A/HRC/WGEID/125/1 (c) Suyen Barahona Cuan, who was allegedly arrested from her home on the road to Masaya on 13 June 2021 by members of the Directorate of Special Police Operations; (d) Dora María Téllez Arguello, who was allegedly arrested from her home in Ticuantepe on 13 June 2021 by members of the National Police; (e) Ana Margarita Vijil Gurdián, who was allegedly arrested from her home in Ticuantepe on 13 June 2021 by members of the National Police. Joint allegation letters 90. On 19 July 2021, the Working Group transmitted, jointly with other special procedure mechanisms, an allegation letter concerning the alleged harassment and detention by the authorities of members of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation and the newspaper Confidencial, including the detention and disappearance of Juan Sebastián Chamorro García and Félix Alejandro Maradiaga Blandón for their political activism against the Government.35 91. On 25 August 2021, the Working Group transmitted, jointly with other special procedure mechanisms, an allegation letter concerning the alleged arbitrary detention and subsequent enforced disappearance of one individual for acts allegedly related to his work as a human rights defender and for his participation in social protests.36 Observation 92. The Working Group is seriously alarmed by allegations concerning the increased repression and criminalization of human rights defenders, political activists, journalists and even members of their families. This trend has allegedly intensified in the context of the third anniversary of the April 2018 protests and in the run-up to the November 2021 presidential elections. The Working Group is particularly concerned about reports of women human rights defenders being subjected to arbitrary detention, which has sometimes been followed by periods of enforced disappearance and subsequent incommunicado detention, during which these women have allegedly faced appalling detention conditions, ill-treatment and torture. 93. The Working Group recalls article 7 of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, in which it is stated that no circumstances whatsoever, whether a threat of war, a state of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked to justify enforced disappearances. Furthermore, the Declaration establishes that any person deprived of liberty should be held in an officially recognized place of detention (art. 10 (1)) and that an official up-to-date register of all persons deprived of their liberty should be maintained in every place of detention (art. 10 (3)). In this connection, the Working Group stresses that failure to acknowledge deprivation of liberty by State agents and refusal to acknowledge detention constitute an enforced disappearance, even if it is of short duration. Nigeria Joint urgent appeal 94. On 26 August 2021, the Working Group transmitted, jointly with other special procedure mechanisms, an urgent appeal concerning allegations of enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment of Nnamdi Kanu by Kenyan security officials, as well as concerning Mr. Kanu’s illegal transfer to Nigeria to face trial on terrorism-related charges, which are believed to have been made in connection to his leadership in the group Indigenous People of Biafra.37 35 36 37 16 See NIC 5/2021. See NIC 6/2021. See NGA 5/2021.