Amnesty condemns Saudi terror law

22 July 2011 Last updated at 17:25 GMT Amnesty says the law would mean even small acts of dissent were branded terrorism A secret new anti-terror law being drawn up by the Saudi authorities would "strangle peaceful protest", Amnesty International has said.

The BBC has been shown a classified copy of the draft law showing a number of measures Amnesty said would severely restrict human rights.

These include lengthy detention without trial, restricted legal access and increased use of the death penalty.

But a Saudi official said it was directed at terrorists, not dissidents.

The Saudi government has so far declined to comment, but the senior official, who did not want to be named, confirmed the existence of the draft law and did not dispute the clauses contained in it.

A human rights group in Saudi Arabia has told the BBC that it will try to organise a petition to King Abdullah to change the law.

Incommunicado detention

"[The law] will give an open hand for the minister of the interior to do whatever he wants to do. Basically he will be controlling the judiciary, controlling the public prosecutor, he's in charge already of the prison system, and there is no way to get a fair trial," the head of the Saudi Civil Rights Association, Mohammad al-Qahtani, told the BBC.

Continue reading the main story Frank Gardner BBC security correspondent

Saudi Arabia has fought and largely won a protracted campaign against al-Qaeda-inspired terrorism.

But the gist of Amnesty International's criticism of this new draft law is that parts of it are really more aimed at crushing political dissent than locking up dangerous terrorists.

In a country where political parties are banned and half the adult population (women) are not allowed to drive, Saudi Arabia's conservative rulers have been deeply rattled by the "Arab Spring" street protest movement.

Amnesty now fears that if this secret draft law comes into practice, it could offer the authorities dramatically enhanced powers to arrest anyone suspected of political dissent.

But a Saudi government adviser, who closely monitors terrorism cases, told me it is all down to interpretation.

He strongly disagrees with Amnesty's view. He insists this draft law is needed to fight al-Qaeda militants trying to get into the country from Yemen.

"We face", he said, "a serious ongoing threat".

He said he would be trying to mobilise influential members of Saudi society to produce a petition to the King to improve it.

Amnesty International's Middle East press officer James Lynch told the BBC the draft law - a copy of which was leaked to the human rights group - "seeks to entrench some of the most repressive practices that Amnesty has been documenting for years".

Among the measures proposed is a broadening of the definition of a terrorist crime to include any action deemed to be "harming the reputation of the state" or "endangering national unity".

'Crushing dissent'

Suspects could be held incommunicado for up to 120 days - longer if authorised by a court - and there would be restrictions on access to legal advice.

Violations of the law would carry harsh punishments, with the death penalty applied in cases of taking up arms against the state or for any "terrorist crimes" that resulted in death, said Amnesty.

Questioning the integrity of Saudi Arabia's rulers would become an offence punishable by a minimum of 10 years in prison.

Amnesty said a number of provisions in the document contradicted the kingdom's legal obligations, including the UN Convention against Torture.

Philip Luther from the charity said the law would be a serious threat to freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia in the name of preventing terrorism.

"If passed it would pave the way for even the smallest acts of peaceful dissent to be branded terrorism and risk massive human rights violations," he said.

The BBC's Frank Gardner says Saudi Arabia has fought and largely won a protracted battle against al-Qaeda-inspired terrorism in recent years.

But the gist of Amnesty's criticism is that parts of the new draft law are more aimed at crushing political dissent than locking up dangerous terrorists.

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Syria condemns Clinton comments

13 July 2011 Last updated at 02:55 GMT Protesters erected Syrian flags on the US embassy complex Syria has condemned as "provocative" a statement by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that President Bashar al-Assad has "lost legitimacy" to rule.

After a crowd attacked the US embassy in Damascus on Monday, Mrs Clinton said Mr Assad was "not indispensable".

France also blamed the regime after its embassy was similarly targeted.

The attacks have since been condemned by the UN Security Council, which called on Damascus to protect diplomatic property and personnel.

Syria's state news agency Sana said Mrs Clinton's remarks "amount to further proof of the flagrant interference of the US in the internal affairs of Syria".

President Barack Obama echoed Mrs Clinton's comments late on Tuesday, telling CBS that "increasingly you're seeing President Assad lose legitimacy in the eyes of his people".

The embassy attacks came after the US and French envoys visited the northern city of Hama - a focus of anti-government unrest - last week, to show solidarity with residents facing a security crackdown. Syria said they had sought to incite the protests.

