The issue of general organization in the political dimension of public policy formulation concerned with public participation and decision-making is considered the most important issue of political development in the Arab World.
The delay in dealing with such issues effectively puts restrictions on the development of the Arab societies on the different economical, social and cultural levels. Generally speaking, the efforts of political reforms in the Arab World are facing resistance. Some of the Arab governments do such reforms. Yet, such reforms are limited and don't tackle the issues of political authority. Consequently, political stagnation has become the main characteristic of the Arab political life during the year 2001. This will be discussed in four areas: legislations concerning democratic transformation in the Arab World, the elections that took place in a number of Arab countries, the activities of the civil society and the freedom of press and expression.
First: Legislations for democratic transformation:
Restriction is the main characteristics of the politically related legislations in the Arab world, with very few exceptions. Even in the cases when the legislator allows the citizens more rights, restrictions are usually applied in parallel fields which obstacles the implementations of the positive legislations. In Yemen, for example, the general referendum that was conducted in February 2001 resulted in approving the constitutional reforms that supported President Aly Abdel Saleh and the People's General Conference party. The round of the Parliament was extended from four to six years, and the right of issuing laws through presidential decrees during the Parliament recess was cancelled. Yet, these reforms extended the Presidential period from five to seven years, and gave the President the authority of appointing the 111 members of the Consultative Council. The opposition activists expressed their worries that this council can allow the President to marginalize the role of the elected Parliament, which will increase the indirect hegemony of the executive authority on the process of legislation.
In the same month, the implementation of the new NGO law was initiated. This law gives the ministry of labor and social affairs a supervision authority over the NGOs. In light of this law, the registration of any organization become automatically legal if the ministry did not issue a registration permit during a period of one month. It also allowed the NGO's to receive funds form foreign donors on the condition of informing the ministry; yet, it demands getting permission from the ministry in case of using such foreign funding for any activities. A minimum number of members for the establishment of any NGO have been determined as forty-one members. The law exaggerated the penalty for petit misdemeanor as it enforces a penalty of imprisonment not more than one year in addition to a fine the does not exceed 100,000 Yemeni Reyals, which approximately equals $600.
In Jordan, the last year witnessed initiating the implementation of a law that organizes the political powers, demonstrations and gatherings in the kingdom. It was formulated by the government and approved by King Abdullah the 2nd. The law of the temporary meetings states that any association seeking to organize a public gathering has to apply for written permit from the governor three days before the set date of the gathering, and has to specify the objective of the gathering. The law grants the governor the right to approve or reject the organization of demonstrations, and it gives the minister of interior the right to break any meeting that has previously been approved by force if it included any activities that destabilizes national security. In comparison, the previous law for public gatherings stated that the association seeking to organize a public gathering should inform the governor and the minister of interior by the date and place of the gathering. Since the beginning of the Intifada in September 2000, Jordan has witnessed hundreds of demonstrations against Israel and in support of the Palestinians. As a result of the actions of disorder and destruction during such demonstrations in October, the government decided to prohibit it in the public places and parks.
In July, the Jordanian cabinet approved the new electoral law that delays the legislative elections from November 2001 to summer 2002. The new law emphasizes increasing the number of delegates in the parliament from 80 to 104, and decreasing the minimum age of electors from 19 to 18. It also redivides the electoral circles putting in consideration their size and population. Yet, the new law does not include major reform in the electoral circles, which is the most important issue in the organization of the Jordanian elections.
The only exception to this traditional trend is the legislations issued by Gulf societies known by its conservatism, although such legislations are still far from influencing the structure of authority and political powers in their countries. This year Bahrain, for example, witnessed some positive developments. A national referendum was conducted in February where the majority of the Bahraini nationals, men and women, voted for the new national charter that divides the legislative authority into two councils. The legislative elections were supposed to take place in November 2001. Sheikh Hamad Ebn Eissa Al Khaleefa, the Prince of the Bahrain, announced pardoning more than 400 people imprisoned and convicted for cases related to the national security, and those are mostly political prisoners. More than 100 who were banished outside the country were allowed to return home. The weeks following the referendum, the Prince cancelled the national security law for the year 1974 upon which thousands of people were detained for several years without trials and the national security court whose regulations are not based on the international standards to fulfill fair trials. In July, a royal decree was issued emphasizing the establishment of a public delegation authority under the supervision of the ministry of justice, which cancels the authority of the public prosecution that the ministry of interior enjoyed.
