Reports Roundup (December 29)

[The following list is a compilation of the reports, statements, and other materials featured on the Jadaliyya Reports Page this past week.]

Letter Concerning Ongoing Pattern of Arrests of Turkish Academics Researching Kurdish Issues The Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association addresses Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan with concerns over the recent arrests and detentions of academics focusing on Kurdish issues.

Bahrain13 Prisoner Group Meets with Delegation from OHCHR The Bahrain Center for Human Rights reports on a meeting between a delegation from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and a group of political prisoners known as the Bahrain13. 

Letter Concerning Allegations of Turkish Universities' Censorship of Subjects The Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Assocation addresses Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan with concerns over indications that the Turkish government has censored such sensitive topics as racism against Africans in Turkey, Kurdish rights, and environmental issues. 

Visualizing Human Rights for Migrant Workers in Lebanon The Migrant Workers' Task Force, in collaboration with AltCity.me and Joumana Ibrahim, depicts the human rights abuses faced by migrant workers in Lebanon as a result of the kefala or sponsorship system. 

Censored 2013: Project Censored List of Top Censored Stories and Media Analysis of 2011-2012 Project Censored lists the top 25 censored news stories of the past year. These stories include, among others, "HR 347 Would Make Many Forms of Nonviolent Protest Illegal," "NATO War Crimes in Libya," and "Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Worse than Anticipated."  

Extreme Makeover? (I): Israel's Politics of Land and Faith in East Jerusalem International Crisis Group reports on Israel's physical expansion of settlement activity in East Jerusalem and increased usage of religious and historical rhetoric to establish a claim to the territory. 

Letter Concerning Prolonged Denial of Justice for Pinar Selek The Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association expresses their dismay at the now fourteen-year-long saga of Ph.D. candidate Pinar Selek, a researcher of Kurdish issues who was charged with PKK membership in 1998 and has since been subjected to a series of trials, imprisonment, and torture. 

Extreme Makeover? (II): The WIthering of Arab Jerusalem In a companion to the above mentioned report "Extreme Makeover? (I): Israel's Politics of Land and Faith in East Jerusalem, International Crisis Group reports on the decline of Arab Jerusalem and Arab Jersulamites isolation from the rest of the Palestinian polity. 

Statement Regarding the Saudi Ban on Migrant Organizations Migrante International expresses its concern over Saudi Arabia's recent ban on migrant labor organizations, an attempt to stop migrant workers from protesting. 

Bahraini Authorities Continue to Punish Opponents by Imprisoning Them The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights voices its concern over the sentencing of Rola Al-Saffar, Head of Bahrain's Nurising Society, and Ibrahim Al-Demistani, the Society's Secretary General, for their roles in treating injured protesters in February 2011.

Security Forces Attack Protesters in Kuwait Human Rights Watch reports on security forces' use of violence against protesters in Kuwait in demonstrations since October 2012. 

Eyes on Israeli Military Court: A Collection of Impressions Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association presents reflections of Israel's military courts from the organizations' volunteers, who witnessed trials of Palestinians of all ages and backgrounds, including minors. 

Calls to Boycott Qatar and UAE for Labor Violations The International Trade Union Confederation expresses its intent to organize a boycott of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and the UAE (if selected to host the 2024 Olympics) unless these nations improve their subpar working conditions for migrant laborers. 

Egypt's Anti-Freedom Constitution: The Borhami Video In this abridged video, the infamous Egyptian Salafist Sheikh Yasser Borhami, a leading member of the Constituent Assembly, explains that the newly ratified constitution was cleverly drafted to sideline groups such as Al-Azhar, liberals, Christians, and Baha’is who, as "apostates," are not afforded any rights.