Ginetta Sagan Awarded   
   
   Author:   Stephen R Denney
   Email: sdenney@UCLINK.BERKELEY.EDU
   Date: 1996/09/17
   Forums: bit.listserv.seasia-l
   
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Ginetta Sagan, who has been instrumental in Amnesty
International, and who was one of the first people to
systematically investigate reports of mistreatment of
re-education camp prisoners in Vietnam (she was also active on
the human rights issue in South Vietnam during the war) has been
awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The following is an
excerpt of a statement by President Clinton. This was originally
posted by Michael Katz-Lacabe to an Amnesty International group.  
- Steve Denney sdenney@uclink.berkeley.edu  

---------- Forwarded message ----------   

(FDCH) - USA - Text of Clinton's statement when he presented the 
USA's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom,
to Ginetta Sagan, who founded many chapters of Amnesty
International and has been active on behalf of human rights since
she was imprisoned and tortured in Italy during World War II:  

   "Ginetta Sagan's name is synonymous with the fight for human
rights around the world.  In World War II she paid dearly for her
dedication to the cause of freedom.  

    For more than a year she was imprisoned and tortured but not
broken. Instead, she devoted her life after the war to saving
others from the ordeal she had endured.  

    Through her tireless work with Amnesty International and her
own Aurora Foundation, she has drawn the world's attention to the
plight of prisoners of conscience and to their families.  

     Amnesty International has created a fund named in her honor
designed to help stop torture, and especially to stop the
persecution of women and their children.  

    She represents to all the triumph of the human spirit over
tyranny"  

 [...]  

   Ginetta Sagan.  Ginetta Sagan has devoted her life to fighting
for the freedom of political prisoners around the world.  As a
young woman in her native Italy she led hundreds of World War II
refugees to the safety of Switzerland, only to be imprisoned and
tortured by Mussolini's Black Brigade.  

    After a daring rescue she made her way to the United States
where she founded the first West Coast Chapter of Amnesty
International and helped build the organization into an
international force on behalf of prisoners of conscience.  

    For her courage in speaking out on behalf of those wrongly
imprisoned, Ginetta Sagan has earned an honored place in the
hearts of all who love liberty.  

- From the Federal Document Clearinghouse Sept. 9  
- Peace Love and Goodwill  

Mike Katz-Lacabe  
mike@derechos.org - http://www.derechos.org/puigjane.html  

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"He who saves a life saves the world entire" - Talmud   
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