Other demanded reforms in the penalties and legislations concerning publications and NGO's are in the research process by the committee of national charter that is headed by the prime minister. Another committee was assigned to suggest modifications for the Bahraini constitution that was issued in 1973. The government has stopped following the law of this constitution regarding civil rights since the year 1975. The article number 18 of the penalty law that criminalizes political activities continued to be in use despite the fact that many political groups such as the association of national consolation, the national democratic front, and the union of the Arabic and Islamic center, were allowed to register as social and cultural organizations. The meetings continued in the clubs and syndicates after the referendum, although it remained formally illegal. Many of the Bahrainis felt that the main gains were achieved in the field of freedom of expression, yet they felt worried about the lack of tangible steps to legalize the guarantees for protecting political rights. Such worries increased in July when the general association for youth and sports, which is an official entity, insisted on the necessity of the organizations' obtaining a permission prior to holding public meetings and conforming with the general principals that emphasize national unity, then in last November, with prohibiting publications of the big journalist Hafez Al Sheikh.
In Saudi Arabia, a royal decree was issued on the 24th May to increase the number of members in the consultative council, whose members are men only, from 90 to 120 members, although this appointed council does not have any real authority concerning the supervision of the government's executive authority. In the 1st of October, The Saudi Cabinet approved the new penalty law that is made up of 225 articles. The government declared that the law prohibits using force with the detained or harming them either physically or psychologically. The law gives the criminal suspects the right to seek lawyer's assistance, and prohibits detaining or imprisoning them except in the prison or security units based upon a judicial decree. The law also states that the maximum time allowed for investigative detention is five days, and it emphasizes the necessity of freeing the detainees if there was no reason for their detention, and if there wasn't enough evidence against them, and that the minister of interior has the right to detain suspects of dangerous crimes. The cabinet has also approved in the 1st of October a law composed of 43 articles organizing the lawyers' profession.
Second: Elections in the Arab World:
The year 2001 witnessed legislative elections in Mauritania and local elections in Yemen and Southern Lebanon. In Mauritania, the ruling party expectedly won after getting the majority of the seats in the elections where 13 parties participated in seven party coalitions to choose 81 delegates for the national assembly. The ruling social republican democratic party is the only party that presented regulations in all the electoral circles (45 lists for the legislative elections). The two major opposition parties, the unification of democratic powers and work for the change, presented only 20 and 15 lists respectively. This proves the stable trend in the Arab political life where the ruling party has the ability to sweep the elections, which makes reforms through democratic process extremely difficult, and opens the door for instability and violence.
As for Yemen, the Local Councils Elections took place in February 2001 in all the Yemeni governorates for the first time since 1990. The elections came parallel to a referendum on constitutional reforms. Five million electorates participated in the elections to vote for 7 thousand members of the local council from 23 thousand candidates, 120 of which were women. In addition, the voting on the constitutional reforms which includes extending the period of the parliamentary delegation from 4 to 6 years and extending the presidential period from 5 to 7 years. This constitutionally leaves the door open for President Abdullah Saleh to rule until the year 2013, if he continued for two consecutive terms as the constitution states. The Yemeni Elections Committee announced that participation in the elections reached 36% of the total number of eligible electorates, 73,67% of which agreed upon the suggested constitutional reforms.
At the same time, the elections of the local councils witnessed some violence and accusations of forgery in the lists of electorates. Unofficial sources declared that about 40 people were killed and more than 100 were injured from the supporters of the opposition parties in confrontations with the security forces in the day of the elections and the day following it. The government mentioned that 11 were killed while only 23 were injured. Due to conflicts regarding violations that took place in at least 20% of the electoral centers, the result were not announced officially. The General Popular Conference claimed winning the majority of seats, but the opposition leaders accused the authorities of manipulating the results of both, the referendum and the local council elections. The announced primary results stated that the Popular Conference party won 277 seats, the Yemeni Group for Reform 78 seats, while the socialist party won 16 seats and the independents got 30 seats.
