Thanks to everyone involved in the creation of these updates, your efforts are appreciated. If you wish, you can read these updates in PDF format.
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Urgent Action: Halt Execution of Iranian Protestors and Dissidents
Since February 2026, Iran has launched a deadly crackdown on protesters and dissidents. Act now and demand an urgent halt to political executions.
Urgent Action: Tell Scotland's First Minster it's time to deliver the Human Rights Bill
Committing to bringing forward the long-awaited Human Rights Bill in September's Programme for Government, would not only mean transformational change by putting all of our everyday rights into Scots law. It would also make a statement about the kind of Scotland the First Minister wants to build. A Scotland that rejects the divisive anti-rights voices that are growing louder across the world and at home. A Scotland for all of us.
Welcome
At a time when fundamental rights are under threat across the globe, join Amnesty International, get involved with our local Amnesty Group and play your part in helping to promote and defend vital human rights across the world.
We warmly invite both newcomers and familiar faces alike to attend the next meeting of the Amnesty International Glasgow West Group.
This email includes:
- Details of our forthcoming September 2026 meeting;
- Updates on recent and planned events and actions, including a gathering of Scotland-wide Amnesty Groups in September;
- A summary of AIUK's latest Local Group updates;
- The minutes from our local Group's July meeting; and
- A note of all our monthly meeting dates for 2026.
September 2026 Glasgow West AI Group Meeting
Thursday 10th September, Woodlands Methodist Church, 7:30pm – 9pm
The Glasgow West Amnesty Group's next meeting will take place on Thursday 10th September 2026 at 7.30pm – 9pm in Woodlands Methodist Church, Woodlands Road, Glasgow, G3 6LW.
If you are curious about Amnesty International, you are very welcome to just turn up and join our meetings. We would love to see you there!
Our next meeting will include:
- Guest Speaker – Chris Ramsay, who is AIUK's Country Co-ordinator for Turkiye, will provide an overview of current Human Rights challenges within the country and discuss the work relating to Turkish Individuals at Risk;
- A brief review of recent events and campaigns;
- Discussion and planning on upcoming future events/actions; and
- Undertaking letter writing on recent Urgent Action alerts from AIUK.
Join our Meetings online
Anyone unable / unavailable to physically come along, is welcome to join our monthly meetings online via this link. (It will be the same link for all subsequent meetings).
Update on Glasgow to Edinburgh Fundraising Walk for Amnesty International
As reported last month, the Amnesty Perth Group is undertaking a fundraising walk along the route of the Millennium Canal, in a number of stages across August. Members from other groups, including Glasgow West are also participating in this event. So far, over £1,300 has been raised.
The link below is for the canal walk fundraising page, which is still current and donations would be hugely appreciated. All donations will go to Amnesty International UK.
https://www.justgiving.com/page/scottishamnestygroups-canalwalk
Uyghur Solidarity Month Update
The Amnesty campaign supporting the Uyghur population of China has continued throughout the whole of August. This has included a ‘Uyghur word of the day', aiming to highlight aspects of the culture of the Uyghur people. The daily actions also include various calls to action, petitions and creative ways of highlighting the plight of the Uyghur population.
Research by Amnesty International concluded that the Chinese Government has been undertaking systematic abuses against Muslims living in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region for several years. An estimated one million people have been arbitrarily detained and sent to internment camps or prisons as part of a campaign of subjugation and assimilation. A report by Amnesty published in 2021 set out the factual basis that the Chinese authorities had committed crimes against humanity, including imprisonment, torture and persecution.
In our previous Newsletter, we updated on our stall at Glasgow's Kelvinbridge Market in July, where our Group encouraged members of the public to engage with the Uyghur campaign.
Since then, the Glasgow Daytime Group has a Uyghur campaign drop-in event in August in Partick library. The photo below shows a stand used at the Daytime Group's event.
