The transfer of two Red Sea islands, Tiran and Sanafir, to Saudi Arabia has been the subject of considerable criticism in Egypt. On 15 April 2015, few days after the announcement of this deal between the two countries, Egyptians peacefully gathered to protest against it. Although people initially took to the streets to express their discontent over the planned handover, many slogans were directed against the increasingly authoritarian drift of the regime and the state security apparatus. Similar peaceful protests were held on 25 April 2016 across the country.

Alkarama welcomes the release, on 24 April 2016, of 12-year-old Palestinian student Dima Al-Wawi, who was arrested on her way to school on 9 February 2016 and, on 18 February, was sentenced by the Israeli Ofer Court to four months in prison for “carrying a knife”, which according to the court, would have been used to kill Israeli settlers.

During its review by the United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT), the delegation of Saudi

In April 2016, Alkarama documented two more cases of enforced disappearance that took place in Syria in 2012 and 2013. The first case is that of Rami Al Jadi, a 25-year-old worker, who on 23 July 2012, was with two of his friends in a Damascus neighbourhood, when they were arrested by officers of the Syrian Army, who did not give any reason for the arrest. The families never received any official information on their fate and whereabouts.

On 24 January 2016, the Ministry of Interior declared having executed 32-year-old Mohamed Hamdan Mohamed Ali during a police operation in Beni Suef – a city located on the Nile’s shores, South of Cairo. The victim had however been arrested at work on 10 January 2016 and was missing since. Additionally, when his relatives were authorised to see his corpse, it bore evident marks of torture which made them believe that the authorities tried to cover-up the real circumstances of his death.

In April 2016, Alkarama wrote to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced Disappearances (WGEID) regarding the cases of three Syrian citizens, Qassab Jamal, Mohammad Saleem al Sharqa – who had already been arrested in 2012 for their participation in peaceful demonstrations – and Nassir Al Nuaimi. All three Syrian citizens disappeared after their arrest by the security services between 2012 and 2014.

On 24 April 2016, Issa Al Hamid, president of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), was sentenced to nine years of imprisonment and a consecutive nine-year travel ban by the Specialised Criminal Court, following an unfair trial during which he was denied access to a lawyer and to the prosecution file, preventing him from preparing his defence. All hearings and sentencing were carried out in private, denying the public access to the trial.

In late March 2016, Yasser Essawy Ahmed Essawy, a sales representative detained since his arrest in October 2013, was urgently hospitalised to receive surgery in a Cairo hospital. Disregarding the doctor’s recommendation, the prison personnel refused the continuation of his hospitalisation after his surgery and sent him back to prison before he had time to properly recover. Even though he was put in the medical section of Tora prison, Yasser Essawy, 41 years old, has been continuously refused medical care since.

On 9 June 2015, Raed Allawi Hussein Al-Janabi, a 35-year-old shepherd was grazing his sheep near Amiriyat Fallujah – 100 km east of Baghdad – when members of the Kata'ib Hezbollah militia in military uniform took him, without presenting a warrant or explaining the reasons.

Alkarama welcomes the release, on 15 March 2016, of Mohamed Al-Ajami, a Qatari poet who had been sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment for writing and reciting, in his home, a poem criticising Arab governments and praising the Tunisian revolution in 2010. Al-Ajami was arrested in 2011 and sentenced in 2013 to 15 years in prison for "inciting to overthrow the regime" and "insulting the Emir".