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A family of 12 Russian nationals residing in Egypt – including 7 children between the ages of 3 and 9 – remain disappeared to date after being arrested by the Egyptian secret police between March and April 2018.  

On April 23 and 24, 2018, Alkarama and Al Wissam Humanitarian Assembly requested the urgent intervention of the UN human rights mechanisms in the cases of three individuals who disappeared following their arrests by the Iraqi authorities between 2006 and 2015.

Geneva (May 3, 2018) – May 3 marks World Press Freedom Day 2018, this year based on the theme  Keeping Power in Check: Media, Justice and The Rule of Law. While providing a platform to celebrate press freedom and to speak up for journalists who have been subjected to abuses as a result of their work, this year’s theme also provides the opportunity to address flaws in legal systems across the Arab world in order to create a legal environment conducive to freedom of the press.

Geneva (April 27, 2018) – On April 18, 2018, the United Nations Human Rights Committee published its follow-up report after reviewing Iraq’s implementation of four key recommendations issued following the country’s review in October 2015. The report concluded that the recommendations had “not been fully implemented” by the Iraqi authorities.

Geneva (April 25, 2018) – On December 22, 2017 and January 8, 2018, a teacher and a 19-year-old student were arrested by members of Jordan’s General Intelligence Directorate (GID), and subsequently detained incommunicado, tortured, and coerced into confessing to “supporting terrorism”.

Clockwise from top left: Raslan Al Khatib, Abdo Al Saghier, Ibrahim Al Jaidani, Ahmad Deib Abdul Aleem, Anas Yassin 

On April 16, 2018, Alkarama and Human Rights Guardians submitted five cases of enforced disappearances in Syria to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID), requesting that the UN experts promptly intervene with the Syrian authorities to ensure their immediate release.

On April 10, 2018, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a comprehensive report in cooperation with the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) addressing the various abuses committed by all armed groups currently operating in Libya since the signing of the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA) on December 17, 2015.

On April 10, 2018, Alkarama solicited the intervention of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) on behalf of Saudi human rights defender Mohammad Abdullah Al Otaibi, requesting that the UN experts issue a decision calling for his immediate release.

On January 25, 2018, as a result of making use of his fundamental rights to freedom of expression and association, Al Otaibi was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment following a grossly unfair trial.

Geneva (April 11, 2018) – On April 10, 2018, Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir issued a decree “setting free all political detainees in the country,” state media organisation Sudan News Agency reported.

UPDATE: Abdul Latif Abdul Latif Ali was released on April 10, 2018 following the issuance of a presidential decree “setting free all political detainees in the country.” Read more