About Us
Mission Statement
Freedom Now protects individuals and communities from government repression and defends human rights through direct legal support, targeted high-leverage advocacy, and capacity-building analysis and assistance.
Since 2001, Freedom Now has sought to end arbitrary detention and associated human rights abuses. For nearly two decades we have provided pro bono legal representation to individual prisoners of conscience throughout the world. We have represented nearly 200 wrongfully detained individuals, lifting up voices that authoritarian governments seek to silence. We have won cases before international legal tribunals and mobilized influential allies to bring maximum pressure to bear on repressive regimes.
Politically-motivated prosecution is not the only tool used to suppress fundamental rights. Oppressive laws and corrupt institutions are a direct threat to civil society and democratic norms. Freedom Now understands a holistic approach is necessary to truly combat human rights abuses. To this end, we work on several interconnected issues, including prison conditions, transnational repression, rehabilitation of former prisoners of conscience, and supporting civil society and international action.
You can read about our recent successes in our 2019 Annual Report. An archive of our past annual reports can be found here.
Staff
Andrea J. Prasow
Executive Director
Andrea J. Prasow is the executive director of Freedom Now. A lawyer and global human rights advocate, Andrea’s expertise includes U.S. national security and foreign policy. She is a frequent commentator in print, radio and television, and has published in a wide range of media outlets, including Politico, The Hill, Foreign Policy, Newsweek, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, and Just Security. Prior to joining Freedom Now, Andrea served as executive director of the Freedom Initiative, an organization dedicated to freeing political prisoners in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as 12 years at Human Rights Watch, pressing the U.S. government to place the protection and promotion of human rights at the center of its foreign and national security policies. She has previously worked as a defense lawyer in the Office of Military Commissions, representing detainees in Guantanamo charged in the military commission system. In private practice at a New York law firm, Andrea served as habeas counsel for detainees in Guantanamo, as well as practiced corporate litigation. Andrea holds an Honors B.A. from the University of Toronto, and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. She is admitted to practice law in the State of New York and the District of Columbia.
Karl Horberg
Program Director
Karl Horberg joined Freedom Now in December 2014. Previously, he was an Operations Manager for a grant writing consulting firm and a Program Officer for Connect U.S. Fund, where he managed a grant portfolio of $2 million. Karl served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Balykchy, Kyrgyzstan from 2004-2006. He holds a BA in Political Science from American University and an MSC in Human Rights from the London School of Economics.
Adam Lhedmat
Legal Officer
Adam Lhedmat is a legal officer at Freedom Now. Prior to joining Freedom Now, he was a Staff Attorney with the International Justice Resource Center where he provided support to advocates bringing claims before regional and universal human rights systems. Additionally, Adam previously worked both with the WANA Institute where he researched transitional justice solutions for the Syrian conflict, and with the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners where he participated in advocacy efforts to release political prisoners in Myanmar. He holds a J.D. from the University California, Irvine School of Law, as well as an MPhil in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge and a B.A. in Philosophy from New York University.
Kaadir Mohiuddin
Program Assistant
Kaadir Mohiuddin is the Program Assistant for Freedom Now. He graduated from The University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a BA in Political Science and International Studies, and he graduated from The George Washington University with an MPA. He speaks English, Urdu, and French.
Yalda Royan
Afghanistan Program Officer
Yalda Royan is an Afghan women’s rights activist and senior development professional with extensive leadership experience in national and international NGOs. She has spearheaded women’s rights initiatives in Afghanistan where she sought to advance women’s political, economic and social participation. When she was evacuated to the United States in August 2021, she was working as a consultant for the World Bank to respond to issues of gender-based violence in the public health sector. She has vast expertise in designing and leading gender initiatives across women’s empowerment, gender-based violence, conflict resolution, and peace and security, and holds a master's degree in gender and women's studies from Kabul University
Tamar Chanturia
Eurasia Program Coordinator
Tamar Chanturia is Freedom Now’s Eurasia Project Coordinator. Prior to joining Freedom Now, Tamar worked for Penal Reform International where she supported PRI’s work on reforming the criminal justice system in South Caucasus, specifically Georgia, by bringing expertise from her previous experience working with local and international experts as the head of the group of probation officers of female and juvenile offenders. In the past, Tamar worked for the National Probation Agency and the Law Office, where she participated in drafting the applications to the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of the clients. Tamar is a member of Georgian Bar (GBA), American Probation and Parole Association (APPA), and a fellow of the Professional Fellows Program (PFP). She is a co-author of guidance documents on international standards on Juvenile Justice and Georgian penitentiary and probation systems’ responses to COVID-19 concerning reducing the damage caused by the restrictions.
