Globally, the death penalty is in decline, as more countries choose abolition, but executions surged in 2025 due to a handful of states. We contributed to this @newyorksun.bsky.social story on @amnesty.org's annual executions report. www.nysun.com/article/iran...

The aborted execution of Tony Carruthers demonstrates the innate cruelty of lethal injection, as this fantastic piece by Austin Sarat in @theguardian.com explains There is no such thing as a ‘humane’ execution. tinyurl.com/ycxemyr4

Senior lawyers write to PM: "Jagtar must not be tried twice for the same crime". Former Attorney General Dominic Grieve, Baroness Helena Kennedy, former Lord Advocate Dame Elish Angiolini and Geoffrey Robertson KC call on UK Government to bring Jagtar home, say India should drop remaining charges.

More than half the people executed in Saudi Arabia last year were foreign nationals. Migrants are often vulnerable, and face an alien legal system with almost no access to support. Our comment in @newyorksun.bsky.social's piece on Ethiopian nationals on death row in Saudi: tinyurl.com/2m32ct9k

"I’ve conducted hundreds of hours of interviews with women from many different countries [who] were groomed, seduced or coerced with propaganda or deceit.” Our CEO Maya on the British women and children trapped in North East Syria, and why the government must bring them home tinyurl.com/5n833t77

“A deal like this makes a mockery of the values that institutions like Cambridge claim to represent” Reprieve exclusive calling on @cam.ac.uk to drop proposals to run training courses for Riyadh’s defence ministry while Hassan and Salman face death for free speech in Saudi Arabia: bit.ly/4ulE2JU

“It is essential that the world sees this rebranding for what it is – a flimsy attempt to disguise brutal abuses of human rights,” Exclusive with @theguardian.com on the hypocrisy of Saudi Arabia’s culture washing while they continue to execute record numbers for drug offences: tinyurl.com/3wazjwy4

This is a very strong intervention from UN legal experts. They call for Jagtar to be immediately released and say his detention is a "profound miscarriage of justice." “Eight and a half years of arbitrary detention without a clear path to trial is not justice, it is unlawful suffering." 🧵

"The distance between MBS’ public narrative of progressive reform, and the reality of death sentences meted out to child defendants, vulnerable migrants and political protesters is wider than ever” We comment on Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's 2,000 execution milestone: bit.ly/3O7mfq3

What does Windrush have to do with the Trump administration's plans? 🧵

The Saudi regime continues to execute people for disagreeing with Mohamed bin Salman. Saud al-Faraj took part in protests and was tortured until he falsely 'confessed' to crimes. UN legal experts found his detention arbitrary and called for his release. Saudi Arabia killed him anyway.

Since 1868, per the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, almost all people born in the US have automatically qualified for citizenship. Trump's government is trying to undo this by executive order, denying birthright citizenship to children born to undocumented immigrants or temporary residents.

Read this powerful piece by our partner Sandra Babcock and colleagues about attempts to silence a UN expert who documented "torture and genocide" by the Israeli Government.

Today our CEO Maya Foa and the Chair of Reprieve US, Eric Lewis, will be at the Bonavero Institute, discussing the legacy of Guantánamo, in a new era of attacks on human rights and international law. Come along if you're in Oxford, or watch online, from 530pm. Registration details below.

One year ago today, British human rights activist Jagtar Singh Johal was acquitted on all charges in the first case against him, but he’s still locked up, with no end in sight to his ordeal. It’s more clear than ever that only action from the UK Government can bring him home to his family.

Today, we’re writing to the Prime Minister, calling on the UK Government to abolish citizenship stripping. Using these extreme powers, the Home Secretary can deprive some British citizens of legal rights simply by saying it is 'conducive to the public good' to do so. reprieve.org/uk/2026/02/2...

Our CEO Maya Foa in the Observer. “We’ve seen what happened with al-Hol: these camps can collapse and people can disappear. The do-nothing approach that the government is taking isn’t just harmful for the lives of the British kids and mothers: it’s also bad from a security perspective.”

"The prisoners transferred face being tortured, sentenced to death and executed, without being granted any meaningful opportunity to contest the allegations against them," Katherine Cornett, Reprieve's deputy director told the BBC.

Today in North East Syria, British children are in mortal danger, caught in the crossfire as a direct result of the UK Government’s negligent policy choice to strip their parents of citizenship and refuse to repatriate them.

Our CEO Maya Foa was on the Observer's Sensemaker podcast, explaining why calls to expand citizenship stripping are a threat to nine million Brits with a connection to another country - and that people of colour are twelve times as likely to be at risk as their white neighbours.

Your citizenship could be at risk. Our research with Reprieve shows that 9 million people could have their citizenship stripped at the discretion of the UK Home Office, including 3 out of 5 people of colour. Visit the link in our bio for more 🔗

2025 is the bloodiest year of executions in Saudi Arabia since monitoring began. Mohammed bin Salman has repeatedly said he plans to reduce the use of capital punishment, only to preside over a five-fold increase in executions. He should be called out for his lies.

Our democracy has become so eroded that this is not being treated with the alarm that it should. Read the full report here 👇

Citizenship is a right, not a privilege. Our new briefing with @reprievehq.bsky.social reveals a shocking racial disparity in citizenship stripping practices. 3 in 5 people of colour are at risk of having their UK citizenship stripped, at the discretion of the Home Office 🧵👇

There's been no execution in Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 for a week. In a year when the Saudi authorities have executed 322 people – more than one a day. When the world is watching, they pause their killing spree. 1/3 - 🧵

Ahead of Mohammed bin Salman's trip to Washington, Western countries are increasingly signaling to Riyadh that they can "execute and kill with impunity," writes Jeed Basyouni of @reprievehq.bsky.social. Criticism - not red carpet state visits - is the only way to stop this trend.

