Amnesty International

February 13, 2012

Iran: Anniversary demonstrations on 14 February must be allowed to take place peacefully

Amnesty International is calling on the Iranian authorities to respect freedom of assembly and allow peaceful demonstrations in Tehran and elsewhere in Iran on 14 February 2012, amid fears that the authorities may once again use excessive use of force to quell protests, as has happened in previous years.The demonstrations - called by the Coordination Council of the Green Path of Hope - mark the one year anniversary of demonstrations called by opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, in support of the people of Egypt and Tunisia which were brutally repressed and left at least two people dead.Amnesty International also reiterated its call for the immediate release of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who have been held under unofficial house arrest since 10 and 14 February 2011 respectively. Mir Hossein Mousavi’s wife, Zahra Rahnavard, is also held, while Mehdi Karroubi is currently held on his own and has been denied any contact with his family since the day after he told his wife in December 2011 that he believed the upcoming parliamentary elections would be fraudulent.
November 19, 2011

“One Has to Do All One Can for Human Rights”

Antonia Bertschinger tells us of her work at the Swiss section of Amnesty International. She tells us how she came to be involved with human rights work. Bertschinger came to the work via her interest in Afghanistan. She studied Persian in university and worked in the Kabul Museum in Switzerland. "I loved working there because it helped me learn so much about Afghanistan. This did some awareness raising for me to learn what it’s like to live in a country where all the rights are violated, especially women’s rights, and which had such a long war, and so many other disasters. She ended up working in the Foreign Ministry in Iran rather than win Afghanistan, however. It was there that she met so many people working to build a better society and for the protection of human rights. Bertschinger asks of her own home in Europe, "How can we ever forget that human rights and the rule of law are the basis of our good life?"
May 30, 2011

Amnesty at 50

From BBC World Service, we hear the story of Maria Gillespie, whose torture and imprisonment in Uruguay were ended after an Amnesty letter-writing campaign resulted in tens of thousands of letters sent to the prison.
"I don't think that if I say 'thank you' it will be enough," Mrs Gillespie says of the Amnesty activists around the world who campaigned on her behalf."I think that I do owe them my life."Amnesty was founded 12 years before she was jailed.
Read more here or download the mp3 here.
April 28, 2011

In the news…

Arseh Sevom in the news during the month of April:



April 12, 2011

Iran: Parliament ignores concerns of independent civil society organisations over draft bill

PUBLIC STATEMENT 10 April 2011 AI Index: MDE 13/044/2011 Iran: Parliament ignores concerns of independent civil society organisations over draft bill Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi […]
April 5, 2011

Iran: Independent Civil Society Organizations facing obliteration

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC STATEMENT 4 April 2011 AI Index: MDE 13/037/2011 Iran: Independent Civil Society Organizations facing obliteration Two non-governmental organizations (NGOs) – Amnesty International and […]