Human Rights

According to a report by the Middle East Eye on Wednesday, some 650 male members of the Rohingya Muslim minority began a hunger strike in the Shumaisi detention center in the western Saudi port city of Jeddah on Saturday, the third such strike in recent months. Most of them have been in detention without trial or charge since 2012, with…

The High Criminal Court gave the men jail terms from three years to life in prison, Bahrain’s public prosecutor said Tuesday. He said 69 of the defendants were given life sentences, while 39 others received 10 years in jail each. The citizenship of all but one of them was also revoked. All the defendants were convicted of trumped-up terror-related charges, and…

The US Justice Department on Tuesday reversed a 2005 immigration court ruling that had allowed some asylum seekers to ask for bond in front of an immigration judge. US Attorney General William Barr, who heads the Justice Department, decided that asylum seekers who pass a “credible fear” interview and are facing removal do not have the right to be released…

A group of migrants, resting at a toll booth along the Huixtla-Escuintla highway, were intercepted by migration officials during an operation, in coordination with Mexico’s Federal police. Milenio showed TV images of migrants being taken out of offices belonging to highway officials and placed into white minivans. According to Milenio TV, as migration officials and police started to detain men,…

A Sunday report in The Independent showed that UK child poverty was worsening as many pupils had no means to continue education. The report cited a survey of 8,600 teachers by the National Education Union (NEU) which showed students’ ability to learn had been undermined by lack of equipment as well as proper food and clothes. More than a third of teachers…

Trump issued the warning on Friday after ICC judges rejected a request by the court’s prosecutor to probe atrocities committed by US forces in Afghanistan. Trump hailed the unusual ruling as a “major international victory,” claiming that the Americans and Israelis should be immune from ICC prosecution. “Since the creation of the ICC, the United States has consistently declined to…

Among the female rights activists were blogger Eman al-Nafjan, retired professor at Riyadh’s King Saud University Aziza al-Yousef, and Muslim preacher Ruqayya al-Mohareb. The trio was temporarily released last week on the condition that they attend future sessions. They were seen entering the courthouse on Wednesday. Riyadh’s criminal court had been expected to rule earlier this week on requests for temporary…

The Washington Post, for which Khashoggi had been a columnist, reported on Monday that the payments to the slain Saudi critic’s two sons and two daughters were meant for them to “show restraint” in public statements about the murder, which is reported to have been ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The payments “are part of an effort by Saudi Arabia to…

Amnesty International says the “deeply repressive” Bahraini regime is trying to rehabilitate its image by hosting the Formula One race. “Instead of just ‘sportwashing’ its image and glossing over its dismal human rights record through high-speed sport, the Bahraini government should immediately repeal laws that criminalize freedom of expression and fast-track the release of all prisoners of conscience,” said Amnesty’s…

When it comes to human rights issues, we are the ones to demand; we are not the ones that have to respond. Look at what they did in our own time with DAESH or in Syria and Myanmar. That is while they claim to be supporting human rights. We have clear ideas about human rights. We have claims against those…