Eye-For-An-Eye Sharia Justice Returns to Afghan Courts; 75-Year-Old to Be Executed By a Relative of His Victim
New Age Islam News Bureau
21 December 2022
Head of the penal court
Mohammad Mobin (2nd L) listens to a man (2nd R), who has been sentenced to
death for murder, during a hearing in Ghazni.
-----
• Islam Gymkhana to Launch English Course for Imams in
Mumbai to Empower Them
• Islamic Police Raid 'Gay Wedding' In Nigeria's Kano
City, Arrests 19 Muslims For Attending The Same-Sex Wedding
• Two-Day Hostage Crisis in Bannu Ends, Pakistan Army
Kills All 33 Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan Terrorists
• Children among 547 Detained Syrians Declared Dead:
Rights Group
South Asia
• Women’s Rights Defined by the World, Not Acceptable:
Minister of vice and Virtue Says
• Rescue calls for stranded boat holding 200 Rohingya
refugees
• High-profile OIC delegation visits Rohingya camps in
Bangladesh
--------
India
• Maharashtra Ready to Enact Law against 'Love Jihad':
Devendra Fadnavis
• Bajrang Dal Members Beat Up Youth Alleging
"Love Jihad" In Madhya Pradesh
• IIT Delhi Offers 500 Ph.D. Fellowships as Plans for
Abu Dhabi Campus Get Underway
• India Discusses Opium Poppy Cultivation,
Taliban-Al-Qaida Relations at UNSC
• Syed Ali Shah Geelani's house in Srinagar among 3
assets to be sealed
--------
Africa
• Tunisia imprisons former Prime Minister Ali
Laarayedh
• Sudan's Bashir admits role in 1989 coup during trial
• Iranian, EU nuclear negotiators meet in Jordan
--------
Pakistan
• Militants Storm Wana Police Station in South
Waziristan, Flee With Weapons
• Imran Khan's 'phone sex' audio clip leaked, PTI
calls it fake
• Terrorism will be dealt with ‘iron hands’, vows PM
Shehbaz
• Pakistan ‘disappointed’ by Taliban ban on university
education for girls but still wants engagement
• Schools close as Pakistan Taliban siege on police
station drags on
• 12 killed, dozens injured in fire in Pakistan's
Balochistan
• Karachiites left at mercy of robbers — MQM-P, PTI
and JI agree
--------
Arab World
• Baghdad conference aims to ensure Iraq’s security,
stability: Jordan
• US forces capture six Islamic State operatives in
Syria raids
• Eight Iraqis killed as Islamic State group militants
launch fresh attack in Diyala
• OIC meeting discusses Saudi efforts to fight
corruption, promote integrity
• Kingdom stands with Iraq over stability,
sovereignty: Saudi FM
--------
Mideast
• Quds Force Chief: Palestinians Will Soon Force
Israelis Out Of Occupied Lands
• Israel’s crime against cancer-stricken Palestinian
prisoner will not go unpunished: Hamas chief
• Hamas calls for mass uprising as Palestinian
prisoner dies due to Israel medical negligence
• Iran urges Western powers to adopt ‘constructive’
approach to revive nuclear deal
• Iran releases dissident after three months in
prison: Brother
• Turkey court acquits 103 retired admirals accused of
‘coup’
• Senior Palestinian al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades fighter
dies of cancer in Israeli jail
• UN reports highest number of fatalities in years in
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• Iranian interference in Yemen started 1979: Yemeni
leader
--------
North America
• US Department of State Says Human Rights at Top of
Agenda with Islamic Emirate
• New Jersey lawmakers considering resolution to
establish January as Muslim Heritage Month
• Blinken calls Bilawal, offers continued help for
flood victims
• Taliban release two detained Americans in ‘goodwill
gesture’
• US says 'no progress happening' with Iran on
resuming nuclear accord
--------
Europe
• Macron Says Let Iraq Choose Path Not ‘Dictated’ By
Foreign Powers
• UN Security Council Holds a Session on Afghanistan
• Türkiye voices support for peace, stability in
Balkans
• US welcomes Greek-Turkish dialogue, encourages more
talks
• Russia to give Iran advanced military components in
exchange for drones, says UK
--------
Southeast Asia
• Politics and Islam Bring Indonesian Compromise on
Criminal Code
• Can Japan, moving closer to Israel, preserve its
neutral reputation in the Middle East peace process?
• China’s UN envoy slams Israeli regime’s
settler-colonialism, unabated crimes in Palestine
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/sharia-justice-afghan-courts-execution/d/128680
--------
Eye-For-An-Eye Sharia Justice Returns to Afghan
Courts; 75-Year-Old to Be Executed By A Relative of His Victim
Head of the penal court
Mohammad Mobin (2nd L) listens to a man (2nd R), who has been sentenced to
death for murder, during a hearing in Ghazni.
-----
Dec 21, 2022
GHAZNI: Kneeling in front of a turbanned judge in a
tiny room at the Ghazni Court of Appeal in eastern Afghanistan, an old man
sentenced to death for murder pleads for his life.
The 75-year-old admits to having shot dead a relative
-- out of revenge, he says, because of rumours he had sexual relations with his
daughter-in-law.
Under eye-for-eye sharia punishments, officially
ordered by the Taliban's supreme leader for the first time last month, he faces
public execution -- with the sentence to be carried out by a relative of his
victim.
"We have made peace between the families,"
the old man pleads.
"I have witnesses who can prove that we have
agreed on compensation."
AFP had rare access to a court in Ghazni to see how
sharia justice is being administered since the Taliban returned to power in
August last year.
Hundreds of millions of dollars were spent building a
new judicial system after the Taliban were overthrown in 2001 -- a combination
of Islamic and secular law, with qualified prosecutors, defence lawyers and
judges.
Many women were recruited into the system, overseeing
cases involving hardcore Taliban militants as well as bringing more gender
balance to family courts.
All that has been scrapped by the Taliban, with
trials, sentences and punishments now overseen by all-male clerics.
Islamic law, or sharia, acts as a code of living for
Muslims worldwide, offering guidance on issues such as modesty, finance and
crime. However, interpretations vary according to local custom, culture and
religious school of thought.
Taliban scholars in Afghanistan have employed one of
the most extreme interpretations of the code, including capital and corporal
punishments little used by most modern Muslim states.
The difference between the system of the former
government and today "is as big as the earth and the sky", says
Mohiuddin Umari, head of the Ghazni court, between sips of tea.
Officials in Ghazni have shunned the use of its formal
Western-style courtroom, and proceedings instead take place in a small side
room, with participants sitting on a carpeted floor.
The cramped room, heated by an old wood stove, has a
bunk bed in a corner, on which religious books and a Kalashnikov rifle are
placed.
The young judge, Mohammad Mobin, listens impassively
before asking a few questions.
He then orders another hearing in a few days -- giving
the old man time to gather witnesses who can testify that the families have
agreed to what he says.
"If he proves his claim, then the judgement can
be revised," Mobin says.
If not, "it is certain that the qisas (an
eye-for-an-eye) enshrined in the sharia will apply".
Mobin, surrounded by thin, hand-written files held
together by string, has been at the appeals court since the Taliban's return in
August 2021.
He says around a dozen death sentences have been
handed down in Ghazni province since then, but none has been carried out --
partly because of the appeals process.
"It is very difficult to make such a decision and
we are very careful," the 34-year-old tells AFP.
"But if we have certain evidence, then God guides
us and tells us not to have sympathy for these people."
If the old man's appeal fails, the case goes to the
Supreme Court in Kabul, and finally to supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada,
who validates all capital sentences.
That was the case earlier this month in the western
city of Farah when the Taliban carried out their first public execution since
returning to power -- an act widely condemned by rights groups and foreign
governments and organisations.
Ghazni court head Umari insists the sharia system is
much better than the one it replaced, even while conceding that officials need
more experience.
Afghanistan was ranked 177th out of 180 of the most
corrupt states in 2021 by the NGO Transparency International and its courts
were notorious for graft, with cases held up for years.
"The Islamic Emirate is showing
transparency," says Umari, using the Taliban's designation for
Afghanistan.
