Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
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Press Release
Guatemalan Former Soldiers Sentenced to 6,060 Years for Massacre, Says Amnesty International
Contact: AIUSA media relations, 202-509-8194 (Washington, D.C.) - A judge in Guatemala City yesterday sentenced four former soldiers from an elite army unit to more than 6,000 years in prison for their role in a 1982 massacre in Dos Erres village in the north of the country. "This landmark sentence sends a message that Guatemala might finally be moving closer to delivering justice to the hundreds of thousands of victims of grave human rights violations during the civil war," said Sebastian Elgueta, Central America researcher at Amnesty International. "The Dos Erres massacre in 1982 was a particularly brutal incident, but…
August 4, 2011
Press Release
Amnesty International Demands Release of Prominent Lawyers Jailed in Burundi on Spurious Charges
Contact: Suzanne Trimel, 212-633-4150, [email protected] (New York) -- The Burundian government should immediately release two prominent lawyers jailed in an ongoing dispute with the government, Amnesty International said today, as a national lawyers' strike continues over the jailing of one of the lawyers. Isidore Rufikiri, head of the Bar Association, was arrested on Wednesday after speaking at a rally in the capital, Bujumbura. Burundian lawyers are on strike this week to call for the release of their colleague, Suzanne Bukuru, who was arrested July 15 on charges of "complicity in espionage" after speaking to French journalists about a case of…
July 28, 2011
Press Release
SAUDI ARABIA DETAINS WOMEN PROTESTORS, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORTS
Contact: Wende Gozan Brown at 212-633-4247, [email protected]. (London) -- Two women remain in detention after being arrested in Riyadh on Sunday during a protest to demand fair trials for their relatives, sources told Amnesty International. Some 15 women and five children were arrested yesterday outside the Ministry of Interior. They had been calling for fair trials for their male relatives, who are being detained without charge - in some cases for up to 10 years. All but two women were released after they were believed to have signed pledges not to protest again. "If these women were arrested solely for…
July 5, 2011
Press Release
A Dozen Amnesty International Activists to Hand-Deliver Signed Cards Urging Action to Prevent Maternal Deaths to Rep. Boehner on Tuesday, July 5
Human Rights Activists to Meet With House Speaker Afterward to Discuss Maternal Health Accountability Legislation Contact: Suzanne Trimel, 212-633-4150, [email protected] (Cincinnati, Ohio) - On Tuesday, July 5, a dozen Cincinnati-area human rights activists will deliver a stack of signed Mother's Day cards, including some signed by luminaries like Christy Turlington Burns, to House Speaker John Boehner at his district office, urging support for legislation to help reduce the number of women dying from complications of pregnancy and childbirth in the United States. Under Amnesty International's sponsorship, a smaller group of activists will meet with Boehner at 1 p.m. to…
June 30, 2011
Press Release
Egypt Military Pledges to Amnesty International to Stop Forced ‘Virginity Tests’
Contact: AIUSA Media Relations: (202) 509-8194 (Washington, D.C.) - The head of Egypt's military intelligence has promised Amnesty International that the army will no longer carry out forced 'virginity tests' after defending their use, during a meeting with the organization in Cairo on Sunday. Major General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), discussed the issue with Amnesty International's Secretary General Salil Shetty months after the organization publicized allegations of the forced 'tests.' Major General al-Sisi said that 'virginity tests' had been carried out on female detainees in March to "protect" the army against possible…
June 27, 2011
Press Release
As Saudi Women Prepare to Challenge Defy Driving Ban, Amnesty International Says Lifting the Prohibition is Long Overdue Calls Ban “Immense Barrier” to Work and Family Life and Treats Women as Second Class Citizens
Contact: Suzanne Trimel, 212-633-4150, [email protected] (New York) – Amnesty International said today Saudi Arabian must stop treating women as second-class citizens and open the Kingdom’s roads to women drivers, as a group of Saudi women activists prepared to defy a decades-old ban on women driving. An online campaign has called on women who hold international driving licenses to start driving on Saudi Arabian roads on Friday. The "Women2Drive" campaign has used Facebook and Twitter to encourage women to drive as part of their normal daily activities. "Not allowing women behind the wheel in Saudi Arabia is an immense barrier to…
June 16, 2011
Press Release
Artist Shepard Fairey Creates Colorful Butterly Design for Amnesty International Campaign Against Sexual Violence
Internationally acclaimed artist Shepard Fairey has created a captivating new design exclusively for Amnesty International in its 50th year to support its global campaign to defend the rights of women and girls in Nicaragua.
