Amnesty UK spokespeople

Sacha Deshmukh

Chief Executive Officer

Sacha has a long record of working in human rights, most recently on rights in war affecting families, children and displaced communities, but stretching back over 20 years in equalities and human rights. He spent six years as Chair of the Board of War Child UK and was previously the Vice Chair of Citizens Advice England & Wales.

Kristyan Benedict

Crisis & Tactical Campaign Manager

Kristyan’s work focuses on protecting civilians in conflicts such as those in Syria and Israel/Palestine, as well as developing Amnesty responses for sudden crises or other urgent work. He has a wide network of contacts around the world, especially among Syrian human rights activists. He is a frequent media commentator. Kristyan tweets @KreaseChan.

Chiara Capraro

Gender Justice Director

Chiara has a wide experience of women’s human rights issues, including working with migrant women in Italy, women living with HIV/AIDS, and sex workers in India. She has previously led women’s rights and gender equality policy at Christian Aid and Womankind Worldwide. She has been part of expert groups lobbying for women’s rights at the United Nations and has been published on women’s rights in various peer-reviewed journals.

Patrick Corrigan

Nations & Regions Director

Based in Amnesty’s Belfast office, Patrick’s work includes the legacy of the Troubles, press freedom, racism and refugee rights. Patrick has worked alongside victims of clerical child abuse and Mother and Baby Homes, is a founder of the Love Equality campaign for marriage equality, and a director of the Human Rights Consortium. An experienced political advocate at Stormont and Westminster, he is a frequent media commentator. Patrick tweets @PatrickCorrigan.

Tom Davies

I Welcome Refugees Campaign Manager

Tom is responsible for Amnesty UK’s campaign calling for an improved international response to the global refugee crisis. He co-chairs the #FamiliesTogether initiative to reunite refugee families in the UK, and helped found Amnesty’s highly-acclaimed Football Welcomes project working with clubs and refugees. Tom is an experienced media commentator. He tweets @tomdavies77.

Oliver Feeley-Sprague

Military, Security and Police Programme Director

Oliver has 25 years’ experience working on the global arms trade and UK policing. He gives evidence to various parliamentary committees and is a member of the National Taser Stakeholder Advisory Group. In 2018, he was part of the Amnesty team that helped publicly expose serious flaws within the Met Police’s “gangs matrix” database. Throughout the Yemen conflict he has provided expert comment on the UK’s arms exports to Saudi Arabia.

Peter Frankental

Economic Affairs Programme Director

Peter’s expertise include business impacts on human rights, international standards applicable to companies, and the civil and criminal liability of corporations. He is the author of a number of business and human rights publications, and is a frequent media commentator. He has been instrumental in Amnesty’s lobbying of the Premier League over the need for it to make the rules governing the ownership of English football clubs human rights-compliant.

Allan Hogarth

Head of Policy and Government Affairs

Allan has more than 20 years’ experience working on a range of human rights issues, including high-level advocacy. His work in helping to expose the failings of the Met Police’s “gangs matrix” database during 2018 led to him being invited to join the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime Reference group. Allan makes regular appearances in the UK media, including writing for the Huffington Post and Independent. Allan tweets @hogihogarth.

Felix Jakens

Head of Campaigns

Felix is responsible for Amnesty’s priority campaigns – including individuals at risk, death penalty, economic social and cultural rights, crisis response, attacks on human rights laws and human rights defenders. He is also Amnesty’s main spokesperson on sportswashing issues, including with regard to Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Felix tweets @felixjakens.

Kerry Moscogiuri

Campaigns & Communications Director

With 20 years’ experience at a senior level at Amnesty UK across a broad range of human rights campaigns, Kerry leads all of Amnesty UK’s campaigns and communications work. She is also responsible for Amnesty UK’s human rights education programme. She is a frequent media commentator, for example telling the Daily Telegraph in 2018 that the UK Government needed to "significantly escalate" its response to the jailing of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

Naomi McAuliffe

Head of Policy and Research

Naomi heads up our Team of policy experts and co-ordinates all the UK research projects for Amnesty UK. Naomi has worked across all of our policy areas in her time at Amnesty with particular expertise in gender justice, sexual and reproductive rights, devolution, policing and human rights defenders. Naomi has been a regular Amnesty spokesperson and writer for The Guardian. Naomi is on bluesky: @naomimc.bsky.social

Ilyas Nagdee

Racial Justice Director

Ilyas's work at Amnesty focuses on civil liberties, policing, counter-terrorism, securitisation, and building links with organisations and social movements to advance racial justice.

