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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-2026-047
Released
Loujain al-Hathloul
Saudi women's rights defender held in detention from May 2018 to February 2021 and now under an indefinite travel ban.
Arrested 2018
HM-SA-2026-003
Released
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…
Open case file
HM-XX-2026-033
Under restriction
Mahfouda Bamba Lefkire
A mother and advocate in El Ayoun, Western Sahara, organising workshops for families of political prisoners. After hosting a meeting to support…
Open case file
HM-XX-2026-029
Under restriction
Sultana Khaya
Sahrawi women's rights defender under de facto house arrest since November 2020. She has endured repeated sexual assaults, physical attacks, and forced…
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-TN-2026-007
Under restriction
Arroi Baraket
Journalist convicted and fined after a police officer physically attacked her during a traffic stop, threw himself on her while punching her,…
Open case file
HM-IQ-2026-001
Killed
Yanar Mohammed
Yanar Mohammed co-founded Iraq's first network of safe houses for women fleeing violence. She was shot and killed outside her home in…
Medical urgency
Open case file
HM-BH-2011-001
Imprisoned
Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja
Co-founder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, sentenced to life in prison after the 2011 uprising. Tortured, sexually assaulted, and held…
Hunger strike
Day 5,635 · since 2011-01-01
HM-EG-2020-002
Disappeared
Ahmed Amasha
Ahmed Amasha is a veterinarian, trade unionist, and co-founder of the League for Families of the Disappeared. He has been arrested twice,…
Day 2,196 · since 2020-06-01
HM-EG-2026-002
On trial
Aya Kamal El-Din Hussein
Aya Kamal El-Din Hussein is a political activist and fashion designer first arrested at seventeen. She has been held in pre-trial detention…
Open case file
HM-BH-2011-004
Imprisoned
Mohammed Habib Al-Muqdad
Mohammed Habib Al-Muqdad is a Bahraini Shia cleric and social activist who supported peaceful calls for reform in 2011. Arrested, disappeared, tortured,…
Medical urgency
Day 5,545 · since 2011-04-01
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