Alkarama documents cases of violations committed in the Arab world, through regular contact with the victims themselves, their families and relatives, as well as lawyers and the civil society organisations.

Based on the information collected, we engage the various UN human rights protection mechanisms, asking them to intervene with the State concerned to put an end to these violations.

2004: Creation of Alkarama in Geneva

Alkarama was created as a Swiss association in July 2004 by Qatari and Algerian human rights defenders – Adulrahman Al Naimi, Rachid Mesli and Abbas Aroua – to contribute to an Arab World where all individuals live free, in dignity, and protected by the rule of law.

Alkarama's Mission

Alkarama is an NGO defending the victims of human rights violations in the Arab world – including violations of the right to life, to physical and mental integrity and to Civil and Political Rights – by using in priority international law mechanisms. Alkarama also helps to promote a culture of human rights in the Arab world.

Alkarama's Vision

"An Arab world where all people live in dignity, free and protected by the rule of law"

Our vision is of an Arab world where everyone can demand respect for all rights, without fearing for his life, liberty or physical integrity. A world where the rights of all people living under the jurisdiction of a State are effectively protected by law and where leaders are accountable to their people, respect domestic laws and ratified international human rights treaties.

Assist victims of human rights violations

Alkarama brings assistance to those who are subjected to, or at risk of being subjected to extra-judicial executions, disappearances, torture and arbitrary detention. The organisation uses the international human rights mechanisms as a priority.

Mohamed Ibrahim Waiss was finally released on 21 August at the outcome of his trial before the Criminal Chamber of the Djibouti Court, which acquitted Waiss of the charges of participation in an illegal demonstration for which he was prosecuted.

Waiss was arrested by the Djibouti police on 8 August 2014 when he was covering a peaceful opposition rally protesting against the repression of its members by authorities.

Alkarama has sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced Disappearance regarding the case of human rights defender, Faten Rajab Fawaz, arrested by a Syrian Air Force Patrol on 26 December 2011. Recently transferred to an unknown location, Fawaz, who has reportedly been severely tortured in detention has not been seen since mid-July 2014.

On 5 August 2014, Alkarama sent a communication to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to call upon the Iraqi authorities to end the arbitrary detention of four security officers by releasing them immediately. Ghassan Al Kubaisi, Omar Al Noaemy, Abdulrazak Al Duleimi and Uday Al Ithawi were all arrested between December 2011 and January 2012, severely tortured and forced to make false confessions, on the basis of which they were later sentenced to death by the Central Criminal Court of Iraq (CCCI).

Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the Committee against Torture on 11 August 2014, asking the Committee to take interim measures to ensure that Morocco temporarily blocks the extradition process of Egyptian citizen, Sayed Omar Salem Omar, a senior member of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, whose members have been subject to a bloody crackdown by the Egyptian authorities for over a year.

On 4 July 2014, the police shot at peaceful demonstrators at the exit of a Mosque in Al Mattariyyah, with no legitimate reasons. Amongst these demonstrators was 22-year old student, Karim Jamal Mahmoud Mostafa Shama.

Hit three times in the head for demonstrating against the ongoing repression in Egypt, Shama died for expressing his ideas. He was affiliated with Al Wasat Party, a moderate Islamist political party whose members are subject to the same persecutions from the authorities as the supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood.