Update: on 7 August 2019, human rights defender Guo Feixiong was released, at the end of his six-year prison sentence.
Guo, the 2015 winner of the Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk, served a six year prison sentence for “gathering crowds to disturb social order” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”.
On 17 March 2024, women human rights defenders Sasui Lohar and Sorath Lohar, together with other protestors engaged in a peaceful demonstration outside the Larkana Press Club, faced arrest and excessive use of force by Larkana police. The women human rights defenders had gathered peacefully to protest against the lack of justice or effective investigation into the killing of Hidayat Lohar, the father of Sasui Lohar and Sorath Lohar, on 16 February 2024. Sindh police used excessive force against the protesters, including firing live bullets, baton charges, and tear gas.
On 17 March 2024, women human rights defenders Sasui Lohar and Sorath Lohar, together with other protestors engaged in a peaceful demonstration outside the Larkana Press Club, faced arrest and excessive use of force by Larkana police. The women human rights defenders had gathered peacefully to protest against the lack of justice or effective investigation into the killing of Hidayat Lohar, the father of Sasui Lohar and Sorath Lohar, on 16 February 2024. Sindh police used excessive force against the protesters, including firing live bullets, baton charges, and tear gas.
On 26 December 2023, the Council of the Tyumen Regional Bar Association scheduled a disciplinary hearing against human rights defender and lawyer Aleksey Ladin which is due to take place on 24 January 2024.
On 27 October 2023, human rights defender and lawyer Aleksey Ladin was released after completing 14 days of administrative arrest in the detention centre in Simferopol in Russian-occupied Crimea.
On 23 October 2023 colleagues of woman human rights defender Nasta Loika reported that over the weekend, between 22 and 23 October 2023, prison Authorities transfered Nasta Loika to the Homel Penal Colony #4, where she will be serving her sentence.
On 13 October 2023, the Belarus Committee for State Security (KGB) included Nasta Loika in a list of “persons, participating in terrorist activities.”
On 19 February 2024, the High Court in Hong Kong convened a case management hearing in the case against the Hong Kong Alliance and its three former leaders, woman human rights defender Chow Hang-tung, labour rights defender Lee Cheuk-yan, and human rights lawyer Albert Ho Chun-yan.
On July 25 2020, human rights defender Azimjan Askarov died in Kyrgyzstan at penal colony №47 where he had been transferred a day before for medical examination.
On 22 July 2020, Azimjan Askarov’s lawyer Valeryan Vakhitov visited the human rights defender in prison and reported that his health had deteriorated significantly.
On 14 September 2023, human rights defenders Adilur Rahman and A.S.M Nasiruddin Elan were sentenced for two years of jail by the Cyber Tribunal of Dhaka. The human rights defenders are Secretary and Director of Odhikar, a renowned human rights organisation documenting human rights violations in Bangladesh.
On 5 February 2024, father of woman human rights defender and journalist Iryna Danylovych, Bronislav Danylovych, reported that she continued to suffer from severe headaches and migraines, and ear pains resulting from prolonged ear infection. Despite her health conditions, Iryna can’t access medication in the Penal Colony #7 in Zelenokumsk in the Stavropol Region of Russia.
On the 7th anniversary of the peaceful popular movement of the Bahraini people which started on 14 February 2011, the NGOs called on the international community to help free human rights defenders in Bahrain, some of whom are jailed for life, and to stop the persecution of journalists simply for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly. On 05 February 2018, Abdulhadi's wife Khadija Al-Mousawi tweeted that she visited her husband who has been targeted and abused in Jaw prison and has been taken to hospital in shackles.
On 15 August 2023, human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja was denied a prearranged video call with his daughter days after he was rushed to the intensive care unit where doctors declared his life was in danger. Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja is in imminent danger of losing his life sincehe has started a water-only hunger strike on 9 August 2023 in protest against his continued imprisonment and denial of access to adequate medical treatment.
On 19 February 2024, the High Court in Hong Kong convened a case management hearing in the case against the Hong Kong Alliance and its three former leaders, woman human rights defender Chow Hang-tung, labour rights defender Lee Cheuk-yan, and human rights lawyer Albert Ho Chun-yan.
On 22 September 2023, human rights defenders Huang Xueqin and Wang Jianbing were tried at the Guangzhou Intermediate Court, Guangdong Province. The trial ended in the afternoon on the same day. The verdict, which was not delivered, will be announced by the court at a later, unspecified date.
