United Nations human rights experts condemned the United Arab Emirates for the arbitrary detention and ill-treatment of Yemeni detainees returning from Guantanamo Bay, expressing concern about the risk of forced return to their country, Yemen, in light of the continuing armed conflict and humanitarian crisis.

On 12 October 2020, Alkarama submitted a complaint to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on behalf of 70-years-old religious scholar Safar bin Abdulrahman Al Hawali. This prominent scholar is arbitrarily detained since 12 July 2018 after publishing a book in which he criticised Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s international policy choices and issued recommendations to his attention.

On 9 October 2020, Alkarama sent a complaint to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) on behalf of Dr Hossam Abouelezz, the former governor of Qalyubia, arbitrarily detained since September 2013. The complaint asks for an urgent action to be taken given that Dr Abouelezz is detained in solitary confinement and is denied access to his family, to a lawyer and to medical care.

Yesterday, Thursday, October 15, 2020, five Yemeni journalists detained in the prisons of the Houthi group, Ansar Allah, were released in Sanaa as part of an agreement to exchange prisoners and kidnappers concluded under the auspices of the United Nations and of the International Committee of the Red Cross between the Houthi group and the recognized Yemeni government and Saudi Arabia, comprising 1081 prisoners while many journalists and other political activists remain in detention, including

A number of United Nations experts in the field of human rights(*) said that Egypt uses special judicial services involved in terrorism cases to target human rights defenders, silence dissidents and detain activists despite the Covid-19 pandemic.  

The infamous October 2 date marks the second anniversary of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at his country's consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018.

Since its establishment in 2004, Alkarama has submitted numerous cases of persons subjected to long periods of arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment to the UN Special Procedures and, mainly, to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD). So far, all submissions made to WGAD have led to favourable Opinions, stating the arbitrary nature of the detentions.

The UN Panel of Eminent International Experts on Yemen said that there is reasonable evidence that Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the Houthis, the Yemeni government and the Southern Transitional Council have committed war crimes and other violations in Yemen.

On September 4, 2020, Alkarama seized the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, following a disinformation and denigration campaign led by the official authorities through the APS (Algérie Presse Service) and ENTV (Établissement Public de Télévision, the official channel of the Algerian state). In its urgent appeal, Alkarama called on the High Commissioner to officially deny the false information according to which a complaint filed by Algerian marchers against the authorities concerning arbitrary detentions in the country would have been "rejected".