California Bans 'Singing and Chanting' in Churches, Mosques, Synagogues
New Age Islam News Bureau
7
Jul 2020
• California Bans 'Singing and Chanting' in Churches,
Mosques, Synagogues
• Communist China Removes 500 Crosses; 1M Uighur
Muslims And Christians In Xinjiang Imprisoned
• Selling Muslim Prayer Mats As 'Greek Carpets', Chinese
Retailer SheinApologises
• Thousands Protest Against UK Role in Saudi War on
Yemen
• Volatility from Virus Crisis Highlights Need for
Shariah-Compliant Hedging Tools
• Mozambique Is Emerging as The Next Islamic Extremist
Hotspot
• Will Life Mean Life When the Christchurch Mosque Killer
Is Sentenced?
• Malaysia: Five New Cases of Covid-19, No New Deaths
for Over 3 Weeks
North America
• California Bans 'Singing and Chanting' in Churches,
Mosques, Synagogues
• New Rules: International Students Must Leave U.S. If
Classes Go Online
• Islamic Militants May Have Committed War Crimes in
DRC, UN Says
• CAIR-Georgia Decries Judge’s Release of Suspected
Murderer of Georgia Muslim Man in Augusta, Demands Justice for Ahmad Popal
• Pass on The Mic: Muslim.co Is Here to Set The Record
Straight Regarding Muslims
------
South Asia
• Communist China Removes 500 Crosses; 1M Uighur
Muslims And Christians In Xinjiang Imprisoned
• Muslim Volunteers Bury Christians Who Died from The
Coronavirus in Bangladesh
• 22 Taliban militants killed, wounded on Kabul-Jalalabad
highway
• Ghani appoints new governors for five provinces of
Afghanistan
• ‘Gunfight’ between PCJSS factions in Bandarban
leaves 6 killed
• Bangladesh backs UN Secretary-General’s call for
global ceasefire
-------
Europe
• Selling Muslim Prayer Mats As 'Greek Carpets', Chinese
Retailer SheinApologises
• An Aid Worker,Silvia Romano, Says Islam Comforted
Her During Captivity of Somali Islamist Militants
• The Muslim bereaved cruelly deprived of closure by
coronavirus
• Manchester University Press criticised for
publishing book linked to Islamist advocacy group
• Prince Harry and Meghan Markle say UK should 'right'
past 'wrongs'
-------
Mideast
• Thousands Protest Against UK Role in Saudi War on
Yemen
• Reconversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque may be a
vote-winner for Erdogan
• Shia Cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani Symbol Of
Iraqi National Unity: Senior Cleric
• Gaza-Based Jaysh Al-Islam Threatens Israel With
Jihad If Sovereignty Proceeds
• Turkey will not dare turn Hagia Sophia into a
mosque, says Greek archbishop
• Islamic Jihad sets conditions for Palestinian
reconciliation
• Israel Orders Demolition Of 30 Palestinian
Facilities in Al-Quds Village
• Iran urges UN to pursue fate of its diplomats
abducted in Lebanon
• US government must compensate losses it has
inflicted on Iran: Zarif
• Iran’s progress, capabilities causes of concern for
US, Israel: FM Zarif
-----
Arab world
• Volatility from Virus Crisis Highlights Need for
Shariah-Compliant Hedging Tools
• Egypt To Reopen Al-Hussein Mosque, Isolate Its
Shrine
• Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Raises Foreign Ownership
Limit To 40%
• Road Blocked in Front Of Abdel Nasser Mosque In
Corniche Mazraa
• Iraqi expert on Islamic State group shot dead in
Baghdad
• Emirates Islamic named ‘Islamic Bank of the Year –
UAE 2020’
-------
Africa
• Mozambique Is Emerging as The Next Islamic Extremist
Hotspot
• Islamic Development Bank Earmarks $2.3 Billion To
Fight COVID-19
• Islamic Group Wants Muslims, Christians To Install,
Bury Traditional Rulers In Yoruba Land
• Muslim leaders read mischief in the new CRA formula
• Africa’s Biggest Investment Takes Shape Amid
Islamist Threat
------
New Zealand
• Will Life Mean Life When the Christchurch Mosque
Killer Is Sentenced?
• 'Asleep on The Job': Police Warned of Another Mosque
Threat Before Massacre
• Christchurch Shooting: Agencies Accused Of Ignoring
Years Of Warnings The Muslim Community Was In Danger
• Far Right Teen Pleads Guilty, Fined For Failing To
Assist Police Investigating Christchurch Mosque Threat
-------
Southeast Asia
• Malaysia: Five New Cases of Covid-19, No New Deaths
for Over 3 Weeks
• Indonesia’s Forex Reserves Rise To Near Record-High
In June
• Police Begin Investigation Into Al Jazeera Report on
Illegal Immigrants in Malaysia
• Migrant Workers: Malaysia offers them new hope amid
pandemic
• Landslide at Burmese Jade Mine Kills Over 170 People
------
India
• Minimising School Dropouts Due to Covid Distress
Biggest Challenge for Indian Muslim Community
• India Bans Kashmir Muslim Religious Gatherings Due
To Coronavirus But Hindu Pilgrimages Continue
• Tamil Nadu Lockdown Diary: 'People talk as if
COVID-19 came from Melapalayam, not China'; • Muslims struggle with health
systems steeped in prejudice
------
Pakistan
• $60m Islamic Development Bank Aid for Polio
Eradication Approved
• Anti-Covid Drug, Remdesivir, To Be Available in
Three Weeks
• DIG Operations Reviews Security OfMosques, Imambargahs
• Minister Reiterates for Making Balochistan Hub for
Organic Agriculture
• E-7 seminary in Islamabad becomes site of unexpected
conflict
• Chief Election Commissioner denies holding secret
meetings with president
• Shahbaz files plea for exemption from appearance
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL; https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/california-bans-inging-chanting-churches/d/122311
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California Bans 'Singing and Chanting' in Churches,
Mosques, Synagogues
JUL 06, 2020
BY TYLER O'NEIL
Church congregation singing hymns in church. (Getty
Images)
----
Last Wednesday, the California Department of Public
Health banned “singing and chanting” in houses of worship, including churches,
mosques, and synagogues. While the department had previously advised against
singing in houses of worship, it made the ban mandatory last week.
“Even with adherence to physical distancing, convening
in a congregational setting of multiple different households to practice a
personal faith carries a relatively higher risk for widespread transmission of
the COVID-19 virus, and may result in increased rates of infection,
hospitalization, and death, especially among more vulnerable populations. In
particular, activities such as singing and chanting negate the risk- reduction
achieved through six feet of physical distancing,” the order states.
“Places of worship must therefore discontinue singing
and chanting activities and limit indoor attendance to 25% of building capacity
or a maximum of 100 attendees, whichever is lower,” the health department adds.
Specifically, the order demands that churches
“discontinue singing (in rehearsals, services, etc.), chanting, and other
practices and performances where there is increased likelihood for transmission
from contaminated exhaled droplets. Consider practicing these activities
through alternative methods (such as internet streaming) that ensure individual
congregation members perform these activities separately in their own homes.”
The state allowed churches and other houses of worship
to reopen at the end of May, but urged them to “strongly consider discontinuing
singing.”
R. James King, a Minnesota pastor, took to The
Resurgent to condemn the ban. “The critical issue is this: the state of
California is trying to dictate what kind of worship may or may not take place
within a religious assembly. This is a flagrant and appalling transgression of
essential American rights,” he wrote.
King noted Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-Calif.) support for
the Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the horrific police killing of
George Floyd. Last Monday — two days before the singing ban — Newsom addressed
the protesters. “For those of you out there protesting, I want you to know that
you matter,” the governor said. “To those who want to express themselves… God
bless you. Keep doing it. Your rage is real.”
“Peaceful protests are, like worship, protected by the
First Amendment. Like worship, they include large gatherings of people. Like
worship, they include periods of singing and chanting. However, unlike worship,
they remain untroubled by intrusive state interference,” the pastor wrote.
“Governor Gavin Newsom supported the protests, and there is no doubt that, were
they to erupt again, he would continue to excuse activities that are now banned
by his administration in church buildings. So they dictate how people worship,
and they target only religious worship.”
Yet the singing ban is not without precedent. In
April, Mendocino County, Calif., banned singing and playing wind instruments
even for livestream events involving four or more people.
Before Newsom allowed churches to finally meet in
person, 1,200 California clergy wrote a powerful letter declaring in-person
worship essential. “Facing the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Christian church and
other faiths have been relegated to ‘nonessential’ status by governing agencies
throughout the United States. But we, the signers of this declaration, believe
and contend that gathering together in fellowship and worship is ‘essential.’”
The lockdown took a psychological toll on Californians
and the churches noted studies showing that “religious service attendance is
associated with a lower risk of death from despair among registered nurses and
health care professionals. These results may be important in understanding
trends in deaths from despair in the general population.”
The clergy sent a legal demand letter, warning Newsom
that if he were to crack down on their religious freedom, they would take the
issue to court. This new ban on signing may face legal challenges, especially
if churches find videos of Black Lives Matter chanting or singing at protests
Newsom has approved.
https://pjmedia.com/culture/tyler-o-neil/2020/07/06/california-bans-singing-and-chanting-in-churches-mosques-synagogues-n610292
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Communist China Removes 500 Crosses; 1M Uighur Muslims
And Christians In Xinjiang Imprisoned
July 06, 2020
By: Lito B. Zulueta
Numerous churches in Anhui, China, had their crosses
removed between January and April. —BITTERWINTER.ORG
-----
The state of religious freedom in China has further
worsened over the past year, as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) embarked on a
five-year plan to “Sinicize” houses of worship by toppling churches and
replacing crosses with portraits of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, according to the
2019 International Religious Freedom Report of the US State Department released
in June.
The release of the report followed the campaign of the
CCP starting April to remove crosses and demolish unauthorized churches.
According to the Union of Catholic Asian News (Ucan; www.ucanews.com), some 500
crosses were removed.
Quoting Protestant pastor Paul Lee, Ucan reported that
the crosses were removed in a 500-kilometer stretch from Zhejiang to Anhui.
Some of the crosses removed belonged to churches with
more than a century of history, according to a July 2 report by Bitter Winter,
“a magazine on religious liberty and human rights in China” (bitterwinter.org)
that is cited in the US State Department report.
Bitter Winter reported “that local officials claimed
that the cross-removal campaign was being implemented in line with a national
policy, which requires to eliminate all Christian, Islamic, Buddhist and other
religious symbols.”
“We support the state and comply with its
regulations,” a Protestant congregation member was quoted by Bitter Winter. “We
can have a dialogue with the government if it thinks that we have done
something wrong, but they can’t persecute us this way. Officials did not show
any documents, fearing that people would implicate them with anything in
writing. They only conveyed verbal orders and forced us to obey them.”
The recent Ucan and Bitter Winter reports dovetail
with the US State Department report. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a press
conference summed up the situation in China: “China continues its decadeslong
war on faith,” he declared. “The mass detentions of Uighurs in Xinjiang
[continue]. So does the repression of Tibetans and Buddhists and Falun Gong and
Christians.”
In 2019, according to the report, the Chinese
government “tortured, physically abused, arrested, detained, sentenced to
prison, subjected to forced indoctrination in CCP ideology, or harassed
adherents of both registered and unregistered religious groups for activities
related to their religious beliefs and practices,” said the report.
“Authorities in many provinces targeted religious
groups with overseas ties, particularly Christian groups,” the report added.
“The government offered financial incentives to law enforcement to arrest
religious practitioners and to citizens who reported ‘illegal religious
activity.’”
“The government continued a campaign of religious
Sinicization to bring all religious doctrine and practice in line with CCP
doctrine, adopting a formal five-year plan on Jan. 7. Officials across the
country shut down religious venues, including some that were affiliated with
the authorized patriotic religious associations, and placed surveillance
cameras in houses of worship as a condition of allowing these venues to
continue operating. There were numerous reports that authorities closed or
destroyed Islamic, Christian, Buddhist, Taoist, Jewish, and other houses of
worship and destroyed public displays of religious symbols throughout the
country.”
The “war on faith” is justified by the CCP as a
campaign against “the ‘three evils’ of ‘ethnic separatism, religious extremism
and violent terrorism,’” the report said.
The report said the communist government since 2017
had “arbitrarily detained more than one million Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Hui
and members of other Muslim groups, as well as Uighur Christians, in specially
built or converted internment camps in Xinjiang and subjected them to forced
disappearance, political indoctrination, torture, physical and psychological
abuse, including forced sterilization and sexual abuse, forced labor and
prolonged detention without trial because of their religion and ethnicity.”
US-based Australian Sinologist Ross Terrill has noted
that because of the absence of a major “transcendental religion” in its
history, “the religion of China is China.” The observation has been reinforced
now that China is ruled by atheistic communism. This explains the replacement
of religious symbols with portraits of Xi Jin-ping; this is typical of
Stalinism and communist “idol worship” across modern history.
Also singled out in the US State Department report
were Muslim states Iran and Saudi Arabia. The report noted that minority
religionists were imprisoned by Iran, which had also executed members of the
minorities on charges of “enmity against God.” Saudi Arabia on the other hand
continues to be the only country in the world without a Christian church.
Bright spots were the United Arab Emirates, which
hosted in February 2019 the first papal visit to the Arabian Pensinsula. UAE
also became the first Middle East nation to permit the opening of a church of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The State Department also praised Gambia in West
Africa, for bringing a case to the International Court of Justice concerning
alleged crimes against the Muslim Rohingya in Burma and Uzbekistan in central
Asia, which the department said carried out no police raids on “unregistered”
religious gatherings in 2019, after having conducted more than 350 before.”
https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/365611/communist-china-removes-500-crosses-1m-uighur-muslims-and-christians-in-xinjiang-imprisoned/
-----
Selling Muslim Prayer Mats As 'Greek Carpets', Chinese
Retailer Shein Apologises
6 July 2020
Online retailer Shein came under massive scrutiny past
weekend after a post about them selling Muslim prayer mats as decorative rugs
went viral.
-----
The mats sold were labelled as "frilled Greek
carpets" and had pictures of the Kabaa on them.
The Kabaa is a building in the centre of Mecca,
considered the most sacred place by Muslims around the world.
Shein was also accused of cultural appropriation for
using white models to sell sleepwear that imitated cultural clothing.
The retailer has now apologised via a statement to its
more than 11m Instagram followers, and removed the items from its site.
"As a global brand, we vow to do a much better
job in educating ourselves on different cultures, religions and traditions to
ensure our diverse community is respected and honoured," it said.
Reviews on the products showed that customers were
using the mats for purposes other than prayer - one review showed a buyer using
the mat for their pet cat.
This isn't the first time something like this has
happened - cultural appropriation in fashion has been a prevalent conversation
in recent years.
Last year, PrettyLittleThing was criticised for
designing an "oriental" collection based around a traditional Chinese
dress.
And in 2018, H&M apologised after an advertising
campaign showed a black child wearing a hoodie that said "coolest monkey
in the jungle".
High fashion brands like Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana
and CommesDes Garçons have also had to apologise - but Financial Times fashion
editor Lauren Indvik told Radio 1 Newsbeat earlier this year that the industry
has "woken up" to the issue of diversity in fashion.
"There's been a real effort at being educated and
appointing diversity councils.
"I think there's now a focus on recruiting for
diversity that probably wasn't there three or four years ago."
https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-53308549
-----
Thousands protest against UK role in Saudi war on
Yemen
July 7, 2020
Thousands of protesters demanded an end to Britain's
role of facilitating the war on Yemen
----
Protesters demanded an end to Britain's role of
facilitating the war on Yemen that has created the world's worst humanitarian
crisis.
Today protests have taken place around the Britain to
highlight and condemn the atrocities of the Yemen war, which has now been
raging for five years. Hundreds of young people marched through central London
in solidarity with the millions of Yemenis suffering the evils of war, in
addition to cholera, famine and Covid-19.
Starting outside the BBC on Portland Place, speakers
made calls for the BBC to fairly report on the horrific war: the indubitable
bias of the BBC towards the government was highlighted, and demonstrators
demanded that the mainstream media report on Britain’s heavy involvement in the
battle between the Saudi-backed government and Yemenis.
As the demonstrators marched on, chants of ‘Free
Yemen’ and ‘Stop the War’ were repeated down Oxford Circus and on to the Saudi
Embassy. Here protesters stopped again for more speeches, along with a brief
pause to allow for a few minutes of quiet reflection and prayer – despite the
obvious peaceful nature of the protest, a heavy police presence was felt along
the whole route.
This presence amped up as the protesters marched down
Whitehall, and stopped across the road from Downing Street. Plenty of passing
cars, buses and mopeds beeped their horns in solidarity with the protesters.
Here, organisers spoke to emphasise the horrific violence of the Yemen war, and
how these are affecting normal Yemenis. A minute’s silence was held to remember
the many victims and many on the march prayed for those who have lost their
lives. Chants then continued in both English and Arabic, but included the now
very popular ‘Boris is a wasteman’, and ‘Boris Johnson’s a racist’.
From here, the plan was to march to Westminster
bridge, though after some deliberation, organisers decided to wait in
Parliament Square for a group of Black Lives Matter protesters who had set off
from Hyde Park earlier on.
