On November 1, seven of the defenders will have served 14 months in prison. More than two weeks ago, the legal defense team requested a new hearing for the eight imprisoned water defenders.  Despite the fact that the criminal code says that a new date and time must be set 48 hours later, there is still no response.

On 28th October 2020, members of the US Congress wrote a letter in support of the detained defenders, expressing serious concern about the irregularities within the case and the situation of vulnerability the defenders find themselves in.