Kategorie: Humans

In the occupied Gaza Strip, Palestinian healthcare workers have been facing unprecedented dangers, with many detained under conditions that violate international humanitarian law. Amnesty International continues to document these systemic abuses, including Israel’s widespread use of torture and other ill-treatment against Palestinian detainees, while demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all those arbitrarily detained. Below, Dr. Ahmad Mhanna, former director of Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza, shares his harrowing testimony of survival.

In the occupied Gaza Strip, Palestinian healthcare workers have been facing unprecedented dangers, with many detained under conditions that violate international humanitarian law. Amnesty International continues to document these systemic abuses, including Israel’s widespread use of torture and other ill-treatment against Palestinian detainees, while demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all those arbitrarily detained. Below, Dr. Ahmad Mhanna, former director of Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza, shares his harrowing testimony of survival.

At around 4 pm on 16 December 2023, the Israeli military raided Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia refugee camp. They handcuffed and blindfolded me before taking me to a house a short distance away while I was still wearing my surgical scrubs. I was left on a stairwell overnight, restrained the entire time.

At no point did the soldiers question me. In the middle of the night, the building began shaking violently from the sound of a nearby bulldozer. The dust was stifling, and I feared the house would collapse on me before the machine finally moved away.

By 8 am the following day, they had removed my restraints. A soldier ordered me back to the hospital, threatening: “If you refuse to cooperate, the gun will speak.” I told him we had nothing to hide; my priority was the safety of my patients.

We underwent the tashrifa (reception)—a ritual of beatings and humiliation where boiling water was thrown on us.

Dr. Ahmad Mhanna

I was forced to provide a list of everyone in the facility and to call out the names of all males between 16 and 60 for interrogation. They were ordered to strip down to their underwear in the extreme cold. Among those arrested was a patient with an amputated leg and several of my colleagues. Just when I thought it was over, a soldier gestured to me and said: “My colleagues in Tel Aviv want to have a drink with you.” I knew then I was being arrested indefinitely.

The journey into detention

We were transferred by truck through the Erez crossing. When soldiers noticed I had not been blindfolded, they violently punched me in the chest and restored the restraints, ordering me to keep my head down.

Upon arrival at the first facility, we were taken to the “disco room”. The floor was bare stone covered only by a yoga mat. A ventilator blasted cold air, and extremely loud Israeli music played continuously for 24 hours to deliberately deprive us of sleep.

During my first interrogations, which lasted hours, I was accused of providing medical treatment to fighters. A soldier identifying as a general, dissatisfied with my answers, threatened me with further violence. The interrogators beat and cursed me, threatening to break my bones.

We were then moved to Sde Teiman (an Israeli military base that doubles as a detention centre), where an interrogator threatened to harm my wife and daughters. Throughout those 24 days, I never appeared before a judge. At one point we were transferred to Al-Kallaba (the dog kennel), where my handcuffs were never removed as guards unleashed dogs on us – I vividly remember the weight of a dog lying directly on my back.

Engineered cruelty

Eventually, I was transferred to the Negev/Naqab (Ketziot) detention centre. We underwent the tashrifa (reception)—a ritual of beatings and humiliation where boiling water was thrown on us. I was held in this tented facility for one year and two months, with most of us sleeping on the floor.

The first time I appeared before a judge was three months into my detention, via a brief laptop video call. I was told I was being held on “secret evidence” under the Unlawful Combatants Law. Ironically, I was accused of affiliation with Hamas in one hearing and the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) in the next. My only real crime was being a doctor.

In detention, hunger was engineered. It was designed to strip us of our humanity, reducing us to mere survival. The food was dirty, meagre, and sometimes mixed with cigarette ash. If guards discovered saved scraps, the entire cell was punished.

Hygiene was nonexistent. No soap, no toothbrushes, and no showers for six months led to widespread scabies. During those six months, we were not allowed to change our clothes. Two detainees died before my eyes. One died of ascites. I pleaded with the guards to bring antibiotics, telling them we could save him. The guard replied: “You are not a doctor here; you are a terrorist.”

A return to dignity

The first time a lawyer visited was seven months after my arrest; until then, my family did not know if I was alive. She told me my wife, Alaa, had left no stone unturned searching for me. That news made me feel human again.

Conditions remained severely overcrowded, with 40 people packed into a 50-square-metre tent. Finally, on 11 October 2025 the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visited and informed me I was on a list of people who were to be released. They mentioned providing a “dignity kit.” To hear the word dignity after months of being treated like an animal was overwhelming.

I was released on a Monday and arrived at Nasser Hospital at 6 pm, where my colleagues welcomed me. Physically, I was exhausted and had lost 28 kilogrammes. I learned that Al-Awda Hospital was severely damaged and remains inaccessible behind the military’s “Yellow Line.”

The struggle continues through insomnia, anxiety, and trauma. However, despite everything, I still want to work. I was a doctor when they took me, and I am a doctor now that I have returned. My commitment to my patients remains the one thing they could not take away.

_________

/

The post ‘My only “crime” was being a doctor’: Dr. Ahmad Mhanna on his 22 months in Israeli detention appeared first on Amnesty International.

