What is the Urgent Action Network?
The concept is simple: Take Action, Change a Life.
Urgent Actions ask our community of volunteers to flood the mailboxes, inboxes, phones and social media of authorities when someone is in imminent danger of human rights violations. Your letters, emails, phone calls, faxes and Tweets have helped to halt executions, support human rights defenders and free prisoners of conscience—people jailed solely for the peaceful expression of their beliefs and identity.
Please note that the US postal service has suspended service to some countries in light of COVID-19 – reach out to [email protected] if you have any questions.
How Does It Work?
STEP 1: Sign Up Today!
Sign up to receive Urgent Action emails. You can choose to receive all emails or a more limited number. You can also choose to receive emails on specific issues or regions.
STEP 2: Take Action Now!
Urgent Action emails specify the case, local and international government officials to contact, their contact information and suggestions about what to write, say or Tweet.
Our Educator’s Guide
Are you an educator looking for ways to engage your students in human rights? Find out how your students can show their power through letter writing!
In many cases, your action on these cases leads to better conditions for prisoners and their eventual release. Those individuals at the center of these Urgent Actions often send their thanks to Amnesty International, citing that these messages serve as a source of hope.
The reason we could resist the ban and move forward was the international support and solidarity by Amnesty International activists around the world. We could not have gone further without your support.
I am very grateful for all the support I received while I was in prison. Life in prison was very difficult and I was treated badly, but the support of those who believed in me made me strong.
My case once again showed how important solidarity and attention are in protecting the freedom of speech and human rights. I admire your noble work and boundless courage, dear activists.
Browse Urgent Actions
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Pastor, Missionary And Activist Released (Sudan: UA 260.16)
Petr Jezek, Hassan A. Kodi and Abdulmonem Abdumawla have been released after a presidential pardon. Petr Jezek had been sentenced…
May 17, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Human Rights Defender Harassed (Venezuela: UA 110.17)
Authorities forcibly searched the home of human rights defender Ehisler Vásquez and prosecutors threatened to indict him when he requested…
May 17, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Bahraini Opposition Member At Risk Of Torture (Bahrain: UA 111/17)
On 5 May, Nizar al-Qari, a member of the opposition party al-Wefaq, was arrested and taken to the Criminal Investigations…
May 17, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Forcibly Disappeared Bahraini Faces Military Trial (Bahrain: UA 30.17)
On 9 May, Fadhel Sayed Abbas Hasan Radhi’s case has been transferred to a military court. Neither his family nor…
May 17, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Blasphemy Conviction Demonstrates Intolerance (Indonesia: UA 106.17)
Christian Jakarta Governor, ‘Ahok’, was sentenced to two years imprisonment on 9 May 2017. Convicted of blasphemy against Islam, Amnesty…
May 11, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Lawyer and Activists Detained For Facebook Posts (Thailand: UA 105.17)
Detained lawyer Prawet Prapanukul, Danai, Wanchai and three others were arrested by a joint military security force on 29 April…
May 10, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Activists Given Six-Month Suspended Sentence (Chad: UA 92.17)
Two Chadian activists Nadjo Kaina Palmer and Bertrand Sollo have received a six-month suspended prison sentence. They are appealing this…
May 8, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Syrian Father Of Three Missing For 1403 Days (Syria: 101.17)
Today is Ali Mohammed Mostafa’s 55th birthday. He is a father of three who has been forcibly disappeared for nearly…
May 5, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Iranian Arrested At 15 Risks Imminent Execution (Iran: 94.17)
Peyman Barandah is at imminent risk of execution on 10 May in Shiraz’s Adel Abad prison, Fars Province, Iran. He…
May 5, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Philippines Senate Must Oppose Death Penalty (Philippines: UA 282.16)
Bills to reintroduce the death penalty in the Philippines are pending before the Senate, which resumed session on 2 May…
May 3, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Opposition Activists Released Without Charge (Sudan: UA 75.17)
Three political opposition activists, Mohamed Hassan El Bushi, Amin Saad and Motaz Al Ajail, were released without charge on 25…
May 2, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Dutch-Iranian Prisoner Denied Heart Surgery (Iran: UA 100.17)
Dutch-Iranian national Sabri Hassanpour, who has been detained in Tehran’s Evin prison since his arrest on 19 April 2016, is…
May 1, 2017