Najeeb Al-Nuaimi
Najeeb Al-Nuaimi is a human rights lawyer and member of the Advisory Council of the Arab Program for Human Rights Activists (APHRA). APHRA is a non-governmental organisation working on human rights in the Arab world. The human rights lawyer is also a former cabinet minister of Qatar, having served as the Minister of Justice from 1995 to 1997. He previously taught public law at Qatar University.
Human rights defenders working in Qatar face many obstacles and difficulties in the form of government harassment, travel restrictions and arbitrary detention. Although Qatar is the home of the media giant al-Jazeera, which is praised for its critical reporting of Middle East affairs, there are restrictions on freedom of expression.
Qatar does not permit independent human rights NGOs. The country has signed neither the the International Convention on Political and Civil Rights nor the the International Convention on Social, Cultural and Economic Rights which are fundamental for the protection of human rights and human rights defenders.
