Articles for

To Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the UN Human Rights Council

Geneva, Switzerland

4 September 2018

Re: Addressing the serious human rights and humanitarian situation in Sudan

Excellencies,

Une manifestation de familles de victimes de disparitions forcées organisée le 30 août 2018, journée internationale des victimes de disparition forcée, a été dispersée ce matin par un large dispositif policier. La dispersion de familles de victimes de dispositions forcées a été accompagnée de violence policière et d’arrestations arbitraires contre les manifestants pacifiques qui avaient répondu à l’appel  au rassemblement de la Coordination nationale des familles de disparus (CNFD).

Hicham Al Hayali

(Geneva, August 23, 2018) – On August 20, 2018, Alkarama and Al Wissam Humanitarian Assembly submitted four more cases of disappeared persons in Iraq to the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED).

(Geneva, August 23, 2018) – On August, 17, 2018, Mohammed Atta, a 40-year-old Egyptian citizen, was coming back to Egypt with his spouse from Saudi Arabia, where he works as a senior sale consultant. Upon their arrival at the border security control of Cairo airport, officers proceeded to arrest him without providing any explanation. Since then, his family has been inquiring about his fate and whereabouts with the authorities, to no avail.

left to right; Mattar - Abushawareb

(Geneva – August 16, 2018) – The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has published Opinion 3/2018, declaring the detention of two Jordanian IT professionals, living and working in Abu Dubai, arbitrary.

(Geneva, August 13, 2018) – On August 9, 2018, Alkarama requested the intervention of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) in the case of Layth Al Janabi, an Iraqi refugee in Syria who remains missing since he was arrested and forcibly disappeared by the Syrian authorities in 2012.

Clockwise from top left: Ahmad Al Jabouri, Bilal Al Bazi,Falah Al Bazi, Marwan Al Subaihi, Talib Al Jabouri, Shaker Al Mafraji, Ghassan Al Samarraei, and Dawoud Al Samarraie

(L-R) Nassima Al Sadah, Samar Badawi and Yasser Al Ayyaf

(Geneva, August 9, 2018) – On August 6, 2018, Alkarama submitted the cases of four Saudi human rights defenders and campaigners to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID).

(L-R) Ahmed Al Jamali, Karim Al Shammari and Safaa Al Khafaji

(Geneva, August 8, 2018) – On July 27, 2018, Alkarama requested the intervention of several UN experts in the cases of three Iraqi citizens who were severely beaten by the security forces in Iraq due to their participation in demonstrations across the country.

Use of excessive lethal force to crack down on Iraqi protests

(Geneva, August 3, 2018) – The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD ) has published a decision adopted in April 2018 and issued in late July qualifying the detention of 24 Iraqi citizens* as arbitrary. The majority of individuals named in Opinion 38/2018 were employees or persons with alleged personal connections with former Vice-President Tariq Al Hashimi.