Indeed just a look at the past week’s developments in the Arab world should be enough

Indeed, just a look at the past week’s developments in the Arab world should be enough. On Sunday, Kuwait, despite repeated pleas for clemency from Amnesty International, hanged three Bangladeshis convicted of murder and then displayed the corpses on the gibbet. In Egypt, policemen beat back Islamist voters trying to cast their ballots in a rigged election.Syria sent an intellectual to prison for daring to suggest that the country should be more open to democratic debate. In Jordan, trade unionists were warned not to involve themselves in politics after demonstrations calling for a boycott of America. With the exception of only one nation – Syria – all the others are among the “friends” of the West.Even in France, we have the spectacle of General Khaled Nezzar, perhaps the top man in the Algerian regime, taking to court a second lieutenant in the Algerian army for “slandering” him in a book on Algeria’s dirty war. Already Habib Souaida, the former soldier, has given evidence of watching soldiers throwing petrol over a boy aged 15 and burning him alive.

Yet General Nezzar, who fled Paris when civil suits were filed against him for torture, is now allowed back. Meanwhile, in Algeria, Spain’s Foreign Minister, representing the EU, has welcomed “notable progress in the protection of human rights”.. The rift between Britain and the United States over the Middle East deepened last night when a British Foreign Office minister held talks with Yasser Arafat at his West Bank headquarters. He did not meet Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister.The meeting with Mr Arafat threatened to reopen the row between London and Washington over Mr Bush’s call for his removal as part of a Middle East peace settlement. Relations have also been strained by America’s opposition to the International Criminal Court established on Monday.Downing Street tried to play down the significance of Mr O’Brien’s visit and said Tony Blair supported the US President’s speech on the Middle East last week calling for a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.But the clear differences of approach were highlighted by the decision to meet Mr Arafat. But that does not mean we do not want to see reform of the Palestinian Authority.”The spokesman said Mr Blair, while happy to continue dealing with Mr Arafat as an elected leader, believed the Palestinian president had let his people down.

“We don’t believe the Palestinian Authority and Yasser Arafat have done all they could to bear down on terrorism and to condemn terrorism,” he said, adding that this was likely to be relayed by Mr O’Brien during the talks.The spokesman added: “We have to be able to negotiate with somebody who represents the views of the Palestinian people and who can deliver. It’s no secret that, as the Prime Minister has said on several occasions, we believe Yasser Arafat is somebody who has let down the Palestinian people.” There were no plans for Mr Blair to speak to Mr Arafat directly, Number 10 said.Asked why the Foreign Office minister was not meeting Mr Sharon, the Number 10 spokesman replied: “Because he is seeing who he is seeing. Shimon Peres is the Foreign Minister, a senior figure in the administration.”Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrats’ foreign affairs spokesman, said it was an “entirely sensible decision” for Mr O’Brien to go to the Middle East. He added: “For all his many faults and failures, Yasser Arafat is still the leader of the Palestinian people. No reasonable prospect for peace in the Middle East exists without his engagement.”.

A tribal council ordered four men to gang-rape an 18-year-old woman to punish her family, after her 11-year-old brother was seen walking with a girl from a higher tribal caste. The teenager said she was taken to a hut and assaulted as hundreds of Mastois stood outside, laughing and cheering. Afterwards, she was forced to walk home naked in front of hundreds of onlookers.In Pakistan, so-called honour crimes continue unabated and are the preferred way of dealing with affronts to dignity. They are dealt with outside Pakistani law.Police said they learned of the rape only days after it was committed, on 22 June. But Hina Gillani, secretary general of the private Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), said the police took no formal steps to investigate until Monday.And that, she said, was only “to protect the government’s image after the incident was made public”.