While waiting, speakers began to highlight why it is
crucial to support Black Lives Matter, and why solidarity is key in any
struggle for liberty. This was met with enthusiastic applause from the
demonstration. Links were made between the Yemen war and the racist,
Islamophobic murder of Shukri Abdi a year ago. The energy was defiant as the
Black Lives Matter protesters caught up with the rest of the protest.
https://en.abna24.com/news//thousands-protest-against-uk-role-in-saudi-war-on-yemen_1053123.html
-----
Volatility from Virus Crisis Highlights Need for
Shariah-Compliant Hedging Tools
July 07 2020
The disruption of financial markets caused by the
coronavirus crisis in recent months and the subsequent volatility in the
industry has revived the long discussion about the need for Shariah-compliant
hedging tools, namely derivatives, in the Islamic finance sector. The up and
down of oil prices and volatilities in profit rates, exchange rates and
commodity prices in general has exacerbated the situation, so that many players
have resumed to look for adequate risk management techniques for their
Shariah-compliant banking and finance portfolios.
Basically, hedging tools in finance are technologies
and methods to minimise the impact of fluctuations in financial markets. They
can be used in a number of sectors, for example for hedging of volatilities in
stock prices, commodities and agricultural products, energy and fuel prices, consumer
prices, precious metals, exchange rates and for other forms of more
sophisticated financial risk management techniques. Basically, they can be
engineered from a wide range of financial instruments, including forward
contracts, swaps, options, futures contracts and other form of derivative
products, as well as insurance contracts and obligations, among others. They
are widely used in conventional finance and reach from asset-based financial
contracts to highly complex synthetic financial products. Particularly the
latter include high-risk technologies such as mortgage-backed securities and
collateralised debt obligations which played a sad role in the 2007-08
financial crisis.
In Islamic finance, however, the requirement of
Shariah-compliance of derivatives is a major limitation for their development.
Many conventional financial risk management technologies are not
Shariah-compliant due to their imminent characteristics of being speculative
and incompatible to the risk-sharing prerequisite in Islamic finance. This
leaves the halal financial industry with far fewer hedging instruments compared
with their conventional peers.
What comes closest to Islamic finance requirements are
such derivatives that derive their value from the performance of an underlying
entity which itself has intrinsic value. Such Islamic derivaties are called
tahawwut, describing a hedging process that is used or offered by Islamic banks
and financial institutions to help mitigate risks, or khatar (market or price
uncertainty). However, Islamic scholars and Islamic financial practitioners are
far from being in agreement over how to define halal hedging tools that bear a
similar functionality by replicating conventional derivative structures in a
Shariah-compatible way.
Essential processes so far developed include Islamic
contracts such as salam, which resembles a conventional forward contract,
ijarah, an adjusted futures contracts, as well as back-to-back loans as a
replacement for swaps. Other concepts there are arbun and khiyar (used to
replicate option-type structures) and wa’ad (used for obligations).
That said, Islamic banks and financial institutions
remain constraint to this small number of hedging options not only due to the
relatively small number of Shariah-compliant technologies, but also due to the
lack of standardisation and harmonisation of available hedging instruments
across jurisdictions.
“All this is constraining the expansion of the Islamic
derivatives market at a time when there is an increased need for the usage of derivatives
for risk-management purposes for Islamic financial institutions, as well as
sukuk issuers and investors and Shariah-compliant non-financial corporates,”
said Bashar al-Natoor, global head of Islamic finance at Fitch Ratings, who
urged Islamic finance jurisdictions to develop the market by establishing more
over-the counter markets for Islamic derivatives, adopt legislation to improve
the development and enforceability of Islamic derivative contracts and
generally impose clear guidelines and standards for Islamic derivatives.
“Derivatives play a vital role in hedging and
mitigating risks that come from volatilities in profit rates, exchange rates
and commodity prices,” al-Natoor said, adding that they are not only essential
for banks in limiting their risk exposure and increasing their earnings
generation capabilities by creating and offering derivative products to
clients, but also could have a positive effect on liquidity and solvency on
banks, financial institution and takaful companies and as such in the Islamic
finance market as a whole.
https://www.gulf-times.com/story/667529/Volatility-from-virus-crisis-highlights-need-for-I
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Mozambique Is Emerging As The Next Islamic Extremist
Hotspot
JULY 6, 2020
An Islamist terror group in Mozambique is staging
increasingly sophisticated and destructive attacks on oil facilities and
government targets this year. Its connections with Islamic State may be growing
tighter, according to a report published Monday by data analytics company Babel
Street.
The attacks are part of a three-year uprising in the
country that has turned markedly more violent this year. Already, 447 people
have died in attacks in 2020, a faster pace than last year, which saw 660
deaths in 309 attacks, the Babel Street report said, citing the Armed Conflict
Location and Event Data project.
Tactics recently used by the terror group, called Al
Sunnah waJama’ah, suggest a growing relationship with the Islamic State and
other terror groups. These include launching small drones for position
scouting, displaying Islamic State flags during attacks, beheading victims, and
kidnapping girls in the model of Nigeria’s Boko Haram, the Babel Street report
said.
As well, Islamic State representatives have taken
credit for some attacks in the country, as on April 10, when the private
security company Dyck Advisor Group lost a helicopter.
In May, Al Sunnah waJama’ah captured a Yanjing armored
vehicle from Mozambican security forces. On June 27, ISIS took credit for the
attack through their Amaq News Agency via Telegram, said Babel Street. “We also
saw that the insurgents used some high-powered weapons — 73mm recoilless rifle
and 82mm mortars — for the first time, further signs of increasing intensity
and expertise within the group,” said Eric Swanfeldt, an International Senior
Solutions Specialist at Babel Street.
Babel Street draws on a variety of sources, including
local media vetted by the IntelCenter database of terrorist activity, message
boards, blogs, social media, Telegram channels.
Relatively little is known about Al Sunnah waJama’ah,
which does not appear to produce, say, video recruiting ads. The group began to
claim affiliation with ISIS not long after their 2017 emergence. More recently,
Al Qaeda has been taking credit for the group’s work — but it’s not clear
whether they deserve it.
A member of the U.S. Air Force stands near a Patriot
missile battery at the Prince Sultan air base in al-Kharj, central Saudi
Arabia, Thursday, February 20, 2020.Lessons from Yemen’s Missile War
U.S. Marine Cpl. Joseph Josleyn talks with troops of
Indonesia's Korps Marinir during Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise 2014.Look
at Great Power Competition Through a SOF Lens
Mark R. Quantock, a retired Army major general who is
Babel Street’s executive vice president for strategic accounts, said that the
terror group’s growing prowess could transform Mozambique into a new haven for
extremists. “We certainly have, from a global perspective, equities and
interests in making sure that the cancer that is Islamic extremism, that is
ISIS, doesn’t grip any particular place…that would not be helpful to the U.S.
or our allies or that portion of Africa,” he said.
The United States. currently has no large military
presence in Mozambique. But it did deploy nearly 100 U.S. troops from Combined
Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa to help the government with relief efforts
after Cyclone Idai last year.
“The situation in Mozambique is one that is being
monitored,” said Col. Christopher Karns, a spokesman for U.S. Africa Command.
“Africa continues to be a place where groups such as
the Islamic State and Al Qaeda seek to regenerate and look for opportunity to
demonstrate resiliency,” Karns said. “The Islamic State-affiliated activity in
Mozambique is more visible with increased claims of attacks. The situation and
techniques employed are certainly not unique to Mozambique.”
Islamic State affiliates often target youth in local
communities, particularly those that are impoverished, where the group can
offer access to resources. “The signs of the Islamic State seeking to build
local legitimacy while undermining government is present as they seek to
intimidate and provide alternate options to the government,” Karns said.
Russia, too, is present in the region, deploying
state-sponsored private military contractors in at least 16 African nations.
“Russia is a country that certainly seeks access to Mozambique’s natural
resources to include oil, natural, gas and coal, as well,” Karns said. Russia
may be stepping into position to provide more security assistance to countries
like Mozambique in exchange for contractual access to raw materials, ”which can
undermine our partners’ capacity for economic development.”
He said the Wagner mercenary group has also been
active in Mozambique. “Wherever Wagner is employed, Russia seems to want to
mask their direct role. Russia’s exploitative military and economic
partnerships in Africa, often pursued through unofficial actors, remain a
concern.”
https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2020/07/mozambique-emerging-next-islamic-extremist-hotspot/166638/
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will life mean life when the Christchurch mosque
killer is sentenced?
July 6, 2020
On the very day New Zealand entered COVID-19 lockdown
(March 26), the man arrested for the Christchurch mosque terror attacks
admitted he was a murderer and a terrorist.
Despite the lockdown, Justice Mander arranged for
media and community representatives to be present when the accused confessed
guilt via an audio-visual link from prison. Adjourning the case for sentencing,
the judge expressed the hope that those who wished to attend in person would be
able to do so.
This crime was exceptional in its brutality. While the
courts have treated it largely as any other case, there have been
accommodations. Before the guilty pleas were entered, the trial date had been
moved due to Ramadan. And extra steps have been taken to allow more victims to
participate in the sentencing.
Under the Victims’ Rights Act 2002, the families of
those killed and injured are directly involved in a sentencing hearing. With
lockdown lifted, New Zealand’s courts are running again, but many of those who
will want to make a victim impact statement are abroad. Those with citizenship
or permanent residence will have to be quarantined if they return.
Those not automatically entitled to enter will have to
seek an exemption. The judge acknowledged the sentencing date was a compromise.
Some who want to attend in person won’t be able to but, at the same time,
finality is important. Video links will be arranged for those who can’t attend.
The scale of offending in this case means the hearing
will take several days, not least to allow meaningful participation by victims.
Before the hearing, the lawyers will file submissions about the appropriate
sentence based on the facts, aggravating factors and any mitigation that can be
presented. Advice is given by probation officers, and medical reports often
feature for serious offending.
A hearing typically opens with the defendant being
asked if he or she has anything to say before sentence is passed. This is a cue
for the lawyers to make their statements to the court.
Several issues may arise here. Will the defendant wish
to speak directly? If so, will it be permitted? Will he be in court or appear
via video link?
If he does want to be present for sentencing, the
judge may still prevent this by finding it “not contrary to the interests of
justice” if the defendant appears only by video link.
If facts alleged by the prosecution are disputed by
the defendant, and if those disputed facts may make a difference to the
sentence, a mini-trial might be required to resolve them.
Who can present victim impact statements could also be
disputed. The terrorism in question was aimed at the Muslim community, making
it arguably a “person against whom” the offence was committed and so within the
definition of a victim.
The maximum sentence for a terrorist act is life
imprisonment, as it is for murder. The defendant has admitted 51 murders. For
attempted murder, the maximum sentence is 10 years, and he has admitted 40 such
offences.
Unlike some jurisdictions, New Zealand doesn’t allow
sentences of several hundred years for multiple offending. The focus therefore
will be on the life sentence.
The Sentencing Act requires a life sentence for murder
unless that would be manifestly unjust. No one can suggest that exception
applies here. The main issue will be the minimum non-parole period the judge
should apply.
Parliament requires a minimum term of 17 years for a
terrorist murder or one involving more than one victim. But the legislation
allows the judge to set no minimum non-parole period – in other words, a life
sentence is literally for the defendant’s remaining life.
The defence lawyers’ job is to argue against it. It’s
also likely that whatever the judge decides will be appealed – by the
prosecution if he does not impose a whole life sentence, and by the defence if
he does.
Whether or not there is a whole life sentence, the
defendant will be imprisoned for the foreseeable future, inevitably in a high
security facility.
Given he is Australian, might he be transferred to
Australia? We have no standing arrangements to transfer serving prisoners, so
deportation usually follows release. However, the government is able to
negotiate special arrangements if the Australian government is willing.
The August hearing and any appeal will determine the
responsibility of the gunman. The focus can then turn to the wider questions of
whether the horror could have been prevented and how to guard against it
happening again.
https://theconversation.com/explainer-will-life-mean-life-when-the-christchurch-mosque-killer-is-sentenced-141984
------
Malaysia: Five New Cases of Covid-19, No New Deaths
for Over 3 Weeks
06 Jul 2020
By JOSEPH KAOS Jr
PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia recorded five new cases on Monday
(July 6), of which three are imported cases.
Cumulatively, the country has a total of 8,668
infections, said Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah at the
ministry’s Covid-19 press conference here.
One of the two local transmission cases was detected
from a community screening conducted by a district health office in Kuala
Lumpur.
The other local case was a Malaysian, who is a family
member of Patient 8649, detected following a screening on the latter’s close
contacts.
Dr Noor Hisham also said 11 more cases have been
discharged, which means 8,476 patients have recovered from Covid-19 in Malaysia
since the outbreak began.
Dr Noor Hisham announced no new deaths, which means
the death toll remains at 121 cases for the 22nd day in a row.
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2020/07/06/covid-19-five-new-cases-no-new-deaths-for-over-3-weeks
-----
North America
New rules: International students must leave U.S. if
classes go online
JUL 7, 2020
International students will be forced to leave the
U.S. or transfer to another college if their schools offer classes entirely online
this fall, under new guidelines issued Monday by federal immigration
authorities.
The guidelines, issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, provide additional pressure for universities to reopen even amid
growing concerns about the recent spread of COVID-19 among young adults.
Colleges received the guidance the same day that some institutions, including
Harvard University, announced that all instruction will be offered remotely.
President Donald Trump has insisted that schools and
colleges return to in-person instruction as soon as possible. Soon after the
guidance was released, Trump repeated on Twitter that schools must reopen this
fall, adding that Democrats want to keep schools closed “for political reasons,
not for health reasons.”
Under the updated rules, international students must
take at least some of their classes in person. New visas will not be issued to
students at schools or programs that are entirely online. And even at colleges
offering a mix of in-person and online courses this fall, international
students will be barred from taking all their classes online.
It creates an urgent dilemma for thousands of
international students who became stranded in the U.S. last spring after the
coronavirus forced their schools to move online. Those attending schools that
are staying online must “depart the country or take other measures, such as
transferring to a school with in-person instruction,” according to the
guidance.
The American Council on Education, which represents
university presidents, said the guidelines are “horrifying” and will result in
confusion as schools look for ways to reopen safely.
Of particular concern is a stipulation saying students
won’t be exempt from the rules even if an outbreak forces their schools online
during the fall term. It’s unclear what would happen if a student ended up in
that scenario but faced travel restrictions from their home country, said Terry
Hartle, the council’s senior vice president.
“It’s going to cause enormous confusion and
uncertainty,” Hartle said. “ICE is clearly creating an incentive for
institutions to reopen, regardless of whether or not the circumstances of the
pandemic warrant it.”
The international education group NAFSA blasted the
rules and said schools should be given the authority to make decisions that are
right for their own campuses. It said the guidance “is harmful to international
students and puts their health and well-being and that of the entire higher
education community at risk.”
Nearly 400,000 foreigners received student visas in
the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, down more than 40 percent from four
years earlier. School administrations partly blame visa processing delay.
Colleges across the U.S. were already expecting sharp
decreases in international enrollment this fall, but losing all international
students could be disastrous for some. Many depend on tuition revenue from
international students, who typically pay higher tuition rates. Last year,
universities in the U.S. attracted nearly 1.1 million students from abroad.
Trump’s critics were quick to attack the new
guidelines. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent, said the “cruelty of
this White House knows no bounds.”
“Foreign students are being threatened with a choice:
risk your life going to class in-person or get deported,” Sanders said in a
tweet. “We must stand up to Trump’s bigotry. We must keep all our students
safe.”
Dozens of colleges have said they plan to offer at
least some classes in person this fall, but some say it’s too risky. The University
of Southern California last week reversed course on a plan to bring students to
campus, saying classes will be hosted primarily or exclusively online. Harvard
on Monday said it will invite first-year students to live on campus, but
classes will stay online.
Immigration authorities suspended certain requirements
for international students early in the pandemic, but colleges were awaiting
guidance on what would happen this fall. ICE notified schools of the changes
Monday and said a formal rule would be forthcoming.
The announcement was the Trump administration’s latest
pandemic-related strike against legal immigration. Last month, authorities
extended a ban on new green cards to many people outside the United States and
expanded the freeze to include many on temporary work permits, including at
high-tech companies, multinational corporations and seasonal employers.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/07/07/world/international-students-must-leave-us-if-classes-go-online/#.XwQaBZgzayI
------
Islamic Militants May Have Committed War Crimes in
DRC, UN Says
By Ken Schwartz
July 06, 2020
A series of brutal attacks against Congolese civilians
by Islamic militants are possible war crimes, United Nations monitors said
Monday.
Eighteen months of attacks by the Allied Democratic
Forces (ADF) have killed more than 1,000 civilians, the U.N. Joint Human Rights
Office says in a new report.
“In the majority of cases, the means and the modus
operandi of the attacks indicate a clear intention to leave no survivors. Entire
families have been hacked to death,” it said, adding that attacks “may amount
to crimes against humanity and war crimes.”
According to the report, ADF extremists used assault
rifles, mortars, machetes and knives against villagers. The fighters have burned
down schools and health centers and kidnapped women and children, looking to
recruit them.
DRC President Felix Tshisekedi deployed about 22,000
troops to the border with Uganda late last year to root out the ADF and destroy
their bases.
But the U.N. report also accuses Congolese security
forces of serious human rights violations in their campaign against the ADF.
“We call on the state authorities to step up efforts
to complete pending judicial cases into all allegations of human rights
violations and abuses; to bring all alleged perpetrators to justice; and to
ensure the right to truth, justice and reparations for the victims and their
families,” said Leila Zerrougui, head of the U.N. Stabilization Mission in DRC.
