SHARE: YouTube

UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer joined Fox Business with Cheryl Casone to discuss Hamas violating the peace agreement, Qatar’s and Turkey’s connection to the Muslim Brotherhood, and antisemitism in North America.

Full Interview:

Cheryl Casone, Fox Business: The administration is looking to bolster the peace deal, despite Israel and Hamas accusing each other of violating the ceasefire. The remains of two more Israeli men returned home overnight — the bodies now of at least 13 hostages still in Gaza.

Hamas says it’s having some difficulty finding all of the remains that need to be returned. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with the families of recently released hostages yesterday.

I want to bring in United Nations Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer. Hillel, your reaction to where we are right now in the peace deal?

Hillel Neuer: Look, JD Vance has arrived here in Jerusalem. He and the Trump administration are taking the peace deal very seriously. The problem is that Hamas isn’t. You know, we are 13 days after Hamas signed the deal which promised that they would release all of the hostages, living and dead. As you indicated, they are still holding 13 dead hostages.

Their excuses are ridiculous. The hostages, living or dead, are their main leverage. Of course, they know where they are. The fact is that Hamas has not released the hostages. They have not disarmed — and they were supposed to release the hostages within 72 hours. We’re 13 days later; they haven’t released them, they haven’t disarmed.

On the contrary, they are torturing and killing Palestinians — they don’t like — executing them in cold blood. This isn’t the peace deal that Hamas and its backers, Turkey and Qatar, signed on to.

Cheryl Casone, Fox Business: Those images of those executions in Gaza were very jarring, and I saw those as well. I’ve got Tiana Lowe Doescher on set, she actually has a question about the deal as well for you.

Tiana Lowe Doescher, Washington Examiner: Yeah, and I want to specifically ask about the Qataris. Steve Witkoff, on 60 Minutes over the weekend, said that the Qataris were the peacemakers — really doubling down on this. But there are reports that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are warning that if Qatar is holding the deal at the center, it will fall apart. What’s your take on that?

Hillel Neuer:  Look, Qatar and Turkey both are part of the Muslim Brotherhood network. They are backers of Hamas. Qatar hosts the Hamas chiefs. Turkey also hosts Hamas chiefs, including Suhail al-Hindi, one of the Hamas leaders who used to run the UNRWA education network in Gaza.

So unless the Trump administration squeezes Turkey and Qatar hard, they’re not going to deliver Hamas as they promised.

Cheryl Casone, Fox Business: We just saw images of the Vice President meeting with Israeli President Herzog. So these conversations are ongoing right now where you are in Jerusalem.

The Israeli government now is putting pressure on Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to abandon his vow to uphold the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against Netanyahu upon any visit to the country.

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is facing similar calls after he said he would also honor that arrest warrant — he even said it right here on Fox. Watch this:

Zohran Mamdani (recorded clip): I’ve said that this is a city that believes in international law, and this is a city that wants to uplift and uphold those beliefs. The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu, as it has for Vladimir Putin.

I’ve said that I believe that we should uphold arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court, and that we should do so only in abiding with all of the laws in front of us.

Cheryl Casone, Fox Business: Think about that — arresting Benjamin Netanyahu in New York. And Elie Wiesel’s son has a new op-ed in The Wall Street Journal opinion section. He says a Mamdani mayoralty threatens New York’s Jewish community. Hillel, your reaction?

Hillel Neuer: Look, the ICC is primarily a rogue court. Keep in mind that Israel is the only Jewish and democratic state in the entire Middle East. It just survived a seven-front assault led by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Iran fired hundreds of missiles that were bombing Tel Aviv. They organized Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthi terrorists — fired thousands of missiles.

The ICC hasn’t issued a single arrest warrant for the Supreme Leader of Iran or any other IRGC terrorist in Iran. So going after Israel is absurd. Israel is defending itself.

The fact that Mamdani, the candidate to be mayor of New York, would seek to threaten to arrest the Israeli prime minister is throwing fuel on an antisemitic fire that we’ve seen raging across North America — and I’m going to include Canada as well.

The Canadian Prime Minister — that’s a betrayal of Canada’s values. I grew up in Canada. The synagogue where I went — someone shot at it a year or two ago. The Jewish school in my neighborhood was shot at multiple times.

It’s a conflagration across Canada. For the Canadian Prime Minister to say Netanyahu is not welcome and he’s going to want to see him prosecuted is just pouring fuel on a very dangerous fire.

