Human rights weekly round-up

Egypt The Cairo-based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information issued a report on Wednesday calling the period from 24 April to 25 May “the worst month for press freedom and freedom of expression during the last six years, if not during [President Hosni] Mubarak's entire rule”. The report documents more than 35 government violations of freedom of expression against writers, Internet bloggers, lawyers and journalists during the 30-day period. Meanwhile, on 12 June, 110 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood were arrested while protesting outside a Cairo courthouse, where one of the group’s members was being tried. Detainees were allegedly beaten by police. Around 460 other opposition activists, most from the brotherhood, remain in police custody. The interior ministry, meanwhile, insists that demonstrations are illegal without an official license. Local opposition groups continued efforts this week to get the swelling numbers of arrested members out of prison. Gameela Ismail, wife of former presidential candidate Ayman Nour, sent a letter – smuggled out of prison from her husband – to Edward McMillian-Scott, vice- president of the European Parliament. The letter reportedly urged the organisation to continue pushing Cairo for the jailed activist’s release. Nour received a five-year jail sentence earlier this year for forging signatures for his presidential candidacy – claims that he and his supporters deny. Meanwhile, Mohamed al-Sharqawi, the detained Kifaya activist who was allegedly tortured by Egyptian police for his participation in demonstrations last month, said in a 12 June letter from prison that he had yet to receive medical treatment promised him by the public prosecutor. Although the prosecutor said that al-Sharqawi was entitled to receive treatment, the activist said he had been returned to the Liman Tora Prison Hospital, where no such care was provided. He has been charged with blocking traffic and attacking state security officers. According to statements in the official press, the government denies that al-Sharqawi was subject to torture. Yemen The freedom of the press was questioned in Yemen this week after security officers assaulted a journalist on Sunday as he was distributing copies of his newspaper at a press conference. “I was distributing my newspaper among attendees… when the three men attacked and hit me,” said Abed al-Mahdari, editor-in-chief of Al-Diyar newspaper. Al-Mahdari pointed out that he had recently written an article asking, “Will the son of President Ali Abdallah Saleh stage a coup against his father and become a president?” Al-Mahdari was reportedly released after being told to avoid such contentious issues in the future. Saeed Thabet of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS), condemned the assault. “We’ve called the security authorities and they told us they would investigate, but we’ve received nothing from them so far.” YJC members, meanwhile, called for a demonstration to condemn the incident. There was no response from the government. Lebanon A mass grave was discovered in the northern city of Tripoli, according to a local human-rights NGO. “Officials have managed to keep this information quiet,” said Lawyer Mary Ghantous, head of ADEL, or “Justice”. “So far, no one has properly raised the issue of this mass grave – not even the media.” The government, meanwhile, has not reacted to the news. Around 17,000 Lebanese citizens were reported missing over the course of the Lebanese Civil War, which raged from 1975 to 1990. The parents of those missing continue to demand an investigation into the fates of their loved ones. On 9 June, they sent a fifth letter to the United Nations in Beirut urging the world body to pressure Damascus for the release of prisoners or the release of information regarding Lebanese citizens allegedly held in Syrian prisons. On 5 June, an inmate of the Zahle prison in the Bekaa district set fire to the facility in protest against poor conditions, resulting in chaos and rioting. Up to 250 inmates are held in the jailhouse in what local human rights activist say are unhealthy and overcrowded conditions. Jordan Prison conditions were also an issue in Jordan this week, with the Arab Organisation for Human Rights (AOHR) saying on Wednesday that a number of political prisoners at Swaqa prison – the biggest in Jordan – had been on hunger strike since 11 June to protest against “inhumane conditions”. Prisoners say they suffer from a lack of ventilation in their cells, according to a letter signed by inmates and sent to the AOHR. Inmates reportedly vowed to continue their hunger strike until their demands were met. On Wednesday, a group of prisoners told a court they had seen signs of torture on the bodies of five inmates after they were interrogated. The five had been tried in a state security court on charges of plotting terrorist acts in the kingdom, including attacks on Iraqi police-training centres in Jordan. Human rights groups have repeatedly accused Jordanian security forces of torturing inmates during interrogations with the aim of extracting confessions. The government, however, denies such allegations. On Thursday, human rights groups blasted the government for detaining a number of Islamist MPs on 11 June who had offered condolences to the family of slain Iraqi terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, saying such a move contradicted a declared policy of political reform and freedom of opinion. “The government must release the four MPs immediately,” said AOHR President Hani Dahleh. “They’ve done nothing except express their opinion.” Hours after the arrest, Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit called a press conference at which he said the government would not tolerate attempts to undermine the kingdom's stability, security or national unity. Syria The third annual report by the Committee for Human Rights in Syria noted that the physical and psychological torture of prisoners was still regularly employed by security services. The report cited recent trials – such as the sentencing of activists Riad Drar and Abdel Sattar Qattan to five years and 12 years in prison, respectively – as examples of unfair procedures. The European Parliament is scheduled to debate human rights abuses in Syria in its 15 June session. According to reports in the media, the parliament is expected to issue a resolution calling for the immediate release of 10 activists imprisoned after publication of the so-called “Beirut-Damascus Declaration”, which called on Syria to improve relations with Lebanon. The wife of imprisoned lawyer and declaration signatory Anwar al-Bunni visited her husband in Adra prison on 15 May, reporting that he was in reasonable health after recovering from a three week-long hunger strike, according to Bunni’s lawyer Khalil Matouk. Al-Bunni, along with the nine other imprisoned activists, received an offer of release from prison if they renounce their positions, according to Matouk. On 13 June, ten Syrian human rights organisations and independent activists issued a “Syria Declaration”, calling for democratic change, an end to the country’s 43-year-old emergency laws and a separation of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. Iraq Iraqi MP Mohammed al-Dayni said on 12 June that prisoners in Baqubah prison had been subjected to “torture and rape”. Al-Dayni made his comments following a visit to the facility, which is run by the interior ministry. Women and children were among the detainees, the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite station reported. Meanwhile, on 11 June, some 230 detainees were released from the notorious Abu Ghraib prison. Many had been detained for months without charge, according to human rights groups. BH+SZ+MBH+LH+HM+MAJ/SZ/AM