...Or Does It Explode?

Dubai: 1991 vs. 2005 - Mind-Boggling

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Algeria Squeezing Tiny Local Christian Community

Many of the cathedrals in Algeria built under French occupation (as well as old synagogues) have been turned into mosques or civic halls. So it goes - all's fair in love and war, right? - especially since most Christians and Jews fled Algeria post-Independence. But what about the Christians who remain in Algeria today? The state's repression of this tiny community is not pretty:

Police issued written orders for three Algerian churches to cease activity this week, bringing to 19 the number of congregations told to shut down since November, an Algerian Protestant leader said.

In addition to the three churches, registered under the Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA), two independent congregations were verbally ordered to close their doors, EPA President Mustapha Krim said.

The church closures come amid a flurry of antagonistic media articles warning of campaigns by Protestants to “Christianize” Algeria...

But some critics have responded that Algeria’s Christians, not its Muslim majority, are the ones being attacked.

“The repression of evangelist proselytism has turned into the harassment of Christians,” columnist Mustapha Hammouche wrote in Liberte on Tuesday (March 25).

Indeed, Algerian Christians have claimed that the government has blocked them from carrying out the required re-registration of their churches.

“The administration offices in Tizi-Ouzou did not want to or could not say which measures to take in order to obtain the famous ‘certificate of conformity,’” church leaders wrote on March 26. They said the certificate was required to show that they were in line with a new March 2006 law governing non-Muslim places of worship.

“[The] result: the churches are closed, services forbidden, and nothing can change the situation!” reported the Algerian Christian website collectifalgerie.free.fr on March 26.

The Algerian authorities are clearly spooked by Christian evangelism. Is it be possible that the most effective dissident movement in North Africa is the one led by missionaries? Why else would the Algerian government be so afraid of what seems like a fringe phenomenon?

Cairo Institute Says Rights Situation in Region Worsening

A new report to the UN:

In a report to the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) said that there have been "huge harassments of human rights organisations and defenders have been increasingly subject to abusive and suppressive actions by government actors... in the majority of Arab countries, particularly Egypt, Syria, Bahrain and Tunisia."

The group this week called upon the international community to "exert effective efforts to urge Arab governments to duly reconsider their legislation, policy and practices contravening their international obligations to protect freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and freedom to form associations, including non-governmental organisations."

It added that "Special attention should be awarded to providing protection to human rights defenders in the Arab World."

The problem in a nutshell.

Taking a Stand against Censorship

31 civic groups have united to protest shenanigans on the UN's Human Rights Council to limit free expression. Their joint statement is a bit wordy, but has this nice nugget, simple yet profound:

...Freedom of expression itself is one of the most effective recourses and tools against abuses of human rights, including abuses of the right to equality.

Parvin Ardalan's Speech to Olaf Palme Foundation

Banned from leaving Iran to accept her award for courageous activism, Parvin Ardalan sent her sister to deliver her speech:

I had hoped that on this grand occasion, which also commemorates the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day and the just struggles of women around the world, I could be among you. But unfortunately immediately prior to my departure from Iran, I was banned from travel by the order of the courts and as such, was prevented from participating in this event. These types of actions are not unusual in my country, where being a woman and voicing just demands for equality requires continuous struggle and brings with it exclusion..

For nearly three decades now, we have been struggling to achieve the right to divorce and equal rights in marriage for women. We have repeatedly claimed that polygamy rights for men create an unbearable and disgraceful reality for women. But these patriarchal laws have sustained. For years, we have objected to unequal diyeh, or compensation for bodily injury, and have wondered why it is that being a man or a woman determines the amount of compensation to be paid to accident victims? We ask why our laws recognize men as full human beings, setting them as the standard, and value women at half the male standard, and sometimes even less.

...We ask, why it is that the Iranian government is a signatory to international conventions such as the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, yet it does not feel obligated to implement them. We ask, if according to these international conventions all forms of official discrimination - including gender discrimination - are to be abolished, why do our laws not adhere to these commitments? Why, for example, are there quotas limiting the participation of women in fields of study at the University level?

