Linda Biehl

Linda Biehl is the co-founder and director of the Amy Biehl Foundation in the U.S. and the Amy Biehl Foundation Trust (ABFT) in South Africa.  Linda's work is grounded in the life and death of her daughter Amy, a Fulbright Scholar studying gender rights in South Africa during its transition to a democracy.  Amy was killed by a group of black South Africans fighting apartheid.  In 1997, the four men applied for amnesty to South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  Linda and her late husband Peter were strongly motivated by Amy’s belief in the TRC to achieve restorative justice for those who confessed to politically motivated crimes thus did not oppose their application for amnesty.  In 1997, under the watchful eye of the world, Linda and Peter testified at the amnesty hearing of their daughters killers.  Instead of opposing amnesty they offered their support and challenged the young men to link arms with them and together continue Amy’s work. Today, two of these men are social activists working for the ABFT.