More recently, a banner supporting the Uyghur campaign, which was devised by Clara, one of our local Group members, and then developed via collaboration with members of the pubic and other Amnesty activists, has featured in an exhibition at the prestigious Wolfson Gallery at SOAS University in London.
Amnesty Scotland Gathering
Sat 26 Sep 2026 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
An event is being held in Edinburgh to join Amnesty activists from around Scotland to discuss ideas, priority issues and campaigns and to encourage joined up working across Human Rights matters.
The event will be held on Saturday 26th September 2026, from 10am until 5pm at the Crannie Community Hub in Edinburgh.
The event is aimed at current Amnesty members and activists and it is hoped that members of local Amnesty Groups from around Scotland will participate.
This year's event in Edinburgh follows a successful gathering in Perth last year.
Amnesty members wishing to attend can book their ticket via this link.
Amnesty UK Local Updates
Below is a selection of some of the issues featured in the latest monthly update for local groups from Amnesty UK.
You can read the full Local Groups Update for August 2026 in our archive.
IAR and Defending the Right to Protest
78,877 people have signed. Help us get to 90,000
Help us to support our Right to protest campaign including working with Defend our Juries and training and managing teams of observers who have been attending recent court dates and peaceful protests.
You may have seen recently, an important and deeply concerning update on the ongoing legal challenge to the government's proscription of Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act. On Monday 15 June the Court of Appeal overturned the earlier High Court decision that had found the ban unlawful. This means the original proscription is reinstated: Palestine Action remains banned, and expressing support for the group continues to be treated as a criminal offence.
Amnesty UK intervened in this case because we believe this represents a serious misuse of counter-terror powers to suppress protest. We remain clear: using terrorism legislation in this way risks undermining fundamental rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Palestine Action has announced its intention to appeal to the Supreme Court. If the case proceeds, Amnesty will again seek to intervene to ensure human rights arguments are heard at the highest level.
Amnesty UK along with colleagues from the IS have been managing teams of observers at these actions, observing the position of the event and arrests.
Many gathered in solidarity, while others — including activists from Defend Our Juries — peacefully held signs, only to be arrested one by one. Their courage and commitment are a powerful reminder of why defending protest rights matters.
This is a difficult moment, but it is not the end. Now more than ever, we must speak out.
Take action today:
Sign and share our petition calling on the UK government to end the prosecution of peaceful protesters.
Together, our voices can challenge this shameful chapter and push back against this erosion of our rights.
Europe Coordinator – Türkiye
Türkiye: Former subject of Write for Rights campaign stresses the value of solidarity messages for Individuals at Risk.
Forensic medicine expert and human rights defender Professor Şebnem Korur Fincancı, whose case was included in the Write for Rights campaign in 2024, has dedicated her life to eradicating torture and defending human rights. Trying to silence her, the Turkish authorities have subjected Şebnem to baseless criminal investigations.
In 2023, she was convicted for allegedly “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” after she had called for an investigation into allegations that the Turkish military was using chemical weapons in Iraq.
Şebnem is appealing against her conviction but could be imprisoned for almost two years if unsuccessful.
In her inspirational article “We will never walk alone”, she describes the life enhancing impact of receiving solidarity messages from thousands of people all around the world and encourages us to recognise the crucial importance of being able to feel another person's pain and act on their behalf as an expression of our shared humanity.
For more information contact Chris Ramsey - Country Coordinator for Türkiye (Europe Region team AIUK)
A Petition a Week
A petition about human rights in the UK and beyond, into your inbox every week. Together we can make a difference. If you would like to sign up, go to apetitionaweek.substack.com/subscribe and feel free to get in touch with me at apetitionaweek@outlook.com.
Thank you!
