Prominent lawyer and human rights activist Mohamed Al-Roken has served his entire 10-year prison sentence after an unfair trial and numerousbuses and ill-treatment in detention.

Al-Roken's sentence ended on 17 July 2022, but the UAE authorities decided to extend his detention without giving reasons. It is feared that he will be sent to one of the so-called "Munsaha" centers (or "counseling" centers).

On Tuesday 12 July 2022, Alkarama participated in the NGO briefing held at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva ahead of the initial review of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by the UN Committee against Torture (CAT) during its 74th session to be held from 13 July to 14 July 2022.

On 22 June 2022, Alkarama submitted the case of Abdelrahman Ali Mohammed Ali ELSAYAR and Hossam Ali Mohamed Hegazy HAMZA to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, both of whom were arbitrarily arrested by the Egyptian security forces and then sentenced to long prison terms following unfair trials.

The facts

The case of Abdelrahman ELSAYAR

On Friday 24 June 2022, Saudi authorities on Friday released Murtaji Qureis, the kingdom’s youngest political detainee, according to reliable Saudi human rights sources.

On 26 June 2022, on the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, Alkarama, several NGOs working for the protection of human rights and the Tripoli Bar Association called, through a joint statement, on the Lebanese authorities to comply with their obligations under the Convention against Torture and its optional protocol ratified by Lebanon.

On 22 June 2022, Alkarama urgently addressed the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture regarding the imminent forced return to Syria of Syrian citizen Amjad Mohammad Nour Aldeen Al Nasser, a truck driver arrested on 26 April 2022 at around 10 am on the road between Abu Dhabi and Dubai by members of the Emirati intelligence services in civilian clothes while in his truck.  

During its 93rd session held in Geneva from 30 March to 8 April 2022, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concluded that the Libyan government was responsible for the actions of militias affiliated to General Khalifa Ha

On 7 June 2022, Alkarama addressed to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) asking them to call on the Egyptian authorities to release the staff members of former Egyptian President Dr Mohamed Morsi arrested following the military coup in 2013.

On 8 June 2022, in the framework of the follow-up procedure, Alkarama addressed the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) to inform it of the refusal of the Algerian authorities to implement Opinion No. 7/2020, which establishes and recognises the serious violations suffered by Mr.

The UN human rights experts reminded the Saudi authorities of their obligations to “of their obligation to conduct a prompt and impartial investigation wherever there are reasonable grounds to believe that torture has been committed, and to exclude any evidence obtained through torture and coercion from judicial proceedings”.

They underscored that “prolonged incommunicado detention can facilitate the perpetration of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and can in itself constitute a form of such treatment”.