UN rights council orders probe of Iran crackdown on protests

Yahoo – AFP, Nina LARSON,, November 24, 2022 

The United Nations Human Rights Council on Thursday condemned Iran's repression of peaceful demonstrators following the death of Mahsa Amini, and voted to create a high-level investigation into the deadly crackdown. 

Despite heavy lobbying by Tehran and a last-minute effort by China to undercut the resolution, a broader-than-expected majority of the 47-member council backed launching a probe of Iran's response to the ongoing protests. 

Thunderous applause erupted when the resolution passed with 25 votes in favour, 16 abstaining and only six countries -- Armenia, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Pakistan and Venezuela -- opposed. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hailed the vote, saying it showed the top UN rights body "recognises the gravity of the situation in Iran." 

"The fact-finding mission established today will help ensure that those engaged in the ongoing violent suppression of Iranian people are identified and their actions documented," he said in a statement. 

The vote came at the end of an urgent session requested by Germany and Iceland with the backing of 50 countries to discuss the situation in Iran, rocked by two months of protests. 

Those demonstrations were sparked by the death in custody of 22-year-old Amini, after she was arrested for an alleged breach of the country's strict dress rules for women based on Islamic sharia law. 

Footballer arrested

Iranian authorities have grown increasingly heavy-handed in their response to the demonstrations as they have spread across the country and swelled into a broad movement against the theocracy that has ruled Iran since 1979. 

During Thursday's session, UN rights chief Volker Turk insisted that "the unnecessary and disproportionate use of force must come to an end." 

Turk, who told reporters he had offered to visit Iran but had received no response from Tehran, said more than 300 people had been killed since Amini's death. 

Norway-based group Iran Human Rights has put the toll above 400, including more than 50 children. 

Around 14,000 people, including children, had been arrested over the protests, he said, describing this as "a staggering number", and decried the fact that at least six death sentences had been handed down to demonstrators. 

Among those arrested have been a number of celebrities who have expressed support for the protesters, including Iranian national team footballer Voria Ghafouri, arrested on Thursday for "anti-state propaganda". 

'Impunity prevents justice'

A long line of Western diplomats took the floor in Geneva on Thursday to denounce the crackdown in Iran. 

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called on all countries to back the independent international fact-finding mission to probe all abuses connected with the ongoing protests, to ensure "those responsible can be held to account". 

"Impunity prevents justice. Justice for sisters, sons, mothers. They have names. Jina, Abolfazl, Minoo," she said, listing some of the many killed. 

She told reporters that the investigation would collect evidence towards holding perpetrators to account -- although it remains unclear under which jurisdiction they would be tried. 

"If we don't collect the evidence today... justice will never come to the victims," Baerbock said. 

Icelandic Foreign Minister Thordis Kolbrun Reykfjord Gylfadottir agreed, telling reporters that the council vote was "about respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights and fundamental freedoms." 

Dozens of people protested outside the UN in Geneva, waving the flags used in Iran prior to the 1979 revolution, amid pictures of alleged victims of the Iranian regime. 

The organisers of that demonstration, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, hailed the Thursday's vote as "a positive and important step," insisting the "culture of impunity must end". 

'Historic'

Rights groups also celebrated the vote, with Amnesty International describing it as "historic", while Human Rights Watch said it was "a welcome step towards accountability." 

Iran however denounced the Western countries behind Thursday's meeting. 

Europe and the United States "lack the moral credibility to preach... on human rights", said Khadijeh Karimi, Iran's deputy of the vice president for women and family affairs. 

"Reducing the common cause of human rights to a tool for political purposes of specific groups of Western countries is appalling and disgraceful," she added. 

Iran received backing from some countries, with Pakistan, Venezuela and others decrying growing politicisation in the council, and China's ambassador Chen Xu warning against "turning human rights into a tool to intervene into other countries' internal affairs". 

China also put in a last-minute bid to change the text of Thursday's resolution, asking that the request to establish an investigation be removed. Only six countries supported that effort.

Amanpour says Iran president interview scrapped over headscarf demand

Yahoo – AFP, Ebrahim Raisi, September 22, 2022 

Veteran journalist Christiane Amanpour said Thursday that an interview with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was scrapped after he insisted she wear a headscarf, the focus of major protests in the cleric-run state. 

