20 female U.S. Senators call for release of Khadija and Leyla

All 20 female members of the U.S. Senate introduced a resolution to Senate Foreign Relations Committee later last month urging nations to release female political prisoners, including Azerbaijan's Khadija Ismayilova and Leyla Yunus,  TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

The resolution initiated by Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and co-sponsored by the rest of the women in the Senate expressing support to U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power’s #FreeThe20 campaign to bring awareness to women around the world who have been wrongly imprisoned.

The resolution highlights a number of women who have been unjustly imprisoned.

“Our message is simple – world leaders and foreign governments should empower women, not imprison them,” the Senators stated.

Khadija Ismayilova was arrested in December 2014 in a crackdown on civil society activists and journalists and sentenced on September 1, 2015, to 7½ years in prison after alleging government.

Leyla Yunus was arrested with her husband in August 2014 during a broad crackdown on civil society activists, was sentenced to an 8½-year prison term on August 13, 2015.
"Yunus was named by France as a Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honour in 2013 in recognition of her human rights work; and received the Polish Prize of Sérgio Vieira de Mello in 2014," reads the draft resolution.
 

A.Raufoglu
Washington, D.C.