Archive for category Middle East North Africa
After the cloud of tear gas
Posted by IRCT in Middle East North Africa, News & Clippings on 14/02/2012
Focus on Bahrain needed to prevent more human rights violations
Today, as the protesters have made their way from the suburbs of Manama, Bahrain, undoubtedly heading to Pearl roundabout, the security forces quickly made it known – through their sheer presence, the eventual dispersal of tear gas – that they would try to stem the tide of demonstrators at the infamous site. And in the days leading up, the government has continued crackdown and suppression efforts, denying foreigners and foreign press access to Bahrain and hiring public relations firms.
Today marks a year since protesters gathered at Pearl roundabout in Manama, demonstrating against the undemocratic monarchy of Bahrain and calling for reform. Yet, unlike other Arab Spring movements, Bahrain’s demonstrators have often been ‘shouting in the dark’, to employ the title of an Al Jazeera English documentary that chronicled the protests and the resulting crackdown.
Instead of democratic reforms, Bahrainis have faced severe repression, torture, and arbitrary detention. Just last week, Bahrain and Danish citizen and human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja wrote a letter to the Danish Foreign Ministry from prison calling for them to push for his release:
Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja’s letter to the Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs from prison, 8 Feb 2012http://www.scribd.com/embeds/81440913/content?start_page=1&view_mode=list
In it, he points to an official 500-page government inquiry in Bahrain that documented cases of torture. In addition, there was the highly publicized cases of over a dozen doctors, surgeons, and nurses at a Manama hospital who were sentenced to several years in prison after being tortured to confess. Their alleged ‘crime’: Doing their job as doctors and treating the wounded and dying protesters coming from Pearl roundabout after security forces cracked down.
All these cases, and yet it seems the torture continues in Bahrain. Within the last year, demonstrators have continued to take to the streets; and many are apprehended, detained, and torture by security forces. We hope on this anniversary that the international world focuses on Bahrain.
“What Bahrainis need is international pressure, international attention to stop the torture, stop the human rights violations; then, we can fight for democracy ourselves,” said Maryam Al-Khawaja, daugher of Abdulhadi and current foreign affairs officer from the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, during a panel discussion last year.
Calling on Egypt to do more
Posted by IRCT in Middle East North Africa on 08/02/2012
Injured demonstrators are taken to field hospitals in Tahrir Square, which have currently sustained targeted attacks against patients and doctors. Photo by Jano Charbel, available by Creative Commons License.
Following a series of recent violent crackdowns against demonstrators in Egypt (most strikingly following deaths at a football match in Port Said), we have a released a statement on our website calling for Egypt to immediately stop inflicting violence and torture and to implement a thorough investigation into the perpetrators:
The IRCT today calls for the Egyptian General Attorney to implement a prompt and thorough investigation into dozens of cases of torture and ill-treatment in Egypt that have occurred since the November 2011 crackdown on demonstrators.
We join a coalition of lawyers and human rights defenders, including IRCT Egyptian member El Nadeem Centre for Management and Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, in seeking an end to the recent violence and torture and a comprehensive inquiry into these violations. In addition, we echo the demand for accountability of security forces in connection to the massacre of football fans in Port Said last Wednesday.
Furthermore, the IRCT also condemns the targeted attacks – including arbitrary arrests, beatings, and shootings – on field hospitals constructed in Tahrir Square. The field hospitals, which were constructed to treat those wounded in the protests, have sustained several attacks on both doctors and patients.
Read our full statement here. And read more about our member centre El Nadeem, who is leading the call.
Combatting torture in trying contexts
Posted by IRCT in Middle East North Africa, Sharing Knowledge - Project Work on 18/01/2012
In Palestine and Israel despite tough conditions, skilled and hardworking organisations are working to combat torture
By Lars Døssing Rosenmeier
Just before the end of 2011, I visited the IRCT member centre the Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture (TRC) in Ramallah, Palestine. The visit was technically a “monitoring and coordination mission” under the European Commission-supported NSA project. TRC is a partner to this project that has now progressed into the third and final year.
