radiofree.asia 
radiofree.asia 
radiofree.asia 

Author: Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor

  • Egypt’s president ‘ignores’ Starmer’s pleas over mother of jailed activist

    Laila Soueif is critically ill after nearly 250 days on hunger strike in protest against her son’s imprisonment

    The Egyptian president is refusing to take a call from Keir Starmer, knowing it will be a plea to save the life of the mother of Alaa Abd el-Fattah, a famous human rights activist and British Egyptian dual national, it has been claimed.

    Laila Soueif is in St Thomas’ hospital in London with very low blood sugar levels as she suffers from the effect of nearly 250 days on hunger strike.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Laila Soueif, on 247th day of hunger strike for jailed British-Egyptian son, defiant in face of death

    Soueif is willing to do ‘what it takes’ to free Alaa Abd el-Fattah, after a lifetime of speaking up against injustice

    Laila Soueif, lying shrunken on a hospital bed at St Thomas’ hospital in London on the 247th day of her hunger strike in pursuit of freedom for her son, imprisoned British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, is locked in what may prove to be her last of many trials of strength with Egypt’s authoritarian regime.

    A remarkable, witty and courageous woman, she has the self-awareness to admit: “I may have made a mistake, God knows,” but she will not back down, and anyone looking back at her rich life has little evidence to doubt her perseverance.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • UK should impose sanctions on Egypt over jailed activist, says Helena Kennedy

    Top human rights lawyer calls for UK to take case of Alaa Abd el-Fattah to international court of justice

    The UK government should impose sanctions on key figures in the Egyptian government in response to its refusal to release the British-Egyptian human rights activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, Labour’s most prominent human rights lawyer has proposed.

    Writing in the Guardian, Helena Kennedy called for the UK to take the case to the international court of justice, as France has recently done in the case of a national held by Iran.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Former ambassador calls on UK to advise citizens against travel to Egypt

    John Casson says Cairo ‘fobbing us off’ by refusing to release British-Egyptian national Alaa Abd el-Fattah

    The former British ambassador to Egypt, John Casson, has urged the UK to advise its citizens against travelling to Egypt, in response to Cairo’s refusal to release dual British Egyptian national Alaa Abd el-Fattah.

    A UN panel found on Wednesday that Fattah had been held arbitrarily in jail since 2019, but Egypt was refusing to give the UK consular access – let alone release him. His mother has been refusing food in protest at his detention.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Mother of jailed British-Egyptian activist resumes full hunger strike

    Laila Soueif announces life-endangering action in protest over continued detention of Alaa Abd el-Fattah in Cairo

    The mother of the imprisoned British-Egyptian human rights activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah has announced she has resumed a near-total hunger strike, stopping taking the 300-calorie supplements she had been consuming on her partial hunger strike for the past three months.

    Since the start of her hunger strike 233 days ago, Laila Soueif, 69, has lost 36kg, about 42% of her original body weight, and now weighs 49kg. She is taking the life-endangering step in protest at the continued detention of her son in Cairo beyond his five-year sentence.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Israel faces legal pressure at UN’s top court over Unrwa ban

    Hearings over bar on cooperation with Palestinian aid agency are test of Israel’s defiance of international law

    Israel will come under sustained legal pressure this week at the UN’s top court when lawyers from more than 40 states will claim the country’s ban on all cooperation with the UN’s Palestinian rights agency Unrwa is a breach of the UN charter.

    The five days of hearings at the international court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague have been given a fresh urgency by Israel’s decision on 2 March to block all aid into Gaza, but the hearing will focus on whether Israel – as a signatory to the UN charter – acted unlawfully in overriding the immunities afforded to a UN body. Israel ended all contact and cooperation with Unrwa operations in Gaza, West Bank and East Jerusalem in November, claiming the agency had been infiltrated by Hamas, an allegation that has been contested.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Jailed British-Egyptian dissident may give up both citizenships over failure to be released

    Letters from Alaa Abd el-Fattah reveal despair after hoping David Lammy would secure his release from Cairo jail

    Alaa Abd el-Fattah, the British-Egyptian political dissident held in a Cairo jail for more than five years, has reached such a state of despair over the UK’s inability to secure his release that he has contemplated renouncing both his British and Egyptian citizenship, letters written by him reveal.

