Alkarama welcomes the release, on 18 December 2014, of Jadia Abdallah Nawfal and Omar Al Shaar two Syrian human rights defenders arrested on their return from Beirut where they were attending human rights conferences and workshops. Detained in Adra Prison, they were freed yesterday following a decision issued by the investigating judge.

On 17 December 2014, Alkarama provided the Human Rights Committee (HRC) with a list of 22 issues to be raised by the United Nations experts with the Iraqi authorities during their consideration of Iraq's fifth periodic report.

Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), regarding the case of Mouhayadine Yacin Mohamed and Said Charmake Darar, two young Djiboutian activists arbitrarily arrested by the police on 8 December 2014.

On 2 December 2014, Alkarama and Human Rights Guardians sent a communication to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID), regarding the disappearance, between August 2012 and May 2013, of three Syrian citizens, all living and working in the neighbo

During its last session in Geneva, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) released its opinion (35/2014) regarding Alkarama's communication sent on 8 May 2014 regarding the detention of Khaled Mohamed Hamza Abbas and four other individuals arreste

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.