These 11 Champions of Democracy Faced Prison Over Their Work

Just a few weeks ago, Freedom House released the 52nd edition of its annual Freedom in the World report, which documented the 19th consecutive year of decline in global freedom. In 2024, 60 countries experienced deterioration in their political rights and civil liberties, while only 34 secured improvements. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously said that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” With the spread of authoritarian abuses making the world more dangerous, one could be forgiven for doubting these words.

As the director of Free Them All: the Fred Hiatt Program to Free Political Prisoners, I am acutely aware of how undemocratic leaders aim to silence democracy’s most courageous guardians. The cases we work on involve ruthless repression of human rights defenders, journalists, and prodemocracy activists, who are snatched from their families and communities, imprisoned, and prevented from doing their work. Yet these cases also represent hope, for they involve brave individuals who have dared to speak truth to power, expose corruption and abuse, highlight rights violations, and defy dictatorial regimes, often knowing they could be imprisoned (or worse). Their cases span nations, cultures, and occupations, but one thing unites them: a powerful commitment to a better world, a freer world.

As part of our work on political imprisonment, our program conducts targeted advocacy in several emblematic cases. The following case updates underscore that while freedom is under attack worldwide, brave individuals are standing up under impossible circumstances and trying to fulfill the promise of Dr. King’s words. They are defenders of freedom and champions of democracy; we owe them our support and gratitude.

Tsi Conrad is a Christian journalist and activist in Cameroon who reported extensively on abuses perpetrated during the ongoing civil unrest in the country’s English-speaking regions. He was arrested in December 2016 while filming a demonstration, and subsequently convicted of baseless charges including revolution and terrorism. He was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment and remains one of Cameroon’s longest-detained journalists.

A Note From Tsi Conrad

Received: Dec. 4, 2024

Dear Freedom House,

The beginning of freedom for all oppressed people around the world and for people suffering jail terms, living in exile, and even those who have paid the ultimate price with their lives starts with the actions of one person. For me, Freedom House represents more than the freedom of the oppressed; she represents hope. Hope for not only me, but millions of people all around the globe whose lives are threatened because of their opinions, beliefs, skin color, religion, etc.

Your work on my case and that of many other political prisoners around the globe is not only historical but impactful, influential, and innovative in every way. Your advocacy geared at securing my release from one of the world’s most brutal dictatorships and jail dungeons has been super engaging, practical, and life changing for me.

I wonder about the future and my health. [Life is difficult] behind bars, and worse in a jail dungeon where prisoners are packed into overcrowded, unsanitary cells with inadequate access to basic necessities like food, water, and hygiene facilities. Freedom House through her internal grants program has always stepped in to bring me so much relief. Your financial support for my health needs always comes just at the right time. My family has greatly been kept together and in relative convenience because of the generosity of Freedom House. I am super grateful.

 

Your political prisoner of the Free Them All Program,

Tsi Conrad

 

Nguyễn Văn Hoá is a journalist and activist in Vietnam who documented one of the largest environmental disasters in the country’s history. Because of his honest reporting, he was arrested in January 2017 and later convicted of “conducting propaganda against the state.” He spent seven years in prison before being released in January 2024; he is currently serving three years under house arrest.

Salma al-Shehab is a Shi’a Muslim and doctoral student at Leeds University who was arrested while visiting her home in Saudi Arabia in January 2021. She was sentenced to 34 years in prison based on her social media posts in support of women’s rights. She was released in February 2025, though she remains under a four-year suspended sentence, which could be used to send her back to prison at any time, as well as an eight-year travel ban, which prevents her from continuing her studies in the United Kingdom.

Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Castillo Pérez are artists and activists in Cuba who co-founded the San Isidro Movement (MSI), which protested the government’s increasing restrictions on artistic expression. They were both arrested in 2021 and later sentenced to five years and nine years in prison, respectively, on vague charges including contempt and public disorder. Maykel’s song Patria y Vida, which served as a protest anthem, won two Latin Grammys in 2021.

Mubarak Bala, president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria and a prominent atheist, was arrested in April 2020 and held without charge for over a year. In April 2022, he was sentenced to 24 years in prison for insulting religion with the intent of breaching the peace based on his social media posts. In May 2024, his sentence was reduced on appeal, and he was released several months later.

Nasser Zefzafi is an activist in Morocco who led the nonviolent Hirak movement, a series of protests against the marginalization of the Indigenous Amazigh population in the country’s Rif region. He was arrested in May 2017 as part of a larger crackdown on Hirak activists. In June 2018, he was convicted alongside 52 other Hirak protesters of undermining public order and threatening national unity and sentenced to 20 years in prison. The court admitted his “confession” into evidence despite credible allegations that it was made as the result of torture.

Sofya Alagaş is a Kurdish journalist and politician in Turkey who served as the editor of the pro-Kurdish outlet JIN News. She was arrested in June 2022 and served a year in pretrial detention before being released (with a travel ban) in June 2023. In January 2025, she was convicted of being a member of a terrorist organization based on her reporting on the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and sentenced to six years and three months in prison, though she remains free with a travel ban pending resolution of her appeal. Based on her conviction, she was also removed from her position as mayor of Siirt.

Server Mustafayev is a Crimean Tatar human rights defender who co-founded Crimean Solidarity, which fights political persecution in Russian-occupied Crimea. He was arrested in May 2018 and later sentenced to 14 years in prison on baseless terrorism charges.

Theary Seng is a Cambodian-American Christian author, lawyer, and activist who has been an outspoken critic of the ruling authorities in Cambodia. In June 2022, she was sentenced to six years in prison based on social media posts that were critical of the regime.

Idris Khattak is a Pakistani human rights defender, member of the Pashtun minority, and a former consultant with Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. In November 2019, he was abducted and forcibly disappeared; authorities finally acknowledged in June 2020 that he had been detained by military intelligence. In December 2021, he was convicted in a secret trial by a military court and sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment for alleging sharing classified information. He has been subjected to torture and ill treatment in custody.