Saudi Arabia took an important step forward in banning flogging as a punishment. However, the kingdom still has a long way to go in order to demonstrate a true commitment to human rights, one that extends beyond impressing Premier League soccer clubs in England. Saudi Arabia must release unjustly held prisoners like Raif Badawi that were jailed for merely expressing their beliefs, release women's rights activists who ask for nothing more than equality, and release prisoners of conscience who are merely practicing their chosen religion. "Sports washing" must evolve into a more substantial turn towards greater respect for human rights.
Illegally adopted constitutional changes will create a vacuum of state power in Russia
In the midst of the global Covid pandemic, Putin is consolidating and extending his tyrannical rule of Russia. A distracted world is nearly silent in the face of this outrage.
Read the full text from Khodorkovsky.com by clicking the image below.
Lantos Foundation Signs Letter to the US. Census Bureau and Department of Commerce
Click here to read the entire letter.
Support The Lantos Foundation With Amazon Smile
Dear friend,
Happy Giving Tuesday! The Turkey is gone and the first big family gathering of the season has ended. Many of you have begun your holiday shopping with Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. If you are someone who enjoys shopping online, specifically on Amazon.com, we need your help!
You probably don’t think much about a human rights organization when you prepare to kick off the holiday shopping season, but we have a big favor to ask you!
The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice is one of the many charities supported by AmazonSmile. AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon with the same products, prices, and shopping features as Amazon.com. The difference is that when you shop on AmazonSmile, the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price of eligible products to the charitable organization of your choice. The Lantos Foundation would be honored to be the organization that you choose to support while you shop for the upcoming holidays, and for all the Amazon shopping you do in 2020.
Click here to learn how to shop and support human rights and the legacy of Congressman Lantos this season!
We are looking for 50 families to begin supporting the Lantos Foundation while shopping on Amazon. Remember – there is no direct cost to you. All contributions for eligible items are given through the AmazonSmile Foundation. You only have to do two things:
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Thank you so much for your consideration. We wish you and your family a wonderful Holiday season - and happy shopping!
With thanks,
The Lantos Foundation
The 3rd Annual Lantos Rule of Law Lecture
Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji, President the International Criminal Court (ICC) , delivered the third annual Lantos Rule of Law Lecture at The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University, in Washington, D.C, on November 14th, 2019
Financial Times: Time to turn the screw on human rights abusers by Katrina Lantos Swett
Time to turn the screw on human rights abusers
Magnitsky laws must be enacted and enforced on a greater scale
by Katrina Lantos Swett
As autocratic leaders ascend in many parts of the world and unjustly brutalise their citizens, responsible democratic governments require sharp tools to hold such human rights violators accountable. One of the most important tools available to any government is one first crafted in the US, the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which allows the government to sanction human rights offenders by freezing their assets and restricting travel. The creation of this powerful tool has changed how governments are able to respond to human rights abusers and is truly changing the world.
The story of how Magnitsky sanctions came to be is a powerful example of heroism and the pursuit of justice. Sergei Magnitsky was a young and idealistic lawyer who uncovered and brought to light huge tax fraud perpetrated by Russian officials. In an effort to cover up the crimes he had exposed, those officials had Magnitsky arrested and thrown into prison, where he spent 11 months refusing to admit any guilt or to implicate others. He was moved to increasingly squalid quarters, threatened, tortured, and neglected — until ultimately, he was found dead in his cell in November 2009. Magnitsky uncovered the tax fraud while working for London-based investment manager Bill Browder, and his passing left Browder with a life-altering choice: turn away from this injustice or confront it head-on.
Browder bravely chose the latter. That decision defines him as a champion for human rights and has earned him deserved recognition including the Lantos Human Rights Prize. With remarkable skill, persuasiveness and a businessman’s drive, Browder worked to overcome opposition and secure the adoption of the groundbreaking Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act by the US Congress, signed in 2012.
