Profiles of seven additional political prisoners have been added to our Set Them Free Azerbaijan spotlight page. Unfortunately, this expansion reflects the escalating measures taken by the Azerbaijan government to suppress human rights defenders, journalists, and religious minorities. One of the most notorious examples is the arrest of Afghan Mukhtarli in May 2017. An investigative journalist, Afghan has written…
Ethiopia: Oromo activist Dr. Merera Gudina has now spent a year in detention. Dr. Gudina’s trial concluded on November 30, 2017, and his verdict will be delivered on January 3, 2018. The trial took place a full year after the scholar and chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) was arrested and accused of violating Ethiopia’s…
The International Federation for Human Rights’ (FIDH) recently interviewed Bahraini activist Maryam Al-Khawaja about how the European Union (EU) can support civil society in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). In the interview, Al-Khawaja stated that the EU could make a meaningful impact by taking a stronger and more consistent approach in calling out…
On November 22, 2017, a Bahraini appeals court rejected an appeal put forward by Nabeel Rajab, an internationally renowned Bahraini human rights activist and president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR). On July 10, 2017, Rajab was found guilty of “publishing and broadcasting fake news that undermines the prestige of the state,” and…