Amnesty International: Surge In The Number Of Executions Worldwide In 2011

'Alarming' Surge In Executions, Says Amnesty -- BBC

Amnesty International says there was a surge in the number of executions carried out worldwide in 2011, mainly centred in the Middle East.

In an annual report, the group said Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia were most responsible for the increase.

But it also noted that China executed more people than the rest of the world put together.

Overall however, fewer countries now practise the death penalty, the group noted.

It said the number of countries using capital punishment has fallen by a third, compared to a decade ago.

"Only 20 countries are known to have carried out executions which means that 178 are not carrying out executions," Amnesty's general secretary Salil Shetty told the BBC.

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More News On Amnesty International's Report On Executions

U.S. ranks fifth in global execution league table as it’s revealed 18,750 people in the world are still on death row -- Daily Mail
Amnesty International: Fewer nations execute more -- CNN
Worldwide Executions 'Surge' - Amnesty International -- RIA Novosti
Amnesty alarmed by execution surge -- Al Jazeera
Executions on the Rise Around the World -- Atlantic Wire
Middle East tops Amnesty International’s annual capital punishment report -- Foreign Policy
Group: US is 5th-leading global executioner, but more of its states edge toward abolition -- Washington Post/AP
Amnesty International Says Executions Up In Middle East, Fueling Global Increase -- Radio Free Europe
Arab spring leads to wave of Middle East state executions -- The Guardian
Map: Nations that used the death penalty last year -- L.A. Times

Amnesty International: War Crimes Committed By Both Sides In Libya

Murder And Torture 'Carried Out By Both Sides' Of Uprising Against Libyan Regime -- The Guardian

Amnesty International report is filled with horrific abuses and killings by pro-Gaddafi forces as well as opposition fighters.

Rebels as well as pro-Gaddafi forces have perpetrated killings, torture and other abuses during the uprising against the Libyan regime, say human rights investigators.

The civil war that brought down Muammar Gaddafi has been marked by widespread atrocities on both sides, according to Amnesty International.

In one of the most comprehensive reports yet on the human cost of the six-month conflict, Amnesty offers harrowing testimony of the war crimes, killings of unarmed protesters and arbitrary detentions by Gaddafi's security forces. But it also lifts the lid on a catalogue of reprisal attacks that have gained less international attention during the revolution.

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More News On Amnesty International's Report On Libya

Report: Libya rebels may be guilty of war crimes -- CBS News/AP
Libya's rebel forces committed abuses, says Amnesty -- BBC
Libya war threatens spiral of rights abuse: Amnesty -- Reuters
Amnesty accuses anti-Kadhafi groups of war crimes -- AFP
Gaddafi, rebel forces both guilty of war crimes: Amnesty -- National Post
Amnesty finds abuses on both sides in Libya -- CBC
Report accuses both sides in Libya of war crimes -- Euronews
Report details human rights abuses -- UPI
Libyan Council Forces May Be Guilty of War Crimes, Amnesty Says -- Bloomberg Businesweek
Amnesty: Libyan War Threatens Spiral of Abuses -- Voice of America
Libyan Rebel Leader Warns Followers Against ‘Retribution’ -- New York Magazine

Amnesty International: U.S. Used Cluster Bombs In Yemen Missile Strike

US Missile 'Used In Yemen Raid' -- BBC

American missiles were used in a raid against al-Qaeda militants in Yemen in which women and children died in December, rights group Amnesty International says.

Amnesty has released images taken after the raid that it says show remnants of a US-made Tomahawk cruise missile.

Cluster bombs were also apparently used in the attack, which Amnesty described as "grossly irresponsible".

The US has said its troops gave support for the raid, in Abyan province.

But Yemeni officials have denied any US involvement.

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More News On Amnesty Allegations Of U.S. Missiles Used In Killing Civilians

'US missile' used in Yemen strike -- Al Jazeera
Rights group questions U.S. role in Yemen attack -- Reuters
U.S. Bombs May Have Killed 41 Civilians in Yemen, Amnesty Says -- Bloomberg Businessweek
U.S. missiles killed civilians in Yemen, rights group says -- CNN
Amnesty Int’l Report Claims U.S. Used Cluster Bombs on Yemeni Children -- Alertnet
US cluster bombs 'killed 35 women and children' -- The Telegraph

Amnesty International Releases It's 2010 Human Rights Report

Amnesty International Releases 2010 Human Rights Report -- Voice of America

There is still no scarcity of poverty and human degradation around the world. But Amnesty International says in its latest annual human rights report that people are being held accountable for some of the worst violations.

