Rights groups blast Egypt for refusal to open probe into Sudanese refugees massacre

Posted on By 3arabawy

From AP:

Several rights groups on Wednesday blasted Egypt’s decision not to investigate the deaths of more than two dozen Sudanese refugees when police stormed their camp here in 2005.
A United Nations human rights panel last week called on Egypt to reopen an investigation into the Sudanese refugees’ deaths, but Egypt’s Foreign Ministry immediately rebuffed the request.
“The signers express their feelings of anger and rejection of the Foreign Ministry’s statement,” said the groups in a statement sent to The Associated Press.
In a report, the U.N. Committee on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers said an Egyptian inquiry had been closed without clarifying the circumstances leading to the deaths.

Al-Jazeera journalist sentenced over torture documentary

Posted on By 3arabawy

Mubarak’s regime cracks down again on those who speak out against torture:

An al Jazeera journalist has been sentenced to six months in prison in absentia by an Egyptian court after producing a film highlighting police torture.
The state security criminal court found Howayda Taha guilty of “harming Egypt’s national interest” and ordered her on Wednesday to pay a fine of 30,000 Egyptian pounds ($5,200).
She had been accused of planning to broadcast fabricated images.
Taha, who was making a documentary on torture in Egyptian police stations, described the decision as “an unjust, vindictive ruling by the government’s judiciary”.
She can appeal against the verdict.
In January, she was briefly arrested and her 50 videotapes confiscated at the Cairo airport.
Taha, an Egyptian citizen, is currently in Qatar, where al Jazeera’s headquarters are situated.