Around the world, lawyers are harassed, threatened or attacked for simply doing their job. It depends on the political reality and the factual circumstances what instruments are used to silence lawyers or prevent them from representing certain clients. Lawyers increasingly face arbitrary arrest and prosecution. There is an alarming trend of lawyers who are sentenced to long prison sentences because of their work. In these cases, fundamental rights such as access to justice and protection from torture and other ill-treatment in detention are not guaranteed. Therefore, these lawyers need our support.
In order to provide protective publicity and support to lawyers who are serving long prison sentences, Lawyers for Lawyers has launched the worldwide two-year long #FreeTheLawyers Campaign on 10 December 2019. The campaign consists of a series of activities, including interventions, social media campaigns, individual petitions and submission as well as advocacy on targeted cases from different parts of the world.
The #FreeTheLawyers campaign is designed to bring awareness, build support, and inspire action on behalf of lawyers imprisoned for their work. Learn their stories, send them messages of hope, and join the campaign to stand in solidarity and advocate for their immediate release.
Lawyers for Lawyers has highlighted the cases of five of these courageous lawyers who are unjustly jailed for upholding the rule of law: Mahienour El-Massry from Egypt, Wang Quanzhang from China, Selçuk Kozağaçlı from Turkey, Nasrin Sotoudeh from Iran, and Buzurgmehr Yorov from Tajikistan. Read more about these five lawyers by clicking their photos.
Take action by writing a greetings card for one the featured lawyers! Click here for further instructions on how to support the cause and write a greetings card.