June 14, 2011
Press Release
Amnesty International Condemns Qatar for Deporting Rape Survivor Eman al-Obeidi to Libya
Amnesty International Condemns Qatar for Deporting Rape Survivor Eman al-Obeidi to Libya Calls Deporation “Outrageous," Risk to Woman’s Safety and Violation of International Law Contact: Suzanne Trimel, 212-633-4150, [email protected] (New York) – Amnesty International today condemned the Qatari government’s deportation to Libya of Eman al-Obeidi, the woman who publicly accused Libyan soldiers of rape. The organization said Qatar violated international law and compromised the woman’s safety. Eman al-Obeidi was deported by Qatari officials on Thursday to Benghazi in eastern Libya, stronghold of the opposition to Colonel Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi. “It is outrageous that Eman al-Obeidi has again been taken away against…
June 6, 2011
Press Release
Amnesty International Condemns Qatar for Deporting Rape Survivor Eman al-Obeidi to Libya
Amnesty International Condemns Qatar for Deporting Rape Survivor Eman al-Obeidi to Libya Calls Deporation “Outrageous," Risk to Woman’s Safety and Violation of International Law Contact: Suzanne Trimel, 212-633-4150, [email protected] (New York) – Amnesty International today condemned the Qatari government’s deportation to Libya of Eman al-Obeidi, the woman who publicly accused Libyan soldiers of rape. The organization said Qatar violated international law and compromised the woman’s safety. Eman al-Obeidi was deported by Qatari officials on Thursday to Benghazi in eastern Libya, stronghold of the opposition to Colonel Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi. “It is outrageous that Eman al-Obeidi has again been taken away against…
June 6, 2011
Press Release
Amnesty International Demands Justice in Forced “Virginity Tests” in Egypt
Amnesty International Demands Justice in Forced “Virginity Tests” in Egypt Human Rights Organization Calls the Tests Discriminatory, Abusive and Insulting (New York) -- The Egyptian authorities must bring those responsible for ordering or conducting forced “virginity tests” to justice following a senior military figure’s admission that the army subjected female protesters to them during the uprising, Amnesty International said today. A senior Egyptian general told CNN that women detained on March 9 at Cairo’s Tahrir Square had been forced to undergo ‘virginity tests’, which the government has previously denied. The general, speaking on condition of anonymity, justified the abuse…
May 31, 2011
Press Release
Egypt: Admission of forced ‘virginity tests’ must lead to justice
The Egyptian authorities must bring those responsible for ordering or conducting forced ‘virginity tests’ to justice following a senior military figure’s admission that the army subjected female protesters to them, Amnesty International said today.
May 31, 2011
Press Release
Amnesty International Demands Justice in Forced “Virginity Tests” in Egypt
Amnesty International Demands Justice in Forced “Virginity Tests” in Egypt Human Rights Organization Calls the Tests Discriminatory, Abusive and Insulting (New York) -- The Egyptian authorities must bring those responsible for ordering or conducting forced “virginity tests” to justice following a senior military figure’s admission that the army subjected female protesters to them during the uprising, Amnesty International said today. A senior Egyptian general told CNN that women detained on March 9 at Cairo’s Tahrir Square had been forced to undergo ‘virginity tests’, which the government has previously denied. The general, speaking on condition of anonymity, justified the abuse…
May 31, 2011