What we call the ‘NSA’ is a project to improve the skills of 11 rehabilitation centres through exchange of knowledge between them and other IRCT member centres. If one centre excels, for example, in psycho-social rehabilitation or UN advocacy, they can share their knowledge and skills through seminars or other trainings.
As I had heard from other Secretariat staff before going to TRC (and can now personally confirm), TRC has a great management team leading a group of well trained psychotherapists. Therefore, TRC has not only taken part in NSA project activities aimed at building their own staff capacity, but has also been able to act as peer supervisors and trainers visiting other centres to share their experiences, knowledge and best practices on treatment and rehabilitation of torture survivors. The main objective of my visit was to discuss the project activities of the last two years and plan for the current.
When we visit our members, we also always try to visit current and potential donors as well as other international or local partners to strengthen existing relationships and build new ones. As the NSA project, of which I am the deputy manager, is mainly supported by the European Commission, it was only natural that I had a longer meeting at The Office of the European Union Representative to the West Bank and Gaza Strip to discuss both the work of TRC and the progress of the NSA project. I also met briefly with representatives of OHCHR and of the Dutch Foreign Ministry and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation as I was lucky enough to attend and even deliver a short speech at TRC’s celebration of the UN Human Rights Day. During this event, Palestinian Authority Minister of Justice Dr. Ali Khashan promised to facilitate better cooperation with local human rights organisations both in general and on specific cases. This was in dialogue with Samih Muhsen, of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, who in his speech had stated that Palestinian security personnel widely (to some extent even systematically) practice torture with impunity.
Most TRC clients are victims of torture or inhumane, cruel or degrading treatment at the hands of the Israeli occupation and the Israeli security forces, who are responsible for an overwhelming amount of severe human rights violations. Another important partner of the IRCT in the area is the Israeli NGO the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI). The IRCT and PCATI work together on cases of torture with IRCT providing (psycho) forensic expertise and documentation, and PCATI’s legal team pursuing cases of torture in the Israeli judicial system to bring perpetrators to justice and advocate for victims.
While meeting with PCATI in Jerusalem, I was fortunate enough to also join the legal team for a case in the Israeli Supreme Court. This case was also included in our FEAT project as part of the IRCT-PCATI collaboration on cases described above.
I sat in the benches as the legal team argued in front of the Supreme Court that a criminal investigation should be opened into the torture case, and that the State Attorney had failed to live up to his responsibility of properly looking into opening an investigation. Disappointingly for us and likely devastating for the victim, the court did not intervene. Instead the State Attorney Office’s decision to refer the assessment of whether or not to open an investigation to the Israel Security Agency (also known as the Shin Bet) internal investigator, rather than to look into the issue itself, was upheld. As a result, the case may only see a closed internal inquiry rather than an actual impartial investigation, which Israel is obliged to ensure under international law and which it has failed to ensure in this and every one of the over 700 other complaints of torture submitted in the last decade.
It is obvious that PCATI is doing very important and very difficult work as they must overcome obstacles placed in front of them by a politically biased judicial system, as is also the experience in many other countries where our centres or collaborating legal organisations pursue cases.
There are some common difficulties that face human rights work in Palestine and around the world that can be mitigated more easily. This includes a profound obstacle currently faced by not only TRC but also many other of our member centres in Europe, North America and around the world: a lack of funding for the provision of their rehabilitation services. It is painful to see that a well functioning centre such as TRC has in the last six months been hit hard by a batch of bad luck, with several key donors cutting down funding at the same time. The IRCT and its member centres are of course extremely grateful for any funding we receive, but we must also stress that the fight against torture and the rehabilitation of torture victims is too important to become a victim of budget cuts. The consequences for TRC as an organization is serious cuts in staffing for at least a large part of 2012, meaning that far less clients can benefit from their crucial services in this period.
