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January 4, 2018

Israel: Israel Offers African Migrants a Choice: Ticket Out or Jail

News

Middle East Israel

Israel is offering a stark choice to tens of thousands of African migrants in the country: Agree to leave voluntarily by the end of March, with a plane ticket and a grant of $3,500, or face possible incarceration.

January 3, 2018

L'enfer des prisons égyptiennes pour les détenus gays et trans

News

Africa Middle East LGBTQI Violence Egypt

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the French version.

December 1, 2017

Turkey: elderly prisoner gets 11 days in solitary for expressing hope for release

News

Europe Middle East Discipline Justice United States

Ali Osman Karahan, an 87-year-old Turkish man who has been in an Isparta prison for almost 15 months over alleged links to the Gülen movement, was given 11 days of solitary confinement.

November 30, 2017

France : psychologue et éducateur suivent des jihadistes rentrés de Syrie

News

Europe Middle East Mental health France

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the French version.

October 2, 2017

Guatemala : diputados debatirán este martes proyecto prohíbe celulares en cárceles

News

Central America and the Caribbean Middle East Guatemala

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the Spanish version.

September 6, 2017

Crackdown: Prison conditions worsen in post-coup Turkey

News

Europe Middle East Material conditions Turkey

Turkey has been packing its jails with political offenders since a failed coup nearly 14 months ago, and prisoners’ families, lawyers, and activists have told IRIN of an increase in overcrowding, poor medical care, solitary confinement, and mistreatment.

August 16, 2017

Jordan: women imprisoned in name of family honor

News

Women Middle East Jordan

In a secret shelter in the Jordanian capital Amman, 52-year-old Fatima runs a hand over the scar that has shaped her life.

August 5, 2017

Ce que j’ai vu dans les prisons iraniennes

News

Middle East Iran

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the French version.

July 23, 2017

Over 2,300 Iranian children live in prison

News

Middle East Iran

Over 2,300 children live in prison in Iran with their mothers, a member of parliament said July 23. Mohammad Javad Fathi said that the high statistics of prisoned women in Iran is a sensitive and serious issue.

July 14, 2017

Turkey: inside Erdogan’s prisons

News

Europe Middle East Turkey

I have been a member of Turkish Parliament representing Istanbul for the opposition Republican People’s Party for the past six years. It has forced me to become a specialist in the Turkish prison system as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (A.K.P.) government has increa…

July 10, 2017

Syria : prison de Hama, les détenus prennent le contrôle

News

Middle East Syria

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the French version.

June 25, 2017

The danger of Yemen's secret prisons

News

Middle East Yemen

Black sites in the war-ravaged country help ensure that it will remain fertile ground for terrorists for years to come.

June 25, 2017

Iran: leader pardons 1 049 prisoners on Eid al-Fitr

News

Middle East Iran

Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, has pardoned or commuted prison terms of 1,049 convicts found guilty by various Iranian courts. The pardon was granted at the request of the country’s Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani on the occasion of Eid al-Fit…

June 23, 2017

Egypt: 502 prisoners pardoned for Eid al-Fitr

News

Africa Middle East Egypt

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pardoned 502 prisoners, on Friday, on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr.

June 21, 2017

Iran: 40,000 inmates granted amnesty in one year

News

Middle East Iran

Iran’s Judiciary spokesman, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’I, says nearly 40,000 prisoners in Iran have been granted amnesty in a one-year period.

June 20, 2017

Kuwait: the country grants amnesty to Ethiopians prisoners

News

Africa Middle East Kuwait

Amir of the State of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah has granted amnesty for Ethiopians convicted of various judicial sentences and currently in prison in that country, Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday in a statement.

June 17, 2017

Egypt: Egyptian court recommends death penalty for 30 over assassination of prosecutor

News

Africa Middle East Egypt

A Cairo criminal court on Saturday recommended the death penalty for 30 people convicted of involvement in the 2015 assassination of Egypt’s top prosecutor, the most senior state official killed by militants in recent years.

June 15, 2017

Iran: parliamentary committee blocks security agencies' attempts to significantly delay death penalty amendment

News

Middle East Iran

A Parliamentary committee in Iran has blocked an attempt by security agencies to delay for a year a parliamentary vote on an amendment that could drastically reduce death penalty sentences for drug-related crimes. “Unfortunately, some security and government agencies wrote a letter requesting that…

June 15, 2017

Turkey: jail sentence to UN judge Aydin Sefa Akay

News

Europe Middle East Turkey

A Turkish court has sentenced top UN judge Aydin Sefa Akay to more than seven years in jail over alleged ties to a group blamed for a failed coup attempt. The UN war crimes court in The Hague says the move is illegal.

June 14, 2017

Israel: see inside Israel's only female prison

News

Women Middle East Israel

In Israel, there are around 25,000 men in prison. Some 14,000 of these are convicted on criminal charges. The rest are incarcerated on security-related charges – and are mostly Palestinian. In comparison, there are just 200 women in prison in the Holy Land. And they’re all in one place – Neve Tirza…

May 25, 2017

Iran: 333% increase of prison populace in 30 years

News

Middle East Overcrowding Iran

Iran’s penitentiary chief refers to a 333 percentage increase in prisoner figures between 1985 and 2017. Accordingto Tasnim agency, Asghar Jahangiri said on Monday that Iran holds the second place for prison population among Islamic countries and 6th among Asian countries. Saying that Iran’s world…

May 20, 2017

Turkey: nine percent overcapacity in prisons forces inmates to sleep in shifts

News

Europe Middle East Turkey

“There are currently 221,607 inmates in prisons. Prison capacity is 203,000, making them 9 percent over capacity”

May 15, 2017

Syrian crematory is hiding mass killings of prisoners, U.S. says

News

Middle East Death penalty Syria

The United States accused the Syrian government on Monday of using a crematory to hide mass murders at a prison where thousands are believed to have been summarily executed in the nation’s civil war.

April 26, 2017

Egypt pardons 1,118 prisoners

News

Africa Middle East Egypt

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi yesterday signed a decree granting amnesty to 1,118 non- political prisoners on the anniversary of the liberation of Sinai, according to the country’s interior ministry.