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Peter Benenson (born July 31, 1921) is a British lawyer and the founder of Amnesty International (AI). Benenson founded AI in 1962 after reading his newspaper and becoming shocked and angered at the story of two Portuguese students sentenced to seven years in prison for raising their glasses in a toast to freedom (this occurred during the autocratic regime of António de Oliveira Salazar). Benenson wrote to David Astor, editor of The Observer. On May 28, Benenson's article, entitled "The Forgotten Prisoners" was published. The letter asked readers to write letters showing support for the students. The response was so overwhelming that within a year groups of letter-writers had formed in more than a dozen countries.
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