Media advisories

Amnesty International is calling on its supporters to mark International Women’s Day on 8 March by taking action in solidarity with women in the Middle East and North Africa. Thousands of individual actions are expected to be taken, with a focus on four countries – Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen.  

Iran: The organization’s members will call on Iranian authorities to release Nasrin Sotoudeh, a prisoner of conscience and human rights lawyer who is serving a six-year jail sentence at Tehran’s Evin Prison.

Saudi Arabia: The organization is calling on people around the world to share images and messages of solidarity with Saudi Arabian women activists and support them in their “drive to freedom” campaign to overturn the country’s ban on women driving:

 View Saudi Arabian women must drive their way to freedom, a short film produced by Amnesty International which can be embedded:

 

On 28 February Amnesty International will launch a new report “We are ordered to crush you”: Expanding Repression of Dissent in Iran.

The report, over 70 pages, is being released just ahead of Parliamentary elections in Iran, which are due to be held on 2 March.

It describes how, in the wake of pro-reform protests across the country in February 2011, the Iranian authorities have continued their crackdown on freedom of expression, with a wave of arrests in recent months targeting lawyers, students, journalists, political activists and their relatives, religious and ethnic minorities, filmmakers, and people with international connections, particularly to foreign media.

The report argues that despite the Government's claims to support the aims of protesters across the Middle East and North Africa - calling the events of 2011 an "Islamic awakening" - the authorities have implemented this crackdown precisely to prevent Iranians voicing calls for greater accountability and respect for rights.

Prime Minister Harper will make his second official trip to China next week. His visit comes at a deeply worrying time for human rights protection in China.  A harsh crackdown on the country’s human rights community throughout 2011 led to hundreds of arrests.  Many human rights advocates are still detained without charge or trial. 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo remains imprisoned. In recent weeks the situation in Tibet has deteriorated dramatically, with growing protests met by excessive and often deadly force from Chinese security forces.

At the same time, with considerable Chinese government interest in the Canadian natural resources sector, Canada may have more influence with China than ever before.

Canadian human rights advocates will argue that this is a critical time for the Prime Minister to take a strong stand for human rights in China.

Speakers:

“The scale of arrests and prosecutions are indicative of a new level of repression and send a chilling message to opposition politicians and journalists in Ethiopia – self censor or risk incarceration,” Claire Beston, Amnesty International’s Ethiopia researcher.

At least 114 Ethiopian opposition politicians and journalists have been arrested in the course of their legitimate activities since March 2011. By November, 107 of these detainees were charged on the basis of alleged involvement with terrorist groups.

The sheer numbers involved in this wave of arrests represents the most far-reaching crackdown on freedom of expression seen in many years in Ethiopia.

The report released today,  Dismantling Dissent: Intensified crackdown on free speech in Ethiopia, provides a comprehensive analysis of the arrests, charges and pre-trial proceedings.

•        Amnesty International believes that all the journalists and opposition members cited in this report were arrested primarily because of their legitimate and peaceful criticism of the government.

Ladysmith BC – The Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group (HTG) will hold a media briefing conference call on Friday, October 28, 2011, following the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) hearing on the merits of their land rights claims.  This case is significant because it is the first time that IACHR is considering a Canadian indigenous land rights issue.

“This represents a historic opportunity to address a human rights issue in Canada that could have far-reaching implications for the indigenous movement worldwide,” said Robert Morales, Chief Negotiator for the HTG.

HTG has had a longstanding petition against Government of Canada for failing to secure, recognize and safeguard the property rights of the Hul’qumi’num indigenous peoples in their ancestral lands.

Morales added: “We are not asking to turn back the clock and investigate historic wrongs; rather urging effective resolution of land rights and consultations with the Hul’qumi’num indigenous peoples regarding the on-going deforestation and development activities by private corporations.”

WHAT: Press briefing conference call following IACHR hearing on Hul’qumi’num land rights case.

Amnesty International launches a short campaign document calling on the Rwandan authorities to review ‘genocide ideology’ and ‘sectarianism’ laws that are being used to suppress political dissent and stifle freedom of speech in the country.

The months leading up to the August 2010 presidential elections, which President Kagame won with 93 per cent of the vote, were marked by a clampdown on freedom of expression through regulatory sanctions, restrictive laws and criminal defamation cases.

The Rwandan government has expressed a commitment to review laws which are used to criminalize criticism, but recent trials of journalists and opposition politicians suggest that Rwanda’s critics still face prosecution and imprisonment.

Amnesty International is calling on President Kagame to allow opposition politicians, journalists and human rights defenders to express their views without fear for their safety.

 

 

Beth Berton-Hunter,
Media Relations,
Amnesty International Canada
416-363-9933, ext. 332

A new brief by the international human rights organization Amnesty International calls for an independent review of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) response to ongoing land rights protests in the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory.

The brief, based on extensive eye-witness interviews, access to information requests, and a review of court transcripts, demonstrates that the deployment of large numbers of heavily armed police, including snipers, and the aggressive tactics used, were not only excessive, but could easily have led to the loss of life.

The brief calls for urgent action to ensure that key recommendations of the Ipperwash Inquiry are properly implemented by the provincial government and the OPP.

Confirmed Speakers:          

Alex Neve, Secretary General, Amnesty International Canada

Larry Hay, former Chief of Police, Tyendinaga Mohawk Police Service

Jim and Rhonda Kunkel, bystanders arrested at gunpoint during the April 2008 protests

Nicole Storms, Tyendinaga community member, para-legal, and eyewitness