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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-EG-2026-024
Under restriction
Hossam Bahgat
Hossam Bahgat is a journalist and human rights monitor whose investigative reporting has made him a recurring target of Egypt's security apparatus.…
Open case file
HM-EG-2026-021
Released
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…
Open case file
HM-SA-2026-002
Released
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 strike
Open case file
HM-IQ-2026-004
Under restriction
Yasser Al-Hamdani
Iraqi journalist charged with defaming an official after exposing corruption on social media. Arrested under warrant in 2022, questioned and bailed in…
Open case file
HM-SA-2026-001
Released
Mohammed Fahd Al-Qahtani
Saudi economist and co-founder of ACPRA, jailed in 2013 on a 10-year sentence. Forcibly disappeared for two years after his term expired…
Arrested 2012
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-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-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-MA-2026-004
Under restriction
Mohamed Mayara
Mohamed Mayara is a Sahrawi journalist who co-founded two key documentation groups in Western Sahara. He was expelled from Cape Bojador by…
Open case file
HM-DZ-2026-003
Under restriction
Said Boudour
Journalist and human rights monitor with the Algerian League for Human Rights, active in Hirak protest movement defence and migrant rights. Charged…
Open case file
HM-DZ-2026-001
Under restriction
Kaddour Chouicha
University lecturer and vice-president of Algeria's League for the Defence of Human Rights, charged with terrorism offences for his work with the…
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