19 Nov 2018 - NPWJ News Digest on Middle East and North Africa Democracy

Articles

Hunt lands in Iran to discuss nuclear deal, bilateral issues
Reuters, 19 Nov 2018

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt arrived in Tehran on Monday for the first time since taking office to hold talks with Iranian authorities on issues including the future of the 2015 nuclear deal, Iranian media reported. Hunt’s office said in a statement that, during his meeting with Zarif, he would stress that the UK is committed to the nuclear deal as long as Iran sticks to its terms. He will also discuss European efforts to maintain nuclear-related sanctions relief. Other signatories of the deal, the European Union, France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China, have been searching for ways to salvage the pact.

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Dozens of human rights activists, lawyers arrested by Egypt: HRW
Al Jazeera, 19 Nov 2018

Egyptian authorities have arrested at least 40 human rights advocates, lawyers and political activists within the last 30 days and held them in "undisclosed locations", Human Rights Watch has said. "Many of those arrested were people who provided humanitarian and legal support to families of political detainees," HRW said, calling on the government to reveal their whereabouts.

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Bahraini courts give prison sentences to over dozen anti-regime activists
PressTV, 18 Nov 2018

Courts in Bahrain have handed down prison sentences to more than a dozen anti-regime protesters as the ruling Al Khalifah regime does not shy away from its heavy clampdown on political dissidents and pro-democracy activists in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom. The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), in a statement released on November 13, announced that law courts have issued death sentences against 32 opposition figures since 2011, of which three have been carried out, seven have been commuted to life imprisonment and two others been appealed.

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Iran: Two people executed for corruption after unfair TV show trial
Amnesty International, 14 Nov 2018

Responding to the news that the Iranian authorities have executed Vahid Mazloumin and Mohammad Esmail Ghasemi, two men convicted of financial crimes after a grossly unfair trial, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Research and Advocacy Director, Philip Luther, said: “With these abhorrent executions the Iranian authorities have flagrantly violated international law and once again displayed their shameless disregard for the right to life. 

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Tunisia's parliament approves prime minister's cabinet reshuffle
Al Jazeera, 13 Nov 2018

Tunisia's parliament has approved a partial cabinet reshuffle proposed by the country's prime minister last week, including the appointment of a Jewish businessman as tourism minister. The vote on Monday came following a 12-hour marathon session during which Prime Minister Youssef Chahed pleaded for political continuity in the crisis-ridden North African nation.

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