Amanpour, the chief international anchor of CNN who also has a show on US public broadcaster PBS, said she was ready for the interview Wednesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly when an aide insisted she cover her hair. 

"I politely declined. We are in New York, where there is no law or tradition regarding headscarves," Amanpour, who was born in Britain to an Iranian father, wrote on Twitter. 

"I pointed out that no previous Iranian president has required this when I have interviewed them outside Iran," she said. 

"I said that I couldn't agree to this unprecedented and unexpected condition." 

She posted a picture of herself -- without a headscarf -- sitting in front of an empty chair where Raisi would have been. 

An aide to Raisi, a hardline cleric, told Amanpour that he was insisting on a headscarf because of "the situation in Iran," she said. 

Iran has been swept by nearly a week of protests since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died after being arrested by morality police that enforce the clerics' rules on how women dress. 

A non-governmental group said that at least 31 Iranian civilians have been killed in the crackdown on the protests, in which women have been seen burning headscarves.

New US policy won't compel journalists to reveal sources

Yahoo = AFP, Bob Lever, July 19, 2021 

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the US administration would no longer go
to court to force journalists to reveal their sources a move hailed by advocates
 for a free press

The US government pledged Monday to steer clear of legal orders that force journalists to reveal their sources, with only rare exceptions, reversing course after revelations of secret efforts to obtain information from the media. 

The Justice Department said it would no longer use the "compulsory legal process" including subpoenas or warrants to obtain records or identify sources from journalists involved in newsgathering activities. 

The new policy comes following revelations that under former president Donald Trump the department secretly obtained phone records of journalists investigating his administration, including from CNN, the Washington Post and New York Times. 

The statement said the policy shift was made "because a free and independent press is vital to the functioning of our democracy." 

It said the new policy applies to reporters, publishers, third-party service providers and others involved in newsgathering, and to physical or digital documents as well as phone records. 

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the new policy in a memo and called for "a review process to further explain, develop and codify the policy." 

Monday's announcement comes after news that the Trump administration sought records of journalists investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election, while obtaining "gag orders" to keep that effort secret. 

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said last month that the use of such orders in leak investigations "is not consistent with the president's policy direction." 

The Garland memo said exceptions to the policy would be made if the journalist were the subject of an investigation, or was suspected of being a foreign agent or member of a terrorist group, or in cases of "imminent" risk of death or bodily harm. 

The policy would not apply if the reporter were suspected of a criminal act such as insider trading, or if a criminal act -- such as breaking and entering -- were part of the reporter's activities. 

Former New York Times journalist Judith Miller, who was jailed in 2005 for
 refusing to reveal her sources for her reporting on Iraq, is seen in a 2008 picture

Longstanding concerns 

While the cases involving the Trump administration have drawn scrutiny, the policy change addresses a longstanding concern on press freedom and follows several cases where journalists have been threatened with jail for refusing to reveal sources. 

"The attorney general has taken a necessary and momentous step to protect press freedom at a critical time," said Bruce Brown, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. 

"This historic new policy will ensure that journalists can do their job of informing the public without fear of federal government intrusion into their relationships with confidential sources." 

The American Civil Liberties Union also welcomed the move. 

"This policy is a major step forward in protecting journalists against government spying and safeguarding a free press," said Patrick Toomey, senior staff attorney of the ACLU’s National Security Project. 

New York Times reporter Judith Miller was jailed in 2005 for refusing to reveal the source of her reporting on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. 

Another New York Times reporter, James Risen, was threatened with jail for refusing to testify in a case seeking to confirm his sources for reporting on a US operation in Iran that was intended to disrupt that country's nuclear program. 

Two San Francisco Chronicle reporters waged a legal battle to avoid incarceration in 2007 for protecting a source for an investigation in a steroid scandal in major league sports.

Spanish king distances himself from scandal-hit father

Yahoo – AFP, March 15, 2020

Juan Carlos handed over power to his son, Felipe in 2014 (AFP Photo/Juanjo Martín)

Madrid (AFP) - King Felipe VI of Spain moved Sunday to distance himself from his scandal-hit father, stripping him of his palace allowance and renouncing what he was due to inherit from him.

A statement from the palace announced that he had stripped the former king Juan Carlos, of his allowance and was himself renouncing what he was due to inherit from him.

