DUBAI, 30 November (IRIN) - EGYPT: University protests and Baha'i rights infringement

CAIRO, (IRIN) - In Egypt, members of the 9th March Movement for the Independence of Universities staged a demonstration on Wednesday at the campus of Ain Shams University in Cairo. Academics and staff from a number of universities protested against the violence and intimidation used by security forces during student union elections at Ain Shams earlier this month.

"We were protesting against the fact that that baltagiyya [thugs] can enter a university campus – regardless of what the issue is," Dr Layla Soueif, academic and activist, said. Security forces said that they do not interfere in student union elections, except when the safety of students is at risk.

Meanwhile, on 2 December, the First Circuit of the Supreme Administrative Court will consider the Interior Ministry's appeal against a lower court decision that ruled that Egyptian Baha'is had the right to obtain birth certificates, identity cards and other official documents that recognised their faith.

In a 4 April 2006 ruling, the Administrative Justice Court had ruled in favour of two Baha'i parents who wanted birth certificates for their three daughters after the Interior Ministry had confiscated them on discovering they and their parents were followers of the Baha'i faith.

The question before the Supreme Administrative Court is whether or not Egyptian Baha'i citizens have the right to obtain official identification documents that listed their religious affiliation, or left the 'religion' line blank or inserted the word 'other' instead of stating one of the three officially recognised religions in Egypt: Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

These three alternatives were available for Egypt's Baha'i citizens for decades until the Interior Ministry's Civil Status Department decided four years ago to force them to follow one of the three recognised religions only.

SYRIA: NGOs tried for speaking out

DAMASCUS, (IRIN) - On 26 November, the Supreme State Security Court (SSSC) tried eight university activists who had been detained since the beginning of the year on charges related to a cultural and political discussion group they had formed. They were charged with "subjecting the State to the risk of hostile acts" (Article 278 of the Criminal Code), and "publishing false news that may offend the dignity of the State" (Article 287).

"The detainees denied the charges made against them, confirming their confessions were extracted under torture and affirmed that their activities were peaceful and public," Mohammad Abdullah, a brother of one of the detainees, told IRIN.

Meanwhile, on 26 November, Dr Jamal Abazeed, an independent activist from Dar'a, 90 km south of Damascus, was arrested by security officers with no known reason given for his arrest.

And Haytham Qotaish, who was jailed for possessing classified information, is still in prison 42 days after completing his four-year sentence, the Syrian Organisation for Human Rights said in a statement on 23 November.

Occ.PALESTINIAN Terr: Activists pressure Israel to provide prisoner health care

NABLUS, (IRIN) The Mandela Institute and humanitarian organisations have said pressure should be put on the Israeli authorities to provide health care treatment for Palestinian female prisoners and detainees in Sharon Prison near the town of Telmond. They said this was due to deterioration in the health of prisoners there resulting from the prison's management refusal to treat them.

Activists said one of the detainees, Latifa Abu Theraa, was suffering from several illnesses, while Worood Kasem had chest pain and shortness of breath, and Nedaa al-Ramahi had a problem with the cornea of her eye.

Orit Stelser, spokeswoman for the Israeli prison service, denied the prison management was refusing medical treatment to the female prisoners and said they were all in good condition.

"This is not happening at all. I talk with all the prisoners every morning and all the women are fine," she said.

YEMEN: Journalists harassed and locked up

SANAA, (IRIN) - On Wednesday, Nasr Taha Mustafa, the president of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS), asked the Ministry of Interior to order an investigation into an attack by a police officer on Ahmed al-Shalafi, a correspondent with al-Jazeera television.

Mustafa also demanded the Interior Ministry release journalist Abdul-Hadi Naji who has been detained in Aden for two weeks for a financial case in which he was not involved, Mustafa said.

Meanwhile, al-Nass weekly newspaper said its reporter Anees Mansour was detained on Tuesday for two hours by security men as he was covering armed clashes between tribes and security forces in Lahj governorate. Mansour said security men insulted him and one soldier trampled over his journalistic card.

On 26 November, YJS said that the one-year prison sentence given to Kamal al-Ulefi, the editor-in-chief of al-Rai al-Aam weekly, was unfair. The Sana'a court, which issued the verdict on 25 November, also banned al-Ulefi from writing for six months because his newspaper republished blasphemous cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, which were first published by a Danish newspaper.

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