(Geneva,28 April 2015) - To mark the 38th birthday (on April 29) of missing human rights defender and lawyer Razan Zaitouneh, head of the Violations Documentation Centre in Syria (VDC), winner of the 2011 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and the 2011 Anna Politkovskaya Award of RAW in WAR (Reach All Women In War), the undersigned human rights organizations today reiterate theircall for her immediate release, as well as thatof her missing colleagues Samira Khalil, Nazem Hamadi and Wa'el Hamada.

On 24 April 2015, Alkarama sent a request for Opinion to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) regarding the arbitrary detention of two Jordanian citizens, Bassem Al Rawabedah and Thabet Assaf, arrested for having organised and participated in a peaceful demonstration against the French journal Charlie Hebdo's cartoons, on 16 January 2015.

On 22 April 2015, Alkarama sent a follow-up communication to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) regarding the sentencing, on 21 April 2015, of Mohamed Morsi and members of his staff to 20 years in prison, despite an Opinion adopted by the WGAD on 13 November

On 17 April 2015, Alkarama sent a communication to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) regarding the arbitrary detention of Ahmed Magdy Atya Alwahsh, a 23-year-old student at Mansoura University who was arrested in March 2014. Secretly detained and tortured in retaliation for his affiliation to the Muslim Brotherhood, Ahmed has still not been presented to a judge, more than a year after his arrest.

On 14 April 2015, Alkarama and Al Wissam Humanitarian Assembly sent an urgent action to the United Nations Committee of Enforced Disappearance (CED) regarding the disappearance of 29-year-old Yasser AbdelKarim Aswad Al Janabi, abducted by the military in June 2014, as well as a communication to the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearance (WGEID) regarding the disappearance of his father, Abde

Alkarama welcomes the release, on 17 April 2015, of Abdallah Anwar Ahmed Hussein, a 56-year-old worker and father of three who had disappeared since his arrest by police officers three weeks earlier. Abdallah was released by the Egyptian authorities in the streets of Cairo around 1am and was able to contact his son who brought him back home.

On 15 April 2015, Riad Abdel Majeed Al Obeidi was freed after 10 months of detention in the secret facility of the old Muthanna airport in Western Baghdad. Alkarama and Al Wissam Humanitarian Assembly had solicited the urgent intervention of the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) on Al Obeidi's behalf three months after his abduction, leading to his successful release.

Today marks a year of arbitrary detention of the Saudi lawyer and human rights defender, Waleed Abu Al Khair. His family launches a Twitter campaign at 6pm advocating for his release.

On 15 April 2015, Alkarama sent a communication asking the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) to call upon the Iraqi authorities to immediately release 17 people arrested for their real or perceived link with former Vice President Tariq Al Hashimi. Secretly detained and tortured, they have all been accused of acts of "terrorism" and sentenced to death by the Central Criminal Court of Iraq on the basis of their forced confessions.

On 10 April 2015, Alkarama briefed representatives from permanent missions in Geneva on its priority recommendations in view of Libya's Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which will be held in Geneva on 13 May 2015.