Changing lives and policies
We free people from prison who are being held unjustly because of who they are or what they believe. We change laws to protect millions of people’s human rights. We transform societies to be more fair, free, and just.

Featured Victory
Marilin* (31) and Yunior* (11), have been released! Before the family’s release this week, Marilin faced an anniversary no parent would want: one year of lockup with her child simply for seeking safety here in the United States.
Marilin and Yunior were featured in our family detention campaign surge – several weeks of sustained actions, from grassroots activism to billboards, to drive attention to the dozens of families who are invisible behind detention walls in Pennsylvania and Texas. We want them and the government to know they’re not forgotten, and that we are working to free them all.Â
Thank you all for your continuing support and activism on these case campaigns. Our collective action shines a bright light on these families and the unlawful detention of them and so many more people detained in immigration facilities, and helps push the needle for their release.
Browse Victories
Victory
Urgent Action Victory! – Israeli Government Stops Forced Deportations (Israel/OPT: UA 64.18)
The Israeli government has declared that it will not pursue forcible deportations of Eritrean and Sudanese asylum-seekers to third countries under the Israeli ‘Procedure for Deportation to Third Countries’. This…
Victory
Urgent Action Victory! – Prisoner of Conscience Released (Bahrain: UA 142.15)
On 26 March, political activist and prisoner of conscience, Fadhel Abbas Mahdi Mohamed was released from Jaw prison, in the Bahraini capital, Manama. He served three years in prison on…
Victory
Urgent Action Victory! – Women’s Rights Activists No Longer at Imminent Risk (Ukraine: UA 57.18)
Following the attacks that marred International Women’s Day in Ukraine on 8 March, Vitaliana Koval and other women’s and LGBTI rights defenders in Ukraine are no longer considered to be…
Victory
Urgent Action Victory! – Supreme Court Orders Journalist’s Release (Azerbaijan: UA 186.17)
On 5 April, Azerbaijan’s Supreme Court ordered the release of Aziz Orujov, an independent journalist and CEO of the internet TV channel Canal 13, on a suspended three-year sentence. The…
Victory
Urgent Action Victory! – Kachin Prisoner of Conscience Freed (Myanmar: UA 83.17)
Kachin prisoner of conscience Lahpai Gam has been released from prison following a Presidential amnesty on 17 April 2018. Detained since June 2012, he was tortured during interrogation and falsely…
Victory
Urgent Action Victory! – Kachin Pastors Released in Prisoner Amnesty (Myanmar: UA 13.17)
Kachin pastors Dumdaw Nawng Lat and Langjaw Gam Seng have been released from prison following a Presidential amnesty on 17 April 2018. The two men had been detained since December…
Victory
Urgent Action Victory! – More Than Fifty Critics Released Without Charge (Sudan: UA 35.18)
56 opposition party members and human rights defenders arrested in January and February were released without charge on 10 April. They were arbitrarily arrested and detained by the Sudanese National…
Victory
Urgent Action Victory! – Gazan’s Second Leg Saved From Being Amputated (Israel/OPT: UA 73.18)
On 16 April, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that 20-year-old journalist Yousef al-Kronz, who was seriously wounded by Israeli forces on 30 March during Land Day protests in the Gaza…
Victory
Urgent Action Victory! – Two Government Critics Released (Ethiopia: UA 62.18)
Seyoum Teshome and Taye Dendea were released from Maekelawi prison on 16 April without being charged. The two had been arrested on 8 March and 15 March respectively.
Victory
Urgent Action Victory! – Eleven People Freed After More than a Week in Jail (Ethiopia: UA 23.18)
Eleven people including a lawyer, journalists, bloggers, opposition members and academics were released on 5 April without being charged. The 11 had been arrested by Ethiopian security forces while attending…
Victory
Urgent Action Victory! – Indigenous Defender No Longer Under Threat (Ecuador: UA 8.18)
Indigenous defender Patricia Gualinga is no longer considered under imminent threat. No new security incidents or threats against her have occurred since the 5 January attack at her home. She…
Victory
Urgent Action Victory! – Indigenous Peoples Advocate Released on Bail (India: UA 49.18)
Upendra Nayak, a 65-year-old lawyer, was granted bail and released from custody on 23 March 2018. Charged with several offences, including ‘sedition’ and ‘waging war against the government of India’,…