This bipartisan law, whose scope was extended through the subsequent Global Magnitsky Act, is arguably the most powerful tool introduced in the past four decades for holding human rights abusers accountable — if not in their home countries, then at least in the countries where they have long felt free to invest and frolic. Since its enactment, the US has sanctioned more than 70 officials in over a dozen different countries. Most recently, Magnitsky sanctions were enacted to penalise Saudi Arabian officials implicated in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
While the Magnitsky Act has proven itself a useful tool for the US government, its effectiveness will be undercut if other governments provide safe havens within their borders or in their financial markets for human rights abusers. That is why it is so important that similar versions of the Magnitsky Act have passed in Canada, Estonia, the UK, Latvia and Lithuania, and it is why the passage of similar laws by the EU, Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Romania, Italy, Ukraine and many others — where they are currently being considered — is so critical. Each new country that adopts such a law strengthens the ability to enforce human rights standards around the world.
As the rest of the world grapples with how to move forward on their own Magnitsky Sanctions, it is vital that the US and other Magnitsky countries be judicious and active in sanctioning obvious human rights abusers. There have been calls for more than a year for the US to sanction Chen Quanguo, the Chinese official responsible for the concentration-style camps that house well over 1m Uighurs in China’s Xinjiang province. These calls have been bipartisan and bicameral on Capitol Hill in the US, and have been widespread throughout the human rights community worldwide. What kind of example does it set to those considering their own Magnitsky sanctions if countries like the US are unwilling to show strong leadership and demonstrate by example how effective sanctions can be in punishing human rights abusers and preventing future abuses?
Sadly, Chinese officials are hardly the only group that deserve the wrath of Magnitsky sanctions. Vladimir Putin’s government in Russia continues to crack down on its citizens, with reports of widespread beatings, arrests and detentions during this summer’s protests calling for fair elections. Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni recently allowed his former police inspector general to take the Magnitsky hit for corruption and brutal human rights abuses against Ugandan citizens, but there is likely to be more government-sponsored violence on tap as a contentious presidential campaign mounts. The list sadly goes on and on, but it doesn’t have to.
Imagine the impact on Chinese officials if the US, the EU, the UK and a dozen other countries simultaneously issued Magnitsky sanctions on Chen Quanguo. Not only would this brutal man be justly brought to light as a human rights abuser and have his ability to frolic outside China seriously curtailed, but other Chinese officials might think twice before undertaking their own vicious human rights abuses lest the same fate befall them. And if the UK would issue its very first set of Magnitsky sanctions against any number of Russian officials who so richly deserve them, would that not send a shocking signal to other Russian abusers who have become quite fond of London in recent years?
The personal cost of Browder’s crusade for justice has been high. Attacks on both his character and safety continue to intensify as the Magnitsky Act has gained traction across Europe, but he refuses to stop pushing. Browder told me: “Sergei gave his life for me in extremely horrific circumstances, and it’s my duty to him to do whatever I have to do. I’m not going to back down because of threats, because of inconveniences, because of financial losses.”
The US, the EU and other governments around the world have the opportunity to work together to honour Sergei Magnitsky’s sacrifice and ensure that human rights abusers cannot find refuge within their borders. They must seize it — they cannot back down.
The Hill : Hong Kong protesters win in court of public opinion — but need our legal defense
Hong Kong protesters win in court of public opinion — but need our legal defense
BY KATRINA LANTOS SWETT, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 09/05/19 11:00 AM EDT
This week’s announcement that Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam will formally and fully withdraw the dangerous Chinese extradition bill that sparked democracy protests is an enormous victory for the courageous, determined people of Hong Kong. The law would have allowed China to extradite people from Hong Kong to face kangaroo courts in an utterly corrupt legal system. It was a dangerous new gambit in China’s plan to gradually strangle the freedom and unique vibrancy of this extraordinary place.
Hong Kongers recognized early on that the bill posed an existential threat to any semblance of independence and freedom. Over the past three months, they have taken to the streets in unprecedented numbers to defend their city and their rights. The government’s decision to withdraw the bill is inspiring evidence that even an oppressive, authoritarian behemoth such as China cannot ignore the voices of millions of resolute and brave citizens. This victory is enormously significant — but it is not the end of the story.
