HRF in the News — September and October highlights

Every month, through publications, interviews, and coverage, we help put a bigger spotlight on some of the world’s most effective and important dissidents, and we promote ideas on how best to challenge corruption and repression.

In the past few months, HRF’s work has received attention from more than a dozen international news outlets. Here are the highlights.

The Oslo Freedom Forum generated the following coverage:

• Economist: Economist Asks video on the death penalty and short films on Maria Toorpakai Wazir and Manal al-Sharif
• The Young Turks: Interviews with Ji Seong-ho, Leyla Hussein, Srdja Popovic, Vladimir Kara-Murza, and Marina Nemat
• Business Insider: Profile of Ji Seong-ho, “The story of a North Korean amputee’s 6,000-mile escape on crutches”
• Voice of America: N. Korean Defector Urges Continued Global Pressure on Pyongyang
• Voice of America Noticias: Facebook Live interview with Wuilly Arteaga
• Reason: Recap of OFFinNY, “Humanizing the Struggle at the Oslo Freedom Forum in New York”
• Nettavisen:
  • Recap of opening press conference, “FN er et verktøy for diktaturene“
  • Profile of Wuilly Arteaga, “Når Wuilly spiller fiolin, gråter diktatoren”
  • Profile of Maria Toorpakai, “Maria Toorpakai Wazir måtte gjemme seg i tre år som barn“
  • Interview with Iyad el-Baghdadi, “Advarer om massive flyktningestrømmer fra arabiske land i framtiden”
• Monocle: Radio spot on the Interactive Expo (begins at 35:00)
• National Review:
  • Recap of OFFinNY, “Playing for Freedom”
  • Profile of Wuilly Arteaga, “The Freedom Song”
  • Podcast with Leyla Hussein, “A Bold, Delightful Lady against a Cruel Practice”
  • Article on Yuri Dmitriev case that mentions OFF Speakers: “The Grave Hunter, Hunted”
  • Article on Che Guevara’s symbol that mentioned OFF: “Che in our faces, &c“
• Metro New York: Recap of OFFinNY, “Activists speak out at New York’s first Oslo Freedom Forum on human rights”
• El Tiempo: Profile of Wuilly Arteaga, “Wuilly Arteaga se fue de Venezuela ” (Spanish)
• Radio Free Asia: Radio spot on North Korean issues at OFFinNY, “오슬로 자유포럼, 내달 뉴욕서 ‘북 인권’ 고발”
• Two attendees also wrote personal blog posts about their experiences, which you can read on Medium and on HRF.org.

Thor Halvorssen published an op-ed in The Memo: What technology really means for human rights

Thor’s criticism of Fusion GPS also continued to make the news. Thor gave interviews on:

• Fox News
• Fox Business
• The Sean Hannity Show

Flash Drives for Freedom continued to attract widespread coverage:

• NowThis*:* These sunglasses are sneaking info from the outside world into North Korea
• New Zealand Herald: Genius idea to win war with North Korea
• Global Comment: The North Korea non-starter
• French television program 7Sur7: L’idée saugrenue mais pas si bête pour faire tomber Kim Jong-un
• DELFI Kultura: Mina Čeona – māksliniece, kura slepšus sūta uz Ziemeļkoreju lekcijas par mākslu

HRF’s legal work also received attention:

• One India reported on our press release condemning the recent wave of violence against the Rohingya: End violence against Rohingyas, HRF urges Myanmar
• Diario Las Américas highlighted a 2015 report by HRF concluding that investigation into the deaths of pro-democracy activists Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero had been actively thwarted by the state: Darsi Ferret muere sin ver la libertad de Cuba
• Turkey Purge and Egypt Today reported on HRF’s anti-Erdogan ad, published on the opening day of the U.N. General Assembly’s General Debate
• Topix and Charter 08 covered HRF’s new report on Chinese rights abuses, written by persecuted lawyer Gao Zhisheng and co-sponsored by China Aid and Christian Solidarity.
• Yahoo Style Singapore covered HRF’s condemnation of actor Nicolas Cage for failing to criticize Kazakhstan’s dictator while at the Eurasia Film Festival.

Lastly, HRF’s Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent was mentioned in the context of the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize, awarded annually by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe: Премию Совета Европы получил заключенный турецкий юрист