Your Letters Make A Difference!
Last year, letters sent by people around the world during Write for Rights helped to improve the lives of people and communities at risk.
Your words can change lives. USE THEM.
Join us as we write for rights - SIGN UP TODAY!
Below are highlights of the successes achieved through Amnesty International's Write for Rights.
2011
Mao Hengfeng - Released - China

Mao Hengfeng, an avid human rights defender, was serving 18 months in China's "re-education through labor" system for having protested in 2009 the arrest of human rights defender Liu Xiaobo. (Liu Xiaobo was awardedf the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010.) She has also campaigned against forced abortions and forced evictions in China.
Mansour Ossanlu - Released - Iran

Walid Yunis Ahmad - Detention Without Charge Ended - Iraq

Before his arrest in 2000, Walid Yunis Ahmad worked at a radio and television station where he organized programs and translated material into Kurdish, Arabic and Turkman.
Amnesty International continues to advocate on behalf of Walid Yunis Ahmad, urging the regional government to release him immediately and unconditionally, and to offer reparations to him and his family for the years he was illegally detained.
2010
BIRTUKAN MIDEKSA – RELEASED - ETHIOPIA

Birtukan Mideksa has thanked Amnesty International members, saying:
"Thank you for your hard work and your campaigns to secure my release from prison. Your letters, phone calls, and petitions were my protection during the months I spent in solitary confinement. You were my voice when I had none."
AUNG SAN SUU KYI – RELEASED – MYANMAR (BURMA)

Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's best-known prisoner of conscience, spent more than 15 of the past 21 years under house arrest. The Nobel Peace laureate had been detained since 30 May 2003 after government-backed thugs attacked her motorcade in Depayin, killing an unknown number of people, and injuring scores. This was the third time she was held under house arrest, having previously been detained from 1989 to 1995, and from 2000 to 2002.
Watch Video: Message from Aung San Suu Kyi recorded after her release
FEMI PETERS – RELEASED - GAMBIA

Watch Video: Femi Peters Junior thanks everyone who campaigned for the release of his father
Musaad Abu Fagr - Released - Egypt

He was released from Abu Zaabal Prison near Cairo on July 13, 2010.
Musaad Abu Fagr has thanked Amnesty International for its campaigning for his release, "Amnesty International's support is one of the reasons that I was released," he told the organization, "your messages gave me a sense of solidarity".
YUSAK PAKAGE - RELEASED - INDONESIA

Pakage expressed his thanks to Amnesty International for all the work put towards demanding his release, "For me, Amnesty is everything... From someone who suffered and who now smiles again thanks to Amnesty".
Amnesty supporters took action on his behalf during the 2008 Global Write-a-thon.
MOHAMMED al-ODAINI - RELEASED - GUANTÁNAMO

On July 13, 2010, Mohammed al-Odaini was released from Guantanamo and returned back to his home country of Yemen.
RITA MAHATO - SAFETY IMPROVED - NEPAL

2009
HANA ABDI - RELEASED - IRAN

MA KHIN KHIN LEH - RELEASED - BURMA

2008
BU DONGWEI - RELEASED - CHINA

Bu Dongwei was serving a 30-month sentence in connection with his activities as a member of the Falun Gong spiritual movement, which is banned in China. He was working in Beijing for the US-based Asia Foundation when police detained him on May 19, 2006. Bu Dongwei was accused of "resisting the implementation of national laws" and "disturbing social order." Police claimed that they had discovered 80 copies of Falun Gong literature in his home, although his family says that there were no more than 8 Falun Gong books in the house when Bu Dongwei was detained.
The officials in the re-education through labor facility where he was held showed Bu Dongwei letters that were addressed to him and that had arrived from abroad. Although the officials did not let him keep the letters, he now knew that there were people out there who were aware of his plight and who wanted to help.
SAMI AL HAJJ - RELEASED - GUANTÁNAMO

» Watch a video of Sami al Hajj post-release
Sami al Hajj, a Sudanese cameraman, was held by the U.S. government without charge for over six years.
Prior to his detention, Sami al Hajj was a journalist working for the television station al-Jazeera. Following the September 11 attacks on the United States, he was asked by his editors to cover the international conflict in Afghanistan. Sami al Hajj was detained while on assignment, traveling through Pakistan en route to Afghanistan.
Sami al Hajj was held in Pakistani custody for nearly 3 weeks before being transferred to U.S. custody and taken to Bagram air base in Afghanistan. He was stripped of his passport, his visa to travel to Afghanistan, and his press identification. Sami al Hajj described the 16 days he spent detained at Bagram air base as "the worst in my life" because of the torture he endured there. On June 13, 2002, he was transferred to Guantánamo Bay.
Sami al Hajj has said that while in U.S. custody he was subjected to a range of torture and ill-treatment, including beatings and denial of prescribed medication for cancer.
In May 2008 Sami al Hajj was released and reunited with his wife and young son.
ZMITSER DASHKEVICH - RELEASED - BELARUS

Authorities charged Zmitser Dashkevich in September 2006 under Article 193 of the Belarusian Criminal Code, with "organizing and running an unregistered organization that infringes the rights of citizens." Article 193 had been added to the Criminal Code in the lead up to the presidential elections in March 2006. It was part of a series of amendments that enabled authorities to penalize civil society organizations and outspoken critics of the government.
Although hundreds of people, including opposition politicians, writers, diplomats and civil society activists, rallied outside the court in Minsk in November 2006 to call for the immediate release of Zmitser Dashkevich, the court sentenced Mr. Dashkevich to one and a half years' imprisonment. The closed trial lasted just two days. On December 15, 2006, the Minsk City Court denied an appeal made by Mr. Dashkevich's lawyer, and the original sentence was upheld.
Zmitser Dashkevich was released less than two months after the 2007 Global Write-a-thon.
In December 2010, authorities again arrested Zmitser Dashkevich. He was eventually sentenced to two years in prison on charges of "hooliganism." Amnesty believes authorities detained Zmitser to prevent him from taking part in demonstrations against the government. Amnesty International is again campaigning on his behalf.
Every letter counts! The more we write, the greater the impact. SIGN UP TODAY!