Observers say the Ugandan-based ADF has been active in
the Democratic Republic of Congo since the early 1990s, one of several militia
groups looking to control DRC territory.
https://www.voanews.com/africa/islamic-militants-may-have-committed-war-crimes-drc-un-says
------
CAIR-Georgia Decries Judge’s Release of Suspected
Murderer of Georgia Muslim Man in Augusta, Demands Justice for Ahmad Popal
Ibrahim Hooper
July 6, 2020
(AUGUSTA, GA, 7/06/2020) – Today, the Georgia chapter
of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Georgia) will co-host a news
conference with CSRA Street Justice, National Action Network, and community
advocates and members in Augusta, Ga., to condemn Judge Daniel Craig’s release
of Terrence Cumber, despite the District Attorney’s Office’s recommendation
that bond be denied. Cumber was charged with the murder of Ahmad Popal and
possession of a firearm during a felony.
What: News Conference Condemning Judge Daniel Craig’s
Release of Terrence Cumber
When: Monday, July 6th, 12 P.M. ET
Where: 735 James Brown Boulevard, Augusta, GA 30901
In a statement, CAIR-Georgia Legal and Policy Director
Murtaza Khwaja said:
“While CAIR-Georgia remains committed to restorative
justice and the eradication of the cash bail system due to its criminalizing of
poverty,** we stand firmly with the Augusta community to advocate for our
criminal justice system to treat all criminal defendants equally. “
Cash bail perpetuates inequities in the justice system
that are disproportionately felt by communities of color and those experiencing
poverty.
In the early hours of June 21, 2020, a 23-year-old
Georgia Muslim man, Ahmad Popal, was shot and killed in the 1200 block of Broad
Street in Augusta, Georgia outside The Scene nightclub.
Ahmad had been in an altercation earlier with the
suspect before he was shot by Terrence Cumber, 24, who was promptly arrested.
On Thursday, July 2nd, 2020, Cumber was released from
the custody of Richmond County Sheriff’s Office at Charles Webster Detention
Center following his bond hearing. Superior Court Judge Daniel Craig set a
$4,000 bond on the murder charge despite the District Attorney’s Office’s
recommendation that bond be denied. A $7,900 bond had already been set on the
weapon charge.
See: Judge Sets suspected club shooter’s bond at
$4,000
CAIR-Georgia Executive Director Abdullah Jaber added:
“A $4,000 bond for an alleged murder charge is
unacceptable, particularly given the brazen and public nature of this murder.
Our communities cannot be safe when we have a system that time and again
disproportionately discriminates against black and brown people. Justice must
be impartial and objective for all. We are not safe when suspected killers walk
free while their victims lay dead in the ground and their families are left
without answers. Terrence Cumber needs to be held accountable for his alleged
actions. The community will not settle for less than justice.”
CAIR-Georgia Legal and Policy Director Murtaza Khwaja
said:
“There is no justice when criminal defendants are
routinely set bail for tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of
dollars, for far lesser offenses while Mr. Cumber is set bail for $4,000 for
the alleged murder of a Muslim American. Muslim Americans and indeed, people of
color as a whole, Muslim or not, deserve the same protections that are afforded
to all Americans. The American criminal justice system continues to overly
police, incarcerate and prosecute individuals of color, particularly Black
Americans, at disproportionate rates while exercising brash leniency towards
criminal defendants in cases where people of color are themselves the victims.
“Judge Craig’s inexplicable decision to set bail for a
charge of murder at $4,000 is an affront to all principles of justice and to
the memory of Ahmad Popal, especially when the bail set for the possession of
firearm charge was almost double that set for murder. All lives have value and
rather than Judge Craig upholding this principle in his courtroom, he exercised
extraordinary and reckless discretion in releasing Mr. Cumber against the
recommendation of the District Attorney.
“Judge Craig made clear that Muslims and people of
color will not be protected when the perpetrators are white. This arbitrary
decision harkens back to the Jim Crow South and has as little place in Judge
Craig’s courtroom now and as it did in America then.”
CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and
advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam,
protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertadesciviles,
mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los
musulmanesen los Estados Unidos.
https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-georgia-decries-judges-release-of-suspected-murderer-of-georgia-muslim-man-in-augusta-demands-justice-for-ahmad-popal/
------
Pass On The Mic: Muslim.Co Is Here To Set The Record
Straight Regarding Muslims
2020-07-07
By Sarah Trad
"Relieving, scary and chaotic," is how it
feels to run a Muslim publication in the era of Donald Trump, the current U.S.
president infamously known for his bigotry.
"The death threats surely don't help but it's a
reminder that what we're doing is needed, especially when Muslims are being
ostracized and not able to take part in the conversations and narratives we see
in the media," explained Ameer Al-Khatahtbeh, the 21-year-old Founder and
Editor-in-Chief of Muslim.co.
Muslim is a "fresh, vibrant and relevant"
publication and magazine that targets Gen-Z and millennial Muslims anywhere
they may be. From Hollywood stories to sectarian discrimination, going through
the website's homepage is a colorful journey of emotions.
"I came into university wanting to be a
journalist and cover entertainments, but during my freshman year Trump was
elected. Instead of writing about Zendaya's latest outfits on the red carpet or
The Weeknd's latest album, I found myself having to write about my Muslim
community in all my classes," Al-Khatahtbeh said.
It is then that he realized he needed to center his
work on this misrepresented group in hopes of passing on the microphone - one
with a cutting edge - to those unheard. Come 2019, the platform had already
built its social media presence along with a periodically sent newsletter. A
year or so later, Muslim took full form with the addition of two letters and a
preceding dot.
For their first magazine cover, acclaimed actor Ramy
Youssef flashed a wide smile and spoke to Lead Editor Ameena Qobrtay about
Muslim representation in the media and the second season of his eponymous Hulu
series.
"I believe Ramy Youssef was the best first
impression we could have had when launching our publication. He's in a weird
predicament where his Muslim identity is very important to him, but he faces so
much criticism for everything he does," Al-Khatahtbeh said.
"His show on Hulu ignites so much conversation
that is needed within the Muslim community and it always leaves a mixed
reaction with the crowd. Muslim is like that, too. Our articles can tackle some
subjects that make the Muslim community uncomfortable, but it doesn't hurt to
speak them," he continued.
The New York-based publication is all about novice
perspectives and under-the-table topics. Just like Youssef, Muslim offers
seriousness unaccompanied by a black and white homepage, instead it pivots
around youthful looks and their blue and yellow signature tags.
"I think we need to shake the table in this
ideology that Muslims have to present themselves in a certain way – our
platform is meant to be refreshing. Seeing sheikhs with long beards and kufis
are intimidating to Muslims and non-Muslim readers, a lot of people shared
their gratitude that we are very fresh in our approach," Al-Khatahtbeh
explained.
According to him, creating an approachable identity
can instill willingness in people to connect with the publication. "[O]nce
they connect they see that we do cover serious topics and have amazing
reach."
The Muslim.co team: Shayma Al-Shiri (top left,
Graphics Lead), Ameer Al-Khatahtbeh (top right, Founder and Editor-in-Chief),
and Ameena Qobrtay (center, Lead Editor).
"[T]here is not one way of being 'Muslim' in a
world of vast cultures and experiences, and of course centuries of history and
development," a main aspect to focus on according to Al-Khatahtbeh. Those
with any level of religiosity and miscellaneous personal beliefs can find
themselves mirrored through the publication.
Believers of the Islamic faith have been
misrepresented countless of times in Western media and productions, which has
continuously led to Islamophobic attacks based on a fragment of the entire
image.
In one instant, "Muslim" characters in
movies or series are portrayed so uniquely that only a handful of Muslims can
relate. In another, flushing an airplane toilet twice in a row before take off
has led to the cancelation of the flight.
"We're always the subject of conversations, but
Muslims are never at the table or given a chance to speak," Al-Khatahtbeh
said, explaining how his publication is for Muslims and those unfamiliar with
the faith, but is driven and written by Muslims.
"[E]very viewer will have to hear from us for a
change and not from someone speaking on our behalf. We have a voice, and we
have been speaking for a while now. It's time to listen," he continued.
https://stepfeed.com/pass-on-the-mic-muslim-co-is-here-to-set-the-record-straight-regarding-muslims-9311
------
South Asia
Muslim Volunteers Bury Christians Who Died from The
Coronavirus in Bangladesh
07/06/2020
by SumonCorraya
Dhaka (AsiaNews) – Groups of Muslim volunteers are
burying Christians who have died from the coronavirus. This is seen as a great
example of interfaith harmony, and videos of their work have gone viral in
Bangladesh.
According to World Health Organisation data, almost
160,000 cases have been reported in Bangladesh with about 2,000 deaths, including
a dozen Christians. Fearing contagion, very few people in the country are
willing to touch the bodies of infected people, living or dead.
Muslim volunteers, who live isolated from their
families, have been trained to bury those who die from the respiratory disease.
As part of the burial process, they first spray a
disinfectant (a mixture of water and alcohol) onto the body of the dead, then
bathe it with a solution of soap and water, and rub it with a cloth. Finally,
the body is wrapped in a shroud and placed inside a special plastic bag.
Sahidul Islam, head of Al-Manahil Foundation, a
charity based in Chittagong, notes that the burial of Christians is a new
experience for his group.
"We received a call from the health authorities
and responded immediately, regardless of the faith of the deceased. We have
seen many difficult situations, even cases where children refuse to touch their
father's body."
The Al-Manahil Foundation is funded by private
donations and does not ask money for its work. “We carried Mary Stela Roy, a
Christian woman, from the hospital to the cemetery. Her family has been very
grateful to us, "Sahidul told AsiaNews.
Another volunteer organisation, Man for Man Force,
deals with burials in Dhaka. Recently, it buried Rony Gomes, a Catholic from
the parish of Dharenda.
Mohammad Rajib, one of the volunteers, said that the
pandemic is a global challenge; for this reason, all religions should unite to
fight it.
Catholics are also trying to get together to ensure a
worthy burial for COVID-19 dead. Father Albert Rozario, parish priest in
Dharenda, notes however that Catholics have not yet acquired the proper
knowledge to bury infected bodies. Hence, he is grateful to Man for Man Force
volunteers for their help.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Muslim-volunteers-bury-Christians-who-died-from-the-coronavirus-%28Video%3B-Photos%29-50516.html
------
22 Taliban militants killed, wounded on
Kabul-Jalalabad highway
07 Jul 2020
The security forces killed or wounded at least 22
Taliban militants during a clash on Kabul-Jalalabad highway, the Afghan
military said.
The 201st Silab Corps in a statement said the Afghan
National Defense and Security Forces conducted a joint operation based on a tip
off in Sarkund Baba area Laghman province which is located on Kabul-Jalalabad
highway.
The statement further added that the security forces
killed 16 Taliban militants and wounded at least 6 others during the clash.
The security forces also confiscated some weapons and
munitions following the clash, the 201st Silab Corps added in its statement.
The Taliban group has not commented regarding the
incident so far.
https://www.khaama.com/22-taliban-militants-killed-wounded-on-kabul-jalalabad-highway-08942/
------
Ghani appoints new governors for five provinces of
Afghanistan
07 Jul 2020
President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has appointed new
governors for five provinces of Afghanistan, the Independent Directorate of the
Local Governance (IDLG) said.
According to IDLG, President Ghani issued a decree
appointing governors for Khost, Laghman, Nuristan, Baghlan and Samangan
provinces.
Based on President Ghani’s decree, Mohammad Sadiq
Patman has been appointed as governor of Khost, Abdul Ghafoor Malikzai as
governor of Nuristan, RahmatullahYarmal as governor of Laghman, Taj Mohammad
Jahid as governor of Baghlan and Mohammad Dawood Kalakani as governor of
Samangan.
Meanwhile, reports indicate that President Ghani has
appointed Mohmmad Omar Daudzai as his special envoy for Pakistan.
The new appointments take place as the government has
not introduced the members of the cabinet so far.
https://www.khaama.com/ghani-appoints-new-governors-for-five-provinces-of-afghanistan-08943/
-----
‘Gunfight’ between PCJSS factions in Bandarban leaves
6 killed
July 07, 2020
At least six people were killed and three others
injured in a "gunfight" between two factions of Parbatya Chattogram
Jana Sanghati Samiti (PCJSS) in BandarbanSadarupazila this morning, police
said.
Bandarban's Additional Superintendent of Police
(Sadar) Mobasser Hossain told The Daily Star that the gunfight took place
between the members of PCJSS and PCJSS (reform) groups.
Six persons including the president of PCJSS (reform)
were killed in the gunfight, he said. However, his name and other details could
not be known immediately.
Earlier, the district's Superintendent of Police Jerin
Akhter said, "The gunfight took place at Baghmara area under Sadarupazila
around 7:00 am."
"We are investigating the incident and police are
on the spot," she told our Chattogram correspondent.
https://www.thedailystar.net/country/news/6-killed-gunfight-bandarban-1926433
------
Bangladesh backs UN Secretary-General’s call for
global ceasefire
July 07, 2020
Bangladesh and nine other countries handed over a
joint statement supporting UN Secretary-General Antonio Gueterres' appeal for
global ceasefire.
The statement, which received the overwhelming
endorsement by 172 UN member states, non-member observer states and observers,
was the strongest yet political support that the appeal has received so far.
"It sends a strong and clear message of
solidarity and compassion with those impacted by the hostilities amid the
Covid-19 pandemic," said a press statement of the Permanent Mission of
Bangladesh to the United Nations in New York.
Bangladesh, Ecuador, Egypt, Jamaica, Japan, Malaysia,
Oman, Senegal, Slovenia, and Sweden of the Joint Statement of Support to the
Secretary-General's Appeal for Global Ceasefire virtually met António on Monday
to officially hand over the statement.
In her conversation with the UN Secretary-General,
Bangladesh Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Rabab Fatima praised
him for his leadership role in guiding the global efforts to address the
pandemic especially in conflict situations.
"Your appeal has had important salutary effect on
many conflict situations, yet, many are not paying heed and some are applying
it selectively," she said.
In his response, the SG termed the joint statement as
'one of the best and most important endorsements to his appeal in the UN' and
thanked all the co-initiators for this.
While referring to some significant and successful
impacts of the appeal, he also admitted that much more remains to be done and
implementation remains the key. He stressed the importance of continued global
solidarity and its expansion to other areas.
The appeal has been the high point of the
secretary-general's efforts in garnering political support for pandemic response.
Bangladesh was also among the first rank of countries to have endorsed the
appeal once earlier through another platform when it was made on 23 March.
https://www.thedailystar.net/bangladesh-backs-un-secretary-generals-call-ceasefire-1926441
------
Europe
An Aid Worker, Silvia Romano, Says Islam Comforted Her
During Captivity of Somali Islamist Militants
06 July 2020
(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 6 - Silvia Romano, an aid worker
who converted to Islam during an 18-month detention by Somali Islamist
militants, said Monday her new faith had comforted her during her ordeal.
Speaking to online daily La Luce two months after
being freed, Romano said "after accepting the Islamic faith, I began to
look on my destiny with serenity in my soul".
Romano was crticised by rightwingers after converting,
and a nationalist opposition League MP called her a "neo-terrorist"
in parliament.
Prosecutors have opened a probe into a campaign of
Web-based hate against 25-year-old Milan native Romano, and police cars are
patrolling the street where she lives.
Romano was freed at the weekend after 18 months in
captivity by the Somali Al-Shabaab group, to whom she was handed over by a
kidnapping gang who snatched her in Kenya in November 2018.
Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio has denied an Al-Shabaab
spokesman's statement that the militants had received a four-million-euro
ransom for Romano.
Hatred on social media has been directed against
Romano's conversion to Islam, the fact that has did not overtly criticise
Al-Shabaab, her alleged naivety in travelling to a hotspot without proper
protection, and the fact that her case has allegedly ended up funding
terrorism.
A former League councillor in Veneto said she should
be hanged, and League MP Alessandro Pagano spurred a row with his
"neo-terrorist" remark.
Di Maio, former leader of the ruling
anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), said "spine-chilling things have
been said about Silvia, they have gone beyond any acceptable limit."
Romano has responded to the criticism by saying she adopted Islam freely and
intends to remain in the faith. (ANSA).
https://www.ansa.it/english/news/2020/07/06/silvia-romano-says-islam-comforted-her_3696e1da-101e-4ac0-897e-61b779636d87.html
------
The Muslim bereaved cruelly deprived of closure by
coronavirus
7 Jul 2020
Jusna Begum wakes up to her phone ringing at 1am. When
she answers, it’s an inconsolable woman who has just lost her father to
coronavirus.
This has become the new normal for Begum, despite her
being neither a grief counsellor nor a medic or chaplain. Rather, she is the
person who would usually have washed the bodies of the deceased – a fundamental
Muslim ritual in death.
But with the Covid-19 outbreak, this sacrosanct
religious process has been denied to thousands of families. Begum, 45, has been
inundated with distressed phone calls, and she warns that the impact is
worsening the mental health toll on a community already disproportionately hit
by the pandemic.
“Not only did these families lose someone, they felt
they couldn’t get closure as they were unable to go through the correct Islamic
processes before burial,” she told the Guardian.
“We couldn’t wash the bodies at all so the deceased
were being buried in the clothes that they went into hospital in. They came to
us in a black body bag and left in that same bag without it ever being opened.
Hundreds of bodies were buried like this.”
Funerals in Islam follow specific rites, janazah in
Arabic, and the burial is preceded by a simple ritual involving bathing and
shrouding the body, followed by prayer. Unless the circumstances of the death
are unusual, the bathing of the body is nearly always carried out by family
members of the deceased, with a mosque volunteer like Begum present to assist.
