November bloodiest month for journalists in Syria: activists

November was the bloodiest month for journalists in Syria in the 20-month uprising, with 13 reporters and citizen journalists killed, the pro-revolution Syrian Journalists Association announced on Friday. 

“This is a clear and serious indication that journalists and media workers are being targeted, by Syrian regime forces as well as three killed at the hands of the armed opposition,” the SJA said.

Among those killed were Mustafa Kerman, who was fatally wounded in shelling in second city Aleppo on November 16. 

“Mustafa was killed by a shell while filming a (Friday) protest in Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood,” a Facebook page dedicated to the young man said.

The following day, media activist Hassan Kaaka, was tortured to death in the Aleppo military intelligence branch, the SJA said, noting that two of his brothers had also been killed during the uprising.

On November 18, citizen journalist Mohammed al-Khaled was killed by the Namr battalion of the Diraa al-Shahbaa rebel brigade in Aleppo city. 

“He was executed by a firing squad for his repeated criticism of some members of the Free Syrian Army.”

Journalist Mohammed Quraytam, a peace activist, was killed in shelling on the town of Daraya outside Damascus on Thursday, according to the SJA.

“Quraytam was working with Aynab Baladi newspaper and was an important activist in the peaceful movement. He had been imprisoned in 2003 for his civil society activities in Daraya,” it said.

The association said 100 journalists and media activists have killed in Syria since the outbreak of the revolution. 

Reporters Without Borders, said at least 15 journalists and 41 citizen journalists have been killed in connection with their work since the start of the conflict.

Mursi to address Egypt on draft constitution amid mass rallies

Supporters of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi chant pro-Mursi slogans during a rally in the vicinity of Cairo University and Nahdet Misr Square in Giza. (Reuters)

Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi is expected to address the nation on Saturday night following the finalization of the draft constitution, amid mass rallies in the country turning out to support and oppose the president. 

Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Cairo on Friday to pile pressure on Mursi after a panel dominated by fellow Islamists rushed through the controversial draft constitution.

The draft constitution, which was finalized following a 15 hour-long voting process by 85 members from the 100 member beleaguered assembly, is expected to be ratified by Mursi. 

“Members of the Constituent Assembly, led by Judge Hossam El-Ghiriani, have arrived at the Cairo Conference Hall in Heliopolis suburb of Cairo to present President Mohamed Mursi with the draft constitution,” Egypt’s Ahram Online reported.

Mursi will review the draft on Saturday, said assembly head Ghiriani, and is then expected to call for a popular referendum within two weeks.

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, along with fellow Islamist movements, called for mass rallies on Saturday to support Mursi, a day after thousands of the president’s opponents protested in several governorates to denounce the latest constitutional declaration.

Tens of thousands of anti-Mursi protesters have claimed over the past few days the draft restricts freedom of speech, minorities’ rights, and places other limitations on freedoms. 

Protests also spread to Egypt’s second-largest city Alexandria on Friday, where several casualties were reported in the Sidi Gaber neighborhood, according to Al Arabiya’s correspondent.

The thousands protesting in front of Alexandria’s Al-Qaed Ibrahim Mosque, demanded the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, and urged Mursi and Prime Minister Hesham Qandil to step down, reported the privately-owned Egypt Independent. 

Conditions escalated in Egypt after Mursi issued a controversial constitutional declaration on Nov. 22 granting him sweeping powers. The president said the decree is designed to speed up the democratic transition and will lapse as soon as Egyptians vote on a new constitution.

But the new charter, adopted after a marathon overnight session boycotted by liberals and Christians, raises serious human rights concerns, including about religious freedom, activists say.

Mursi will review the draft on Saturday, said assembly head Hossam el-Ghiriani, and is then expected to call for a popular referendum within two weeks.

The constitution has taken center stage in the country’s worst political crisis since Mursi’s election in June, squaring largely Islamist forces against liberal opposition groups.

Activists have lambasted the charter, saying it protects certain rights by undermines others.

“Rushing through a draft while serious concerns about key rights protections remain unaddressed will create huge problems,” Human Rights Watch’s Middle East director Joe Stork said in a statement.

Amnesty International said the draft “raises concerns about Egypt’s commitment to human rights treaties,” specifically ignoring “the rights of women (and) restricting freedom of expression in the name of religion.”

It pointed to an article that guarantees freedom of worship for Islam, Christianity and Judaism but makes no mention of other religions, thus “potentially excluding... religious minorities such as Baha’is and Shiites.”

