A charity is supporting the rehabilitation of prisoners by offering them the opportunity to create and sell their own artwork.

Prisoners at HMP Erlestoke, in Wiltshire, have created their own artwork as part of the Prison Art Project scheme which is supported by homeless charity ALABARÉ. Participants are able to sell their work online with 50% of the proceeds going to the artist.

Many of the participants said creativity helped with their mental health and wellbeing while others said it felt “rewarding” to produce artwork.

Laura Joy, from the charity, said: “Artwork really gives people a chance to do meaningful activity towards rehabilitation and to support better choices.”

Participants are provided with an art pack full of supplies like acrylics, pencils, watercolours and pastels with the condition that they create up to four pieces of artwork.

If their work is purchased, the artist receives half of the profits with the remainder used to fund the purchase of materials for others on the scheme.

The amnesty is aimed at promoting peace, democratic coexistence and national reconciliation as the South American country enters a new era following the seizure of former President Nicolas Maduro by the United States. 

It passed unanimously on 5 February by Venezuelan legislators in the first of two readings.

The amnesty “offers an opportunity to provide justice and alleviate the suffering of the many people who have been unlawfully detained for political reasons in Venezuela,” said Alex Neve, a member of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Venezuela.

“This law has the potential to contribute to restoring rights and repairing Venezuela’s social fabric, but the voices of the countless Venezuelans whose rights have been violated in the country’s prisons, as well as the civil society organizations who have assisted and defended them, must be at the centre of this process,” Mr. Neve said.

The broader picture 

Following years of political violence in Venezuela, many politicians, activists and journalists have been charged with crimes such as terrorism or treason – according to human rights groups. 

According to media reports over 300 political prisoners have been released since 8 January but many political prisoners remain in detention. 

Transparency essential

The UN human rights experts have raised concerns about how the amnesty will be enacted, stating that its “legitimacy and impact depend on a transparent and inclusive process that is fully grounded in international human rights law.” 

In a statement released by the United Nations Human Rights Council, the investigators warned of the “absence of informed, inclusive, and safe public consultations” and emphasised the need for ‘a transparent process, with meaningful participation from victims, their families and civil society.” 

Calls for participation 

Fact-Finding Mission expert Maria Quintero, stated that it was “advisable for the judicial verification procedure to include the participation of victims and their families, their representatives, and human rights organizations, in order to prevent the law from being instrumentalized or applied in a manner incompatible with international standards.” 

She added, “we must not forget accountability.”

Whilst the draft legislation is debated within Venezuela’s government, UN experts have reiterated their call for the “unconditional” release of all political prisoners, stating that “it is critical that the process of releasing prisoners, already underway, continues without interruption.” 

The Human Rights Council-appointed Independent International Fact-Finding Mission was established to assess alleged human rights violations committed since 2014. 

The US military has launched a mission to transfer up to 7,000 Islamic State (IS) group fighters from prisons in north-eastern Syria to Iraq, as Syrian government forces take control of areas where Kurdish-led forces have long run a network of camps.

US Central Command said it had already moved 150 IS fighters from Hasakeh in Syria to a secure location in Iraq.

The move aimed to prevent a breakout that “would pose a direct threat to the United States and regional security”, the statement said.

Earlier this week Syria’s government announced a ceasefire with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), after the militia withdrew from al-Hol camp – which holds thousands of suspected IS members.

Separately on Wednesday, Syria’s defence ministry said seven soldiers were killed in a drone attack by Kurdish forces in the Kurdish-dominated province of Hasakah.

The government and SDF had earlier blamed each other over the escape of suspected IS fighters from an SDF-run prison in Shaddadi, in southern Hasakeh.

Syria’s interior ministry said on Monday night that its special forces and army soldiers had entered the town following “the escape of around 120 [IS] terrorists” from the prison.

Search operations by the security forces resulted in the arrest of 81 of the fugitives, it added.

The SDF said it had lost control of Shaddadi prison in the afternoon after “Damascus-affiliated factions” mounted a series of attacks and killed of dozens of its fighters, who it said had been attempting to “prevent a serious security catastrophe”.

SDF spokesman Farhad Shami said around 1,500 IS members had escaped during the clashes, according to Reuters news agency. The SDF also accused government forces of attacking al-Aqtan prison, north of the city of Raqqa, which is holding IS members and leaders.

IS has been weakened in Syria, but still remains active, predominantly carrying out attacks against Kurdish-led forces in the north-east in 2025.

The US was once the SDF’s main ally in Syria. In 2025, the US and partner forces detained more than 300 IS operatives in Syria and killed over 20 during the same period.

However US special envoy Tom Barrack says the rationale for the US-SDF partnership has “largely expired”, and that his country was currently focused on ensuring the security of facilities holding IS prisoners and facilitating talks between the SDF and President Ahmed Sharaa’s government.

“This moment offers a pathway to full integration into a unified Syrian state with citizenship rights, cultural protections, and political participation – long denied under Bashar al-Assad’s regime,” he wrote on X.

“Any step that restores liberty to individuals who have been arbitrarily detained is significant for those concerned and for their families,” independent UN human rights investigators said in a press release on Monday.

The Human Rights Council-mandated Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela estimates that there are around 800 political prisoners in the country and said the partial release fell short of the Government’s human rights obligations for their immediate and unconditional release.

The move comes as the country is adapting to new leadership under Acting President Delcy Rodríguez. The UN human rights office (OHCHR) has called on the Venezuelan authorities and the United States to ensure full respect for international law and has expressed concern over further militarisation in the country.

