Today we announce the opening of our Call for Nominations for the Edelstam Prize 2026. The nomination is open and candidates may be submitted by anyone. The Edelstam Prize is awarded every second year for outstanding contributions and exceptional courage in standing up for one’s beliefs in the Defence of Human Rights. The laureate will be awarded during a ceremony on December 3rd at the House of Nobility in Stockholm.
Sweden and the EU’s highly pragmatic approach towards Eritrea has failed to secure any clear concessions from one of the world’s most repressive regimes write SUSANNE BERGER and CAROLINE EDELSTAM
“Rumors of an impending release of 800 prisoners or more have been swirling in Asmara for weeks now. If true, hopefully also Dawit Isaak’s ordeal and that of his family can finally come to an end. Sweden’s Foreign Minister needs to make clear that she will accept nothing less.”
You can find a shorter version of this article in GLOBAL BAR MAGAZINE, in Swedish and English (to be posted soon).
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that Mexico bears international responsibility for serious human rights violations in connection with the murder of Lilia Alejandra García Andrade, the daughter of human rights defender Norma Andrade, and for the State’s prolonged failure to ensure justice, protection, and effective remedies.
“This impasse is unacceptable and must end. The cycle repeats itself: Sweden requests Dawit Isaak’s release, Eritrea says that our father is alive – but delivers no evidence and no results.”
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Maria Malmer Stenergard, hosted a press briefing on Friday 19 December on the Ministry’s consular work, following her two-day visit to Eritrea. Director-General Svante Liljegren, Head of the Department for Consular and Civil Law Affairs, participate. No new information was release at the press conference.
The United Nations on Monday called for the unconditional release of the estimated 10,000 people arbitrarily detained in Eritrea, including politicians, journalists and students…
The release last week of thirteen political prisoners in Eritrea, who have been detained for 18 years with no contact to the outside world, is an unequivocal sign that the pressure on the Eritrean regime is rising. At the same time, Swedish officials have refused to publicly comment on Dawit Isaak’s case for 24 years, despite the fact that he remains imprisoned in Eritrea. Swedish diplomats claim that they lack effective means of pressuring the Eritrean regime. “There is nothing Eritrea wants,” is the common argument. In fact, there are many things that the Afwerki regime very much likes to have, write SUSANNE BERGER and CAROLINE EDELSTAM.
Link to the full article in English
Link to the article in Swedish
Human Rights Solidarity Announces Justice Wall 2025 with Edelstam Foundation, Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR), Global Liberty Alliance, Hostage Aid Worldwide, and Eritrea Focus, Joining in Support: Urgent Spotlight on Global Human Rights Abuses, Featuring Cases of Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali, Mr. Dawit Isaak, and Gui Minhai.
London, UK – December 9, 2025 – Human Rights Solidarity (HRS), a UK-based human rights organization, is set to unveil its annual “Justice Wall” installation on International Human Rights Day, Wednesday, December 10, 2025. The 10-meter-long canvas wall will stand prominently on Whitehall, directly opposite 10 Downing Street, from 10:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., serving as a powerful public art initiative to highlight ongoing human rights violations worldwide.
“With the Edelstam Foundation, RWCHR, Global Liberty Alliance, Eritrea Focus and Hostage Aid Worldwide joining us in support, we strengthen our message and demand accountability for cases like Ahmadreza Djalali, Dawit Isaak, and Gui Minhai. This installation opposite Downing Street is a platform for global solidarity and action,” said Burak Batuhan Karakus,
Read the full press release here. Got to Justice Wall in London and the organisation Human Rights Solidarity
ANALYSIS. Diplomats tend to avoid risks and settle for partial results. But for Swedes imprisoned in Iran, China and Eritrea, this is a disastrous approach, writes Susanne Berger from the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights and Caroline Edelstam from the Edelstam Foundation.
Read more here and a shorter version of the article in Swedish here
PRESS RELEASE – STOCKHOLM, 27 October 2025
On Mr. Dawit Isaak’s 61st birthday, the Edelstam Foundation, the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR), and the Global Liberty Alliance issue in a joint-statement urging Sweden and the international community to act decisively to secure Mr. Dawit Isaak’s immediate release, after more than 24 years incommunicado in an Eritrean prison. Mr. Dawit Isaak – laureate of the 2024 Edelstam Prize – has been imprisoned without charge, trial, or access to his family, in violation of fundamental human rights and the principles of the rule of law.
Please read the full press release here in English | A press release in Swedish can be found in our Press Room
Read the joint statement by the organizations in English | Lisez la déclaration conjointe des organisations en français
Dawit Isaak – Swedish-Eritrean journalist, playwright, and the 2024 Edelstam Prize Laureate – has been arbitrarily detained, incommunicado in Eritrea for 24 years, without trial, legal representation, or contact with his family. He is the world’s longest-detained journalist. The recent decision by Sweden’s Prosecutor General not to open a criminal investigation into Eritrean officials for crimes against humanity is a grave failure of justice. Sweden must send a clear message: impunity must end, and Mr. Dawit Isaak must be released.
