One Hundred Arab Intellectuals Demand the Release of Palestinian Poet Ashraf Fayadh from Saudi Prison

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Feb 12, 2014 Palestine
One Hundred Arab Intellectuals Demand the Release of Palestinian Poet Ashraf Fayadh from Saudi Prison

One Hundred Arab Intellectuals Demand the Release of Palestinian Poet Ashraf Fayadh from Saudi Prison

By : Jadaliyya Reports

[The following petition was issued on 11 February 2014 by the below signatories. The petition was organized in response to the Saudi authorities`  arrest and detention of Ashraf Fayadh in 2013 for a collection of poems he published in 2008.]

As Arab authors, writers, artists, journalists, publishers, and activists, we are launching a solidarity campaign with Palestinian poet and artist Ashraf Fayadh who was detained in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia two months ago and charged with “insulting the Godly self and having long hair.” We are extremely concerned that Fayadh is suffering from abuse and intimidation.

Fayadh is being detained at the Bureau for Investigation and Public Persecution in the Saudi city of Abha without clear legal charges beyond “insulting the Godly self” and having “ideas that do not suit the Saudi society.” These charges are based on the complaint of a reader’s interpretation of Fayadh`s 2008 poetry collection titled, Instructions Within. 

This is not the first time that Saudi authorities have arrested Ashraf Fayadh. The poet was detained five months ago after a Saudi citizen filed a complaint with the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice accusing Fayadh of having “misguided and misguiding thoughts.” Fayadh was bailed out of jail at the time, only to get arrested again. According to sources close to Fayadh, the poet has been denied both visitation and legal representation rights.

We condemn these acts of intimidation targeting Ashraf Fayadh as part of a wider campaign inciting hate against writers and using Islam to justify oppression and to crush free speech. We express our solidarity with Fayadh, hoping to increase support for the poet as well as pressure to release him. Our efforts should come together to ensure the proliferation of free speech and personal freedoms. We specifically call on Saudi intellectuals to express solidarity with Fayadh against Takfiris’ intimidation practices meant to silence poets, writers, and artists like him.

Let the flag of creativity fly free and remain innovative.

Remaining silent towards Fayadh’s detention is an insult to knowledge, literature, culture, and thought as well as to freedom and human rights.

1.      Habib Sirouri – Yemen
2.      Fatma al-Shidi – Oman
3.      Sami Saad – Egypt
4.      Amira al-Qahtani – UAE
5.      Mohammed Khedr – KSA
6.      Nasr Jamil Shaath – Palestine
7.      Saad al-Yasiry – Iraq
8.      Heba Bu Khamseen – Kuwait
9.      Wamid Shakir – Yemen
10.    Nasser Rabah – Palestine
11.    Abood Salman – Syria
12.    Abdulathim Finjan – Iraq
13.    Naheel Mhana – Palestine
14.    Hind Joda – Palestine
15.    Ahmad al-Zar`ie – Yemen
16.    Ahmad Abdulhussain – Iraq
17.    Wadah al-Jalil – Yemen
18.    Abdullah al-Hamel – Algeria
19.    Rima al-Bi`ieni – Syria
20.    Ahmad al-Salami – Yemen
21.    Rahman Najar – Iraq
22.    Majed al-Madhaji – Yemen
23.    Ibtism Triysi – Syria
24.    Wisam Hashim – Iraq
25.    Osama al-Haddad – Egypt
26.    Mohammed Abdu al-Absi – Yemen
27.    Alawi al-Saqaf – Yemen
28.    Jalal al-Ahmadi – Yemen
29.    Na`aim al-Khalidi – Yemen
30.    Marwan Kamil – Yemen
31.    Fathy Abdilsami` – Egypt
32.    Ranwa al-Masry – Palestine
33.    Ahmad al-`arami – Yemen
34.    Heba Essam al-Dine – Egypt
35.    Mona Najib Mohammed – Egypt
36.    Hassona Fathy – Egypt
37.    Suzanna Khawatmi – Syria
38.    Ahmad Mahjoub – Egypt
39.    Nabil Qasim – Yemen
40.    Ahmed al-Mulla – KSA
41.    Essam al-Zuhairy – Egypt
42.    Latf al-Sarary – Yemen
43.    Wadha al-Msajin – Bahrain
44.    Ahmad Yaqoub – Palestine
45.    Ali al-Muqrin – Yemen
46.    Reem al-Lawati – Oman
47.    Jalal al-Ahmadi – Yemen
48.    Hassona Fathy – Egypt
49.    Labkm al-Kantawy – Morocco
50.    Sadeq al-Qadhi – Yemen
51.    Fikry Qasem – Yemen
52.    Yasser Abdilbaqy – Yemen
53.    Abdulrahim Tabi` – Egypt
54.    Fakhry Ratrot – Palestine
55.    Marwan Ali – Syria
56.    Abdulrahman al-Hallaq – Syria
57.    Zaher al-Ghafri – Oman
58.    Samia al-Aghbari – Yemen
59.    Mounir al-Ma`amri – Yemen
60.    Ali Salem – Yemen
61.    Imad al-dine Mousa – Syria
62.    Majed Sultan Zaid – Yemen
63.    Fadila al-Shamy – Syria
64.    Sufianne Abdelqaddous – Morocco
65.    Joumana Farhat – Lebanon
66.    Faten Faqih – Lebanon
67.    Roa`a Barhom – Syria
68.    Ghiath al-Junaid – London
69.    Abdulrahman al-Mushawih – KSA
70.    Mohannad Yaqoub – KSA
71.    Faraj Hattab – USA
72.    Alaa Hussain – Iraq
73.    Ahmad al-Taihany – KSA
74.    Abdullah Fayadh – Palestine
75.    Hiya Talab – Egypt
76.    Fayza Asiri – KSA
77.    Areej al-Maghrabi – Morocco
78.    Ali al-Dulaimi – Yemen
79.    Ilkhay Mohammed – Morocco
80.    Ersal Bishr – Yemen
81.    `Afra al-Hiboury – Yemen
82.    Sharif Buqna – KSA
83.    Jabr Sha`ath – Palestine
84.    Mona Kareem – Kuwait
85.    Fathia al-Saqri – Oman
86.    Mukhtar al-Maflahi – Oman
87.    Yosry Abdulaziz Haiel – Yemen
88.    Maryam Khiryabany – Lebanon
89.    Raja`a Ghanim – Palestine
90.    Sa`ad al-Baaz – Morocco
91.    Sadeq al-Qadhi – Yemen
92.    Abdulbasit al-Muqrin – Yemen
93.    Kareem al-Hazza` – Kuwait
94.    Waiel Ashry – Egypt
95.    Ahmad Nada – Egypt
96.    Basim al-Ansar – Iraq
97.    Zahran al-Qasimi – Oman
98.    Hussain Ali Younis – Iraq
99.    Ahmad Naji – Egypt
100.  Dara Abdullah – Syria
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Campaign Halts Export of Tear Gas to Bahrain

