When you send a protest card in support of a prisoner, it demonstrates to the government, the judiciary and the prison authority of that land that there are people overseas who care about the well being of the prisoner. The result can be a speedier release or better treatment and conditions for the innocent victim.

Here is the good news:

May2004: Turkey, Acquittal of Protestant Pastor Ahmet Guvener, charged with founding an ‘illegal church’ in Diyarbakir.

June 2004: China, Philip Xu Guoxing, leader of an unregistered house-church in Shanghai, released.

Turkey 2004, release of Syrian Orthodox Söner Önder after twelve years arbitrary imprisonment for alleged involvement in a PKK terror attack.

Pakistan 2004, release of Anwer Masih, imprisoned for allegedly insulting a Moslem.

October 2004: Turkey, Pastor Ahmet Guvener receives permission to use the newly built Protestant church for church purposes – the first case of this kind since the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923.

November 2004: Indonesia, Pastor Rinaldy Damanik released from a three-year prison sentence for alleged ‘illegal possession of weapons’.

February 2005: Vietnam, Release of Nguyen Van Ly, Catholic priest and human rights campaigner.