I am confident that TRC will in the long term again function at full capacity, but in the meantime the untreated suffering is immense and it is worrying to see the funding difficulties facing well run rehabilitation centres of torture, as human rights work dealing with torture is especially difficult to fundraise for.
Lars assists the membership team and serves as deputy manager of the NSA project. The NSA project is supported by the European Commission.
In Bahrain, Protests and Police Action
Posted by IRCT in Middle East North Africa on 21/12/2011
Nicholas Kristof, a columnist at the New York Times, reports in this video from Bahrain, where he speaks with human rights defenders Nabeel Rajab, Zainab al-Khawaja, and a state spokesman from the royal family.
Read our previous post on Bahrain here, featuring a discussion with Zainab’s sister, Maryam and Nabeel in Copenhagen.
World Without Torture: A film by the IRCT
Posted by IRCT in Middle East North Africa, Voices on 06/12/2011
The film is also available with Arabic, French, and Spanish subtitles.
As we approach International Human Rights Day – 10th December – we are very pleased to announce the release of World Without Torture: A film by the IRCT that highlights the importance of documenting torture, as well as providing rehabilitation for torture survivors and working to ensure that torture doesn’t take place to begin with.
The film features the case of Khaled Said. His death at the hands of state police – and the attempt to cover it up through the official autopsy report – sparked massive protests in Egyptin the run-up to the revolution that led to the toppling of Hosni Mubarak’s oppressive regime.
Documenting torture, as in the case of Said and numerous others, is among the key priorities of the IRCT. It can have far reaching results and helps us move towards our ultimate goal: a World Without Torture.
Watch our 15 minute film to see interviews with key activists, human rights defenders, and those on the forefront of anti-torture work and rehabilitation. And celebrate Human Rights Day by sharing this video with friends and family – through e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media tools.
Congratulations to Dr. Aida Seif El Dawla
Posted by IRCT in Middle East North Africa on 06/12/2011
Dr. Aida Seif El Dawla, founding member, psychiatrist, and human rights defender at Egyptian member centre El Nadeem, has been awarded the 2011 Alkarama Award for Human Rights Defenders.
The IRCT wishes to warmly congratulate Dr. Seif El Dawla for her much-deserved recognition from the international human rights community for her long and fervent work on behalf of the victims of torture and other human rights abuses.
“This prize is not the first or the last that the collective of El Nadeem receives,” said IRCT’s Middle East and North Africa regional coordinator Giorgio Caracciolo. “And yet a thousand prizes would not be enough to reward a life dedicated to human rights and people’s well-being after torture.”
For more than 30 years, Dr. Seif El Dawla has worked toward combating torture and investigating human rights abuses in Egypt, where she co-founded IRCT member El Nadeem Centre for Psychological Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture, the Egyptian Association Against Torture, and the New Women Research Center. She was previously recognized in 2003 by Human Rights Watch for their highest honour for global human rights defenders.
Please read the full statement from the IRCT here.
Also, our Middle East North Africa regional coordinator Giorgio Caracciolo, who is quoted in this story, offered up a much more lengthy quote that we would like to post in its entirety:
It is four years now that I have worked closely with Aida and the other incredible women that, for almost 20 years, have led El Nadeem Centre and the struggle against torture in Egypt. Working with Aida, Suzanne, Magda, Basma and the others (and the guys too!) has meant a lot to me not only on the professional level but also on the personal one. This prize is not the first or the last that the collective of El Nadeem receives, and yet a thousand prizes would not be enough to reward a life dedicated to human rights and people’s well-being after torture. But if a thousand prizes would not lift the burden left by the stories received from the hundreds and hundreds torture victims supported in the last decades; if a thousand prizes will not give them satisfaction for the work that they have done until torture is brought to a halt in Egypt – every prize has its own infinite importance as this is one of the few ways for us – as an international community – to acknowledge the immense value of the work done by El Nadeem in Egypt.
I have had the privilege to support them closely in the recent past, and I wish them all the strength to continue leading their work towards a Egypt without torture.