The document stated that the “principles of Islamic law” are the main source of legislation, but added that this was to be interpreted along the tenets of Sunni Islamic rulings, a clause churches have opposed.

The draft also bans “insulting humans,” which activists say could censor political criticism of the president.

Footballers protest Israel hosting UEFA Euro U21

Dozens of leading footballers have signed a statement protesting UEFA’s decision to stage the European under-21 championship in Israel next year following the country’s recent military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Sixty-two players, including Chelsea’s Eden Hazard, Arsenal’s Abou Diaby and Paris Saint-Germain’s Jeremy Menez, claim that Israel hosting the tournament will be “seen as a reward for actions that are contrary to sporting values.”

The protest statement was promoted Friday by several pro-Palestinian groups, based in Israel, France and Britain. Headed “European footballers declare support for Palestine”, it was not signed by any players due in Israel in June.

Israel launched an offensive in Gaza earlier this month in response to intensifying rocket fire from Gaza-based Palestinian militants, killing dozens of civilians in what the footballers said amounted to “yet another stain on the world’s conscience.”

“We, as European football players, express our solidarity with the people of Gaza who are living under siege and denied basic human dignity and freedom,” the players said in the statement, which was also published on the website of former Tottenham and Sevilla striker Frederic Kanoute.

Four Israeli civilians were killed by rockets fired from Gaza into residential neighborhoods during the eight-day conflict that ended on Nov. 21.

The draw for the biennial UEFA tournament was conducted on Wednesday in Tel Aviv, the coastal city that was bombarded by rocket fire from Gaza.

But UEFA President Michel Platini has said he has no security concerns about the eight-team tournament, which will be played from June 5-18 in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Netanya and Petach Tikva.

Kanoute, who now plays for the Chinese club Beijing Guoan, was among the high-profile footballers who tried earlier this year to get UEFA to strip Israel of the hosting rights.

But Platini wrote to the Israel Football Association in June to say that the country “earned the right to host this competition through a fair, democratic vote.”

UEFA declined on Friday to comment on the latest protest statement.

KUWAIT'S RIFTS HIGHLIGHTED BY ELECTION BOYCOTT

KUWAIT CITY (AP) -- Kuwait's deep political rifts took center stage in parliamentary elections Saturday as backers of the ruling establishment cast ballots while a broad opposition alliance staged a boycott and vowed to reject the outcome.

The voting capped months of political upheavals and showdowns in the oil-rich Gulf state - a strategic Western ally - and the polarized atmosphere suggested more tensions ahead.

Kuwait has the Gulf's most politically powerful parliament and the election is certain to restore control to pro-government lawmakers. Yet that doesn't guarantee any extra breathing space for the ruling system amid claims it is overstepping its powers.

A wide-reaching coalition of opposition factions - ranging from hardline Islamists to Western-leaning liberals - already has challenged the legitimacy of the new parliament because of the boycott and could increasingly take their grievances to the streets.

Kuwait has largely escaped the unrest sweeping the region, and any potential for greater unrest is closely watched by Washington, which has thousands of U.S. ground forces in Kuwait as part of the Pentagon's military counterweight to Iran in the Persian Gulf.

Islamists and tribal allies won control of the 50-seat parliament in February elections, but the chamber was later dissolved over a legal challenge by the ruling establishment over electoral districts. Kuwait has been left without an effective working parliament for more than five months.

Complaints against authorities include increasing efforts to muzzle free speech and failure to have Kuwait's economy and growth keep pace with other dynamic Gulf centers such as Qatar's capital Doha and the United Arab Emirates' hubs of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Last month, four people were arrested on charges of insulting Kuwait's emir in Twitter posts.

Security forces watched over polling stations across Kuwait, but no disturbances were reported and the full 12-hour voting period was held. The voting sites vividly displayed the country's divides with pro-government areas showing steady turnout, but areas loyal to the opposition were almost deserted. Boycott backers tied pieces of orange ribbon - the adopted color of the opposition - around tree branches near some polling sites.

Some opposition groups predicted turnout could be well below 50 percent, compared with near 60 percent for the last parliamentary elections in February that were won by Islamists and their allies.

"I'm certain that the boycott will have an effect on the turnout," said Information Minister Mohammad al-Abdullah Al Sabah, a member of the ruling family.

He appealed, however, for the opposition to confine their objections within the country's "legal framework."

The anti-government groups have bitterly denounced a decree in October by Kuwait's emir to end an unusual balloting system that allowed four choices per voter.

