Every year Group 11 holds a Write-for-Rights event, one of many such events occurring all over the country under the aegis of Amnesty International USA. The event commemorates the date on which the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: December 10, 1948. This year, our event was held on Thursday, January 26, at Goddard-Riverside Community Center, where we hold our monthly meetings.
Thirty people came to this event. We signed 291 letters for the following people:
- Joanah Mamombe, Netsai Marova and Cecilia Chimbiri — imprisoned for exercising their right of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, in Zimbabwe
- Alexksandra Skachilenko — facing prison in Russia for expressing opposition to the war in Ukraine
- Vahid Afkari — jailed for protesting inequality and oppression, in Iran
- Chow Hang-Tung — jailed for attending a vigil in memory of the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest in China, in Hong Kong
- Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara — jailed for leading a group of artists defending their right to freedom of expression, in Cuba
- Zineb Redouane — killed by police with a tear gas grenade during a protests against poor living conditions in Marseille, France
- Shahenwaz Chowdhury — may face imprisonment for using Facebook to raise concerns about a coal-fired power plant, in Bangladesh
- Dorgelesse Nguessan — imprisoned for peacefully exercising freedom of expression and assembly while protesting economic conditions in Cameroon
- Yren Rotela and Mariana Sepúlveda — trans women fighting for their rights, in Paraguay
- Nasser Zefzafi — imprisoned for exercising freedom of expression while protesting poor healthcare, education, and employment opportunities in Morocco/Western Sahara
