As pressure on the Rwandan government mounts, Paul Rusesabagina signs a pardon request, expressing some contrition and agreeing to refrain from political activities if he’s released. But back at home, he finds it difficult to honor the pledge.

After Hotel Rwanda tells the story of Paul Rusesabagina, a human rights activist who in 2020 was lured from his home in San Antonio, Texas, to his former country of Rwanda, where he was tried on terrorism charges and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Rusesabagina had been a national hero in Rwanda for saving the lives of more than twelve hundred people during the 1994 genocide there. A decade later, his story was told in the Oscar-nominated movie Hotel Rwanda. Our four-part series describes how Rusesabagina went from hero to dissident in Rwanda—and how a team of supporters in Washington and elsewhere managed eventually to bring him home. The story is reported by Foreign Policy staff writer Robbie Gramer.

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