Ghassan Elashi and Shukri Abu Baker are political prisoners in the United States who were harshly and unjustly sentenced to 65 years for providing praiseworthy humanitarian aid to Palestinians in need.
Free the Humanitarians is the official global clemency campaign calling for the release of Ghassan and Shukri whose entire case is considered by prominent legal scholars as one of the gravest miscarriages of justice in U.S. history. Join Us →
Human rights organizations, lawyers, academics, journalists and artists that support the
clemency for Ghassan and Shukri. See More →
Chris Hedges
Pulitzer-Prize Winning Journalist and Former New York Times Bureau Chief
"The political persecution of Ghassan and Shukri poses a grave threat to our basic human right to engage in legitimate charitable causes. Their dedication to providing critical aid to Palestinian families in need should be celebrated, not punished. Their 65-year sentence is one of the most egregious injustices in modern history. It's time to end their unwarranted imprisonment."
Angela Davis
Activist, Scholar & Author
"The political persecution of Ghassan and Shukri poses a grave threat to our basic human right to engage in legitimate charitable causes. Their dedication to providing critical aid to Palestinian families in need should be celebrated, not punished. Their 65-year sentence is one of the most egregious injustices in modern history. It's time to end their unwarranted imprisonment."
Noam Chomsky
Academic and Human Rights Activist
"The political persecution of Ghassan and Shukri poses a grave threat to our basic human right to engage in legitimate charitable causes. Their dedication to providing critical aid to Palestinian families in need should be celebrated, not punished. Their 65-year sentence is one of the most egregious injustices in modern history. It's time to end their unwarranted imprisonment."
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Ghassan Elashi and Shukri Abu Baker are among the highest profile political prisoners in the United States, rising to global prominence after they built a charity that empowered people worldwide to donate to Palestinian families in need, providing a praiseworthy solution to an ongoing crisis. As tenacious agents of hope who responded to decades of occupation, blockades and political unrest with hospital building, food distribution and orphan sponsorships, as humanitarian leaders who represented a generation of refugees displaced from their homeland, as American immigrants who dreamt of providing the same level of emergency healthcare available to their children to the children of their native communities struggling with a failing system, Ghassan and Shukri’s legacy came to symbolize the transformative impact of collective giving.
So why have they been in prison for 15 plus years serving a disproportionate 65 year sentence? Following the Bush administration’s December 2001 closure of their foundation and after undergoing unwarranted arrests and trials riddled with shaky evidence and anonymous witnesses, Ghassan and Shukri were unjustly incarcerated for sending humanitarian aid to credible Palestinian organizations that were not blacklisted and were the same legitimate channels that our own government agency USAID used to distribute aid. Their unjust imprisonment is widely criticized by human rights organizations, infringing on our freedom to engage in bona fide charitable causes worldwide and addressing the critical global concern of political persecution where philanthropists and human rights activists such as Gandhi and Mandela have historically been canceled and imprisoned for their groundbreaking contributions.
Ghassan and Shukri are now aging grandfathers, and according to Human Rights Watch, they “were wrongfully convicted and have been imprisoned for years on the basis of vague and politically-motivated claims.” They should be hailed as heroes. They stood up for kindness and compassion. It is time we stand up for them. It is time they are reunited with their families. Join the movement and sign the petition to urge President Biden to commute Ghassan and Shukri’s sentences to time served. Join us →
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How the Humanitarians Gave Hope
Upon its inception, the foundation built momentum by developing refugee relief projects in the West Bank, Gaza, Jerusalem, Jordan and Lebanon. These included:
The HLF also provided aid and relief to Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, Turkey, West Africa and the Southern United States during natural and man-made crises.
