Amnesty International Charleston Group Recent and Upcoming Events
2008 HUMAN RIGHTS OLYMPICS
Show the Chinese government that the Olympics
can’t whitewash its human rights abuse.
Saturday Aug.9th ,  1:00 - 3:00 pm ,  5th Ave. East & Artic Ave. ,  Folly Beach, SC
Amnesty International Charleston Chapter presented:
"CAN DARFUR BE SAVED? ....and what can WE do about it?"
on December 2, 2007. 

Send email to aicharleston@yahoo.com for further information.
You can make a difference!

Wednesday, January 17, 2007 was the 30th anniversary of reinstatement of the death penalty by the
US Supreme Court.   It did not pass unnoticed in Charleston.
In collaboration with other abolitionist groups like Charleston Peace, Amnesty International - Charleston held a candlelight vigil to mark and mourn the occasion at the famed Four Corners of Law (Meeting & Broad Streets).
Ammesty International held a special community forum on Dec. 7, 2005, in Charleston -Human Dignity Under Assault : The Use of Torture in the “War on Terror”.  Allegations of torture and ill-treatment continue to emerge from U.S. detention centers around the world, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  This timely community forum confronted the use of torture and ill-treatment with accounts from a former chaplain at Guantanamo Bay who was wrongly accused of espionage, and expert commentary from Amnesty International USA.  Torture and ill-treatment are unlawful, unconstitutional, and against the best of American values.
Speakers were:
James Yee – Former U.S. Army Chaplain at Guantanamo Bay
Jumana Musa – Amnesty International USA Advocacy Director for Domestic Human Rights and International Justice
Amnesty International Group #168 was honored to bring David Kaczynski to Charleston on Nov. 15, 2005, to tell his unique story. Co-sponsored by the AI group at the College of Charleston and by the Circular Congregational Church, Kaczynski recounted his harrowing 1995 discovery that his own brother was the serial killer known as the Unabomber.

Although David led the FBI to his mentally ill brother, his partnership with law enforcement ended the moment Ted was captured. Despite Ted's obvious paranoid schizophrenia, the government attempted to have him executed. It was not his brother's cooperation or his mental illness that spared Ted Kaczynski's life, says David, it was good legal representation, the kind absent in the cases of most murder defendants.

David Kaczynski's chilling testimony to the flaws of the criminal justice system and the futility of the death penalty kept an overflow crowd spellbound for two hours. As executive director of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty, David now speaks and lobbies regularly against executions. He has befriended numerous victims of of his brother's bombs and many family members of people who have been executed, and he eloquently wove their stories into his.

June 26th, 2005 United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture
As part of the Denounce Torture: Stop It Now! initiative, AI Charleston joined Amnesty International USA by signing a special statement against torture.
AI Charleston was formed on Dec. 10, 2004, International Human Rights Day.
Members of the chapter publicly read the
Universal Declaration of
Human Rights
on the steps of the US Customs House on Charleston's historic East Bay Street.
AI Charleston member, Wilson
Gautreaux, standing with
Geshe Dakpa Topgyal at our first event
in September '04.
The geshe spoke about human rights abuse and cultural genocide in Tibet.
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