Board of Directors
Jeremy Zucker
Jeremy Zucker is the Chair of Freedom Now and the chair of the National Security practice at Dechert LLP in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining Dechert, Jeremy was a partner in the international trade group of Hogan Lovells. Jeremy also served as a law clerk at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, The Netherlands. Jeremy holds a B.A. in ethics, politics, and economics from Yale University, a Master in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a J.D. magna cum laude from New York University Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the NYU Journal of International Law and Politics and a Fellow of the Center for International Studies.
Peter Magyar
Peter Magyar is the founder of Magyar & Co, a boutique international law firm. Previously he was Senior Partner and General Counsel of an international investment group with over $6 billion of assets and a Partner of Baker & McKenzie, where he headed the firm’s European securities practice and was a member of the London office’s Management Committee and the Managing Partner of its Budapest office. Peter is the recipient of various awards and citations in the legal press recognizing his work in the fields of privatization and international capital markets. He holds degrees from The London School of Economics and Oxford University. He will be helping lead Freedom Now’s expansion into Europe.
Thomas Dohrmann
Gregory K. McGillivary
Gregory K. McGillivary is the managing partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm of McGillivary Steele Elkin LLP, which represents unions and employees nationwide in all areas of labor law, including wage and hour violations, First Amendment rights, collective bargaining, grievance/arbitration, and human rights related to labor advocacy. Greg served for six years as the Union Chair of the American Bar Association’s Federal Labor Standards Committee. He is the editor-in-chief of the treatise State Wage and Hour Laws and a senior editor of the treatise The Fair Labor Standards Act. He is a graduate of the University of Oregon Law School, where he was articles editor of the Oregon Law Review, and received his B.A. from Northwestern University.
Joshua Newcomer
Joshua Newcomer is an attorney in the Houston, Texas office of the law firm McKool Smith P.C. Prior to joining McKool Smith, Joshua was an attorney at the international law firm Hogan Lovells LLP. Joshua served as a law clerk to Judge Carolyn King on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Judge William Yohn Jr. on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Joshua earned a B.A., cum laude, majoring in history and political communications from the University of Pennsylvania and a J.D., magna cum laude, from the James E. Beasley School of Law at Temple University, where he was articles editor of the Temple Law Review.
Peter Choharis
Peter Choharis is the founder of Choharis Global Solutions, an international law and consulting firm. He has more than twenty years of experience as a U.S. litigator and international dispute specialist and has appeared in trial and appellate courts at the federal and state level throughout the United States. He is also an Adjunct Fellow at the American Security Project, and prior to that was a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. More than two dozen of his articles on foreign affairs and international law have appeared in The New York Times (Global), International Herald Tribune, Forbes, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, and many other publications. Peter graduated from Yale Law School and Harvard College, where he was awarded the Sheldon Traveling Fellowship and numerous other prizes.
Hrishikesh Hari
Hrishikesh Hari is a partner in the National Security practice of Dechert LLP in Washington, D.C. He has represented many dozens of prisoners of conscience around the world and regularly advises boards of non-profits on a range of corporate governance matters. Hrishi holds a B.A., magna cum laude, in history and political science from Rice University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Human Rights Journal.
Fadzai Madzingira
Fadzai Madzingira is the Online Safety Supervision Director at the UK Office of Communications. Prior to this, she was the Office of Ethical and Humane Use at Salesforce and the EMEA Policy Lead for the team, where her team was responsible for writing policies to ensure Salesforce technologies are not being used to facilitate harm and uphold basic human rights. Before that, she was the Global Hate Speech Content Policy Lead at Meta, in the team responsible for writing and interpreting the Community Standards. Her work is shaped and led in wanting to keep people safe online, especially historically targeted communities who are often the targets of abuse online. As a Rhodes Scholar from Zimbabwe, she read for a Bachelor of Civil Laws and a Master in Public Policy at Oxford University.
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Can you imagine a doctor being imprisoned just for treating a patient, or a journalist detained simply for publishing an article critical of his government?