Skip to main content
Amnesty International UK
Log in
2011 (64)
Jun 3 2011 12:06AM
Yemen. Crisis? Which crisis?

There’s a lot of discussion around about whether or not it’s "already a civil war” in Yemen, but unquestionably the country is in deep crisis. President Saleh’s tanks are on the streets of the capital Sana’a, the security forces have...

Jun 1 2011 9:59PM
Not like your daughter or mine: forced 'virginity tests' in Egypt

You might have missed the remarks made by an Egyptian general to CNN this week. He was talking about the army's treatment of a group of women who had formed part of a protest in Tahrir Square on 9 March. The general, who apparently...

May 25 2011 6:33PM
Gong! It's the Amnesty media awards

Awards sometimes get a bad rep. If it's (say) Ronnie Wood getting the Lifetime Achievement Award For Consuming Copious Amounts Of Drugs Whilst Being In A Top Stadium Rock Band, then you can kind of see why. (I exaggerate, but you know...

May 20 2011 4:59PM
Obama: fine words, but what about Shaker?

Reaction to President Obama’s speech on the Middle East and North Africa looks pretty mixed to me. For example, BBC News Online’s vox pop of some voices from the region was an interesting snapshot. Mohammed in Tobruk in Libya (ie not...

May 19 2011 1:08PM
Egypt. The story so far

As I've said on this blog before, there's always a tendency for media organisations to "move on" from an issue once the story’s been "done". This is basically what’s happened with Egypt. From those heady February days when images from...

May 17 2011 2:40PM
Is Gaddafi headed for The Netherlands?

Is Gaddafi going to end up paying an unintended visit to The Netherlands in the near future? It certainly looks possible. Of course he and others in the Libyan government are now busy sounding off about how the International Criminal...

May 12 2011 5:45PM
Has Holder got a grip on Guantánamo?

Interestingly the Today programme’s big 8.10 interview this morning with US Attorney General Eric Holder went from the killing of Osama Bin Laden onto the issue of Guantánamo and also the fate of former UK resident Shaker Aamer...

May 10 2011 5:30PM
Egypt: one hand, but no iron fist

The appalling attacks on St Mena’s Coptic Christian church in the Imbaba suburb of Cairo at the weekend have, understandably, got everyone rattled. Violent clashes between Muslims and minority Christians are obviously the last thing...

May 6 2011 1:08PM
The tragedy of Misratah

If, like me, you caught this week’s gripping Channel 4 News report on the aid ship trying to get into the besieged port of Misratah in Libya, you’ll know what this post is about (if you didn’t, see it here ). Reporter Alex Thomson...

May 5 2011 12:14PM
Ten reasons why we shouldnt accept the torture works argument following Osama Bin Ladens death

As the debate continues over "enhanced interrogation techniques" (ie torture) and how they have supposedly been shown to be effective because of Osama Bin Laden’s detection and death, here are ten reasons why we shouldn't accept the...

Apr 28 2011 6:21PM
A wedding in the Arab Spring

The row over the royal wedding invitation to Syria's ambassador to the UK has been an overnight media sensation (who knew the wedding was going to throw up these news angles?), but with Dr Sami Khiyami now persona non grata at the...

Apr 27 2011 4:06PM
Oh Guantánamo, up yours!

The Steve Bell cartoon in the Guardian today depicts President Obama in an orange jumpsuit being dragged off by Guantánamo guards to an uncertain fate … Indefinite detention? Interrogation? Torture? Powerful, arresting stuff. The idea...

Apr 21 2011 5:40PM
Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros: human rights defenders

News of the deaths of photo-journalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros in Libya yesterday is unbelievably sad. Two men in the prime of their lives wiped out in the middle of doing dangerous but incredibly important work. It must be...

Apr 20 2011 12:16PM
Egypts post-revolution will not be televised

The media caravan has moved on and Egypt is yesterday’s news. Which is precisely why it’s so important to focus on what’s actually happening now that former president Hosni Mubarak and others are under arrest and the country has...

Apr 18 2011 6:08PM
Libya: how bad is it?

I’ve been viewing a lot of entries in Amnesty's media awards recently and I was reminded of the way that sometimes it takes months or even years before the truth about human rights abuses finally emerges. It's feeling a little like...

Apr 14 2011 3:56PM
Essential Killing: plot spoiler alert - its about the war on terror

It's becoming almost passé to mention it (very 2005 ) but sometimes you realise the whole "war on terror" issue still has the capacity to hit home hard. At least that's sort of what I experienced watching parts of "Essential Killing"...

Apr 12 2011 12:20PM
The Arab Spring: been there, got the t-shirt

The Arab Spring has sprung. Peoples’ protests for better living conditions, political change, an end to corruption and greater human rights are a powerful reality across the Middle East and North Africa. Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Syria...

Apr 8 2011 7:02PM
Where are the Ramadan brothers?

As I've said before when blogging on these pages, the emotional upheaval of dealing with the fact that a loved one has disappeared must be horrendous. Really horrendous. I usually find even those clips of distraught family members...

Apr 6 2011 6:04PM
Goldstone: crying foul shouldnt derail justice

If a police investigator helped put together a big case file but later told a newspaper he'd altered some of his views on the investigation that would, I think, be unusual. But it wouldn't invalidate the original findings. This – the...

Mar 29 2011 5:58PM
The extraordinary affair of Iman al-Obeidi

Ever since Saturday when she burst into a press conference in a hotel in Tripoli, the world’s media has been riveted. Iman al-Obeidi , a previously unknown but apparently fearless Libyan woman, had the nerve to barge into a government...

2/4
2/4