British-American human rights activist Clive Stafford Smith to receive Amnesty International Chair 2014 at Ghent University on 1 April 2014

Ghent, Belgium, 31-3-2014 — /EuropaWire/ — On 1 April 2014, British-American human rights activist Clive Stafford Smith will receive the Amnesty International Chair 2014 at Ghent University. This Chair is awarded to a person who makes a special contribution to fight for human rights, now for the 7th consecutive year.

Civil rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith plays an important role in the defense of human rights worldwide. As a fierce opponent of the death penalty in the UnitedStates, he had been engagen in death penalty cases for the past 30 years.

He managed to prove the innocence of various sentenced to death which he at once the pain points of the American legal systemexposes.

Clive Stafford Smith also defends the rights of dozens of prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center and is the founder ofReprieve, an organization that provides legal assistance to those accused of serious crimes but without money for a lawyer.

Clive Stafford Smith receives the Chair of Amnesty International on 1 April 2014. During the award ceremony, his public lecture’The Death Knell for the Death Penalty?’ and a subsequent question-and-answer session will take place. Professor Yves Haeckwill moderate the question-and-answer session.

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