Holiday Card Action 2007
Each year during the winter holidays, Amnesty International asks friends and members to send messages of support to prisoners and human rights defenders around the world. Holidays can mean little to those who fear they've been forgotten by the world. A simple greeting card, however, can bring renewed hope. The prisoners and human rights defenders featured here need your support. Please let them know they are not forgotten.
Available to Download:
2007 Holiday Card Action (1st half) | (2nd half) | 2006 Holiday Card Action Update (pdf)
Please see also our AIKids Holiday Card Action 2007
BELARUS
Zmitser Dashkevich
UPDATE: Amnesty International welcomes the release from prison on January 23 of Zmitser Dashkevich, leader of a youth organization that advocates political freedom in Belarus. A leader of the youth-based opposition group, Young Front, Zmitser Dashkevich was freed from Sklou prison two months early of the completion of an 18-month prison sentence for "organizing or participating in activities of an unregistered organization." Learn more »
UPDATE: Amnesty International welcomes the release from prison on January 23 of Zmitser Dashkevich, leader of a youth organization that advocates political freedom in Belarus. A leader of the youth-based opposition group, Young Front, Zmitser Dashkevich was freed from Sklou prison two months early of the completion of an 18-month prison sentence for "organizing or participating in activities of an unregistered organization." Learn more »
COLOMBIA
Martha Cecilia Díaz Suárez
Unknown assailants abducted Martha Cecilia Díaz Suárez, president of the public services workers union (Association of Departmental Workers – ASTDEMP), on August 15, 2006 in Bucaramanga. They accused her of being a guerrilla, beat her, and demanded information about local officials of the Trade Union Congress (CUT). The abduction of Martha Cecilia Díaz followed death threats received by ASTDEMP and another trade union in March 2006. Learn more »
Unknown assailants abducted Martha Cecilia Díaz Suárez, president of the public services workers union (Association of Departmental Workers – ASTDEMP), on August 15, 2006 in Bucaramanga. They accused her of being a guerrilla, beat her, and demanded information about local officials of the Trade Union Congress (CUT). The abduction of Martha Cecilia Díaz followed death threats received by ASTDEMP and another trade union in March 2006. Learn more »
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
AJEDI-Ka
Bukeni T. Waruzi Beck is the executive director of AJEDI-Ka (Association of Youth for Integrated Development--Kalundu), an organization that reintegrates demobilized girl and boy soldiers into Congolese society and maintains long term follow-up on the welfare of these children. Tens of thousands of child soldiers have been recruited as combatants by all parties to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. AJEDI-Ka has managed to mobilize over 300 child soliders. Learn more »
Bukeni T. Waruzi Beck is the executive director of AJEDI-Ka (Association of Youth for Integrated Development--Kalundu), an organization that reintegrates demobilized girl and boy soldiers into Congolese society and maintains long term follow-up on the welfare of these children. Tens of thousands of child soldiers have been recruited as combatants by all parties to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. AJEDI-Ka has managed to mobilize over 300 child soliders. Learn more »
EGYPT
Karim Amer
Abdul Kareem Nabil Suleiman did what thousands of young bloggers around the world do every day: he logged onto his computer and typed in his thoughts about the politics of his country, criticizing both the Egyptian government and religious authorities. For this the 23-year-old former student, widely known on the Internet as "Karim Amer," was arrested and sentenced in February 2007 to four years in prison on charges including "incitement to hate Islam," "defaming the President of the Republic," and "spreading information disruptive of public order." Learn more »
Abdul Kareem Nabil Suleiman did what thousands of young bloggers around the world do every day: he logged onto his computer and typed in his thoughts about the politics of his country, criticizing both the Egyptian government and religious authorities. For this the 23-year-old former student, widely known on the Internet as "Karim Amer," was arrested and sentenced in February 2007 to four years in prison on charges including "incitement to hate Islam," "defaming the President of the Republic," and "spreading information disruptive of public order." Learn more »
EQUATORIAL GUINEA
Reverend Bienvenido Samba Momesori
Reverend Bienvenido Samba Momesori, Protestant pastor of the Church of Cherubs and Seraphs, has been detained since October 2003 without charge in the central African nation of Equatorial Guinea. Amnesty International considers Reverend Samba to be a prisoner of conscience, arrested solely because of he is a member of the Bubi ethnic group and because of his peaceful political opinions. Learn more »
Reverend Bienvenido Samba Momesori, Protestant pastor of the Church of Cherubs and Seraphs, has been detained since October 2003 without charge in the central African nation of Equatorial Guinea. Amnesty International considers Reverend Samba to be a prisoner of conscience, arrested solely because of he is a member of the Bubi ethnic group and because of his peaceful political opinions. Learn more »