‘A tool of repression’ 

The fact-finding mission has extensively documented what it characterised as the widespread and systematic use of arbitrary detention as a tool of repression and reiterated its call for the ‘immediate and unconditional’ release of all political prisoners. 

The experts also urged authorities to provide public information about prisoners and bring detention conditions in line with international law, including by immediately halting torture and cruel treatment. 

“Relatives must be provided with clear and timely information about the fate, whereabouts, and legal status of their loved ones, as well as guaranteed access and regular visits,” they said.

Investigators said they had received information about armed colectivos, or Government-backed armed groups, who have been reportedly patrolling cities and intimidating the population since the US operation, while fresh arrests have been made during the crisis for those expressing dissenting political opinions.

Past findings 

The independent fact-finding mission for Venezuela has cited multiple rights violations since it was established in 2019.

In its investigation into the country’s contested presidential elections in 2024, the mission’s findings included arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances and torture.

This mission said the authorities had failed to comply with recommendations to investigate human rights violations and implement measures to prevent their reoccurrence. 

Investigators also found that during the peak of protests in 2014, 2017, 2019 and 2024, officials of Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Guard used excessive force, including the improper use of lethal and less-lethal weapons, among other violations.

Israel is releasing 250 Palestinian prisoners as part of the ceasefire deal with Hamas, many of whom have been serving life sentences in Israeli jails.

Around 100 of them arrived in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank to rapturous applause. Many of them looked gaunt and some had visible injuries.

About 1,700 detainees from Gaza are also being released by Israel, including 15 minors.

The remaining 20 living hostages held by Hamas in Gaza have been freed after more than two years.

The BBC’s Barbara Plett Usher was in Ramallah as the prisoners arrived.

Hamas is pressing Israel to include prominent Palestinians in a prisoner-release list – part of a ceasefire deal that will also see hostages returned from Gaza.

Hamas’s insistence comes after the Israeli justice ministry published the names of 250 prisoners to be freed, but excluded seven high-profile prisoners, including Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Saadat.

The men, who are serving sentences after being convicted of involvement in separate deadly attacks in Israel, have long been seen by Palestinians as symbols of resistance.

Twenty Israeli hostages are expected to be released before 12:00 (09:00 GMT) on Monday as part of the deal proposed by US President Donald Trump.

A senior Palestinian official familiar with the talks told the BBC that US envoy Steve Witkoff had promised to raise the exclusion of the Palestinian prisoners with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but Israel has firmly refused to include them.

It is not clear whether this could be a sticking point, or impact the timeline for the release of hostages from the Gaza Strip and Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

The releases are due to take place in the first phase of Trump’s ceasefire and hostage return deal, approved this week to end the two-year war in Gaza.

It is unclear how the hostages will be released this time – on previous occasions Hamas paraded them in public, infuriating Israel and many of its Western allies.

The bodies of deceased hostages will also be returned. It is thought that at least 26 hostages are deceased, with the fate of two others unknown.

Israel will also release about 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences in Israeli jails, and another 1,700 Palestinians from Gaza who have been detained.

Hamas had submitted a list of prisoners it wanted released that included Barghouti and Saadat.

Barghouti is serving five life sentences plus 40 years after being convicted in 2004 of planning attacks that led to five civilians being killed.

Opinion polls have consistently indicated that he remains the most popular Palestinian leader, and that Palestinians would vote for him in a presidential election ahead of the current Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas or Hamas leaders.

Barghouti remains a senior figure in the Fatah faction that dominates the PA, which governs parts of the occupied West Bank not under Israeli control.

Saadat, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), was sentenced to 30 years after being convicted in 2008 of heading an “illegal terrorist organisation” and involvement in attacks, including the assassination of an Israeli minister in 2001.

Among the 250 prisoners set to be released is Iyad Abu al-Rub, an Islamic Jihad commander convicted of orchestrating suicide bombings in Israel that killed 13 people in the early 2000s.

According to the Israeli justice ministry, he will be released either to Gaza or deported abroad.

The BBC understands that Hamas is also pushing for some possible additional prisoner releases. These relate to Palestinian prisoners who were released years ago as part of an exchange for the hostage Gilad Shalit – and then were rearrested after 7 October.

Hamas argues that since they were part of a previous hostage exchange, they should not be included in the 250 figure.

In Israel, hospitals are preparing for the release of hostages as families await their return.

The first phase of the Israel-Hamas deal saw a ceasefire take effect on Friday and Israeli forces partially withdraw from parts of Gaza. Hundreds of aid trucks a day are now expected to enter. The next phases are still being negotiated.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have returned from southern Gaza to Gaza City, weeks after fleeing the Israeli offensive that destroyed much of the city.

Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defence agency has said it is conducting recovery operations and pulling bodies from the rubble, with Palestinians still missing across the territory.

Israel’s war on Gaza was triggered by the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.

Since then, 67,682 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry says.

Additional reporting by Mallory Moench

Reuters

Getty Images

Family Handout

Getty Images

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum

Getty Images

Getty Images

Reuters

EPA

Israel released 369 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office.

This comes after Hamas released three more hostages, marking its sixth hostage release since the the ceasefire with Israel began in January.

Loved ones were seen hugging freed prisoners as they arrived in Khan Younis in buses and Palestinian prisoners were hoisted on people’s shoulders as they disembarked buses following their release.