On 11 June 2019, 56 unjustly detained human rights defenders and political prisoners held by the Ortega regime in Nicaragua were released. Medardo Mairena, Irlanda Jerez, Ricardo Baltodano, and Amaya Eva Coppens, among others, were granted ‘amnesties’ with the application of a controversial blanket amnesty law that was adopted on 8 June 2019.
In the morning of 26 February 2015, human rights defender Mr Kalimuthu Kandhasamy was remanded to judicial custody after having been arbitrarily arrested at his home in Kavarangulam, Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu, at approximately 7:15 pm the evening before.
Human rights defender Chen Jiangang (陈建刚) arrived home safely on the evening of 8 May 2017, five days after police interrupted his family vacation in China’s Yunnan Province. Local police failed to present a warrant before taking the defender, his wife, their two children, and two family friends into custody. After his family and friends were released, Chen Jiangang was returned to Beijing under police escort, a journey which covered over 3000 kilometers and lasted over 80 hours.
On 7 April 2016 human rights defender Mr He Xiaobo was released on bail after over four months in custody in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. The workers' rights campaigner had been detained on 3 December 2015 along with a number of colleagues and on 8 January he was formally charged with 'embezzlement'. Two other human rights defenders detained at that time, Messrs Zeng Feiyang and Meng Han remain in detention and are facing charges of "gathering a crowd to disrupt social order".
On 22 July 2016, the High Risk Tribunal A in Guatemala City ordered the immediate release of Francisco Juan Pedro, Adalberto Villatoro, Arturo Pablo Juan, Domingo Baltazar, Mynor López, Bernardo Ermitaño López yRigoberto Juárez. The seven environmental rights defenders and indigenous leaders had been detained for between one and three years on unfounded charges related to their peaceful opposition to extractive and hydroelectric projects in Huehuetenango.
Naw Ohn Hla and other HRDs work for the promotion of human rights and environmental rights. She has repeatedly called for the suspension of the Chinese-backed Letpadaung mining project in Burma's Sagaing region. The project is strongly opposed by local communities due its damaging effect on the environment.
Naw Ohn Hla is a prominent advocate for land rights and political prisoners, and has been imprisoned on more than seven occasions since 1989, as a result of her peaceful efforts to free political prisoners and assist Buddhist monks during the 2007 uprising.
At approximately 10:15 am on 22 February 2015, human rights defender Mr Ajijul Haque was beaten by a group of unknown men at New Cooch Behar train station in West Bengal, allegedly in the presence of police officers. The human rights defender was then taken to the Cooch Behar Kotwali police station and detained for approximately eight hours.
On 23 March 2015, human rights lawyer Ms Michelle Yesudas was detained and released the same day, after the Inspector-General of Police made a threat via Twitter to summon her for questioning. The day before, her colleague, human rights lawyer Mr Eric Paulsen, was detained after receiving similar threats from the Inspector-General of Police. A court magistrate ordered Eric Paulsen's release on 23 March 2015, refusing the police's request to extend his detention by four days.
On 5 February 2015, human rights lawyer Mr Eric Paulsen was charged before the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court with sedition. The charges stem from a tweet posted by the human rights defender on 9 January 2015 that accused the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim), the main federal agency managing Islamic affairs, of promoting extremism in its Friday sermons.
On 9 October 2015, the Mandalay’s Amarapura Township Court sentenced four students and human rights defenders to three months in prison on charges related to spray-painting graffiti at Yadanabon University.
On 4 August 2015 human rights defenders Mr Mukhtar Al-Hanai and Mr Ahmed Al-Blushi were arrested by security forces. Their arrest followed that of Mr Salih Al-Azri, Mr Ali Al-Muqbali and Mr Talib Al-Saedi one day earlier.
On 24 August 2015 the Internal Security Service released human rights defenders Mr Muktar Al-Hanai, Mr Salih Al-Azri, Mr Ali Al-Muqbali and Mr Talib Al-Saedi without charges.
On 5 June 2015, human rights lawyers Tang Tianhao and Ma Lianshun were released from administrative detention in Qing'an country, Heilongjiang Province. Fellow lawyer You Feizhu was released on the evening of 4 June.
The three lawyers, along with lawyer Ge Yongxi, were detained in Qing'an between 28 May and 1 June following attempts to meet with their clients, who were in police custody.
On 8 October 2020, in the early hours of the morning, woman human rights defender Narges Mohammadi was released from Zanjan prison.
On 26 July 2020, Narges Mohammadi was permitted to call her family in France from Zanjan prison for the first time in 11 months.
On 25 July 2020, Shahnaz Akmali was informed that the furlough of her sentence, granted on 2 March 2020 in the context of COVID-19, has been extended to permanent release.
On 2 March 2020, woman human rights defender Shahnaz Akmali was temporarily released as part of the Iranian government's response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The measure is valid until 4 April 2020 but may be extended.
On 26 November 2019, Zhang Kun was released from prison after completing his sentence.
On 28 December 2018, the trial of Zhang Kun took place at the Gulou District Court in Xuzhou City and ended without a verdict. On 5 May 2019, the Court convicted him of “picking quarrels and provoking troubles” and sentenced him to two years and six months in prison.
On 15 January 2019, human rights defender Marvin Wilcox was detained in Barú, in the province of Chiriquí, alongside four other producers who had been trying to sell their fruit and vegetable produce. Two weeks earlier, on 2 January, woman human rights defender Ligia Arreaga was detained as she tried to investigate the treatment of the Barú producers.
