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3 August 2015 - NPWJ News Digest on Middle East and North Africa Democracy
Articles
Iraqis protest over power outages and poor services
By Al Jazeera, 03 Aug 2015
Thousands of Iraqis have demonstrated against the government over the lack of basic services across the country, as rampant electricity cuts exacerbate a sweltering heat wave. On Sunday, hundreds took to the streets in the southern cities of Nasriyah and and Najaf to protest over poor living conditions, including power shortages, and urged authorities to fight widespread corruption. About 1,000 people also rallied in the central town of Hillah, where many called for holding government officials accountable for poor public services. A day earlier, large protests broke out in the cities of Basra and Karbala over the poor quality of water and frequent electrical blackouts. In Basra, hundreds protested in front of the governor's office to demand a solution to the long-running problem of salty tap water. "We demand the dismissal of the governor and of the provincial council; the time has come for Basra's people to get their rights," Ziyad Tareq, a student, told the AFP news agency. When the governor's deputy went out to hear their demands, demonstrators pelted him with plastic water bottles and insisted on seeing the governor himself. "The local government is always promising improved water and electricity but they are liars and no longer have any credibility," Tareq said.
Warplane crashes into Syrian town, say reports
By The Guardian, 03 Aug 2015
A Syrian warplane has crashed in a residential area of Ariha, a town in north-west Syria, activists say. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and Syrian umbrella organisation the Local Coordination Committees, gave no immediate death toll. The town of Ariha, once a government stronghold, was captured in May by opposition fighters and Islamic militants. Activists said that at the time of the crash, the town was under attack by the air force of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
Al-Jazeera trial: Verdict delayed until 29 August
By the BBC news, 02 Aug 2015
An Egyptian court has again delayed a verdict in the retrial of three al-Jazeera journalists convicted of aiding the banned Muslim Brotherhood. Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy, Egyptian Baher Mohamed and Australian Peter Greste were sentenced to up to 10 years in prison in July 2014. Their convictions for spreading false news were overturned and they were freed in February to await retrial. Mr Greste was deported to Australia and is on trial again in absentia.
The journalists strenuously deny collaborating with the Muslim Brotherhood, which the Egyptian government considers a terrorist group, after the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi by the military in 2013.
At a hearing on Sunday, the journalists were told the verdict would be delayed until 29 August.
UAE arrests: 41 accused of plotting 'caliphate'
By the BBC news, 02 Aug 2015
Authorities in the United Arab Emirates say 41 people will go on trial for trying to "seize power and establish a caliphate" in the Gulf nation. The state news agency said the group comprised foreigners and UAE nationals. Attorney General Salem Saeed Kubaish said the suspects planned to "carry out terrorist acts on UAE territories".
It is the latest in a series of trials against Islamists in the UAE. Rights groups have attacked the fairness of the hearings. The group had a "takfiri" ideology, Mr Kubaish said - referring to an extremist Sunni Muslim belief pursued by the so-called Islamic State. "Takfir" is the practice of one Muslim declaring another an apostate - and one which IS has used to carry out punishments.
Iran's foreign minister calls for world's nuclear weapons states to disarm
By The Guardian, 31 Jul 2015
Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has called on Israel and the world’s eight other states with nuclear weapons to begin disarming, in response to his country’s acceptance of strict curbs on its nuclear programme in an agreement reached earlier this month. Writing in the Guardian, Zarif argues that by agreeing to the Vienna deal, titled the joint comprehensive plan of action, Iran was honouring the spirit of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), in which states without nuclear weapons promise not to acquire them. But he says the nuclear weapons states are not keeping their side of the bargain by disarming. “The cold war-era asymmetry between states that possess nuclear weapons and those that don’t is no longer tolerable,” the minister writes, claiming Iran had “walked the walk” on non-proliferation.
Turkey joined the fight against Islamic State, but not for the reasons you think
By Reuters, 28 Jul 2015
After months of wavering, Turkey agreed on July 23 to partner with the United States in launching joint air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq. However, soon after pounding Islamic State positions in Syria, Ankara quickly turned its attention to strike at the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Iraq, whose Syrian wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG) is a key U.S. ally against Islamic State. The decision to strike against the PKK was made with the aim of advancing Turkey's governing AK Party's political position ahead of early parliamentary elections. But it will be a pyrrhic victory: Syria's problems will continue to spill over Turkey's borders, making a solution to the conflict ever more elusive. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is still smarting from June's parliamentary elections. The vote saw Erdogan's allies in parliament, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), lose its majority for the first time more than a decade. A surge in ethnic-Turkish support enabled the pro-PKK Peoples' Democracy Party (HD Party) to secure the 10 percent threshold required to enter parliament for the first time, on a package offering an inclusive, pro-peace platform that attracted tactical, anti-Erdogan voters. Yet the HD Party's win was possible only because Erdogan had spent the past three years negotiating a peace with the PKK's leader, Abdullah Ocalan. The resulting lull in Kurdish violence helped to detoxify the HD Party's brand, previously seen as a political front for separatist militants. Weakened and feeling betrayed, Erdogan has since June moved to undermine the HD Party by antagonizing the PKK at home and abroad. Moreover, he has done little to prevent Islamic State attacks on PKK supporters in Turkey, while further denouncing peace talks with the group. These measures have been effective at isolating the HD Party's pro-peace leader, Selahattin Demirtas, cutting off ethnic Turkish support from the party in advance of early elections.
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