Lydia Parker

Campaign Manager – Right to Protest

Lydia campaigns on Amnesty UK’s domestic work - including trans rights, the Domestic Abuse Bill, and online violence against women. She has experience of working and campaigning with individuals and groups at risk, as well as human rights defenders.  

Grainne Teggart

Northern Ireland Deputy Director

Grainne manages our campaigns, strategic litigation, media & political affairs across a range of issues, including Northern Ireland Troubles, sexual & reproductive rights, Human Rights Act in NI, Good Friday Agreement 25th anniversary & others. Grainne has extensive experience challenging human rights abuses, including with rights holders. Grainne is an experienced political advocate at Stormont, Westminster & beyond. Grainne is a regular media contributor, and tweets @GTeggart

Polly Truscott

Foreign Affairs Adviser

Polly leads Amnesty UK’s work on foreign affairs. She has more than 20 years’ experience of international human rights law and humanitarian work, including with the UN and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Areas of expertise include: UK foreign policy, UN human rights mechanisms, freedom of expression, abolition of the death penalty, conflict situations, peacekeeping and transitional justice. Polly tweets @pollyinthecity.

Steve Valdez-Symonds

Refugee and Migrant Rights Programme Director

Steve’s areas of expertise include forced migration, and UK policy and practice on immigration, asylum and citizenship - areas in which he has extensive experience. He has worked on successive immigration bills since 2006. He is the author of Amnesty’s response to the Home Office - Windrush lessons learned review - and regularly blogs for Amnesty. Steve tweets @stevesymondsAI.

Lucy Wake

Government and Political Relations Manager

Lucy has over 25 years’ experience working on human rights and humanitarian issues. Lucy seeks to ensure Amnesty UK’s campaigning successfully secures commitments from the UK Government to promote and protect human rights, through both their foreign and domestic policy agendas. Lucy tweets @lucywake.

Jen Clark

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Director

Jen leads Amnesty International UK’s work on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, focusing on issues like social security, housing, healthcare, and food. With a background in human rights and humanitarian work, both in the UK and internationally, Jen is committed to ensuring that those affected by rights violations are heard in policy discussions. Her work addresses issues such as poverty, homelessness, inequalities, and barriers to accessing healthcare. Jen supports efforts to influence local and national policies, aiming to create solutions that reflect the experiences and views of those directly impacted by these challenges.

Neil Cowen

Scotland Director

Based in Amnesty’s Edinburgh office, Neil has a wide experience of working on economic and social rights, having previously worked and led on policy, campaigns and communications at the Poverty Alliance and Crisis. Heading up the work of the Amnesty team in Scotland, he is the lead spokesperson for the media in Scotland.

Karla McLaren

Government and Political Relations Manager

Karla is a Government and Political Relations Manager at Amnesty International UK, responsible for leading the organisation's advocacy, political strategies and relationships with Parliament and Government across a range of issues, including on Israel and Palestine, refugee and migrant rights, and human rights protections in the UK. Karla contributes to the leadership of the Government and Political Relations Team, ensuring the section's political communications are in line with the organisation's political strategy, maintains political impartiality and strengthens amnesty UK's brand with political audiences. Karla also leads the team's monitoring, evaluation and learning work.

Glenn Page

Wales Director

Glenn has over a decade of experience working with the Welsh Government and Parliament. He is the main spokesperson for the media in Wales. Glenn leads our work to strengthen and advance human rights in Wales, with a focus on devolved legislation and everyday rights.

Tom Southerden

Law and Human Rights Director

Tom leads AIUK’s work on the UK’s human rights legal framework, including the Human Rights Act, the European Convention on Human Rights, judicial review, and wider justice and access to justice issues. He also leads the organisation’s legal and policy analysis on protest rights and coordinates AIUK’s strategic litigation work in England and Wales. He previously worked as an asylum lawyer and holds a PhD in Legal Studies from the University of Sussex.