Amnesty International Media Lead Sheet - ANNUAL REPORT EDITION. 5.24.2010

NEW YORK, May 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL'S ANNUAL REPORT LAUNCHES THURSDAY! Experts are available to discuss pressing human rights issues in more than 150 countries.  To book a guest, please contact Media Relations at Amnesty International USA (AIUSA):  Wende Gozan at 212-633-4247, [email protected]; Sharon Singh at 202-675-8579, [email protected]; or Suzanne Trimel at 212-633-4150, [email protected].

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THE SORRY STATE OF THE WORLD. Power politics are playing into an ever-increasing global justice gap despite several landmark developments, according to Amnesty International's annual assessment of 150-plus countries.  Northeast Regional Director Joshua Rubenstein analyzes the world's human rights situation, including the Obama administration's contributions and missteps.

ARIZONA – REFORM, OR RACISM? Arizona's draconian new immigration law will surely increase racial profiling and arbitrary arrests -- this in a state already known for a web of detention centers that regularly fail to provide immigrant detainees their human rights, and even house U.S. citizens that the federal government is trying to deport.  Lory Rosenberg, AIUSA refugee and migrants policy director, gives a reality check to those who think tough laws solve immigration woes.

IRANIAN REPRESSION.  As attention turns two jailed Iranian film directors on hunger strike, the world is reminded of the violent protests that rocked the country one year ago.  Dr. Arash Hejazi, who witnessed the killing of Neda Agha Soltan during those protests, details the repression pervading a country with a robust nuclear program that faces U.S.-led sanctions.

DEADLY DELIVERY.  The U.S. spends more on maternal health than any other type of hospital care, yet women, particularly African Americans, have a higher risk of dying of pregnancy-related complications here than in 40 other countries. Researcher Nan Strauss examines a fatally-flawed system and explains why the Obama administration, in its quest for universal health care, must establish an Office of Maternal Health.

AFGHANI WOMEN, LIVING IN FEAR.  As Afghan leaders and NATO commanders are preparing for a major offensive in Taliban's spiritual home of Kandahar, Afghani women still live in fear as they fight for their basic human rights. Wazhma Frough has addressed child sexual abuse in her country and received threatening calls after reporting on marital rape.  She is available in London to describe her harrowing journey as a human rights defender.

MACHINERY OF DEATH.  Coerced confessions.  Shoddy lawyering.  Guilt presumed over innocence.  The hallmarks of a corrupt totalitarian regime?  Hardly.  These practices rear their ugly heads in the United States, a country that has freed 138 people from death row because of wrongful convictions.   As Utah's firing-squad execution grabs headlines, AIUSA Death Penalty Abolition Campaign Director Laura Moye scrutinizes the fatally flawed capital punishment system in the U.S.

WINNING THE WORLD CUP.  As South Africa prepares for the World Cup, all eyes are on a country with no shortage of human rights concerns.  Violence against women, arbitrary arrests and police harassment and brutality are rampant, and the targeting of inner-city people, viewed as blemishing South Africa's image, are on the rise.  T. Kumar reveals what is happening behind the scenes.

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.8 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.

SOURCE Amnesty International