https://www.middleeastmonitor.com Latest news from the Middle East and North Africa Tue, 08 Aug 2023 11:32:10 +0000 en-GB Middle East Monitor 30 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.2 https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/favicon.png?fit=32%2C32&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com 32 32 116394717 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230804-saudi-jails-egypt-psychiatrist-on-terror-charges-following-salary-dispute-hrw-reveals/ Fri, 04 Aug 2023 08:19:24 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=657968 Saudi Arabia jailed an Egyptian psychiatrist on charges of terrorism last year in an "unfair trial" due to a salary dispute that he won in the kingdom, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has revealed. According to the rights group, 66-year-old Egyptian psychiatrist Sabri Shalabi – who was employed by the Saudi Ministry of Health between 2006 and 2019 – had won a court case against the kingdom's authorities to receive years of unpaid compensation that he was owed, after he discovered that he was paid far less than other colleagues. In January 2020, however, days before an appeals court decision in his civil case, plainclothes police officers – without a warrant – took him from his home in the north-west of the […]]]> 657968 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230803-beirut-port-blast-three-years-on-victims-still-await-accountability/ Thu, 03 Aug 2023 14:07:25 +0000 , Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=657885 Lebanon, on Friday, marks the third anniversary of the Beirut port explosion which killed at least 220 people, wounded thousands and damaged swathes of the city. Despite the devastation, an investigation has brought no senior official to account. Here is a summary of what happened and how the investigation has been stymied: The explosion  The blast is thought to have been set off by a fire at a warehouse just after 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) on 4 August, 2020, detonating hundreds of tonnes of ammonium nitrate. Originally bound for Mozambique aboard a Russian-leased ship, the chemicals had been at the port since 2013, when they were unloaded during an unscheduled stop. No one claimed the shipment, tangled in a legal […]]]> 657885 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230803-hrw-says-israeli-offensives-against-gaza-increase-suffering-of-people-with-disabilities/ Thu, 03 Aug 2023 10:43:43 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=657823 Israeli offensives against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip increase the suffering of people with disabilities, Human Rights Watch has warned. The military offensive in May might have faded from the memory, but the wounds are still fresh, it said on Wednesday. The latest HRW report shared the example of a Palestinian family including disabled young women whose house was destroyed during the Israeli attack in May. "People with disabilities remain among the most affected," the report said. "On May 13, an Israeli officer ordered the Nabhan family to evacuate their homes in Jabaliya refugee camp within three minutes. They housed at least 40 members of the extended family, including five people with disabilities." HRW spoke to Najah, 50, who […]]]> 657823 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230801-libya-border-guards-find-bodies-of-6-black-africans-in-desert/ Tue, 01 Aug 2023 10:38:57 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=656959 Libyan border guards have found the bodies of six African migrants in the desert, according to the Interior Ministry. The news comes just one week after a video circulated online of a Libyan border guard giving water to black African migrants who had been dumped in the middle of the desert by Tunisian authorities. Two days earlier Libya's Interior Ministry said that the bodies of five black African migrants were recovered during a routine patrol along the border. Then in mid-July, Libyan border guards said they rescued 80 migrants left in the desert without food or water in the town of Al-Assah 150 kilometres west of Tripoli. Border guards say they were exhausted, dehydrated and left in temperatures of 40 degrees. Conditions were particularly […]]]> 656959 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230728-sweden-minister-quran-burnings-damage-security-countrys-image/ Fri, 28 Jul 2023 10:02:47 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=656002 The Swedish Minister of Justice, Gunnar Strommer, has criticised the repeated incidents of burning the Holy Quran, saying they have worsened the security situation and damaged Sweden's image, Anadolu news agency reported. "It is a grave situation that Sweden is being portrayed as an Islamophobic country, while the Quran burnings not only made the country less safe but also hurt its image," Strommer told a joint news conference with Charlotte von Essen, head of the Swedish Security Service. He explained that his country has accelerated actions against terrorism and put 15 institutions on alert. Von Essen said the terrorist threat in the country has risen since March and will remain high. On Tuesday, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a […]]]> 656002 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230726-libya-border-guard-criticises-forcible-deportation-of-black-africans-from-tunisia/ Wed, 26 Jul 2023 11:04:04 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=655147 A video is circulating online showing an outraged Libyan border guard criticising the forcible deportation of black Africans from Tunisia into the desert. In the video he approaches a man and his baby who have been left in the middle of the desert, before a couple walk past and accept some water. "Shame on you Tunisia," he says. "It's 50 degrees." Un garde frontière libyen s'insurge contre les déportations des migrants subsahariens depuis la Tunisie, lâchés en plein désert sous des températures dépassant les 50°. Entre-temps, le responsable de ces déportations est fêté par l'Union Européenne comme partenaire premium. pic.twitter.com/q4sFY98Wga — Sentenza (@RealSentenza) July 24, 2023 A heatwave is currently engulfing North Africa and the Middle East, and temperatures have soared to […]]]> 655147 