Begum, who is also the director of a domestic violence
charity in east London, helped to wash the bodies of some of the Muslim victims
of the Grenfell Tower fire three years ago, and said the ritual was an
essential part of the grieving process.
“When I help people wash a body, they talk about their
loved ones and tell little stories about them, they reminisce and have those
moments to remember them again. I feel like I get to know them too – the person
that has died – because you are surrounded by those that loved them.
“This time has reminded me of Grenfell – all that
horror that the community suffered. There are many similarities even though
they are two very different events. There is so much sadness with what has
happened with those that died during Covid.”
Begum describes how the body is washed in a similar
way to that of a newborn baby. The hair is shampooed, the nails are cleaned and
the body is fully cleansed before being wrapped in a shroud: five pieces of
white cotton cloth for a woman and three for a man.
“It is a way of the family putting them to rest and it
gives them those last moments with them, but coronavirus denied many families
this. They never got to say goodbye properly,” she said.
An analysis by the Office for National Statistics of
coronavirus-related deaths across England and Wales by ethnicity has shown
people from a black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) background are at a
greater risk of their death involving the virus.
Meanwhile, a report published by Public Health England
last month found that people of Bangladeshi heritage are dying at twice the
rate of their white counterparts. Other BAME groups had between 10% and 50%
higher risk of death.
Begum, who is of Bangladeshi heritage, says the
inability to carry out the correct burial rituals due to Covid-19 eventually
resulted in community elders beginning to take the pandemic seriously.
“There was a definite delay with people in this
community realising the severity of what was going on but once word started to
get round that the janazah wasn’t being carried out properly, the elders
started to panic and really began to understand what was happening. It was a
definite wake-up call for many,” she said.
In Bangladeshi communities, inequality within clinical
commissioning – where the health needs of smaller population groups have
consistently and historically not been met – has been cited as a factor in the
higher death toll. Other contributing factors include the high number of BAME
key workers, language barriers and the fact many members of these communities
live in multigenerational households.
Begum, whose mother-in-law recently died of
coronavirus, added: “There will be lasting trauma. People have talked to me
about having anxiety attacks because their relatives weren’t buried properly –
there is so much guilt associated with it.
“Even though [there is] absolutely nothing they could
have done, this disease has made people feel totally helpless and that will
have a lasting effect.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/07/the-muslim-bereaved-cruelly-deprived-of-closure-by-coronavirus
------
Manchester University Press criticised for publishing
book linked to Islamist advocacy group
6th July 2020
By David Toube
David Toube, policy director of the extremism think
tank Quilliam, said Cage has a “long and disturbing track record of rallying
support for dangerous terrorists”, adding it was a “slap in the face” for the
victims of the Manchester Arena bombing that Manchester University’s publishing
house is publishing the book.”
Haras Rafiq, also of Quilliam and a former Government
advisor on tackling extremism, said as someone born in Greater Manchester, he
was particularly insulted as one contributor, Fahad Ansari, had written for
Cage criticising the “unfairness” of the extradition from the UK to the US of
Abid Naseer, who was subsequently jailed for plotting to blow up the Manchester
Arndale Centre, a conviction he described as “weak”.
He said the book gave Cage a “veneer of academic
respectability”.
http://journal.quilliaminternational.com/2020/07/06/manchester-university-press-criticised-for-publishing-book-linked-to-islamist-advocacy-group/
-----
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle say UK should 'right'
past 'wrongs'
By Jaskiran Kaur
July 7, 2020
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry joined young leaders
from the Queen's Commonwealth Trust for a joint virtual engagement to discuss
matters related to justice and equal rights. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex
made the call from their new Los Angeles home where they have been residing
with their son Archie.
The video chat took place last week as a part of
online weekly sessions with Queen's Commonwealth Trusts that are conducted
every Wednesday. For their virtual appearance, the couple were joined on the
video chat with Chrisann Jarrett, co-founder of We Belong, Alicia Wallace,
director of Equality Bahamas, Mike Omoniyi, founder of The Common Sense Network
and Abdullahi Alim, the leader of the World Economic Forum's Global Shapers.
We Belong is a UK-based organisation that works with
young people who have migrated to the UK from other parts of the World. As for
Equality Bahamas, it is a community organisation working to promote women's
rights as human rights.
Talking to the young leaders, Prince Harry talked
about "acknowledging the past" of the Commonwealth and correcting the
wrong. He went on to say that this could be an "uncomfortable" task
but it needs to be done for the larger good.
"When you look across the Commonwealth, there is
no way that we can move forward unless we acknowledge the past. So many people
have done such an incredible job of acknowledging the past and trying to right
those wrongs, but I think we all acknowledge there is so much more still to do.
It's not going to be easy and in some cases, it's not going to be comfortable,
but it needs to be done, because, guess what, everybody benefits," said
Harry, whose grandmother is the Queen of Commonwealth.
He went on to talk about the issues of
"unconscious bias" and said only when we overcome that will we be
able to right the wrong and make the change in the society. "This change
is needed and it's coming," he said.
"We're going to have to be a little uncomfortable
right now because it's only in pushing through that discomfort that we get to
the other side of this and find the place where a high tide raises all ships.
Equality does not put anyone on the back foot, it puts us all on the same
footing - which is a fundamental human right," Meghan said during the
call.
Meanwhile, Daily Mail notes that Harry's statement
"appears to be a swipe at the British Empire" which has been ruled by
his family for years. He was also criticised for his comments by Tory MP Andrew
Rosindell stating: "That is not the appropriate thing to do. I'm not sure
his grandmother would be too pleased either."
ibtimes.co.uk/prince-harry-meghan-markle-say-uk-should-right-past-wrongs-1680371
-----
Mideast
Reconversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque may be a
vote-winner for Erdogan
YASAR YAKIS
July 06, 2020
A debate is again open in Turkey on the question of
reconverting the Hagia Sophia from a museum into a mosque.
Built nearly 1,500 years ago on the orders of
Byzantine Emperor Justinian, this cathedral is one of the oldest standing
shrines in the world, but it has a tumultuous history.
Fourth Crusader armies in 1204 captured Istanbul (then
named Constantinople) and ruthlessly sacked, looted, vandalized and destroyed
it. The whole city was plundered. Relics, golden objects, challises, plates and
furniture were scattered all around Europe. Today, some churches in Germany and
Italy are full of Byzantine belongings stolen from the Hagia Sophia and
elsewhere in the city.
Grand Duke Loukas Notaras, the last commander-in-chief
of the Byzantine navy, was so fed up with the unwelcome attitude of the
remaining Catholics in Istanbul (it had been recaptured by the Byzantines in
1261) that, in 1451, he is quoted as saying: “I would rather see a Turkish
turban in the midst of the city than the Latin miter.”
Two years later, Notaras’ wish materialized. The
Ottoman state seized Istanbul in 1453 and put an end to the Byzantine Empire.
The Ottomans converted the Hagia Sophia into a mosque and it served as such for
480 years.
In 1934, the founder of republican Turkey, Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk, thought that, as the Blue Mosque (aka the Sultan Ahmed Mosque) was
only a few hundred meters away from the Hagia Sophia, there was no shortage of
praying grounds for the Muslim worshippers in that neighborhood. And, as the
Hagia Sophia was of such cultural and historical importance, he decided to
convert it into a museum.
However, a religious order in Turkey recently applied
to Turkey’s top administrative court, claiming that Ataturk’s signature on the
decree that ordered the conversion of the Hagia Sophia was a fake. The Council
of State court met last week to debate the case. According to reports, the
public prosecutor said during the hearing that there was no evidence the
signature was a fake, but that the government could use its sovereign right to
convert the museum into a mosque.
It would be a contradiction for the Turkish government
to change the status of a monument on the UNESCO World Heritage List in its
territory, while on the other hand it is making strenuous efforts to get other
monuments on to this list.
In May, a Qur’an recitation session was organized in
the Hagia Sophia to celebrate the 567th anniversary of the conquest of
Istanbul. The sura “Al-Fath” was recited during this session. The ruling
Justice and Development Party (AKP) commissioned a poll to find out the
response of the public to holding such a session. It was reported that almost
75 percent of those polled supported the event. The AKP thus ascertained that
there was strong support for reconverting the building to a mosque.
Unrelated to the conquest of Istanbul, this particular
chapter of the Qur’an has a symbolic significance because it is about the
Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, which was signed in the sixth year of Hijri (A.D. 628)
between Prophet Muhammad and the Pagan notables of Makkah. According to the
provisions of this treaty, the Prophet desisted from his intention to perform
Umrah that year and postponed it to the following year. Thanks to this
pacifying tactic, Prophet Muhammad conquered Makkah the following year without
any fighting.
In March last year, the European Parliament adopted a
resolution on Turkey. It was an omnibus resolution, in which the members of
parliament usually compete to insert paragraphs to stain Turkey’s image. This
was no different, and one adopted clause opposed the reconversion of the Hagia
Sophia.
There is a strong lobby in certain European countries
— and especially in Greece — against the reconversion. However, hundreds of
mosques that were built during the 460 years of Ottoman rule in the territories
that make up Greece today have been converted into churches, military prisons,
cinemas or storage units, or were abandoned and allowed to fall into ruin. Arab
News reported in 2003 that Athens was the only EU capital city without an
official mosque. Meanwhile, there are nine Greek Orthodox churches in active
use in Istanbul. Turkey wishes that the members of the European Parliament
would remember this when they vote on such resolutions.
Four countries have so far made official statements
opposing Turkey’s intention to convert the museum: The US, France, Greece and
Russia. Turkey has slammed three of them but stayed quiet on Russia because
Ankara is on opposite sides of conflicts with Moscow in both Syria and Libya,
and it does not want to add a new area of confrontation.
It is difficult to guess what President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan will eventually do. As a pious believer, he may follow the Prophet
Muhammad’s Hudaybiyyah example and convert the Hagia Sophia into a mosque by
letting the opposing public opinion digest it slowly. He may also do so for the
sake of meeting the expectations of his own conservative electorate. This would
boost his votes.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1700741
------
Shia Cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani Symbol Of Iraqi
National Unity: Senior Cleric
July 7, 2020
Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Ali Alavi-Gorgani said
on Monday that Iraq's most prominent Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani
is a symbol of Iraqi national unity.
Ayatollah Alavi-Gorgani issued a message condemning
Saudi daily al-Sharq al-Awsat's insulting cartoon of Ayatollah Sistani, and
emphasized that there is no doubt that the Shiite authority has always played
an incomparable and unparalleled role in the fight against the global arrogance.
He added that Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani
influences people by his words and has become a symbol of Iraqi national unity
and resistance against the plans of arrogant enemies by his spiritual power.
Saudi Arabia's Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper insulted
Ayatollah Sistani in a cartoon that sparked a wave of anger and reactions
against Saudi Arabia and its media among Iraqis.
https://en.abna24.com/news//ayatollah-sistani-symbol-of-iraqi-national-unity-senior-cleric_1053128.html
-----
Gaza-based Jaysh Al-Islam threatens Israel with jihad
if sovereignty proceeds
July 6, 2020
The Gaza-based jihadi group Jaysh Al-Islam has
released a video threatening Israel with a violent response if it declares
sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria, according to a report shared
exclusively with JNS on Monday by the Middle East Media Research Institute’s
Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor.
According to the MEMRI JTTM report, the July 1 video
titled “Evil Is the Morning of Those Who Were Warned” features a speaker identified
as Abu Maslamah, who reads a message warning Israelis that they will face a
violent response should they proceed with the annexation and urges Muslims to
take action to prevent it.
Abu Maslamah is filmed against a background of images
and footage of Jerusalem, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the
Rock.
His message begins with praise of Al-Aqsa in the
Islamic tradition: “Allah tied the mention of Al-Aqsa Mosque to the Holy Mosque
[in Mecca], to teach people that it is one of Islam’s most important ritual
[sites], which it is forbidden to abandon, to give up or surrender.”
Abu Maslamah accuses the “unbelievers” of having
brought the Jews to Palestine in order to persecute Muslims, and allied openly
and secretly against them while the Muslims sit silently and do nothing.
He continues: “Today, we see that the enemies plan to
annex the Jordan Valley, not knowing that by this they are toppling themselves
into the blazing fire.”
He also mentions the kidnapping of Israel Defense
Forces’ soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006, in which Jaysh Al-Islam cooperated with
Hamas, warning Israelis: “We bring them tidings of a day that is approaching, a
day in which they won’t be benefited by repentance or admonishment. A day when
the sound of rifles and weapons will rise, so come to jihad, come to the
struggle. … We will turn every piece of land they have robbed into their
graves.”
During the final minutes of the video, the screen
behind the speaker features footage of a military exercise conducted several
months ago by Jaysh Al-Islam just outside of Beit Lahia’s waste-water treatment
plant, approximately two kilometers from the border with Israel.
A unit of militants can be seen storming a model IDF
outpost and blowing up a model Israeli tank. The final moments of the video
show the practice-firing of an ATGM.
https://www.jns.org/gaza-based-jaysh-al-islam-threatens-israel-with-jihad-over-sovereignty-plan-in-new-video/
------
Turkey will not dare turn Hagia Sophia into a mosque,
says Greek archbishop
Jul 06 2020
Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens and All Greece,
primate of the Orthodox Church of Greece, said on Sunday that Turkey would not
“dare” turn the centuries-old monument Hagia Sophia into a mosque, Kathimerini
newspaper reported.
During a televised interview, the archbishop said
Turkey was “playing whatever games are in hand,” and that the monument,
currently serving as a museum after its conversion into a mosque upon
Istanbul’s Ottoman conquest, would not be returned to its status as a mosque.
Following a Quran recital inside the 6th century
monument in late May on the anniversary of the conquest, the Turkish government
and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stepped up moves to open it to worship as a
regular mosque. Turkey’s top administrative court, the Council of State, said
last week that it will make a ruling on the matter within 15 days.
Greece and the Greek Orthodox Church have strongly
spoken out against the possibility of conversion for one of the most
significant cathedrals for the Orthodox faith, urging Turkey to maintain the
UNESCO World Heritage Site as it stands, and warning against inter-religious
tensions.
Last week, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew said a
conversion would “disappoint millions of Christians around the world”.
The Russian Orthodox Church also joined the
conversation on Saturday, with a senior official telling Russian news agency
Interfax that turning Hagia Sophia into a mosque would be “unacceptable”.
https://ahvalnews.com/hagia-sophia/turkey-will-not-dare-turn-hagia-sophia-mosque-says-greek-archbishop
-----
Islamic Jihad sets conditions for Palestinian
reconciliation
06/07/20
Sa’idNakhala, a senior leader of the Islamic Jihad
terrorist organization, said on Sunday that a removal of all the punitive
measures taken by the Palestinian Authority against the Gaza Strip is a
precondition for reconciliation in the Palestinian Arab arena.
In an interview with the Hamas-affiliated website
Al-Risala, Nakhala said that the starting of a new chapter in relations between
the Fatah movement and the Islamic organizations requires the PA to change its
policy towards the Gaza Strip.
He mentioned in this context the closure of the bank
accounts of terrorist prisoners who had received a monthly allowance from the
Palestinian Authority in accordance with the prison sentences they are serving,
a cut in public sector workers' wages and a budget cut for the Gaza Strip.
Nakhala noted that it is precisely now that the Gaza
Strip needs to be strengthened and that equal distribution of resources between
Judea, Samaria and Gaza must be ensured.
The punitive measures on Gaza were imposed by PA
chairman Mahmoud Abbas as part of the ongoing feud between his Fatah faction
and Hamas. The two have been at odds since 2007, when Hamas took over Gaza in a
bloody coup.
The two groups signed a reconciliation agreement in
October of 2017, as part of which Hamas was to transfer power in Gaza back to
Fatah two months later. That deadline was initially put back by 10 days and
then appeared to have been cancelled altogether after it reportedly hit
“obstacles”.
Last week, however, the two rival groups held a rare
joint press conference in which they pledged a united campaign against Israel's
prospective plans to apply sovereignty in parts of Judea and Samaria.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/283047
-----
Israel orders demolition of 30 Palestinian facilities
in al-Quds village
06 July 2020
The ‘Israeli Civil Administration’ on Monday
distributed evacuation and demolition notices to that end, the Palestinian
Information Center reported.
Last month, the United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported a 250-percent increase in
the number of structures targeted across the occupied territories. The UN,
which recognizes Jerusalem al-Quds as an occupied territory, has urged Israel
to halt the demolitions.
The UN says Israeli demolition of Palestinian
structures in the occupied West Bank increased by 250 percent within the first
half of the current year.
International organizations and rights groups say
Israeli demolitions are an attempt to uproot Palestinians from their native
territory and confiscate more land for the expansion of illegal settlements.
On June 30, Israeli authorities confiscated private
Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank to build new roads for settlements.
The Israeli military started bulldozing vast tracts of
land in the town of Huwara near the southern Palestinian city of Nablus.
Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future
independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.
They are currently facing even greater repression as
President Donald Trump of the United States has already given Israel the green
light for land grab in his self-proclaimed ‘deal of the century,’ which was
unveiled in January with the aim of re-drawing the Middle East map.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/07/06/629044/Israel-demolition-Palestinian-facilities
-----
Iran urges UN to pursue fate of its diplomats abducted
in Lebanon
07 July 2020
Iran has called on the United Nations to help set up a
fact-finding committee to shed light on the fate of four Iranian diplomats
kidnapped in Lebanon about 40 years ago.
