Arabic Press Review: Morocco party sues to nullify normalisation deal with Israel

National Ittihadi Congress sues to cancel deal with Israel

A Moroccan lawyer has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a political movement to nullify the normalisation agreement signed by Morocco's government with Israel, reported Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Lawyer and general coordinator of the National Ittihadi Congress party Khaled al-Sufyani filed an appeal against Rabat's decision to normalise relations with Tel Aviv before the Court of Cassation, the highest court in Morocco.

Sufyani's defence sought to "cancel all decisions taken by the authorities as part of its agreement with the Zionist entity, as they are in violation of the Moroccan public order, the provisions of the constitution, the United Nations Charter, the Vienna Convention, the international humanitarian law and the international legitimacy for human rights," according to the lawsuit text.

The decision to challenge Rabat's move to have diplomatic relations with Israel came as Moroccans protested against these.

The head of the Moroccan Observatory against Normalization, Ahmed Wehman, said that the popular anti-normalisation movements are monitoring how the court will handle the lawsuit, adding that the demand is for the complete nullification of the agreement.

The movements, he said, have the support of the Moroccan people, "who have always considered the Palestinian cause a national issue".

According to Wehman, taking the judicial route to drop the normalisation agreement is a first step, which will be followed by other steps in the coming days.

Protests planned in Jordan over journalist's detention

A number of journalists and media outlets in Jordan have announced their intention to launch a series of protests against the arrest of one of their colleagues over his reporting on Covid-19, reported the Jordanian newspaper Assabeel.

Journalists gave government agencies a notice demanding before the end of working hours on Tuesday the release of journalist Jamal Haddad,  editor of the news website Al-Wakaai, who has been referred to a military court and is being detained pending trial

A statement, issued by journalists, media professionals and human rights activists, stated: "We urge the government to release Haddad before the end of working hours on Tuesday 29 December. If his detention is prolonged, journalists will be forced to take necessary escalation measures to release him."

The statement considered Haddad's arrest to be "a violation of the most basic principles of public and press freedoms. It does nothing but damage the country's reputation in different parts of the world."

The journalists announced a series of planned protest measures, including a two-hour work strike on Wednesday, in addition to staging a sit-in in front of the Journalists Syndicate building.

The prosecutor general of the military State Security Court ordered Haddad's arrest last Thursday for publishing a news article claiming that Amman had received a supply of Covid-19 vaccines and that a number of senior officials had been vaccinated.

Assabeel said Haddad has been in poor health since he was arrested and he had been subsequently transferred to a hospital. 

Syrian opposition figures demand Britain punish Assad

Prominent Syrian figures opposed to the Syrian government have sent a letter to the British government calling for sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma, reported Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper.

The request comes after the United States slapped sanctions on Asma al-Assad and many of her family members last week, in addition to influential people known to be close to the Syrian president.

The letter, addressed to British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, said: "The US State Department issued a new list of names subject to sanctions under the Accountability Act known as the Caesar Act, which aims to deter corrupt persons involved in supporting and financing crimes committed by Al-Assad regime against the Syrian people and benefiting from illicit enrichment through it at the same time.

"This list included Assad's wife, Asma al-Akhras, her parents and two brothers, all of whom hold British citizenships."

The letter called on Raab "to take measures similar to those taken by the US by imposing sanctions on Al-Assad regime and his family, especially since... the sanctions  came in coordination between the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom".

The letter was signed by a number of Syrian opposition figures, including Riad Hijab, former Syrian prime minister; George Sabra, former head of the Syrian National Council and a former political prisoner; and Abdel-Basit Sida, former head of the Syrian National Council.

Kuwait: 150 percent increase in juvenile crime

Security statistics have revealed that juvenile crime in Kuwait has increased by 150 percent in the past three years, reported Al-Qabas newspaper.

Recent statistics showed that cybercrime investigators have detected several attempts by suspicious groups to attract adolescents and youths and make them adopt extremist ideologies.

The release of the security data coincided with a United Nations report indicating that about 58 percent of terrorist organisations' recruits around the world are young people and adolescents, due to the ease with which they can be attracted and deceived, especially in the Middle East region.

Education experts in Kuwait have warned against children and adolescents spending a long time playing video games that lead to psychological risks and isolating teenagers from their community and family, which makes them vulnerable to deviancy, exposure to terrorist organisations, and psychological and physical disorders.