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Showing posts from July, 2007

Syria and Iran's Human Rights 2007

These are the Amnesty International's 2007 reports on the state of human rights in Iran and its ally Syria, the Middle East's totalitarian states. SYRIA Freedom of expression and association continued to be severely restricted. Scores of people were arrested and hundreds remained imprisoned for political reasons, including prisoners of conscience and others sentenced after unfair trials. Discriminatory legislation and practices remained in force against women and the Kurdish minority. Torture and ill-treatment in detention continued to be reported and carried out with impunity. Human rights defenders continued to face arrest, harassment and restrictions on their freedom of movement. Background The state of emergency imposed in 1962 remained in force. A UN investigation continued to indicate high-level Syrian involvement in the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri, which Syria denied. Syria hosted more than 200,000 Lebanese refugees who

Iranian Regime’s Assault on Civil Society

Iran’s Assault on Civil Society cfr.org May 31, 2007 The good news is that Iranian civil society is booming. Women’s groups and labor unions, environmental organizations and students groups—even anti-land mine nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)—all ply their trade in abundance, in striking contrast to many of Iran’s Arab neighbors. As this new Backgrounder explains, the bulk of these groups took root during the reformist years of former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami. But the hard-line regime of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has brought with it bad news for such groups: a new era of repressiveness, shuttering NGOs and arresting activists. The basij, the Iranian regime’s enforcers of Islamic religious codes, routinely stop women for failing to wear proper headdress, and they and other agents of the regime harass ethnic minorities, bloggers, political activists, and homosexuals, too. Iranian author Nasrin Alavi, writing in PostGlobal, likens it to a “ second cultural revolution ,”

News Concerning Middle East Reform

This is the news section of the latest issue of Arab Reform Bulletin (June 2007) Published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Headlines: Egypt: Shura Council Elections and Other Political Developments Jordan: IAF Members Arrested Ahead of Municipal Elections Algeria: Election Results Morocco: Crackdown on Activists Kuwait: Ministers Questioned about Corruption Saudi Arabia: Morality Police under Pressure Qatar: Second Doha Conference on Democracy and Reform Bahrain: Activists Arrested Yemen: Press Censorship Press Freedom: Journalists Criticize Limited Access Upcoming Political Events Contents: Egypt: Shura Council Elections and Other Political Developments In June 11 elections for Egypt's upper house of parliament, 587 candidates competed for eighty-eight seats in twenty-four provinces. According to preliminary results, the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) won the majority of the seats, the leftistTagammu party won one seat in Alexandria, and the Muslim Bro

Syria’s Alliance with Iran

Syria’s Alliance with Iran usip.org May 2007 By Mona Yacoubian Against a backdrop of growing instability in the Middle East, and despite continued pressure from the West, Syria’s alliance with Iran appears to be holding strong and perhaps even deepening. The United States has strongly criticized both Syria and Iran for contributing to the region’s volatility and, in particular, for playing a destabilizing role in each of three regional conflicts: Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine. Recent U.S. overtures to both Syria and Iran raise the question of whether either country can be persuaded to forsake their longstanding alliance and adopt a more constructive role in the region. Main Points: Spanning more than a quarter century, Syria’s alliance with Iran has proven to be quite durable. The alliance’s breadth has insured that the bilateral relationship is not merely a tactical "marriage of convenience." Rather, deepening ties in a variety of realms—strategic, political, economic, and c