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Living Archive
Defenders.
An open record of human rights defenders across the Middle East and North Africa. Every entry is a case file — dated, sourced, and kept current.
173
Records on
the open archive
87
Currently held
detained · sentenced · on trial
57
In exile or under
transnational repression
11
In memoriam
killed for their work
The Record
Currently held
HM-XX-2026-048
On trial
Ahmed Issa Qatan
An environmental specialist who opposed ministerial decrees threatening the Dhofar Plain's natural heritage, Dr. Qatan was detained after tweeting his objections to…
Open case file
HM-SD-2026-020
On trial
Khadeeja Aldewaihi
Khadeeja Aldewaihi, a women's rights defender and TV presenter in Sudan, faces criminal charges under the 2018 Cybercrimes Act for a 2020…
Open case file
HM-XX-2026-046
On trial
Shatha Odeh Abu Fannouneh
Director of a Palestinian health organization, arrested at her home in Ramallah in July 2021 and held in Israeli prisons under charges…
Open case file
HM-IQ-2026-008
On trial
Ali Akram al-Bayati
Ali Akram al-Bayati, a physician and former IHCHR Commissioner, faces defamation charges for documenting torture claims while serving Iraq's national human rights…
Open case file
HM-SD-2026-019
Sentenced
Waad Bahjat
Women's rights defender, blogger, and member of the Umbda Resistance Committee who was arrested, ill-treated, and convicted on charges of public annoyance…
Open case file
HM-XX-2026-042
Detained
Husain Mouneif al-Jabri
Arrested in 2012 and sentenced to ten years in the UAE84 trial, Husain Mouneif al-Jabri completed his term in 2022 but was…
Open case file
HM-EG-2026-041
Detained
Nashwa Al-Deeb
Opposition candidate who withdrew from Egypt's November 2025 parliamentary elections citing electoral fraud, vote-buying, and systematic irregularities in the Munira and Giza…
Open case file
HM-EG-2026-034
On trial
Said Abdelrazek
Said Abdelrazek converted to Christianity and was arrested from his Cairo home in July 2025. He was subjected to torture and held…
Open case file
HM-SA-2026-004
Sentenced
Ahmed al-Doush
Ahmed al-Doush, a British-Saudi business analyst, was arrested at Riyadh airport in 2024 while returning home with his family. He is serving…
Open case file
HM-DZ-2026-009
Sentenced
Abd Al Hamid Goura
Head of the Laghouat section of the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights, Abd Al Hamid Goura was arrested at…
Open case file
HM-EG-2026-028
On trial
Ezzat Ghoneim
Ezzat Ghoneim, a lawyer who led one of Egypt's most active human rights groups documenting disappearances, was himself disappeared in 2018, then…
Open case file
HM-EG-2026-026
Detained
Ibrahim Metwally Hegazy
Egyptian human rights lawyer detained at Cairo airport in September 2017 while travelling to brief the UN on enforced disappearances. Held in…
Medical urgency
Day 3,191 · since 2017-09-10