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When writing saves lives

Amnesty International has an enviable reputation. It's letter writing to prisoners of conscience and publicly agitating for human rights is well know. But what difference does a written letter actually make?

Mahendra Kusuma Wardhana - a former prisoner of conscience - has a personal experience of how much difference Amnesty letter writing campaigns can make.

Wardhana writes in "Writing saves lives" on the New Statesman of his experience:

"This week marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) – the document that led to the foundation of Amnesty International. To mark the anniversary, Amnesty is calling on everyone to send a greetings card to show solidarity and support to a prisoner of conscience or a human rights activist or organisation.

But how much can writing one card make a difference? How much can such a tiny gesture really change things? The answer is far greater than you can ever imagine.

I should know. I was a prisoner of conscience in my native Indonesia and received more than 4,000 cards of support during my time in custody.

That simple act of solidarity had a real impact for me.

My crime had been to take part in an anti-government demonstration to complain about their decision to dramatically raise fuel prices. As part of the protest, photographs of the president and vice-president were burnt. I was jailed for three years for this “offence” and was tortured.

Shortly afterwards, Amnesty International labelled me a Prisoner of Conscience and featured me in their Greetings Card Campaign.

Once the cards started to arrive, the prison guards were more careful in dealing with me. It also helped me to know that I had lots of support. I was convinced that what I did was not criminal and it was important to me to know that other people believed that too."

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