Global Citizenship for Human Rights - Human Rights Heroes

  NASRIN SOTOUDEH Nasrin Sotoudeh was born in 1963 in a "religious, middle-class" Iranian family. Nasrin Sotoudeh is an exemplary Iranian woman and lawyer who for years has been struggling to restore women’s rights. She has represented imprisoned Iranian opposition activists and politicians following the disputed June 2009 Iranian presidential elections as well as prisoners sentenced to death for crimes committed when they were minors. She has also represented women arrested for appearing in public without a hijab, which is a punishable offence in Iran. As a direct result of her human rights work defending protesters who had been arrested during the 2009 demonstrations against the contested re-election of ex-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Nasrin Sotoudeh was previously imprisoned in Iran from 2010 until 2013. At this time she was charged with “acting against national security” and “propaganda against the regime” and sentenced to 11 years in prison and an additional bar

  MARYAM DURANI Maryam Durani (born 1987) is an Afghan activist and women's advocate. Maryam Durani is the daughter of Haji Mohammad Eisa Durani, and she is a member of the Durrani tribe. She graduated from the Payam Noor and American University of Afghanistan. She has a degree in Law and Political Science and business. Despite the area's extremely conservative view toward women, Durani serves as a leader, role model, and advocate for women in Kandahar. She is is one of the most prominent women’s rights advocates in Afghanistan. Durani was a member of the Kandahar Provincial Council. First elected as a Kandahar Provincial Council Member in 2005 at the age of 21 and for a second term in 2009, Durani served as one of only four women on the Council and has brought women's concerns and a woman's perspective to the activities and discussions of the Council. She was also the director of the non-profit Khadija Kubra Women's Association for Culture. With such roles of

  SOLTAN ACHILOVA Soltan Achilova (71) is an independent photojournalist and reporter in Turkmenistan, one of the most isolated and repressive countries in the world. She is shedding light on the many injustices and human rights violations people face in her country. With almost complete governmental control over its population, citizens of Turkmenistan have scarcely any recourse to defend their rights. Strict surveillance and the denial of fundamental rights are what ignited the fire of activism in Soltan Achilova. She does not expect the human rights situation in Turkmenistan to improve anytime soon, but she wants her fellow citizens, as well as the international community to be aware of the situation in Turkmenistan, even at her own risk Her work illustrates issues affecting Turkmen citizens in their daily lives such as food insecurity, forced and illegal evictions, lack of adequate healthcare and the discrimination faced by people with disabilities. She has reported on these

  Dmitry Muratov jumped into the limelight recently after being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This year, the Norwegian Nobel Committee focused on the reality of the world we live in. A world in which geopolitical battles fought through media narratives and protests against the control of information are increasingly frequent. The Committee labeled the newspaper as righteous and stated that Novaya Gazeta  is the most independent newspaper in Russia today, with a fundamentally critical attitude towards power. The newspaper’s fact-based journalism and professional integrity made it an important source of information on censurable aspects regarding Russian society which are barely mentioned in other media Mr Muratov is the co-founder and editor of Novaya Gazeta, which has been standing up for press freedom and freedom of speech in Russia for decades, two fundamental rights that have come under heavy attack in Russia and in other parts of the world, under increasingly challenging condi