THERE’S no such thing as a typical member of Amnesty International and no such thing as a typical person helped by the organisation.

All the latter group have in common is that wherever in the world they happen to be, their basic rights are being attacked.

And the former? They want the attacks to stop, the attackers to know they’re being watched and condemned, and the attacked to know they are not alone or forgotten.

The group’s symbol is a candle burning amid a coil of barbed wire.

A leaflet issued by the Swindon and Marlborough Group includes a quote from an unnamed prisoner of conscience: “On Christmas Eve the door of my cell opened and a guard tossed in a crumpled piece of paper. It said: ‘Take heart, the world knows you are alive.’ That letter saved my life.”

The local group meets at the Friends Meeting House on Eastcott Hill at 7.30pm on the second Thursday of each month. There are about 150 people on its mailing list.

“We’re raising awareness of and promoting human rights,” said group secretary Emma Bushell, 36, a further education learning advisor who lives in Old Town.

“We campaign for people who are victims of injustice, such as people who are in prison not because they’ve committed a crime but because of their beliefs.”

Emma has been a member since she returned to Swindon following university and began attending meetings. At that time prominent issues on the Amnesty agenda included the arms trade and human rights abuses in Burma.

Fellow member Liza Lishman, 62, joined in the late 1970s while living in Edinburgh. At that time the hot issues included Apartheid and human rights abuses in locations as diverse as Latin America, the Soviet Union and Indonesia.

Liza, who lives in Old Town and is a dressmaker with Swindon’s Dressability charity, said: “I signed a petition this morning for an Ethiopian journalist who has been put in prison for the ‘promotion of terrorism’. He said the situation in Egypt could be repeated in Ethiopia.

“The government didn’t like that so they locked him up.”

Emma said: “As somebody who can always be aware and active, I know the worst that could happen to me is that somebody is going to write to the newspaper about me or put something online, but if I was in some other parts of the world it be a knock on the door or something would happen to my family. People would disappear.”

Petitions and letter writing campaigns are a cornerstone of the organisation’s work. Amnesty, founded in 1961 by a lawyer called Peter Benenson, harnessed the strength of people power long before social media made doing so very easy.

Time and again, oppressors have been exposed to the glare of unfavourable international publicity and reversed an injustice. People suffering oppression can also be immensely comforted by the knowledge that they’re not forgotten.

Liza added: “It’s important that other people get to know about what’s happening – that’s one of the key things, I think.

“People hear that others know what’s going on, and it’s hugely important.”

Amnesty’s current greeting card and letter writing campaign spans cases across the globe.

There’s Kalpana Chakma, for example, a campaigner for the rights of indigenous people in Bangladesh who was ‘disappeared’ in 1996 and hasn’t been seen since.

There’s Ihar Tsikhanyuk, beaten mercilessly by the police in Belarus and mocked when he complained. His ‘crime’? Being gay.

There’s Women of Zimbabwe Arise, whose peaceful advocacy for women has seen them beaten and falsely arrested.

Current issues on which Amnesty is speaking out include the Syrian conflict, female genital mutilation, homophobic laws in Africa and the oppression of whistleblowers wherever it occurs.

Liza said: “Word gets through – shining a light on things, making them global issues.”

More information about the Swindon and Marlborough Group of Amnesty International can be found at swindon.amnesty.org.uk, by calling 01793 644346 or through the group’s Facebook and Twitter presences.