Egypt Warns Against General Strike

By Laura Zuber
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt – Egypt’s Interior Minister declared that government “agencies will take the necessary and immediate firm measures against any attempt to demonstrate, block traffic, or hinder public services – or inciting any of these acts.”  Also, state-owned daily Al-Ahram warned that individuals inciting or participating in the strike could face prison.

Egypt’s largest state-owned textile factory, Mahalla al-Kobra, called for its workers to strike on April 6 to protest against low wages and increasing food prices.  A call for a general strike has been circulating for a week via the internet and cell phones.  For example, a group on the social network site Facebook, “April 6”, has attracted over 64,000 members.

Strike organizers urge people to stay home from work, avoid shopping, wear black clothes and hang the Egyptian flag from windows and balconies in a show of support for the strikers.

UN’s World Food Programme said that the average household expenditure has risen by 50 percent since the start of the year.  The price of food in Egypt has sky-rocketed since the start of the year.  As food prices increased, so has popular discontent.  Since the strike was announced last week, President Mubarak has lifted taxes on some foodstuffs in an effort to soften economic affects of the price increase.

The Interior Ministry stated that the government was not trying to prevent freedom of expression, but that “such actions must come through legitimate channels and the qualified unions and professional associations according to the law.”  Under Egypt’s emergency law, strikes and public demonstrations are illegal.

For more information, please see:
AFP – Egypt Rails Against General Strike Call – 5 April 2008

Al Jazeera – Egypt Issues Strike Warning – 5 April 2008

International Herald Tribune – Egypt’s Interior Ministry Warns Against Participating in a General Strike – 5 April 2008

AHN – Egyptian Opposition Groups Call for Sunday Strike – 3 April 2008

BRIEF: Khmer Rouge Tribunal Receives Funds from Australia, Still in Need

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – The Khmer Rouge Tribunal received an additional $459,000 in funds from Australia. The tribunal, however, is still in need of an additional $114 million to ensure the proceedings can go on. Senior minister Sok An expressed his confidence in additional contributions, “We will have no problem with the financial support.” The Khmer Rouge Tribunal’s original budget was $50 million over three years, but because of delays, the tribunal is expected to continue past 2011.

For more information, please see:

Radio Free Australia – Australia Injects Funds into Cambodia Trial – 3 April 2008

Reuters – Cambodia Says Khmer Rouge Court Funds “No Problem” – 3 April 2008

No Convictions in Extrajudicial Killings in the Philippines

By Kristy Tridhavee
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Asia

MANILA, Philippines – The European Commission has acknowledged that the number of extrajudicial killings have decreased and more cases are prosecuted, but at the same time, there have been no convictions. Human Rights Watch [HRW] asks that the United Nations should review the Philippine’s government’s failure to hold responsible parties accountable.

The European Union and the Philippine government have pledged to create the EU Justice Assistance Mission [EUJAM], which will help strengthen the country’s criminal justice system. The 18-month program will help build ties between the criminal justice institutions, civil society, and independent agencies like the Commission on Human Rights and the Office of Ombudsman.

The European Commission head of delegation, Alistair MacDonald, said, “We will provide the Philippine government technical assistance in conducting investigation, forensics, training for the judiciary, the Commission on Human Rights and we will even coordinate with members of the civil society.”

For the last 7 years, nearly a thousand members of the left-wing political parties, activists, journalists, and clergy have gone missing or been killed. The UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions, Philippine human rights groups, and HRW all have strong evidence of military involvement in the disappearances and murders.

The Philippine government has said that it is a priority to address the extrajudicial killings and disappearances by bringing the perpetrators to justice and prevent future killings. The government also reported that the number of killings had dropped significantly in 2007.

Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at HRW, pointed out that the drop in killings is only one improvement. She said, “A pause in political killings will mean little in the long run unless those responsible are prosecuted. Of the hundreds of political killings since 2001, not a single military official has been convicted.”

For more information, please see:

HRW – Philippines: Justice Absent in Killings and ‘Disappearances’ – 27 March 2008

The Inquirer – ‘More Prosecutions but No Convictions on Extrajudicial Slays’ – 4 April 2008

The Manila Times – EU, Philippines to Work on Extrajudicial Killings – 5 April 2008

Rights Groups Condemn Saudi Fatwa

By Ben Turner
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East Desk

RIYDAH, Saudia Arabia – A group of over 100 Arab rights groups and intellectuals condemned a Saudi religious edict calling for the death of two newspaper columnists, saying the fatwa was the result of “clerics of darkness” performing intellectual terrorism.

“All we can see in this fatwa is intellectual terrorism which sees ‘Islam’ as its exclusive monopoly and only sees in the ‘other’ blood which can be shed freely,” said the statement sent out by the rights groups.  The statement also said that religious scholars who branded other Muslims as infidels were “clerics of darkness, fooled through their arrogance and inflated by their status into thinking that they speak in the name of God.”

Sheikh Abdul-Rahman al-Barrak, one of Saudi Arabia’s most revered clerics, said in a rare religious ruling in March that two newspaper columnists should be put to death unless they renounced their “heretical articles” in public.

“Anyone who claims this has refuted Islam and should be tried so that he can take it back. If not, he should be killed as an apostate from the religion of Islam,” Barrak said. “It is disgraceful that articles [of] this kind of apostasy should be published in … the land of [Mecca and Medina].”

Writing in al-Riyadh newspaper, Yousef Aba Al-Khail and Abdullah bin Bejad questioned the Sunni Muslim view in Saudi Arabia that Christians and Jews should be considered unbelievers.  Barrak, who was backed by a group of 20 Saudi clerics, said their statement implied that Muslims were free to follow other religions. None of the clerics speak for the Saudi government, which is represented by the Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdel-Aziz Al al-Sheikh.

Barrak is seen as one of Saudi Arabia’s leading religious authorities and his fatwa, or religious ruling, was praised by clerics who asked God to support him in the face of liberals with “polluted beliefs.”  Fatwas by radical Muslim clerics led to the assassination in 1992 of the Egyptian writer Farag Foda and to an attempt in 1994 in Cairo to murder the Egyptian Nobel prize-winner Naguib Mahfouz.

“We are extremely worried about the safety of our colleagues and ask the Saudi government to ensure their safety,” Committee to Protect Journalists Executive Director Joel Simon said. “It is ironic that writers advocating tolerance and reform are subject to incitement and death threats.”

For more information, please see:
Washington Post – A Hint of Tolerance – 4 April 2008

Guardian – Intellectuals Condemn Fatwa Against Writers – 3 April 2008

New York Times – Saudi Ruling Assailed – 2 April 2008

Reuters – Arab Rights Groups, Figures Slam Saudi Death Fatwa – 1 April 2008

Arab News – Of Fatwas and Infidels – 27 March 2008

CPJ – Saudi Cleric Issues Fatwa Against Two Journalists – 20 March 2008

UPDATE: Hu Jia, Chinese Dissident, Sentenced to 3.5 Years for Subversion

BEIJING, China – A Chinese court has sentenced Hu Jia, Chinese dissident and activist, to jail for 3.5 years for “inciting subversion of state power.” The official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, reported that Hu Jia made a confession, which lead to the court to give a relatively light sentence.

Hu Jia is a prominent human rights activist and dissident that has openly criticized the Chinese government. Recently he wrote: “Is China improving its human rights record? When you come to the Olympic Games in Beijing, you will see skyscrapers, spacious streets, modern stadiums and enthusiastic people. Please be aware that the Olympic Games will be held in a country where there are no elections, no freedom of religion, no independent courts, no independent trade unions; where demonstrations and strikes are prohibited.”

Dozens of supporters stood outside the courthouse when the sentence was announced. Li Hai, a supporter, commented, “Hu Jia is a hero to us because he stood up to speak out, so we should also speak out.”

For more information, please see:

Impunity Watch – Chinese Dissidents Detained and to Stand Trial for Criticisms– 10 March 2008

Impunity Watch – UPDATE: Human Rights Watch Calls Hu Jia’s Trial a “Sham” –18 March 2008

International Herald Tribune – Chinese Civil Rights Activist, Hu Jia, Sentenced to Prison – 3 April 2008