Middle East Aggregator

Three men detained over recent deadly protests at Egypt's biggest textile plant over price hikes and pay demands have been released after weeks of "torture," one of the workers said on Monday. "We were subjected to electric shocks, to beatings and there was no food and or drink for the first few days," blogger Karim al-Beheiri told AFP a day after his release. "We went through weeks of torture and humiliation." Beheiri, Tarek Amin and Kamal al-Fayoumy were arrested on April 6 at the Misr Spinning and Weaving company in the Nile Delta industrial city of Mahalla after riots which left three people dead and hundreds detained. They were accused of "inciting unrest, damage to property and demonstrating," a security official told AFP. The three were fired from their jobs after their arrest, said Beheiri, whose detention was condemned by international rights groups. "Many of us had never seen the inside of a prison before," Beheiri said, describing his first weeks at Borg al-Arab prison near the Mediterranean city of Alexandria sharing a small cell with 25 people as "terrifying." "We had bread thrown at us. They would dip their hands in our food before throwing it at us," said Beheiri who, with the others, staged two hunger strikes while in detention. On April 16, the prosecution ordered the release of several detainees including Beheiri, Fayoumy and Amin, but the three remained behind bars until Sunday. Beheiri said that during interrogations at state security offices in various Egyptian cities, questioning focused mainly on his blog and on his connections to other bloggers. "It's the new fashion," he said of a large-scale crackdown against Egypt's cyber-dissidents. In recent months Egypt has seen a number of strikes and protests against low salaries and price rises that have been one of the most serious challenges to the regime of veteran President Hosni Mubarak.(AFP)

Labels: Egypt, Free Speech, Torture

Iran on Monday ordered the Fars news agency, one of the country's most prominent news organizations and normally considered close to the government, to close for three days for publishing "false news." "We have received a letter from the commission for surveillance of non-governmental press agencies ordering us to halt our operations for three days," Fars editor in chief Abbas Tavangar told AFP.

The official Islamic Republic News Agency reported that Fars had been "suspended for publishing false news and disturbing the public order."

No further details were given but Fars had on Sunday published a report saying that the governor of Iran's central bank, Tahmasb Mazaheri, was stepping down and being replaced by Vice President Parviz Davoudi. It later issued another report denying the story.

Mazaheri and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are reported to be at loggerheads over Iran's monetary policy amid inflation rates of close to 25 percent. The central bank chief's future has been the center of intense press speculation.

The conservative news Web site Borna said the story about Mazaheri was the reason for the temporary closure.

Tavangar said Fars would halt operations for three days with immediate effect. The last story on its news wire was at 11:30 a.m. (0700 GMT) Monday. (AFP)

Labels: Free Media, Free Speech, Iran

An Afghan editor and supporter of women's rights in Islam has been freed after 86 days in detention in Iran, but is not allowed to leave the country, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Friday. Intelligence agents picked up Ali Muhaqiq Nasab from his home in the town of Qumm, about 150 kilometers from Tehran, on March 4 on unspecified charges. He was released on Thursday, the media group said in a statement. Nasab told RSF that he had been accused of "suspicious relations with foreign embassies," it said. However his interrogation at an Intelligence Ministry prison was mainly about his journalistic activities and articles published in his magazine Haqoq-e-Zan (Women's Rights), the statement cited him as saying. "He has been released conditionally and is not allowed to leave the country. We urge the authorities to drop the charges against him," the media rights group said. Nasab was in jail for 86 days, 81 of which were in solitary confinement, it said. He had gone to Iran after being freed from jail in Afghanistan, where he was arrested in October 2005 for blasphemy after publishing articles that questioned harsh penalties for adultery and conversion to another religion. He was sentenced to two years in jail but freed on appeal almost three months later, although he was forced to close down his magazine. (AFP)

Labels: Afghanistan, Free Media, Free Speech, Iran

Israeli troops used gunfire and teargas on Friday to keep more than 3,000 Hamas supporters from approaching one of the Gaza Strip's main border crossings with Israel, wounding at least six Palestinians, witnesses said.

At least two of the wounded were in a critical condition, Palestinian medical workers said.

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said the protest at the Sufa border crossing was part of a stepped up campaign to break Israel's blockade of the coastal territory, which the Islamist group seized last June from rival forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

"Hamas will use all means to end the siege ... We will use stronger and more violent means in the future," Abu Zuhri said, though he offered not details.

