Middle East and North Africa

Egyptian blogger and activist Alaa Abdel Fattah was released by authorities late on the night of 28 March after serving five years in prison for defying a protest ban. 

7amleh – The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media launched its annual report on  Palestinian digital rights. The report details violations by governments, authorities, international technology companies and Palestinian society.

Every 66 seconds a post inciting hatred against Palestinians was shared on social media platforms in 2018. Almost half a million calls for violent actions and racist slurs were registered. These are some of the revelations in the Index of Racism 2018 launched by APC member 7amleh. 

APC and 7amleh-The Arab Centre for Social Media Advancement submitted this statement ahead of the Human Rights Council 40th session to express their concern about the upsurge in the number of laws being put forth by Israeli legislators that violate the right to privacy and freedom of expression.

Launched in English and Arabic, this new report from 7amleh – The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media details the Israeli control over the Palestinian ICT infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza and its impact on the digital rights of the Palestinian people.

The report analyses the abstention of the online payment company PayPal and the impact of this stance on the Palestinian economy.

The forum will be attended by organisations working on digital media and digital rights, including APC, Deutsche Welle, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, along with activists, journalists, students and jurists from the West Bank, Jerusalem, Haifa, Taybeh and Gaza Strip.

As we are nearing the end of 2018, we want to remember the human rights defenders from our community who are currently facing prison, disappeared or have been killed in retaliation for their work.