BELARUS PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE RELEASED
Nobel Peace Prize laureate and opposition politician Ales Bialiatski and Maryia Kalesnikava, a prisoner of conscience who featured in Write for Rights 2024, were among 123 people released from prison on 13 December. The move followed an agreement with the US government to ease sanctions on Belarus’s potash exports. In September 2020, Maryia was abducted by masked men and taken to the Ukrainian border, where she thwarted the intended deportation by tearing up her passport. Afterwards she went missing and it later transpired she had been arrested, charged with ‘undermining national security’ and other fabricated offences and, in September 2021, sentenced to 11 years in prison. Ales was convicted in 2023 on charges of ‘tax evasion’ and ‘financing actions deemed to violate public order’ – charges widely seen as politically motivated – and had been serving a 10-year sentence in a penal colony.
Marie Struthers, Amnesty’s director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said: ‘We welcome reports that Maryia Kalesnikava and Ales Bialiatski are among those that have been freed. But let’s be clear: the latest release doesn’t erase a system that still holds hundreds if not thousands of others languishing behind bars merely for speaking out.’
EL SALVADOR ALEJANDRO AND JOSÉ ÁNGEL FREED
Environmental defender Alejandro Henríquez and pastor and community leader José Ángel Pérez were released in December after more than six months of unjust imprisonment. They were arrested on 13 May 2025 for taking part in a peaceful protest against a forced eviction. Ana Piquer, Amnesty’s regional director for the Americas, said: ‘We celebrate that Alejandro Henríquez and José Ángel Pérez are being released… However, it is essential to point out that they should never have been deprived of their liberty or subjected to criminal proceedings for exercising their right to peaceful protest.’
Uyghur university student Kamile Wayit was released on 28 December after completing a three-year sentence for ‘promoting extremism’. She had been sentenced in 2023 for posting a video on WeChat about the 2022 ‘A4 protests’ that took place across China.
TÜRKIYE BAR ASSOCIATION ACQUITTED A court has acquitted the president and the 10 members of the executive board of the Istanbul Bar Association of unfounded ‘terrorist propaganda’ charges. Esther Major, Amnesty’s deputy director for research in Europe, said: ‘For years, bar associations and lawyers in Türkiye have been targeted simply for carrying out their professional duties… While today’s ruling brings relief, it does not erase the chilling effect these proceedings have had.’
TUNISIA LEADING LAWYER FREED Prominent human rights lawyer and media commentator Sonia Dahmani was conditionally released on 27 November after 18 months of unjust imprisonment. However, she still faces other cases against her.
Sonia has long spoken out on racism, migration and prison conditions in Tunisia, but since late 2023 she has faced mounting legal harassment for her public comments. Amnesty International has been campaigning for her since she was arrested and sentenced on bogus charges under a repressive cybercrime law of ‘spreading false news’ in May 2024, issuing Urgent Actions on her behalf and featuring her case in the Write for Rights 2025 campaign.
While she was behind bars, Sonia endured cruel, inhumane conditions that seriously threatened her health.
PHOTO
Sonia Dahmani outside her home in Tunis following her release © Fethi Belaid/ AFP via Getty Images
SPRING 2026 AMNESTY 7
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