International, have helped a South African woman, who was beaten and jailed for no crime, win her freedom.

And Miss Nomgcobo Sangweni is on the Island this week to thank the local Amnesty group which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, and to stress the importance of Amnesty worldwide.

The former prisoner of conscience said yesterday she knew very little about Amnesty International before she was jailed in December, 1986.

Ms Sangweni, a women's and children's rights activist in Durban, said she was working with other women on the release of young children who had been detained.

"We would go out to the rural areas and townships and get the names of the children who were in prison and take those names to the human rights lawyers who made it their duty to go out there and ask the officers where they were.

"In no way did I think that we were doing anything that was illegal, so the knock on my door two days before Christmas, 1986, was something that I did not expect at all.'' Nine Police officers, with no search warrants and no incriminating evidence, showed up after midnight and took Miss Sangweni and her nine-year-old daughter Yolanda from their home.

They were interrogated and not allowed to sit for 14 hours before being separated, Ms Sangweni recalled.

"For the six months that I was in prison, I did not know where my daughter was. Nobody told me anything. And each time I heard children (in prison) crying for their mothers I thought I would always hear my daughter's voice. I could feel what the parents were feeling when they did not know what was happening.

"Sometimes I would not see anybody for a week. I would be looking forward to seeing my interrogators because that would be the only form of mental stimulation I had.'' Miss Sangweni, who suffered several injuries through beatings and electrical shocks, was also denied medical treatment.

"Six months into my detention I was taken upstairs, as usual, to the interrogation room,'' she said. "But instead of the usual beating on that day I saw these piles of letters, urgent message letters and telexes from Amnesty.

"I remember thinking how could Amnesty International know about a little-known African woman in her country. I was just amazed.'' Amnesty International had flooded the Minister in charge of Police and the Police Chief's offices with faxes and letters, calling for the unconditional release of Miss Sangweni. This is Amnesty's normal course of action for prisoners of conscience, Amnesty anniversary committee chairperson Mrs. Lucy Attride-Stirling said.

"We ask for a fair trial for political prisoners. But for prisoners of conscience we ask for their unconditional release because they have done no crime.'' The local Amnesty group has grown from 12 to 200 and has helped free about 12 prisoners of conscience since its inception 10 years ago, Mrs.

Attride-Stirling said.

But Amnesty can only work through the support of people who are willing to write or sign letters speaking out against the unfair treatment of people who do not share their Government's beliefs, she added.

"There is strength in numbers. We make sure they know that the whole world knows what they are doing to this individual -- to their own citizen. That's where the pressure comes from. And it works.'' Miss Sangweni, who is a Zulu but does not support the Inkatha Freedom Movement, fled South Africa out of fear of harassment two months after her release. She and her daughter had nothing but the clothes on their backs and $45.

They were able to get out of South Africa with the help of a white school friend's parents. "They were Boers from Bloemfontein -- the heart of the Afrikaner land,'' Miss Sangweni said.

"There are white and black South Africans fighting for democracy, while there are black and white South Africans fighting against it.'' Miss Sangweni is now a health planner for the New York city health department.

But she intends to return to her home someday. "I have a dream of going back home,'' she said. "I dream to see a South Africa that will be free and anybody can move anywhere.

"I know it will take 10 to 20 years for any of the opportunities like people in Bermuda have. I'm not expecting that. I'm just happy to see that we are moving toward democracy.'' Miss Sangweni is to meet with the Premier this morning and to speak at a joint forum to be held by Amnesty International and the local Anti-Apartheid Coalition tonight.

The forum, which is a celebration of African National Congress president Nelson Mandela winning the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize along with South African president F.W. de Klerk, will be held at St. Paul Centennial Hall, beginning at 7.30 p.m.

CRY FREEDOM -- Amnesty's Mrs. Lucy Attride-Stirling (left) greets former prisoner of conscience Miss Nomgcobo Sangweni.