On 17 August, four-year-old Carlos and 16-year-old Michael along with their mothers, Lorena and Maribel (all names changed to protect their identities), were ordered released from Berks County Residential Center in Pennsylvania by an immigration judge after nearly 700 days in detention.

Dissident Iranian cleric Seyed Hossein Kazemeini Boroujerdi has faced continued intimidation and death threats by the Iranian authorities since his release from prison on
4 January.

Letter-writing changes lives. A letter from you could help free a prisoner, stop an execution or help a bereaved family receive justice. This edition of Real Lives is produced for those wishing to write more letters in support of individuals at risk.

Iranian prisoner of conscience and human rights defender Arash Sadeghi is critically ill and requires immediate hospitalization outside of prison. However, the authorities are refusing to authorize the transfer, apparently on the orders of the Revolutionary Guards.

Huang Qi, founder of “64 Tianwang” (64tianwang.org), who has been detained since November 2016, was ill-treated by police officers in the detention centre and it is unclear if he has received adequate medical treatment.

Ihar Hershankou and Siamion Berazhnoy were convicted and sentenced to death by the Mahiliou Regional Court, in eastern Belarus, on 21 July 2017. Theirs are the second and third death sentences imposed in Belarus in 2017.

Raúl Isaías Baduel was unexpectedly taken from his cell at Ramo Verde National Military Detention Centre, Caracas, at dawn on 8 August 2017. There has been no information regarding his whereabouts since.

Human rights defender and Convenor of Voice for Missing Persons of Sindh, Punhal Sario, has been forcibly disappeared in Sindh Province, southern Pakistan.

On 12 August, the Cairo criminal court adjourned Mahmoud Abu Zeid's court hearing 19 August, for the 35th time. Today is the four-year anniversary of Mahmoud Abu Zeid arrest.