The Israeli army had posted signs before the protest warning Palestinians that they faced "Danger of Death" if they tried to approach the Sufa crossing, used to bring some humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip. (Reuters)

Labels: Free Speech, Hamas, Israel, Palestine

Qatar's prime minister has won three libel suits against a Kuwaiti daily and the paper's columnist over a series of editorials criticizing his open policy toward Israel.
Sheik Hamad bin Jassem Al Thani, who also serves as Qatar's foreign minister, is known for developing contacts with Israel and seeking a more prominent regional role for Qatar.
His lawyer, Hussein al-Gharib, says a Kuwaiti civil court found Al-Watan daily and columnist Fouad al-Hashem guilty of damaging Hamad's reputation. The court ordered them on Monday to pay a total of 9,001 dinars (U.S. $34,094) in damages to the premier.

Al-Hashem says he respects the ruling but won't stop criticizing the top
Qatari official.
The columns by al-Hashem criticized Sheik Hamad for his ties to Israel, including claims he is financing the development of an Israeli diabetes drug.
Qatar is home to Israel's only diplomatic mission in the Gulf, a trade mission. In January 2007, then Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres visited Qatar and met with its ruler. (Haaretz)

Labels: Free Media, Free Speech, Israel, Qatar

Police in Dubai have arrested several men and women for cross-dressing in what they said was a campaign to preserve the social values of the cosmopolitan Gulf Arab trade and tourism hub, newspapers reported on Monday.

Dubai is part of the seven-member United Arab Emirates, a Muslim country where cross-dressing is frowned upon but whose population is dominated by migrants with diverse backgrounds and lifestyles.

"We have noted an emerging trend of men dressed as women and vice versa in the UAE markets and streets," the Khaleej Times daily quoted Dubai Police Chief Dhahi Khalfan as saying.

"Several men in women's dresses and make-up have already been arrested from shopping malls and residential buildings," he said.

The detainees were being referred to the public prosecutor as part of the one-week campaign called "Preserve Our Social Values", though it was not clear what charges would be brought.

Khalfan urged the Social Affairs Ministry to study the reasons behind the trend, which he said could be a consequence of mixed-sex schools.

Dubai is a city of sky-scrapers and mega-developments, which attracts foreign workers ranging from well-paid Western executives to low-wage Asian laborers. Tourists may wear bikinis and drink cocktails at hotel nightclubs but sex outside marriage is banned as is homosexual behavior. (Reuters)

Labels: Dubai, Free Speech, Gay Rights, U.A.E.

An outspoken critic of the Saudi government who was previously jailed for calling for greater democracy has been arrested, his wife said Tuesday.

Matrouk al-Faleh, a professor of political science at King Saud University in Riyadh, the capital, was detained Monday after he left for work, said his wife, Jamila al-Ukla. Over the past year, Faleh has accused the Interior Ministry of disregarding laws that ban arrests without charge and guarantee the right to counsel.

An Interior Ministry spokesman was unavailable for comment on Faleh's arrest.

Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy that restricts press and speech freedoms, does not allow political parties, civil rights groups or demonstrations. But since King Abdullah took the throne in 2005, official tolerance of criticism and debate has grown.

Faleh, 55, a dissident with a long history of political activism, spent 18 months in prison and was released in August 2005 after a royal pardon.

Faleh was one of three activists, along with Ali al-Domaini and Abdullah al-Hamed, who were jailed in 2004 after calling for a constitutional monarchy and an elected parliament. They were banned from traveling outside the kingdom after their release. (Washington Post)

Labels: Free Speech, Saudi Arabia

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Monday called on the Egyptian authorities to release a blogger arrested while covering a strike at a textile plant. Kareem al-Beheiri was arrested on April 6 at the Misr Spinning and Weaving company, where he worked, in the industrial city of Mahalla after riots left three people dead and hundreds detained. "We are worried about Beheiri's health as he is being mistreated and has gone on hunger strike," RSF said a statement. According to RSF, Beheiri was fired from his job at the plant after his arrest - on the grounds that he was absent from work. Last week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned the treatment by Egyptian police of an activist who was stripped, beaten and threatened with rape after using Facebook to back calls for a general strike. Ahmed Maher Ibrahim, a 27-year-old civil engineer from Cairo, was arrested on May 7 after using the social networking site on the Internet to support calls for a general strike on May 4, according to a statement by HRW. An Egyptian security official who requested anonymity denied the allegation. A month earlier, Esraa Abdel Fattah, 27, who created the Facebook group calling for the April 6 strike, was arrested and jailed for three weeks for "inciting unrest." (AFP)

Labels: Egypt, Free Speech

The Iranian authorities have acknowledged the arrest of a number of members of the Bahai faith, which is considered to be heretical in Iran.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the arrests were a judicial matter and he did not give any further details.

The Bahai International Community says a senior member was arrested in March and six more last week; together they make up the entire leadership in Iran.

It says it has about 300,000 members in Iran, where the faith originated.

Relatives said the six senior members were taken to Evin Prison in Tehran on 14 May, after Intelligence Ministry officers raided their homes in the middle of the night.

