bkdelong

Just received an email from Amnesty Intl's "stoptorture.org". Here's a snippet:

The first five people listed above have been sentenced to death by the Jingmen City Intermediate People’s Court in the central province of Hubei, China. All five were condemned to death on 29 December 2001 in connection with their membership of an unofficial Christian organisation, the “Huanan (South China) Church”. They were tried with 12 others who were sentenced to between two years and life imprisonment.

Now, I'm not Christian but as Evelyn Beatrice Hall said in her 1906 "The Friends of Voltaire", "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it''. Thus, I direct anyone reading this to go sign the petition against this action.

(Footnote: This was said by the author to be a rewording of a quote from Voltaire's "Traité sur la Tolérance" or "Essay on Tolerance": "Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too." If my French were better, I'd find the exact place in the essay where he says this.)

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