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230720-us-behaving-like-thought-police-with-pro-israel-resolution-denying-apartheid/ Thu, 20 Jul 2023 14:24:29 +0000 , Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=654149 The two major political parties in the US have waded into the debate about whether or not Israel is a racist state by passing a non-binding resolution pledging loyalty and support to it. Democrats and Republicans employed the symbolic power of Congress in a move intended to counter the near unanimous consensus among major human rights groups about Israel's practice of apartheid. The US, said one critic, is behaving like "thought police" on the issue. Tuesday's vote in Congress comes as an international debate over how to define the situation in the territories from the west of River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea heats up. For many millennia, the territory was part of historic Palestine. Human rights groups, including Israel's […]]]> 654149 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230720-documentary-marking-10th-anniversary-of-rabaa-massacre-to-air-at-bafta/ Thu, 20 Jul 2023 11:52:55 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=654100 EgyptWatch, a human rights platform, announced that it will premier a documentary marking the tenth anniversary of the Rabaa massacre in London's prestigious BAFTA venue. 'Memories of a Massacre', a documentary about the massacre committed by Egyptian security forces against pro-democracy protesters in 2013, will be screened on 3 August at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) as part of events to mark the tenth anniversary of the atrocity, which claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people. The documentary includes exclusive testimonies of survivors and eyewitnesses, including Craig Summers, the former head of security for Sky News, Musab Al-Shami, a photographer for the Associated Press, and David Kirkpatrick, head of the New York Times newspaper in […]]]> 654100 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230720-un-experts-urge-tunisia-to-stop-forcible-expulsion-of-black-african-migrants/ Thu, 20 Jul 2023 09:53:27 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=654082 UN experts have this week raised concern about Tunisia's allegedly discriminatory treatment of sub-Saharan migrants, and urged the authorities to take urgent measures to stop collective expulsions and protect the human rights of all migrants. "Collective expulsions are prohibited under international law," they said. "Deporting migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers without conducting an individual and objective risk assessment of their exposure to human rights violations upon return amounts to refoulement, prohibited under international human rights law." The experts contacted the Tunisian Government in March, expressing concern at reports of racist treatment of sub-Saharan migrants and collective expulsions targeting sub-Saharan migrants, as well as of violence and racist hate speech by officials and law enforcement. "We call on the authorities to immediately […]]]> 654082 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230720-hamas-slams-americas-israel-is-not-racist-resolution/ Thu, 20 Jul 2023 08:04:29 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=654056 The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement has condemned in the strongest possible terms the resolution passed by the US House of Representatives which proclaims that Israel is "not a racist or apartheid state". "This vote reflects absolute bias in favour of the Israeli occupation state that encourages it to go ahead with its crimes and violations against the Palestinian people," said Hamas. "The US Congress disregards the Zionist occupation's atrocious record of massacres against the Palestinian people, the most recent of which was the Israeli colonial-settlers' rampage through the Palestinian town of Huwara and other West Bank towns." READ: Israel bid for US Visa Waiver hangs on Palestine-America access test Such deliberate arson attacks, ransacking and destruction of Palestinian homes, the movement […]]]> 654056 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230719-hrw-eu-should-suspend-migration-funding-for-tunisia-until-human-rights-assessment/ Wed, 19 Jul 2023 12:11:05 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=653659 Human Rights Watch has said that the EU should suspend migration control funding to Tunisian security forces until a human rights impact assessment has been carried out. In July, Tunisian police and military rounded up black Africans in the country and dumped them on the border with Libya and Algeria. Two bodies were recovered and videos of people with broken ankles, begging for food and water, circulated online. HRW documented abuses including beatings and the use of excessive force, theft of belongings and money and in some cases torture. Despite this, the EU has offered Tunisia an aid package including over €100 million ($112.2 million) if Tunisia agrees to help stop migrant boats crossing the Mediterranean and heading for Europe and facilitate the […]]]> 653659 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230717-libya-border-guards-rescue-migrants-left-in-desert-by-tunisia/ Mon, 17 Jul 2023 10:32:40 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=652620 Libyan border guards say they have rescued migrants left in the desert without food or water, AFP reported over the weekend. Roughly 80 people were found in the town of Al-Assah, some 150 kilometres west of Tripoli, and were exhausted and dehydrated in temperatures of 40 degrees. AFP said that the Libyan border agents gave them water and took them to a shelter. The news comes after a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report revealed that Tunisian security forces have been forcibly expelling several hundred black African migrants and asylum seekers since the start of July from Sfax to a militarised border zone between Tunisia and Libya. Sfax is a Tunisian port town close to the island of Lampadusa in Italy and hundreds of people have […]]]> 652620 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230713-life-for-black-people-in-tunisia-5-months-after-the-presidents-racist-speech-has-been-incredibly-challenging/ Thu, 13 Jul 2023 14:00:36 +0000 , Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=652086 