Arabic press review: Saudi man hosts 1,300 Russian Hajj pilgrims
Saudi man welcomes Russian pilgrims
A Saudi Arabian citizen is hosting hundreds of Hajj pilgrims from Russia in his home for the third year in a row, according to a report by the country's state-run broadcaster Al-Ekhbariya.
Fahd al-Hamli will welcome up to 1,300 Russian pilgrims on his farm near Riyadh.
He will receive the guests, present them with gifts and then introduce them to Saudi culture, the report said. "We show them the Saudi culture by preparing coffee and dates," Hamli said.
He will also screen an introductory film about Hajj, translated into Russian.
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In January, Saudi Arabia announced that there will be no limit on the number of pilgrims who can attend the Hajj in 2023, following three years of restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, many prospective pilgrims from western countries have struggled to book trips to perform Hajj following an overhaul of the booking system by authorities last year.
Tunisian journalist detained for criticising laws
A Tunisian journalist was briefly detained after he criticised a campaign of arrests against his colleagues, according to a report published by the Arabi21 website.
Ziad Al-Hani was arrested on Tuesday evening after he derided an article of the penal code that punished Tunisians for criticising the country’s president.
Hani was released a day later, after appearing before the public prosecutor.
In a statement to local media, the journalist said he expected to be summoned for interrogation again, as the judge released him without closing the case.
He was interrogated following an appearance on the private IFM radio station where he criticised the arrest of some critics of President Kais Saied.
Article 67 of the Penal Code stipulates that "anyone who commits a hateful act against the head of state shall be punished with imprisonment for a term of three years and a fine of two hundred and forty dinars ($78)".
Tunisia has been engulfed in political and economic crises since July 2021 when Saied unilaterally suspended parliament and dissolved the government in what has been dubbed a "constitutional coup".
There has been a marked increase in journalists being arrested or intimidated since Saeid's power grab.
Former Algerian prime minister sentenced
An Algerian court has sentenced former prime minister, Noureddine Badawi, to five years in prison on corruption charges, according to the official Algeria Press Service.
On Wednesday, the court sentenced both Badawi and former minister of health, Abdelmalek Boudiaf, to five years in prison and a one million dinars ($7,350) fine.
The court convicted the two of corruption in relation to a deal to develop a gas station in the state of Constantine, when each of them, in two different periods between 2003 and 2013, held the position of state governor. Other charges related to abuse of power and granting unjustified privileges, according to the report.
This is the second corruption ruling against Badawi who was previously given ten years in prison on charges of carrying out dubious deals in the irrigation and communications sectors during former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s rule.
Badawi is the third prime minister to be imprisoned on corruption charges, along with Abdelmalek Sellal and Ahmed Ouyahia.
Egyptian prisoner dies after 'brutal' torture
An Egyptian man died after being tortured in custody earlier this month, according to a report by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper.
On 8 June, Egyptian security forces arrested Saad Rahim, 41, and took him to a police station in the Minya governorate of southern Egypt.
Rahim was subjected to severe beatings and his screams and calls for help were heard from outside the detention room for less than half an hour, according to a lengthy report by the Egyptian Network for Human Rights.
The alleged torture “was sufficient to end his life due to the severity,” the rights group said.
On the day of his arrest, Rahim's family received phone calls from the police station and a hospital informing them of his death.
According to the rights group, one of the forensic doctors said that his quick death indicated that it was likely Rahim had been subjected to brutal torture.
The issue of torture in Egypt has been under the international spotlight since an Italian parliamentary panel accused Egyptian security services of the kidnapping, torture, and murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni in Cairo in 2016.
Since President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi came to power in 2013 in a military coup, his government has been accused of overseeing the worst crackdown on human rights in the country's modern history. Thousands have been jailed, tortured, and forcibly disappeared, while others have been forced to live in exile for fear of repression.
*Arabic press review is a digest of news reports not independently verified as accurate by Middle East Eye.
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