The Edelstam Foundation strongly supports his daughter Betlehem Isaak’s call for the Swedish government to commit to holding Eritrea accountable.
Please read the OP-ED ARTICLE: October 6, 2025, in Göteborgs-Posten by Björn Tunbäck, Reporters without Borders (RSF): “Sverige ger grönt ljus för regimer att begå brott mot mänskligheten”
September 15, 2025
Article in Swedish Daily Aftonbladet (1 106 545 readers)
Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard (M) writes on X that Ahmadreza Djalali, the Karolinska Institutet (KI) researcher imprisoned in Iran, has been in contact with his family.
This is the first sign of life from Djalali since he was moved from Evin Prison three months ago. The foreign minister also writes that he has now been transferred back to Evin Prison.
Djalali’s wife, Vida Mehrannia, tells TV4 that after the transfer, Djalali was taken to another prison—before being moved on to military detention for four days. Thereafter, the researcher is said to have been held in an unknown apartment for almost a month, according to Mehrannia.
September 25, 2025
Article in Swedish daily Aftonbladet (1 106 545 readers)
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard has just held a meeting with Eritrea’s foreign minister. She is demanding that the country release the Swedish journalist Dawit Isaak on humanitarian grounds.
“I have requested that he be granted consular access, meaning that Swedish representatives be allowed to meet him. The Government’s efforts to ensure that Dawit Isaak can be freed and reunited with his family continue with undiminished resolve,” she writes in a comment to Aftonbladet.
Dawit Isaak was imprisoned 24 years ago.
(Translated from Swedish)
September 23 marks the 24th anniversary of the unlawful detention of Mr. Dawit Isaak – a Swedish-Eritrean citizen, journalist, playwright, and the Edelstam Prize 2024 Laureate. He remains the world’s longest-detained journalist, together with his Eritrean colleagues. He has been held in incommunicado detention for 24 years – denied due process and consular access, as well as all contact with his family and legal counsels.
The Edelstam Foundation, the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR), and the Global Liberty Alliance strongly support Betlehem Isaak’s call for the Swedish government to take decisive action on Dawit Isaak’s behalf before it is too late.
On September 10, 2025, I forwarded a set of questions to the Swedish Ambassador for Eritrea, Jenny Ohlsson. They address the most pressing issues that currently persist in my father’s case. (Enclosure 1). So far, neither the Ambassador nor the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs have responded to my request.
My father has been imprisoned in Eritrea since September 2001. He is currently the longest imprisoned journalist in the world.
Through the years, Eritrean officials have repeatedly told Swedish authorities that my father is “fine” and remains detained in Eritrea. See link. They have offered no proof for their assertions.
In response, Swedish officials have stated publicly that – in the absence of any contrary information – they continue to assume him to be alive. They also emphasize that “the work continues undiminished to secure the release of Dawit Isaak.” See link.
Nevertheless, Swedish officials refuse to share detailed information about his case, including when exactly they last demanded a verifiable proof of life, consular access, proper medical care or his immediate and unconditional release. They claim that any public advocacy on his behalf could jeopardize their efforts to secure his freedom. However, for nearly a quarter century now all efforts to resolve the case through silent diplomacy and behind-the-scenes negotiations have failed.
This state of uncertainty must end. If my father is alive, he must be rescued now.
The Raoul Wallenberg Research Initiative RWI-70
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Every week, Diane Foley marks “Moral Courage Monday” (#MoralCourageMonday) by sharing examples of ordinary people doing not-so-ordinary things on behalf of their fellow human beings. Foley is the founder and director of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation – an American human rights organization that supports US citizens held hostage or otherwise illegally detained abroad.
The weekly notes serve as a tribute to the grace and compassion Foley’s son James Wright Foley showed during his two years of imprisonment in Syria, and the support he received from his fellow prisoners in return. James, who was working as a conflict journalist, was kidnapped in 2012 by forces associated with the Islamic State (IS) and brutally murdered two years later.
#MoralCourageMonday is not only inspiring but reminds us that all of us – governments and private citizens alike – can and must meet the challenge when lives are at risk and our values are threatened. Rendering aid is both a duty and a privilege, Foley keeps emphasizing, because, as she says, “in democratic societies, our citizens are our greatest assets and, in fact, our greatest treasure.”
As it happened, a few weeks ago, during a meeting with representatives from several international human rights organizations, a Swedish colleague and I were asked if there was not anybody in Sweden with a strong public profile who would advocate on behalf of the three Swedish citizens who have been arbitrarily detained abroad for a combined 43 years now. Dawit Isaak (Eritrea, 23 years); Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali (9 1/2 years) and Gui Minhai (almost 10 years). To these activists it seemed unfathomable that with a few notable exceptions, no Swedish official, no parliamentarians or other prominent individuals have taken a clear and consistent public stance in any one of these three cases.
From left to right: Swedish diplomat Raoul G. Wallenberg disappeared in the Soviet Union in 1945. 80 years later, the full circumstances of his fate remain unknown. Gui Minhai was abducted from Thailand and has been imprisoned in China since 2015. His family has not had a sign of live from him in seven years. Dawit Isaak has been held without charge or trial in Eritrea. His current location and physical condition are unknown. Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali was arrested in Iran in 2016 and sentenced to death on unsubstantiated espionage charges.
Debate Article published in Swedish in Göteborgs Posten, and in English on Substack on July 31, 2025
The debate article was published in Swedish in leading regional daily Göteborgs-Posten – “Kristersson måste agera snabbt för en frigivning av Djalali”.
For decades now, the Islamic Republic of Iran has weaponized hostage-taking as a political blackmailing tool. Western citizens are detained, convicted in sham trials, and held as useful bargaining chips. Despite a growing international community outcry, the regime appears emboldened rather than concerned—a fact underscored by recent new arrests of European, American, and Israeli nationals, and recently revealed plans to kidnap a Belgian parliamentarian with Iranian roots.
In short, the lackluster efforts by the international community to confront Iran’s hostage diplomacy have proved catastrophic.
Swedish citizen Ahmadreza Djalali—a physician and prominent researcher—has been imprisoned in Iran since 2016. He is one of several foreign hostages now being used as pawns in the Islamic Republic’s increasingly brutal repression of internal opposition, foreign nationals, and Iranians with foreign ties.
Read the whole article on Substack
The Article is signed by Shirin Ebadi Nobel Laureate and one of Iran’s first female judges; Caroline Edelstam President of the Edelstam Foundation; Susanne Berger Senior Fellow, Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights; Mona Haghgou Strindberg Attorney specializing in arbitrary detention.
June 23, 2025
On June 22, 2025, Vida Mehrannia, the wife of Swedish citizen and academic Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali, sent a heartfelt letter to Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, urging Sweden and its international partners to take immediate action to secure her husband’s release from Iran. Dr. Djalali has been arbitrarily detained by the Islamic Republic of Iran since 2016 and has been held under a standing death sentence since 2017, following a sham trial and torture.
This plea comes at a moment of heightened danger. The escalation of conflict in the region, and especially Iran’s intensified crackdown on individuals accused of espionage for Israel, has significantly increased the risk to Dr. Djalali’s life. Read more here…
Debate Article, June 17, 2025
The debate article was published in Sweden’s leading regional daily Göteborgs-Posten today June 17, in Swedish. A longer and more extensive version of the article, in English, can be read here here. The article was co-signed signed by Susanne Berger, Senior Fellow with the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR) and Caroline Edelstam, Co-Founder and President of the Edelstam Foundation.
STOCKHOLM, 12 June 2025
Ms. Caroline Edelstam, President of the Edelstam Foundation, today had the honor of meeting with Ms. Michelle Bachelet, former President of Chile and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, during her visit to Sweden to mark the 30th anniversary of International IDEA – the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.
Also present at the meeting were H.E. Mr. Tucapel Jiménez Fuentes, Ambassador of Chile to Sweden, and Dr. Kevin Casas-Zamora, Secretary-General of International IDEA.
The Swedish diplomat Ambassador Harald Edelstam saved more than 1,500 lives during the military coup in Chile in 1973.
Chile’s transition from dictatorship to democracy is a powerful reminder of the importance to protect and uphold democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. At a time when democratic values are under increasing pressure across the world, we must unconditionally stand up for these fundamental principles.
Photo 1 (above): Ms. Caroline Edelstam with Ms. Michelle Bachelet and H.E. Mr. Tucapel Jiménez Fuentes, Ambassador of Chile to Sweden.
Photo 2 (below): Ms. Caroline Edelstam with Ms. Michelle Bachelet and Dr. Kevin Casas-Zamora, Secretary-General of International IDEA.
PRESS RELEASE – London, the 30th of April 2025
On the eve of World Press Freedom Day, Human Rights Solidarity, a London- based organization committed to defending civil liberties and free expression, will host a public demonstration on Friday, 2 May, from 11:00 AM to 1:30 PM outside The Guardian headquarters at Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. The event, open to media, NGOs, rights groups, and the public, will spotlight one of the gravest injustices in modern media history: the prolonged imprisonment of Mr. Dawit Isaak — a Swedish-Eritrean journalist, playwright, and father who has been held incommunicado in Eritrea for 24 years, without charge, trial, or access to a lawyer.
The initiative is co-sponsored by the Edelstam Foundation, the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR), Eritrea Focus, and the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI).
READ THE FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE
The event is published on UNESCO’s list of celebrations around the worl