    His family have given permission for some of his private letters to be published to show his situation and his concern for his 68-year-old mother, on hunger strike seeking his release.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Israel insists it is going ahead with Unrwa ban – what it may mean for Palestinians

    UN agency ordered to vacate HQ by Thursday – just as aid is being increased to Gaza after ceasefire

    Israel has insisted it will not back down over its plan to close down the Gaza operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (Unrwa), the UN relief agency for Palestinians, even though critics say the move will jeopardise urgent humanitarian aid efforts.

    Israel has ordered the UN agency to vacate its headquarters in East Jerusalem by Thursday, after the Israeli Knesset passed a law on 28 October banning its operations in Israel and the Palestinian territories. It has not yet said how it will implement a related law ending all Israeli government cooperation with Unwra, which could come into force on the same day and strangle its operations in the West Bank and Gaza.

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  • Alaa Abd el-Fattah: mother on hunger strike takes protest to Westminster

    Laila Soueif to sit outside Foreign Office over Cairo’s extended detention of her British-Egyptian dissident son

    A woman on hunger strike to secure the release of her son, the British-Egyptian dissident Alaa Abd el-Fattah, is to protest outside the Foreign Office each day to remind diplomats of his plight.

    Laila Soueif is on the 77th day of a hunger strike in which she drinks only tea and which has led her to lose 22kg. The start of her daily protest came as more than 100 MPs and peers wrote to the foreign secretary, David Lammy, expressing their alarm about Abd el-Fattah’s continued imprisonment. The letter is the largest intervention by MPs about his fate since Labour came to power.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Domestic issues pile pressure on Iran’s president amid foreign policy setbacks

    Tensions over executions and plans for petrol price rise and hijab law add to reversals in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria

    The fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, the latest in a string of foreign policy reversals for Iran including the weakening of its allies in Lebanon and Gaza, has coincided with growing domestic frustration over rising executions, planned increases in the price of petrol and a proposed law that imposes heavy fines and loss of access to public services to any woman not wearing the hijab.

    The confluence of events is putting unprecedented pressure on Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, to demonstrate what reforms he has introduced since being elected in June. He is viewed domestically as a consensual figure and faces a conservative parliament, but his supporters are impatient for changes that will lift the economy.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • British mother of Egyptian political prisoner to press Lammy to take action

    Laila Soueif is to meet the foreign secretary, who in opposition called for the release of Alaa Abd el-Fattah

    The British-born mother of an Egyptian political prisoner who has been on hunger strike for 58 days is preparing to meet the foreign secretary, David Lammy, to urge him to secure her son’s release.

    Laila Soueif’s son Alaa Abd el-Fattah, a British and Egyptian dual citizen who wrote eloquently about the Arab spring and its aftermath, was jailed for five years for “spreading false news”. He was due to be released in September, but has not been freed.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Iran claims German-Iranian dissident died before he could be executed

    Top Iranian officials previously referred to an execution when reacting to Jamshid Sharmahd’s death on 28 October

    Iran has claimed that an Iranian-German duel national who had been sentenced to death died last week before his execution could be carried out.

    “Jamshid Sharmahd was sentenced to death, his execution was imminent, but he died before it could be carried out,” the judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir told reporters without elaborating. It is understood Tehran claims he suffered a stroke.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Berlin summons Iran ambassador over execution of German-Iranian

    Daughter of Jamshid Sharmahd says family let down by US and German governments’ failure to save him

    Germany has recalled its ambassador to Tehran and summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires in Berlin in protest over the execution of a German-Iranian dual national, Jamshid Sharmahd, accused of terrorism by Iran.

    His daughter, Gazelle Sharmahd, who had pressed the German and US governments hard to save him, said she and her brother felt let down by the failure of both governments to do more. Sharmahd was executed on Monday.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Fresh scrutiny of free speech in Saudi Arabia after brothers’ convictions over tweets

    Crown prince criticised ‘bad laws’ for Mohammed al-Ghamdi’s death sentence months before second conviction

    Fresh questions have been raised about the suppression of free speech in Saudi Arabia after the brother of a man facing the death penalty for tweeting to 10 followers was handed a 20-year sentence for largely innocuous tweets.

