Press release me, let me go

I was reminded this morning by Rev. Joel Edwards on the Today programme’s Thought for the Day that this week marks the run up to International Women's Day which is on Sunday 8 March. It was interesting listening to Rev. Edward’s...

You may have read some of the press reports about Marnie Pearce , a British woman living in Dubai who has been convicted – falsely, she claims – of adultery. She has just started serving a three-month jail sentence . Her conviction...

There are particularly concerning reports emerging today of the Kenyan army being accused of torture and murder of civilians. The UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Executions’s report also revealed that Kenyan police chief has...

I had started off the day intending to flag up the humanitarian appeal launched by Archbishops of Canterbury and York for Zimbabwe. But news coming through this afternoon about three Sierra Leone rebel commanders who were found guilty...

The government should be squirming. Except, somehow it’s not. Strange. We’ve got a man alleging that Britain’s finest Daniel Craig wannabies were there in his Karachi jail back in 2002 issuing not-so-veiled threats about “cooperating”...

There’s a scene in the Emir Kusturica film Underground that has really stayed with me. It pictures Belgrade zoo being bombed during the Second World War, with animals in their cages panicking and howling. A young zoo-keeper with...

I was going to post earlier … but got waylaid doing media work responding to news that Binyam Mohamed is finally getting out of Guantánamo. Good news though. Meanwhile, what to make of the acquittals in Anna Politkovskaya case? It’s...

Here’s one for you – what do a high-minded international literary festival and the shrieking members of a tiny religious cult have in common? Answer – homophobia! While the people, language and general manner of each could not be more...

The reaction of our campaigns director, when I told him that the Abu Qatada deportation case was back in the news today, was priceless: “Oh God”. He was no doubt recalling one of his first live TV interviews, a head-to-head with...

Dame Stella Rimington, former head of MI5, has spoken out in a Spanish newspaper ( syndicated to the Telegraph ) about her worries that the government is exploiting fears of terrorism to expand its powers and undermine civil liberties...

News that the Pakistani government is likely to allow the authorities in the Swat valley area of Pakistan to set up shari’a courts ought to give us pause. It’s not that the imposition of shari’a law will automatically mean that human...

So who won? Like everyone else, I can only see deadlock and “a lurch to the right” in the super-close Israeli election results . I can’t pretend I’ve ever paid much attention to domestic Israeli politics (I haven’t always looked too...

Belfast solicitor Patrick Finucane was murdered at his home, in front of his wife and three kids, on 12 February 1989, twenty years ago today. Since then, compelling evidence has indicated that UK state agents were involved in the...

What’s the proper response to nasty and violent attacks on women who were daring to go to a bar and drink with their friends? A demonstration? Letter writing campaign? Call for police investigations? Amnesty regularly uses all these...

I must admit I haven’t watched Panorama for ages. (Did I ever watch it? Yes, but I think the last time I actually saw one was that amazing programme where John Sweeney loses his rag after getting stonewalled by a Scientology spokesman...

Before the hugely popular films featuring Alex the Lion and Gloria the Hippo, for many Madagscar was known as a place where sugar comes from. Despite the growing interest in eco-tourism and the popularity of the Disney animations...

A man called the press office a few days ago to complain about our statements on the war in Sri Lanka. He said we were biased and did not understand what is going on there – ‘tell me where else in the world the government is bombing...

It’s a funny old world ain’t it? Take a couple of prominent speeches by our elected politicians in the House of Commons in the last two days. Yesterday: David Davis – of opposition to 42 days pre-charge detention fame – blasting the...

In my day ‘Punk’s not dead’ used to be the teenage mantra, a line beloved of Exploited fans the country over. Recently I reckon it’s more a case of the war on terror’s not dead. Hang on! You thought Obama’s (very welcome) promise to...

Now that the power-sharing deal between President Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai has finally been agreed, perhaps the people of Zimbabwe can hope for a brighter future? From where I’m standing for millions of Zimbabweans the...