Tag Archives: Human rights

The United States on Wednesday imposed broad sanctions targeting Iran, blacklisting a foundation controlled by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and taking aim at what Washington called Iran’s human rights abuses a year after a deadly crackdown on anti-government demonstrators. The sanctions announced by the U.S. Treasury Department, which also …

Israel launched air raids against what it called a wide range of Syrian and Iranian targets in Syria on Wednesday, sending a signal that it will pursue its policy of striking across the border despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s election defeat. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, …

Saudi Arabia has told Yemen’s Houthis in high-level back channel talks it would sign a UN proposal for a nationwide ceasefire if the Iran-aligned group agrees to a buffer zone along the kingdom’s borders, three sources familiar with the matter said. If a deal is struck, it would mark the …

Iran has temporarily released Nasrin Sotoudeh, an internationally renowned human rights lawyer who was jailed two years ago on spying and propaganda charges, the judiciary’s news agency reported on Saturday. Sotoudeh’s release followed warnings last month by human rights groups that her health had severely deteriorated after she staged a …

Prominent Saudi women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul, held in Saudi Arabia since 2018, began a new hunger strike on Monday over the conditions of her detention, her family said. Hathloul’s sister Lina told Reuters that the main demand was to be allowed regular contact with her family. In late August …

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince enjoyed a near free pass under his personal relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, but the kingdom’s brazen young leader will have to tread more carefully should Democrats take the White House and reset strategic ties. Riyadh’s human rights record, with the brutal 2018 murder of …

Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups voiced concern on Tuesday over the condition of a Palestinian who began a hunger strike 79 days ago against his detention without charge by Israel. Maher Al-Akhras, 49, is now in an Israeli hospital suffering from heart pain and convulsions and has slipped occasionally …

In her village in Egypt’s Nile Delta, 35-year-old Shaimaa Saleh has spent sleepless nights worrying how to raise almost $1,000 to save her unfinished three-storey home. Like hundreds of thousands of others, and many dependents, she faces a deadline at the end of October by which residents of buildings without …

Dozens of Western countries voiced concern on Tuesday at Saudi Arabia’s continued detention of women activists and called for those behind the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi to be brought to justice. At least a dozen prominent women’s rights activists were arrested in Saudi Arabia in 2018 as it lifted …

A Saudi Arabian court on Monday jailed eight people for between seven and 20 years for the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, state media reported, four months after his family forgave his killers and enabled death sentences to be set aside. The trial was criticised by a U.N. …

In a statement on her website, J.K. Rowling returned the Robert F. Kennedy ‘Ripple of Hope’ Human Rights Award given to her in December 2019. The decision came after president Kerry Kennedy issued a statement earlier this month to say that J.K. Rowling’s recently expressed views “diminishes the identity” of …

Turkey’s parliament passed a law regulating social media on Wednesday, that critics said will increase censorship and help authorities silence dissent. President Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party, which has a majority with an allied nationalist party, had backed the bill. The assembly began debating the new legislation on Tuesday, and …

An Israeli court has dismissed Amnesty International’s legal bid to stop NSO Group from exporting surveillance software, saying the rights organization did not prove NSO’s technology had been used to spy on its members. Amnesty alleged that governments around the world have used the Israeli company’s cellphone-hacking software, Pegasus, to …

A Saudi Arabia-led military coalition fighting in Yemen asked the United Nations on Tuesday to share details of its accusations that the coalition was responsible for 222 child deaths or injuries last year so it could investigate. In a statement, the coalition also said it welcomed U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ …

The U.N. human rights office on Friday regretted the impact that U.S. sanctions authorised by President Donald Trump may have on trials and investigations under way at the International Criminal Court (ICC), saying its independence must be protected. Trump on Thursday authorized U.S. economic and travel sanctions against employees of …

A regular survey of experts on matters relating to Middle Eastern and North African politics and security (By MICHAEL YOUNG) Assaad al-Achi | Executive director of Baytna Syria, Syrian civil society activist Although leadership tensions, at least public ones, are extremely rare in Syria, they have always existed since Hafez …

The National Bureau for defending land and resisting settlements stated in its latest weekly report , that although, the entire world is working together to stop the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic,  the Israeli occupation and its extremist settlers step up their attacks against the Palestinians, storming their cities, towns, …

United Nations human rights guardian Michelle Bachelet urged the global community on Thursday to show solidarity with people of ethnic Asian origin subject to discrimination amid an outbreak of a novel coronavirus that started in China. “The coronavirus epidemic has set off a disturbing wave of prejudice against people of …

Preparations in our country for a major political event – the upcoming December 22, 2019 elections to the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, regional, district and city councils are in progress. This year’s elections will be held on the basis of the newly adopted …

Human rights activists on Thursday criticized a United Nations decision to hold a conference in Cairo on torture with an Egyptian state organization. “It’s illogical for a country where torture is systematic to host a conference on torture,” said Mohamed Zaree of the non-government Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies. …

Israel will bar a visit by two of its sharpest critics in the U.S. Congress, Democrats Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, who planned to tour the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, the country’s deputy foreign minister said on Thursday. “The decision has been made, the decision is not to …

The U.S. House of Representatives backed resolutions on Wednesday to block the sale of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, sending them to the White House, where President Donald Trump has promised a veto. Nearly a month after the Senate supported 22 resolutions disapproving of Trump’s …

