23 September 2016

FOCUS: UN Secretary General Denounces Reprisals Against Human Rights Defenders in Iraq, Sudan, Oman and the UAE

Ban KI-Moon Ban KI-Moon

On 16 September 2016, United Nations Secretary General (UNSG) Ban Ki-Moon's last report on reprisals against persons who have cooperated with the UN was presented to the Human Rights Council (HRC) and stressed "the absolute unacceptability of any act of intimidation or reprisal, no matter how seemingly subtle or explicit" and that "such acts, which run contrary to the principle of human dignity and violate numerous human rights, show complete contempt and disregard for the United Nations system as a whole." On 24 May 2016, Alkarama had provided the Secretary General with a report detailing reprisals taken by Arab States against human rights defenders.

Amongst the victims mentioned by the UNSG were three members of the NGO Al Wissam Humanitarian Assembly in Iraq, who were subjected to reprisals for their work documenting cases of enforced disappearances and submitting them, together with Alkarama, to the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED). On 7 September 2015, Salam Al Hashimi, the NGO's founder, was prevented by the security services from participating in a videoconference with the CED experts to brief them on his concerns in Iraq ahead of the country's review. Shortly after, he was threatened by two armed men of the Presidential Regiment and asked to "stop working on cases of enforced disappearances". On 6 March 2016, two other members of the NGO, Imad Amara and Faisal Al Tamimi were stopped at a checkpoint in Baghdad by the military forces, handcuffed, blindfolded and taken to an unknown location, where they were severely beaten while being interrogated about their work with families of disappeared persons, before being released later that night.

In his report, Ban Ki-Moon also raised concern over acts of intimidation and reprisals in Sudan, in particular against human rights defenders who intended to participate in meetings in Geneva related to the Universal Periodic Review of Sudan held in May 2016. Back then, Alkarama had denounced the travel bans issued against civil society activists who were prevented from boarding their flight from Khartoum to Geneva by officers from the National Intelligence Security Services.

Lastly, the UNSG recalled the cases of the prominent activist Said Jadad in Oman and blogger Osama al-Najjar in the United Arab Emirates who were both prosecuted after having met respectively with the Special Rapporteur on the rights and freedom of peaceful assembly and association (SR FPAA) and the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of judges and lawyers (SR IJL). The report regretted that no response was ever provided by the Omani government to the communication sent by the UN Special Procedures in January 2015 on Jadad's case, and that the Emirati authorities also ignored the appeal sent in April 2015 by the UN expressing concern over the sentencing of al-Najjar to three years in prison, for having contacted "foreign organisations" – in reference to the UN human rights mechanisms – and presented "inaccurate information".

"The repression of human rights defenders by Arab regimes continues to increase and these cases are just the tip of the iceberg," says Inès Osman, Coordinator of Alkarama's Legal Department. "Reprisals take various forms, going from travel bans, prosecution on trumped-up charges, torture and even execution of human rights defenders who did nothing more than report cases of human rights abuses to the UN human rights mechanisms." Alkarama therefore expresses its support to all those who, often putting their lives and freedom in danger, continue to fight against violations of human rights in the Arab world and calls upon all Arab States to refrain from any act of reprisals.

For more information or an interview, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Dir: +41 22 734 1008).

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