The TOBE Foundation
for Rights & Freedoms and the Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRD) Regional
Coalition in the Middle East and North Africa (WHRD MENA Coalition) are
extremely concerned about the continued targeting, incarceration and even
murder of women human rights defenders (WHRDs) and journalists in Yemen,
Palestine, Egypt and Sudan.
In Yemen, women and
WHRDs are held captive in secret prisons in San’aa by the Houthi militant
groups, where they are subjected to, according to various news outlets, abduction
and various forms of torture. They tend to be held in these secret prisons for
years. In a published testimony by a 55-year-old WHRD, who is a member of the
General People’s Congress, she describes how she was beaten on a daily basis,
forced to stand on one foot and electrocuted. Moreover, she currently has
problems with her vision due to her beating on a daily basis, and suffers from
renal disease due to drinking polluted water in these prisons. Other
detainees include students, women who do not conform to the norms and rules of
Houthi Militias, Baha’i women, or those who speak up against their atrocities.
Around 200 women have been held in these prison cells and these militias employ
women “forces” known as “zeneebat” who beat the women and torture them in
various ways, including not letting them use the toilet or not allowing them to
sleep According
to the Rome Convention, these crimes constitute crimes of war and crimes
against humanity. An independent international commission needs to be formed to
investigate these crimes and hold those accountable according to international
law. Moreover, recent violations include stopping the release of journalist
Hala Badawy who has
been incarcerated in Hadramout Prison for the last 6 months, despite the
court’s decision to release her. The prosecution appealed the release order, a
tactic used to stop the release of WHRDs. Badawy was forcibly disappeared in a
prison affiliated to the military intelligence, and a smear campaign was
initiated against her at the same time of her first interrogation session at
the prosecution. Another court affiliated to the Houthis issued a verdict for
the 5 years’ imprisonment of model Intisar ElHamady,
for “committing an indecent act and possession of drugs''. Intisar stated that
she was attacked verbally and physically, and was forced to sign a statement
while she was blindfolded. A request was also submitted to have her undergo a
virginity test, which she refused to adhere to while interrogating her. The
Houthi rule does not accept any criticism of the measures it implements, as
journalist Nadia Mokbel was
released after she was incarcerated for 41 days for working in San’aa on a
report about the increase of prices during the Ramadan season.
In Palestine,
prolific Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was murdered on 11
May 2022 while covering an Israeli army raid at the Jenin refugee camp. She was
killed by being shot behind her ear despite wearing a “Press” vest and helmet.
This was followed by “the Israeli prime minister, Naftali Bennett, (saying
that) armed Palestinians were “likely” responsible, but Israel has since rowed
back and said it was investigating”. While the
UN Security Council has unanimously announced its condemnation of her killing
and called for a thorough, transparent and impartial investigation, an
international committee must be formed to conduct the investigation to ensure
that justice will be implemented and Israel is held accountable. Also, the
attack on her funeral procession on 13 May 2022 by Israeli officers must be
investigated by the same independent committee to ensure that impunity does not
take place. It should be noted that Abu Akleh was known for helping Palestinian
women in the midst of raids and attacks, within the context of the occupation,
to find their children, and is deeply connected to the Palestinian community.
Moreover, WHRD Shaza Odeh was
sentenced to one year and 4 months’ imprisonment, and a $9000 USD fine by an
Israeli military tribunal on 12 May 2022, and was also given a 5 year suspended
sentence on the condition that she does not provide health services. Odeh was
incarcerated by Israeli security forces since 7 July 2021, when her house was
raided in Ramallah, and the vehicle of the Health Work Committees that Odeh
heads was confiscated, in addition to closing the premises of the concerned
committees in Ramallah. Odeh is a nurse and WHRD who works on access to health
services in various communities in the Western Bank, where her organization
alone provides 12% of the health services Palestinians can reach. She faced
some harassment from Israel previously due to her work, where the latest was in
June 2021 when administration offices were closed for 6 months in accordance
with an Israeli military order, and the Minister of Health reopened premises
where provision of services continued.
Odeh should be immediately released to allow her to continue working on the
provision of health services to Palestinians, and in particular Palestinian
women.
Recently, Israeli
military forces raided the office of 7 Palestinian civil society and human
rights organizations in Ramallah on
Thursday 18 August 2022, namely the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees
(UPWC), Bisan Center for Research & Development, Al-Haq, Addameer, Defense
for Children, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees and the Union of Health
Work Committees, 6 of which (excluding the latter) were designated as terrorist
group organizations by the government of Israel in October 2021. The 7th
organization that was not designated as a terrorist group, was also raided on
the same day, namely the Union of Health Work Committees, which was led by WHRD
Shatha Odeh before her arrest as referred to above. The raided offices were looted, equipment was
confiscated, and doors were welded shut. It is important to note that these
organizations provide various services to Palestinians and lead important work
in the field of human rights, including defense of political prisoners, defense
of women’s human rights, provision of services to farmers, provision of health
services, maintaining rights of children and fighting child labor, in addition
to highlighting the violations committed by Israel in its occupation of
Palestinian terriroties. This is a tactic that has always been employed by
Israel against Palestinians to negate their rights, isolate them, and threaten
their sovereignty. Similar to methods employed by oppressive states, carrying
out these atrocious human rights violations under the guise of maintaining
security, is a false premise for which governments should be held accountable
by the international community.
In Egypt, Marwa
Arafa is
arbitrarily detained since the raid on her house in the evening of 20 April
2020, where her house was raided and she was arrested after her house was
searched, without the presence of a permit or authorization from the concerned
body. Marwa appeared 14 days later on 4 May 2020 at the National Security
Prosecution, where she was interrogated in Case no. 570 of 2020, where a warrant
for her arrest was present, in addition to an investigative memo. Marwa is
charged with joining a terrorist organization and knowing its objectives and
committing a funding crime. Marwa helped families affected by the incarceration
of their providers, and the help she presented was seasonal, consisting of
sustenance supplies, study material and medication for families, as a form of
humanitarian support. Marwa exceeded the legal duration of detention on remand,
namely 2 years, and is kept away from her daughter who is a child who has
recently turned 3 years old.
Meanwhile in Sudan,
WHRD Sulima Sherif was summoned by the Prosecution of Crimes against the State,
which released her on her personal guarantee. Sulima works as the director of
the unit to combat violence against women, affiliated to the government, after
the Sudanese revolution and before the military coup led by General Abdel
Fattah Burhan. The reason behind the summoning of Sulima for the first time
since the coup is the speech of the UNITAMS representative Volker Perthes about
Sudan and in particular, crimes of violence against women, as his speech
contained information related to these crimes by state actors, especially rape
crimes, which he obtained from Sulima. Women and WHRDs in Sudan face numerous
and horrific violations perpetrated by Sudanese security forces, including
physical and sexual violations, arrest, interrogation, forge of charges and
enforced dissapearance, and it even caused in one case the miscarraige of a
woman and breaking her leg. Sustaining Sudanese women’s fundamental right to
their physical integrity, having their rapists held accountable should be an
utter priority that is seeked, and the current coup government should adopt the
demands of the Sudanese feminist movement, not punish them for their activism
in the public sphere, and support their practice of their right to freedom of
thought and expression.
In subsequence, the Human Rights Council needs
to call on the concerned states perpetrating the highlighted crimes to hold
perpetrators accountable, immediately release WHRDs and form independent
investigative committees to investigate these atrocious crimes.