Critics claim the new one-vote-per-person rule will make it easier for state authorities to potentially influence the outcome. They also say the emir went beyond his authority by changing the voting rules without public debate.

On the eve of the election, more than 15,000 people joined a peaceful pro-boycott march in the first rally permitted by authorities since a ruling last month banning gatherings of more than 20 people.

Kuwait's parliament has the most powers of any among the Gulf Arab states. Opposition lawmakers have often fired off accusations of corruption and abuses against government officials, including the prime minister and other members of the ruling family.

The country also has some of the widest political and media freedoms in the region, but key government posts and policies remain under the control of the ruling family.

Yet Islamists and their backers also worry many Kuwaitis for open support of stricter Muslim codes such as censoring artists and imposing death sentences for those convicted of denigrating Islam.

The concerns about the rising clout of Islamists also reflects wider battles across the Gulf as authorities crack down on groups suspected of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, which has taken control of Egypt following elections in the past year. Gulf leaders view activists inspired by the Arab Spring as potential threats, but Kuwait's Islamist leaders claim they are a homegrown force that only seeks a greater say in the country's affairs.

A 29-year-old voter, Ali Boushehri, said he was frustrated with both sides.

"I hold the government accountable for many of our shortcomings in Kuwait, and that is why I am voting," he said. "I don't agree with the opposition. Boycotting is not a good thing to do ... I want to vote because I believe in democracy."

A businessman, Khaled al-Qahtani, 38, decided to join the boycott even though he also has misgivings about Islamists. Many liberals have joined the unusual alliance of convenience with Islamists over their shared anger against the ruling system, but remain far apart on ideology.

Islamists and their backers "aren't to be trusted with the future of Kuwait, so I don't support them," said al-Qahtani. "Although, sadly, the government lost the support of many others by failing the people repeatedly."

The region's popular uprisings have not spilled over to Kuwait in a major way as in nearby Bahrain, and it remains unlikely opposition groups would wage an all-out challenge to the current system and risk losing the generous cradle-to-grave benefits provided by the state.

But clashes last month between protesters and security forces displayed the potential for violence to escalate.

Kuwait also was hit by a wave of labor unrest and strikes earlier this year, including walkouts that grounded the state carrier, Kuwait Airways, and temporarily closed customs posts and left several hundred trucks stranded at the border.

Calls for better working conditions have grown louder in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings. Kuwaitis are used to well-paid government jobs and benefits that increasingly have become a burden on state finances despite the country's huge oil wealth.

NEW CLASHES IN 5TH DAY OF PROTEST IN TUNISIAN TOWN

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) -- Hundreds of stone-throwing protesters and security forces firing tear gas have clashed again in a restive town southwest of Tunisia's capital despite government efforts to defuse days of violence injuring at least 300 people.

The government headed by the moderate Islamist Ennahda party sought to tamp down five days of protests in Siliana by evoking the prospect Saturday of acceding to protesters' demands that a contested regional governor be fired.

The violence came a day after up to 10,000 people marched peacefully to demand more jobs, government investment and the resignation of the governor - before the demonstration degenerated into clashes with police.

The government called in the military to replace security forces. But witnesses said the security forces refused to cede their positions to soldiers Saturday.

SYRIAN INTERNET LARGELY RESTORED AFTER BLACKOUT

BEIRUT (AP) -- Internet and telephone service were restored across much of Syria on Saturday following a two-day, nationwide communications blackout that came during some of the worst fighting to hit the capital since July.

Experts say the shutdown was likely caused by President Bashar Assad's regime, raising fears that the government is taking increasingly bold measures to cut off the country from the outside world as it tries to crush a relentless rebellion.

Renesys, a U.S.-based network monitoring firm that studies Internet disruptions, said in a statement Saturday that service went back up around 4:32 p.m. local time in Syria, describing it as a "largely complete restoration of the Syrian Internet."

Mobile telephone networks also appeared to be mostly back up Saturday. A Britain-based activist group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said it was receiving dispatches from many parts of the country. Many land lines had remained in working order.

The SANA state news agency said technical teams brought both Internet and telephone services back online Saturday in Damascus and its suburbs - the flashpoints of recent fighting between government soldiers and rebels.

The communications blackout began Thursday, raising fears of a burst of fighting outside the public eye. The government and rebels have blamed each other for cutting the lines.

Syrian rebels are fighting a 20-month-old revolt against the Assad regime. Activists say some 40,000 people have been killed in the crisis, which began with pro-democracy protests but has morphed into a civil war.