On July 4, 1982, the year Israel invaded Lebanon,
Iranian diplomts Ahmad Motevasselian, Seyyed Mohsen Mousavi,
TaqiRastegarMoqaddam and Kazem Akhavan were kidnapped by a group of
Israel-backed gunmen at an inspection post in northern Lebanon.
In a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres
on Monday, Iran’s envoy to the UN Majid Takht-Ravanchi said the Islamic
Republic believes the four diplomats were handed over to Israeli forces
immediately after the abduction in a region controlled by Tel Aviv at the time.
He wrote that the UN chief is expected to support
Tehran’s call for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to set up
a fact-finding committee to investigate the fate of the missing Iranian
nationals.
Takht-Ravanchi referred to the abduction of diplomats
as a move against the international law, especially rules of human rights, and
highlighted the UN’s role in dealing with the issue and holding the Israeli
regime accountable for kidnapping the four nationals.
Earlier on Friday, Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs
once again hailed cooperation and measures taken by the Lebanese government to
determine the fate of the four diplomats and said the UN, the ICRC and other
international bodies as well as Lebanese officials should fulfil their legal
and humanitarian duty and make their utmost efforts to shed light on
Iran calls on the UN and the International Committee
of the Red Cross to seriously pursue the case of four Iranian diplomats
kidnapped in Lebanon.
The Islamic Republic places "legal and political
responsibility of the abduction and this act of terror" on the Tel Aviv
regime and its supporters given the occupation of Lebanon at that time by the
Israeli regime, which was carried out with the full support of the United
States, the statement added.
"Despite the elapse of many years of this
criminal and terrorist act, the international community and so-called advocates
of human rights have unfortunately carried out no serious action vis-à-vis this
crime," the ministry said.
"The Zionist regime, which still continues to
commit crimes and violate international law with the support of the US, is
evading responsibility in this respect," it added.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/07/07/629058/Iran-UN-diplomats-kidnapped-lebanon-ravanchi
------
US government must compensate losses it has inflicted
on Iran: Zarif
06 July 2020
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says
regardless of who wins the forthcoming presidential election in the United
States, the next American government must make up for the losses that its
predecessor has inflicted on the Iranian nation.
Zarif made the remarks in a virtual address to the
annual Mediterranean Dialogues 2020 conference, which was hosted by Italy, on
Monday.
Iran’s top diplomat stressed that it doesn’t make any
difference to Iran who becomes the next US president, because the new
government must take steps for the compensation of losses incurred by Iran as a
result of unilateral measures taken by the US administration.
"It is not important for us who will win the
upcoming election in the US, but it is important for us to see Washington
rectify its approach towards Tehran," he noted.
Pointing to the US' economic terrorism against the
Iranian nation, Zarif said those who claim that they have not imposed any
medical sanctions on the Islamic Republic should know that it has not been
impossible for Tehran to obtain medicines due to the banking restrictions
imposed on the country.
Late in June, Iran’s Foreign Ministry censured the
White House for its desperate efforts to lead an international campaign to use
‘economic, medical terrors against Iranian human rights.’
The Ministry pointed to the “horrible and deadly”
violation of human rights by the regime in the United States and said, “From
depriving Iran of its own financial resources for making ends meet, to banning
delivery of the COVID19-related supplies for saving Iranians' lives, the US
regime is desperately leading the world campaign to use economic, medical
terrors against Iranian #HumanRights.”
Elsewhere in his address, Zarif said the massive sale
of US weapons and military equipment to different countries has been among
factors behind the intensification of instability in the world.
The weapons the United States sells only to Saudi
Arabia each year is three times the total Iranian military and defense budget,
Iran's foreign minister said.
US President Donald Trump in 2017 closed an arms deal
with Saudi Arabia, which is worth $350 billion over 10 years and $110 billion
that will take effect immediately.
"This package of defense equipment and services
support the long-term security of Saudi Arabia and the [Persian] Gulf region in
the face of Iranian threats, while also bolstering the Kingdom's ability to
contribute to counter terrorism operations across the region, reducing the
burden on the US military to conduct those operations," the White House
said in a statement at the time.
The top Iranian diplomat further stressed the
importance of diplomacy as the most effective means to solve all international
issues, saying that the landmark nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed between Iran and major world
powers in 2015, was a great diplomatic achievement, which was clinched
following serious and long-term negotiations and hard work.
Zarif reiterated that the Islamic Republic has
complied with its commitments under the JCPOA in full, saying that Tehran
signed the JCPOA with open eyes and, therefore, triggered the deal’s dispute
resolution mechanism (DRM) at the right time.
Iran's foreign minister argued that five years since
the conclusion of the JCPOA, Iran has not yet reaped the economic benefits of
the deal due to the acts of sabotage by certain sides and Europeans' lack of
commitment to their obligations.
Trump unilaterally abandoned the JCPOA, signed between
Iran, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, in May
2018 and reinstated the anti-Iran sanctions, which had been lifted by the
accord.
Under Washington’s pressure, the three European
signatories to the JCPOA have so far failed to live up to their contractual
obligations to protect Tehran’s business interests against the sanctions.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/07/06/629040/Zarif-Mediterranean-Dialogues-US-JCPOA-sanctions-weapons-Saudi-Arabia-
------
Iran’s progress, capabilities causes of concern for
US, Israel: FM Zarif
06 July 2020
Iran’s foreign minister says the pressures exerted by
the United States and Israel on the Islamic Republic prove that both regimes
are concerned about the new grounds Tehran has broken in recent years and its
continued progress.
Speaking in a meeting of senior officials of Iran’s
Foreign Ministry on Monday, Mohammad Javad Zarif said, “Perhaps, no other
country has been under such mounting pressure from certain [world] powers,
especially the United States, and the Zionist regime.”
He added that the Iranian Foreign Ministry has been
constantly dealing with countries and groups outside Iran, which use all their
power to mount pressure on the Iranian people.
Zarif noted that pressures put on Iran by Washington
and Tel Aviv stem from the fact that both regimes “are concerned about Iran’s
growth and capabilities, which has prompted them to take action to confront
it.”
Zarif’s remarks came just a day after the commander of
the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy, Brigadier General Alireza
Tangsiri, announced that the country has developed underground cities along the
country’s entire southern shores, including the Persian Gulf and the Sea of
Oman, which can accommodate both naval vessels and missiles.
“We [in the Iranian Armed Forces] have underground
cities, which house both vessels and missiles,” the commander said, adding,
“Our entire shoreline [in southern Iran] is equipped with [various types of]
arms.”
“Another thing I am going to say [to enemies] with
certainty is that we are present everywhere in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of
Oman and ... in places you cannot even imagine. We are your nightmare,”
Tangsiri added.
Addressing the same meeting, Iranian Deputy Foreign
Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araqchi said the United States should not
be allowed to once again portray Iran as a "security threat."
"Every move that would introduce Iran as a
security threat on the international scene would be playing in the US
court," Araqchi said.
He added that US President Donald Trump is facing a
difficult situation after the recent developments in the country and
"therefore, we should not give a pretext to the US to use Iran as a
bargaining chip in the [upcoming] US [presidential] election campaign."
He said Washington has increased its so-called maximum
pressure campaign against Iran to its highest level over the past six months
after it failed to achieve its objectives.
The senior Iranian diplomat warned that the US is
currently pursuing its "main objective" that is "to once again
send [the case of] Iran to the [United Nations] Security Council and has
mobilized all its power to this effect," adding that such "a
dangerous game" may cause strategic damage for Iran if the Iranian side
played into the US' hands.
Pointing to the outcomes of the international nuclear
agreement -- known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) -- signed
between Iran and major world powers in 2015, Araqchi said, "Foiling a
security agreement that was made between the US and Israelis after many years
was one of the JCPOA's achievements. We intended to prevent the reformation of
this consensus over the past months."
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has said that the US
policy to exert 'maximum pressure' on Iran has already failed and all economic
indexes show that the country has weathered the worst phase of that policy.
Rouhani made the remarks in a press conference with
domestic and international media in Tehran in February, saying, “All [economic]
indexes show that we have weathered [the worst phase of] the US' maximum pressure
[policy]. Americans have reached the conclusion that the path they have chosen
[for dealing with Iran] has been based on a wrong strategy.”
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/07/06/629019/Zarif-Araqchi-JCPOA-US-Israel-Trump-maximum-pressure
-----
Arab world
Egypt to reopen Al-Hussein Mosque, isolate its shrine
6 Jul 2020
Egypt has decided to partially reopen Cairo’s iconic
Al-Hussein Mosque as of 7 July following a few days of closure over
worshippers' non-compliance with the new coronavirus precautions.
Egypt allowed religious venues, closed for a few
months due to the pandemic, to reopen starting from 27 June with mandatory
regulations, including opening mosques only for 30 minutes for prayer services
and closing doors leading to shrines, existing in some places, in a bid to
reduce the risk of infection.
Some worshippers at Al-Hussein Mosque, however, had
violated the rules last week and stood around the outside walls of the shrine
located inside the well-known mosque, according to a statement by the religious
endowments ministry on Monday.
The ministry, which runs Islamic places of worship
nationwide, has decided to close the mosque, sack its administrative director,
and fine two imams and other staffers.
On Monday, however, the ministry announced the partial
reopening of the mosque, completely isolating the place of prayer from the
shrine in order to prevent possible crowding.
"The decision was taken given the place of the
mosque in Egyptians' hearts and those who love Ahl El-Bayt ("the family of
the Prophet Mohamed")," the ministry added.
The Old Cairo mosque houses a religiously significant
shrine believed to be the burial place of Al-Hussein, the grandson of the
prophet.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/373782/-.aspx
-----
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank raises foreign ownership limit
to 40%
July 07, 2020
Dubai: Foreign investors can pick up to 40 per cent in
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank from today. The earlier limit was set at 25 per cent.
Banking stocks in the UAE have been leading the way in
raising foreign ownership limits. “In terms of trading volumes, the ADIB move
will generate higher activity,” said one trader. “But in terms of prices, we
are not expecting much movement, at least initially.”
As of now, foreign owners have a 3.78 per cent
ownership in ADIB, while GCC nationals own a further 1.78 per cent. Another
3.78 per cent is with other Arab nationals.
On Tuesday, ADIB’s share price will start at Dh3.78.
Its market capitalization is at Dh13.72 billion.
https://gulfnews.com/business/markets/abu-dhabi-islamic-bank-raises-foreign-ownership-limit-to-40-1.1594098281317
-----
ROAD BLOCKED IN FRONT OF ABDEL NASSER MOSQUE IN
CORNICHE MAZRAA
06 Jul 2020
NNA - The road in front of Abdel Nasser mosque in
Corniche Mazraa has been blocked by protesters with blazing trash containers,
NNA field reporter said on Monday, adding that that road leading to UNESCO
remains opened to traffic.
The protesters chanted slogans deploring the country's
ailing living conditions and the incessant power cuts, NNA reporter added.
http://nna-leb.gov.lb/en/show-news/117468/Road-blocked-in-front-of-Abdel-Nasser-mosque-in-Corniche-Mazraa
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Iraqi expert on Islamic State group shot dead in
Baghdad
7 July 2020
A leading Iraqi expert on the Islamic State (IS) and other
armed groups was shot dead in Baghdad on Monday after receiving threats from
Iran-backed militias, security and interior officials said.
Hisham al-Hashemi, 47, was shot near his home in the
Zeyouneh area of Baghdad and pronounced dead at a hospital, the officials said,
speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
"Yes, he passed away and his body is now in the
hospital freezer," said Saad Maan, head of the interior ministry's media
relations department.
A medical source at the hospital confirmed to AFP news
agency that Hashemi had suffered "a hail of bullet wounds in several body
parts".
The investigator assigned to the killing told AFP that
Hashemi, 47, walked out of his home and was getting into his car when three
gunmen on two motorcycles fired at him from metres away.
Hashemi was wounded and ducked behind his car, but the
gunmen approached and shot him four times in the head at close range, the
investigator said.
However weeks before his death, Hashemi told
confidantes he feared Iran-backed militia groups were targeting him. Friends
had advised him to flee to the northern city of Irbil, in the semi-autonomous
Kurdish region.
His death comes as the government grapples with a
spate of rocket attacks targeting US interests in the country believed to be
orchestrated by Iran-backed militia groups. A raid last week detained 14
members of the powerful Kataib Hezbollah group. All but one were released.
Al-Hashemi was a strong supporter of the popular
protests that swept across Baghdad and Iraq's Shia-majority south in October -
protests that had slammed the government as corrupt, inefficient and beholden
to neighbouring Iran.
More than 500 people lost their lives in
protest-related violence, including several prominent activists who were shot in
Baghdad, Basra in the south and other cities.
"Cowards killed my friend and one of the
brightest researchers in Iraq, Hisham al-Hashemi. I am shocked," wrote
Harith Hasan, who was an academic researcher before becoming an adviser to
Iraq's current premier.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iraq-islamic-state-expert-hisham-hashemi-shot-dead-baghdad
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Emirates Islamic named ‘Islamic Bank of the Year – UAE
2020’
7 July 2020
Emirates Islamic, one of the leading Islamic financial
institutions in the UAE, has announced that it has been awarded the prestigious
‘Islamic Bank of the Year – UAE 2020’ award by the globally renowned Financial
Times’ monthly publication, The Banker.
The global award recognises Emirates Islamic’s leading
position among the world’s best Islamic financial institutions. In awarding the
title to Emirates Islamic, The Banker stated that “Emirates Islamic has been
named Islamic Bank of the Year in the UAE for the first time, thanks to its
impressive financial performance, improving customer services, and expanded
product portfolio.”
Salah Amin, Chief Executive Officer, Emirates Islamic
said: “At Emirates Islamic, we are extremely pleased to be named ‘Islamic Bank
of the Year – UAE 2020’ by Financial Times’ The Banker publication. The award
by The Banker recognises not only our financial success over the years but also
is testimony to our product and service innovations which have been paramount
to become a leader in the Islamic banking sector in the UAE.”
Salah Amin added: “Islamic banking has grown
consistently over the years, and Emirates Islamic has played a pioneering role
to drive the growth in this sector and support the Government’s goal of making
Dubai the global capital of the Islamic economy. As part of our
customer-centric strategy, we have invested heavily in technology and digital
banking solutions to provide our customers with a superior customer experience.
"We have always embraced innovation as one of our
core strategic pillars - we were the first Islamic bank to launch a Mobile
Banking app in the UAE, first Islamic bank to launch Apple Pay in the UAE and
the first Islamic bank in the world to launch Chat Banking through WhatsApp.
Going forward, we will continue to make further strides towards our goal of
creating a superior banking experience for our customers and maintaining our
position as the nation’s preferred Islamic Bank.”
Emirates Islamic delivered a strong set of results in
2019 with net profit of AED1.06 billion, surpassing the one billion dirham mark
for the first time.
The recognition from The Banker follows a series of
local and international accolades received by Emirates Islamic in recent
months, in recognition of its strong record of performance and innovation in
banking. The Bank was named ‘Best Islamic Financial Institution in UAE’ 2020 in
New York-based Global Finance magazine’s list of the ‘World’s Best Islamic
Financial Institutions.’
Emirates Islamic was also recognised as 2019’s ‘Best
Islamic Bank’ and the ‘Most Innovative Islamic Bank’ by the World Finance
Magazine’s global Islamic Finance Awards. The Bank was also awarded the ‘Most
Innovative Islamic Bank’ by Islamic Finance News, a leading global Islamic
finance news provider.
http://www.tradearabia.com/news/BANK_369966.html
------
Africa
Islamic Development Bank earmarks $2.3 billion to
fight COVID-19
6th July 2020
The global fight against COVID-19 received a boost on
Monday with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group earmarking $2.3 billion
to tackle the rampaging scourge.
The assistance also comes with some robust initiatives
to be implemented in partnership with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry
of Economy and Alternative Investment Market (AIM).
The bank in a statement said the prime goal behind the
initiative was to promote and provide a robust platform for the investment and
prosperous trade opportunities in member countries.
A crowd of over 1000 engaged participants comprising
of exceptional entities, seasonal practitioners, Government officials,
individual investors, business associations, entrepreneurs, Multilateral and
financial institutions, Chairmen, Presidents & CEOs of local/international
companies, Chambers of Commerce & Industry and Investment promotion
agencies, came together to celebrate in the IsDB Group.
Private Sector Action Response to COVID-19 webinar and
launching new online initiatives was inaugurated by Dr Bandar Hajjar, President
of Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB Group), Mrs Nevin Gamea, Minister of
Trade and Industry of Egypt, and Mr Abdullah Ahmed Saleh, Undersecretary of UAE
Ministry of Economy.
The main objective of the webinar, the bank added, was
to discuss the challenges facing the Private Sector and Global Economy during
the COVID-19 outbreak. The IsDB Group Private Sector entities also presented
immediate joint action response and the future outlook to combat the COVID-19
pandemic, whilst incorporating the new reality. The webinar highlighted the
IsDB Group’s US$2.3 billion strategic preparedness and response programme for
COVID-19 under its 3Rs approach “Respond, Restore and Restart”.
A prime goal behind the initiative is to promote and
provide a robust platform for the investment and prosperous trade opportunities
in member countries. Estimated numbers of Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs)
attractions in member countries show the annual FDI inflows and outflows in
2019 that help to assess imminent prospects and growth opportunities.
During the webinar, three online initiatives were
launched by IsDB Group Private Sector Entities in partnership with the UAE
Ministry of Economy and AIM. The motive behind these unique initiatives was to
help the OIC Member Countries’ economy and support the private sector, trade,
exports and FDI in member countries.
https://www.sunnewsonline.com/islamic-development-bank-earmarks-2-3-billion-to-fight-covid-19/
------
Islamic group wants Muslims, Christians to install,
bury traditional rulers in Yoruba land
July 7, 2020
By John Owen Nwachukwu
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has declared that it
was wrong for only traditional religion to be installing and burying kings and
other traditional rulers in Yoruba land.
The Muslim group said this while backing a bill that
will allow traditional rulers to be installed or buried after death according
to their faiths that has gone through the second reading in the Ogun State
House of Assembly.
The bill, known as HB No 36/OG/2020 – is a Bill for a
law to provide for the Preservation, Protection and Exercise by the traditional
rulers of their fundamental rights to be installed and buried according to
their religions or beliefs and for other related matters.
MURIC position was contained in a statement on Tuesday
signed by its Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, where it described the bill
as long overdue, consistent with the spirit of democracy and a sine qua non for
freedom of religion.
“We hail Hon. Akeem Balogun for sponsoring the bill
that will allow traditional rulers to be installed or buried after death
according to their faith. We equally commend those lawmakers who supported it.
This bill is long overdue, consistent with the spirit of democracy and a sine
qua non for freedom of religion,” it said.
“The imposition of only one religion (i.e. traditional
religion) during installation and burial on all Yoruba Obas is an infringement
of their Allah-given fundamental human rights. It is like life imprisonment for
them. Yoruba kings have the right to choose the manner of their installation
and no one has the right to cut a king off his brethren in faith.
“Besides, the world is changing and Yorubaland cannot
afford to maintain an archaic and anachronistic system particularly when such
erodes the liberty to enter into covenant with one’s Lord regarding how he will
rule his people and how he will meet his Lord in the Hereafter. These are
fundamental issues which no homo sapien should be deprived of.
“In this regard, we commend traditional rulers who
have expressed their opposition to the outdated system. For instance, the
Awujale of Ijebu-Ode, Oba SikiruAdetona, has rejected the old system and declared
his desire to be buried according to his religion (Islam) whenever he dies. Oba
AdedapoTejuosho, the Osile of Oke-Ona Egba, has also been installing the Oluwo
and other chiefs with anointing oil as a born again Christian.
“The proposed bill will emancipate such rulers from
the Yoruba traditional system which is replete with monopoly and intolerance.
It should be noted that many qualified candidates to the throne have avoided
contesting for it because of their fear that it would make them do certain
things which are inconsistent with their faith.
“We posit that if all the citizens in a city are
subjects of the Oba; if the citizens belong to different faiths; if the Oba is
to rule over all his subjects; then traditionalists have no right to impose their
own faith alone on every Oba. These qualities of intolerance and imposition are
self-evident in the way traditionalists declare curfews and forcefully recruit
adherents to their faith.
“Whereas Chapter 4, Section 41 of the 1999
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) says inter alia,
‘Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to
reside in any part thereof, and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from
Nigeria or refused entry thereby or exit therefrom’, traditionalists are in the
habit of ignoring this constitutional provision and imposing curfew
arbitrarily.
“In law, only the state government on the advice of
the state commissioner of police can impose curfew on a town. Even then, such
imposition must be based on adverse security report. But traditionalists will
not listen. They force everyone to stay indoor and disorganize social and
economic activities at will. The lives of women in labour during such unlawful
curfews are endangered while students who have examinations stand the risk of
failure. The forceful conversion of children of their deceased members to the
traditional faith is another ugly dimension which reveals their dictatorial
propensity.
“MURIC, therefore, welcomes the new bill with open
arms. It will clip the wings of traditionalists particularly their gymnastic
religiosity. However, we charge law enforcement agents to ensure that the bill
operates successfully when it becomes law. It is one thing to enact a law but
it is another thing to ensure that it is obeyed. Experience has shown that
security agents have not summoned the courage to challenge traditionalists when
the latter take the law into their hands. This is where the state government
needs to watch. We also call on other states in the region to emulate the bold
step taken by Ogun State.
“As we draw the curtain, we reiterate our positive
position on the proposed bill to allow traditional rulers to be installed or
buried according to their faiths. It is a major milestone in the democratization
of rulership in Yoruba communities. Henceforth, law enforcement agents must
deal with traditionalists who impose illegal curfews. State assemblies in
Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti should also introduce the same bill and pass
it into law. Apart from being anachronistic, traditional system is
characterized with tyranny, intolerance and dictatorship. It is time to
liberate the kings and the citizenry in Yorubaland.”
https://dailypost.ng/2020/07/07/islamic-group-wants-muslims-christians-to-install-bury-traditional-rulers-in-yoruba-land/
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Muslim leaders read mischief in the new CRA formula
By JUDAH BEN-HUR
July 6th 2020
Muslim leaders read mischief in the new CRA formula
which reduced allocation to 8 counties by Sh11.3billion, want formula deferred.
The move has seen a reduction of about Sh2 billion in
most cases in Northern Kenya and over a billion shillings in other ASALs and
Coast counties.
Leaders from the Arid and Semi-Arid areas (ASAL)
counties have cried foul in the recent reduction of county allocations to the
region in what they see as a sinister motive to deny them the ability to
deliver quality services and projects that will improve lives of residents.
“If this is allowed devolution would be gravely
impacted negatively and most of the current ongoing projects will stall,” read
the statement by the leaders of Northern Kenya.
“The revised Revenue Sharing formula has unfairly
targeted to reduce the funds of the ASAL counties by interfering with the
parameters that would have favoured these ASALs such as landmass and increasing
considerations for population-based on the disputed Census figures of 2019
which we are contesting in court,” read the statement.
Some of the counties affected included Wajir which has
had a reduction of Sh1.947 billion, Mandera Sh1.873 billion, Marsabit Sh1.870
billion, Tana River Sh1.558 billion, Garissa Sh 1.287billion, Mombasa Sh1.025
billion, Kwale Sh 0.995billion and, Kilifi Sh0.878 billion.
According to the ASAL leader, the changes are a hard
blow for the counties which suffered a devastating drought last year, recent
floods in May and April and landslides and a locust invasion which is still a
plague in the region and the new challenge of dealing with the coronavirus
pandemic.
Malice was also hinted by the leaders who claim that
the data of the number of people seeking medical services is fabricated even as
the new formulae increase the parameters of people who have been visiting
health facilities.
“The ASALs have the lowest number of health facilities
in the country because of the government’s deliberate neglect of the region for
the first fifty years after independence through what was commonly referred to
as marginalization,” read the statement.
The leaders also stated that the equitable allocation
of resources between counties is “not a favour but a right as Kenyans of equal
status.”
“If this discriminatory formula is implemented,
leaders from these 18 counties will find it difficult to convince the public to
support important government agendas such as BBI and the referendum,” read the
statement.
Prior to devolution, the region was deeply
marginalized with little services from the former central government trickling
to the dry and arid areas of Northern Kenya.
https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001377767/muslim-leaders-read-mischief-in-the-new-cra-formula#
------
Africa’s Biggest Investment Takes Shape Amid Islamist
Threat
July 5, 2020
By Borges Nhamire
Dozens of soldiers clutching AK-47s and grenade
launchers watch over roaring bulldozers on the white sand beach that meets a
tropical turquoise sea. They’re guarding Africa’s biggest investment: a $23
billion project to export Mozambique’s natural gas from an area increasingly
besieged by an Islamist insurgency.
Companies led by Total SA will pump the gas from wells
about 40 kilometers (25 miles) offshore, cool it to temperatures below minus
260 degrees Fahrenheit so that it turns to liquid, then ship it to electricity
plants from France to China. The consortium is about to finalize almost $16 billion
in project financing -- another record for the continent.
“The work is immense,” said Ronan Bescond, the
44-year-old French chemical engineer who Total chose to lead the project after
a career of nearly two decades at the company. “The first cargo of LNG must be
in 2024. And we are on the right track,” he said to a handful of reporters in a
prefabricated room at the site 32 kilometers south of the Rovuma River that
marks the border with Tanzania.
To achieve the target of first production for an
undertaking worth billions of dollars more than Mozambique’s entire economy,
developers need to move thousands of tons of equipment through territory thick
with Islamic State-aligned insurgents. At one stage, a Covid-19 outbreak saw
the Total site accounting for three in four of the country’s confirmed
infections. All this as natural-gas prices plunged to near 25-year lows.
Last week, they raided Mocimboa da Praia for a third
time, and occupied the town for as long as three days. It’s a crucial supply
hub just 60 kilometers south of the project site and the closest port.
At least eight workers for Total subcontractors Fenix
Construction Services Lda died when their vehicle was ambushed in the attack,
the company said in a statement. Three workers are still missing, it said.
Before the gas discoveries and insurgency, the remote
coastline was more famous for luxury tropical island resorts. Last month, one
of the nearby hotels offered a discount price of $19,820 a night to hire out an
island as a refuge from the coronavirus.
The private military company that Mozambique hired in
April to provide air support to government troops in the form of helicopters
fitted with machine guns has struggled to quell the violence. Lionel Dyck, the
founder of Dyck Advisory Group, the firm the government employed, declined to
comment when contacted by mobile phone.
“The insurgency is a challenge but we’re happy that
our defense and security forces have been playing their role,” Max Tonela,
Mozambique’s energy and natural resources minister, told reporters during the
June 19 site visit. “We all as Mozambicans must fight against this evil that
comes from external attacks.”
About 1,300 people have died in the violence, with a
further 220,000 displaced since the first attack three years ago, which also
took place at Mocimboa da Praia.
For the second time, IS referred directly to the
projects in a weekly newsletter this month. The group said that it would be
“delusional” to think that the government could protect the investments, and
warned other countries against getting involved.
The marginalization of young men in a region that’s
predominantly Muslim and 1,900 kilometers away from the capital, Maputo, has
helped lead to radicalization that’s fueled the insurgency, according to
researchers including SaideHabibe at the Maputo-based Institute of Social and Economic
Studies who have studied the origins of the fighters.
Total’s project will hire 14,000 people at peak
construction, of which at least 5,000 will be Mozambican and many from the
region, Bescond said at the briefing, wearing a surgical mask, as all visitors
to the site must do to prevent another outbreak of the coronavirus.
The financial rewards are worth the cost to the
government of the soldiers patrolling the vast compound and snipers on its
perimeter fence -- Total’s estimate is $50 billion in direct and indirect
revenue over 25 years for the $15 billion economy.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-05/africa-s-biggest-investment-takes-shape-under-islamist-threat
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New Zealand
'Asleep on the job': Police warned of another mosque threat
before massacre
By Praveen Menon
July 7, 2020
Wellington: New Zealand police and security services
were warned of a threat against another mosque for the same day that a gunman
killed 51 Muslim worshippers in Christchurch in 2019, an Islamic women's group
told an inquiry into the shooting massacre.
The Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand said it
warned police and security services repeatedly about threats from white
supremacists, including when they received a Facebook message threatening to
burn the Koran outside a mosque in Hamilton on March 15, the same day as the
Christchurch attack.
Although the threat was not directly connected to the
mass shooting, extra security measures could have been taken at all mosques,
said the submission to the closed-door inquiry which was made public on
Tuesday.
"If there had been such a strategy, then the
message would have alerted every mosque in the country to a threat to one
mosque on Friday 15 March 2019 and for all mosques to take extra security
measures. Whether or not the threat was connected to the Christchurch killer is
irrelevant."
Armed with semi-automatic weapons, Australian Brenton
Tarrant, a suspected white supremacist, attacked two mosques in Christchurch
that day, broadcasting the country's worst mass shooting live on Facebook.
The council's submission said police, security
services and government representatives were focused only on combating
terrorism by Muslim extremists, leaving the community vulnerable to the rising
alt-right movement.
"Evidence indicates that public sector employees
were, at best, asleep on the job and, at worst, intentionally ignoring our
pleas and actively undermining our work," Aliya Danzeisen, who leads the
group's government engagement, said in a statement.
Police said no comment would be made until the Royal
Commission had concluded. However, on the specific threat in the report it said
the person was identified and formally warned.
Threats to the Muslim community have continued since
the attack, with a threatening social media post appearing earlier this year.
New Zealand, unlike the United States or Britain, has
never recorded specific hate crime offences, raising questions about what signs
security agencies may have missed.
The council estimates every Muslim woman who wears the
headscarf in New Zealand has been abused in public at some time.
https://www.theage.com.au/world/oceania/asleep-on-the-job-police-warned-of-another-mosque-threat-before-massacre-20200707-p559w6.html
------
Christchurch shooting: Agencies accused of ignoring
years of warnings the Muslim community was in danger
July 7, 2020
Public service agencies are being accused of ignoring
years of warnings that the Muslim community was in danger before the horrific
terror attacks in Christchurch.
Fifty-one people died in the March 15 shootings last
year, when Australian Brenton Tarrant opened fire at Christchurch's Al Noor and
Linwood mosques.
In its submission, the council says the shooting may
not have happened if it wasn't for major failings by a forewarned public
service.
Islamic Women's Council representative Frances
Joychild QC says she looked over thousands of documents relating to their grave
concerns.
"I just felt absolutely sickened because they
were faced again and again with a public service that was inept and ineffective
and, at best, disinterested."
"It's likely that but for all those failures -
and particularly of the security service and the police - the events of March
15 might not have happened."
In its submission, the council has called for gun
licence applicants to be screened for hate crimes and membership of supremacist
groups.
It makes a raft of recommendations, including that gun
licences also be reviewed every two years against hate speech and hate crime
records.
"There was a lack of support on the preventative
side," the submission says. "The Government had failed and was
failing the Muslim community.
"It is certain that but for the failures of the
other public sector agencies there would have been greater support and
protection of the Muslim community before 2019 as the pressure on them grew and
after, when the trauma and shock had to be dealt with."
A police spokesperson told Newshub given the Royal
Commission has not concluded, it would be inappropriate to comment on
submissions.
Tarrant is due to be sentenced in the Christchurch
High Court next month. He initially pleaded not guilty to all charges but
changed his pleas to guilty in March this year.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/07/christchurch-shooting-agencies-accused-of-ignoring-years-of-warnings-the-muslim-community-was-in-danger.html
------
Far right teen pleads guilty, fined for failing to
assist police investigating Christchurch mosque threat
July 7, 2020
A Christchurch teen has been fined $500 for refusing
to give police the password to his iPhone as they searched his house in
relation to an alleged threat before the Christchurch terrorist attack
anniversary.
Nineteen-year-old Sam Brittenden's Christchurch home
was searched in early March following reports of a threat on an encrypted
messaging app, accompanied by a photo of a masked man sitting in a car outside
a Christchurch mosque.
The Christchurch District Court today heard how the
police searched his home and found a cellphone on his brother's bed.
He initially denied it was his, but gave police his
phone number and when they rung that number, the cellphone rung.
He then provided several incorrect passwords, telling
police he had "forgotten" his passcode.
Brittenden's lawyer, James Rapley QC, told the court his
client was pleading guilty to the one charge of failing to assist with a search
warrant.
He said the student had made a "mistake and was
foolish". He eventually gave police the correct code and spent a night in
the police cells "for his troubles".
In convicting and fining the teenager, the judge told
the court he "can't understand what was on the phone that you didn't want
police to see"
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/content/tvnz/onenews/story/2020/07/07/christchurch-far-right-teen-pleads-guilty.html
------
Southeast Asia
Indonesia’s forex reserves rise to near record-high in
June
Adrian Wail Akhlas
July 7, 2020
Indonesia’s foreign exchange (forex) reserves
increased to US$131.7 billion in June following the government’s move to issue
global sukuk (sharia compliant bonds) in the month, Bank Indonesia (BI)
announced Tuesday.
The current reserves level, an increase of $1.2
billion from May’s level and the highest reserves level since January before
the coronavirus pandemic upended the country’s economy, is estimated to be
sufficient to support 8.1 months of imports and payment for the government’s
short-term debts.
“BI is of the view that the foreign exchange reserves
are adequate, supported by stability and a positive outlook for the economy,”
the central bank said in a statement, adding that the rise in forex reserves
was due to the government’s global sukuk issuance last month.
Indonesia has raised US$2.5 billion from a
three-tranche global sukuk (sharia-compliant bond) offering on June 17, the
issuance of which aims to help the government fund the battle against the
coronavirus pandemic.
The sukuk were offered on the Singapore stock exchange
and NASDAQ Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The 10-year maturity sukuk
brought in $1 billion while the five-year and 30-year maturities raised $750
million each.
The government is facing a daunting task to raise Rp
900.4 trillion worth of sovereign debt papers in the second half of the year to
cover for budget deficit of 6.34 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and repay
its debts, after raising Rp 630.5 trillion worth of debt papers in the first
half.
The government had just raised 100 billion yen ($930
million) from the issuance of five-tranche samurai bonds on Thursday as part of
broader efforts to raise money amid the pandemic.
It had also unveiled a bond sale program totaling Rp
574.5 trillion with the central bank as part of the “burden sharing” scheme
aimed to ease the government’s debt burden.
https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/07/07/indonesias-forex-reserves-rise-to-near-record-high-in-june.html
-----
Police begin investigation into Al Jazeera report on
illegal immigrants in Malaysia
06 Jul 2020
KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): The police have begun an
investigation into reports on an alleged attempt by international news agency
Al Jazeera to tarnish Malaysia’s image through a documentary on how the country
treats illegal immigrants in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Bukit Aman CID deputy director (Investigation/Legal)
DCP MiorFaridalathrash Wahid said the department was conducting an
investigation following the report made by the Immigration Department of
Malaysia at the Precinct 7 Police Station in Putrajaya.
