Urgent Action Network blog

Propaganda spread over walls, people who are unable to speak their minds in fear of being reported, and limited exposure to the outside world. I can only be describing the disturbing country of the Democratic People’s Republic of North...

Plots of films are often based on cases of mistaken identity. A character on the run, working against the clock to prove her innocence – or a blameless soul languishing in jail as a determined, impoverished, lawyer works away to save...

I met Chen Guangcheng this week. I can’t quite believe it. It’s not something I ever thought I’d be able to say. I felt a bit odd, knowing that about a year ago I’d been parked outside the Chinese embassy in central London with some of...

Update - 28 May: Faced by the continuing failure of the authorities to provide Beatriz with the treatment she so urgently needs, staff at the Citizens' Group for the Decriminalisation of Abortion (Agrupación Ciudadana por la...

Update, 17 May: We've heard that we were unsuccessful in persauding the Indonesian government, and the 3 men were exeucted late yesterday. Despite this awful news, we'll keep campaigning for Indonesia to step back from the death...

We’ve had a busy first few months of 2013, including our celebrations of the 40 year anniversary of the first ever Urgent Action being issued at Amnesty. We have also sent out over 100 Urgent Action cases already this year, which is a...

Thank you for your messages - we have passed these on to our research team in South Africa who will be using them this Wednesday at an anniversary event. We've now closed comments on the blog as we won't be able to send any new...

It’s hard to believe that it’s forty years since I issued Amnesty’s first ‘Urgent Action’. It was for Professor Luis Basilio Rossi, labour lawyer, academic and political activist at the University of Sao Paulo, who “disappeared” after...

It’s 40 years today since we issued the first ever Urgent Action, on behalf of Brazilian Labour Rights activist Professor Luiz Basilio Rossi, detained and tortured by the military junta all because of his political activism. Like many...

Update, 13th March We have received news that tragically, the seven men were executed this morning by firing squad in Saudi Arabia. People close to the men reported that seven mounds of earth had appeared in a public square in Abha...

Mao Hengfeng, a human rights defender in China, was sentenced to ‘Re-education Through Labour’ on 30 October 2012. It was the latest in a series of detentions dating back to 2004 because of her work standing up for human rights. The...

Today, our Director Kate Allen took a trip to the US Embassy in London. She was there to hand over more than 20,000 signatures on our petition to Obama calling for the return of Shaker Aamer, the 44-year-old former UK resident who was...

Update, 15 Feb . On 14 February, 181 WOZA members were arrested at a peaceful Valentine's Day demonstration in Bulawayo. The WOZA members were calling on police to respond to complaints about police beatings and brutality. The day...

Li Dehuai is the brother of Li Yan, who is on death row in China. After years of violent abuse from her husband, she finally snapped in November 2010 and repeatedly hit him over the head with a gun, to stop him beating her. This is his...

Arrested. In a bus with great people! #Azerbaijan #ProtestBaku — Emin Milli (@eminmilli) January 26, 2013 So tweeted Azerbaijani writer and dissident @eminmilli on Saturday. He is now serving a 15-day prison sentence. You can tell...

A 30th anniversary is often a time of great joy - marking a long-standing companionship or marriage, for example, or a significant birthday. But last Friday, on a London rooftop in the crisp winter sunshine, I joined a group of...

You might remember taking part earlier this year in one of our actions about freedom of expression in Azerbaijan , when the country hosted the Eurovision Song Contest. We were by no means the only ones to use that opportunity to shine...

Exiled freelance writer Li Jianhong (pen-name ‘Xiao Qiao’) longs to return home. As a new generation of leaders take charge of China’s Communist Party she is not optimistic for change. I used to expose government corruption as a...

2012 has seen some dramatic developments and good news in cases we have campaigned on for years. Here are just a few highlights: Chen Guangcheng’s extraordinary escape In April, blind Chinese activist, Chen Guangcheng escaped house...

“Everything is gone. My documents, my money. I’m in these clothes since [they demolished]. We’re sleeping there, by our house. Me, my wife and my 3 children. My wife is heavily [pregnant]. I’m trying to find somewhere for them to stay...