Amnesty International at 50

Radhia Nasraoui is an outspoken Tunisian human rights lawyer who has worked with Amnesty International for more than three decades. She has faced years of harassment because of her work.

“Amnesty International has worked with me for over 30 years. Every time there was a violation, it supported me in different ways: by writing to the authorities, or through letters sent to me by its members, and the hundreds of postcards that I received.”

Hope in action

“When I first got in contact with Amnesty I was a young lawyer at the beginning of my career. It was 1978, the time of the riots and the suppression of the trade unionists. While working on my clients’ cases, I understood just how efficient Amnesty International’s work was.

“For instance, a client who had ‘disappeared’ was brought before the examining magistrate after an Urgent Action was issued on his behalf. A client who was beaten and ill-treated in prison was given less harsh detention conditions.

“When a client finds out that people he doesn’t know, in a country far away, are demanding his release or asking about his health, it gives him hope and helps him to bear his possibly inhuman detention conditions.”

Not forgotten

“When my husband, Hamma Hammami, was arrested, tortured and sentenced to jail in 1994, I myself experienced the effectiveness of Amnesty International’s actions. It played a very important role in improving his harsh detention conditions and in his release. I will always remember the moral support Amnesty International gave me.

“In the end I too became the victim of constant harassment. Through my own experience, I have come to understand that Amnesty International’s intervention on behalf of a victim reminds the authorities that this person is not ‘forgotten’, that hundreds or even thousands of people worldwide are concerned about the fate of this person.

“It is very important that Amnesty International does not take into account the social background, ideology or political stand of the victim. Amnesty International’s actions prove that ‘human rights for all’ is not an empty slogan.”

A warm “thank you”

“The hundreds of postcards that my husband and I received are the living proof of this effective solidarity from Amnesty International members who are aware of our difficult situation. I want to warmly thank all Amnesty International members. The pursuit of Amnesty International action is vital so that one day, all human rights abuses will end.”

Find out more

Read an interview with Radhia in Amnesty's magazine WIRE p13

A Facebook page campaigning for Radhia to be given the Nobel Peace Prize

Radhia and others talk about repression in Tunisia in 2010