Founded May 1961
London, England

International human rights watchdog organization

Police in Guatemala City, Guatemala, beat to death a child living on the streets. Immigration officials in the United States place refugees seeking political asylum in detention, sometimes for years. The Cuban government imprisons a medical doctor for his political opposition activities. Turkish police use electric shock and other forms of torture on criminal suspects. A Moroccan poet is sentenced to fifteen years in prison for the political content of his poems. The Chilean military rounds up and “disappears” thousands of citizens following a coup in 1973. What do these cases have in common? All have been opposed by Amnesty International.

Amnesty International (AI) is an organization dedicated to upholding human rights around the world. According to AI’s web site, the group’s mandate is to “free all prisoners of conscience. These...