AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ADVISORY

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Berkin is the fourth person to die as a direct result of abusive use of force by police officers during last year’s Gezi Park protests. The lack of effective investigations into the use of such force which also left thousands injured has touched a nerve and resulted in a wave of anti-government demonstrations which are sweeping Turkey again.

Residents wait to receive UNRWA food aid at the besieged al-Yarmouk camp on January 31, 2014.© unrwa.org

10/03/2014 – Three years after popular pro-reform then anti-government protests drew a brutal response from the Syrian authorities, leading to the internal armed conflict that continues to rage, around a quarter of a million civilians are living under siege across Syria. Many have endured appalling conditions in their struggle to survive

A group of artisanal miners sift through ores found in a stream close to Congo International Mining Corporation (CIMCO)’s plant in Luisha. © Amnesty International

04/03/2014 – Further to Amnesty International’s October 2013 report on the use of armed drones and ahead of the March EU-US summit, we urge the US administration to ensure independent, impartial investigations into credible reports of potentially unlawful deaths from US drone strikes, including killings that Amnesty International documented in its report, ‘Will I Be Next

© Tamimi Press

The defendants in this trial were confronted by abusive use of force by police. Some of them sought to prevent violence, others to protect themselves. A few were just caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. All are victims of a politically motivated show trial.

This senseless loss of human life is deeply disturbing. The Ukrainian authorities must take all measures in their power to stop and prevent the unlawful use of force and firearms, both by police officers and any vigilante groups who are colluding with them. All those responsible must be brought to justice.

21/02/2014 – Amnesty International has welcomed the decision of the Lithuanian Prosecutor General to open an investigation into the alleged rendition to Lithuania of Mustafa al-Hawsawi. The decision comes after the Vilnius Regional Court ruled on 28 January that al-Hawsawi had a right to an investigation of his claims.

21/02/2014 – Amnesty International has documented numerous cases of excessive use of force by law enforcement officers in policing the demonstrations in Ukraine since November 2013 and calls on the authorities to take the following measures: