News

Vote yes to human rights, say no to oppression

A coalition of human rights NGOs warns that electing Egypt to the Human Rights Council would reward brutal repression and undermine the credibility of the international human rights system.

UN Working Group finds UAE and U.S. responsible for the arbitrary detention of Afghan refugees in Emirates Humanitarian City

MENA Rights Group welcomes findings of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention holding the United States of America and the United Arab Emirates jointly responsible for the detention of Afghan refugees in the Emirates Humanitarian City.

Egyptian authorities should stop targeting minors over online gaming activity

We, the undersigned organizations, strongly condemn the Egyptian security services’ targeting of minors for their digital activity through online gaming platforms. This alarming practice has resulted in children being arbitrarily detained, forcibly disappeared, denied due process, and reportedly facing torture and other ill-treatment while in detention. These grave human rights violations contravene both Egypt’s national […]

Call to withdraw from “counter-terrorism” summit in Israel amid genocide in Gaza

MENA Rights Group leads a campaign calling on all participants and sponsors to withdraw from the 2025 “World Summit on Counter-Terrorism,” organised by the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism at Reichman University, amid Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Ongoing harassment of Lina Attalah and escalating crackdown on Mada Masr and independent journalism in Egypt

The undersigned organizations condemn the ongoing judicial and security harassment of Mada Masr, one of the last operating independent media platforms in Egypt. The latest incident involved the summoning of Editor-in-Chief Lina Attalah for interrogation before the Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP) on Monday, 4 August 2025, in Case No. 6182 of 2025 (SSSP). This interrogation […]

NGOs call for immediate release of ​Saudi human rights defender Mohammed al-Bejadi, still held two years after his sentence ended

We, the undersigned organisations, express deep concern over the continued arbitrary detention of the Saudi human rights defender Mohammed al-Bejadi more than two years beyond his sentence. His continuing detention, along with countless others, demonstrates that despite a recent spate of prisoner releases, the Saudi authorities’ severe repression of rights activists and critics remains. We call for his […]

Palestinians seeking aid abducted as Israel uses starvation as a tool of genocide

Pattern of enforced disappearances at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid points, NGOs report

200 days of Abdulrahman Yusuf’s enforced disappearance: Reveal his whereabouts. Ensure His Safety. Release Him Now.

The undersigned organizations are extremely concerned over the continued enforced disappearance of Turkish-Egyptian poet and political dissident Abdulrahman Yusuf Al-Qaradawi for more than 200 days. Abdulrahman Yusuf was arrested in Lebanon on 28 December 2024 and forcibly extradited to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on 8 January 2025, in flagrant violation of due process guarantees […]

Joint letter to the Egyptian Ambassador to the U.S. urging action on the ongoing detention of Galal El-Behairy

PEN America and 10 human rights organizations wrote to the Egyptian Ambassador to the U.S. Motaz Zahran urging him to raise our concerns about the detention of poet and PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award honoree Galal el-Behairy with relevant authorities in Cairo. Your Excellency, We, the undersigned human rights organizations, are deeply alarmed by the ongoing detention […]

MENA Rights Group joins international call for the humanitarian release of Moroccan activist Nasser Zefzafi

H.M. King Mohammed VI  Rabat, Morocco  July 29, 2025  Your Majesty,  We are writing to request that the government of Morocco immediately release human rights defender Nasser Zefzafi on humanitarian grounds so he can care for his elderly father, who was recently diagnosed with stage IV cancer. Releasing Nasser on or before July 30 would […]

Egypt: Rights groups call for end to state harassment of human rights defender Mohamed Abdel Salam and association for freedom of thought and expression

The undersigned human rights organizations call on the Egyptian authorities to immediately end all forms of harassment or intimidation against human rights defender Mohamed Abdel Salam, Executive Director of the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE), in retaliation for his legitimate human rights work. The organizations are also calling to ensure that AFTE is […]

Rights groups condemn the sentencing of Ramlah Dahmani under Decree 54 as a dangerous escalation in the targeting of women human rights defenders and the criminalization of solidarity

The undersigned organizations express their strong condemnation of the in absentia verdict issued on 1 July 2025 against activist Ramlah Dahmani, sentencing her to two years in prison with immediate enforcement. The ruling was issued under Article 24 of Decree No. 54 of 2022, which criminalizes the dissemination of “false information” via communication networks, a provision that is overly […]