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For Immediate Release
December, 20 2017, 11:00pm EDT
Contact:
Reprieve's London office can be contacted on: communications [at] reprieve.org.uk / +44 (0) 207 553 8140.,Reprieve US,, based in New York City, can be contacted on Katherine [dot] oshea [at] reprieve.org
Theresa May invites Saudi Crown Prince to London
Prime Minister Theresa May has invited the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, to London, according to reports.
WASHINGTON
Prime Minister Theresa May has invited the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, to London, according to reports.
Her visit comes amid a speeding up of executions in Saudi Arabia under the Crown Prince's leadership. Research by human rights organization Reprieve shows that 142 people were executed in Saudi Arabia this year. Around 70% of these executions were carried out after Mohammed bin Salman took power in June this year.
Reprieve has raised concerns for 14 political protesters whose death sentences were upheld over summer, and who face imminent execution. The 14 were convicted on the basis of 'confessions' extracted through torture. Among them is a disabled man, Munir al-Adam, and a juvenile, Mujtaba al-Sweikat. Mujtaba is one of six juveniles who face execution in the Kingdom on charges relating to protests.
The Crown Prince has also faced criticism over sweeping new counter-terrorism provisions signed in November.
Commenting, Maya Foa, Director of Reprieve, said:
"Theresa May has invited Mohammed bin Salman to Britain amid a wave of repression in Saudi Arabia. Despite the Crown Prince's rhetoric of reform, the reality is that on his watch, executions have sped up, dissent has been criminalised, and juvenile protesters are facing the swordsman's blade. The Prime Minister has talked about promoting British values in the wake of Brexit - she must show she means it, by calling on MBS to release juvenile protesters from death row."
Reprieve is a UK-based human rights organization that uses the law to enforce the human rights of prisoners, from death row to Guantanamo Bay.
LATEST NEWS
'We Know You Live Right Here': Federal Agents Threaten Legal Observers in Maine
"It's hard to believe that this is our country... that people driving home from their jobs live in that much terror."
Jan 27, 2026
Legal observers in Maine who have been documenting the actions of federal immigration officials say they've been receiving threats from masked agents at their own homes.
In a report published last week by the Portland Press Herald, activists who have been tracking the agents described encounters in which they have been threatened with arrests for conducting activities that courts have repeatedly ruled are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
Liz Eisele McLellan, a resident of Westbrook, told the Press Herald that she opened her door one evening and found a masked agent standing there with at least three vehicles behind him barricading her street.
According to McLellan, the agent told her "this is a warning" and then added, "We know you live right here.”
Bob Peck, a retiree who lives in South Portland, filmed an encounter with a masked federal agent who threatened him with arrest if he continued following them to document their actions.
In a video recorded by Peck and posted on social media, the unidentified agent can be seen accusing Peck of "impeding" federal law enforcement by following them. Peck countered, however, that merely trailing them in his car was not impeding their ability to track and apprehend suspects.
“If you keep doing it, we’ll pull you back out and arrest you," the agent told him.
In an interview with the Press Herald, Peck said he interpreted this action as a threat.
Despite the threats from immigration agents, Maine residents so far appear undeterred in their determination to fight back against the actions of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Maine Public reported on Monday that a group of volunteers has been gathering every day at American Roots, a Westbrook-based apparel manufacturer that employs dozens of immigrant workers, to stand watch for ICE and CBP agents.
Although American Roots says that it has ensured all of its workers have documented legal status, many community members have still expressed concern about agents grabbing them as they arrive at or exit from their jobs.
"We are forming a barrier," Rabbi Rachel Simmons, one of the organizers of the watch sessions, told Maine Public. "We are standing between the workers who are being targeted and those who want to do them harm."
Reverend Jane Field, executive director of the Maine Council of Churches, told Maine Public that she assembled a "God squad" that swooped in when American Roots put out a notice asking for help.
However, Field also said that she and her team cannot look after the factory's workers all the time, and that she worries about them when they drive home at the end of the day.
"I mean, it's hard to believe that this is our country, that that you have to say that, that people driving home from their jobs live in that much terror," she said.
