The Middle East

Israel’s Health Ministry Ceases Distribution of Injectable Contraception to Ethiopian Jewish Women After Outcry

By Ali Al-Bassam
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel — The Israeli Health Ministry recently came under heavy criticism for giving Ethiopian Jewish Women an injectable contraceptive called Depo Provera unknowingly and without their consent.

The Israeli Health Ministry recently ceased the distribution of Depo Provera to Ethiopian Jewish women after allegations arose that they were being distributed to them without their knowledge or consent. (Photo Courtesy of Jerusalem Post)

Suspicions of the act’s occurence arose a few years ago and most recently after a television documentary, “Vacuum,” linked the community’s declining birth rate to an over-prescription of the drug.  The population of Ethiopian Israelis has declined by 50 percent in the last decade. According to a report by the women’s rights organization, Isha le’Isha, Ethiopian Jews makeup the majority of people given Depo-Provera in Israel.

After falling under scrutiny, Israel’s Health Ministry on Sunday ordered four public health maintenance organizations to cease providing Ethiopian Israelis the drug without the administration’s explicit consent. It is the first time that an Israeli official acknowledged that Ethiopian Israelis were being given the drug. The order came after The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) investigated the allegations.

The letter written by the Health Ministry asks doctors “why contraception is being used in general and this one in particular (Depo Provera) and if she (the patient) is asking of her own free will to prevent pregnancy and if she understands the side-effects.” No where in the letter does the Health Ministry admit to administering Depo Provera to Ethiopian Israelis without their consent, however, the ACRI found the ministry’s order to cease the administration of the drug to be an implicit admission of guilt.

“We believe it is a method of reducing the number of births in a community that is black and mostly poor,” said Hedva Eyal, who authored a report which revealed that 57 percent of all Depo Provera users in Israel were of Ethiopian origin even though their community accounted for less than two percent of the population. “It is indeed the first time that the state actually acknowledged that this procedure of injecting immigrant women with this drug, when they do not know the side effects and are given no other choice, is wrong.”

Allegations of racism in Israel have been made not just by the Ethiopian community in the country, but also by other African migrants and asylum seekers. In May, dozens of asylum seekers were injured during the Tel Aviv riots, which were encouraged by politicians who blamed Sudanese and Eritrean communities in Tel Aviv who entered the country illegally.

Claims of illegal discrimination against Ethiopian Israelis specifically reached a boiling point in 2006, when it was made public that blood donations by the community were being routinely disposed of out of fear of disease. Complaints were also raised about discrimination in jobs and education.

For further information, please see:

Al Arabiya — Outcry in Israel Over Injection of Ethiopian Jews With Birth Control Drug — 28 January, 2013

Jerusalem Post — Health Ministry: Halt Ethiopian ‘Birth-Control Shot’ — 28 January 2013

JTA — Israel’s Health Ministry Orders Halt to Injectable Contraception for Ethiopian Women — 28 January 2013

The National — Israel Accused of Forcing Birth Control on Ethiopians — 28 January 2013

Egypt Celebrates Anniversary of Revolution with More Protests

By Justin Dorman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt – Exactly two years ago, on January 25th, the Egyptians underwent a revolution to oust the military dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak. On the second anniversary of this revolution, thousands of Egyptians have taken to the streets to demonstrate against the country’s Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi.

Thousands of Egyptians rallied in the streets to protest President Morsi on the anniversary of the Mubarak uprisings. (Photo Courtesy of Al Arabiya)

Demonstrations became clashes with stone-throwing, gunfire, and tear gas between protestors and police in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez, and Port Said. Two state-owned buildings, one in Damietta and another in Kafr el-Sheikh, and one office used by the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood were also set ablaze by arsonists.

So far nine individuals have been killed. Seven of which were protestors and the other two were police. As reports are updated, the numbers continue to change, however, at the moment approximately two-hundred and eighty civilians have been injured, while another fifty-five security personnel have been hurt.

Many of the protestors present at these rallies were not shy to speak ill of their current president, Mohamed Morsi. Senior member of the Free Egyptians, Karim Abadir, stated that, “there’s no military dictatorship any more, but there are the beginnings of a theocratic one.”

Hisham Abdel-Latif, a protestor from the Cairene suburbs remarked that Egyptians are, “now ruled by a gang that is exactly the same as the Mubarak gang, except they now have beards.”

