Human rights in the Middle East are deteriorating
Regional, Politics, 1/15/2005

The annual report of the American Human rights Watch said that human rights has witnessed notable deterioration in several Middle Eastern countries reflected basically in detainees torturing operations and the restrictions imposed on the opposition forces.

The report of the US organization said that Saudi Arabia is witnessing a spread of human rights violations. It said "Human rights violations are pervasive in Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy. Despite international and domestic pressures to implement reforms, improvements have been halting and inadequate. Many basic rights are not protected under Saudi law, political parties are not allowed, and freedom of expression remains extremely limited. In recent years, the government has carried out a campaign of harassment and intimidation of Saudi Arabian human rights defenders and has stifled all efforts to establish independent groups to monitor and report on abuses. Arbitrary detention, mistreatment and torture of detainees, restrictions on freedom of movement, and lack of official accountability remain serious concerns." It said that the national committee for human rights which was established in 2004 does not enjoy independence. It added "Women in the kingdom suffer from severe discrimination and restrictions in their freedom."

On the other hand, the human rights report said about Egypt "Egypt's human rights record showed little improvement during 2004. The government set up a National Council for Human Rights and appointed several respected independent activists to its board, but serious issues like routine torture of persons in detention and suppression of non-violent political dissent remain unaddressed. Emergency rule continues, providing the basis for arbitrary detention and trials before military and state security courts. Victims of torture and ill-treatment include not just political dissenters but also persons detained in ordinary criminal inquiries, men suspected of engaging in consensual homosexual conduct, and street children. Nongovernmental organizations are subjected to stringent controls under the new law on associations, and the authorities arbitrarily reject the applications of several organizations to register as NGOs, as required by the law. Women and girls face systematic discrimination under personal status and other laws, and violence directed at women and girls frequently goes unpunished."

On Iraq, Human Rights Watch said "The human rights situation in Iraq remained grave in 2004, aggravated by increased armed attacks by insurgents and counterinsurgency attacks by US-led international and Iraqi forces. Both US forces and insurgents have been implicated in serious violations of the laws of armed conflict, including war crimes. The level of violent attacks on civilians by insurgents, including suicide bombings and the deliberate killing of Iraqi civilians working with US and other foreign forces, remained high in 2004. There was also a marked increase in the number of abductions, and in some cases killings, of both Iraqi and foreign nationals. This high level of insecurity had a particularly negative impact on the ability of women and girls to go to jobs, attend school, or otherwise move outside the home. U.S. forces have also been responsible for violations of the laws of war. The photographs from Abu Ghraib prison of torture and other mistreatment of detainees, made public in April 2004, provided the most graphic evidence of abuse; further investigations revealed that abuses against detainees were not limited to Abu Ghraib. Security considerations have limited monitoring of US military operations against insurgent strongholds, but reports have emerged of US soldiers killing incapacitated Iraqi combatants, forcing civilians back into battle zones, and using unnecessary force against civilians at checkpoints. US forces continue to detain hundreds of Iraqis on the basis of Security Council authorization but in accordance with no evident law."

The report, on the other hand said that the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories remained bad because of the Israeli occupation forces incursions in the Israeli cities and imposing restrictions on the Palestinians freedom of the movement. It said "In 2004, the Israeli army and security forces made frequent and, in the Gaza Strip, large-scale military incursions into densely-populated Palestinian areas, often taking heavy tolls in terms of Palestinian deaths and injuries as well as property destruction." The report said "The Israeli authorities continue a policy of closure, imposing severe and frequently arbitrary restrictions on freedom of movement in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, contributing to a serious humanitarian crisis marked by extreme poverty, unemployment, and food insecurity. The movement restrictions have also severely compromised Palestinian residents' access to health care, education, and other services."

In Syria, the report said harassment and imprisonment of opposition and human rights defenders was the most important focus in the situation of human rights in Syria, yet, more than 100 political detainees were released in 2004. Human Rights Watch noted that "Emergency rule imposed in 1963 remains in effect."

Similarly, the report focused on what it called repression which target the opposition forces saying "Tunisia continues to use the threat of terrorism and religious extremism as a pretext to crack down on peaceful dissent." The report said "The rights of freedom of expression and freedom of association are severely restricted. Critics of the government are frequently harassed or imprisoned on trumped-up charges after unfair trials. Following the conditional release of some eighty political prisoners in early November, about four hundred remained incarcerated, nearly all suspected Islamists. There are constant and credible reports of torture and illtreatment used to obtain statements from suspects in custody. Sentenced prisoners also face deliberate ill-treatment. During 2004, as many as forty political prisoners were held in prolonged and arbitrary solitary confinement; some had spent most of the past decade in isolation."

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