human rights | The Gad About Town

Shawkan Is Spared a New Sentence

Posted on February 25, 2017 by Mark Aldrich

A journalist’s job is to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

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Mahmoud Abu Zeid, an Egyptian photojournalist who goes by the name “Shawkan,” learned today that his next hearing will be on Tuesday, March 21. And then chaos broke out in the courtroom.

The hearings in the trial of the more than 700 individuals detained in the aftermath of the government’s violent break-up of the Rabaa sit-in protest have unfolded in a logistically trying fashion. After the court’s judges announced the latest postponement, most of the defendants started to chant in unison that the court was unfair, that the session was invalid.

The panel of judges immediately found 700 of the defendants (almost the entire group) guilty of “insulting the judicial system,” and it sentenced each defendant to one year in jail with forced labor added. Shawkan was one of a mere twenty defendants who was not given the new, additional one-year sentence.
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A Summons for Samar Badawi: Updated 2/15

Posted on February 15, 2017 by Mark Aldrich

Earlier today, Saudi Arabian human rights activist Samar Badawi was questioned by authorities with that nation’s Bureau of Investigation and was allowed to leave after the interview.

On her Twitter page, she reported that the Bureau wanted to ask her about her human rights activities:

Today's investigation is related to previous issues about my HR and civil activities including women's campaign against male guardians.

— samar badawi (@samarbadawi15) February 15, 2017

A Summons for Samar Badawi

Posted on February 14, 2017 by Mark Aldrich

Saudi Arabia’s Bureau of Investigation yesterday contacted Samar Badawi (above), the wife of Waleed Abulkhair and sister of Raif Badawi, and asked her to report to the Bureau at 10:00 a.m. February 15. She reports that no reason for the summons has been given.

On January 12, 2016, she was arrested and released on bail one day later. She was charged with operating her husband Waleed’s Twitter account.

Samar Badawi is the sister of Raif Badawi, the human rights writer who was convicted of apostasy and other charges and sentenced to ten years in prison and 1000 lashes with a cane. Waleed is Raif Badawi’s lawyer as well as his brother-in-law, and he is in prison for his human rights advocacy as well.

Because no reason for the summons has been offered, Samar of course can not prepare for the questioning. This is a common form of judicial harassment in nations that use a judiciary as a tool to intimidate.

I will post an update when information becomes available tomorrow. This is Samar Badawi’s Tweet about the summons:
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