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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
Lawyers
HM-XX-2026-044
In forced exile
Salah Hamouri
Franco-Palestinian human rights lawyer detained without charge in Al-Moskobiya since March 2022 under administrative detention, facing revocation of his Jerusalem residency and…
Open case file
HM-EG-2026-053
In forced exile
Mostafa Fouad
Egyptian human rights lawyer living in exile since 2017. After co-founding HuMENA and launching a campaign to expose officials implicated in abuses,…
Open case file
HM-EG-2026-032
Released
Mahienour El-Masry
Mahienour El-Masry is a lawyer who organizes protests and fundraises bail for political prisoners. Arrested outside the prosecutor's office in 2019, she…
Open case file
HM-EG-2026-030
Under restriction
Negad El Borai
Lawyer and founder of the United Group, specialising in individual freedoms and property law. Charged in Egypt's foreign-funding case; subjected to five…
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
HM-EG-2026-025
Under restriction
Azza Soliman
Azza Soliman, a women's rights lawyer and founder of CEWLA, endured five years of travel bans and asset freezes in Egypt's foreign…
Open case file
HM-EG-2026-021
Released
Mohamed El-Baqer
Lawyer and director of the Adalah Center for Rights and Freedoms, which provides legal aid to political detainees in Egypt. Detained for…
Open case file
HM-EG-2026-017
Released
Haytham Mohamadeen
Haytham Mohamadeen is a labour lawyer who spent over four years in preventive detention on terrorism-related charges. He was arrested in 2018,…
Open case file
HM-LB-2026-001
Under restriction
Nizar Saghieh
A founding member of the Legal Agenda, Nizar Saghieh faces disbarment proceedings for criticising amendments that require Bar approval before lawyers speak…
Open case file
HM-SD-2026-013
Killed
Khamis Arabab
Khamis Arabab was a lawyer in El Geneina who spent two years defending victims of attacks on IDP camps. He was killed…
Open case file
HM-SD-2026-011
Killed
Tareg Hassan Yagoub Elmalik
Tareg Hassan Yagoub Elmalik, 50, was a founding member of the Darfur Bar Association and served on the steering committee of the…
Open case file