When Tarek Tookebry began raising funds to collect essential items for a humanitarian convoy to Tunisia's second city, Sfax – where black Africans are being increasingly attacked and deported – the initial goal was to raise 10,000 Tunisian dinars ($3,300). As of Wednesday 12 July, Humetna, an NGO based in Medjez El Bab, has raised over 47,000 TD ($15,500). "This level of support demonstrates the compassion and solidarity of Tunisians towards the cause, and it affirms that there is a significant portion of the population who stand against the discriminatory treatment faced by sub-Saharan African and black individuals," says Tarek, who is director of the organisation. Sfax is an industrial hub in southern Tunisia and a major port town. It […]]]> 652086 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230711-ethnically-targeted-violence-worsens-in-sudans-darfur-rights-monitors/ Tue, 11 Jul 2023 15:36:13 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=651445 Gunmen killed at least 40 civilians in a single day in Sudan's Darfur region, as ethnically motivated bloodshed has escalated in step with war between rival military factions, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported on Tuesday, Reuters reports. In the West Darfur city of El Geneina, several prominent figures have been killed in recent days and volunteers are struggling to bury corpses littering the streets, the Darfur Bar Association, which monitors the conflict, said in a statement. Violence and displacement in Darfur has resurged sharply as the regular army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continue to battle in the capital, Khartoum, and other areas of Sudan in a power struggle that exploded in mid-April. The conflict has uprooted over 2.9 […]]]> 651445 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230707-rights-group-urges-tunisia-to-halt-collective-expulsion-of-african-migrants/ Fri, 07 Jul 2023 13:50:10 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=650416 Tunisia should halt collective expulsions of sub-Saharan African migrants and urgently enable access to humanitarian services for those the government sent to a dangerous area of the Tunisia-Libya border, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday, Reuters reports. Tunisia has removed hundreds of migrants to a desolate area along the border, a Tunisian rights group and a lawmaker said on Wednesday, with witnesses reporting dozens more put on outbound trains following days of violence. Disturbances between migrants and residents went on for a week in the port of Sfax, and one Tunisian was killed. Residents complained of disorderly behaviour by migrants and migrants complained of racist harassment. Thousands of undocumented migrants have flocked to Sfax in recent months with the goal of setting […]]]> 650416 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230705-lebanon-arrested-over-2000-syria-refugees-deported-1800-since-april/ Wed, 05 Jul 2023 18:49:10 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=650084 Lebanese authorities have arrested over 2,000 Syrian refugees and deported 1,800 since April this year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has reported. In the newly-released report by HRW, it stated that, despite there being "no official public statistics on the number of arrests or deportations" of Syrians from Lebanon, a humanitarian source informed it that "since April 2023, there have been over 100 raids, 2,200 arrests and 1,800 deportations of Syrian refugees". Detention and deportation by Lebanese authorities is also reportedly an abusive experience, with the report citing six Syrians it interviewed who said that they faced "abusive treatment during their deportation with beatings, threats, sexual harassment and degrading treatment, including being blindfolded, slapped and forced to stand for hours." Upon […]]]> 650084 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230627-algeria-rights-groups-call-for-release-of-4-people-detained-for-allegedly-helping-amira-bouraoui-flee-the-country/ Tue, 27 Jun 2023 16:05:24 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=647880 Algeria should release four people who have been held for over four months for allegedly helping an activist leave the country, Human Rights Watch, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies and EuroMed Rights said today. Amira Bouraoui, a gynaecologist, fled across the Tunisian border in February this year, after being convicted for her work and being subjected to an arbitrary travel ban in 2021. Bouraoui was part of the Hirak protest movement and has been accused of "insulting the President" and "offending Islam". Authorities have arrested hundreds of human rights defenders, opposition figures and journalists in relation to the Hirak protest movement which held weekly, peaceful street marches for political reform in 2019 and opposed President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's decision […]]]> 647880 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230622-no-justice-for-deaths-at-melilla-border-human-rights-watch/ Thu, 22 Jun 2023 16:07:02 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=646667 Human Rights Watch slammed Spain and Morocco on Thursday for failing to credibly investigate the Melilla border tragedy a year ago, claiming there has been "no justice" for the deaths, Anadolu Agency reports. "Both Spain and Morocco have exonerated their security forces following flawed or insufficient investigations into the violence at the Melilla enclave border," said Alice Autin, Europe and Central Asia researcher at the human rights organisation. "And what happened to dozens of the people who attempted to cross on that day is still unknown." On 24 June, 2022, around 1,700 men, mostly from Sudan, South Sudan and Chad, tried to scale the fortified border fence separating Morocco from Spain. That action was met by violence from Spanish and Moroccan […]]]> 646667 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230613-top-celebrities-call-on-uk-government-to-repatriate-british-families-in-northeast-syria/ Tue, 13 Jun 2023 10:49:17 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=644384 Top celebrities including Olivia Coleman and Stephen Fry have called on ministers to bring home British families trapped in detention camps