Cairo, June 28th , 2010
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, condemned today , the decision of the Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Moussa, to expel the Emirati writer and poet, Dhabiya Khamis, director of the missions administration since 1992, and a minister plenipotentiary at the League, because of an opinion piece on her blog ” Rouh Sha’aera – http://dhabiya.maktoobblog.com “about the book, ” Arab League, what is left ?”, which criticizes the performance of the Arab League in the last years.
Not only that Dhabiya was expelled , she was denied entry to the Arab League premises as well. In addition , all her belongings at the League were seized.
After writing a piece on the performance of the Arab League on her blog in September 2009, Dhabiya Khamis was targeted for a crackdown and as she said, reached expulsion on 21/6/2010 and assault from some League staff. She was also denied access to her belongings and to the expulsion decision document.
At the police station , officers was reluctant to record her complaint against the Arab League Secretary, Amr Moussa’s assistants who assaulted her. Eventually, Dhabiya and her lawyer were unable to file a complaint.
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information “It’s a shocking that the most imminent Arabic institution, the Arab League would decide to fire one of its staff after so many years over an opinion piece. Freedom of expression is not a slogan in a golden frame but rather a practice and a commitment . Unfortunately, the Arab League gave a poor example in dealing with this important value”.
The Arabic Network is calling on the Secretary General of the Arab League to rescind the decision and to respect freedom of opinion and expression so as not to give a bad example for thousands of workers in this Arabic institute on how to tolerate criticism and practice freedom of expression.
Check Dhabiya’s article .
http://dhabiya.maktoobblog.com/1594540/خرائب-جامعة-الدول-العربية
