Weekly round-up of human rights violations

There were several detentions, some without trial, in the region this week, according to human rights organisations based in the Middle East. Additionally, rallies organised by political opposition parties in Yemen were disrupted, while media workers were involved in high-profile human rights cases in both Syria and Yemen. EGYPT Opposition groups had a “one-step-forward-two-steps-back” week in their attempts to get detained members released and improve conditions for those still under arrest. On 17 June, the state security prosecutor ordered the release of three political activists, followed on 20 June by the release of pro-reform blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah. Abdel Fattah, along with 10 other activists, was arrested during a rally in support of pro-reform judges on 7 May. Meanwhile, 31 members of the banned-but-tolerated Muslim Brotherhood were arrested in the costal town of Marsa Matrouh on 19 June for allegedly holding illegal meetings. “Whether they were having a meeting or just on vacation, it's illegal for the police to arrest people… unless a crime is committed,” said brotherhood spokesperson Abdel Monem Abou al-Futouh. Close to 660 brotherhood members currently remain in detention, including five of the group's top leaders. On 21 June, the public prosecutor released 26 remaining non-Muslim Brotherhood activists, with the exception of Mohammed al-Sharqawi and Karim al-Shair, whose detentions were renewed for another 15 days. The case of al-Sharqawi – who has received no medical attention since he was arrested on 25 May – has drawn particular attention following allegations that he was tortured by police. JORDAN The detention on 11 June of four Islamist MPs who had offered condolences to the family of the slain leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, remained in the spotlight this week. A state security court charged the four men with “fuelling national discord and inciting sectarianism”, after one of the MPs praised al-Zarqawi as a “martyr” during an interview with an Arab satellite television channel. On 15 June, protests were organised in Amman by local human rights groups, while the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) described the arrests as “a rollback on the Jordanian government commitment to fully respect freedom of expression”. Government spokesman Naser Judeh responded by describing HRW's remarks as “insulting”. On 17 June, members of the Professional Association's Liberties Committee and the Jordan Engineers Association said they were barred by police from visiting the detained MPs. Officials from the Public Security Department, meanwhile, were unavailable for comment. SYRIA Journalist Ali al-Abdullah, along with his son Mohamed, were charged with “insulting government employees”, and will be tried in a military court, the National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria stated on 20 June. Both were arrested in March: the father for publishing an article critical of the government, the son for forming an unlicensed student NGO. A day earlier, rights activists also alleged that the authorities had sacked 17 government employees as punishment for signing a declaration last month calling on Damascus to improve diplomatic relations with Beirut. Leading human rights activist Anwar al-Bunni, meanwhile, remains in prison. The government routinely does not comment on human rights issues. YEMEN With election campaigns underway, parliamentarians and local officials in Aden governorate threatened to sue the district’s security apparatus for trying to prevent public rallies organised by the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) – an umbrella group of opposition parties – on 13 and 15 June. The rallies were intended to announce candidates’ platforms in advance of presidential and local elections, scheduled for September. Aden security officials, however, insist the JMP did not obtain official permission for the planned rallies. On 20 June, security officers briefly confiscated the camera of a photojournalist from opposition newspaper Al-Sahwa. The cameraman had been covering a demonstration in Sana'a at which participants urged President Ali Abdullah Saleh to run for another term. “Because security officers knew the photographer belonged to an opposition party, they took his camera and insulted him,” said Al-Sahwa editor-in-chief Mohammed al-Yousofi. “But they only deleted the photos from his camera and handed it back to him.” Meanwhile, the National Organisation for Defending Rights and Freedoms in Sana’a asked Yemen’s attorney-general on 20 June to investigate the case of several detainees who went on hunger strike last week to protest prison conditions and their arrests without trial.