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Press Release

Responding to media reports that two British-Australian women and an Australian man have been detained in Iran, with one of the women said to have been sentenced to ten years in jail, Eilidh Macpherson, Amnesty International UK’s Individuals at Risk Campaigns Manager, said:

September 11, 2019

Press Release

Responding to reports of a Revolutionary Court’s decision on September 7 to hand four journalists and three labor rights activists between six and 18 years in prison and, in one case, 74 lashes on bogus national security charges, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Research and Advocacy Director, Philip Luther, said:

September 9, 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

Wildlife conservationists in Iran who have been accused of espionage after using cameras to track endangered species could face the death penalty or more than a decade in prison, said Amnesty International, ahead of a verdict in their case in the coming days. The eight scientists, who work with the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, were arrested at the end of January 2018. They had been conducting research into Iran’s endangered animals, including the Asiatic cheetah and Persian leopard. There is evidence that they were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment including through prolonged solitary confinement in order to extract forced…

March 5, 2019

Report

The international community’s chilling complacency towards wide-scale human rights violations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has emboldened governments to commit appalling violations during 2018 by giving them the sense that they need never fear facing justice, said Amnesty International as it published a review of human rights in the region last year. The report Human rights in the Middle East and North Africa: A review of 2018 describes how authorities across the region have unashamedly persisted with ruthless campaigns of repression in order to crush dissent, cracking down on protesters, civil society and political opponents, often with tacit support…

February 26, 2019

Press Release

The Iranian authorities carried out a shameless campaign of repression during 2018, crushing protests and arresting thousands in a wide-scale crackdown on dissent, said Amnesty International, a year after a wave of protests against poverty, corruption and authoritarianism erupted across the country. The organization has today revealed staggering new figures showing the extent of the Iranian authorities’ repression during 2018. Over the course of the year, more than 7,000 protesters, students, journalists, environmental activists, workers and human rights defenders, including lawyers, women’s rights activists, minority rights activists and trade unionists, were arrested, many arbitrarily. Hundreds were sentenced to prison terms…

January 23, 2019

Report

Women activists around the world have been at the forefront of the battle for human rights in 2018, Amnesty International said today as it launched its review on the state of human rights over the past year. The human rights group also warns that the actions of “tough guy” world leaders pushing misogynistic, xenophobic and homophobic policies has placed freedoms and rights that were won long ago in fresh jeopardy. “In 2018, we witnessed many of these self-proclaimed ‘tough guy’ leaders trying to undermine the very principle of equality – the bedrock of human rights law. They think their policies…

December 9, 2018

Report

By concealing the fate and whereabouts of thousands of political dissidents who were forcibly disappeared and secretly executed in prison 30 years ago, Iranian authorities are continuing to commit crimes against humanity, said Amnesty International in a damning report published today. The report Blood-soaked secrets: Why Iran’s 1988 prison massacres are ongoing crimes against humanity calls on the UN to set up an independent investigation into the mass enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings which have gone unpunished for three decades. “These blood-soaked secrets from Iran’s past continue to haunt the country to the present day. This report unravels the web…

December 4, 2018

Press Release

On Saturday, December 8, human rights organization Amnesty International USA in partnership with live music events startup Sofar Sounds will host a powerful evening of collective action along with an intimate concert experience in New York City.  The event, Write for Rights, is aimed at securing justice for women human rights defenders under threat and in need of urgent help as a result of speaking out and taking action against various human rights abuses. Write for Rights will feature a letter-writing session during which members of the public will be asked to write government officials in support of specific cases…

November 30, 2018

Press Release

Women human rights defenders around the world are facing unprecedented levels of abuse, intimidation and violence, said Amnesty International as it launched its global Write for Rights campaign, in a bid to shine a spotlight on brave women who have been harassed, jailed, tortured or even killed for their human rights work. Women continue to face multiple forms of discrimination, targeted because of their gender and other characteristics, as well as for their human rights work. However, women refuse to stay silent and have been at the forefront of the battle for human rights in 2018. “Across the world, women are…

November 28, 2018

Press Release

Responding to the horrific news that 24-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman Zeinab Sekaanvand was executed early this morning in Urumieh central prison, West Azerbaijan province, Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said: “The execution of Zeinab Sekaanvand is a sickening demonstration of the Iranian authorities’ disregard for the principles of juvenile justice and international human rights law. Zeinab was just 17 years old at the time of her arrest. Her execution is profoundly unjust and shows the Iranian authorities’ contempt for the right of children to life. The fact that her death…

October 2, 2018

Press Release

Responding to the arrest in Iran this morning of Reza Khandan, the husband of prominent jailed human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, Amnesty International's Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Philip Luther, said: “First the authorities jail Nasrin Sotoudeh on bogus charges, then harass, intimidate and threaten her family and friends, and now arrest her husband. These callous actions illustrate the lengths to which Iranian authorities will go to silence human rights lawyers, even targeting their families. “The Iranian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release both Nasrin Sotoudeh and Reza Khandan. They must drop all charges…

September 4, 2018