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16 Jan 2012 NPWJ News Digest on Middle East and North Africa Democracy
NPWJ in the news
Standoff over who will try Saif Al Islam Qaddafi
By Ferry Biedermann , 13 Jan 2012
Libyan authorities, the international community and tribesmen from Zintan are at odds over the custody and eventual trial of Saif Al Islam Qaddafi, son of the former Libyan dictator.
The International Criminal Court in The Hague this week extended until January 23 a deadline for Libyan officials to explain what they plan to do with him.
Mr Qaddafi was last seen in public in mid-November, shortly after he was captured in the Libyan desert. Dressed in Bedouin garb rather than the designer suits he was accustomed to, he looked bedraggled and slightly confused, with one of his hands bandaged.
(...) The issue of Mr Qaddafi has become something of an embarrassment for international human-rights groups. While they used to condemn him and his father for their alleged violations, they now have to worry about him receiving a proper trial, particularly after the grisly fate of his father, Muammar Qaddafi, who was killed soon after he was captured.
Alison Smith of the Brussels-based group No Peace Without Justice explained that "the concern that everybody has is not so much with Saif Al Islam himself but with the system of justice at the national level and the international level".
She was confident that Libya could provide a fair trial for Mr Qaddafi. Human rights groups are divided on where the trial should take place but Mrs Smith said Libya was preferable. "They are very keen to make their own decisions after 42 years of oppression, not to be told what to do by somebody else."
Even so, the new Libyan authorities have an odd way of showing sensitivity to international human-rights concerns. Over the weekend they hosted president Omar Hassan Al Bashir of Sudan, who has been indicted by the ICC for crimes against humanity.
Articles
Egypt's transition to democracy grows more messy
By Hamza Hendawi, 16 Jan 2012
Reform leader Mohammed El Baradei's surprise pullout from the presidential race has laid bare the messiness of Egypt's transition to democracy with less than six months left for the ruling generals to hand over power.
In less than two weeks on Jan. 25, Egyptians will mark a year since the start of the popular uprising that forced Hosni Mubarak out of office. But there is no longer much talk about the revolution's lofty goals of bringing democracy, freedom and social justice.
Bahrain king announces constitutional reforms
Reuters, 15 Jan 2012
Bahrain's king announced constitutional amendments on Sunday giving parliament more powers of scrutiny over government, but the opposition said they fell far short of demands for democracy that have driven a year of unrest in the Gulf Arab state.
The speech did not mention clashes between riot police and mainly Shi'ite opposition activists that have taken place on an almost daily basis since martial law was lifted in May after the Sunni-led government crushed a pro-democracy movement.
Syria crisis: Assad 'gives amnesty for uprising crimes'
BBC News, 15 Jan 2012
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has granted a general amnesty for all crimes committed during the 10-month uprising, state-run media report.
It would apply to army deserters who turned themselves in before the end of January, peaceful protesters and those who handed in unlicensed weapons, Sana news agency is quoted as saying.
Tens of thousands of people have been detained in the past year.
At least 28 people died in violence across Syria on Sunday, activists said.
'Stop killing your people' United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon tells Syria President Assad
By The Associated Press, 15 Jan 2012
The UN chief demanded Sunday that Syria’s president stop killing his own people and said the “old order” of one-man rule and family dynasties is over in the Middle East on a day when activists said 27 people died.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, delivering the keynote address at a conference in Beirut on democracy in the Arab world, said the revolutions of the Arab Spring show people will no longer accept tyranny.
Op-Ed: Rise of Islamist movements casts shadow over Egypt
By Robert Wistrich , 13 Jan 2012
The Muslim Brotherhood did not initiate the current upheavals in the Middle East, but the Islamist parties in Egypt, as in Tunisia and Libya, have been the chief beneficiaries of the collapse of longstanding authoritarian repressive regimes across North Africa.
In Egypt itself, the two largest Islamist groups -- the Brotherhood and the Salafists -- won about three quarters of the ballots in the second round of legislative elections held in December, while the secular and the liberal forces took a battering.
Arab League chief warns of Syrian civil war
By Bassem Mroue , 13 Jan 2012
The head of the Arab League warned Friday that Syria may be sliding toward civil war, as security forces fired on thousands of people who poured into the streets in support of army defectors who switched sides to try to topple President Bashar Assad. At least 10 people were killed, activists said.
Also Friday, an activist group said two foreign journalists and a translator were briefly detained near the Syrian capital, Damascus. The group, the Local Coordination Committees, had no further details. Canada's CBC broadcaster later said one of its reporters was briefly detained at a checkpoint, but has since been released.
Al-Qaida Threatens to Harm Western Hostages
VOA News, 12 Jan 2012
Al-Qaida's North Africa branch says it will kill the Western hostages it holds if European countries make an attempt to rescue them.
The group, known as al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), released a statement Thursday addressed to France, Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden.
The militants said they had information about an imminent operation against their bases in Mali. They said the operation, if authorized, would amount to a death warrant for the hostages.
