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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-2026-023
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-BH-2026-005
Killed
Sayed Mohammed Al-Mousawi
Arrested at a checkpoint with friends in Muharraq on 19 March 2026, forcibly disappeared, and killed under torture eight days later. His…
Medical urgency
Open case file
HM-EG-2026-015
Travel banned
Hoda Abdelwahab
Hoda Abdelwahab, a lawyer leading an organisation that defends judicial independence across the Arab world, has been barred from leaving Egypt for…
Open case file
HM-EG-2026-013
Sentenced
Ahmed Hassan
Ahmed Hassan was 18 when he disappeared on 1 April 2019, en route to a graphic design course in Cairo. Seven years…
Open case file
HM-DZ-2026-005
Under TNR
Slimane Bouhafs
Chairman of the St. Augustine Coordination of Christians in Algeria, advocate for freedom of expression and democracy. Abducted from Tunisia in August…
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-XX-2026-020
Under restriction
Mhamed Hali
Mhamed Hali holds a doctorate in international humanitarian law and leads the Association for the Protection of Saharan Prisoners. Morocco has blocked…
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-XX-2026-019
Sentenced
Mohamed Al-Roken
Mohamed Al-Roken is a human rights lawyer who defended activists and critics of the UAE government. Arrested in 2012, he completed a…
Open case file
HM-SD-2026-007
Under restriction
Imtithal Abdelfadeel
Imtithal Abdelfadeel is a journalist and member of the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate who reports on displaced communities and women's rights. She was…
Open case file
HM-SD-2026-006
Sentenced
Abubakr Mansour Abdela
Abubakr Mansour Abdela is a lawyer who stayed in his hometown when the war came to Sudan in 2023, distributing medicine and…
Open case file
HM-SD-2026-005
Detained
Abdelwahab Ahmed Mohamed Hashem “Bob”
Abdelwahab Ahmed Mohamed Hashem—known to friends and colleagues as Bob—leads the Workers' Coordination Committee in North Kordofan, advocating for public employees amid…
Open case file