Greenpeace Blog

On Friday, peaceful activists from the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise woke up in a freezing jail cell in Russia for trying to protect the Arctic and fight global warming. At the same time the UN panel on Climate Change released its latest report on the status of the world's climate.

"I have no idea how this will end, how long it will take. The uncertainty is driving me crazy," writes Greenpeace campaigner Faiza Oulahsen in a letter from her cell in Murmansk, Russia. She writes about her experiences from entering the Greenpeace icebreaker Arctic Sunrise until a few days ago when she along with 29 others lost their freedom to the Russian security forces. "Two months in jail is one thing, but then? What then?" 

As of yesterday, all 30 of the men and women who were aboard the Arctic Sunrise are being detained for two months in Russian jail, without charge. We must not let such blatant intimidation succeed. With the combined support of 4 million of us, who all want to see the Arctic protected, there is nothing we can’t do. Now is the time for creative action. Please add your suggestions and ideas on what we can do together to the comments below. I will read every one of them.

Today in a court in Murmansk, Russia, the Arctic 30 were seen by six judges. No charges were laid, but all 30 are still being detained; 22 are being held for two months as Russian authorities pursue an investigation around piracy charges while eight are being held for three days awaiting a new hearing. Their names and status are below, alphabetically by nationality.