Amnesty International Report on the Middle East

The Amnesty International Report 2009 documents the state of human rights during 2008, in 157 countries and territories around the world.

It reveals the systemic discrimination and insecurity that prevent progress in law from becoming a reality on the ground.

Here is a summary of the human rights situation in countries in the Middle East and the region.

ARMENIA
Mass protests over disputed presidential elections in February led to a 20-day state of emergency and a crackdown on civil and political rights evident throughout the year. Freedoms of assembly and expression were heavily restricted.

Opposition and human rights activists were subjected to violent acts by unknown persons. Conscientious objectors continued to be imprisoned. Structures and resources to combat violence against women remained inadequate.

Over a quarter of women in Armenia were said to have been hit by a family member and about two-thirds were said to have experienced psychological abuse, yet the authorities failed to prevent, investigate and punish violence against women.

AZERBAIJAN
restricted. Independent and opposition journalists were routinely harassed and some were imprisoned on disputed charges in trials failing to comply with international standards. Some religious groups faced continued harassment.

Several allegations of use of excessive force and one case of unlawful killing by the police were reported. The lack of an independent body to investigate allegations of ill-treatment involving police officers undermined confidence in due process.

BAHRAIN
The authorities failed adequately to investigate allegations of torture and other ill-treatment of detainees. Government critics were briefly detained and several websites were closed down. One person was executed.

The government indicated it would decriminalise certain publishing offences, reduce legal discrimination against women and introduce other reforms.

The government proposed to amend the 2002 Press and Publications Law to remove imprisonment as a penalty for offences such as criticizing the King and “inciting hatred of the regime''.

EGYPT
The renewal of the state of emergency for a further two years caused widespread discontent. Rising food prices and growing poverty fuelled a wave of strikes by private and public sector workers.

Journalists remained under threat of imprisonment for defamation and on other charges. While a new antiterrorism law was still being prepared, thousands of political prisoners continued to be held in administrative detention under emergency legislation,many of them for more than a decade.

Torture and other ill-treatment were widespread. Migrants were killed by Egyptian security forces when attempting to cross into Israel, and around 1,200 Eritrean asylum-seekers were forcibly returned to Eritrea despite fears for their safety there. The practice of female genitalmutilation (FGM) was banned by law.

IRAN
The authorities maintained tight restrictions on freedom of expression, association and assembly. They cracked down on civil society activists, including women's rights and other human rights defenders and minority rights advocates.

Activists were arrested, detained and prosecuted, often in unfair trials, banned from travelling abroad, and had their meetings disrupted. Torture and other illtreatment of detainees were common and committed with impunity.

Women faced continuing discrimination in law and in practice, and those campaigning for women's rights were targeted for state repression.

The use of minority languages in schools and government offices continued to be prohibited. Those who campaigned for greater political participation or recognition of minorities' economic, social and cultural rights faced threats, arrest and imprisonment. Members of minorities were denied access to employment in the public sector under gozinesh legislation.

IRAQ
The year saw a marked reduction in violence, but all sides to the continuing conflict committed gross human rights abuses.

Thousand of civilians, including children, were killed or injured, mostly in suicide and other bomb attacks carried out by armed groups opposed to the government and the US-led Multinational Force (MNF). Civilians were also killed by MNF and Iraqi government forces.

The MNF and the Iraqi authorities both held thousands of detainees; most were held without charge or trial, some for up to five years. Government security forces, including prison guards, were reported to have committed torture, including rape, and unlawful killings.

The authorities made extensive use of the death penalty. More than 4 million Iraqiswere displaced; 2 million were refugees abroad and others were internally displaced within Iraq. The Kurdistan region remained less affected by the conflict but there were continuing reports of abuses by the security forces and violence against women.

ISRAEL AND OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
Israeli forces launched a military offensive on an unprecedented scale – code-named “Operation Cast Lead'' – on 27 December in the Gaza Strip, killing many civilians and destroying homes and other civilian property.

Earlier in the year there had been a marked upsurge in killings of civilians and others by both Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) before a ceasefire was agreed in June.

Some 70 children were among the 425 Palestinians killed in the first half of the year. In addition to the large-scale destruction of homes and property in the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces also destroyed scores of Palestinian homes in the West Bank and in Bedouin villages in the south of Israel.

Throughout the year, the Israeli army maintained stringent restrictions on the movement of Palestinians in the OPT, including a blockade on the Gaza Strip, which caused an unprecedented level of humanitarian hardship and virtually imprisoned the entire population of 1.5 million.

This was further exacerbated by the Israeli offensive launched on 27 December. Hundreds of patients with serious medical conditions requiring treatment not available
in local hospitals were refused passage out of Gaza; several died.

Hundreds of students could not travel to their universities abroad because they could not leave Gaza, where many fields of study are not available.

Most of Gaza's inhabitants depended on international aid, but the Israeli blockade hampered the ability of UN agencies to provide assistance and services.

In the West Bank the movement of Palestinians was severely curtailed by some 600 Israeli checkpoints and barriers, and by the 700km fence/wall which the Israeli army continued to build mostly inside the West Bank. The expansion of illegal Israeli settlements on seized Palestinian land increased to a level not seen since 2001.

Israeli soldiers and settlers who committed serious abuses against Palestinians, including unlawful killings, assaults and attacks against property, enjoyed impunity in most cases.