[The report below was issued by Bahrain Watch`s Stop The Shipment Campaign on 7 January 2014.]

Shipment Stopped

Advocacy group Bahrain Watch announced on January 7 that the #StopTheShipment campaign it launched two months ago to prevent a massive shipment of tear gas to Bahrain has achieved a major milestone.  The Financial Times reported on January 7 that South Korea’s Defence Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) denied two requests to export tear gas to Bahrain due to the “unstable politics in the country [Bahrain], people’s death due to tear gas and complaints from human rights groups.”

The campaign initially targeted all of Bahrain’s tear gas suppliers, but zeroed in on South Korea after DAPA confirmed in October that it was considering a request to export tear gas to Bahrain from an unnamed Korean company, suspected to be DaeKwang Chemical Corporation. The shipment was believed to comprise in excess of 1.6 million rounds of tear gas based on a leaked tender document from a source close to Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior.  However, in a Financial Times article published on January 7, DaeKwang’s CEO said that as part of the deal, which was worth USD $28 million, the Bahraini government was planning to buy three million tear gas canisters—around four canisters for each Bahraini citizen. DAPA’s decision to cease exports means that this tear gas will not reach Bahrain.

South Korea joins other countries including the United States and United Kingdom, who have already stopped tear gas exports to Bahrain due to human rights concerns.  Since 2011, at least thirty-nine deaths in Bahrain have been linked to misuse of tear gas, according to data compiled by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR).  The deaths include fourteen-year-old Ali Jawad al-Shaikh who was shot in the back of his neck with a tear gas canister, and fifteen-year-old Sayed Hashim Saeed, also shot in his neck with a tear gas canister at close range.  No police officer or other government official in Bahrain has been held accountable for these or any other abuses due to the systematic misuse of tear gas, despite serious concerns raised by the United Nations Human Rights Council and the well-documented accounts that described the Bahraini government’s use of tear gas as “unnecessary, indiscriminate” and “lethal”.

Over the past two months, the #StopTheShipment campaign has gained widespread support in Bahrain and around the world, which involved protests on the ground both in London and Seoul.  Participants in the campaign placed calls, and sent over 390,000 emails to the Korean government.  The action against Korean tear gas exports culminated in complaints lodged with the OECD, and five UN Special Rapporteurs, by a Bahrain Watch legal team.  The legal team consists of Michael Mansfield QC, Daniel Carey (DPG Law), Mark MacDonald, James Suzano (ADHRB), Ahmed Ali (Bahrain Watch), and Bahrain Watch interns Yousif al-Saraf, Nozgul Ali, and Ali Alibahai.

Since concerns have been raised that Korean companies could try to export a shipment ultimately destined for Bahrain through a third-party via another country, the legal team will continue to follow up with such legal complaints to prevent any third-party exports to the Bahraini government.  #StopTheShipment will also continue to target Bahrain’s other tear gas suppliers, including South African/German company Rheinmetall Denel Munitions.

