By Justin Dorman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

MUSCAT, Oman – Recently, both Human Rights Watch, Swiss-based Arab rights group, Alkarama, and the International Federation for Human Rights have called for the release of reform activists in Oman who have merely utilized their rights to expression and association. Twenty-four of such individuals are participating in hunger strikes while incarcerated, in order to make others aware of their cause, and hopefully persuade Oman’s Supreme Court to listen to appeals on their cases, which they have so far rejected.

Oman’s actions to arrest and detain individuals who peacefully protest, violates both its own laws and international law. According to Oman’s Basic Law, Article 29 guarantees individuals the freedom of speech. Additionally, under international human rights law, content-based restrictions of expression are only allowed in incredibly narrow situations. Such situations include any inflammatory speech which is directed to incite violence, or slander or libel against private citizens.

Peacefully protesting and calling for reforms to bring about a better government do not warrant restriction. Defamation against politicians is possible, however, the standard at which the defamation is judged is greater than that of the ordinary citizen. Politicians willingly submit themselves to the spotlight of the public forum. Furthermore, it has been globally recognized that the citizen’s right to hold politicians accountable leads to a greater government which better corresponds to the will of the people.

Many of those who have been detained were arrested for cybercrimes based on their Twitter tweets and Facebook posts. Their comments fell very short of calling for tyranny or death to the Sultan. Instead, they spoke of specific instances in which reform would be beneficial to the country.

For example, Ismail Al-Muqbali tweeted, “the lower house will not be able to respond to the people’s demands until it transforms its policies from mere reactions to initiatives and affirmative actions.”

Osama Al Tuwayyah blogged, while out on bail, “to everyone. . .our judicial system does nothing but protect corruption. . .To everyone. . .Our judicial system is not transparent or accountable in any form.”

Instead of being able to work towards positive reform of Oman, these individuals have been found guilty of defaming the Sultan, violating the cyber law, unlawful assembly, disturbing the public order, and illegal gathering.

Deputy Middle East director for Human Rights Watch, Joe Stork said that “Omani authorities are trying to suffocate the pro-reform movement by imprisoning these activists with laws that violate international standards, but the activists are refusing to be silent.”

Besides for refusing to be silent, they are also refusing to eat. Twenty-four activists have been partaking in a hunger strike to protest their incarcerations since February 9, 2013. Six additional violent protestors who were arrested have also joined this hunger strike. That makes a total of thirty Omani individuals who are starving for government reform.

As time passes, the conditions of these hunger strikers continue to deteriorate, almost to the point of death. Saeed Al-Hashemi was taken to the Royal Hospital in Muscat, where a neurologist said he was in dire need of treatment after taking some horrific blows to the head at a “peaceful” protest. Hamad Al-Kharusi and Bassam Abu Qasida  have also been moved to the jail’s clinic to treat their extreme exhaustion.

For further information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – Oman: Free Reform Activists – 22 February 2013

International Federation for Human Rights – Oman: Release Immediately and Unconditionally all Detained Human Rights Defenders and Activists – 21 February 2013

Alkarama – Oman: Nine Online Activists Calling for Reforms Sentenced to Prison – 9 February 2013

Amnesty International – Oman: Activist Arrests Threaten Freedom of Expression – 15 June 2012

By Ali Al-Bassam
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SANA’A, Yemen — At least four demonstrators were killed last Thursday by Yemeni security forces in the southern port city of Aden.  Security forces opened fire on demonstrators who assembled t0 call for independence for Yemen’s southern region.  At least eighteen other protesters were wounded.

On the first anniversary of the uncontested election of President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, who succeeded the ousted theocratic leader Ali Abdullah Saleh, thousands of demonstrators gathered at a square in Aden.  Many demonstrators came to voice their support for Hadi, while many others came to show their support for the Southern Movement.

“They [the police] fired on activists trying to reach the place where the rally was being held,” said Fathi Ben Lazraq, a member of the independence seeking Southern Movement.  Officials reported that police forces were trying to stop a clash between the Southern Movement and the Al-Islah (Reform) party, who held their demonstration in support of national unity and of Hadi.  Officials also reported that at least four of those wounded during the protests were Yemeni army soldiers.  Security officials also reported that two policemen were wounded by sniper fire from buildings that surrounded the square.

Al-Islah supporters numbered in the thousands, as they gathered in the square, they were seen waving Yemeni flags and carrying portraits of Hadi.  They also held banners that exclaimed “unity is our strength,” and chanted “for dialogue, we will pursue our march.”

Southern Movement supporters also came to the square waiving flags of the former South Yemen, which unified with the north in 1990.  They were carrying portraits of Ali Salem al-Baid, the last president of the region prior to the unification of Yemen.  They chanted “Revolution in the south, occupiers go out,” as they made their way to the square.

Many from the southern Yemen region feel that they have been disenfranchised for decades, and want South Yemen to be a socialist state independent from the northern region.  Prior to its unification with the north, and following its independence from Britain, the region was formerly a secular socialist state.

Southern Movement leaders said they are open to dialogue, however a hardline separatist faction within the group led by the exiled al-Baid refuses to take part.  Abdullah al-Alimi, organizer of the Al-Islah rally, said of the Southern Movement that “the cause of the southerners is just, but it should be resolved through dialogue.”

Amnesty International urged authorities to end “the routine violent repression of protests.” “The Southern Movement and its followers have a right to protest peacefully, and the Yemeni authorities must allow them this right,” the human rights group said.

