Dear friend,

Thousands of Egyptians have suffered at the hands of President Mubarak’s security forces. Their crime? Peacefully demanding political reform in some of the biggest protests the country has ever seen.

Now, with the President dragging his heels and the crisis dropping off the front pages of the world’s newspapers, we’re hearing from our partners on the ground that Egyptians need an overwhelming show of global solidarity to give them the strength, determination and resolve to carry on.

Sign our petition and send a powerful message to the people of Egypt: we stand with you; you deserve to have your voice heard; you deserve human rights.

Just this weekend, we’ve seen first-hand how human rights observers and journalists, including two of our own Amnesty officials, were silenced as part of a crackdown on independent reporting of the country’s unrest [1]. This suffocating of information only sets the scene for more violence, disappearances and torture to happen behind closed doors, out of the global media spotlight.

Last week, the Amnesty movement sprung into effective action, together sending thousands of emails in 24 hours to push for the release of those detained. They have now been freed. We know the Amnesty community is powerful, so let’s act again with all Egyptians standing strong in the name of human rights.

Sign our petition now, and we’ll deliver it to Vice President Omar Suleiman.

Today, the people of Egypt are spending their 16th day in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Let’s show them they are not alone, and that the world hasn’t forgotten.

In hope and solidarity,

Jenny Leong
Crisis Campaigner
Amnesty International Australia

PS. Doing anything on Saturday? We’re participating in a global day of solidarity in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to show Australian support for the people of Egypt at this time of crisis. We hope you’ll be there with us.

[1] Rights group say staff detained in Cairo, Reuters, 3 February 2011.