Human rights groups say at least 1,400 civilians and 350 security force personnel have been killed since anti-government demonstrations across Syria began in mid-March.

The Syrian government denies targeting civilians, saying it is tackling armed groups.

Embassy attacks

Pro-government demonstrators have held protests outside the US and French embassies in the Syrian capital for the past two days.

Hillary Clinton: "We have absolutely nothing invested in President Assad remaining in power"

On Monday, three staff members at the French embassy were injured after protesters used a battering ram to try to enter the building. The protesters broke windows and replaced the French tricolore with the Syrian national flag.

The residence of the US ambassador, Robert Ford, was also briefly attacked.

President Obama said Washington had "sent a clear message that nobody can be messing with our embassy and that we will take whatever actions necessary in order to protect our embassy".

In the strongest criticism from Washington to date, Mrs Clinton said: "President Assad is not indispensable and we have absolutely nothing invested in him remaining in power... Our goal is to see that the will of the Syrian people for a democratic transformation occurs."

Syrian officials denounced the remarks in a statement on Tuesday.

"The political leadership [of Syria] does not draw its legitimacy from the United States, but solely from the will of the Syrian people," it said.

Syria expects the US and its envoys "to refrain from any actions that are liable to provoke the sentiments of Syrians and their attachment to their national independence".

In a statement also issued on Tuesday, the UN Security Council said it condemned the attacks "in the strongest terms".

"Members of the security council recall the fundamental principle of the inviolability of diplomatic missions and the obligations on host governments, including under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, to take all appropriate steps to protect embassy premises," the statement said.

"In this context, the members of the Security Council call on the Syrian authorities to protect diplomatic property and personnel."

Dialogue ends

The diplomatic spat coincided with the close of a government-organised dialogue conference in Damascus that many opposition leaders have boycotted.

In the final statement from the two-day meeting, participants said that dialogue was the only way out of the current crisis.

It called for the immediate release of political prisoners and all those arrested during the past five months of unrest, and for a democratic and pluralistic Syria.

However, the statement rejected all kinds of foreign interference.

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AU condemns French Libya arms drop

30 June 2011 Last updated at 11:34 GMT France is said to be concerned at the military stalemate in Libya African Union Commission chief Jean Ping says France's decision to air-drop weapons to Libyan rebels is dangerous and puts the whole region at risk.

He told the BBC the action risked creating problems similar to those in war-torn Somalia.

France has confirmed it dropped arms to Berber tribal fighters in the mountains south-west of the capital, Tripoli.

Some analysts said the move might contravene the UN Security Council embargo on arms supplies to Libya.

Mr Ping was speaking from Equatorial Guinea where African heads of state are meeting for an AU summit.

Libya is expected to be high on the summit's agenda.

'Somalia-sation'

"There are several problems," he said.

"The risk of civil war, risk of partition of the country, the risk of 'Somalia-sation' of the country, risk of having arms everywhere... with terrorism.

"These risks will concern the neighbouring countries."

Mr Ping said that an AU peace plan for Libya set out in March was still valid. The road map calls for a ceasefire to allow political talks to take place.

News of France's weapons delivery to the rebels emerged in a report by Le Figaro newspaper on Wednesday.

The newspaper said France - a leading force in the Nato operation in Libya - did not inform its allies about the move.

The report said the weapons included rocket launchers and anti-tank missiles, although French officials would only confirm light arms and ammunition had been dropped to rebel fighters.

The decision was reportedly taken after a meeting in April between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the Chief of Staff of the Libyan rebels, Gen Abdelfatah Younis.

France is said to have been concerned at the stalemate in the Libyan conflict that started in February.

Rebels have recently been making gains and hope to advance on Tripoli from the existing front line on the other side of the Nafusa mountains about 65km (40 miles) from the capital.

Russia and China have criticised the Nato campaign, saying it has gone beyond the remit of UN resolution 1973, which authorised international military action in Libya.

However, the US has argued that resolution 1973 allows countries to provide arms to rebels despite an earlier resolution - 1970 - that imposed an arms embargo on the whole of Libya.

The BBC's Thomas Fessy in Equatorial Guinea's capital, Malabo, says Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi is well known for his extravagant arrivals at African Union summits, but he is not taking part this time.

Nevertheless, his name was probably mentioned more than any other during a week of preparatory meetings, our correspondent says.

He says African leaders are divided over whether the Libyan leader should step down.

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UN report condemns Syrian actions

15 June 2011 Last updated at 15:38 GMT The UN report says 1,100 unarmed civilians have been killed in the crackdown Syrian troops trying to quash three months of protests are committing "alleged breaches of the most fundamental rights", says a UN report.

