I am a human rights lawyer, with a focus on protecting the rights of Adivasi (indigenous) people in the state of Chattisgarh. I also served as the General Secretary of the Chattisgarh People’s Union for Civil Liberties.

I was arrested in August 2018 and I'm accused of inciting Dalits at a public meeting together with ten other human rights defenders, leading to the violence in Bhima Koregaon village in the Pune district of Maharashtra on 1st January 2018.

Me and the ten others were charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) between June and August 2018. Others include Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen, Sudhir Dhawale, Mahesh Raut, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Varavara Rao, Gautam Navlakha and Dr. Anand Teltumbde.  They are all currently in detention. Police subsequently claimed that the human rights defenders had links with ‘unlawful organisations’.

I am being detained in Mumbai Byculla Women's Jail where an inmate had tested positive for coronavirus. I am diabetic and have hypertension. I am seeking bail from the High Court after the special NIA court in Mumbai rejected my appeal on 29 May 2020.

In December 2019, India’s rating was downgraded by the CIVICUS Monitor from ‘obstructed’ to ‘repressed’ owing to its increased restriction of space for dissent during 2019 and particularly following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s re-election in May 2019.

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I am 62 and a human rights defender in the Philippines. I have dedicated my life to protecting the poorest and the most marginalised. I advocate for their right to health and other basic social services. I am a member of the Secretariat of the Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao – Cagayan de Oro Chapter and Coordinator in Northern Mindanao for Karapatan, a leading human rights group.

I was among those arrested just two days after the country had been placed under lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 15 March, I was arrested in Lanao del Sur, on the southern island of Mindanao, by the Philippine Army (AFP) and national police on charges of kidnapping, serious illegal detention, and destructive arson. Police have claimed I am a member of the New Peoples’ Army – an armed rebel group associated with the Communist Party of the Philippines.

I have been accused together with 554 other people of being involved in an attack against the military based in Agusan del Sur in December 2018.  According to human rights groups, others accused of being involved include activists and journalists from Caraga and the Northern Mindanao Region, and also include nuns, a lawyer and public sector employees.

After my arrest I was paraded in front of the media as a “high ranking official of the Communist Party”. I remain detained at the Agusan del Sur Provincial Jail, in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions that put my life at imminent risk, given my serious breathing disorder. I have been denied visits from my lawyer and family and exhausted as I have been tasked with cleaning the common toilets

The CIVICUS Monitor—an online platform rates the Philippines’ civic space as “obstructed” and the country was put on the civic space Watchlist in June 2020.

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I am an independent human rights lawyer in Tajikistan. On 28 September 2015 I was arrested in connection with my professional duties when I provided legal representation to members of the banned opposition party, Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT). I have also spoken out about the alleged torture that one of my clients endured during pre-trial detention. The government had repeatedly requested that I drop the case, but I refused to do so. I was charged with forgery, fraud, inciting national, racial, local or religious hostility and extremism.

Following a seriously flawed criminal investigation in a closed trial which failed to meet international standards of fairness, in October 2016 I was sentenced to 23 years in prison. My sentence was increased to 28 years, after further politically motivated charges were brought against me. In October 2019 my sentence was reduced by six years, as part of the government’s mass amnesty.

I am currently being held in the Strict Regime Prison Colony No.1 in Dushanbe. I am imprisoned with ordinary prisoners which is an added risk as I worked as a former police officer prior to being a lawyer. This poses an added threat to my life, especially from prisoners who know that I am a former police officer.

During my imprisonment, I have faced torture and ill-treatment including severe beatings which required hospitalisation. I have also been placed in solitary confinement several times, which I believe is linked to my efforts of drawing attention to the ill-treatment of prisoners. After numerous complaints about my situation, the office of the Ombudsman of Tajikistan has promised to investigate and to bring the perpetrators to justice.

In May 2019, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued its opinion, concluding that my detention is arbitrary and violates international human rights law.

On 29th April 2020, my relatives expressed their concern about the deterioration of my health as I was suffering from a high fever linked to symptoms of COVID-19. However, the government of Tajikistan has responded to COVID-19 with denialism and cover ups, with the Department for the Execution of Criminal Sentences of the Ministry of Justice denying that I had any health problems. I am fearful that the second wave of the COVID-19 virus has begun in the prison and that I am at risk of re-infection, with little availability for medical treatment in the prison as I have seen with other political prisoners.

To create awareness around my case, my family has started a foundation in my name.

Tajikistan is rated a href="https://monitor.civicus.org/country/tajikistan/">repressed on the CIVICUS Monitor

I am a 66 year old human rights defender in Pakistan. I am a member of the Pakistani civil society and the focal point of the Pakistan NGO Forum (PNF), an umbrella body composed of five networks of civil society organizations in Pakistan. I am a long standing member of the CIVICUS Affinity Group nof National Associations (AGNA), a network of national associations and regional platforms from around the world.

