July 2022 in Middle East and North Africa: A free expression roundup produced by IFEX's Regional Editor Naseem Tarawnah, based on IFEX member reports and news from the region.
Biden’s MENA tour leaves journalists more vulnerable in the region. Tunisia’s new constitution threatens free expression. Iranian filmmakers arrested. Prisoner releases in Egypt, but #WhereIsAlaa?
Adding insults to injuries: How Biden’s visit has left journalists more vulnerable
US President Joe Biden’s visit to the region in July drew widespread criticism from rights groups and activists for his failure to effectively address critical human rights issues and hold governments accountable for their human rights records and countless violations against freedom of expression.
From the growing threat spyware and surveillance pose to the region’s increasingly hostile environment for journalists, to real accountability for the targeted killing of journalists, and the freedom of prisoners of conscience – Biden’s tour saw human rights issues go from being at the ‘forefront’ of US foreign policy, to barely being mentioned throughout meetings with regional leaders.
During a press conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to honor Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh who was killed in May by Israeli forces, Biden said he would continue to “insist on a full and transparent accounting” of her killing. A US State Department press release published prior to Biden’s trip said that a government analysis concluded that gunfire from Israeli forces positions “was likely responsible for the death of Shireen Abu Akleh” but there was “no reason to believe that this was intentional”.
Rights groups condemned the report, with IFEX member Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedom (MADA) calling its conclusion a new blow to efforts to end impunity for crimes against journalists. Abu Akleh’s family members pledged to continue to advocate for justice for Shireen, and met with US officials in Washington DC later in the month to demand an independent probe into her killing.
Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) called Biden’s visit to Jeddah to meet regional leaders a ‘betrayal’ to all those who have been imprisoned and killed for peacefully demonstrating in public spaces, pointing to Biden’s failure to uphold his campaign pledge to put human rights at the center of his foreign policy, while promising to make Saudi Arabia ‘pay the price’ for the murder of Khashoggi.
“To add insult to injury, we had to watch his fist bump and abysmal cozying up to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the man that U.S. intelligence said approved Khashoggi’s murder,” said Sherif Mansour, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) MENA program coordinator. “Journalists in the region – and the world – are sadly more vulnerable after this trip.”
In the long run, Biden’s failure to hold the region’s leaders he met with accountable for their rights record has likely helped rehabilitate their image, with human rights groups and activists expecting repression to ramp up again in the coming months. During Biden’s Jeddah trip, Asim Ghafoor, a US citizen and former lawyer for Khashoggi, was sentenced to three years in prison by a court in the United Arab Emirates on charges of “tax evasion and money laundering”.
Tunisia’s new constitution threatens free expression
In the run up to the 25 July referendum on President Kais Saied’s new constitution, Tunisia’s civic space saw a growing crackdown on opposition voices.
Police violently dispersed hundreds of peaceful protesters rallying against Saied’s draft constitution, arresting several demonstrators including LGBTQI+ activist Saif Ayadi. Journalist Yousra Chikhaoui was slapped by a policeman, while the president of the National Union of Tunisian Journalists, Mehdi Jelassi, had to be treated for the effects of the tear gas sprayed in his face.
Meanwhile, a dozen top officials from opposition party Ennahdha, including former Speaker of Parliament Rached el-Ghannouchi, had their bank accounts frozen amidst allegations of money laundering and terrorist financing, with el-Ghannouchi also being questioned in an anti-terror investigation.
Held on the one-year anniversary of Saied’s power grab, the 25 July referendum (set to further expand presidential powers) passed despite low voter turnout, a boycott by opposition groups, and allegations of results being falsified.
Rights groups pointed to a drafting process leading to the referendum marred by the flouting of international standards on free and fair elections and good governance, with the constitution containing amendments that bury any hope for an independent justice system in the country.
Saied’s hand-picked committee of legal experts produced a draft constitution in four weeks, only to see the president publish a version on 1 July that the group’s lead jurist Sadeq Belaid said had “nothing to do with the text we drafted and submitted to the president”. Amidst widespread criticism of the draft document, an amended version was published on 8 July, giving voters little time to consider what they were voting on, and even less confidence in the political process.
IFEX members raised alarms over the new constitution, especially the expanded powers it grants Saeid’s over the legislature and judiciary that will likely have a critical impact on free expression and the work of journalists in the country.
