Press release me, let me go

I was recently watching My Beautiful Launderette on DVD. My girlfriend’s idea. I wasn’t massively keen. I’d seen it on TV in the eighties and remembered it as only ok-ish. But, hey, it was pretty good! It’s definitely strange though...

Some of you may have heard Amnesty’s Democratic Republic of Congo researcher on the Today programme at 6.50 this morning. He spoke movingly of the dreadful impact that the conflict in eastern DRC is having on the general population in...

I was only saying two days ago that “good news” in the human rights world isn’t really a cue for unrestrained joy. Releasing a handful of political prisoners while leaving thousands in jail (Burma) is not exactly an occasion for...

Scatological humour has come under attack in Russia, as a broadcaster that showed an episode of South Park, featuring the above-named festive singing stool, fa(e)ces court proceedings and could lose their licence. They are also being...

Other Amnesty bloggers have got there before me, but it seems only right to say in this post that there’s a palpable sense of relief in the office today that Troy Davis has avoided execution in Georgia, USA – for now – following his...

Amid the reports that Burma’s decided to release 9,000 prisoners for good conduct, Amnesty has learned that U Win Tin – Burma’s longest serving prisoner of conscience who’s been in prison for 19 years – is free at last. At 78, U Win...

“His guilt or innocence doesn't matter. No one should be incarcerated for 33 years in the shadow of the execution chamber. It is an act of barbarism to keep any man in those conditions.” I could easily have written it myself, but this...

It’s not all doom and gloom at Amnesty International you know! In fact – there’s excellent news right here in this very post. Mohamed Erraji , the Moroccan blogger who was facing a two-year sentence for remarks made about the Moroccan...

There was an amazing news item on Channel 4 News this week. It was a film of a Taliban compound in Afghanistan. Amongst other stuff it had a stunning “film within a film” (“supplied to us by the Taliban themselves”, said C4’s Alex...

If you think we’ve got a crisis here, have a look at what’s happening in Malaysia, where a second blogger has been arrested this week as the embattled government seeks to clamp down on its critics. The government appears to be at risk...

Amnesty’s released a major new report on the global arms trade today. Some of you may have spotted the story on ft.com or in the Guardian today. Essentially Blood at the Crossroads outlines how weapons transfers to already volatile...

It may well have escaped your attention this morning but the president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, is here in the UK on a whistle-stop visit. He’s got a face-to-face meeting with Gordon Brown scheduled in his diary today. I’m sure...

So – the deal has been done. The papers have been signed. President Robert Mugabe has signed the historic power-sharing deal on stage with Zimbabwe’s new Prime Minister – Morgan Tsvangirai and leader of the breakaway opposition party...

Religious persecution, conflict around religious affairs and freedom of expression are issues that affect peoples lives on a daily basis but ones that we don’t usually associate as much with the western world. The Times has today...

More depressing news (sorry, but this is a human rights blog!) about executions in Japan around today. Three men in their sixties were hanged earlier this morning taking the number killed by the Japanese state this year to 13...

Just when you thought it was safe to tip-toe back into the blogosphere, you hear the depressing news that Morocco has jailed a blogger for two years . The person in question – Mohamed Erraji, a 29-year-old who blogs (Arabic only, and...

The Times carries a piece today , with some harrowing footage, about an excellent Human Rights Watch report revealing that civilian killings in Afghanistan from UN and NATO air strikes have tripled I the last year. It’s a very timely...

Unusual for Google , there’s no birthday cake or symbol of any sort on its home page to suggest that Google’s reached its 10th birthday today. Ten, eh? Normally this is the point where we say, ‘my, hasn’t time gone quickly?’ But on...

Breaking with the iron rule that everyone in the world must now write comment about the gun-totin’, bearskin-as-sofa-throw-owning, rather-nice-rectangular-glasses-wearing Sarah Palin, I’m not going to mention her in this post (oh … er...

Reports that Tony Blair’s sister-in-law Lauren Booth is “trapped” in Gaza after going there on the campaigning “peace boat” has got people talking again about the Israel blockade and Egypt’s closed border. I reckon that’s a good thing...