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In Middle East, impunity reigned in 2018: Amnesty
BEIRUT, Feb 26, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Global indifference is fuelling atrocities
across the Middle East, rights watchdog Amnesty International warned Tuesday
in a report condemning what it called growing impunity.
“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,” Amnesty said.
“Allies of governments in the region have always placed lucrative trade
agreements, security cooperation, or multi-billion dollar arms sales ahead of
human rights,” Yemen researcher at Amnesty, Rasha Mohamed told the press
conference.
The rights group pointed however to some positive developments in the
region which it said serve as “glimmers of hope”.
Across the Maghreb, provisions to combat violence against women have come
into effect.
In Saudi Arabia, authorities lifted a driving ban on women “even as they
imprisoned women human rights defenders who had campaigned for this very
right,” Amnesty said.
BSS/AFP/RY/21:00 hrs