Syndicated

The bravery of protesters facing a spiralling deadly response by the Iranian security forces over the past days after the death of Mahsa Amini reveals the extent of outrage in Iran over abusive compulsory veiling laws, unlawful killings, and widespread repression, Amnesty International said today. Evidence gathered by the organization from the past two nights of fresh violence in 20 cities and 10 provinces across Iran points to a harrowing pattern of Iranian security forces deliberately and unlawfully firing live ammunition at protesters. With the death toll reaching at least 30 people, four of them children, the organization reiterated its…

Reacting to news that “voting” has begun in the Russian-occupied areas of the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions in Ukraine on whether to join the Russian Federation, Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said: “These so-called ‘referenda’ are a ruse for Russia to illegally annex occupied Ukrainian territory, which would be another escalation of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and further evidence of the Kremlin’s profound disregard for international law and the rights of people in the territories under its occupation. The Fourth Geneva Convention expressly prohibits annexation of occupied territory and…

Viet Nam’s government must immediately investigate allegations that prison authorities beat and shackled an activist serving an eight-year prison sentence, Amnesty International said today. “Being beaten, placed in solitary confinement and shackled for days on end amounts to torture or other ill-treatment. Authorities in Viet Nam must urgently investigate these allegations and any perpetrators must be held accountable,” said Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns.  Being beaten, placed in solitary confinement and shackled for days on end amounts to torture or other ill-treatment. Ming Yu Hah, Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns Activist Trinh Ba Tu was…

Responding to the detention of at least 1,386 peaceful protesters who took part in rallies across Russia following President Vladimir Putin’s call to mobilize additional troops to fight in Ukraine, Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said: “As President Vladimir Putin seeks to boost the dwindling supply of troops for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, thousands of Russians across the country have peacefully marched on the streets protesting against mobilization and the war. They are raising their voices even amid the stifling of their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and as new…

Responding to the Appeals decision by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) to uphold the guilty verdicts of genocide, crimes against humanity, and grave breaches of the Geneva Convention, against former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns Ming Yu Hah said:  “For all its well-documented flaws, the Khmer Rouge tribunal has shown that those responsible for crimes under international law can and will be held responsible. Today’s ruling should serve as another reminder that accountability for the most serious crimes has no expiration date.  “The tribunal has served as…

US authorities have subjected Haitian asylum seekers to arbitrary detention and discriminatory and humiliating ill-treatment that amounts to race-based torture, said Amnesty International today in the new report, ‘They Did Not Treat Us Like People’: Race and Migration-Related Torture and Other Ill-Treatment of Haitians Seeking Safety in the USA. These human rights violations, along with mass expulsions under Title 42, are the latest chapter in a long history of detention, exclusion, and the practice of trying to deter Haitians seeking safety in the United States, rooted in systemic anti-Black discrimination. “One year ago, the Biden administration condemned the shameful scenes…

World leaders at the UN General Assembly must support calls for the establishment of an independent international investigative and accountability mechanism to address the prevailing crisis of impunity in Iran. Their urgent need for action was demonstrated most recently by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, and the barrage of gunfire unleashed on protesters which has left at least eight people dead and hundreds injured, Amnesty International said today. Iranian security forces are violently quashing largely peaceful protests sparked by Mahsa Amini’s death on 16 September, days after her violent arrest by the “morality police” for not…

Ahead of tomorrow’s hearing by a court in Rabat on the case of human rights defender Rida Benotmane, who is being prosecuted for criticising the authorities on YouTube and Facebook, Amna Guellali, Deputy director for Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International said: “The only ‘crime’ Rida Benotmane has committed was to air legitimate grievances against the authorities in a few social media posts and videos. His case is just the latest attempt by the authorities to use absurd prosecutions to silence critical voices and highlights the worrying crackdown in Morocco on freedom of expression. The only ‘crime’ Rida…

Amnesty International’s “Write for Rights” campaign takes place annually around 10 December, which is Human Rights Day (commemorating the day when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948). Write for Rights aims to bring about change to the lives of people or communities that have suffered or are at risk of human rights violations. From 2,326 letters in 1991 to close to 4.7 million letters, tweets, petition signatures and other actions in 2021, people the world over have used the power of their words to unite behind the idea that geography is no barrier to solidarity. Together,…

Authorities in Egypt have shown no genuine will to acknowledge, let alone address, the country’s deep-rooted human rights crisis despite launching a National Human Rights Strategy one year ago. Instead, they have continued to stifle freedoms and commit crimes under international law in the lead up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), said Amnesty International today. In a new report “Disconnected from Reality”: Egypt’s National Human Rights Strategy covers up human rights crisis, Amnesty International presents a detailed analysis of the strategy in light of the human rights situation on the ground, revealing how authorities have used it…

The continued arbitrary detention of opposition leader and Member of Parliament Job Sikhala and MP Godfrey Sithole is revealing of the politicized justice system in Zimbabwe, Amnesty International said today, 100 days since their incarceration. The ongoing arbitrary detention of Sikhala and Sithole is unjust and abusive Lucia Masuka, Executive Director of Amnesty International Zimbabwe “The ongoing arbitrary detention of Sikhala and Sithole is unjust and abusive. It has caused unspeakable emotional distress to them and their families,” said Lucia Masuka, Executive Director of Amnesty International Zimbabwe. “Zimbabwean authorities cannot continue to incarcerate Sikhala and Sithole on trumped up charges.…

Drawing on a traditional form of popular protest across the world, demonstrators will bang pots and pans outside Congress from 11:30am-12:30pm on Thursday September 22 to call for an end to the anti-Black and traumatic ill-treatment of Haitian asylum seekers by US authorities, which amounts to race-based torture under international human rights law. There will be a press conference at 11:30 am. Amnesty International, Haitian Bridge Alliance, UndocuBlack Network, and Communities United for Status and Protection will lead the action on Capitol Hill, which coincides with the release of the report ‘They Did Not Treat Us Like People’: Race and…