Amnesty International - Group #144 Oakland, California, USA

We have helped release 11 prisoner's of conscience from all around the world over the last 23 years.
Please help us to stop these Human Rights violations.

Amnesty International works on behalf of prisoners and others whose rights are being violated. Our mandate is based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Amnesty International works to apply a single, impartial standard of human rights throughout the world.

At Group #144 we . . .

• write letters on behalf of specific prisoners
• participate in special human rights campaigns
• work against torture and the death penalty

Group 144 is a small, but dedicated and friendly group of human rights activists. We meet monthly to discuss human rights events and what actions we can take to help those in need. Please join us!

We are currently working on the following:

• We are continuing to respond to current "Urgent Actions" while awaiting the assignment of a new Prisoner of Conscience.
• We do work as part of Regional Action Networks (RANs) which focus on specific geographic area. Currently we belong to PIRAN (Phillipines, Indonesia).
• We work for the abolition of the Death Penalty and for the rights of refugees.

• Yet another success!We took on the case of Professor Salai Tun Than from Myanmar. The Professor was released after only a few months of our work added enough weight to the others working on his case.
• Another success! In September 2000 our group was added to 4 other groups from around the world working to help free award winning journalist Daw San San Nwe in Myanmar (Burma). She was imprisoned in 1994, for reporting on human rights violations in her country. We made a postcard to help in our campaign to free her which was sent to the military government by the thousands, starting in January of 2001. In the summer of 2001 she was released!
• In the summer of 2000 our Lebanese prisoner was released. In a very difficult situation, we worked for 4 years on behalf of a Lebanese man who had been in an Israeli prison many years (10 in the end) past the end of his sentence. Simultaneously, Amnesty International is working to release unjustly held prisoners held in Lebanon. In a very confusing environment, our prisoner was released due to rulings by the Israeli equivalent of the Supreme Court. We feel that pressure from our group, and others, helped convince the forces of justice in Israel that they should follow the rule of law.
• etc.

• Monthly Meetings are held on the second Monday of each month at 7:30pm.
  December meeting is replaced by our Human Rights Day event.
  This year, December 10 - International Human Rights Day - marks the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
  Sunday, December 14, 10am to 4pm we will gather at Diesel, our usual meeting place, to celebrate International Human Righs Day.
  Join us to write letters on behalf of individuals at risk of urgent human rights abuses and send letter and cards of hope to prisoners of conscience around the world. You are encouraged to bring writing materials and stamps to this event, or drop off materials beforehand.
  We meet at "Diesel - A Book Store" at 5433 College Ave. a few blocks south of the Rockridge BART station.

For more details call Warren at (510) 655-5749.

Past activities:

• Some of us have been doing tabling at concerts! Besides hearing some great music, we have had very interesting reactions. Without mentioning names, we were disappointed at the reaction of some fans from some groups. On the other hand, the fans of, for example, Ani DiFRANCO were so enthusiatic and generous that we filled all the petitions we brought and could have filled many more. They were also very knowledgeable about AI and generous with donations. We are happy to be aware of a conscious, younger generation.
• We usually march in the UN Day Celebration at Jack London Square. We have a good time marching with many friends of the United Nations and all the flags of every country in the UN.
• Nothing spectacular. We've just been meeting and writing letters. One of our members writes all correspondence by hand and pretty regularly gets responses! The rest of us with computers who crank out lots of copies need to think about that.

Our President is Warren WRIGHT who can be contacted at (510) 655-5749 or via e-mail at wwwright @ earthlink.net .

You may contact the group electronically via amnesty@AmnestyOakland.Org.

For more information on Amnesty International and what we do you can contact:
Amnesty International - San Francisco Bay Area Local Groups
Amnesty International USA
Amnesty International