Right, so for my latest mad venture I'll be running the Edinburgh Marathon on the 23rd of May (and to a lesser extent the Meadows Half Marathon in March too) for Amnesty International. I've always wanted to give a marathon a try so finally decided to go for it, no turning back now...! I'm not aiming for a particular time, just to drag myself all the way round the course (apparently the fastest marathon in the UK, eep) I've done a fair bit of campaigning for Amnesty before but wanted to go the extra mile this time (all 26.2 of them) and hopefully the marathon is far enough to encourage you all to donate the price of a pint/coffee or whatever you can spare for a cause that means a lot to me! :-)

Amnesty is all about individuals working for make the world a better place for other individuals and with that in mind I'll be running particularly to highlight the case of Ferhat Gerçek. He was arrested by Turkish authorities in October 2007, days before his 18th birthday, while with a group selling copies of a political magazine in Istanbul. Police offers tried to stop the group and opened fire in the ensuing dispute, shooting Ferhat in the back, leaving him paralysed from the waist down. None of the police officers involved in the case have been suspended, and flaws in the investigation  including 'lost evidence' mean the perpetrator is likely to evade justice completely. Ferhat himself is being prosecuted in connection with the dispute and could face 15 years in prison if found guilty. I wrote to him in December 2008 as part of Amnesty's yearly greetings cards campaign - unfortunately there have been no developments since then but Amnesty is still working hard on his behalf. If you're interested there's more information at: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions_details.asp?ActionID=512

Thanks a lot everyone :-), r xx

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