GEN813 The Talmud implies Ketubot 51b that a person who is a political prisoner or a prisoner because of his Judaism has the same status as an actual captive.  Based on this equality, the obligation to secure freedom for Jews who are denied their ability to practice their Judaism openly is no less a mitzvah than freeing Jews behind physical bars.  Thus, the obligation to help Jews in Syria denied their religious freedom or Jews anywhere in the world under a dictatorship that prevents their freedom to behave as Jews (as was the case for many years in the Soviet Union) has precedence over any other obligation, according to the Shulchan Aruch. Yoreh De’ah 252:1,3. AMEMEI 198