Crime & Justice, Headlines, Human Rights, Middle East & North Africa

DEATH PENALTY: Arab Cyber Project to have New Year Launch

Abderrahim El Ouali

CASABLANCA, Dec 12 2008 (IPS) - The Rights and People project – an Arabic-language anti-death penalty venture – will start work in early 2009 with the launch of an online magazine, the first of its kind run by human rights activists in the 24-country region.

“Our Internet magazine will carry on-the-spot reports from correspondents in Arab countries where the death penalty is still being practised, as well as in-depth articles and opinion pieces on human rights issues, particularly on the death penalty,” Abdelhadi Dahrawi, a member of the project, told IPS.

Dahrawi, a Moroccan human rights activist for more than a decade, said the magazine would offer a platform for eminent Arab intellectuals “striving for real independence in thought and speech”.

Use of the Internet is expanding rapidly in the region, although it had a relatively late start. An estimated 60 million people of the region’s more than 300 million now has Internet access.

The online magazine’s editorial staff would also produce a separate newsletter on human rights issues.

“This will be distributed to mobile telephones, bringing us into intimate contact with citizens,” Dahrawi said.

The project will conduct research into human rights issues through the Rights and People Research Centre (RPRC), headed by Abdelaziz Bouidi. Bouidi is an academic specialising in the relationship between Islam and human rights.

“Islam has always been misused by Islamic states to justify inhumane policies. There’s much work to be done to abolish all the despotic practices that have been carried out for more than 14 centuries in the name of the religion,” Bouidi told IPS.

“Muslim intellectuals have to return to the original faith. We will be encouraging studies on the progressive, humanistic and innovative character of original Islam.

“We will be conducting detailed studies on human rights issues in all 24 Arab countries. These will be published on the project’s website for everyone to read free of charge.”

The aim of the project was to involve ordinary people in a debate on the studies produced by the research centre.

“Without this involvement, neither NGOs nor the media can safeguard human rights.

“We will be especially directing our work on death row prisoners, women and children.”

He said many activists in Morocco and other countries had promised to join the project.

“We already have in place dozens of volunteers all over the Arab word. These are people who have always been engaged in the struggle for human rights and especially the right to life. They are journalists, writers, bloggers and researchers.”

The founder of the project, Mostafa Hannaoui, who outlined his vision in an interview earlier this month with IPS, said several “engaged” commercial companies were supporting the project.

“They have volunteered help to develop and maintain our website. They have chosen to remain anonymous.

“But our capital is – and will always be – human.”

The project did plan to seek financial contributions from other independent sources, though not from governments.

“We will not accept official financing. Human rights issues should be kept far away from government pressure.”

Dahrawi added that the project would attract partners in the region as soon as the magazine was online.

The project would be based in Morocco, according to Hannaoui.

“I think we can do our job in Morocco with less difficulty than in any other country in the Arab world,” he told IPS earlier.

He also predicted that the Moroccan King, Mohammed VI, would abolish the death penalty. Up till now, only Djibouti has signed the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This commits members to abolish the death penalty.

In Dec 2007, Algeria was the only Arab country to support the U.N. General Assembly’s resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions. Seventy percent of Arab nations voted against the resolution.

Recently, a group of Algerian MPs tabled an abolition bill aimed at replacing capital punishment with life imprisonment.