Archive for the ‘Middle East/N. Africa’ Category
(Beirut) –A court decision on April 22, 2012, cancelling a ministerial order barring women from entry-level jobs at the Justice Ministry is an important victory against legally-sanctioned discrimination in Kuwait, Human Rights Watch said today.
(New York) – Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) should immediately revoke a new law that bans insults against the people of Libya or its institutions, Human Rights Watch said today. The law also prohibits criticism of the country’s 2011 revolution and glorification of the deposed former leader Muammar Gaddafi.
(New York) – Iranian authorities should immediately free dozens of university students currently behind bars solely for peacefully expressing political opinions, and end harassment of student activists on university campuses throughout the country, Human Rights Watch said today.
(Beirut) –Kuwaiti security forces arrested at least 16 stateless residents of Kuwait, known as Bidun, during a peaceful demonstration on May 1, 2012, in support of their rights to nationality, Human Rights Watch said today. Kuwaiti authorities should respect the rights of Bidun to peaceful assembly, Human Rights Watch said.
(Tunis) – Tunisia’s first torture case to go to trial following the ouster of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali highlights the need to address inadequacies in the legal framework for trying torture crimes, Human Rights Watch said today.
The Saudi justice minister Dr Muhammad al-'Issa was in London in late April. But, at the last minute, he cancelled a meeting with interested organisations and academics that I was to attend because – we were told – he preferred to meet only with the British government.
(Jerusalem) – Israel should immediately charge or release people jailed without charge or trial under so-called administrative detention, Human Rights Watch said today.
(New York) – Syrian government forces killed at least 95 civilians and burned or destroyed hundreds of houses during a two-week offensive in northern Idlib governorate shortly before the ceasefire, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
(Beirut) – Bahraini authorities should free Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and 13 other jailed leaders of last year’s anti-government protests immediately, Human Rights Watch said today. More than a year after they were arrested, the Bahraini authorities have produced no evidence that the jailed leaders were doing anything but exercising their basic human rights.
(London) – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities should immediately and unconditionally release nine political activists held in the context of a widening attack on dissent, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today.
(Beirut) – Bahrain’s police are beating and torturing detainees, including minors, despite public commitments to end torture and police impunity, Human Rights Watch said today following a five day visit to the country.
(New York) – Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) should amend regulations to eliminate vague and broad prohibitions on who may serve as a government official or become a candidate for election, Human Rights Watch said today. Libya’s first national elections since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi are scheduled for June 2012.
(New York) – An 80-year-old activist who was prominent in Iran’s Islamic revolution has been ordered to surrender to serve an eight-year prison sentence, Human Rights Watch said today. Ebrahim Yazdi, a leader of the Freedom Movement party, was convicted in December 2011 on charges solely relating to the exercise of his rights to freedom of association and speech.
(Beirut) – Saudi Arabia should abolish the Specialized Criminal Court, set up in 2008 to try terrorism cases, but increasingly used to try peaceful dissidents and rights activists on politicized charges and in proceedings that violate the right to a fair trial, Human Rights Watch said today.
(New York) – A Yemeni armed group linked to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula should immediately retract its threat to execute 73 captured government soldiers, Human Rights Watch said today. Ansar al-Sharia (“Partisans of Islamic Law”) threatened to kill the soldiers if authorities do not agree to swap them for detained Islamist militants.