On Saturday, Syrian troops backed by helicopter gunships clashed with rebels as government forces pushed a major offensive on villages and towns near the capital's international airport, activists said.

SANA reported a car bomb exploded in the Damascus neighborhood of Ish Alwarwar. There was no immediate word on casualties.

The fighting over the past few weeks in Damascus is the most serious the capital has seen since July, when rebels captured several neighborhoods before a swift government counteroffensive swept out the opposition fighters.

Activists said forces loyal to Assad were battling rebels in towns just south of the capital, including Aqraba, Beit Saham and Yalda near the airport. The Observatory said many were feared killed in government shelling of Beit Saham.

Syrian state TV said troops were battling fighters from the al-Qaida-inspired Jabhat al-Nusra group in areas around the airport and that many of the rebels were killed, including two Iraqi citizens.

Syria's Information Ministry said the airport was operating as usual and that the road leading to the facility is "totally secure." The road was closed Thursday because of heavy fighting, but authorities reopened it Friday after troops secured the area, activists said.

The Observatory also reported clashes in the southern Damascus neighborhoods of Tadamon and Hajar Aswad, which have been hit by heavy fighting for weeks as the rebels try to push back into the city.

Government troops were also heavily shelling the Damascus suburb of Douma, local activist Mohammed Saeed said via Skype.

Saeed and other activists bypassed the communications blackout by using satellite telephones to connect to the Internet.

In the past, the regime has cut telephone lines and cellular networks in areas where military operations are under way, but the latest blackout was the first to cover the whole country since Syrian uprising began in March 2011.

In neighboring Lebanon, tensions were running high Saturday in the northern city of Tripoli between supporters and opponents of Assad's regime, which is dominated by the president's Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Lebanese troops deployed to potential flashpoints in the city - home to significant Sunni and Alawite populations and the site of deadly violence in recent months between the two communities - to prevent possible clashes.

The army dispatched troops to Tripoli as a precautionary measure after an announcement Friday that 20 Lebanese Sunnis had been killed inside Syria while fighting alongside rebels, who are predominantly Sunnis as well. The city was clam Saturday.

It was not clear when the funerals would be held because the bodies of the dead are still in Syria, Lebanese security officials said on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Lebanon is particularly vulnerable to getting sucked into the conflict in Syria. The countries share a complex web of political and sectarian ties and rivalries that are easily enflamed. Lebanon, a country plagued by decades of strife, has been on edge since the uprising in Syria began, and deadly clashes between pro- and anti-Assad Lebanese groups have erupted on several occasions.

In Turkey, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the Syrian regime has degenerated into an "armed militia" that resorts to brutality in an attempt to stay in power. Davutoglu spoke Saturday at an Istanbul meeting attended by Arab foreign ministers who expressed opposition to the Syrian government.

Davutoglu and other delegates at the one-day conference say the Syrian regime is a threat not only to its people but also to peace and security in the region.

Turkey was an ally of Syria before the crisis began but turned into one of its harshest critics because of Assad's crackdown.

ISLAMISTS RALLY TO SUPPORT EGYPT'S PRESIDENT

CAIRO (AP) -- More than 100,000 Islamists waved Egyptian flags and hoisted portraits of President Mohammed Morsi in rallies nationwide Saturday to support his efforts to rush through a new draft constitution despite widespread opposition by secular activists and some in the judiciary.

The demonstrations - the largest turnout of Morsi supporters since he came to office in June- were seen as a test of strength for Islamists seeking to counteract mass opposition protests denouncing the president's decision to seize near absolute power and the fast-tracking of the draft charter by an Islamist-led assembly ahead of a Constitutional Court decision on Sunday on whether to dissolve the panel.

Morsi says he acted to prevent courts led by holdovers from Hosni Mubarak's ousted regime from delaying a transition to democracy. But his decision last week to put himself above judicial oversight has plunged the country into turmoil and mobilized an increasingly cohesive opposition leadership of prominent liberal and secular politicians - a contrast to the leaderless youth uprising last year that toppled Mubarak.

The Muslim Brotherhood and the more radical Salafi groups organized Saturday's protests a day after the opposition in a bid to avoid conflict and violence after days of street skirmishes between protesters from both sides.

"The people support the president's decision!" chanted crowds outside Cairo University, where tens of thousands had gathered by midday. They held posters that read "Yes to stability" and "Yes to Islamic law." Protests in other parts of Egypt were expected to also attract large crowds in the evening. The rallies were dubbed "Shariyya and Shariah," Arabic for "legitimacy and Islamic law."

