The group was started in September 2002 by Mike Hodder, a long-time member of Amnesty Internatioanl. Mike placed an article in the local paper seeking response to the idea of forming an Amnesty chapter. People from Effingham, Moultonboro, Tuftonboro and Wolfeboro attended the first meeting and Group #568 was underway.

Our First Specdial Focus Case was Layla Zana, a Kurdish Prisoner of Conscience in Turkey. She was release in 2004. The next Special Action File was Yury Bandazhevsky, a Prisoner of Conscience in Belarus. Upon his release we campaigned in support of another Prisoner of Conscience, Gurbandury Durdykuliev who was imprisoned in Turkmenistan. He was released in April 2006.

In 2004 our group decided to take on the Israel and the Occupied Territories Action File. We have focused on several administrative detainees, pressuring for their release or their being legitimately charged and having a fair trial according to internationally accepted standards. Other issues have been support of Israeli students refusing the draft; settler violence against Palestinians; Israeli demolitions in Palestine; and the Palestinian Authority’s use of the death penalty.

In March 2005 Group 568 co-sponsored a forum on torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. The group does sidewalk tabling in Wolfeboro during some summer or holiday weekends, Book Banning Week and held a Holiday Card Action in December. We are always looking for and encouraging others to join us and Amnesty in its pursuit of human rights and justice.