A/HRC/39/41 Al- Wadaei was sentenced to seven years in prison. The decision is awaiting appeal at the Supreme Appeal Court, to resume on 5 June 2018. 6. Regarding Mr. Nazar Al-Wadaei, Mr. Mahmoud Marzooq Mansoor and Ms. Hajar Mansoor Hassan, according to the Government they were arrested for planting explosives in public places on 28 January 2017 and confessed to committing the act. Regarding Mr. Nazar Al-Wadaei and Mr. Younes Abdel Aziz, they were arrested for planting explosives in public places on 8 March 2017. According to the Government, Mr. Nazar confessed that he was instructed by Mr. Younes to commit the act. On 29 November 2017, Mr. Al-Wadaei and Mr. Abdel Aziz received a three-year prison sentence. On 8 February 2018, the Appeal Court accepted the case on a procedural basis, and the session took place on 13 June 2018. Regarding Ms. Duaa Al-Wadaei, the Government stated that she was not arrested because of her husband’s activities, but arrested and charged with insulting a public servant. According to the Government, when Ms. Al-Wadaei was leaving the country, when the passport officer asked for her boarding pass she threw her boarding pass in a provocative manner and spoke to the officer in a demeaning manner. On 21 March 2018, the Court sentenced Ms. Al-Wadaei in absentia to two months of imprisonment. 2. Cameroon 7. On 26 October 2017, five special procedures mandate holders expressed concern about allegations of physical attacks, intimidation, and harassment against Ms. Maximilienne Ngo Mbe and Ms. Alice Nkom, following their participation in the review of Cameroon by the Human Rights Committee (CMR 5/2017). Ms. Ngo Mbe is the Executive Director of a coalition of Central Africa Human Rights Defenders – Network, and Ms. Nkom, is President of a Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) persons association, and also a member of the Network. It is alleged that both women are being targeted for their human rights advocacy - Ms. Ngo Mbe in relation to her efforts to bring attention to human rights violations committed in the English-speaking areas of southwest and northwest Cameroon, and Ms. Nkom for her advocacy against the criminalization of homosexuality in Cameroon. Both women human rights defenders have been the subject of previous communications by the special procedures, on 8 April 2010 an urgent appeal concerning Ms. Ngo Mbe (CMR 1/2010), on 5 August 2011 an urgent appeal concerning Ms. Ngo Mbe (CMR 1/2011), on 5 November 2012 an urgent appeal concerning Ms. Nkom (CMR 5/2012), on 13 August 2013 an urgent appeal concerning Ms. Ngo Mbe and Ms. Nkom (CMR 3/2013), and on 27 April 2015 an urgent appeal concerning Ms. Ngo Mbe and Ms. Nkom (CMR 1/2015). At time of writing, the Government has not responded to the special procedures’ urgent appeals. 8. Both women had contributed to a joint alternative report on Cameroon for its review to the Human Rights Committee, and the special procedures expressed serious concerns about the increasingly threatening nature of the physical attacks, acts of intimidation and harassment against them, and the further risk of reprisals as a result of their meetings with the Committee.. On 11 July 2018, the Government responded to the special procedures’ communication of 26 October 2017, stating that the complainants should provide detailed evidence justifying the allegations, in order to allow and facilitate action by Cameroon. The Government emphasized that Cameroon is a state of law and not a police state, with regard to measures aimed at ensuring the full enjoyment of their freedom of association, including protective measures against any form of reprisal for their cooperation with the human rights mechanisms. According to the Minister of External Relations neither the gendarmerie nor by the police have ever been questioned Ms. Ngo Mbe and Ms. Nkom in relation to their human rights activities or their cooperation with human rights mechanisms. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it is a priority of Cameroon to ensure the protection of all persons and all individuals living on its national territory in accordance with the principle of equality of before the law, therefore it is the Government’s view that neither Ms. Ngo Mbe and Ms. Nkom can benefit from sui generis protection. During the universal period review of Cameroon on 16 May 2018, one Member State recommended that the Government take all necessary measures to enable human rights defenders and civil society to conduct their legitimate activities without fear of reprisal (see A/HRC/39/1, para. 121.125).. 20 GE.18-13325