"We're very encouraged by the trend for example in Latin America where we had three former heads of states brought to justice from Peru, Uruguay and Argentina," said interim Secretary-General Claudio Cordone.

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More News On Amnesty International's 2010 Human Rights Report

Amnesty Says Governments Aid Rights Abuses -- New York Times
Amnesty's report condemns 'politicisation of justice' -- BBC
Amnesty: Powerful Governments 'Stand Above the Law' on Human Rights -- Voice of America
Amnesty backs world court, slams global injustice -- AFP
Africa: Amnesty International Reports on State of Human Rights -- All Africa
African security forces kill with impunity: Amnesty -- AFP
Asian conflicts exact heavy civilian toll in 2009: Amnesty -- AFP
Asia moved little on human rights in 2009 - Amnesty -- Reuters
Amnesty International report criticises UK’s record on deportation and torture -- UK Human Rights Blog

My Comment: The International Amnesty website and parts of the report can be found here.

Amnesty Releases Their Report On State Executions

Amnesty Says China Executed Thousands In 2009 -- Voice of America

Amnesty International has released its annual death penalty report, which shows the number of countries that use capital punishment is declining. But the report estimates that China executed several thousand people in 2009.

Arthur Judah Angel was sentenced to death in Nigeria in 1986 for a crime he says he didn't commit.

"Being on death row was like being in hell. You understand? In fact, it's very horrible. I don't have enough language – in English or my own – to explain it," said Angel.

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More News On Amnesty International

China executes thousands: Amnesty -- CBC
China challenged over executions -- Al Jazeera
Amnesty urges China to disclose execution figures -- BBC
Amnesty decry Iranian executions -- UPI
Rights group: Europe was execution-free in 2009 -- AP
Amnesty Condemns Widespread Misuse Of Death Penalty -- RTT News
U.S. the Only Country in the Western World to Use Death Penalty -- Opposing Views
Death penalty use decreasing worldwide: Amnesty report -- Jurist
China Executes the Most People in the World, But Texas Goes Big Too -- Village Voice

Amnesty International Tolerates No Criticism

Amnesty Defends Link With Former Guantánamo Detainee Moazzam Begg -- Times Online

Amnesty International is facing criticism after suspending a senior official who went to the press to accuse the organisation of double standards over its links with the former Guantánamo detainee, Moazzam Begg.

Gita Sahgal, the head of the gender unit at the human rights group, said that she was suspended “within hours” of the publication of an article based on an e-mail she had sent to her bosses criticising links with Mr Begg.

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More News on Amnesty International And Its Support For Guantánamo Detainee, Moazzam Begg

Amnesty International Reponds To Criticisms -- Eurasia Review
Amnesty faces outburst after suspending official over link with ex-Gitmo detainee -- One India
Amnesty shouldn't support men like Moazzam Begg -- Joan Smith, The Independent
How Amnesty chose the wrong poster-boy -- David Aaronovitch, Times Online
The moral bankruptcy of Amnesty International -- Robin Simcox, The New Ledger

Amnesty International Under Fire From Its Own Members

Amnesty International Is ‘Damaged’ By Taliban Link -- Times Online

An official at the human rights charity deplores its work with a ‘jihadist’.

A SENIOR official at Amnesty International has accused the charity of putting the human rights of Al-Qaeda terror suspects above those of their victims.

Gita Sahgal, head of the gender unit at Amnesty’s international secretariat, believes that collaborating with Moazzam Begg, a former British inmate at Guantanamo Bay, “fundamentally damages” the organisation’s reputation.

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My Comment: Gita Sahgal is 100% correct. She bears witness to how Amnesty International has become al Qaeda and the Taliban's useful idiots .... especially when they are putting terrorists rights ahead of victim's rights.

This is one of the reasons why Amnesty has been losing members and supporters over the years, and why they are now getting the label of being "wackos" when it comes to human rights.

15 years ago I always was always a donor to both Amnesty and Medecins Sans Frontiere (Doctor's Without Borders). Doctor's Without Border's now receives my Amnesty stipend.