Archive for month: September, 2014

Authorities in Saudi Arabia have forced a prominent human rights activist and blogger to shut down his twitter account as part of the ongoing crackdown on dissent in the country.

Reports said on Wednesday that Mikhlif Al-Shammari was summoned on September 22 to the General Intelligence Directorate in the city of Al-Khobar, where he was told to shut down his account instantly based on an order by the country’s Interior Ministry.

He is said to have been forced to pledge to close his account within 48 hours.

The activist, who is from the large Sunni al-Shammar tribe, has been seeking to improve relations with Saudi Arabia’s Shia community based in the Eastern Province.

Al-Shammari has denounced the Saudi regime’s rights violations, mostly against the Shias, as he believes Sunni Muslims should treat Shia people in the oil-rich country as equals.

In July, an appellate court in Riyadh upheld a five-year jail term handed down to the rights activist, as well as a ten-year travel ban and a ban on writing articles, accessing the Internet and appearing in the media.

Al-Shammari has been accused of several charges, including “making attempts to discredit the kingdom in public opinion, insulting the clergy and accusing state officials of dishonesty” as well as “producing and sending via the Internet what would prejudice public order.”

Activists say there are over 30,000 political prisoners in Saudi Arabia.

The country has come under fire from international human rights organizations, which have criticized it for failing to address the rights situation in the kingdom.

They say Riyadh has persistently implemented repressive policies that stifle freedom of expression, association and assembly.

MR/HJL/KA

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has decried as “inhumane and against human rights” the US-engineered sanctions against the Islamic Republic, calling for the lifting of the illegal bans.

“Is this to the benefit of the American economy, the American people, the world at large?” the Iranian president said, referring to the illegal sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic.

Rouhani, who is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, made the remarks in an interview with The Washington Post on Wednesday.

He also said Tehran has lived up to all its commitments under a deal dubbed the Joint Plan of Action — signed by Iran and six world powers last November — as a trust-building measure.

The Iranian president further highlighted the importance of achieving a final and comprehensive agreement over Iran’s nuclear program, underscoring that the Islamic Republic must be able to “maintain a peaceful nuclear program”.

Under no circumstances will Iran try to build, stockpile or use any kind of nuclear weapons, Rouhani emphasized, saying that Iran’s nuclear energy program is geared to energy production and medical research.

He said the P5+1 group of world powers must show goodwill and take advantage of the historic and unique opportunity which has been created to end differences on Iran’s nuclear energy program.

A final and comprehensive deal between Tehran and the six world powers could help build the confidence needed regarding the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program while recognizing Iran’s inalienable right to maintain such a program, Rouhani noted.

Iran and the P5+1 group of countries – Russia, China, the United States, Britain, and France plus Germany – are currently in talks to work out a final accord that would end the dispute over Tehran’s nuclear energy program.

The two sides signed an interim deal in Geneva, Switzerland, last November. The agreement took effect on January 20 and expired six months later. In July, they agreed to extend the negotiations until November 24 amid differences over a number of key issues.

IA/NN/KA

Workers laid off by an American auto parts company in Argentina have burnt US flags during a protest march on Washington’s embassy in the country’s capital, Buenos Aires.

The Wednesday evening protest rally was triggered by job losses at a manufacturing plant run by US auto parts maker Lear as the Argentine automotive industry reels from an ailing economy.

Hundreds of Argentinean workers, many of them laid off by the American company, rallied in front of the US embassy to demand their jobs back.

The angry protesters set fire to US flags and chanted slogans against the owners of Lear as armed police officers blocked off any access to the grounds of the heavily guarded embassy.

The North American multinational auto parts company has recently dismissed over 300 of its workers.

“It is time they (Lear’s management) did what they have to or they are going to find us every day on the streets (in protest),” said one of the protest leaders, Silvio Fanti, as cited in local press reports.

MFB/HJL/KA

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on US President Barack Obama to censure Egypt’s human rights record during his Thursday meeting with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

The New York-based organization made the request on Wednesday as the two chief executives are scheduled to meet during al-Sisi’s inaugural visit to the United Nations General Assembly.

“Obama should press concerns about Egypt’s human rights abuses, including the widespread jailing of political opponents, mass death sentences, and lack of accountability for the killing of more than 1,000 protesters by security forces in July and August 2013,” the HRW said.

Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director of the rights organization, added that Egyptian officials “have gotten away with crushing dissent by lethal force.”

Egypt has been the scene of anti-government protests with continuous clashes between security forces and former President Mohamed Morsi’s supporters since his military-backed ouster in July 2013.

Following the toppling of Morsi, al-Sisi announced his candidacy for the country’s presidency and was sworn in as president after winning an election in which less that 50 percent of eligible voters participated.

Rights groups say the army’s crackdown on the supporters of Morsi has left over 1,400 people dead and 22,000 others arrested. A large number of the former president’s supporters have so far been sentenced to death or long prison terms.

Whitson further said that President Obama “should seize the opportunity to send a clear message to al-Sisi but also to Egypt’s independent organizations, that the US is a true friend of Egypt and Egyptians not just of the current sitting strongman.”

MR/HJL/KA

About 1,000 nurses and healthcare workers attended the Planet Nurse convention on Wednesday, chanting slogans to raise awareness about the increasing danger and death from Ebola.

The protesters highlighted the lack of training, equipment and isolation rooms where suspected Ebola-infected patients in the US could be quarantined. They also took part in what they called a “die-in” by laying on the ground in imitation of dying Ebola victims.

Ebola “can easily come to our shores, and we’re not ready,” said Julia Scott, a registered nurse from Largo Medical Center in Florida who was attending the rally.

The rally included a moment of silence for international health workers who have died while caring for Ebola patients in West Africa. “It’s not acceptable that these people are dying,” RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United, told her fellow protesters. “It is going to come here,” she said.

Four Americans have been or are being treated for Ebola in the US after contracting the virus in West Africa.

Biosafety experts say US hospitals do not have the means to properly dispose of medical waste contaminated with Ebola, which will jeopardize the safety of communities.

According to infectious disease experts, waste management companies are refusing to take any soiled sheets or protective gear that might be contaminated with the virus, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

The waste companies have cited US federal guidelines that require Ebola-related waste to be handled in special packaging by people with hazardous materials training.

AHT/DT