# The Ai Weiwei Lego portrait > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "The Ai Weiwei Lego portrait," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-ai-weiwei-lego-portrait/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *The Alcatraz installation for which Ai Weiwei built 178 portraits of political prisoners out of Lego, and John Kiriakou's account of how his own inclusion was nearly blocked — Amnesty International told the artist it did not regard Kiriakou as a political prisoner, and only relented the week he left prison.* - **The artist:** Ai Weiwei - **The work:** 178 portraits of political prisoners around the world, built from Lego - **Where shown:** Alcatraz - **The vetting step:** Ai Weiwei sought to clear the names with Amnesty International first - **Amnesty's position:** "We don't believe Kiriakou is a political prisoner" - **The artist's reply:** "I know Kiriakou. I'm telling you, he is a political prisoner" - **When Amnesty relented:** The week Kiriakou got out of prison **The Ai Weiwei Lego portrait** is John Kiriakou's account of his inclusion in an installation by the Chinese artist [Ai Weiwei](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ai-weiwei), given on the DeProgram programme in September 2025 as the coda to a longer complaint about the organisations that declined to support him during his prosecution.[1] ## The refusal that preceded it Kiriakou first restates the grievance. [Amnesty International](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/amnesty-international) *"refused to say a single word in support of me in my darkest days of 2012"*, a decision he attributes to its London headquarters.[2] He separates the American office from that. Its head — *"a guy named Zeke, I think his last name was Johnson. Awesome guy"* — *"wrote me a letter when I was in prison apologising for his bosses in London"*, and *"bought me a subscription to The New Yorker to kind of dull the pain, I guess."*[2] ## The commission The organisation's position surfaced again in a context Kiriakou had nothing to do with. *"It was only later, when I was getting out of prison, that Ai Weiwei, the Chinese artist, wanted to do my portrait for this show at Alcatraz."*[1] The scale of the work he gives precisely: *"He made 178 portraits out of Legos of 178 political prisoners around the world."*[1] The artist's process included an external check: *"he wanted to clear the names with Amnesty International first."*[1] ## The objection, and the reversal Amnesty's answer was to deny the premise. *"And Amnesty said, 'Oh, we don't believe Kiriakou is a political prisoner.'"*[1][3] Ai Weiwei, in Kiriakou's telling, insisted on personal knowledge: *"And he said, 'Oh, I know Kiriakou. I'm telling you, he is a political prisoner.'"*[3] The organisation gave way, and the timing is the point of the story: *"And so they finally agreed. And it was the week that I got out of prison that Amnesty International finally said, 'Okay, okay, you were a political prisoner.'"*[3] Kiriakou's summary of how the concession was extracted is unflattering: *"But they had to be, you know, pulled kicking and screaming to that point of view."*[3] ## The wider pattern He places the episode alongside other institutional refusals he encountered, and closes the subject with a remark about a prominent Washington attorney who reportedly still does not consider him a whistleblower: *"But isn't it wonderful to be at a point in my life where I don't give a fuck what he thinks about me?"*[4] ## See also - [Ai Weiwei](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ai-weiwei) - [Amnesty International](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/amnesty-international) - [Espionage Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/espionage-act) - [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) ## Sources 1. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-09-04), at 50:36. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IPfeItwnb4&t=3036s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-04-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/ 2. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-09-04), at 50:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IPfeItwnb4&t=3005s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-04-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/ 3. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-09-04), at 51:06. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IPfeItwnb4&t=3066s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-04-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/ 4. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-09-04), at 52:40. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IPfeItwnb4&t=3160s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-04-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-ai-weiwei-lego-portrait/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt