Tag: Human rights

Israel’s new Gulag

Ynet reported Israel is building a new prison, where detained members of the Lebanese resistance group Hizbollah are to be held. You can find the report here.
Nazareth-based British journalist Jonathan Cook had written three years ago a good story on an Israeli secret prison, Facility 1391, where Lebanese and Arab prisoners were reportedly incarcerated and tortured. Newsweek also ran a feature on that facility.
Israel’s interrogation tactics were largely copied by the US forces in Iraq.

Police enthusiasm

Got back to Cairo on last night’s red-eye, dragged myself into the office a little bleary eyed this morning. Made a cup of coffee and wandered out onto the balcony to see what the world was getting up to.

enthusiastic cops.jpg

Yep, seems he had a disagreement with an officer (the one bending over him, having just kicked him) so he and a few friends dragged him behind the 4X4 (this is quite close to a big tourist hotel and within sight of the US Embassy) and punched and kicked him for a while. After they were done smacking the guy around, the officer smoked a cigarette and one of the boys in black brought him a bottle of water.

Welcome to Egypt—don’t forget your camera!

A message from Shirin Ebadi

This is going around, from the well-known Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi:

There is a very important matter I would like to discuss with you. I conduct my human rights activities through the Defender of Human Rights Center (DHRC). I am the president of this center and we have three important responsibilities:

a. We report the violations of human rights that take place in Iran.

b. We defend political prisoners pro bono — about 70% of the political prisoners in Iran are clients of our center and we do not charge them for our services.

c. We support the families of these prisoners both financially — if they require financial aid — and spiritually.

This center is a member of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and has been registered there. It has also been awarded a human rights prize by the Human Rights National Commission in France. This center is very well known and credible in Iran. Two days ago the government of Iran announced that this center is illegal and provided we continue our activities, they shall arrest us. Of course me and the other members of the center do not intend to shut down the center and we shall continue our activities. However, there is a high possibility that that they will arrest us. The government’s action in this regard is illegal.

Therefore, I kindly request that you broadcast this message by all mean and gather spiritual support for our center. This center has been established and working for more than four years now. I believe this decision of the government has been triggered by my memoir being published. In any case, I am happy that my memoir has been published, for the truth must be told.

Many thanks,

Shirin Ebadi

HRW: Israel carried out war crimes in Lebanon

It may have taken them a while to say so (although there have been some really good statements since), but Human Rights Watch has come out with an unequivocal condemnation of Israeli strikes of civilian homes, saying they were deliberate and amounted to war crimes and calling for those responsible to be held accountable(bold mine):

(Beirut, August 3, 2006) – Israeli forces have systematically failed to distinguish between combatants and civilians in their military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Human Rights Watch said in report released today. The pattern of attacks in more than 20 cases investigated by Human Rights Watch researchers in Lebanon indicates that the failures cannot be dismissed as mere accidents and cannot be blamed on wrongful Hezbollah practices. In some cases, these attacks constitute war crimes.

One of the most important outcomes of this is that HRW follows through and not only condemns Israel for its war crimes, but also counts for it to be held accountable by international institutions and urges the US and UK, which supply weaponry used by Israel, to cease doing so. More on the report and its conclusions below.

Continue reading HRW: Israel carried out war crimes in Lebanon

Downtown under siege again…

I won’t be posting a report on today’s Kefaya pro-resistance demo, as I couldn’t go. But you can check some demo pix here.
Jano Charbel of dpa who attended the protest told me he was punched and beaten by batton-wielding CSF, who took his bag, and returned it later without his mobile phone nor the money that was in it. Others were also assaulted including blogger Alaa Seif who was beaten so much that his shirt was shredded, and activist Ahmad Droubi was beaten on the head, shoulders, and his eyeglasses were smashed by plainclothes thugs. Droubi told me shortly before the crackdown, he saw and overheard one of the plainclothes thugs eagerly asking a CSF Lt Colonel, “When are we going to get some action ya basha?” I was also told several female protestors were manhandled by the plainclothes thugs.
CSF attacking demonstrators in downtown Cairo
Al-Jazeera reported there were similar pro-resistance protests that took place in Tanta and Bani Suweif.
On another note, I won’t be blogging for the coming ten days at least, as I have some urgent personal errands I have to take care of.

See you soon…

HRW holds Israel responsible for Qana war crime

HRW issued a statement denouncing Israel’s massacre in Qana today…

Israel/Lebanon: Israel Responsible for Qana Attack
Indiscriminate Bombing in Lebanon a War Crime

(Beirut, July 30, 2006) – Responsibility for the Israeli airstrikes that killed at least 54 civilians sheltering in a home in the Lebanese village of Qana rests squarely with the Israeli military, Human Rights Watch said today. It is the latest product of an indiscriminate bombing campaign that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have waged in Lebanon over the past 18 days, leaving an estimated 750 people dead, the vast majority of them civilians.

Continue reading HRW holds Israel responsible for Qana war crime

Proposed terror detainee bill rings bells

It seems the democratization domino effect Bush expected following the War on Iraq is working the other way around. The US is increasingly inspired by its Arab “allies.” Bush’s proposed detainee bill is a worrying development for anyone who cares about civil liberties. It sounds a bit like the Egyptian emergency law…

Bush submits new terror detainee bill
By ANNE PLUMMER FLAHERTY
Fri Jul 28, 6:53 PM ET

(AP) U.S. citizens suspected of terror ties might be detained indefinitely and barred from access to civilian courts under legislation proposed by the Bush administration, say legal experts reviewing an early version of the bill.

Continue reading Proposed terror detainee bill rings bells

State Security arrests 4 Kefaya activists in Port Said

Four Kefaya activists have been detained by State Security Police in the northern city of Port Said last night, Kefaya’s website reported. The four were picked up after they took part in a march to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the nationalization of the Suez Canal.

The detainees are: Youth for Change coordinator Mohamed Hegazi, Fathi Farid, and two other activsts whose names were not available.

UPDATE: The four activists spent the night in a police station, and were referred to a prosecutor on the following day, Kefaya’s website reports. Prosecutor Khaled el-Shami interrogated them on charges of “disturbing public order,” and then ordered their release.