The announcement came after media reports that Juan Carlos had received 100 million dollars (90 million euros) from Saudi Arabia via an offshore account -- and that King Felipe himself was also a beneficiary.

The money was lodged in a Swiss bank account in the name of a Panamanian foundation.

In the palace statement, the reigning king said that in April he had made it clear to a notary that he would accept no money from the foundation in question.

He also that he had absolutely no knowledge of having been named as a beneficiary to another foundation, which according to press reports paid millions of euros towards his father's flights in private jets.

On Tuesday, the Spanish parliament decided against launching an investigation into suspected money laundering by the former king Juan Carlos.

Reported Saudi payments to ex-king

Spain's hard-left Podemos party had called for it after reports earlier this month that in 2008 Juan Carlos received $100 million from Saudi king Abdallah via the Swiss account of an entity listed in Panama.

The Swiss daily Tribune de Geneve added that in 2012, $65 million of that sum was given by the king to his former mistress, Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein.

Then a report in Britain's Daily Telegraph said that 52-year-old King Felipe was also a beneficiary of the fund, which it said had been set up when Juan Carlos was still on the throne.

Juan Carlos, now 82, came to the throne after the death of the military dictator Francisco Franco in 1975 and is widely respected for having favoured a transition to democracy.

But he lost his immunity from prosecution after handing power to his son, Felipe, in June 2014 following a 39-year reign.

He resigned from public life last year after a series of scandals about his private life.

In 2012, he outraged Spaniards by going elephant hunting in Botswana at the height of the country's recession.

Spanish reports say Juan Carlos has until now received an annual allowance from the state of more than 194,000 euros.

Huge Hong Kong rally kicks off as public anger boils

Yahoo – AFP, Jerome Taylor and Elaine Yu, June 16, 2019

Crowds of black-clad protesters were mraching from a park on the main island to
 the city's parliament -- a repeat of a massive rally a week earlier that organisers
said more than a million people attended (AFP Photo/Dale DE LA REY)

Tens of thousands of people rallied in central Hong Kong on Sunday as public anger seethed following unprecedented clashes between protesters and police over an extradition law, despite a climbdown by the city's embattled leader.

Protesters chanted "Scrap the evil law!" as they marched through the streets to pile more pressure on chief executive Carrie Lam, who paused work on the hugely divisive bill Saturday after days of mounting pressure, saying she had misjudged the public mood.

Crowds of black-clad protesters were marching from a park on the main island to the city's parliament -- a repeat of a massive demonstration a week earlier that organisers said more than a million people attended.

Critics fear the Beijing-backed law will tangle-up people in China's notoriously opaque and politicised courts and damage the city's reputation as a safe business hub.

Protesters chanted 'Scrap the evil law!' as they marched through the streets to pile 

more pressure on Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam (AFP Photo/Hector RETAMAL)

"Carrie Lam's response is very insincere. Knowing that the government won't withdraw the bill, I decided to come out today," said protester Terence Shek, 39, who had brought his children on the march.

The city was rocked by the worst political violence since its 1997 handover to China on Wednesday as tens of thousands of protesters were dispersed by riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets.

"You're supposed to protect us not shoot at us" read one banner carried on Sunday, addressing the city's police force, while others marching held photos of police breaking up crowds in Wednesday's clashes.

Lam stopped short of committing to permanently scrap the proposal Saturday and the concession was swiftly rejected by protest leaders, who called on her to resign, permanently shelve the bill and apologise for police tactics.

Hong Kong activist Jimmy Sham likened chief executive Carrie Lam's offer to 

a 'knife' that had been plunged into the city (AFP Photo/HECTOR RETAMAL)

"The extradition bill being suspended only means it can be revived any time Carrie Lam wants," said activist Lee Cheuk-yan.

Nearly 80 people were injured in this week's unrest, including 22 police officers, and one man died late Saturday when he fell from a building where he had been holding an hours-long anti-extradition protest.

He had unfurled a banner saying: "Entirely withdraw China extradition bill. We were not rioting. Released students and the injured".

Huge queues formed outside the high-end Pacific Place mall with flowers and written tributes piling up as demonstrators paid their respects.

Suspending the bill has done little to defuse simmering public anger and protest organisers have called for a city-wide strike Monday as well as Sunday's rally.

