Rami Al-Mrayat, a 25 year-old Jordanian citizen and former employee of the Gulf aircraft maintenance company, was arrested by the Emirati security services on 19 November 2011 at Abu Dhabi International Airport while he was about to return to his country. Tortured and held in secret detention for almost 5 months, he was transferred to Al-Wathba prison in Abu Dhabi on 4 April 2012.

When Mrs Badria Abu Meri was arrested in May 2010, media reported that she had been taken into custody for her own protection although she was in fact summoned on alleged implication in a crime. Years later, she remains in Baabda prison – after being tortured and held without sentence for over 32 months.

The suffering of a family of Palestinian refugees continues after being forcibly deported from Taif, Saudi Arabia to Yemen in 2007. All the members of Al-Hadad family were recently detained by Yemeni security forces and then taken to Sana'a central Prison without any legal proceedings.

On 5 and 12 December, the appeal court of Muscat upheld verdicts against 29 human rights activists, including 36 year-old Omani human rights defender Said Ben Sultan Al Hashimi, who will be serving prison sentences for charges such as 'insulting the Sultan' and 'unlawful gathering'.

The Alkarama Foundation has been informed of the Saudi authorities' decision to release the Yemeni detainee Naser Abdullah Al-Hudaiqi later this January, after 8 years of detention.

Driss Sedraoui, the 37-year-old president of the Moroccan League for Citizenship and Human Rights, was arrested for having attended and given his support to a protest against unemployment on 19 December 2012. He expressed his disapproval following the violent intervention of the police.

The next day, 20 December 2012, Driss Sedraoui was arrested in the afternoon in front of the Parliament and then taken to the central police station of Rabat by officers of the security services.

On 12 December, senior Saudi human rights lawyer and recently elected President of the Saudi Association for Civil and Political Rights (ACPRA), Suleiman Al Rashoudi, was arrested by Saudi intelligence services for having publicly stated that the right to assembly was protected by international law.

On 11 December 2012, former Saudi judge Suleiman Al Rashoudi held a public meeting in Riyadh during which he asserted that the rights of assembly, association and peaceful protest are legitimate as recognized by international law.

Dr Mohamed Al Roken (UAE) and Dr Saud Al Hashimi (KSA) - the 2012 Alkarama Award co-laureates - were awarded for their contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights in the Gulf region in a ceremony held on Friday 7 December 2012 in Geneva. The laureates, who are currently detained for having called for greater civil and political rights, were represented by their lawyers and relatives.