Former RPOCs

Reda Abdel Rahman Egypt

USCIRF Advocate: Sharon Kleinbaum

Reda Abdel Rahman is a teacher at the al-Azhar Institute in the northern governorate of Sharqiya as well as a former blogger on topics related to Qur’anism. Over the years, Reda has been arrested several times, each time for his expressing his religious beliefs as a Qur’anist.

Patriarch Abune Antonios Eritrea

USCIRF Advocate: James W. Carr

Patriarch Abune Antonios was born on July 12, 1927, in Himberti, a town north of the Eritrean capital, Asmara. He was ordained as the third Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Tawahedo Church in 2004.

Dilshat Perhat Ataman China

USCIRF Advocate: Tony Perkins

Dilshat Perhat Ataman is a Uighur Muslim from the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of western China. During the late 2000s, he ran the popular Uighur-language website, Diyarim, which focused on social and cultural issues.

Raif Badawi Saudi Arabia

USCIRF Advocate: Nadine Maenza

Raif Badawi is a blogger and human rights activist who co-founded the website Free Saudi Liberals in 2008. Badawi and his colleagues intended the website to encourage debate on religious and political issues in Saudi Arabia despite the country's restricted civic space.

Pastor Andrew Brunson Turkey

USCIRF Advocate: Kristina Arriaga

Andrew Brunson, 50, is an American citizen who has lived in Turkey for 23 years. He is a pastor for the Izmir Diriliş (Resurrection) Church, a small evangelical Presbyterian congregation in the city of Izmir.

Dennis Christensen Russia

Dennis Ole Christensen is a Danish citizen, carpenter-by-trade, and entrepreneur imprisoned for his religious activity as a Jehovah’s Witness.

Pastor A Dao Vietnam

USCIRF Advocate: James W. Carr

A Dao, resident of Gia Xieng Village, Ro Koi Commune, Sa Thay District, Kontum Province, is a Protestant pastor of the Montagnard Evangelical Church of Christ (MECC).

Patriarch Thich Quang Do Vietnam

USCIRF Advocate: Kristina Arriaga

Most Venerable Thich Quang Do was born on November 27, 1928 in Thai Binh Province. Patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) since 2008, Thich Quang Do has been a lifelong advocate for democracy, religious freedom, and human rights.

Hamid Kamal Mohammad bin Haydara Others

USCIRF Advocate: Johnnie Moore

The armed religious-political movement known as the Houthi sparked a civil war in Yemen when they turned against the government in 2015. They have promoted sectarian divisions and have cracked down on the tiny Yemeni Baha’i community.

Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh and Tran Thi Hong Vietnam

USCIRF Advocate: Jackie Wolcott

Nguyen Cong Chinh is an evangelical pastor originally from the Quang Nam province, and has lived in the Central Highland provinces of Kon Tum and Gia Lai since 1985.  He is a long-time pro-democracy activist and critic of the Vietnamese government’s ban on preaching in the Central Highlands.

Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee Iran

USCIRF Advocate: Anurima Bhargava

Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee is an author and a life-long campaigner for human rights and women’s rights.

Fariba Kamalabadi - The Baha'i Seven Iran

USCIRF Advocate: Kristina Arriaga

Fariba Kamalabadi was born on September 12, 1962, in Tehran, Iran. Ms. Kamalabadi graduated from high school with honors but was barred from attending university due to her Baha’i faith.

Bagir Kazikhanov Russia

USCIRF Advocate: John Ruskay

Bagir Kazikhanov was born on September 9, 1983 in the Republic of Dagestan, an administrative entity of the Russian Federation.

Shamil Khakimov Tajikistan

USCIRF Advocate: Nury Turkel

Seventy year-old Shamil Khakimov is one of 24 Jehovah’s Witnesses in Khujand and nearby towns in northern Tajikistan interrogated by the Department of Organized Crime Control in late January and early February.

Pwint Phyu Latt and Zaw Zaw Latt Burma

USCIRF Advocate: Daniel Mark

Zaw Zaw Latt and Pwint Phyu Latt are two Muslim interfaith peace advocates who have been imprisoned since 2015.

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani Iran

Youcef Nadarkhani was born on April 11, 1977 to Muslim parents in Rasht, Iran. Though not religious as a child, he converted to Christianity at age 19, becoming a member of the Only Jesus Church.

Mahvash Sabet - The Baha'i Seven Iran

USCIRF Advocate: Kristina Arriaga

Mahvash Sabet was born on February 4, 1953 in Ardestan, Iran. Ms. Sabet moved to Tehran when she was in the fifth grade and eventually received a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Ms. Sabet married Siyvash Sabet on May 21, 1973 and has a son and daughter.

Abdul Shakoor Pakistan

USCIRF Advocate: Johnnie Moore

Abdul Shakoor was born February 2, 1937 in Qadian, India.  He is married and the father of five daughters and two sons.  

Hu Shigen China

Hu Shigen was born on November 14, 1955, in Jiangxi Province. He received his university education in Beijing and later taught at the Beijing Language Institute. The 1989 Democracy Movement, and the subsequent Tiananmen Square protests, jumpstarted Hu Shigen’s political activism.

Mohammad Ali Taheri Iran

USCIRF Advocate: Gayle Manchin

On May 4, 2011, Taheri was again arrested and tried under charges of “touching the wrists of female patients,” “blasphemy,” “producing and distributing audio-visual material,” “interfering in medical science,”  “earning illegitimate funds,” and “distribution of audio-visual products and use of ac

Nguyen Bac Truyen Vietnam

Nguyen Bac Truyen is a legal expert who leads the Vietnamese Political & Religious Prisoners Friendship Association, which assists prisoners of conscience and their families.

Maryam Naghash Zargaran Iran

USCIRF Advocate: Clifford D. May

Maryam Naghash Zargaran, a Christian convert from Islam and former children's music teacher, was arrested on January 6, 2013.