Human Rights in Iraq From bad to worse حقوق الانسان في العراق من سئ الى اسوء

عند نشر تقرير هيومن رايس وتج لم اكن متفاجاة كثيرا بما نشر في عده تقارير عن حقوق الانسان وذلك لان نحن نعيش بوضع سئ دون ادنى ذكر لحقوق الانسان وانا ارى  بعيني الانتهاكات وقمع الحريات وخاصة حرية التعبير عن الرأي وحرية التظاهر السلمي وانا دائما انتقد اسلوب الحكومة الهمجي بقمع الحريات بتفريق المتظاهرين في ساحة التحرير مثالا على مايحدث في العراق وان مانشرته هيومن رايتس وتج في تقريرها هو شيءجيد من المنظمات الدوليه التي تحاول نشر مايحدث في العراق حتى لو كان قليلا ورغم كل مايحدث فأن ماتزال هناك سجون سرية يتم فيها تعذين المعتقلين رغم نفي بعض الجهات ذلك ولكن مالفائدة في ان تكون هناك وزارة عدل ليس لها اي دوروليست عادلة وبعد كل مايحدث من انتهاكات وعدم احترام للقوانين والدستور الذي وضع وفصل على مزاجيات الحكومة متى ماارادت ان ترجع له لكي يكون بجانبها ومتى ماخالفت نسيت ان هنالك دستور وقوانين  لااعراف متى سيبنى العراق في ظل هذه الظروف وعندما اردت معرفة اراء زملائي كانت لهم نظريات مختلفه اكيد تختلف عن نظريني ولكن لنا نفس الهدف (ان مانشر هو بادره ايجابيه من المؤسسات الدوليه التي يبدوا تحاول ان تعوض مافاتها من اهمال للواقع الانساني المتدني في العراق و التغطيه المتواضعه لهم للربيع العراقي ..واتصور ان التقرير يحتاج ان يترافق معه تنظيم مؤتمر متخصص لمناقشه واقع حقوق الانسان وحريه التعبير ويتم دعوة الاصوات التي نجحت في تسجيل الانتهاكات لتنال حقها في التعبير مقابل التعميه الاعلاميه التي تتعرض لها بشكل منظم من قبل الاعلام المحلي والعربي والدولي ..و اتصور ان هناك انتهاك كبير في حريه التعبير سيتعرض له المدونين العراقيين من خلال اقرار انظمه الرقابه التي تسنها الدوله من خلال محاوله فرض تطبيقات قانونيه على الاعلام و ان هناك تنظيم لمحاوله تفريغ الاعلام والتدوين من رسالتهم من خلال محالوه اختراقهم ودعم الاصوات التي تروج للاعلام الحزبي والتضيق على الاحرار وعلى المؤسسات الدوليه ان تفعل دورها وتقوم بدعو عملي للناشطين مباشره بعيد عن حلقات الارتباط من مؤسسات حكوميه ومنظمات عملاقه تهمش الناشط الحقيقي على حساب المصلحه ) .

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- The human rights situation in Iraq is worse now than it was a year ago, the campaign group Human Rights Watch argues in a new report out Sunday, warning that people are being tortured with impunity in secret prisons.
The group says it uncovered a secret prison where detainees were beaten, hung upside down and given electric shocks to sensitive parts of their bodies. Human Rights Watch based its claims on the testimony of detainees themselves.
The Justice Ministry announced in March that it would close the facility, Camp Honor, but Human Rights Watch says it has "credible information that elite forces may still hold and interrogate detainees at Camp Honor."
The group says the forces who control the facility report to the military office of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
The government says it is still facing a major terrorist threat and that detentions take place in accordance with the judicial process.
Ali al-Mousawi, an advisor to al-Maliki, strongly condemned the report Sunday.
He denied that there are secret prisons in Iraq or that that Iraqi authorities have been torturing prisoners, but admitted there could be "individual cases committed by individual security forces" who, he said, would be "held accountable for their violations."
But Samer Muscati of Human Rights Watch is not convinced.
"It's not a one-off thing that is happening. ... This is unfortunately a routine process that is going on," he said of abuse of of prisoners.
"The security forces that have engaged in abuses need to be held to account," he said, insisting: "There needs to be a strong emphasis from the government that this will not be tolerated."
The group was also critical of the crackdown on peaceful protesters by security forces, saying both the federal government and regional authorities in Kurdistan "responded with violence" and "used legal means to curtail protests."
At least 10 protesters and bystanders have been killed in Kurdistan, and more than 250 injured, the group said.
Another dozen were killed by security forces elsewhere in the country during nationwide demonstrations in February, Human Rights Watch said.
Journalists in Iraq also suffered abuse and worse, with five journalists and one other media worker killed, the group said, citing the Committee to Protect Journalists.
And women and girls continued to be the victims of violence, both from extremists who target women involved in public life, and family members who commit "honor" crimes against them, Human Rights Watch said.
Al-Mousawi, the advisor to the prime minister, denied the government had cracked down on protesters, the freedom of expression or the media.
Amnesty International has also been critical of the Iraqi government, accusing it of failing to protect the media and civilians, carrying out executions and treating Iranian refugees in the country improperly.

CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq in Baghdad contributed to this report.

Source : CNN

Hayder Hamzoz, in his own words,how peaceful Iraqi bloggers and activists are easy targets for thugs and proxies of IG

Dear all

another attacked from people in civilian address and Iraqi Army on Iraqi Blogger ( Hayder Hamzoz ) in Tahrir Sq, in Baghdad - Iraq , because he record  the demonstrations and the Iraqi Army when they shot in sky in Tahrir Sq, to attacked the demonstrations , so more than 8 persons in civilian addre4ss try to attacked me and take my phone and flip camera that i record and share the information through these tools so i went to outside tahrir Sq, to Iraqi Army to protect me , the Iraqi army beaten me and said " give the Camera to this people " , he's said to me to give my camera to people in civilian address 

i went directly to some leaders in the same place , you must take these people that take the camera and my phone , they are near from here , he said " the leader of army in tahrir Sq. " go out " , and some of soldiers around him , beaten me 


the citizen journalist and freedom of speech in dangerous , i closed my facebook and twitter , because before  one week i got a threats from unknown people via E-mails and private facebook message that they know me , and they will follow me everywhere and attacked me if i participate again in demonstrations because i covered the demonstrations and protect the human right and freedom of speech

after 20 minutes when i attacked , another people in civilian address attacked some demonstrator with electricity tool and beaten them heavily , and the army see that , and did not do anything , just saw that , because these persons " in civil an address " from intelligence


my life dangerous , but we will hard to protect the freedom , and human right in Iraq



this the second time when Hamzoz attacked from intelligence from government , the first time in 22 April when they attacked him when he broadcasting the demonstrations from his phone 





Iraq: Attack against human rights defender and blogger Mr Hayder Hamzoz
Front Line expresses concern regarding the attack against Iraqi human rights defender and blogger Mr Hayder Hamzoz on 22 April as he was taking part in a regular Friday protest in Sahat Al -Tahrir, a public square in Baghdad. Hayder Hamzoz attends the protests at Al-Tahrir square every Friday and uses his mobile phone to record the events to put up on Twitter and Facebook.
Further Information
On 22 April he was approached by young men who asked him about his Qalaxy mobile phone (a type of mobile that facilitates connection to social media networks) and then took the phone away. It is reported that he managed to take back his phone, but the group was then joined by more than 9 people at which point Hayder Hamzoz ran to escape the assault. The men reportedly grabbed him and beat him up using their hands and feet, causing him to bleed and almost faint. His phone was confiscated.
The security forces who were around at the time reportedly stopped protesters and friends of Hayder Hamzoz from rendering assistance to him. The attackers then made away with the phone under the watchful eye of the security forces who did not interfere. Following the attack, Hayder Hamzoz, along with human rights defender Hanaa Adwar, went to the army officer who was in charge of the surrounding area but he refused to listen to their story. Later that night the attackers called him on another number and told him not to record or post anything anymore.
Hayder Hamzoz was the only protester to be attacked by the assailants, a matter which casts doubt as to their real motives. It is suspected that the assailants are security men in plainclothes who apparently attacked him as a reprisal against his peaceful cyberactivism.
Hayder Hamzoz, aged in his early twenties, is a prominent blogger and documentalist who runs a popular blog titled Iraqi Streets 4 Change. He also organises the coverage of peaceful Iraqi protests over the internet and has set up along with others a short messaging service which does not require subscription to the internet. Along with his colleagues, he also utilises social media networks to mobilise and document peaceful mass protests to encourage the Iraqi government to expedite democratic reforms. It is believed that the attack on Hayder Hamzoz is related to his peaceful and legitimate work as a blogger.






