Press release me, let me go

I've blogged before about “honour killings” in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq – the area seems blighted by them. And, as blog readers will recall, it was a Kurdish family living in London who in 2006 killed Banaz Mahmod, the 20...

Yesterday’s decision taken by the High Court not to extradite four men suspected of involvement in the Rwandan genocide may have been an historic step, but it is deeply unsatisfactory. The High Court was quite right to insist that...

Lots of talk about protest today- not least the shocking footage that the Guardian’s got hold of, showing riot police shoving Ian Tomlinson to the ground shortly before he died of a heart attack. Some witnesses are saying that he has...

When Niluccio used the term ‘the g-word’ in our morning roundup today, I quickly whispered to another colleague, asking what he meant. Genocide. Yes, a word with serious charges and devastating consequences – definitely not a term to...

So, why are our troops in Afghanistan if they’re helping to defend a government like this one? … was the question in a couple of interviews I’ve done since I last blogged on Friday. Bearing in mind that interviewers were referring to...

It’s an echo of that (even grimmer, horribly grotesque in fact) mobile phone footage of another teenage girl being punished, filmed and then broadcast around the world as a “warning” and an “example”. A couple of years ago a teenager...

Who are the most difficult group of people to campaign onbehalf of? Who do people care least about? Prisoners. Why? The argument goes something like: Otherpeople who suffer injustice, poverty or disease have done nothing to deserveit...

A reflection: many years ago, back in my early days at Amnesty (a very long time ago, actually) there was a leaflet which asked people to think about everyday household items and how they can be used for non-conventional means. Well...

At last some of the leaders of the notorious Khmer Rouge are on trial for the numerous atrocities they committed during their reign in 1970s Cambodia. It’s only taken 30 years… An estimated two million people were killed by the regime...

As our office is situated just up the road from Liverpool Street, I’ve been following reports predicting that it’s going to ‘kick off’ in the City during this week’s G20 meeting with considerable (self) interest. And if the Met really...

…. said reporter Andy Davies on Channel 4 News, last night. Why? Because, he reckons, the Binyam Mohamed investigation will put to the test the intelligence service’s commitment to the rule of law. “This is a very important moment for...

It’s not even been a month and yet President Omar El-Bashir is blatantly defying the international arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court. In the space of a few days the President of Sudan has visited Egypt and Eritrea, and...

IMHO, there are four funny moments in Monty Python’s “Life Of Brian”. Namely – the famous “What have the Romans ever done for us?” scene (though it’s not as funny as you probably remember!), Brian’s mother (the excellent Terry Jones)...

How to spend Mothers’ Day? Breakfast in bed for your wife, lovingly attended to by your own little ones, or lunch out for your own Mum? Not big questions and certainly not as big as those posed by the big BBC 1 programme, The Big...

To me it’s one of those annoying – almost childish – examples of political bluster beloved by political leaders the world over – we’re the best, that’s it. Best army, best legal system, best food, best climate. Best, superior...

Can you imagine being told you have a few minutes to leave your home before it is bulldozed and destroyed forever? This has happened to thousands of people in Cambodia – as the latest documentary in the brilliant Channel 4 series...

Back in 1977 when the punk band The Adverts did their snotty (and excellent) “Gary Gilmore’s Eyes” they were obviously going for a bit of (then very vogue-ish) post-Ramones/Sex Pistols shock value. Strangely enough, thinking about what...

It's not everyday that we here in the Amnesty press office come across bizarre stories, but today is definitely one of those days. As highlighted on BBC News Online today, we've discovered that there is a witch-hunt in Gambia, which is...

It was going to get better when they invaded Iraq – and in one way, for a while, it did. Say what you like about the US-led invasion of Iraq (and it certainly wreaked havoc in many, many ways), but at least the Coalition Provisional...

A new exhibition launching this week lifts the lid on a world that few of us know about. Thousands of people in the UK are living a hand-to-mouth existence – sleeping rough or on people’s floors, begging for food and turning to...