Reprieve US

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 face 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.