Obaid Salem Al Za’abi, UAE Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Other International Organisations in Geneva, delivered the UAE’s speech before the Human Rights Council’s interactive dialogue with Special Rapporteurs on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and on the right to education, which was held as part of the …

The United Nations human rights office called on Tuesday for an independent investigation into the death of Egypt’s former President Mohamed Mursi, saying it should encompass all aspects of his treatment during nearly six years in custody. Egypt’s Islamist ex-president was buried in a small family ceremony early on Tuesday …

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to wade into the contentious question of to what extent detainees held by the U.S. military at the American naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba can seek their release, turning away an appeal by a Yemeni-born man held since 2001. The court turned …

The family of a Palestinian activist, who was arrested last year for slapping and punching two Israeli soldiers, said Friday they have been banned from traveling abroad. Ahed Tamimi’s father, Bassem, said they were informed by the Palestinian Ministry of Civil Affairs they were barred by Israeli authorities from leaving. …

The Chinese government is destroying cross, burning bibles, closing churches and forcing Christian believers to sign papers renouncing their faith as the crackdown on religious congregations in Beijing and several provinces intensifies. The suppression of religious freedoms comes as an official government campaign to “Sinicize” religion by demanding loyalty to …

The trial of Saudi religious scholar Salman Al Awda opened today in the capital Riyadh in the presence of relatives and the media. The public prosecutor sought the death penalty. The prosecution presented 37 charges against Al Awda, a prominent member of the International Union for Muslim Scholars, the organisation …

Canada is quietly working back channels to prod allies including Germany and Sweden to help resolve its row with Saudi Arabia, a government source confirmed Thursday. The senior official, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the diplomacy, said Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland spoke with her …

A row over human rights in Saudi Arabia will not have any impact on Saudi oil supplies to Canada, its energy minister said on Thursday, reassuring customers after Riyadh froze new trade with Canada and ruled out mediation efforts. Saudi Arabia, angered by Canada’s demand last week that jailed activists …

Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it was “considering additional measures” against Canada, adding that there was no room for mediation in the kingdom’s escalating diplomatic dispute with the country, and that Ottawa knew what it needed to do to “fix its big mistake”. “There is nothing to mediate. A mistake …

Saudi Arabia’s latest move to freeze all new trade and investment relations with Canada is unlikely to have a significant impact on the Kingdom’s economy, analysts said. The Kingdom early on Monday recalled its ambassador to Canada, and declared the Canadian ambassador to Riyadh persona non grata, giving him 24 …

Saudi Arabia said it was freezing all new trade and investment relations with Canada and declared the Canadian ambassador to Riyadh as  persona non grata, giving him 24 hours to leave the kingdom. Riyadh also recalled its ambassador to Canada for consultations and stressed it retained its right to take …

A Palestinian teenager released by Israel on Sunday after completing a prison term for kicking and slapping an Israeli soldier urged continued struggle against Israeli occupation of the West Bank, a call echoed by the Palestinian president. Ahed Tamimi, 17, became a heroine to Palestinians after the incident last December …

by: Leila Hoballah — “God knows I fear the destruction of the world by the atomic bomb, but there is at least one thing I fear as much, and that is the invasion of humanity by the state” (Berenson. Qtd in Foucault 75). As Bernard Berenson, an American art historian …

A Danish court ordered the government on Friday to compensate 18 civilians who were tortured during the Iraq war in an operation carried out by Iraqi security forces along with a Danish battalion. In total, 23 plaintiffs had sued Denmark after they were arrested and subjected to “torture and inhumane …

Mohammad al-Ajouri is a lanky teenager who loves to run, a medal-winning track star with ambitions to compete abroad. But last month, while participating in a protest along Gaza’s border, he was struck by a bullet fired by an Israeli soldier. It penetrated his calf, shattering his leg before exiting …

An Israeli court on Wednesday sentenced a border police officer to nine months in prison for the fatal shooting of a Palestinian teenager during a protest in the West Bank in 2014. The relatively light sentence was handed down as part of a plea deal with the prosecution. The court …

The morning after burying 19-year-old Abdul Fattah Abdul Nabi, his family gathered in a tent set up to receive mourners, watching and re-watching a video of the moment they say Israeli soldiers shot him in the back of the head. The video appears to show the teenager, dressed in black, …

Britain and Saudi Arabia took a step closer to a multi-billion- pound arms deal on Friday, touching on the most inflammatory element of their relationship at the end of an official visit to London that has mixed warm diplomacy with angry street protests. The two countries also said they had …

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum announced Wednesday that it is rescinding the Elie Wiesel Award — its highest honor — it gave in 2012 to Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese political leader and Nobel laureate, saying military crimes against the Muslim Rohingya minority “demand that you use your moral …

Theresa May says she will be “raising concerns about human rights” in Saudi Arabia when she meets the country’s crown prince later. Mohammed bin Salman is starting a three-day visit to the UK amid protests planned against his country’s role in the war in Yemen. Jeremy Corbyn accused the government …

Syria said Wednesday it has responded to “a new Israeli aggression” after aircraft targeted a military outpost near Damascus, claiming its air defense system destroyed most of the missiles. State news agency SANA said air defenses confronted the Israeli planes, which it said were flying over Lebanese territory when they fired …

ANKARA, Turkey — The Latest on the Syria conflict (all times local): 8:25 Syria’s state news agency says at least seven people have been killed and 10 injured in a barrage of rockets that fell on government-controlled areas in and near the capital Damascus. SANA said the 13 missiles fell …