Human Rights

06 April 2022; MEMO: Amnesty International said a number of political activists who have been arbitrarily detained in Egypt's notorious Tora Prison have started a hunger strike to protest the harsh conditions and ill treatment they are enduring.

The rights watchdog said on Twitter that those taking part include Ahmed Douma, Hisham Fouad and Alaa Abdel-Fattah, who also called for authorities to release them.

06 April 2022; MEMO: French-Palestinian human rights defender, Salah Hamouri, yesterday filed a complaint in France against notorious Israeli spyware maker Pegasus for spying on his mobile phone, Amnesty International revealed.

Hamouri filed the complaint together with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Human Rights League (LDH).

05 April 2022; MEMO: Human Rights Watch has called on the Ukrainian authorities to immediately release migrants and asylum seekers who are arbitrarily detained and at heightened risk due to military activity in the vicinity.

Up to 15 nationalities are being held in the Zhuravychi Migrant Accommodation Centre in Volyn oblast, including people from Syria, Algeria, and Afghanistan.

05 April 2022; MEMO: Legislation used to crack down on the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign has become the template for efforts to suppress climate change activism, gun control advocacy and other progressive movements, a report by Jewish Currents has revealed.

New Delhi, Apr 5 (PTI) The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has directed the blocking of 22 YouTube-based news channels, of which four are from Pakistan, for allegedly spreading fake news to mislead viewers.

This is the first time that action has been taken against the Indian YouTube-based news publishers since the notification of the IT Rules, 2021 in February last year, it said.

by Motasem A Dalloul

Tunisia's President Kais Saied announced the dissolution of his country's parliament last week, eight months after freezing the institution, when he "stabbed the Jasmine Revolution in its back" and grabbed the power of most state institutions.

04 April 2022; MEMO: Chief of Staff of the Israeli army, Aviv Kohavi, has approved a decision to accelerate the construction of a new apartheid wall from the Salem area, east of the city of Umm Al-Fahm in Israel to the occupied city of Jerusalem.

The Israeli Radio said the concrete wall is similar to the one built in the West Bank.

The separation wall, which began in the village of Salem in the northern West Bank, is the first phase of a new project aimed at annexing more Palestinian lands.

05 April 2022; MEMO: The High Committee for the Defense of the Palestinian Refugee Right of Return in Jordan yesterday condemned American and Israeli attempts to "liquidate" the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Quds Press reported.

"The idea to modify the mandate of the UNRWA and merge it within the UN High Commissioner for Refugees coincides with calls and campaigns seeking to delegitimise the international Palestine refugee body," the High Committee said in a statement.

05 April 2022; MEMO: The Moroccan National Tourist Office (ONMT) has revealed that it is planning to bring 200,000 Israeli tourists to Morocco on direct flights from Tel Aviv in 2022, Sama news agency reported yesterday.

Quoting i24, Sama said the number of direct flights between the two countries will rise to eight per week.

05 April 2022; MEMO: Israeli occupation authorities have arrested more than 53,000 Palestinian children since 1967, the Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees' Affairs said in a statement yesterday.

Abdul Nasser Ferwaneh, the commission's head of Studies and Documentation Department, said that the Israeli occupation deals with Palestinian children like adults, stating that they are subject to the same torture, investigation and detention conditions.