"We have opened investigation papers under
Section 500 of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and
Multimedia Act 1998," he said when contacted by Bernama.
According to him, the complainant made a report after
watching the documentary video on the YouTube site, and her statement had been
taken.
Al Jazeera, prior to this, released a 25-minute
50-second documentary entitled 'Locked Up in Malaysia's Lockdown' that
denounced treatments of illegal immigrants when Malaysia took steps to tackle
Covid-19.
Bernama today reported that the Inspector-General of
Police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador said the report released by the news agency
alleging that Malaysia discriminated against illegal immigrants was inaccurate
and further investigations were underway by the PDRM.
Earlier, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri
Ismail Sabri Yaakob wanted the international news agency to apologise to
Malaysians for posting false and misleading information. - Bernama
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2020/07/06/police-begin-investigation-into-al-jazeera-report-on-illegal-immigrants-in-malaysia
-----
Migrant Workers: Malaysia offers them new hope amid
pandemic
July 07, 2020
Porimol Palma
At a time when Bangladeshi migrant workers all over
the world are having tough times amid Covid-19 fallout, Malaysia gives good
news.
The Southeast Asian country has announced that foreign
workers can now switch companies in the same sector as some firms ceased
operation or sacked workers while some others need foreign workers.
Besides, many Bangladeshis, who had been without work
for around three months, have started rejoining work as Malaysia moves to fully
reopen its economy following a drop in Covid-19 cases, say officials.
Talks between Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur are going on for
regularising undocumented workers, a Bangladesh High Commission official in the
Malaysian capital told The Daily Star on Sunday.
"As recruitment of foreign workers has been
suspended from July 1 till the end of this year, there is a strong possibility
that Malaysia will announce an amnesty for the undocumented migrants,"
mentioned the official.
The developments come after Malaysia partially
reopened its economy on June 10 with Covid-19 cases falling below 10 a day.
Between July 1 and 5, the number of daily cases was between 1 and 10. A total
of 8,663 people got infected with the virus till yesterday, and of them, 121
died.
Malaysia has also allowed reopening of childcare
centres and kindergartens, cinemas and spas since July 1, attaching to it
conditions that include social distancing and good personal hygiene practices.
Talking to this newspaper, AbuHayat, an independent
Bangladeshi researcher based in Kuala Lumpur, said, "There was a fear that
job opportunities will be largely lost. But now many of the Bangladeshi
migrants are rejoining work after the reopening. This gives a lot of
relief."
Executive Director of Malaysian Employers' Federation
Shamsuddin Bardan said a lot of foreign workers in manufacturing and services
sectors were affected by the Covid-19 fallout.
"There is a shortage of 65,000 workers in
plantations… It caused an estimated loss of 13 billion Malaysian Ringgit [more
than $3 billion] last year," he told this correspondent over the phone
from Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.
"We are urging the Malaysian government to allow
transfer of foreign workers to plantations from other sectors as recruitment of
foreign workers has been suspended till the end of this year," he added.
On its Facebook page, Bangladesh High Commission in
Kuala Lumpur on June 22 said Malaysia allowed transfer of foreign workers from
one company to another of the same sector, not to a different sector.
But if such transfer is allowed, it will be a very
welcome decision, Jahirul Islam, labour counsellor of Bangladesh High
Commission in Malaysia, told The Daily Star.
Switching companies requires permission from the
current and future employers and also the authorisation of Malaysia's home
ministry and the labour department, he mentioned.
The Bangladeshi workers, who want to change companies,
should communicate directly with the high commission, instead of doing it on
their own, he said.
https://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/news/migrant-workers-malaysia-offers-them-new-hope-amid-pandemic-1926281
------
Landslide at Burmese Jade Mine Kills Over 170 People
JUL 06, 2020
Rescue operations continued in Burma over the weekend,
following a deadly landslide at a jade mine that killed over 170 people. The
tragic incident is shining a spotlight on the secretive, often illegal
practices of the jade industry, which human rights group Global Witness says
fuels armed conflict between government troops and rebel fighters seeking
self-rule in northern Burma.
https://www.democracynow.org/2020/7/6/headlines/landslide_at_burmese_jade_mine_kills_over_170_people
-----
India
Minimising school dropouts due to Covid distress
biggest challenge for Indian Muslim community
06 Jul 2020
By Salim Alware
Representing the Central government in the Supreme
Court of India last week, Solicitor General told the court that 97 lakh migrant
workers had been repatriated. The number of labourers returning from
Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka is 11 lakh, 21 lakh and 3 lakh respectively.
Of course their children have also migrated with them from small and big cities
to villages wherein their numbers are not known. This can be calculated only
after the schools reopen in the month of August or thereafter.
Since these workers have reached their villages, after
a short stay they will try to find a livelihood at the local level and in case
they fail to do so, they will have no choice but to return to the same cities
they left earlier. We never know how much time this process will take. Due to
this, the schooling of their children will be in a state of uncertainty. Only
time will tell what steps the governments of UP, Bihar and West Bengal will
take in this regard as it has not been discussed yet.
Many NGOs in Maharashtra and Gujarat also provide
basic education to the children of labourers near their places of residence or
worksites which is called informal schooling. Now these children who have
migrated to villages may not have the opportunity to continue even their informal
education. This will depend on parental concerns as well as on state government
policies.
As far as Muslims are concerned, we do not have
separate statistics on the basis of which we can say how many Muslim workers
have returned home with their families, and how many children will lose their
academic year due to the migrant exodus.
The three-month lockdown has hit hard the working
class, artisans, day-labourers, security guards, car cleaners, drivers,
housewives and women working in small factories. It can be difficult for their
children to continue their education and many of the parents are looking for an
excuse to discontinue their children's schooling so that their kid becomes an
additional source of income for their families. A big chunk of Muslims fall
under this category and it is of utmost importance that their children continue
their education.
It is the responsibility of Muslim educational
institutions, teachers, educationists, philanthropists and NGOs to ensure that
these children attend schools and colleges as soon as the new academic year
starts. Work on a war footing is needed to prevent possible dropout of these
children and make an immediate effort to work out a strategy in this regard.
https://www.milligazette.com/news/9-education-and-careers/33639-minimising-school-dropouts-due-covid-distress-biggest-challenge-indian-muslim-community/
-----
Minimising school dropouts due to Covid distress
biggest challenge for Indian Muslim community
06 Jul 2020
By Salim Alware
Representing the Central government in the Supreme
Court of India last week, Solicitor General told the court that 97 lakh migrant
workers had been repatriated. The number of labourers returning from
Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka is 11 lakh, 21 lakh and 3 lakh respectively.
Of course their children have also migrated with them from small and big cities
to villages wherein their numbers are not known. This can be calculated only
after the schools reopen in the month of August or thereafter.
Since these workers have reached their villages, after
a short stay they will try to find a livelihood at the local level and in case
they fail to do so, they will have no choice but to return to the same cities
they left earlier. We never know how much time this process will take. Due to
this, the schooling of their children will be in a state of uncertainty. Only
time will tell what steps the governments of UP, Bihar and West Bengal will
take in this regard as it has not been discussed yet.
Many NGOs in Maharashtra and Gujarat also provide
basic education to the children of labourers near their places of residence or
worksites which is called informal schooling. Now these children who have
migrated to villages may not have the opportunity to continue even their informal
education. This will depend on parental concerns as well as on state government
policies.
As far as Muslims are concerned, we do not have
separate statistics on the basis of which we can say how many Muslim workers
have returned home with their families, and how many children will lose their
academic year due to the migrant exodus.
The three-month lockdown has hit hard the working
class, artisans, day-labourers, security guards, car cleaners, drivers,
housewives and women working in small factories. It can be difficult for their
children to continue their education and many of the parents are looking for an
excuse to discontinue their children's schooling so that their kid becomes an
additional source of income for their families. A big chunk of Muslims fall
under this category and it is of utmost importance that their children continue
their education.
It is the responsibility of Muslim educational
institutions, teachers, educationists, philanthropists and NGOs to ensure that
these children attend schools and colleges as soon as the new academic year
starts. Work on a war footing is needed to prevent possible dropout of these
children and make an immediate effort to work out a strategy in this regard.
https://www.milligazette.com/news/9-education-and-careers/33639-minimising-school-dropouts-due-covid-distress-biggest-challenge-indian-muslim-community/
-----
India bans Kashmir Muslim religious gatherings due to
coronavirus but Hindu pilgrimages continue
6 July, 2020
India has banned all religious gatherings in Kashmir,
including Muslim ones, but allowed a Hindu pilgrimage to take place despite
rising coronavirus deaths and active lockdown measures.
A government order in Indian-administered Jammu and
Kashmir meant the regional administration prohibited all social and religious
gatherings, but a Hindu pilgrimage was reportedly exempt from the ruling.
Authorities said the pilgrimage will be done in a
"restricted manner" beginning at the end of the month, and they added
500 Hindu pilgrims will be allowed per day.
The region's Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam
addressed a meeting in the Indian Supreme Court and insisted Covid-19
restriction measures will be adhered to.
The period of time for the pilgrimage has been reduced
from 42 days to 15, but critics have warned people coming from other Indian
states with more coronavirus infections will carry the the virus into the
region.
"Already we have more than 8,000 cases here, and
from the last three days, more than 20 deaths have taken place," a
resident doctor dealing with Covid-19 cases told Anadolu Agency.
The decision to allow a Hindu pilgrimage only in the
Muslim-majority state could cause problems in the region, which has been offset
by violence.
Despite the coronavirus outbreak, violence has
escalated in Kashmir in recent months as India steps up its counterinsurgency
operations.
At least 143 rebels, 54 government troops and 32
civilians have been killed in more than 100 military operations across Kashmir
since January, the Jammu-Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, a prominent local
rights group, said in a recent report.
India and Pakistan both claim the territory in its
entirety. Kashmiris support the rebels' goal of uniting the territory, either
under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.
India accuses Pakistan of arming and training the
anti-India rebels. Pakistan denies this, saying it offers only moral and
diplomatic support to the militants and to Kashmiris who oppose Indian rule.
Rebels have been fighting Indian rule since 1989.
About 70,000 people have been killed in the uprising and the ensuing Indian
military crackdown.
https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2020/7/6/kashmir-bans-muslim-gatherings-allows-hindu-pilgrimage
------
Tamil Nadu Lockdown Diary: 'People talk as if COVID-19
came from Melapalayam, not China'; Muslims struggle with health systems steeped
in prejudice
July 06, 2020
Shortly after the COVID-19 outbreak began in India,
news channels across the country started caricaturing Muslims from the Tablighi
Jamaat as wilful defaulters who were traveling across the country to spread the
disease. In Tamil Nadu, such propaganda meant that the principle of
'Noiyoddanporadungal, noiyyalioddanalla’ (fight the disease, not the patient)
was thrown to the winds.
The above principle, incidentally, is the opening line
one hears on making a phone call in the state. However, on the ground, the
experiences of many Muslims in accessing healthcare revealed a system that was
steeped in prejudice. This was in direct contradiction to the exhortations made
by international organisations such as the World Health Organisation to use
strategies which do not further alienate society from those who are victims of
the virus.
Muslims in Tamil Nadu have a very different perception
of Tablighi Jamaat from the one that has been largely splashed across TV
channels. A college student said in a lighter vein, “When I realise that a
Tablighi Jamaat person is approaching me, I try to escape.” This is because, he
explained, Tablighi Jamaat leaders usually try to point out how Muslims are
erring in what is expected from them. “It is like a school teacher giving you a
lecture. At times, we are okay with the lecture but at times, we also run from
the lecture,” he said as his friend laughed along.
Elaborating further, he added, “Among us, we know
there are certain Muslims who will be very aggressive in taking on people who
wrong us. Like Muslims in Popular Front of India (PFI) or the Tamil Nadu Muslim
MunnetraKazhagam. You can say they are very politically vocal. But there are
others who do not interfere with anything that is to do with the
administration, state or politics. People from the Tablighi Jamaat are like
that. They lead a simple lifestyle, and mind their own business, which is to
talk to us Muslims about Islam and how we should stick to the various tenets of
Islam. They are paavam (harmless) people."
When SM Mansoor and SK Abdul Khader received a call
from the local police on 29 March, it was the first time that they were told
that they could have COVID-19. They were part of a group of 16 who had
travelled back from Delhi to Melapalalyam, a Muslim neighbourhood in
Tirunelveli. They were asked to report for a test to the Melapalayam general
hospital. All of them did so within an hour, only to be told that they are
being shifted to another facility. "They didn’t inform us that we were
being taken away or that we’ll be isolated. We would’ve carried our things and
would have been prepared,” says Abdul Khader. Melapalayam, meanwhile, was
completely shut down on the orders of the District Collector Shilpa Prakash
Satish. The DC also ordered a stop to all vehicular movement to and from
Melapalayam. The locality was completely barricaded.
Tamil Nadu Lockdown Diary People talk as if COVID19
came from Melapalayam not China Muslims struggle with health systems steeped in
prejudice
In the days to follow, 103 people were traced as
contacts whom the 16 from Melapalayam had been in touch with. They were
quarantined and tested. Out of these, sixteen tested positive. Mansoor said,
“All of us were asymptomatic. We wanted to see some test results which said
that we were positive but we weren’t provided with any. In any case, a total of
32 tested positive. Why was an entire locality with more than 3 lakh people
shut down for that?”
This is what is baffling. The house of Abdul Khader,
which is where this reporter interviewed him, is an independent building. So is
the case with all other houses in Mansoor’s street. There are no common
toilets. The 15 others were also living in similar settings, in other streets
of Melapalayam. Particular streets where the 16 lived could have been turned
into containment zones. But why was an entire area declared as being out of
bounds? A female relative of the 16, who was also tested, questions how the
media can repeatedly refer to an area as a ‘corona hub’, when only 32 in a
population of more than 3 lakhs tested positive.
The repercussions of this kind of profiling were
immediate. For instance, private hospitals turned away nine Muslim women from
Melapalayam who had deliveries lined up in April. The women had been visiting
these hospitals till March. This reporter accessed audio recordings where
relatives of some of these women plead with the doctors from these hospitals to
be allowed admission, only to be told they have been explicitly instructed by
the district administration not to accept any patients from Melapalayam. The
district administration denies having given any such orders. Even though some of
the patients' relatives say that they knew nobody from the people who travelled
back from Delhi, and they could be tested for COVID 19 before being admitted,
the doctors refused to engage with them. At least two were downright rude, and
indirectly Islamophobic.
The ordeals that these nine women faced were similar.
They travelled first to the hospital where they were getting their routine
check up and had been assigned a date for delivery. When they were turned away
from there, they tried a few more private hospitals. Some had no option left
but to finally go to Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital (TMCH), a government
facility at Highground.
Rizwana, 21, from North Thaika Street in Melapalayam
was reluctant to get herself admitted at TMCH Highground as she previously had
bad experiences at this hospital. “Nobody cares about you there. The place is
also not very well kept and this was my first pregnancy,” she explained. But
with no options left, she admitted herself at TMCH Highground on 31 March. “As
soon as I told them I am from Melapalayam, I could sense everybody just freeze.
I stood outside the Labour Ward as much as I could, as I didn’t want to
antagonise anybody,” says Rizwana. After this, she had a caesarian section
done. “When I regained consciousness, I realised I was outside the operation
theatre and not in a ward, or a room. None of them wanted to approach me. It
took them three hours to even move me from there,” says Rizwana.
Rizwana was put in a room temporarily after which she
was moved to the old GH building, where the COVID-19 positive patients were
also housed. Women from Melapalayam, who had just finished their delivery, were
allotted a separate room in the same GH building. “There was nobody to attend
to us. Even when they had to, they didn’t even touch us or check on the
stitches, as they are supposed to. They would stand at a distance and yell”,
said Rizwana. On the fifth day after her delivery, Rizwana was instructed to
remove her urine bag by herself. “The nurse stood at the entrance and threw a
syringe at me, telling me to pierce the drip with it. The syringe fell on the
floor. I hadn’t gotten off the bed till then. With my stitches, without knowing
what I was doing, I used my feet to pick up the syringe and pierced it into the
urine bag. And then yanked the drip out,” Rizwana says. It didn’t stop there.
The nurses also instructed her to remove the bandage around her stitches.
Rizwana tried doing that but when it hurt, she refused. After this, Rizwana’s
family spoke to a few leaders and asked them to intervene at the hospital. Only
after this did a doctor attend to Rizwana.
Witness to all of this was Nasreen Fathima, who had
also recently delivered a baby and was in the same room as Rizwana. She was
denied admission at AnnaiVelankanni Hospital after which she was admitted at
Highground GH. “I saw Rizwana struggle with her urine drip by herself. Some
nurses were good but most of them weren’t. They spoke to all of us very harshly
and kept yelling at us,” says Nasreen. “The room was dirty, there were constant
long power cuts, the fans weren’t working and the bathroom didn’t even have a
light. And there was nobody to attend to us,” says Nasreen.
Jevariya, 24, also was turned away from CSI
Annapackiyam Mission Hospital on 11 April, her due date. This is when a few
leaders, including Nasreen’s father Sheikh Mohammad, a meat trader and a local
leader, came together and spoke to the authorities of Crescent Hospital,
situated in Melapalayam itself. After this, most expecting women from
Melapalayam were accommodated at Crescent Hospital. Sabita Begum, 26, who was
turned away from Madhubala Hospital and Karuniya Health Centre, questions how
the administration can completely ignore the medical needs of such a big
population. “Why did we have to fend for ourselves? With all that pain, I went
from hospital to hospital for eight hours. Who is to be held accountable for
this?”, she asked.
