Write for Rights – Join the Global Write-a-thon!

December 5-13, 2009

Success!

Last year, more than 7,000 people across the United States sent tens of thousands of letters on behalf of the Write-A-Thon's featured cases. Those letters made a difference in the lives of real people:

Ma Khin Khin Leh

Ma Khin Khin Leh, a school teacher, was freed from prison in Myanmar (Burma) on February 21, 2009. She was arrested 10 years earlier for allegedly planning a demonstration to protest the deteriorating economic and human rights environment in Myanmar. For this "crime," she was sentenced to life in prison. Following her release in February, Ma Khin Khin Leh could finally return to her daughter, who was only three years old when her mother was first arrested.

Hana Abdi

Hana Abdi, a women's rights advocate, was released from prison in Iran on February 26, 2009. An Iranian Kurd, she was arrested in October 2007 for her work with Campaign for Equality, an organization that seeks equality for women in Iran. Her three-year prison sentence was happily cut short when authorities freed her in February.

Action by people like you helped free these women from political imprisonment. Now you can follow the words of Aung San Suu Kyi by using your freedom to promote freedom for others.
Sign up today for the 2009 Write-A-Thon!

During the 2007 Global Write-a-thon, activists across the U.S. and in more than 30 countries sent over 150,000 letters, cards, and petitions on behalf of prisoners of conscience, human rights defenders under threat, men and women facing execution, and other cases. Following this hard work, several of the prisoners featured in last year's Write-a-thon were subsequently released.

Sami al Hajj

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.

While detained at Guantánamo, Sami al Hajj reported that he was constantly interrogated about any possible links between his employers and Islamist extremists. He stated that the first time he was interrogated in Guantánamo, he had been deprived of sleep for over two days. Additionally, Sami reported that throughout the time he spent in Guantánamo he was subjected to a range of ill-treatment including being beaten by guards, having military dogs used to intimidate him, and being subjected to racist abuse.

With patience and hope depleted, Sami al Hajj embarked on a hunger strike in January 2007 that almost killed him. He lost 15 pounds and was reportedly force-fed, which can be a painful procedure. Throughout his detention, Sami al Hajj’s family received little information about his state of health or his situation.

Thousands of people wrote letters on behalf of Sami al Hajj, culminating in the 2007 Global Write-a-thon. In May 2008 Sami al Hajj was released and reunited with his wife and young son.

»Read this letter from Sami al-Hajj

»Watch a video of Sami al Hajj post-release

Zmitser Dashkevich

As leader of the youth opposition organization Young Front, Zmitser Dashkevich’s efforts to bring about greater freedom for the people of Belarus cost him his own.

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.

During the 2007 Global Write-a-thon thousands of letters were sent on behalf of Zmitser Dashkevich. He was released less than two months later.

Bu Dongwei

Bu Dongwei was released on July 18, 2008, approximately four months before the end of his term of re-education through labor in China. Bu Dongwei believes international attention, including Amnesty International's campaign, protected him during his ordeal, and he thanked all Amnesty International activists who took action on his behalf and on behalf oft human rights in China. During the 2007 Global Write-a-thon, and continuing throughout 2008, Amnesty International activists aggressively campaigned for Bu Dongwei’s release.

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.

Bu Dongwei's health deteriorated in detention, in part because of malnutrition. He was provided very little food, which was of low nutritional value, and he was not allowed to buy additional meals himself. He had to attend re-educational classes every day and undertake forced labor as a packager.