TAKE ACTION NOW

Join the Amnesty International Write for Rights action between 5 and 13 December 2009

• Do it on your own or take part in one of the many letter-writing events around the world. You can find an Amnesty International office near you on www.amnesty.org
• Host a Human Rights Day party and invite people to come together and take action. Tell others about the people features in the 2009 action in your blog, or social networking sites.

SOLIDARITY WORKS

"I spent 900 days on a "torture island"; 700 of those days I spent in solitary confinement. I endured only because of the support of people who were concerned about my fate. Only this gave me strength."

- Mutabar Tadzhibaeva, chairwomen of the independant non-registered human rights organization Utiuraklar (Fiery Hearts) Club in Uzbekistan. She was sentanced to eight years' imprisonment in March 2006 and was released early in June 2008. Mutabar Tadzhibaeva recieved letters of solidarity during the 2006 action.

 LETTER-WRITING WORKS

"So many ASJ staff have said how encouraged they feel every time they walk past the 100-lb sacks of Amnesty letters here in the office."

- Members of human rights organization Asociación para una Sociedad Más Just (ASJ) in Honduras. Two staff members, who faced threats and intimidation, were sent messages of support at the 2007 action.

AT RISK IN 2009

Birtukan Mideksa, Ethiopia

Birtukan Mideksa, an opposition party leader, is serving a life sentence in Kaliti Prison in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Amnesty International considers her a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned for peacefully exercising her right to freedom of expression and association. Read More

Five Former members of the Progress Party, Equatorial Guinea

Five former members of the opposition Progress Party of Equatorial Guinea, PGGE (Partido del Progreso de Guinea Ecuatorial) have been held incommunicado for more than a year in Black Beach prison in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, in conditions that may amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Read More

Hadidia and Humsa Hamlets, IsraelOPT

Palestinian families living in Humsa and Hadidiya hamlets in the Jordan Valley region of the West Bank, part of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), face a daily threat of forcible eviction from their homes by the Israeli army. Their movement is restricted and they are denied access to the water and land they need for survival. Read More

Konstantina Kuneva, Greece

Konstantina Kuneva, a Bulgarian migrant worker and trade union leader, aged 45, was severely injured in the Greek capital, Athens, on 22 December 2008 after being subjected to a sulphuric acid attack by unknown men, as she returned home from work. She lost her sight in one eye, has limited vision in the other, and her larynx, oesophagus and stomach were seriously damaged. Read More

Musaad Abu Fagr, Egypt

Musaad Suliman Hassan Hussein, known by his pen name Musaad Abu Fagr, is a novelist and human rights defender in Egypt. He has been in administrative detention, by order of the Minister of Interior, since 15 February 2008, despite obtaining several court orders for his release, most recently in September 2009. Read More

Nine Women's rights defenders, Nicaragua

Nine women’s rights defenders are facing legal proceedings for their involvement in the case of a nine-year-old girl who obtained a legal abortion in Nicaragua after she was raped and became pregnant. It is feared that they have been targeted for their human rights work, particularly in the area of reproductive health. Read More

Peace Community, Colombia

Members of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó in Colombia have been the focus of suspicion and hostility from all parties to the armed conflict since the Community’s formation in 1997. More than 170 have been killed since then, mostly at the hands of paramilitaries, either acting alone or with the collusion of the security forces. Guerrilla groups have also been responsible for a number of killings. Read More

Rita Mahato, Nepal

Human rights defender Rita Mahato has been threatened with death, rape and kidnapping as a result of her work helping women in Nepal who have suffered acts of violence. She is a health adviser at the Women’s Rehabilitation Centre (WOREC), which has been attacked by men from the village who object to WOREC’s work. The police have failed to provide Rita Mahato with protection or to investigate the threats, and she fears for her life. Read More

Azam Farmonov and Alisher Karamatov, Uzbekistan

Azam Farmonov, aged 30, and Alisher Karamatov, aged 41, are prisoners of conscience, detained on 29 April 2006 as they defended the rights of local farmers who had accused district farming officials of malpractice, extortion and corruption. The two men were allegedly tortured, charged with extortion and subjected to an unfair trial where they were denied adequate legal representation. Read More

Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan, Viet Nam

Human rights lawyers Nguyen Van Dai, aged 40, and Le Thi Cong Nhan, aged 30, were jailed in May 2007 for "conducting propaganda against the State." Amnesty International considers them prisoners of conscience and is calling for their immediate and unconditional release. Read More