Amnesty International

London-based worldwide human-rights organization established in 1961. It campaigns for the release of prisoners of conscience worldwide; fair trials for all political prisoners; an end to the death penalty, torture, and inhuman treatment of all prisoners; and the end of extrajudicial (outside of the law) executions and ‘disappearances’. It has no political or economic ties.

By 2006 Amnesty International had more than 1.8 million members and supporters in some 150 countries and territories, and section offices in over 50 countries. The organization was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1977 for its work to secure the release of political prisoners.