Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
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Press Release
Bahraini Women Jailed and Tortured for Pro-Reform Protests Go On Hunger Strike, Amnesty International Says
Contact: Suzanne Trimel, 212-633-4150, [email protected] (New York) -- Two Bahraini women activists imprisoned and tortured for their involvement in pro-reform protests are on a hunger strike to demand their freedom, Amnesty International said today. Roula al-Saffar, head of the Bahrain Nursing Society, and Jalila al-Salman, vice-president of the Bahrain Teacher's Association (BTA), have been held for several months near the capital city, Manama. Both women allege they were tortured in detention. "Jalila al-Salman and Roula al-Saffar's decision to go on hunger strike is a desperate attempt to protest against their imprisonment and the way they have been treated," said Philip…
August 4, 2011
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
Report
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People in Turkey Demand Equality
On June 25, 2010 thousands of people – among them lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) men and women, members of their families, activists and other supporters marched through the center of Istanbul in the greatest show of solidarity for the rights of LGBT people ever seen in Turkey to date. Supporters marched in defiance of Turkey's laws which are interpreted or utilised in a discriminatory manner by judges and prosecutors, denying the equal rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. Currently, no provision exists within Turkey’s constitution or domestic law framework proscribing discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation…
July 8, 2011
Press Release
Amnesty International Says Indian Minister’s Homosexuality Remarks a Setback for Gay Rights
Contact: AIUSA media relations, 202-509-8194 (Washington, DC)— The Indian authorities must ensure that the rights of gay men are protected, Amnesty International said today, after India's health minister described homosexuality as a "disease." Addressing a conference about HIV/AIDS on Monday, Ghulum Nabo Azad said sex between two men is "completely unnatural and shouldn't happen." "These outrageous remarks linking consensual sexual activity to a disease simply encourage discrimination against men who have sex with men," said Emily Gray, Amnesty International's researcher on sexual orientation and gender identity. "The Health Minister must retract his comments, and the Indian Government must reaffirm its…
July 5, 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
Report
Lack of justice could fuel new violence in Kyrgyzstan
In June 2010, four days of violent clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan left thousands injured, hundreds dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. The Kyrgyzstani authorities are obliged to establish the truth about what happened. They must provide justice for the thousands of victims of the serious crimes and human rights violations, including crimes against humanity. However, one year on from the June violence, justice is no closer to being done.
June 7, 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