Newsroom

Update

A court in military-ruled Myanmar sentenced opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to three years in prison, a sentence which was immediately reduced to a year and half under house arrest.  The verdict was handed down in the country’s infamous Insein prison, where she was held since her arrest last May. If this shameful verdict will lead to wider unrest remains to be seen. There were apparently at least 2,000 security personnel deployed around Insein prison. Aung San Suu Kyi is a prisoner of conscience, locked up solely for her political beliefs. She should be…

August 11, 2009

Update

Today, North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue signed the Racial Justice Act into law, making North Carolina only the second state in the country to allow death row prisoners to meaningfully challenge their death sentences if racial bias is evident.  (Kentucky is the only other state that has adopted similar provisions.) As discussed in my previous post, race (particularly race of the victim) has been a major factor in who does and does not get death sentences in North Carolina, and 35 inmates on North Carolina’s death row were put there by all-white juries.  It is good to see a southern state like…

August 11, 2009

Update

Hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the recent war in North Eastern Sri Lanka live now in camps and are being denied basic human rights. In response to this crisis we just launched the Unlock the Camps campaign, in which we urge the Sri Lankan government to allow freedom of movement and the installment of a civilian administration of the military run internment camps. We further call on the Government of India to monitor the aid pledged to the Sri Lankan government. As part of the Unlock the Camps campaign we have developed a Facebook Crisis Application, and produced a new Briefing Paper. Two months after the…

August 10, 2009

Update

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Angola today on the latest stop of her seven nation tour. Our Country Specialist Jen Ziemke contributed these comments regarding issues Secretary Clinton will hopefully address in her meetings with President dos Santos. Since 2001, Amnesty International has documented thousands of families forcibly evicted from various neighborhoods in the Angolan capital of Luanda in order to make room for public and private housing projects. These forced evictions were typically carried out without due process of law, including prior notification or consultation and the ability to dispute the evictions in a court of law.…

August 10, 2009

Update

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives in South Africa today for meetings with President Zuma and Foreign Minister Mashabane. Unfortunately I wasn't able to answer the phone when Hills called to ask which issues she should be sure to broach in those discussions. Don't laugh; it could totally happen in some alternate universe. But if she had asked my advice, this is what I would have said: Secretary Clinton must encourage South Africa to meet the promises enshrined in its Constitution and acceptance of international human rights treaties by taking a stronger stand as a leader in promoting human rights in…

August 6, 2009

Update

Amnesty International today urged the US Congress to honor its commitment to withhold 15% of funding of the Merida Initiative until the Mexican government fulfils its human rights obligations. The Mexican government has failed to make sufficient progress in the investigation and prosecution of human rights abuses by security forces. According to the Washington Post, Senator Leahy, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations foreign operations subcommittee, is well aware of the grave human rights situation in Mexico, and does not intend to allow the transfer to go forward if things do not improve. The Merida Initiative is security co-operation and assistance…

August 6, 2009

Update

On July 15th the North Carolina House voted 61-54 to approve the Racial Justice Act, which, if signed into law, would allow death row prisoners in the state to appeal their sentences if racial prejudice played a role in their sentencing.   Last night, the North Carolina Senate approved the legislation, which now goes to Governor Bev Perdue for her signature. The Racial Justice Act could be a very significant step towards ensuring that race does not affect the fate of capital defendants in North Carolina—a state with a history of racial prejudice, where race has been a factor in death…

August 6, 2009

Update

At the end of July, Zimbabwe observed three days of peace as a way to promote national healing and reconciliation by abstaining from all forms of political violence. Not to minimize a positive step, but perhaps it shouldn't be necessary to have to declare three days of non-violence. In any case, let's examine some recent events and see how much love those three days inspired. She Loves Me -At the launch of the three days of peace, President Mugabe calls for tolerance, respect, non-violence and dialogue. The government announces that public demonstrations will be allowed to occur so long as police are previously notified. She Loves Me Not -President…

August 5, 2009

Update

We're happy to bring you some good news in the case of lawyer and human rights activist Shadi Sadr. We've all watched with dismay during that last 2 months as Iran has cracked down on hundreds of thousands of people who have poured into the streets to protest the contested results of June's presidential election. Behind the scenes, Iranian authorities have conducted a campaign to silence dissident voices -- like human rights lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani -- through arbitrary arrests and detention. It was as part of this campaign that Shadi Sadr was detained last month. On July 17, Sadr was…

August 5, 2009

Update

Laura Ling and Euna Lee, two US journalists who had been held by North Korean officials since March on charges that they had entered the country illegally to document human rights conditions, were released by the North Korean government subsequent to a visit by former President Bill Clinton and released. The world witnessed an emotional and long-awaited reunion early this morning on the runway of Burbank airport in Los Angeles as the two journalists returned home to their families. After being in prison for 140 days, Laura Ling embraced her husband Iain Clayton tightly as Euna Lee reunited in tears…

August 5, 2009

Update

MYANMAR - Tensions rise in anticipition of verdict The situation in Myanmar (Burma) is getting more tense this week in anticipation of a verdict against Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday, August 11.  She is currently held in Myanmar's notorious Insein prison, awaiting her verdict in a trial that has gathered worldwide attention.  Given the fact that the "Four Eights" anniversary is to take place only 3 days prior to the release of Aung San Suu Kyi's verdict, these two highly politically charged events can prove to be a galvanizing force for major protests.  Looking at the…

August 4, 2009

Update

(Originally posted on Daily Kos) In the last month, a spotlight has fallen on two sharply different terrorism cases that illuminate the best and worse of America's efforts to defeat Al Qaeda: The case of Mohammed Jawad, conducted with the gloves off, is a disaster. The case of Bryant Vinas, conducted within the law, appears to be triumph. Mohammed Jawad was detained in Kabul in December 2002 after a grenade was thrown at US soldiers, injuring three members of a patrol. Jawad's age has not been established with any degree of certainty but it is not disputed that he was…

August 4, 2009