Tag Archives: personal case

Release Mustafa Sheta, General Manager of The Freedom Theatre!

December 11, 2024Newsartists at risk, Freedom Theatre Jenin, Middle East, personal caseTatjana Azman

The organization Swedish Friends of The Freedom Theatre has sent a letter to the Swedish government requesting that Israel be admonished to release theatre producer Mustafa Sheta from custody immediately.

Palestinian Mustafa Sheta, general manager and producer for The Freedom Theatre in Jenin, Palestine, was abducted from his home in Jenin by Israeli soldiers on December 13^th, 2023. He has been incarcerated since that date without a trial or sentencing. Recently, his incarceration has been prolonged for four months. He is imprisoned in complete isolation and has had one single contact with a witness who has reported that Sheta is living under extremely difficult conditions.

The Freedom Theatre in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank is a theatre and an active cultural center that has been conducting artistic and cultural activities for children, youth groups and adults for many years. It was founded with Swedish assistance and, for many years, received financial support from Sweden.

Release Mustafa Sheta

Russia: Sasha Skochilenko Released (update)

August 22, 2024News, Personal Case, updatepersonal case, Russia, updateACAR

After serving more than two years of a seven-year sentence for putting up anti-war banners in a supermarket (ACAR post), Sasha Skochilenko , artists and musician from St. Petersburg, was released on 1 August in a prisoner swap between Russia and the West.

Source: The Art Newspaper

Russia: Dancer Ksenia Karelina Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison

August 22, 2024News, Personal Casepersonal case, RussiaACAR

Amateur ballerina Ksenia Karelina, a dual American-Russian citizen, was arrested and detained by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) on 28 January in her hometown of Yekaterinburg, where she was visiting family. After Russian authorities accessed Karelina’s phone and discovered that she had donated about $50 to Razom, a pro-Ukrainian charity, in 2022, the Sverdlovsk regional court sentenced her on 8 August to 12 years in prison for treason.
Her conviction came two weeks after Russia and the West carried out the largest prisoner swap since the Cold War, where 24 people were released.

Sources: CNN, The Guardian

Russia (update): Six Years for “Finist, the Brave Falcon”

July 9, 2024News, Personal Case, updateEastern and Western European States, personal case, RussiaACAR

On Monday, June 8th, a military court in Moscow convicted theater director Zhenya Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk of terrorism charges and sentenced them to six years each in prison. Authorities claimed their Golden Mask awarded play “Finist, the Brave Falcon” justifies terrorism, in Russia punishable by up to seven years in prison (see ACAR posts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ). Both have already been in custody for over a year, awaiting trial.

Sources: The Moscow Times , Fox News, TV5 Monde,

Iran: Germany Refuses Visa to Actress Soheila Golestani

December 22, 2023Personal CaseIran, personal caseACAR

Director and actress Soheila Golestani was imprisoned and banned from working in Iran for her public performance on the web about her refusal to wear a head covering in public (November 2022).
One year later, she was invited to the festival “Three Days to Liberation” by the Volksbühne Berlin for a preview screening of scenes from her film “There Were Three of Us” and her VR installation about flight and migration “If You Go Away”. Her visa application was rejected by the German embassy in Tehran and only approved two days after the end of the festival following an intervention by the German Foreign Office.

Sources: Volksbühne Berlin, Instagram, VOA

Iran: Mohammad Sadeghi and Mehdi Etemad – Further Arrests of Theatre Artists

August 3, 2023News, Personal CaseIran, Middle East, personal caseACAR

After several moments of absence, the Morality Police is back on the streets in Iran. Sunday, July 16 security forces attacked the home of the actor and woman rights defender Mohammad Sadeghi and arrested him because he posted a video expressing his anger over the detention of yet another woman in morality police hands due to her inappropriate hijab. Sadeghi shared his arresting live on Instagram.

The actor Mehdi Etemad Saeed was arrested by security forces on June 9, 2023, in Tehran and is still detained in legal ambiguity. He was reportedly denied access to legal representation and has been charged with “promoting impurity and indecency.” Etemad Saeed’s whereabouts are still unknown.

Sources: HRANA.org, Iran International, Twitter