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Press Release
Amnesty International Urges Presidential Candidates in Guatemala to Address Human Rights Problems
Contact: AIUSA media relations, 202-509-8194 (Washington, D.C.) - Amnesty International today urged Guatemalan presidential candidates to prioritize tackling human rights violations affecting hundreds of thousands in the country. In an open letter sent to all presidential candidates, Amnesty International wrote that the new government should improve investigations into past human rights abuses, tackle the alarming rate of violent crime and killings of women, provide long term solutions to land conflicts and protect the work of human rights activists. "Human rights abuses are a common problem in Guatemala today. Those particularly affected tend to be the most vulnerable, the ones who…
August 16, 2011
Press Release
Amnesty International Urges NATO to Investigate Civilian Deaths During Libya Air Strikes
Contact: AIUSA media relations, 202-509-8194 (Washington, D.C.) - NATO must take all necessary precautions to avoid civilian casualties during military operations, Amnesty International said today, after allegations by Libyan officials loyal to Colonel Mu'ammar al-Gaddafi that 85 people were killed during an air strike on Monday night. The organization called on NATO to thoroughly investigate allegations of the deaths of unarmed civilians during the air strike in the area of Majar, south of Zlitan city. Independent journalists taken to the scene reported having been shown up to 30 body bags, of which the bodies of two women and two children…
August 11, 2011
Report
DRC: Neglected Congolese victims deserve justice now
Crimes under international law, including rape and murder, continue to be committed by the Congolese army and armed groups in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo following decades of similar crimes across the country, Amnesty International said today. A new Amnesty International report The time for justice is now; new strategy needed in the Democratic Republic of Congo calls for the reform and strengthening of the country's national justice system to combat impunity that has been fostering a cycle of violence and human rights violations for decades. "The people of the DRC have suffered war crimes and crimes…
August 9, 2011
Press Release
Bahraini Women Jailed and Tortured for Pro-Reform Protests Go On Hunger Strike, Amnesty International Says
Contact: Suzanne Trimel, 212-633-4150, [email protected] (New York) -- Two Bahraini women activists imprisoned and tortured for their involvement in pro-reform protests are on a hunger strike to demand their freedom, Amnesty International said today. Roula al-Saffar, head of the Bahrain Nursing Society, and Jalila al-Salman, vice-president of the Bahrain Teacher's Association (BTA), have been held for several months near the capital city, Manama. Both women allege they were tortured in detention. "Jalila al-Salman and Roula al-Saffar's decision to go on hunger strike is a desperate attempt to protest against their imprisonment and the way they have been treated," said Philip…
August 4, 2011
Press Release
Amnesty International Welcomes Release of Human Rights Defender Aleksei Sokolov
Contact: AIUSA media relations office, 202-509-8194 (Washington, D.C.) -- Today, a court in Krasnoyarsk decided to release Aleksei Sokolov on parole. He was arrested in May 2009 and sentenced for theft and robbery a year later, on charges that many believed to have been fabricated in response to his human rights work in defense of prisoners' rights. He was allowed to leave the prison colony shortly after the court hearing and is now traveling back home to his family in Yekaterinburg. "Amnesty International welcomes the release of Aleksei Sokolov, the founder and chairman of Legal Basis, an organization dedicated to…
July 28, 2011
Report
Côte d’Ivoire: Climate of fear stopping return of displaced people
Côte d'Ivoire security forces and a state-backed militia are creating a climate of fear that is preventing hundreds of thousands of people displaced by post-election violence from returning to their homes, Amnesty International said in a report released today. "We want to go home, but we can't" Côte d'Ivoire's continuing crisis of displacement and insecurity describes how ethnically targeted killings and attacks by the government security forces (FCRI) and a militia composed of Dozos (traditional hunters) have left the population unable to leave the relative safety of temporary camps. "The stalemate that is keeping more than half a million people…
July 27, 2011
Press Release
Proposed Saudi Arabia “Anti-Terror” Law Would Crush Peaceful Dissent and Protest, Says Amnesty International
Amnesty International has obtained copies of a secret draft Saudi Arabian anti-terrorism law that would allow the authorities to prosecute peaceful dissent with harsh penalties as "terrorist crime."
July 22, 2011
Report
Children in Somalia facing war crimes
Children in southern and central Somalia are under relentless attack. Their lives are in constant danger and their hopes for the future have been shattered by armed conflict and grave human rights abuses.
July 19, 2011
Press Release
Amnesty International Responds to News Reports that the CIA is Involved in Secret Detention Site in Somalia
Amnesty International USA issued the following statement in response to news reports that the CIA has been involved in operating a secret prison in Somalia for terrorism suspects.
July 13, 2011
Press Release
Amnesty International Urges India to Implement Court Ban of Anti-Maoist Militias
Authorities in India's Chhattisgarh state must immediately comply with a decision by the country's Supreme Court to disband and disarm anti-Maoist state-sponsored civil militias, Amnesty International said today.
July 7, 2011
Press Release
Amnesty International Welcomes Obama’s Decision to Hold Civilian Trial for Somali Terrorism Suspect but Very Concerned about Detention Aboard Ship
Contact: AIUSA media relations, 202-509-8194 (Washington, DC) Tom Parker, policy director for terrorism, (counter) and human rights for Amnesty International USA, issued the following statement in response to news reports that Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, a Somali terrorism suspect, was captured in the Gulf of Aden by the U.S. military and interrogated for two months aboard a U.S. Navy ship: "Amnesty International welcomes the Obama administration's decision to charge and prosecute Warsame's case in U.S. federal court. The United States' criminal justice system is the most appropriate and best equipped venue to adjudicate such cases. "However, the organization is greatly concerned…
July 6, 2011
Report
Report reveals crimes against humanity in Syrian town
In recent months, relatively small demonstrations in Syria have developed into widespread mass protests. On 14 May, a devastating security operation began in Tell Kalakh, a town in the western governorate of Homs near the border with Lebanon. Scores of men were arbitrarily arrested, tortured and at least nine died in custody. Amnesty International considers that the Syrian army and security forces committed crimes and other violations during this security operation that, when taken in the context of other crimes and human rights violations elsewhere in Syria, amount to crimes against humanity.
July 4, 2011