Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
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Press Release
Amnesty International Urges UN Security Council to Act Urgently on Syria Bloodshed
Contact: Suzanne Trimel, 212-633-4150, [email protected] (New York) – Following the deadliest assault to date on Syrian protesters Sunday and more casualties reported Monday in the shelling of the city of Hama, Amnesty International repeated its demand that the United Nations Security Council urgently respond to the violence. With the death toll at 1,500 people since March in what amounts to crimes against humanity, Amnesty International said at a minimum, the United Nations must impose an arms embargo, freeze the assets of President al-Assad and others suspected of crimes against humanity and refer the situation to the International Criminal Court for…
August 1, 2011
Update
Lydia Cacho Threatened Again
Take action for Lydia Cacho, a Mexican journalist and human rights defender, who received new death threats last month.
July 30, 2011
Update
US Intervention in Somalia Compounds Dire Humanitarian Crisis
The military-security focus of US intervention in Somalia is compounding a dire humanitarian crisis.
July 29, 2011
Update
Justice for Hrant Dink: More Work to be Done
Turkey needs to do more to bring about justice in the murder of journalist and human rights activist Hrant Dink.
July 29, 2011
Press Release
Amnesty International Welcomes Release of Malaysian Activists Detained Under Emergency Law
Amnesty International welcomed the release of six political activists, but called on the Malaysian authorities to free thousands of other detainees held under preventive detention laws.
July 29, 2011
Press Release
Amnesty International Again Demands that Iran Release Americans Jailed for Two Years Case of Two American Hikers Due to be Heard Again on Sunday
Amnesty International today repeated its demand that Iran release two Americans held for the past two years apparently for political reasons. On Sunday, two years to the day after their arrests, a fresh hearing is scheduled in the case of Shane Bauer and Josh Gattal, both 29.
July 29, 2011
Update
No Justice for Women in DRC
Two year after Secretary Clinton's unprecedented visit to the Congo to address rampant sexual violence including mass rapes, the situation for women there might be even worse.
July 28, 2011
Update
Experts Exclude Man As Killer, Execution Set Anyway
Texas is set to execute Larry Swearingen, despite the fact that 5 forensic scientists have ruled him out as the killer.
July 28, 2011
Update
Rally for Filep Karma in Washington An Apt Metaphor
The energy outside the embassy today was a fitting tribute to the bravery and vitality of these prisoners.
July 28, 2011
Press Release
Verdict in Ahmadiyya Killings Will Not Stem Discrimination in Indonesia, Says Amnesty International
Contact: AIUSA media relations office, 202-509-8194 (Washington, D.C.) -- The verdicts imposed against 12 people accused of killing three members of the Ahmadi community in Indonesia, show that religious minorities face ongoing discrimination, said Amnesty International today. Earlier today, a court in Serang District, West Java sentenced 10 men and two boys to three to six months’ imprisonment for their involvement in the killing of three Ahmadis. Three members of the Ahmadiyya community were beaten to death on February 6 this year when a 1,000 strong mob wielding rocks, machetes, swords and spears stormed the house of an Ahmadi leader…
July 28, 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
Armed Dozo Militia Fighters Are Seen as Threat to Civilians Who Fear Leaving Temporary Camps
Contact: Suzanne Trimel, 212-633-4150, [email protected] (New York) - Ivory Coast security forces and a state-backed militia are creating a climate of fear that is preventing hundreds of thousands of people displaced by post-election violence from returning to their homes, Amnesty International said in a report released today. Amnesty International's report details how government security forces (FCRI) and a militia composed of Dozos (traditional hunters) continue to kill and otherwise target people solely because of their ethnic group even after the inauguration of President Alassane Ouattara. The report, titled "We Want to Go Home, But We Can't," documents the continuing crisis…
July 28, 2011