Amnesty International announced on Monday the appointment of Salil Shetty as the organisation's new director general.

Amnesty's board of directors made the decision after a meeting at the human rights organisation's headquarters in London. Mr Shetty, an Indian national, has been director of the UN Millennium Campaign for the past six years. Before taking running the Millennium Campaign, Mr Shetty ran the British charity ActionAid.

Mr Shetty takes over from Irene Khan, who has been running amnesty for the past eight years. Mr Shetty will take over on 1 June 2010, but because Ms Khan will be leaving as of 31 December, Claudio Cordone will serve as interim director for the coming six months.

Mr Cordone is current director of Amnesty's research and regional programmes. The human rights organisation has around 2.2 million members and supporters across the globe.