The overwhelming majority of the protesters have been peaceful, but the response of the police and the mainland gangs who have attacked them has not been. Since June, thousands of protestors have been injured and over 1,100 people have been detained. Those arrested for peacefully protesting have been charged with offenses that could put them in jail for many years. But these charges are only a flimsy cover; their true crime in the eyes of Communist China is inspiring fellow Hong Kongers to take to the streets in defense of freedom and the rule of law.
None of us knows what will happen next as this fight for the future of Hong Kong unfolds, but the world’s attention will remain fixed on this small but extraordinarily vibrant outpost. It is vital that the U.S. government speak with one voice in urging Lam and her Chinese overlords to work with this citizens’ power movement to meet their reasonable demands for an independent inquiry into police violence. Those leaders also should immediately drop spurious legal charges against those who have not engaged in violence.
The world may watching Hong Kong, but history also will take a snapshot of those of us enjoying our own freedom and democracy. In 2018, the Lantos Foundation was proud to give our highest award, the Lantos Prize, to perhaps the most high-profile and charismatic of the democracy movement’s leaders, Joshua Wong, the secretary-general and co-founder of Demosisto, a political party in Hong Kong. He was among activists arrested late last month.
While recognizing such leadership is important, we believe that those of us who live in freedom owe these brave democracy crusaders more than just our words of support. We must equip them to defend themselves against the crushing apparatus of the Chinese communist state. For that reason, we have established a legal defense fund to support Joshua Wong and his compatriots as they defend themselves against false accusations that could land them in prison for years to come.
We encourage everyone who stands with the people of Hong Kong to match their words and good wishes with the resources to help defend those who are on the front lines of this fight for freedom.
Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett serves as president and CEO of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice. She has taught at Tufts University and the University of Southern Denmark, served as director of the graduate program in public policy at New England College, and worked for then-Sen. Joe Biden as deputy counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Criminal Justice Subcommittee. Follow her on Twitter @LantosSwettK and @LantosFndn.
Lantos Foundation Statement : Arrest of Joshua Wong & Agnes Chow
The Lantos Foundation condemns the Friday arrest of democracy activists Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow in Hong Kong. In 2018, Wong was the recipient of the Lantos Human Rights Prize which is awarded each year to individuals who have provided exceptional leadership on behalf of human rights and democracy. Because the government of Hong Kong refused Joshua permission to travel to Washington DC to receive the Prize in December 2018, Wong’s colleagues Agnes Chow and Nathan Law came to accept it on his behalf and spoke eloquently about the threats facing the people of Hong Kong.
Over the past four months, the world has watched the incredible determination and courage of the Hong Kongers who have peacefully taken to the streets to protest China’s efforts to strangle their freedom and rule of law. Joshua and Agnes are among the key leaders of the movement to defend Hong Kong’s independent system and their arrests send a chilling message regarding China’s intentions.
Despite China’s intimidation efforts, these brave young leaders have made their intentions clear. Speaking following his release on bail Joshua said, “We shall never surrender. I urge the international community to send a clear message to President Xi: sending troops or using an emergency ordinance is not the way out. We will continue our fight no matter how they arrest or prosecute us.”
The people of Hong Kong have made three simple and reasonable demands:
1. They have asked that the pernicious Extradition Law be withdrawn.
2. They have called for an end to police brutality.
3. They have demanded that they be allowed to freely elect their own leaders as promised in the past.
The Lantos Foundation calls on the United States government to express, in clear and unmistakable terms, its support for the millions of Hong Kongers who have peacefully demanded their fundamental human rights as guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We also call on the US Government to warn the Chinese government that any violent crackdown against this grass roots democratic movement will have grave consequences for future US/China relations.
‘We Shall Not Surrender,’ Says Hong Kong Activist After Arrest
Watch The New York Times Video.
Agnes Chow at the 2018 Lantos Human Rights Prize Ceremony.
Joshua Wong.
2019 Lantos Human Rights Prize to be Awarded to Bill Browder
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact : Denise L. Perron
Phone : 603.226.3636
Email : deniseperron@lantosfoundation.org
2019 Lantos Human Rights Prize to be Awarded to Bill Browder
Father of Magnitsky Sanctions Honored for Dedication to Human Rights Enforcement
The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice announced today that their highest honor, the Lantos Human Rights Prize, will be awarded in 2019 to Bill Browder. As the driving force behind the Magnitsky Sanctions, the most consequential enforcement mechanism of the modern human rights movement, Browder will receive the award in Washington, DC on September 27, 2019.
Sergei Magnitsky, an idealistic young Russian lawyer who uncovered massive tax fraud perpetrated by Russian officials, was, in a truly Kafkaesque twist, charged with the very offenses he had uncovered. In an effort to cover up the crimes he had exposed, Magnitsky was sent to prison in 2008 where he later died from abuse, neglect, and mistreatment. Bill Browder, for whom Magnitsky had worked, vowed to dedicate himself to seeking justice for Sergei and this crusade has made him a global human rights leader. First passed by the US Congress in 2012, the Magnitsky Act (later the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act), authorizes sanctions of government officials implicated in serious human rights abuses. Sanctions can include freezing of US based assets and travel restrictions. Since its enactment, the US Government has sanctioned more than 70 officials in over a dozen different countries. Most recently, Magnitsky sanctions were enacted to penalize those Saudi Arabian officials implicated in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Bill Browder’s campaign for justice and accountability did not stop in the United States. Since 2012, similar Magnitsky laws have been enacted in Canada, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the United Kingdom. Despite fervent opposition from Russia and other lawless regimes that prefer to have their human rights abuses go unnoticed and unpunished, the European Union and many of its member countries are considering the passage of their own Magnitsky laws.
The incredible leadership and courage demonstrated by Bill Browder to honor his friend and hold accountable those who commit grievous crimes has come at a steep personal cost. Browder remains a top public enemy of Russian President Vladimir Putin and has had multiple bogus charges brought against him in Russian courts. Putin has also tried to drag Browder back to Russia where he could be unjustly imprisoned. He has done this through rampant abuse of the Interpol Red Notice system which is being used by the world’s worst thugs and dictators to hound and persecute rights activists around the world. Putin, who is desperate to silence Bill Browder, even suggested he might “cooperate” in the investigation of Russia’s interference in the 2016 Presidential election if the US would help return London-based Browder to Russia.
Lantos Foundation President Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett said in a statement regarding the 2019 Lantos Prize:
“Bill Browder’s commitment to honoring Sergei Magnitsky, his drive to create and enact this vital sanctions act, and his unwavering dedication to standing up to injustices wherever they happen in the world is both noteworthy and inspiring. Because of Bill Browder’s tireless work, human rights defenders have a powerful new tool in the arsenal of justice. Equally importantly, those who act as the thugs and enforcers for despotic governments across the world will now face consequences for their despicable human rights abuses. Thanks to Bill Browder’s efforts, they will face a measure of accountability – if not in their home countries, then at least in the countries where they have long felt free to invest and frolic. Browder’s ingenuity, bravery, and grit make him a worthy recipient of the Lantos Human Rights Prize.”
Upon learning of his selection for the Lantos Prize, Mr. Browder issued the following statement:
“I am honored and humbled that the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice has chosen me for this important and prestigious prize and accept it with great pride.”
The Lantos Foundation established the Lantos Human Rights Prize in 2009 to honor and bring attention to heroes of the human rights movement. It is awarded annually to an individual or organization that best exemplifies the Foundation’s mission, namely to be a vital voice standing up for the values of decency, dignity, freedom, and justice in every corner of the world. The prize also serves to honor the memory and legacy of the late Congressman Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to the U.S. Congress and a leading advocate for human rights during his nearly three decades as a U.S. Representative. Past recipients of the Prize include His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Professor Elie Wiesel, Israeli President Shimon Peres, Iraqi Parliamentarian Vian Dakhil, Father Patrick Desbois, “Hotel Rwanda” hero Paul Rusesabagina, and Hong Kong Democracy activist Joshua Wong.
2019 #SolidaritySabbath Initiative
The Lantos Foundation’s 2019 #SolidaritySabbath focused on Religious Prisoners of Conscience. Every day in May, the Lantos Foundation profiled a different prisoner languishing because of their religious beliefs or personal convictions. PoCs came from a range of nations, religious beliefs, and backgrounds. We shine the light on these prisoners to honor their sacrifice, to make sure their stories don’t go untold, and to pressure repressive governments into embracing religious tolerance and freeing those unjustly held.
5/30/19 : Since 1999, the Chinese government has been engaged in a brutal campaign of persecution against the Falun Gong community. The effort to wipe out this peaceful spiritual practice has been likened to genocide by numerous international observers. Perhaps millions of practitioners have been detained in so-called re-education camps where they have been subjected to forced labor and torture. Further, it is believed that thousands of Falun Gong have been killed in order to illegally harvest their organs for China's lucrative transplant tourism. In December 2017, the Falun Gong crackdown resulted in the arrest of 37 practitioners with Fen Junling, Huang Junjuan, and Jin Zhi sentenced to prison terms of 3-10 years for simply practicing their faith.
5/29/19 : In 2017, Pastor Bakhrom Kholmatov of the Sunmin Sunbogym Protestant Church in northwest Tajikistan was arrested and imprisoned after being charged with “singing extremist songs in church and inciting religious hatred”. In Tajikistan, religious literature, even that of registered churches, must be approved by the state. Church communities are often targeted on account of to their church properties and affiliated enterprises (hospitals, schools, etc.) over which the government wants to gain control.
5/28/19 : Since the majority Christian country of South Sudan gained its independence in 2011, the Christians in the Northern country of Sudan have been regularly arrested, harassed, flogged, and detained for violations of Sharia Law. In 2018, arrests increased for offenses ranging from wearing “immoral dress” directed at women who dared to wear pants to Christian services, to simply interacting with Muslims. Though long-term imprisonments are rare, harassment has continued, even after the ouster of the Sudanese dictator al-Bashir.
5/27/19 : Mohammad Ali Taheri founded a spiritual movement that has been targeted by Iranian authorities. In 2010 he was arrested on charges of "acting against national security" and was held in solitary confinement for 67 days. In 2011, he was arrested again and has been in prison since that time. Ali Taheri was sentenced to five years in prison for blasphemy, 74 lashes for touching the wrists of female patients, and 900 million Toman for "interfering in medical science" among other charges.
5/26/19 : Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir was arrested in 2014 after blogging critically about the caste system (justifying the slavery of people descended from craftsmen) in Mauritania. His writings were deemed an affront to the Prophet Mohammed and he was charged with apostasy. Initially sentenced to death in 2015, his sentence was reduced to two years in prison. Mkhaitir remains in prison in an unknown location today.
5/25/19 : Patriarch Thich Quang Do is the head of the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam and is currently held under house arrest at Thanh Minh Zen Monastery. Vietnamese officials have monitored, harassed, and detained the now 90-year-old Patriarch for years based on his religious practice, as well as his continued advocacy for religious freedom and human rights.
5/24/19 : According to JW.org, as of May, 2019, the number of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia being prosecuted for their faith was 197. Vladimir Atryakhin, Yury, Belosludtsev, Irina Buglak, Sergei Sergeev, Evgeny Spirin, and Aleksandr Shevchuk are 6 new victims on the list, simply for practicing their chosen faith. There is a growing crisis in Russia for Jehovah’s Witnesses as the Putin government has intensified arrests, imprisonment, prosecutions, and based on recent reports, even torture for practitioners. We reject Russia’s claims that Jehovah’s Witnesses are part of an extremist organization, and call on all faiths to denounce this blatant discrimination.
5/23/19 : In 2013, Hamid Kamal Mohammad bin Haydara, a member of the Baha’i Faith Community in Yemen, was arrested by authorities linked to the Houthi-run National Security Bureau. He was held for 2 years before he was charged, in part, with attempting to convert Muslims to the Baha’i Faith. He was sentenced to death in 2018.
5/22/19 : Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, a Muslim born Christian convert, has been a frequent target of officials over the last 13 years. He has been arrested and charged with “apostasy” and “evangelism” multiple times, once resulting in a death sentence that was later overturned under tremendous international pressure. In 2016, he was again detained and charged with “acting against national security” and after an extensive court battle was jailed in the notorious Evin prison.