Hong Kong has been rocked by the worst political unrest since its handover to 

China (AFP Photo/Anthony WALLACE)

Jimmy Sham, from the main protest group the Civil Human Rights Front, likened Lam's offer to a "knife" that had been plunged into the city.

"Carrie Lam's speech yesterday in no way calmed down public anger," he said.

'Restore calm to the community'

Lam's decision to press ahead with tabling the bill for debate in the legislature on Wednesday -- ignoring the record-breaking crowds three days earlier -- triggered fresh protests, which brought key parts of the city to a standstill and led to violent clashes with police.

Opposition to the bill united an unusually wide cross-section of Hong Kong, from influential legal and business bodies to religious leaders, as well as Western nations.

Mourners place flowers and offer prayers at the site where a protester died

(AFP Photo/Anthony WALLACE)

The protest movement has morphed in recent days from one specifically aimed at scrapping the extradition bill to a wider display of anger at Lam and Beijing over years of sliding freedoms.

A huge banner hanging from the city's Lion Rock mountain on Sunday read "Defend Hong Kong".

Lam had been increasingly isolated in her support for the bill, with even pro-Beijing lawmakers distancing themselves from the extradition proposals in recent days.

The Chinese government said suspending the bill was a good decision to "listen more widely to the views of the community and restore calm to the community as soon as possible".

The police have faced criticism for heavy handed tactices to disperse 

protesters (AFP Photo/HECTOR RETAMAL)

'Keep the heat on'

Critics were also angry that Lam missed repeated opportunities to apologise for what many saw as heavy-handed police tactics.

Police said they had no choice but to use force to meet violent protesters who besieged their lines outside the city's parliament on Wednesday.

But critics -- including legal and rights groups -- say officers used the actions of a tiny group of violent protesters as an excuse to unleash a sweeping crackdown on the predominantly young, peaceful protesters.

"The pro-democracy group will not stop at this point, they want to build on the momentum against Carrie Lam," political analyst Willy Lam told AFP. "They will keep the heat on and ride the momentum."

People pray outside the government headquarters in Hong Kong on the eve of 

Sunday's mass rally (AFP Photo/HECTOR RETAMAL)

Protest leaders have called for police to drop charges against anyone arrested for rioting and other offences linked to Wednesday's clashes.

Activist Lee said opponents feared reprisals by the government and wanted assurances "that our Hong Kong people, our protesters, are not being harassed and politically prosecuted by this government".

Lam has argued that Hong Kong needs to reach an extradition agreement with the mainland, and says safeguards were in place to ensure dissidents or political cases would not be accepted.

Bouteflika, Bashir... will other strongmen fall?

Yahoo – AFP, Stuart WILLIAMS, April 11, 2019

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a former army general, came to power
after the ousting of Islamist Mohamed Morsi, who himself was elected after the
uprising that felled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak (AFP Photo/ISSOUF SANOGO)

Paris (AFP) - Strongmen in the Middle East and North Africa will be eyeing warily popular protests, fed by frustration with living standards and an elite perceived as corrupt, that helped push veteran Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika and now Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir from power.

While recent events in Algeria and Sudan have been unique to those countries, analysts say the rapid downfall Bouteflika and Bashir are a warning to authoritarian leaders in the region that they will ignore popular anger, especially over economic grievances, at their peril.

The Sudanese army said Thursday that Bashir had been removed from power and detained after 30 years in power following four months of protests. Last week, mass protests led Algeria's ailing Bouteflika to step down last week after 20 years.

In both situations, longtime rulers were pushed aside by existing security structures on the back of mass protests, in a sign for authoritarian leaders that an army can be a foe as well as a friend.

But this also dashed popular hopes for a true revolution, leaving a potential for further instability.

And as populations surge in the region, with the demographic switching towards a younger, more digitally savvy generation, discontent may deepen further.

Protests persisted in Algeria after lawmakers appointed a regime stalwart as the 

country's first new president in two decades (AFP Photo/RYAD KRAMDI)

'Lesson for autocrats'

"The Algerian and Sudanese contexts are very different indeed. But at the same time, there is a lesson here for autocrats and dictators, that the craving for justice, democracy, and equal opportunities is universal," said Marc Pierini, visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe.

"In both countries, people are fed up by seeing the people sitting in power, calling all the shots, and pocketing the money," said Pierini, a former EU ambassador to Tunisia and Libya, Syria, Morocco and Turkey.