Many Afghans say they prefer their chances in sharia
courts with civil cases, arguing they are less prone to the corruption that
bedevilled the system under the previous Western-backed government.
However, jurists argue that criminal cases are more
prone to a miscarriage under the new system.
"Some cases, if decided quickly, are
better," says a now-unemployed prosecutor, who asked not to be identified
for fear of retribution.
"But in most cases, speed leads to hasty
decisions."
Umari insists all verdicts are thoroughly reviewed,
adding "if a judge has made a mistake we investigate".
But the old man in Ghazni who was sentenced to death
says he had no lawyer, and his appeal lasted less than 15 minutes.
"The court should not have sentenced me to
death," he says.
"I have been in prison for more than eight
months. They (the family) have agreed to spare me," he adds, clasping a
string of prayer beads in his handcuffed hands.
Source: Times Of India
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
--------
Islam Gymkhana to Launch English Course for Imams in
Mumbai to Empower Them
English can help clerics
communicate with youngsters better, it's felt
------
Dec 21, 2022
MUMBAI: Islam Gymkhana at Marine Lines is all set to
launch an English learning course for imams in the city. Imams lead prayers and
deliver Friday sermons at mosques and command immense respect in the community.
Mostly madrassa-educated, these clerics usually lack proficiency in English,
which the Gymkhana wants to remove with a specially-designed course.
"As part of social work, we already have schemes
to help cancer patients and provide scholarships to deserving students. We have
decided to start an English course which will empower imams to converse and
address youngsters in the language they are comfortable with," Gymkhana
president Yusuf Abrahni said.
He said a meeting with senior clerics, preachers and
imams would be called soon to discuss the project.
Senior clerics and preachers have appreciated the
initiative. "It is the need of the hour. Today, English is an
internationally understood language and the medium of communication in many
places. If our imams know how to write and speak English, it will be a big
service to the community and society. I endorse such a programme and will do
whatever I can for it," senior spiritual leader Maulana Moin Ashraf (Moin
Mian) said. A number of imams are associated with Moin Mian as he also heads a
couple of religious organisations. He expressed the hope that he would be able
to convince many of them to enrol for the course.
The initiative is being viewed as significant. Mufti
Ashfaque Kazi, chief mufti (one who issues fatwas) at the historic Juma Masjid
near Crawford Market, also hailed the proposal. "It is important that our
imams know English. It will benefit them and the community. Besides being able
to communicate with the younger generation in a better way, they can also
enhance their own employability," he said.
Source: Times Of India
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
--------
Islamic
Police Raid 'Gay Wedding' In Nigeria's Kano City, Arrests 19 Muslims For
Attending The Same-Sex Wedding
Kano
Hisbah Board
-----
By
Mansur Abubakar
20
December 2022
The
Islamic police force in northern Nigeria's main city has arrested 19 Muslims,
accusing them of attending the wedding of a same-sex couple.
The
force raided the marriage ceremony in Kano after a tip-off, its spokesman Lawal
Ibrahim Fagge said.
The
couple, who had not yet taken their vows, managed to flee and police were
searching for them, he added.
Kano
has a majority Muslim population, where an Islamic legal system operates
alongside secular law.
Homosexual
acts are illegal under both legal systems in the whole of Nigeria, where those
living in the north are mainly Muslim and people in the south are largely
Christian.
Kano's
Islamic police force is popularly known as the Hisbah and enforces a strict
moral code.
Mr
Fagge told the BBC that the police force did not intend to punish the 15 male
and four female wedding guests arrested during the raid on Sunday.
Instead,
the group - which he said included gay people and cross-dressers - was
undergoing "counselling", and their parents or guardians had been
urged to come forward.
"We'll
explore the avenue of change before we charge them in court. First we counsel
them, and involve the parents and we hope they change their lifestyle,"
the Hisbah spokesman said.
Kano's
Islamic courts have never convicted anyone for being gay.
Mr
Fagge said that 18 people who attended a similar wedding ceremony last year had
been released after signing a document that gave an "undertaking that they
would change their lifestyle".
Rights
groups in Nigeria have long campaigned for gay rights to be respected, but
there is strong opposition to it in a country where many Muslims and Christians
uphold conservative religious values.
