HAW was founded by former hostages & works to support & advocate for the freedom of hostages & unlawful detainees held in foreign countries globally.

Joined September 2020
4,654 Photos and videos
Hostage Aid Worldwide retweeted
As the U.S. and European governments continue negotiations and make deals with the Islamic Republic of Iran, we must ask: Where do human rights stand in these discussions? The world promised to stand with the people of Iran — with those who fought for freedom, those who lost their lives, and those who are still paying the price behind prison walls. What actions are being taken to secure the release of political prisoners? Is @Ahmadreza Djalali, who has spent more than a decade in prison under the threat of execution, included in these conversations? What about countless others who remain unjustly imprisoned? Diplomacy must not come at the cost of forgetting human rights. Any engagement with the Islamic Republic must include a clear demand for the release of political prisoners and accountability for the suffering of the Iranian people. Words of support must be followed by action. @Europarl_EN @SecRubio @JDVance @MariaStenergard @eu_eeas
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Hostage Aid Worldwide retweeted
Day 3,701 of injustice for Ahmadreza Djalali and his family. A doctor and a specialist in disaster medicine, his work has saved the lives of many. Now his life remains in danger, sentenced to death on bogus charges and imprisoned since April 2016. '#SaveAhmadreza @MariaStenergard
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Hostage Aid Worldwide retweeted
Yesterday on @MeetThePress with @kwelkernbc, Reza’s attorney set the record straight. @POTUS must prioritize the safe return of Americans like Reza from Iran. #freerezav
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Hostage Aid Worldwide retweeted
Almost 9 months since @MariaStenergard demanded 🇸🇪 & 🇪🇺citizen #DawitIsaak‘s release - unlawfully imprisoned for 25 (!) years. Eritrea continues to ignore the request, with Sweden and the EU simplify standing by. That ”enhanced dialogue“ is really paying off ….
Year after year. Report after Report. The UN is, at best, a mediocre think tank. Meanwhile, the Eritrean regime continues to violate fundamental individual rights with impunity, and the political prisoner cases become yet another statistic. In the time Dawit Isaak has been wrongfully detained by the regime, 25 years and counting, global bureaucrats have come and gone, and politicians in Sweden, too. Yet the one office that never changes hands is the cell that holds him. Reports do not open prison doors; people acting with principle do. So let us talk about pressure, because the tools exist and are no longer theoretical. In September 2025, Dawit Isaak's daughters, Betlehem and Danait, wrote directly to President Trump, asking him to do what reports cannot and it appears #Sweden cannot: bring the weight of the American people to bear on Asmara. As a senator, Secretary Rubio was aware of the matter and even backed the congressional resolutions on their father's behalf. The United States now has a mechanism to designate state sponsors of wrongful detention, with sanctions, export controls, and travel restrictions attached. Why did Swedish nationals reach out to America for help? That is another story for another day. #Sweden has a citizen to defend and a duty, under Swedish law and under the Vienna Convention, to defend him. And the 2024 complaint for crimes against humanity, filed with the Swedish Prosecution Authority, finally treats his captivity as what it is: a crime with a perpetrator, not a misfortune with no author. Twenty-four years of words have produced libraries of concern and not one open door. What remains is action: name the regime, attach the cost, and make Isaias Afwerki understand that holding Dawit Isaak and other political prisoners is more expensive than releasing him. Anything less is another, well, you can fill in the blank, another report. Look at the two photographs attached to this post. An American diplomat recently cut a star-spangled cake in Asmara; Sweden's foreign minister offered her hand to the same regime, the first such visit in decades. Two Western capitals, warming to #Eritrea within a single season. Yet neither brought Dawit Isaak home nor secured the release of any other political prisoner (note: there are reports of several Americans or US nationals wrongfully detained in #Eritrea). This issue touches a broader debate about the emerging international architecture for wrongful detention: again, heavily papered, but light on follow-through. America keeps doing a lot of the heavy lifting. Where is the resolve in Sweden and across Europe to do the same, in this case and others like it? We can do better. When Americans are in a jam around the world, and there are many, these seemingly isolated cases for us can impact more than you think. @bergersus @Edelstam @TheRWCHR @GLALegalDefense @usembsweden @USAmbSweden @EmbassyEritrea @hawelti @hadnetkeleta @Ministersaleh @AsstSecStateAF @SecRubio @DeputySecState @HouseForeignGOP @SenateForeign @SFRCdems @HouseForeign @RepJoeNeguse @JoeNeguse
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Hostage Aid Worldwide retweeted
10 years of injustice! Ahmadreza Djalali, Swedish-Iranian doctor and loving father, remains imprisoned in Iran on a death sentence. Failing health, no fair trial, separated from his wife Vida and their children for 3,700 days. @SwedishPM @SweMFA @MariaStenergard #FreeDjalali
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Hostage Aid Worldwide retweeted
Un pensiero al giorno a Padre Dall'Oglio e a tutte le persone rapite. Che tornino presto alle loro famiglie #PadreDallOglio @paoladelusa
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Hostage Aid Worldwide retweeted
Today, Saturday 13 June 2026 marks: 3144 days of wrongful imprisonment 3144 days of torture & abuse 3144 days of human rights breach 3144 days of injustice 3144 days of arbitrary detention 709 days of failure by the UK Government No evidence. No conviction #FreeJaggiNow
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Today marks the 2nd Freedom Anniversary of 🇫🇷 Louis Arnaud. Louis was arbitrarily detained in Iran in September 2022 while traveling through the country & spent more than 20 months incarcerated before finally returning home on June 13, 2024. We are grateful that Louis is free & reunited with his loved ones. But his case is a reminder that Iran continues to use innocent foreign nationals as bargaining chips. As we celebrate Louis's freedom, we also remember those who remain wrongfully detained in Iran. The international community must do more to bring them home. #FreeThemAll @LouisAr06003987 @freelouisarnaud
