freeing prisoners of conscience through legal, political and public relations advocacy
We are a non-profit, non-partisan organization that works to free prisoners of conscience worldwide through legal, political, and public relations advocacy efforts … (full text Homepage).
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Address: Freedom Now, P.O. Box 30155, Bethesda, Maryland 20824-0155, USA;
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Overview: whom do we seek to represent: http://www.freedom-now.org/over.php
Freedom Now seeks to represent and secure the release of individuals who are arbitrarily deprived of their liberty. Such individuals are often referred to as « prisoners of conscience. »
In short, prisoners of conscience are persons detained for their political, religious, or other beliefs or because of their ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, color, language, national or social origin, economic status, birth or other status – who have not used or advocated violence.
An individual may be deprived of liberty before, during, or after a trial, as well as in the absence of any kind of formal legal mechanism. Arbitrary detention of an individual may occur under the following conditions:
the detainee has been detained for actions that constitute the exercise of one of the fundamental rights guaranteed by international treaties, such as the rights to freedom of opinion, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of association, and freedom of movement;
and / or
regardless of the reason for the detention, the detainee is not able to exercise the many rights encompassed by the right to a fair trial (which is recognized under international treaties), including the rights to be tried by an independent judicial authority, to know the charges involved, to consult with an attorney, and to confront witnesses.
How do we obtain representation for individuals? … (full text).