Alkarama has submitted to the UN Human Rights Special Procedures the names of 359 individuals arrested following their alleged participation in protests in Syria.

Alkarama is deeply concerned by the Syria security forces' continued use of excessive force against peaceful demonstrators in Syria, and is informed that the Syrian army has setup a blockade around the port city of Banias, northwest of Syria. The blockade follows an intensification by the Syrian forces long disturbance that has left many dead throughout Syria.

On Sunday night 10 April 2011, Banias was cordoned off by the military and as tanks fanned out, access to medical services was blocked and communications interrupted.

George Sabra, a leading member of the Syrian Democractic People's Party, was arrested by Syrian security forces at 10.30am on 10 April 2011, in Quatana and has since disappeared. His party is linked to the Damascus Declaration for Democratic National Change, a Syrian opposition movement calling for pro-democratic reforms in Syria.

Since anti-government protests began in March 2011, many Syrian human rights defenders and political activists have been arrested. George Sabra was also previously arrested on 24 March 2008.

Nasser Bader Al-Raas, 29, both a Kuwaiti and Canadian national, currently living in Kuwait, was arrested on 20 March 2011 at Bahrain International Airport, 4km north of Manama. Mr Raas had flown to Bahrain on 6 March 2011 for family reasons and was returning home to Kuwait when he was arrested. Alkarama was told that after check-in, he spoke with a friend on the phone, but never boarded the plane. While witnesses report he was arrested by police officers at the airport, he has yet to reappear.

Mubarak Bin Said Ben Zaïr and Jihad Abdulkarim Al-Khodr, both sons of prominent Saudi human rights activists, were amongst those arrested during peaceful protests outside the Interior Ministry in Riyadh on 20 March 2011. Demonstrators were calling for the release of thousands of longstanding prisons held in Saudi prisons without charge or trial. The two men remain in custody despite not having been charged.

In this context, it should be noted that human rights defenders and lawyers have been particularly targeted during the crackdown on civilians participating in the rising opposition movement. Indeed, the following individuals have been detained solely as a result of their exercise of their right to freedom of expression:

On 4 April 2011, Alkarama sent the UN special procedures the cases of seven medical-practioners kidnapped in Libya by pro-Kaddafi forces during March 2011. The doctors and nurses were providing medical assistance and humanitarian aid in war-torn Libya.

The details of those arrested and kidnapped are as follows:

Suhil Sami Al-Atrach, is a 32-year-old Libyan anesthetist at Al Jae Hospital in Benghazi. He was kidnapped on 6 March 2011 by pro-Kaddafi forces at Ras Lanuf Hospital.

Alkarama is deeply concerned by the Syria security forces' continued use of excessive force against peaceful demonstrators in Syria. Alkarama has confirmed 70 more deaths as a result lethal force used by the Syrian authorities against protesters. This total comes on the back of the case of 58 dead, which Alkarama submitted to the UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions on 30 March 2011.