Individuals At Risk

Around the world, there are people being tortured or imprisoned by their government because of who they are or what they believe.

Amnesty International was founded on the idea that ordinary people around the world could end these human rights abuses by taking action on behalf of other people. Through our individual case work, millions of messages have been sent to governments around the world – giving hope to people in dire circumstances, and ultimately helping free thousands of people who were unjustly imprisoned.

The Problem

Every day, people’s human rights are violated. People are convicted in unfair trials, prisoners are tortured, communities are forcibly evicted, people disappear after being taken from their homes by government officials, and people are put in prison because of their identity or their beliefs.

Amnesty In Action

Changing lives and policies

Amnesty international investigates hundreds of cases a year all around the world. We work with the individuals and their families to develop campaigns – and then we do everything possible to bring about change in the individual cases and the systems responsible for them.

We conduct research to identify individual cases and patterns of human rights abuses, working closely with local organizations and affected communities.
We launch ongoing campaigns to free individuals and address the underlying causes of human rights abuses. Take action in individual cases today.
We mobilize rapid response in emergency cases, where people’s freedom and lives are under immediate threat. Join our Urgent Action Network to get regular alerts.
We mobilize thousands of people to take action in individual cases every December through our annual Write for Rights campaign. Learn more about the Write for Rights campaign.
We train local groups on how to campaign for an individual case. Find a local group near you or contact our staff to learn how to make a case commitment.
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Statistics

47

Number of countries that arrested people for peaceful expression on social media/online in 2019.

124

Number of case that received positive impact in 2019 after Amnesty campaigned in their cases.

335

Number of U.S. classrooms that participated in the Write for Rights campaign in 2016.

Case Study

Muhammad Bekzhanov

Muhammad Bekzhanov worked as Editor in Chief of Erk, the newspaper of the political opposition party in Uzbekistan, until he fled the country in 1993. He had been harassed and persecuted for covering the government critically. Several years later, when a series of bombs exploded in Tashkent, the government of Uzbekistan rounded up hundreds of people around the world – most of them members of political opposition efforts, including Muhammad.

Muhammad says he and others were tortured severely and forced to confess to the bombing, even though they were innocent. His attorney was given just 40 minutes to present his defense, and he was convicted. His prison sentence was extended multiple times, and he was put into a tiny, windowless “punishment cell,” without medical care. Muhammad’s family, who lives in Washington State, fought for his freedom for years.

Muhammad’s case was featured in Amnesty International’s Write for Rights campaign, and an Amnesty campus club in New Jersey took on his case and pursued it for years. Hundreds of thousands of Amnesty International members wrote to government leaders in Uzbekistan to demand his release. Finally, in 2017 – after serving 17 years in prison – Muhammad was freed.

Muhammad Bekzhanov, a journalist in Uzbekistan, languished in jail for 17 long years until his release in 2017. His prison sentence was handed down after an unfair trial and severe torture, and arbitrarily extended by the authorities for Bekzhanov’s political activism. At the time of his release, Bekzhanov was one of the world’s longest prison-held journalists.