Schlagwort: Amnesty International

Responding to the Hong Kong Court of Appeal rejecting the appeals of 12 defendants in the ‘Hong Kong 47’ case, Amnesty International Hong Kong Overseas spokesperson Fernando Cheung said:

“The court’s dismissal of these appeals underlines the grave state of human rights in Hong Kong and once again demonstrates the politically motivated nature of the Hong Kong 47 case.

“None of these 12 defendants committed an internationally recognized crime; they have been serving lengthy sentences simply for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and participation in public affairs.

“It is deeply concerning that, since the introduction of ‘Article 23’ in 2024, at least eight defendants in the Hong Kong 47 case have reportedly been denied early release on the basis of vague and new national security justifications, in contrast to previous long-standing practice in Hong Kong.

“This shows how ‘Article 23’, like the Beijing-imposed National Security Law used to prosecute the Hong Kong 47, has been weaponized to impose additional punitive and retroactive measures against dissidents, including silencing those already behind bars.

“By failing to overturn these wrongful convictions and sentences today, the court has missed a critical opportunity to correct this mass injustice.

“Peaceful opposition to a government is not a crime, and all remaining jailed members of the Hong Kong 47 should be released immediately and unconditionally.”

Background 

The Hong Kong Court of Appeal today dismissed the appeals of 12 defendants in the ‘Hong Kong 47’ case.

In Hong Kong’s largest prosecution under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law, which was enacted in June 2020, 47 opposition figures were jointly charged with “conspiracy to commit subversion”. Thirty-one of the 47 pleaded guilty to the charge while 16 pleaded not guilty, two of whom were acquitted.

The charges against the “Hong Kong 47” relate to their organization and participation in self-organized “primaries” for the 2020 Legislative Council elections that were ultimately postponed by authorities on Covid-19 grounds before a new electoral system that strictly vetted who could stand for office was brought in.

To treat self-organized “primaries” conducted by political parties to select candidates to put forward for elections as a genuine threat to Hong Kong’s existence, territorial integrity or political independence does not meet the high threshold of application for “national security” that international human rights standards require.

In March 2024, Hong Kong introduced its Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, often referred to as the ‘Article 23’ law. The law has further squeezed people’s freedoms and enabled authorities to intensify their crackdown on peaceful activism in the city and beyond.

‘Article 23’ has also been used to impose additional punitive measures against dissidents already serving sentences. Before the enactment of ‘Article 23’, the Prison Rules provided that prisoners with good conduct were eligible for early release after serving two-thirds of their sentences. However, under new rules introduced pursuant to ‘Article 23’, the prison authorities can deny the early release on “national security” grounds.

The post Hong Kong: Rejected appeals in ‘HK 47’ case a missed opportunity to start restoring justice appeared first on Amnesty International.

Responding to the release of the Belarusian opposition politician Mikalai Statkevich, detained since 2020, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, said:

“Our relief at Mikalai Statkevich’s release is tempered by our indignation at the profound injustice and personal injury he has suffered during years behind bars serving an unfounded prison sentence, much of it in prolonged isolation. The latter is in violation of the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment — his health severely deteriorated. Releasing a prisoner of conscience after he has suffered a stroke is not justice, it is the sign of its profound absence.

Our relief at Mikalai Statkevich’s release is tempered by our indignation at the profound injustice and personal injury he has suffered during years behind bars serving an unfounded prison sentence, much of it in prolonged isolation

Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director

“Belarusian authorities must end the practice of imprisoning of activists, journalists and other government critics for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly. The authorities must immediately and unconditionally release all persons unjustly detained and imprisoned on politically motivated charges, including prominent human rights defenders Nasta Loika, Marfa Rabkova, Valiantsin Stefanovich and Vital Chopik.

“The Belarusian authorities have committed egregious violations. They must fully comply with their international human rights obligations, and those responsible for violating them must be held to account.”

Background

On 19 February 2026, Mikalai Statkevich’s wife, Marina Adamovich, confirmed that her husband had been released from a high security penal colony after suffering a stroke and spending several weeks in a prison hospital.

Mikalai Statkevich, 69, a long-time government critic, prominent opposition leader and former presidential candidate, was arrested on 31 May 2020. He was later sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment on trumped up charges of “organization of mass unrest” (Article 293(1) of the Criminal Code).

On 11 September 2025 he was released as part of a political deal between Belarus and the US. However, unlike other released prisoners, he refused to be forcibly exiled from Belarus and was forcibly disappeared at the border, and secretly returned to a penal colony where he was held incommunicado thereafter. During his latest imprisonment starting in 2020, he was held in isolation for long periods of time, reportedly contracted COVID-19 multiple times and on 21 January 2026 suffered a stroke.

As of 20 February 2026, the Belarusian Human Rights Centre Viasna claims 1,144 individuals as political prisoners in Belarus. Its list however is not exhaustive and is based on publicly available information which the Belarusian authorities are seeking to restrict.

The post Belarus: Prisoner of conscience Mikalai Statkevich’s release after a stroke highlights need for justice for human rights violations appeared first on Amnesty International.

Responding at the conclusion of the five-day AI Impact Summit that took place in New Delhi, India, Erika Guevara Rosas, Senior Director of Research, Advocacy Policy and Campaigns at Amnesty International, said: 

“It is unfortunate that the rhetoric of the AI impact Summit stood in stark contrast with the realities of harmful deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) systems in India, where these systems are powering a state-led agenda of authoritarian practices that is entrenching state and corporate control. The civic space is shrinking at an unprecedented speed and marginalized communities impacted by AI systems face constant harm and are demonized.  

“While India was lauded by world leaders for its technological progress, the human rights concerns arising out of technology deployment in the country were papered over. Amnesty International’s own research has shown that the deployment of harmful technologies such as facial recognition and automation in the public sector have threatened the right to privacy and social protection in India and have led to discrimination and exclusion of marginalized communities. Systems of mass surveillance are being expanded in an already pernicious context of rights abuses.  

“The Summit’s push on sovereignty, innovation and ‘democratisation’ feeds a global trend of turning AI into a race predicated on power accumulation and economic growth at all costs, rather than the collective global action needed to interrupt this. Achieving such a goal would only be possible if the Summit included strong civil society and impacted community engagement on rights concerns which was woefully absent from the start.  

“To date, AI summits have failed to advance the necessary regulations for a digitally safe future. If there is one clear takeaway from the India AI Impact Summit, it is that these gatherings have time and again proven largely irrelevant and ineffective at advancing binding rights protections or the safeguards necessary in the context of immense AI investment. Each year and at each summit, the gulf between state action to safeguard people’s rights and wellbeing, and an increasingly unchecked powerful AI industry keeps growing. They have advanced techno-solutionist narratives and soft governance instruments, where industry and government deepen their alliances. 

“States must urgently course‑correct the current AI trajectory, adopt binding guardrails that draw clear prohibitions around technologies that are incompatible with human rights, and create meaningful mechanisms for public participation so that people can genuinely shape the technological futures they want.”   

Background

The India AI Impact Summit took place from 16 to 20 February in New Delhi, India. 

In 2024, Amnesty International documented how public sector automated system in India’s state of Telangana excludes thousands of people from accessing social protection measures, including those related to food security, income, and housing. 

In 2021, Amnesty International investigated the human rights impacts of facial recognition technology in Hyderabad, India. 

The post Global/India: AI Impact Summit failed to reign in destructive practices of governments and technology companies  appeared first on Amnesty International.