3 Oct 2012 | Asia and Pacific
Mam Sonando, the 71-year-old director of Cambodia’s only independent radio station, Beehive Radio, was sentenced to 20 years of prison in a Cambodian court Monday. He was found guilty in inciting a rebellion in the eastern state of Kratie, where he allegedly urged thousands of villagers to take up arms against the Cambodian government.
Sonando, who is also a prominent rights activist and the President of Cambodia’s Democrat Association, was arrested in July at the request of the Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Sen.
Mam Sonando, director of Cambodia’s Beehive Radio
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2 Oct 2012 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
An Iranian court on Sunday convicted the Tehran bureau chief of the Thomson Reuters news agency of “propaganda-related offences” for a video that briefly described a group of women involved in martial arts training as killers. Parisa Hafezi was found guilty of “spreading lies” against the Islamic system for the February video, which initially carried a headline saying that the women were training as ninja “assassins.” A sentence by the court is expected within a week.
2 Oct 2012 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
Bahraini police arrested five medics in a set of dawn raids this morning, one day after the nation’s highest court upheld their prison sentences in a case international rights groups have condemned as politically motivated. Doctor Ali al-Ekry, who faces five years in prison for “possession and concealment” of weapons and “illegal assembly”, was arrested at his home at 5:30am local time. The other medics were reportedly arrested in subsequent raids. Separately, Mohamed al-Mushaimaa, who was jailed last year for his alleged role in protests, died in a Bahraini prison overnight. A sickle cell anaemia sufferer, al-Mushaimaa had complained of not receiving proper medical treatment in prison, his lawyer said.
2 Oct 2012 | Egypt, Middle East and North Africa
The women of Egypt played a huge role in the uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak. They were on the frontlines, standing shoulder to shoulder with men in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, demanding “Bread, Freedom and Social Justice.” Their participation in the eighteen-day mass protests raised hopes for greater inclusion of women in the decision-making process and an end to the gender discriminatory policies of the past.
However since the January 25 2011 revolution Egyptian women’s voices have been drowned out, and the “new Egypt” continues to marginalise women.
Today, as the country’s new constitution is being written, hopes are fading that Egypt’s new governing code will guarantee full and equal participation of women, and there are growing concerns that women may even lose rights gained in recent years.
Egyptian women celebrate the one year anniversary of the country’s revolution in Cairo. Amr Abdel-Hadi | Demotix
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