Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
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Press Release
Human Rights in Climate Pact Under Fire
A handful of countries were blocking human rights references in important parts of the climate change agreement as ministers gathered in Paris on December 7, 2015 to continue climate change negotiations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today. Norway, Saudi Arabia and the United States have been criticized by some countries and nongovernmental organizations for seeking to eliminate key references to rights in the document. Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico and the Philippines have advocated including human rights language.
December 8, 2015
Press Release
Saudi Arabia: Execution looms for at least 50 on death row, including Shi’a activists
More than 50 people are at increased risk of imminent execution following reports in national media outlets close to the Saudi Arabian authorities that they will soon be put to death in a single day, warns Amnesty International.
November 26, 2015
Press Release
Yemen: Coalition used UK missile in unlawful airstrike
The Saudi Arabia-led coalition used a British-made missile to destroy a Yemeni ceramics factory, a civilian object, on 23 September, 2015, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today, based on field research and interviews with eyewitnesses at the scene.
November 25, 2015
Press Release
UN expert working group highlights Saudi Arabia’s appalling record on unlawful detention of peaceful activists
A UN Working Group has determined that the Saudi Arabian authorities have arbitrarily detained nine peaceful activists in blatant violation of international law, in an Opinion that sets out damning evidence of Saudi Arabia’s utter disregard for human rights, said Amnesty International today.
November 23, 2015
Press Release
Saudi Arabia: 151 executed this year in highest recorded toll in nearly two decades
At least 151 people have been put to death in Saudi Arabia so far this year –the highest recorded figure since 1995 – in an unprecedented wave of executions marking a grim new milestone in the Saudi Arabian authorities’ use of the death penalty, said Amnesty International.
November 9, 2015
Press Release
Brazilian cluster munitions suspected in Saudi Arabia led coalition attack in Yemen
Saudi Arabia-led coalition forces appear to have used a Brazilian variant of internationally banned cluster munitions on a residential neighborhood in Ahma in Sa’da, northern Yemen, this week, wounding at least four people and leaving dangerous unexploded submunitions strewn around the surrounding farmland, Amnesty International said today.
October 30, 2015
Press Release
Yemen: Bombing of MSF hospital may amount to a war crime
The apparently deliberate targeting and destruction of a hospital supported by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in northern Yemen last night, which may amount to a war crime, demands an urgent, independent and thorough investigation, Amnesty International said today.
October 27, 2015
Press Release
Saudi Arabia: Prisoner of conscience latest to be convicted in ‘counter-terror purge’ of human rights NGO
The Saudi Arabian authorities today continued their cynical use of a repressive and overly vague counter-terrorism law to purge the Kingdom’s small and embattled civil society by convicting the human rights defender Abdulkareem al-Khoder and imprisoning him for 10 years, Amnesty International said.
October 19, 2015
Press Release
Saudi Arabia: Fears grow that three young activists could soon be executed
There are rising fears about the impending executions of Ali Mohammed Baqir al-Nimr and two other young Shi’a activists in Saudi Arabia who were arrested as juveniles after participating in anti-government rallies, Amnesty International said today after learning that they had been moved to solitary confinement.
October 16, 2015
Press Release
Saudi Arabia: Juvenile offender’s death sentence must shame the authorities into meaningful action
The organization called on the authorities to quash Ali al-Nimr’s death sentence, which followed a grossly unfair trial and was based on “confessions” Ali al-Nimr says were extracted under torture. It also urged the authorities to immediately impose an official moratorium on all executions and implement significant reforms in the country’s criminal justice system.
September 30, 2015
Report
Amnesty International Report: Rampant Executions in Saudi Arabia Fuelled by Justice System ‘Riddled with Holes’
Hundreds of people have been condemned to death after being convicted in unfair trials under Saudi Arabia’s deeply flawed judicial system, said Amnesty International in a new briefing published today.
August 24, 2015
Press Release
Saudi Arabia: Decision to uphold Raif Badawi sentence is a dark day for freedom of expression
The decision by the Supreme Court in Saudi Arabia to uphold the sentence of the blogger Raif Badawi to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes is a dark day for freedom of expression in the Kingdom, Amnesty International said.
June 7, 2015