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Human Rights in the Arab Region A-PDF MERGER DEMO A-PDF MERGER DEMO Human Rights in the Arab Region Annual Report 2008 ) Human Rights in the Arab Region Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies Annual Report 2008 CIHRS Reform Issues (20) Publisher: Cairo Institute for Human President Rights Studies (CIHRS) Kamal Jendoubi 9 Rustom st. Garden City, Cairo, Egypt Mailing address: P.O. Box 117 (Maglis el- Shaab), Cairo, Egypt General Director Bahey eldin Hassan E-mail address: [email protected] Website: www.cihrs.org Tel: (+202) 27951112- 27962514 Executive Director Moataz El fegiery Fax: (+202) 27921913 Layout cover designer: Academic Advisor Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies Mohammed EL-Sayed Said Dep. No: 3730/ 2009 Index card Human Rights in the Arab Region Annual Report 2008 Publisher: Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) Reform Issues (20), 24cm, 224 Pages, (Cairo) Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (Authour) This Report is published with the generous financial support of the Dutch's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Open Society Institute ) Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) Human Rights in the Arab Region Annual Report 2008 ) Index Dedication 7 Acknowledgment 11 This Report 15 Preface: The Dilemma of Human Rights in the Arab Region Between a 17 Lack of Political Will and the Emerging Forms of Resistance / Bahey eldin Hassan Report Summary: 31 Deterioration of Human Rights: Reform Faces a Dead End Part I: Human Rights Situation in the Arab World 43 Chapter I Occupied States or States in Armed Conflicts 43 1- Iraq: …An Uncertain Future 45 2- The Occupied Palestinian Territories: Between the Sickle of 57 Occupation and Hammer of Internal Conflict 3- Sudan: When Civil War Becomes a Tool for State Control 67 4- Yemen: A Tale of Two Wars: One Against Sa’dah, the Other Against 79 Human Rights 5- Lebanon: Human Rights Amidst Regional and International Challenges 87 ) Chapter II Status of Human Rights and Democracy 95 1- Egypt: The Counter-Attack on Reformists 97 2-Tunisia: Continued Human Rights Violations under an Authoritarian 109 Police State 3- Algeria: Back to Terrorism: The Failure of the Reconciliation Process 117 4- Morocco: Ambivalence after Progress 123 5- Syria: Human Rights under the Heel of Military Intelligence 133 6- The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: When Medieval Standards Rule 21st 141 Century Societies 7- Bahrain: Illusions of Reform Shattered 151 Part II: Arab States Performance at the Regional 157 And International Mechanisms 1- The States of the Arab League: A Shield for Human Rights 159 Violations, War Criminals and Military Coups 2- Marginalizing Human Rights and Civil Society: Arab Governments 165 and the Mechanisms of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership 3- The Exportation of Repression: 173 Arab States Performance at the Human Rights Council Part III: Arab Culture Transformation.. A Human Rights Perspective / 195 Dr. Mohamed Al Sayed Saeed Annex: The Second Independence, Towards an Initiative for Political 201 Reform in the Arab World ) Contributors to the Report Main researcher Essam El-Din Mohamed Hassan Researchers and authors of background papers Abdel Karim Al-Abdellaoui Mohamed Al-Nagar Ghassan Abdullah Nabil Subie Houcine Bardi Nizar Ayoub Jeremie Smith Ragab Saad Khelil Abdelmoumene Seif Nasrawy Magdy El Naim Wameed shaker Moataz El Fegiery Ziad Abdel Tawab Participated in collecting and documenting information Afaf Hanna Safaa Essam Sahar Sabry In addition some of the human rights activists from partner organizations offered special contributions in revising, reviewing and providing additional information: Abdul hadi Al- Khawaja ex.President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (Bahrain) Amal Al-Basha President of Arab Sisters Forum for Human Rights (Yemen) Bougome'a Radwan (Algeria) Ibrahim Al-Mugaiteeb President of Human Rights First Society (Saudi Arabia) Kamal Jendoubi President of the Tunisian Committee for the Respect of Human Rights Radwan Ziadeh Director of the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies Editor Bahey eldin Hassan The English Version Revised and edited by Contributed in translation Ziad Abdel Tawab Ashraf Radi and Hazem Salem Jeremie Smith Sahar Soliman Maria Elander Sulaf Taha Sulaf Taha Yara Sallam ) Dedicated To the prisoners of conscience And victims of unfair trials Syria: 1. Fedaa Akram Al- Hourani: Chairperson of the General Council of Damascus Declaration for National Democratic Change. 2. Dr. Ahmed Toumah khidr: Secretary of the National Council of Damascus Declaration for National Democratic Change. 3. Akram Al- Bunny: (Journalist and Writer) Secretary of the National Council of Damascus Declaration for National Democratic Change. 4. Riad Saif: Former parliamentary and Head of General Secretariat of the National Council of Damascus Declaration for National Democratic Change. 5. Walid Al- Bunni 5-12 are all members of the 6. Muhammed Haji Darwish National Council of Damascus 7. Fayez Sarah Declaration for National 8. Yasser Al- Eiti Democratic Change, and were all 9. Marwan Alosh sentenced for eighteen months in prison after being found guilty of 10. Ali Al- Abdallah “weakening national feeling and 11. Jibr Al- shufi undermining the prestige of the 12. Talal Abu- Dan State.” 