in northeast Syria. In an open letter to the British government also signed by several NGOs including Human Rights Watch (HRW) and War Child, signatories urged the UK government to repatriate around 25 British families being unlawfully detained in northeast Syria. Most of the British detainees are children under ten years old, according to the open letter. In October last year, Save the Children said there are more than 60 British children trapped in northeast Syria. Older children who lived under Daesh have witnessed beheadings and other acts of horrifying cruelty and are in urgent need of medical and […]]]> 644384 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230602-foreign-affairs-magazine-israel-apartheid-and-jewish-supremacy-part-two/ Fri, 02 Jun 2023 12:00:53 +0000 , Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=641981 Unsurprisingly, last month's article in the Foreign Affairs magazine, which laid down the facts about Israel's apartheid system and Jewish supremacy, generated strong debate and criticism. Writing in the prestigious American journal, authors Michael Barnett, Nathan Brown, Marc Lynch and Shibley Telhami, claimed that Israel presides over a "One-State reality" and that it is "Time to Give Up on the Two-State Solution". The one state reality, they argued "is akin to apartheid" and the persistent invocation by political leaders and policy makers of the two-state solution, merely served "as a smokescreen to obscure this reality". The authors further claimed that US policy has uniquely enabled the entrenchment of a single-state reality in which apartheid practices have become a feature. They […]]]> 641981 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230602-imprisoned-egyptian-poet-begins-total-hunger-strike/ Fri, 02 Jun 2023 08:14:46 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=641992 Egyptian poet, Galal El-Behairy, has started a complete hunger strike, abstaining from food and water, in objection to his continued imprisonment for over five years, a human rights group said yesterday. The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF) said: "Poet Galal El-Behairy has embarked on a total hunger strike in his confinement as of today [Thursday]." It added that El-Behairy resorted to a total hunger strike "as part of his escalation to demand his release after five years of imprisonment." Quoting a letter from El-Behairy, the body indicated that he decided to commence a complete hunger strike "due to the poor conditions in the prison, the prohibition of pens and paper inside his cell, as well as the continuous […]]]> 641992 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230601-tunisia-subjugating-the-courts-is-key-to-saeids-power-grab/ Thu, 01 Jun 2023 07:08:57 +0000 , Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=641138 It's been a year since President Kais Saied of Tunisia fired 57 judges and prosecutors, accusing them of financial and "moral" corruption and obstructing investigations. That day, Saied issued a decree-law empowering the president to fire judges, virtually eliminating any pretense of the separation of powers. These were among the most audacious moves of the ongoing power grab that Saied began on 25 July 2021, when he suspended parliament and said he was taking over supervision of the prosecutor's office. To justify his concentration of power, Saied has charged that the governments that followed the 2011 revolution and in which the Ennahda party played a key role, were corrupt and lax toward terrorism – if not complicit in it. Abdesettar […]]]> 641138 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230523-tajikistan-repatriates-109-women-children-from-syria-detention-camps/ Tue, 23 May 2023 17:49:16 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=639140 Tajikistan has repatriated over a hundred women and children from camps in Syria where they have been held for years, as the international community continues to delay in the repatriation of tens of thousands of Daesh fighters and their relatives from the war-torn country. In a statement by Tajikistan's Foreign Ministry on Sunday, it announced the repatriation of 109 women and children, including five citizens of Kazakhstan, who arrived by plane in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. "We have repatriated 104 of our citizens, including 31 women and 73 children, as well as 5 citizens of Kazakhstan, a mother, and her four children, at the request of the Kazakh authorities", a Tajik Foreign Ministry spokesman stated. READ: Foreign kids in Syrian […]]]> 639140 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230522-syria-officials-should-be-investigated-for-crimes-against-humanity-says-hrw/ Mon, 22 May 2023 16:39:03 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=638526 Syrian government officials should be investigated for crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch has said against the backdrop of the UAE's invitation to Bashar Al-Assad to attend the UN climate conference COP28. It would be the Syrian President's first appearance at a global conference since the Syrian uprising and subsequent war began in 2011. "The UAE, which has shown little leadership on core issues at COP28, like phasing out fossil fuels and stopping new oil and gas expansion, now seems prepared to help Assad burnish his image, despite having overseen crimes against humanity against his own people," Saudi and Emirates researcher, Joey Shea, wrote. "If Assad travels to Dubai, it will mark his third visit to the country since 2022. […]]]> 638526 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230522-after-75-years-the-nakba-is-ongoing/ Mon, 22 May 2023 11:16:12 +0000 , Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=638240 The Palestinian people and their supporters around the world have just commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Nakba ("Catastrophe"). For the first time since it started, the UN has also commemorated this painful event. The Nakba, though, was not a single historical event. It was originally spread over two years from mid-1947 to mid-1949, as the catastrophe of the creation of the Zionist state of Israel befell the Palestinian people. That was a period filled with cruelty, brutality and terrorism, during which a prosperous homeland was shattered; people were displaced; and the dream of