Natan Sharansky and Sharansky was appointed Minister of Jerusalem Affairs. From March 2003 – May 2005, he was Israel's Minister without Portfolio, responsible for Jerusalem, social and Jewish diaspora affairs. Under this position Sharansky chaired a secret committee that approved the confiscation of East Jerusalem property of West Bank Palestinians. This decision was reversed after an outcry from the Israeli left and the international community. Previously he served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Israel, Minister of Housing and Construction since March 2001, Interior Minister of Israel (July 1999 – resigned in July 2000), Minister of Industry and Trade (1996–1999). He resigned
Mudawi Ibrahim Adam Salah Mohamed Abdelrahman. Mudawi was then held for two months without a formal charge, during which time he began a hunger strike in protest. His arrests were widely protested by groups including Human Rights Watch, Front Line Defenders, Amnesty International, and the Irish government. He was eventually released without being brought to trial. By 2006, Mudawi's role had become prominent enough that "New York Times" reporter Nicholas Kristof described him as "one of the leading human rights advocates in Sudan". In 2007, he attended a conference in Prague organized by Natan Sharansky, Václav Havel, and José María Aznar, where he