Yemen’s government denied reports that it released a large group of al-Qaeda suspects from prison—after the country’s al-Qaeda franchise announced a new leadership including ex-Gitmo detainees.
Egyptian blogger Philip Rizk, detained after a rally for Gaza, was released following an international online campaign. But Diaa Eddin Gad, a blogger arrested the same day, remains in detention.
A disturbing report from the Assyrian Policy Institute provides details on an incident in the northern Syrian town of Qamishli in which Kurdish militia fighters supposedly opened fire during a protest by local Assyrian Christians. The incident began when militia forces attempted to carry out an order by Rojava regional authorities to close Assyrian parochial schools in the town following their refusal to accept a new curriculum that school administrators said emphasized Kurdish nationalism. It ended when militiamen fired in the air to disperse the protesters who gathered at the scene. (Image: Assyrian Policy Institute)
A UN human rights panel suggests that parties to the conflict in Yemen have been perpetuating crimes under international law. The Group of International and Regional Eminent Experts on Yemen was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to monitor and report on the human rights situation in the country, and examine all possible war crimes since the war began in September 2014. The report concluded that air-strikes carried out by Yemen's government and its coalition, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have caused a majority of the civilian casualties. Other violations included persistent sexual violence and enlistment of young children into the armed forces of both sides in the war, which pits the government and its allies against the Houthi rebel forces. (Photo via Wikipedia)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi signed a cybersecurity law that gives the government broad authority to block websites deemed to constitute a threat to national security or the economy, imposing prison terms for anyone found guilty of running or just visiting such sites. Amnesty International described the new law as giving "the state near-total control over print, online and broadcast media." More than 500 websites had already been blocked in Egypt prior to the new law being signed. There is another cybersecurity law before the president, which would places all Twitter accounts with more than 5,000 followers under government supervision. With street protests in Egypt all but banned, the Internet has been one of the last spaces left for dissent. (Photo: Egypt Daily News)
In reaction to Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, a coalition of Egyptian opposition parties are seeking to ban an Israeli delegation of up to 300 pilgrims from visiting a Jewish shrine. The shrine—believed to be the tomb of a… Read moreEgypt: opposition seeks to bar Israeli pilgrims from Jewish shrine
The US State Department harshly condemned the Syrian regime over thousands of death notices it has released in recent weeks, saying they confirm suspicions of mass detentions, torture and murder. The State Department said that over 117,000 are believed to have been detained or forcibly disappeared in Syria since the conflict began in 2011, "the vast majority" by the regime. Amnesty International meanwhile issued a statement protesting the US-led Coalition’s "flurry of responses" rejecting the findings of its recent report on devastation wrought by the aerial bombardment of Raqqa last year, revealing "how deeply in denial the Coalition leadership is about its failure to protect civilians caught in conflict." (Photo: SDF)
A group of tribesmen in Amran governate of north Yemen assaulted and threatened a reporter from NewsYemen service last week over his coverage of the trial for the murder of a leader of the country’s Jewish community, Moshe Yaish Nahari,… Read moreYemen: journalist threatened for covering anti-Jewish attack
This book is a necessary corrective to the dominant perception—left, right and center—that the opposition in Syria are all jihadists and dictator Bashar Assad the best bet for "stability." Long a left-wing dissident in Assad's Syria, Saleh is a veteran of the dictator's prisons. Here, he traces the origins of the Syrian revolution to agony caused by the regime's "economic liberalization" (socialist phrases aside), describes the initially unarmed opposition's popular-democratic nature, and discusses the struggle to keep the Free Syrian Army accountable to this grassroots base after it became clear a military dimension to the revolution was necessary. He makes the case that the Assad regime can be termed "fascist" even by the most rigorous definition, and has been making good on its pledge to "burn the country" before ceding power. (Image: Haymarket Books)
A year after a network of secret prisons was first exposed in southern Yemen, Amnesty International has issued a report documenting continued rights violations in these facilities, including systemic forced disappearance and torture. The report details how scores of men have been arbitrarily detained by United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemeni forces operating outside the command of their own government. Many have been tortured, with some feared to have died in custody. Amnesty is calling for these violations to be investigated as war crimes. (Photo: Families of the disappeared protest outside presidential complex in Aden. Via Amnesty International)
The Assyrian International News Agency reports Kurdish village leaders, in league with local bosses of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), are waging a “lawful means” campaign to confiscate the lands of the Assyrian monastery of St. Gabriel, founded… Read moreAssyrian monastery pawn in Turkey’s sectarian struggles
Yemeni police in the capital Sana Nov. 27 opened fire on thousands of opposition protesters, wounding 23, three critically, rally organizers said. The Interior Ministry said the troops only fired in the air to disperse the crowd, and warned in… Read moreYemen: police fire on opposition protest