an independent Palestine evaporated. It was a nightmare that the Palestinians still face. Historians, including Israelis, affirm that the horrors that the Palestinian people went through […]]]> 638240 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230517-jordan-extradites-wanted-terrorist-to-uae/ Wed, 17 May 2023 11:09:08 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=637449 Jordanian authorities have handed over a wanted man to the UAE, the Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported today. Dual Emirati-Turkish citizen, Khalaf Abdul Rahman Al-Romaithi was detained at Amman's Queen Alia International Airport on 7 May, having arrived from Turkiye where he had been living in exile following a 2013 court ruling sentencing him in absentia to 15 years in prison. According to WAM, he faces charges in the UAE for "establishing a secret organization affiliated with the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood that aims to oppose the foundational principles of the UAE government." "The UAE reiterates maintaining its sovereignty and stability, and safety and security of its citizens and residents, and that it will not hesitate to go after those wanted […]]]> 637449 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230517-egypt-arbitrarily-detaining-women-related-to-daesh-fighters-despite-abuses/ Wed, 17 May 2023 09:53:25 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=637433 Egyptian authorities have arbitrarily detained women and girls related to Daesh members who have themselves been raped and forced into marriage. A new report by advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights says that these women were detained by Egyptian authorities in North Sinai after they escaped the militant group and sought help. They have been tortured and held incommunicado and not treated as victims of crimes. "Many women and girls in North Sinai have already suffered intolerable abuse at the hands of ISIS-linked members," said Adam Coogle, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at HRW, in reference to Daesh. "The Egyptian government should be protecting them, not locking them up and torturing […]]]> 637433 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230509-china-calls-uighurs-as-extremist-for-having-quran-report-says/ Tue, 09 May 2023 15:06:20 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=634755 Police in the Xinjiang region of China rely on a master list of 50,000 multimedia files they deem "violent and terrorist" to flag Uyghur and other Turkic Muslim residents for interrogation, Human Rights Watch reports. According to the report, a Human Rights Watch forensic investigation into the metadata of this list found that, during 9 months from 2017 to 2018, police conducted nearly 11 million searches of a total of 1.2 million mobile phones in Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital city of 3.5 million residents. The report says Muslims in Xinjiang are flagged as 'violent extremists' for simply practising their religion. "The Chinese government's abusive use of surveillance technology in Xinjiang means that Uyghurs who simply store the Quran on their phone […]]]> 634755 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230503-51-rights-groups-call-of-egypt-to-release-detained-academic-at-risk-of-death/ Wed, 03 May 2023 10:01:21 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=633330 Egypt should release the detained academic Salah Soltan who is at risk of death and ensure he has access to life-saving health care, 51 human rights organisations have said today. Soltan was arrested following the 2013 coup then sentenced to life in prison four years later in a mass trial with no due process. Authorities did not give credible evidence for the charges against him. The Islamic scholar is being held in Badr 1 prison, which was recently labelled a "slaughterhouse" by human rights groups because there have been so many suicide attempts due to the poor conditions people are held in. In a letter Soltan wrote that was leaked in March, he said that he had not been allowed […]]]> 633330 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230502-uae-continuing-its-sustained-assault-on-human-rights-ahead-of-cop28-42-rights-groups-warn/ Tue, 02 May 2023 14:53:18 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=632856 Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have joined 40 other rights groups to express their "deep concern" over the UAE's "sustained assault on human rights and freedoms" as the Gulf state prepares to host the 28th United Nations global climate talks (COP28)  later this year. "For more than 10 years, UAE authorities have been unjustly detaining at least 60 Emirati human rights defenders, civil society activists, and political dissidents who were arrested in 2012 because of their demands for reform and democracy," a joint statement released yesterday said. "More than three-quarters of these prisoners have completed their sentences yet remain in arbitrary detention to date. UAE authorities refuse to release them, alleging that they continue to pose a "terrorist threat," based on vague […]]]> 632856 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230427-hrw-turkiye-border-guards-kill-torture-syrians-seeking-asylum-across-border/ Thu, 27 Apr 2023 20:37:41 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=631824 Turkish border guards routinely torture, kill and commit other human rights abuses on Syrians attempting to cross the border into Turkiye, Human Rights Watch has stated. In a report released by HRW today, it accused Turkish border guards of indiscriminately targeting Syrian asylum seekers by preventing them from crossing the border through the use of excessive force. According to Hugh Williamson, HRW's Europe and Central Asia Director, "Turkish gendarmes and armed forces in charge of border control routinely abuse and indiscriminately shoot at Syrians along the Syrian-Turkish border, with hundreds of deaths and injuries recorded in recent years." Williamson stressed that "Arbitrary killings of Syrians are particularly egregious and part of a pattern of brutality by Turkish border guards that […]]]> 631824 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230419-egypt-govt-private-uk-firm-exposed-thousands-of-childrens-details-online/ Wed, 19 Apr 2023 14:00:32 