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The Prisoners of Conscience Appeal Fund is dedicated to assisting prisoners of conscience and their families by providing financial support at times of immediate need, such as food, clothing and medical treatment, transport costs, study materials, family reunion and physical and psychological rehabilitation after torture.   A separate ‘Bursaries Fund’ helps former prisoners of conscience, largely in the UK, to convert their existing qualifications and rebuild their lives.

David Ravelo Crespo, a human rights defender from Colombia, who is currently four years into an 18 year sentence in prison in Bogota for a crime he did not commit.  David is profiled in the Radio 4 appeal.

Prisoners of Conscience has a Bursaries Fund in the UK which enables prisoners of conscience in exile to convert their existing qualifications, allowing them to resume interrupted careers and rebuild their lives.  The Fund benefited Nima, an Iranian bursary holder whose story you hear in the appeal.  The photo shows Chawa Faith, a student from Zimbabwe, receiving her bursary from one of the charity’s patrons, Lucy Chandler OBE, at a recent awards ceremony.