Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
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Press Release
Amnesty International Welcomes Obama’s Decision to Hold Civilian Trial for Somali Terrorism Suspect but Very Concerned about Detention Aboard Ship
Contact: AIUSA media relations, 202-509-8194 (Washington, DC) Tom Parker, policy director for terrorism, (counter) and human rights for Amnesty International USA, issued the following statement in response to news reports that Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, a Somali terrorism suspect, was captured in the Gulf of Aden by the U.S. military and interrogated for two months aboard a U.S. Navy ship: "Amnesty International welcomes the Obama administration's decision to charge and prosecute Warsame's case in U.S. federal court. The United States' criminal justice system is the most appropriate and best equipped venue to adjudicate such cases. "However, the organization is greatly concerned…
July 6, 2011
Press Release
Amnesty International Report Reveals Atrocities Against Civilians in Syrian Town Near Lebanese Border During Brutal May Security Sweep
Security forces committed atrocities against Syrian civilians in the town of Tell Kalakh near the Lebanese border to crush dissent in May --rounding up men and boys, arresting them and torturing them in detention for weeks, according to witnesses who described the abuses to Amnesty International.
July 6, 2011
Update
What the Fourth of July Is All About
The Obama administration's new National Strategy for Counterterrorism, although a welcome step forward, needs to correspond with their actions.
July 5, 2011
Update
The Freedom Flotilla, Civil Disobedience and Government Collusion
If governments do nothing or even protect immoral and illegal policies perpetrated on a vulnerable population and civil society is not allowed to protest, then … what is left?
July 5, 2011
Report
Annual Report: Puerto Rico 2011
Head of state: Barack H. Obama Head of government: Luis Fortuño Death penalty: abolitionist for all crimes Population: 4 million Life expectancy: 79 years Under-5 mortality (m/f): 9/8 per 1,000 There were reports of police ill-treatment of students during a demonstration. The living conditions of residents of an informal settlement under a government eviction order remained a concern. Excessive use of force In May, during a two-month strike by university students in San Juan, a number of incidents of excessive use of force by officers from the Puerto Rican Police Department were reported. These incidents included the indiscriminate use of…
July 5, 2011
Report
Annual Report: Japan 2011
Head of government: Naoto Kan (replaced Hatoyama Yukio in June) Death penalty: retentionist Population: 127 million Life expectancy: 83.2 years Under-5 mortality (m/f): 5/4 per 1,000 The daiyo kangoku pre-trial detention system persisted, increasing the risk of abusive interrogation practices. The comfort women reparations movement gathered further momentum, with several Japanese cities urging the central government to compensate and issue apologies to survivors of the comfort women system. The Minister of Justice set up a working group on capital punishment in July; that same month, two people were executed. Refugees and asylum-seekers remained vulnerable to abuses; one man was killed…
July 5, 2011
Report
Annual Report: Bangladesh 2011
Head of state: Zillur Rahman Head of government: Sheikh Hasina Death penalty: retentionist Population: 164.4 million Life expectancy: 66.9 years Under-5 mortality (m/f): 58/56 per 1,000 Adult literacy: 55 per cent Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) personnel and other police officers detained more than 1,500 people, many of them arbitrarily, during demonstrations. They used excessive force against demonstrators, injuring hundreds. RAB and the police continued to be implicated in extrajudicial executions. At least six detainees died in police custody, allegedly from torture. Nine men were executed and at least 32 men were sentenced to death. Six people were detained for war…
July 5, 2011
Report
Annual Report: Malaysia 2011
Head of state: King Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Head of government: Najib Tun Razak Death penalty: retentionist Population: 27.9 million Life expectancy: 74.7 years Under-5 mortality (m/f): 12/10 per 1,000 Adult literacy: 92.1 per cent The government restricted freedom of expression in electronic and print media. Detention without charge or trial continued as the Internal Security Act (ISA) entered its 50th year. Refugees, migrants and Malaysian nationals were subjected to judicial caning for criminal offences, including immigration violations. Under Shari'a law, three women were caned for the first time. Malaysia was elected to the UN Human Rights Council in May.…
July 5, 2011
Press Release
AUTHORITIES’ RESPONSE TO BELARUS PROTESTS ‘CLEARLY VIOLATES THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION,’ SAYS AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Contact: Wende Gozan Brown at 212-633-4247, [email protected]. (London) -- Belarusian authorities must refrain from using excessive force against protesters Amnesty International said, after police used teargas and arrested more than 300 demonstrators on Sunday. Social networking websites Facebook and Twitter were also reportedly blocked as thousands of activists gathered in the capital Minsk and other cities clap hands in unison to express their disapproval at President Alexander Lukashenko's economic policies. Tear gas was used against a group of protesters at Minsk's Railway Station Square and protesters elsewhere in the city were beaten by police. The arrests were carried out by…
July 5, 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
Amnesty International Praises Court for Holding Netherlands Responsible for Three Srebrenica Deaths
Contact: AIUSA media relations, 202-509-8194 (Washington, DC)— The Netherlands was responsible for the deaths of three Bosnian Muslims during the 1995 Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a local appeals court in The Hague has ruled today. The case is the first time that an individual government has been held accountable for the conduct of its peacekeeping troops carrying out a U.N. mandate. The court ruled that on July 10, 1995 Dutch troops serving as U.N. peacekeepers in Srebrenica allowed three Bosnians to leave a "safe area," and effectively handed them over to Bosnian Serb forces. These forces killed the…
July 5, 2011