Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
If you are a member of the press, please reach out to [email protected]
Update
Another Presidential Flip-flop
The Obama administration is apparently considering holding Khalid Sheik Mohammed and other GTMO detainees indefinitely as Prisoners of War. Far from closing GTMO, the new Obama plan seems to be to institutionalize it as part of the national landscape.
November 15, 2010
Update
Death Penalty Abolition in Illinois Begins THIS WEEK
Abolition of the death penalty in Illinois could be a reality THIS MONTH, and it begins THIS WEEK. No matter where you are form, participate in the Virtual Lobby Day on November 17 to letter Governor Quinn know you support repeal of the death penalty.
November 15, 2010
Update
Why Is Kareem Amer Still in an Egyptian Detention Center?
It’s hard not to speculate that certain Egyptian security officials decided to use Amer to send a message that nobody in the US, in the West or even in Egypt is going change Egypt’s record on human rights.
November 14, 2010
Update
Aung San Suu Kyi Finally Free!
We are thrilled that Aung San Suu Kyi was finally released today in Myanmar after seven and a half years of house arrest.
November 13, 2010
Update
DNA Test Exposes Execution Based on Bad Evidence
Claude Jones was sentenced to death based on one hair. Now, 10 years after his Dec. 7, 2000 execution, the Texas Observer reports that DNA tests have concluded that the hair was the victim’s, not his.
November 12, 2010
Update
Detention and Torture: Just Another Day in the Life of a Human Rights Defender in China
This post is part of our Write for Rights series. Mao Hengfeng has been repeatedly detained and tortured for her advocacy on behalf of women’s reproductive rights and the victims of forced evictions in China. Mao herself has been forcibly injected with drugs, fired by her employer, detained in a psychiatric hospital and beaten because of her choice to reproduce. She has three daughters, which is a direct violation of China’s family-planning policy. In March, she was sentenced to 18 months in "Re-education Through Labor" (RTL)  for participating in a peaceful protest in support of human rights defender and Nobel…
November 12, 2010
Update
We’ll Know Aung San Suu Kyi’s Fate Within 24 hours
After being detained for 15 of the past 21 years, democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi could be free tomorrow… if Myanmar's rulers don't change the rules first.
November 12, 2010
Update
Top UK Officials Doubt Bush Claims
Former President George Bush has spent the past week touring media outlets to promote the publication of his new memoir “Decision Points” in which he proudly admits that he authorized the CIA to subject terrorist suspects to “simulated drowning” in an attempt to get them to talk. Speaking to the British newspaper The Times, Bush claimed that water-boarding had saved British lives by preventing attacks on a skyscraper in the East End of London and on Heathrow airport. His claims received an immediate rebuttal from a series of British politicians from across the political spectrum in the UK. The former…
November 12, 2010
Update
Death Sentence of Convicted Sorcerer Rejected in Saudi Arabia
The Supreme Court of Saudi Arabia today decided not to ratify the death sentence of a Lebanese man accused of "sorcery."
November 12, 2010
Update
Try KSM in a Kangaroo Court at GTMO? Fuhgeddaboudit.
 In this new video, New Yorkers for 9/11 Justice are urging President Obama to do the right thing and prosecute Khalid Shiekh Mohammed and the other four 9/11 suspects in U.S. federal court. Why? The alternative--an unfair kangaroo court at Guantanamo--stinks. Agree? Sign the petition. Personally, as a New Yorker who could see the Twin Towers from his living room and watched the second tower fall from Canal Street, I have a number of reasons for joining New Yorkers for 9/11 Justice Petition and supporting a federal court trial over a Guantanamo commission: Federal courts are more effective: federal courts have successfully…
November 11, 2010
Update
Code of Conduct for Private Security Providers Endorsed in Geneva
On Tuesday, November 9, 58 private security companies -- including Xe (formerly Blackwater) -- signed an International Code of Conduct for Private Security Providers. The Code seeks to address the human rights impact of security providers.
November 11, 2010
Update
Try KSM in a Kangaroo Court at GTMO? Fuhgeddaboudit.
 In this new video, New Yorkers for 9/11 Justice are urging President Obama to do the right thing and prosecute Khalid Shiekh Mohammed and the other four 9/11 suspects in U.S. federal court. Why? The alternative--an unfair kangaroo court at Guantanamo--stinks. Agree? Sign the petition. Personally, as a New Yorker who could see the Twin Towers from his living room and watched the second tower fall from Canal Street, I have a number of reasons for joining New Yorkers for 9/11 Justice Petition and supporting a federal court trial over a Guantanamo commission: Federal courts are more effective: federal courts have successfully…
November 11, 2010