Advocacy
Rights organisations call on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to urge Saudi Arabia to implement a moratorium on executions
November 11, 2022
In a joint letter addressed to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, a coalition of seven rights organisations raised their concerns over the prevalence of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia and its use against child defendants, pro-democracy protestors and non-lethal offences. The coalition further requested that the UN High Commissioner engage with the Saudi authorities on their use of the death penalty and urge them to implement a moratorium on its use.
Human rights organizations tell Libyan House of Representatives to immediately repeal anti-cybercrime law
November 10, 2022
The undersigned civil society organizations demand that the Libyan House of Representatives repeal the Anti-Cybercrime Law n°5/2022 issued on September 27th, 2022. We call for the law not to be applied, as it directly undermines human rights and fundamental rights, namely freedom of expression and opinion, and the rights to peaceful assembly, privacy, and personal data protection. The law also regularizes the Executive’s comprehensive, warrantless surveillance over the digital spaces and allows them to censor websites and content.
Alaa Abdel-Fattah’s life at serious risk: demand Egypt to immediately release him now!
November 03, 2022
MENA Rights Group joins a coalition of NGOs calling on Egyptian authorities to immediately release human rights defenders Alaa Abdel-Fattah, Mohamed el-Baqer and Mohamed “Oxygen” Ibrahim Radwan and all those arrested and detained solely for exercising their fundamental rights and freedoms.
Fears grow for Saudi detainees awaiting trial or sentencing, following wave of 30-year-plus prison terms
October 28, 2022
In light of the unprecedented jail sentences recently issued against peaceful activists and others in Saudi Arabia merely for exercising their freedom of expression, concerns are growing for those who remain in arbitrary detention without charge or are facing prolonged trials or retrial. The undersigned NGOs call on the international community to intensify efforts to press the Saudi Arabian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all those who are unjustly and arbitrarily detained in the kingdom for peacefully exercising their fundamental freedoms.
Egypt’s misuse of counter-terrorism measures casts shadow over COP27
October 26, 2022
Ahead of COP27, MENA Rights Group and other members of the Coalition on Human Rights and Counter-terrorism denounce Egypt’s use of counterterrorism accusations against civil society.
The African Commission launches the first regional instrument to fight enforced disappearances in Africa
October 25, 2022
25 October 2022, Banjul, The Gambia — REDRESS, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, MENA Rights Group, Lawyers for Justice in Libya, and the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies welcome the launch today of new regional guidelines aimed at supporting African States eradicate the practice of enforced disappearances on the continent.
MENA Rights Group joins 18 organisations urging US president Joe Biden to secure human rights progress before meeting Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
October 24, 2022
In a joint letter, 19 organisations called on US president Joe Biden to secure progress on human rights issues before meeting with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27). The coalition called on Biden to insist on the release of Egyptian political prisoners, the lifting of unlawful blocks on news sites, and the respect and protection of prisoners’ right to be free from torture and other ill-treatment as pre-requisites, among others, for any bilateral meeting with al-Sisi.
The Geneva Declaration on Targeted Surveillance and Human Rights: a call for a collective commitment to Human Rights in the digital age
October 21, 2022
MENA Rights Group joins Access Now, the government of Catalonia and 36 other organisations in endorsing the Geneva Declaration on Targeted Surveillance and Human Rights. The declaration condemns the increasing use of surveillance technologies to target and harass those excercising their rights, and calls on governments to implement a moratorium on the export, sale, transfer, servicing and use of targeted digital surveillance technologies, until rigorous human rights safeguards are put in place.
25 NGOs call on states to join reprisals statement at UNGA Third Committee
October 10, 2022
MENA Rights Group joins a coalition of NGOs in calling on Member States of the UN General Assembly to sign on to a cross-regional joint statement on reprisals at the 77th session of the UNGA Third Committee.
Global Coalition Calls for Release of Mohamed el-Baqer and Alaa Abdel Fattah on Three Year Anniversary of their Arrests
September 29, 2022
Three years after the arrest of Egyptian human rights lawyer Mohamed el-Baqer and Egyptian activist and writer Alaa Abdel Fattah, MENA Rights Group joins a global coalition of more than 40 organisations calling for their immediate release.
Lebanon: Syrian Refugee Apparently Tortured to Death
September 26, 2022
In a joint statement published on September 26, 2022, Human Rights Watch, Legal Agenda, Amnesty International, and MENA Rights Group affirmed that the Lebanese authorities should transfer the prosecution of security force members charged in the torture and murder of a Syrian refugee from inherently unfair military courts to the ordinary criminal courts.
Egypt: Organisations and individuals condemn the re-arrest of Sherif Al Rouby
September 23, 2022
MENA Rights Group joins organisations and individuals in calling on Egypt to immediately and unconditionally release human rights defender Sherif Al Rouby and the tens of thousands of others wrongfully detained.