Amnesty International supports a class action lawsuit filed today by The Privacy Collective on behalf of Dutch internet users against the American tech company AppLovin. 

The case focuses on the alleged unlawful collection and trading of personal data of millions of Dutch people via tracking software in popular mobile games and apps. 

This is what’s happening 

Through software built into countless popular games and apps, AppLovin is collecting personal data from millions of Dutch users, including one and a half million children. 

“Because children are now tracked at an increasingly young age, it makes them uniquely vulnerable to economic exploitation. This lawsuit has a clear goal, namely to protect and strengthen fundamental rights such as privacy, autonomy and human dignity. The digital advertising and tracking industry is violating these rights structurally and on a large scale. It is unacceptable that this business model operates at the expense of citizens, and particularly at the expense of minors,”   

Dagmar Oudshoorn, Director of Amnesty International Netherlands.

 The data collected is allegedly shared with hundreds of other companies and is being used to create detailed user profiles, which the company uses to sell advertising space. In 2025, AppLovin generated revenue of 5.5 billion US dollars. 

According to The Privacy Collective, users are not being told about this. The Privacy Collective also argues that the tracking software is deliberately designed to collect maximum data, even when users or parents have indicated that they do not want to be tracked. The games and apps in which the tracking software has been found include Block Blast, Subway Surfers, Helix Jump, Vinted and CapCut Video Editor. A list of the most downloaded games and apps containing the tracking software can be found on The Privacy Collective’s website. 

Why Amnesty International supports this case 

As an organization that stands up for human rights in the digital age, we believe that these practices are rightly being brought before court by The Privacy Collective. 

We therefore call upon everyone to support the case and to come forward if they too have been harmed by the practices of AppLovin. 

Join us  

The Privacy Collective is offering everyone the opportunity to contribute to this case in two ways.  Anyone who supports the cause can express their support with a single click via The Privacy Collective website. In addition, people who have downloaded games or apps containing tracking software can register themselves and their children as affected parties and thereby claim the compensation that the lawsuit aims to secure. Learn more and sign up at www.theprivacycollective.nl. 

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Responding to the adoption of the climate accountability resolution at the United Nations General Assembly by overwhelming consensus today, Camile Cortez, Senior Campaigner on Climate Justice at Amnesty International, said:

“Today’s vote marks an important step in advancing climate justice. By adopting this resolution, states have recognized that they have legal duties to address the profound human rights crisis posed by climate change as set forth in the 2025 International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) Advisory Opinion. This resolution brings renewed momentum towards ensuring accountability for climate-driven human rights harms and protecting present and future generations.

“At a time when fragmentation between nations feels more visible than ever, the UN resolution endorsing the ICJ climate ruling offers a renewed path for international cooperation. Political and authoritarian choices by some world leaders, like rolling back climate protections or revoking phase out regulations, have weakened global progress just when we need stronger climate action. Fossil fuel infrastructure alone poses risks for the health and livelihoods of at least 2 billion people globally, roughly a quarter of the world’s population.

“This new UN resolution paves the way for governments to show they stand for climate justice and has the potential to shape global climate accountability for years to come.”

This new UN resolution paves the way for governments to show they stand for climate justice and has the potential to shape global climate accountability for years to come.

Camile Cortez, Senior Campaigner on Climate Justice at Amnesty International

Background:

The UN climate accountability resolution seeks to turn the ICJ Advisory Opinion on states’ obligations concerning the “urgent and existential threat” posed by climate change, into a roadmap for concrete action and accountability.

Vanuatu, which has repeatedly warned that it could disappear under rising sea levels, spearheaded the efforts to secure the resolution. The Pacific island nation and archipelago had previously also led the diplomatic drive for the ICJ’s 2025 Advisory Opinion through active campaigning initiated by a group of young law students.  In a rare unanimous opinion, the ICJ made it clear that protecting the global climate system is a legal obligation – not a political choice. Failure to do so threatens human rights and the well-being of present and future generations. The ICJ also stated that countries must act together to remediate existing harm and prevent more climate havoc.

In a bid to ‘operationalize’ this ICJ Advisory Opinion, a core group of states contributed to the “zero draft” first version of the resolution adopted in today, with cross-regional representation from Vanuatu, Barbados, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Jamaica, Kenya, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Palau, Philippines, Singapore, and Sierra Leone. Read our explainer on the UN climate resolution here.

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One year after the arbitrary detention of Ruth López, Amnesty International is reiterating its concern over the human rights violations committed against her and calling on the Salvadoran authorities to fully guarantee her due process rights, end her incommunicado detention, and fully comply with the precautionary measures granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

“Ruth López is a prisoner of conscience who has been unjustly detained for a year because of her tireless fight against corruption and her defence of social justice. We call for her immediate and unconditional release,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International. “One year after her detention, the Salvadoran authorities continue to hold Ruth in conditions that are incompatible with their international human rights obligations. Her prolonged incommunicado detention, restrictions on her right to defence and the lack of transparency surrounding the proceedings raise serious concerns about respect for judicial guarantees and due process, not only in her case, but also for the thousands of people arbitrarily detained in El Salvador.”

