Press Releases

Saudi Arabia: Specialised Criminal Court Sentences Man to Death after Severely Flawed Trial

KSA - News | 25 November 2016

On 28 July 2016, the Specialised Criminal Court (SCC) of Riyadh sentenced Abdelkarim Al Hawaj to death after a flawed trial in which, confessions made under torture were admitted as sole evidence. On 24 November 2016, Alkarama raised his case with the Special Rapporteur on Summary Executions (SUMEX), calling for her intervention with the Saudi authorities to demand the repeal of Abdelkarim’s death sentence.

Egypt: Parliament’s New Associations Law Further Jeopardizes Human Rights and Work of NGOs

EGY - News | 23 November 2016

On 15 November 2016, the Egyptian Parliament proposed a flawed new draft NGO Law that replaces both the previous 2002 Law on Associations and the draft NGO Law that was presented by the government earlier this year. The latter, which was proposed by Egypt’s cabinet in September 2016 and presented to the Parliament for review, sparked wide criticism in Egypt; Alkarama had consequently sent a communication to the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association (SR FPAA) to solicit his urgent intervention on the matter.

Lebanon: Two Syrian Asylum Seekers Tortured by the Military to Confess "Joining a Terrorist Organisation"

LBN - News | 23 November 2016

On 6 December 2016, Muawiya Harba and Sultan Harba, two Syrians from the same family living in refugee camps in the border city of Arsal, east Lebanon, will have their next trial session before the Military Court in Beirut. They are facing terrorism charges based solely on information extracted under torture during their secret detention at the premises of the Ministry of Defence in Yarzeh, Baabda.

Syria: Two Men From the Same Family Disappeared Following Abduction by the Air Force Intelligence

SYR - News | 22 November 2016

On 18 November 2016, Alkarama and Human Rights Guardians wrote to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced Disappearances (WGEID) regarding the cases of two Syrian citizens from the village of Kafr al-Tun, who disappeared in the Governorate of Hama in western central Syria in 2012. They were both arrested during raids conducted by the Air Force Intelligence, after which they were brought to unknown places of detention. Their families remain without information on their fates and whereabouts and did not take any action after their disappearance, fearing reprisals or to be arrested themselves.

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