Of Political detainees

Just read about this dude called Hao Wu on Afromusing's blog. He's been detained by the Chinese government. Check out the story.




http://www.freehaowu.org/

I'm not a lawyer--one of my lawyer uncles shot down that idea when at the age of 10, or so, I proudly declared I wanted his job-- so I can't argue the finer points of laws concerning human rights, access to legal help, and a fair and speedy trial. A person may be innocent or guilty, but there's a process that needs to be followed. I was a member of Amnesty International at my former school. The main thing we did was write letters appealing on behalf of various political prisoners and people being detained unjustly. It was great to hear about the successful cases like the chic in Nigeria who was gonna get stoned for being pregnant (where was the man anyway? a sperm donor is part of the baby-making formula). And there was even a Turkish woman who was eventually freed from house arrest. A few months ago, I met a journalist in political exile from Togo. It was a chance meeting in town and as he shared his story, I was just amazed. Sometimes it seems far away, but then, boom! You meet someone who tells you, "it happened to me." We may not change the course of every event, but spreading the word around can support a cause.

3 Days on the Cross is one of my fave books. One of the current hot topics is the treatment of political detainees in Guantanamo Bay. I'm going to read up on it.