The Bahai faith is banned by the Islamic revolutionary leadership of Iran.

Hundreds of Bahai followers have been jailed and executed since Iran's Islamic revolution in 1979, the Bahai International Community says.

However, the government denies it has detained or executed people because of their faith.

Canada voiced concern over the arrests on Friday and called for their release.

Labels: Free Speech, Freedom of Religion, Iran

President Bush lectured the Arab world Sunday about everything from political repression to the denial of women's rights but ran into Palestinian complaints he is favoring Israel in stalled Mideast peace talks. "Freedom and peace are within your grasp," Bush said despite scant signs of progress.

Winding up a five-day trip to the region, Bush took a strikingly tougher tone with Arab nations than he did with Israel in a speech Thursday to the Knesset. Israel received effusive praise from the president while Arab nations heard a litany of U.S. criticisms mixed with some compliments.

"Too often in the Middle East, politics has consisted of one leader in power and the opposition in jail," Bush said in a speech to 1,500 global policymakers and business leaders at this Red Sea beach resort.

"America is deeply concerned about the plight of political prisoners in this region, as well as democratic activists who are intimidated or repressed, newspapers and civil society organizations that are shut down and dissidents whose voices are stifled," Bush said.

"I call on all nations in this region to release their prisoners of conscience, open up their political debate and trust their people to chart their future," Bush said. (AP)

Labels: Free Speech, U.S.

An activist from Saudi Arabia's minority Ismaili community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, has been arrested after seeking the removal of the governor of the Ismaili stronghold of Najran, a fellow activist said on Wednesday. Security services detained Ahmad Turki al-Saab in Riyadh on Tuesday after having summoned him to the capital, Mohammed al-Askar told AFP by telephone from Riyadh. Askar said that while authorities did not explain Saab's arrest, he believes one of the reasons is that the activist put his name to a petition to King Abdullah demanding the sacking of Najran's governor, who is a member of the Saudi royal family. "Saab was one of six people who met the king on April 26 and presented the petition signed by 77 Najran notables," said Askar, who is also Ismaili. The petition featured a series of demands and called for the removal of Prince Mishaal bin Saud, who, Askar said, is suspected of encouraging the "settlement of Yemenis in Najran." "Najran residents believe that settling Sunni Yemenis in the region, which borders Yemen, is aimed at altering its demographic and sectarian composition," he said. Najran Ismailis have long complained that lands are being seized in the region and used to settle Yemeni tribesmen who are granted Saudi citizenship. Askar said the letter also urged the king to pardon 17 Ismailis serving jail terms over their involvement in unrest in Najran in 2000 as well as another Ismaili who has been jailed since 1993 for allegedly insulting the Prophet Mohammad. The Najran Ismailis are a separate branch of the sect and do not follow the Aga Khan, who heads mainstream Ismailis. Askar said that while the government estimates there are around 450,000 Ismailis in Saudi Arabia, the community's real number is closer to 700,000, the bulk of whom live in Najran. The mountainous southwestern region was controlled by Yemen until the early 1930s. (AFP)

Labels: Free Speech, Saudi Arabia

An Egyptian government-owned Internet service provider has blocked the website of a leading opposition movement, a rights group said Monday, in the latest crackdown on the country's cyber dissidents. "The website for the Egyptian Movement for Change - Kefaya has been blocked in Egypt [for] users who have access to the Internet through TE-Data ... since May 4," the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) said in a statement. TE-Data, a branch of Telecom Egypt, is controlled by the Egyptian government. The censorship came as Egypt seeks to promote its information and communication technology industry by hosting the International Telecommunication Union conference, which President Hosni Mubarak opened on Monday. "The website is performing normally with other ISPs, but the technical supervisor of the Web site informed us that the TE-Data Co. blocked Kefaya website through the IP address," Kefaya site editor Samir Gad told ANHRI. (AFP)

Labels: Egypt, Free Speech

Calls for a nationwide protest against the rising cost of living ended in anticlimax on Sunday (May 4), with most Egyptians going to work as usual. Although protest leaders had urged the public to register its disaffection en masse by staying home, the streets of the capital were busy.
"Public participation was considerably less than expected," Hamadeen Sabahi, independent MP and protest leader, told IPS.
"The May 4 strike certainly lacked the popular effect of the Apr. 6 action," agreed MP Sabahi, who also heads the Karama Party. He went on to attribute the strike's poor showing to a government announcement Apr. 30 that all public and private sector salaries would be raised by a total of 30 percent, effective as of next month.
"This announcement -- made one week before the strike -- was the main reason for the low level of participation," said Sabahi.
The appeal to strike on May 4 came on the heels of a larger -- and considerably more dramatic -- general protest organised early last month.
On Apr. 6, a labour strike at a state-owned textiles company turned into a nationwide call for economic relief and political change. The initiative, which was soon picked up by politically minded Facebook members, was also led by the frozen Labour Party and Kefaya.
In contrast to May 4, the streets of the capital -- usually gridlocked with traffic -- were eerily silent on Apr. 6. The textile workers' strike became the scene of violent confrontations between security forces and demonstrators.

