Amnesty International news stories on Newser

Home of America's Cruelest Prisons: Arizona

Kate Schwartz — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 19:00:05 CDT

Of all the places to commit a crime, you may want to avoid Arizona. Amnesty International today released a report blasting the state's "cruel isolation" practices. It claims that Arizona's state prisons overuse solitary confinement, with prisoners spending as long as 15 years alone in a windowless cell for 22...

US World's No. 5 Executioner: Amnesty

Kevin Spak — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 07:11:02 CDT

Fewer countries than ever are executing people, but those countries are doing so with gusto, according to a new report from Amnesty International. Just 20 nations still use the death penalty. The US executed 43 people last year, making it 5th globally, and the only Western democracy on the list,...

Russia: We Won't Stop Arming Assad

Rob Quinn — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 05:41:18 CDT

Russia has rejected calls to stop arming and training Bashar al-Assad's regime, despite evidence that its weapons are being used against civilians. "Russia enjoys good and strong military technical co-operation with Syria, and we see no reason today to reconsider it," Russia's deputy defense minister said yesterday, insisting that existing...

Libyan Detainees Tortured to Death: Amnesty

Matt Cantor — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:00:05 CST

Some of Libya's reported 8,500 detainees have died following torture, says Amnesty International, citing patients with open head, limb, and back wounds. "The torture is being carried out by officially recognized military and security entities as well as by a multitude of armed militias operating outside any legal framework,...

Saudi Arabia Takes Heat Over Beheading of 'Witch'

John Johnson — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 11:46:05 CST

It sounds like something out of the wrong century, but Amnesty International finds itself condemning Saudi Arabia for beheading a woman accused of being a witch. Amina bin Salem Nasser was decapitated yesterday after being convicted on charges of "witchcraft and sorcery," though the government didn't spell out exactly what...

Amnesty Demands Bush's Arrest

Matt Cantor — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:40:34 CST

George W. Bush should be arrested for his role in waterboarding, Amnesty International says, and his trip to Africa presents an opportunity for that. “International law requires that there be no safe haven for those responsible for torture; Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia must seize this opportunity to fulfill their obligations...

Syrian Hospitals Torturing Protesters: Amnesty

Kevin Spak — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 10:46:38 CDT

Wounded Syrian protesters would be well-advised to avoid state-run hospitals—because security forces and medical staff are torturing people within them, Amnesty International alleges in a new report. “Syrian authorities seem to have given the security forces a free rein in hospitals,” one Amnesty researcher said, according to the Guardian...

Amnesty International to Canada: Bust Bush

Rob Quinn — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 04:35:00 CDT

George W. Bush is visiting Canada next week and international law requires the country to arrest him for torture and war crimes ... according to Amnesty International. The group has sent a thousand-page memorandum to Canadian authorities explaining why the former president should be behind bars, Politico reports. Bush's own memoirs...

Troy Davis: I Want to Take a Polygraph Test

Evann Gastaldo — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 06:23:52 CDT

Troy Davis is hours from death, but he’s not giving up. The Georgia death row inmate, who claims he was wrongly convicted of killing a police officer in 1989, wants to take a polygraph test. "Mr. Davis believes he is innocent and he wants to show it," his lawyer said...