- Shi Tao, who used his Yahoo! email account to send a message to a U.S.-based pro-democracy website. In his email, he summarized a government order directing media organizations in China to downplay the upcoming 15th anniversary of the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy activists. Police arrested him in November 2004, charging him with "illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities." Authorities used email account holder information supplied by Yahoo! to convict Shi Tao in April 2005 and sentence him to 10 years in prison.
- Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has worked to bring democracy to Myanmar. She has been under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years.
- Karin Amer, a blogger who was sentenced to four years in prison for the "crime" of publishing material on the internet that was critical of Islam and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
You can also work to protect human rights defenders such as Justine Masika Bihamba, who works for a women's human rights organization in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Because of her work, she and her family have been threatened and assaulted.
Letter writing is an important way to make a difference, and you can even write many of your letters online by following the links in this blog post.
