08 Oct 2018 - NPWJ News Digest on Middle East and North Africa Democracy

Articles

Pressure on Saudis after disappearance of dissident in Istanbul
The Guardian, 07 Oct 2018

Turkish authorities have claimed that the high-profile dissident Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul by a hit squad sent from Riyadh, amid calls for an international inquiry into a disappearance that has rocked the region. After alleging on Saturday that the journalist was killed in an act of state-sponsored murder, and that his body was later removed, officials said on Sunday they had based their beliefs on an investigation by police and intelligence officers, who had pored over security camera footage and spoken with informants inside the consulate.

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Syria rebels begin moving heavy arms from Idlib buffer zone
Al Jazeera, 07 Oct 2018

Turkey-backed rebels have said the withdrawal of their heavy weapons from a planned buffer zone in northwestern Syria will last several days. The National Liberation Front (NLF) announced on Saturday it has begun withdrawing heavy arms from the demilitarised zone as part of an agreement between Russia, which is a Syrian government ally, and Turkey.

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Libyan PM looks to broaden support with cabinet reshuffle
Al Jazeera, 07 Oct 2018

Libya's UN-backed Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj changed the interior minister and reshuffled other cabinet posts on Sunday in a move seen as a bid to broaden his support nationwide and bolster security in the capital after weeks of clashes. Tripoli has been hit by fighting between rival armed groups competing over access to public funds and power, part of chaos in Libya since the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

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Gafsa uprising & transitional justice: trials must not stop at being symbolic
Amnesty International, 04 Oct 2018

Wednesday 26 September was a momentous day at the court of First Instance of Gafsa. Emotions ran high as the activists and leaders of the uprising of the Gafsa Mining Basin of 2008 walked into the same court room in which they were beaten up, unfairly tried and sentenced just under 10 years ago. Only this time, they walked in through the main door as victims waiting to see the perpetrators prosecuted- not defendants accused of plotting against the state. Their only crime in 2008? Daring to peacefully protest what they considered to be unfair employment practices, nepotism and lack of transparency by the state-owned Phosphate Company of Gafsa, the region’s main -- if not sole -- employer.

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Iran: Victim of domestic and sexual violence, arrested as a child, is executed after unfair trial
Amnesty International , 02 Oct 2018

Responding to the horrific news that 24-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman Zeinab Sekaanvand was executed early this morning in Urumieh central prison, West Azerbaijan province, Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said: “The execution of Zeinab Sekaanvand is a sickening demonstration of the Iranian authorities’ disregard for the principles of juvenile justice and international human rights law. Zeinab was just 17 years old at the time of her arrest. Her execution is profoundly unjust and shows the Iranian authorities’ contempt for the right of children to life. The fact that her death sentence followed a grossly unfair trial makes her execution even more outrageous.

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