Amnesty International

FILE - In this file photo released by Iraq's Ministry of Justice on June 29, 2018, blindfolded prisoners await their executions in Iraq. A report released by Amnesty International on Wednesday, April 21, 2021, said the number of executions worldwide in 2020 plummeted to its lowest level in at least a decade. But the report said four states in the Middle East — Iran, Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia respectively — topped the global list and pressed on with shootings, beheadings and hangings, ignoring pleas by rights groups to halt executions during the pandemic. (Iraq Ministry of Justice via AP, File)

Report: Mideast countries top 2020 global executioners list

By Isabel Debre Apr. 20, 2021 09:42 PM EDT

Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard poses in Paris, Tuesday, April 6, 2021. Agnes Callamard is best known for her investigation into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and has made a career uncovering extra-judicial killings. The French human rights expert's focus on rights abuses is taking on new dimensions as she assumes leadership of Amnesty International and turns her attention to what she says is one of the world's most pressing rights issues — vaccine equity. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

'We failed the test' of COVID-19, says human rights champion

By Lori Hinnant Apr. 06, 2021 07:00 PM EDT

FILE - This Thursday, Dec. 18, 2020 file photo shows a general view of the Al Rayyan stadium during the opening ceremony in Al Rayyan, Qatar. A look at the state of play in Qatar's preparations for the 2022 World Cup amid ongoing criticism of the host nation as qualifying in Europe begins. (AP Photo/Hussein Sayed, file)

EXPLAINER: Qatar prepares for World Cup amid rights concerns

By Rob Harris Mar. 23, 2021 06:30 PM EDT

FILE - In this Friday, Oct. 23, 2015 file photo, President John Magufuli gestures during an election rally in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. President John Magufuli of Tanzania, a prominent COVID-19 skeptic whose populist rule often cast his country in a harsh international spotlight, has died aged 61 of heart failure, it was announced Wednesday, March 17, 2021 by Vice President Samia Suluhu. (AP Photo/Khalfan Said, File)

Tanzania's populist President John Magufuli has died at 61

By Tom Odula And Rodney Muhumuza Mar. 17, 2021 05:05 PM EDT

A demonstrator holds a Senegalese flag as he kneels in front of a burning car during protests against the arrest of opposition leader and former presidential candidate Ousmane Sonko, Senegal, Monday, March 8, 2021. Senegalese authorities have freed opposition leader Ousmane Sonko while he awaits trial on charges of rape and making death threats. The case already has sparked deadly protests threatening to erode Senegal's reputation as one of West Africa’s most stable democracies. That's because Sonko's supporters are accusing President Macky Sall of pursuing the criminal charges to derail the opposition figure's prospects in the upcoming 2024 election. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Senegal opposition leader released as new clashes erupt

By Babacar Dione And Krista Larson Mar. 08, 2021 05:37 AM EST

Police officers are shown arresting Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri after a Black Lives Matter protest she was covering on May 31, 2020, in Des Moines, Iowa, was dispersed by tear gas. Sahouri is set to stand trial on Monday, March 8, 2021, on misdemeanor charges, a case that prosecutors have pursued despite international condemnation from advocates for press freedom. (Photo courtesy Katie Akin via AP)

Reporter faces trial in case seen as attack on press rights

By Ryan J. Foley Mar. 05, 2021 11:13 AM EST

Bangladeshi students overturn security barricades outside the Home Ministry during a protest in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Monday, March 1, 2021.
About 300 student activists rallied in Bangladesh’s capital on Monday to denounce the death in prison of Mushtaq Ahmed, a writer and commentator who was arrested last year on charges of violating a sweeping digital security law that critics say chokes freedom of expression. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)

300 activists rally in Bangladesh to denounce prison death

By Julhas Alam Mar. 01, 2021 03:24 AM EST

Protesters offer Friday prayers as they protest the death in prison of a writer who was arrested on charges of violating the sweeping digital security, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, Feb. 26, 2021. Mushtaq Ahmed, 53, was arrested in Dhaka in May last year for making comments on social media that criticized the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. He had been denied bail at least six times. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)

Bangladeshis protest prison death of commentator

By Julhas Alam Feb. 26, 2021 04:53 AM EST

Cyprus eases lockdown but curfew, ban on gatherings remain

Feb. 25, 2021 09:17 AM EST
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus will reopen high schools, gyms, pools, dance academies and art galleries on March 1 in a further, incremental easing of the...

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, right, and European Council President Charles Michel prepare to take part in an online meeting of G7 leaders at the European Council building in Brussels, Friday, Feb. 19, 2021. (Olivier Hoslet, Pool via AP)

EU to double COVAX vaccine funding to 1 billion euros

By Lorne Cook And Samuel Petrequin Feb. 19, 2021 05:58 AM EST

A Pakistani walks past the Supreme Court building in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021. In a landmark ruling, Pakistan's top court on Wednesday commuted the death sentences of two mentally ill prisoners who have spent decades on death row, the first such ruling in this conservative Muslim-majority nation. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Pakistan commutes death sentence for 2 mentally ill convicts

By Munir Ahmed Feb. 10, 2021 03:51 AM EST

FILE- In this Feb. 11, 2020 file photo, Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni attends the state funeral of Kenya's former president Daniel Arap Moi in Nairobi, Kenya. Despite failing to dislodge the long-time leader Museveni, opposition challenger Bobi Wine has emerged from Uganda's Jan. 14, 2021 disputed polls as the country's most powerful opposition leader after his party won the most seats of any opposition group in the national assembly. (AP Photo/John Muchucha, File)

Uganda faces pressure to end Bobi Wine's house arrest

By Rodney Muhumuza Jan. 21, 2021 08:51 AM EST

Migrants wait in a line to get food and warm beverages, at the Lipa camp, outside Bihac, Bosnia, Monday, Jan. 11, 2021. Aid workers say migrants staying at a camp in northwestern Bosnia have complained or respiratory and skin diseases after spending days in make-shift tents and containers amid freezing weather and snow blizzards. Most of the hundreds of migrants at the Lipa facility near Bosnia's border with Croatia on Monday have been accommodated in heated military tents following days of uncertainty after a fire gutted most of the camp on Dec. 23. (AP Photo/Kemal Softic)

Migrants in Bosnia camp health checked after days in cold

By Kemal Softic Jan. 12, 2021 04:17 AM EST

FILE - In this Sept. 8, 2012 file photo, a Pakistani paramilitary soldier stands guard on the rooftop as a police officer escorts prisoners at central prison on the outskirts of Rawalpindi, Pakistan. A joint human rights report by London-based Amnesty International and Justice Project Pakistan report released Monday, Dec. 14, 2020 harshly criticized Pakistan’s response to the coronavirus threat faced by tens of thousands of inmates living in overcrowded and often unsanitary prisons. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed, File)

COVID-19 runs unchecked in Pakistan's overcrowded prisons

By Kathy Gannon Dec. 13, 2020 02:06 PM EST

Family members of the inmates of Sri Lanka's Mahara prison complex gather demanding to know the present condition of their relatives following an overnight unrest in Mahara, on the outskirts of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Nov. 30, 2020. Sri Lankan officials say six inmates were killed and 35 others were injured when guards opened fire to control a riot at a prison on the outskirts of the capital. Two guards were critically injured. Pandemic-related unrest has been growing in Sri Lanka's overcrowded prisons. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Rights group asks Sri Lanka to probe deadly prison unrest

By Krishan Francis Dec. 01, 2020 12:29 AM EST

Outcry as Cuba removes protesters defending rapper

By Andrea Rodríguez Nov. 27, 2020 05:12 PM EST
HAVANA (AP) — Cuban authorities have cleared more than a dozen artists and activists from a home they have used as a center for anti-government protests that...