Bahrain Watch issued the following statement:  “This suspension of tear gas shipments to Bahrain is a victory for human rights and a successful outcome for the #StopTheShipment campaign, which began in October. The South Korean government is wise to heed the calls of Bahrainis to end the export of tear gas to their government that has been systematically and routinely misusing it as a weapon oppression and collective punishment. We hope this step will be the beginning of the end to the untold suffering, the deaths, injuries and illnesses related to tear gas abuse. This is also a clear message to any other country considering supplying tear gas to the Bahraini government that profiting from repression is unacceptable.”

Sarah Waldron from Campaign Against the Arms Trade said: “This is a major victory for the human rights movement and shows what we can do when we work across borders and support each other. It is utterly unacceptable for any government to prioritise their short term sales over the safety and human rights of people living under oppression. This is a great result for the campaign, but we need to build on it and make sure that human rights are at the centre of our trading policies. Any government which supports arms sales to Bahrain is also offering moral and practical support to an authoritarian regime that is abusing its own citizens.”

Solicitor Daniel Carey from the legal team said: “The South Korean Government’s decision doesn’t just reflect good governance. International human rights law requires states to prevent the supply of tear gas to countries such as Bahrain, which has deployed it against civilian populations causing systematic loss of life, inhuman treatment and disproportionate interferences with the freedoms of expression and assembly. Those obligations apply with equal force to any other state whose arms industry is now contemplating filling this ‘gap in the market’. Our complaints to the UN Special Rapporteurs also apply to them.”

Husain Abdullah from Americans for Democracy and Human Rights said: “The signal that the halting of this shipment sends is unequivocal: that the persistent misuse of teargas as a form of collective punishment and repression against the Bahraini people will not be tolerated. Although much work remains to address systematic human rights abuses in Bahrain, stopping this shipment is an important step toward addressing the culture of impunity that the Government of Bahrain and its weapons suppliers are accustomed to.”

Bahrain Watch launched the #StopTheShipment campaign in cooperation with Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB), and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR).  Bahrain Watch is grateful for the widespread support from key partners and endorsers, without which the campaign could not have succeeded.

Special thanks go to (in no particular order):

Deighton Pierce Glynn,  Human Rights Watch, Physicians for Human Rights, Human Rights First, IFEX, Marietje Schaake MEP, Amnesty International, Lord Avebury (Vice Chair of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group), REDRESS, Omega Research Foundation, Ceartas: Irish Lawyers for Human Rights, Facing Tear Gas, MENA Solidarity Network, Banyan: SOAS Advocates, Linda @SE25A

Korean NGOs, including: Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), Amnesty International Korea, Anti-war Peace Solidarity Korea, Catholics for Human Rights, Citizen’s Solidarity for Peace and Unification, Committee for International Solidarity of Lawyers for a Democratic Society, Cultural Action, Daejeon Women’s Association for Peace, Friends of Peace, Gunsan Center for US Military Base Suffering, Imagination for International Solidarity, Korea Peace Foundation, Korea Teachers and Education Workers Union, Korean House for International Solidarity, LifePeace, Nanum Munhwa, Nonviolent Peaceforce Korea, Northeast Asia Regional Peacebuilding Institute, One Korea Action, Palestine Peace & Solidarity in South Korea, Peace Forum of Civil Society Organizations Network in Korea, Peace Ground, Peace Museum, Peace Network, People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, Sarangbang Group for Human Rights, The Frontiers, Weapon Zero, Women Making Peace, Workers’ Solidarity, World Without War, Young Left in Korea.

Korean Unified Progressive Party National Assembly members: Mi Hyui Kim, Sun Dong Kim, Jae Yeon Kim, Byung Yun Oh, Sang Kyu Lee, Seok Ki Lee.

Endorsers, including: Noam Chomsky, John Pilger (broadcaster and writer), David Graeber (Professor of Anthropology, LSE), Norman Finkelstein (academic and activist), Hamid Dabashi (Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature, Columbia University), David Barsamian (broadcaster and writer), As’ad Abukhalil (Professor of Political Science, California State), Andrew Feinstein (writer and former South African MP), Christie Turlington (model and activist), Prof. Costas Douzinas (Professor of Law, Birkbeck, University of London), Lindsey German (Stop the War Coalition), David McKnight (UNISON), Azadeh Shahshahani, (President, National Lawyers Guild, USA), David Hartsough (Peaceworkers), George Monbiot (writer), Alaa AbdulFattah (blogger and activist, Egypt), Tony Lloyd (Police and Crime Commissioner for Greater Manchester and ex-Labour Party Chair).

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Bahrain Watch is a monitoring and advocacy group that seeks to promote effective, accountable, and transparent governance in Bahrain through research and evidence-based advocacy.  For more info visit: https://bahrainwatch.org/about.asp