Local Amnesty group invites letter-writers to help free prisoners

She wasn’t wearing the traditional robe and posted a picture of herself. His brother is a human right’s activist. He was peacefully protesting freedom of expression.

All three have either been detained, tortured or maimed.

These are just a few of the cases that Amnesty Niagara - Group 137 are highlighting during this year’s Write for Rights, a letter-writing campaign held on Dec. 10 at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Community Centre.

Human Rights Day is observed by the international community every year on Dec. 10 to commemorate the day in 1948 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Lidija Biro, environmental lead of the regional group, said that her chapter has identified six human rights cases they are supporting through letter writing.

The first case is actually in Canada, said Biro. The Wet’suwet’en land defenders in British Columbia are opposing a gas pipeline that is going through their territory without their approval. Nineteen defenders are charged with criminal contempt for demonstrating peacefully. “We're writing letters to say that those charges need to be dropped.”

In Argentina, during a protest against constitutional changes that restrict freedom of expression, endanger the environment, and put at risk Indigenous peoples’ land rights, Joel was blinded by a rubber bullet. “We're writing to protest armed violent reaction to peaceful protest,” explained Biro.

A human rights defender, lawyer and forensic medicine expert in Turkey, Sebnem Korur Fincanci, advocates for the eradication of torture. Last year she was convicted for allegedly making propaganda for a terrorist organization after calling for an investigation into allegations that the Turkish military was using chemical weapons in Iraq.

An environmental lawyer in Vietnam has been imprisoned under alleged tax evasion charges, two weeks after his son was born. United Nation experts considered his trial unfair. Dang Dinh Bach’s work supports communities threatened by powerful and political interests. “We're asking for his immediate release,” said Biro, “because those are trumped-up charges.” Bach hasn’t seen his son since his arrest.

In Saudi Arabia, Manahel al-Otaibi was sentenced for 11 years, “which is a really severe decision on the part of the courts there,” for supporting women's rights on social media and posting pictures of herself at a shopping mall while not wearing the abaya, a traditional robe. She was charged with violating Saudi Arabia’s anti-cyber crime law and has been in prison since January.

Oqba Hashad has been held in pretrial detention in Egypt since 2019 in retaliation for his brother’s human rights activism. “He's been tortured and he's been denied his prosthetic leg, which he has had for mobility since he was a child,” said Biro.

The letter writing process is simple, explained Biro. The local Amnesty chapter drafts two kinds of letters for each case: letters to the authorities that may be unjustly detaining people, or letters directly to the person (or family members) of someone who has been wrongly accused, imprisoned or tortured.

“We want to make them aware that they're not forgotten, that we, that the world, is watching and through the letter writing campaign, we are drawing attention and telling authorities, as well, that the world is watching, and we push for either a release or a fair trial or protection.”

It’s as easy as showing up, said Biro. “All people have to do is sign” the pre-written letters, and Amnesty pays for postage. “I know we have a postal strike right now, but we will somehow get these letters out,” she promised.

The group then duplicates the letters and sends them to the corresponding countries’ ambassadors in Ottawa.

Letters can also be signed on line at amnesty.ca/write-for-rights.

Success stories are also posted there, describing everything from the hope the letters have provided for a detained man, to the eventual release of individuals.

Sign a letter for Write for Rights on Tuesday, Dec. 10, between 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the cafe at the community centre.