Human Rights Watch

Submission to the Universal Periodic Review of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 45th Session of the UN Universal Periodic Review Introduction ( Human Rights Watch ) – Although at its last UPR Saudi Arabia supported many recommendations, it continues to commit widespread violations of basic human rights within and beyond its borders. The Saudi government […]

Arab World

Middle East and North Africa: End Curbs on Women’s Mobility (HRW)

Human Rights Watch

Many Middle East and North Africa countries still prevent women from moving freely in their own country or traveling abroad without the permission of a male guardian. Women in the region are fighting rules that authorities often claim are for their protection, but that deprive women of their rights and enable men to control and […]

censorship

Governments at Bonn Climate Talks Should Press United Arab Emirates on Rights

Human Rights Watch

Joe Stork Deputy Director, Middle East and North Africa Division (Human Rights Watch ) – Ahmed Mansoor, the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) best-known human rights defender, has been arbitrarily imprisoned, in isolation, since security forces raided his home just before midnight on March 20, 2017. Local media reported he was arrested and convicted for publishing […]

Bahrain

Saudi Arabia Executes Two Shia Bahrainis on Terrorism Charges in “Grossly Unfair” Trial

Human Rights Watch

By Leila Saad | – ( Human Rights Watch ) – Two Bahraini Shi’a men have been executed in Saudi Arabia following what Amnesty International described as a “grossly unfair trial” on terrorism-related charges. Jaafar Sultan and Sadeq Thamer were arrested in May 2015 and held incommunicado for more than three months, according to Amnesty International. […]

Apartheid

Criticizing Israel: Letter to the President of Harvard University regarding Kenneth Roth

Committee on Academic Freedom

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association of North America | Lawrence S. Bacow President, Harvard University president@harvard.edu Dear President Bacow: We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our grave concern about the July 2022 decision […]

censorship

Sudan Military-Civilian Pact Omits Key Justice Reforms, including an End to Impunity (HRW)

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch – (Nairobi) – Sudan’s political actors and international partners should ensure that progress on human rights and accountability for serious human rights violations are central to any new transition, Human Rights Watch said today. This includes an end to the violent crackdown against peaceful protesters, releasing arbitrarily detained protesters, and taking concrete […]

Authoritarianism

Iran: State-Backed Hacking of Activists, Journalists, Politicians (HRW)

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – Hackers backed by the Iranian government have targeted two Human Rights Watch staff members and at least 18 other high-profile activists, journalists, researchers, academics, diplomats, and politicians working on Middle East issues in an ongoing social engineering and credential phishing campaign, Human Rights Watch said today. An investigation by […]

censorship

Iran: Rights Defenders Sentenced for Questioning Covid Policies: Arbitrary Arrest and Unfair Prosecution

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – Iranian authorities sentenced five prominent human rights defenders to prison on June 19, 2022, for attempting to file a legal complaint against government agencies and officials for mismanagement of the Covid-19 crisis, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should quash the convictions of the human rights defenders, which […]

Apartheid

Apartheid: How a Reluctant UN Official Was convinced to so Describe Israeli Policies toward Palestinians

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Dawnmena (Dawn in the Middle East and North Africa), the democratization site founded by the late Jamal Khashoggi, carries an important column this week by Michael Lynk, who was the seventh United Nations Special Rapporteur for the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, serving in […]