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/uaa28408.pdf?rss=actions A team of visiting pediatric cardiology surgeons from New Zealand are waiting to operate on 1 year, 2 month old Hamza Hassan Abu Habel in Jerusalem. Despite the fact that these surgens leave in 10 days, the Israeli authorities will not allow the infant into Jerusalem until 18 January 2009. 2008-12-01T18:26:16-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa27608.pdf?rss=actions Rang Lai Mro, head of a community of Indigenous Mro people, was sentenced to 17 years' imprisonment for an charge his lawyers disproved. Despite the authorities' assurances, he may not be receiving the medical attention he needs. 2008-12-01T18:10:02-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa30207.pdf?rss=actions On 23 October, a council of Supreme Court judges confirmed the death sentences of nine people found guilty of the murder of newspaper editor Mohamed Taha, and sentenced to death by a first instance court in November 2007. 2008-12-01T17:38:08-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa32908.pdf?rss=actions Journalist Drago Hedl has received a series of death threats, most recently on 27 November. The threats are believed to be connected to his investigative reports linking a high-level Croatian politician to the killing of Croatian Serbs in the town of Osijek during the 1991-1995 war. Drago Hedl's life is in danger. 2008-12-01T17:35:18-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa32808.pdf?rss=actions Nabil Khlioui has been held incommunicado at an unknown location since 13 August. The authorities have not disclosed where he is held, why he was arrested or whether he will be charged and tried. He is at risk of torture or other ill-treatment. 2008-12-01T17:30:43-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa32708.pdf?rss=actions Falun Gong practitioner Xu Na was sentenced to three years in prison on 25 November for "crimes" related to her membership of an outlawed spiritual movement. She is a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for the peaceful exercise of her right to freedom of conscience and religion. 2008-12-01T17:17:01-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa32608.pdf?rss=actions Basel Ghalyoun has been held in incommunicado detention by the State Security Branch in Damascus since 22 July 2008. Amnesty International is concerned that he is at risk of torture or other ill-treatment. 2008-12-01T15:39:18-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa326.pdf?rss=actions The death sentences against Canadian Mohamed Kohail and Jordanian Mehanna Sa'd have been confirmed. If approved by the Supreme Judicial Council, they could be executed at any time. 17 year old Sultan Kohail is still awaiting retrial at a General Court and is also at risk of execution. 2008-12-01T14:40:58-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa32408.pdf?rss=actions 'Abdullah Fandi al-Shammari's execution was scheduled for mid-November, following an intervention by the Crown Prince, he was granted a 30-day reprieve so his family could seek pardon from the family of the person he was convicted of killing. He is now due to be executed within 20 days. 2008-11-26T15:42:12-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa30907.pdf?rss=actions Indian nationals Sheikh Mastan and Hamza Abu Bakir have exhausted all possible appeals against their death sentences. The sentences are now awaiting the approval of the Supreme Judicial Council, headed by the King. If the sentences are approved, the two men could be executed within days. 2008-11-24T17:23:33-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa32308.pdf?rss=actions Darold Stenson is scheduled to be executed in Washington State on 3 December. He has spent 14 years on death row but maintains his innocence of the crime and has been pursuing a stay of execution in a bid to obtain modern DNA testing of evidence from the crime. 2008-11-24T17:16:55-05:00 http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=11479&rss=actions President-Elect Obama ran on a pledge "to partner with the people of the Gulf Coast to rebuild now, stronger than ever". Now is the time for change in the Gulf Coast. Ask the new Obama administration to commit to rebuilding the Gulf Coast. 2008-11-24T14:09:48-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa27108.pdf?rss=actions Dariush Hatemi is the only student activist out of the original 8 students that were imprisoned for defending the rights of their group. Dariush continues to remain in detention because he was unable to raise the bail of $50,000 required for his release. 2008-11-24T10:40:51-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa32008.pdf?rss=actions Dr. Vilma Nunez, president of a prominent Nicaraguan human rights group, and her colleagues are the target of a campaign designed to disrupt their work. Their safety may be at risk. 2008-11-24T10:37:33-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa06307.pdf?rss=actions Reza Alinejad is at imminent risk of ececution for a crime he committed at the age of 17. He has been granted a month to obtain the required financial compensation to be paid to the victims family, however if he is unable to produce the 1 billion Iranian rials (or $100,000), he is likely to be executed. 