"It is also interesting that armed forces are not necessarily solidly behind these autocrats anymore and perhaps have a longer view," he told AFP.

Algeria's neighbour Morocco is run by a monarchy while heavyweight Egypt is headed by strongman President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a former army general.

He came to power after the ousting of Islamist Mohamed Morsi who himself was elected into power after the uprising that felled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose ruling party lost control of Turkey's 

two biggest cities in March polls, will be watching events in Sudan particularly closely 

after hosting Bashir on multiple occasions despite an ICC arrest warrant (AFP 

Photo/Alexander NEMENOV)

'Looking on with worry'

Sharan Grewal, a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, said it was difficult to predict whether the latest convulsions would trigger a repeat of the 2010-11 Arab Spring protests that ousted regimes in Egypt and Tunisia and led to war in Syria and Yemen.

"That said, revolutions do tend to occur in waves," he said, citing the Arab Spring and the so-called colour revolutions in post-Soviet states like Ukraine and Georgia in the previous decade as well as the fall of Communism in eastern Europe in 1989.

Noting that the demands of the protesters to beat corruption and improve living standards resonate beyond Sudan and Algeria, he added: "You can be sure that dictators across the region are looking at these uprisings with worry."

Haim Malka, senior fellow and deputy director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said regimes have been "slow to grasp and adjust to a combination of demographic, technological and economic shifts".

"The region will face more turbulence as citizens and regimes attempt to renegotiate the contours of the social contract," he told AFP, adding: "It will take years" for a new equilibrium to emerge.

Organisers of protests for the ouster of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir rejected 

his toppling by the army Thursday as a "coup conducted by the regime" and vowed 

to keep up their campaign (AFP Photo/AHMED MUSTAFA)

'Between a rock and a hard place'

The tremors in Algiers and Khartoum will reverberate well beyond the Middle East.

Another strongman to leave the stage this spring was Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev, who stepped down in what analysts saw as a bid to ensure a controlled power transition at a time of increased economic uncertainty.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose ruling party lost control of Turkey's two biggest cities in March polls and is now contesting the results in Istanbul, will be watching events in Sudan particularly closely after hosting Bashir on multiple occasions in defiance of an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant.

And even when a leader is removed from power it's far from the end of the story.

Anthony Skinner, director at Verisk Maplecroft risk assessment firm, said Bouteflika’s interim successor Abdelkader Bensalah was "between a rock and a hard place" as he sought to cater to the demands of protestors while ensuring stability.

"I expect protestors to sustain pressure on the political elite," he said, even as police resort more to water cannon, tear gas and truncheons.

"The administration wants to stick to the current roadmap without having to make further concessions," he said.

Related Articles:

"The Great Escape" - Mar 11, 2017 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

“… The Fall of Many - Seen It Yet?

You are going to see more and more personal secrets being revealed about persons in high places of popularity or government. It will seem like an epidemic of non-integrity! But what is happening is exactly what we have been teaching. The new energy has light that will expose the darkness of things that are not commensurate with integrity. They have always been there, and they were kept from being seen by many who keep secrets in the dark. Seen the change yet?

In order to get to a more stable future, you will have to go through gyrations of dark and light. What this means is that the dark is going to be revealed and push back at you. It will eventually lose. We told you this. That's what you're here for is to help those around you who don't see an escape from the past. They didn't get their nuclear war, but everything else is going into the dumper anyway. … “

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once),Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

"The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) - (Text-Version)

" .... Africa

Let me tell you where else it's happening that you are unaware - that which is the beginning of the unity of the African states. Soon the continent will have what they never had before, and when that continent is healed and there is no AIDS and no major disease, they're going to want what you have. They're going to want houses and schools and an economy that works without corruption. They will be done with small-minded leaders who kill their populations for power in what has been called for generations "The History of Africa." Soon it will be the end of history in Africa, and a new continent will emerge.

Be aware that the strength may not come from the expected areas, for new leadership is brewing. There is so much land there and the population is so ready there, it will be one of the strongest economies on the planet within two generations plus 20 years. And it's going to happen because of a unifying idea put together by a few. These are the potentials of the planet, and the end of history as you know it.

