The Candle
Spring 2025 | Vol 2 | No. 1
Amnesty International Canada’s Candle has long symbolized our collective resolve to confront human rights abuses with the glow of compassion and activism. As we bring “The Candle” to life in this digital form, we hope to amplify its power to inspire change and drive progress for human rights everywhere. Individual donations power the impactful work described in here – THANK YOU to all our supporters!
Featured Story
Meet the 92-year-old campaigner who saved her brother from execution
Hideko Hakamada’s brother Iwao was sentenced to death for murder in Japan in 1968. Following his trial, he spent nearly five decades on death row while Hideko campaigned tirelessly for his release. Year after year, decade after decade, Hideko never gave up in the struggle to prove her brother’s innocence.
Photo: Hideko Hakamada spent 58 years fighting to prove her brother’s innocence. © KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images
Good News
Rocky Myers, a Black man with an intellectual disability, was on death row since 1994 despite flawed legal proceedings and...
Almost seven years after the Saturday Mothers’ 700th peaceful vigil was violently broken up by riot police in Istanbul, 45...
On December 20, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights condemned the Salvadoran state in the case of Beatriz versus El...
Dorgelesse Nguessan is finally free! She was released in January after more than four years in detention in Cameroon solely...
On March 11, former Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte, was arrested on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC)....
On January 6, 2025, four activists in Angola were released from detention following a presidential pardon. Adolfo Campos, Abraão Pedro...
On February 10, 2025, Salma al-Shehab, a Leeds University PhD student and mother of two, was released from prison in...
Responding to the release of Ahmad Manasra, a Palestinian arrested at the age of 13, from Israeli prison after nine...
News Updates
Within hours of his inauguration on January 20, 2025, US President Donald Trump declared an emergency at the southern border,...
Thousands of people across Ethiopia—including in the capital, Addis Ababa, and 58 other cities and towns—have been forcibly evicted from...
Iranian authorities have escalated their crackdown on women’s rights defenders, journalists, singers and other activists demanding equality or who defy...
On February 27, 2025, Thai authorities forcibly returned 40 Uyghur refugees to China. Now, five more Uyghur refugees remain at...
As the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission, led by the Kenyan police, began to deploy to Haiti last month, Amnesty...
King Mwamisyo and Elias Bizimungu are two activists with the citizens’ movement, LUCHA in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)....
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Highlights from
Canada
Canada
Book Club event with Omar El-Akkad
Amnesty Book Club held its first online event of the year with award-winning novelist and journalist, Omar El Akkad, discussing his latest release ‘One day everyone would have always been against this’. Click below to watch the engaging discussion.
Legacy
Margaret John: An extraordinary
human rights activist
For half a century, Margaret worked tirelessly to make the world a better place.
The world lost a wonderful human being and one of its most tireless and inspiring human rights activists on January 29, 2025, when Margaret John passed away peacefully in Hamilton, Ontario.
Margaret was a passionate supporter of Amnesty International who dedicated much of her life to human rights and justice. She was born Margaret Gregson in 1936 in Manchester, England. While at university in Bangor, Wales, Margaret met her husband, Brian, and in 1968 they moved to Hamilton, where they made their home and raised a family.
“Words cannot do justice to Margaret’s dedication and perseverance”—Chee Soon Juan, Singaporean politician and former political prisoner
Write for rights
ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL YEAR!
In December 2024, thousands of Amnesty supporters across Canada joined more than 1 million people worldwide in speaking out for human rights. They were all participating in Write for Rights, Amnesty’s global letter-writing marathon. Participants wrote letters, sent emails, and signed petitions. People wrote with friends while others wrote on their own. Events were held at schools, workplaces, faith groups, and homes. The Write for Rights 2024 cases featured people from around the world—from a TikToker in Angola to a women’s rights defender in Saudi Arabia to Wet’suwet’en land defenders in Canada. Here, we’re sharing just a few photos from the thousands of Write for Rights events held internationally.
The Urgent Action Network
By becoming a member, you can help protect people at imminent risk
Amnesty campaigns for human rights in many ways, but when safety is a concern of the individual at risk, the best way to ensure their protection is the Urgent Action Network. Volunteers use letters, emails, and social media posts to urge authorities around the world to protect individuals and communities at risk of imminent human rights violations.
Over the past five decades, the Urgent Action Network has become one of Amnesty’s most effective campaign tools. Worldwide, more than 500,000 volunteers worldwide are standing by to take action. Want to join them? It takes just a moment to sign up. As a member of the Urgent Action Network, you’ll become a lifeline for those in immediate danger of human rights abuses.
Thank you for supporting human rights
Sharing these success stories is only possible thanks to the continued generosity of donors like you.