Hayder Hamzoz

Iraqi Blogger & Social Media Activist 

Iraq: Revise Draft Law That Curbs Protests, Speech Authorities Seek to Limit Rights in Name of ‘Public Morals’

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(Baghdad) - Iraq should revise its draft law on freedom of expression and assembly to remove provisions that restrict those freedoms, Human Rights Watch said today. The draft law would allow authorities to curtail rights to protect the "public interest" or for the "general order or public morals," without limiting or defining what those terms encompass.
Human Rights Watch has obtained a copy of the draft law. Those provisions, as well as the proposed criminalization of speech that "insults" a "sacred" symbol or person, clearly violate international law, Human Rights Watch said. The government is pushing for this legislation in a period when physical attacks on peaceful demonstrators and restrictions on journalists have been increasing.
"This law will undermine Iraqis' right to demonstrate and express themselves freely," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Rather than creating restrictive laws, the government needs to stop attacks on critics by security forces and their proxies."
The Council of Ministers said in a statement dated May 16, 2011, that it had approved the "Law on the Freedom of Expression of Opinion, Assembly, and Peaceful Demonstration," in May and submitted it to the Council of Representatives for parliamentary approval. Human Rights Watch spoke with several members of parliament about the draft law who said it had not yet been circulated or introduced. Human Rights Watch called on parliament not to approve the law without revising it to remove the restrictions on rights.
Free Assembly
The legislation would explicitly recognize the right of Iraqis to "demonstrate peacefully to express their opinions or demand their rights" (article 10), but other provisions would curtail those rights.
Under article 7(1), protest organizers would be required to get permission to hold a demonstration at least five days in advance. The request would have to include the "subject and purpose" of the demonstration and the names of its organizing committee. The draft law fails to state what standards Iraqi authorities would apply in approving or denying demonstration permits, effectively granting the government unfettered power to determine who may hold a demonstration, Human Rights Watch said.
Article 12 would permit authorities to restrict freedom of assembly and expression to protect "the public interest" or in the interest of "general order or public morals" without any qualification. The draft law offers no meaningful guidance in how to interpret such broad restrictions and is silent on what penalties protest organizers and demonstrators would face if they gathered without government approval.
The law as currently drafted would undermine guarantees in the Iraqi constitution of "freedom of assembly and peaceful demonstration" as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Iraq is a state party. The covenant makes clear that restrictions on peaceful demonstrations should be exceptional, and narrowly permitted, only if found to be "necessary in a democratic society" to safeguard "national security or public safety, public order (ordre public), the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others." The draft Iraqi law includes some of these restrictions without any of the qualifications.
By granting overly broad approval authority to government agents and allowing them to restrict the right to freedom of assembly under vague concerns for "public morals" and "public interest," and by not limiting those restrictions to those "necessary in a democratic society," the draft law fails to meet the narrow criteria international law allows for limits on the right to assembly, Human Rights Watch said. Protest organizers in Iraq operate in an extraordinarily unsafe environment. In recent weeks, Iraqi authorities have detained, interrogated, and beaten several protest organizers in Baghdad. That makes the proposed requirement for organizers to submit their names when requesting approval for a demonstration a significant threat to their personal security. Protest organizers who wish to stay anonymous should be allowed to do so, Human Rights Watch said. At the very least, the government should ensure that the names of applicants would be classified and restricted to the permit office. The law should be modified to revise this requirement. "How can the authorities expect organizers to come forward when security forces are not only failing to protect them from violence but in some cases targeting them directly," Stork said.
Free Expression
The law also contains provisions that would criminalize speech, with penalties of up to 10 years in prison. Under article 13, anyone who "attacks a belief of any religious sect or shows contempt for its rites" or publicly insults a "symbol, or person who is held sacred, exalted, or venerated by a religious sect" would face up to one year in jail and fines of up to 10 million dinars (US$8,665.52).The law provides no guidance about what might constitute an unlawful insult.
Iraq's constitution guarantees freedom of speech, and the ICCPR holds that "everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression ... to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds." International standards only allow content-based restrictions in extremely narrow circumstances, such as cases of slander or libel against private individuals or speech that threatens national security. Restrictions must be clearly defined, specific, necessary, and proportionate to the threat to interest protected. Background
Iraqi authorities have taken several steps in recent months to keep protests in Baghdad from public view. On April 13, officials issued new regulations barring street protests and allowing protests only in three soccer stadiums, though the regulation has not been enforced.
On February 21, Iraqi police allowed dozens of assailants, some wielding knives and clubs, to beat and stab peaceful protesters in Baghdad. During nationwide February 25 protests, security forces killed at least 12 protesters across the country and injured more than 100. On that day, Human Rights Watch observed Baghdad security forces beating unarmed journalists and protesters, smashing cameras, and confiscating memory cards.
On June 10, government-backed thugs armed with wooden planks, knives, iron pipes, and other weapons, beat and stabbed peaceful protesters and sexually molested female demonstrators in Baghdad. Human Rights Watch observed and witnesses said that security forces stood by and watched in several instances.