Amnesty International USA is the US Section of Amnesty International, a worldwide human rights organization. http://www.amnestyusa.org/rss/en/actions.xml en Amnesty International Amnesty International hourly 4 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa20608.pdf Four Indigenous Land Rights Activists of India's Keonjhar District have fled their homes in fear of police harassment. Land reform activists face torture and ill-treatment in police custody. 2008-07-18T16:53:10-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa20508.pdf Spanish authorities are preparing to forcibly return Basel Ghalyoun to Syria, where Amnesty International believes he would be at risk of torture and other ill-treatment. 2008-07-18T14:24:39-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa20408.pdf Mexican national José Ernesto Medellín Rojas is due to be executed in Texas on August 5. He was sentenced to death for his part in the murders of two girls. He was barely 18 at the time, and was never advised as a foreign national to seek consular advice, as required under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. 2008-07-17T14:58:13-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa20308.pdf Dale Bishop is scheduled to be executed in Mississippi at 6pm local time on 23 July. He was sentenced to death in February 2000 for the murder of Marcus Gentry, while the person who actually killed Gentry received a life sentence. 2008-07-17T14:21:41-05:00 http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=11070 José Medellín, a Mexican national, is scheduled to be executed on August 5th in Texas, despite not having been informed of his right to seek assistance from Mexican consular officials. The US is obligated by Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations to inform foreign nationals of their right to seek consular assistance. Urge Texas officials to honor US treaty commitments by granting clemency for José Medellín. 2008-07-17T13:33:48-05:00 http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=11053 Jamaica faces a public security crisis. Those most affected are people living in poverty in inner-city neighborhoods largely abandoned by the state. Genuine security depends on respect for human rights and involves protecting people from violence in all its forms. The Jamaican authorities have a long way to go to fulfill their responsibility to ensure the protection and safety of their citizens. 2008-07-14T18:44:23-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa20108.pdf Hasan Qasem is believed to be detained incommunicado at the General Intelligence Department. He is in grave danger of torture, and Amnesty International considers him a prisoner of conscience, detained for his activities with the group Damascus Declaration for Democratic National Change. 2008-07-14T16:56:09-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa20008.pdf Members of the community of Uruapilla and of political group Organización Campesina Indigena y Popular Ricardo Flores Magon (OCIP-RFM) have been intimidated, abducted and attacked in order to force them to leave a disputed piece of land. 2008-07-11T16:56:20-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa14708.pdf Farzad Kamangar, Ali Heydariyan and Farhad Vakili were sentenced to death after convictions of enmity against God, a charge leveled against those accused of taking up arms against the state, apparently in connection with their alleged membership of the armed group, the Kurdistan Workers Party. 2008-07-11T16:22:25-05:00 http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=11046 Race continues to play an undeniable role in North Carolina's use of the death penalty. The North Carolina Racial Justice Act, H1291, gives defendants the right to challenge prosecutions on grounds of racial bias. A vote is expected soon, urge your Senator to support racial justice and vote for H1291 today! (Also, urge your Senator to oppose any amendment that would restart executions in North Carolina.) 2008-07-11T08:27:11-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa18708.pdf Governor Henry has the choice to accept or reject the 4-1 recommendation from the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board to grant clemency to Kevin Young. Young was sentenced to death for the murder of a man during an armed robbery of an illegal gambling operation. 2008-07-10T16:07:16-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa19908.pdf Tubagus Maulana Yusuf, Rio Alek Bulo, Nyonya Sumiarsih and her son all stand to be executed before the end of July in Indonesia. They are a part of a group of eight who will be executed shortly, as they have exhausted the appeals process and their pleas for clemency have been rejected. 2008-07-10T16:01:18-05:00 http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=11037 A local court in Istanbul ordered the closure of the Turkish lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender solidarity organization, Lambda Istanbul. The court ruled on May 29 in favor of a complaint by the Istanbul Governor's Office that Lambda Istanbul's objectives were against Turkish "moral values and family structure". 2008-07-10T12:43:51-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa19608.pdf Two men have been subjected to enforced disappearance and two others have been killed by paramilitaries in southwestern Colombia. Inhabitants of the area are fleeing for fear of their lives because of an increase in violence. 