Political Prisoners
Egypt’s Political Prisoners Recount Horrific Conditions
For a time, Mr. Abd El Fattah shared a prison complex with a former presidential candidate, 71-year-old Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, who suffers from conditions the United Nations has called life-threatening, including angina, prostate disease and kidney stones. He has received almost no medical attention apart from basic tests, the U.N. said. But the authorities […]
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In Turbulent Times, Xi Builds a Security Fortress for China, and Himself
Over informal, private meals with American leaders, China’s Xi Jinping let his guard down a little. It was a decade ago, relations were less strained, and Mr. Xi, still cementing his power, hinted he worried about the Chinese Communist Party’s grip. Speaking privately with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, Mr. Xi suggested […]
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Griner’s Sentence Renews Pressure on President Biden
WASHINGTON — Immediately after a Moscow judge handed down Brittney Griner’s nine-year prison sentence on Thursday, calls grew louder for President Biden to find a way to bring her home. “We call on President Biden and the United States government to redouble their efforts to do whatever is necessary and possible,” the Rev. Al Sharpton […]
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Brittney Griner’s Guilty Verdict Strengthens Supporters’ Resolve
Nothing about Thursday’s proceedings in a Russian courthouse, where the W.N.B.A. star Brittney Griner was being tried on drug smuggling charges, surprised experts familiar with Russia’s legal process. Griner was convicted and sentenced to a penal colony for nine years — just one year shy of the maximum sentence. Her conviction was thought to be […]
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Griner Case Draws Attention to ‘Wrongful Detentions’
WASHINGTON — Brittney Griner. Austin Tice. The Citgo 6. And now, potentially, three American military veterans who were captured by enemy forces after traveling to Ukraine to fight Russia. They are among nearly 50 Americans who the State Department believes are wrongfully detained by foreign governments. At least a dozen more Americans are being held […]
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Ailing Hong Kong Activist Defiant as Court Sentences Him to Prison
HONG KONG — If his cutoff T-shirts, close-cropped hair and long, thin beard were not enough to make Koo Sze-yiu stand out among the masses who took to the streets to protest in Hong Kong, there were also the coffins. Mr. Koo often built the wooden coffins by hand, adorning them with messages denouncing China’s […]
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Glimpses of Brittney Griner Show a Complicated Path to Release
One hundred forty-one days. That is how long Brittney Griner has been behind bars in Russia. That is how long she has been stuck in the middle of a high-stakes staredown between the United States and Russia at exactly the wrong time, as President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia continues his horrendous invasion of Ukraine […]
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In Putin’s Russia, the Arrests Are Spreading Quickly and Widely
They came for Dmitri Kolker, an ailing physicist, in the intensive care ward. They came for Ivan Fedotov, a hockey star, as he was leaving practice with a film crew in tow. They came for Vladimir Mau, a state university rector, the week he was re-elected to the board of Gazprom. The message sent by […]
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Brittney Griner’s Detention in Moscow Is Latest in Hostage Diplomacy
Brittney Griner, the W.N.B.A. athlete facing criminal drug charges in Russia, may be merely the latest victim of a practice so common it has its own name: hostage diplomacy. The U.S. government classifies Ms. Griner as “wrongfully detained,” meaning that it believes the charges against her are spurious, perhaps intended to pressure Washington over its […]
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