Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Human Rights in the Arab world

Khalil Al-Anani, a political researcher at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies (Egypt) writes in the Daily Star - Egypt edition - about the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), and that while human rights have become a crucial issue globally, it is still forgotten in Arab countries:

In Tunisia, 21 reformists have been sentenced to four to 10 years in prison.

In Syria, 12 members of the Damascus Declaration have been sentenced to two and a half years. In Egypt, four months ago, an administrative court handed down a two-year sentence to democracy advocate Saad Eddin Ibrahim, in addition to the trial of a number of editors of independent newspapers. In Saudi Arabia, reformist Matruk Al-Faleh is still in prison since his arrest eight months ago. In Algeria, parliament has amended the constitution to allow President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika to enjoy eternal presidency. In Morocco, demonstrators demanding improved living conditions are suppressed.

The human rights situation in the Arab world is the worst; only overtaken by the African continent.

For his whole article, see HERE.

No comments: