CUBA/Detained July 11, 2021 José Daniel Ferrer García is a long-time Cuban human rights activist and the General Coordinator of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), one of Cuba’s most well-known and active human rights and pro-democratic civil society organizations. UNPACU emerged in 2011 in response to government repression and advocates through peaceful means for...| #SetThemFree
Senegal/ Detained October 5, 2023 UPDATE: Aliou Sané was released on February 15, 2024, after four months in prison. On October 5, Aliou Sané, coordinator of the Y’en a Marre Movement and deputy coordinator of the Forces Vives de la Nation (F24) platform, was arrested at his home by Dakar Central Police’s urban security force. The arrest...| #SetThemFree
On April 17, 2023, Vladimir Kara-Murza, a leading independent voice in Russia, journalist, and historian was sentenced to 25 years in prison for criticizing the Putin regime and its war in Ukraine. His trial was held behind closed doors. Kara-Murza was arrested outside his home in Moscow on April 11, 2022, on charges of disobeying...| #SetThemFree
Egypt / Detained September 16, 2023 UPDATE: Hisham Kassem was released from prison on February 20, 2024, after completing his 6-month sentence. On September 16, 2023, an Egyptian court sentenced Hisham Kassem, a prominent publisher and democracy advocate, to six months in prison over charges that stemmed from an online spat with the former Minister of...| #SetThemFree
AZERBAIJAN / Detained July 23, 2023 On July 23, 2023, world-renowned economist and scholar Dr. Gubad Ibadoghlu of Azerbaijan was arrested. Dr. Ibadoghlu and his wife, Irada Bayramova, were brutally attacked outside Baku, Azerbaijan. Twenty people, dressed in civilian clothes, rammed into the car the couple was driving and proceeded to beat them both publicly....| #SetThemFree
Tajikistan On May 28, 2022, Manuchehr Kholiknazarov was arrested along with 13 other members of Commission 44, a civic group investigating police brutality in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) in Tajikistan. Mr. Kholiknazarov is a human rights lawyer from Tajikistan, leading the Lawyer’s Association of Pamir. He also serves as a member of the NGO...| #SetThemFree
CUBA/Detained July 11, 2021 Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is a Cuban artist, activist, and founding member of the San Isidro Movement (MSI). Luis Manuel was most recently arrested on his way to peaceful protests on July 11, 2021 (#11J) in Havana. The protesters chanted “freedom” and demanded an end to the over 60-year-old Communist dictatorship...| #SetThemFree
Denis Solís Gonzalez, a young Cuban human rights activist, was arrested on November 9, 2020 and is being held on charges for alleged contempt. Solís is a member of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), a group of artists, poets, LGBTI activists, academics, and independent journalists who advocate for freedom of expression in Cuba. His affiliation...| #SetThemFree
Over 60 human rights organizations from across the world have signed the below open letter to show solidarity with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and urge that Egyptian authorities immediately and unconditionally release Karim Ennarah, Mohammed Basheer, and Gasser Abdel-Razek. We stand in solidarity with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). We...| #SetThemFree
The World Movement condemns the recent violent arrest and detention of artist and civil society activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara by Cuban authorities and joins organizations like PEN America and the San Isidro Movement in demanding his release. He was arrested in Havana on March 1 as he was leaving his home to attend an...| #SetThemFree