On 4 June this blog referred to the controversy surrounding the question whether Bradley Manning should be a recognized AI Prisoner of Conscience. So it is fair to report that on 30 July 2013 AI USA came out with a statement saying in essence:
Read the rest of this entry »
Posts Tagged ‘Amnesty International’
Amnesty International USA comments on Bradley Manning verdict
August 1, 2013Saudi Website Founder to be Imprisoned and Lashed · Global Voices
July 30, 2013Global Voices reports today that Free Saudi Liberals website founder Raif Badawi was sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes. Badawi was arrested on 17 June, 2012 in Jeddah and was charged with “setting up a website that undermines general security” and ridiculing Islamic religious figures. The Free Saudi Liberals website was an online forum for public discussions. It was shut following Badawi’s arrest, and it had been blocked within the country for years. In todays sentence, the judge also ordered the permanent shutdown of the website. On December 17, 2012, the case was referred to a higher court, the General Court in Jeddah, after he had been charged with apostasy, which carries the death penalty. Badawi was asked by the judge to abandon his views, but he refused. Amnesty International has considered him “a prisoner of conscience detained solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression” and demanded his immediate, unconditional release.
via Saudi Website Founder to be Imprisoned, Lashed · Global Voices.
SAVE THE DATE: MEA 2013 CEREMONY ON 8 OCTOBER IN GENEVA
June 29, 2013The City of Geneva and the Martin Ennals Foundation announce the 2013 edition of Martin Ennals Award, which will take place on Tuesday 8 October 2013 at 18h00 at the Uni-Dufour, Geneva. The Laureate will be announced Read the rest of this entry »
Edward Snowden portrayed as a Human Rights Defender by US groups
June 28, 2013In a post on 4 June under the title “Bradley Manning not a Prisoner of Conscience for Amnesty International ?” I related the controversy surrounding the status of human rights defender for Breadly Manning. On 13 June, under title “Snowden a human rights defender? – Russia seems to think so” I referred to a similar issue with regard Read the rest of this entry »
Impressive coalition of NGOs urges action for arbitrarily detained human rights lawyer Khalil Ma’touq in Syria
June 5, 2013
New information obtained by human rights organizations has heightened concerns about the secret detention and failing health of a prominent Syrian human rights lawyer who has not been heard from since his arrest eight months ago! Read the rest of this entry »
Bradley Manning not a Prisoner of Conscience for Amnesty International ?
June 4, 2013
(Bradley Manning – (c) US Army)
With the trial of Bradley Manning coming up, there is a wide-ranging and not always educating discussion raging on LinkedIn and other fora about why he is not a ‘prisoner of conscience’ for AI. Two of the few more substantive but not very flattering statements – in the absence of a formal reply by AI of course – are reported here, but I should point out that the authors are even more scathing about HRW or other large NGOs: Read the rest of this entry »
AI 2013 report comes with short video
May 29, 2013
Amnesty International’s 2013 report comes with an introductory video which shows governments are using the excuse of ‘internal affairs’ in shameful attempts to block concerted international action to resolve human rights emergencies.
Related articles
- Amnesty International publishes State of the World 2013, which covers 2012 (thoolen.wordpress.com)
Double Bind: what to do if perpetrators are themselves being persecuted?
May 25, 2013Meredith Tax, a writer and political activist, has recently addressed in a book a most important and tricky subject: Double Bind: The Muslim Right, the Anglo-American Left, and Universal Human Rights, published by the Centre for Secular Space. Human rights defenders are supposed to protect the rights of those oppressed by the state or by non-state actors. Read the rest of this entry »
Amnesty International says new Greek legislation fuels asylum-seeker abuse
May 24, 2013
(Undocumented immigrants in the courtyard of a detention centre near the Evros River in northern Greece – (c) Reuters)
I would be amiss in not reporting the criticism by Amnesty International of my adopted home country: Read the rest of this entry »
Amnesty International publishes State of the World 2013, which covers 2012
May 23, 2013
Yesterday, 22 May, Amnesty International published its annual Report 2013 which documents the state of human rights during 2012. In five regional overviews and a country-by-country survey of 155 individual countries and territories, the report shows how the demand for human rights continued to resound in every corner of the globe… Resistance to injustice and repression took many forms, often inspiring acts of courage and determination from the communities and individuals facing seemingly insuperable obstacles. In the face of indifference, threats and attacks, human rights defenders pursued legal challenges at the national and international level to long-standing impunity and endemic discrimination.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 