Hundreds of Palestinians were arrested by Israeli forces; reports of torture and other ill-treatment were frequent, but investigations were rare. Some 8,000 Palestinians remained in Israeli prisons, many after unfair military trials.

JORDAN
Prisoners were reported to have been tortured and otherwise ill-treated. Thousands of people were held without charge or trial under a sweeping provision allowing administrative detention.

Procedures in trials before the State Security Court (SSC) breached international standards for fair trial. New restrictions on freedom of expression, association and assembly were approved by the parliament.

Women faced discrimination and were inadequately protected against domestic violence. Migrant domestic workers were exploited and abused, and inadequately protected under the law. At least 14 people were sentenced to death but there were no executions.

KUWAIT
Migrant workers continued to experience exploitation and abuse, and to demand protection of their rights. Some were deported after participating in mass protests. The government promised to improve conditions. Several journalists were prosecuted.

One case of torture was reported. At least 12 people were under sentence of death but no executions were known to have been carried out.

LEBANON
At least 30 civilians were killed in political violence. Torture and other ill-treatment of detainees were reported. Women faced discrimination and were inadequately protected against violence. Migrant domestic workers were exploited and abused.

Palestinian refugees faced continuing discrimination although steps were taken to alleviate conditions for some of the most vulnerable. The Minister of Justice
proposed a law to abolish the death penalty.

Little action was taken to address impunity for political killings, enforced disappearances, torture and other abuses committed during the civil war (1975-1990) and since then. The Lebanese authorities said in 1992 that more than 17,000 people had disappeared in the custody of the parties to the conflict.

OMAN
Members of two tribes continued to be denied equal access to economic and social rights. New restrictions on freedom of expression were introduced and several journalists and writers were harassed by the authorities. Women were subject to discrimination in law and practice.

People belonging to the Aal Tawayya and Aal Khalifayn tribes continued to suffer adverse economic and social consequences following the Interior Ministry's 2006 decision to change the name of the tribes and affiliate them to Al Harithi, another tribe,
effectively reducing their status to that of akhdam, or servants, of the main tribe.

PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY
Inter-factional tension remained high between the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) caretaker government of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, appointed by President Mahmoud Abbas of the Fatah party, and the Hamas de facto administration in the Gaza Strip.

Both the PA security forces in the West Bank and Hamas security forces and militias in Gaza arbitrarily detained hundreds of members or sympathizers of rival factions without charge or trial and often tortured and otherwise ill-treated detainees.

In the West Bank, detainees complained that they had been tortured or otherwise ill-treated by the PA's General Intelligence and Preventive Security services,

QATAR
Equality and empowerment of women is crucial The government continues to deny Qatari nationality to hundreds of people. Most are members of the Al Murra tribe,
who were deprived of their nationality after a failed coup attempt in 1996 for which the authorities blamed some tribe members.

Foreign migrant workers complain of exploitation and abuse, and inadequate legal protection. At least 20 people are on death row, but there were no executions.

Women are inadequately protected against violence within the family. In particular, family law discriminates against women making it much easier for men to divorce than women, and placing women, whose husbands leave them or who seek a divorce at a severe economic disadvantage.

In August, the government equalised the law on compensation which had previously set the level of compensation to be paid for the loss of a woman's life at half that of a man.

SAUDI ARABIA
Shackles of rigid state control must be broken. In January 2008, a government delegation appeared for the first time before a UN Committee considering Saudi Arabia's first report on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

In February, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women carried out a first-ever visit to Saudi Arabia. In spite of these developments, thousands of people continue to be detained without trial in the kingdom.

In October 2008, the government announced that more than 900 of them would be brought to trial. Freedom of expression, religion, association and assembly remained tightly restricted.

Women continued to face severe discrimination and expatriate workers suffered exploitation and abuse. The administration of justice remains shrouded in secrecy and
was summary in nature.

Flogging is used widely. The death penalty continues to be used extensively and in a discriminatory manner. At least 102 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia.

SUDAN AND SOMALIA
Conflicts in areas with fragile ecosystems have strained water and food resources. The massive displacement of people has put enormous pressure on the neighbouring countries.

The countries of immense natural wealth now find reconstruction and recovery efforts set back by a fall in foreign investment in the wake of the economic downturn.

UAE
Working to create a free and just society. In December, following an assessment of the human rights situation in the UAE by the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, the government agreed to accede to the UN Convention against Torture; invite the UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, to visit the country; and address allegations of discriminatory treatment of migrant workers.

The government rejected recommendations to implement a moratorium on the use of the death penalty; repeal legislation providing for corporal punishment; allow collective bargaining and the right to strike; and introduce legislation that would prohibit discrimination and ensure gender equality.

In October, the government announced that it was creating an agency to monitor migrant workers' complaints and mediate labour disputes. In June the UAE government announced plans to end prison sentences relating to journalism.

YEMEN
Hundreds of political prisoners, including prisoners of conscience, were released. Some were freed after a presidential order announcing an end to armed clashes in the Sa'da region; others had been detained in connection with protests in the south.

Hundreds of new arrests were made and an unknown number of people detained in previous years continued to be held. Dozens of prisoners were sentenced after unfair trials before the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC).

The authorities failed to investigate possible extrajudicial executions and other killings by the security forces. Allegations of police brutality and torture or other ill-treatment
were widespread. Sentences of flogging were imposed and carried out. At least 13 people were executed and hundreds of prisoners remained on death row, including minors.