Recent News Releases
USA must investigate detainee abuse claims in Wikileaks files – Media ReleaseAmnesty International today called on the USA to investigate how much US officials knew about the torture and other ill-treatment of detainees held by Iraqi security forces after new evidence emerged in files released by the Wikileaks organization on Friday.
25 October 2010
Investigation needed into attack on members of Mexican indigenous community – News Update
Amnesty International has urged the Mexican authorities to investigate an attack on members of an Indigenous Triqui community in the state of Oaxaca after a man and woman were shot dead by an armed group with alleged links to the authorities.
22 October 2010
Zimbabwe court drops charges against diamond fields activist – News Update
Amnesty International has welcomed the withdrawal of charges against a Zimbabwean activist who was detained for five weeks after he exposed human rights violations in the country's diamond fields in Marange.
22 October 2010
Arizona must stop execution of man failed by his defence lawyer – News Update
Amnesty International has urged authorities in the US state of Arizona to commute the death sentence of a man who has been denied a hearing into his claims that he was failed by his court-appointed lawyer at his 1990 trial.
22 October 2010
Moscow mayor urged to protect freedom of assembly – Media Release
Amnesty International is calling on the new mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, to protect the right to peaceful assembly after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the city's recent banning of Pride marches was discriminatory.
22 October 2010
Anti-Smuggling Legislation Violates Refugee Rights
- Media release
Proposed new legislation aimed at tackling human smuggling falls far short of Canada’s international human rights and refugee protection obligations and will result in serious violations of the rights of refugees and migrants, said Amnesty International in response to the tabling in Parliament of Bill C-49, the Preventing Human Smugglers from Abusing Canada’s Immigration System Act, on October 21st.
22 October 2010
Mexico: Amnesty International urges Congress to amend the proposed bill to reform the military justice system -Public Statement
Amnesty International regrets that the proposed legislative reform is insufficient. The draft bill presented by the government yesterday to the Senate only envisages excluding a few human rights violations from the military jurisdiction and does not change the way in which allegations of abuse are investigated.
AI Index: AMR 41/080/2010
19 October 2010
Côte d'Ivoire: thousands still waiting to receive compensation over toxic waste dumping -Public Statement
More than one year after reaching an out-of-court settlement with the oil-trading company Trafigura over waste dumping in Cote d’Ivoire thousands of victims are still waiting to receive their compensation money.
AI Index: AFR 31/002/2010
21 October 2010
India: Government decision to reject Vedanta refinery expansion welcomed - Media Release
Amnesty International today welcomed the Indian government's decision to reject plans for the expansion of an alumina refinery by a subsidiary of UK-based Vedanta Resources, in the state of Orissa.
21 October 2010
Amnesty International observer at Omar Khadr trial – Media Advisory
When the trial of Omar Khadr restarts before a military commission in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
on Monday 25 October Amnesty International will be observing the proceedings. The trial was suspended in August due to the illness of Lt.- Col. Jon Jackson representing Omar Khadr. It was to begin on 18 October before the additional one week delay was announced on 14 October.
20 October 2010
Indonesia: Papua “torture video” demands independent investigation – Media Release
The Indonesian government should initiate an independent investigation into reports of torture and other ill-treatment in Papua over the last two years, Amnesty International said today.
19 October 2010
Dozens detained in Egyptian pre-election crackdown on opposition – Media Release
Amnesty International today called on the Egyptian authorities to immediately release, or charge with a recognizable criminal offence, more than 70 members of the Muslim Brotherhood group arrested this week.
19 October 2010
Human rights activists face persecution in China – News Update
Liu Xiaobo's Nobel Peace Prize award has put the international spotlight on his persecution by the Chinese authorities, who sentenced him to 11 years in jail for “inciting subversion of state power” after an unfair trial.
18 October 2010
Illegal Israeli settlement plans threaten Palestinian human rights – Media Release
Amnesty International today urged the Israeli authorities to abandon plans to construct 238 new housing units in Israeli settlements in occupied East Jerusalem.
15 October 2010
India: Government should ensure torture law meets international standards – Media Release
Amnesty International is today urging the Indian government to help end the routine torture of those held by police and prison authorities by ensuring the new Prevention of Torture Bill in India, 2010 meets international standards before adopting it.
14 October 2010
Morocco: Sahrawi activists on trial for visiting refugee camps – Media Release
Amnesty International is today calling on the Moroccan authorities to immediately and unconditionally release three Sahrawi activists set to face trial following their visit to refugee camps in Algeria run by the Polisario Front.
14 October 2010
Sri Lanka: International inquiry needed to address alleged war crimes – Media Release
Amnesty International has declined an invitation to appear before Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and calls again for an international inquiry into the evidence of war crimes and other abuses during the civil war.
14 October 2010
Former Guatemalan officials must face trial over extrajudicial executions- Media Release
Former high-ranking Guatemalan officials accused of involvement in the extrajudicial executions of prisoners should face prosecution in fair trials, Amnesty International said after the arrest of former Interior Minister Carlos Vielman in Spain on Wednesday.
14 October 2010
USA: Amnesty International seeks review of case of the ‘Cuban Five’ – Public Statement
In a report sent to the US government and released today, Amnesty International outlines its concerns about the fairness of the trial of five men convicted in 2001 of acting as intelligence agents for Cuba and related charges. The five are serving terms ranging from 15 years to life in US federal prisons.
13 October 2010
Amnesty International observers at Omar Khadr trial – Media Advisory
When the trial of Omar Khadr restarts before a military commission in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
on Monday 18 October Amnesty International will be observing the proceedings. The trial was suspended in August due to the illness of Lt.- Col. Jon Jackson representing Omar Khadr.
13 October 2010
Chinese Authorities Must Reveal Whereabouts of Wife of Peace Prize Winner – Media Release
The Chinese authorities must immediately disclose the whereabouts of Liu Xia, the wife of 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo, Amnesty International said today.
9 October 2010
Filipino farmer tells of enforced disappearance 'nightmare' - News Update
Raymond Manalo is a warm, softly-spoken young man with an infectious smile that belies the horror of his recent enforced disappearance and torture at the hands of Philippines security forces.
8 October 2010
Guatemalan president move to veto death penalty legislation welcomed
On the eve of World Day Against the Death Penalty, Amnesty International has welcomed President Álvaro Colom’s public commitment to veto proposed legislation that would lead to the reapplication of the death penalty.
8 October 2010
USA increasingly isolated as the world turns against death penalty - Media release
Ahead of World Day against the Death Penalty on 10 October, Amnesty International today urged the USA, the only country that carried out executions in the Americas in 2009, to end its use of this cruel and inhumane punishment.
8 October 2010
Liu Xiaobo's Nobel Peace Prize win puts spotlight on China rights violations - Media Release
Amnesty International today called on the Chinese authorities to release all prisoners of conscience detained in the country after imprisoned human rights activist Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
AI Index: PRE01/335/2010
8 October 2010
