Unlawful Imprisonment

By Mehmet Rakipoglu | ( Middle East Monitor ) – International human rights law and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia do not sit together easily. A head of state acting as the “custodian” of the two holy mosques in Makkah and Madinah has not stopped the Saudi authorities from acting against universal human rights, even […]

censorship

Exiled Turkish journalist Can Dündar sentenced to 27.5 years in prison for Reporting on Ankara’s aid to Syrian Fundamentalist Rebels

Committee to Protect Journalists

( Committee to Protect Journalists) | – The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned a Turkish court’s conviction and sentencing of exiled journalist Can Dündar. On December 23, the 14th Istanbul Court of Serious Crimes announced that Dündar, who lives in Germany, had been sentenced to 18 years and nine months in prison for an espionage […]

censorship

Saudi: Terrorism Court Rushes Activist’s Unfair Trial; Charges Relate Solely to Peaceful Women’s Rights Activism

Human Rights Watch

( Human Rights Watch) – (Beirut) – Saudi authorities are rushing through the closed trial of the prominent women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul, Human Rights Watch said today. Prosecutors originally charged al-Hathloul, 31, in March 2019 with offenses related solely to her human rights advocacy, but the authorities informally suspended her trial at the regular […]

Human Rights

Kylie Moore-Gilbert has been released. But will a prisoner swap with Australia encourage more hostage-taking by Iran?

The Conversation

By Ian Parmeter | – Australian-British academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert’s release from an Iranian prison after more than two years’ detention is certainly a welcome development. However, the circumstances raise some uncomfortable questions for Australian and Western diplomats related to Iran’s penchant for using hostage-taking as a bargaining chip for the release of its own citizens […]

censorship

G20: Hold Saudi Arabia Accountable for Abuses

Human Rights Watch

Demand Release of Detained Activists, Dissidents

Democratic Party

Can Saudi’s Rogue Crown Prince Survive the Biden Presidency?

Jonathan Fenton-Harvey

London (Special to Informed Comment) – World leaders rushed to congratulate US President-elect Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris for their victory in a nail-bitingly tense election. Many Arab leaders including Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and figureheads in other countries such as Oman, Jordan, Lebanon […]

censorship

Khashoggi’s Ghost: World Resoundingly rejects Saudi membership on UN Human Rights Council

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Sulayman Hajj Ibrahim writes in the London pan-Arab daily al-Quds al-`Arabi [Arab Jerusalem] that Saudi Arabia’s bid to join the 47-member Human Rights Council of the United Nations was rejected resoundingly by the General Assembly. Human Rights Watch waged a campaign against allowing China and Saudi Arabia onto the council. […]

Bashar al-Assad

Syria’s security services flourish while people starve; what sort of ‘president’ is Assad?

Juan Cole

Ghazi Dahman | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – It is no surprise that the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre has released documents revealing that Syrian Embassies around the world spy on their own citizens on behalf of the Assad regime. Every Syrian who has travelled abroad for any reason knows that the regime’s […]

Human Rights

Saudi Arabia continues to conceal its human rights abuses

Middle East Monitor

By Tasnim Nazeer ( Middle East Monitor ) – Two years since the brutal death of respected journalist Jamal Khashoggi, why has Saudi Arabia still not been held to account? Khashoggi, a veteran journalist from Saudi Arabia, was last seen entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October 2018, where he was due to obtain […]