West's 'double standards' fuel Middle East repression: Amnesty International

A leading international rights group on Tuesday decried what it said were double standards by Western countries that have rallied behind a robust response to Russias invasion of Ukraine but remain lukewarm on issues of human rights violations in the Middle EastAccording to Amnesty International such double standards only fuel further repression for millions in the regionThe sharp rebuke came as the Londonbased watchdog launched its annual report at a news conference at its office in Beirut Lebanons capital Every year the report documents and analyses patterns of human rights violations and abuses across the worldIn the report Amnesty urged the international community to hold perpetrators of human rights abuses in the Middle East and North Africa to account and to address the issue of migration without discriminationThey immediately opened their borders to receive refugees from Ukraine Aya Majzoub Amnestys deputy chief for Mideast and North Africa said of Western nations a stark contrast to how the same countries generally treat refugees and migrants trying to flee wartorn Syria the chaos in Libya or Lebanons economic meltdownMajzoub spoke to The Associated Press in an interview after the news conference She praised the international community for denouncing Russian President Vladimir Putins attacks against civilians in Ukraine including systematic torture and killing in occupied regions which a UNbacked inquiry earlier this month said amount to war crimes and possibly crimes against humanityBut such a strong response was lacking during Syrias 12yearold brutal civil war Thats perpetuated the culture of impunity and empowered Putin to commit the crimes that he was committing in Ukraine she saidAlso read Amnesty International calls for immediate release of journalist Irfan MehrajAmnestys report said Middle Eastern governments took advantage of the situation over the past year and doubled down on repressing dissidents while neglecting obligations to respond to economic crisesThe group condemned Iranian authorities for detaining over 20000 people who took part in monthslong antigovernment protests that erupted last September following the death of a young woman in the custody of the countrys morality policeAmnestys report also did not spare oilrich Saudi Arabia for changing its image to win over foreign investment in a public relations campaign while continuing to crack down on activists promoting womens rightsAmnesty also criticised Israel for its ongoing raids on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank with the past months being among the deadliest in yearsIn tiny Lebanon Amnesty chastised the authorities for escalating rhetoric against Syrian refugees and the queer community instead of undertaking badly needed economic reforms for an International Monetary Fund bailout packageThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever