Ginetta Sagan was an Italian-born American human rights activist. Sagan is best known for her work with Amnesty International on behalf of people  imprisoned because of their race, sexual orientation, religion, or political views. Together with her husband – Leonard Sagan – she helped expand the number of Amnesty US members from 700 to 70,000 between 1971-77. Sagan also founded the Aurora Foundation, which monitors human rights and supports the families of political prisoners. In 1994 Amnesty created the Ginetta Sagan Fund to honor those battling the mistreatment of women and children. In 1996 Ginetta received two of the highest civilian awards available – the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Bill Clinton and the Grand Ufficiale del Merito della Repubblica from President Scalfaro of Italy.

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