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera — Three Killed in Yemen Ahead of Protest Rally — 22 February 2013

BBC News — Yemen Forces Fire on Aden Demonstrators — 21 February 2013

Global Post — Yemen: Protestors Killed in Pro-Secession Rallies — 21 February 2013

Naharnet — Yemen Police Kill Four at Aden Rally — 21 February 2013

By Justin Dorman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel – “Tradition, tradition! Tradition!” are the main words repeated in the classic Fiddler on the Roof song. While it is true that many cling to tradition, there are plenty of modern women who envision something more for themselves than keeping a proper, kosher home and raising the family so that Papa can be free to read the holy books. Such modern women include Israeli-American Rabbi Susan Silverman, her daughter Hallel Abramovitz, chairwoman of the Women of the Wall, Anat Hoffman, and United States rabbis, Debra Cantor and Robin Fryer Bodzin. These women were arrested approximately a week ago for singing and reading from the Torah while wearing traditionally male prayer shawls at a Rosh Chodesh service at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

Rosh Chodesh is a special service which celebrates the start of a new month of the Hebrew calendar. The Western Wall in Jerusalem, also known as the Kotel, is the holiest of Jewish sites, and is believed to be the last remnant of the ancient Jewish Temple. The holy site, which is an extremely popular location for prayer, is governed by ultra-Orthodox law. There is a bifurcation of women and men, and women are not allowed to wear prayer shawls.

In 2003, the Israeli Supreme Court upheld a ban by the government which denied women the ability to wear teffilin or tallit prayer shawls, or read from the Torah at the Western Wall. Silverman, her daughter, and the others insisted that they were not actively protesting the ban, but merely trying “to perform the four Ts.”

The police stood and waited as the women danced in a circle. At the completion of the service, the women were then taken to the Old City of Jerusalem Police Department. They were released on the condition that they sign a document stipulating that they not visit the Wall for fifteen days.

Famed American comedian and sister and aunt to Rabbi Silverman and Abramowitz, Sarah Silverman took to Twitter and tweeted, “So proud of my amazing sister and niece for their ballsout civil disobedience. Ur the tits #womenofthewall.” Abramowitz tweeted back, “hey auntie, want a copy of my mugshot?”

Although the punishment for the arrest was just a two week ban; when Abramowitz realized that the ban coincided with the holiday of Purim and the Women of the Wall’s Megillah reading, she went back to the police station with her father and lawyer. Shortly after, the police acquiesced to Abramowitz’s requests, and she was cleared to attend the services at the Kotel. When you read from the Megillah during Purim, you are reading from the Book of Esther. Anat Hoffman reminds us that Esther was not a lady who was afraid to speak out.

The few that were arrested were not the only Women of the Wall who have been arrested recently. The number of arrests have risen so much so that Prime Minister Netanyahu appointed Natan Sharansky to find some type of compromise. He will apprise Shmuel Rabinowitz of his decision in the spring.

For further information, please see:

Jewish Press – Police let Sarah Silverman’s Niece Visit Western Wall on Purim – 20 February 2013

Guardian – Sarah Silverman Tweet Puts Women’s Western Wall Protest in Global Spotlight – 16 February 2013

Daily Beast – Women of the Wall, Sarah Silverman-Style – 13 February 2013

Virtual Jerusalem – Women of the Wall, Silverman’s Sister Arrested at Kotel – 11 February 2013

By Justin Dorman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt – Yesterday, both liberal anti-Morsi protesters and Islamic pro-Morsi supporters  took to the streets in Egypt to demonstrate. The Morsi opponents were protesting against what they perceived as Morsi’s consolidation of power and implementation of Sharia law. The Morsi supporters were demonstrating against violence caused by protests and the need for Sharia law. Predictably, violence broke out.

The anti-Morsi faction congregated outside El-Quba, one of the presidential palaces. They called the rally, “Checkmate Friday,” as if they had cornered the king. The protesters view Morsi as a dictator who has failed to actualize the purposes of the revolution which put him in his position.

National Salvation Front, the main opposition group to Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, was not involved in this protest. They sought to distance themselves from the protest after coming under criticism that they have been inciting street violence.

As nightfall covered the protest, violence eventually ensued. “Troublemakers” threw rocks and petrol bombs, and security forces answered back with tear gas and water cannons.

Away from the main rally, in the industrial town of al-Mahalla al-Kubra, protesters set fire to a local government building. Additionally, in Alexandria, protesters who tried to force their way into a police station were met by security force violence.

Thousands of pro-Morsi demonstrators also met in Cairo to show  their support for President Morsi and to denounce the violence that has occurred as a result of anti-Morsi protests. This demonstration was dubbed the “Together Against Violence” rally and was organized by the ultraconservative Salafi Islamist group Al-Gama’a al-Islamiya. Ironically, Al-Gama’a al-Islamiya led an armed revolt against the state in the 1990s, but has since denounced violence.

Since the anniversary of the ousting of Mubarak in January, at least sixty people have died as a result of demonstration violence. The pro-Morsi group is calling for an end to this unrest so that Egypt can gain some semblance of stability, such that tourists will not fear the Egyptian political climate and jumpstart its economy. Instead, the protesters just want the whole country to embrace Sharia law.

Mohammed al-Sagheer, a Muslim cleric in the crowd declared that, “the person who came [to power] through ballot boxes will not leave by firebombs.”

Others held banners which read, “No to Violence. Yes to Sharia.”

The demonstrators chanted, “Islam is coming, the Koran is our constitution,” as they marched to the central rally point of Cairo University.

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Pro-Morsi Protesters Rally in Cairo – 15 February 2013

Examiner – Morsi Supporters Hold Rally in Cairo – 15 February 2013

Jerusalem Post – Egypt Islamists Rally Against Violence, for Sharia – 15 February 2013

Reuters – Islamists Rally for Egypt’s Mursi in Cairo – 15 February 2013