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Reprieve US

Overview
Headquarters: 
New York, NY
Size: 
1-10 employees
Founded: 
2001
Annual Budget : 
$100-500,000
About Us
Mission: 

Reprieve US is a registered 501(c)(3) assisting victims of extreme human rights abuses carried out by governments. We are made up of lawyers and investigators helping people facing detention without trial, execution and extrajudicial killing. We are a small team but we are fearless in our fight for justice.

We work closely with our sister organization, Reprieve, a UK charity founded in 1999 by British-American lawyer Clive Stafford Smith. Reprieve uses strategic interventions to end the use of the death penalty globally, and secret prisons and state-sanctioned assassinations in the context of the so-called “war on terror”.

We work for the most disenfranchised people in society, as it is in their cases that human rights are most swiftly jettisoned and the rule of law is cast aside. Thus, we promote and protect the rights of those facing the death penalty and those who are the victims of extreme human rights abuses committed in the context of the so-called “war on terror” (WOT), with a focus on secret prisons and state-sanctioned assassinations.

Underpinning Reprieve’s strategic focus is the notion that countries such as the US and the UK hold themselves out as shining examples of democratic societies that respect the rule of law and human rights, and therefore should be held to exacting standards in terms of how they respond to acts or allegations of terrorism and murder. Their responses have ripple effects worldwide, and are frequently used to justify the continuation of the death penalty, extrajudicial killing, torture, rendition and unlawful detention by countries ranging from “aspiring exemplars” to “worst offenders”.

Reprieve works with partners in jurisdictions all over the world, including Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), government officials, individual lawyers and human rights defenders, as well as individual, corporate and foundation funders.

Programs: 

Guantánamo Bay

Reprieve U.S. represents seven prisoners in Guantánamo Bay and has freed over 80 men from wrongful detention at the facility, including juveniles like Mohammed el Gharani.  We also run a unique prisoner resettlement program, Life After Guantánamo, which helps ex-prisoners from Guantánamo to reunite with their families, access medical care, and rebuild their lives peacefully and securely.

Abuses in Counter-Terrorism

Reprieve U.S. investigates extra-judicial killing and detention around the world and reunites ‘disappeared’ prisoners with their legal rights. Our Drones Project pursues greater transparency, due process and regulation in the use of drones to kill outside of war zones. Among our clients are the al-Saadi family, anti-Gaddafi dissidents who were rendered back to Gaddafi in a joint CIA-MI6 operation when the eldest child was just 12 years old, and Faisal Bin Ali Jaber, an engineer from Yemen who is seeking justice for his brother-in-law and nephew who were killed in a U.S. drone strike.

Death Penalty

Reprieve U.S. is assisting over a number of prisoners facing the death penalty in the USA and around the world. We prioritize cases where an international influence can make all the difference. In the U.S., Reprieve’s Stop Lethal Injection Project works with pharmaceutical corporations to ensure that medicines created to cure are not used to kill. We have helped to save over 500 people from wrongful execution.

industry: 
Nonprofit