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=630142 The Egyptian government and private British company Academic Assessment Ltd have exposed the personal information of tens of thousands of children online putting them in serious harm, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch has said. The children had taken the Egyptian Scholastic Test, an examination to enter Egyptian universities for secondary school students in Egypt studying within the American education system. The names, gender, home and email addresses, copies of their passports and more, of over 72,000 children were left open online for at least eight months. Also online was the university they had applied to, the scores of their test and notes about their behaviour, including whether or not they had attempted to cheat or if they were late. […]]]> 630142 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230418-the-pa-differentiates-between-colonial-and-collaborative-oppression/ Tue, 18 Apr 2023 12:33:09 +0000 , Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=629881 When Israel targeted Palestinian non-governmental rights organisations in 2021 and 2022, the Palestinian Authority embarked on its own exploitation campaign. "In a show of solidarity, President Abbas meets with Palestinian civil society organisations targeted by Israel," one of Wafa news agency's headlines read in 2021. Israel's targeting of Palestinian NGOs in 2021 and 2022, including former Israeli Defence Minister, Benny Gantz, designating six organisations as "terrorist" without providing evidence, allowed the PA, very briefly, to pretend to champion a cause that works against its authoritarianism. But illusory state-building needs its own gimmicks, until it is time to dissolve the brief façade and take a stance against human rights, as is the PA's penchant. Back in 2021, PA leader, Mahmoud Abbas, […]]]> 629881 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230418-glasgow-university-offers-6-scholarships-to-students-from-turkiye-syria/ Tue, 18 Apr 2023 10:03:35 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=629829 The University of Glasgow is offering six exclusive tuition fee waivers to students from Turkiye and Syria following the earthquakes that devastated both countries. On its website the university said it was offering the scholarships to students "who are facing challenges in progressing on to Higher Education." On 6 February 7.6 and 7.8 magnitude earthquakes hit northwest Syria and southeast Turkiye, destroying buildings, bridges and reducing homes to rubble. Thousands of apartment blocks, schools and hospitals have either been destroyed or are too dangerous to enter. The death toll has exceeded 55,000 and the quake has impacted close to 18 million people. Even before the earthquake, life was tough for students in Syria and Turkiye.  In Syria, universities are politicised […]]]> 629829 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230414-microsoft-urged-not-to-invest-in-saudi-arabia-over-fear-of-human-rights-abuse/ Fri, 14 Apr 2023 14:39:56 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=629150 Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on Microsoft to suspend a possible investment by the tech giant in Saudi Arabia to build a new data centre inside the kingdom until Riyadh can clearly demonstrate how it will mitigate the risk of facilitating serious human rights violations. In February, Microsoft announced its intention to invest $9 billion in Saudi Arabia. Saudi officials have pressed international companies to invest in the kingdom and move their regional headquarters to Riyadh in order to benefit from government contracts. Warning of the possible risk of human right violations, HRW said that Saudi Arabia's anti-cybercrime and data protection laws severely undermine the right to privacy, enable unchecked state surveillance and allow Saudi state agencies to access […]]]> 629150 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230413-uae-holding-prisoners-for-years-after-serving-sentences-says-hrw/ Thu, 13 Apr 2023 13:51:09 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=628872 Prisoners in the UAE are being held beyond their sentences, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has revealed. In some instances, prisoners have been held for four years after completing their sentence. The prisoners are all part of the infamous case known as UAE94, in which critics of the authoritarian regime were sentenced during a mass trial. At least 51 prisoners who have completed their sentences remain behind bars. "Prisoners in the UAE94 case have already suffered tremendously after years in prison following a grossly unfair trail," explained Joey Shea, UAE researcher at HRW. "The Emirati authorities should free them immediately and finally put an end to this decade-long ordeal. Prominent UAE partners, including the United States and COP28 organisers, should press […]]]> 628872 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230406-goal-of-ihra-anti-semitism-definition-is-to-target-human-rights-groups-says-proponent/ Thu, 06 Apr 2023 14:07:45 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=626982 A prominent advocate of the controversial and inaccurate definition of anti-Semitism created by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) has acknowledged that one of its purposes is to target and silence human rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) and others documenting Israel's human rights abuses. "The purpose of the IHRA working definition was to prevent the illegitimate demonization of Israel, the singling out of Israel, and the antisemitic aspects of the attacks on Israel, which is exactly what these NGOs are doing," said a key proponent of IHRA, Professor Gerald Steinberg, the founder of pro-Israel, NGO Monitor. Steinberg made the remark in response to 60 human and civil rights organisations who on Tuesday released a joint open letter urging the UN not to adopt the IHRA. Steinberg told the Algemeiner that the […]]]> 626982 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230405-human-rights-groups-urge-un-not-to-adopt-ihra-anti-semitism-definition-which-weaponises-criticism-of-israel/ Wed, 05 Apr 2023 14:43:33 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=626798 60 human rights organisations have urged the United Nations not to