Protestor Moustapha Magdi said, “I’m here to get rid of Morsi. . .First Mubarak, then Tantawi, now Morsi. We are only ruled by bastards.”

Others chanted the mantra of 2011’s revolution, yelling as they marched, “the people want to bring down the regime,” and “Leave! Leave! Leave!”

The main complaints against Morsi are that he is only concerned with instituting Islamic law and that he has failed to address Egypt’s struggling infrastructure.

Not all of Egypt feels this way. A recent poll revealed that Morsi boasted an approval rating of sixty-three  percent. There are also other individuals who believe that Morsi has not been given a chance.

The Muslim Brotherhood does not believe that these violent protests are beneficial to the fragile country. Additionally, the Brotherhood notes that its rivals are refusing to properly adhere to the results of the free elections of the new democracy that placed the Brotherhood at the helm of the country.

Morsi, himself, took to Twitter to criticize the stone throwing protestors. He tweeted that, “the ugly violence aims at tainting the civilized nature of Egypt’s revolution. . . I call on all citizens to hold onto the noble principles of the Egyptian revolution to peacefully and freely express their views.”

For further information, please see:

Ahram – Live Updates 2: Nine dead on Egypt’s Uprising Anniversary as Morsi Offers Condolences – 25 January 2013

Arabiya News – Egypt Protesters Attack Official Buildings, Torch Brotherhoods HQ – 25 January 2013

Al Bawaba – Clashes Across Egypt on Second Anniversary of Revolution – 25 January 2013

Guardian – Violence Flares in Egypt on Anniversary of Revolution – 25 January 2013

Reuters – Five die in Egypt Violence on Anniversary of Uprising – 25 January 2013

Change of Rape Law in Morocco

By Justin Dorman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

RABAT, Morocco –There once was a time in Morocco where a rapist could avoid any charges against him, if he were to marry his victim. The times, they are changing, as is Moroccan rape law.

Amina al-Filali’s suicide triggered protests that would eventually lead to the amending of Article 475. (Photo Courtesy of Al Jazeera)

The tradition that safeguarded the rapists was codified in Article 475 of the penal code which stated that those who were found to have “corrupted” or “kidnapped” a minor could go free if they married the victim. This practice was encouraged by the courts of Morocco because of the antediluvian judgment that a woman’s loss of virginity out-of-wedlock would tarnish the respect of the family.

The strict translation of Article 475 from French reads, “When a minor removed or diverted married her captor, the latter cannot be prosecuted on the complaint of persons entitled to apply for annulment of marriage and cannot be sentenced until after the cancellation of marriage has been pronounced.”

This effort to change the law comes approximately a year after sixteen-year-old Amina al-Filali killed herself with rat poison after she was forced into an abusive marriage with Moustapha Fellak, whom had previously raped her.

Women’s rights activists are happy to see reform in this law, but are still calling for many more changes to be made. President of the Democratic League for Women’s Rights, Fouzia Assouli, explained that, “the code only penalizes violence against women from a moral standpoint, ‘and not because it is just violence’.”

For instance, the new article that was just proposed carries a twenty-year penalty for consensual sex that follows the corruption of a minor that results in “deflowering,” but carries only a ten-year penalty if no “deflowering” occurs. Similarly, there are no penalties for conjugal or marital rape, whereas nearly fifty percent of all attacks against women take place between married couples.

Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane defends his country and its practices by insisting that the change in law is more a formality than a dramatic departure from current practices. He claims that, “in five-hundred and fifty cases of corruption of minors between 2009 and 2010, only seven were married under Article 475 of the penal code, the rest were pursued by justice.”

Before the amended article becomes law, it must be passed by both houses of parliament. Parliament has been slow in the past at passing laws on women’s rights, as a law to combat violence against women has been neglected by parliament for the past eight years.

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Morocco to Change Rape Marriage law – 24 January 2013

Feminist – Morocco to Change Rape law that Forces Marriage – 24 January 2013

Jurist – Morocco to Change Rape law Allowing Marriage – 24 January 2013

National Sexual Violence Resource Center – Morocco Plan to Change Rape Marriage law – 23 January 2013

Syrian Rebels Reportedly Destroyed Religious Sites

By Ali Al-Bassam
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria — Last Wednesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported three incidents in which rebel groups appeared to have intentionally destroyed or allowed the looting of minority religious sites in northern Syria during the months of November and December of 2012.  HRW believes that such actions indicate that the Syrian conflict is becoming more sectarian.

