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2010 (248)
Nov 25 2010 2:29PM
It'll take more than a Day

It’s heartening to see the news agenda give space to the issue of violence against women but it’s just a shame that it has to take an International Day for that to happen. As well as the Government’s announcement to allocate more than...

Nov 24 2010 2:46PM
Footballers wife faces execution in Iran next Wednesday

Khadijeh Jahed, also known as Shahla, is set to be executed in Iran next Wednesday, the 1st of December, according to Iranian media. She is the ‘temporary wife’ of Nasser Mohammad-Khani, a former striker for the Iranian national...

Nov 23 2010 12:33PM
UK carries on sending people back to Iraq, despite the dangers

The UK government has announced that it will continue removing refused asylum seekers to Baghdad, despite the European Court of Human Rights “effectively calling for a freeze on the practice”, as the BBC puts it . You may have heard...

Nov 22 2010 11:52AM
Another strange week in the life of Guantánamo

It’s been a strange few days on Guantánamo (even for seasoned Guantánamo watchers like me, and I’ve been bashing out Amnesty press releases on this miserable place since the first boiler-suited inmates were dumped there in 2002). First...

Nov 19 2010 1:54PM
Blasphemy execution for Christian Pakistani woman

There has been a lot of debate around about the justification of blasphemy laws in the media this week as a result of the news of the death sentence passed on the Pakistani Christian woman, Aasia Bibi. Our Pakistan expert was...

Nov 18 2010 12:57PM
On your own head tweet it

Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words posted on what is well known to be a social forum where satire, sarcasm and flippancy are staple features of any utterance, can never lead to a criminal conviction. So goes a new take on...

Nov 17 2010 3:19PM
Was Deep Sea the engaging setting?

Over the past few days Amnesty’s press phones have been hot. Calls for interviews and comment about the release of Aung San Suu Kyi came thick and fast on Friday and Saturday. The release of the Chandlers sparked a few calls for us on...

Nov 16 2010 1:52PM
The war on language: renditions

Ghost prisoners. Enhanced interrogations. Stress and duress techniques. Black sites. Enemy combatants. Spot the connection? Yes, as readers of this blog will certainly know, they’re all new – or rediscovered – phrases associated with...

Nov 15 2010 12:34PM
The release of Aung San Suu Kyi

I’ll be honest, I was caught up in the euphoria as Aung San Suu Kyi took her first steps of freedom in over seven years just before 11am on Saturday morning UK time. But 48 hours later and what does the pro-democracy leader of Burma’s...

Nov 12 2010 12:51PM
Suu Kyi set free? Well see.

Aung San Suu Kyi, is arguably the most famous prisoner in the world. She is one of Amnesty International’s longest running prisoners of conscience and an iconic inspiration to people across the world, who has come to symbolise the...

Nov 11 2010 3:04PM
Chinese whispers

I don’t know if you noticed, but David Cameron popped over to China this week. His stated mission was to improve trade links between the two countries and garner profitable business deals for UK companies. Whilst he was at it though...

Nov 10 2010 3:25PM
Hungary letting down Roma people

There was some welcome publicity today for the much-neglected scandal of discrimination against Roma people across Europe, as the BBC Today Programme picked up on a new Amnesty report on Hungary . (You can listen to the piece here –it...

Nov 9 2010 1:33PM
Damn wrong!: Bush on waterboarding

It’s a blast from the past, and not a very pleasant one at that. George W Bush’s remarks justifying waterboarding in interviews to promote his memoir are … frankly, appalling. Here’s a bit from today’s Times: Asked if he authorised the...

Nov 8 2010 1:29PM
Are Lib Dems downplaying human rights in China?

There are some things in life you expect as a given. Night follows day, rain on Bonfire Night, and the Liberal Democrats supporting human rights. But wait a minute, what was this on the Today programme this morning , none other than...

Nov 5 2010 5:18PM
Remember, remember the 7th of November

As regular readers of this blog no doubt you will, but lest we forget, this coming Sunday Burma will hold its first election in 20 years. It doesn’t take a psychic octopus (which is just as well ) to predict the outcome of this race...

Nov 4 2010 1:56PM
Indonesia in the media

There was plenty of media attention today on Indonesia. It focused on the erupting volcano , the displacement of up to 50,000 people, deaths from flash flooding and landslides , and an emergency landing for a Quantas aircraft. This did...

Nov 3 2010 2:01PM
Ashtiani: a death foretold but still preventable

Fears are once again mounting that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani in Iran is about to be executed. As readers of this blog will know, this 43-year-old mother has been in grave danger of execution for months. Indeed she has become the world...

Nov 1 2010 12:57PM
The Yemen cargo plot: no laughing matter

There’s a joke I’ve seen on Twitter along the lines of “buying printer cartridges will never be the same again” and you know what the joke-maker means. After the “underpants” bomb attempt on Christmas Day last year, there’s a bizarrely...

Oct 29 2010 1:36PM
MI6, torture, secrecy and dirty words

You can watch the first ever public speech from a serving chief of MI6 here , delivered yesterday to a select gathering of journalists. Given that the UK only stopped pretending that MI6 doesn’t exist in 1994, on the surface this seems...

Oct 28 2010 1:59PM
200,000 forced from their homes for a shopping mall and cinema

Its hard to imagine being woken up in the middle of the night by bulldozers which are literally tearing down your house while youre still in it. But this is a reality for nearly 200,000 people living in Nigerias town of Port Harcourt...

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