We were delighted to discover that Burmese student activist Phyoe Phyoe Aung, who was to have been the subject of our April Monthly Action, had already been released as part of a more general prisoner amnesty.
The National League for Democracy, the party of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, won a landslide victory earlier this year in Myanmar (Burma) and promised to release all prisoners of conscience as soon as possible.
Phyoe Phyoe Aung’s release sends an encouraging message about the new government’s intentions, and we urge them to keep to their promise and remember they hold that symbolic key to freedom.
Other members gave reports on actions on the Death Penalty, on prisoners such as Moroccan Ali Aaras who has featured in Amnesty’s Stop Torture campaign, and on campaigns planned for later this year.
The Amnesty Schools debate on Human Rights, organised by group member Ben Grant, was held at Taunton School on 14 March. Several teams took part, and the standard of debate was impressively high, with lively and articulate participants.
Our next meeting will be on 10th May at 8pm in the Quaker Meeting House in Bath Place, Taunton. All are welcome.
Postscript: since our April meeting took place, we heard the great news that the Unity 5 group of journalists imprisoned in Myanmar have been released.
We were delighted to hear that the Unity 5 journalists, for whom we started working in September 2015, were released on 17th April; 
Our next monthly meeting is on Tuesday 12th April at 8pm. Please note this will be at a different venue from usual: 
Tuesday 9th February at the Silver Street Baptist Church, Taunton, TA1 3DH. 8pm start.
With apologies for the lateness of this post, our next monthly meeting is this evening, Tuesday 12th January at the Silver Street Baptist Church, Taunton, TA1 3DH. 8pm start.
Amnesty International Taunton Local Group 