Manchester Amnesty Weekly Action

Today is Human Rights Day. Please do this action and make a difference.

Here is another online action for one of this year’s Write for Rights cases.

Mohamed Baker is a Human Rights lawyer who leads the Adalah Center for Rights and Freedoms in Egypt, which supports human rights and people jailed unjustly. In September 2019, he went to the prosecutor’s office to defend his friend and was arrested himself. The Egyptian authorities accused him of trumped up terrorist related offences, have denied him a trial and have kept him in prison. His conditions of imprisonment are dire, with no bed, hot water or outdoor exercise.

Read more and take action

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions/egypt-demand-release-human-rights-lawyer-mohamed?from=issue

Write for Rights

You can get involved in all of this year’s campaign both by sending messages of support (e.g. in the form of a greetings card) and by sending appeals to the authorities. You can get further details and download the booklet from https://www.amnesty.org.uk/write-rights-2021-get-started.

As well as taking part yourselves, we’d like you to invite your friends, colleagues, neighbours and family to send a card or appeal. Are you a member of a group (church, mosque, walking, book . . .) who might be interested. Download and send them the booklet and invite them to have a go.

December Group Meeting

Our online group meeting at 6.30pm, this coming Monday December 13^th will feature the Write for Rights cases. Come along and find out more about them. Hazel is looking for people to talk about each case – if you would like to present a case, drop her an email at hazelerrey@gmail.com. Look out for the link which Hazel will send out on Monday morning.

Central Library Write for Rights Drop-in

On Saturday December 18^th we have a table near the café in Central Library in Manchester between 10am – 2pm for people to drop by and sign some cards. Hopefully, this will still go ahead but there is the possibility that we might have to cancel dependent on Covid restrictions. I’ll let you know as soon as possible.

Hong Kong Rights event this Saturday

There is an event in St Peter’s Square tomorrow to support people who are being oppressed in China and Hong Kong. Hazel, our chair, will be making a short speech on the ongoing suppression of human rights. Please go along and support. For more information, please visit: https://hkspirits.weebly.com/

Craftivism Group

The craftivism sub-group is busy making a gift for Bev Craig to welcome her as the head of Manchester City Council this month. We will be assembling the components and putting finishing touches to the gift at 2pm on Sunday 12th at Manchester Art Gallery in the Horsall Room. Please join us!

Groups News

The winter edition of the AIUK newsletter for local groups has just been published. It’s full of all the things that local groups have been up to and so is full of ideas for our campaigning. The Manchester group feature strongly with 5 pictures showing us in action. Have a look at:

http://email.amnestyuk.org.uk/files/amf_amnesty/project_58/GNL_Winter_2021_medium.pdf

Activism Rep post

AIUK are looking to find an Activism Rep for the North West (previously called Regional Representative). This is a role which coordinates and supports local Amnesty groups in the region. It’s a really great way of extending your involvement in Amnesty work – I know as I did it for 6 years quite a while ago. If you think that you might be interested , have a look at https://www.amnesty.org.uk/activism-representatives. I’d be happy to chat with you to provide more details. Drop me an email.

Anne Walker

Secretary

Manchester Group of Amnesty International UK