December 8th 2014

Write for Rights! Amnesty International letter writing day against torture, detention

The Christchurch branch of Amnesty International will be holding its annual Write for Rights letter writing day on Saturday 13th December from 10am 1pm at The Institution Bar.

Write for Rights is an international day of action held in December every year where Amnesty members and the public come together to campaign on behalf of selected prisoners from around the world who have been arrested, detained or tortured for their beliefs.

“This year we are writing on behalf of four individuals and one community whose human rights have been gravely abused” says Amnesty spokesperson, Stefan Fairweather. “One individual we are very concerned about is Liu Ping, a human rights campaigner in China who was sentenced to more than 6 years in prison in 2014. Her only ‘crime’ was organising an event calling on the Chinese government to step up its fight against corruption.”

The letter writing event, held last year at New Brighton library, will this year be kindly hosted by The Institution Bar on New Regent Street. Members of the public are warmly invited to come by on Saturday to either write letters on behalf of the selected individuals, or to simply have a chat over a hot drink and some cake. All information on the selected individuals, a guide to letter writing to prisoners of conscience and writing materials will be provided.

Amnesty International, a human rights action group, campaigns for an end to grave human rights abuses around the world. For more information on this Saturday’s letter writing event or how to support Amnesty’s work, please visit the website http://www.amnesty.org.nz or email CHCHRT@amnesty.org.nz.

ENDS

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