Hammad Albalawi, head of Saudi Arabia's 2034 World Cup bid unit, said his country welcomes all visitors, including LGBTQ people and their bid to host the 48-team showpiece event has nothing to do with 'sportswashing' their human rights record.
'The law under the guise of security represents a grave and unnecessary expansion of State power at the cost of fundamental rights,' asserts Aakar Patel.
The CBI had sought the sanction of the government to prosecute the international human rights organisation because of mandatory clause of Section 40 of the FCRA.
Amnesty International on Friday asked the Kerala authorities to ensure an independent investigation into allegations of police inaction in a case involving the rape and brutal murder of a 30-year-old Dalit woman in the state.
An Amnesty International team, on a week-long visit to Kashmir valley to assess the situation on the human rights front, on Tuesday met a number of separatist leaders.
It is shameful that Kashmir Times has been attacked in the way it has and that Anuradha Bhasin has not found more voices to speak in support of her and her paper, points out Aakar Patel.
Amnesty International on Saturday described human rights activist Binayak Sen as a prisoner of conscience and flayed his conviction by a Chhatisgarh court, saying it violated international standards of fair trial. The prison term awarded to Sen has evoked outrage among social activists in India, who warned that the politically-motivated charges could enflame tensions in the country's conflict-hit areas. The international rights body appealed to the Indian government.
A former Bangladeshi beauty queen, Meghna Alam, has been detained for allegedly setting up a honey trap for a former Saudi ambassador in Dhaka, in an attempt to extort USD 5 million. Alam, who runs a charity, was initially detained without charge under the controversial Special Powers Act. Her arrest sparked a media outcry and concerns by rights watchdogs. Alam denies the allegations, claiming the diplomat wanted to marry her. The Saudi embassy has not commented, but media reports suggest the envoy left Bangladesh as the scandal unfolded.
A senior Indian official at Amnesty International, Gita Sahgal, who was suspended after she complained that the human rights organisation was closely linked to a 'pro-jihadi group,' has left her job.
The human rights organisation has called for an independent inquiry into the selective leaks of information.
Millions of Pakistanis in the country's northwest tribal areas live in a "human rights-free Zone" where they have no legal protection from the government and are subjected to abuses by the Taliban, the Amnesty International has said.
Last year, Saudi announced the opening of an alcohol shop in the Diplomatic Quarter of Riyadh to combat the black market and illegal imports. The store is only for non-Muslim diplomats, who must present diplomatic identification before they buy.
The report contains 58 case studies of alleged excesses by the armed forces in the state.
'Criticism that Amnesty is interested in those in favour of independence for Kashmir is unfounded.'
The human rights group said thousands of Islamists arrested during the January crack down were released within days or weeks.
Ahead of a crucial vote in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva seeking to censure Sri Lanka on alleged war-time human rights violations, Amnesty International on Tuesday raised the pitch, saying the world body must support an independent international investigation.
The international human rights organisation said security forces abused rights using provision contained in special security laws, including POTA.
Though India did not carry out any executions in the last five years, a noted human rights body on Tuesday called on the government to ban death sentences.
Tough crackdown on terror in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks, activities of anti-Naxal force Salwa Judum and anti-Christian riots have been listed by Amnesty international among others as alleged human rights issues facing the country.
The Jammu and Kashmir government 'is holding hundreds of people each year without charge or trial to keep them out of circulation', alleged an Amnesty International report released in Srinagar on Monday.
"The signing of the pact sends a clear signal that the Indian government lacks that commitment to bring to justice even those accused of genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity," the human rights body said.
Far-reaching procedural and institutional reform, and not the death penalty, is needed to tackle the endemic problem of violence against women in India, stated human rights organisation Amnesty International India, after a New Delhi court sentenced to death four men in the December 16 gang-rape case.
China and the United States still remain among the top countries executing prisoners, resisting the global trend of abolishing death penalty, an Amnesty International report has revealed.
The peace plan included that Gaza will be a deradicalised, terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbours and will be redeveloped for the benefit of the people of Gaza. The peace plan stated that if both sides agree to this proposal, the war will immediately end. Israeli forces will withdraw to the agreed upon line to prepare for hostage release.
Describing the death sentence awarded to 17 Indians in UAE as a "mockery of justice", leading rights watch Amnesty International has asked the country to probe allegations of torture and ensure a fair trial on appeal.
Painting a gloomy picture of the human rights situation in India, Amnesty International on Wednesday alleged that there had been gross violation of human rights, including in Nandigram in West Bengal, and sought abolition of capital punishment.
'Death penalty is a violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment,' it said.
Patel said that he was prevented from travelling to the US despite a Gujarat court order granting him permission "specifically" for the said trip.
The watchdog said human rights violations continued to surge in different parts of India, including Jammu and Kashmir and North Eastern states.
Qatar, host nation of the 2022 World Cup, is still doing little to improve conditions for migrant workers despite promising reform last year, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.
Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teen activist shot in the head last year by the Taliban for campaigning for girls' education, has received the highest honour conferred by rights group Amnesty International.
In the last 11 years, India and the world witnessed what he stood for, what he promised and did not deliver, and what he actually stood for and practised without fearing how history would judge him. Modi's tenure has been punctuated with headline-grabbing decisions, symbolic gestures, and stage-managed moments that continue to define his leadership and India's politics, points out Ramesh Menon.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on why writer Aakar Patel -- who is also chairman of the Amnesty International India board -- is being prevented from traveling abroad.
Amnesty highlighted poll-related violence in the lead up to the May 2014 General Elections, communal clashes and failure of consultation on corporate projects as key concerns.
'If you talk about any kind of equality, you are under attack.'
Stating that an investigation team will work under the full supervision of the United Nations to ensure complete transparency and impartiality, he said, "None of the outgoing government involved in the murder will be exempted."
'Laws have been used in a way to serve the needs of the current regime and its authoritarian ideology.'