Members of the assembly, who wrote the charter and approved it in a 16-hour long voting session it just after dawn Friday, were expected to hand to Morsi the final draft later Saturday. The president is then expected to set a date for a nationwide referendum on the document, possibly in mid-December.

Morsi's spokesman Yasser Ali said the president's meeting with the panel members will be televised. State TV also announced the president would speak later Saturday.

"There is no constitution that is 100 percent approved. It is a step in the direction of achieving national goals," Ali said.

Responding to questions about the expected ruling Sunday, Ali said Morsi's decrees giving his decision immunity from judicial review were issued after the court sessions were scheduled.

"At the end of the day, we will respect court rulings but we are sure that everyone will triumph to the national interests," he said, without elaborating.

The speeding of the constitutional draft through the assembly, despite a boycott by secular and Christians, was seen as an attempt to circumvent a legal challenge that threatened to dissolve the panel and delay the charter.

The assembly, which worked on the draft for months, has been marred by dispute, with liberal, secular and Christian members quitting in protest of what they call the Islamists' hijacking of the process.

The constitutional court ruled in June to dissolve parliament's Islamist-dominated lower chamber on grounds that the law governing the elections didn't provide equal opportunities for candidates, and it was ruling on the constitutional assembly on Sunday.

It's not clear, though, what the standing of the court's ruling would be since Morsi granted himself near absolute powers last week that deemed his decisions above judicial oversight.

The Islamists point to the fact that Morsi was Egypt's first freely elected president and argue that the liberals and activists do not represent the vast majority of Egyptians.

As protesters marched over a bridge leading to the gathering, they chanted: "The people want to implement God's laws." Others chanted: "Oh God, make Morsi victorious."

Ashraf Metawli, a 32-year-old government employee from the Nile Delta province of el-Menoufia, said the majority of Egyptians are Muslims and its constitution should be an Islamist one.

"This is our belief. We picked the president for Islamic law, and our choice was democratic," he said. "What Morsi is doing is to get rid of all that is corrupt."

Ibrahim Galal, a 21-year student, said Tahrir protesters are mobilized largely by members of the old regime who are in opposition to Morsi.

"If it's about numbers, we too can mobilize. Let the ballot box speak. Not everyone can speak for the people," he said.

"Why are you afraid of the (ballot) box!" chanted crowds in the pro-Morsi rally Saturday.

Tens of thousands of Morsi supporters gathered in Cairo but stayed away from the central Tahrir Square, the birthplace of the anti-Mubarak revolution and the site of the opposition protests, drawing up to 200,000 people on Friday, vowing to bring down the draft constitution and demanding Morsi repeal his decrees. Some judges groups have announced strikes until the decrees are repealed.

In the northern Mediterranean city of Alexandria, hundreds of riot police were deployed to create a buffer between several thousand pro and anti-Morsi protesters, who had clashed Friday.

Near Cairo University, dozens of Brotherhood buses stood parked after transporting people from outside the capital to the rally. Thousands others arrived on foot, chanting in support of Morsi as they marched.

"Our message to seculars and liberals... this is the real million-man protest," said ultraconservative Salafi Nour Party leader Yasser Borhani to the crowd in Cairo atop an erected stage.

Later, another popular Salafi Sheik Mohammed Hassan told the crowd that the gathering is designed to protect the Islamic identity of the country and the constitution. "I say we only came here to be a testimony to our Islam and to defend our nation," he said to chants of "God is Great."

"We assure all Egyptians, even Christians, Islam is our religion, Egypt is our nation, and dialogue is our way," he said.

The Brotherhood had originally said it would hold Saturday's rally in Tahrir but changed the location to avoid confrontation. The group said it canceled its rally in the southern city of Luxor after clashes between rival camps broke out there Friday.

Clashes sparked by the two-week old crisis have left two dead and hundreds injured.

The rival street demonstrations highlight the sharp divisions in Egypt nearly two years after the uprising that united and galvanized much of the country to oust Mubarak.

The Brotherhood and more conservative Islamists came out the biggest winners, securing nearly 75 percent of the seats in last winter's parliamentary election before the body was dissolved by a court ruling. But liberals highlight the fact that Morsi, the Brotherhood's candidate, won only 25 percent of votes in the first round of presidential elections. He went on to win the runoff by just over 50 percent, after a divisive race against a former regime figure.

The opposition is considering a number of options, including boycotting the referendum, an intensified street campaign of protests and civil disobedience. Some acknowledge that the opposition does not have enough time or reach to launch a campaign to encourage people to vote against the charter in time.