Source:
BBC
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-64033115
--------
Two-Day Hostage Crisis in Bannu Ends, Pakistan Army Kills All 33
Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan Terrorists
Security
officials stand guard on a blocked road leading to a counter-terrorism center
where several Pakistani Taliban detainees took hostages in Bannu (Photo: AP)
-------
Dec
21, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
The two-day hostage crisis in Bannu in northwestern Pakistan ended on Tuesday
with the army killing all 33 Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists who
had taken over a counter-terrorism detention centre in the garrison city. Two
commandos of the Special Services Group (SSG) lost their lives in the
operation, which was conducted by the Pakistani army after talks between the
government and the proscribed TTP failed.
The
terrorists, who were lodged at the centre, took police and army officials
hostage on Sunday night after one of the inmates hit a cop's head with a brick
during interrogation, snatched his gun and freed other terrorists.
Pakistan's
defence minister Khawaja Asif announced in the National Assembly that 15 SSG
commandos were injured in the operation. "This operation was initiated on
December 20 at 12.30pm by the SSG and all terrorists were killed," Asif
said, adding that the entire counter-terrorism detention centre was cleared by
2.30 pm. The minister said the terrorists had killed two hostages on Monday. "These
terrorists had links with multiple groups. The provincial government has
completely failed in its responsibility to provide security to the
facility," the minister said, describing the hostage crisis as a 'total
collapse' of the Imran Khan-led PTI's government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
province.
The
minister said all the hostages were rescued, but did not provide a number.
Security officials said the three detained terrorists who had escaped were
recaptured. Visuals aired on TV stations showed plumes of smoke billowing from
the building. The terrorists, who said they had held eight security officials
hostage, were demanding safe passage to Afghanistan. They said they wanted to
take the hostages with them and promised that they would release them once they
were secure and in a safe area.
TTP
has stepped up attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan in the southwest
since it announced the end of truce with Pakistan last month.
Amid
the spike in terror strikes, the US has offered to help Pakistan in dealing
with the threats posed by the terror groups. State department spokesperson Ned
Price said at a presser that Islamabad is a partner "when it comes to
these shared challenges, including the challenge of terrorist groups -
terrorist groups inside of Afghanistan, and terrorist groups along the
Afghan-Pakistan border".
Source:
Times Of India
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
--------
Children
among 547 Detained Syrians Declared Dead: Rights Group
People
hold portraits and a placard during a protest as around 300 landline telephones
placed by Syrian families stand at the Bebelplatz as a call to governments to
do more to seek information about detained people in Syria, in Berlin, Germany
August 28, 2021. (Reuters photo)
-------
20 December,
2022
Ever
since Yehya Hijazi and his two sons were detained in 2012 by the Syrian
government, their relatives had clung onto the hope they were still alive and
might be released one day.
But
after a decade of silence from the authorities, their hopes were shattered when
the independent Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) monitoring group
contacted the Hijazi family to tell them it had obtained death certificates for
all three.
“You’re
hoping every second that you’ll catch another glimpse of this person whom you
love very much, that you’ll hear any news of him,” Yehya’s brother Mohammad
told Reuters by phone from northwestern Syria. “Then you hear he’s dead.”
The
SNHR said the documents confirming the death of Yehya and his sons were among
547 detainee death certificates issued by the authorities since 2017 that it
had obtained from whistleblowers within government departments.
The
rights group said the documents provided answers to the fates of hundreds of
missing people. Activists hope they will eventually be used in international
proceedings against the government, which has been accused by a UN commission
of inquiry of crimes against humanity for its detention policies.
The
government did not respond to emailed questions about the death certificates
obtained by SNHR. Syrian officials have in the past denied accusations of
systemic torture and mass executions in jail.
Reuters
reviewed 80 of the death certificates, including the three for the Hijazi
family, as well as those for a three-year-old girl and her six-year-old sister.
A
Syrian human rights lawyer, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of
the matter, reviewed a sample of the documents. He said the layout, language
used and the elements of information included matched other Syrian death
certificates.
Reuters
was unable to independently confirm that the documents were authentic.