In the days that followed, hundreds of people, including labour organisers and activists, were detained by authorities. Although more than 200 have since been released, an estimated 450 remain in detention on charges of instigating strikes and riots. (IPS)

Labels: Egypt, Free Speech

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A prominent Iranian women's rights activist said on Monday she had received a two-year suspended jail sentence, the latest such punishment for a campaigner in favor of greater female rights in the Islamic Republic.

Parvin Ardalan, who said in March she was barred from leaving Tehran to accept a Swedish human rights award, said a branch of Iran's Revolutionary Court last week announced the sentence for her role in a gathering by activists last year.

She said this was her second sentence, following a partly suspended three-year jail term for involvement in another banned demonstration in 2006.

"Many women activists have this kind of (suspended) sentence. Some...don't do anything, some of them are very quiet, very careful about what they do," the 41-year-old journalist said. (Reuters)

Labels: Free Speech, Iran, Womens Rights

A Saudi lawyer and human rights activist who is banned from traveling abroad says he has received the International Human Rights Lawyer Award from the American Bar Association (ABA). "This award shows that there is an international monitoring of human rights work in Saudi Arabia," lawyer Abdurrahman al-Lahem said. "It values the work of a large group of activists in Saudi society who are defending human rights. I am full of hope that this group will grow larger," he added. In a letter, the ABA told Lahem that he was selected for the award, to honor his "bravery in standing up to injustice and ... [his] dedicated advocacy work." "We commend your work in upholding human rights and due process in Saudi Arabia in the face of persecution," said the letter, a copy of which was seen by AFP. But Lahem will not be able to receive the award in person during a conference held in Vienna in July unless a four-year-old travel ban imposed on him by the Saudi authorities is lifted.

He said that the award "sends a positive signal that there is a margin [of freedom] which has allowed a lawyer to be active," rather than tarnishing the kingdom's human rights record. Lahem has had a history of confrontations with the judicial authorities in Saudi Arabia. In November, his lawyer's license was revoked by a court after he objected to a ruling which penalized a female rape victim, who was later pardoned by King Abdullah after an international uproar over the case. He also spent some nine months behind bars for criticizing the judiciary while defending three reformists who were jailed for demanding a constitutional monarchy. The four were pardoned by King Abdullah in August 2005. (AFP)

Labels: Free Speech, Saudi Arabia, U.S.

A Yemeni court Saturday overturned a government decision to shut down an independent weekly newspaper, the official Saba news agency said. The court in Sanaa said Al-Wassat newspaper could resume publication, reversing the closure order handed down by the Information Ministry. Publication of Al-Wassat had been suspended for the past month. The court also ordered the ministry to pay the newspaper's legal costs and banned it from withdrawing operating licenses for other Yemeni publications, Saba reported. The ministry said it had based its decision to close the newspaper over its failure to adhere to administrative procedures, including the listing of its editorial staff and failure to provide notice of the relocation of its offices. (AFP)

Labels: Free Media, Free Speech, Judiciary, Yemen

Lebanese singer Haifa Wehbe, known for her sexy looks and revealing outfits, went ahead with a performance in Bahrain despite an attempt by the Islamist-dominated Parliament to stop the show.

"Haifa Wehbe was dressed modestly. She was almost veiled," Adel Surour, 37, who attended Wednesday night's show with his family, said Thursday. "Her performance was measured compared to her usual demeanor. We thoroughly enjoyed the show."

Surour said the audience consisted mainly of families, including Gulf Arabs from neighbouring countries.

Al-Ayyam newspaper on Thursday carried pictures of Wehbe dressed in a long green gown with a low V-neckline during the performance.

On Tuesday Sunni and Shiite Islamist MPs approved an urgent motion asking the Bahraini government to ban the show, which was timed to mark Thursday's May Day celebrations.

The move by the 40-member Parliament, where Islamists hold three-quarters of seats, came despite assurances by organizers that Wehbe would dress modestly during the show, which would be reserved for families and respect Bahraini traditions. (AFP)

Labels: Bahrain, Free Speech

Turkey's parliament has approved a government-backed proposal to soften a law restricting free speech.

Legislators voted on Tuesday by 250 to 65 in favour of the amendment to article 301 of the penal code, which many critics say is one of the biggest restraints on freedom of speech in the country.

The law has has been used to prosecute many intellectuals, including Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel laureate.

The ruling party, which dominates the 550-seat parliament with 340 legislators, was the only party that voted in favour of the amendment while opposition parties voted against it.

