Bush Institute Special Series
The Struggle for Freedom
A monthly series about democracy and human rights activists abroad and why supporting them is the right thing for Americans to do, strategically as well as morally.
Overview
Apr 25, 2023
Five political prisoners struggling for their freedom
The consolidation of power is paramount for authoritarian leaders, and it often comes at the expense of the rights and dignity of citizens. Dissidents who speak out can expect to be exiled, jailed, or killed under these regimes. According to the U.S. government, there are more than one million political prisoners in the world today.
Nov 18, 2022
The Struggle For Freedom
Welcome to The Struggle for Freedom, a monthly series about democracy and human rights activists abroad and why supporting them is the right thing for Americans to do, strategically as well as morally.
Central and Latin America
Article · Jul 20, 2026
Cubans like activist-artist Otero Alcántara shouldn’t have to choose between home and a free life
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was sentenced to prison for “insulting national symbols,” “public disorder,” and “contempt” for posting on social media, singing songs of protest, and participating in public demonstrations -- suffering significant abuse and deprivation while in prison. He was recently released.
Jul 2, 2025
The Struggle for Freedom: Imprisoned educator Javier Tarazona dreams of dignity for all Venezuelans
Jun 26, 2024
The Struggle for Freedom: Venezuela imprisons Rocío San Miguel, a staunch advocate for peaceful democratic transition
Jan 5, 2024
The Struggle for Freedom UPDATE: Virginia Laparra released from prison to house arrest
Jul 12, 2023
The Struggle for Freedom: The Guatemalan anti-corruption lawyer targeted for revenge
The first round of Guatemala’s general elections on June 25 has focused attention on the fate of dozens of prosecutors and judges who have been targeted by their own government for trying to end pervasive corruption.
Feb 1, 2023
The Struggle for Freedom: The Cuban rapper whose music shames the regime
Cuban rapper Maykel Castillo Perez's uncompromising work unites Cubans and exposes the myths of the 1959 revolution and its more than six decades of repression.
Asia
Article · Jul 8, 2026
Struggle for Freedom: Photojournalist Sai Zaw Thaike endures harsh prison sentence from Burma’s military junta
Photojournalist Sai Zaw Thaike has experienced the worst of the notoriously difficult conditions in Burma’s prisons, including torture and solitary confinement.
Dec 16, 2025
Pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai convicted in Hong Kong
Nov 24, 2025
The Struggle for Freedom: Beijing’s revolving prison doors silence Chinese citizen journalist and lawyer Zhang Zhan – to our peril
Mar 5, 2025
Struggle for Freedom UPDATE: Jimmy Lai’s ongoing show trial in Hong Kong
Jimmy Lai has endured more than 140 days of hearings since November 2023, when his trial for violations of Hong Kong’s National Security law began following a postponement of almost a year.
May 16, 2024
The Struggle for Freedom: The Thai academic exiled for criticizing the monarchy
Apr 24, 2024
The Struggle for Freedom UPDATE: Gubad Ibadoghlu's trial postponed
Apr 2, 2024
The Struggle for Freedom: The Christian pastor convicted of subversion against the Chinese regime
Nov 28, 2023
The Struggle for Freedom: An Azerbaijani economist who stands up to Aliyev’s kleptocracy
Oct 30, 2023
The Struggle for Freedom: A Vietnamese writer championed by the U.S. remains in prison
Sep 7, 2023
The Struggle for Freedom UPDATE: Jimmy Lai’s national security trial postponed again
A Hong Kong court has once again postponed Jimmy Lai’s trial on national security charges, likely delaying it to December from September. The imprisoned publisher of the shuttered Apple Daily newspaper was previously scheduled to be tried in December 2022. The latest postponement is a serious blow for the nearly 76-year-old Lai, who has been prison for nearly three years.
Aug 9, 2023
The Struggle for Freedom: Lin Htet Naing (“James”) seeks to build the foundation for a post-military Burma
Burmese democracy leader Lin Htet Naing, who goes by the name James, emerged from several months of hiding in June 2022, stepping out with one of his two small sons in Rangoon, Burma’s former capital and commercial center. A short while later, James’s wife, Phyoe Phyoe Aung, also a prominent democracy leader, received a phone call telling her James had been arrested.
May 2, 2023
The Struggle for Freedom: `Political prisoner by proxy’ Dr. Gulshan Abbas
Jan 5, 2023
The Struggle for Freedom: A Hong Kong businessman’s fight for democracy
Hong Kong businessman Jimmy Lai has been in jail since he was charged with “foreign collusion” after a raid by the Chinese government on pro-democracy Apple Daily publication in August 2020.
