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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-BH-2026-001
Detained
Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed Ali
Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed Ali was extradited from Serbia to Bahrain in 2021 despite a binding European Court order. Convicted in absentia after…
Open case file
HM-MA-2023-001
Detained
Al-Hussein Al-Bashir Ibrahim
Al-Hussein Al-Bashir Ibrahim is a Sahrawi human rights monitor who has endured years of racialized abuse, medical neglect, and repeated punitive transfers…
Hunger strike
Day 1,171 · since 2023-03-23
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-TN-2025-002
Sentenced
Ayachi Hammemi
Ayachi Hammemi is a lawyer who defended 57 judges dismissed by presidential decree in 2022. Arrested in December 2025 while representing defendants…
Hunger strike
Day 186 · since 2025-12-02
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 898 · since 2023-12-21
HM-DZ-2024-001
Sentenced
Hadjer Zitouni
Former communications director at the Algerian Red Crescent who reported mismanagement of humanitarian aid in 2023. Detained and prosecuted after the organization's…
Day 767 · since 2024-04-30
HM-JO-2025-001
Detained
Hamza Bani Issa
Chemistry teacher and political activist who lost his left eye after security forces beat him for refusing a public strip search in…
Medical urgency
Day 438 · since 2025-03-25
HM-BH-2011-003
Sentenced
Hassan Mushaima
Hassan Mushaima is a leading Bahraini opposition figure sentenced to life in prison after the 2011 mass protests. Now held in prolonged…
Medical urgency
Day 5,635 · since 2011-01-01
HM-EG-2019-001
Sentenced
Mohamed Ibrahim (known as “Oxygen”)
Mohamed Ibrahim, known as "Oxygen," is a blogger who chronicled election irregularities and protest arrests in Egypt. He was disappeared for 18…
Hunger strike
Day 2,449 · since 2019-09-22
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
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-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