How a letter sent to the Sunderland Echo helped formation of Wearside branch of Amnesty International

By Tony Gillan
Published 6th Jun 2021, 04:55 BST
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now
The Wearside arm of Amnesty International has been helping the human rights organisation to celebrate its 60th anniversary.

The Nobel Peace Prize winning group was formed in London in 1961. This was in response to the seven-year prison sentences being imposed on two students in Portugal “after raising their glasses in a toast to freedom” in the country, which had a harshly authoritarian government until 1974.

A branch of Amnesty was formed in Sunderland when readers responded to a letter to the Echo by a local teacher, Doug Smith, in November 1975.

Hide Ad