Please see here full list of Petitions
August 2026 Updates
Amnesty Glasgow West Group Meeting Thurs 13th August 2026
Minutes
Link to August meeting email here
- Welcome and apologies
- Attendance: Claire, Kirstie, Luca, Andrew, Merle, Paolo, Clara, Cayden (online)
- Apologies: Lauren, Debra and Ken
- Agreement of previous meeting minutes link
- Team Updates (list of roles here):
- Treasurer
- Expenses: £ for Paolo for Meal / venue- ongoing; £ for taxi for Pride tbc; £ for stamps for July UAs tbc
- Donations: £50
- Balance: £1,786 (no change from last month due to other amounts tbc)
- Social Media & website (Lauren): promoting Uighurs campaign - ongoing
- Regional/Country focus (Clara) - Uyghur Campaign for August; how was the Farmers' Market? Good engagement & conversations, esp w existing AIUK members; good to know - people glance at the sign and then walk past. For future: have something gimmicky/eye-catching
- Uyghur Vigil 18.08.26 - Clara to share information in Signal. Details and lin were also included in the email/newsletter for this month's meeting
- SOAS Uyghur exhibition will include our Group's “mehr” cloth banner
- Monday 31.08.26 - event to celebrate Uyghur culture in London, anniversary of UNHCR report. Overall Event cost is £400. Cultural celebration & bringing together of all the actions. Clara to share eventbrite & gofundme to help cover the costs in Signal.
- Confirmed agreement for a £50 contribution from our AI Glasgow West group for the event
- Looking for more volunteers / newsletter
- Prisoner of Conscience/Individual At Risk (IAR) (Ken - Türkiye)
- Ken has received info about 5 IAR in Turkiye. Many HR issues in Türkiye
- Turkiye Country Co-ordinator has offered to do a presentation for our group - online. We will invite them to our September meeting
- Not currently active: Theme Focus US Death Penalty
- Treasurer
- Updates from previous activities
- How was Pride? (discuss next steps below!)
- Pride Actions - 3 petitions!
- ‘Reading for Resistance': Andrew to look into Amnesty Queer Rights Network petition - and possibly wider book censorship issues / Is this a campaign our local Group might wish to prioritise involvement in?
- BBC - Kirstie LGBTQI+ discourse in UK media
- Turkiye - Ken has recently agreed to take on an Amnesty role with regard to IARs in Turkiye. Will discuss this at future meeting, including link to Amnesty's Country Co-ordinator for Turkiye.
- How was the Canal Walk?
- Fun, over £1,000 raised so far! (more details below)
- How was Pride? (discuss next steps below!)
- Updates from local groups (Daytime / Glasgow Uni / AIUK / Community Platform)
-
Daytime group: organising a day-long presentation in Partick Library on Saturday 22 August starting at 10.30am as part of the Uyghur campaign.
Do we have our group flyers we can give them?
- Clara to send details to Claire
Who can deliver flyers/attend?
-
- Urgent Appeals - Merle Three UAs were circulated and responses written, both online and via hard copy for posting.
- Updates from Scottish Activism Rep (Paolo) / Scotland-wide WhatsApp group chat
- Joint fundraiser walk/cycle Canal Glasgow
- URL: https://www.justgiving.com/page/scottishamnestygroups-canalwalk
- The closing date for the challenge is the end of October and you can take part any time between now and then, e.g. can do different legs on different weekends - if you do that, great to let everyone know when you will be doing it so others can join you.
- Follow our progress! https://amnestyscotlandwalk.netlify.app/
- Canal walk WhatsApp joining link for those interested - ask Claire
-
Berry picking fundraiser - Perth Amnesty have a stall at Thomas Thomson's fruit farm in Blairgowrie where people can pick as many blueberries as they want & make a donation to Amnesty. The stall dates and times are:
Tuesday 1st September - 9-1.30
Sunday 20th September - 9-12
- Scotland-wide Gathering - Saturday September 26th, in Edinburgh 10.00am-5pm; agenda tbc
-
Scotland office template letters:
- Joint fundraiser walk/cycle Canal Glasgow
- Pride 2027 - what's our plan?
