IRAN: Kurdish Man at Risk for Execution - URGENT ACTION

Amnesty International, Iran, August 30 2018.

Ramin Hossein Panahi, from Iran’s Kurdish minority, was moved to Raja’i Shahr prison in Karaj, Alborz Province, on 13 August in preparation for his execution. He started a hunger strike on 26 August, after which he was immediately removed from the prison’s general ward. He has not been heard from since. He is at imminent risk of execution.

For the first week following his transfer, he was allowed contact with his family but has since been barred from any contact with them. He has been denied all contact with his lawyers.

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AUSTRALIA: Children Locked Up - ONLINE ACTION

Amnesty International, Australia, August 28, 2018.

Right now, the Australian Government is keeping 117 children and their families locked up on Nauru in cruel and unsafe conditions against the advice of medical experts. Some of these children have been born in detention and all they have ever known is a life of guards, steel fences, and uncertainty.

Children grow up healthy when they are free to play, learn and feel safe with their families in the community.

The Australian Government is choosing to keep these children in unsafe conditions without access to adequate health, education or employment options. They can choose to end the harm and bring them to Australia.

We know with enough pressure we can change this.

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IRAN: Nazanin Granted 3-Day Furlough - GOOD NEWS

Amnesty International, UK, August 24, 2018.

Responding to news that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been granted a three-day “furlough” release from Evin Prison in Iran, Kate Allen, Amnesty International UK’s Director, said:

“This is welcome news and a much-needed respite for Nazanin.

“We hope two things will now happen – first, that this three-day period will be extended, but far more importantly that it’s followed by her full and unconditional release.

“This has gone on far too long. Nazanin is a prisoner of conscience who should never have been jailed in the first place. She should be freed once and for all and allowed to travel back to the UK with her young daughter Gabriella.”

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IRAN: Iranian Christians Arrested - URGENT ACTION

Amnesty International, Iran, August 25, 2018.

Iranian Christians, Victor Bet-Tamraz, his wife Shamiram Issavi, Amin Afshar-Naderi and Hadi Asgari, have been sentenced to a combined total of 45 years in prison solely for practising their Christian faith, including through attending Christmas gatherings and organizing house churches. If imprisoned, they would be prisoners of conscience.

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CONGO: Children Forced into Combat - ONLINE ACTION

Amnesty International, USA, August 21, 2018.

Thousands of children have been either forcibly recruited or tricked into fighting in the armed conflict by armed groups such as the Kamuena Nsapu. A military campaign launched by the government against the Kamuena Nsapu insurgency has cost thousands of lives and has displaced more than a million people, some within the Kasai region and others crossing into Angola.

Children, as young as 11, told stories of gruesome abuses including being forced to participate in the combat, sustaining injuries from bullets. They also said they were forced by Kamuena Nsapu leaders to drink mystic fluids, supposedly in order to protect them against bullets during combat.

According to United Nations agencies, the humanitarian crisis resulting from the conflict is worsening as more than 700,000 children are malnourished and need urgent assistance to recover from acute malnutrition.

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BANGLADESH: Photographer Arrested - ONLINE ACTION

Amnesty International, Australia, August 15, 2018.

Bangladeshi authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Shahidul Alam, well-known photographer and activist, who was detained by plainclothes policemen on 5 August 2018 after giving an interview to Al-Jazeera English on the current wave of student protests in Dhaka, Amnesty International said today.

At least 115 students were injured over the weekend as police resorted to grossly excessive force, including firing rubber bullets and tear gas at thousands of overwhelmingly peaceful student protestors. The students also came under attack from pro-government counter-demonstrators.

“Shahidul Alam must be immediately and unconditionally released. There is no justification whatsoever for detaining anyone for solely peacefully expressing their views. His arrest marks a dangerous escalation of a crackdown by the government that has seen the police and vigilantes unleash violence against student protestors,” said Omar Waraich, Amnesty International’s Deputy South Asia Director.

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TURKEY: Taner Kılıç Freed from Prison - GOOD NEWS!

Amnesty International, USA, August 16, 2018.

After over 432 days behind bars, Honorary Chair of Amnesty Turkey, Taner Kılıç has been freed from prison.

This has taken a year of tireless campaigning and countless people all over the world speaking out.

There’s no doubt that the huge amount of pressure put on the Turkish authorities has helped to secure Taner’s release.

Now, he has finally been reunited with his wife and daughters.

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MYANMAR: Free Former Child Soldier - ONLINE ACTION

Amnesty International, UK, August 10 2018.

Aung Ko Htwe was arrested and charged under Section 505(b) of Myanmar’s Penal code – a vague law which restricts free speech.

Laws like this have been used to jail people just for speaking out against the government, and activists are at risk as long as these laws remain in place.

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IRAN: Political Prisoner Lashed - NEWS

Iran Human Rights (Aug 5, 2018)

Iranian political prisoner, Mohammad Mozaffari, received 74 lashes at Evin prison. 

Iran Human Rights (IHR) condemns the use of physical punishments, such as flogging and considers it as a violation of human rights and dignity. IHR calls on the international community and human rights organizations to do their best in order to make the Islamic Republic stop the implementation of such inhumane punishments.

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ALGERIA: Imprisoned Blogger on Hunger Strike - URGENT ACTION

Amnesty International, USA, August 3, 2018.

Merzoug Touati began a hunger strike on 8 July in protest at his recent unfair conviction on charges of sharing intelligence with a foreign power “aiming at harming diplomatic ties" and "incitement to gatherings and sit-ins in public spaces". The charges were based solely on the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression, specifically a Facebook post that called for protest against a new law and a video interview with an Israeli spokesperson posted on YouTube that was critical of the Algerian authorities. 

Merzoug Touati has been held in solitary confinement since he started his hunger strike on 8 July, in Oued Ghir prison, Béjaïa. According to the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Mandela Rules), this amounts to prolonged solitary confinement and as such constitutes a form of torture or other ill-treatment. According to his lawyers, he is physically weak and the isolation has taken a heavy toll on his psychological well- being. Although the prison administration provides him with unlimited quantities of water and sugar on a daily basis, he is forced to pay for them since he is in isolation.

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