HONDURAS
Dina Meza and Carlos Hernández
Dina Meza and Carlos Hernández work for the Association for a More Just Society (Asociación para una Sociedad Más Justa, ASJ), an organization that focuses on improving access to justice for all sectors of Honduran society. Three days after the December 2006 killing of an ASJ lawyer, Carlos Hernández, ASJ President, received a text message in English which read: "You are the next because you are the head." Journalist Dina Meza, project director of ASJ's online magazine, also reportedly received threatening voice messages on her mobile phone. Learn more »
Dina Meza and Carlos Hernández work for the Association for a More Just Society (Asociación para una Sociedad Más Justa, ASJ), an organization that focuses on improving access to justice for all sectors of Honduran society. Three days after the December 2006 killing of an ASJ lawyer, Carlos Hernández, ASJ President, received a text message in English which read: "You are the next because you are the head." Journalist Dina Meza, project director of ASJ's online magazine, also reportedly received threatening voice messages on her mobile phone. Learn more »
TURKEY
Mehmet Desde
Mehmet Desde, a German national, has been convicted by Turkey's highest court for "membership in an illegal organization," which related to his alleged connection with the Bolshevik Party (North Kurdistan/Turkey), a small, non-violent political opposition party. Though Desde maintains he is not a member of the Bolshevik Pary and much of the evidence presented against him in court was allegedly extracted under torture, he has been sentenced to 30 months in prison. Learn more »
Mehmet Desde, a German national, has been convicted by Turkey's highest court for "membership in an illegal organization," which related to his alleged connection with the Bolshevik Party (North Kurdistan/Turkey), a small, non-violent political opposition party. Though Desde maintains he is not a member of the Bolshevik Pary and much of the evidence presented against him in court was allegedly extracted under torture, he has been sentenced to 30 months in prison. Learn more »
USA: HELP-IN-CRISIS
Help-In-Crisis
For more than 25 years, the organization Help-In-Crisis has provided much-needed support services for both Native American and non-Native American women and families dealing with violent and crisis situations in rural Oklahoma. Beginning as a 24-hour support hotline in 1980 that shared space with the local fire department, Help-In-Crisis has grown to provide a range of services, including counseling, court advocacy, child abuse prevention and treatment for batterers. Learn more »
For more than 25 years, the organization Help-In-Crisis has provided much-needed support services for both Native American and non-Native American women and families dealing with violent and crisis situations in rural Oklahoma. Beginning as a 24-hour support hotline in 1980 that shared space with the local fire department, Help-In-Crisis has grown to provide a range of services, including counseling, court advocacy, child abuse prevention and treatment for batterers. Learn more »
USA: TROY DAVIS
Troy Davis
Troy Anthony Davis has consistently maintained that he is innocent of the crime for which he was sentenced to death in Georgia. There was never any physical evidence linking Mr. Davis to the 1989 murder of Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail, and the murder weapon was never found. All but two of the prosecution's nine non-police witnesses have since recanted or contradicted their testimony, many claiming that they were coerced by the police to implicate Davis. Learn more »
Troy Anthony Davis has consistently maintained that he is innocent of the crime for which he was sentenced to death in Georgia. There was never any physical evidence linking Mr. Davis to the 1989 murder of Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail, and the murder weapon was never found. All but two of the prosecution's nine non-police witnesses have since recanted or contradicted their testimony, many claiming that they were coerced by the police to implicate Davis. Learn more »
VIETNAM
Nguyen Van Ly
For challenging the Vietnamese government's tight restrictions on freedom of expression, Father Nguyen Van Ly has suffered harassment, intimidation and imprisonment. Accusations against Father Ly included being involved in the pro-democracy movement Bloc 8406, which he co-founded, and in taking part in the establishment of banned political groups. The court sentenced him to eight years' imprisonment, plus five years' house arrest on release, for "conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam." Learn more »
For challenging the Vietnamese government's tight restrictions on freedom of expression, Father Nguyen Van Ly has suffered harassment, intimidation and imprisonment. Accusations against Father Ly included being involved in the pro-democracy movement Bloc 8406, which he co-founded, and in taking part in the establishment of banned political groups. The court sentenced him to eight years' imprisonment, plus five years' house arrest on release, for "conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam." Learn more »
