HRW, Our Inhumane Human Rights...................

              

“Middle East governments repressed efforts to promote human rights and backed away from bold reforms despite growing human rights challenges and promises to take action, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing the Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen country studies from its World Report 2010……… The studies detail missed opportunities on women's rights in Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria; ineffective measures to protect migrant domestic workers in Jordan, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia; torture of suspects in custody in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria; and repression of human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen. Saudi Arabia discriminated against its Shi'a population and Syria against its Kurds; Lebanon disregarded the plight of its Palestinian refugees; and Jordan stripped some Jordanians of Palestinian origin of their Jordanian nationality. Yemen's government committed violations in the civil war in the north and the social unrest in the south……….. In Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen, human rights defenders paid a heavy price for their activities. Syrian State Security detained Muhannad al-Hasani, president of the Syrian Human Rights Organization in July, and Haytham al-Maleh, a prominent human rights lawyer, 78, in October, and later charged them with "weakening national sentiment." They remain detained. In Saudi Arabia, the secret police (mabahith) arrested Muhammad al-‘Utaibi and Khalid al-‘Umair in January for attempting to hold a peaceful protest in solidarity with the people of Gaza. One year later, the mabahith still hold them despite the six-month legal limit on pre-trial detention and the prosecution's decision not to press charges…...…. “
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