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Category: Middle East and North Africa

  • Gunshots and blasts heard at Mahsa Amini protests in Iran

    Government officials struggle to end demonstrations sparked by death in police custody of Kurdish woman

    Gunshots and explosions were heard in the Iranian Kurdish city of Sanandaj on Monday as the protests over the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini continued to unfold across the country and for first time spread to Iran’s crucial oil industry.

    Government officials are struggling to end the protests led by young Iranians, especially women, previously regarded as uninterested by politics.

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

  • Female students chant ‘get lost’ at Iranian president on campus

    Ebrahim Raisi urged staff and students to be alert to ‘evil goals’ of protests over death in custody of Mahsa Amini

    Female students in Tehran have chanted “get lost”, according to activists, as the Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, visited their university campus on Saturday and condemned protesters enraged by the death of a young woman in custody.

    As nationwide demonstrations that have rocked Iran entered a fourth week, Raisi addressed professors and students at Alzahra University in Tehran, reciting a poem that equated “rioters” to flies.

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

  • The Iran protests are not an angry outburst, but the result of generations of trauma | Nasrin Parvaz

    For older activists like me, the uprising has reopened old scars and breathed new life into our long struggle for freedom

    Women, life, freedom. These words have become the rallying cry for protest that has erupted in the wake of the murder of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran’s feared morality police. They are shaking the Iranian regime to its core.

    Unlike past movements, this uprising cuts across generations and social classes. For young Iranian women, Amini’s death ignited an explosion of pent-up fury at the regime’s suppression of women’s rights. For older activists like me, it has reopened the scars from previous uprisings and breathed new life into the decades-long struggle for freedom.

    Nasrin Parvaz is a women’s rights activist and torture survivor from Iran. Her books include A Prison Memoir: One Woman’s Struggle in Iran, and the novel The Secret Letters from X to A

    Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 300 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at guardian.letters@theguardian.com

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

  • Young and sick children to be first Australians repatriated from Syrian detention camps

    About 60 wives, sons and daughters of slain or jailed IS combatants to be rescued from Roj camp, but some women face arrest upon return to Australia

    The youngest, most unwell and most vulnerable of the Australian children currently held in squalid Syrian detention camps will be the first ones repatriated to Australia. But some of their mothers could face arrest – and potential charges – upon return to the country.

    The Australian government is currently implementing plans to repatriate about 60 Australian women and children – wives, sons and daughters of slain or jailed Islamic State combatants – who have been held for more than three years in the dangerous detention camps in north-east Syria.

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

  • Iranian students defy security forces after violence at university

    Rights groups ‘extremely concerned’ about violent repression of demonstrations in Tehran and Isfahan

    Iranian students have stepped up their protests in defiance of a crackdown by security forces, who allegedly cornered and shot 12 students at a prestigious university in Tehran on Sunday night.

    Anti-government protests ignited by the death of a young woman in police custody in mid-September have spread around the country at various levels of intensity, revealing a cultural chasm between the country’s educated youth and an elderly male religious establishment.

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

  • ‘Women, life, liberty’: Iranian civil rights protests spread worldwide

    Demonstrations in string of major cities in solidarity with protests sparked by death of Mahsa Amini in police custody

    Worldwide protests are being held in solidarity with the growing uprising in Iran demanding greater freedom and protesting against the death of Mahsa Amini following her arrest by Iranian morality police.

    Demonstrations under the slogan “Women, life, liberty” are taking place in many major cities, including Rome, Zurich, Paris, London, Seoul, Auckland, Melbourne, Sydney, Stockholm and New York.

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  • Nine foreign nationals arrested in Iran as protests and violence continue

    Detainees accused of being ‘agitators’, as death toll rises and tribunal says 2019 repression was crime against humanity

    Iran’s ministry of intelligence has said that nine foreign nationals have been arrested in a round up of “agitators” allegedly linked to a wave of anti-government demonstrations that have now reached their third week. It said the detainees included nationals from Germany, Poland, Italy, France, the Netherlands and Sweden.

    In a lengthy statement on Friday, the ministry also accused the US of trying to break the Iranian government’s control on the internet.

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

  • Human rights lawyer in Israeli prison goes on hunger strike

    Salah Hamouri stages protest against being imprisoned without charge for the last six months

    A prominent Palestinian-French human rights lawyer has gone on hunger strike in protest against his imprisonment without charge by Israeli authorities for the last six months.

