![[Egypt] Posters of detained Sinai-based rights activist Hassan Abdallah. [Date picture taken: 09/01/2006]](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/20061092.jpg.webp?itok=SwSkiSKQ "Posters of detained Sinai-based rights activist Hassan Abdallah")
In Egypt, a medical committee under the supervision of the Ministry of Justice visited former presidential candidate Ayman Nour in prison on Saturday. The leader of the al-Ghad[Tomorrow] party suffers from heart disease and diabetes, and has been waiting for a cardiac operation since August, his family said.
Nour, who was jailed on charges of forgery which he maintained were politically motivated, has been appealing for release on health grounds and had requested that the committee re-examine his case.
“They gave him a check up and said that a decision on whether he could be released on health grounds would be made in the coming weeks”, Nour’s wife Gamila told IRIN.
Meanwhile, a number of people were arrested on 5 October and were allegedly mistreated by the police and security services, according to rights activists. In Dakhiliya Governate, police forces entered the property of local human rights activist Samy Abul Fadel and abducted his son Waseem, according to a spokesperson of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRInfo). The attack was allegedly in response to information published by Abul Fadel on police brutality in the district.
Concern rose among Human Rights groups in Egypt this week over the case of North-Sinai Youth for Change activist and Tagammu Party member Hassan Abdallah. The 28-year old Sinai coordinator for the pro-democracy group began a hunger strike in the Gharbaniat prison nine days ago, following his arrest and alleged mistreatment by security services.
The Cairo-based Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR) said in a statement that it was “concerned about the health conditions of Abdallah [and that they] request Judge Prosecutor General Abdul Magid Mahoud [to] investigate the situation inside the Gharbaniat Prison to avoid endangering Abdullah's life.”
Abdallah was arrested in the early hours of 6 September at his family home in El-Arish. His mother Kawthar told IRIN that “when the officers came, they took him in his underwear, without his shoes, or his glasses.” They said “we are the security forces, and we can do what we want”, she added.
Abdallah’s brothers - Wael and Mohammed - were also threatened by security services, and the family took refuge in the El-Arish offices of the Tagammu Party.
Hassan’s brothers say that they were arrested by security services in October 2004, following a security crackdown in the wake of the bomb attacks at Taba during the same month. Wael alleges that he was suspended from the ceiling and given electric shocks during his detention.
Wael and Mohammed believe that the security services have placed them on a ‘fugitive list’, and will arrest them if they are seen in public.
Abdallah’s family also say that they have not been told by amn id-dawla (state security) why he was arrested, and that he has not been charged. According to Ashraf Ayoub, local Tagammu party activist, “the arrest was because he was seen at demonstrations shouting ‘down with Mubarak’, and that he’s politically involved with Tagammu.”
Abdallah began a hunger strike on 26 September protesting against his detention, according his family. “They have threatened him with rape to make him stop the hunger strike”, said his mother.
EOHR Secretary General Hafez Abu Sa’eda told IRIN on Sunday “we have reason to believe that his conditions are very bad. And until now we haven’t received an answer from the Prosecutor General about whether or not they will investigate his case.”
In the terrorism-plagued Iraq, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the murder of a driver for the state-run satellite channel of al-Iraqiya who was shot dead on 4 September by unidentified gunmen in Mosul, 360 km north of Baghdad.
The assailants had ambushed Jassim Hamad Ibrahim as he was running errands for the station, the CPJ said.
"We deplore the senseless murder of Jassem Hamad Ibrahim," CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said. "The killing of journalists and media workers is making it impossible for the Iraqi people to tell their story."
Insurgents have frequently targeted Al-Iraqiya and other state-run media because of their ties to the US-supported Iraqi government. Insurgents have killed at least 19 state media employees since 2004, CPJ said.
In all, 80 journalists and 29 media support workers, including Jassem Hamad Ibrahim, have been killed in Iraq since the war began on 20 March, 2003.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch said 5 September that an armed Shi’ite group has threatened to kill Palestinian refugees living in Baghdad if they do not leave Iraq within 72 hours.
The New York-based group said it had obtained a leaflet from a group calling itself Al-Bayt Revenge Brigade Rapid Response Units that said: "There is no place for Palestinians in the Iraq of Ali, Hassan, and Hussain." [The names refer to the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, Ali, and his two sons. Shi’as believe that Ali should have followed the Prophet as his direct successor and leader of Muslims – caliph – after the Prophet’s death. Another group, Sunnis, believes that Abu Bakr, the first caliph, to hold power after Muhammad, was the legitimate successor. Most Palestinian Muslims are Sunni.]
According to eyewitnesses, trucks with loudspeakers passed through Baghdad's lawless neighbourhood of Al-Dora on 25 September and 30 September issuing death threats against Palestinians.
On 1 October, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), which is the largest opposition bloc in Jordan's Lower House of parliament, criticised the government saying that is has restricted public freedoms since it was appointed a year ago.
IAF parliamentarians said that several laws, including the controversial iftaa (Islamic edicts), khutba [sermons during Friday prayers] and anti-terrorism legislation, curtail freedom of expression.
On 6 October, Human Rights Watch issued a press statement saying it had written a letter to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, calling on him to “ halt what appeared to be politically motivated investigations of independent lawyers and other human rights defenders.” It also urged him to allow independent human rights groups to operate legally.