Cheryl Casone, Fox Business: Hillel, you know, what did you make of that op-ed by Elie Wiesel’s son? Because the question here is — we’re less than two weeks away from Election Day here in New York City.

And, you know, he talks about the fact that we’ve already seen an incredible amount of antisemitic behavior since October 7th here in New York, which has been shocking to many. But what about the Jewish community here? Can they rally around and support Cuomo to stop Mamdani from taking over the city that, again, has the largest Jewish population in our country?

Hillel Neuer: Look, I’m not going to comment on U.S. domestic politics, but I will say this: there is no question that Mamdani’s statements are clearly promoting antisemitism. When you falsely accuse the world’s only Jewish state of genocide, apartheid, colonialism — these are the modern-day equivalents of the blood libel. And we know in history what kind of consequences this incitement leads to.

This is a guy, Mamdani, who can’t condemn Hamas, and he is rather overtly supporting Muslim Brotherhood figures who are connected to terrorism — including people connected to the 9/11 attacks. It’s astonishing that we’re in a time, in New York City — which was hit barely 20 years ago by radical Islamic terrorists who blew up the World Trade Center — you have someone who’s hanging out with people who were, you know, involved with the World Trade Center bombers.

It’s astonishing, and it’s a very scary place we’re at today in the United States.

Cheryl Casone, Fox Business: Yeah, no, there’s a photo of him arm-in-arm with one of the men that was involved in the 1993 World Trade Center attack, and this is why there is such uproar about his statements and what this could do to New York.

Well, anyway, Hillel, thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate you joining us today. It’s always — you’re such a great voice in all of this.

Hillel Neuer: Thank you for having me.

The post Hillel Neuer: Hamas Breaks Peace Deal While ICC Targets Israel appeared first on UN Watch.

SHARE: YouTube | X (Twitter) | Instagram

Addressing the United Nations, Turkish President Erdogan claimed that the West was losing its values, and that Israel was to blame. When UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer then took the floor at the UN Human Rights Council, he turned the tables on Turkey — whose delegation tried to silence him.

Turkish President Erdoğan:

Due to the increasing aggression of Israel, in Europe and the West in general, the values that emerged after the Second World War have been eroded.

The most fundamental human rights, such as freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and protest, women’s rights, children’s rights, democracy, equality and justice have been shelved away.

Hillel Neuer, UN Watch:

Mr Chair, Turkish President Erdoğan just told the UN that human rights in the West have been eroded, and he blamed Israel.

Now distinguished delegates, in psychology, attributing one’s own malicious acts to others is known as projection.

Let us consider.

“Freedom of expression”? “Freedom of the press”?

Under President Erdoğan, human rights activists and journalists have been persecuted, and locked up.

We hosted here Turkish journalist Nurcan Baysal, and she testified: “I received a 10 month prison sentence due to an article I wrote recording the war crimes by the Turkish military in the Kurdish town of Cizre, where nearly 150 people were burnt alive in the basements as they took shelter during the bombardment.”

“Children’s rights”?

The United States recently added Turkey to its list of countries implicated in the use of child soldiers. Its proxy, the Syrian National Army, recruits children.

“Freedom of assembly and protest”?

In March, President Erdoğan launched a violent crackdown on protests. Authorities imposed sweeping restrictions: blanket bans on gatherings…

UNHRC Chair:

Sorry, I have a point of order. Delegation of Turkey.

Turkey:

Mr. Vice President, the UPR is not the forum to address bilateral, political or territorial issues which fall outside the mandate of the working group and this concept.

Hillel Neuer, UN Watch:

Now we know what it’s like in Turkey, exactly what they’re trying to do to me here.

They impose blanket bans on social media platforms, curbing access, preventing the dissemination of information, shutting down major public transportation in Istanbul in a systematic effort to suppress dissent and mobilizations.

“Democracy”?

Under Erdoğan this year, democracy in Turkey entered its most perilous phase.

In March, after the mayor of Istanbul was re-elected, he was thrown into prison just before he was about to be nominated to run for president on false politically motivated charges. He has languished behind bars for six months.

Across Turkey, more than a dozen mayors from the opposition are now imprisoned, silencing millions of voters.

Mr. Chairman, the true erosion of human rights is not in the West, but in President Erdoğan’s own house.

It’s time to end the hypocrisy.

Erdogan to UN: “Due to Israel's aggression, in Europe and the West fundamental human rights have been shelved away.”

