On 23 May 2023, Alkarama referred to the United Nations Special Procedures, including the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), the case of four Yemeni nationals arrested by the police on 23 April 2022 in the Taif region of southern Saudi Arabia under the pretext of being affiliated with the Houthi group in Yemen while on their way to "Umrah",  (religious pilgrimage) to Mecca. 

A totally arbitrary arrest 

On 11 May 2023, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture calling on Iraq to refrain from returning Mr. Azmi Derri Mohamed AL HADDAR, a Syrian national arbitrarily detained in Al Rusafa prison in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. 

Arrest and sentencing of Al Haddar 

Alkarama strongly condemns Jordan's extradition of Emirati businessman Khalaf Abdulrahman Al Rumaithi – sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison in connection with the so-called "UAE 94" case by the Abu Dhabi authorities - despite the risk of torture and ill-treatment and in flagrant violation of the Convention against Torture to which Jordan is a party. 

Two prisoners held in Roumieh prison, east of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, died in less than 48 hours due to very poor detention conditions, detainees being denied of minimum necessities of living, Alkarama learnt from its sources. 

The prison in which conditions are further deteriorating is marked by an increasing frequency of deaths and alleged suicides. 

On 8 May 2023, a Saudi court decided to postpone the session of the academic and prominent lawyer, Mohammed bin Fahd Al Qahtani’s trial whose news was cut off before the end of his unfair sentence in November 2022. 

The wife of the Saudi activist noted on Twitter that the Specialized Criminal Court postponed the trial session, the charges against him and the reasons for not bringing him to court remaining unknown. She added that he is maintained in detention and prevented to communicate with his family or lawyer. 

On 10 May 2023, Alkarama submitted an urgent appeal to the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances to shed light on the fate of Aimidoula WAILI and Nuermaimaiti RUZE, Chinese citizens of Uyghurs origin, who have been missing since their transfer to the capital Riyadh in March 2023.   

Arrested during a religious pilgrimage

Mustafa Taleb Younes Abdelkhalek Al Darsi, 55, was released late in the afternoon on 30 April 2023 after eight years of arbitrary detention in a worrying state of health, Alkarama learned from family sources. 

Arrest by RADAA militias 

On 21 April 2002, Alkarama submitted its contribution to the draft general comment of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) on Article 4 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT).

Alkarama condemns the forced deportation by the Lebanese authorities of dozens of Syrian refugees to areas controlled by the Syrian regime, despite the existence of the risk of torture -and extrajudicial executions- in violation of the principle of non-refoulement enshrined in the Convention against Torture. 

Human rights sources reported that the Lebanese authorities have forcibly deported about 150 Syrian refugees to their country through the "Masnaa" crossing point since April 19, 2023. 

On 12 April 2023, Alkarama, the Tunisian Association of Victims of Torture (AVTT) and Mr. BHIRI's lawyer Kilani Abdarrazak addressed the UN Special Rapporteur on torture regarding the situation of Mr. Bechir AKREMI, Tunisian magistrate and Mr. Noureddine BHIRI, lawyer and former Minister of Justice, both victims of torture during their arrest and/or detention by the police.

Arrest and detention of Mr. Bechir Akremi