COMMENT CALLING OUT CANT
Fawzia al-Otaibi (right), whose sister Manahel is imprisoned in Saudi Arabia, with Amnesty supporters in Newcastle
SAUDI DOUBLE STANDARDS
Saudi Arabia must immediately release everyone it has detained for expressing their views online. That is the message in a recently published statement from 40 human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, ahead of December’s Internet Governance Forum in the Saudi capital Riyadh. A key theme of the annual conference on digital public policy is advancing human rights in the digital age. The 40 signatories highlighted the hypocrisy of Saudi Arabia hosting the event while it continues to lock up, forcibly disappear and intimidate people. Amnesty has repeatedly documented Saudi Arabia’s crackdown against anyone who shows the slightest dissent online. In January 2024, for example, Manahel al-Otaibi was sentenced to 11 years in prison for promoting women’s rights on social media and posting images of herself at a mall without an abaya (a traditional loose-fitting long-sleeved robe). Saudi Arabia has a chance to show this event is more than a PR exercise, said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary general. The authorities could use it ‘as an opportunity to carry out genuine reforms rather than as part of an image-washing campaign’. Support Manahel al-Otaibi’s fight for freedom: see Write for Rights, page 12 Join the Amnesty activists’ WhatsApp community on human rights in Saudi Arabia: email Rebecca Paterson at becka1985p @
gmail.com
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Ask your MP to help stop all arms transfers to Israel See page 32
Send a message in solidarity See page 12
Donate to our crisis work See page 23
Connect with other Amnesty supporters at the Amplify festival
amnesty.org.uk/ amplify
As the clocks go back, the nights draw in and the end of the year approaches, it’s a good time to take stock. In 2024, we’ve seen multiple human rights crises around the world, but also flashes of hope. And throughout it all, Amnesty UK has collected evidence, taken action, held those in power to account and called out hypocrisy. This issue of Amnesty Magazine brings these themes to the fore. We highlight new testimony gathered by Amnesty researchers that reveals the worst violence against Rohingya communities in Myanmar since the military-led campaign in 2017. Hundreds of thousands have been driven from their homes. Also in the magazine, we challenge cynicism and double standards in the UK, Saudi Arabia and beyond. Last month, as Foreign Secretary David Lammy made his first visit to China, Amnesty urged him not to downplay the Chinese government’s brutal suppression of human rights in an unprincipled attempt to further UK trade interests. We also called out galling PR stunts, such as Saudi Arabia hosting the Internet Governance Forum in December. As Amnesty has documented extensively, the Saudi authorities have waged a chilling crackdown against online dissent. Among those targeted is women’s rights activist Manahel al-Otaibi, who features in Write for Rights 2024. Kicking off this month, the world’s biggest letter-campaign is the subject of our cover feature. We tell the stories of three UK priority cases: Ana da Silva Miguel (aka Neth Nahara); Oqba Hashad; and Professor Șebnem Korur Fincancı. We also share recent success stories from past campaigns – including justice at last for Hakamada Iwao, who spent 45 years on death row in Japan.
Above all, the Write for Rights campaign is a wonderful opportunity to join Amnesty supporters around the world and stand up for those on the sharp end of human rights abuses. It is also a timely reminder of the power of collective action. Sacha Deshmukh, chief executive
WINTER 2024 AMNESTY 5
© Colin Taylor
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