Editing Peter Benenson (section)

==Career==
After demobilisation in 1946, Benenson began practising as a barrister before joining the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] and standing unsuccessfully for election at [[Streatham (UK Parliament constituency)|Streatham]] in 1950 and for [[Hitchin (UK Parliament constituency)|Hitchin]] in 1951, 1955, and 1959. He was one of a group of British lawyers who, in 1957, founded [[JUSTICE]], the UK-based human rights and law reform organisation. In 1958, he fell ill and moved to Italy to convalesce. In the same year, he converted to the [[Roman Catholic Church]].
 
===Activism===
Benenson had said he was shocked and angered by a newspaper report of two Portuguese people sentenced to prison for subversion during [[Estado Novo (Portugal)|the regime]] of [[António de Oliveira Salazar]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-shipsey/the-toast-to-freedom-that_b_976849.html|title=The "Toast to Freedom" That Led to Amnesty International|work=[[Huffington Post]]|first=Bill|last=Shipsey|date=22 September 2011}}</ref> At the time, Portugal was ruled by the authoritarian [[Estado Novo (Portugal)|Estado Novo]] regime, and anti-regime conspiracies were vigorously repressed by the Portuguese state police and deemed anti-Portuguese. He wrote to [[David Astor]], editor of ''[[The Observer]]''. On 28 May 1961, Benenson's article, entitled "[[The Forgotten Prisoners]]", was published. The letter asked readers to write letters showing support for all those imprisoned for their political or religious beliefs. To co-ordinate such letter-writing campaigns, [[Amnesty International]] was founded in London in July 1961 at a meeting of Benenson and six other men, who included a [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]], a [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] and a [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] MP.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/29/amnesty-international-marks-50th-birthday|title=Amnesty International marks 50 years of fighting for free speech|newspaper=[[The Observer]]|date=29 May 2012|author=Tracy McVeigh}}</ref><ref>Childs, Peter; Storry, Mike, eds. (2002). "Amnesty International". ''Encyclopedia of Contemporary British Culture''. London: Routledge. pp. 22–23.</ref> The response was so overwhelming that within a year various groups of letter-writers had formed in more than a dozen countries.