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The latest updates on digital rights from West Asia and North Africa

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SMEX • 01 Oct 2025

New Research: Click, Load, Kill: A Look into the Cyberweapon Industry in the WANA Region

New Research: Click, Load, Kill: A Look into the Cyberweapon Industry in the WANA Region

  • Cellebrite
  • Intellexa
  • Israel
SMEX • 29 Aug 2022

Saudi authorities must release women’s rights activist Salma al-Shehab

We, the undersigned NGOs, call on the international community to press Saudi Arabian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release women’s…

  • Digital Rights
  • Freedom Of Speech
  • Human Rights
Marianne Rahme • 10 Feb 2022

Data Protection in Saudi Arabia: Comparative Analysis

The Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL) is Saudi Arabia’s first comprehensive data protection law with the aim to protect individual…

  • General Data Protection Regulation
  • Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
  • KSA
SMEX • 30 Aug 2021

Enforced disappearances and accompanying impunity continue to prevail in the region

Today, on the occasion of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, we the 33 undersigned local, regional,…

  • Algeria
  • Algeria
  • Egypt
SMEX • 28 May 2021

Saudi Arabia: Google Should Halt Plans to Establish Cloud Region

Joint Statement by Human Rights and Digital Privacy Rights Organizations The undersigned human rights and digital rights organizations urge Google…

  • Business And Human Rights
  • Google
  • Google Cloud
Marianne Rahme • 30 Apr 2021

Google Cloud’s Data Center in KSA raises data privacy concerns in the region

In a decision to expand their global network with new cloud regions, Google announced in December 2020 that Google Cloud…

  • Business And Human Rights
  • Censorship
  • Data Centers