Welcome to the latest newsletter. Our next meeting is on Thursday, 4th December 2025, from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm at Moordown Community Centre (please note we won’t meet in January). We will mainly focus on writing cards for Wright for Rights (see below). But also listening in to the latest webinar from the new Amnesty South West Network…
Thursday 4th December, 7.30 pm
Alena Chekhovich, a human rights defender from Belarus, will discuss the dire situation in her home country and take questions from activists. In Belarus, peaceful dissent is criminalised as “extremism”. Independent media and civil society have been severely curtailed. Torture and other ill-treatment are endemic and carried out with impunity. Hundreds of NGOs have been forced to close, and many people have fled abroad.Alena is a lawyer and legal analyst at the Belarusian human rights organisation Human Constanta and international relations manager at the initiative LegalHub.
She works on behalf of vulnerable communities, in particular refugees and stateless people, in Belarus. Her primary focus is on discrimination, arbitrary detention and exile of foreigners, detention conditions, access to justice and the rule of law, torture and other inhumane treatments, and on strategies to reduce statelessness and raise awareness of the right to international protection.
Alena has, through her human rights work, become subject to intimidation and targeted harassment in Belarus. She had to leave Belarus in December 2022 and now works in exile.
The webinar is open to all Amnesty and other human rights activists.
To register for this free event please click on this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/bNMU92y0RvutOJKytfSbpw
Please note that we are now using Zoom, as there were technical issues with the last webinar with both Eventbrite and Teams. Sorry if this prevented you from attending.
Tunsia: Sonia Dahmani
Write 4 Rights (W4R)
W4R is Amnesty International’s annual campaign, sending greetings cards to prisoners of conscience, their families and other human rights defenders around the world. Worldwide several million messages of support and appeal letters are now sent during a W4R campaign. They made a big difference to the people and communities confronting injustice and facing human rights violations.
One case featured this year is Sonia Dahmani, a lawyer and media personality, has been arbitrarily detained since May 2024 for peacefully exercising her right to freedom of expression. She faces five prosecutions and is enduring cruel, inhumane detention conditions that seriously threaten her health.
Sonia has long spoken out on racism, migration, and prison conditions in Tunisia. Since late 2023, she has faced mounting legal harassment for her public comments. Authorities have charged her under a repressive cybercrime law for ‘spreading false news’. Stop Press, 27th November – it has just been announced that Sonia Dahmani has been released from prison. This outcome is a tangible demonstration that persistent pressure and solidarity can make a real difference. We have been urged to keep the pressure alive until Sonia has been fully released, her convictions are quashed, and all charges against her are dropped. Do still send her cards. https://amnestyat50.co.uk/write-for-rights-2025
Fundraising Events
Since the last newsletter there have had two fundraising events. The Wight Bear, a micropub in Southbourne, held a music event at the end of October, in aid of Amnesty International.. They raised £400.
We didn’t quite match that, but raised £300 with our annual quiz at the Brunswick. Special thanks to the Brunswick again for giving us a great venue, for free. Also David Rogers for setting the questions and Sally Hawksworth for being the hostess.
Europe Newsletter
The November Europe Newsletter has just been published. There is an update on human rights defender Seán Binder. Since 2018, Seán has faced an unfair prosecution in Greece due to his work as a trained volunteer rescuer helping refugees and migrants on the island of Lesvos. He and other humanitarian workers have been accused of serious charges including facilitation of irregular entry of third-country nationals, aggravated by allegations of committing these acts as part of criminal organizations, as well as money laundering, fraud, espionage, disclosure of state secrets, unlawful use of radio frequencies, and forgery.
In December 2025, Seán will go on trial and risks facing up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Read more about his case – including a message from Seán – and how you can take action:- https://amnestyat50.co.uk/europe-newsletter-november-2025
South America Newsletter
The November South America Newsletter is now on the website, with updates from Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Argentina, and Chile. From Brazil, there was a large-scale police operation in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas, which left one of the highest death tolls in the city’s history. Thousands of security agents, including military police and special units, engaged in fierce gunfights using armoured vehicles and drones.
The International Federation for Human Rights warned that the operation reflected Brazil’s deeply entrenched security strategy, which disproportionately targets Afro-descendant and poor communities and perpetuates cycles of lethal force and impunity. Human Rights Watch reported serious investigative failures, including mishandling of crime scenes and evidence, and urged authorities to conduct prompt, thorough, and independent investigations into each of the killings. https://amnestyat50.co.uk/south-america-newsletter-november-2025