    Salah Hamouri, 37, a father of two from occupied East Jerusalem, has been held in administrative detention since 7 March, and his detention order has been renewed until at least early December based on undisclosed evidence.

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

  • EU and US consider further sanctions on Iran over protest crackdown

    Demonstrators call for greater support from west and help communicating with outside world

    The EU and the US are considering further sanctions against Iran over the attempt to suppress demonstrations and strikes in universities over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in a police detention centre.

    Josep Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief, condemned Iran’s disproportionate use of force and said all options would be on the table at the next meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers. The main options are helping to prevent the internet being shut by Iran, and further economic sanctions.

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

  • Protests spread in Iran as President Raisi vows to crack down

    Demonstrations that began with death of Mahsa Amini while detained by morality police pose biggest threat to regime in 13 years

    Iran’s president has vowed to “deal decisively” with protests that are gathering momentum across much of the country one week after the death of a woman in custody who had been detained by the morality police.

    Demonstrations have spread to most of Iran’s 31 provinces and almost all urban centres, pitting anti-government demonstrators against regime forces, including the military, and posing the most serious test to the hardline state’s authority in more than 13 years.

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

  • Iran president says death in custody of Mahsa Amini must be investigated

    Ebrahim Raisi says he has contacted Kurdish woman’s family but laments western double standards on human rights

    The death in custody in Iran of a Kurdish woman that led to widespread protests must be “steadfastly” investigated, Iran’s president has said, as he lamented what he claimed were western “double standards” on human rights.

    Ebrahim Raisi told a news conference on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York that the death of Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran’s morality police “must certainly be investigated”.

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  • Iran sends police to end protests as rights groups say six killed

    Police reportedly use teargas to disperse crowds as protests spread after death of Mahsa Amini

    Iran has sent police to the streets in a scramble to end protests that have spread to at least 15 cities, as rights groups and local media reported up to six people had been killed in crackdowns.

    There were reports of internet blackouts in parts of the country in an apparent attempt to quell growing anger. The telecommunications minister, Issa Zarepour, was quoted by the official Irna news agency as saying there had been some “temporary restrictions in some places and at some hours”.

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

  • Iranians: share your views on the protests following Mahsa Amini’s death

    We’d like to hear from people in Iran how they feel about the protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in custody

    We’d like to hear how Iranians feel about the protests taking place in Iran after Mahsa Amini’s death in custody in Tehran.

    Whether you have witnessed street protests directly or just want to share your views on the situation in Iran, we’re interested to hear from you.

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  • Protests in Iran at death of Kurdish woman after arrest by morality police

    Despite warnings, hundreds of people have reportedly gathered in Mahsa Amini’s home town of Saqqez for her burial

    A series of protests have broken out in Iran after the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, who died in hospital on 16 September, three days after she was arrested and reportedly beaten by morality police in Tehran.

    Demonstrators initially gathered outside Kasra hospital in Tehran, where Amini was being treated. Human rights groups reported that security forces deployed pepper spray against protesters and that several were arrested.

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  • Prosecutors urged to examine French role in Egyptian airstrikes on civilians

    NGOs want investigation into border counter-terrorism operation that allegedly ended up bombing suspected smugglers

    Two international NGOs have asked French prosecutors and the UN to investigate the French state’s involvement in Egypt allegedly committing crimes against humanity in a secret military operation on the Egyptian-Libyan border.

    A 2021 leak appeared to show how French officers complained they were being asked to facilitate Egyptian airstrikes, codenamed Operation Sirli, on the Egyptian-Libyan border, even though the original counter-terrorism purpose had been subverted by the Egyptian military into taking out vehicles containing nothing more than contraband. Dozens are estimated to have been killed or injured.

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

  • France must rethink case of IS-linked women refused re-entry, rules ECHR

    Families argued detention in Syria exposed the two women and their children to inhumane treatment

    The European court of human rights has condemned France over its refusal to repatriate French women who travelled to Syria with their partners to join Islamic State and are currently being held with their children at Kurdish-run prison camps.

    The ruling will be studied closely by other countries who still have citizens detained in camps in north-eastern Syria, including the UK.

