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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-DZ-2026-007
In forced exile
Zaki Hannache
Zaki Hannache documented arrests of protesters after Algeria's 2019 Hirak uprising. He was arrested in 2022, charged with terrorism-related offences, and held…
Medical urgency
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-IQ-2026-002
Under restriction
Delsoz Khalaf
Delsoz Khalaf leads a human rights organisation in Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan Region of Iraq. She faces two criminal complaints filed by a Workers'…
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-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-XX-2026-021
Sentenced
Zied El Heni
Tunisian journalist sentenced to one year in prison for criticizing a court ruling in a colleague's case. The prosecution used telecommunications law…
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-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-EG-2026-010
Sentenced
Yasser Abu Al-Ela
Yasser Abu Al-Ela is a journalist arrested in March 2024, forcibly disappeared for 50 days, and subjected to torture. He remains in…
Hunger strike
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-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-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