October 08, 2024
On September 26, 2024, the United Nations (UN) Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights (ASG), presented the annual report of the UN Secretary-General (UNSG) on intimidation and reprisals against those cooperating with the UN, its representatives and mechanisms. The report highlights allegations of acts of intimidation and reprisals committed during the reporting period, – i.e., from May 1, 2023, and April 30, 2024 – as well as updates on acts of reprisals documented in previous reports. In April, MENA Rights Group had filed a submission to the UNSG, highlighting new cases of reprisals and updates on previous cases we have been following.
Reprisals in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Algeria
Several cases were raised in the 2024 reprisals report: Mustapha Bendjama, journalist and representative of the Ligue Algérienne des Droits de l’Homme (LADDH), faced criminal charges in connection with his engagement with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) during its technical cooperation mission to Algeria in November 2022.
The report also made reference to human rights defender Ahmed Manseri and of the intimidation and surveillance of Malik Riahi, Qasim Saeed and Chahrazad Ben Fryawa following their meetings with the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association during his visit to Algeria in September 2023.
The annual report also followed up on the situation of Kaddour Chouicha and his wife Jamila Loukil, who were mentioned in the previous annual report of the Assistant Secretary-General. Chouicha was the Vice-President of the LADDH, now dissolved, and is the national coordinator of the Union of Teachers. Loukil is a journalist and human rights defender.
On August 24, 2022, the Border Police Services of the Oran airport prevented the couple from traveling although Loukil was meant to travel to Geneva for a Universal Periodic Review (UPR) pre-session on Algeria. Chouicha tried to challenge the travel ban he was subjected to, the existence of which was confirmed by the Algerian authorities. Yet, on December 3, 2023, the first instance Court of Justice of Algiers acquitted Chouicha and Loukil of all charges against them while noting that no order banning their travel outside of Algeria had been issued.
Bahrain
The UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights continued to monitor the situations of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, Abduljalil al-Singace, Sayed Ahmed al-Wadaei, Sayed Nazar Naama Baqqer Ali Yusuf Alwadaei and Hassan Mushaim, whose cases were mentioned in previous reprisal reports.
Al-Khawaja formerly worked as Protection Coordinator of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Frontline Defenders, and al-Singace is the former Director of the Human Rights Bureau of the Haq Movement for Civil Liberties. They are both currently serving a life sentence on terrorism related charges.
On January 7, 2024, al-Singace started a hunger strike after his family was subjected to harsh measures during their visit to Kanoo Medical Center. In May 2023, al-Khawaja staged a daily protest in the yard of Jau Prison demanding adequate medical care. In August of the same year, he joined other prisoners in a collective hunger strike to protest for prison conditions, denial of medical care, and continued arbitrary detention.
Sayed Ahmed al-Wadaei is the director of advocacy at the UK-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD). Several of his relatives have been included in the UNSG reports, on allegations of arbitrary arrest, ill-treatment, removal of citizenship and reprisals for al-Wadaei’s continuous engagement with the UN. On April 8, 2024, al-Wadaei’s brother-in-law, Sayed Nazar Naama Baqqer Ali Yusuf Alwadaei, was released unconditionally on royal pardon.
The physical condition of Hassan Mushaima, the former Secretary of the Haq Movement for Liberty and Democracy, deteriorated further. July 19, 2023 marked two years of isolation of Mushaima at the Kanoo Medical Center, where he is reportedly not provided with adequate healthcare.
Egypt
Two Egyptian human rights defenders, among others, were mentioned in the reprisals report: Ahmed Shawky Abdelsattar Mohamed Amasha and Ebrahim Abdelmonem Metwally Hegazy.
Human rights defender Amasha has long been targeted by Egyptian authorities and has appeared in every reprisals report since 2017. Detained since 2020, he is still denied family visits and prevented from meeting his lawyer privately, and has not received adequate medical care.
Similarly, human rights activist Metwally, who was arrested in 2017 while traveling to Switzerland to meet with the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance, continues to be prevented from family visits and suffers from ill-treatment in the Correction and Rehabilitation Center in Badr 3 in Cairo. He has been mentioned in the reprisals report since 2018. The latest renewal of his detention by the Cairo Criminal Terrorism Court took place on May 12, 2024, for 45 more days, which exceeds the authorised time for pre-trial detention.
Iraq
The Human Rights Office of the UN Assistance Mission (UNAMI) for Iraq documented incidents of online intimidation of civil society representatives by unidentified actors, including for participating in UN events. Names and details of those concerned not appear in the report due to fear of further reprisals. UNAMI also documented increased governmental restrictions on civil society organizations supporting women’s empowerment and gender equality, including those engaging with the UN.
Libya
Similarly in Libya, the 2024 reprisals report also mentioned multiple incidents of reprisals against human rights and political activists for their cooperation with the United Nations. United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) also documented fear of reprisals by women human rights defenders for engaging or attempting to engage with the UN.
Moreover, several representatives of Libyan-based organisations did not attend a round table hosted by the Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly in Geneva in February 2024, due to fear of reprisals.
Palestine
The ASG also continued to monitor the situation of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Haq, the Bisan Center for Research and Development and its staff, Defense for Children International – Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees, which were designated as “terrorist organisations” by Israel in October 2021. The report addressed the significant impact of the designations had had on the programmes, activities and work of the concerned organisations, including as a result of the withdrawal of funding and the imposition of travel bans.
Saudi Arabia
Mentioned consistently in the reprisals report over the years is none other than human rights lawyer Mohammed Fahad al-Qahtani, sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2013. Although he completed his sentence in November 2022, he continues to be arbitrarily detained, despite repeated UN and civil society calls for his release. Since October 2022, he has been denied contact with his family, making him forcibly disappeared. In May 2023, Qahtani was tried in secret by the Specialised Criminal Court. On July 23, 2023, his wife was informed by prison authorities in a phone call that her husband’s name was “not appearing in the system anymore.”
The 2024 report, like previous years, also featuredthe case of prominent women’s rights defender Loujain al-Hathloul, who was disappeared, detained and tortured following her engagement with the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in March 2018. She remains subjected to a travel ban despite its expiration on November 12, 2023. When she attempted to cross the Saudi-Bahrain border shortly after, she was informed that she was in fact “subject to a travel ban with no expiration date”.
United Arab Emirates
During the reporting period, the OHCHR and UN Special Procedures raised public concerns over the mass trials of 84 individuals, known as the UAE84, and over broader patterns of suppression of dissent and restrictions on civic space in the country. The UAE84 defendants included victims of intimidation and reprisals for cooperation with the United Nations, namely Mohamed al-Mansoori and Ahmed Mansoor, whose cases were mentioned on several occasions. On July 10, 2024, the Abu Dhabi Court of Appeal sentenced four people to 15 years in prison and 40 to life in prison, among the 44 defendants whose conviction is known. Al-Mansoori and Mansoor were among the defendants.
Yemen
The case of Mwatana Organization for Human Rights, included in previous reports because of reprisals following engagement with the UN Security Council and human rights mechanisms, was again included in the 2024 report after the Houthis-controlled Sana’a airport authorities prevented five of their staff members from flying to Amman. They were flying first to Jordan to participate in peacebuilding and human rights events, and then to Geneva, to participate in the UN Human Rights Council.
Conclusion
MENA Rights Group will keep monitoring acts of reprisals across the MENA. We fear that if reprisals, as they are taking place across the region, are not addressed by states, this situation will only reinforce the climate of self-censorship prevailing in the region.
If you would like to report acts of reprisals and intimidation against individuals and groups engaging with the UN, do not hesitate to contact us so that we can alert the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights and the OHCHR.