The amendment has to be approved by the president before it can go into effect. (Al Jazeera)

Labels: Free Speech, Turkey

Bahrain's Islamist-dominated Parliament on Tuesday approved an urgent motion asking the government to ban a performance by Lebanese singer Haifa Wehbe, known for her sexy looks and revealing outfits. Sunni and Shiite Islamist lawmakers joined hands to push through the motion, which requires the government to take the necessary measures to stop the show, timed to coincide with Labor Day on Thursday, a parliamentary statement said.

The move by the 40-member Parliament, where Islamists hold three-quarters of seats, came despite assurances by organizers that the Lebanese superstar would dress modestly during the show, which would be reserved for families and respect Bahrain's traditions.

Islamist MPs regularly campaign to stop shows and other forms of entertainment deemed to violate Islamic tenets in Bahrain, which has traditionally been relatively liberal by the standards of the conservative Gulf region.

Four years ago, Sunni Islamist MPs, who are close to the government, forced Saudi-owned MBC satellite television to suspend the production of an Arabic version of the reality TV show "Big Brother" that was being filmed in Bahrain, charging that the show flouted Islamic traditions. (AFP)

Labels: Bahrain, Free Speech, misc

Turkish legislators are debating a proposal to soften a law restricting freedom of speech that has been used to prosecute several writers.

A vote on the proposed amendment to Article 301 of Turkey's penal code, which bars insults to the Turkish identity or the country's institutions, is expected on Tuesday or early Wednesday.

The ruling party, which proposed the change, has a majority in the 550-seat parliament and the amendment is expected to pass.

Turkey says close to 7,000 people have been prosecuted under that law and its precursor since 2003, including Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel prize winner.

A total of 745 were convicted in that period.

The European Union has been pressing Turkey to abolish or overhaul the law as part of Turkey's campaign for EU membership.

The opposition, resentful of what it calls EU interference in Turkey's affairs, wants the law to remain intact. (Al Jazeera)

Labels: European Union, Free Speech, Turkey

The Independent's petition to save the Afghan student Sayed Pervez Kambaksh from the gallows has collected a staggering 100,000 signatures as the 23-year-old languishes in a cell in Kabul awaiting appeal.

Mr Kambaksh was arrested for distributing a pamphlet about women's rights, and tried and convicted without a defence lawyer, in a closed court in Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan. His case led to international protests, led by the UN human rights chief, Louise Arbour, and Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State.

Last night, Mr Kambaksh's brother, Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi, thanked The Independent's army of readers around the world. "If it wasn't for the petition we would be alone. There are a lot of pressures inside Afghanistan from the fundamentalists. They are trying to execute my brother," he said. "Fortunately, against them, there is pressure from the international community, and The Independent petition. I really believe it will help us." (Independent)

Labels: Afghanistan, Free Speech, Womens Rights

Saudi Jeans is reporting that his, friend, fellow blogger, and activist, Fouad Al Farhan has been released after spending 137 days in jail. The circumstances of his release are not yet clear, and we will post an update about the situation in the event that he offers a response. Fouad was jailed for refusing to apologize for his criticizing of corruption in the Saudi Arabian government, and its policies which have led to a gross lack of freedom in its society.

- via Mahmoods Den

Labels: Free Speech, Saudi Arabia

Egypt has freed a woman detained earlier this month for forming a group on the Facebook social networking site that called for protests over price hikes, a security official said. Interior Minister Habib al-Adli ordered Esra Abdel-Fattah's release after her mother appealed directly to President Hosni Mubarak for her to be freed, the official said Wednesday.

"She is free, they have released her from the women's prison in Qantar," her lawyer Emir Salem told AFP.

Fattah, 27, was among several bloggers, including Mohammad Sharkawi and Malak Mustafa, arrested ahead of what was supposed to be a nationwide protest on April 6. Egyptian police took her from a Cairo coffee shop a week before the planned day of action. Her Facebook group had 64,000 members, but observation of the day of protest was sporadic.

Instead, protests focused on the Nile Delta city of Mahalla, where three people were killed by police after clashes erupted when demonstrators pulled down posters of Mubarak. (AFP)

Labels: Egypt, Free Speech, Human Rights

Iran has freed a women's rights activist in her 50s whose arrest prompted a public protest letter signed by hundreds of her fellow campaigners, the Kargozaran newspaper reported on Thursday. It said women's rights and environmental activist Khadijeh Moghaddam, 56, had been freed Wednesday following her arrest on suspicion of "acting against national security" on April 8.

Moghaddam's bail of 1 billion rials ($110,000) was paid by an unidentified individual.

She has been described as a pioneer in environmental protection in Iran, working for better waste management and protesting against deforestation.