While the Muslim community of Melapalayam was able to
figure out a temporary solution for expecting mothers, those with serious
medical problems were left in the lurch. Like Peer Muhammad, a liver cancer
patient and a resident of Melapalayam.
Tamil Nadu Lockdown Diary People talk as if COVID19
came from Melapalayam not China Muslims struggle with health systems steeped in
prejudice
Muhammad used to travel to Regional Cancer Centre
(RCC), Thiruvananthapuram for treatment since he was diagnosed with the
condition. After the nationwide lockdown came into place on 25 March, RCC sent
him a mail, directing him to the nearest government facility for chemotherapy.
Muhammad first attempted to access the facility on 30 March, a day after
Melapalayam was shut down. His son Muhammad Ibrahim says that they were made to
wait in the sun, and were not allowed inside. After a half a day of waiting,
Ibrahim took him back home. When Muhammad’s condition further deteriorated, his
family attempted to access chemo again on 22 April, without luck. A video of
Peer Muhammad shot on the same day shows him in an extremely precarious
condition. Five days later, he died.
Tamil Nadu Lockdown Diary People talk as if COVID19
came from Melapalayam not China Muslims struggle with health systems steeped in
prejudice
Naseer, a health worker from Melapalayam Medical
Society working with COVID 19 patients and patients with non-communicable
diseases says that the state of affairs at TMCH Highground have marginally
improved in the past few weeks. “There were some administrative changes within
the institution, after which the response has been better. Private hospitals
are also starting to behave, after we amped up pressure on them,” he says.
Arabi Gnaniyar, an ambulance driver who saw patients
from Melapayalam struggling with accessing medical care, said, “Everybody
thinks Melapalayam is where coronavirus is spreading from. I’ve travelled
across Tirunelveli and the adjoining villages. People are speaking as if
COVID-19 originated from Melapalayam, not China.”
He further recalled, “As soon as Melapalayam was
cordoned off, patients who were already admitted at hospitals were also asked
to leave. An elderly Muslim woman was discharged from an ICU, even though it
had been three days since she had been there. Both her sons are in Dubai and
pleaded with me to try and get her admitted at any hospital. But I couldn’t.
She died two days later.”
What SM Mansoor fails to understand is why a
convoluted plot was derived from something as simple as a yearly religious
exercise. “The plans for travel in March were made many many months in advance.
Why then have we been treated like this? As soon as we were told to report for
a test, we did so in less than an hour. Our families complied with what was
asked for. Yet, the local media and the administration branded us as
‘coronavirus carriers’. People from this entire neighbourhood were treated
inhumanely. Why?” questions Mansoor. Small-time businesses from Melapalayam,
like those doing AC repairs and household work, told this reporter that people
are turning them away from work if they disclose that they are residents of
Melapalayam.
Khader also pointed to how he didn’t have to face
stigma from neighbours as he stays in a Muslim locality. “But my cousin, on the
other hand, lives in an area where the majority is non-Muslim. When he was taken
for a test, immediately, the media carried videos of him being taken in an
ambulance. The area was turned into a containment zone. Such measures were
taken by the government across Tamil Nadu. But in how many such cases were the
individuals told that they, as Muslims, are the cause for the spread and if
they leave the area, the area will no longer be affected?”
https://www.firstpost.com/india/people-talk-as-if-covid-19-came-from-melapalayam-not-china-muslims-in-tamil-nadu-struggle-with-health-systems-steeped-in-prejudice-8564271.html
-----
Pakistan
$60m Islamic Development Bank aid for polio
eradication approved
July 06, 2020
Amin Ahmed
ISLAMABAD: The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has
approved a $60 million supplementary fund to Pakistan as a further contribution
to the polio eradication programme.
This includes a $39m Islamic Development Bank Murabaha
and a $21m grant from the IsDB-managed Lives and Livelihoods Fund (LLF). The
new financing has been approved by the IsDB Board of Executive Directors at the
virtual meeting held in Jeddah chaired by IsDB President Dr Bandar Hajjar early
this week.
As the Islamic bank had previously contributed $100m
to the same project the new supplementary funding takes its total contribution
up to the $160m mark.
In the meantime, the 25th meeting of the Emergency
Committee under the International Health Regulations on the international
spread of poliovirus held in Geneva has observed that there is still much more
work to do to end transmission in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The polio
infrastructure that has been developed in Pakistan and Afghanistan has been
used to assist with the tracking and tracing as part of the Covid-19 pandemic
response.
A statement issued by the IHR Emergency Committee says
in Pakistan transmission continues to be widespread as indicated by both acute
flaccid paralysis (AFP) surveillance and environmental sampling. WPV1
transmission continues to be widespread, with southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
becoming a new WPV1 reservoir, and some areas such as Karachi and the Quetta
block having uninterrupted transmission. There has also been expansion of WPV1
to previously polio-free areas in Sindh and Punjab.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1567261/60m-islamic-development-bank-aid-for-polio-eradication-approved
-----
Anti-Covid Drug, Remdesivir, To Be Available In Three
Weeks
July 07, 2020
Nasir Iqbal
ISLAMABAD: The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan
(Drap) said on Monday that Remdesivir, a drug which has proved effective
against coronavirus, will be available in the country within three weeks.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Asim Rauf told Dawn that
Drap, after registration of the medicine, had allowed two pharmaceutical
companies to import this critical drug. The regulator has given licences to 14
manufacturers for producing the medicine at home.
The drug has been approved for use in the United
States, Japan, South Korea and the European Union after its clinical trials
turned out to be encouraging.
This is the same medicine which federal Railways
Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed had mentioned at a press conference after he
recovered from Covid-19.
Describing coronavirus as a horrible disease, Sheikh
Rashid had regretted that the injection necessary for treatment of critical
patients was not available even for Rs500,000 to a minister who had held 14
ministries in his political career.
“I thank the chairman of the National Disaster
Management Authority for arranging this injection,” the minister had stated. “I
pray that no one, not even my enemy, suffers from this disease.”
The Drap chairman conceded that the medicine was not
easily available a week ago, but the situation had now improved and after three
weeks sufficient stocks would land in the market.
However, he clarified, Remdesivir would not be sold
over the counter at pharmacies. “Instead, it will be provided to critical
patients by hospitals concerned or directly by selected pharmaceutical
companies.”
He said Pakistan was the sixth country in the world
which had pounced upon the opportunity to make this medicine accessible to
patients.
Remdesivir was approved by the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) on May 1. A shortage then confronted the FDA, but with the
passage of time the situation improved.
At a hearing on June 25, a five-judge Supreme Court
bench, headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, was informed that the National
Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) had sought approval from Drap for the
import of 7,000 vials of Remdesivir injection, which was then unregistered.
The regulator, through its letter of June 9, had given
an NOC to the NDMA with the condition that the latter must submit details of
patients, including their CNIC numbers and prescriptions.
The regulator had also stated that it would not be
responsible for the quality, safety and efficacy of the drug as the medicine
was not registered with the authority.
The approval was issued under Rule 13 of Drugs Import
and Export Rules of 1976, which required prior approval for the import of a medicine.
The Supreme Court ordered Drap to fast-track
registration of the drugs which had already been registered in the West and
were being used for the treatment of Covid-19. The court said the import of
those drugs should be facilitated which were not manufactured in the country
and later local production under licence be encouraged.
The apex court had also taken note of unscrupulous
elements out to hoard the anti-virus chemicals, life-saving drugs and equipment
used to detect, monitor and treat patients affected by Covid-19.
The court had regretted that basic instruments like
dosimeters and oxygen cylinders had disappeared from the market and were being
sold at exorbitant prices.
The court had ordered the regulatory authorities, law
enforcement agencies and health ministries of the federal as well as provincial
governments to take action against hoarders of these essential commodities.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1567496/anti-covid-drug-to-be-available-in-three-weeks
-----
DIG Operations reviews security of Mosques,
Imambargahs
July 06, 2020
LAHORE -Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Operations
Ashfaq Khan on Sunday visited different areas in the city and reviewed the
security arrangements of Mosques and Imambargahs. According to official
sources, SP Model Town Ejaz Rashid and SP Iqbal Town briefed the DIG about the
security of the Mosques and Imambargahs of their respective areas. The DIG
Operations also met the organizers of the Mosques and Imambargahs. Organizers
expressed satisfaction over the security arrangements made by the police. Ashfaq Khan issued special directions to the
police officers and jawans deputed on the security of worship places. He
further said that police personnel should stay vigilant whereas snipers should
keep an eye on all movements in the surroundings of the worship places. The DIG
Operations said that Police Response Teams and Dolphin Squads should increase
their patrolling in surroundings of Mosques and Imambargahs.
https://nation.com.pk/06-Jul-2020/dig-operations-reviews-security-of-mosques-imambargahs
-----
Minister Reiterates for Making Balochistan Hub for
Organic Agriculture
July 6, 2020
ISLAMABAD, Jul 06 (APP): Minister for National Food
Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam on Monday reiterated the government
resolve for making Balochistan as hub of organic agriculture, particularly to
produce cotton in order to bring economic stability in the country and social
prosperity of the province.
While chairing the meeting on working of Federal Seed
Certification and Registration Department (FSC&RD) here, he said that
Balochistan was the future of organic cotton production due to its unique ecological
characteristics, adding that it would help to enhance farm income particularly
small scale growers to manifold.
Imam said that vibrant, pure and certified seed system
was vital element for the growth and development of agriculture.
He appreciated the working of FSC&RD and said that
this department will be the key to best seed system in the world.
He stressed the need for utilizing Rahim Yar Kan area
for seed production as it was could fulfill about 70 % domestic need of seed.
He also called for initiating labeling and branding of
Pakistani products and register them IPO.
While briefing the meeting DG FSC&RD Iftikhar
Haider said that Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department is an
attached department of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research.
It had 27 field offices and laboratories tacross the
country and FSC&RD is a third party department with the mandate to regulate
quality of seeds of various crops under the legal provisions of the Seed Act
1976, Seed (Amendment) Act, 2015 and the related rules and regulations .
FSC&RD also acts as executive arm of the National
Seed Council and achieved international accre status for central seed testing
lab in July 2019 from ISTA,Switzerland.
https://www.app.com.pk/imam-reiterates-for-making-balochistan-hub-for-organic-agriculture/
------
E-7 seminary in Islamabad becomes site of unexpected
conflict
July 07, 2020
Munawer Azeem
ISLAMABAD: The administration office of Jamia
Fareedia, a seminary in E-7, was occupied by Maulana Abdul Aziz in the middle
of the night on Monday.
Mr Aziz and his wife UmmeHasaan occupied the seminary
office, after which he led morning prayers and announced that the seminary’s
principal, Maulana Abdul Ghaffar, had been removed.
Maulana Yaqoob Ghazi, a close aide of Mr Aziz, claimed
that Mr Ghaffar did not want to leave because he knew he was “on the wrong
side”.
The incident was followed by a protest at noon,
leading police to block the road towards the seminary. Police and capital
administration officials have ruled out the possibility of violence.
An administration official, on condition of anonymity,
said there were only a handful of seminary students and staff at Jamia Fareedia
or any other seminary because of the closure of educational institutions due to
the coronavirus pandemic.
The situation has placed the city’s administration in
a fix, as Mr Aziz’ move may have violated an agreement he signed with the
Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration in June.Mr Ghazi said:
“Maulana Abdul Aziz elevated Maulana Abdul Ghaffar to the post of deputy chief
from administrator a few years ago. He removed Maulana Ghaffar as deputy chief
around two months ago but he got too close to the authorities and tried to take
Jamia Fareedia over.”
The matter of whether Mr Aziz has violated his
agreement with the ICT administration is also uncertain. Since the text of the
agreement was not made public, both sides have made opposing claims;
administration officials say that under the agreement, Mr Aziz cannot
participate in any such activity for two months while Mr Aziz’ son-in-law
Haroon Rasheed said the agreement says he cannot interfere with or enter Lal
Masjid for two months.
Senior police and administration officials told Dawn
that well-equipped police personnel, including the Counter Terrorism Force,
Anti-Terrorism Squad and Anti-Riot Unit, were deployed around the seminary
shortly after Mr Aziz moved there from Jamia Hafsa.
Mr Aziz, his family and more than 50 students from
Jamia Hafsa, left G-7 on board wagons and headed to Jamia Fareedia at Fajr,
officials said. Almost an hour later, an assistant inspector general from the
Special Branch brought the matter to the notice of concerned officials.
The officers said two parties -the seminary’s nazim Mr
Ghaffar and Mr Aziz - are now inside the seminary, and both claim ownership of
it.Haroon Rasheed told Dawn that Jamia Fareedia was built by his grandfather in
the 1970s and Mr Aziz was its rightful owner. He said Mr Ghaffar and the government
were trying to remove Mr Aziz and take possession of the seminary.
“The government, including the administration and
police, are helping Maulana Ghaffar and at the time we reached the seminary,
officials from the police and administration also came there and cordoned off
the area,” he said.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1567453/e-7-seminary-in-islamabad-becomes-site-of-unexpected-conflict
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Chief Election Commissioner denies holding secret
meetings with president
July 07, 2020
Iftikhar A. Khan
ISLAMABAD: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar
Sultan Raja has rejected as baseless the accusation of holding secret meetings
at night with President Dr ArifAlvi.
Talking to Dawn on Monday, he challenged a prominent
anchor, who made the claim, to substantiate it and declared that he would
resign if it was proven.
The anchor in a tweet alleged that Prime Minister
Imran Khan had tasked President Dr ArifAlvi with managing the CEC and the
chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
He claimed that the CEC was often seen at the
Presidency where he held secret meetings with the president. “It appears the
new CEC will break the records of Sardar Muhammad Raza,” he tweeted.
Mr Raja, while rejecting the allegation as totally
baseless, said he had neither ever met PM Khan nor received any message from
him.
Likewise, he said, he had never received any message
or advice from President Alvi. “I am not in the habit of taking such advice,”
he remarked.
“I don’t have any contact either through messaging or through
any indirect channel or through personal contact with the president. I met the
president only once in my life and that was a formal call for a few minutes.”
The most prominent case before the Election Commission
of Pakistan (ECP) is ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) foreign funding
pending since November 2014.
If the verdict in the case goes against the PTI, Dr
Alvi will be held accountable as the party’s former secretary general along
with chairman Imran Khan.
The petitioner in the foreign funding case against the
PTI, Akbar S. Babar, while talking to Dawn, said that if it was true the news
of alleged secret meetings between President Alvi and the CEC was alarming and
disturbing.
He said the PTI had tried every trick in the book and
beyond to delay the case which was a documented fact to the extent that the ECP
in its order dated Oct 10, 2019 declared the PTI guilty of historic abuse of
the process of law to delay the case.
“It is time for investigations to conclude in earnest
for the ECP to announce a verdict without further delay in the supreme national
interest,” he said.
On more than 30 occasions, the PTI sought written or
oral adjournment on various pretexts, including unavailability of counsel or
the pendency of the case before courts.
Six applications on similar grounds objecting to the
maintainability and jurisdiction of the ECP to scrutinise the accounts of the
PTI have been filed. There are at least 21 orders of the ECP directing the PTI
to file pertinent documents/record and documenting the failure and
non-compliance by the PTI.
While a scrutiny committee continues to deliberate
without any end in sight, serious questions have come to the surface about the
PTI’s pressure to remove a credible auditor from the scrutiny committee and
replace him with a pliant one to make it toothless.
Since the induction of the new CEC, only two ECP
hearings have been conducted. The last hearing was conducted on June 2 during
which the ECP director general law and the scrutiny committee’s head — who were
appointed in March 2018 to conduct an audit of the PTI foreign funding — were
directed to submit a progress or status report within a week and an interim
findings report by June 30.
However, the ECP postponed the next hearing scheduled
for June 30 indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1567494/chief-election-commissioner-denies-holding-secret-meetings-with-president
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Shahbaz files plea for exemption from appearance
July 07, 2020
LAHORE: Leader of Opposition in National Assembly
Shahbaz Sharif on Monday filed a civil miscellaneous application before the
Lahore High Court seeking exemption from personal appearance in hearing of his
pre-arrest bail in assets beyond means investigation by the NAB.
Mr Shahbaz also urged a division bench, which will
resume hearing on the bail petition on Tuesday (today), to extend his bail.
On previous hearing, the bench had asked Shahbaz to
get his fresh Covid-19 test conducted from Punjab Institute of Public Health
Sciences.
In the fresh application filed through counsel Amjad
Pervez, Mr Shahbaz said the court had directed the head of the institute to
conduct his test. However, he said, unfortunately no one from the institute
contacted him for the test but to establish his bonafide he got his test
conducted from a private laboratory, which turned negative.
The PML-N president said although he recovered from
the Covid-19, he was still undergoing fatigue as he was an old man. He said he
had been living in self-isolation at home under the supervision of doctors of
Ittefaq Hospital who advised him to undergo multiple tests of corona
antibodies.
Mr Shahbaz pleaded that under such circumstances it
will be highly risky for him to expose to public place. Therefore, he asked the
court to allow him exemption from personal appearance and extend his pre-arrest
bail for three weeks.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1567408/shahbaz-files-plea-for-exemption-from-appearance
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/california-bans-inging-chanting-churches/d/122311