The Egyptian press has recently published a news report that a regional conference on the capital punishment in the Middle East and North Africa was held in Alexandria in the period of 20-21 September 2010 and that the conference was organized by the Swedish Institute in Alexandria.
We pay tribute to the efforts made by the Swedish Institute in Alexandria which took the initiative to hold such a conference on the death penalty and to emphasize the need that it should be curbed. It is noteworthy that the Swedish Institute has also held a workshop from 12-14 May 2008 in which we participated as an Arab Coalitions against the Death Penalty. Nonetheless, we would like to express our extreme regrets for the overlooking by the Swedish Institute and its lack of interest in the continuous and systematic action and efforts which the Arab alliance made with existing Arab entities concerned about the opposition to the capital punishment in each of Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Iraq and Mauritania.

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The Yemeni authorities must stop sacrificing human rights in the name of security as they confront threats from al-Qa’ida, Zaidi Shi’a rebels in the north, and address growing demands for secession in the south, Amnesty International said in a new report.Yemen: Cracking Down Under Pressure documents a catalogue of human rights violations including unlawful killings of those accused of links to al-Qa’ida and Southern Movement activists, and arbitrary arrests, torture and unfair trials.

Yemenis accused of supporting the Huthis who are armed Zaidi Shi’a rebels in the northern Sa’dah region, or the Southern Movement, have also been targeted for arbitrary detention, unfair trials in specialized courts and beatings, together with journalists, dissenters, human rights defenders, and critics of the government.

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Amnesty International today urged the Yemeni government to publicly announce its commitment to implementing the recommendations issued last week by the UN Committee against Torture, following its regrettable failure earlier this month to show up to the Committee’s examination of what was described as the “widespread practice of torture and ill-treatment” in Yemen.

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