Due to staffing changes, Urgent Actions might not be issued as regularly the next couple of weeks, and replies to emails will be delayed a bit. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience during this transition
Answer the call to defend people under immediate threat of grave human rights abuse.
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.
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.
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. Learn more about writing effective letters and emails.
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” – ODTÜ/Student Organized Pride March in Turkey (UA 83.18)
“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” – Bobomurod Abdullayev, POC from Uzbekistan (UA 232.17)
“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.” – Munther Amira, Palestinian Human Rights Defender (UA 26.18)
The health of Shafqat Emmanuel, who faces execution, along with his wife Shagufta Kausar, is rapidly deteriorating. Shafqat’s lower body is paralyzed, which means he relies on the help of prison guards, which is not readily available, for mobility. He has multiple bed sores, which according to his lawyer, are not being given adequate treatment, and his pain is worsening every day. In March, his family alleges, he was in a coma for three days and was not taken to the hospital. The Christian couple were sentenced to death for sending ‘blasphemous’ texts to a mosque cleric and have consistently denied all allegations. Imprisoned since 2013, the couple were convicted and sentenced to death in April 2014.
Quinn Moon and Tang Kai-yin, two of the 12 Hongkongers arrested in August 2020 by the Chinese coast guard and sentenced on December 30, 2020 without a fair trial, have been held without access to their families and family-appointed lawyers for nearly eight months. All requests from their families for direct communication with them have so far been denied. There are grave concerns for their condition and wellbeing, as both need medical care for chronic conditions.
On March 17, the NGO Russian LGBT Network reported that lawyers were finally allowed to visit Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev in a remand facility in Chechnya’s capital Grozny. They complained about ill-treatment and multiple violations of fair trial guarantees. They are being prosecuted on spurious charges solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression, including in connection with their real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity, and must be immediately released. All charges against them must be dropped.
On 23 March, an investigative judge set 6 April as the first trial date for Moroccan investigative journalist and vocal critic Omar Radi, who has been held in pre-trial detention for nine months in Oukacha prison in Casablanca. He will face charges of “harming the national security of the state” and rape. Omar Radi, who frequently criticised the government’s human rights record, was arrested in July 2020. Amnesty International had revealed in a report that the Moroccan authorities targeted him through illegal surveillance using a spyware produced by NSO Group, an Israeli company.
In March 2021, the Court of Appeals in Riyadh upheld the verdict of Saudi Arabian woman human rights defender Nassima al-Sada, confirming the final sentence of a five-year prison term followed by a five-year travel ban. Nassima al-Sada had appealed the sentence handed down to her on November 25, 2020, which was based on cybercrime laws but failed to specify the exact crimes allegedly committed by the activist. Nassima al-Sada is detained simply for her peaceful activism for civil and political rights, and for her advocacy for women’s rights and the end of the repressive male guardianship system.
Any day from April 14, 2021 on the National Congress could vote a requirement to process the bill nº 6.764/2002 on National Security Issues as an urgent matter and without public consultation while Brazil faces its worst moment of COVID-19 pandemic with more than 350,000 registered deaths. This bill proposal, based on the former national security doctrine from the military dictatorship, has the potential to threaten human rights. We demand a public consultation, analysis and public debate around the impacts deriving from this bill.
On March 24, 2021 the Santander’s (North) Regional Corporation for the Defense of Human Rights (CREDHOS in Spanish) received a threatening call from a unknown man self-identified as member of the Magdalena Medio Block of the armed group FARC- EP saying “stop making publications and being toadies, CREDHOS´ Staff is a military objective, you have 48 hours to leave Barrancabermeja”. Minutes later the President of CREDHOS received a threatening voice message. We urge authorities to fully guarantee their protection as per their collective reparation plan granted in 2016.
Prominent Russian opposition figure and anti-corruption campaigner Aleksei Navalny was arbitrarily arrested on January 17, 2021 after recovering from being poisoned. He was subsequently sentenced to two and a half years in prison for “violating the terms of a suspended sentence”. In prison, he is being ill-treated and denied adequate medical assistance despite serious deterioration of his health. In protest, he continues a hunger strike that began on March 31, 2021. Aleksei Navalny’s detention is unlawful and politically motivated. He must be immediately released.
On 18 February, Chad’s Criminal Court sentenced human rights defender Baradine Berdei Targuio to three years in prison and a fine for ‘breach of the constitutional order’. He was arrested on 24 January 2020 and spent nearly seven months in incommunicado detention before being charged in August 2020 with breach of national security, illegal possession of weapons, assault, and battery. Two days before his arrest, the human rights defender shared a Facebook post on the President’s suspected ill-health and penned an open letter to the President, expressing concern for the human rights situation in the Tibesti region in Chad. Amnesty International is concerned that Baradine Berdei Targuio’s detention is a sanction against his work as a human rights defender and therefore calls for his immediate and unconditional release.
Leading pro-democracy activists have been detained, with their bail requests denied, apparently to prevent their involvement in continuing demonstrations. Several members of the group may now face up to 165 years’ imprisonment, under legal provisions on insulting the monarchy (lèse majesté) and sedition. Authorities are targeting them and hundreds of peaceful protesters, including children, with criminal charges solely for peacefully exercising their human rights under laws that have been used to penalize the exercise of the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly.
