Middle East and North Africa

Background information to the current human rights situation in the region.

When a  24-year-old street vendor Mohamed Bouzazi set him self alight in a small town in Tunisia in December 2010, this act of desperation and defiance triggered protests across the Middle East and North Africa, ensuring that the region would never be the same again.

Ordinary men, women and children took to the streets to demand change from the lack of jobs, lack of basic services, corruption and lack of political & human rights.  Together they succeeded in toppling the long-standing rulers of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.

But this was not without great human cost. The authorities hit back hard. They reacted to peaceful protests with brutal force, killing thousands of protesters and injuring many more. Some protesters were arrested on arbitrary charges; others simply ‘disappeared’.

Years on and, while the protest movements in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya were initially successful in ending years of repressive rule, the struggle for real human rights reform and democratically elected governments continues.

Nasser Zefzafi – Morocco

At our July meeting we signed a letter to the Moroccan Prime Minister in support of Nasser Zefzafi. In 2019 Zefzafi was sentenced to 20 years in prison, solely for his peaceful activism as part of the Hirak El-Rif movement.
On 30 July the country celebrated Throne Day, commemorating the ascent of King Mohammed VI to the throne. The King often grants pardons on this day, and we hoped that the Prime Minister would suggest Nasser Zefzafi for one this year. Unfortunately this was not to be and Nasser remains in prison.

Alaa Abdel Fattah – Egypt

We have long worked on the campaign to free Alaa Abdel Fattah, a joint British/Egyptian citizen and prominent human rights activist. He should have been released from prison in September 2022 at the end of a sentence for “spreading false news” but the authorities refused to count the two years he had spent in pre-trial detention as part of that term. He has been on hunger strike, and his mother, who lives in the UK has been hospitalised following her own hunger strike.

We were delighted therefore when, thanks to tireless campaigning from his family and the international community, including Amnesty. Alaa was finally released on September 22^nd 2025 following a pardon by Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.

Oqba Hashid – Egypt

Egyptian authorities have held 27-year-old student Oqba Hashad in pretrial detention since May 2019, in retaliation for his brother’s human rights activism. Oqba was forcibly disappeared, tortured and denied the prosthetic leg he has used to move unassisted since a childhood accident. 

On 20 February 2024, a judge ordered his release, as he had been held in pretrial detention for longer than the two years permitted by Egyptian law. To bypass this, prosecutors opened a new bogus case against him to justify his continued detention.

Oqba is being denied proper medical care and his health is seriously deteriorating.

For further information, please follow this link to this Amnesty UK webpage.