On February 15, 2024, Kazakhstani authorities arrested Karakalpak human rights defender, community leader, and advocate Aqylbek Muratbai in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The authorities intend to deport him to Uzbekistan, at the request of the Uzbekistani authorities. Given the scope of the current repression against vocal critics of Uzbekistan’s policy towards Karakalpakstan, if extradited, Aqylbek Muratbai could face a severe prison sentence.
On 31 May 2022, a hearing for a new charge of “propaganda activities against the state” against woman human rights defender Zahra Rahimi took place at Shahid Moqadas 33 district (Evin) Court. This charge is in addition to the charge of “gathering and colluding with the intention of disturbing national security” for which she and three other human rights defenders, and the directors of Imam Ali’s Popular Student Relief Society (IAPSRS) Sharmin Meymandinejad, Zahra Rahimi, Katayoun Afrazeh, and Morteza Keymanesh have been under investigation by the same court for the last two years.
On 26 July 2019, the General Assembly of the Constitutional Court examined the individual applications of ten Academics for Peace, including Füsun Üstel, who have been sentenced to prison on charges of "propagandising for a terrorist organisation" for having signed the declaration entitled "We will not be a party to this crime". The Court ruled that the conviction of Academics for Peace violates their freedom of expression.
On Friday 11 March 2022, Raif Badawi was released from prison after serving a ten-year sentence. A ten-year travel ban is still being upheld against the human rights defender.
On 21 September 2019, human rights defender Raif Badawi ended his hunger strike after receiving a visit from the Saudi Human Rights Commission.
On 17 September 2019, human rights defender Raif Badawi began an open-ended hunger strike over the intensifying mistreatment and worsening detention conditions he is facing. Most recently, prison officials confiscated his books and important medicine.
On 31 October 2023, the human rights defender Jafar Ebrahimi was released on two weeks medical furlough.
On 17 August 2023, the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations (CCITTA) announced that the health condition of human rights defender Jafar Ebrahimi, has significantly deteriorated while under detention in Evin prison.
On 25 January 2024, woman human rights defender Diala Ayesh was issued with a four-month administrative detention order by the Israeli military’s Central Command for the occupied West Bank. The order was given without any charge or trial, and she did not appear before a court. On 17 January 2024, Israeli military forces arrested Diala Ayesh as she passed through the “Container” Israeli military checkpoint near Bethlehem in the West Bank, Occupied Palestinian Territory.
On 13 January 2023, Mytilene Appeals Court Greece officially dropped charges against 24 human rights defenders. This included aid workers Sean Binder, Nassos Karakitsos, Sara Mardini. The charges stem from work carried out by the human rights defenders in Greece where they assisted in migrant crossings to the island of Lesvos. As a result, they found themselves charged with “people smuggling” as well as “money laundering”, “espionage” and “membership in a criminal organisation”.
On 13 January 2023, Mytilene Appeals Court Greece officially dropped charges against 24 human rights defenders. This included aid workers Sean Binder, Nassos Karakitsos, Sara Mardini. The charges stem from work carried out by the human rights defenders in Greece where they assisted in migrant crossings to the island of Lesvos. As a result, they found themselves charged with “people smuggling” as well as “money laundering”, “espionage” and “membership in a criminal organisation”.
On 13 January 2023, Mytilene Appeals Court Greece officially dropped charges against 24 human rights defenders. This included aid workers Seán Binder, Nassos Karakitsos, Sara Mardini. The charges stem from work carried out by the human rights defenders in Greece where they assisted in migrant crossings to the island of Lesvos. As a result, they found themselves charged with “people smuggling” as well as “money laundering”, “espionage” and “membership in a criminal organisation”.
On 5 June 2023, the Higher Court of Uzbekistan upheld the decision of the Bukhara Regional Court to sentence human rights defender and lawyer Dauletmurat Tajimuratov to sixteen years in prison. The human rights defender was tried along with twenty-two other Karakalpak protesters and his was the only sentence that remained unchanged after the appeals trial. Dauletmurat Tajimuratov will spend the first two years of his sentence in prison and the remaining years in a high-security penal colony.
El 9 de febrero de 2024, la abogada y defensora de derechos humanos Rocío San Miguel fue detenida por agentes del servicio de inteligencia del país bajo los cargos de traición a la patria, conspiración, terrorismo, entre otros, junto a cinco de sus familiares. La defensora fue acusada por el Fiscal General de estar involucrada en un plan para asesinar a los altos funcionarios del país, incluyendo al Presidente.
On 8 January 2024, the human rights defender Mehdi Mahmoudian was released from Evin prison.
