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Virginia

Political repression plays out state by state — shaped by local institutions, prosecutors, and movements for defense. These are the documented political prisoners and cases the census holds for Virginia.

211Documented
11In custody
161Released
4Awaiting trial

Eras of repression in Virginia

Where Virginia’s entries fall across the census’s historical eras.

1800s 41 2020s 35 1970s 27 1930s 20 2010s 18 2000s 18

Documented cases

211 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.

David Annarelli
In Custody
David Annarelli is known both for his writing and advocacy from prison and for the violent incident that led t...
Mohammed Azharuddin Chhipa
In Custody
Mohammed Azharuddin Chhipa raised and converted money to cryptocurrency that prosecutors said supported ISIS f...
Brian J. Cole Jr.
In Custody
Brian J. Cole Jr. is the man federal prosecutors accuse of placing pipe bombs outside the Republican and Democ...
Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan
In Custody
Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan was arrested on December 17, 2024 after an FBI operation in which an inf...
Kevin Rashid Johnson
In Custody
Kevin Rashid Johnson is best known for organizing and writing from prison, framing incarceration as a politica...
Nathan Vilas Laatsch
In Custody
Nathan Vilas Laatsch, a former Defense Intelligence Agency employee, was arrested on May 29, 2025 after giving...
Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi
In Custody
Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi is a Libyan former intelligence operative facing a U.S. federal pros...
Thomas Weir Pauken II
In Custody
Thomas Weir Pauken II is an American writer and former employee of Chinese state media who used the pen name T...
Asif William Rahman
In Custody
Asif William Rahman is a former CIA analyst who disclosed classified intelligence concerning Israel’s preparat...
Mohammad Sharifullah
In Custody
Mohammad Sharifullah was apprehended in Pakistan in early March 2025 and transferred to United States custody...
Brad Kenneth Spafford
In Custody
Brad Kenneth Spafford was arrested on December 17, 2024 after investigators found more than 150 homemade explo...
Arfat Sheikh
Released
Arfat Sheikh is a Kashmiri filmmaker whose work includes Saffron Kingdom. ICE arrested him at Washington Dulle...
Ali Al-Timimi
Released
A spiritual leader and lecturer at Dar Al-Arqam, Ali Al-Timimi was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Virgini...
Abdelhaleem Ashqar
Released
Dr. Abdelhaleem Ashqar was a Howard University Professor and Palestinian activist who fled to the United State...
John Askew
John Askew was a Portsmouth defendant whose unconditional release at a fourth trial is recorded as an ILD defe...
Julian Assange
Awaiting Trial
Julian Assange was the editor of WikiLeaks, a website which publishes government documents sent to them by whi...
Steve Baggarly
Released
Steve Baggarly is a Catholic Worker at the Sadako Peace House in Norfolk, Virginia, and a participant in multi...
Kemp Walker Barber
Released
Kemp Walker Barber joined a March 11, 2024 Palestine-solidarity action that blocked Interstate 95 near Richmon...
Sabri Benkahla
Released
Connected to the Virginia jihad network, a group of men who played paintball as a means to train for combat un...
Michael Billington
Released
Billington became prominent as a political organizer and fundraiser aligned with Lyndon LaRouche and the LaRou...
John Minor Botts
Released
John Minor Botts was a Virginia politician, lawyer, and former U.S. Congressman who became one of the most pro...
Ivan Brobeck
Released
Ivan Brobeck was a Marine who opposed returning to Iraq after serving there in 2004. He went to Canada, later...
Ali Asad Chandia
Released
Ali Asad Chandia was a third-grade teacher who provided material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba. He was a driver f...
Amin Chaoui
Released
Amin Chaoui is an activist from Richmond, Virginia who was arrested on March 5, 2023 at the Atlanta Public Saf...

Institutions in Virginia

Prisons, jails, and detention centers in Virginia that appear in the census’s case files.

Castle ThunderRichmond, Virginia
22 cases
Castle GodwinRichmond, Virginia
21 cases
Occoquan Workhouse
15 cases
Virginia State PenitentiaryRichmond, Virginia
12 cases
Occoquan Workhouse / DC JailLorton, Virginia
11 cases
Charles Town Jail (Jefferson County)Charles Town, Virginia
7 cases
FCI PetersburgHopewell, Virginia
6 cases
Federal Reformatory, PetersburgPetersburg, Virginia
3 cases