Secretary General raises cases of reprisals in the Arab world...

In Egypt, the case of Alkarama's Country Representative, Ahmed Mefreh, who had been documenting cases of violations in his country for years, was raised by the UN Secretary-General. In August 2013, Mefreh documented on the field the killing of 985 peaceful demonstrators in Rabaa Adawiya and Nahda squares in Cairo. Because of this work, an arrest warrant was issued against him in September 2013 accusing him of "being a member of an armed organisation".

In Algeria, acts of intimidation and reprisals against Yahia Bounouar, journalist and President of the Algerian Observatory for Human Rights (OADH) were raised, in particular his surveillance by the security services. In Morocco, intimidation and reprisal against Ali Aarrass continued: threatened by the prison director that he could "make his life impossible", Aarrass announced that he was going on an indefinite hunger strike.

In Saudi Arabia, concerns over members of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) were once more brought up. Fawzan Mohsen Awad Al Harbi, who documented and submitted cases of violations in his country to the UN, was arrested and charged with "co-founding an unlicensed organisation and ignoring judicial decisions ordering its dissolution".

In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Osama Al Najjar, activist and blogger, and son of Hossain Al Najjar, tried in the UAE 94 case, suffered reprisals after meeting with the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Gabriela Knaul. He was abducted, secretly detained, tortured by the Emirati security services before being charged with "spreading false information". Further attention was brought to the UAE 94 by the Secretary General, as Waleed al Shehhi, member of their legal team, was arrested in May 2013 after denouncing trial irregularities on social medias; and several detainees went on hunger strike to protest against the beating of Mohamed al Mansoori by prison guards. Moreover, notorious blogger Ahmed Mansoor saw his passport confiscated as to prevent him from attending the review of the UAE. He was also under surveillance and was physically attacked.

In Syria, the Director and a member of the Syrian Centre for Legal Studies, respectively Khalil Matouk and Mohammed Thatha were arrested in October 2012 and kept incommunicado at an Air Force Intelligence Branch for having reported grave human rights violations ongoing in the country, in particular relating to arrests undertaken during a raid on the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression's offices. Concerns over the Director of this Centre, Mazen Darwish, along with Hussein Hammad Ghrer, Hani Al Zaitani, were also raised, as they remain in detention in spite of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD)'s call for their release.

... in the context of a broadening crackdown aiming at silencing human rights activists

Three years after the 'Arab Spring' uprisings and the call of citizens for the respect of their fundamental civil and political rights, Arab states are still falling short of their populations' aspirations. Many of the region's human rights defenders suffer from harassment, persecution and in some cases arrest, torture, detention and prosecution for their work providing information to the UN on human rights violations in their country.

"As the awareness of UN mechanisms grow in the Arab world, the authorities are seeking to repress the call of their citizens who only demand to see their basic human rights respected", says Inès Osman, Alkarama's Legal Coordinator. "Many people who have been working with us over the years, sending us cases for us to submit to the UN, are now disappeared or behind bars. Arab states need to accept that all voices, including dissenting ones, must be heard without fear from reprisals."

Alkarama calls upon the international community to continue to address the issue of retaliation against human rights defenders and urges all governments to prevent and refrain from all acts of intimidation or reprisals against those who cooperate with the UN, as stated in Resolution 12/2 of 2009. In this resolution, the Human Rights Council condemned the fact that these victims suffer violations of their human rights, including the rights to life, liberty and security of the person, as well as the right to freedom from torture.

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