Egypt: After three years behind bars, Egyptian-American political prisoner, Aya Hijazi, and her Egyptian husband, Mohamed Hassanein, were found not guilty and released from custody on April 18, 2017. The couple have been detained since May 1, 2014, when authorities raided the offices of an organization ran by the couple, the “Belady Foundation for Street Children,” and arrested both Hijazi and Hassanein. The couple was wrongfully charged with “child abuse,” “human trafficking,” and “inciting and exploiting children to participate in violent protests,” among other charges. The World Movement for Democracy welcomes their release, and invites you to learn more about the remaining 60,000 political prisoners in Egypt at helpsetthemfree.org/egypt.

Equatorial Guinea: On April 17, 2017, Equatoguinean security authorities arrested human rights activists, Enrique Asumu and Alfredo Okenve, the President and Vice President of El Centro de Estudios e Iniciativas para el Desarrollo (CEID), a local human rights organization advocating for social justice issues. After eight days in arbitrary detention, CEID reported that Asumu was released and received urgent medical assistance. After 16 days of illegal detention, Okenve was released after his relatives paid a “rescue” fee to the government. No charges have been filed thus far.

Venezuela: Last week, United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye, and the Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Edison Lanza, issued a statement of concern about the recent crackdown on democratic demonstrations in Venezuela. Both Kaye and Lanza called upon the Venezuelan government to release all arbitrarily detained journalists, as well as end the government’s censorship of independent media. On April 19, 2017, tens of thousands pro-democracy demonstrators called for new elections and the release of all political prisoners in the country. Venezuelan authorities have arrested at least 565 protesters and several local and international journalists reporting on the demonstrations. Ten days later, 80 cities joined the worldwide “#NoMás” demonstrations to call for democracy in Venezuela. Click here to join us in sharing a solidarity tweet calling for the release of all political prisoners in Venezuela!