13. Michel Kilo:Syrian writer and member of Civil Society Revival Committees in Syria. Due to his signature on the Beirut- Damascus Declaration; he has been sentenced to prison for “weakening national sentiment, spreading false news, and inciting sectarian strife.” 14. Anwar Bunni: Prominent Human Rights defender, one of the signatories of the Beirut- Damascus Declaration. Sentenced to five years for “weakening the moral of the nation.” 15. Kamal al-Labwani: head of the Democratic Liberal Gathering, was sentenced to jail for “inciting foreign states to attack Syria” and spreading news that would result in weakening the moral of the nation. ) 16. Ali Faeq Al- Mir: member of Syrian Democratic Peoples Party, sentenced in jail for spreading false news, offending the ruling regime, and for expressing public hostility towards the states policy. Palestine: 17. Marwan al-Barghouthi: Member of the Legislative Council, one of Fatah Movement’s leaders. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. 18. Abd el- Aziz al- Dweik: Chairman of the Legislative Council, as well as other Palestinian parliamentarians who were all kidnapped by Israeli Occupation forces in 2006, and is still imprisoned. Egypt: 19. Kareem A'mer: Blogger. Sentenced to four years of imprisonment for Defaming the president of Egypt and incitement to hate "Islam" . 20. Musa'ad Abu Al- fajr: Blogger, one of the claimants for equality in rights and treatment for the Bedouins of Sinai. Arrested under Emergency Laws. 21. Khairat Al- Shatter: The Deputy Chairman of Muslim Brotherhood. Tried and sentenced to jail before a military court, along with o25 leaders from the same group. 22. Ayman Nour: Founding members of El- Gad Party, charged with forging signatures for the “authentification” of the party. Al Bahrain : All Human Rights activists, sentenced from five to seven 23. Hassan Abdulnabi years of imprisonment for 24. Maytham Al- Sheikh participating in violent 25. Naji Fateel protests after one Human 26. Mohammed Abdullah Al Sengais Rights defender was killed. Saudi Arabia: 27. Dr.Matrouk al- Faleh: University professor and a known reformist political figure. Arrested since May 2008 for public criticism of detention conditions in Buraidah general prison. ) Tunisia: 28. Adnan Al- Hajji: Human Rights and a trade union activist. Arrested in connection with the events of "hud Al- Mangamy". 29. Bashir Al- A'bidi: Trade- union activist. Arrested in connection with the events of "hud Al- Mangamy". 30. Mas'ud Al- Ramadan: a trade-union activist and Head of the national committee to support the families of "hud Al- Mangamy ", chief of the branch of Tunisian association for Human Rights in Al- Qirwan. Under house arrest in connection with the events "hud Al- Mangamy ". Morocco: 31. Ibrahim sabaa' al-Lail: member of the national board of the Moroccan Institute for Human Rights. Sentenced for 6 months of imprisonment after participating in a press conference where he provided evidence of Human Rights violations committed by security officers in "sidi ifini" city. Algeria: All three are Journalists of Al-Arabia 32- Kadir bu qila newspaper. Sentenced to 6 months of 33- Shahrzad lamo imprisonment on the grounds of 34- Nasser Al-dain qasem criticizing a military officer. ) ) Acknowledgement The Cairo Institute for Hunan Rights Studies (CIHRS) would like to express its appreciation for and acknowledgement of the many national, regional and international Human Rights organizations that persistently monitor study and analyze important Human Rights developments in the Arab World. Without their work, it would have been impossible to prepare this report. The information that these organizations have published, either through different publications or on their websites, was a crucial source of information for the report. Furthermore, several of these organizations have revised the early drafting of this report and have provided up-to-date information that was used in the final version of the report. CIHRS would like to thank the researchers in several Arab states who worked with CIHRS to prepare this report. CIHRS would also like to express it gratitude for the contributions and consultations from members of the advisory board of CIHRS’ International Advocacy Program. However, the findings and conclusions of the report do not necessarily represent the points of view of any of these individual researchers and organizations. Nor does this report constitute their point of view as a group. CHIRS would also like to note that the order in which the following list of organizations whose research and consultation aided in the creation of this report does not have any special significance. All of the organizations below have made important contributions, not only to this report, but in efforts to defend Human Rights and disseminate a rights culture in the Arab world. ) First: National Organizations Bahrain 1. Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society. http://www.bhrws.org 2. Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights.
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