Loujain al-Hathloul and Jimmy Lai

Loujain al-Hathloul, one of Saudi Arabia’s most prominent women’s rights activists, was held for three years in a Saudi prison for leading the campaign to legalize driving for women in Saudi Arabia. She was detained in May 2018 along with several other female activists, just weeks before the Saudi government lifted the ban. A judge sentenced her to five years and eight months in prison under a broad counterterrorism law; she was released early, in February 2021, but remains under many restrictions. She has appealed her conviction.

Jimmy Lai is one of the most prominent supporters of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. His media company, Next Digital, founded Apple Daily, a widely-read tabloid in Hong Kong frequently critical of Hong Kong and the Chinese Communist Party. The paper was forced to close in June 2021 following a raid by Hong Kong police. Lai’s arrest in August 2020 on charges of violating Hong Kong’s new national security law, and subsequent trial and sentencing, arose out of 2019 pro-democracy protests.