5/21/19 : Mo Xiufeng served as a Christian church leader in Zhejiang Province, China. In 2017, Mo was arrested and interrogated along with 11 other members of the Church. Police subjected her to sleep deprivation and other forms of torture in an effort to force her to relinquish her beliefs. She was questioned about the identities of other Church members and the location of Church assets. Charged with “organizing and using a “Xie Jiao” ("evil cult") organization to undermine law enforcement, she was sentenced to nine years in prison.
5/20/19 : Iranian Political activist Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee was imprisoned for charges related to an unpublished story she wrote criticizing the practice of stoning in Iran. A fictional character in her story burns the Qur’an in an emotionally charged moment. The story was discovered when authorities ransacked her home without a search warrant. During interrogation, she was pressured to confess guilt under threat of execution and was questioned while listening to her husband being tortured in a nearby room. In 2015, she was charged with “insulting Islamic sanctities” and “spreading propaganda against the system”. On April 8, 2019, Iraee was released from prison after posting bail. Despite her release, she faces additional charges for her political activism while in prison.
5/19/19 : Uighur Muslim Gulmira Imin participated in a demonstration protesting the deaths of Uighur migrant workers in Guangdong Province in 2009. Initially peaceful, under provocation some protestors turned violent. Ms. Imin did not engage in violence but nonetheless was arrested after authorities claimed she had organized the "illegal demonstration". She was sentenced to life in prison. She alleges she was tortured and forced to sign documents while in detention and was not allowed to meet with her lawyer until the trial.
5/18/19 : his past April, 3 US citizens, known only as Wayne, Autumn, and Joseph, were detained by police in Laos as they volunteered to visit villages in the Louang Namtha province to distribute religious material. Authorities of Laos consider Christianity to be a "foreign religion". Wayne, Autumn, and Joseph remain in detention.
5/17/19 : Ebrahim Firouzi has been in and out of Iranian prisons since 2011 as a result of his active Christian faith. In 2015, Ebrahim was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment after being charged with “forming a group to disturb the country’s security”.
5/16/19 : Human Rights activists are often targeted in Saudi Arabi, and those fighting for women’s rights are high-profile targets. While campaigning for allowing women to drive and other basic rights, Dr. Hatoon al-Fassi, Samar Badawi, Eman al-Nafjan, Nouf Abdelaziz al-Jerawi, and Aziza al-Youssef were arrested for the supposed crime of “undermining the kingdom's stability with financial assistance from abroad and for subverting national and religious traditions”. These prominent activists have been held since May 2018 and have yet to be sentenced.
5/15/19 : In 2006, Chinese authorities in Beijing detained Pastor David Lin under circumstances that remain unclear. In 2009, he was accused of contract fraud and sentenced to life imprisonment. Before his imprisonment, Pastor Lin was active in Beijing’s house church movement, which has long faced hostility from Chinese authorities.
5/14/19 : In 2018, 15 year old Leah Sharibu was abducted along with more than 100 of her classmates by extremist group Boko Haram in Nigeria. Leah is the last remaining captive from the group for refusing to deny her Christian faith and convert to Islam. Last year, Leah sent a note to her mother through a released classmate that read: “I am confident that one day I shall see your face again. If not here, then there at the bosom of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Today, May 14th, is Leah's 16th birthday.
5/13/19 : In 2014, South Korean Baptist missionary Kim Jong Uk was sentenced to life imprisonment in labor camp after entering North Korea with religious materials – he was charged with spying and trying to set up an underground church. For years, Kim worked in a North Korean border town, providing humanitarian assistance and religious comfort to North Korean refugees.
5/12/19 : Andrzej Oniszczuk was detained in Russia on extremism charges in 2018 for singing Bible songs and studying religious literature. The Polish citizen was arrested after Russia outrageously labeled the Jehovah’s Witnesses an extremist organization. A Jehovah's Witness spokesman has said that Andrzej was been kept in solitary confinement for over five months and is prohibited from lying down for 15 hours during the day.