The Saudi regime has executed 322 people this year. Some were child defendants, most were alleged drug offenders, more than half were foreign nationals. This excellent Guardian article, reported with Reprieve's help, gives voice to some of the victims of this unfathomably cruel execution spree.

The victims of Saudi Arabia's 'war on drugs' are disproportionately vulnerable migrants - more than 170 foreign nationals have been executed for drug offences this year, often just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This excellent article tells some of their stories.

8 years ago today, a British 🇬🇧 national was abducted by Indian 🇮🇳 authorities for simply speaking up against human rights abuses. Jagtar Singh Johal was taken just three weeks after his wedding day. He's been in detention and living with the threat of a death sentence ever since - 🧵1/8

On Monday, Saudi Arabia executed Reprieve client and child defendant Abdullah Al-Derazi. He was arrested in August 2014 when he was 18 years old. The crimes he was charged with related to attending demonstrations calling for basic human rights - when he was still a child 🧵

We're hiring. Come and work in our press team, on human rights stories that make a difference. This is a great job for a communications professional with a few years experience or journalist looking to switch into NGO comms.

"When state after state is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on the black market to acquire drugs they cannot legitimately source, we’re talking about a system that is broken beyond repair" - Reprieve US comment in this excellent NBC News article 👇🏻

"Journalist Turki al-Jasser was arrested, tortured, convicted on terrorism charges and executed for his anonymous satirical Twitter account poking fun at the regime. Like all dictators, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is terrified of comedians, and having a laugh at his expense is a capital crime.”

Raising the case is not enough – Jagtar should be released and on a plane home. We have been here before, with prime ministers and foreign secretaries claiming to have ‘raised’ the case, but none of them got it done. Sir Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper must succeed where their predecessors failed

Jagtar has been totally acquitted of the allegations against him after a seven-year trial. The prosecution "miserably failed" to produce any credible evidence. Keir Starmer is uniquely well-placed to succeed where his predecessors failed, and bring Jagtar home to his family in Dumbarton.

The PM raised Jagtar’s case with Modi during his visit to London but, the letter says, “raising the case is not enough. Ministers in the previous govt raised Jagtar’s case more than 100 times, but he remains in prison and it’s hard to see that progress was made as a result of these interventions.”

“It is an indisputable fact that Mohammed bin Salman’s Saudi Arabia executes people for childhood crimes... The penalty for dissent is death, whether the person criticizing the regime is 15 or 50 years old.” @reprievehq.bsky.social

🚨 The U.S. 🇺🇸 is set to hit its highest execution rate in 10 years - a grim and terrifying escalation. Here’s what you need to know - 🧵1/6

Civilians Salem and Waleed Bin Ali Jaber were killed by a US strike in 2012. The family has been seeking accountability with ECCHR and Reprieve's help. "Our hearts are broken, and our faith in international law is shaken," they said, in response to the ruling. "Where else can we turn for justice?”

Think this couldn't happen here in UK🇬🇧 ? Think again. Until we end citizenship stripping, this extreme power will be available to the Home Secretary, whichever party is in government. news.sky.com/story/donald...

Saudi Arabia is on track to break its own grim record for number of executions carried out in one year, with a significant rise in executions for drugs. Today, Associated Press reported on the findings of Reprieve's execution monitoring in the first six months of 2025: apnews.com/article/saud...

🚨 4 Reprieve clients face execution in Saudi Arabia— IN THE 24H🚨 Time is running out for Rami Al Najjar, Ahmed Zeinhom, Hesham Telesi and Abdelfattah Kamal, convicted of non-violent drug crimes. Share this now to tell the Saudi regime that these executions must be halted! 📢

We are outraged by the execution of Turki al-Jasser, a courageous Saudi journalist & writer who exposed royal corruption online. Our hearts are with his loved ones. Nearly 7 years since MBS ordered the murder of #JamalKhashoggi with impunity, MBS has only been emboldened. apnews.com/article/saud...

“The death penalty remains unpopular and practiced by a very small number of states. In those states, you see an increased willingness to do whatever it takes to carry out executions. The result is we’re more likely to see executions go wrong.”

"This is a dark time in US capital punishment. The dominant method of execution, lethal injection, is broken. Yet through his executive order on the death penalty, President Trump has sent a strong signal to states to push forward with executions."

We wrote to the Foreign Office urging the government to update its travel advice to Saudi Arabia so British nationals are fully informed of the risks to their safety should they visit the country. The Daily Mail reported on our letter👇🏽

"We reject, as fundamentally racist, the argument that those born British who hold dual citizenship can be deprived of their British passport while those with no foreign heritage cannot." Strong comment piece in the FT from Lord Alf Dubs and @Jacob_Rees_Mogg

"This is the reality of Mohammed bin Salman’s Saudi Arabia. The 'land of peace, safety, harmony' extolled by Trump is one of the world’s most repressive dictatorships and most prolific executioners." [gift link]

This is what can happen when the UK government fails to stand up for the rights of its citizens arbitrarily detained overseas. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

We are looking for a Head of Public Affairs and Policy! Amazing opportunity @reprievehq.bsky.social for impactful public policy and advocacy work that directly benefits individuals facing the death penalty and effects systemic change too. With wonderful colleagues! hr.breathehr.com/recruitment/...