GENEVA (Reuters) – U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet called on Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to release women activists allegedly tortured in detention after authorities accused them of harming the country’s interests. Activists have named 10 Saudi women held for their campaigning, voicing fears that they could face harsh sentences. Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor is preparing the trials of detainees,… Read more »
LONDON (Reuters) – Lawyers representing Syrian refugees in Jordan have asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Syria for alleged crimes against humanity in what they hope will be a breakthrough after previous initiatives have failed. The case is being brought on behalf of 28 refugees who are now staying in refugee camps on the border and say they… Read more »
Algeria’s ailing president has promised to step down after the next election and enact reforms, as the nation’s elite moved to consolidate its power in the face of historic mass protests. “I’ve heard the heartfelt cry of the protesters,” said Abdelaziz Bouteflika in a letter read out on national television on Sunday night. Addressing the uprising against his rule for the first… Read more »
Israeli troops have shot dead two Palestinian attackers after they deliberately drove a car into a group of soldiers, seriously wounding one and injuring another, the military said. The incident occurred after the soldiers had stopped their vehicle overnight about six miles (10km) north-west of the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. A third Palestinian in the… Read more »
United Nations — Human rights violations are at an all-time high in the Middle East and North Africa, and global indifference is only making it worse. In a new report, Amnesty International reviewed the state of human rights in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and found a bleak landscape of repression. “Across MENA throughout 2018, thousands of dissidents… Read more »
Tens of thousands of Algerians have been protesting against 81-year-old President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s decision to run for a fifth term on 18 April. It is a rare show of dissent in the North African country, where more than 30% of people aged under 30 are unemployed. Are the demonstrations a surprise? Yes, they are the biggest protests against President Bouteflika… Read more »
Yago Riedijk was born and raised in well-to-do Dutch suburbia but abandoned it all in his early twenties for so-called Islamic State (IS). Old pictures show a smiling teenager perched behind a child on a motorbike. A smattering of hairs on his chin suggests he is cultivating a beard. He left the Netherlands in 2014. If he returns, he faces… Read more »
Saudi Arabia has embarked on a global charm offensive. In the last few days it has appointed its first-ever female ambassador to its top diplomatic post – Washington DC – while its de facto leader, the controversial Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has just concluded a high-profile tour of Asia, discussing billions of dollars’ worth of trade and investment deals in China,… Read more »
Tens of thousands of Algerians have been protesting against 81-year-old President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s decision to run for a fifth term on 18 April. It is a rare show of dissent in the North African country, where more than 30% of people aged under 30 are unemployed. Are the demonstrations a surprise? Yes, they are the biggest protests against President Bouteflika… Read more »
The award-winning Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abou Zeid, who is widely known as Shawkan, has been released after five years in prison. Shawkan was arrested in 2013 while covering a deadly crackdown by security forces on a sit-in by supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi. Last September he was convicted in a mass trial and handed a five-year jail sentence, which he… Read more »