- Bahrain: Surveillance of activists renews calls for action (IFEX)
A new report reveals nine Bahraini activists, including three members of IFEX member organisation the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, were hacked with NSO Group's Pegasus spyware.
- UAE's new human rights institute: Real change or 'image washing'? (DW)
The United Arab Emirates announced earlier this week that it would set up an independent national human rights organization. The new institution will open an office in Abu Dhabi and, according to the UAE's state media, "aims to promote and protect human rights and freedoms" in accordance with the local and international laws and guidelines.
- 'They told us they hate Africans': Hundreds detained, deported from Abu Dhabi (Reuters)
Kabirat Olokunde, a Nigerian migrant worker, planned to spend her birthday with friends in the city of Abu Dhabi. Instead, she turned 28 in a frigid prison cell, one of about 700 Africans imprisoned by Emirati authorities.
- Saudi Arabia: Yemeni Workers at Risk of Mass Forced Returns (Human Rights Watch)
Saudi authorities have since July 2021 began to terminate or not renew contracts of Yemeni professionals, which could force them to return to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, Human Rights Watch said today. Saudi authorities should suspend this decision and allow Yemenis to remain in Saudi Arabia with the ability to work.
- Where’s Edelyn? The search for the Filipina maid who vanished in Saudi Arabia (The Guardian)
Mired in debt, the mother of three left to work as part of the Gulf’s kafala labour system. She was last heard from in 2015 and her family want answers.