Tag: police state

Amnesty International calls for abolition of ICE

ICEAmnesty International called for the abolition of US Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE), in a report documenting widespread human rights violations in federal immigration enforcement operations. In its 168-page report, Amnesty investigated ICE activity in Chicago, Minneapolis-St.Paul, New Orleans and Washington DC, concluding that in each city officers relied on racial profiling; arbitrarily arrested individuals based on race, skin color, ethnicity or national origin; used excessive force; engaged in unlawful killings; conducted mass surveillance; held detainees in inhumane conditions; and failed to properly investigate reported violations. The report attributed these practices to systemic, administration-wide conduct and attitudes. (Photo: Chad Davis)

Iranian officials named for crimes against humanity

Iran protestsAmnesty International named 87 Iranian security and Interior Ministry officials who it says should face criminal investigation for crimes against humanity committed during the 2022 crackdown on the Woman Life Freedom protests, and urged the UN Security Council to refer Iran's situation to the International Criminal Court. The 1,161-page report, titled "Architects of Atrocities," documents 377 fatalities among protesters and bystanders between September and December 2022, of whom 56 were children, along with widespread torture, rape, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary imprisonment. (Photo: Taymaz Valley, Ottawa, via Wikimedia Commons)

Guatemala drops charges against indigenous leaders

GuatemalaAmnesty International announced that Guatemala's judiciary has closed criminal proceedings against four indigenous leaders who had been charged over their role in protests during the country's October 2023 national strike, hailing it as a victory for the right to freedom of assembly. The four, members of the traditional authorities of the 48 Cantons of Totonicapán and the Indigenous Municipality of Sololá, had faced up to 30 years in prison. The protests were called to defend that year's presidential election results against efforts by judicial authorities to challenge the transfer of power to now-President Bernardo Arévalo. (Photo: Colectivo Anpük via NISGUA)

Alien Terrorist Removal Court orders first deportation

FISAThe US Alien Terrorist Removal Court (ATRC) ordered the deportation of an Afghan woman, after she reached an "agreement" with the Department of Justice waiving her right to appeal. Nazira Haji Zada, accused of assisting her son and son-in-law in planning a foiled 2024 terror plot, admitted that she was an "alien terrorist" as part of the deal. The order marked the first-ever use of the secretive and controversial ATRC, which is exempt from the Federal Rules of Evidence, allowing use of "classified" evidence that the defendant is not permitted to review. (Photo: Tony Webster via Wikimedia Commons)

Iran execution wave violates international law

executionsHuman Rights Watch and the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran issued a joint report charging that Iranian authorities are unlawfully executing protesters and political dissidents on a weekly basis. In a "relentless attack on the right to life," Iranian authorities have arbitrarily executed at least 59 men on politically motivated and vague "national security charges" following grossly unfair trials within the last five months. Those executed included at least 32 in connection with protests, including this January's mass protests and the 2022 "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests. Several of the executed were teenagers, aged 18 or 19, with many others in their early 20s. Five were hanged in public squares using truck-mounted cranes to instill fear and deter further public dissent, a practice that human rights organizations denounce as a violation of international laws prohibiting torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. (Photo: ICHRI)

HK court upholds conviction of activist fund organizers

Hong KongA Hong Kong appellate court upheld the conviction of five pro-democracy activists for their failure to register the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, created to support detained or injured demonstrators during the 2019 Hong Kong protests, under the Societies Ordinance. The appellants, among 10 initially arrested in 2023, were retired Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen, Lingnan University professor Hui Po Keung, Cantopop singer-turned-activist Denise Ho, and former Legislative Council members Margaret Ng and Cyd Ho. The Fund was named for the "612 Incident," in which protesters were attacked by the police outside the Hong Kong government headquarters on June 12, 2019. The decision exemplifies concerns about the rule of law and growing restrictions on civil society in Hong Kong. (Photo: HKFP)

EU migrant ‘return hub’ plans risk rights abuses

LampedusaAmnesty International warned that plans by five European Union member-state governments for migrant "return hubs" in Rwanda and Uganda risk creating "cruel black holes for human rights." The warning comes as the EU Return Regulation, approved by the European Parliament in June but still awaiting final approval by the European Council, is set to provide the legal basis for such hubs. (Photo: Sara Creta/TNH)

Chile: ’emergency’ constitutional reform pending

ChileHuman Rights Watch called for the Chilean National Congress to reject a proposed package of constitutional amendments addressing "national security" questions being pushed by President José Antonio Kast. HRW charged that the amendments, supposedly aimed at fighting organized crime, would undermine due process and human rights protections. Terms of the amendments would allow the president to instate a 240-day state of emergency without legislative approval, suspending the right of assembly and other personal freedoms. Additionally, measures would allow for the seizure of personal property without normal due process. (Image: Nicolas Raymond via Flickr)

US sanctions Palestine Action over ‘terrorism’ ties

Palestine ActionThe US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned three organizations and two individuals, accusing UK-based Palestine Action, the Italy-based Autistici Inventati, and the Masar Badil network of ties to "violent far-left extremism." The designations were made under Executive Order 13224, the post-9-11 authority allowing the US to block the property of designated "terrorists" and of those who support or are linked to them. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said "far-left extremists, their fronts, and their enablers should be on notice" that the Department "will bring the full weight of our economic tools to bear." He added that "we will continue to cut the financial lifelines of these groups until they are eliminated." (Photo: Cary Bass-Deschênes via Good Law Project)

Argentina: ‘techno-authoritarian’ surveillance state

surveillanceAmnesty International accused Argentina of putting in place a "techno-authoritarian" surveillance infrastructure without adequate legal safeguards, as the government's newly created AI security unit expands state monitoring powers over citizens' online communications and physical movements. In a new report, the rights group stated that Argentina's Ministry of Security spent at least $1.2 million on surveillance technology between 2024 and 2025, including social media monitoring tools, facial recognition software, and thermal-sensing camera-equipped drones with automatic tracking of targets and capacity to transmit images in real time. (Image: Celina Hilbert)

Ecuador: Yasuní defenders face persecution

YasuniAmnesty International called on Ecuadorian authorities to drop all legal and financial penalties against activists behind the 2023 Yasuní Referendum, warning that the looming fines are part of a broader crackdown on civic space and dissent in the country. The Referendum resulted in an overwhelming majority of citizens voting to end oil extraction within Yasuní National Park, in the Ecuadorian Amazon. This result was celebrated across the world and hailed as one of Latin America's most important victories in the fight against climate change. However, since the vote, oil drilling has continued uninterrupted. Amnesty is pressing President Daniel Noboa to restore full legal protections for NGOs and respect the mandate of the Referendum, calling it a non-negotiable test of democratic integrity. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

Hong Kong: Tiananmen commemorators guilty

Tiananmen vigilThe Hong Kong Court of First Instance found activists Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan, as well as the pair's now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, guilty of a "subversion" offense under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law (NSL). Three NSL-designated judges unanimously ruled that the defendants' advocacy for "the end of one-party dictatorship"—primarily through annual June 4 vigils to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre—constituted "incitement to subversion." They found that there could be no "natural end" to the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party; the advocacy work must therefore constitute an incitement to overthrow or undermine China's "basic system." Chow and Lee face up to 10 years imprisonment. (Photo of 2007 Tiananmen vigil: Wrightbus via Wikimedia Commons)