⁠⁠Hillel Neuer: “Distinguished delegates, in psychology, attributing one's own malicious acts to others is known as projection.”

🇹🇷 interrupts
▶️ Must-see:👇 https://t.co/fsBhzGeA3g pic.twitter.com/zsBt3BQTPS

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) October 6, 2025

The post Hillel Neuer Turns The Tables on Turkey appeared first on UN Watch.

Video of the following rare moment of truth at the UN is now being shared widely on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

Testimony by UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer at UNHRC 43, June 15, 2020

Syria: The Israeli occupation disregards the U.N. Charter and its relevant resolutions under international law, and commits grave and gross violations.

PLO: The occupying force intensified its attacks against civilians…

Venezuela: We reject the long-standing occupation of Palestinian territories, and arbitrary detention and the use of torture and other cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.

Cuba: Israel must withdraw from the occupied Syrian Golan…

Iran: Palestinians are now living under a brutal apartheid military occupation…

North Korea: We are seriously concerned over the continued violations of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory and in the occupied Syrian Golan…

UNHRC Chair: I now give the floor to United Nations Watch.

UN Watch: Madam President,

This is a debate on “occupied Arab territories,” and so I wish to speak about a country that illegally occupies Arab territories, controlling 4 million people.

For decades, this country’s leaders pledged their country would never pursue any sort of territorial expansion. Yet, in recent years, it has repeatedly invaded and occupied Arab territories, committing ethnic cleansing against hundreds of thousands of people.

According to a new report by Genocide Watch, in areas under control of this country’s military forces, civilians have been subjected to crimes against humanity, towns were bombed and destroyed, hundreds were summarily executed. Women have been kidnapped and subjected to sexual slavery. Secret prisons hold hundreds who are routinely tortured. Now, in these occupied Arab territories, residents have been made dependent on the occupier’s electricity grid, postal services, food imports and other logistical support. Last month, the occupier turned off the water to more than 460,000 people.

Madam President, I am speaking, of course, about Turkey and its illegal occupation of northern Syria.

We ask: If this Council truly cares about occupied Arab territories, why has it failed to adopt a single resolution to defend the victims of Turkey’s illegal occupation of northern Syria, an occupied Arab territory?

SHARE:  Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

The post Hillel Neuer Turns the Tables on Turkey in UN’s Anti-Israel Debate appeared first on UN Watch.

CLICK HERE FOR TEXTS & VOTING SHEETS ON 2020 UNGA RESOLUTIONS

Three Comments by UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer:

1. Iran Resolution Includes 9 Sections of Praise

Today’s UNGA resolution on Iran, co-sponsored by Canada, UK, France, Germany and all other EU countries, opens with nine separate sections of undue and false praise for the oppressive regime, even as the rest of the text calls out Tehran’s abuses.

The sections of praise include:

• The resolution’s Paragraph 5 showers praise on Iran’s “continuing efforts…to host a large number of Afghans,” even as Iranian border guards tortured and drowned dozens of Afghan migrants in May.

• Paragraph 6 “welcomes the commitments made by the Iranian authorities with regard to improving the situation of women,” even though the regime systematically represses women with the compulsory hijab law, and just sent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotudeh back to prison to complete a 38-year sentence for defending women who removed their headscarves.

• Paragraph 8 “welcomes the engagement” of Iran with different UN human rights bodies, even as the regime has denied entry for a decade to the UNHRC’s Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran.

• Paragraph 3 commends Iran’s “reduction in number of executions” even though in September it executed wrestler Navid Afkari for protesting the regime and, just last week, hung dissident journalist Ruhollah Zam in what France called a “barbaric” act.

This excessive and undue praise supported by the EU co-sponsors is especially inappropriate just days after EU leaders postponed an online Europe-Iran Business Forum in protest of the killing of Ruhollah Zam.

2. UNGA ends 2020 session with no action on China

With today’s votes, the General Assembly concluded its 2020 legislative session on specific country situations without adopting a single resolution on China’s gross and systematic violation of human rights.

In October, this same body absurdly elected China’s Communist regime to the Human Rights Council, which it will formally join as a voting member beginning January 1st.

The UNGA is failing to uphold the world body’s own human rights declaration when it turns a blind eye to China herding more than 1 million Uighurs into camps, giving a free pass to a regime that arrested, crushed and disappeared those like Dr. Li Wenliang, who tried to sound the alarm about the coronavirus, and which is suffocating freedom in Hong Kong.