adopt the controversial and inaccurate definition of anti-Semitism created by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), over concerns that it would be weaponised to suppress any criticism of Israel. In a letter published on Monday, the 60 human and civil rights groups called on the UN not to adopt the IHRA's working definition of anti-Semitism, which rules that it "is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities." On the IHRA's website, it elaborates that forms of anti-Semitism "might include the […]]]> 626798 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230330-israel-is-on-rampage-against-human-rights-new-hrw-chief-says/ Thu, 30 Mar 2023 20:16:59 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=625526 Israel's government is "on a rampage" against human rights, the new head of Human Rights Watch said on Thursday, and urged the United States and other allies to do more to hold it accountable for alleged abuses and persuade it to change course, Reuters reports. A planned overhaul of the judiciary by Israel's religious-nationalist government would be "a disaster" for human rights, HRW Executive Director, Tirana Hassan, told Reuters. She called on Washington to follow through after it issued a rare reproach over the move. "With the current state of the Israeli government and the attacks on the judiciary, in particular, we see that this is not a human rights-compliant government," Hassan said. "This is a government that's actually on a rampage […]]]> 625526 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230329-un-member-states-debate-creation-of-independent-entity-to-uncover-fate-of-missing-syrians/ Wed, 29 Mar 2023 10:39:17 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=625162 UN member states are debating the creation of a new body to uncover what has happened to tens of thousands of missing Syrians. The Syrian conflict has been marked by arbitrary detention, torture, forced disappearance, deaths in custody and extrajudicial executions. As it enters its thirteenth year, these disappearances and abductions continue to take place and thousands of people are in the dark about the fate of their loved ones. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres proposed an independent entity to track the missing and disappeared in a report published over the summer last year. "The whereabouts and fate of an estimated 100,000 Syrians remain unknown," Guterres said in a press release yesterday. "People in every part of the country and across […]]]> 625162 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230323-uk-urged-to-refer-israel-to-the-icc/ Thu, 23 Mar 2023 13:13:46 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=624384 The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) has called on the UK government to refer Israel to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes committed in Palestine, and to recognise the court's jurisdiction over the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories. In a letter sent today to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and the Foreign Secretary James Cleverley, the ICJP called on Number 10 to urgently recognise that the ICC has jurisdiction in respect of the situation in Palestine, and for the UK as an ICC State Party to refer the situation and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the Court, pursuant to Article 14 of the ICC Statute. Article 14 stipulates that a State Party may refer to the Prosecutor a situation in which one or more crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court […]]]> 624384 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230320-3-turkish-border-guards-arrested-after-torturing-killing-syria-refugees/ Mon, 20 Mar 2023 13:42:58 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=623274 Three Turkish border guards have been arrested and released pending trial following the beating of eight Syrians as they tried to cross into Hatay in southern Turkiye. Two were killed and another two put in intensive care after the beating, which took place a week ago. Survivors said they had been tortured and forced to drink diesel and photos circulating on social media showed their severely bruised and injured bodies. The six surviving Syrians were later sent back to Syria. For years, Syrians crossing the Turkish border have reported being humiliated and beaten. In February last year Turkish border guards severely beat a Syrian man and his pregnant wife after they tried to cross with their young daughter. READ: 9 […]]]> 623274 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230315-12-years-since-the-start-of-the-syrian-revolution/ Wed, 15 Mar 2023 13:15:10 +0000 , Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=622579 Today marks 12 years since the start of the Syrian revolution in which Syrians gathered to call for freedom, political reform and respect for human rights. Twelve years on, my family that used to live in Aleppo now lives in six countries, our house was barrel bombed, and I can't return to see the bits of my country left standing. Yet I don't feel I regret shouting, "long live Syria and down with Bashar al-Assad" in March 2011.… https://t.co/BZLgWU3dE8 pic.twitter.com/ICjlMldBjv — Karam Shaar كرم شعّار (@Karam__Shaar) March 14, 2023 Over a decade later, the Syrian regime has tortured thousands of people and many families still do not know the fate of their loved ones. Reports by human rights organisations and […]]]> 622579 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230315-hrw-uae-has-detained-over-2500-afghan-asylum-seekers-for-over-15-months/ Wed, 15 Mar 2023 10:52:32 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=622495 The UAE has arbitrarily detained up to 2,700 Afghan asylum seekers for over 15 months, says Human Rights Watch, who is calling on the Gulf State to urgently release them. The UAE took in thousands of Afghans in the months following the Taliban takeover of Kabul in August 2021 when tens and thousands were evacuated around the world. But the asylum seekers the UAE took in were transferred to the Emirates Humanitarian City and Tasameem Workers City apartment complexes that the government has turned into government-run refugee housing. Though some of these Afghan asylum seekers were resettled in the US and Canada, others remain arbitrarily detained there. Afghans