The Myanmar Police Force in Letpadan Township attacked the crowd and brutally crushed the peaceful march. As a result, Phyoe Phyoe Aung and scores of other students and their supporters now face lengthy jail terms.

Yorm Bopha was arrested in September 2012, when she was accused of planning an assault on two men. On December 27, 2012, she was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, after an unfair trial. According to an Amnesty International Report, there is no evidence links Yorm Bopha to the crime.

Uzbek poet was arrested and tortured following the confiscation of his poems. Yusuf Dzhumaev, a father of six children, was arrested at his home on October 23, 2001, by officers of the National Security Service (SNB).

Jabbar Savalan was a 20 year old student and member of the opposition Popular Front Party (PFP) in Azerbaijan. On February 4, 2011, the day before his arrest, Jabbar Savalan posted on Facebook calling for protests against the government in Baku.

Gilad Shalit was an Israeli soldier held more than five years in captivity in an unknown location somewhere in the Gaza Strip.

Urinboy Usmonov is a journalist and novelist who was arrested after being falsely implicated in criminal activities related to banned religious groups.

The Global Importune letter signing group began sending letters of concern on behalf of Aung San Suu Kyi to officials in the government Burma sometime around June 2003.

Tagyal is a Tibetan scholar and writer. He was held under suspicion of “inciting separatism.”

In 1995, Irene Fernandez published a report on the living conditions of the migrant workers entitled “Abuse, Torture and Dehumanised Conditions of Migrant Workers in Detention Centres.” She was arrested in 1996 and charged with ‘maliciously publishing false news’.

Jampel Chunjor, Ngawang Gyaltsen and Ven Ngawang Phulchung are Tibetian Monks jailed by the Chinese government for promoting democracy in Tibet.

Suyahman, Safrudin, Akhen Pane and Towo were imprisoned solely for their legitimate trade union activities. The four men were arrested following a strike and demonstration in September 2005.

Our groups letters of concern helped release Latsami Khamphoui and Feng Sakchittaph of Laos.

Latsami Khamphoui, a Laotian economist and former government vice minister—and his cellmate, Feng Sakchittaphong, also a former high-ranking government official—finished serving, in October 2004, harsh 14-year prison sentences for peacefully expressing their concern about the Lao government’s economic policies. According to reliable reports, they were released from prison when their sentences expired in October, but were held under house arrest in a village near the remote prison until mid-December.

Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, today received MM Latsami Khamphoui and Feng Sakchittaphong

Following their release from prison, Mr. Latsami and Mr. Feng—both of whom suffered from serious ill-health—requested permission to travel to France to seek specialized medical treatment and to join members of their families who live there.

Both men were reunited with their families in France, released December 12, 2004

The Global Importune letter signing group began sending letters of concern on behalf of Latsami Khamphoui & Feng Sakchittaph to officials in the government of Laos sometime around April 1998.

They were released on December 12, 2004.

Riad al-Turk was arrested on September 1, 2001, charged with “defying the state and trying to change the constitution by illegal means” and subjected to a trial widely seen as unfair before a state security court.

Dr. Alamgir has testified that police severely beat him with lathi (bamboo sticks) and glass bottles filled with water. Furthermore, he was denied medicine for his diabetes. Authorities have failed to investigate his allegations.

In 1996, she was sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment after legal proceedings which were marked by serious abuse of investigative and detention procedures, including the use of torture.

In 1998, Mahuba Kasymova was sentenced to five years in prison, but because of the efforts of human activists around the world who adopted her as an Amnesty International Political Prisoner, she was released after serving 18 months of her sentence.

Wa’el Ali Farraj was a 24-year-old history student, detained without charge or trial for nearly three years, despite a High Court judgment ordering his release.

Ngawang Phulchng and four other unnamed Drepung Monks were released. They were the last monks of the original ‘Group of Ten.’

The Chinese authorities tried everything to stop dissident Wei Jingsheng from speaking out for human rights and democracy – including locking him up in prison for 18 years and subjecting him to torture.