The specialised criminal court in Riyadh issued a verdict on Sunday 19 February 2012 to release the reformer and political opponent Dr Said bin Zair after a detention that lasted more than four years.

Dr Bin Zair, Laureate of the 2011 Alkarama Award and a well known persona

Mr Omar Abdelmohsen Al Qaid, a 24-year-old Saudi national, was arrested on 28 November 2010 and remains in detention since then without legal proceedings. He is therefore arbitrarily deprived of his liberty and Alkarama informed the UN Special Procedures of his case today.

- Abd al-Ilah Haidar Shaie, the Yemeni journalist detained in the Political Security detention center in the capital Sanaa since August 2010, is suffering a rapid deterioration in his health conditions due to his indefinite hunger strike undertaken.

The journalist's family informed Alkarama's representative in Yemen that Mr Shaie undertook a

Minors Mohamed Kamal and Ahmed Othman were released on 16 December 2011, several weeks after the United Nations Working Group adopted Opinion No. 57/2011 finding their detention arbitrary and requesting the Egyptian authorities release them immediately. It also called on the Egyptian government to provide them with reparation for their arbitrary, or illegal, detention

The detention of Ahmed Mansoor, aged 42, well-known Emirati human rights defender, for more than 7 months was arbitrary, announced the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. They also called on the Emirati authorities to provide him with reparation for this unfair treatment. It seems in fact that Mansoor's surprise pardon on 28 November may have been the result of the UN's decision on the case.

Mr Nimr, Mr Tony and Mr Saifuddin, were arrested following their participation in a protest against the policies adopted by their local City Council in June 2011.

Mr Sayed Mohammed Abdullah Nimr (aged 45), Mr Islam Abdullah Ali Tony (aged 20) and Mr Ahmed Maher Hosni Saifuddin (aged 31) were arrested from their perspective homes on 21 June 2011, and charged with inciting people to assemble and attack the President of the City Council. They remained at the police station, where they suffered ill-treatment, until they were transferred to the New Valley prison.

The Egyptian revolution was hailed internationally as an admirable and justifiable act by the Egyptian people to demand social justice and freedoms that they have been denied for decades. It was therefore anticipated that, following this revolution, the interim Egyptian political authorities would prioritize urgently needed legal and procedural reforms to enhance and protect the Egyptian people's newly won rights.

On 31 January 2012, Alkarama received information from the family of Mr Mohamed Fahd Wajan Al Shamari, stating that King Abdallah of Saudi Arabia had approved the decision to execute Mr Al Shamari after he was subjected to an unfair trial.

Alkarama was informed on Saturday 4 February 2012 of the release by the Moroccan authorities of Mohamed Hasan al-Kattani, Omar al-Haddouchi, and Mohammad Abdul Wahab al-Rafiki.