HRW accused Syrian rebels of intentionally looting and destroying religious sites. (Photo Courtesy of RT)

“The destruction of religious sites is furthering sectarian fears…,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East Director of HRW.

Local witnesses had reported that rebels looted two Christian churches in the western governorate of Latakia, a relatively peaceful province of Syria.  Rebels were also accused of destroying a Shi’ite “husseiniya,” a religious site constructed in honor of Hussein, a martyr in Shi’ite tradition, in Zarzour, a village located in the Idlib governorate.  Its windows had been shattered, prayer stones were found all over the floor, walls were charred from flames, and what appeared to be remnants of a burned prayer rug lay on the floor.  HRW found evidence that  linked the attacks on the religious sites to areas that were falling under the rebels’ control.

Footage which was posted on YouTube on December 12 showed rebels celebrating a victory as the husseiniya burned in the background.  In the video, a fighter is seen yelling “The destruction of the dens of the Shi’ites and the Rafida,” a derogatory term used to describe the minority sect of Alawites, from which President Bashar Al-Assad is a member of.

Sunni residents of Zarzour said that the burning of the husseiniya prompted their Shi’ite neighbors to flee from the village.

On December 11, in Jdeideh, a village in the Latakia governorate, a local resident reported to HRW about how gunmen broke into the church and looted it.  During the looting, they shot off multiple rounds within the church, causing heavy structural damage.  HRW confirmed the attack after inspecting the church.  Local rebels denied that they attacked the church.  “While the motivation for the church break-ins may have been theft rather than a religious attack, opposition fighters have a responsibility to protect religious sites in areas under their control from willful damage and theft,” HRW said.

Gunmen also broke into the church in the village of Ghasaniyeh, where they stole gas and diesel fuel.  Apart from a cross on the floor, there were no indications that the building was damaged.

International humanitarian law prohibits parties involved in armed conflicts from attacking religious buildings which are not used for military purposes.  Parties cannot seize, destroy, or willfully damages religious buildings or any other cultural property.  Such attacks are recognized as war crimes.

For further information, please see:
Al Jazeera — Syria Rebels ‘Attacked’ Religious Sites — 24 January 2013
The Daily Star — Syria Rebels Must Protect Religious Sites: HRW — 23 January 2013
Human Rights Watch — Syria: Attacks on Religious Sites Raise Tensions — 23 January 2013

Fate of Five Ahwazi Arab Prisoners at Risk of Imminent Execution Unknown; International Community Should Pressure the Islamic Republic of Iran to Halt the Executions of these Men

Iran Human Rights Documentation Center

23 January 2013 – The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center joins Iranian civil society, Arab rights groups, and groups working towards global abolition of the death penalty to express its deep concern over the imminent execution of five Ahwazi Arab prisoners in the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI).

In a joint statement released today, 30 NGOs including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr. Shirin Ebadi called for the immediate halt of the executions of five men— Jaber Alboshoka, Mokhtar Alboshoka, Hadi Rashedi, Hashem Shabaninejad and Mohammad Ali Amourinejad.

In recent days, the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights have, respectively, called for a halt to the executions, and expressed concern over the fairness of the trials of the five men and allegations that they were subjected to torture.

The five men were sentenced to death last June.  On Wednesday, January 9, 2013 their families were notified that the death sentences for the five men were upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court. Family members maintain they have no current information about the whereabouts of the five men since they were transferred by security forces from Karoun prison in Ahwaz to an undisclosed location last Friday, January 18.

“Ahwazi Arabs constitute one of the most socially, politically and economically marginalized minority groups in Iran today,” said Gissou Nia, Executive Director of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. “The lack of due process and fair trial guarantees afforded these five men is in part a reflection of the larger bias the central government in Iran demonstrates towards this minority group. The Iranian government must do its utmost to address the patent irregularities in the judicial process for these five men and halt their executions immediately.”

With no official indication of the location and status of the five prisoners, they can be executed at any time.  The international community should take immediate action to prevent the execution of these five men.

For further information please contact:
Gissou Nia
Executive Director
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
Email: gnia@iranhrdc.org
Phone: +1 203 654 9342