Calls Release

Zainab Sheriff unjustly sentenced to four years in prison for incitement and threatening language, say activistsLawyers, politicians and activists have called for the release of one of Sierra Leone’s best-known celebrities, who they said was unjustly imprisoned as part of a government crackdown on free speech and political dissent.Zainab Sheriff, a singer and reality-TV show contestant who became a political opposition figure, was sentenced in April to four years and two months’ imprisonment for incitement and using threatening language. Continue reading...

Casting director urges Keir Starmer to intervene in case of Paata Burchuladze, 71, jailed for seven years after singing at anti-regime demonstrationsThe Royal Opera House in London has urged Keir Starmer to intervene in the case of Paata Burchuladze, a world-renowned bass singer who has been imprisoned in Georgia since October on a charge of leading a coup against the country’s authoritarian leader.The 71-year-old has performed at the Royal Opera House and the Metropolitan Opera House in New York and collaborated with the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo and José Carreras. He was arrested after joining a protest outside the presidential palace in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. Last week he was given a seven-year jail sentence which Burchuladze suggested to the court was equivalent to a life sentence given his age. Continue reading...

Joe Bennett says ceasefire presents ‘very opportune moment’ to raise case of his parents, Lindsay and Craig ForemanMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe son of a British couple detained in Tehran on espionage charges has called on Keir Starmer to prioritise their case in the “very opportune moment” of a ceasefire in the Iran conflict.Lindsay and Craig Foreman, from East Sussex, were arrested while on a five-day trip across Iran in January last year and have been held in Evin prison for 15 months. Continue reading...

State-funded savings accounts set up for children at birth going unclaimed, with £1.5bn estimated to be sat in bank accountsAs Elle Middlemas approached her 18th birthday, she began wondering if she had a child trust fund, a government savings account given to all children born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011, that can be accessed as soon as they officially hit adulthood.She quickly hit a dead end. She wasn’t sure if she was even owed the money and could find no information online. An email to HMRC seeking clarity led her nowhere. Continue reading...