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Photo: Solidarity image, with members of CCDA.

Attacks on defenders in Guatemala are rapidly escalating. In four short weeks seven human rights defenders have been killed. Three men from the Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA) and four men from the Campesino Development Committee (CODECA) were violently murdered.

It's important we call on authorities to stop this wave of killings - but also at times of crisis, the need to show meaningful solidarity with defenders becomes ever more necessary.

1.      Write a message of solidarity and encouragement to show these brave activists that they are not alone or forgotten. The world is watching! You could make a card or drawing or simply hold up a sign as in the examples below. Take a close-up photo of yourself holding your solidarity message in English or Spanish and share it directly with the CCDA or CODECA:

When people ask me what it is about Amnesty’s work that excites me the most, I simply say: “All of it. I’m passionate about it all.”

I cannot pick and choose which cases or issues most inspire me.

I am both horrified to hear about the crackdown on women human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia, and encouraged that Malaysian prisoner of conscience, Anwar Ibrahim, is finally celebrating his freedom after 20 years. I am proud of the work that we have accomplished so far on missing and murdered Indigenous women, and grateful that we continued to speak out for Bashir Makhtal, who finally returned home on April 21 after being wrongly imprisoned in Ethiopia for more than 11 years.

My journey with Amnesty started more than 30 years ago after visiting a campus display on prisoners of conscience from Central Africa. An overpowering sense of outrage compelled me to join the Amnesty group on campus instantly.

I have never looked back since then, and I remain deeply committed to Amnesty’s work today.

Since the 1990s, women in Saudi Arabia have been advocating for the right to drive cars. The driving ban was overturned last year, and women will finally be allowed to drive starting June 24, 2018.

But just weeks before the ban is set to be lifted, Saudi authorities have detained—without charge—and held incommunicado, some of Saudi Arabia’s most prominent and outspoken women human rights defenders, including University of British Columbia graduate Loujain al-Hathloul. At least 11 women human rights defenders have been arrested and six remain in detention. To Amnesty International’s knowledge, none have been charged with an offense. They have no access to lawyers or their families, and they are at risk of torture or ill-treatment.

The activists arrested have all peacefully advocated for women’s right to drive, an end to the male guardianship system, and gender equality. Arresting the most prominent women’s rights advocates could decimate the women’s rights movement in Saudi Arabia.

By: Nazila Nik

On June 5, web programmer Saeed Malekpour will turn 43 behind bars in Iran. This will be the 10th birthday he has spent in Evin Prison. He was 33 when arrested and has now spent almost a decade in prison.  Almost a decade. Let it sink in for a minute: A decade without even a single day of furlough.

Saeed Malekpour was an ordinary immigrant in Canada. He came here, just like thousands of others. Just like me.

In 2008 he was a permanent resident of Canada, in the prime of his life, with a seemingly bright future in front of him. Then he went back to Iran to see his dying father. It was not the first time that he had travelled back to Iran. But this time, unlike others, he was arrested on street and taken for questioning. That was the beginning of a surreal nightmare that still haunts Saeed and his family a decade later.