Dissident Spotlight

Dissident Spotlight: Narges Mohammadi

Narges Mohammadi decades in prison for her human rights advocacy show how intolerable compassion is in a state that treats its citizens like children…

Feb 18 • Christopher Gerlacher

Dissident Spotlight: Abdelkabir Al-Hor

Al-Hor's negative coverage of his government led to four years' imprisonment. Morocco found his reporting on corruption too accurate.

Feb 11 • Christopher Gerlacher

Dissident Spotlight: Behrouz Boochani

Behrouz Boochani arrived in Papua New Guinea seeking asylum in Australia. Instead, he was detained in a prison he described in his memoir years later.

Feb 4 • Christopher Gerlacher

Dissident Spotlight: Renee Good & Alex Pretti

Peaceful objections to ICE's raid tactics cost two Americans their lives. The right to peacefully protest is more fragile than many Americans are…

Jan 28 • Christopher Gerlacher

Dissident Spotlight: Newton Ahmed Barry

Newton Barry is a journalist from Burkina Faso who was tried for defamation in absentia. He only found out after he saw the charges on Facebook.

Jan 21 • Christopher Gerlacher

Dissident Spotlight: Abdul Kalam Azad

In 2019, Abdul Kalam Azad posted a poem online.

Jan 14 • Christopher Gerlacher

Dissident Spotlight: Eduardo Galindo Peña

Eduardo Peña was arrested by an organization that can only exist in the tortured language a dictatorship makes possible.

Jan 7 • Christopher Gerlacher

Dissident Spotlight: Ayşe Nur Zarakolu

Ayşe Zarakolu wrote was arrested over 30 times for writing about subjects Türkiye's government found taboo.

Dec 31, 2025 • Christopher Gerlacher

Dissident Spotlight: Park Sang-Hak

Park Sang-Hak escaped North Korea and runs a non-profit in South Korea. His dissent has led to arrests from the South Korean government.

Dec 24, 2025 • Christopher Gerlacher

Dissident Spotlight: Jamal Al-Sayer

Jamal Al-Sayer spent three weeks in custody for a tepid criticism. He was charged with “spreading fake news” and “insulting the emir.”

Dec 17, 2025 • Christopher Gerlacher

Dissident Spotlight: An Anonymous Hong Kong Citizen

A man who posted online about the Hong Kong apartment fire just over a week before was arrested. He was 71, and we still don't know his name.

Dec 10, 2025 • Christopher Gerlacher

Dissident Spotlight: Tran Anh Kim

Tran Anh Kim was sentenced to over a decade in prison over accusations of forming a new political party.

Dec 3, 2025 • Christopher Gerlacher

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