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On 16 July 2014, the Secretary of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), Miguel de la Lama informed Alkarama that, during its 69th session on 24 April 2014, the WGAD had recognised the arbitrary nature of the detention of 12 Egyptian citizens arrested in July and August 2013 during peaceful demonstrations, and consequently tried before military courts.

Nominations for the 2014 Alkarama Award for human rights defenders are now closed. Thank you for having been so many to send in your candidates from 16 different Arabic countries.

On 14 July 2014, the police arrested 15 individuals during a violent dispersal of a peaceful demonstration in Al Fayoum. Detained in Badar Al Fayoum's police station since their arrest, they also report having been subjected to torture and ill-treatment.

On 27 August 2014, Alkarama referred the cases of 52 children subjected to torture and sexual abuses in Alexandria's Koum El Dekka prison to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture. Aged between 15 and 18, they were arrested for demonstrating peacefully against the regime; most have now been detained arbitrarily for over eight months.

Alkarama referred the cases of three Libyan citizens to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture on 2 September 2014. Messrs Adarsi, Shamsah and Azarqani have been abducted and tortured to death in areas under militias' control, in Eastern Libya.

On 29 August 2014, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health to ask the Egyptian authorities to accept Jamal Mohamed Assaed Tafeh's hospitalisation. Detained without trial in appalling conditions in Gamasa prison since 7 January 2014, the opposition member, who suffers from a serious heart disease that requires permanent medical attention, is at imminent risk of death.

Alkarama, in collaboration with Human Rights Guardians, referred eight cases of enforced disappearance to the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances – Mssrs Khaled Awda, Abdul Rahman Al Hamraoui, Mohammed Noor Zada, Deibo Al Khalif, Jamil Al Najjar, Mohamed Rami Ramla, Mr Sabaie Sharkeyia and his brother Mr Alaa Sharkeyia. They all disappeared after being arrested by the State forces in Homs, Aleppo and Damascus, between September 2012 and July 2013.

Alkarama addresses the most serious human rights violations, i.e. violations which relate to the right to life, human dignity, physical integrity and freedom. The idea behind Alkarama's specific mandate is that only when citizens are free from the most serious human rights abuses that individuals can freely and effectively call for all of their rights and ensure the rule of law in their countries.

What makes the work of Alkarama unique?

• We work directly with the victims of human rights violations and their families
• The victims and the first hand information they provide are at the centre of our work
• We work mainly with the UN human rights system
• We work on four priority areas: extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture, and arbitrary detention.
• We are a trilingual organisation