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Hostage Aid Worldwide retweeted
9028. Niotusentjugoåtta dagar och nätter. En svensk medborgare i fängelse i tjugofyra och ett halvt år. @MariaStenergard – vårt hopp lever om snar frigivning. Vad sker? @FreeDawit #FreeDawit #FreeDawitIsaak @MariaStenergard @Utrikesdep @SwedishPM @Sverigesriksdag
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Hostage Aid Worldwide retweeted
Un pensiero al giorno a Padre Dall'Oglio e a tutte le persone rapite. Che tornino presto alle loro famiglie #PadreDallOglio @paoladelusa
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Hostage Aid Worldwide retweeted
Today, Friday 12 June 2026 marks: 3143 days of wrongful imprisonment 3143 days of torture & abuse 3143 days of human rights breach 3143 days of injustice 3143 days of arbitrary detention 708 days of failure by the UK Government No evidence. No conviction #FreeJaggiNow
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Hostage Aid Worldwide retweeted
EXCLUSIVE: The family of New Yorker Kamran Hekmati, who has been imprisoned in Iran for more than a year, sent a letter to President Trump pleading to make his release a condition of any peace deal. Details here: nypost.com/2026/06/10/us-new…
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Hostage Aid Worldwide retweeted
Another day taken from Ahmadreza Djalali as he remains hostage in Iran over 10 years! This is barbarous to humanity. Why must this innocent father suffer. His children now young adults. He deserves freedom. @araghchi @MariaStenergard @kajakallas @drpezeshkian @SwedishPM @SweMFA
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Hostage Aid Worldwide retweeted
Day 3,699 of injustice for Ahmadreza Djalali & his family. The cruelty has been relentless since April 2016. For over 10 years, he has endured solitary confinement, denial of medical care, & a death sentence used as political pressure. #SaveAhmadreza @SwedishPM @MariaStenergard
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Hostage Aid Worldwide retweeted
Today, Thursday 11 June 2026 marks: 3142 days of wrongful imprisonment 3142 days of torture & abuse 3142 days of human rights breach 3142 days of injustice 3142 days of arbitrary detention 707 days of failure by the UK Government No evidence. No conviction #FreeJaggiNow
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Hostage Aid Worldwide retweeted
Today marks yet another day stolen from Ahmadreza Djalali: innocent Swedish-Iranian physician and disaster medicine expert, held hostage in Iran for over 10 years. He must be released immediately, unconditionally. His family deserves him back. @UN_SPExperts @SweMFA #FreeDjalali
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The IRGC took 1,362 days of Nizar Zakka's life, but they failed to take his voice. 7 years ago today, he walked free. Since then, he has used his freedom to advocate for other hostages waiting to come home. His journey proves that a hostage can come home, rebuild, & transform suffering into a mission greater than himself. On June 11, 2019, this hostage came home. But his mission is not over yet! @ZakkaNA
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4/5 Kuwait: Prosecution of Journalist Signals Troubling Crackdown on Expression, Warn UN Experts hostageaid.org/kuwait-prosec… Geneva - Office of The United Nations High Commissioner For Human Rights “The authorities appear to have violated Mr. Shihab-Eldin’s right to liberty and the prohibition on enforced disappearance,” the experts said. Shihab-Eldin was falsely charged with spreading false information, harming national security, and misusing a mobile phone, after having reported on military activities relating to the conflict involving Iran, the United States and Gulf States including Kuwait. He was acquitted on the first charge and convicted on the other two, with no punishment recorded. After being released on a pledge of “good conduct” for six months, he was stripped of his Kuwaiti citizenship. @aseisfree
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5/5 Family of Long Island Jeweler Imprisoned in Iran Urgently Pleads with Trump for His Release: ‘Every Day Matters’ hostageaid.org/family-of-lon… Washington D.C. - NY Post “Kamran (Hekmati) is not only an American citizen; he is a devoted father, husband, brother, and cousin. Today, he is also a cancer patient. He is battling bladder cancer without access to the medical care he urgently needs. Every day matters,” cousin Shohreh Nowfar, who acts as spokesperson for the Hekmati family, wrote in a letter obtained by The Post. “We urge you to act now to secure Kamran’s release. His family in Great Neck, New York is waiting for him. He deserves the chance to come home, receive treatment, and be reunited with those who love him.”
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2/5 Taliban Leader Who Took U.S. Journalist Hostage Sentenced to 42 Years hostageaid.org/taliban-leade… Washington D.C. - NY Times The Taliban commander who abducted an American journalist was sentenced to 42 years in prison on Tuesday after pleading guilty to hostage taking and providing material support for terrorism. The commander, Haji Najibullah, said in his guilty plea last year that he had supported Taliban members who intended to kill U.S. troops and in 2008 had helped abduct David Rohde, then a reporter for The New York Times, as well as an Afghan journalist and driver accompanying him.
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3/5 Libya: Release Humanitarian Activists Detained for Seeking to Deliver Aid to Gaza  hostageaid.org/libya-release… UK - Amnesty International The Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) must ensure the immediate release of 10 members of the Global Sumud Land Convoy who have been arbitrarily detained for over two weeks in eastern Libya solely for attempting to deliver aid to Gaza amid Israel’s ongoing genocide, Amnesty International said today.  On 24 May 2026, an armed group affiliated with the self-proclaimed LAAF, the de facto authorities in eastern and southern Libya, arbitrarily arrested the 10 humanitarian activists from eight different countries. The four men and six women were arrested while en route to Sirte to negotiate with local authorities the convoy’s passage.
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