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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
Filtered cases
HM-SD-2026-004
Released
Montaser Abdullah
Montaser Abdullah is a Sudanese lawyer who represented survivors of gender-based violence and defended members of the Tagadom political coalition. He was…
Open case file
HM-MA-2026-001
Sentenced
Saida El Alami
Saida El Alami uses social media to denounce corruption and restrictions on free speech in Morocco. Arrested in July 2025, she was…
Open case file
HM-TN-2025-002
Sentenced
Ayachi Hammemi
Ayachi Hammemi is a lawyer who defended 57 judges dismissed by presidential decree in 2022. Arrested in December 2025 while representing defendants…
Hunger strike
Day 186 · since 2025-12-02
HM-DZ-2025-001
Sentenced
Ali Mammeri
Ali Mammeri is a public sector employee and trade union president who founded the Independent National Union of Employees in the Culture…
Day 444 · since 2025-03-19
HM-JO-2023-001
Sentenced
Ayman Sanduka
Ayman Sanduka is a mathematics professor and political activist in Jordan. He was arrested in December 2023 over a Facebook post criticizing…
Day 898 · since 2023-12-21
HM-DZ-2024-001
Sentenced
Hadjer Zitouni
Former communications director at the Algerian Red Crescent who reported mismanagement of humanitarian aid in 2023. Detained and prosecuted after the organization's…
Day 767 · since 2024-04-30
HM-BH-2011-003
Sentenced
Hassan Mushaima
Hassan Mushaima is a leading Bahraini opposition figure sentenced to life in prison after the 2011 mass protests. Now held in prolonged…
Medical urgency
Day 5,635 · since 2011-01-01
HM-TN-2026-003
Released
Imen Ouardani
Imen Ouardani, a Tunisian defender whose case is under editorial review. Full details are being verified and will be published once documentation…
Open case file
HM-MA-2025-002
Sentenced
Nezha Majdi
Nezha Majdi is a professor in Morocco who protested alongside contract teachers in April 2021. She reported sexual assault and violent treatment…
Day 170 · since 2025-12-18
HM-EG-2019-001
Sentenced
Mohamed Ibrahim (known as “Oxygen”)
Mohamed Ibrahim, known as "Oxygen," is a blogger who chronicled election irregularities and protest arrests in Egypt. He was disappeared for 18…
Hunger strike
Day 2,449 · since 2019-09-22
HM-TN-2024-003
Released
Mohamed Joô
Mohamed Joô has been detained in Tunisia since 13 May 2024. No further details about his background, the circumstances of his arrest,…
Arrested 2024
HM-TN-2024-004
Detained
Mourad Zghidi
Mourad Zghidi is a Tunisian journalist sentenced in January 2026 to three years and six months in prison on money laundering and…
Day 766 · since 2024-05-01