He fought to stop the forest being felled. The price was 30 years in prison for a murder he says he did not commit

The UN has called the detention of Pablo López Alavez 'arbitrary', while human rights organisations say his sentence is part of a systematic and alarming pattern of criminalisation of Mexico's environmental activistsThe meeting room in the prison of Villa de Etla, a town in Oaxaca, Mexico, doubles as a classroom with school desks and a small library. The walls feature motivational phrases such as "First things first", "Live and let live" and "Little by little, you'll go far".Pablo López Alavez, a 56-year-old environmental defender, has had nearly 15 years to contemplate these sentiments - and faces 15 more, after being imprisoned for murders he says he did not commit. Continue reading...