On 25 November 2009, Libyan authorities released Saleh Salem Ahmeed after having served nearly 25 years behind bars. Mr Ahmeed was arrested on 3 November 1986 on fabricated murder charges. During the arrest, his house was ransacked and burned.

Since the publication on 16 October 2005 of the "Damascus Declaration for Democratic National Change", calling for peaceful change in Syria, the Syrian regime has arbitrarily detained hundreds of political and human rights activists, in an attempt to silence the growing support for the declaration. The Syrian government continues to arbitrarily detain those who oppose or criticize government policies, including community leaders, human rights activists, and pro-democracy reformers.

Abdullah Al-Nuaimy

On Thursday 26 November 2009, Dr Mohamed Gamal Heshmat (الدكتور محمد جمال حشمت), Muslim Brotherhood leader and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood Shura Council, was released after two months of arbitrary detention in Burg al-Arab prison.

On 19 November 2009, the Committee against Torture (CAT) mad its provisional concluding observations (CAT/C/YEM/CO/2) following its consideration of the second periodic report (CAT/C/YEM/2) which took place on 3 November 2009 in Geneva.

Following yesterday's publication of photographs depicting the injuries of a torture victim inside al-Hayr prison - one of the prison's detainees, Khaled Suleyman Al-Omeir, is suspected by prison authorities of having leaked the snapshots from the prison and is now being detained in solitary confinement.

At 1am on 20 November 2009, Security services released Dr Ashraf Abdel Ghaffar along with Khaled al-Sayed al-Beltagy and Ahmad Ali Abbas. Their release brings to a close the case of the "International Organisation of the Muslim Brotherhood" following the release of all 25 members of this group.

 

On 15 November 2009, in the north-eastern town of Deir al-Zour, Yusuf Abdallah al-Dheeb  (يوسف عبد الله الذيب) was arrested from his home by armed gunmen dressed in civilian clothes - the identity of the forces responsible for his arrest remains unknown. To date, his family is still unaware of his whereabouts.

Alkarama has been mandated to submit a complaint to the Human Rights Committee concerning the disappearances of Tahar and his eldest son Bashir Bourefis, arrested in 1996 in the province of Jijel and gone missing ever since.