Bahrain human rights defenders shine light on state torture
Posted by IRCT in Middle East North Africa on 01/11/2011
By Tessa
At a protest against Bahraini state TV following the crackdown at Pearl Roundabout, several demonstrators wore hats or shirts that declared 'Read to die for Bahrain'. Photo credit to Al Jazeera English via Flickr, used through Creative Commons license.
It’s hard to get through this story of torture. It was personal. It was her family.
As Maryam al-Khawaja tells it, she moves briskly through the details. She has told it many times, and perhaps dwelling too much on the words brings too great a cost.
“This is one story among many,” she says. “There have been many people tortured far worse than my father, treated far worse than my father.”
Maryam joined Nabeel Rajab at the Danish Institute for International Studies last month for an open conference on the human rights situation in Bahrain, the island nation that lays next to Qatar and Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf.
Nabeel has long been an activist for human rights in the region and currently heads the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (also @BahrainRights), an organisation with no home, he explains. For several years, they have been banned and their accounts frozen by the state. Regardless, they continue their work. Maryam serves as the organisation’s head of foreign relations, travelling predominantly throughout Europe and the United States to speak about her family’s country and the situation there. She has not returned to Bahrain since April when her father was arrested.
The arrest happened at their home in front of all their family. Her father and three brothers-in-law were arrested at the same time. The police stormed into their home, pulled her father down the stairs, and began to beat him into unconsciousness. He was taken away and not heard from again for more than a week. He was charged and sentenced to life in prison in June.
Now, Maryam and Nabeel travel the world to raise awareness of the human rights crimes occurring in their country.
“In Bahrain, they need enough international pressure to stop the human rights violations,” Maryam says. Then, the people of Bahrain themselves can advocate for a democracy.
Her major focus has also been to remind the international community of the necessity of accountability – that once the violence stops, the perpetrators of torture, violence, and war crimes need to be brought to justice.
“No one remembers the permanent damage that these assaults have had on the tortured and their families,” she says.
But for Maryam and Nabeel, also himself a victim of torture, they can remember it well.
Follow Maryam and Nabeel on Twitter (@MARYAMALKHAWAJA and @NABEELRAJAB) and Facebook (Maryam and Nabeel) for constant updates on the human rights situation in Bahrain.
For more information, please watch this one-hour documentary broadcast on Al Jazeera English earlier this year on the democratic uprisings and brutal government crackdown.
Tessa is a communications assistant, focusing on social media, story editing, and women and girls projects.
Release Rafah Nached
Posted by IRCT in Middle East North Africa on 28/10/2011
Syrian police arrested and detained 66-year-old psychoanalyst Rafah Nached. Below is our statement:
The IRCT calls for the immediate release of Syrian psychoanalyst Rafah Nached, who was arrested last month at Damascus Airport and has since been held in solitary confinement.
We are highly concerned about this arbitrary arrest, and more urgently, her condition in detention in Syria. Nached, a well-known psychoanalyst who treats victims of trauma, is in her 60s and has a heart condition that requires constant monitoring and medications. Reports have indicated that her condition has worsened significantly while in detention.
Yesterday, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for Nached’s immediate release. As her health and well-being are surely at risk from solitary confinement and detention in her condition, we call for the immediate implementation of this act.
Read our whole statement here.
Khaled Said’s killers sentenced for manslaughter; we echo disappointment of his family on this charge
Posted by IRCT in Middle East North Africa on 27/10/2011
The judge in the Khaled Said case sentenced the two policemen to seven years in prison for manslaughter. We have a statement expressing our dismay at the ruling of manslaughter over murder charges, echoing statements from the family of Said that this is an affront to the right to justice of victims of torture:
The sentencing of police officers for manslaughter, rather than murder, in the case of Khaled Said is a mockery of the victims of torture and their right to justice. The IRCT echoes the disappointment of the Said family and Egyptian human rights defenders in saying that this verdict does not reflect the crime of torture and murder.
