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Press Release

A Sudanese court’s sentencing today of a 19-year-old woman to death for killing her rapist husband in self-defence highlights the failure of the authorities to tackle child marriage, forced marriage and marital rape, Amnesty International said today.  Noura Hussein Hamad has been held in the Omdurman Women’s Prison since May 2017, and was today handed the death sentence for killing the man her father forced her to marry when she was 16 years old. “Noura Hussein life-long wish was to become a teacher but she ended up being forced to marry an abusive man who raped and brutalized her. Now…

May 10, 2018

Press Release

Responding to today’s hearing before the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Gina Haspel’s nomination to Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Daphne Eviatar, Director of Security with Human Rights at Amnesty International USA, stated:     "Gina Haspel failed to answer pointed questions about her view of the CIA interrogation program, particularly the morality of the program, did not provide information to Senators on whether she would promise 'loyalty' to the president if asked, and has refused to declassify information about her role. There cannot be a fair assessment of her ability to lead the agency.  Therefore she should not be confirmed and we call…

May 9, 2018

Press Release

Responding to Israel’s decision to expel Human Rights Watch’s Country Director Omar Shakir, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Magdalena Mughrabi, said: “We stand in complete solidarity with Omar Shakir and strongly condemn Israel’s decision to revoke his work permit and order him to leave the country. This is yet another alarming sign of the country’s increasing intolerance of critical voices. “The Israeli authorities must immediately stop their ongoing harassment of human rights defenders. Barring access to those documenting human rights abuses won’t hide Israel’s mass violations carried out in the context of more than…

May 9, 2018

Update

 In this edition of Human Rights on Capitol Hill: (1) STATE DEPARTMENT (“DOS”): UNDER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION, DOS PUBLISHES ANNUAL REPORT THAT GUTS REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS ANALYSIS AND WINNOWS SCOPE OF STATE-OBLIGATED HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTIONS (2) NOMINATIONS: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGES PRESIDENT TO WITHDRAW GINA HASPEL’S NOMINATION FOR CIA DIRECTOR (3) WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN TO SECURE RELEASE OF JAILED REUTERS JOURNALISTS IN MYANMAR (4) ROHINGYA: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL WELCOMES ADDITIONAL HUMANITARIAN AID FOR ROHINGYA FLEEING MYANMAR MILITARY IN RAKHINE STATE (5) APPROPRIATIONS: CONGRESS SHOULD PROVIDE ROBUST HUMANITARIAN AID TO REFUGEES, AND REFUSE TO FUND THE PRESIDENT’S BORDER WALL. (6)…

May 9, 2018

Press Release

Three U.S. citizens – Kim Dong-chul, Kim Hak-song, and Kim Sang-duk –have been recently released by North Korea after spending months behind bars without a fair trial. Francisco Bencosme, advocacy manager for Asia Pacific at Amnesty International USA, issued the following statement:

May 9, 2018

Press Release

In advance of today’s hearing before the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Gina Haspel’s nomination to Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Amnesty is calling on the Committee to vote No. “Ever since President Trump nominated Gina Haspel to become CIA Director, we have called for her nomination to be withdrawn pending proper investigation and declassification of her alleged role in the CIA’s program of torture and enforced disappearances. No such investigation has been initiated or conducted, so as things stand, the nomination should not proceed. Simple as that.” said Daphne Eviatar, Director of Security with Human…

May 9, 2018

Update

Joint Letter to President Trump regarding North Korea Human Rights The United States should press for human rights issues to be included in all discussions with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) including in the agenda of the summit between United States President Donald J. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Amnesty International USA and 11 other leading nongovernmental organizations said in a letter to President Trump today.   Letter below: May 8, 2018   The Honorable Donald J. Trump President United States of America 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20500   Re: North Korea human…

May 8, 2018

Update

As the FY 2019 budget for Homeland Security is considered, this statement was submitted by Amnesty International USA to the Senate Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee.  The statement details the FY 2019 budget request for Customs and Border Protection ("CBP").  The budget request - at $14.4 billion -- is the highest  discretionary funding level in the agency's 15-year history, with an additional $1.6 billion for the construction of a 65-mile border wall system and $211 million to support the hiring of an additional 750 border patrol agents. This Committee should not fund any activities that violate U.S. human rights obligations.  Specifically…

May 7, 2018

Press Release

The U.S. government must stop separating asylum-seeking parents from their children and denying them access to asylum procedures through prolonged detention, said Amnesty International today in response to reports of the Department of Homeland Security’s adoption of a draconian family separation policy that will apply to anyone who presents themselves at the U.S.-Mexico border. The policy was also referenced today in remarks by Attorney General Sessions.

May 7, 2018

Report

“The first time I saw Hisham after his arrest was in hospital. He described his solitary cell to me. He could not see anything in the darkness of the cell. It was hard for him to breathe there was no window or source of air. He said it felt like being buried alive. When the prison guards finally moved him from the cell, it felt like being reborn. But after just a few months in the prison’s hospital, he was put back into solitary confinement again.” Said Manr el-Tantawie, Hisham Gaafar`s wife who has been held in solitary confinement in…

May 6, 2018

Press Release

Today, the Department of Homeland Security announced the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation to Honduras, despite the country’s deep political instability since December 2017. Over 86,000 people from Honduras in the United States are protected by TPS, including mothers and fathers of more than 53,000 U.S. citizens. If forced to return, many of these people could face grave danger and persecution. Marselha Gonçalves Margerin, advocacy director for the Americas at Amnesty International USA, issued this statement: “The Trump administration is turning its back on thousands of families who arrived from Honduras seeking safety. Many families, including children who…

May 4, 2018

Press Release

While the world marks World Press Freedom Day today, the plight of two reporters who have been detained in Myanmar for their investigation into military crimes against the Rohingya is just one example of the global attack on free expression that endures throughout the year, said Amnesty International USA on the occasion of the worldwide observance.

May 3, 2018