Arab Spring inspires repression too

Arab Spring uprisings have inspired repression in many countries as well as protests, international rights investigators said Monday.
People are still being locked up and tortured even in countries where governments have changes, leaders of the International Human Rights Federation (FIDH) said.
Nobel prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar highlighted the cases of Zimbabwe and China in a commentary for the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders report.
In China, the government embarked on a "massive" security deployment to prevent "Jasmine gatherings" and censored the word "Jasmine" on the Internet, Aung San Suu Kyi said in a foreword written with French rights experts Stephane Hessel.
Forty-six people were arrested and charged with treason in Zimbabwe in February for watching a video of protests in Egypt and Tunisia, they added.
The Arab Spring has led to new restrictions on "media and freedom of expression" in Bangladesh, China, North Korea, Iran, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam, said the Observatory report.
The Observatory called for stronger legal and other protection for human rights defenders, who include the heads of small farmers fighting for land rights, women battling sexual abuse as well as journalists and lawyers.
The revolution also stirred the suppressed divisions among tribes and segments of people. In Libya, under the thumb of Gaddafi, sectarian and tribal unrest was latent for years. The country is heading toward an uncertain future as the latent conflicts are predicted to reappear once again.
Hundreds died and UN peacekeepers intervened after the Ivory Coast presidential election in October last year.
Less publicised, said the report, were restrictions on assembly and freedom of expression in Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda.