Human Rights

06 July 2022; MEMO: The health of a former presidential candidate in Egypt is deteriorating badly in the notorious Tora Prison, his son announced on Tuesday. Dr Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh is serving fifteen years in prison after being arrested in 2018 a day after returning from London, where he criticised the regime of Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi during an interview with Al Jazeera.

05 July 2022; MEMO: France urged Israel's new Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, on Tuesday, to restart peace talks with the Palestinians, but Lapid played down such prospects, citing rightist elements in his caretaker government ahead of a November election, Reuters reports.

"The people of Israel is lucky" to have Lapid as its premier, French President Emmanuel Macron said, ahead of a meeting between the two leaders in Paris.

Sitapur (UP), Jul 4 (PTI) Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair, arrested by Delhi Police last week, was produced in a court here on Monday in connection with an FIR lodged against him for allegedly calling Hindu seers "hate mongers".

Zubair was produced in the court of the Sitapur judicial magistrate, who sent him to 14 days' judicial custody.

05 July 2022; MEMO: The US Presbyterian Church has voted to declare Israel to be an "apartheid state" and has set aside "Nakba Remembrance Day" within the church calendar. The decisions were taken at the church's 225th General Assembly.

04 July 2022; MEMO: The International Federation of Journalists will be a partner in a lawsuit against Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC) following the murder of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by an Israeli sniper, Wafa news agency has reported.

05 July 2022; MEMO: Acclaimed artists are due to lead a protest against China's policies against the minority Uyghur community on the 13th anniversary of the Urumqi Massacre tomorrow.

Some 1,000 Muslim Uyghur were killed in the massacre and 5,000 more were arrested by Chines authorities.

To commemorate the event, Stand4Uyghurs Campaign is coming together with numerous rights groups to host the 'Paints an Image of China's Genocide Against Uyghur Muslims' outside the Chinese Embassy in central London tomorrow.

04 July 2022; MEMO: The Arabic hashtag, Leave Sisi, was trending yesterday in Egypt on the anniversary of the military coup which overthrew the country's first democratically elected president.

Then army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi led the coup against President Mohamed Morsi and went on to spearhead a tsunami of human rights violations.

Protesters were killed by police and security forces and dissidents were imprisoned and tortured. In 2021, Egypt issued the highest number of death sentences worldwide.

04 July 2022; MEMO: Reporters Without Borders has published a report on how Egypt's state-controlled media are running smear campaigns against journalists who criticise the government.

These attacks are coordinated, says the report, and follow a set pattern. First, a presenter insults a journalist on a TV channel, then the rumours are picked up and spread on social media. Egypt has thousands of fake accounts which are mobilised to defend the government and attack journalists.

New Delhi, Jul 3 (PTI) Expressing concern over the current state of the judiciary, Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate Kapil Sibal on Sunday said some members of the institution have "let us down" and "I hang my head in shame" for what has happened in the recent past.

In an interview with PTI, Sibal also said that in recent years, free speech, and how it has been interpreted by the Supreme Court, unfortunately, is not allowed the space that is constitutionally permissible to it.

01 July 2022; MEMO: The Tunisian judiciary charged the head of the Ennahda movement Rached Ghannouchi, along with 32 other figures, with terrorism.

Lawyer Iman Gazara said: "On Monday, 33 people were officially charged in this case [the assassination of Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi] including the head of the Ennahda movement, Rached Ghannouchi, on charges relating to membership in a terrorist organisation."

She added that "the first investigating judge … brought 17 charges against the 33 defendants."