State Department: U.S. Will 'Do Everything We Can' To Help Free Political Prisoners

The State Department said on Thursday the United States will do "everything we can" to help free political prisoners around the world who are held without just cause, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

"We want those individuals to be released today... We want those individuals to be released tomorrow," Spokesperson Ned Price told a daily press briefing when answering TURAN's questions on the Department's latest Initiative to secure the release of political prisoners, including Azerbaijani Elchin Mammad.

"We are going to continue working, as we consistently have, to see all of those individuals, but political prisoners around the world, to see to it that they are not held without just cause."

On Wednesday, the U.S. announced the launch of what it’s calling the Without Just Cause Initiative, aiming to raise international awareness about political prisoners detained unfairly around the world and advocate for their release. The initiative promises to engage in diplomacy in D.C. and abroad.

Asked by TURAN's correspondent whether the initiative will prioritize "naming and shaming" or diplomatic engagement, Price said, "is a little bit of both".

"This is an effort to shine a bright light, to shine a spotlight on a challenge that we face around the world of political prisoners, people who are held without just cause, people who are held because of their beliefs, because of their protected activities, because in the eyes of a government or a regime they pose a threat. To us that’s unacceptable, and the Without Just Cause campaign is one tactic."

He went on to add, "The individuals who are highlighted as part of that campaign, of course and unfortunately, are not the totality of political prisoners around the world. Those numbers [are] in the thousands. What we’re talking about here is a small microcosm of the challenge of political prisoners."

Elchin Mammad, an Azerbaijani journalist and human rights lawyer, is among 16 individuals the State Department highlighted as part of the campaign. He was arrested in March 2020 and sentenced to 4 years in prison shortly after he published a report critical of the human rights situation in the country.

"The justice system should be used to seek justice, not to punish those speaking up for human rights," the Department said.  "Elchin Mammad and all other political prisoners should be released immediately and unconditionally."

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.