Amnesty International has sparked outrage after issuing a statement condemning political reactions to the murder of British teenager Henry Nowak, while making no criticism of the police conduct that has become central to the controversy.
The organisation intervened as public anger continues to grow over the December killing of the 18-year-old in Southampton and the conduct of officers who responded to the scene.
Footage released following the sentencing of Vickrum Digwa last week showed Nowak repeatedly telling officers he had been stabbed and struggling to breathe as he lay dying. Despite suffering multiple stab wounds, he was handcuffed by police, who initially appeared to treat him as a suspect after Digwa alleged that racist remarks had been made.
The footage has triggered protests, political demands for inquiries, and accusations that the authorities treated the victim differently because of his ethnicity. Critics have pointed to similarities with the George Floyd case in the United States, particularly Nowak’s repeated cries that he could not breathe.
However, Amnesty International UK used a statement on Tuesday to criticise what it described as reckless political commentary surrounding the case.
“At a time when hate crimes are rising, and violence and fear are becoming a daily reality for people of colour and migrants, calls for ‘cold, hard rage’ are completely reckless,” an Amnesty spokesperson said.
The organisation also dismissed claims of “two-tier policing,” arguing that such narratives “seek to sow division” and ignore evidence of longstanding discrimination against ethnic minorities.
The response immediately provoked a backlash from commentators and politicians who noted that Amnesty’s statement contained no criticism of the officers’ actions toward Nowak.
Conservative commentator Melissa Chen wrote that Amnesty had devoted “not a single word” to the teenager’s treatment by police.
“Instead, their statement is about policing the political commentary around the case,” she wrote on X, describing the intervention as “a grotesque betrayal of any moral purpose.”
Swedish conservative MEP Charlie Weimers was equally scathing, writing that Amnesty had been “morally bankrupt for a long time” and describing it as “a pure left-wing organisation.”
In recent years, Amnesty has faced multiple accusations of moving beyond its traditional focus on political prisoners and civil liberties into left-wing progressive political activism.
The organisation has been a vocal campaigner on issues including Palestine, abortion, migration policy, climate change, and transgender rights. The organisation has repeatedly accused Israel of apartheid, advocated expanded access to abortion worldwide, and opposed efforts by several European governments to tighten immigration controls.
The criticism has been further fuelled by comparisons with Amnesty’s response to the death of George Floyd in 2020.
At the time, Amnesty actively campaigned for Floyd, promoted petitions demanding accountability from U.S. authorities, and later declared that Floyd had been “murdered by a white police officer.” In a separate post marking the fifth anniversary of his death, the organisation wrote that it had taken to the streets because “the sickness of white supremacy demanded we act.”
Screenshots of those posts have circulated widely online following Amnesty’s intervention in the Nowak case, with critics contrasting its outspoken response to Floyd’s death with its silence regarding the conduct of British police officers shown handcuffing a dying teenager who repeatedly pleaded for help.
Nick Hallett is an assistant news editor for europeanconservative.com. He has previously worked as a journalist for Breitbart and as the online editor for The Catholic Herald.
