[state] repression of dissent

Sudanese anti-riot police on Tuesday arrested and beat dozens of women activists shortly after they attempted to stage a protest in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman against the alleged rape of a young female activist last month and right abuses, manifesting Khartoum’s growing anxiety over dissent. Women protestors gathered in a public square in central Omdurman on Tuesday and lifted banners demanding the authorities to cease "violence against women," citing the case Saffiya Ishaq, a young female activist who appeared in a Youtube video last month accusing members of Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services of gang-raping her after she participated in anti-government protests late in January.

تحث المنظمات الموقعة أدناه مجلس حقوق الإنسان إلى التحرك العاجل للرد على القمع العنيف للتظاهرات التي تجري حاليا في منطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا وخارجها. ولا يمكن لمجلس حقوق الإنسان أن يقف موقف المتفرج من تلك الأحداث التي أودت بحياة مواطنين عاديين أو عرضت أرواحهم للخطر من خلال قمع عنيف وغير قانوني. وقد خرج مئات الآلاف من الناس في عديد من البلدان إلى الشوارع للمطالبة السلمية باحترام حقوقهم وحرياتهم الأساسية، فقتل بضع مئات من المتظاهرين، وتعرض المتظاهرون والصحفيون والمدافعون عن حقوق الإنسان والسجناء السياسيون السابقون والعاملون في المجال الإنساني للضرب أو الاعتقال التعسفي. ومن غير المقبول أن يظل مجلس الأمم المتحدة لحقوق الإنسان صامتاً في مواجهة مثل هذه الانتهاكات واسعة الانتشار لحقوق الإنسان والحريات الأساسية. فينبغي للمجلس:

Some 2,000 demonstrators again challenged the ban on protests in Algiers on Saturday. "On a marre de ce pouvoir" (we have had enough of this government!), they cried. An older man in the crowd told me, "What we want is a change of the system not a change in the system." I wish I could share the pictures I took of the protest, but my camera was stolen while I was surrounded by a debating circle of those for and against the march. Later, I am told that cameras are reportedly turning up at a nearby police station. A friend at the march, displaying typical Algerian hospitality, ran to the Rue Hassiba ben Bouali to buy me a replacement disposable camera. I filled it with more pictures – a woman in her sixties trying to inspire the marchers by singing at the top of her lungs; rows and rows of riot police banging their batons against their shields, injuries to the leg of a young protester – but that camera was then confiscated by hostile undercover policemen. So I will try to offer a few pictures in words. Those cannot be taken away.

The 14 February marked the 10th anniversary of the National Action Charter, which is considered to be the blueprint of the Bahraini reform project. In 2001, the charter was accepted almost unanimously by eligible voters, with the aim of leading to a constitutional monarchy. This chapter in Bahrain's history was supposed to end decades of authoritarian rule, emergency law and repression of political activists. The results are mixed – but the main outcome is superficial democracy. The state wanted to use this year's anniversary to create a pompous spectacle to legitimise the ruling family. Organised public rallies and parties, as well as glossy newspaper ads and posters, were pervasive.