Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights.

AI’s vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards.

Quote from Colin Firth:

"I was in Argentina working on a film connected with the dictatorship...and encountered people who had been tortured...If I had been sitting in a cell by myself there would be so little hope. The words Amnesty International kept going around in my head as the only hope for a lot of people.

20 Januari 2008, AP. St Trinian's actor Colin Firth got serious for his latest project. The star produced a documentary about American prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has been on death row for 25 years for murder. In Prison My Whole Life sees William Francome go on a journey to understand the case. Firth's wife Livia also acts as producer. "I was attracted to the unlikely journey of a white English boy going on a journey to meet a black American man of a completely different generation who's been incarcerated all his life," he said. "I wanted to try and see where that journey led. The film is premiering at the Sundance Film Festival.

Firth and his wife both have strong feelings on the death penalty."Without any hesitation or question, there's no argument for it at all," he said."I've heard it argued for vigorously but I don't think any of those arguments touch the sides. It's an utter obscenity in every conceivable case.

"It's nothing to do with how heinous the crime is. It's wrong for the state to kill - to be given a licence to do that is just wrong. It's wrong for us to be a part of that and to use that as an instrument of justice."

Animated slideshow of stories about the death penalty

around the world narrated by Colin Firth.

Info thanks to the State Policy Director from www.ncadp.org

Death Penalty: Hard Hitting Mumia Abu-Jamal Film Launched

13 September 2007, Amnesty International UK

'In Prison My Whole Life' will screen during London Film Festival.

A new documentary film on the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal will screen at the London Film Festival next month. The film has the support of Amnesty International as part of its international campaign to abolish the death penalty.

The feature-length documentary, 'In Prison My Whole Life', examines the controversial case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther Party activist who has been in prison for murder in the United States since 1981, much of that time facing a death sentence. There are serious doubts about the fairness of Mumia Abu-Jamal's original trial and he is currently appealing against his conviction. Amnesty international is calling for fresh trial.

The 90-minute film profiles Mumia Abu-Jamal's case through the eyes of 25-year-year-old William Francome, born on the day of Abu-Jamal's arrest.  'In Prison My Whole Life' was directed by Marc Evans and produced by Livia Firth and Nick Goodwin Self. The acclaimed actor Colin Firth is the film's executive producer. The film also features interviews with writers Alice Walker and Noam Chomsky, as well as the musicians Mos Def, Snoop Dogg and Steve Earle.

Livia Firth said:

'The film illustrates another example of the many reasons why the death penalty is never an acceptable form of punishment.

'Amnesty International has contributed to the making of the film, having previously called for a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal and we are thrilled that they have agreed to support the film as part of their ongoing worldwide campaign against capital punishment.'

Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said:

'It's shocking that the US justice system has repeatedly failed to address the appalling violation of Mumia Abu-Jamal's fundamental fair trial rights.

'We've documented Mumia Abu-Jamal's plight several times before and we strongly welcome this film as a fresh opportunity to focus attention on his situation. We hope that the film's viewers will back our call for a fair retrial for Mumia Abu-Jamal - and also support our work opposing the death penalty in the US and around the world.'

'In Prison My Whole Life' screens simultaneously at The Times bfi London Film Festival and at Rome's International Film Festival on Thursday 25 October.

A spokesman for the Bishop of Ripon & Leeds, the Rt Revd John Packer, said that he was very disappointed that a campaign to stop a Congolese woman, Aseng, and her children being deported from Leeds had failed. She and her family had been living in the city for four years.

Bishop Packer had written to the Home Office Minister Baroness Scotland about the case. He said that Aseng was terrified about being forced to return because of her ethnicity and the ongoing violence in the country.

In the past ten years, an estimated four million people have died from war-related causes, and more than two million are refugees within their own country.

The Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Revd Michael Scott-Joynt, has also been campaigning on behalf of asylum-seekers within his diocese, which is linked with the DRC.

Shirley Firth, mother of the actor Colin Firth, and member of the Winchester and Southampton Visitors Group, said: “Of course we are thrilled that Pierre, one young man we had been campaigning for, has been allowed a review, but what about the others?”

Colin Firth wrote to The Independent about Pierre, a nurse who was imprisoned after refusing to give large doses of morphine to senior officials who had been arrested after the President’s murder. His brother bribed guards, and Pierre escaped to the UK in 2002.

On Wednesday, the Home Office confirmed that 38 people had “successfully been deported” to the DRC, but said it could not comment on individual cases.