A surprise performance by Amnesty

Amnesty in Iceland had a surprise performance in the shopping mall Kringlan yesterday to draw attention to their annual international campaign, Your Name Saves a Life , which this year is dedicated to ten individuals who have been subjected to human rights violations after protesting.

A choir of 40 women who call themselves the Senjoritas sang a song and  the artgroup R.E.C. Arts Reykjavík performed all over the shopping mall.

The importance of free speech

Anna Lúðvíksdóttir the manager of Amnesty International in Iceland and Matthías Tryggvi Haraldsson from the group Hatarar talked about the importance of free speech and the singer Una Torfadóttir sang a few songs.

The young people in Amnesty walked around the mall and asked people to sign a petition for the ten individuals.

This year it was decided to focus on working with artists of all age groups to draw attention to the campaign Your Name Saves a Life.

Put in jail for a supermarket protest

The cases of the ten people are all different, but have in common that protesting or trying to protest has caused incarceration or even death. Here is one of them.

The Russian artist Alekandra Skochilenko is now in jail in Russia facing up to 10 years in prison. She was arrested for replacing price tags in a supermarket with little notes telling Russians about the Russian invasion into Ukraine, thereby contradicting the state narrative of Kreml.

Another artist is the Cuban Luis Manuel Otero. He posted on social media a video in July 2021 where he announced that he was going to partake in protests in Havana. He was arrested before the protest even began and sentenced to five years in prison.

Here are more of the cases on the website of Amnesty in Iceland.