ARTICLE 19 said numerous provisions in the draft constitution weaken checks and balances, undermine judicial independence, and fall short of international human rights standards. According to the rights group, the draft constitution removes almost all of the provisions of the 2014 constitution that sought to ensure the independence of the judiciary, undoing one of the landmark achievements following the Tunisian Revolution.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) warned proposed amendments to the constitution, and rephrasing of specific articles, pose a major threat to the progress as regards press freedom made during the past decade. The rights group reiterated its call for clear safeguards for fundamental freedoms, including press freedom, “without their having to depend on presidential goodwill.”
Egypt: More prisoner releases, torture allegations, and #WhereIsAlaa?
In good news, July saw Egypt release dozens of prisoners of conscience, all of whom had been lingering in pretrial detention for more than four and a half years. Prominent releases included former Al-Ahram Daily editor-in-chief Abdel-Nasser Salama, and human rights lawyers Amr Emam and Mohamed Ramadan.
The releases came in a month that saw President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi meet with US President Biden in Jeddah and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, as well as the Egyptian government’s launch of a series of “national dialogues” with select political opposition groups that some critics have called a publicity stunt.
Despite the releases, Egypt’s remaining 60,000 prisoners of conscience continue to face dire circumstances behind bars, with the month proving no exception. In a leaked letter from his prison cell dated 19 July, political activist Ahmed Douma recounted numerous violations inflicted upon him and researcher Ahmed Samir Santawy in Tora prison.
Douma accused prison authorities of torturing, physically assaulting, and verbally insulting him, after altercations with the prison administration over their medical negligence of Santawy, who displayed severe Covid-19 symptoms. Rights groups called for an immediate investigation, warning that continued impunity for perpetrators would only encourage their perpetration, “worsening the already dire and deteriorating conditions in Egyptian prisons.”
#WhereIsAlaa: Prominent jailed activist incommunicado
The family of imprisoned writer Alaa Abd El Fattah, whose hunger strike surpassed 117 days, raised alarm over the prominent activist’s situation after losing all contact since mid July. Prison authorities informed family members that Abd El Fattah has been refusing to receive visits from his mother, providing no evidence of the claim.
The Egyptian-British activist’s family have demanded proof of life from prison authorities and accused UK Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, of ignoring his case during her bid to lead the Conservative party.
“There’s a mother right now called Leila Soueif sitting at the doors of [Wadi el-Natrun] prison… waiting for a handwritten letter from her son to tell her that he is alive and what is going on,” said his sister Mona Seif in a video rebuking both the Egyptian and British governments and holding them responsible for his life and safety.
In Brief
Iran: Iranian filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof, Mostafa Alahmad and Jafar Panahi were arrested after supporting anti-government protests that followed the collapse of a 10-storey building that killed 40 people in the city of Abadan last May.
Rasoulof and Alahmad were arrested after calling on the government to end its use of violence against protesters. Panahi was then arrested after visiting Evin Prison to inquire about Rasoulof’s detention, and later ordered to finish a six-year prison sentence from 2010, of which he had served two months before being granted a conditional release.
Prominent reformist politician, Mostafa Tajzadeh was also arrested and accused of “publishing false information designed to disturb public opinion” for supporting the protests. “There is no reason to believe these recent arrests are anything but cynical moves to deter popular outrage at the government’s widespread failures,” said Tara Sepehri Far, senior Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch.
Condemning the arrests, PEN America called the filmmakers’ detentions “a brazen violation of their human right to free expression”, while the Venice Film Festival selected four Iranian films for its official 2022 lineup, including Panahi’s latest film ‘No Bears’.
UAE: On the ten year anniversary of the verdicts in the mass trial of prominent human rights defenders, lawyers, judges, academics and students – known as the UAE94 – the IFEX network joined rights groups in calling for their immediate and unconditional release. Many of those convicted that are due for release this year are still being held past the end of their ten-year sentences in flagrant violation of their civil and human rights.
Also Noteworthy
Women’s rights groups in the region organized protests and a women’s strike calling for political action against a recent series of femicides committed in public spaces that have sparked outrage. According to the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), the lack of real accountability for murders committed within the home has led to perpetrators not being fearful of killing women in broad daylight.
In Iraq, a reintroduced cybercrime draft law would give authorities the right to monitor and prosecute citizens for their social media posts and suppress free expression, reports Social Media Exchange (SMEX).
Lastly, Nadim Nashif, founder of The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media (7amleh) explains how Israel’s draconian Facebook Bill grants the Israeli government the power to censor online content, further violating the rights of Palestinians to critique Israel’s crimes.
