[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 53 (Monday, March 22, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S1665]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Political Prisoners

  Madam President, I want to salute a member of my staff before I make 
this statement. His name is Chris Homan. He has been with me a number 
of years. He has a special passion for people who are languishing in 
prisons around the world for so-called political crimes, and he has 
convinced me to make this my cause as well.
  Time after time, we have been successful at seeing the release of 
these political prisoners simply by speaking on the floor and 
addressing the Embassies of the countries where they are imprisoned and 
trying to put some political pressure on the leaders of those countries 
to release those prisoners. You wouldn't believe that would work, would 
you, in an authoritarian regime, but it turns out it does, and over the 
years, we have been successful in helping many political prisoners be 
released. Today, I would like to address that topic again.
  There are political prisoners languishing in jails around the world 
for nothing more than advocating for human rights and political 
freedom. These brave souls are often led to believe their efforts to 
push for freedoms are forgotten. I come to the floor today to tell them 
that is not the case.
  Let me start with a particularly cruel and troubling set of cases: a 
Saudi writer, Raif Badawi, and his lawyer, Waleed Abulkhair. Badawi was 
arrested in 2012 for his peaceful writings, charged with apostasy, 
sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2012 and 1,000 lashes, at least 50 
of which were carried out despite international uproar. Badawi suffers 
poor health, hypertension. His condition has worsened during 10 years 
in prison.
  I had the honor of meeting his wife, Ensaf Haidar, here in 
Washington, DC, some years ago. She is living in exile in Canada with 
her young children after facing threats to her life in Saudi Arabia.
  Badawi's lawyer, Waleed Abulkhair, a leading human rights activist, 
also wa arrested in 2014 and sentenced to 10 years in prison and a 15-
year travel ban.

  As these two men near the latter years of their sentences, I once 
again appeal to the Government of the Saudis to free them. They have 
suffered enough.
  I also call for the release of Filipina Senator Leila de Lima, who 
just spent her fourth year languishing in jail in the Philippines. This 
is a photo of her in her cell.
  As a leading human rights advocate, she has criticized the actions of 
the President of her country, Rodrigo Duterte. From time to time, she 
writes from her cell. Let me share a short excerpt from this brave 
woman who, incredibly, after 4 years in confinement, still maintains 
her sense of humor. She wrote:

       Warm greetings from my detention quarters at the Philippine 
     National Police Custodial Center, Camp Crame! . . . I do not 
     know how long I will remain behind bars but there is one 
     thing that I am sure of--my will to fight for what is right 
     continues to be undeterred.

  She is not alone. Many of us have spoken about Duterte's political 
harassment of Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, who received her 9th 
arrest warrant in November and 10th in January.
  I have met with many in the Filipino American community in Illinois. 
We have a great, great community of Filipinos in the Chicagoland area 
and across the State. I know that they and colleagues here, like 
Senators Markey and Leahy, will continue to support efforts to see a 
more accountable and democratic Philippines.
  Lastly, let me turn to the United Arab Emirates, where one of the 
Nation's top human rights defenders, Ahmed Mansoor, also just passed 
his fourth year in jail. You see, Mansoor was arrested under the guise 
that his social media post advocating for human rights threatened the 
social harmony of the UAE. He is considered to be one of the last human 
rights defenders in the Emirates, one who peacefully advocates for 
freedom of expression, fair trials, and the humane treatment of 
prisoners.
  Since his troubling sentencing in 2017, he has endured solitary 
confinement and cruel separation from his family. Despite the dismal 
conditions of his incarceration, he remains steadfast in his commitment 
to human rights, even conducting multiple hunger strikes in protest of 
jail conditions--the same conditions he spoke against before his 
detention. It is long overdue that Emiratis let this man go.
  America's strength around the world comes not only from its military 
and its economy but also from the power of its ideals. I can tell you 
from the many former prisoners who have come to visit me over the years 
that the support of this body and this Congress and the American 
people, which we may just take for granted as another speech on the 
floor of the Senate, can make a difference. They have come to learn 
that someone actually mentioned their name on the floor of the U.S. 
Senate in Washington, DC. It sustains them. It encourages them. It 
gives them hope, and it puts pressure on the governments that jail them 
to justify and rationalize the cruel treatment that they are 
responsible for.
  So let me remind Raif Badawi, Waleed Abulkhair, Senator Leila de 
Lima, Maria Ressa, and Ahmed Mansoor: You are not forgotten. We will 
continue to advocate for your freedom, and we hope that it comes 
someday soon.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.