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Human rights group Amnesty International on Tuesday published a report titled “There Is No Freedom Here: Silencing dissent in the UAE”, criticizing the nation for its treatment of activists and use of repressive tactics to silence the government’s critics. In the report, the NGO reveals how dissidents are harassed, arrested, and even tortured, maintaining a climate of fear since 2011, …

Decree Broadens Jurisdiction Over Civilians (Beirut) – An October 27 decree by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt vastly extended the reach of the country’s military courts and risks militarizing the prosecution of protesters and other government opponents. The new law, decreed by al-Sisi in the absence of a parliament, places all “public and vital facilities” under military jurisdiction for …

A new report by the Norwegian Refugee Council and the International Rescue Committee released on Wednesday suggested that the plight of Syrian refugees fleeing the civil war has reached “a new level of hopelessness” as overstretched neighboring countries make it a lot more difficult to escape and developed nations like the US only resettle a small number of refugees. According …

The Iranian judiciary on Tuesday said that Iranian-British woman Ghoncheh Ghavami, who was arrested in June after trying to see a men’s volleyball game, is currently being held for security reasons and over “links with foreigners”. The 25-year-old law graduate’s lawyer had earlier in the month said she was given a one-year-jail sentence at the start of November, but the …

United Nations refugee agency UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Tuesday said that it has been forced to reduce the number of people in Iraq and Syria it provides aid to in Syria during the winter due to a lack of funds. “The whole humanitarian community is facing shortfalls. People are becoming numb”, Amin Awad, the head of the …

Syria has released around 11,000 detainees since the declaration of a general amnesty in June, Syria’s National Reconciliation Minister Ali Haidar said. However, several rights groups claim that over 200,000 people are still withering away in government jails. Haider on Monday told AFP that “11,000 people have benefited from the amnesty and been released from prison”, referring to the “general …

Iranian Deputy Judiciary Head Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejeie on Monday denied that British-Iranian Ghoncheh Ghavami was sentenced to prison after attempting to attend a men’s volleyball game. Earlier in the month, 25-year-old law graduate Ghavami’s lawyer had said that she was sentenced to one year in prison. “According to the verdict she was sentenced to one year in jail”, Iranian media quoted …

On Monday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed a five-member panel to look into Israeli attacks on UN building in the Gaza Strip and discovery of Hamas weapons in UN sites during the Israeli aggression in the Palestinian enclave earlier this year. Ban had announced plans to investigate the war during last month’s trip to Gaza, after describing the Israeli …

Rights group Amnesty International accused the Israeli military of displaying “shocking disregard” for civilian lives in the Gaza Strip during the 50-day war. In a report published on Wednesday, the group said that it had documented eight instances in which Israeli security forces attacked houses in Gaza “without warning”, killing “at least 104 civilians including 62 children”. “The report reveals …

Mario Bahjat Shaabo, who was born in a Syrian prison 26 years ago to anti-regime activist parents, was arrested on Tuesday after a trip abroad, the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said on Tuesday. “Maria Bahjat Shaabo was born in jail in 1988, while her mother was serving a four-year sentence for her political activism. On Sunday, Maria was arrested”, …