5/11/19 : In Russia, it is not only dangerous to practice an unauthorized religion, but also to study one. In 2017, Yevgeny Kim was tortured in pre-trial detention before being sentenced to three years and nine months in prison for studying Muslim theologian Said Nursi's works. Kim was charged with organizing the activities of an organization Russia falsely labled as extremist.
5/10/19 : Pastor Wang Yi is a persecuted writer, editor, and human rights activist. For the simple “crime” of planning a prayer in honor of the 10th anniversary of the Wenchuan earthquake, he was arrested for “inciting subversion of state power”. Arrested in 2018, he faces up to 15 years in prison. Pastor Yi was quoted saying, "the right to speak is an inalienable one; one which is laid down in black and white in China’s constitution.”
5/9/19 : Indonesian pastor Abraham Ben Moses, a former Muslim, was arrested in 2017 after a video showing him sharing his Christian faith with a Muslim taxi driver was widely circulated. In 2018, he was sentenced to four years in prison on blasphemy charges for religious defamation.
5/8/19 : Bishop James Su Zhimin was falsely deemed "counterrevolutionary" for refusing to join the national Chinese Catholic Church (which is separated from the Roman Catholic Church) He was arrested in 1996 for conducting unregistered religious activities. Bishop Zhimin has spent 40 years in prison without charge or trial and has not been seen since 2003.
5/7/19 : Rmah Hlach (aka Ama Blut) is an ethnic Jrai Christian who was an activist for indigenous rights and religious freedom. He was arrested for these activities in 2009 and was sentenced to 12 years with an additional three years of house arrest. His whereabouts are currently unknown. Vietnam’s Communist Government continues to systematically suppress religious activities that are not approved of and controlled by the state.
5/6/19 : Danish citizen and Jehovah's Witness Dennis Christensen was arrested in 2017 and charged with organizing the activities of an extremist organization during a church service. Twenty months later, he was sentenced to six years in prison amid Russia’s nationwide campaign against Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Russian Supreme Court has designated Jehovah’s Witnesses as an extremist organization, threatening all members of the faith in Russia. Congregants have been subjected to police raids, detentions and criminal prosecutions.
Learn more about Dennis Christensen’s arrest, detention, and conviction here : tinyurl.com/yxkvum73
5/5/19 : Gedhun Choekyi Nyima is the 11th Panchen Lama of Tibetan Buddhism. After his selection at the age of six, he was taken into what the Chinese communist government euphemistically described as “protective custody” – a more apt description would be that he was kidnapped. His whereabouts have been unknown and he is referred to as the "youngest political prisoner in the world". He has not been seen by any independent observer for nearly 24 years.
5/4/19 : Abune Antonios is the third Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. He has been under house arrest since 2007 when he was removed by the Eritrean government. In 2017, Antonios was allowed to make a public appearance for the first time in over a decade. Under heavy security, he attended Mass in Asmara, but was prevented from giving a sermon or speaking with congregants.
5/3/19 : The spiritual leader of the Church of Scientology of St. Petersburg, Ivan Matsitsky has been held since 2017 on charges of creating an extremist community and illegal entrepreneurship along with four other colleagues and is currently awaiting trial. Russia has repeatedly banned Scientology organizations and their activities, despite the European Court of Human Rights ruling that denying the Church’s legal existence is a violation of freedom of religion.
5/2/19 : Professor Ilham Tohti, Uyghur economist, is known as a vocal advocate for Uyghur rights and regional autonomy laws in China. His initial detention began in 2009 after his writings were falsely blamed for ethnic rioting between Uyghurs and Han in the capital of Xinjiang. He is currently serving a life sentence in China, on separatism-related charges. Meanwhile over one million of his fellow Uyghurs are held in concentration-style camps in Xinjiang Province in one of the largest mass incarcerations since WWII.
5/1/19 : Saudi writer, activist, and dissident, Raif Badawi, was arrested in 2012 for simply establishing his website, set up for peaceful discussion about religion and reform in Saudi Arabia. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison & 1000 lashes for this “crime”. Before his arrest, Raif was quoted saying, "To me, liberalism means simply to live and let live." Today, his exact location is unknown.