• 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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Reports

Middle East/N. Africa

  • Egypt: Widespread Military Torture of Protesters Arrested in May
    May 19, 2012

    Military soldiers beat and tortured protesters they arrested at a demonstration near the Defense Ministry on May 4, 2012, Human Rights Watch said today, after interviews with numerous victims and lawyers. The military also failed to protect the protesters from attacks by armed groups in the early morning hours of May 2, at the same demonstration, which began on April 27 in Cairo’s Abbasiyya neighborhood.

  • EBRD: Use Expansion to Promote Rights
    May 18, 2012
    The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) should articulate concrete human rights benchmarks for Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia as it expands its operations into the Middle East and North Africa.
  • Letter to President Mirow Regarding EBRD Country Assessments and Operational Priorities for Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia
    May 17, 2012

    We write to urge you to ensure that the EBRD’s upcoming process of creating country assessments and operational priorities for Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia is used to provide an honest assessment of these countries’ commitment to and application of the principles articulated in Article 1 of the EBRD's founding agreement. In particular, we urge you to articulate concrete benchmarks in these country assessments, underlining the steps each government should take to work toward the Article 1 principles. 

  • Comments on the EBRD's Technical Assessments for Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia
    May 17, 2012

    Human Rights Watch takes this opportunity to comment on the EBRD’s technical assessments for Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia. Below, we highlight omissions and developments since the drafting of the assessments, which we encourage you to reflect in drafting the upcoming country assessments and operational priorities for these countries.

  • UN Security Council: Press Libya on Impunity
    May 16, 2012
    Members of the United Nations Security Council should condemn attempts by the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) to prevent accountability for serious and ongoing crimes committed in Libya. The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, will brief the Security Council on his Libya investigation on May 16, 2012.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.

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