Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
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Press Release
Arkansas Executes Kenneth Williams, Fourth and Final Execution Over the Past 10 Days
The state of Arkansas executed Kenneth Williams tonight, ending a spate of eight scheduled executions that were set to take place over the past 10 days because the state’s supply of lethal injection drugs was set to expire. Four of the eight received stays of execution that extend beyond the drugs’ expiration date. Williams’ execution was preceded by those of Ledell Lee, Jack Jones and Marcel Williams.
April 28, 2017
Press Release
Arkansas Scheduled Double Execution is Heinous and Shameful
Arkansas executed Jack Jones today, the second of four prisoners scheduled to be executed before the state’s supply of lethal injections expires at the end of the month. Jones was sentenced to death despite the fact that the jury was not told of his serious mental disabilities. The execution of Marcel Williams, also scheduled for tonight, remained under appeal at the time of Jones’ death.
April 24, 2017
Press Release
Arkansas Kills Prisoner in First of Horrific Spate of Executions
Arkansas executed Ledell Lee today, the first of four prisoners scheduled to be executed before the state’s supply of lethal injections expires at the end of the month.
April 21, 2017
Press Release
Arkansas Judge Blocks Remaining Executions
A Pulaski County judge has blocked the state of Arkansas from using its remaining lethal injection drugs in five executions scheduled for this month. The state plans to appeal.
April 20, 2017
Press Release
All Arkansas Executions Temporarily Put On Hold After Judge Blocks Use of Lethal Injection Drugs
An Arkansas judge has temporarily blocked six executions from taking place after the company that manufactured the drugs to be used in the execution filed a complaint that the drug was not meant to be used for lethal injection.
April 15, 2017
Press Release
Activists Protest Upcoming Executions in Arkansas and Ask Governor for Clemency
Activists have gathered in Little Rock to protest the state’s plans to execute seven people in 10 days starting next week. The executions are scheduled before the state’s lethal injection supply expires at the end of the month.
April 14, 2017
Report
Death Sentences and Executions 2016
For the first time since 2006, and only the second time since 1991, the United States is not among the world's five biggest executioners, Amnesty International said in its 2016 global review of the death penalty published today.
April 7, 2017
Press Release
Hamas executes three civilians tried in Gaza military courts
In response to the appalling news that three men convicted of collaborating with Israel were hanged today by the Hamas de facto administration in the Gaza Strip, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Magdalena Mughrabi said: “Today’s executions by the Hamas authorities in Gaza represent a bitter blow for human rights. The death penalty is a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. Its use is deplorable in any circumstances but the fact that these three civilian men were condemned to death after being convicted in unfair proceedings in military courts makes their executions all the more…
April 6, 2017
Press Release
Court Halts One of Eight Scheduled Arkansas Executions as Amnesty International Urges Governor to Commute All Sentences
A federal judge has blocked one of eight scheduled executions from going forward in Arkansas this month, saying that the case should have more time to be considered after the state parole board recommended clemency.
April 6, 2017
Press Release
Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Intellectually Impaired Prisoner on Death Row
The Supreme Court has determined that the state of Texas did not adhere to up-to-date medical and scientific standards when it determined that a prisoner was mentally competent to be executed. James Clark, death penalty campaigner with Amnesty International USA, issued the following statement...
March 28, 2017
Press Release
Amnesty International Reaction to Supreme Court Ruling on Duane Buck Death Penalty Case
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling granting a new sentencing hearing to Duane Buck based on evidence of racial bias in his trial, Amnesty International USA’s death penalty campaigner James Clark issued the following statement:
February 22, 2017
Press Release
President Bashar al-Assad’s response to Amnesty International report on Saydnaya
President Bashar al-Assad’s interview with Yahoo News recently dismissed the findings of Amnesty International’s recent report on mass hangings and extermination at Saydnaya military prison in Syria. The report found that between 5,000 and 13,000 people were secretly executed at the prison, with prisoners being rounded up in groups as large as 50, given sham “trials” that last under a minute, blindfolded, and hanged. The horrific treatment of prisoners in Syria is part of the reason so many have fled the country in the largest refugee crisis in generations.
February 10, 2017