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that similar watch efforts have sprung up at schools in Portland, where many immigrant students have been staying home to avoid being apprehended by ICE and CBP.
Katie Mears, a parent who has helped organize a watch at a local elementary school, said her goal is to help families whose kids "no longer feel safe coming to school."
"If we can use our privilege in a useful way, and stand out in the cold for an hour or two to make people feel safer," said Mears, "it’s 1,000% worth it."
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‘We Are Not Letting Up’: Advocates Say Much More Work to Do as Bovino Exits Minnesota
The ACLU said it plans to keep up the pressure and won’t stop “until ICE and CBP stop terrorizing our community.”
Jan 27, 2026
Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino has reportedly been pushed out of his role leading President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign amid a torrent of backlash against immigration agents' lawless behavior in Minnesota in recent weeks, particularly the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis this month.
The Atlantic, which was the first to report Bovino's departure, describes it as one of the first times that a White House prone to quadrupling down on even its most outrageous excesses has buckled in the face of public outrage, with Trump reportedly mulling "a tactical shift in the administration’s mass deportation campaign."
This has not only led to Bovino—who baselessly claimed Pretti intended to "massacre law enforcement"—being demoted and sent to his former job in El Centro, California, where he is expected to retire. Some of the administration's other, more aggressive anti-immigrant zealots, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her de facto chief of staff, Corey Lewandowski, are also reportedly on the hot seat.
"To be clear, this is a victory, which was won by ordinary people putting their lives on the line in the streets of Minneapolis while almost all their elected leaders kept quiet or made only muted criticism," said Jeet Heer, a writer for the Nation.
But the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has been at the forefront of legal resistance to the Trump administration's attacks on civil rights, warned on Monday evening that while ousting the face of the operation represented "progress," it must not breed complacency.
A spokesperson for the group noted in a video posted to social media that Bovino's demotion came shortly after the announcement that some Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents were being withdrawn from Minneapolis "as a result of public pushback," in response to its and Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) tactics.
"These are clear signals that the Trump administration is feeling our pressure," they said. "This is progress, but we are not letting up until ICE and CBP stop terrorizing our community."
"Part of how we achieve this is by telling our senators to vote no this week on a bill that would continue funding ICE without doing anything to keep our community safe," they continued.
Ezra Levin, the co-director of the progressive advocacy group Indivisible, said that the exit of Bovino shows that "the people of Minnesota won and the regime is losing."
However, he said that while "we are all happy to say good riddance to Greg Bovino... our work is still not over."
"This was never about one individual," Levin said. "It is about a system of terror driven by Donald Trump and his regime. The people on the streets are doing their part, but it is up to Democrats to hold the line and follow through. The DHS funding bill cannot pass in its current form, and there must be real constraints and accountability for DHS moving forward."
After Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse, was gunned down this past weekend by a band of federal agents—whose identities the Trump administration has still refused to release to the public and has allowed to remain on duty—Democratic lawmakers have largely stated their intention to block a bill that would fund the government after a January 30 deadline.
That bill—which narrowly passed the House last week with seven Democrats in support after party leadership refused to whip votes against the measure—provides another $64.4 billion to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including another $10 billion for ICE. This is on top of the $170 billion in new DHS funding approved last summer when Congress passed Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Zeteo reports that as of Monday, 44 Democrats have stated their intention to vote against the bill. With seven Democrats needed to vote for the legislation in addition to all 53 Republicans, this is enough for it to be blocked. According to the report:
Senate Democrats appear to have coalesced around several demands for cleaning up ICE. While the exact language isn’t final, Democrats are prepared to demand the following, according to the [American] Prospect: an independent, federal-state investigation of the murders by DHS in Minnesota and agents’ tactics; a ban on ICE agents wearing face masks; a requirement that ICE agents wear body cameras; an end to arrest quotas and agents’ roving patrols, where they racially profile people; and a prohibition on agents illegally and unconstitutionally entering people’s homes based on “administrative warrants” that haven’t been signed by an actual judge.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), America's largest federal workers union, of which Pretti was a member, said that other Trump administration officials who smeared his name in order to defend his killing must also face accountability.
