Skip to main content

On 12 June 2015, Alkarama provided the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) – a body of 10 independent experts that monitors the implementation of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons against enforced Disappearance (ICPPED) by its State parties – with a

On 24 June 2015 at 5.30pm, Alkarama will launch its new report on "Traumatising Skies: U.S. Drone Operations and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among Civilians in Yemen." The event will take the form of an online discussion will feature a panel of four experts from diverse backgrounds, including military, legal and psychiatry.

During its 72nd session held in Geneva on 20-29 April 2015, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) adopted an Opinion on the case of Bassel Khartabil, a fervent defender of the right to freedom of expression who has been detained without trial since his arrest by the military security on 15 March 2012. In this Opinion, the WGAD considers his detention "arbitrary" and calls for his immediate release.

On 17 June 2015, Alkarama urgently informed the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture (SRT) of the current situation of Abdessamad Bettar, who was tortured and transferred to solitary confinement in the punishment block of the prison of Safi, where he is being held for having begun a hunger strike and demanded his release.

On 16 June 2015, the Cairo Criminal Court confirmed the death sentences of Mohamed Morsi and several other Muslim Brotherhood leaders that had been handed in May 2015 and subsequently reviewed by the Grand Mufti of Egypt. On the same day, Morsi and 35 other defendants were also sentenced to life in prison under charges of espionage.

On 17 June 2015, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) regarding the cases of 54-year-old veterinarian, Dr Salah Attia Mohamed Fiki, and his son, a 20-year-old medicine student, Osama Salah Attia Mohamed Fiki – still a child under Egyptian law – both disappeared since their unlawful arrest by the Egyptian Security Forces on 23 April 2015.

On 11 June 2015, Alkarama sent a communication to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) and other Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council (HRC) concerning the case of Suliman Awad Zubi, a retired Libyan judge and member of the General National Congress (

In February 2015, the family of Achour Berkaoui, who went missing after his abduction by members of the Algerian security services in the centre of Algiers in November 1994, mandated Alkarama to submit a complaint to the United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRCtee), concerning the enforced disappearance of their relative so the direct involvement of the Algerian authorities be officially recognised and in the hope to obtain redress as provided by international law.

On 12 June 2015, Raif Badawi's 1,000 lashes corporal punishment was not carried out, officially for medical reasons, but it could resume at any moment every Friday. The blogger and human rights defender is still arbitrarily detained, a situation that could last for up to 10 years, since his prison sentence was also confirmed by the Supreme Court of Riyadh on 7 June 2015.

On 27 May 2015, the same day that he was charged with "criticising or insulting the King" for taking part in a peaceful demonstration against Charlie Hebdo's front-page cartoon and subsequently sentenced to five months imprisonment, the social rights activist Bassem Al Rawabedah was released.

Subscribe to