![[Iraq] Journalist Ali Rifat believes that even with the killings, his work must continue.](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/200511105.jpg.webp?itok=gDtULwPH "Journalist Ali Rifat says that even though journalists in Iraq are being targetted, his work must continue.")
EGYPT: Bahais left without ID cards
CAIRO, (IRIN) - Followers of the Bahai faith this week lost the right to openly state their religious identity on official documents, after a ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court.
The case began in a lower court after the Civil Status Department of the Ministry of Interior confiscated ID cards and birth certificates from the family of Hossam Ezzat, a Bahai, on the grounds that their religious declaration was illegitimate. The lower court granted Bahais the right to enter their faith on official documents, a decision which the Ministry of Interior then appealed.
Hossam Bahgat, of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, represented the Ezzat family in court. “The ruling now creates a problem for the government, because citizens must either live without an ID, or identify themselves as Muslim or Christian,” he said.
Egypt’s Mufti, Alii Gomaa, has said that Bahais should declare themselves Muslim on official documentation.
IRAQ: 32 journalists murdered in 2006
BAGHDAD, (IRIN) – The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on Wednesday that 32 Iraqi journalists were killed in Iraq in 2006 due to spiralling violence in the country.
“For the fourth consecutive year, Iraq was in a category of its own as the deadliest place for journalists,” the CPJ said. “Murder now accounts for 61 percent of deaths in Iraq since the war began [in 2003],” it added.
The international watchdog said four journalists died as a result of crossfire or acts of war this year; 28 were murdered and three were kidnapped and then slain.
“The deaths in Iraq this year reflect the utter deterioration in reporters’ traditional status as neutral observers in wartime,” Joel Simon, CPJ Executive Director, said. “This is an extraordinarily alarming trend because along with the terrible loss of life, it is limiting news reporting in Iraq and, in turn, our own understanding of a vital story,” Simon added.
This year’s killings brought to 92 the number of journalists who have died in Iraq since the US-led invasion of March 2003. In addition, 37 media support workers—interpreters, drivers, fixers and office workers—have been killed over the same period.
JORDAN: Gov’t closes notorious jail
AMMAN, (IRIN) – The Jordanian government on Tuesday closed down a notorious prison after local and international human rights groups repeatedly claimed inmates at the detention facility were tortured and kept in dire conditions.
The run-down Jafer prison lies on the edge of a desert, 250 km east of Amman. Human rights activists say inmates were vulnerable to extreme weather conditions - including high temperatures and blinding sand storms – and snakes, scorpions and other lethal insects were abundant in the facility.
Human rights groups welcomed the closure saying they hoped the move would signal a shift in official policy on the treatment of prisoners. "This is a step in the right direction, but what we would like to see is an end to systematic torture at other prisons," said Abdul Karim Shreideh of the Arab Organisation for Human Rights.
In an unrelated case, the military run state security court on Monday sentenced 74-year-old Mahmoud Said to one year in prison for distributing pamphlets that criticise the government.
The street vendor from Irbid, 60 km north of Amman, distributed four leaflets before being apprehended by secret service agents, the court said. Said was sentenced initially to three years after the court found him guilty of provoking sectarianism and belonging to an illegal political party, Hezb al-Tahrir (Liberation Party). However, the court immediately commuted his sentence to a year "to give him a second chance in life”.
SYRIA: Kilo to be tried soon, says lawyer
DAMASCUS, (IRIN) – The trial of Syrian rights activist and writer Michel Kilo will be held soon in a criminal court, his lawyer, Khalil Matouk, said on Tuesday. Kilo was detained in May for calling on Damascus to improve its relations with Lebanon and charges related to inciting sectarian division and engaging with foreign organisations - charges which carry a maximum jail term of three years.
Earlier, the Court of Appeals rejected the appeal lodged by Kilo’s lawyers and the appeal of activist Mahmoud Issa, who, along with Kilo, signed the Damascus-Beirut declaration calling on Syria to respect Lebanese sovereignty.
Meanwhile, the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria said officials interrogated activist Faek al-Meer on 30 December on charges including violating the country’s dignity, weakening the patriotic sentiment, jeopardising the country’s security and stability, provoking disorder and turmoil, and spying for a hostile country.
These charges followed his visit to Lebanon to mourn the death of Communist leader George Hawy, who was assassinated in Beirut in June 2005. Lebanese authorities claim that Damascus had a hand in Hawy’s assassination. While waiting for a decision on his case, al-Meer has been detained in Adra al-Madany Prison.
YEMEN: Jailed editor’s appeal rejected
SANA'A (IRIN) - The country’s Court of Appeals on 18 December rejected the appeal of Kamal al-Ulefi, the editor-in-chief of al-Rai al-Aam weekly newspaper. On 25 November, he was sentenced to a year in prison and his newspaper was closed for six months. He was convicted of republishing the controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, which were first published by a Danish newspaper.
Also on 18 December, human rights activists, representatives of civil society organisations, journalists and lawyers staged a sit-in in front of the appeals court in the capital, Sana'a, in solidarity with Anesah al-Shu'ebi, who was allegedly tortured and raped at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Protestors demanded that Rizq al-Jawfi, head of CID, should be investigated in connection with the allegations.
Meanwhile, a report by the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRinfo) criticised the Yemeni government for monopolising the Internet service, blocking several news websites, and reading private emails.
"The political security forces and the Ministry of Interior routinely search homes and private offices, control phone calls and read emails. In addition, there is widespread interference in many other personal matters, all of which are alleged to be based on security intelligence. These practices are implemented without any legal orders being issued and they are done without judicial supervision," reads the report, entitled ‘Implacable Adversaries: Arab Governments and the Internet’.
