Newsroom

Update

On September 28, 2010, Gaile Owens, a 57-year old mother and grandmother, is set to be executed in Tennessee – she would be the first woman executed since 1820 in the state. She was convicted of soliciting the murder of her husband, Ronald Owens, more than 24 years ago. But since the conclusion of the trial, evidence has emerged that Gaile Owens endured severe abuse at the hands of her husband, and may have been suffering from “Battered Women’s Syndrome.”   When Owens was arrested in 1985, she was appointed a lawyer who helped out at the beginning of the case…

July 13, 2010

Update

The lower house of the French parliament voted 336 to 1 in favor of banning full-face veils. The proposed law, which must still be approved by the French Senate, prohibits wearing in public any form of clothing intended to conceal one’s face.

July 13, 2010

Update

Today, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a second arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir for three counts of genocide. An arrest warrant was first issued for Al Bashir in March 2009 for five counts of crimes against humanity (which includes murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture and rape) and two counts of war crimes (for intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population and pillaging). While a trial is the only way to determine whether or not Al Bashir is responsible for the crimes he is accused of, this second arrest warrant shows the determination…

July 12, 2010

Update

On Wednesday, lawyers for Troy Davis and the Georgia Attorney General filed briefs in response to a few questions posed by Judge William T. Moore, Jr. at the end of Davis' June 23-24 evidentiary hearing.  A major issue the judge asked them to brief was how to interpret the "clearly establishes innocence" standard set by the U.S. Supreme Court when it ordered the hearing. At the end of the hearing the judge made it clear that he wanted to move quickly.  We wouldn’t be surprised if he issued his ruling this month.  In his ruling, he will decide whether Troy…

July 9, 2010

Update

Mohammad Taher Batili is a refugee at risk of torture and possibly the death penalty. He is an Iranian national and member of Iran’s Arab minority. He and his family fled to Lebanon in May 2009 to escape reprisals from the Iranian government due to his and his father’s political activities in support of the Arab minority in Ahvaz, Khuzestan province. He is recognized as a refugee by the UN but was arrested in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on June 2, 2010 on the grounds that he entered Lebanon from Syria illegally. On June 26 he was convicted for…

July 9, 2010

Update

This past week Amnesty International and other human rights organizations have been highlighting the plight of two women sentenced to death in Iran. Both of them have suffered incredible injustices, but their stories are actually very different and while one of them has received a great deal of publicity, the other has failed to attract the attention that her case deserves.

July 9, 2010

Update

There has been a flare up in violence in the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) in the past few weeks, mainly due to the recent killing of a Kashmiri youth, Muzaffar Ahmad Bhat, in the state's capital of Srinagar and an incident where the police opened fire on stone throwers in Anantnag, killing three. The killing of Muzaffar Ahmad Bhat in Srinagar is the latest string of deaths attributed to Indian security forces.  The killings have triggered renewed fears that Kashmir will return to the dark days of an insurgency that killed thousands in the 1990s and early 2000s.  More…

July 8, 2010

Update

By Andrea Finuccio For the last 17 years, the Abolitionist Action Committee has been holding a four-day fast and vigil outside of the Supreme Court from June 29-July 2, and it is aptly named “Starvin’ for Justice.”  The vigil starts on the day Furman v. Georgia was decided in 1972 (temporarily banning the death penalty) and ends on the day in 1976 that Gregg v. Georgia overturned Furman, and its purpose is to protest and petition for the abolition of the death penalty. Three weeks prior to this event, I got an email from another intern asking me about information about…

July 8, 2010

Update

President Obama has repeatedly declared his support for women worldwide, stating that ratification of the CEDAW treaty (Convention to End All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) is an important priority for the United States. The time has come for President Obama to send a strong signal to the Senate that ratification of CEDAW is vital. The United States remains the only industrialized democracy and the only country in the Western Hemisphere not to ratify this critical treaty which affirms principles of fundamental human rights and equality for women around the world. We know that CEDAW works! Countries from Australia to…

July 7, 2010

Update

Indonesian prisoner of conscience Yusak Pakage has been released from prison! Along with fellow political prisoner Chosmos Yual, Pakage was released this morning from the Doyo Baru prison. Pakage was sentenced to a 10 year jail term for raising the Morning Star flag in December 2004. He, along with Filep Karma, was found guilty of "rebellion" for flying the outlawed symbol of Papuan independence as a sign of peaceful protest of Indonesian government policy. Pakage has expressed his thanks to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch for all the work put towards demanding his release. Amnesty supporters took action by…

July 7, 2010

Update

This morning the new Conservative government in Great Britain announced that it will hold a “judge-led” inquiry into the role played by British officials in human rights abuses committed as part of the Global War on Terror. The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, pledged that the inquiry would also have the power to direct the payment of financial compensation to the victims of proven abuses – as required by the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights. The inquiry will go forward once pre-existing criminal investigations into the alleged actions of at least two British intelligence officers have been completed.…

July 6, 2010

Update

After over four years of detention based on unjust convictions, twelve Mexican activists were ordered released last week following a ruling by Mexico's Supreme Court that admitted that the activists had never been granted a fair trial.  They had been arrested for allegedly kidnapping police officers during protests in San Salvador Atenco in May 2006 during which police officers violently abused both men and women for their activism.  While it is wonderful that Mexico's judiciary has freed these twelve activists, much more still needs to be done for justice to be served in the events surrounding the Atenco protests. "This welcome…

July 6, 2010