On 23 September 2015 human rights defenders Ms Yara Sallam was released following a presidential pardon of 165 prisoners. She had been arrested on 21 June 2014 during a demonstration against the repressive 'Protest Law'.
On 28 January 2015 human rights defender Mr Huang Kaiping returned to his home in Beijing, following a period of over three months' enforced disappearance.
On 21 November 2013, six peaceful demonstrators were sentenced to one month's imprisonment in Kyimyindaing Court in Rangoon under Section 18 of the 2011 Peaceful Assembly Law. On 21 November 2013, six peaceful demonstrators were sentenced to one month's imprisonment in Kyimyindaing Court in Rangoon under Section 18 of the 2011 Peaceful Assembly Law.
On 21 November 2013, six peaceful demonstrators were sentenced to one month's imprisonment in Kyimyindaing Court in Rangoon under Section 18 of the 2011 Peaceful Assembly Law.
On 10 June 2019, the Shali City Court approved the conditional release of Oyub Titiev. The human rights defender is due to be released on 21 June 2019.
Parole was granted to the human rights defender after one year and five months of imprisonment on fabricated charges of large-scale drug possession. He was sentenced to four years in prison on 18 March 2019.
On 8 August 2019, human rights defender Osama Al-Najjar was released from Al-Razeen prison in Abu-Dhabi. Osama Al-Najjar was originally to be released on 17 March 2017, but his detention was extended indefinitely under the Counter Terrorism Law. He had been sentenced in May 2014 to three years in prison under the Cybercrime Law for posting tweets in defence of his father, Hossain Al-Najjar, who was sentenced in the UAE 94 case.
On 18 June 2015, Syrian human rights defender Mr Maher Ahmed Ibrahim was released from detention. He has been requested to present himself before the National Security on 1 July 2015 and remains at risk of prosecution or deportation.
On 17 October 2018, human rights defender Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (popularly known as Me Nam or Mother Mushroom) was released from prison after two years, on the condition of exile, and sent to the USA.
On 5 October 2019, Soni Sori was arrested by the Dantewada Police under Preventive Sections 151, 107 and 116 of the Indian Code of Criminal Procedure. The arrest is believed to be linked to the human rights defender’s public campaign for the rights of persons languishing in jails in the State. Soni Sori was charged with “failing to obtain the necessary permission to organise a demonstration”. She was released on bail by the local court that same day.
On 16 September 2019, the Chhattisgarh police filed a First Information Report (FIR) against women human rights defenders Bela Bhatia and Soni Sori. This FIR is believed to be a reprisal against the two human rights defenders for their participation in a protest and their filing of a complaint in the Kirandul police station demanding that an FIR be lodged against the police and security forces for the killings of human rights defenders, Podiya Sori and Lacchu Mandavi.
18 November 2018 marks the one year anniversary of Hisham Ali Mohamed Ali’s detention without any legal grounds. The human rights defender’s health has been constantly deteriorating.
On 8 May 2018, Sudanese human rights defender Hisham Ali Mohammad Ali informed his family that the Saudi authorities have begun deportation procedures against him to send him to Sudan, where he will be prosecuted for his human rights work. The human rights defender has been held in detention in Saudi Arabia since he was arrested in November 2017 at the request of the Sudanese authorities.
On 8 October 2020, in the early hours of the morning, woman human rights defender Narges Mohammadi was released from Zanjan prison.
On 11 July 2020, Narges Mohammadi was informed that the results of her COVID-19 test taken on 8 July were positive. The woman rights defender, imprisoned in Zanjan prison, had been displaying symptoms since late June. She is currently in quarantine with 11 other prisoners who have tested also positive.
On 8 September 2017, human rights defenders Hedme Castro, Ariel Díaz, Carlos del Cid and Tommy Morales were attacked by police officers and arbitrarily detained while providing support to students detained in the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras – UNAH (National Autonomous University of Honduras), in Tegucigalpa.
On 11 April 2016, human rights defender and Tupinambá indigenous leader Mr Rosivaldo Ferreira da Silva was placed under house arrest after being arbitrarily arrested on 7 April 2016 by the military police (polícia militar) in the state of Bahia, Northeastern Brazil.
On 6 March 2017, Sudanese authorities released Khalafalla Alafif, Mustafa Adam, and Midhat Hamdam after a verdict in their case was announced one day earlier. The Central Criminal Court in Khartoum sentenced the human rights defenders to one year in prison, backdated to their detentions last year, and a fine of SDG 50,000 (approximately USD 7,790) for “publishing fake reports” and “spying” on the Sudanese government.
On 11 June 2019, 56 unjustly detained human rights defenders and political prisoners held by the Ortega regime in Nicaragua were released. Medardo Mairena, Irlanda Jerez, Ricardo Baltodano, and Amaya Eva Coppens, among others, were granted ‘amnesties’ with the application of a controversial blanket amnesty law that was adopted on 8 June 2019.
At midnight on 17 December 2018, human rights defender Medardo Mairena was found guilty of a series of crimes amidst a controversial criminal trial. His conviction took place at the 9th Criminal District of Managua.