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CAIRO, (IRIN) - Followers of the Bahai faith this week lost the right to openly state their religious identity on official documents, after a ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court.
The case began in a lower court after the Civil Status Department of the Ministry of Interior confiscated ID cards and birth certificates from the family of Hossam Ezzat, a Bahai, on the grounds that their religious declaration was illegitimate. The lower court granted Bahais the right to enter their faith on official documents, a decision which the Ministry of Interior then appealed.
Hossam Bahgat, of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, represented the Ezzat family in court. “The ruling now creates a problem for the government, because citizens must either live without an ID, or identify themselves as Muslim or Christian,” he said.
Egypt’s Mufti, Alii Gomaa, has said that Bahais should declare themselves Muslim on official documentation.
IRAQ: 32 journalists murdered in 2006
BAGHDAD, (IRIN) – The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on Wednesday that 32 Iraqi journalists were killed in Iraq in 2006 due to spiralling violence in the country.
“For the fourth consecutive year, Iraq was in a category of its own as the deadliest place for journalists,” the CPJ said. “Murder now accounts for 61 percent of deaths in Iraq since the war began [in 2003],” it added.
The international watchdog said four journalists died as a result of crossfire or acts of war this year; 28 were murdered and three were kidnapped and then slain.
“The deaths in Iraq this year reflect the utter deterioration in reporters’ traditional status as neutral observers in wartime,” Joel Simon, CPJ Executive Director, said. “This is an extraordinarily alarming trend because along with the terrible loss of life, it is limiting news reporting in Iraq and, in turn, our own understanding of a vital story,” Simon added.
This year’s killings brought to 92 the number of journalists who have died in Iraq since the US-led invasion of March 2003. In addition, 37 media support workers—interpreters, drivers, fixers and office workers—have been killed over the same period.
JORDAN: Gov’t closes notorious jail
AMMAN, (IRIN) – The Jordanian government on Tuesday closed down a notorious prison after local and international human rights groups repeatedly claimed inmates at the detention facility were tortured and kept in dire conditions.
The run-down Jafer prison lies on the edge of a desert, 250 km east of Amman. Human rights activists say inmates were vulnerable to extreme weather conditions - including high temperatures and blinding sand storms – and snakes, scorpions and other lethal insects were abundant in the facility.
Human rights groups welcomed the closure saying they hoped the move would signal a shift in official policy on the treatment of prisoners. "This is a step in the right direction, but what we would like to see is an end to systematic torture at other prisons," said Abdul Karim Shreideh of the Arab Organisation for Human Rights.
In an unrelated case, the military run state security court on Monday sentenced 74-year-old Mahmoud Said to one year in prison for distributing pamphlets that criticise the government.
The street vendor from Irbid, 60 km north of Amman, distributed four leaflets before being apprehended by secret service agents, the court said. Said was sentenced initially to three years after the court found him guilty of provoking sectarianism and belonging to an illegal political party, Hezb al-Tahrir (Liberation Party). However, the court immediately commuted his sentence to a year "to give him a second chance in life”.
SYRIA: Kilo to be tried soon, says lawyer
DAMASCUS, (IRIN) – The trial of Syrian rights activist and writer Michel Kilo will be held soon in a criminal court, his lawyer, Khalil Matouk, said on Tuesday. Kilo was detained in May for calling on Damascus to improve its relations with Lebanon and charges related to inciting sectarian division and engaging with foreign organisations - charges which carry a maximum jail term of three years.
Earlier, the Court of Appeals rejected the appeal lodged by Kilo’s lawyers and the appeal of activist Mahmoud Issa, who, along with Kilo, signed the Damascus-Beirut declaration calling on Syria to respect Lebanese sovereignty.
Meanwhile, the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria said officials interrogated activist Faek al-Meer on 30 December on charges including violating the country’s dignity, weakening the patriotic sentiment, jeopardising the country’s security and stability, provoking disorder and turmoil, and spying for a hostile country.
These charges followed his visit to Lebanon to mourn the death of Communist leader George Hawy, who was assassinated in Beirut in June 2005. Lebanese authorities claim that Damascus had a hand in Hawy’s assassination. While waiting for a decision on his case, al-Meer has been detained in Adra al-Madany Prison.
YEMEN: Jailed editor’s appeal rejected
SANA'A (IRIN) - The country’s Court of Appeals on 18 December rejected the appeal of Kamal al-Ulefi, the editor-in-chief of al-Rai al-Aam weekly newspaper. On 25 November, he was sentenced to a year in prison and his newspaper was closed for six months. He was convicted of republishing the controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, which were first published by a Danish newspaper.
Also on 18 December, human rights activists, representatives of civil society organisations, journalists and lawyers staged a sit-in in front of the appeals court in the capital, Sana'a, in solidarity with Anesah al-Shu'ebi, who was allegedly tortured and raped at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Protestors demanded that Rizq al-Jawfi, head of CID, should be investigated in connection with the allegations.
Meanwhile, a report by the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRinfo) criticised the Yemeni government for monopolising the Internet service, blocking several news websites, and reading private emails.
"The political security forces and the Ministry of Interior routinely search homes and private offices, control phone calls and read emails. In addition, there is widespread interference in many other personal matters, all of which are alleged to be based on security intelligence. These practices are implemented without any legal orders being issued and they are done without judicial supervision," reads the report, entitled ‘Implacable Adversaries: Arab Governments and the Internet’.
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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