Even after the UN committee against racial discrimination found credible reports of China’s restricting Uighur cultural and religious practices, and of disproportionately targeting them with mass surveillance, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances, the General Assembly in 2020 chose to remain silent on Beijing, and instead installed the regime on the UN’s highest human rights body, starting on January 1st. It’s morally obscene.

3. UNGA turns blind eye to gross abuses worldwide

Wrapping up its 2020 agenda item on “promotion and protection of human rights,” the UN General Assembly today addressed only five country situations, while ignoring human rights abuses in more than 175 other countries around the globe.

While nearly all EU countries backed 13 out of 17 UNGA resolutions singling out Israel this year, they failed to introduce even one resolution for women’s right activists jailed and tortured in Saudi Arabia, dissident artists arrested in Cuba, journalists thrown behind bars in Turkey, religious minorities attacked in Pakistan, and opposition members persecuted in Venezuela, where more than five million people have fled government repression, hunger and economic collapse.

CLICK HERE FOR UNGA RESOLUTIONS & VOTING SHEETS

The post UNGA’s Iran Resolution Includes Massive Praise; Human Rights Package Ignores China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Venezuela appeared first on UN Watch.

United Nations Watch
Universal Periodic Review Report on Cyprus
Agenda Item 6, UNHRC 41st Session
July 4, 2019
Delivered by Mr. Benjamin Reich

Thank you, Mr. President,
United Nations Watch joins Canada and Portugal in welcoming progress made by Cyprus in gender equality. 
We urge the government to adopt the recommendations on the protection of LGBTI persons from incitement to violence and to take further action to prevent exploitation of domestic workers. 
As documented in Paragraph 93 of the UN Compilation for this review, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights expressed deep concern at the massive destruction of cultural heritage sites and artifacts in the northern part of Cyprus. 
Regrettably, as noted in paragraph 90, the Office of the High Commissioner has stated, in its report 37/22 of March 2018, that due to the persistent division of Cyprus, monitoring of and reporting on the human rights situation in the northern part of the island remains limited. 
As noted in that report, the Government of the Republic of Cyprus is unable to ensure the application of international human rights instruments in areas not under its effective control. 
Mr. President, what this means is that the Government has no ability to remedy violations of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of the press that are taking place in the north. 
According to Freedom House, dissidents are silenced and imprisoned in the north by new draconian laws that invoke “anti-terrorism,” “insulting foreign state representatives,” “insulting religion,” and “insulting the president.” 
Likewise, in the parliament of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus — which is recognized by no country in the world apart from Turkey — Greek and Maronite minorities are denied the right to vote or to be elected. 
Mr. President, United Nations Watch urges continued dialogue between all parties to the conflict, toward the aim of a peaceful settlement that will ensure the full respect of human rights for all. Thank you. 

The post UN Watch Calls For Dialogue in Cyprus to Promote Human Rights appeared first on UN Watch.

No joke: Qatar showcases its humane treatment of workers in an exhibit on preparations for the 2022 World Cup at the UNHRC. In reality, exploited migrant workers in Qatar are subject to cruel living and working conditions and false salary promises. #Qatar2022 #HRC40 #FIFA pic.twitter.com/f5Y483YRzE

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) February 25, 2019

In the afternoon, Iran‘s Vice President Laya Joneydi was the only country in the world invited to address a high-level panel on the topic of multilateralism.
In thinly veiled language, the Iranian VP slammed America and the West.
“It is illusion to think that we could make ourselves great at the price of belittling others or by erecting big walls of exclusion. Could we protect ourselves from the adverse effect of climate change by erecting walls?”
She condemned “reckless disregard for rules, norms and agreements” by some states — even as her own government shows utter disdain and disregard for the human rights of its own people.
Joneydi herself has a problematic record, defending her president’s demands that she wear a chador because she respects the man “we all voted for.” According to Iranian rights champion Mariam Memarsadeghi, “Iranian women scholars were scared of [Joneydi]… Her propaganda holds up the injustice of [the Iranian] regime.”