She has also been involved with the "1 million signatures" campaign - an attempt to change Iranian laws that discriminate against women by collecting signatures online and in person.

Some 600 activists signed the letter demanding that "Khadijeh Moghaddam's illegal detention end as soon as possible," reformist media reports said earlier this week. (AFP)

Labels: Free Speech, Human Rights Watch, Iran, Womens Rights

Three Iranian students whose detention on charges of insulting Islam sparked protests from their colleagues have each been sentenced to around two years in jail, the judiciary said on Tuesday. The announcement that the three had been given prison terms ranging from 22 months to 30 months by an appeals court also ends hopes among their supporters that they could be soon freed on bail. Ehsan Mansouri, Majid Tavakoli and Ahmad Ghassaban, all from the prestigious Amir Kabir University in Tehran, have been detained since May on accusations of publishing anti-Islamic images in four student reformist newspapers.

"The Amir Kabir students case has concluded in the appeals court on charges of propaganda against the system, spreading lies and insulting religious sanctities," said judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi.

"Majid Tavakoli has been sentenced to 30 months in jail, Ahmad Ghassaban to 26 months and Ehsan Mansouri to 22 months in jail," the spokesman told reporters. (AFP)

Labels: Free Speech, Iran

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday ordered the police to protect Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, who said she had received death threats, the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported. "Following reports about threatening notes to Ms. Shirin Ebadi, the president ordered the police chief to immediately adopt measures to provide security to this Iranian citizen and alleviate concerns," IRNA said. "Ahmadinejad asked the police chief to investigate this matter, discover the origin of these letters and refer those behind it to the judiciary." Ebadi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her work promoting women's and children's rights in Iran, has annoyed hard-liners with her persistent protests against rights abuses. She said on Monday that she had received death threats pinned to the door of her office building, warning her to "watch your tongue." (AFP)

Labels: Free Speech, Iran

An Egyptian military court on Tuesday jailed 25 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood for up to 10 years for financing a banned organisation and acquitted 15 others, a court official said.

The Brotherhoood's number three Khayrat al-Shater and fellow leader Hassan Malek were jailed for seven years while seven other Islamists were jailed in absentia for 10 years.

Sixteen others were jailed for between 18 months and five years, the source said.

The Islamists were sentenced following a repeatedly delayed verdict that has no right of appeal because it is issued by a military tribunal. (AFP)

Labels: Egypt, Free Speech, Judiciary

The Kuwaiti government has withdrawn a law restricting public gatherings following strong opposition from civil organisations, political groups and activists.

The cabinet issued a statement on Monday, saying it was withdrawing the amendments, but would propose a new bill after parliamentary elections next month.

General elections are to be held on May 17.  The polls will be the second in less than two years in the oil-rich Gulf state, scene of recent clashes between tribesmen and security forces.

Women, who won the right to vote in 2005, are taking part for the second time. (Al Jazeera)

Labels: Free Speech, Kuwait

Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner and human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi has described receiving an increasing number of death threats.

They included notes pinned to the door of her office building in Tehran, warning her to "watch your tongue".

Ms Ebadi, an outspoken critic of Iran's leadership, said she had forwarded the threats to the chief of Iranian police.

She said last month: "When you believe in the correctness of your work, there is no reason to be afraid of anything."

In an interview, she told Reuters news agency that Iran's human rights record had regressed in the past two years, saying more dissidents were being jailed and more people were being executed. (BBC)

Labels: Free Speech, Iran

Hundreds of Iranian civil rights activists signed an open letter over the weekend calling for the release of a women's rights advocate arrested for "acting against national security," reports said on Saturday. Women's rights and environmental activist Khadijeh Moghaddam, 56, was arrested on April 8 and bail has been set at 1 billion rials ($108,000). Some 600 activists have signed the letter demanding that "Khadijeh Moghaddam's illegal detention end as soon as possible," the reformist Sarmayeh newspaper said. "Moghaddam is a pioneer in environmental protection in Iran," the letter said, noting her cooperation with city officials over waste management and protests against deforestation. "She has been active for years in creating jobs for women and forming women's cooperatives," it added.

"Who would believe Moghaddam has harmed national security or caused public offence?" Moghaddam has also been involved with the "1 million signature" campaign - an attempt to change Iranian laws that discriminate against women by collecting signatures online and in person. Several women have been jailed for their involvement in the campaign as Iran has stepped up arrests of human rights campaigners and trade unionists over the past year. The signature campaign was launched after a June 2006 demonstration for equal rights for women in inheritance, divorce and child custody, at which nearly 70 protesters were arrested amid allegations of police brutality. (AFP)

Labels: Free Speech, Iran, Womens Rights

Dozens of Egyptians injured during last week's demonstrations in the industrial city of Mahalla are being kept illegally handcuffed to their hospital beds, an Egyptian rights group said on Sunday. The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) said that chaining the injured to hospital beds is a violation of Egyptian and international law and of medical ethics. "Victims of police brutality should receive care and treatment, not further abuse and violations of their right to health," said Ragia Elgerzawy of the EIPR's Health and Human Rights Program. "It is disgraceful that these violations are committed without any objection from prosecutors or hospital doctors."

