MENA Rights Group joins 30 partner organisations in calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Egyptian activist, Ahmed Douma, ahead of the judgment in his appeal.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UN WGAD), a panel of independent legal experts that rules on individual cases of unlawful detention worldwide, has issued a landmark decision finding that Israel’s detention of Palestinian paediatrician Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya is arbitrary, and has called for his immediate release. The opinion, adopted following a request submitted by MENA Rights Group, marks the first time the body has ruled on the detention of a Palestinian from Gaza held under Israel’s Unlawful Combatants Law.

Following its fourth Universal Periodic Review, Lebanon chose to accept 218 out of the 286 recommendations it had received. While the authorities accepted the majority of recommendations, they notably rejected calls to abolish the statute of limitations on torture and failed to receive any recommendation specifically addressing their role in transnational repression.