Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
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Press Release
International Human Rights Body Urges Stay of Execution for Nicaraguan Citizen
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) today found that the United States violated the human rights of a Nicaraguan citizen facing execution next week.
August 19, 2015
Press Release
Amnesty International USA Statement on Connecticut Supreme Court Death Penalty Decision
Today, the Connecticut Supreme Court struck down exemptions to the state’s 2012 death penalty ban, which had excluded the 11 inmates currently on death row. In response, James Clark, Amnesty International USA’s senior campaigner on the death penalty, released the following statement:
August 13, 2015
Press Release
Iran: Juvenile offender due to be executed within days must be granted judicial review
The Iranian authorities must immediately halt the implementation of a death sentence for juvenile offender Salar Shadizadi, and ensure that a new request for a judicial review made by his lawyers earlier this week is granted without delay, said Amnesty International.
August 7, 2015
Press Release
Iran’s ‘staggering’ execution spree: nearly 700 put to death in just over six months
The Iranian authorities are believed to have executed an astonishing 694 people between January 1 and July 15, 2015, said Amnesty International today, in an unprecedented spike in executions in the country.
July 22, 2015
Press Release
India: Execution of Yakub Memon will be regressive
The rejection of Yakub Memon’s curative petition in the Supreme Court today, paving the way for his imminent execution, is a disappointing and regressive step towards the continued use of the death penalty in India.
July 21, 2015
Press Release
Gambia: Sharp deterioration of human rights in 21st year of President Jammeh’s rule
The human rights situation in Gambia has deteriorated sharply during President Yahya Jammeh's 21st year in power, said Amnesty International on the anniversary of his 1994 coup d’état.
July 21, 2015
Press Release
Zimbabwe: End the death penalty after 10-year execution hiatus
A 10-year hiatus in executions is a milestone for the protection of the right to life and the eventual abolition of the death penalty in Zimbabwe, said Amnesty International as the country marked a decade without executions.
July 21, 2015
Press Release
Zambia: Commuting death sentences a laudable first step
The decision by President Edgar Lungu to commute the sentences of 332 prisoners awaiting death by hanging to life imprisonment is a laudable first step and a ‘triumph’ for the right to life.
July 16, 2015
Press Release
Amnesty International USA Responds to Supreme Court Decision on Lethal Injection
Steven W. Hawkins, executive director of Amnesty International USA, had the following reaction to today’s decision by the Supreme Court regarding lethal injection
June 29, 2015
Press Release
Amnesty International Urges Iran to Halt Execution of Young Man in Case Riven with Doubt
The Iranian authorities must urgently commute the death sentence of Ehsan Shah Ghasemi, a 24-year-old man who faces imminent execution amid a flawed trial that cast overwhelming doubts over his guilt, said Amnesty International.
June 19, 2015
Press Release
Pardoned Nigeria Torture Victim ‘Overwhelmed’ By Campaign to Spare His Life
A Nigerian torture victim wrongfully sentenced to death for a crime committed when he was 16 years old has been pardoned following intensive campaigning from Amnesty International supporters across the world.
May 29, 2015
Press Release
Nebraska Legislature Overrides Veto of Death Penalty Repeal
Today the Nebraska legislature voted to override Governor Ricketts’ veto of a measure repealing the death penalty. Nebraska will now become the 19th U.S. state to abolish capital punishment, and the seventh state to repeal the death penalty in the past eight years.
May 27, 2015