...The One Million Signatures Campaign is one innovative strategy of the women's movement in Iran, which has utilized the experiences of our sisters in Morocco. While our Moroccan sisters started and implemented their campaign initiative with the support of their government, Iranian women have implemented their movement from below, at the grassroots level, through the collection of signatures in support of a petition demanding that the legislature change and reform discriminatory laws against women, and through face-to-face education of our fellow citizens. By connecting with our fellow citizens, we hope that we can raise awareness and strengthen demands to reform the current laws which discriminate against women.

...The equal rights movement in Iran, benefiting from these relations is quickly gaining strength and momentum. Of course, our opponents have grown stronger and more determined as well.

But no fear! The peaceful activism in which we believe will strengthen our resolve. And we will continue to be empowered and energized by the fact and belief that the energy which flows through our daily lives is at once innovative, productive, stimulating and powerful. We will guard it with our lives. Thank you!

Dancing for Noruz outside Beirut

Kurdish men and women in Rawshe, outside Beirut, get down for the new year.

Ben Ali's Bold New Plan

Happy 52nd independence day to Tunisia! But is anyone buying what Ben Ali is peddling?

In an address commemorating Tunisia's 52nd anniversary of Independence and Youth Days on March 21, 2008, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali announced a set of important political measures aiming at strengthening the foundations of democracy in Tunisia...

The measures include the possibility of a draft amendment of the constitution to allow "exceptionally for the forthcoming elections of 2009, the possibility to run for presidential election for the first official of each political party…"

In his address, President Ben Ali further announced the "launch of a comprehensive dialogue, with youth" placed under the motto "Tunisia First". "We want this dialogue to be free from taboos or censorship on opinion and expression, respecting the national tenets and our society's conventional values", he said...

In relation to Human Rights, President Ben Ali said that Tunisia had "established Human Rights and the rule of law as fundamental foundations for the project of the Change", adding that we "will pursue its efforts to further promote and protect them in law and in practice".

Sure...

Amman Centre for Human Rights Studies Ranks Media Freedom by Country

Interesting results:

Qatar ranks third in a press freedom report on the Arab region released yesterday by the Amman Centre for Human Rights Studies (ACHRS). Mauritania and Kuwait topped the list of 18 Arab countries. Syria, Saudi Arabia and Libya occupy the lowest ranks.

Supervised by Yahia Shukkier, a journalist and prominent press freedom activist, the report denounces a setback in the level of media freedom in the region with the recent endorsement by Arab information ministers of a new charter controlling the contents of media broadcasters...

The report shows Arab countries have failed to reach a state of legal and practical compatibility with the international criteria of the freedom of the press and the best democratic practices. It recommends a number of measures, including revoking imprisonment penalties on journalists, amending Arab penal laws, respecting the right of citizens to know and guaranteeing the right of criticism of civil servants, public figures, and parliamentary deputies by the press.

"Arab countries should also abandon the mentality of trusteeship and hacking of websites, and to understand the technological developments in the world," it added.

Click the link above to see the complete rankings.

Three Months in Jail for... Saying the Wrong Thing in a Taxi

Or, as the Jordan Times calls it, lesé majesté:

The State Security Court (SSC) on Tuesday sentenced a French national to three months in prison after convicting him of lesé majesté. The defendant, identified as Muntaser S., who holds dual nationality, yesterday admitted in court that he was guilty of the charge.

Based on his plea, the SSC sentenced him to one year in prison, but immediately reduced the sentence to three months “to give him a second chance in life because he was a foreign national who lived away from his home“. The defendant was released after substituting the court sentence with a fine, a senior judicial source told The Jordan Times.

The court said the defendant, who also holds Palestinian nationality and works as a math teacher at a French university, was visiting Jordan at the time of the offence. The court said the defendant insulted His Majesty King Abdullah and the country while riding in a taxi from his hotel to a currency exchange outlet on January 29.

Old Damascus Liquor Store