October 2009

Professor Noam Chomsky, one of the world's leading intellectuals, is expected to warn that the far-right may take advantage of growing inequality and will urge people to organise against poverty, as he gives the annual Amnesty International Lecture this evening (30 November) in the Whitla Hall, Queen's University, Belfast. Posted: 30 Oct 2009

Amnesty International today (30 October) urged the Iranian authorities to overturn the reported four-year prison sentence imposed on a British embassy worker. Posted: 30 Oct 2009

Today at the United Nations after years of discussions and debates, the vast majority of governments - 153 in total - agreed a timetable to establish a "strong and robust" Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) with the "highest common standards" to control international transfers of conventional arms. There is currently no global Treaty on the conventional arms trade. Posted: 30 Oct 2009

Professor Noam Chomsky, one of the world's leading intellectuals, is expected to warn that the far-right may take advantage of growing inequality and will urge people to organise against poverty, as he gives the annual Amnesty International Lecture on Friday in the Whitla Hall, Queen's University. Posted: 30 Oct 2009

Amnesty International said the Sudanese government was responsible for the death and ill-treatment of a prisoner who died from tuberculosis in police custody last week. Posted: 29 Oct 2009

Kobra Babaei, an Iranian woman, is feared to be at imminent risk of stoning to death. Her husband Rahim Mohammadi was hanged fo Posted: 29 Oct 2009

The Sri Lankan authorities must act to ensure the safety of two female editors at a national newspaper who received death threats last week, Amnesty International said today. Posted: 28 Oct 2009

Amnesty International is warning that Zimbabwe is on the brink of sliding back into the post-election violence that marred the country last year, risking undermining the stability brought about by the creation of the unity government in February. Posted: 28 Oct 2009

In a new report published today (27 October) Amnesty International has accused Israel of denying Palestinians the right to access adequate water by maintaining total control over shared water resources and pursuing discriminatory policies. Posted: 27 Oct 2009

Amnesty International has today [26 October] called for a freeze on all international transfers to Guinea of weapons, munitions and policing equipment which could be used in serious human rights violations, in light of the recent violations carried out by Guinean security forces in brutal attacks against demonstrators in late September, and a decade-long string of similar attacks. Posted: 26 Oct 2009

Amnesty International today (26 October) welcomed the beginning of the Hague trial of Radovan Karadžic, the former Bosnian Serb leader, as an important step towards justice for the tens of thousands of victims of the Bosnian war. Posted: 26 Oct 2009

Amnesty International today (23 October) called on the Turkish authorities to allow Turkish citizens of Kurdish origin to return without fear of harassment and discrimination, as refugees begin to leave the Mahmur camp in northern Iraq. Posted: 23 Oct 2009

A Manchester student, Dilimulati Paerhati, has started a campaign for the release of his brother, who is believed to be held incommunicado by the authorities in northwest China and is at serious risk of torture. Posted: 22 Oct 2009

Many of the estimated 220,000 migrant workers in South Korea are beaten, trafficked for sexual exploitation and denied their wages for long periods despite the introduction of rules to protect their rights, Amnesty International revealed in a new report issued today (21 October). Posted: 21 Oct 2009

Amnesty International today (20 October) issued an urgent appeal on behalf of a British man who could be executed in China within days. Akmal Shaikh, a 53-year-old father of five from north London who is believed to be mentally ill, was sentenced to death for drug-smuggling on 29 October. Posted: 21 Oct 2009

Amnesty International today (20 October) issued an urgent appeal on behalf of a British man who could be executed in China within days. Akmal Shaikh, a 53-year-old father of five from north London who is believed to be mentally ill, was sentenced to death for drug-smuggling on 29 October Posted: 21 Oct 2009

The Afghan government and its international supporters must immediately set out a clear and effective plan to ensure a credible second round of presidential election voting, Amnesty International said today. Posted: 20 Oct 2009

A law in Uruguay that has allowed the police and military to get away with torture and murder should be annulled, Amnesty International said today, as the country prepares to vote in a referendum on the future of the law. Posted: 19 Oct 2009

Amnesty International has expressed dismay at Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's invitation to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to attend the special African Union summit on refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons in Africa, scheduled to begin on Monday 19 October 2009 in Kampala - Uganda's capital. Posted: 17 Oct 2009

Reacting to news reports that a plane carrying refused Iraqi asylum-seekers from the UK arrived in Baghdad yesterday (15 October), Amnesty International stressed that removals to southern and central Iraq are not safe and should not take place. Posted: 16 Oct 2009