Articles for

Geneva, 13 December 2014

On 11 December 2014, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Mr Maina Kiai, as well as the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (

On 28 August 2014, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), during its 70th Session, adopted an opinion (Opinion No. 36/2014) on the case of 35-year old activist and PhD student at Damascus University, Ammar Tellawi, considering his detention "arbitrary" and calling for his release.

JOINT PUBLIC STATEMENT

A year on, no information on Douma Four

The prominent Syrian human rights defenders Razan Zaitouneh, Samira Khalil, Wa'el Hamada and Nazem Hamadi – the Douma Four—remain missing a year after their abduction, 57 organizations said today. The four were abducted in Duma, a city near Damascus under the control of armed opposition groups. They should be released immediately, the groups said.

On 1 December 2014, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst, following the arrest of Biram Dah, President and Founder of The Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA - Mauritania), an organisation founded in 2008 to fight against slavery.

Alkarama denounces the recent mass death sentences of 188 Egyptian citizens, including 53 in absentia, by the Gizeh criminal court in the trial regarding the 14 August 2013 attack on Kerdasa police station, a few hours after the massacres of Raba'a Al Adawiya and Al Nahda.

On 24 November 2014, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Mr David Kaye, and to Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mr Michel Forst, on the case of Mr Mikhlif Al Shammari, a prominent Saudi human rights defender who has been sentenced to two years

On 20 November 2014, Alkarama and Human Rights Guardians sent a communication to the United Nation Working Group on Enforced Disappearances (WGEID), regarding the cases of two Syrian citizens disappeared from the village of Al Lataminah, in the Governorate of Hama.

On 4 December 2014, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on Torture (SRT) regarding the case of Radhouane Gharsallaoui, a 38-year-old father kidnapped four days earlier by the anti-terrorist squad, as part of a broader campaign of repression by the security services.

On 26 November 2014, Alkarama provided the Committeeon Enforced Disappearances (CED) with a list of 28 issues to be raised by the United Nations experts with the Iraqi authorities during their consideration of Iraq's initial report.