Articles for

On 21 October 2016, Alkarama sent to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) new information about Ali Aarrass, detained since 2008 and sentenced on the sole basis of confessions obtained under torture.

On 19 October 2016, the Speaker of Kuwait's National Assembly, Marzouq Al-Ghanim, disclosed information according to which the Emir of Kuwait agreed to put Law No. 78/2015 on compulsory DNA collection, in line with the Kuwaiti Constitution in order to respect the right to privacy. The Emir requested the Parliament to reconsider the scope of the law with the view of imposing compulsory DNA collection to criminal suspects only, instead of all Kuwaiti citizens and residents as it was initially envisioned.

On 19 October 2016, a group of seven United Nations human rights experts* issued a press release to express their "serious concern" about the situation of activists from the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement Initiative (IRA Mauritania) "imprisoned for their alleged role in a demonstration against forced evictions in Nouachkott" and "targeted by the government for their anti-slavery advocacy".

On 29 June 2016, Abdulmalik Mohammad Yousef Abdelsalam, 26-year-old Jordanian university student, was released from the premises of the General Intelligence Directorate (GID) in Amman after having been secretly detained for four months, his family being kept unaware of his fate and whereabouts.

On 19 October 2016, Alkarama referred to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health (SRH) the case of Ali Ahmed Ali Kerata, a 53-year-old employee who was arrested on 19 August 2014 in Damietta by members of the police forces falling under the Egyptian Ministry of Interior.

On 5 October 2016, Al Omeir’s eight year sentence for “attempted illegal gathering” and “publishing information online” legally expired. However, Al Omeir has not yet been released and he has begun a hunger strike protesting the Saudi authorities’ refusal to release him.

On 13 October 2016, Alkarama wrote to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced Disappearance (WGEID) regarding the case of a Lebanese citizen from the village of Brummana, in the Mount Lebanese Governorate, who disappeared in Syria in 1999. Arrested by the Lebanese Army in 1997, he was brought to an unknown place of detention and later transferred to the Syrian authorities.

Arbitrary detentions, secret trials and lengthy prison sentences are the shared fate of anyone who dares to speak up about Saudi Arabia's human rights record or demand basic freedoms from within the Kingdom. Alkarama sheds light on the institutionalised repression practiced by Saudi authorities and honours the fight for human rights led by one of the Kingdom's most prominent group of victims: ACPRA, the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association.
 

On 12 October 2016, Alkarama alerted the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) of several cases of disappearances in Egypt, concerning two young students, Ahmed Abdelrahim Hanafi Abdelrahim and Ahmed Atef Ahmed Abdelrahim Al Baghdadi, who recently went missing, as well as two men, Mohamed Gomaa Youssef Afifi and Abdelrahim Mahmoud Abd Annabi Alsayed, who have been disappeared for 10 months and two years respectively.

On 11 October 2016, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) regarding the case of Mr Moustafa Abdelkhalek Al Darsi, a 48 year-old Libyan citizen who was arrested in the city of Zliten in January 2016 by members of the RADA forces; the main se