Outraged by a newspaper article detailing the imprisonment of two Portuguese students for simply raising a toast to freedom, British lawyer Peter Benenson sparked a global movement on May 28th, 1961. His “Appeal for Amnesty”, published that day in The Observer newspaper, called for public support in defending prisoners of conscience around the world. This ignited a firestorm of interest, with over 1,000 offers of help pouring in within a week. Amnesty International, a beacon of human rights advocacy, was born from these beginnings. The organization, now a global phenomenon with millions of members and supporters, continues to fight tirelessly to release those detained for their beliefs and expose human rights abuses wherever they occur.