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

  • British-Egyptian hunger striker Alaa Abd El-Fattah says he may die in prison

    Jailed activist-blogger may escalate six-month hunger strike as supporters say UK is failing to pressure its Cop27 partner

    The British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah has warned his family he may die in prison, as he reaches six months on hunger strike in the run-up to the Cop27 climate conference in Sharm El Sheikh.

    “I don’t want to upset you, but I don’t believe there’s any chance of individual salvation,” he told his mother during her visit to Wadi al-Natrun prison. He passed on a list of demands, including the release of those detained by the Egyptian security forces and thousands held without charge in pre-trial detention.

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

  • Saudi woman given 34-year prison sentence for using Twitter

    Salma al-Shehab, a Leeds University student, was charged with following and retweeting dissidents and activists

    A Saudi student at Leeds University who had returned home to the kingdom for a holiday has been sentenced to 34 years in prison for having a Twitter account and for following and retweeting dissidents and activists.

    The sentencing by Saudi’s special terrorist court was handed down weeks after the US president Joe Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia, which human rights activists had warned could embolden the kingdom to escalate its crackdown on dissidents and other pro-democracy activists.

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  • Fears that Egypt may use Cop27 to whitewash human rights abuses

    Naomi Klein and Caroline Lucas among signatories to letter voicing concerns over country’s hosting of climate summit

    A hundred days before the Cop27 summit is due to start in Sharm el-Sheikh, a group of environmentalists and activists have expressed alarm over Egypt’s ability to host the event successfully because of its poor record on human rights, as thousands of prisoners of conscience remain behind bars.

    “We are deeply concerned that [a successful conference] will not be possible due to the repressive actions of the Egyptian government,” they said. “Indeed, it seems more likely at this point that the conference will be used to whitewash human rights abuses in the country.”

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  • Turkey should face international court over Yazidi genocide, report says

    Exclusive: Investigation by group of prominent human rights lawyers also criticises Syria and Iraq

    Turkey should face charges in front of the international court of justice for being complicit in acts of genocide against the Yazidi people, while Syria and Iraq failed in their duty to prevent the killings, an investigation endorsed by British human rights lawyer Helena Kennedy has said.

    The groundbreaking report, compiled by a group of prominent human rights lawyers, is seeking to highlight the binding responsibility states have to prevent genocide on their territories, even if they are carried out by a third party such as Islamic State (IS).

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

  • Family of activist jailed in Egypt urge Liz Truss to pressure counterpart

    Family of Alaa Abd El Fattah join wife of Karim Ennarah, under travel ban, in demanding more action from foreign secretary

    The family of a British national jailed in Egypt and the British wife of an Egyptian rights defender under a travel ban are demanding that Liz Truss do more to pressure her Egyptian counterpart when they meet this week.

    The foreign secretary is expected to meet Egypt’s foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, in London after telling parliament in June that she would seek a meeting with him and raise the case of detained British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El Fattah. “We’re working very hard to secure his release,” she said.

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

  • Palestinian Authority routinely tortures detainees, says rights group

    Human Rights Watch calls for donors to cut off funding to security forces and urges international court to investigate

    Palestinian authorities in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip systematically torture critics in detention, a practice that could amount to crimes against humanity, an international rights group has said.

    In its report Human Rights Watch (HRW) called for donor countries to cut off funding to Palestinian security forces that commit such crimes and urged the international criminal court to investigate.

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

  • Anthony Albanese raises case of jailed Australian engineer Robert Pether with Iraqi PM

    Exclusive: Pether, who has been imprisoned for 14 months in Baghdad, has become ‘gravely ill’ according to his family

    The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has raised the case of jailed engineer Robert Pether with the Iraqi leader, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, as the Australian’s family warns he has become “gravely ill” and is rapidly deteriorating in his Baghdadi jail cell.

    Pether has now been imprisoned for more than 14 months following a commercial dispute between his engineering firm and Iraq’s central bank, which had hired Pether’s company to help build its new Baghdad headquarters. Pether’s family say he is innocent and the trial was unfair and compromised.

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  • The Guardian view on Qatar’s migrant workers: football owes them

    The FA and the England team should back proposals to safeguard migrant workers’ rights after the World Cup in November

    From the Beijing Winter Olympics to the Saudi-funded LIV golf tournament, 2022 has already offered ample evidence of the value of sportswashing to states with a global image problem. The forthcoming football World Cup in Qatar, now only five months away, will complete a hat-trick of events designed to augment the soft power of authoritarian regimes.