2008-07-09T10:46:03-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa19508.pdf Thomas Arthur is scheduled for execution on 31 July for the alleged murder of Troy Wicker. The state is pursuing his execution although his conviction is based on faulty testimony. DNA evidence exists which could help prove his innocence, but the State of Alabama has denied his request to conduct testing. 2008-07-09T10:38:10-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa11008.pdf Vettivel and Valarmathi Jasikaran have been detained for a further three months without charge in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Vettivel reports that he has been tortured by the Terrorist Investigation Division. Both are in need of medical attention. 2008-07-07T11:42:52-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa02708.pdf Prosecutors are planning to execute five death row inmates in July, the first of them Achmad Suradji. Indonesia carries out its executions by a 12 person firing squad. Indonesian authorities have publicly stated their intention to execute 57 long-term death row prisoners. 2008-07-07T11:37:55-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa19408.pdf Mohamed Abdelrahman Ferah was denied asylum in Germany, and German authorities are now preparing to forcibly return him to Eritrea, where he will inevitably face arbitrary arrest, incommunicado detention, torture and other ill-treatment. 2008-07-07T11:14:29-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa19308.pdf U Win Tin, the longest held prisoner of conscience in Myanmar, suffers from severe asthma attacks and lung problems and requires immediate medical attention. His health problems are due in part to the poor conditions he is held in, as he has been in solitary confinement for most of the last 19 years. 2008-07-07T11:07:47-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa18908.pdf Ziad Fakraoui is being held without access to his lawyer in Mornaguia prison in Tunisia after he was arrested but not charged with a recognizably criminal offense. He is believed to be a victim of torture when he was detained in 2005, and he is at risk of torture or other ill-treatment again. 2008-07-03T16:43:15-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa19208.pdf Peasant rights activist Rafael Gonzalez was threatened at a demonstration he helped organize. Two women, Maria Martin Domino and Fabiana Ortiz Sales were detained following the protest. Their lives and those of all members of the Semau peasant community in Guatemala are in danger. 2008-07-03T14:42:22-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa19008.pdf Human rights defender and lawyer Pervez Imroz's home was attacked with gunfire and a hand grenade on 30 June. The attack is an attempt to stop an investigation into unmarked graves believed to contain victims of unlawful deaths, of which Pervez Imroz is head. 2008-07-02T15:14:12-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa19108.pdf Father Alejandro Solalinde Guerra was told by Mexican officials that he must close down a migrants' shelter or it will be burned down. On 24 June, a group of residents and police broke into the shelter threatening to burn it. 2008-07-02T14:56:51-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa16308.pdf Conscientious objector Mehmet Bal is still on trial for his refusal to serve in the Turkish military. He is scheduled for a hearing on 25 August, at which point he may be sent back into military custody. He was previously beaten while in custody. 2008-07-02T14:45:13-05:00 http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=11003 For peacefully raising a flag, Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage may spend the next decade or more in prison in Indonesia. Please urge your representative to sign a joint congressional letter on behalf of two prisoners of conscience. 2008-07-02T12:59:10-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa8408.pdf Muhammad Hamid Ibrahim Sulayman, Hassan Bashir and Muhammad Salih received confirmation that they have been convicted of robbery and will have their right arms amputated. They have been denied access to legal assistance in order to appeal their sentences, and the original trials were unfair. 2008-07-01T16:39:35-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa16908.pdf Mahboubeh Karami is currently held in the women's section of Evin Prison in Tehran following her arrest on June 13. She was arrested following a protest she was not involved in, and she has been heavily questioned regarding her activities with the women's rights group Campaign for Equality. 2008-06-30T12:47:24-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa18608.pdf Members of the Medellín Youth Network, a group that works to empower young people to choose nonviolence and conscientious objection as a tactic in Colombia's armed struggle, was threatened with death by the Black Eagles paramilitary group. Their lives are in danger. 2008-06-30T12:19:24-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa18808.pdf Members of two trade unions and four non-governmental organizations, all working for human rights in Colombia, face death threats from paramilitary groups. The paramilitary groups have named the NGOs and unions as military tragets, and accuse them of being guerrilla sympathizers. 2008-06-30T12:05:52-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa18508.pdf Sheikh Talal bin Nasser al-Salah, a member of the ruling Al-Sabah family, was sentenced to death in December 2007 on drug-trafficking charges. Executions in Kuwait are usually done by hanging, and now the head of state, the Amir, is the only one able to halt the execution. 2008-06-30T11:55:10-05:00