On 9 April 2026, fifteen years will have passed since the arrest of prominent Bahraini human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, only days after he turned sixty-five, while he remains arbitrarily detained in Jau Prison. HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement affirms that his continued detention, despite the grave violations he has suffered and the…
We, the undersigned civil society organizations from around the world, call on Egyptian authorities to immediately release prominent activist, poet and political writer Ahmed Douma from pretrial detention and to stop their systematic campaign of judicial harassment against him.
On April 6, 2026, many in Egypt started the day with hopeful news following Egyptian authorities’ long…
During the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council, HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement joined a civil society advocacy mission in Geneva alongside the Innovation for Change MENA Hub (I4C MENA Hub), 7amleh – The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, Smart Gov, and Wasl for Human Rights Tunisia, under…
The undersigned organizations express their grave concern regarding the continued lack of information concerning the fate of student Ahmed Hassan, whose whereabouts have remained unknown since April 1, 2019, in the absolute absence of any official response to date.
Ahmed Hassan, who was 18 years old at the time of his disappearance, vanished on April 1,…
HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement condemns the decision by the Algerian authorities on 16 March 2026 to close the office of the “SOS Disappeared” association (SOS Disparus) in Algiers, which is affiliated with the Collective of Families of the Disappeared in Algeria (CFDA). HuMENA considers this measure to be not a routine administrative…
HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement condemns the issuance of pre-trial detention orders against several members of the steering committee of the “Sumud Flotilla” in Tunisia. HuMENA considers these measures a dangerous escalation in the criminalization of solidarity with Gaza, and a troubling resort to punitive criminal law measures against a humanitarian and solidarity-based…
Kuwaiti authorities have detained activist and writer Fareah Al-Saqqaf and thinker and activist Suad Al-Munayes over social media posts in which they expressed political views. Available information indicates that the State Security apparatus was responsible for their detention, amid a lack of clear official information regarding their legal status or the legal basis for the…
HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Participation condemns the arbitrary arrest of environmental activist Murtadha Al-Janoubi and a number of peaceful protesters, following their participation in demonstrations demanding fair and sufficient water allocations for the Meshrab River and surrounding marshlands in Maysan Governorate. This arrest is part of a troubling pattern of shrinking civic space…
The undersigned human rights organizations condemn the ongoing escalation of summonses to human rights, political, and journalistic figures for investigation by the Supreme State Security Prosecution, in a context in which these summonses are viewed as a deliberate tool to silence independent voices and intimidate those working in the public sphere. The summoning of Dr.…
HuMENA condemns the continued targeting of Jordanian activist Kamil Al-Zoubi for the peaceful expression of political views on matters of public concern, through a sustained pattern of arrests, prosecutions, trials, and restrictive measures since 2014. This case reflects a cumulative approach that treats political criticism and digital expression as recurring grounds for criminalization, through broadly…
Fifteen years have passed since the outbreak of the Tunisian revolution against injustice and tyranny, when the Tunisian people decided to break with a deeply entrenched authoritarian system that had been in place since 1989. The cost of that system’s persistence was severe for civil society and intermediary bodies, as human rights defenders and political…
HuMENA welcomes the decision to release, with a two-year prison sentence suspended (deferred enforcement), Sharifa Riahi, Mohamed Jaouou, Ayadh Boussalmi, Imen Wardani, and Mohamed Iqbal Khaled, following the second hearing held on 5 January 2026 before the Bab Bnet Court in Tunis. The hearing began at 9:00 a.m. and continued late into the night, according…
On 18-19 November 2025, the UN Committee against Torture will review the Government of Bahrain (GoB)’s compliance with the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which it ratified in 1998. The Committee will examine the Government’s fourth periodic report at its 83rd session and will later issue recommendations addressed…
The undersigned organizations express their condemnation of the continued persecution and harassment of Egyptian researcher and academic Dr. Taqadum Al-Khatib, who has been living in exile in Germany, following a new arbitrary in absentia decision by the Egyptian authorities to refer him — along with 168 others — to criminal trial in Case No. 29/2025…
Beirut — 17 October 2025
Six years after the 17 October uprising, HuMENA reaffirms that no political or economic reform is possible without an open and safe civic space and the protection of fundamental rights to expression, association, and peaceful assembly. Between 2019 and 2025, legal, security, and judicial practices have gradually narrowed civic space and…
HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement strongly condemns the ruling issued on 1 October 2025 by the Criminal Chamber of the Court of First Instance in Nabeul, sentencing citizen Saber Chouchane to death.
Saber Chouchane is a day laborer from a remote area in the Cap Bon region, a father of three children, with a…
We strongly condemn the unprecedented weaponization of Egyptian diplomatic missions as tools of transnational repression against peaceful protesters abroad. A recently leaked recording of Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty shows him instructing embassy staff to “grab them [protestors], tie them up, drag them inside, and make their lives hell”—a shocking directive that fundamentally undermines the principles…
Brussels, 26 June 2025
Amid escalating, systematic crackdowns on civil society across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and the continued arbitrary detention of human rights defenders under harsh conditions, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), the Egyptian Human Rights Forum (EHRF), HuMENA for Human Rights and…
