Amnesty International founder dead
(CNN) -- Peter Benenson, the founder of the human rights group Amnesty International, has died, the group has announced.
Benenson, who was 83, started the human rights group while working as a lawyer in 1961. He died Friday night.
At first, the group was started as "a one-year campaign for the release of six prisoners of conscience," according to a news released on the Amnesty Web site.
It started in a May 28, 1961 Observer article called "The Forgotten Prisoners."
"That appeal attracted thousands of supporters, and started a worldwide human rights movement.
"The catalyst for the original campaign was Mr. Benenson's sense of outrage after reading an article about the arrest and imprisonment of two students in a cafe in Lisbon, Portugal, who had drunk a toast to liberty," the Web site said.
"From there came a worldwide movement for human rights and in its midst an international organization -- Amnesty International -- which has taken up the cases of many thousands of victims of human rights violations and inspired millions to human rights defense the world round."
Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International, was quoted as calling Benenson's life "a courageous testament to his visionary commitment to fight injustice around the world."
Amnesty said Benenson died at 10:45 p.m. Friday in the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.
Amnesty International will be holding a public memorial service and there will be private ceremony for family members. There will be no funeral service.
The group calls itself "the world's largest independent human rights organization, with more than 1.8 million members and committed supporters worldwide."
