Newsroom

Update

The Texas judge who ruled that the Lone Star State’s death penalty violates basic constitutional rights has revised his order.  Last week,  District Judge Kevin Fine of Houston flatly declared that Texas’ capital punishment statute is unconstitutional because it risks executing the innocent.   Today, he rescinded that ruling, but scheduled an April 27 hearing at which both prosecutors and defense lawyers will make their case for and against the Texas death penalty.

March 9, 2010

Update

Qing Hong Wu, the individual spotlighted in my previous blog entry has been pardoned by Governor David Paterson of New York. It is hoped by Mr. Wu’s family and friends that the pardon will stop deportation proceedings against Mr. Wu, result in his release from immigration detention, and lead to his successful application for US citizenship. The fact that it took a governor’s pardon to prevent his inevitable deportation, despite Mr. Wu’s long ties and significant contributions to the US, is an important statement about the rigidity and arbitrariness of current immigration law.

March 8, 2010

Update

Despite the bad publicity (and sternly worded blog posts from me, here and here), the UK-owned corporation Vedanta Resources and the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests show no signs of backing down from this polluting project.  I also haven't heard whether James Cameron has taken up the tribe's plea for assistance.  I guess he's pretty busy at the Oscar's tonight, but wouldn't it be great if he said something about this at the awards ceremony? All in all, this really sucks for the people there because the air and water in Lanjigarh, Orissa are really nasty.  Heck even the…

March 7, 2010

Update

No one seems to think it will hold up on appeal, but yesterday a recently elected judge in Houston, Texas ruled that the Lone Star State's death penalty is unconstitutional.  According to the Houston Chronicle, the Judge, Kevin Fine, stated that: "Based on the moratorium (on the death penalty) in Illinois, the Innocence Project and more than 200 people being exonerated nationwide, it can only be concluded that innocent people have been executed. It's safe to assume we execute innocent people." And: "Are you willing to have your brother, your father, your mother be the sacrificial lamb, to be the…

March 6, 2010

Update

By Chris McGraw, Grassroots Advocacy Director at Amnesty International USA From March 29-April 9th, we're sending clusters of human rights supporters out to the front lines in their home districts to meet with Senators and Representatives. The purpose of these visits is to educate members of Congress about the shocking rates of pregnancy-related deaths among women in the United States. The awful truth behind these appalling numbers is that half of these deaths can be prevented. Women are dying because they simply can't afford to access proper maternal care. These groups, or delegations, that will help raise awareness about this…

March 5, 2010

Update

South Korea is, to my knowledge, the only place in the world where a former death row inmate went on to become President of the country (and to win the Nobel Peace Prize too). Kim Dae-jung was one of many political prisoners sentenced to death in South Korea in the 1980s. Amnesty International has issued a powerful short film about that era and the people who survived it. Interviews with the former President, and other former political prisoners, are interspersed with interviews with the man who served as Kim Dae-jung's jailer. South Korea has come a long way since the…

March 4, 2010

Update

On Human Rights Day, His Holiness the Dalai Lama shared his insights into the importance of NGOs in fighting human rights abuses worldwide, specifically expressing thanks to Amnesty International.  We thank His Holiness for his kind words and continued commitment to human rights!  Watch his speech here:

March 3, 2010

Update

The take-no-prisoners approach to counterinsurgency adopted by the Sri Lankan government in 2009 was hailed in many corners as evidence that letting the military off the leash was more effective than a nuanced strategy of political engagement. As disturbing stories emerged of Sri Lankan military and paramilitary units executing prisoners, silencing civil society critics and displaying a cavalier disregard for civilian casualties these were dismissed by government apologists as a price worth paying to secure democratic rule on the island. In October last year the Obama administration even went so far as to brief the Sri Lankan Attorney General on…

March 3, 2010

Update

The Gujarat state government website features a smiling Chief Minister Narendra Modi touting how "life itself is a celebration" in his state.  Wow, this sounds to me like a swell time to be had by all in Gujarat!  But I guess someone forgot to tell that to the thousands whose lives were irreparably harmed during the pogroms against Muslims in the state in late February and early March 2002. Exactly 8 years ago. On February 28, 2002, large scale violence erupted throughout the western Indian state of Gujarat shortly after a fire on the Sabarmati Express killed 58 Hindu activists…

March 1, 2010

Update

By Laura Moye, Amnesty International USA Death Penalty Abolition Campaign Director Imagine President Obama competing with other nations for world leadership on human rights by putting forward a goal to end the death penalty globally in just five years. Well, that’s exactly what Spain’s Prime Minister Zapatero did last Wednesday. He addressed the Fourth World Congress against the Death Penalty in Geneva saying that his country, which now holds the European Union presidency, was very committed to seeing a world without the death penalty by 2015. The World Congress against the Death Penalty was kicked off at the United Nations’…

March 1, 2010

Update

Hindus all over the world are preparing to celebrate Holi, the festival which celebrates the victory of good over evil.  Prahalad, the human rights defender prevailed over the Hiranyakashipu (his father), the human rights violator. Hiranyakashipu uses his more or less omnipotent powers to violate the human rights of Prahalad by attempting to poison Prahalad, trample Prahalad with elephants, placed Prahalad in a room full of hungry, poisonous snakes and made to sit in a funeral pyre with his evil sister.  All these efforts to squash the freedom to practice Prahalad's religious beliefs failed and Hiranyakashipu was eventually brought to…

February 26, 2010

Update

I hope that during US Secretary of State Clinton’s March 4th visit to Guatemala, the grave human rights situation, specifically the extra-judicial killings coupled with the cloud of impunity surrounding those killings, are at the top of the agenda.  Secretary Clinton will be taking a quick trip thorough South and Central America, and her trip will be concluding in Guatemala, where she will be meeting with Guatemalan President Colom and a few other Central American leaders. Over the past several years, various Guatemalan human rights organizations have received numerous reports of kidnappings and murders where police officers, off duty officers,…

February 26, 2010