In an Alexandria court yesterday, the judge sentenced the two policemen to seven years for manslaughter, immediately sparking outcries from the families and activists in the court.
“Justice has not been done to Khaled Said, and we will not budge,” Said’s uncle Ali Qasse told Reuters news agency.
Read our full statement here, which includes information on the forensic report we coordinated on the case.
This torture cannot continue
Posted by IRCT in Middle East North Africa, Voices on 26/10/2011
Detained, tortured and forced to flee for his life: A Syrian human rights defender recounts his experience, and calls for action from the international community to end the violence and ill-treatment against the Syrian people.
By Giorgio
Protesters in England point to an overwhelming silence of the international community on the violence and torture in Syria. Photo by Tim . Simpson from Flickr under Creative Commons
Torture and violence in Syria is reaching unprecedented and gruesome levels. Since the beginning of the popular uprising in March more than 200 people held in custody have lost their lives from torture and severe ill-treatment.
Abdul Karim Rehawi, the head of the Syrian Human Rights League, has survived President Assad’s repression. I spoke with him about his experiences in Syria and his demands for immediate support of the international community to stop the massacre and to claim justice and freedom for all Syrian citizens. We met outside Syria as he was forced to flee with his family due to direct death threats to himself and his immediate relatives.
Mr. Rehawi has campaigned for human rights and supported victims of torture in Syria since the establishment of President Assad’s regime. But during the last decades, he said he has never witnessed such widespread use of torture as he has seen since the beginning of the uprising in March.
In May Mr. Rehawi was arrested and brutally tortured by the men of the Assad’s regime. He was brought to an unknown place of detention in Damascus, blindfolded and handcuffed by iron wire; afterwards he was electrocuted and severely beaten on his hands. He was then hanged by his hands for 10 to 11 hours and beaten and kicked all over his body, during which he lost consciousness three times.
His tortures accused him of talking to the international media about “Syrian affairs”.
After being hanged, he was brought to the floor, where new beatings began and his body dragged, as a floor-wipe, all around the torture chamber. Then his torturers forced their shoes into his mouth, and he lost consciousness again.
During this period no questions were raised to Mr. Rehawi; his torture was only aimed at providing a form of punishment and intimidation.
After less than 48 hours, Mr. Rehawi was brought to a different place of detention in Damascus where more beating began, but this time he was questioned over his human rights work. Eventually he was brought to a detention centre.
Mr. Rehawi’s accounts of the treatment reserved to prisoners are no less violent than the torture he suffered. It is estimated that since March the total number of detainees has gone up from 4,000 to an astonishing 70,000; places of detention are now exploding with people.
Mr. Rehawi was confined in a room of about 22 square metres where, at some point, another 42 detainees were kept with him; the room had little light and no direct access to fresh air. In these conditions, the guards imposed harsh treatments on the detainees, who were forced to stand and face the wall during sudden inspections that were repeated several times during the day and night. Detainees were forced to access the toilettes only if stripped of their clothes and by crawling on the floor; on their way they were beaten. Some prisoners decided to stop or reduce their eating and drinking to avoid the need for toilettes.
Mr. Rehawi shared other stories of protesters being killed after brutal tortures. The corpse of one protester was returned to his family with a stick inserted from his anus and forced out of his body from the shoulder. Another corpse was returned to his family with parts of his body sawed together, as after a surgical intervention, which raised additional fears of organs extracted for trade. One protester was killed by crucifixion.
These are horrific tales. Torture and other horrific stories of ill-treatment continue unabated under the Assad regime, and the international community must take action now.
The international community of states and civil society must denounce the repression led by President Assad. Permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, China and Russia, need to revise taken action. The League of Arab States must underline that the current regime has forfeited its legitimacy and suspend Syria’s membership.
Giorgio supports the IRCT’s programmes in the Middle East North Africa and Asia, including working with the region’s member centres and other institutions to promote a culture for prohibition of torture.
