Speakers

China

Rushan Abbas

Founder of Campaign for Uyghurs, sister of political prisoner Dr. Gulshan Abbas

Ukraine

Olga Aivazovska

Forcibly displaced civil society leader & advocate for war crimes tribunal against Putin

Saudi Arabia

Areej al-Sadhan

Activist, sister of Saudi political prisoner Abdulrahman al-Sadhan

China

Zumretay Arkin

Chair of the Women’s Committee at the World Uyghur Congress

Zimbabwe

Hopewell Chin’ono

Zimbabwean journalist & filmmaker arrested 3 times for exposing corruption

North Korea

Timothy Cho

North Korean human rights activist & defector, imprisoned 4 times in North Korea & China

Iran

Mariam Claren

Daughter of jailed womens’ rights activist & political prisoner Nahid Taghavi

Afghanistan

Zarifa Ghafari

Youngest elected mayor in Afghanistan, survivor of three assassination attempts, forced into exile

Belarus

Tatsiana Khomich

Fighting to free her sister, Belarus opposition activist Maria Kalesnikava, and other political prisoners

Cuba

Hamlet Lavastida

Cuban artist, former political prisoner, founder of artist-led San Isidro Movement

China

Sophie Luo

Activist, wife of Chinese political prisoner Ding Jiaxi

Hong Kong

Joey Siu

Policy Advisor at Hong Kong Watch, Advisor to Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China

Tibet

Tenzin Tsundue

Tibetan refugee & writer arrested 16 times for his activism, completed 127-day Himalayan walk for Tibet

Nicaragua

Berta Valle

Nicaraguan journalist, wife of opposition leader and former political prisoner Félix Maradiaga

Russia

Leonid Volkov

Chief of Staff to Russian opposition leader & political prisoner Alexei Navalny