AI advocates fair trials within a reasonable time for all political prisoners and works on behalf of such people detained without charge or trial. The term does not not include killings by warring factions. These people may be prisoners of conscience or may be facing torture or the threat of execution. If there is no identifiable victim, prisoner, or body, no one can ever be accused of having done anything wrong. Back to Top AI unconditionally opposes the death penalty on the grounds that an execution is a cruel, inhuman and degrading form of punishment and is a violation of each individual's right to life guaranteed in Article 3 of the UDHR .
Execution is the premeditated and cold-blooded killing of an individual by the state.
Back to Top An integral part of AI's work is the international nature of its concerns. In an effort to reflect this international nature of our work, to complement the work of local human rights organizations and use our role as a worldwide human rights organization most effectively, the movement has adopted limitations on work done by AI members on their own country. These limitations primarily affect the work we do on individual cases. While this differs from country to country, within the US there are a number of areas where we do work in our own country.