Amnesty International UK

21/08/2026

Amnesty UK welcomes the judge's ruling that the ‘Barclays 5’ will not be sentenced as terrorists. The ‘Barclays 5’ were responsible for the direct action against Barclays bank in Burnley in August 2024.

No one should be treated more harshly under the law because their crimes were part of a protest against genocide or any other human rights abuses, and the misuse of terrorism powers in this way should never have even been considered.

We now need to see the proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation lifted and an end to the misuse of sweeping counter-terror powers against direct action protestors

The Government should begin the process of reversing the years of attacks on our right to demonstrate, one of the most effective tools we have to hold our leaders to account.

18/08/2026

Did you laugh? 🫠

For some actual lols, come to our Edinburgh Fringe shows this weekend featuring your favourite comedians!

Get your tickets for Stand Up For Freedom here: https://amn.st/6186B1dGq2

Friday 21st August: Deborah Frances-White (Host), Ali Woods, Felicity Ward, Demi Adejuyigbe, Alfie Dundas, Emmanuel Sonubi, Ray Bradshaw, Tarang Hardikar

Saturday 22nd August: Nish Kumar (Host), Grace Campbell, Rosie Jones, Larry Dean, Imogen Andrews, Abi Clarke, Kemah Bob, Hasan Al-Habib

17/08/2026

Comedy has always belonged beside human rights campaigning – that's why Amnesty’s show is back at Edinburgh Fringe this Friday and Saturday!

Read more about how comedy is an essential survival tool in frightening times:

'Comedy isn't the opposite of seriousness. Sometimes it's how we survive it.' - Amnesty International’s Felix Jakens on why comedy has always belonged alongside human rights campaigning

14/08/2026

Andy Burnham: cutting subscription costs won't touch the sides for families who are already going without the basics.

Burnham says he'll pull every lever available. And that is what we need especially for those who can't even afford enough food.

As Mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham already committed to a Right to Food. Now he has the power to turn that into a law that would protect access to food for the whole country. No one in one of the richest countries in the world should go hungry.

Learn more about our everyday rights campaign 👉 https://amn.st/6183B1rUTZ

10/08/2026

Reform has proposed transferring people convicted in the UK to prisons in El Salvador - a country known for serious human rights abuses. This would be financing brutality with British taxpayers’ money.

Amnesty has documented mass arbitrary detention, beatings, torture and other ill-treatment, enforced disappearances, denial of medical care and deaths in custody in El Salvador's justice system. People in El Salvador have been cut off from their families and effectively disappeared into detention, while relatives have been left searching prisons, courts and even morgues for answers.

Reform's proposal is a further extension of a wider politics that has moved dangerously far from any sense of what is practical, legal or constitutes basic human decency. We have already seen with the Rwanda scheme how policies once considered unthinkable can be pushed dangerously far when politicians choose headlines and hostility over real solutions to human needs.

Too many politicians seem incapable of any real leadership – whether at home or internationally – preferring to agitate hate, violence and inhumanity that makes all of us less safe. This latest proposal from Reform provides a stark example of that.

08/08/2026

Amnesty International's investigation concludes that the attack that killed prominent Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil, and seriously wounded camerawoman Zeinab F***j in south Lebanon on 22 April 2026, violated international humanitarian law by carrying out a direct attack which failed to distinguish between civilians and military objectives. The attack must be investigated as a war crime.

Journalists are civilians.

They are protected under international humanitarian law.

Amal Khalil spent her life documenting the human cost of war.

On that day, she became part of the story herself.

The question now is not what happened.

The evidence is there.

The question is whether there will finally be accountability.

07/08/2026

Last week, more than 100 peaceful protestors were arrested under TERROR LAWS.

Our right to protest is one of the most effective tools we have to hold our leaders to account about the genocide in Gaza, the climate crisis and other vital human rights issues.

These arrests are yet another attack on freedom of speech. Share this video if you think that these extreme measures need to stop!

31/07/2026

Is clapping illegal in the UK in 2026?

30/07/2026

🚨BREAKING: More than 100 peaceful protestors have been arrested today under terror laws.

Amnesty protest observers attended to document the arrests and any human rights violations.

The arrests are yet another attack on freedom of speech. Those arrested today could face very long prison sentences simply for peacefully opposing the government, over their abuse of counterterrorism powers to punish direct action protests.

This is part of an ongoing crackdown on our right to protest, one of the most effective tools we have to hold our leaders to account for risking complicity in the genocide in Gaza, the climate crisis and other vital human rights issues.

We must see an end to these extreme and punitive measures, and the proscription of Palestine Action lifted.

30/07/2026

GOOD NEWS: The UK’s highest court has granted permission to appeal the terrorist ban of Palestine Action.

This news comes a month after the Court of Appeal upheld the government’s decision to ban Palestine Action in July 2025.

We have long said that the banning of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation was a grave misuse of sweeping counter-terrorism powers with serious consequences for human rights.

We welcome the decision of the Supreme Court to grant permission to appeal, but the Government should end this sorry saga now by withdrawing the proscription.