ACHRS Statement: Arbitrary Detention Releases – Bittersweet Victory
In the last few weeks, various large human rights organisations have published celebratory articles about the release of arbitrarily detained individuals. While indeed this is good news, many human rights defenders are still being detained for using their freedom of expression. ACHRS, therefore, salutes the release of the detainees but condemns the multitude of individuals that are still being detained in the MENA region.
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In the first two weeks of December, various news articles bore both positive news about releases and announcements of more unlawful arrests. On the 7th of December, AlJazeera and Human Rights Watch posted about the release of Patrick Zaki, an Egyptian researcher who got arrested a year and a half before on the accusation of spreading fake news regarding the situation of Christians in Egypt. One day later, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty posted that Lebanese journalist Nada Homsi was released and cleared from her deportation order, after three weeks of arbitrary detention, being held “for security reasons”.
While these articles present (small) victories, we must not forget that they shed light on a problem that has been going on for years now: random arrests in the MENA region in situations convenient for the authorities of the State. For example, on the 9th of December, 23 civil society and human rights organizations signed a joint letter urging the Iranian government to release seven prominent human rights defenders, who were preparing a complaint against Iran’s National Task Force against Coronavirus. On the 14th of December, Amnesty published a similar article about Kuwaiti officials holding eight people without charge since the 4th of November. The men, accused of funding Hezbollah, a Lebanese political organization and military force that is illegal in Kuwait, were questioned for many days without legal representation.
In the case of Nada Homsi, AlJazeera wrote that the journalist had been released after two human rights organisations called her arrest arbitrary. While this shows that appeals by influential NGOs work, it does not solve the underlying problem: multiple violations of a person’s rights. Looking at the aforementioned cases, most of the detainees have been tortured, were questioned without their lawyers and did not get a fair trial, violating, amongst other international conventions, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. While Iran has not signed the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, they are party to both International Covenants, in which these rights are enshrined.
In light of the aforementioned recent events regarding arbitrary detainments, ACHRS supports the release of several individuals, yet strongly urges MENA governments to review their practices concerning arrests and the trials relating to them.
Image Source: Amnesty International
