On 5 May 2012, 22-year-old student Rachid Qasim Mohamed Ali Yahya Al Daifi was arrested during a raid by the police forces in Sanaa's Tahrir Square and brought to an unknown location.

The Jordan National Centre for Human Rights (JNCHR)'s review for its reaccreditation to the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions for the Protection of Human Rights (ICC-NHRI) was deferred to the fall session of 2016.

On 26 January 2016, the Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA) of the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (NHRIs) published its report recommending that the Qatari National Human Rights

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) recently adopted Opinion No. 51/2015, which recognises the arbitrary character of the detentions of Salim Alaradi and four other Libyan citizens, and requests the Emirati authorities to release them immediately. Almost two months later, however, the five men remain detained.

Alkarama strongly condemns the hateful comments against supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood made on 27 January 2016 by the Egyptian Minister of Justice, Ahmed Al Zind, commenting on the recent attacks in the Sinaï during a live interview at prime-time on Sada Al Balad TV.

Hassan Bouras was released on 18 January 2016 after spending the last three months in pretrial detention in El Bayadh prison in Western Algeria. This 48-year-old journalist and human rights defender was arrested at his home in El Bayadh on 2 October. His release follows the decision of the investigating judge to refer his case to the Criminal Court of El Bayadh.

Alkarama welcomes the decision, recently made public, of the Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA) of the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) to consider reviewing the accreditation of the Egyptian National Human Rights Council (

As a State Party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Kuwait will be reviewed by the Human rights Committee (HRCtee) during its third review in July this year.

On 19 January 2016, the Court of flagrante offenses of Djibouti City condemned Kadar Abdi Ibrahim, publication co-director of the Aurore newspaper, to a two-month suspended prison sentence, while suspending the publication of this monthly newspaper also for two months.

On 12 January 2016, Kuwait's new Cyber Crime Law no. 63, which contains provisions that severely restrict freedom of expression on the internet, came into force. Several human rights NGOs criticised this law, as its broad definitions can be used to punish peaceful opposition and dissenting voices.