• A sign on a door labeled “Interrogation Booths” in both English and Arabic at Camp Honor military base in Baghdad’s Green Zone, taken before the government announced the prison was closed.
    Iraq: Mass Arrests, Incommunicado Detentions

    Iraq’s government has been carrying out mass arrests and unlawfully detaining people in the notorious Camp Honor prison facility in Baghdad’s Green Zone, based on numerous interviews with victims, witnesses, family members, and government officials. The government had claimed a year ago that it had closed the prison, where Human Rights Watch had documented rampant torture.

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Middle East/N. Africa

  • Libya's Human Rights Problem
    May 15, 2012

    Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) warmly accepted the international community's military and political support for dislodging the Qaddafi government, and vowed to build a new state that would respect human rights. But it seems to be veering off course. Not only is it rejecting international human rights monitoring and the ICC's jurisdiction, but more troubling still, it has passed some shockingly bad laws, mimicking Qaddafi laws criminalizing political dissent and granting blanket immunity to any crimes committed in "support" of the revolution.

  • Jordan: Don’t Deport Eritrean Refugees to Yemen
    May 15, 2012
    Jordanian authorities are about to deport nine detained Eritrean refugees, including a 7-year-old girl, to Yemen where they risk indefinite detention and possibly deportation to persecution in Eritrea. Jordan should allow the group to remain in Jordan and give the United Nations refugee agency access to the refugees.
  • Bahrain: Drop Charges Against Rights Activists
    May 15, 2012
    Bahraini authorities should drop politically motivated criminal charges against Nabeel Rajab, a human rights activist, and release him immediately. Rajab is scheduled to go on trial on May 16, 2012, for “offending an official institution” – namely, the Interior Ministry, which he criticized for allegedly ignoring attacks against boys and young protesters as well as Shia-owned businesses.
  • Iraq: Mass Arrests, Incommunicado Detentions
    May 15, 2012

    Iraq’s government has been carrying out mass arrests and unlawfully detaining people in the notorious Camp Honor prison facility in Baghdad’s Green Zone, based on numerous interviews with victims, witnesses, family members, and government officials. The government had claimed a year ago that it had closed the prison, where Human Rights Watch had documented rampant torture.

  • Morocco/Western Sahara: No Action on Police Beating of Rights Worker
    May 15, 2012
    The failure of Moroccan authorities to follow through on investigating the beating by police of a Human Rights Watch research assistant is a case study of impunity for police violence.
  • Nato Must Investigate the Civilian Casualties of its Libyan Campaign
    May 14, 2012
    At least 72 civilians, including 24 children, were killed by Nato air strikes during the alliance's military campaign in Libya last year.
  • Kuwait: Emir Should Sign New Detention Bill
    May 14, 2012

    The Kuwaiti parliament passed a law on May 10, 2012, that would provide an important expansion of due process protections in Kuwait. The law would eliminate unlimited renewals of pretrial detention and significantly limit the periods allowed for pretrial investigative detentions. The Emir of Kuwait, Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, should sign the bill into law.

  • Syrian Kurds Fleeing to Iraqi Safe Haven
    May 14, 2012
    With violence raging in Syria, thousands of people are fleeing to neighboring countries to escape the bloodshed. Although the flow of refugees to Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey has been covered extensively, the Syrians who have fled to Iraq, most of them Kurds, have received less attention.
  • NATO: Investigate Civilian Deaths in Libya
    May 14, 2012

    The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has failed to acknowledge dozens of civilian casualties from air strikes during its 2011 Libya campaign, and has not investigated possible unlawful attacks, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

  • Syria: Activists Arrested, Held Despite Pledge to Annan
    May 13, 2012

    Syrian security forces are arbitrarily arresting and holding peaceful activists incommunicado, despite the government’s commitment under Kofi Annan’s six point plan to release everyone who has been arbitrarily detained. People being arrested include peaceful protesters and activists involved in organizing, filming, and reporting on protests and humanitarian assistance providers and doctors, Human Rights Watch said after interviewing dozens of activists, witnesses, and family members.

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