Iranian VP Laya Joneydi—who will open up a high-level UN Human Rights Council session on Monday—defended her president’s demands that she wear a chador because she respects the man “we all voted for.” In reality, Iran does not have free or fair elections. https://t.co/qdTkx3OmgN

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) February 22, 2019

Iranian rights champion @memarsadeghi, on Iranian Vice President Laya Joneydi, who will open a high-level UN session on human rights on Monday: “Iranian women scholars were scared of her…Her propaganda holds up the injustice of this regime.” https://t.co/QXbZqhrhe3

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) February 22, 2019

Following Vice President Joneydi’s address, UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer took the floor to respond to the hypocrisy of the Council’s opening day:

Mr. President: Human rights victims around the world look to the United Nations to uphold its founding promises.
Thirteen years ago, in the resolution creating this Council, the UN promised to address gross and systematic violations.
The UN promised that Council members would uphold the “highest standards” of “promoting and protecting human rights.”
And the UN promised that this Council would, “eliminate double standards and politicization.”
Today, victims and supporters of human rights worldwide, have the right to ask this panel: Is the United Nations keeping its promises?
They have a right to ask:
• Why was Venezuela — whose Maduro government just days ago attacked innocent civilians, and burned trucks carrying life-saving humanitarian aid — elected to this Council, repeatedly over the past six years?
• Why is Saudi Arabia, which jails innocent blogger Raif Badawi, and subjugates women under a barbaric guardianship regime, a permanent member of this Council?
• By what logic did the UN also elect China, Somalia, Pakistan, Iraq, Qatar, Eritrea, DRC, Bangladesh, Cameroon and Cuba, as members of this Human Rights Council?
• Why has there never been a single resolution on violations by the government of Turkish President Erdogan, once again named as the world’s worst jailer of journalists?
• Why does this Council turn a blind eye as Zimbabwe crushes peaceful dissent, arresting human rights heroes like Pastor Evan Mawarire?
Finally: hundreds of political prisoners like Morad Tahbaz and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe have the right to ask: why has there never been a single urgent session or commission of inquiry on the abuses of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which oppresses women under a forced Hijab law, tortures political prisoners, and spreads terrorism throughout the Middle East and beyond?
And they have a right to know: by what human rights criteria why did the Council invite the Vice-President of Iran to the dais of this panel?
Is it not the height of cynicism to invite an Iranian official to speak, as she did just now of, “disregard for rules and norms,” when her government—as we speak—shows utter disdain and disregard for the human rights, and lives, of their own people?
Thank you, Mr. President.

The post Iran's VP opens UN rights panel; Turkey, Russia, Qatar deflect abuses appeared first on UN Watch.

BREAKING: Turkey’s Erdogan regime, which arrests, jails & persecutes human rights activists, journalists, and dissidents, was just elected Vice-Chair of the @UN Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations, which accredits & supervises the UN activity of human rights NGOs. pic.twitter.com/EVLizsGe33

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) January 30, 2018

Rogues’ Gallery Includes Iran, China, Russia, Turkey…

Neuer noted that a majority of the committee’s 19 member states are regimes that are hostile to human rights activists, including Iran, Burundi, China, Cuba, Iran, Mauritania, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, Turkey, and Venezuela.
“Regrettably, while India and South Africa are democracies, they too often vote with the dictatorships,” said Neuer.

Turkey Persecutes NGOs

Despite its U.N. election today, Turkey is notorious for persecuting NGO activists, as documented by Freedom House:

• Since the attempted coup in 2016, 1,500 civil society organizations have been summarily closed and their property confiscated. Targeted groups worked on torture, domestic violence, and aid to refugees and internally displaced persons.
• In 2017, Turkey arrested a number of leading human rights activists on terrorism charges. Osman Kavala, the country’s most prominent civil society leader, was detained in October and charged with attempting to overthrow the constitutional order.
• In June 2017, the chair of Amnesty International’s Turkey branch was arrested on terrorism charges.
• In July, a raid on a routine training session for human rights defenders resulted in the arrest of eight representatives from Turkey’s major rights organizations, along with two foreign trainers. They were eventually released pending trial.
• Journalists are prosecuted, and media outlets closed.
• Authorities routinely disallow gatherings by government critics on security grounds, while pro-government rallies are allowed to proceed.
• Restrictions were imposed on May Day celebrations by leftist and labor groups, LGBT events, protests by purge victims, and opposition party meetings. Police use force to break up unapproved protests.

Why did they elect Turkey? President Erdogan's qualifications include being final laureate (2010) of the Muammar Qaddafi Human Rights Prize, co-founded by longtime @UNHumanRights expert Jean Ziegler. Did Ziegler recommend Erdogan for this post? See report: https://t.co/3reu8Av4o4 pic.twitter.com/hnNWgXsfku

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) January 30, 2018

The post U.N. elects Turkey to oversee human rights activists, VP of Committee on NGOs appeared first on UN Watch.