2008-11-21T10:55:35-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa27408.pdf?rss=actions James Balao, an Indigenous people's rights activist in the Phillipines disappeared in September by what members of his organization say were a group of armed men. Five legislators have now asked the Phillipine House of Representatives to conduct an investigation. 2008-11-21T10:49:30-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa31908.pdf?rss=actions 300 families from Anlong Krom village in the Kampot Province of Cambodia were forcibly evicted from their homes by large numbers of soldiers, police, military officers and Forestry ADministration officals. Some are also being treated in a hospital for physical injuries. 2008-11-21T10:36:28-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa31808.pdf?rss=actions Alexis Sinduhije, who is President of the Movement for Security and Democracy in Burundi, was arrested on 3 November and is now being held in a prison in the capital of Bujumbura, solely for expressing his political views. 2008-11-21T10:32:05-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa31708.pdf?rss=actions 11 migrants who witnessed an armed gang kidnapping of 12 women migrants in the Oaxaca state of mexico have filed a criminal complaint with the help of Father Alejandro Solalinde Guerra. They are at risk of reprisals by those who carried out the kidnappings. 2008-11-19T11:17:01-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa06808.pdf?rss=actions Ebrahim Mehrnehad, a member of the baluchi minority in Iran, has been sentenced to five years' imprisonment and is a possible prisoner of conscience. The three other members that were also arrested, have been released. 2008-11-19T10:46:20-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa31608.pdf?rss=actions Patricia Orozco has received death threats and threats of sexual violence by phone and text message, in an apparent attempt to stop her from campaigning on the right of women and girls to access safe and effective sexual and reproductive health services. She is at risk of attack. 2008-11-17T17:31:24-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa31408.pdf?rss=actions Five members of Me'phaa Indigenous People's Organization (OPIM) have been detained and charged with murder. They have been adopted as prisoners of conscience and the charges against them are believed to be politically motivated. 2008-11-17T10:56:49-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa31508.pdf?rss=actions Several members of this group have been arrested in the capital and are held incommunicado in detention facilities where torture and ill-treatment have been reported before, thus they are at imminent risk of being mistreated. 2008-11-17T10:29:49-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/war-on-terror/100-days/page.do?id=1051272&rss=actions Amnesty International urges U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to make human rights central to his new administration. The organization is calling for certain concrete steps in his first 100 days in office that would demonstrate a genuine commitment to bringing the United States into line with its international obligations. 2008-11-13T14:21:06-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa27808.pdf?rss=actions In a landmark ruling on October 7, 2008, Judge Ricardo Urbina ordered the government to release into the USA the 17 Uighur detainees still held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The government had earlier conceded that the 17 men are not "enemy combatants", but the government appealed the order, arguing that it "directly conflicts with the basic principle that the decision whether to admit an alien into the United States rests exclusively with the Executive". 2008-11-13T13:53:51-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa31308.pdf?rss=actions Akhtar Mohammed Mustafa and her son Melko 'Abbas Mohammed are being detained on illegitimate charges by the General Security Directorate in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. They may be subjected to torture or ill-treatment. 2008-11-12T16:46:03-05:00 http://?rss=actions Seventeen Uighurs remain in indefinite military detention in the US Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba more than a month after a federal judge ruled that their continued detention was unlawful and ordered their release into the USA. 2008-11-12T16:38:15-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa31208.pdf?rss=actions Dozens of activists in Saudi Arabia participated in a hunger strike on 6 and 7 November to protest against the detention and solitary confinement of nine men who are detained for their advocacy of peaceful political change and the protection and promotion of human rights, and are at risk of torture. 2008-11-11T17:14:48-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa31108.pdf?rss=actions Four men were sentenced to death by a criminal court in Iraq on 6 November 2008. They were convicted of being responsible for a car bomb explosion on 10 March 2008. Four others were acquitted for the same crime for lack of evidence and ordered to be released by the court. 2008-11-11T17:10:35-05:00 http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa28908.pdf?rss=actions Esha Momeni was released from Tehran's Evin Prison on 10 November. Her bail of 2000 million rials (approximately US$ 200,000) was met by the deeds to her family's apartment. Her father said that she is not yet being permitted to return home to Los Angeles. 2008-11-11T17:06:44-05:00