One year after her detention, the Salvadoran authorities continue to hold Ruth in conditions that are incompatible with their international human rights obligations…We call for her immediate and unconditional release.”

Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

Ruth López was detained on 18 May 2025 amid growing harassment and criminalization of human rights defenders and critical voices in El Salvador. In the first hours after her detention, her relatives and legal team said they did not know where she was, raising concerns that she may have been subjected to a short-term enforced disappearance. The authorities later changed the initial accusations against her, while restricting access to information about the case and raising further questions about respect for judicial guarantees from the very beginning of her detention. In June 2025, Amnesty International recognized Ruth López as a prisoner of conscience.

She remains in detention under an incommunicado regime that has prevented her from maintaining regular contact with her family and has severely restricted her ability to exercise her right to defence. This is compounded by the lack of access to a public hearing and restrictions on access to information about the judicial proceedings against her, further deepening concerns about respect for judicial guarantees and due process. In September 2025, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted precautionary measures in her favour, which the state must fully implement, including by ensuring effective access to legal counsel, regular communication with her family, and protection of her physical and psychological integrity.

Amnesty International is also concerned about the lack of independent and effective national mechanisms to adequately monitor the situation of people deprived of liberty in El Salvador. In December 2025, the organization sent a public letter to Human Rights Ombudsperson Raquel Caballero de Guevara, raising concerns about the lack of a diligent and protection-centred response in Ruth López’s case, including the need for rigorous checks on her detention conditions, access to legal counsel and state of health. Amnesty International stresses that it does not question the Salvadoran state’s duty to investigate possible crimes, but rather the need for any criminal proceedings to be carried out in full respect of the human rights and judicial guarantees of the accused. Pretrial detention must only be used in exceptional circumstances and always in line with the strict standards of necessity, proportionality and periodic review under international law.

“Respect for due process and the right to defence does not protect only one person; it is an essential safeguard for everyone facing criminal proceedings. For as long as Ruth López remains detained, the Salvadoran authorities must urgently review the pretrial detention order against her and ensure conditions that are consistent with her rights and dignity,” said Ana Piquer, Americas Director at Amnesty International.

For as long as Ruth López remains detained, the Salvadoran authorities must urgently review the pretrial detention order against her and ensure conditions that are consistent with her rights and dignity.” 

Ana Piquer, Americas Director at Amnesty International.

The organization also expresses concern over the human and social impact that Ruth López’s detention has had on her family, community and professional circles. In addition to her work as a human rights defender, Ruth has been widely recognized for her close and committed leadership in educational, community and grassroots organizing spaces, where she supported and accompanied others in advancing social justice demands.

“Her absence has left a deep mark on the spaces where she was an active and committed presence. Ruth López has not only supported victims and denounced abuses; she has also played an important role in strengthening support networks and community organizing in El Salvador. Defending human rights and strengthening the social fabric are legitimate activities that must be protected, not punished,” Ana Piquer added.

Her absence has left a deep mark on the spaces where she was an active and committed presence. Ruth López has not only supported victims and denounced abuses; she has also played an important role in strengthening support networks and community organizing in El Salvador.”

Ana Piquer, Americas Director at Amnesty International.

Human rights defenders play a fundamental role in every society, and the Salvadoran state has an obligation to ensure that they can carry out their work without reprisals, criminalization or arbitrary restrictions on their rights.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact press@amnesty.org

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Responding to the killing of Pedro João Chaúque, a member of the opposition National Alliance for a Free and Autonomous Mozambique (Anamola) party, in Mozambique’s south-western Gaza province on 16 May, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, Tigere Chagutah, said:

“The killing of Pedro João Chaúque by unknown armed men is extremely concerning. It comes after another member of the same opposition party was killed in Manica province barely two weeks ago and fits into a disturbing pattern of killings or enforced disappearances of opposition party members in the recent past.

“Mozambican authorities must ensure prompt, thorough, independent, impartial, transparent and effective investigations into the killings of Pedro João Chaúque and other opposition figures. All suspected perpetrators must be brought to justice in fair trials. Authorities must ensure and provide access to justice and effective remedies for the victims and their families.

“The authorities must also ensure that everyone in the country can freely exercise their right to freedom of expression, including critics and independent voices. No one should be subject to violence, intimidation, harassment or any other reprisals for expressing dissent or challenging government policies.”

Background

On the night of 16 May, unknown armed men, entered the house of Pedro João Chaúque. They shot and killed Pedro João Chaúque on the spot before seizing his vehicle and other items and fleeing.

Mozambique has seen a spate of killings and enforced disappearances of opposition party members in recent months. Anselmo Vicente, Anamola’s coordinator, was killed on 9 May by unknown armed men in Chimoio city, Manica province. 

Arlindo Chissale, journalist and supporter of Venâncio Mondlane, the leader of Anamola party and former presidential candidate who disputed the October 2024 elections, has not been seen since 7 January 2025. Witnesses who spoke with Arlindo Chissale’s family revealed that on 7 January, they saw him being removed from a public minibus and beaten before being driven away allegedly by members of the defence and security forces.

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