Journalist left Iran when her book on women’s oppression was banned.
Turkey said it will deport her on Aug. 5, 2017, after she wrote for an Israeli newspaper.

by Uzay Bulut 

Time is running out. This is a call for activism. Click here to sign our petition now.

Amin said that she has been harassed by Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) for a long time.
“People who said they work for the Turkish intelligence organization called me on the phone five or six times one-and-a-half years ago. Then they interrogated me at a foreigners’ branch directorate. They kept asking me why I wrote for an Israeli newspaper and with whom I have connections in Israel. Although I repeatedly said I am only a journalist, they accused me of being a spy for Israel.”
Amin covers Iran for the Persian service of The Times of Israel and blogs about her country on her personal website.
Amin, 32, had to leave Iran in 2014 after having been arrested several times due to her articles and books. One of her books, Zenjir (“The Chain”) has been banned in Iran.
“Zenjir is a feminist book about the oppression of women in Iran,” said Amin. “One of my arrests in the country was due to that book. The pressure from the government would not stop so I had to leave.”
Amin arrived in Turkey in the same year and, in May 2015, she became a refugee recognized by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The document granted to Amin by the UNHCR states that “as a refugee, she should be protected from forcible return to a country where she would face threats to her life or freedom.”
However, Amin was sent a notice by Turkish immigration authorities on July 5, which stated that her application for international protection has been rejected. “If you do not apply for an authorized administrative court or do not inform our provincial directorate of your application to the court in 30 days, you will be deported. And if you do not want a re-entry ban to be imposed on you, leave Turkey within the stated period,” the notice added.
Amin said that she went to the UN office in Turkey but the UN authorities refused to help her. “They told me if Turkey removes my status as a refugee, there is nothing that they can do about it.”
Now Amin fears that her life will be in danger in Iran for writing for the Israeli news media.
After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran severed all diplomatic and commercial ties with Israel, which the Islamic government of Iran still does not recognize. Former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani even characterized Israel as a “one-bomb country.” Iran is also among the 16 Muslim countries that forbid Israeli Jews from visiting.
But Iran’s hostility against Jews is not limited to Israelis. The Iranian government even banned the use of the WhatsApp messaging application in 2014 after it was bought by Mark Zuckerberg, an American Jew, according to news reports.
Iran also banned Daniel Barenboim, the music director of the Berlin State Opera House, who was supposed to conduct a concert in Tehran in 2015, from entering the country because he holds Israeli citizenship.
For Iranian citizens, the situation is much grimmer. Many Iranians who live in Western countries and hold dual citizenship have been arrested in Iran upon entering the country, and some have received lengthy prison sentences. Last year, Iranian-American businessman Siamak Namazi, who was living in Dubai before his arrest, and his ailing father, Baquer Namazi, were each sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of “spying for the United States,” according to a report by Mizan, the Iranian judiciary’s news service.
Iran does not tolerate any encounter that could lead to a positive change in relations between Iranians and Israelis. Among the “measures” Iran takes is forbidding Iranian athletes from competing against Israeli athletes at international sports events. Borna Derakhshani, 15, for example, has been banned from representing the national team of Iran because he faced a player from Israel at the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival this year.
But if an Iranian national works for an Israeli institution, it is completely unacceptable according to Iranian laws. “There is a law in Iran that criminalizes all kinds of work with Israel,” Amin said. “If Iranian citizens work for any Israeli institution they are to be arrested and could be sentenced to death by hanging.”
“Anywhere but Iran”
“As long as I am not deported to Iran, I could live in any country,” Amin said. “I don’t really mind where. I am ready to live in anywhere but Iran.”
The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC) reported that from January to June of this year, 213 people were executed by the Islamic Republic of Iran. “As the Iranian government does not announce many executions, it is difficult to know the exact number,” the IHRDC added.
Iran has long been known for its crackdown against critical journalists, student leaders and pro-democracy activists. The Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra “Ziba” Kazemi, for example, was sexually abused, tortured and killed by Iranian officials following her arrest in Iran in 2003. She had been detained for taking pictures of Tehran’s Evin prison, where many dissidents are jailed. To date, no Iranian officials involved in her murder have been held accountable.
Amin’s legal time in Turkey is running out. The UN refuses to help her even though she was first granted a refugee status by the organization.
Given Amin’s work experience at an Israeli outlet, her feminist views and criticism of the Iranian regime, her fears of having to return to her country of birth are completely justified.
If she is deported back to Iran, there is a very strong possibility that she will be arrested, tortured and even executed. Women’s rights activists, refugee rights defenders and Israeli authorities must help save her life.
The writer is a Turkish journalist and political analyst formerly based in Ankara, and a fellow at the Middle East Forum (MEF). This article originally appeared in Arutz Sheva.

