AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2016/17

unlawful killings and other excessive use of
force in 2011 had been held to account.
Tunisia stood out as the only state in the
region undertaking a serious transitional
justice process, with its Truth and Dignity
Commission reporting that it had received
tens of thousands of complaints concerning
human rights violations committed between
1955 and late 2013 and undertaking
televised, public sessions. Yet a governmentproposed
law that would offer former officials
and business executives immunity if they
repaid their proceeds from corruption in
former years threatened to undermine the
Commission’s work.
The UN General Assembly also provided a
glimmer of hope in December by establishing
an independent international mechanism to
ensure accountability for war crimes and
crimes against humanity committed in Syria
since March 2011. In December too, the UN
Security Council demonstrated rare unity
when it reaffirmed that Israel’s establishment
of settlements in Palestinian territory it has
occupied since 1967 have no legal validity
and constitute a flagrant violation of
international law and an obstacle to peace
and security. Rather than exercise its veto,
the USA abstained while the Council’s 14
other member states supported the
resolution. Despite these developments,
however, the future as regards justice and
accountability remained bleak at an
international level, with four of the UN
Security Council’s five permanent member
states – France, Russia, the UK and the USA
– actively supporting forces that continued to
commit war crimes and other grave violations
of international law in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and
Libya, and themselves implicated in serious
violations.
continued to hand down death sentences in
Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, the authorities
there maintained long-standing policies of
refraining from executing people. By contrast,
the governments of Iran, Saudi Arabia and
Iraq remained among the world’s foremost
executioners: their victims were often
sentenced after grossly unfair trials. Some –
in Iran, the majority – were sent to their
deaths after being convicted of non-violent
drugs offences; some were sentenced for
crimes committed when they were children.
On 2 January the Saudi Arabian authorities
executed 47 prisoners at 12 separate
locations; on 21 August, the Iraqi authorities
executed 36 men sentenced after a
perfunctory trial that failed to address their
allegations of torture. Executions were also
carried out in Egypt, where unfair military and
other courts have handed down hundreds of
death sentences since 2013.
STANDING UP FOR HUMANITY
While 2016 saw some of the worst forms of
human behaviour, it was also a year in which
the very best of human conduct shone
through. Countless individuals stood up in
defence of human rights and victims of
oppression, often putting their own lives or
freedom in jeopardy to do so. They included
medical workers, lawyers, citizen journalists,
media workers, women’s and minority rights
campaigners, social activists and many
others – far too many to name or to list. It is
their courage and determination in the face
of dire abuses and threats that offer hope for
a better future for the people of the Middle
East and North Africa region.
DEATH PENALTY
All countries in the region retained the death
penalty but there were wide disparities in the
range of offences penalized by it and in its
application. No new death sentences were
handed down in Bahrain, Oman or in Israel,
which has abolished the death penalty for
ordinary crimes only. Although courts
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