In Lebanon, the local elections were conducted for the first time since 38 years. Following the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the south, the Lebanese citizens in 115 villages and town in the south went to vote in the first elections that take place, which completes the local elections that took place in the rest of Lebanon in the year 1998.
Third: Civil Society Activities
It has been previously said that the general trend in the different Arab countries is putting restrictions in the civil society movement presented in NGOs, syndicates and political parties. Some legislations concerning NGOs have been discussed in a previous section, as for the political parties, in Egypt for example, restrictions continued to be imposed on the activities and publications of the Labor party with the Islamic trend and whose activities were frozen with a decree from the committee of political parties affairs in May 2000. Laborers' rights have been abused due to the practices against activists in the labor syndicates who discuss cases such as the laborers' security in the public sector. Such practices, which aimed at preventing them from participating in the syndicate elections, included transferring some of them to different companies shortly before the elections and pressuring them to withdraw their candidacy. Right before the elections of the general union for the laborers syndicates that started on the 8th October, tens of laborers whose applications of the candidacy were rejected went to file for cases in front of the administrative courts due to the violations in the candidacy procedures. The Center for Syndicates and Laborers' Service, which is an Egyptian NGO working on protecting the laborers' rights, was also put under pressure.
In February, members of the lawyers' syndicate elected a new council and chief. This election ended 5 years of judicial protection over the syndicate that has been imposed since 1996 as a result of what has been claimed of financial violations committed by the previous council. It was generally expected that the government aspires that the elections, which was conducted under judicial supervision, would minimize the influence of the legally banned Muslim Brotherhood over the syndicate. Yet, the elections resulted in choosing a council with Muslim Brotherhood hegemony and selecting the Nasserist Sameh Ashour as the chief. It seems that the result achieved by the elections of the lawyers' syndicate did not encourage the government to lift the restrictions imposed on elections in other syndicates especially those for doctors and engineers.
In Tunis, the Tunisian courts issued a decree to dissolve the Tunisian Organization for Human Rights that holds 25 members, and the court considered all the decisions taken by the organization's general assembly in October canceled, including all the associations that were elected during that period. The court declared that the organization, which is the only organization specialized in human rights in the country, has broken its regulations by electing the board in October. The court called for holding a general assembly meeting to elect a new council under the supervision of those responsible about the organization before the last elections, but it didn't set a date for this meeting. This judicial decree was issued after four of the organization members, two of which belong to the ruling the constitutional democratic gathering party, filed a judicial case in December to refute the legitimacy of the board.
In Jordan, Tension was increased between the government and the syndicates due to the active role played by the syndicate in the issue of the Arab Israeli conflict , especially in the issue of neutralizing the relations with Israel. The Jordanian Prime Minister Aly Abu Ragheb strongly attacked the syndicates, and accused internal associations of claiming the role inspection courts, and a center for granting forgiveness for the Jordanians who give up their relations with Israel. This happened as a result of the committee's distribution of a list of the names of companies and personalities that deal with Israel. Abu Ragheb confirmed that the government is concerned with protecting the freedom of work and expression provided by the law for every citizen. It is also concerned with protecting the citizens and companies from slander.
This conflict between the Jordanian government and the syndicate is an indicator that the matter of organizing the limits and specializations in the public field is still undetermined in the Arab politics. More dialogue concerning these issues is necessary to free the Arab civil society and prevent it's becoming a victim of the failure of the Arab societies in solving the problems that face them in other fields, especially the conflict with Israel.
In Yemen, the government adopted a number of procedures against the members of the Yemen socialist opposition party in the Dale'e governorate. Members of the Popular Committees were arrested due to their participation in a peaceful demonstration to protest the police and army violations committed in October 2000. Yet, the government did not implement the threat it declared in the year 2000 of dissolving the party. Some of the journalists and military men following the party, who were exiled in 1994, have returned to Yemen, as a part of the national consolation. Many of them have complained that no procedures were taken to return them to their old jobs. The word got spread that President Saleh ordered the return of the headquarters in Aden to the party, which did not happen till the end of the year.