    The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, had said Mohammed al-Ghamdi was a victim of “bad laws” after being sentenced to death, yet the crown prince permitted the same laws to be used to sentence Ghamdi’s younger brother, Asaad al-Ghamdi.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Fresh scrutiny of free speech in Saudi Arabia after brothers’ convictions over tweets

    Crown prince criticised ‘bad laws’ for Mohammed al-Ghamdi’s death sentence months before second conviction

    Fresh questions have been raised about the suppression of free speech in Saudi Arabia after the brother of a man facing the death penalty for tweeting to 10 followers was handed a 20-year sentence for largely innocuous tweets.

    The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, had said Mohammed al-Ghamdi was a victim of “bad laws” after being sentenced to death, yet the crown prince permitted the same laws to be used to sentence Ghamdi’s younger brother, Asaad al-Ghamdi.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • No signal from helicopter that crashed killing Iran’s president, Turkish minister says

    Initial investigation by rescue group finds ageing aircraft either did not have transponder fitted or had it turned off

    The helicopter that crashed killing the Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, and the foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, either did not have a transponder fitted or had it turned off, according to an initial investigation by the Turkish rescue group that found the wreckage.

    The Turkish transport minister, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, told reporters that on hearing news of the crash, Turkish authorities had checked for a signal from the helicopter’s transponder that broadcasts height and location information. “But unfortunately, [we think] most likely the transponder system was turned off or that the helicopter did not have one,” he said.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Red Cross and Foreign Office to discuss plan to visit Palestinians in Israeli detention

    ICRC is denied access to prisoners in what is said to be breach of Geneva conventions but critics say UK plan may weaken rule of law

    Red Cross officials are to hold talks with the UK over a Foreign Office plan to visit Palestinian detainees held by Israel. Critics say this bypasses a duty on Israel under the Geneva conventions to give the Red Cross access to detainees.

    Israel has suspended the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from access to Palestinian detainees since the Hamas attack on 7 October, and says it will not rescind the policy until Hamas grants access to Israeli hostages.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Bahrain’s king takes activists by surprise with pardon for at least 1,500 prisoners

    Released detainees include some jailed for political reasons and is UK ally’s biggest amnesty since Arab spring

    Bahrain has unconditionally released more than 1,500 prisoners, including political detainees, in the biggest royal pardon since the 2011 Arab spring uprising.

    The amnesty followed years of campaigning inside the country and by international human rights groups but came as a complete surprise to activists.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Majority of voters in UK back banning arms sales to Israel, poll finds

    Exclusive: YouGov survey indicates loss of support among people in Britain for Israel’s war in Gaza

    A majority of voters in Britain back a ban on arms sales to Israel, according to a YouGov poll.

    One of the first up-to-date assessments of whether Israel is losing public support in key allied states, the research also suggests most people believe the Israeli government is violating human rights in Gaza.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • MPs and peers sign letter urging UK government to ban arms sales to Israel

    Ministers under growing pressure to act amid signs Israel intends to ignore UN ceasefire resolution

    Parliamentary pressure is building on the UK government to ban arms sales to Israel, amid signs that Israel intends to ignore the UN security council resolution passed this week calling on all sides to commit to a ceasefire.

    A letter signed by more than 130 parliamentarians to the foreign secretary, David Cameron, highlights action taken by other countries, most recently Canada, which last week announced it would halt all arms exports to Israel.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • What did the US’s vetoed Gaza ceasefire resolution say?

    Draft resolution put before UN represents important tonal – but not substantive – shift for White House

    After months of vetoing other UN security council resolutions in an effort to defend Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, the US has in recent weeks gone on to the diplomatic front foot in New York, drafting and tabling its own resolution that was put to a vote on Friday before being vetoed by Russia and China.

    The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said the resolution would send “a strong signal”. But what was that signal precisely?

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Foreign Office lawyers ‘unable to conclude if Israeli bombing was lawful’

    Documents reveal humanitarian law investigation was far more intensive than David Cameron suggested

    UK Foreign Office legal advisers were unable to conclude that Israel was in compliance with international humanitarian law (IHL) in its bombardment of Gaza, court documents reveal.

    After reviewing specific potential breaches of IHL cited in a report by Amnesty International, the Foreign Office initially concluded it had “serious concerns” about breaches.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Campaigners aim to lower support for China on UN human rights council

    Parliamentarians from 15 countries urge reduction in vote to signal disapproval of country’s crackdown on Uyghur population

    An effort is under way to drive down the Chinese vote at the UN human rights council this week in an attempt to show continuing worldwide disapproval of its human rights record.

