Hamzeh Bani-Issa, 30 year-old Jordanian teacher in primary school, has been detained for more than six months merely for his alleged political opinion. Accused of “membership to an unauthorised organisation”, on 12 June 2017, Jordan’s State Security Court (SSC) is to deliver its judgment on his case.

On 24 May 2017, prominent human rights defender and co-founder of the Union for Human Rights, Mohamed Al Otaibi, was arrested at Doha International Airport while on his way to Norway. On 28 May 2017, he was extradited from Qatar to Saudi Arabia. Al Otaibi had fled to Qatar in March 2017 to escape prosecution for his peaceful activism and seek political asylum in Norway, which had granted him travel documents to allow him to apply for refugee status upon arrival.

Jamil Al Nimr, former head of the General Intelligence in Jisr Al Shughur, Idlib governorate, was detained in Sednaya Military Prison since his arrest in June 2011 for having disobeyed orders to fire live bullets on peaceful protesters. He suddenly disappeared in December 2012, after his wife’s last visit.

Since the beginning of the six-year long armed conflict, thousands people have become victims of enforced disappearances and security services have abducted many of them at checkpoints.

On 9 May 2017, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) concerning Khaled Saad Saad Abdallah , a 21-year-old student at the Faculty of Commerce of the Al Azhar University of Cairo, who was abducted on 24 April 2017 at home by members of the Police and National Security Forces.

On 12 May 2017, the United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) published its Concluding Observations following the first review of Lebanon in April.

On 12 October 2016, the Alkarama Foundation launched the #KingdomofArbitraryDetention campaign to address arbitrary detention and the prosecution of human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia.

On 21 October 2016, Alkarama sent to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) new information about Ali Aarrass, detained since 2008 and sentenced on the sole basis of confessions obtained under torture.

On 19 October 2016, the Speaker of Kuwait's National Assembly, Marzouq Al-Ghanim, disclosed information according to which the Emir of Kuwait agreed to put Law No. 78/2015 on compulsory DNA collection, in line with the Kuwaiti Constitution in order to respect the right to privacy. The Emir requested the Parliament to reconsider the scope of the law with the view of imposing compulsory DNA collection to criminal suspects only, instead of all Kuwaiti citizens and residents as it was initially envisioned.