Category: Write for Rights

Prisoner of conscience signing


Salisbury group held its Write for Rights in the Cathedral

November 2025

The Salisbury group held a successful Write for Rights in the Cathedral Cloisters today and there was an unbroken file of people agreeing to sign. We highlighted two individuals and one group of individuals. The latter were Guerreras por la Amazonia who call themselves the ‘daughter of the earth’ who despite threats and intimidation, continue to demand climate justice for their communities. Climate issues are being seen more and more in human rights terms in recent years. The activities of resource firms who are deforesting large chunks of the Amazon, are having a dramatic effect on the wildlife and on he indigenous peoples. The group took action against Chevron-Texaco to limit the methane flares they emit.

We highlighted Sai Zaw Thaike from Myanmar where the military junta still holds sway although a little less confidently these days. He is a photo journalist who was arrested 3 years ago and sentenced to 20 years of hard labour, tortured and held in solitary confinement for exposing what happened after cyclone Mocha.

Sonia Dahmani (pictured) from Tunisia was our third person. Sonia is a lawyer who has spoken out about racism, migration and prison conditions. She has been harassed and accused of spreading false news. She is under arrest and one of several who have been treated this way by the authoritarian president Kais Saied.

[Since preparing the Write for Rights, it appears that she has been released in the past few days. This is good news]

View of the signing.

Our thanks go to group members Andrew for arranging the event with the Cathedral, Fiona for organising the signing itself, and Tony, Val, Peter and Lesley for assisting on the day.

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Write for Rights


Members of the Salisbury group took part in a Write for Rights event

December 2024

Some members of the Salisbury group took part in a Write for Rights event in the Cathedral Cloisters on Sunday 1 December. There were four individuals we were campaigning for and around 80 cards were signed over a 3 hour session. This is fewer than in previous years and possibly reflects the ceaseless campaigning by elements of the media against human rights and for the abolition of the Human Rights Act. Between approximately 10 and 15% of people took part and signed cards.

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Write for Rights


The second of our Write for Rights this year took place today, Saturday 11 December in St Thomas’s Church in Salisbury starting at 10 am for 2 hours. As before the cases were be:

Mikita Zalatarou of Belarus. He is a teenager who has been sent to a penal colony following protests at the recent elections.
Zhang Zhan of China. She is one of the journalists who tried to get the truth out about the Covid virus in Wuhan. She was sentenced to 4 years in prison.
Ciham ali Ahmed of Eritrea. She was arrested on the Sudan border and nine years later her family do not know her whereabouts. Many prisoners are held in underground containers.
Bernardo Caal Xol in Guatamala. He was caught up in the protests against the construction of hydroelectric dams which would have seriously harmed the indigenous peoples. He was sentenced to 7 years in prison with no evidence provided.

These of course are just a small selection of the thousands of people who are imprisoned for reasons of the beliefs they hold, opposition to the government or because they are human rights defenders, journalists or lawyers. If you can spare a moment or two to pop in we would be delighted to see you.

It would also be an opportunity to make yourself known if you wish to join the group.

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Write for Rights


Write for Rights. Now finished.

A reminder that we will be holding our Write for Rights tomorrow in the Cathedral cloisters starting at 11am today and finishing at 1pm.

We shall be asking people to sign for the following:

  • Mikita Zalatarou of Belarus. He is a teenager who has been sent to a penal colony following protests at the recent elections.
  • Zhang Zhan of China. She is one of the journalists who tried to get the truth out about the Covid virus in Wuhan. She was sentenced to 4 years in prison.
  • Ciham ali Ahmed of Eritrea. She was arrested on the Sudan border and nine years later her family do not know her whereabouts. Many prisoners are held in underground containers.
  • Bernardo Caal Xol in Guatamala. He was caught up in the protests against the construction of hydroelectric dams which would have seriously harmed the indigenous peoples. He was sentenced to 7 years in prison with no evidence provided.

These are of course only four examples of the hundreds of thousands who are arrested, tortured, disappeared or imprisoned for speaking out against their regimes. We hope you can spare a few moments to sign a card at the Cathedral.

We shall be at St Thomas’s Church in Salisbury on Saturday 11th starting at 10 am.

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Write for Rights


We shall be doing a Write for Rights this Sunday (5th December) in the Cathedral cloisters

For many years, we have done a signing at Christmas time, usually in the Market Square. We moved to the Cloisters the year before last and were more successful in getting people to sign. So we shall be there from 11:00 until 14:00 and anyone in Salisbury is welcome to come along and sign. It would also be a good opportunity for you to make yourself known to us if you were thinking of joining the group.

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Write for Rights


Two signings planned

We shall be holding our Write for Rights signings in two locations this year: the first time we have done this. The first will be 5th December in the Cathedral Cloisters and the second on 11th in St Thomas’s. We do not have the times yet so keep an eye out on this site – or Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr – for more details once known. Almost certainly in the mornings. We hope you can come along and sign.

For people abroad, feel free to send us your desire to be listed and we will copy your name in.

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