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
Saud al-Faraj
Saud al-Faraj was executed in April 2026 after a trial at Saudi Arabia's Specialised Criminal Court that followed nearly two years of…
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…
Mohamed Mahmoud Ebrahim Shahin
An imam and community mediator in Turin for two decades, Mohamed Shahin faces deportation to Egypt after Italy revoked his residence permit…
Ahmed Shihab-Eldin
Ahmed Shihab-Eldin was detained for 52 days after posting verified footage of a US military jet crash in Kuwait, then stripped of…
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,…
Malcolm Bidali
A Kenyan security guard and blogger detained in Qatar for documenting migrant worker rights abuses. Held in solitary confinement for nearly a…
Hafiz Haron
Hafiz Haron reports on police violence in Sudan. When he tried to report a burglary, officers beat him, then charged him with…
Medical urgencyMansour Mohamed Atti Al-Maghrabi
Mansour Mohamed Atti Al-Maghrabi produces "Shatt al-Hurriya," a satirical TV series about everyday life in Libya. Armed men abducted him in June…
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…
Esraa Abdel Fattah
Egyptian journalist and co-founder of the April 6 Youth Movement, known as "Facebook Girl" since 2008. Released on bail in July 2021…
Samar Badawi
Samar Badawi challenged Saudi Arabia's male guardianship laws and led campaigns for women's right to drive. Arrested in July 2018, she was…
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…
