Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB)

In December, MENA activists focused on the plight of political detainees serving lengthy and unjust sentences in obscurity.

As the saga of Saudi’s hunted elites commanded attention across the Middle East and North Africa this November, news of the region’s less powerful prey fell by the wayside. Authorities in Kuwait, Bahrain, Libya, Morocco, and Egypt went after protesters, journalists, and human rights defenders critical of their regimes.

Journalist Zeenat Shahzadi was recently recovered from a kidnapping. Rather than releasing her to her family, the Pakistani government is arbitrarily holding her in custody.

Our Middle East and North Africa round-up spotlights Bahrain’s first military trial of civilians since 2011, a growing crackdown on members of Egypt’s LGBTQI+ community, and a new player restricting Iranians’ internet access.

Bahrain’s High Court of Appeals has confirmed the asset seizure and dissolution of Wa’ad. It was the last major opposition group officially operating in Bahrain following the July 2016 dissolution of Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society.

IFEX members join 55 NGOs in an open call to the international community to reconvene the Paris Peace Conference in light of its 26th anniversary and worsening attacks on democracy in Cambodia.

34 NGOs call on the government of Ghana to ensure its citizens’ right to access to information.

A joint statement by the Association of Progressive Communications, IFEX and 64 co-signatories at the UN-HRC 36 warns of the threat to human rights posed by recent attacks on the right to use encryption technology, in Turkey and across the globe.