Amnesty International

  • 1961: Amnesty International begins with ‘The Forgotten Prisoners’

    On 28 May 1961, Peter Benenson’s article ‘The Forgotten Prisoners’ appeared in *The Observer*. The appeal helped begin Amnesty International. Benenson was a British lawyer. His article focused on people jailed for their beliefs, politics or religion, provided they had not used or advocated violence. He called them ‘prisoners of conscience’, a phrase that gave…