In approximately 70 years, there will be a black man who leads this African continent into affluence and peace. He won't be a president, but rather a planner and a revolutionary economic thinker. He, and a strong woman with him, will implement the plan continent-wide. They will unite. This is the potential and this is the plan. Africa will arise out the ashes of centuries of disease and despair and create a viable economic force with workers who can create good products for the day. You think China is economically strong? China must do what it does, hobbled by the secrecy and bias of the old ways of its own history. As large as it is, it will have to eventually compete with Africa, a land of free thinkers and fast change. China will have a major competitor, one that doesn't have any cultural barriers to the advancement of the free Human spirit.. ...."

US citizens among nine held in Saudi crackdown: activists

Yahoo – AFP, April 5, 2019

A file photo taken in September 2016 of Saudi activist Aziza al-Yousef, temporarily
 released last week but who remains on trial with other women's rights campaigners
(AFP Photo/FAYEZ NURELDINE)

Dubai (AFP) - Saudi Arabia has arrested at least nine writers and academics, including two US citizens, in an apparent crackdown on supporters of detained women activists whose trial has drawn global censure, campaigners said Friday.

News of the arrests came the morning after US lawmakers voted to end military support for a Saudi-led war in neighbouring Yemen, which has triggered what the UN describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

It also marks the first major crackdown since the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last October, which sparked unprecedented international scrutiny of the kingdom's human rights record.

Campaigners identified the US-Saudi dual nationals as writer and doctor Bader al-Ibrahim and Salah al-Haidar, the son of Aziza al-Yousef -- a high-profile activist who was temporarily released last week but remains on trial along with other women campaigners.

The latest round up started on Thursday, a day after the 11 women -- some of whom accused interrogators of torture and sexual abuse in detention -- returned to court to face charges that include contact with foreign media, diplomats and human rights groups.

London-based rights group ALQST identified eight arrested writers, bloggers and academics -- including a pregnant woman -- adding that the crackdown was linked to their support of female activists on trial.

Another public intellectual, university lecturer Anas al-Mazrou, was detained last month after he expressed solidarity with the detained women during a panel discussion at the Riyadh book fair, it added.

Prisoners of Conscience, a Saudi group that tracks political prisoners, put the number of people arrested at 10.

A State Department official confirmed that two US citizens were arrested, but refused to give more details due to "privacy considerations".

"When a US citizen is arrested abroad, the Department of State works to provide all appropriate consular assistance and seek access to the citizen without delay," the official said.

"We have already engaged the Saudi government in this regard."

Many of those arrested face travel bans, campaigners said.

The murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has left the oil-rich Gulf kingdom

facing increased scrutiny over human rights (AFP Photo/MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH)

"Saudi authorities seem to be hell-bent on silencing anyone who dares to speak up or even voice their opinions privately and publicly," Amnesty International's Middle East campaigns director Samah Hadid told AFP.

"This goes beyond just attacking activists and now seems to target different segments of society. This is a dangerous pattern."

Pressure to stay silent 

"What is disturbing about new Saudi arrests is that waves of arrests keep moving from most-known to successively lesser knowns," Saudi-American activist Nora Abdulkarim said on Twitter.

"Another confusing aspect is timing, leaves one asking: 'why now?'"

Riyadh has faced pressure from major Western powers to release the women on trial, most of whom were detained last summer in a wide-ranging crackdown against activists just before the historic lifting of a decades-long ban on female motorists.

Three of them -- activist Aziza al-Yousef, blogger Eman al-Nafjan and preacher Rokaya al-Mohareb -- were granted temporary release last week.

Before their provisional release, the three freed women and their bail guarantors were made to sign a pledge that they will stay away from the media, according to multiple people with access to the trial.

The siblings of one of the prominent detainees, activist Loujain al-Hathloul, this week said they were being pressured by people close to the Saudi state to stay silent over her treatment in detention.

People close to the Saudi establishment have warned that public criticism by family members could prolong their detention.

"A reminder: we are not going to stay silent," Loujain's sister Alia al-Hathloul tweeted on Friday.

At an emotionally charged hearing last week, some women broke down as they accused interrogators of subjecting them to electric shocks, flogging and groping in detention, two people with access to the trial told AFP.

A Saudi prosecutor roundly rejected the accusations in the latest court hearing on Wednesday, witnesses said, reiterating the government's stance.

The next hearing in the trial, which foreign media and diplomats are barred from attending, is scheduled for April 17, activists say.