Press releases
Iraq: Over 900 people on death row face imminent execution - 4 December 2009
The Iraqi authorities must immediately stop the executions of more than 900 people on death row who have exhausted their legal appeals and could be put to death at any time, Amnesty International said.
The prisoners, who include 17 women, are said to have had their death sentences ratified by the Presidential Council, the final step before executions are carried out.
At least 120 people are known to have been executed in Iraq so far this year.
“In a country which already has one of the highest rates of execution in the world, the prospect that this statistic may rise significantly is disturbing indeed,” said Philip Luther, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.
Honduras: No return to “business as usual” - 3 December 2009
(Tegucigalpa) At the end of a 10-day visit to Honduras during the country’s presidential elections, Amnesty International today called for an independent investigation to ensure all those responsible for human rights abuses are brought to justice and the victims given reparations.China: Halt death sentences against Uighurs - 3 December 2009
China’s supreme court must carefully review reported death sentences imposed today on five individuals by a court in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of northwest China.
Thirteen people were sentenced by the court in the city of Urumqi, in connection with deadly violence that erupted after a police crackdown on Uighur protesters on 5 July.
Five of these were sentenced to death, and another two were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Somalia : Civilian deaths in hotel explosion condemned - 3 December 2009
Amnesty International condemns the unlawful killing of civilians in an explosion today at a student graduation ceremony in Shamo hotel, Mogadishu.
The blast appears to have occurred as people had gathered to celebrate the graduation of medical students from Banadir University in the hotel, in a district of the capital Mogadishu which remains under the control of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government. No one has claimed responsibility for the blast.
