Amnesty calls on Spain to release jailed Catalan leader
Prolonged imprisonment is “excessive” and “disproportionate”
amnesty
Observers and experts speak out against police violence and in favor of dialogue
Dutch diplomat in Catalonia on October 1: ‘Obama or Koffi Annan could mediate’
Spanish police used “excessive and disproportionate” force on Sunday, says Amnesty International
The human rights NGO calls for an urgent, “thorough, and immediate” investigation
10 international figures, including 2 Nobel Peace Prize laureates, support Catalonia's right to self-determination
South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Argentinian activist Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, both of whom were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, as well as UK film-maker Ken Loach, Dutch sociologist Saskia Sassen, UK historian Paul Preston, American sociologist Richard Sennett, US writer Harold Bloom, Portuguese writer António Lobo Antunes, Irish activist Bill Shipsey and US former ambassador Ambler Moss have issued the 'Let Catalans Vote' manifesto. "A majority of Catalans have repeatedly expressed in different ways the wish to exercise their democratic right to vote on their political future" the document starts. Mentioning the positive examples of Quebec and Scotland, the signers stress that "to prevent the Catalans from voting seems to contradict the principles that inspire democratic societies". Finally, they urge the Spanish and Catalan governments to agree on a vote and "to negotiate in good faith based on the result".
114,000 families still searching for missing loved ones from the Spanish Civil War and the Franco regime
Amnesty International has released information suggesting that over 114,000 families from the Spanish state still have no solution to the disappearance of their loved ones as a result of the Spanish Civil War and the Franco regime. They have asked the Government to take responsibility on this “gross violation of human rights”.