Don’t lose sight of the other Navalnys

These are the other Navalnys. Among them is Post Opinions contributor Vladimir Kara-Murza, arrested two years ago for his strong criticism of Mr. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. A journalist, historian and political activist, Mr. Kara-Murza was absurdly accused of treason and sentenced to 25 years. Another principled prisoner in Russia is Ilya Yashin, a political activist, unjustly sentenced to 8½ years in December 2022 on charges of spreading false information about the Russian military. Since February 2022, Russian authorities have detained 19,855 people at protests against the war and opened criminal cases against 909 antiwar dissidents, according to the watchdog group OVD-Info.

In Cuba, dissident José Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, has been repeatedly punished for imaginary offenses — with real prison sentences. Detained in 2021 amid a national uprising against the Communist regime, he is currently serving a four-year term at the Mar Verde prison in Santiago de Cuba. His family said they have not had contact with him for a year and reported he is in poor health.

Cuban authorities arrested Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, a founder of the San Isidro artists’ movement in Havana, about the same time they took Mr. Ferrer into custody. He is serving five years on charges of “insulting national symbols.” Equally wrongful is the incarceration of Maykel Castillo Pérez, known as Maykel Osorbo, a Cuban musician, rapper and San Isidro movement leader. He shared in two Latin Grammy awards for “Patria y Vida,” the anthem of the protest movement. He was arrested in May 2021.

A voice for the same ideals that motivated Mr. Navalny is Ales Bialiatski of Belarus, founder of Viasna, a group that since 1996 has fought for civil society and against human rights violations under the erratic autocrat, President Alexander Lukashenko. Mr. Bialiatski, a winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, was arrested in July 2021 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for purportedly bringing money into the country to support mass demonstrations against Mr. Lukashenko’s theft of the 2020 presidential election. Other Viasna leaders are also in prison. Mr. Lukashenko has tormented political prisoners by denying them any family contact for long periods. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has not heard from her husband, Sergei — who was imprisoned by the authorities in Belarus when he declared he would run against Mr. Lukashenko — for more than a year. Maria Kolesnikova, who ran on a ticket with Ms. Tikhanovskaya, was also imprisoned and has been held incommunicado for a year, according to her family. Viktor Babariko, a banker who was a popular candidate for president, was arrested and remains in prison, also often incommunicado for long periods.

In Turkey, the government of autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has imprisoned philanthropist Osman Kavala for life on charges the European Court of Human Rights has described as based upon “an absence of facts, information or evidence.” Mr. Kavala was engaged in exclusively peaceful protest and organizing. The European court said Mr. Kavala was prosecuted for an ulterior purpose, “namely that of reducing the applicant to silence.”

Salma al-Shehab, the mother of two young children, a researcher at the University of Leeds, took time off to go home to Saudi Arabia. Ms. Shehab is a women’s rights activist and a Shiite Muslim, a persecuted minority in the kingdom. Saudi authorities detained her in 2021 after she posted on Twitter demanding freedom for Loujain al-Hathloul, who campaigned for women’s right to drive and was incarcerated and tortured for it. Ms. Shehab’s sentence, 34 years in prison, later reduced to 27 years, is surely one of the most draconian ever for a single social media post.

There are more, from China to Egypt, from Iran to Myanmar. They are the victims of dictators and autocrats who cannot tolerate free speech and assembly. We cannot forget the other Navalnys.