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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-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-EG-2026-048
Released
Ahmed Samir Santawy
Ahmed Samir Santawy, a graduate student researching women's reproductive rights in Egypt, was sentenced to four years in prison by an emergency…
Hunger strike
Open case file
HM-MA-2026-007
Assets frozen
Maâti Monjib
Maâti Monjib leads associations defending press freedom and investigative journalism in Morocco. Convicted in absentia in 2021 of threatening state security, he…
Hunger strike
Open case file
HM-EG-2026-019
Released
Ibrahim Ezz El-Din
An engineer who documented forced evictions, Ibrahim Ezz El-Din was arrested in June 2019, disappeared for 167 days, then held in pre-trial…
Open case file
HM-SA-2026-001
Released
Mohammed Fahd Al-Qahtani
Saudi economist and co-founder of ACPRA, jailed in 2013 on a 10-year sentence. Forcibly disappeared for two years after his term expired…
Arrested 2012
HM-IQ-2026-006
Released
Jassim Al-Asadi
Jassim Al-Asadi, Iraq's leading expert on the southern marshlands, was kidnapped near Baghdad by an unknown armed group, tortured for fifteen days,…
Open case file
HM-DZ-2026-001
Under restriction
Kaddour Chouicha
University lecturer and vice-president of Algeria's League for the Defence of Human Rights, charged with terrorism offences for his work with the…
Open case file
HM-EG-2026-007
In forced exile
Aida Seif El-Dawla
Egyptian psychiatrist and co-founder of the Nadeem Center, one of the Arab world's oldest torture rehabilitation centres. Under a travel ban since…
Open case file
HM-EG-2020-001
Detained
Ahmed Al-Tohamy
Ahmed Al-Tohamy is a political science scholar whose research has been recognized internationally. He was arrested from his home in Cairo in…
Day 2,193 · since 2020-06-03
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 897 · since 2023-12-21
HM-EG-2026-005
Disappeared
Salah Soltan
Dr. Salah Soltan is a scholar, father of five, and grandfather of five American grandchildren. He has been detained in Egypt for…
Medical urgency
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 169 · since 2025-12-18