(Editor's Note: Amnesty's "Get Up, Stand Up" campaign has been replaced by a new, "Stamp Out Torture" campaign, which also has its own Web site. The positive comments in this review generally apply to this new site, as well, but our five-star rating is intended to reflect Amnesty's work overall.)

The design is stark, opening with an enlarged black-and-white photograph of political prisoner Paul Hill, simply captioned "You've got the wrong man." Clicking on the caption leads you into Hill's story, which is—or should be—sufficiently gripping to draw you deeper into the site.

You learn that Paul Hill is an Irishman who, at age 21, was unjustly accused and wrongly imprisoned for a sensationalized series of English pub bombings. Sentenced in 1975 on the basis of false police testimony, Hill spent the next 15 years in prison, four of those years in solitary confinement. His eventual release is one of Amnesty's most striking success stories, and a testimonial to this essential organization's ability to throw light into the dark corners where criminal prosecutors and political calculations interact.

The Paul Hill case achieved some further renown with its treatment in the 1988 film In the Name of the Father, but it is not the only story in these pages. Nor will it ever be, given the way the world works. But Amnesty challenges you to do something about it, and gives you the opportunity to help change things for the better.

Kudos are due Ikonic Interactive, the San Francisco firm that designed this powerful site. In addition to skillfully translating Amnesty's mission to the Web, the site also makes excellent use of current technology to capture the fervor behind the cause, with the star-studded "Get Up, Stand Up" concerts. (You'll need to have Shockwave installed to experience these special takes on Bob Marley's great song.)

Amnesty is obviously counting on this new site to augment its recruitment effort, and we think their faith is well-placed: everything about this site strikes the right chord.

(Reviewed November 2, 1996)