On 18 June 2015, during the Human Rights Council (HRC)'s 29th session, the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers (SR IJL), Gabriela Knaul, presented the report on her visit to the United Arab Em

On 10 July 2015, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced of Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) regarding the disappearances of four young men who disappeared following their abduction by members of the police and the army between 22 April and 28 May 2015.

"In the name of the nation, in the name of the people, we will not allow you, your highness, to take Kuwait to the abyss of autocracy." These are the words for which Mussalam Al Barrak, a former Member of Parliament and prominent human rights defender in Kuwait, was detained arbitrarily. He is now serving a two-year sentence for "insult to the Emir".

The Call for Nominations for the 2015 Alkarama Award for Human Rights Defenders is now open.

To nominate your human rights defender/organisation for the 2015 Award, please fill in the form available here before 7 September.

On 7 July 2015, Alkarama sent a letter to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism (SRCT) to ask the Egyptian authorities to refrain from adopting a new draft anti-terrorism law. Approved both by the Cabinet and the Supreme Judicial Council on 5 July 2015, this draft law is awaiting ratification by the President of the Republic.

On 2 July 2015, Alkarama submitted an urgent appeal to the Special Rapporteur on torture (RST), Juan Méndez, regarding the case of Majdi*, who was arrested at Tunis airport on 9 June 2015, tortured for several days and is currently incarcerated at Mornaguia prison.

On 2 July 2015, Alkarama and Al Wissam Humanitarian Assembly submitted an urgent appeal to the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) regarding the case of Anwar Al Kawaz, who disappeared following his arrest by masked men in military trousers in August 2014. Almost a year later, in May 2015, Anwar's older brother, Firas disappeared in similar circumstances.

On 25 June 2015, Alkarama contacted the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression (SR FRDX) regarding the arrest of three supporters of the opposition coalition and of the Auditor General of the Djiboutian League for Human Rights (LDDH), which took place during a peaceful rally in Djibouti City on 6 June 2015.

On 12 June 2015, Alkarama sent an appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (SR SUMX), Christof Heyns, asking him to urgently call upon Iraq to investigate the death of 40-year-old father and member of former Vice President, Al Hashimi's security personnel, Amir Al Batawi, who died under torture in Baghdad on 15 March 2012.

On 19 June 2015, Alkarama submitted a communication to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) regarding the case of Ali Mustafa Ahmad Hanoon, a blind Palestinian Imam and father unlawfully detained since his arrest in the West Bank by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) a month earlier.

The facts