    The decision to award World Cup hosting rights to a searingly hot Gulf state with a poor human rights record provoked widespread bafflement, suspicion and dismay. Last November, the US Department of Justice alleged that officials working for world football’s governing body, Fifa, had been bribed ahead of the decisive vote in 2010. But since then the global spotlight on Qatar has provided an opportunity for human rights campaigners. Lobbying on behalf of a vast migrant labour force, which has historically been subjected to brutally exploitative practices, has yielded tangible results. A minimum wage has been introduced, albeit at a very low rate. The abusive kafala system – which tied workers to a single employer – has been largely dismantled, and in most cases exit permits are no longer required to leave the country.

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

  • Network of Syria conspiracy theorists identified

    Campaign disseminating disinformation sent thousands of tweets, often targeting the White Helmets

    A network of more than two dozen conspiracy theorists, frequently backed by a coordinated Russian campaign, sent thousands of disinformation tweets to distort the reality of the Syrian conflict and deter intervention by the international community, new analysis reveals.

    Data gathered by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) identified a network of social media accounts, individuals, outlets and organisations who disseminated disinformation about the conflict, with 1.8 million people following their every word. The three principal false narratives promoted by the network of conspiracy theorists involved misrepresenting the White Helmets, the volunteer organisation working to evacuate people in Syria. They also focused on the denial or distortion of facts about the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons and on attacking the findings of the world’s foremost chemical weapons watchdog.

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

  • UN calls on UAE to release British man imprisoned in Dubai since 2008

    UN working group rules that Ryan Cornelius has been held arbitrarily and subjected to rights violations

    UN officials have called on the United Arab Emirates to immediately release a British businessman who has been detained in the country since 2008.

    The UN’s working group on arbitrary detention has ruled that Ryan Cornelius has been held arbitrarily in the UAE since 2008 when he was arrested at Dubai airport. He has contracted tuberculosis while in detention.

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

  • Impact of Israeli strike in Gaza akin to chemical weapons, NGO report finds

    Shells fired at agrochemical warehouse created toxic plume that has left residents with health problems

    An Israeli airstrike on an agrochemical warehouse during last year’s war in Gaza amounted to the “indirect deploying of chemical weapons”, according to a report analysing the attack and its impact.

    Incendiary artillery shells fired by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) hit the large Khudair Pharmaceutical and Agricultural Tools warehouse in the north of the Gaza Strip on 15 May last year, setting fire to hundreds of tonnes of pesticides, fertilisers, plastics and nylons. The strike created a toxic plume, which engulfed an area of 5.7 sq km and has left local residents struggling with health issues, including two reports of miscarriages, and indications of environmental damage.

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  • Europe silent on plight of refugees in Libya, says IOM mission chief

    Federico Soda said there needed to be ‘more condemnation’ of the conditions in state-run detention centres in Libya

    Europe has been accused by a senior international official of acquiescence in the plight of thousands of migrants in Libya held in arbitrary detention in “deplorable conditions”.

    Federico Soda, chief of mission at the International Organisation for Migration’s mission in Libya, said not enough was being done by outside actors to try to change the war-torn country’s “environment of arbitrary detention and deplorable conditions” for migrants.

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

  • Exiles angry as Queen hosts king of Bahrain

    UK is ‘haven for dictators’ says critic after Queen invites ruler who outlawed political opposition in Middle Eastern state to the Royal Windsor horse show

    The king of Bahrain is expected to attend the Royal Windsor horse show on Sunday after a personal invitation from the Queen, prompting anger from campaigners who claim the UK is “sportswashing” what they say is an increasingly repressive regime.

    King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has been invited as a guest of the Queen, demonstrating a warmth of official ties despite the Middle Eastern state’s outlawing of political opposition, and human rights violations including torture.

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

  • Greg Norman says ‘we all make mistakes’ when asked about Khashoggi killing

    Australian golf champion makes remarks about journalist’s murder at Saudi-backed league event

    The golf champion Greg Norman has attempted to dismiss questions over the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate as a “mistake,” adding the Saudi government “wants to move forward”.

    Norman was speaking at a promotional event in the UK for a Saudi-backed golf tournament, the LIV Golf Invitational Series. The 67-year-old is chief executive of LIV Golf Investments, funded primarily by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.

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