Human rights organizations demand his immediate release

Mr. Tarek Rabaa has been on hunger strike for 2 weeks. The undersigned organizations demand his immediate release pending trial, which would effectively end the excessive period of pre-trial detention for which he has been held.

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the UN Committee against Torture, the guardian of one of the most widely accepted international human rights conventions. In a campaign for universal ratification of the Convention against Torture, several leading human rights organisations now call on the remaining 42 countries to join the treaty and recognize the full competence of the Committee against Torture.

Rashid Al-Masuri and Hamzah Ahmad Yahya, two Yemeni citizens who are detained in Iraq, are scheduled to appear in front of an Iraqi court on 20 May 2013, following years of arbitrary detention and mistreatment.

Twenty three year-old Yemeni, Rashid Ali Yahya al-Masuri, was scheduled to return to his country late last year, following a special Presidential amnes

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan Méndez, expressed his deep disappointment on Wednesday 24 April, saying "This is the second time that my visit has been postponed, at very short notice.