![[Egypt] Police cordon off protesters in downtown Cairo. [Date picture taken: 05/18/2006]](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/20065223.jpg.webp?itok=-7BnXfeY "Critics fear the new anti-terror law may be used to crack down on the opposition even further")
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak reiterated on Tuesday his pledge to lift the country’s emergency law and to replace it with a new anti-terror law. Critics fear that the promised new law may be used to crack down on the opposition even further.
Mubarak also promised 34 constitutional amendments which would give more power to parliament and make people’s participation in presidential elections easier.
On 23 December, the International watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the Egyptian government to prosecute police officers implicated in the torture of a bus driver in Cairo last year. One officer, who was implicated in the incident, has already been detained.
The footage of Imad al-Kabir being tortured, which was circulated in the Internet in January 2006, had shed new light on the incident.
“Prosecuting those responsible for the crimes shown in this video would be a good first step,” Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at HRW, said in a statement.
Rights activists condemned the closure of a local NGO Ahalina, in Qaliubiya province. The NGO, which works in the health, environment, legal and educational fields, for the underserviced district of Shubra al-Kheima, was closed by the municipality and the security forces. The authorities said that Ahalina was not fully registered with the Ministry of Social Solidarity.
However, activists said humanitarian work was routinely hampered by such cumbersome procedures and that the government should do more to allow NGOs to operate more freely.
SAUDI ARABIA: AI denounces death sentence against Yemeni citizen in Saudi Arabia
RIYADH, 28 Dec. 2006 (IRIN) – Amnesty International (AI), the international human rights watchdog, said on 22 December that it was concerned about the imminent execution of a Yemeni citizen who was arrested by the Saudi Arabian authorities for allegedly kidnapping and raping a boy in April 2006.
In a statement, AI said that Safun Muhammed Ali Ahmed al-Zahifi, 24, had confessed under duress to the abduction and the alleged rape of the boy.
“Court proceedings [in Saudi Arabia] fall far short of international standards for fair trial and take place behind closed doors. Defendants are rarely allowed formal representation by a lawyer,” the statement added.
"The King [of Saudi Arabia] may grant clemency, but if he chooses to ratify the sentence, al-Zahifi could be executed at any time,” it added.
sa/maj/ar
Mubarak also promised 34 constitutional amendments which would give more power to parliament and make people’s participation in presidential elections easier.
On 23 December, the International watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the Egyptian government to prosecute police officers implicated in the torture of a bus driver in Cairo last year. One officer, who was implicated in the incident, has already been detained.
The footage of Imad al-Kabir being tortured, which was circulated in the Internet in January 2006, had shed new light on the incident.
“Prosecuting those responsible for the crimes shown in this video would be a good first step,” Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at HRW, said in a statement.
Rights activists condemned the closure of a local NGO Ahalina, in Qaliubiya province. The NGO, which works in the health, environment, legal and educational fields, for the underserviced district of Shubra al-Kheima, was closed by the municipality and the security forces. The authorities said that Ahalina was not fully registered with the Ministry of Social Solidarity.
However, activists said humanitarian work was routinely hampered by such cumbersome procedures and that the government should do more to allow NGOs to operate more freely.
SAUDI ARABIA: AI denounces death sentence against Yemeni citizen in Saudi Arabia
RIYADH, 28 Dec. 2006 (IRIN) – Amnesty International (AI), the international human rights watchdog, said on 22 December that it was concerned about the imminent execution of a Yemeni citizen who was arrested by the Saudi Arabian authorities for allegedly kidnapping and raping a boy in April 2006.
In a statement, AI said that Safun Muhammed Ali Ahmed al-Zahifi, 24, had confessed under duress to the abduction and the alleged rape of the boy.
“Court proceedings [in Saudi Arabia] fall far short of international standards for fair trial and take place behind closed doors. Defendants are rarely allowed formal representation by a lawyer,” the statement added.
"The King [of Saudi Arabia] may grant clemency, but if he chooses to ratify the sentence, al-Zahifi could be executed at any time,” it added.
sa/maj/ar
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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