Egypt's top prosecutor on Dec. 13 referred 439 individuals to a military tribunal for the killing of three police officers last year. The group was composed  of about 139 Islamists from the southern province of Minya and 300 from the Nile Delta province of Beheira. The prosecutor's case was based on the violence last year in response to a dispersal by police of an Islamist sit-in. The prosecutor's case is part of a program that Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi started last year in which the military is to join with police to protect state interests, and anyone involved in attacks against state facilities is to be prosecuted by military tribunals. Human Rights Watch stated that these military tribunals "lack even the shaky due process guarantees provided by regular courts."

Protests held in the Bahraini island city of Sitra Dec. 6 against an agreement signed between the kingdom and Great Britain to establish a new military base in the Persian Gulf state. Bahraini opposition figures, including members of the main Shi'ite party, al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, also expressed outrage over the deal. (Tasnim, Iran, Dec. 7) The base, at Mina Salman Port in Bahrain, will host Royal Navy vessels including destroyers and aircraft carriers. It is to be Britain's first permanent base in the Middle East in over 40 years. UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the new base shows Britain's commitment to a "sustained presence east of Suez"—referring to the wording of a 1968 decision to close bases east of Suez by 1971. (BBC News, Dec. 6)

An Egyptian criminal court on Dec. 2 sentenced 188 Muslim Brotherhood supporters to death for an August 2013 attack on a police station in the governate of Giza, widely known as the "Kerdasa massacre." This incident resulted in the death of 11 police officers and two civilians and was staged in response to a military coup that ousted Mohammed Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president. The death sentences imposed by special circuit court Judge Nagi Shehata are considered provisional, meaning that they will be sent to highest religious authority for his advice on whether the orders should stand. Shehata set a January 24 court date to finalize the sentences. 143 of the 188 defendants are currently in custody, while those not yet in custody will receive a retrial. Rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International condemned the mass death sentences.

A Egyptian court on Nov. 29 dropped charges against former president Hosni Mubarak, dismissing the case. Judge Mahmoud Kamel al-Rashidi, who read the decisiom for the three-panel court, stated that charges should have never been brought. Critics alleged that the postponed ruling is a political one, but Rashidi denies that the decision had anything to do with politics and encouraged critics to read the court's reasoning. Mubarak, his former security chief Habib al-Adly and six former government aides were being retried on charges of corruption and complicity in the killing of more than 100 protesters during the country's 2011 uprising. The charges against Mubarak's government aides were also dropped. The court's decision may be appealed.

George Orwell, and especially his dystopian novel 1984, has long been appropriated by neocons and (before that) Cold War hawks in the West. It's almost heartwarming to know that international despots still consider it dangerous. Seemingly oblivious to their own irony, police in Egypt last week arrested a 21-year-old student near the entrance of Cairo University for carrying a copy of 1984. It is unclear if the student, identified only as "Mohamed T," will face charges. The Egyptian Interior Ministry actually issued a statement explaining the arrest, innocently and not quite accurately saying that the novel "talks about military regimes which rule in corrupt countries." (The Week, UK, Nov. 10)

Libya's Supreme Court on Nov. 6 declared the UN-backed elected parliament unconstitutional. The ongoing crisis in Libya has created two rival parliaments, one based in the nation's capital Tripoli, and the other, which was declared illegitimate by the high court, based in the northeastern city of Tobruk. The court, in a televised ruling, found that the June 25 election of the House of Representatives and the subsequent appointment of Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni illegal under the country's provisional constitution. The internationally recognized Tobruk-based government fled to the northeast of the country after rival militias forced the government out of Libya's three major cities: Tripoli, Benghazi and Misrata. Tripoli, home of Libya's Supreme Court, has been under the control of the militia group Operation Dawn since August. They have reinstated the previous parliament, the General National Congress (GNC), who brought the challenge before the high court.

French philosopher Bernard Henri Levy was expelled from Tunisia Nov. 1—just 24 hours after his arrival in the country. His visit sparked widespread protests, with the UGTT trade union federation accusing him of "inciting anarchy and encouraging civil wars and terrorism in the Arab world." Met with angry demonstrators at the airport, Levy was reported to have spent most of his one day in Tunis sequestered in a hotel under close police protection, while the judiciary launched an investigation into his visit as a "threat to public order." Middle East Online cited "informed sources" as saying that "BHL" was in Tunis to meet with Libyan factions, adding: "Levy is known for maintaining close ties to Libyan Jihadist formations." Al Chourouq newspaper called Levy "the godfather of civil wars," charging: "His visit to Tunis aims at provoking sedition and causing the failure of next presidential elections." 

Saudi Arabian rights activists on Nov. 1 said that authorities had arrested Suad al-Shamari, a prominent women's rights advocate, for insulting Islam. The arrest, they said, was part of an effort to eliminate dissent. Suad al-Shamari is a founder of the Saudi Liberal Network, a liberal human rights group. Last month, in a reference to religious or tribal leaders, Shamari posted on Twitter that she had been called "immoral and an infidel" for her criticisms of "their sheiks." Another founder of the rights group, Raef Badawi, was sentenced to 10 years in jail and 1,000 lashes for insulting Islam, a conviction upheld by an appellate court in September. His wife said Oct. 31 on Twitter that Shamari is in Jeddah prison for the same charge. One of the activists reporting her arrest, who wished to remain unnamed, stated that this charge is commonly used against those who work to defend human rights.