Secrets of the US #WithoutJustCause Campaign to Release Political Prisoners Around the World

As political prisoners around the world begin another year behind bars, the US State Department revealed that the launch of the Without Just Cause initiative, which seeks to raise international awareness of the plight of political prisoners and their families and to advocate for the release of all those who are detained unfairly worldwide.

The campaign, which raised the hashtag #WithoutJustCause, aims to shed light on the poor conditions that political prisoners and their families live in and calls for their release.

The list included the names of political prisoners from China, Cuba, Venezuela, Egypt, Belarus, and Iran, while the Syrian Rania al-Abbasi topped the list.

Without Just Cause initiative, started on July 11, 2022, pledged to commit to conclusions of the first summit for democracy held in 2021.

 

Unfair Detention

Many activists languish in prisons around the world, their crime simply being the peaceful exercise of their internationally guaranteed basic human rights.

The following is an overview of the political prisoners mentioned by the US State Department in its report. The report listed the names and the circumstances of the detention of many political prisoners in many countries.

The Syrian detainee in the prisons of the al-Assad regime, Rania al-Abbasi, topped the list of the campaign launched by the US State Department to release political prisoners around the world.

Al-Abbasi is a Syrian dentist and chess champion. The al-Assad regime arrested her in 2013 along with her husband and five children in Damascus, and her fate is still unknown.

The US State Department said that after the outbreak of the Syrian protests in 2011, dentist and chess champion Rania al-Abbasi vowed to stay in her country, support the local community, and raise her children in it.

But on March 9 of 2013, the security forces of the Bashar al-Assad regime from the Damascus branch arrested her husband at their home without revealing the reason.

On March 11 of the same year, two days later, armed forces arrested the doctor and her six children, ages ranging from one to 14.

Al-Abbasi’s family believes that she and her family were arrested for providing humanitarian aid to a displaced family, according to the ministry, which stated that al-Abbasi was not active in demonstrations or political activities.

The US State Department indicated that the fate and whereabouts of Dr. Al-Abbasi, her husband, and their six children are still unknown to this day.

The ministry called for her and her family’s release, along with all others unjustly detained in Syria, without delay, and the regime must clarify the fate of the huge number of missing persons.

From Egypt, the report denounced the arrest of Mohamed el-Baqer, a human rights lawyer and founder of the Justice for Rights and Freedoms Center, who spent his career defending the basic freedoms of Egyptians.

He has been detained for more than 1,000 days since 2019 after the Egyptian government charged him with freedom of expression and terrorism while he was defending imprisoned human rights activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah in court.

 

Pressure to Release Prisoners

Within this initiative, the US State Department will be keen to pressure governments around the world to release political prisoners.

“Building on our commitment at the first #SummitForDemocracy, today we launch the #WithoutJustCause initiative to secure the release of political prisoners. We call on governments worldwide to free those detained for peacefully exercising their human rights,” secretary Antony Blinken tweeted.

The ministry quoted its spokesperson, Ned Price, as saying that the detention of political prisoners creates a climate of fear and stifles political participation and fundamental freedoms. Hence, at this year’s Summit for Democracy, the US government is launching a Without Just Cause initiative to pressure for their release.

In the report on the initiative, which it published on its website, the Foreign Ministry confirmed that the political prisoners shed light on the regimes’ growing efforts to silence dissent and suppress their basic freedoms.

It indicated that in countless numbers, political prisoners are subjected to torture, detention in inhumane conditions, enforced disappearance, and other types of violence. Their families long to meet their imprisoned loved ones.

The ministry stressed that the Without Just Cause initiative is launched from Washington to US embassies and consulates around the world to call for the release of these political prisoners and others by resorting to diplomacy and bilateral agreements, seeking help from international organizations and non-governmental organizations, meeting with other governments, in addition to meeting with the families of these individuals.

 

Timing’s Secret

In an interview with Al-Estiklal, the political activist Asmae said: “Many experts wonder about the secret of the timing of this initiative, especially since it came after months of harsh criticism that Biden was subjected to after his visit to Saudi Arabia, his meeting with bin Salman, and his failure to stand against the human rights violations as he promised during his election campaign.”

The Times newspaper published an article in July 2022, written by Richard Spencer, entitled Biden turns a blind eye to the sins of the Saudis.

The writer talks about the criticism of Biden’s visit to meet Mohammed bin Salman because of his human rights record, especially his alleged role in the murder of opposition journalist Jamal Khashoggi, noting that Biden’s presidential tour in the Middle East is seen in Washington as a subversion of political reality.

The author of the article said that Biden had pledged, like many former presidential candidates who ran propaganda campaigns before the last US elections, to end the United States’ dependence on Middle Eastern dictatorships for regional security and oil supplies, and stated that he would make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” because of the killing of Khashoggi.

Yet, as with other presidents before him, he finds himself unable to ignore the United States’ historic regional alliances quite so easily. His policies toward Israel and Iran are criticized at home amid the dire consequences of the war in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia. All these facts may have contributed to pushing Biden to ignore his promises about human rights violations.

The political activist concluded: “Today’s initiative would be Biden’s government’s attempt to show that they are making a balance between the reality and the promises.”