In Middle East, Impunity for Human Rights Abuses reigned in 2018: Amnesty
Beirut (AFP) – “The
crackdown on civil society actors and political opponents increased
significantly in Egypt, Iran and Saudi Arabia,” the rights watchdog said in
its annual
regional report. “Is it acceptable for
activists to undergo arbitrary detention, torture, sexual harassment … and even
enforced disappearances simply for expressing their opinions in a peaceful
way,” Amnesty’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, Heba
Morayef told a press conference in Beirut on Tuesday. The annual report said
“global indifference to human rights violations” had fuelled “atrocities and
impunity” in the region in 2018.
It cited the killing
of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul On
October 2, saying the “case has not been followed by concrete action to ensure
those responsible for his murder are brought to justice”. It applauded “rare
action” from countries like Denmark or Germany which suspended arms supplies to
Riyadh, but noted that “key allies of the kingdom, including the USA, UK and
France, have taken no such action”.
Amnesty also denounced
Riyadh’s military intervention in Yemen, saying the Saudi-led coalition
battling rebels is “responsible for war crimes” and has contributed to a
“humanitarian catastrophe” in the embattled country. And it condemned
Israel’s crackdown on demonstrations in Gaza and the West Bank, which it says
has killed “at least 195 Palestinians, including 41 children”. Iran also came under fire
for its repression of mass demonstrations to protest deteriorating
socio-economic conditions.
“Security forces
violently dispersed the protests, beating unarmed protesters and using live
ammunition, tear gas and water cannons against them, causing deaths and
injuries,” it said.
The “intense crackdown
on dissident voices” in a number of Arab countries is linked to the 2011 Arab
uprisings, said Morayef. “Authoritarian
governments today are trying to make very, very sure that there is no political
space to ever allow such an uprising to occur again”, she said.
The Amnesty report
also denounced “war crimes” committed in Syria, Libya and Yemen, which have
been ravaged by deadly conflicts and humanitarian catastrophes. In the three
countries, “military forces with air power carried out indiscriminate air
strikes and direct attacks on civilian homes, hospitals and medical facilities,
sometimes using internationally banned cluster munitions”..
https://www.juancole.com/2019/02/impunity-reigned-amnesty.html