Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)

Sign CIHRS and EuroMed Rights’ petition for freedom for five emblematic prisoners of conscience in Egypt.

Al-Maskati is the founder and former president of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR), and is currently a digital security consultant at Front Line Defenders. On 31 December 2014, the Lower Criminal Court in Bahrain sentenced him to six months in prison but he remained free on bail of 100 BHD until the appeal.

Egyptian rights organisations, including IFEX members Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, and Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, call for the immediate and unconditional release of Ismail Alexandrani and hold the authorities responsible for his safe return to his family.

Military prosecutors ordered the detention of investigative journalist Hossam Bahgat on the morning of 9 November for four days pending interrogation on charges related solely to his writings as a journalist. The prosecutors refuse to tell lawyers where Bahgat is being detained.

To date, 37 out of 97 branches of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) across the country are facing administrative obstacles to renewing their legal registration.

The ongoing harassment of civil society in Egypt contradicts all claims that the country is democratising, a process in which these organisations are a basic building block.

Autocratic governments across the Middle East and North Africa have woken up to a perceived threat from the online sphere. Their response has been draconian.

Witnesses to the murder of Shaimaa El Sabbagh who willingly testified during the trial of a policeman accused of killing her are now facing criminal charges for allegedly participating in protests on the day of her death.