May 31, 2005
SMS alerts as human rights tactic
NewTactics in Human Rights reports on a smart mob mobilized via SMS to successfully prevent the torture of a political prisoner.
"Golden Misabiko, a journalist in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was arrested and imprisoned without any charge in January 2001. It was feared he would be tortured.
Amnesty International sent out an Urgent Action to members all over the world. We, at the Dutch section, sent out a text message to 8,000 cell-phone users in the Netherlands who participate in our new text-message alert network. Within 48 hours we sent a protest fax with thousands of signatures to the authorities in the DRC.
Golden was released in May 2001. He had not been tortured. Golden wrote to Amnesty, “When I heard in prison that Amnesty campaigned for my release I knew: Je vais sortir (I will be released).” And so it happened.
Amnesty International has found a new “weapon” to use in its battle against torture: cell-phone text messages.
[via Smart Mobs]
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