State control

Iran: Call for release of human rights defenders and prisoners of conscience

The International Solidarity network, Women Living Under Muslim Laws, joins civil society groups and organisations such as Amnesty International, The Feminist school, The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran and The Observatory in condemning the recent wave of arrests of over 18 women's rights activists and the harsh sentences passed on three journalists in December 2009 and January 2010.

Iran: Three Iranian journalists sentenced

Bahman Ahmadi Amou'i and Saeed Laylaz have been sentenced to prison terms, Bahman Ahmadi Amou'i also to flogging. Keyvan Samimi Behbehani remains in solitary confinement. All three men are prisoners of conscience. Bahman Ahmadi Amou'i, an editor at the business daily paper Sarmayeh which was closed by the authorities on 2 November, was sentenced to seven years and four months’ imprisonment and 32 lashes on 4 January 2010 by a Revolutionary Court in Tehran. The sentence includes five years for "colluding with intent to harm national security;" one year for "propaganda against the system;" one year and 32 lashes for "disrupting public security" and four months for "insulting the president." His lawyer is lodging an appeal within the required 20 days and will request his release on bail until the appeal is heard. He is held in Section 350 of Evin Prison.

Iran: Citizens further isolated by contacts ban

Amnesty International fears the Iranian authorities are implementing a programme that will isolate Iranians from the outside world after contact with more than 60 foreign institutions, including human rights organizations, was banned. A statement issued by the Iranian authorities on Tuesday also designates as subversive a number of foreign media outlets, thereby criminalizing contacts with them. The move leaves anyone making such contacts at risk of prosecution and appears designed to hide from the world the true scale of what is happening in Iran and to obstruct reporting on human rights violations, the organization said.

Belgium: Woman fined $300 for wearing burka

A Belgian Muslim woman was ordered to pay 200 euros ($300) for wearing a burka, a Islamic outfit that covers everything but the eyes, in a public place, the La Capital paper reported on Thursday. The woman was detained while taking her children to an Islamic school in the Etterbeek municipality of the Belgian capital, Brussels. She was initially ordered to pay a 35-euro fine for violating a local ban on covering faces in public places.

Egypt: Is Niqab Ban in University Exams an Excessive Measure?

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) today regretted the ruling on 3 January by an administrative court to uphold a new decision banning students who wear the niqab, or full face veil, from sitting for exams in public universities. The EIPR said the ban's declared objective of preventing cheating during exams could be achieved through less drastic measures. Female students wearing the niqab told the court they were prepared to uncover their faces and be subjected to body searches at the beginning of each exam.

Iran: Arrest of 16 Activists from the Women’s Movement, Women Journalists and Civil Activists

During the past few days after the incidents of Ashura, large number of activists such as Mansoureh Shojaee, Zohreh Tanekaboni, Badarolssadat Mofid, Mahin Fahimi, Leyla Tavassoli, Noushin Ebadi, Nasrin Vaziri, Nilofar Hashemi Azar, Atiyeh Yousefi, Bahareh Hedayat, Nafiseh Asghari, Maryam Ziya, Mahsa Hekmat, Parisa Kakayi, Forough Mirzayie, Sara Tavsoli and many others have been arrested.

Iran: Arrest of Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi's Sister

Following increasing threats and harassment earlier in the year, Nobel laureate and women's rights advocate Shirin Ebadi has been unable to return to Iran since the June 2009 presidential election. She has, however, remained vocal in her defense of human rights, and as a result, her 47-year old sister, Noushin--a professor of dentistry who is not engaged in any human rights work or political activity--was arrested in her home in Tehran by security officials on Monday, December 28. The previous week, Noushin Ebadi had been contacted by officials and ordered to tell her sister to stop her work.

Uzbekistan: Woman Human Rights Defender Umida Ahmedova Facing Charges

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Uzbekistan. The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the judicial harassment faced by Ms. Umida Ahmedova, a women human rights defender, photographer and film-maker from Uzbekistan. According to the information received, on December 16, 2009, Ms. Umida Ahmedova was informed by the Mirobod Department of Internal Affairs that she was facing charges of “slander” and “insult” (respectively Articles 139 and 140 of the Uzbek Criminal Code) of the Uzbek people.

Israel/Palestine: Military crackdown on popular struggle

There is an internal document that has not been leaked, or perhaps has not even been written, but all the forces are acting according to its inspiration: the Shin Bet, Israel Defense Forces, Border Police, police, and civil and military judges. They have found the true enemy who refuses to whither away: The popular struggle against the occupation. Over the past few months, the efforts to suppress the struggle have increased. The target: Palestinians and Jewish Israelis unwilling to give up their right to resist reign of demographic separation and Jewish supremacy. The means: Dispersing demonstrations with live ammunition, late-night army raids and mass arrests.

UPDATE: Iran: Human rights activists arrested on way to funeral of Montazeri

At least five people, including human rights activists, have been arrested in Iran while on their way to attend the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Hosseinali Montazeri, a senior cleric who criticized the Iranian government’s crackdown on demonstrators in the aftermath of the June contested presidential elections. Their whereabouts are unknown, and they are at risk of torture or other ill-treatment. Shiva Nazar Ahari and Kouhyar Goudarzi, two human rights activists and members of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR), and Saeed Haeri, were arrested by police officers and officials from the Ministry of Intelligence on 20 December in Tehran. They were taken from a bus which was about to drive to the northern city of Qom, where the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri took place on 21 December. Also on board the bus were civil society activists and relatives of some of those arrested following the disputed 12 June 2009 presidential election.