Any investigation into the abduction and reported death of Pakistani journalist Saleem Shahzad must include the country’s feared security and intelligence agencies, especially the ISI, Amnesty International said today.

The body of Saleem Shahzad, who went missing on Sunday 29th May, was found close to his abandoned car in the north-west of the country, Pakistani media reports say. Reports also suggest that evidence of torture was found on the body.

Chinese authorities must avoid a violent crackdown on demonstrations in the country’s Inner Mongolia region, as martial law was declared in some areas to quell a fifth day of protests, Amnesty international said today.

“The Chinese authorities must respect freedom of expression and assembly for protesters. Given the heavy handed repression of similar protests in other regions, like Xinjiang and Tibet, there are real grounds for concern about the situation in Inner Mongolia,” said Catherine Baber, Amnesty International’s Asia Pacific deputy director.

50 artists join hands to create 50 Justice candles to support Human Rights

It is the first time for Amnesty International Hong Kong (AIHK) organizing such a creative event to campaign for human rights.  50 local celebrities and artists were invited to create 50 unique candles, with the topic of “Demand Dignity”, which symbolizes Amnesty International 50th anniversary, as well as lighting up human rights and hopes.

Authorities in China must clarify the current status and reveal the whereabouts of a lawyer and a journalist who have gone missing in the past week, Amnesty International said today as a clampdown on activists appeared to be widening.

Li Xiongbing, a prominent Beijing human rights lawyer known for taking on politically sensitive cases, has been missing since yesterday after he was telephoned by police.

Kyrgyzstan’s authorities must urgently investigate and prosecute those responsible for human rights violations during unrest in June 2010, Amnesty International said today after an international commission of inquiry found that the violence amounted to crimes against humanity.

Four days of violent clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks in the south of the country left around 470 people dead, thousands injured and hundreds of thousands displaced. 

Amnesty International haspublished satellite imagery and new testimony that shed light on the horrific conditions in North Korea’s network of political prison camps, which hold an estimated 200,000 people.

The images reveal the location, size and conditions inside the camps.  Amnesty International spoke to a number of people, including former inmates from the political prison camp at Yodok as well as guards in other political prison camps, to obtain information about life in the camps. 

22 April 2011

At least 75 people have been killed today in Syria during mass protests, local human rights activists told Amnesty International, as the government launched its deadliest crackdown yet on demonstrators calling for political reform. 

Security forces fired live ammunition at demonstrators who had gathered across the country following Friday prayers.

4 April 2011

The detention of China’s most famous artist and political critic, Ai Weiwei, is a troubling development in a widening crackdown on dissent that has seen dozens of activists detained over the last few months, Amnesty International said today. 

Police detained Ai Weiwei at Beijing airport on 2 April.  His wife and several members of his studio staff were also detained on the weekend. 

As the new government is installed in Myanmar today, Donna Guest, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director of the Asia Pacific Program said:

"The new government should take immediate action to stop human rights violations and put an end to the growing legacy of impunity in the country.

 As a very first step, and a matter of urgency, Amnesty International calls on the government to take the following measures:

-  ensure the unconditional release of hundreds of prisoners of conscience, which is long overdue.  

AI Index: IOR40/004/2011

Released on 28 January 2011

 

Released on 30 January 2011

Amnesty International has urged the Israeli authorities to end their harassment of Palestinian human rights activists after a well-known campaigner in Haifa was jailed for nine years and given an additional one-year suspended sentence earlier today.

Released on September 13, 2010

Amnesty International today urged the Israeli authorities to abandon plans to construct 238 new housing units in Israeli settlements in occupied East Jerusalem.

“The Israeli authorities must immediately halt expansion of settlements in East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied West Bank,” said Philip
Luther, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

Dear Commissioner,

According to the news reports, an activist was arrested for common assault on 10th October for spraying champagne at a security guard outside Chinese Central Government's Liaison Office at a peaceful assembly to celebrate the Nobel Peace Prize given to China’s prisoner of conscience Liu Xiaobo. She was released on a $500 bail and ordered to report to police next month.