The post Turkey to deport Iranian journalist who wrote for Israeli site, now faces execution appeared first on UN Watch.

Geneva, May 15, 2017 – The human rights NGO UN Watch today honored exiled Turkish journalist Yavuz Baydar with its highest distinction, the Morris B. Abram Human Rights Award. The award was presented at a ceremony attended by senior diplomats of the United Nations Human Rights Council at UN Watch’s annual Gala Dinner.

Baydar, an internationally-renowned journalist with a career spanning more than four decades, was chosen for his bravery in being “a leading voice against the authoritarianism of the Erdogan regime, and a fearless voice of truth on the world stage,” said Hillel Neuer, UN Watch Executive Director.
In 2013, Baydar was fired from his newspaper for daring to expose police brutality during the Gezi Park demonstrations. He once prophetically wrote that if you insist on independent journalism in Turkey, “the path leads to court or arrest.” True to those words, on August 30, 2016, Baydar was forced into exile when the police raided his house, looking to arrest him.

On receiving the award, Baydar said he felt lucky in comparison to many other intellectuals who have been fired, jailed or killed.
“I dedicate this award to the memory of Hrant Dink, Tahir Elçi and all the others who lost their lives; and to all my journalistic colleagues now in jail, for no other reason than that they believe in the nobility of their profession,” said Baydar.
“I accept this on behalf of all those in Turkey, who not only fight, but who in their bones resent despotism.”

The award commemorates the legacy of UN Watch’s founder, the late Ambassador Morris Abram, a pioneering civil rights advocate, diplomat and UN delegate, who in 1963, helped win the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that granted equality to the votes of African-Americans.
Previous winners of the prestigious prize include Chinese dissident Yang Jianli; Antonio Ledezma, the arbitrariliy-detained Mayor of Caracas; Russian dissident and world chess champion Garry Kasparov; Dr. Massouda Jalal, Afghanistan’s first Minister for Women’s Affairs;  and Esther Mujawayo, an activist for victims of the genocide in Rwanda.

The post Turkish journalist Yavuz Baydar Receives Morris B. Abram Human Rights Award appeared first on UN Watch.

Now indicted, Orhan Kemal Cengiz spoke at the United Nations in Geneva, on February 22, 2016.

GENEVA, April 14, 2017 — UN chief Antonio Guterres and human rights high commissioner Zeid al-Hussein should urgently protest Turkey’s “absurd” indictment of prominent journalist and human rights defender Orhan Kemal Cengiz, which may constitute an illegal act of reprisal for his visit last year to the UN Human Rights Council to testify about human rights violations by the Turkish government, said UN Watch, a Geneva based non-governmental human rights group. See letter below.
“By indicting a peaceful journalist, lawyer and human rights defender—without a shred of evidence—the Turkish government is in breach of its United Nations and international human rights obligations,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. “We urge Secretary-General Gutteres and High Commissioner Zeid to speak out today.”
Mr. Cengiz visited the UN Human Rights Council in February 2016, and testified about human rights abuses in Turkey, hosted by the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, a coalition of 25 human rights groups including UN Watch.

______

UN Watch Letter to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres
and High Commissioner Zeid al- Hussein

