Middle East

Yemen has been facing a new wave of internal displacement, with tens of thousands of civilians fleeing tribal clashes in the north and fresh fighting between Government troops and militants in the country’s south.

Reporters Without Borders is deeply shocked by the raids that Israeli troops carried out on two Palestinian TV stations in the West Bank in the early hours of 29 February, seizing equipment and thereby forcing the stations to close.

Cairo – The women of Egypt were at the vanguard in the eighteen day January 2011 mass uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak. But since then, they have been sidelined and pushed back into the shadows.

Beirut – Bahrain has routinely convicted hundreds of opposition activists and others of politically motivated charges in unfair trials, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report. The government should void the convictions in trials before Bahrain’s military and civilian courts that fell far short of international fair trial standards, Human Rights Watch said.

Today there are more than 1.3 million internally displaced Iraqis, with 500,000 of them “living in extremely precarious conditions”. This is just one of the consequences of the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq, started in 2003 and ended -only officially- few weeks ago.

Cairo — A Cairo military court on Sunday [26 Feb.] heard witness testimony in a case against a soldier who allegedly performed “virginity tests” on seven female protesters on 10 March 2011. 22-year-old Samira Ibrahim filed a lawsuit against the military doctor whom she accuses of conducting the tests on her and six other female detainees near Tahrir Square.

Opponents to the present Syrian government are discounting the referendum that took place Sunday 26th February 2012 saying it’s a delaying tactic. Whatever, the reality, the poll went ahead and time will tell. Something naggingly insists though that if no one trusts anyone how can a political process move ahead? Why not trust the people of Syria?

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei addressed a meeting with officials of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and nuclear scientists in Tehran on February 22, 2011. He stated Iran’s position on the nuclear issues. That position has not changed. We reproduce here selected paragraphs from his speech.

Humanitarian aid agencies must be allowed immediate and unhindered access to Homs and other affected areas, Amnesty International said today.

The Bab ‘Amr district of the city has come under intensive shelling for more than 17 days, during which time Amnesty International has received the names of 465 people reported to have been killed in Homs.

The “Human Rights Network” (HRN) on Thursday denounced some countries’ attempts to confuse the public opinion about Syria, using newspaper articles and news on the reported death and injury of journalists who entered the country clandestinely, such as the U.S. reporter Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik.