press Release

On Friday, April 5th, human rights activists of all ages will travel to New York City to participate in Amnesty International USA’s 24th annual "Get on the Bus for Human Rights" event, a day of human rights education and activism.

April 3, 2019