Enes Kanter Freedom is an activist NBA player and Nobel Peace Prize nominee whose games were banned in China after he spoke out against the country’s human rights abuses.
Raised in Turkey, Freedom has been targeted for daring to call out human rights violations by President Erdogan. Turkey has canceled his passport and imprisoned his father. On a 2017 visit to Indonesia, Freedom barely escaped police officers that the Turkish government sent after him.
Freedom, who changed his name in November 2021, has since become a voice for the oppressed in China and worldwide. In interviews and via his “Freedom Shoes”, designed by Chinese dissident artist Baduciao, he has spoken out for the rights of Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hongkongers, and others.
In February 2022 he was traded from the Boston Celtics to the Houston Rockets, who promptly dropped him. Many suspect the NBA is punishing him for speaking out against China and trying to silence him.