The use of live ammunition against mostly unarmed civilians has killed around 1,100 people, says the report.

It also documents arrests on a massive scale. Investigators believe as many as 10,000 people have been detained.

Investigators used evidence from rights groups and people who had fled Syria, but were denied entry to the country.

President Bashar al-Assad is facing the gravest threat to his family's 40-year ruling dynasty, as unrest that first erupted in the south of the country has now engulfed the north - near the border with Turkey - and is threatening to spread eastwards towards its border with Iraq.

As anti-regime demonstrations continued in many parts of the country, the government on Wednesday mobilised its own demonstration of popular support as thousands of people turned out in a Damascus suburb to wave a giant Syrian flag 2.4 km (1.4 miles) long.

Laying siege to towns

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has repeatedly appealed to Syria to let in a humanitarian team make a proper assessment, but the Syrian authorities have refused.

Continue reading the main story Jim Muir BBC News, Beirut

The people of Maarat al-Numan fear they may be next for the attention of the Syrian army's troops and tanks, which have been gathering on the town's outskirts for the past few days. According to residents and activists, many of the town's 100,000-strong population have been fleeing in all directions. Officials say they're planning a "limited military operation" to restore security there.

Continued anti-regime demonstrations are reported in many areas, including at Deir al-Zour in the east, Latakia on the coast, Homs and Hama in central Syria, and some suburbs of Damascus. But in a big show of organised support for the regime, many thousands of people turned out to witness what's being billed as the world's biggest Syrian flag, running along a big stretch of main road on the western outskirts of the capital.

They waved pictures of President Assad and chanted slogans praising him. State TV said the event was organised to show the Syrian people's cohesion, and rejection of foreign interference.

But despite being denied access by the Syrian government, the new UN report documents reliable evidence of widespread violations, says the BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva.

"The most egregious reports concern the use of live ammunition against unarmed civilians, including from snipers positioned on rooftops of public buildings and the deployment of tanks in areas densely populated by civilians," says the report.

It cites "the excessive use of force in quelling demonstrators, arbitrary detentions, summary executions, torture".

The authorities appear to have denied civilians the right to food and medical care by laying siege to towns and preventing supply deliveries, it adds.

The preliminary report was commissioned by the UN human rights council in April, adds our correspondent. A more definitive account will have to wait until the Syrian government allows UN investigators in to see the situation for themselves.

Tanks in towns

Meanwhile, Syria has called on the people of Jisr al-Shughour to return, three days after an army attack restored government control there.

More than 8,000 Syrians have fled from the north-western town into Turkey in the past week to escape military operations, which the government says are aimed at tackling "terrorist organisations".

Supporters of President Assad have unfurled a 2,000ft flag in Damascus

Officials said the city of around 100,000 people - which has been the focus of large anti-regime demonstrations - was returning to normal, but that army units were still pursuing "militants" through the hills around the town.

Damascus says some 120 security personnel were killed by "armed gangs" in the town on 6 June, and on Wednesday state TV said a "mass grave" containing three bodies had been found.

At the same time, troops and tanks are reported to be massing for an attack on Maarat al-Numan, 25 miles (40km) south-east of Jisr al-Shughour. One eye-witness told BBC Arabic there were "no more than 7,000 people" left in the city, which has a population of some 90,000.

Syrian state media have reported attacks on government buildings and security headquarters in the town, which straddles the main highway between Syria's two biggest cities, Damascus and Aleppo.

Meanwhile, Jordan said it had reopened a border crossing 10km from the southern Syrian city of Deraa, where the current unrest started in March.

'Unbalanced' position?

Although it has not yet responded to the UN report, Syria has expressed "surprise" at Arab League Chief Amr Moussa's position that the situation there was "dangerous and worrying".

Some 8,000 Syrians are now sheltering in refugee camps in Turkey

Syrian rights groups put the overall death toll in Syria at 1,297 civilians and 340 security force members.

Refugees arriving in Turkey describe the regime's operation in the northern mountains as a "scorched-earth" campaign, and Syrian soldiers who deserted have said they were forced to commit atrocities.

Syria has prevented foreign journalists, including those from the BBC, from entering the country, making it difficult to independently verify reports from there.

European powers are campaigning for a draft UN Security Council resolution condemning the crackdown, but they face opposition from Russia and China, both of whom wield veto powers and object to UN action against President Assad.

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