On 1 March 2011 at nine o'clock at night, a number of state security agents raided the house of Mr. Sultan Khalifa Al Khulaifi in Doha. After searching his house and car for two hours, he was taken to an unknown place by the State Security agents.

A female officer who was accompanying the agents informed the wife of Mr. Khulaifi that they were sent by the Attorney General, but without they were unable to produce any judicial warrant justifying the decision.

Alkarama was informed earlier in the week of the death of 20 protestors in various cities in Yemen who were killed over the course of February during peaceful protests in Mansoura and Maala City of Aden Province; Khormaksar, El Arish District; Dar Saada District; Sheikh Osman; and the capital, Sana'a.

The term of the current mandate-holder, Martin Scheinin, expires this year and his successor will be appointed at the June session of the Human Rights Council. While Alkarama will not be putting forward any names, we encourage you to circulate this information to any suitable applicants.

The Committee against Torture is mandated to periodically review implantation of the rights contained in the international Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, to which Egypt acceded on 25 June 1986.

Our organisation is especially concerned by the declarations of Seif el Islam Gaddafi, the son of the Head of State, who declared on Libyan State television on the night of 20 February 2011 that if his propos

Starting on 25 January 2011, Egypt erupted in mass peaceful protests calling for democratic change and the immediate resignation of the President Hosni Mubarak. After 18 days of protests, he resigned and turned over all power to the military on 11 February 2011.

Since the beginning of the protests in Bahrain calling for democratic changes in the country, Alkarama has been informed of 6 deaths and hundreds of injured caused by excessive use of violence by the police.