Egyptian newspapers on Sunday published photographs of those injured in the demonstration who had their arms and in some cases their legs handcuffed to their beds in what the EIPR said was a routine practice. Two people died in two days of rioting over price hikes and low pay in the Nile Delta city of Mahalla el-Kobra on April 6 and 7. A doctor at Mahalla Hospital said last week that 96 people had been injured in the rioting, including seven who are in critical condition. "A person in good health could suffer serious health complications if their movement is restricted for long periods," said Elgerzawy. "These risks are exacerbated if the restrained person is already suffering from injuries or illness, and the Doctors' Syndicate is under a legal obligation to end this harmful and unethical practice." (AFP)

Labels: Egypt, Free Speech, Human Rights

Kuwaiti authorities have used force to disperse a crowd protesting over a clampdown on diwaniyas, traditional meeting places, banned by law.

Colonel Mohammed al-Saber, the interior ministry spokesman, said in comments carried on Kuwaiti state television that no one was seriously injured in the clash on Friday in Sabahiya, south of the capital.

Special forces intervened and disperse more than 1,000 people who threw stones at them during an alleged secret vote for tribal primaries at a diwaniya, al-Saber said.

The TV showed forces beating back people with batons and using tear gas. Al-Saber said authorities used minimum force.

Friday's incident was the second time in a month that tribal members clashed with police over primaries that became illegal in 1998 in the Gulf country. (Al Jazeera)

Labels: Free Speech, Kuwait

A Turkish court has sentenced Leyla Zana, a Kurdish politician and former Nobel peace prize nominee, to two years in prison for spreading "terrorist" propaganda, court officials said.
Zana was convicted in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir for a speech she made at Kurdish festival last year.

In the speech, she said that the Kurdish people had three leaders, Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani, Kurdish politicians in northern Iraq, and Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader.

Zana came to prominence in 1994 when she was convicted for links to the PKK, which is outlawed in Turkey.

She was released in 2004 after Turkey's appeals court overturned her conviction and that of three other Kurdish former politicians. (Al Jazeera)

Labels: Free Speech, Turkey

The seven RAM FM employees arrested by police Monday for operating a studio in Jerusalem without a license and released after appearing in Jerusalem's Magistrate Court on Tuesday, remain under a week-long house arrest and gag order.

The English-language radio station plays Western music and aims to create dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians.

"The reality is that if we were an illegal radio station, we wouldn't have invested $2 million in it," RAM FM employee Raf Gangat said on Wednesday. "We're talking to our lawyers about the legality of the closing, and we'll have to see what happens."

Communication Ministry Spokesman Yechiel Shavi told The Jerusalem Post there was nothing irregular about the closing or the arrests. (JPost)

Labels: Free Media, Free Speech, Israel, Palestine

A Syrian state security court has sentenced to four years in jail an author accused of propagating information aimed at undermining the state, a rights organization said on Tuesday. The National Organization for Human Rights in Syria (NOHRS) said that "author and poet Firas Saad was sentenced [Monday] by the state security court to four years in jail." Firas, who has been on trial since June, was accused of "having 'propagated false information capable of weakening the morale of the state,'" a statement by the group said. The verdict was linked to articles published by Saad on the Internet in which he "analyzed Syria's official position on the war that broke out between Lebanon and Israel in 2006 and concerning author Michel Kilo."

Prominent opposition activist Kilo was sentenced to three years behind bars in May 2007, after he signed a declaration calling for radical reform in the strained ties between Syria and Lebanon. The NOHRS said it was "shocked by the harshness of the verdict against Saad" and urged the authorities to release him. Saad, who was arrested in November 2006, had told the court that his writings expressed "the opinions of a large number of Syrian people." The verdict was handed down by a court established under emergency laws imposed more than 45 years ago. Syria has detained more than a dozen dissidents in recent months. (AFP)

Labels: Free Speech, Syria

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey prime minister, has said that parliament will vote next week on a long-awaited bill to soften a law criticised for limiting free speech.
Article 301 aspires to protect the concept of "Turkishness" - the essence of the republic, its institutions and its accepted historical narratives - from criticism or denigration.

In practice, this has tended to mean that any critical questioning of sensitive historical issues, from Armenia to Cyprus to the Kurds, can lead to prosecution, punishable by up to three years in prison.

