Alkarama applauds the UN Human Rights Council for passing resolution S-16/1, at its special session on Syria on 29 April 2011, formally condemning the Syrian government for its use of force against peaceful pro-democracy protestors.

Hicham Gherras, a 43-year-old Moroccan national, was arrested by Political Security agents on 18 February 2011 in Sanaa. Despite promises that he would be freed, he is currently detained and subject to torture. Subsequently, he began a hunger strike on 10 April 2011 and has since been hospitalised.

On 20 April 2011 Alkarama addressed an urgent appeal to the Special Rapporteur on Torture, requesting his intervention with the Yemeni authorities in order that he be freed immediately - or at least that he be charged a competent legal authority.

Alkarama has submitted to the UN Human Rights Special Procedures the names of 359 individuals arrested following their alleged participation in protests in Syria.

Alkarama is deeply concerned by the Syria security forces' continued use of excessive force against peaceful demonstrators in Syria, and is informed that the Syrian army has setup a blockade around the port city of Banias, northwest of Syria. The blockade follows an intensification by the Syrian forces long disturbance that has left many dead throughout Syria.

On Sunday night 10 April 2011, Banias was cordoned off by the military and as tanks fanned out, access to medical services was blocked and communications interrupted.

George Sabra, a leading member of the Syrian Democractic People's Party, was arrested by Syrian security forces at 10.30am on 10 April 2011, in Quatana and has since disappeared. His party is linked to the Damascus Declaration for Democratic National Change, a Syrian opposition movement calling for pro-democratic reforms in Syria.

Since anti-government protests began in March 2011, many Syrian human rights defenders and political activists have been arrested. George Sabra was also previously arrested on 24 March 2008.

Nasser Bader Al-Raas, 29, both a Kuwaiti and Canadian national, currently living in Kuwait, was arrested on 20 March 2011 at Bahrain International Airport, 4km north of Manama. Mr Raas had flown to Bahrain on 6 March 2011 for family reasons and was returning home to Kuwait when he was arrested. Alkarama was told that after check-in, he spoke with a friend on the phone, but never boarded the plane. While witnesses report he was arrested by police officers at the airport, he has yet to reappear.

Mubarak Bin Said Ben Zaïr and Jihad Abdulkarim Al-Khodr, both sons of prominent Saudi human rights activists, were amongst those arrested during peaceful protests outside the Interior Ministry in Riyadh on 20 March 2011. Demonstrators were calling for the release of thousands of longstanding prisons held in Saudi prisons without charge or trial. The two men remain in custody despite not having been charged.