Europe
Jan 20, 2026
From prison, journalist Mzia Amaglobeli defends fellow Georgians’ dreams
Sep 17, 2025
Struggle for Freedom update: Radio Free Liberty/Radio Europe’s Losik freed after five years in Belarus jail
Apr 21, 2025
Faith in the face of Russian repression: Ukrainian pastor Mykhailo Brytsyn
Jul 9, 2024
Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza goes missing after transfer to prison hospital
Jan 11, 2024
The Struggle for Freedom UPDATE: A Russian musician creatively uses supermarket price tags to spread anti-war messages in Russia
Jun 7, 2023
The Struggle for Freedom: The vlogger imprisoned for reporting on Russian repression after the 2014 annexation of Crimea
Video · May 3, 2023
The West must help Vladimir Kara-Murza achieve freedom
Vladimir Kara-Murza was recently sentenced to 25 years in a Russian penal colony for his criticism of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The Bush Institute continues to speak out against Kara-Murza's unjust detention and advocate for his freedom.
Apr 18, 2023
The Struggle for Freedom: Update on Vladimir Kara-Murza
Apr 10, 2023
Democracy organizations demand the release of Vladimir Kara-Murza one year into arbitrary arrest and detention
Mar 24, 2023
UPDATE: The Struggle for Freedom: Disturbing reports about Belarusian blogger Ihar Losik’s condition in prison
An update on Ihar Losik, a jailed Belarusian blogger and contributor to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Mar 1, 2023
The Struggle for Freedom: The Belarusian blogger who took on Lukashenka
Popular Belarusian blogger Ihar Losik was taken as a political prisoner and sentenced to 15 years in jail in an ongoing effort by the Lukashenka regime to silence opponents and neutralize the digital media.
Nov 18, 2022
The Struggle For Freedom: Truth Versus Lies in Putin's Russia
Vladimir Kara-Murza, a pro-democracy Russian politician, was charged with high treason on Oct. 6. Russian authorities briefed Kara-Murza on the indictment in prison, where he has been detained since April on less severe charges.
Middle East
Sep 26, 2025
The Struggle for Freedom: Syria’s Abdulghany tracks those ‘disappeared’ by Assad regime
Dec 18, 2024
The Struggle for Freedom UPDATE: Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner granted 21 days medical leave from Evin Prison
Sep 12, 2024
The Struggle for Freedom: The Turkish businessman targeted by bizarre conspiracy theories
Apr 12, 2023
The Struggle for Freedom: Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi advocates for ‘Women, Life, and Freedom’ from prison
When protests spread throughout Iran last September after the death of Mahsa Amini, a young, Kurdish Iranian woman arrested and beaten for improperly wearing her headscarf, Narges Mohammadi reported on the regime’s crackdown from a unique vantage point: Iran’s notorious Evin prison.
Africa
Dec 19, 2024
Marwa Arafa: An Egyptian jailed for helping political prisoners and their families survive
Apr 1, 2024
The Struggle for Freedom UPDATE: Prominent reporter Stanis Bujakera freed in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Feb 28, 2024
The Struggle for Freedom: The Democratic Republic of Congo sidelines an influential reporter
Dec 14, 2023
The Struggle for Freedom update: Jacob Ngarivhume released from prison
Sep 28, 2023
The Struggle for Freedom: Jacob Ngarivhume jailed in advance of anti-corruption protest – and Zimbabwe’s disputed elections
Jacob Ngarivhume, the leader of the small political party Transform Zimbabwe, was swept up in a preemptive crackdown that headed off a nationwide anti-corruption protest planned for July 31, 2020.
Policy Recommendations
Spotlights
Video · Aug 12, 2026
Struggle for Freedom spotlight: Nazeela Elmi
Article · Jul 23, 2026
Struggle for Freedom spotlight: Albert “Albie” Sachs
Sachs was a key player in the South Africa democratic transition that followed Apartheid, where he was among the founding judges of the new Constitutional Court.
Article · Jul 8, 2026
Update: Struggle for Freedom spotlight – Pastor Ezra Jin
Helping prisoners like Jin realize their freedom weakens America’s adversaries and strengthens the appeal of U.S. values.
Video · Jun 12, 2026
Struggle for Freedom spotlight: Sardar Pashaei
May 14, 2026
Struggle for Freedom spotlight: Pastor Ezra Jin
May 7, 2026
Struggle for Freedom spotlight: Nasrin Sotoudeh
Mar 30, 2026
Struggle for Freedom spotlight: Yana Zinkevych
Mar 18, 2026
Struggle for Freedom spotlight: Julienne Lusenge
Feb 27, 2026
Struggle for Freedom spotlight: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Feb 6, 2026
The Struggle for Freedom
With our Struggle for Freedom series, we will ensure that their stories and names are known and that their fight for justice can be shared with many.