Introduction
– Do Arab governments combat terrorism?-
= Yes
– Do Arab governments combat terrorism the right way?-
= No
– Do Arab governments deliberately tackle terrorism the wrong way?-
= Yes
– Why?
= Because terrorism grants these governments a chance to suppress the movements calling for democracy and the rule of law. Terrorism gives these governments a chance to evade its commitments towards citizens, human rights and accountability.
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) clearly thinks that Arab governments are taking advantage of terrorism, as they siege and marginalize movements calling for democracy and smother freedom of expression.
– What do the Arab governments really fight?
= They fight democracy, remnants of the Arab Spring, human rights and freedom of expression. Arab governments kill writers, imprison, or defame them, or force them flee abroad in search of safe spaces and seized freedoms, and of dreams of just countries that turned into tyrannies.
– Support your argument.
= Arab governments strive to remain in power regardless of the constitutions. They govern with an iron fist not with the rule of law. The ongoing sabotage of Arab revolutions, or what remains of it like what is going on in Tunisia. Attacks against independent human rights organizations, defaming human rights, depicting Arab people as if they are a different species unworthy of enjoying human rights. Not to mention the huge number of imprisoned journalists all over the Arab world from the Atlantic ocean to the Gulf. The murder of Jamal Khashoggi and trying to get away with it. Moreover, a number of writers and media figures fled to non-Arab countries to work in foreign media outlets. A number of journalists and media figures are deprived of the right to perform their jobs. Explicit censorship imposed on newspapers and TV channels. Most media outlets became platforms to defend certain governments and attack others.
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2018 ends with a decline in freedom of expression and press freedom. A decline crystallized in the cold-blooded brutal murder of a Saudi journalist, without a single condemnation, on the contrary, most Arab governments expressed their solidarity with Saudi Arabia and commended its performance!
From Algeria’s detention of journalist Tawfiq Bou Achrine and cutting off the Internet, to Tunisia’s handing down prison sentences to activists, not to mention Egypt, a country that turned into a huge prison for journalists who voice their criticism. Moreover, the Sudanese intelligence surveillance on newspapers, the Saudi murder of Khashoggi, along with crimes committed by both Saudis and Houthis against Yemeni journalists, to Kuwait becoming the most hostile country to tweeps, to Lebanon’s Anti-Internet-Activists Bureau AKA the Anti-Cybercrime Bureau, To Bahrain imprisoning activists and stripping others of the citizenship. And finally, Big Brother laws in the UAE.
Thus, the Arab world turned out to be the worlds final destination in terms of suppression. Yet, young people, whether activists, journalists or media professionals are resisting and the battle is not over yet. The battle for freedom and democracy.
Under Siege.. Freedom of Expression in the Arab World in 2018 pdf
Under Siege.. Freedom of Expression in the Arab World in 2018 word
