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.
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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)
On 2 May, Uganda’s Parliament passed the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Bill and sent it back to President Yoweri Museveni. The President has until 31 May to either sign, veto or return the Bill back to Parliament. The Bill criminalizes consensual same-sex conduct and has retained the death penalty in cases of “aggravated homosexuality”. It also allows a 20-year sentence for “promoting homosexuality”, which could outlaw any advocacy for the rights of LGBTI persons in the country. Criminalizing consensual same-sex conduct blatantly violates numerous human rights, including the rights to dignity, equality before the law, equal protection by the law, and non-discrimination. The President must veto the law and ensure the human rights of all individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, are protected.
Six men – Ali Mojadam, Moein Khanfari, Mohammad Reza Moghadam, Salem Mousavi, Adnan Ghobeishavi and Habib Deris – from Iran’s persecuted Ahwazi Arab minority face imminent execution. A Revolutionary Court used their torture- tainted “confessions” to sentence them to death in February after a grossly unfair trial. Iran’s Supreme Court has upheld their convictions and sentences, meaning they could be executed at any time.
After having served almost 75 days in detention for purported petty hooliganism, Belarusian human rights defender and educator Nasta (Anastasia) Loika faces unfounded criminal charges and remains in detention. The authorities are targeting Nasta Loika in retaliation for her human rights work. There are serious concerns for her safety, health and wellbeing. She must be immediately released.
At least seven individuals in Iran are under sentence of death in connection with nationwide protests, while dozens of others are at risk of being sentenced to death. The authorities have violated their fair trial rights and subjected many to torture and other ill-treatment, including floggings, electric shocks, death threats and sexual violence. Amid a spike in executions since late April, on 19 May, authorities arbitrarily executed tortured protesters Majid Kazemi, Saeed Yaghoubi and Saleh Mirhashemi in Esfahan, who were unjustly convicted and sentenced to death.
20-year-old Yuval Dag is serving a 20-day detention order at Neve Tzedek military prison in Tel Aviv for refusing to enlist in the Israeli army to which he was summoned for compulsory service. He was first arrested and detained for 10 days after refusing a conscription summons at Metzudat military base on 20 March. He had made his objection to military service on grounds of conscience clear prior to the summons date, but the army considered his refusal to be disobeying of orders. Days after his release, on 2 April, he was summoned and refused to enlist again, receiving another detention order, this time for 20 days. Yuval Dag is a prisoner of conscience. The Israeli authorities should release him immediately and unconditionally.
On 2 April, the tribunal of Sidi M'hamed in Algiers convicted prominent Algerian journalist Ihsane El Kadi to five years in prison, of which two suspended, a fine of 700,000 Algerian dinars (around USD 5,150), and ordered the dissolution of his media company, one of the last independent media outlets in the country, and a fine of 10 million Algerian dinars (around USD 73,862). He was convicted on charges of "receiving funds for political propaganda” and "harming the national security of the state", solely for investing money sent to him by his daughter into his media company and exercising his work of journalist. His conviction is a clear violation of his right to freedom of expression and the latest example of the Algerian authorities tightening their grip on critical voices and the independent media. He must be released immediately and unconditionally, and his conviction must be quashed.
On April 26, 2023, in the Ecuadorian National Assembly, the Minister of Energy and Mines of Ecuador accused the lawyer of the Union of People Affected by Texaco (UDAPT), Pablo Fajardo Mendoza, of being an "international criminal" for his defense of human rights, mainly of indigenous peoples and communities, against the impacts of oil company operations in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Contrary to its obligations to provide a safe environment for the defense of human rights, the Ecuadorian State continues to defame and stigmatize human rights defenders, especially those who oppose the impacts of oil industry operations and support climate justice.
At least 14 individuals are at grave risk of execution in Iran in connection with the nationwide protests, including for acts not involving “intentional killing”, in violation of Iran’s obligations under international law. The authorities have violated their fair trial rights and subjected several to torture and other ill-treatment, including floggings, electric shocks, death threats, rape and other forms of sexual violence. Since December 2022, they have arbitrarily executed at least four young men in connection with protests following similarly grossly unfair trials.
Michael Tisius is scheduled to be executed in Missouri, USA, on 6 June 2023. He was sentenced to death for two murders committed on 22 June 2000. Now 42 years old, he was 19 at the time of the crime, emerging from a childhood of abuse and neglect. He has been diagnosed with neurological deficits and brain dysfunction, post-traumatic stress disorder and dependent personality disorder. Experts have concluded that an older man exploited Michael Tisius’s immaturity and psychological damage to involve him in the crime. The governor of Missouri should halt the execution and commute his death sentence.
Zhanargul Zhumatai, an ethnic Kazakh journalist and artist, was taken away from her mother’s house in Urumqi, Xinjiang on 10 February. The state security police detained her after she communicated with people abroad and spoke out for the land rights of Kazakh herding communities. Zhumatai had previously been detained in an internment camp for over two years, where she developed some heart problems reportedly due to lack of medical care. Without access to her family and lawyer of her choice Zhumatai remains at grave risk of torture and other ill-treatment.
