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Dissident Spotlight

Dissident Spotlight: Ahmed Mansoor
Ahmed Mansoor has been in and out of prison in the UAE since 2011, when he was first arrested for a blog critical of the country's human rights…
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Christopher Gerlacher
Dissident Spotlight: Jose Bello
Jose Bello was re-arrested by ICE after reciting a poem criticizing the agency. Bello sued ICE and an appeals court sided with his right to bring the…
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Christopher Gerlacher
Dissident Spotlight: Christopher Alfaro
Christopher Alfaro wrote a book describing how a politician illegally made his fortune. Alfaro was sentenced to two years in prison for publishing it.
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Christopher Gerlacher
Dissident Spotlight: Kateb Yacine
Kateb Yacine spent his life fighting for the right to speak his native language and celebrate beloved Berber writers in Alergia.
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Christopher Gerlacher
Dissident Spotlight: Alexander McDougall
Alexander McDougall was briefly imprisoned for his anti-British broadsides. The way he was discovered is a lesson for modern dissidents.
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Christopher Gerlacher
Dissident Spotlight: Berhane Abrehe
Berhane Abrehe was Eritrea's former finance minister. He was imprisoned after criticizing the president and died after six years behind bars.
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Christopher Gerlacher
Dissident Spotlight: Salwan Momika
Salwan Momika was shot and killed at his home in Sweden during a livestream in which he burned the Quran.
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Christopher Gerlacher
Dissident Spotlight: Eskinder Nega
Eskinder Nega was imprisoned on terrorism charges for criticizing Ethiopia's ruling party. Today, he leads a militia against government forces.
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Christopher Gerlacher
Dissident Spotlight: Akram Raslan
Akram Raslan was a political cartoonist who published over 300 cartoons, many of them critical of Syria's dictator, Bashar al-Assad.
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Christopher Gerlacher
Dissident Spotlight: Leong Sze Hian
Leong Sze Hian posted an unflattering story about Singapore's prime minister on Facebook. Hian was then fined almost $100,000.
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Christopher Gerlacher
Dissident Spotlight: Ilya Yashin
In August 2024, Ilya Yashin was freed from a Russian prison in a prisoner swap. Before that, he refused to flee so he could mobilize Russians against…
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Christopher Gerlacher
Dissident Spotlight: Lydia Cacho
Lydia Cacho exposed a child pornography ring and has done other groundbreaking investigations in Mexico. Mexican authorities have not appreciated her…
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Christopher Gerlacher
© 2025 Christopher Gerlacher
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