The most important achievement of the Arab civil society was in the anti-discrimination conference held in South Africa by the end of August. The forum of NGOs issued a closing document that is considered a historical achievement by all standards. It didn't only include Zionism in racism, it also considered Israel a racist regime similar to the previous regime in South Africa, and called on the international community to put strict sanctions on Israel, as was done with South Africa, until it complies to the United Nations resolutions that calls for it's retreat from the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem, and allows the return of refugees to their homes. This document was issued with the consensus of six thousand NGOs from different countries, including the NGOs from the United States, which lead to the withdrawal of the US and Israeli delegations.
Due to the alliances and great activities done by the Arab NGOs, especially the Human Rights Movement, the conference witnessed great sympathy from western, Arab, African and American NGOs with the Arab rights and consolidation with the Palestinians' suffering, especially after the great bias of the US delegation to Israel, and threatening to boycott the conference, and actually withdrawing. This stance led to an opposing reaction from the nonbiased NGOs.
This conference uncovered the influence of the NGOs on the international community as a power for expressing the people's will and moving to protect their rights, which was also presented by the activities of the anti-globalization NGOs. The Arab NGOs found their way to such events, and is learning different methods of forming alignments and conducting negotiations with other NGOs, which led to clear results in the anti-discrimination conference. The Arab NGOs learned through such experiences to develop their traditional speech to a more humanitarian speech that addresses the different societies' needs and problems, and that is based on the international law to include technicalities and arguments that were not used before.
Fourth: Freedom of Expression and Press:
Although the field of freedom of expression and freedom of press witnessed some negative developments during the year 200, it is more developed in the Arab world than other fields related to politics and governance. In Morocco, for example, press and private publications enjoyed a satisfactory level of freedom although most of them avoided directly criticizing the army or the king and his relatives as well as the royal regime. Throughout the year, the newspapers were full with material that uncovered what was considered a dirty war against the opposition through the sixties and the seventies of the twentieth century. Previous prisoners in Tazmamert secret prison described the horrific conditions that led to the death of half of the prisoners. Some of the victims of torture and relatives of the disappeared told their stories to newspapers. Although the torturers names were mentioned in the accusations, there was desistance of mentioning the name of King Hussein the 2nd in such accusations. The diary of Maleeka Ofukeer that is titled Robbed Lives: twenty years in a desert prison was banned form distribution. This book describes how the entire family of the author was imprisoned for nearly two decades as a revenge for a coup attempted by her father, Mohamed Oufakeer, who was the minister of interior during the year 1972. This book is one of the best sellers in the United States.
Yet, crossing the red lines in discussing the past had a high price to be paid. In December 2000, the Prime Minister Abdel Rahman Al Yousofy, who belongs to the Socialist Union party, banned three newspapers: the French Le Journal and it's Arabic version AL Gareeda, as well as the Doman newspaper, thus using liabilities given to his post according to the article 77 of the press law. This happened after the three newspapers published a letter for the first time that is dated back to 1974 in which one of the socialist party leaders accused some of the party's leaders at the time - including Yousofy himself as the letter implies- of attempting a failing coup against King Hussein the 2nd. The Minister of Culture and Communication said that the three newspapers initiated a campaign against the political stability and the democratic model in Morocco using false evidence.
After republishing Le Journal with a different name Le Journal Ebdomidar, and on the 1st of March, the managing editor was sentenced to three months prison, the general manager was sentenced to two months prison and each had to pay a big fine. This sentence was the result of the defamation case filed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohamed Ben Eissa because of the articles published in the year 2000 accusing him of spending public fund in real estate deals during the period of his work as the Moroccan ambassador in the United States.
On the 21st November, the editor of the Deman magazine was sentenced to four months of prison and a fine after being convicted of publishing wrong news that result in upsetting the general regime. This case was filed as a result of publishing an article concerning the sale of one of the royal castles.
The Casa Blanca court sentenced the editor in chief of the newspaper Le Nouveau Journal to three months of prison and the managing editor to two months, after they were both convicted of defaming the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, and they had to pay a 10,000 Moroccan Derham fine, which is equivalent to $940, in addition to two billion Derham ($ 200,000) as a compensation for the harm done to the minister.
On the 6th of September, the Moroccan cabinet approved amendments to the press law that maintains imprisonment as the penalty for defame. The amendments also maintain the liabilities of the executive branched in confiscating or stopping publications. More then once, the authorities stopped the sales of certain issues of foreign publications that include coverage for issues concerning Morocco. For example, the issue 17 for the month May of the French Weekly Courier International which published a report about the Moroccan Berbers and a cartoon for King Mohamed the 6th.
In Algeria, some amendments were added to the penalty law that extend the prison sentence and fines for insulting the president, the government associations or responsibilities. Officials explained the reasons for such changes as necessary to maintain the respect for the state, as well as protecting the individual and group freedom. The authorities have also practiced a selective trend in giving visas to foreign correspondents, their applications were sometimes accepted, and at other times ignored with no explanation. Journalist specialized in Algerian affairs form the French dailies Liberation and Le Monde were deprived from visiting the country most of the year.
In Egypt, the Interdiction on the activities and publication of the labor party with the Islamic trend continued. The party's activities were frozen with a decree issued by the Committee of Political Parties Affairs in May 2000. More than 11 judicial decrees were issued calling for the lift of the interdiction on the Sha'ab weekly newspaper that is published by the party, as it is considered an abuse the freedom of press granted by the constitution. On the 20th of March, the administrative court judged that it was illegal for the government to refrain from implementing the judicial decrees and the procrastination methods it follows such as refuting the decrees in unspecialized courts. Yet on the 21st of March, the Committee of Political Parties Affaird supported the interdiction imposed on the Sha'ab newspaper, arguing that the stance of the labor party is not settled yet.
In mid July, the consultants; association that follows the Administrative Supreme Court supported the stance of the committee although it had previously supported some judgments in favor of the Sha'ab newspaper. The association said that the previous judgments of the Administrative Court was wrong in what it mentioned concerning the liabilities of the Committee for Political Parties Affairs that allows it to freeze the activities of any political party but does not have the right to halt their publications. At the same time, the electronic version of the Sha'ab newspaper continues to be published online. The Naba'a newspaper was also frozen after it published a story regarding one of the previous priests, which was considered a threat to the national unity and a violation to the social and cultural norms.
In Tunis, any criticism of the government policies was restricted to magazines with limited distribution, and even such coverage was very cautious. As for the privately owned daily newspapers, they cannot be differentiated from the government owned newspapers except in attacking the government critiques with more insults. As for the more courageous publications, they have experienced either confiscation or interdiction. For example, the magazine Al Mawkef issued by the political party The socialist modern group was confiscated from the print house before publication. Authorities also refused to issue permits for the leftist journalist Galal Waghlamy to publish a magazine called Kaws El Karama. When Waghlamy started publishing without license, he was attacked by men armed with iron bars on the 3rd of February in the middle of the capital. He was attacked again with some of his followers by some men with civil clothes outside his house in Tunisia on the 6th February. When some of the employees of the French Organization unlimited journalists that is concerned with the freedom of press distributed issues of Kaws El Karama in the Tunisian streets on the 21st of February, policemen in civil clothes confiscated the issues and two of the employees were deported to France. The distribution of issues of foreign newspapers that criticize the conditions in Tunis became prohibited. Those include an issue from the French newspaper Le Monde for the 6th April, and that contained an interview with the new minister of human rights Salah El Din Mo'aweya, in which he promised that the country will witness a new spirit of openness and reform.
In Yemen, the Press faced increasing government pressures as the authorities meddled journalists and trapped the opposition and independent newspapers in judicial battles. In April, the ministry of mass communication confiscated the first issue of Human Rights which is a monthly periodical published by the human rights organization Al Noshata'a (the activists). In June 2001, the general deputy implemented part of the decree issued in the year 1997 against the weekly opposition newspaper Al Shoura (the consultancy) and its two previous editors, and stopped its publication for 6 months. The newspaper resumed publication with a new name and under a new license, which also faced many obstacles and troubles from the government.
In Jordan, the security corporation detained the correspondent of the Gezira broadcasting channel in Amman during his recording of a demonstration in support of Osama Bin Laden in the southern Ma'an city. This coincided with the halt of the Gezira correspondent in the Jordanian capital. She said that the security forces halted her and confiscated the tapes that she had upon which she recorded a strike of one of the tribes.
The Jordanian cabinet approved the draft law for the High Council of Mass Communication, which was established instead of the ministry of mass communication. It has also added some amendments to the penalty law, which allows the closure of newspaper and publications temporarily or permanently, as is seen most suitable by the government if any newspaper published news that harms national unity, induces committing crimes, harms individuals' pride or reputation, include wrong information, or motivate for holding demonstrations, strikes or public meeting that violate the legislations.
In Syria, the freedom of press was faced with degeneration when President Assad issued a decree on the 22nd of September that restricts the issuance of newspapers and other types of periodicals, and other publication, including books, notes and flyers. This presidential decree, number 50 for the year 2001, gives the executive authority, especially the Prime Minister and the minister of mass communication, liabilities to organize the affairs of print houses, distribution agencies and libraries. It dictates a severe criminal penalty for any violation of the decree, including high penalty, and imprisonment sentence for a maximum of three years.
The article 29 of the law lists that prohibited issues include details of secret trials, articles and reports concerning national security and unity, details about the army's security, movements, ammunition, weapons, camps, and equipment, and the material the violates the privacy right. The article 51A criminalizes the publication of lies and fabricated reports, and puts an imprisonment penalty with a maximum of three years and/or a high fine for the violation of this article. The article adds with a general and elastic language that the maximum of the penalty will be imposed on the committing of such violations with a bad intention, if it resulted in general instability, or indicted harm on the international relations, to the pride of the state, to the national unity, to the psychological status of the military or armed forces or the national economy and currency. Those who violate the articles 29 and 51A will be punished by halting their publications for a period from one week to 6 months.
The decree prohibits the paid promotional publications directly or indirectly from foreign companies, countries or organizations, which raises the fear that it could be used against independent organizations of civil societies that receive foreign funds. The law punishes violations with a fine and an imprisonment period from six months to a year.
The decree imposes a condition on all publications, including those published by the legal political parties, to issue a permit prior to the publication from the Prime Minister who has the authority to refuse issuing the license due to reasons he sees in the national benefit. Yet, the law excluded the NGOs, syndicates and professional unions from the license condition. The article 16 prohibits the ownership of publications by any person who was convicted in a crime or deprived of his civil or political rights or fired from his job, and those are punishments to which many of the government critiques were subjected, who were imprisoned with criminal accusations after their trials in national security courts. The law also imposes a condition that all publications must get an approval from the ministry of mass communication before changing the owner, director, or editor in chief, and that the distributors of foreign publications should present copies of the issues to the ministry before distributing them.
With the outbreak of using the Internet around the region, the authorities in many countries tried to restrict it as a tool to publishing information and independent views. The Saudi authorities, for example, did not hide its intention to keep concealing what it rejects of the political content published on the web. The foreign companies rushed in competing to win the contract with the government to assist in the censorship of the material available to the Saudis on the net. Similarly, the Tunisian authorities continued in preventing the Tunisian citizens periodically from accessing the websites of the human rights organizations and foreign newspapers that publish criticism of the government.
In Egypt, which is characterized by tolerance concerning the Internet, for the first time, and Egyptian citizen, Shahdy Naguib, was arrested on the 22nd of November for publishing a passionate political poem written by his father, Naguib Sorour, on his site that is built on a US corporation.
In Algeria, where internet café's are becoming very widespread, and where the are no news regarding concealing websites, the police called for the internet café's owners in one city to report users who log on what they called destructive sites.