DURING last month’s Amnesty International art show in Bournemouth and Christchurch, something happened in Japan. Hakamada Iwao, 78, was released from prison, having spent 45 years on death row, after judges finally accepted that evidence against him had been falsified and his conviction for murder was unsafe.
Hakamada’s is one of the countless cases taken up by Amnesty International worldwide in which the basic requirements of fairness and justice have not been met. Not for nothing are people like Hakamada often called ‘forgotten prisoners’.
It takes the dogged determination of organisations such as Amnesty to seek the truth, campaign for justice and hold the authorities to account. It also takes ordinary members of the public – and that’s all Amnesty International campaigners are – to have the the desire to inform themselves and open their eyes to such infringements of basic rights.
This is what the art community in and around Bournemouth helped us do last month: make people stop, look and appreciate the value of human rights in this country and all around the world. To our artists, to everyone who came to see their work and reflect, and to the Daily Echo for your support, thank you.
GENEVIÈVE TALON, Amnesty International, Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch Group
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