Livewire - Amnesty International blogging for human rights

Massive street demonstrations were met with waves of arrests, reported killings and, it is now becoming clear that human rights activists are now also being targeted.

On 16 June, lawyer human rights defender Abdolfattah Soltani was arrested at his office. His case has been taken up by Amnesty International and its global membership is campaigning for his release.

Continue reading ‘And now the human rights defenders…’

On 12 June, Amnesty International launched a report called ‘Twenty years of make-believe: Sri Lanka’s Commissions of Inquiry.’ The report highlights decades of the Sri Lankan governments failure to pursue accountability and justice in the face of widespread human rights abuses.

In conjunction with the launch of the report, Amnesty travelled to the UN Human Rights Council and hosted a panel discussion on impunity and rule of law in Sri Lanka.

Continue reading ‘Seeking Justice at the UN Human Rights Council’

A video posted on Youtube this week graphically brings home the often degrading nature of forced expulsions of irregular migrants. The footage of a man lying on his stomach on the airport tarmac, his arms and legs tied together behind his back and apparently being gagged was shot by a passenger waiting for flight IB3722 to Dakar at Madrid airport on 15 June.

Finally, he is picked up off the ground by two police officers, still tied up, and put in the back of the police van, more like a piece of luggage than a human being. It appears that the pilot of the plane refused to transport a man in such conditions, and other passengers refused to travel with him.

Continue reading ‘Reaction to youtube video of expulsion’