I was arrested on 2 February 2021 at the anti-terrorism court-III in Peshwar after my interim pre-arrest bail was cancelled in a case with the Counter-Terorrism Department (CTD). I was briefly held incommunicado before I was detained at the Counter-Terorrism Department Police station in Peshwar. My wife Uzlifat Ismail and I are currently facing baseless charges in relation to terrorism, sedition and conspiracy. The case against us is in retaliation against my criticism of human rights violations in Pakistan and for the human rights work of my daughter Gulalai Ismail and connect to the state harassment against her. Gulalai has faced persecution from the authorities for her peaceful advocacy for the rights of women and girls and her effort to end human rights violations against the ethnic Pashtun people in Pakistan. She was forced to flee the country due to concerns for her safety.

Before I was detained, my family and I faced systematic harassment and intimidation from the security forces. In October 2019, I was forcibly abducted from the Peshwar High Court by unidentified men and detained at the Cyber Crimes Unit of the Federal Investigation Agency. I was granted conditional bail after spending a month in detention. During the Covid-19 pandemic, I was forced to attend numerous court hearings - many of which were routinely postponed. My wife and I contacted Covid-19. I am now recovering from it and have been detained in a cell with sixty other people.

The CIVICUS Monitor—an online platform rates Pakistan's civic space as “repressed.”

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We are the Guapinol Water Defenders. We arePorfirio Sorto Cedillo, José Avelino Cedillo, Orbin Naún Hernández, Kevin Alejandro Romero, Arnold Javier Aleman, Ever Alexander Cedillo, Daniel Márquez and Jeremías Martínez Díaz, Defenders of Tocoa, in the northern region of Honduras. We are being charged with arson and unlawful deprivation of liberty. We were protesting against the implementation of a mining project in the protected area "Carlos Escalares" that would endanger fresh water sources in the region. In September 2018, private security guards hired by the mining company, Inversiones Los Pinares, attempted to evict the peaceful protester’s camp set in defence of fresh water located in the community of Guapinol. As a result, a young protester was seriously injured and 32 community members were criminalized while security guards have not been investigated. We have been in pre-trial detention since September 2019 and were held for several months in a maximum-security prison. Some of us have pre-existing conditions, such as hypertension and asthma, making us particularly vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic. All possible legal measures have been taken in our favour in Honduras. The Supreme Court of Justice rejected a writ of habeas corpus filed on our behalf in March 2020 and the Court of Appeals has refused to grant a new hearing to review the measures imputed against us or to resolve the three appeals that have been filed that could set us free. Threats and intimidations against land and water defenders in the Tocoa region continue. To date, the mining company, Inversiones Los Pinares, is operating without the consent of local communities that have voiced their disagreement with the project.

Honduras is rated Repressed by the CIVICUS Monitor

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I am an activist against human rights abuses in Nicaragua. As the daughter of a union leader who was detained by previous governments, since massive socio-economic protests began in April 2018 I have protested for the release of political prisoners and against the Daniel Ortega government. Due to my commitment to my country’s civic movement, I was persecuted, threatened and fired from several jobs.

On 26 January 2020, I was arbitrarily detained under accusations of narcotrafficking, which I vehemently deny. Before the arrest, I was in a safe house in Managua since November 2019 due to the constant sieges at my home in Matagalpa. My family members also denounce that I was subjected to torture and ill-treatment aimed at forcing me to accept the charges. According to Nicaraguan human rights organizations, false charges have been used as a strategy to criminalize activists and defenders in Nicaragua, denying their status of political prisoners.

Currently I am at the women’s prison “La Esperanza”, where I suffered an asthma attack, a high blood pressure crisis and was diagnosed with bronchitis. I have been repeatedly denied medical attention and access to medications, as well as to any type of protection or security measures against the Covid-19 outbreak. Because of chronic health conditions, there is high risk that I could develop coronavirus-related complications in case of an infection.

On 8th May 2020, I was found guilty of narcotrafficking. In early July, I was sentenced to 10 years in prison and a fine equivalent to 900 US dollars or 500 days in prison, but I have refused to sign documents accepting this conviction. In July 2020, my lawyers will present an appeal on my behalf.

Nicaragua is rated Repressed by the CIVICUS Monitor

As former President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights and Co-Founder of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, I have spent my life taking a stand for democracy and freedom. But I am now behind bars: my peaceful advocacy work landed me in prison.

In February 2011, pro-democracy protests swept Bahrain, starting in the capital Manama. Many of the demonstrations were brutally suppressed by the authorities - nearly 100 people died and thousands were arrested - I was one of those arrested.

I was part of the ‘Bahrain 13’, a group of prominent activists and opposition leaders arrested after calling for civil and political rights during the 2011 uprising. On 22 June 2011 a Bahraini court sentenced me to life imprisonment on trumped-up charges during what is largely regarded as an unfair trial.

Torture, physical and sexual abuse, solitary confinement - these are some of the ways the authorities have punished me while in prison. Security personnel have even made sexual threats against my wife and daughter. But those responsible for my abuse have never been held to account. I have gone on repeated hunger strikes to protest my detention and the conditions I am forced to endure. My health is deteriorating and the cramped prison environment puts me at risk of contracting COVID-19.

2021 marks a decade of incarceration.

And on April 5 2021 I will turn 60 in prison, separated from family and friends.

I do not want to spend another decade behind bars so I urge you to #StandAsMyWitness. Use your voice.

Bahrain is rated Closed by the CIVICUS Monitor

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