Electric shocks. Beatings. Rape. Humiliation. Mock executions. Burning. Sleep deprivation. Water torture. Long hours in contorted positions. Use of pincers, drugs, and dogs.
The very words sound like the stuff of nightmares. But every day and across every region of the world, these unimaginable horrors are the reality for countless men, women and children.
Salil Shetty, Secretary General, Amnesty International
In April 2011, Mahdi Abu Dheeb, a school teacher in Bahrain and then president of union the Bahrain Teachers’ Association, was arrested for encouraging members of the union to strike.
Along with his colleague Jalila al-Salman, Mahdi proposed a teachers’ strike to support widespread protests at the time, calling for governmental reform. Both Mahdi and Jalila were arrested soon after.
Jalila was freed a couple of years ago, but Mahdi remains in prison. He was interrogated by police at a secret location, subjected to 64 days in solitary confinement, reportedly beaten by the police, and tried in a military court despite being a civilian.
Dr. Tun Aung
In 2012, Dr Tun Aung was asked by the Burmese police to help defuse tensions during a riot between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Maungdaw. However he was later arrested for inciting communal violence, held incommunicado and denied the right to appoint his own lawyer or meet them in private
Please send a supportive message to Dr Aung’s family. “Dr Tun Aung’s Family, c/o Myanmar Team, International Secretariat, Amnesty International, 1 Easton Street, London, WC1X 0DW”. Please write in English, Burmese or your own language. Please do not send religious cards and please do make sure the card arrives at the address above by September 15th 2013.
Click here to read more about this case and how you can help.
Six human rights defenders in China are being detained by authorities after freeing activists who were being illegally detained in a guest house.
Three are now missing, their whereabouts unknown. One (Ding Hongfen, pictured) has already been subjected to torture.
Amnesty International Taunton Local Group 