    The elections on to the world’s premier human rights body take place by secret ballot on Tuesday with China guaranteed a seat in one of the uncontested seats from its region, but human rights campaigners are working to lower the level of Chinese support to show pressure on the country is not dissipating.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Iranian intellectual calls on opposition to unite as he is again sent to prison

    Majid Tavakoli, taken from his family in handcuffs, urges dissidents to ‘frankly analyse’ why opposition to the regime has successively failed

    One of Iran’s foremost public intellectuals and critics of the Iranian regime was taken to prison in handcuffs on Saturday to start serving a five-year sentence.

    Majid Tavakoli, who has a three-year-old child, was found guilty of spreading propaganda against the state. His dispatch to jail had been deferred for three weeks, but security officials came to take him away on Saturday, the day after another jailed Iranian human rights activist, Narges Mohammadi, was given the Nobel peace prize.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • UK decides not to call for release of Briton held in India on terror charges

    Public demand for Jagtar Singh Johal to be set free is ‘not in his best interests’, says Asia minister

    The UK government has decided not to call for the release of a British man held in an Indian jail for five years, saying it would not be in his best interests.

    There have been repeated calls for Britain to do more to secure the release of Jagtar Singh Johal, who claims to have been tortured and forced to make a confession. He faces terrorism charges and the first stages of his trial have just started after repeated delays caused by disputes over evidence.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • UK solar could be ‘dumping ground’ for products of Chinese forced labour, ministers warned

    Energy bill amendment requires large solar energy projects to prove supply chain free of slave labour

    The UK risks becoming a dumping ground for the products of forced labour from Xinjiang province in China if it rejects reforms by members of the foreign affairs select committee with cross-party support, ministers have been warned.

    An amendment to the energy bill, due to be debated on Tuesday, would require solar energy companies to prove their supply chains are free of slave labour.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • UN says Russian forces have tortured and executed civilians in Ukraine

    Report details widespread and systematic torture with summary executions of more than 70 people

    Russian forces have carried out widespread and systematic torture of civilians detained in connection with their attack on Ukraine, summarily executing more than 70 of them, the UN human rights office said on Tuesday.

    It interviewed hundreds of victims and witnesses for a report detailing more than 900 cases of civilians, including children and elderly people, being arbitrarily detained in the conflict, most of them by Russia. The vast majority of those interviewed said they were tortured and in some cases subjected to sexual violence during detention by Russian forces, the head of the UN human rights office in Ukraine said.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • ‘Loss for Iran’s wildlife’: woman jailed in Tehran calls for environmentalists’ release

    Aras Amiri, a former British Council employee, was held in Evin prison with seven members of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation

    Aras Amiri has kept a low profile since she was released from Iranian detention two years ago, avoiding interview requests after returning to the UK. But now, the former British Council employee, who spent three years in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, wants to speak. An injustice has compelled her: the detention of seven friends and environmentalists she left behind.

    Kept in solitary confinement for 69 days, Amiri was allowed to return to Britain after serving just under a third of a 10-year prison sentence. In the women’s ward, she not only met fellow British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, but Niloufar Bayani and Sepideh Kashani, two of the seven members of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation in jail since 2018. Of the nine originally jailed, one has been released after serving his two-year sentence and another, the founder of the group, Kavous Seyed Emami, died in his prison cell only two weeks after his arrest. The authorities called it suicide, but produced no autopsy.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Iran executes three men accused over anti-government protests

    Human rights groups condemn executions following demonstrations that swept country last year

    Iran has executed three men it said were implicated in the deaths of three members of the security forces during anti-government protests, drawing condemnation from rights groups and the EU and risking further international isolation.

    Saleh Mirhashemi, Majid Kazemi and Saeed Yaqoubi were killed on Friday morning, the Tasnim agency reported. Crowds had gathered outside the prison where they were being held on Thursday night as rumours of their imminent executions grew.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • US calls conditions in Rwanda’s detention centres harsh to life-threatening

    Ally’s criticism will be hard to dismiss as UK tries to push through £120m migrant scheme

    Britain’s closest ally, the US, has criticised Rwanda’s dire human rights record, describing conditions in the country’s detention centres as harsh to life-threatening.

    The British home secretary, Suella Braverman, took a group of journalists on a trip last week to reveal details of her £120m scheme to send all migrants arriving in the UK through irregular means to Rwanda whether they claim asylum or not. The legality of the scheme is due to be tested shortly in the UK court of appeal.

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