Urgent action network blog

A tube of expired toothpaste. The Caitlyn Jenner edition of Vanity Fair. Cosmo mag. Malala's autobiography. Two years after she was jailed for whistleblowing, Chelsea continues to be punished over the odds for speaking out - and simply being herself.

The UK is the first foreign country to host one of Saudi Arabia's biggest football tournaments. It seems like our cosy business relationship with Saudi Arabian once again comes before human rights concerns... Has the UK forgotten about Raif Badawi and…

Raif Badawi has been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for more than 3 years now. The end of the holy month of Ramadan and the Eid al-Fitr festival is traditionally a time when some prisoners are released. Ask the King of Saudi Arabia to free Raif and all…

President Obama says he plans to review solitary confinement in prisons across the US. It's long overdue - thousands of prisoners languish in solitary. Albert Woodfox has been there for 43 years.

It's been three years since Raif Badawi's children last saw their dad - and if the Saudi Arabian authorities have their way, it will be 19 years before they are reunited.

We are concerned that Raif Badawi, the imprisoned Saudi Arabian blogger, will be flogged tomorrow morning. Raif's sentence was upheld and confirmed by courts earlier this week, and we fear authorities will immediately resume punishing him with 50 lashes…

What has become of the Saudi Arabian blogger? 50 days after his public flogging, we look at how Raif's case has become known around the world - and yet Saudi Arabia still refuses to release him. Meanwhile, our own government shames itself by not publicly…

Saman Naseem awaits execution any day. Just 17 when he was arrested in Iran for being a member of an opposition group, he was sentenced to death after an unfair trial and torture in detention. Ask the Iranian authorities not to execute Saman, and instead…

Saudi Arabia just flogged Raif Badawi in public - the first 50 lashes of his sentence of 1,000 lashes. All because he advocated free speech on a blog.

Yara Sallam, a passionate and intelligent human rights activist heads to court in Cairo this week after being locked up and silenced, simply for what she believes in. Will you raise your voice for Yara?

As we get into Pride season in the UK, we'll be demonstrating for those who are persecuted for their sexuality or gender identity. People like Ihar in Minsk, Belarus. When Ihar tried to set up a gay rights organisation, the police beat him. Ihar asked…

Nabeel Rajab, Bahrain's leading human rights activist and the President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, has been freed after two years in prison for calling for human rights reform. He wanted to thank Amnesty activists around the world who have…

You already risk detention and fines if you're brave enough to peacefully speak out against Putin's government. Things are set to get even worse, as a new law proposes to make street protest a crime. The crackdown on human rights in Russia continues, as…