With Lebanon in spotlight, rights abuses persist in Iraq, Jordan

While Israel’s punishing assaults on Lebanon continue to dominate regional news, human rights abuses continue to be reported elsewhere in the region. Egypt saw the beginnings of a new era of tighter internet regulation this week, while several journalists were killed in Iraq. Rights groups also criticised the recent arrest and sentencing of two Islamist members of parliament in Jordan. With Lebanon facing constant Israeli air strikes, a group of United Nations human rights experts on 7 August postponed a mission to the country due to the ongoing conflict. Fighting began on 12 July when the Israeli military began launching strikes against targets in Lebanon following the capture of two Israeli soldiers by the armed wing of the Lebanese political party Hezbollah. Experts have been keen to visit both Israel and Lebanon ever since the outbreak of hostilities last month. But while Lebanese authorities agreed to the visit last week, the UN experts – who said in a statement that they remained “extremely concerned” about the impact of the fighting on the humanitarian situation – postponed the scheduled visit to Beirut citing security concerns. In Egypt, meanwhile, the Cairo-based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HR Info) reported on 8 August that Al-Ahram newspaper, the largest media institution in the Middle East and North Africa, had installed a filter for blocking certain websites on its internal computer network. The network serves nearly 15,000 Al-Ahram staff members, including some 2,000 journalists. Calling the move a “strike against press freedom in Egypt”, HR Info noted in a press release that journalists had expressed fears that the number of blocked websites would eventually expand to include any material that the Al-Ahram administration – which is ultimately headed by the government – might disapprove of. “This is a serious and erroneous procedure, especially when it is practiced by a press foundation such as Al-Ahram,” said HR Info Executive Director Gamal Eid. “Such an action is in contradiction with the supposed role of the foundation. We hope that the foundation will correct this procedure and uphold press freedom and the right of journalists to exchange information.” In Iraq, meanwhile, where sectarian violence has raged unabated since February, five Iraqi journalists were killed in separate incidents, police said. Mohamed Abbas Hamad, 28, a journalist for Shi’ite newspaper Al-Bayinna al-Jadida, was shot on 7 August by masked gunmen as he left his home in western Baghdad, according to Lt. Mohamed Khayon of the Baghdad police. On the same day, the badly tortured and bullet-riddled body of freelance journalist Ismail Amin Ali, 30, was found in eastern Baghdad after he was abducted two weeks earlier. On 1 August, Ali al-Yass, a reporter with the pro-US al-Hurra satellite channel, was beaten up by Interior Ministry agents after attempting to report on a kidnapping in Baghdad. Two other journalists killed in Baghdad in the past week were identified as Abdul Wahab al-Qaisi, a reporter for Kol-al-Dunia magazine, and Adil Naji al-Mansory, a reporter for al-Alim television, according to the journalists’ group the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory. International NGO Reporters without Borders stated on 2 August that about 100 journalists and media professionals are known to have been killed in Iraq since 2003. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, meanwhile, put the number at 75 journalists and 27 media assistants killed for the same period. These figures do not include the most recent deaths. In Jordan, a special committee was set up on 6 August by the Public Security Department (PSD) to investigate the death of a man while in police custody. Salameh Nawasrah, 45, was detained by a police anti-narcotics unit in the southern city of Karak, said PSD spokesman Bashir Daaja, and was declared dead at the al-Bashir hospital in Amman earlier this week. According to Daaja, an autopsy will be conducted to determine the precise cause of death. According to some of Nawasrah's relatives, the body bore traces of torture. “He was in good health before the police arrested him,” said one of the dead man’s relatives. “Something must have been done to him.” Jordanian security forces are known for using various methods of torture to extract confessions from political and non-political detainees, according to human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. On 6 August, the military-run State Security Court found two Islamist members of parliament guilty on charges related to comments made praising Al-Qaeda’s slain leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Mohammad Abu Fares, 68, and Ali Abul Sukkar, 45, were sentenced to two years and one year and a half respectively on charges of “fuelling national discord”. The defence team, led by Jordanian Bar Association head Saleh Armouti, criticised the trial, saying its clients were not given the chance to defend themselves. While Armouti had initially called for trying the case in a civil court, his request was ultimately rejected. The two MPs were arrested on 12 June, two days after they had visited the dead militant’s family. The arrest of the two legislators – who have maintained their right to speak freely – was widely criticised by local and international human rights groups. AR+AM+SM+MBH/AR/AM