Email writing

I just signed a petition to free the bulgarian doctors that have been condemned to death by Lybia. After signing it (by the way, it's very easy, a good example of nice, usable design), I got an email from the website that hosts it, apparently devoted to hosting online petitions. The email included a sample text that they encourage me to send to my network of friends. It's nice that they write it for you :)

"Dear Friends,

I have just read and signed the online petition:

"Take Action to Free the Bulgarian Medics in Libya"

hosted on the web by PetitionOnline.com, the free online petition service, at:

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/bulgaria/

I personally agree with what this petition says, and I think you might agree, too. If you can spare a moment, please take a look, and consider signing yourself.

Best wishes,

Pere"

Here's also the message of the friend who told me about all this petition business. Apparently, she didn't follow the template... but hers is an example of a perfect email: short personal introduction, main reason of the email, link to act and further information at the bottom of it. Plus perfect English. I wish my coworkers wrote like that.

"Dear all,

First of all, I also wanted to send my warmest greetings to everyone born in the beautiful month of May in this order: M, Ch and P (and Po in due time). Congratulations to those of you, too, who just recently joined the noble ranks of Doctors of Mathematics: Ch, Ma, T and N (in no particular order).

Speaking of doctors--and here I am finally getting to the point, I wanted to ask you to consider signing a petition to the EU in support of the five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor who were recently sentenced to death in Libya. The Libyan court found them guilty of consciously infecting 400 Libyan children with HIV. This was clearly an act of scapegoating, meant to divert the public attention from the poor hygienic conditions in the Libyan hospital. When the whole affair started about five years ago, there were doctors and nurses from a few other European countries working at the hospital, who were also accused of the same absurd crime. Still, the governments of those countries took instant measures and evacuated their medics. Here follows a long pause... So, the Bulgarians were left to bear the consequences (trasnfers from prison to prison, tortures, and now a pending death penalty).

Signing the petition takes a minute and this is the address:

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/bulgaria/

I've copied the text of the petition below for your perusal.

Best,

Po

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On 6 May 2004 five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were sentenced to death for consciously infecting more than 400 Libyan children with the AIDS virus.

There is overwhelming evidence that the children in the Libyan hospital were infected with the virus due to poor hygienical conditions and long before the sentenced medics arrived in Libya. However, the Libyan judicial authorities did not consider this evidence during the 5-year trial. If action is not taken, the five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor will receive the death penalty through a fire squad.

The European Union, the US State Department, Amnesty International, various national governments and international organisations have already expressed serious concerns over the fairness of the trial and denounced the verdicts. Support has been expressed to ensure that the appealing of the sentence would lead to a quick release of these innocent people.

Nevertheless, a coordinated diplomatic action of the European Union will undoubtedly achieve a better result. We, the undersigned, appeal to you, Foreign Minister of the Netherlands and of the forthcoming Dutch presidency of the European Union, to urgently use all appropriate measures in order to effectively help the six sentenced medical professionals. The Netherlands is famous for its excellency in conflict mediation and diplomacy. Because of the seriousness of the matter, we ask that you consider this issue with highest priority."