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
Ezzat Ghoneim
Ezzat Ghoneim, a lawyer who led one of Egypt's most active human rights groups documenting disappearances, was himself disappeared in 2018, then…
Magdy Abdel Hamid
Chairman of EACPE, Magdy Abdel Hamid was barred from travel in 2016 even after charges in the foreign funding case were dropped.…
Negad El Borai
Lawyer and founder of the United Group, specialising in individual freedoms and property law. Charged in Egypt's foreign-funding case; subjected to five…
Hossameldin Ali
President of the Egyptian Democratic Academy, which promotes democracy and political participation, Hossameldin Ali faced travel bans, asset freezes, and detention in…
Faleh Hammoudi
Head of the Tlemcen office of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights, convicted to three years in prison for…
Raif Badawi
Raif Badawi, a Saudi blogger and co-founder of Free Saudi Liberals, served ten years in prison for posts about free speech and…
Hunger strikeAbdelrahman Tarek
Abdelrahman Tarek was arrested in September 2019 during a judicial observation session and has been held in arbitrary detention ever since, despite…
Hunger strikeBabouzeid Mohamad Said Labbihi
Director of CODESA, the Sahrawi human rights network, repeatedly harassed by Moroccan security forces for documenting abuses in Western Sahara. Kidnapped and…
Mohamed El-Baqer
Lawyer and director of the Adalah Center for Rights and Freedoms, which provides legal aid to political detainees in Egypt. Detained for…
Mohamed Ibrahim
Mohamed Ibrahim runs Oxygen Egypt, a blog and YouTube channel covering rights and politics. Arrested in September 2019 after reporting to police,…
Patrick George Zaki
A researcher at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, he was arrested in 2020 and convicted in 2023 for an article on…
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…
