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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-2026-030
Under restriction
Jalal Bouchaab
Jalal Bouchaab is a Sahrawi student-rights defender arrested in September 2021 after a peaceful demonstration in Guelmim, held on charges of unlawful…
Open case file
HM-TN-2026-009
Sentenced
Meriem Bribri
Meriem Bribri was sentenced to four months in prison and fined for sharing a video of police violence on Facebook. A telecommunications…
Open case file
HM-IQ-2026-005
Under restriction
Tanya Darwish
Tanya Darwish led Rasan Organisation, the only LGBTIQ+ rights group in Iraqi Kurdistan, until a court ordered its closure over a rainbow…
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
HM-SD-2026-010
Killed
El Sadeg Mohammed Ahmed Haroun
A lawyer with the Darfur Bar Association who filed cases against the Rapid Support Forces for attacks on displaced-persons camps. Killed in…
Open case file
HM-IQ-2026-003
Sentenced
Sherwan Sherwani
Kurdish journalist who investigated corruption and prisoners' rights in Iraqi Kurdistan, arrested in 2020 amid a crackdown on protests, sentenced to six…
Open case file
HM-EG-2026-016
In forced exile
Ahmed Gamal Ziada
Egyptian journalist and editor-in-chief of Zawia3, now in Belgium. In August 2023, Egyptian security forces arrested his father and charged him with…
Medical urgency
Open case file
HM-XX-2026-023
Detained
Murtadha Al-Janoubi
Environmental activist documenting the degradation of Maysan's marshes, arrested after participating in protests demanding fair water allocations for communities facing drought and…
Open case file
HM-MA-2026-006
Released
Rida Benotmane
Rida Benotmane is a journalist, author, and member of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights. He served eighteen months in Laarjat 1…
Open case file
HM-DZ-2026-006
Released
Kamira Nait Sid
Kamira Nait Sid co-leads an international NGO defending Amazigh rights. She was abducted from her home in August 2021, held incommunicado for…
Open case file
HM-MA-2026-005
Under restriction
Ahmed Ettanji
Ahmed Ettanji is a Sahrawi journalist who founded Équipe Média to break Morocco's information blockade. He was expelled from Cape Bojador in…
Open case file
HM-MA-2026-004
Under restriction
Mohamed Mayara
Mohamed Mayara is a Sahrawi journalist who co-founded two key documentation groups in Western Sahara. He was expelled from Cape Bojador by…
Open case file