“In the immediate aftermath of Alex’s killing, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem betrayed the public trust by slandering the good name of our union brother and calling him a 'domestic terrorist,'" said AFGE national president Everett Kelley. "Alex Pretti was a patriotic ICU nurse at a [Department of Veterans Affairs] hospital who devoted his life to serving America’s veterans. That claim was reckless, defamatory, and unsupported by the facts. Noem was preceded in this false statement by Stephen Miller, Deputy White House Chief of Staff, who is also the architect of the chaotic and failed immigration policy in Minnesota."
"Our demand is clear: Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was responsible for carrying out the policy that led to Alex’s needless killing, and Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, the architect of that policy, must resign immediately," Kelley continued. "If they refuse, President Trump must dismiss them."
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'This Is a Militia That Kills': Milan Mayor Decries ICE Involvement in Winter Olympics Security
“Can’t we just say no to Trump for once?" asked Mayor Giuseppe Sala.
Jan 27, 2026
The mayor of Milan, which is set to host the 2026 Winter Olympics starting February 6, was not convinced Tuesday by assurances that US immigration officials fulfilling security duties at the games will only be providing protections for top US officials.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, said Giuseppe Sala, "are not welcome in Milan, there’s no doubt about it."
Sala's comments came after the US Embassy in Rome confirmed an official statement from ICE saying that federal officers are scheduled to provide "diplomatic security" during the Milan Cortina games—days after US immigration agents fatally shot Alex Pretti, the third US citizen killed by employees of the Department of Homeland Security in less than four weeks.
ICE has also garnered international outrage with its detention of people without criminal records even as President Donald Trump's administration continues to claim it is working to deport the "worst of the worst violent criminals," and particularly its abduction of young children including 5-year-old Liam Ramos, 7-year-old Diana Crespo, and 2-year-old Chloe Renata Tipan Villacis.
Two Italian journalists were also threatened by ICE agents on Sunday while they were reporting on immigration enforcement in Minneapolis, with the officers telling them, "This is your only warning, if you keep following us, we will break your window and we will pull you out of the vehicle.” Filming and observing ICE agents, as long as one is not interfering with their operations, is a protected right under the US Constitution.
ICE told Al Jazeera that "obviously, ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries,” but Sala suggested that it was not entirely obvious that officers with the agency would not perpetrate violence at the Olympics.
Officers with ICE, he told RTL 102.5 radio, "don’t guarantee they’re aligned with our democratic security management methods."
“This is a militia that kills,” he added. “Can’t we just say no to Trump for once?"
ICE told Agence France-Presse that ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) department will be "supporting the US Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and host nation to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organisations."
“All security operations remain under Italian authority," said the agency.
If mitigating risks is the goal, said Alessandro Zan, a member of European Party representing Italy's Democratic Party, "it's paradoxical to entrust it to those who are the first to commit crimes, operating with violence, and killing innocents in cold blood."
"In Italy, we don't want those who trample human rights and act outside any democratic control," said Zan. "It's unacceptable to think that an agency of this kind could have a role, whatever it may be, in our country."
HSI typically investigates "the illegal movement of people, goods, money, contraband, weapons, and sensitive technology into, out of, and through the United States," according to its website.
The Associated Press reported that HSI is among the federal agencies that have helped provide security for US officials at previous Olympic games.
In Milan, the US delegation attending the February 6 opening ceremony will be led by Vice President JD Vance, along with Second Lady Usha Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Sala told RTL that the city "can take care of their security ourselves. We don’t need ICE.”
Renew Europe, a centrist group within European Parliament, added that it is "not acceptable" for ICE officers to be welcomed in Milan as the agency carries out a violent immigration crackdown across the US.
The Green and Left Alliance (AVS) and Azione, two Italian opposition parties that counter the right-wing government, have started petitions calling on officials to bar any agents with ICE from involvement with security operations at the Milan Cortina games.
La Repubblica reported that the Italian government considered blocking ICE from attending the games as part of the security detail, but declined to do so.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, said Zan, "should clearly state what is happening and provide guarantees that Trump’s political police will not set foot in our country."
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