1 Million Political Prisoners Behind Bars Without Just Cause
The award ceremony of the Nobel Peace Prize 2023 in Oslo City Hall. The laureate, the Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi, is imprisoned in Iran, and her chair was therefore empty during the ceremony. The children of Mohammadi, Ali and Kiana Rahmani, gave her Nobel lecture. (Photo courtesy Norwegian Parliament)
(ANALYSIS) In 2023, the United States launched the #WithoutJustCause campaign, a campaign aimed at galvanizing global attention to the issue of political prisoners globally.
As the U.S. State Department emphasizes, around the world, an estimated 1 million individuals find themselves behind bars as political prisoners. Among them are individuals held unjustly for exercising human rights and fundamental freedoms, or detained because of their race, religion, ethnicity or who they love.
The #WithoutJustCause campaign, highlighting the fates of a broad range of political prisoners including faith leaders, civic activists, businesspeople and former government officials, aims to shine the light on their stories, raise awareness and increase pressure to secure their release.
Among the political prisoners raised in the campaign is Iranian lawyer Narges Mohammadi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate for activism on behalf of human rights and women’s equality in Iran, who has been repeatedly detained since 1998. Currently, Mohammadi is serving a sentence of nine years and eight months in Evin prison, along with 154 lashes and additional penalties, on politically motivated “national security” charges.
The Iranian regime has been using such oppressive methods against nonviolent political prisoners, including activists, human rights defenders, political figures and members of religious and ethnic minority groups. Reports suggest that over 20,000 people were arrested for involvement in peaceful protests following the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini.
Dr. Gulshan Abbas, an ethnic Uyghur and a retired physician, disappeared from her home in China’s western region of Xinjiang in September 2018. Two years after her disappearance, in December 2020, her family learned that authorities from the People’s Republic of China imprisoned Abbas.
She was subjected to a secret trial in March 2019 and sentenced to 20 years in prison for the unfounded charge of “taking part in organized terrorism, aiding terrorist activities and seriously disrupting social order.” Abbas has preexisting medical conditions requiring regular care.
Bishop Rolando Álvarez has been unjustly incarcerated for more than 500 days in Nicaragua. In February 2023, Álvarez was stripped of his nationality and sentenced to 26 years in prison under politically motivated charges. This followed his refusal to leave Nicaragua when the government released over 200 other political prisoners to the United States. Álvarez remains incommunicado in a maximum-security prison in poor conditions.
Pro-democracy opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years for criticizing Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine, politically motivated charges of treason and cooperating with a so-called “undesirable” organization. He has been unjustly detained since April 2022.
The health of Kara-Murza is rapidly deteriorating due to mistreatment and lack of proper medical care, having been diagnosed with polyneuropathy, the simultaneous malfunction of many peripheral nerves throughout the body. Kara-Murza requires medical attention and care that is not available to him at the moment. In Russia, there are more than 500 political prisoners.
Ekpar Asat, Uyghur entrepreneur and philanthropist, has been imprisoned for over six years by the People’s Republic of China and reportedly sentenced to 15 years for inciting ethnic hatred and ethnic discrimination. He was held in solitary confinement for more than three years before being allowed to contact his family.
These are the stories of only a few political prisoners out of the assessed over 1 million political prisoners globally. A million is just a number, but behind each number, there is a devastating story of an individual targeted without a just cause and a story of families (and whole communities) affected as a result.
As the #WithoutJustCause initiative enters its second year, the United States calls for the release of the brave women and men still in detention across the world. Other countries must join the cause and seek justice for those unjustly detained globally.
This piece was republished from Forbes with permission.
Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab is a human rights advocate, author and co-founder of the Coalition for Genocide Response. She’s authored the book “Never Again: Legal Responses to a Broken Promise in the Middle East” and more than 30 UN reports. She works on the topic of genocide and persecution of ethnic and religious minorities around the world. She is on X @EwelinaUO..