Dear Mr. Guterres and Mr. al-Hussein,
United Nations Watch, a non-governmental human rights organization in special consultative status with the United Nations, urges you to intervene with Turkey concerning its latest arbitrary acts targeting Mr. Orhan Kemal Cengiz, a human rights lawyer and journalist. His case is a compelling example of how the Turkish judiciary is being used by the Erdogan regime to intimidate human rights defenders, journalists and intellectuals.
The facts are as follows. A prosecutor in Istanbul has just issued an indictment seeking a triple aggravated life sentence (each brings 40 years in prison), plus another 15 years—yet the indictment fails to adduce a single shred of evidence concerning Mr. Cengiz; and there is none.
The case concerns 30 of the Zaman newspaper’s columnists and employees. The 60-page indictment mostly describes abstract activities of the so-called FETÖ (initials for “Fettullahist Terrorist Organization”), as well as alleged illegal financial activities of this newspaper. It alleges that Zaman columnists were attacking the government to prepare the ground work for the July 15, 2016 unsuccessful coup attempt.
All 30 journalists were accused of being members of FETÖ, for which the prosecutor seeks 15 years prison sentence. Additionally, the prosecutor demands a triple aggravated life sentence, accusing the journalists of involvement in the attempted coup. That journalists are cast as military personnel, who indeed tried to overthrow this government, strains credulity.
The situation of Mr. Cengiz is the most bizarre. The indictment concerns columnists and employees of the Zaman newspaper. Yet Mr. Cenzgiz has never been either, and has never written for the newspaper.
Moreover, unlike with the other columnists who are accused of the aforementioned crimes, the indictment makes not a single reference to any article by Mr. Cengiz. Instead, his name appears in the first page in the list of accused, and then again on the last page. The prosecutor cites his name along with the writers for Zaman and demands the court punish all of them with absurdly long sentences.
Mr. Cengiz never was a journalist with Zaman, but he was their attorney in brining the newspaper’s case to the Constitutional Court when it was seized by government-appointed trustees. The prosecutor was apparently unwilling to admit that he is indicting Mr. Cengiz for his legal practice and human rights work, and so instead he mentions his name in passing, and demands a severe punishment.
Mr. Cengiz is a human rights defender and practicing lawyer who represented and lobbied for a great number of victims in Turkey, including Kurds, Christians, devout Muslims, leftists, right-wing people, LGBT people, Roma and others, who suffered various kinds of human rights violations, such as torture, discrimination, and violations of freedom of religion and expression.
Mr. Cengiz is respected as a liberal in his worldview. He has written columns in some Gulenist newspapers, as well as in staunchly secular publications, like Radikal and Hurriyet Daily News. Common in all is his defense of democracy and human rights; he was never a mouthpiece for any political movement, sect or faction.
The absurd indictment and demand of an extreme prison sentence makes it clear that the Erdogan regime seeks to intimidate Mr. Cengiz. He is now under imminent threat of arrest.
We urge you to demand from the Turkish government the grounds for which he Mr. Cengiz is being indicted, and to vigorously protest this gross breach of the rule of law, and intimidation of human rights defenders. Your actions could prevent his arbitrary arrest.
Sincerely,
Hillel Neuer
Executive Director
United Nations Watch
Geneva, Switzerland
 

About Orhan Kemal Cengiz

• Human Rights Defender, Lawyer, Journalist
• Born January 13, 1968
• Founding member of the Human Rights Agenda Association (Insan Haklari Gundemi Dernegi), established in 2003, which he chaired until 2012.
• Cengiz also founded the Civil Society Development Center and new sections within the Izmir Bar Association, including a section dealing with torture and ill-treatment. Between 1999 and 2002 he worked as a legal adviser at the Kurdish Human Rights Project in London.
• In 2007, he received death threats due to his professional activity in the Malatya murder case, in which three Christians were killed by men linked to ultra-nationalist organizations.
• In 2008, thanks to an Amnesty International campaign, the state provided him with a bodyguard. Mr. Cengiz is now an independent human rights lawyer and expert.
• Cengiz has been a prolific journalist since the Turkish government’s crackdown on the media, contributing to several newspapers, including Today’s Zaman, Radikal, Al-Monitor, Ozgur Dusunce, and Bugun. He wrote extensively on human rights related topics, from the Kurdish issue to the Armenian Genocide to the Deep State (Ergenekon) case.
• Currently he is one of the lawyers in the “Tahir Elci” case, named for the Kurdish human rights lawyer and president of the Diyarbakir Bar Association who was killed in November 2015.
• In February 2016, Mr. Cengiz was a speaker at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, devoting his entire speech to the memory of his beloved friend Tahir Elci.
• He was arrested on July 21, 2016, at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport while waiting to board a flight to London, where he was supposed to participate in a conference promoted by the Tahir Elci Foundation. Mr. Cengiz was with his wife, the journalist Sibel Semira Hurtas. She was released after a few hours; he was released several days later.

Below: Orhan Kemal Cengiz addressing the adjacent Geneva Summit for Human Rights, February 23, 2016.

The post UN must protest Turkey's "absurd" indictment of human rights lawyer Orhan Kemal Cengiz appeared first on UN Watch.