"I believe we will push the amendment to Article 301 through parliament next week," Erdogan said in a televised address to the parliamentary group of his Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Tuesday. (Al Jazeera)

Labels: Free Speech, Turkey

A planned general strike led by workers at Egypt's largest state-owned textile factory has failed to take place, after security forces seized the plant.

Sympathy protests elsewhere in the country were also cancelled, as police came out in force in central Cairo.

Opposition activists have been trying to use the planned strike to call for wider protests against government policies and rising food prices.

The authorities had threatened tough action against anyone taking part.

They said no public demonstrations would be tolerated.

Strikes are illegal in Egypt and in the past the government has ordered the police to break them up by using force.

The strike call came two days before key municipal elections on Tuesday, the first to take place under the constitutional amendments passed in March 2007. (BBC)

Labels: Egypt, Free Speech

Iran's parliament speaker called on Muslim nations on Sunday to boycott Dutch products in response to a film by a Dutch lawmaker that accuses the Koran of inciting violence, Iranian media reported.

"The best reaction by the Islamic world is to avoid buying products made in those countries that allow themselves to insult Islam," Iran's state broadcaster IRIB quoted parliamentary speaker Gholamali Haddadadel as saying.

Haddadadel said European countries "would retreat from the path they are taking once they see their economies are in danger".

Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-immigration Freedom Party in the Netherlands, launched his short video on the Internet last month, drawing condemnation from Muslim nations including Iran and Indonesia. (JPost)

Labels: Free Speech, Iran

The Egyptian state prosecutor on Wednesday ordered 147 detained members of the Muslim Brotherhood to be investigated on rioting accusations, a judicial official said, in the latest crackdown on the country's largest opposition group.

The detainees, who have not been formally charged, are also accused of holding unauthorized demonstrations after a flurry of protests in northern cities, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Thousands of Muslim Brotherhood members demonstrated across the Nile Delta on Tuesday, accusing the government of preventing them from participating in municipal elections set for April 8.

The demonstrators hurled stones at police, who responded by firing tear gas.

The 147 were detained Tuesday after the demonstrations, but the government did not announce accusations against them until Wednesday. The Brotherhood's Web site reported that the demonstrations were followed by dozens of arrests but did not give a total figure for those currently in custody. (AP)

Labels: Egypt, Fair Elections, Free Speech

Hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members have demonstrated across northern Egypt, accusing the government of preventing them from participating in forthcoming local elections.

Nine Brotherhood members were arrested on Tuesday, four in the town of Tanta, were supporters clashed with police, and five more in Qalyubiya province.

Nearly 3,000 members of the organisation protested in Zagazig, 100km northeast of Cairo, 2,000 demonstrated in the port city of Alexandria and 1,500 marched at Damanhur in the Nile Delta.

Around 700 demonstrators took to the streets in Tanta.

At least 10 activsts have been seriously injured in confrontations with the police.

The Brotherhood says more than 100 members have been arrested.

The government postponed the 2006 local elections for two years, after the group unexpectedly won 88 seats in the 454-member parliament in 2005 elections. (Al Jazeera)

Labels: Egypt, Fair Elections, Free Speech

The Taliban has said two attacks on Dutch forces in Afghanistan were in retaliation for an anti-Islamic film by a Dutch politician, the SITE Intelligence Group said on Tuesday.

In a communique posted on Web sites used by militants dated April 1, the Taliban said its Shura Council Leadership announced reprisal operations against Dutch forces because "one of the members of the Dutch parliament produced a film that hurts Islam, and he published it with bad intentions".

Dutch MP Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-immigration Freedom Party, launched the anti-Koran film "Fitna" -- an Arabic term that can mean "strife" -- last Thursday on the Internet.

The film urges Muslims to tear out "hate-filled" verses from the Koran, and starts and ends with a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad with a bomb under his turban, accompanied by the sound of ticking.

It was condemned by Muslim nations as a provocation, while Dutch Muslim leaders urged restraint. The Dutch government has said the film in no way reflects its own views. (Reuters)

Labels: Afghanistan, Free Speech

Yemeni authorities have ordered tanks and troops onto the streets in the south of the country to prevent further rioting by disaffected youths, retired military officers and their supporters, witnesses said.
Dozens of people were arrested on Tuesday, the fourth day of protests against the alleged refusal to admit them into the army.

Relatives said that three politicians from the Yemen Socialist Party (YSP), the ruling party in former south Yemen, were among those held in early morning raids on activists suspected of inciting protests in the provinces of Aden, Lahj and Dhaleh.

Demonstrators briefly blocked the road linking the capital Sanaa to the southern port of Aden with burning tyres on Tuesday, after riot police had dispersed a crowd by firing into the air.
The protesters complained that a number of youths from the region had not been admitted into the army after responding to a recruitment campaign. (Al Jazeera)

Labels: Free Speech, Yemen