Manx Amnesty International supporters are asking for help with a scheme which will send a message of hope to persecuted people around the world.

Each year around Christmas Amnesty members send personalised cards to prisoners of conscience to give them hope.

All have been locked up, tortured or face death for speaking their minds, for holding a belief not "approved" in their country, for being the "wrong" political, religious, ethnic or sexual minority or just for being too poor to get a fair trial.

The Manx group always take the tradition a stage further – asking the public to make the most beautiful cards they can and then offering others the chance to send them.

Over the years some quite stunning cards have been made and sent thanks to a great wave of public interest. Some have even been seen in TV documentaries about Amnesty's work.

This year the group is asking if the public will help yet again.

Because they may go to countries where religious or political persecution is rife, the cards should not have obvious Christmas or "Western" imagery and they should not have a text as the person signing the card on the day writes a personal message.

To keep cost to a minimum, they should also be small and light enough to meet the cheapest overseas postage rates.

Between Christmas and mid-January local Amnesty activists will then give the public a chance to complete the job the cardmakers started, with card-signing sessions in local venues.

You can send any card to anyone on a list of prisoners and only pay for the stamp.

Anyone who wants to get involved can contact Stuart Hartill on 814496 or send cards direct to "Amnesty Card Appeal", c/o of either The Rectory, Ballaugh, IM7 5AQ  or 71 Derby Square, Douglas, IM1 3LR.