It’s been some time since Amanda Knox was in the headlines, but the West Seattle native’s struggle with the Italian legal system is not over yet. Knox’s supporters are now pushing for final justice to be served in Italy, where a young woman’s murder was mishandled by officials.

A safety net comprised of constitutions, laws and treaties was signed and sealed decades ago by a well-intentioned global community. It was specifically designed to protect sovereign nations and first-world citizens in business and pleasure, but on occasion, unscrupulous public officials will abuse that sacred trust.

The 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy, spawned a textbook example of such corruption when a few people and a few pieces of paper were enough to push Meredith’s grieving family, Italian student Raffaele Sollecito and American student Amanda Knox down the judicial rabbit hole. Amanda has gone through the looking glass, and the law is topsy-turvy. The prosecution, aided by a local judge, filed several error-laden documents in 2007 while denying the defendants their right to due process and access to evidence. He was like a bully holding a sucker high in the air while pushing down a weaker child. Meredith, Amanda and Raffaele’s constitutional rights were violated while Perugian officials sheltered Rudy Guede, the only person who left physical evidence on Meredith’s body.

Amanda continues to be used as a distraction to keep the public eye off Meredith’s real killer and his plea deal.

In 2011, four years after Meredith’s murder, the defense finally gained access to the Perugian reports regarding the forensic data. After their release to the public, an international group of legal and science professionals identified not only errors within the case file itself, much concerning the testing of evidence, but also the laws broken to allow the case against Amanda and Raffaele to be corrupted. These independent advocates are also responsible for public access to case-related data on InjusticeInPerugia.org and MurderofMeredithKercher.com. After seven years, Facebook and forum members scrutinizing this shocking case of blatant injustice believe it is time for the United States United Kingdom and Italy to weigh in on the legitimacy of this duplicitous file and have crafted a call to action on Change.org, the world’s largest public platform.

Amanda, Raffaele, their lawyers and their families did not contribute to this petition. It is a wholly public effort to save two decent and innocent young adults, one with close ties to Vashon Island. Amanda’s father grew up here, and she still has family who live here.

The petition asks the Italian Ministry of Justice to focus on the behavior of the Perugian prosecutors, who sidestepped constitutional and treaty laws to interrogate and imprison Amanda and Raffaele. It recognizes the effort of Italian parliamentary members who asked for an investigation into the behavior of the Perugian judicial offices. It also asks for an inquiry into the performance of the 2007 U.S. and U.K. consular staffs assigned to Italy, who apparently missed signs that the Perugian judicial system was abusing foreigners.

Do this for Amanda. Raise your voice for her. Some 5,000 people on this island know she is innocent, and you have told me so. Tell your neighbors; tell your friends; tell everybody you know. Please sign. Do this for Meredith because the Perugians are protecting her killer, and that is an unconscionable act. Do this for Raffaele because he tried to help Amanda, and he is facing prison again. We don’t want to see Raffaele in prison — again. Do this for yourself and your family because after decades of sending our young adults to study abroad, the law of averages caught up to one of our sweet kids. It’s every parent’s nightmare.

Amanda and Raffaele are the poster children of safety net failure, and we, the people, need to say “Fix it.” From personal experience, I can tell you that Italy, Great Britain and the U.S. have adequate laws in place to do just that. A petition has long been our voice. Please lend yours to this call for justice. The laws that should have protected three innocent families were twisted, and their rights were violated. In truth, their rights are also ours, so it’s proper for us to speak out. Shout about it, if we must.

See the petition at tinyurl.com/mvmb2qk.

— Karen Pruett, a longtime islander, is a Knox family friend and advocate for Knox and Sollecito.