Middle East and North Africa

In Oman, Saudi Arabia and UAE, human rights defenders continued to face difficulties because of the severe restrictions in place on basic freedoms including freedom of the press, association and assembly.

In these countries the attempts by individuals or groups to be active were discouraged and met with intimidation, denial of registration or of permits to hold protests, travel bans, arrest and unfair trials.

In Bahrain, despite the existence of a more open environment following the reforms initiated in 2001, restrictive laws were still used effectively against many human rights groups. Positively, several imprisoned HRDs were released in May following an amnesty, which also resulted in pending judicial proceedings against human rights defenders being dropped.

A restrictive legislative framework also exists in Qatar, as in other Gulf countries; however, it has not been tested because of the lack of independent human right activism. Human rights activism is limited in Kuwait as well, where however the political and legal context is more encouraging for human rights activism than in the other five Gulf countries.

In Iran, Yemen, Palestine, and Western Sahara, the escalation of political and security conflicts has worsened the situation of HRDs, resulting in more restrictions, harassments and arbitrary detention.

In Western Sahara, in particular, many prominent Sahrawi HRDs were subject to arbitrary detention and unfair trial, while others were prevented from moving freely and lived under constant fear of arbitrary arrest.

In Iran, in the aftermath of the controversial presidential election in June, in a nationwide crackdown, many HRDs, including women, were arrested; some of them were released on payment of large bails, while others are still in detention. The authorities published a list of 60 groups, including international human rights organisations, donor organisations and Iranian groups in exile, and declared any communication with them as a crime against the state.

In Yemen, the sharp escalation of the two conflicts, in the South and in Sa’da in the North, led to more restrictions on basic freedoms as well as arbitrary detention and unfair trials against journalists and HRDs reporting on the abuses related to the two conflicts.

In Iraq, since the change of regime in 2003, the legislation and basic freedoms are relatively advanced; however, human rights activism is underdeveloped, while the security situation and political disputes make addressing certain issues life-threatening.

In Iraq’s northern Kurdish region, which has witnessed more stability since gaining self-rule in 1991, human rights work is restricted by the two parties governing the region.

In Palestine HRDs continued to face defamation, travel restrictions, harassment and arbitrary detention, both on the part of the Israeli Occupation Forces and on the part of the competing Palestinian factions.

Egypt, Morocco and Jordan have similar restrictive laws and human rights violations to other countries in the region. However, they appear as more cautious and crafty in dealing with the many active human rights groups, and use preventive measures and a policy of containment or indirect harassment. This helped them to avoid international criticism and reduced to a minimum independent monitoring of abuses against HRDs as well as of human rights violations generally. Jordan passed amendments to the law on societies and associations in 2009.

Tunisia and Syria remained among the most repressive countries for human rights activism, not only because of severe restrictions on basic freedoms but also because of the number and range of abuses against human rights groups and individuals.

In Syria, all human rights groups remained unauthorised and faced judicial prosecution, and many prominent HRDs were detained or prosecuted.

In Tunisia, intimidation, ill-treatment, arrest and charges against independent journalists and HRDs dramatically increased in the run up to the presidential elections, held in October.

Following his re-election, President Zine el-Abidine Bel Ali announced measures “against anyone who will accuse or cast doubts over the electoral process without providing concrete evidence”, and has lived up to this promise.

Lebanon could be considered one of the more open countries in the region as regards basic freedoms and human rights activism, which is a result of the balance of power characterising the Lebanese political system. On the other end of the spectrum, Libya remained one of the most difficult countries in the region for human rights defenders to establish and perform their work.

Front Line issued 69 urgent appeals for human rights defenders at risk from 13 countries from the Middle East and North Africa, namely Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, Western Sahara, and Yemen.