amnesty international

Yesterday Amnesty UK launched its "unsubscribe me" campaign, which aims to use social media networks to unite a new generation of human rights campaigners. Their hope is to set up a viral virtual campaign gathering as many names as possible from participants saying "I unsubscribe from torture, rendition, discrimination and unlawful detention".

In other words, Amnesty wants to be down with the kids and reach out to a young(er) audience using social network-inspired platforms to spread their message. [more...]

Amnesty International yesterday reported the jailing of seven student activists and a beautician under two separate articles of the Syrian penal code after calling for peaceful political reforms online. Sentenced to between five and seven years for allegedly "taking action or making a written statement or speech which could endanger the State or harm its relationship with a foreign country...", their story is unfortunately an all too familiar one.

The imprisonment of Shi Tao in China and Abdel Kareem Suleiman in Egypt are just two other high profile cases reflecting a worldwide struggle for freedom of expression online.