07 August 2026

Face of Resistance: The Story of Political Prisoner Nasiba Saidova

Life before the detention

Nasiba Saidova was born on October 25, 2006. She was in her final year at a teacher’s college and worked as a nursery teacher at a kindergarten in the village of Kholmivka, Bakhchisaray District. She got married shortly before her arrest.

Nasiba led an ordinary, peaceful life: she was pursuing her education, working with children, studying Arabic, and loved to draw. At 19, she was making plans for the future, which the Russian occupying authorities suddenly and brutally cut short.

Persecution

Russian occupation security forces detained her on October 15, 2025, during mass raids on the homes of Crimean Tatar women.

After searching her home, she was unlawfully detained and accused of alleged involvement in the activities of the organization “Hizb ut-Tahrir.”

Her mother said that security forces planted banned literature during the search, which served as the basis for the fabricated charges. Nasiba became one of the first Crimean Tatar women to be prosecuted by Russia as part of the so-called “Hizb ut-Tahrir case.”

She is charged with “participation in the activities of a terrorist organization”. If convicted, she could face up to 20 years in prison.

Behind bars

After her arrest, Nasiba Saidova was placed in Pretrial Detention Center No. 1 in Simferopol, where she remains detained under inadequate conditions. The occupying “court” regularly extends her pretrial detention, depriving her of the opportunity to return to her family and her normal life.

The young woman was held in a damp and cold cell without heating or hot water, which caused her to fall ill. In January 2026, Nasiba lost consciousness in the detention center, but even after that, she did not receive proper medical care.

At 19, she was supposed to be finishing her studies, working with children, and living a regular life. Instead, she is forced to fight for her health and freedom behind bars. Human rights defenders stress that her conditions of detention pose a real threat to her life and health.