detained at the Emirates Humanitarian City reported that their freedom of movement had been restricted including for hospital visits, that there were inadequate education services for children, and that they did […]]]> 622495 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230314-un-calls-for-release-of-human-rights-activists-in-egypt/ Tue, 14 Mar 2023 09:31:43 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=621886 The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders said yesterday that she is following the prison sentences issued against lawyers and human rights activists in Egypt with concern. Mary Lawlor also called for their release. "We have not received any responses to any of the detainees' cases, and I ask the Egyptian authorities to release them all," Lawlor told Al Jazeera. "We are receiving complaints about bad conditions, torture and physical abuse in Egyptian prisons." The Emergency State Security Court issued prison sentences on 5 March ranging from five to 15 years to activists from the Egyptian Coordination for Rights and Freedoms in a case dating back to 2018. Lawyers Ezzat Ghoneim and Mohammad Abu Horayra were […]]]> 621886 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230313-egypt-systematically-refusing-to-provide-or-renew-id-for-dissidents-says-hrw/ Mon, 13 Mar 2023 05:05:49 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=620493 The Egyptian authorities' systematic refusal to provide or renew identity documents for dissidents, journalists and human rights activists aims to pressure them to return to "near-certain persecution", Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said. Egypt regularly refuses to issue official papers or renew documents including passports and birth certificates to people living abroad, which has undermined Egyptians' ability to travel, live, work legally and access medical care and education. "The government of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has been turning the screws on dissidents abroad by depriving them of essential identity documents," said Adam Coogle, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at HRW. "After sparing no effort to crush domestic opposition and public dissent through mass arrests, unfair trials, and rampant […]]]> 620493 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230308-hrw-egypt-should-overturn-harsh-5-march-prison-sentences/ Wed, 08 Mar 2023 13:25:45 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=620512 The Egyptian government should overturn the harsh prison sentences imposed on 5 March following a mass trial of 29 people, says Human Rights Watch. The activists sentenced belong to the human rights group, the Egyptian Coordination for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF), and have been targeted "solely because of their peaceful activism," according to the rights watchdog. The Emergency State Security Court in Egypt issued prison sentences ranging from five years to life imprisonment for leading or joining a terror group, in this case the Egyptian Coordination for Rights and Freedoms which they claim is part of the Muslim Brotherhood. Among those sentenced was Aisha Al-Shater, Houda Abdel Moneim, Ezzat Ghoneim, Mohamed Abu Horarira and former Secretary-General Mahmoud Hussein. Most of […]]]> 620512 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230307-report-greek-authorities-stole-over-2-1m-from-refugees-migrants/ Tue, 07 Mar 2023 09:03:02 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=619889 Greek authorities have stolen more than €2 million ($2.1 million) in cash or valuables from irregular migrants or refugees whom they had returned to Turkiye between 2017 to 2022, according to an investigation by Spanish daily El Pais. The paper said in preparing its investigation it had interviewed irregular migrants, various non-governmental organisations, institutions, experts and residents on the borders of the Maritsa river in the past six months. According to the report, the Greek authorities have returned more than 20,000 irregular migrants to Turkiye  across the Maritsa border in the period 2017-2022, and during this period, the Greek security forces had stolen the immigrants' money and valuables. READ: Tunisia: migrants return to Guinea to avoid attacks The Greek authorities would […]]]> 619889 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230307-palestinian-childrens-art-exposes-israels-cultural-genocide/ Tue, 07 Mar 2023 08:56:41 +0000 , Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=619887 The following text message tells the whole story of what pro-Palestinian communities around the world are fighting for, and what pro-Israelis are fighting against: "We are delighted to report that Chelsea and Westminster Hospital has removed a display of artwork designed by children from Gaza." That was the summary of a news report published on the homepage of the pro-Israel lobby group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI). The group is credited — if credit is the right word — as being the party that managed to persuade the administration of a hospital in West London to take down a few pieces of artwork created by refugee children in the besieged Gaza Strip. Explaining the logic behind their relentless campaign to […]]]> 619887 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230301-hrw-calls-on-tunisia-president-to-stop-targeting-judges/ Wed, 01 Mar 2023 12:37:11 +0000 Middle East Monitor https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=618816 Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on Tunisian President Kais Saied to immediately stop targeting judges in the country. In a report published on Monday, the rights watchdog said Saied is "intensifying his attacks against judicial independence" as part of what he called an anti-corruption campaign. It also called on the Tunisian authorities to immediately reinstate judges and prosecutors that Saied had arbitrarily dismissed. According to the report, the Justice Ministry has refused to reinstate 49 magistrates despite an administrative court order on 9 August 2022 to do so, a ruling that authorities cannot appeal. In this regard, Tunisia Director at HRW, Salsabil Chellali, said: "These blows to judicial independence reflect the government's determination to subjugate prosecutors and judges to […]]]> 618816