Prisoners of Conscience

These prisoners of conscience will be adopted by Parliamentarians, who will advocate on their behalf. The aim is to highlight their cases – and those of all who are unjustly imprisoned as a result of their faith or belief, regardless of whatever that faith of belief might be. Through these efforts we will establish a much more focused and continuous advocacy on their behalf.

Leah Sharibu

Leah, a teenage Christian girl was one of the 110 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram members from their school in Dapchi, Nigeria. Despite the fact that all of the girls have now been released, Boko Haram refused to let Leah go. According to one of the other girls, Leah declined to renounce her Christian faith. This is the reason Boko Haram continues to enslave her.

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Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh

Nasser, an Iranian Christian convert, has been in Tehran’s Evin Prison since January 2018, serving a 10-year sentence for his membership of a house-church. He has had three requests for retrials rejected in that time, and was recently denied parole, despite being eligible after serving more than one third of his sentence. He was told the reason for the denial was that he had “not changed his position” – i.e. that he continues to maintain that he is a Christian. Nasser, who was his elderly mother’s primary carer before his incarceration, has not once been allowed out on furlough, despite the Covid pandemic. He celebrated his 60th birthday on 3 August – in prison.

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Mubarak Bala

Mubarak Bala is the President of the Nigerian Humanist Association. In April 2020 he was arrested, accused of being ‘provocative and annoying to Muslims’ on Facebook. He is currently being arbitrarily detained in Kano State, a region that allows for the operation of Sharia courts alongside secular courts, where riots and murder are not uncommon for accusations of blasphemy, and where blasphemy carries the death penalty. In October 2020, Bala was finally granted access to his legal team, more than five months after his initial arrest. In December, a judge at the High Court in Abuja, Nigeria, ruled that he should be immediately released on bail after finding that his continuous incarceration without charge violated his fundamental rights guaranteed under the Nigerian Constitution. However, Kano State officials are ignoring the ruling.

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Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo and Nour Girgis

Christian men Nour Fayez Ibrahim Girgis (left) and Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo (right) have been detained in Egypt since late 2021 under laws typically used against terror suspects, facing allegations of blasphemy and support for foreign organizations. Girgis, who worked for Miracle Pharmaceutical in Minya, was detained and questioned for his involvement with a Facebook group for Christian converts and later charged under the Egyptian Penal Code for his Christian activities, with extended detention periods and a lack of opportunity to present his legal defense. Abdo, an asylum seeker from Yemen registered with the UNHRC, faced similar charges and was also interrogated about his television evangelism. Throughout his detention, Abdo was transferred across multiple facilities, and a June 2022 attempt to repatriate him to Yemen prompted UN experts to intervene, warning of Yemen’s poor religious freedom record; in August 2024, Abdo initiated a partial hunger strike to protest his treatment.

Maira Shahbaz

Maira Shahbaz, a 14-year-old Christian girl from Faisalabad, Pakistan, was abducted at gunpoint in April 2020 by three men led by Mohamad Nakash. Forced into marriage and pressured to convert to Islam, her case has sparked calls for international intervention from UK MPs and human rights organizations advocating for her asylum in the UK.

Despite evidence showing she was 14 at the time, Pakistani courts have repeatedly ruled in favor of her abductor. In August 2020, the Lahore High Court returned her to Nakash’s custody, overturning a prior protection order. Maira soon escaped, later reporting that Nakash had drugged and abused her, filming blackmail videos to ensure her compliance.

In November 2020, the #RedWednesday campaign, backed by over 30 UK MPs and faith leaders, petitioned Prime Minister Boris Johnson for her asylum. Human rights groups highlight her case as an example of the dangers faced by religious minority girls in Pakistan, stressing the urgency of securing her safety.

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Nguyen Bac Truyen

Nguyen Bac Truyen (Nguyễn Bắc Truyển), a Vietnamese human rights defender and Hoa Hao Buddhist, was imprisoned in 2017 after being abducted by Vietnamese police. Truyen had provided free legal assistance to political prisoners’ families, victims of land seizures, and persecuted religious communities. In April 2018, he was sentenced to 11 years for “carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the government.” Throughout his detention, he endured serious mistreatment, prompting a hunger strike in 2019 to protest the abuse of fellow prisoners.

Truyen was unexpectedly released on September 8, 2023, shortly before President Biden’s visit to Vietnam, and immediately traveled to Germany. His release, reportedly influenced by German advocacy, marked the end of six years of imprisonment. Now in exile, Truyen expressed relief at his freedom and determination to continue advocating for human rights from abroad, while adjusting to his new life in Germany with his wife.

A Message of Thanks from Nguyen Bac Truyen

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