- Pride Organisers admitted in a meeting with Claire and Paolo before the event that they accepted Coca Cola as a sponsor because they focus on how the companies treat their LGBTQ+ employees, rather than their focus on international relations
- We need unity. 2026 there were 3 Pride events!
- Draft: Dear Pride, 20.07.26 - commitment to ethical sponsors for 2027!
- All to review draft & approve next meeting
- Saved here: Pride
- Suggestion: contact those who attended Pride this year to get a coalition of people asking for them to commit to ethical sponsors
- Commitment as a minimum to not take from the BDS list - add to their ethical guidelines
- Campaign Action suggestion:
- Feminist Network Exposing Glasgow's “Pregnancy Crisis Centres” - people looked at the resources, no-one has capacity now; suggest at next meeting
- “Persuasive Conversation Activation Session”
- Persuasive Conversations Resources - would anyone like to go for a street wander to speak to strangers about the Human Rights Bill / human rights in Scotland?
- Scotland: Tell the First Minister it's time to deliver the Human Rights Bill: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/get-involved/take-action/sign-a-petition/scotland-tell-the-first-minister-its-time-to-deliver-the-human-rights-bill/
- Persuasive Conversations Resources - would anyone like to go for a street wander to speak to strangers about the Human Rights Bill / human rights in Scotland?
- Glasgow West 2026 Planner.docx
- Discussion/brainstorm:
- How can we get new active members?
- How can we keep active members?
- Any suggestions for the current/new role-holders on how to conduct their role?
- Discussion/brainstorm:
- AOB
-
AIGW's Newsletter:
Our monthly newsletter, which is circulated by email (Mailchimp) shortly before each of our Group meetings is circulated to a current total of 211 subscribers.
Data is available via Mailchimp indicating the number of recipients that ‘open' the email. This will include those who only open it momentarily before closing again, those who read the full newsletter and those in between.
Analysis of the monthly data across the past twelve months indicates that the lowest ‘open' rate was just 10% in March 2026, with the highest regular monthly newsletter being opened by 29% in February 2026. The average ‘open email' rate across the past year is around 25%.
Given the work involved in pulling together the monthly newsletter / email, we are looking to review how its content and impact could be improved. This might include:
- Seeking ideas to improve the ‘open' rate / make the monthly emails more attractive;
- Possibly undertaking a short survey of the mailing list to seek views on how the newsletter could evolve, its content, frequency, etc;
- Looking at the newsletter within the wider context of our Group's communications;
- Consideration will be given to this over the coming months, In the meantime, any initial ideas / feedback on the monthly newsletter would be much appreciated by messaging the Group secretary at mail@glasgowwestamnesty.org.uk
-
- Next meeting - Thurs 10th September 2026
- Potential Speakers for 2026:
- [Refugee Action - potentially joint event with Daytime group - awaiting update from Graham in Daytime Group]
- Clara: journalist from Somalia - Clara to check his availability and if needs transport/accommodation
-
Ebba: Palestinian researcher:
https://sgsahblog.com/2025/01/27/activist-ethnography-in-palestine/
- [Amicus: after find out about Death Penalty network - admin@amicus-alj.org - Allan]
2026 Meeting Dates
New Members very welcome!
The Group meets every second Thursday of each month at 7.30pm - 9pm.
The meetings take place at Woodlands Methodist Church, 229 Woodlands Road, G3 6LW
For further information contact mail@glasgowwestamnesty.org.uk
Thursday 8th January 2026Thursday 12th February 2026Thursday 12th March 2026Thursday 9th April 2026Thursday 14th May 2026Thursday 11th June 2026Thursday 9th July 2026Thursday 13th August 2026- Thursday 10th September 2026
- Thursday 8th October 2026
- Thursday 12th November 2026
- Thursday 10th December 2026
BETTER TO LIGHT A CANDLE THAN CURSE THE DARKNESS