“The UAE’s policies toward human rights defenders are completely inconsistent with the government’s message that this is a tolerant and forward-looking country,” said Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should be encouraging these advocates, not harassing them and trying to silence them.”
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Nour, who was jailed on charges of forgery which he maintained were politically motivated, has been appealing for release on health grounds and had requested that the committee re-examine his case.
“They gave him a check up and said that a decision on whether he could be released on health grounds would be made in the coming weeks”, Nour’s wife Gamila told IRIN.
Meanwhile, a number of people were arrested on 5 October and were allegedly mistreated by the police and security services, according to rights activists. In Dakhiliya Governate, police forces entered the property of local human rights activist Samy Abul Fadel and abducted his son Waseem, according to a spokesperson of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRInfo). The attack was allegedly in response to information published by Abul Fadel on police brutality in the district.
Concern rose among Human Rights groups in Egypt this week over the case of North-Sinai Youth for Change activist and Tagammu Party member Hassan Abdallah. The 28-year old Sinai coordinator for the pro-democracy group began a hunger strike in the Gharbaniat prison nine days ago, following his arrest and alleged mistreatment by security services.
The Cairo-based Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR) said in a statement that it was “concerned about the health conditions of Abdallah [and that they] request Judge Prosecutor General Abdul Magid Mahoud [to] investigate the situation inside the Gharbaniat Prison to avoid endangering Abdullah's life.”
Abdallah was arrested in the early hours of 6 September at his family home in El-Arish. His mother Kawthar told IRIN that “when the officers came, they took him in his underwear, without his shoes, or his glasses.” They said “we are the security forces, and we can do what we want”, she added.
Abdallah’s brothers - Wael and Mohammed - were also threatened by security services, and the family took refuge in the El-Arish offices of the Tagammu Party.
Hassan’s brothers say that they were arrested by security services in October 2004, following a security crackdown in the wake of the bomb attacks at Taba during the same month. Wael alleges that he was suspended from the ceiling and given electric shocks during his detention.
Wael and Mohammed believe that the security services have placed them on a ‘fugitive list’, and will arrest them if they are seen in public.
Abdallah’s family also say that they have not been told by amn id-dawla (state security) why he was arrested, and that he has not been charged. According to Ashraf Ayoub, local Tagammu party activist, “the arrest was because he was seen at demonstrations shouting ‘down with Mubarak’, and that he’s politically involved with Tagammu.”
Abdallah began a hunger strike on 26 September protesting against his detention, according his family. “They have threatened him with rape to make him stop the hunger strike”, said his mother.
EOHR Secretary General Hafez Abu Sa’eda told IRIN on Sunday “we have reason to believe that his conditions are very bad. And until now we haven’t received an answer from the Prosecutor General about whether or not they will investigate his case.”
In the terrorism-plagued Iraq, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the murder of a driver for the state-run satellite channel of al-Iraqiya who was shot dead on 4 September by unidentified gunmen in Mosul, 360 km north of Baghdad.
The assailants had ambushed Jassim Hamad Ibrahim as he was running errands for the station, the CPJ said.
"We deplore the senseless murder of Jassem Hamad Ibrahim," CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said. "The killing of journalists and media workers is making it impossible for the Iraqi people to tell their story."
Insurgents have frequently targeted Al-Iraqiya and other state-run media because of their ties to the US-supported Iraqi government. Insurgents have killed at least 19 state media employees since 2004, CPJ said.
In all, 80 journalists and 29 media support workers, including Jassem Hamad Ibrahim, have been killed in Iraq since the war began on 20 March, 2003.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch said 5 September that an armed Shi’ite group has threatened to kill Palestinian refugees living in Baghdad if they do not leave Iraq within 72 hours.
The New York-based group said it had obtained a leaflet from a group calling itself Al-Bayt Revenge Brigade Rapid Response Units that said: "There is no place for Palestinians in the Iraq of Ali, Hassan, and Hussain." [The names refer to the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, Ali, and his two sons. Shi’as believe that Ali should have followed the Prophet as his direct successor and leader of Muslims – caliph – after the Prophet’s death. Another group, Sunnis, believes that Abu Bakr, the first caliph, to hold power after Muhammad, was the legitimate successor. Most Palestinian Muslims are Sunni.]
According to eyewitnesses, trucks with loudspeakers passed through Baghdad's lawless neighbourhood of Al-Dora on 25 September and 30 September issuing death threats against Palestinians.
On 1 October, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), which is the largest opposition bloc in Jordan's Lower House of parliament, criticised the government saying that is has restricted public freedoms since it was appointed a year ago.
IAF parliamentarians said that several laws, including the controversial iftaa (Islamic edicts), khutba [sermons during Friday prayers] and anti-terrorism legislation, curtail freedom of expression.
On 6 October, Human Rights Watch issued a press statement saying it had written a letter to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, calling on him to “ halt what appeared to be politically motivated investigations of independent lawyers and other human rights defenders.” It also urged him to allow independent human rights groups to operate legally.
“The UAE’s policies toward human rights defenders are completely inconsistent with the government’s message that this is a tolerant and forward-looking country,” said Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should be encouraging these advocates, not harassing them and trying to silence them.”
jb+sm+mf+ar/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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