Alkarama has been continuously receiving reports for more than a week regarding riots by detainees in al-Hayer prison in Riyadh against their poor prison conditions and the arbitrary nature of their detention. After news of the riot, came calls for help as the authorities cracked down on the riot and blocked all news from the families of detainees.

Alkarama today provided its submission to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the United Arab Emirates to the UN for inclusion in the preparation of the summary of NGO information. The report highlighted key concerns, including the crackdown on essential freedoms of expression and association, the use of arbitrary arrests, detention and torture by the authorities to silence dissent, and the plight of the Bidoon in the country.

When Mrs Badria Abu Meri was arrested in May 2010, media reported that she had been taken into custody for her own protection. Several weeks before the arrest, a mob lynched a man accused of murder in Mrs Abu Meri's hometown and, as many believed she had instigated the latter to carry out the gruesome homicide, it was said that she might be the object of further acts of self-administered justice. However, it is now apparent that she was in fact quite simply arrested and detained without any legal basis.

The Paris court responsible for the consideration of the Algerian request for the extradition of Dr Mourad Dhina handed down its decision today.

The President of the trail chamber rejected the extradition request in a short deliberation, due to its lack of conformity with the 1964 extradition convention between Algeria and France and the French criminal procedure code.

Mr Matri was initially arrested in May 2010, the day before he was supposed to return home to France, alongside his business partner Cherif Al Karoui.