Articles for

On 8 November 2016 Ahmad and Abdullah Al Janabi, two brothers from Al Mahawil, Babil governorate, were arrested at a military checkpoint situated in Al Iskandariya, Babil governorate. Their relatives have no information on their fate and whereabouts since, and they remain disappeared up until today.

Iraqi refugee Zeyad Al Dolaee is currently detained pending final decision about an extradition request against him by the Iraqi authorities, who want him on the basis of alleged accusations of terrorism. Notwithstanding the Public Prosecutor’s view opposing it, Al Dolaee informally got to know that the Ministry of Justice was preparing a decree accepting his extradition request.

On 15 March 2017, Jordanian journalist Taysir Salman, also known as Taysir Al Najjar, was sentenced by the Federal Appeals Court of Abu Dhabi to three years in prison for having violated the cybercrime law by posting critical statements of the UAE’s support to Egypt’s action in Gaza on Facebook.

Yousuf Al Haj is an Omani journalist, who worked for the now banned Al Zaman newspaper. He was arrested in August 2016 and had first been sentenced to three years in prison on 25 September 2016. In December 2016, his sentence was reduced on appeal to one year in prison.

On 4 December 2016, Lebanese citizen, Ahmed Mekkaoui was sentenced by the UAE State Security Circuit of the Federal Supreme Court to 15 years in prison on the basis of confessions that were previously extracted under horrific acts of torture.

On 2 March 2017, during the 34th session of the Human Rights Council, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, Nils Melzer, presented the conclusions of the visit carried out in Mauritania by his predecessor Juan Mendez, from 25 January to 3 February 2016. The Special Rapporteur reminded the authorities of the need to apply the existing legislation and the safeguards. He also pointed out the persistence of torture, the poor conditions of detention for prisoners and the issue of pervasive impunity.

On 31 October 2016, United Nations member States reviewed the human rights situation in Syria in the context of the country’s second Universal Periodic Review (UPR), an interactive discussion between the State under review and other UN Member States which takes place every four years.

On 16 March 2017, Alkarama submitted its shadow report* on the use of torture in Lebanon to the United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT), in view of the country's first review by the Committee during its 60^th session.

On 20 March 2017, Alkarama submitted its shadow report to the Committee against Torture (CAT) ahead of Bahrain’s second periodic review aimed at examining Bahrain’s implementation of the Convention Against Torture (UNCAT).

On 22 March 2017, Alkarama solicited the urgent intervention of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst, (SRHRD) regarding the case of Ahmed Mansoor, prominent Emirati human rights defender, who was arrested at around 3 am on 20 March from his home in Ajman by security forces.