Five leading human rights and civil liberties groups delivered a letter to President-elect Barack Obama on January 12, 2009, urging him to suspend the Guantánamo Bay military commissions and to ensure that the upcoming trial of Omar Khadr, a 22-year-old Canadian, does not proceed. The trial is scheduled to begin on January 26, six days [...]

Tags: USA

Leave a comment »

On the eve of the seventh anniversary of the first transfers to the US detention centre at Guantánamo Bay, Amnesty International is calling on President-elect Barack Obama to announce a date for its closure promptly after taking office – and make a reality of his commitment to end the human rights violations that have been [...]

Tags: USA

1 Comment »

In the context of the 7th anniversary of the first transfers of detainees to the US detention centre in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Amnesty International’s members across the world will be challenging US President-elect Barack Obama to undertake concrete human rights reforms in his first 100 days in office. The recommendations include: to announce details of [...]

Tags: USA

Leave a comment »

Amnesty International is publishing a media resource centre with up-to-date information, facts and figures, analysis and stories related to the US detention centre in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
The media resource centre, is being launched as a resource for the 7th anniversary of the first transfers of detainees to Guantánamo – on 11 January 2009.
Information on the [...]

Tags: USA

Leave a comment »

Industry claims that Taser stun guns are safe and non-lethal do not stand up to scrutiny, said Amnesty International today as it called on governments to limit their deployment to life-threatening situations or to suspend their use.
The call came as the organization released one of the most detailed reports to date on the safety of [...]

Tags: USA

Leave a comment »

“The US Senate inquiry acknowledges what has long been apparent – that the abuse of detainees in the ‘war on terror’ was not just due to a ‘few bad apples’ but that policies endorsed by senior US officials were a major cause of such abuse,” said Amnesty International today in reaction to the executive summary [...]

Tags: USA

Leave a comment »

The EU and European states should show leadership and heed Portugal’s call to put the need to protect Guantánamo detainees who cannot return to their home countries high on the agenda, stated Amnesty International today as it welcomed the Portuguese Foreign Minister’s commitment to offer protection to Guantánamo detainees who cannot return to their countries [...]

Tags: EU, Portugal, USA

Leave a comment »

Whilst a presidential candidate Obama Barack promised “unstinting resolve” to end the genocide in Darfur. The savedarfur.org campaign are asking you to demonstrate to the President Elect that you back his “unstinting resolve” and call on him to:

Protection of civilians from violence, starvation and disease
Sustainable peace for all Sudan
Justice for victims and accountability for perpetrators

It [...]

Tags: Darfur, Sudan, USA

Leave a comment »

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others announced that they plan to plead guilty to conspiring in the September 11 attacks and related crimes at a hearing before US military commissions at Guantanamo. All five defendants face the death penalty.
Prior to their transfer to the US military detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay in 2006, all five [...]

Tags: USA

Leave a comment »

US Congress Should Press for Sustained Results on Human Rights, Anti-Union Violence
Colombia needs to do much more to address its human rights problems before the US Congress should consider the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA), Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives. The letter was [...]

Tags: Colombia, USA

Leave a comment »