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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.

(Geneva, August 3, 2018) – On July 31, 2018, Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour was sentenced by an Israeli court to five months in prison with an additional six-month suspended sentence on charges of “incitement to violence” and “support for terror organisations” as a result of her poetry and social media activity.

(Geneva, August 3, 2018) - On July 26, 2018, Alkarama, along with the Arab Media Crisis Network and the Arab Coalition for Sudan – ACS, requested the intervention of several UN experts in the case of Ahmed Abakar, a journalist who has been harassed, threatened and banned from working by the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS).

(Geneva, July 31, 2018) – On July 12, 2018, Alkarama requested the intervention of several UN Special Procedures* in the case of Aliaa Awaad, an Egyptian photojournalist who was arrested on October 23, 2017 for her coverage of terrorist activities, and is currently detained at Al Qanater Prison.

Abdelkarim Al Hawaj (L) and Mounir Aal Adam (R)

(Geneva, July 31, 2018) – On July 25, 2018, Alkarama requested the intervention of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) in the cases of two Saudi nationals sentenced to death for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in trials that did not meet fair trial guarantees.