Mohammad
Hijazi said the family had not requested death certificates from the
authorities as they lived in areas controlled by the opposition. He added that
acquaintances in government-held zones also refused to ask civil registries
about deaths, fearing they might be seen as opposed to Damascus.
No
cause of death
The
war in Syria spiraled out of a 2011 uprising against President Bashar
al-Assad's rule and has killed over 350,000 people, uprooted more than half the
population and forced millions abroad as refugees.
Tens
of thousands are estimated to have been held in Syrian government detention
centers, according to the UN commission. Detainees are often held
incommunicado, leaving their families wondering about their whereabouts, or if
they are even alive, the commission and families of detainees have said.
International
rights groups do not operate openly in Syria and do not have access to detention
centers. In August, the U.N. secretary general’s office recommended
establishing a mechanism to determine the fate of missing Syrians, but it has
yet to be set up.
The
547 certificates included those for 15 children and 19 women, the SNHR said.
Some
of the 80 certificates reviewed by Reuters listed the place of death as
military hospitals or military tribunals. Others were vague about the place of
death, with “Damascus” or a village on its outskirts. Some were left blank.
The
certificates reviewed by Reuters also had significant gaps between the date of
the death and when it was recorded in the registry, with most showing a lag of
several years and one showing a delay of 10 years.
None
of the certificates reviewed by Reuters listed a cause of death. The SNHR said
that was the case for all 547.
The
rights group said it had matched the names that appeared on the death
certificates against wider lists of people detained by the Syrian authorities.
The
group was able to reach the families of 23 of the deceased. It said many had
suspected their loved ones were dead, but only had confirmation when they saw
the death certificates.
Torture
and ill treatment in Syrian government prisons remains “systemic,” according to
a 2022 report by the UN commission of inquiry on Syria, which noted abuses in
detention centers run by non-government factions too.
It
said the government was deliberately withholding information from the families
of loved ones and has described its detention policies as amounting to crimes
against humanity.
Wait
continues
In
2018, Syrian authorities began updating civil registries in bulk with the death
certificates of people who had died in detention but did not directly inform
their relatives, the UN commission said.
The
government did not respond to questions about why it had not informed relatives
of the deceased.
Relatives
in government-held areas could find out if their loved-ones had died by
requesting their family records from the civil registries. They were not
granted access to bodies to bury them, or told where the remains were,
according to the commission and the SNHR.
Others
have learned of deaths by recognizing their relatives in leaked pictures taken
by military photographers working in prisons, the most prominent of whom was
code-named Caesar.
In
a 2015 interview, Assad dismissed the Caesar photographs as allegations without
evidence. Former war crimes prosecutors described the images as clear proof of
systematic torture and mass killings.
SNHR
director Fadel Abdul Ghany said he hoped the large batch of death certificates
would provide some relief to those still waiting to know the fate of their
relatives.
But
for Mohammad Hijazi, the wait continues.
While
he now knows the fate of his brother Yehya, he said 40 more relatives had been
arrested by the government in central Syria and the family had no news of them
yet.
“I
haven’t been able to tell our mother Yehya is dead. I just keep telling her
he’s still in jail,” he said.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
--------
South Asia
Women’s
Rights Defined by the World, Not Acceptable: Minister of vice and Virtue Says
By
Nizamuddin Rezahi
December
20, 2022
Mohammad
Khalid Hanafi, the acting minister of vice and virtue said on Tuesday that the
interim regime of Afghanistan is fully committed to respecting women’s rights
“defined by Islam”, not that of the world.
In
a gathering in Parwan province on Monday, Mr. Hanafi reiterated that abiding by
Islamic law has been one of the key objectives of their movement. They have
struggled for decades to succeed in implementing the Sharia laws, not their
personal theories in the country.
“Not
all religious scholars have tried to occupy government positions – they work to
implement the Sharia laws and guide the society to the right path,” he said.
This
comes as girls’ schools above grade six have been closed since the Taliban’s
return to power in August 2021, and women have been banned from participating
in public places such as parks, recreational places and more.
“In
no other country have women and girls so rapidly disappeared from all spheres
of public life,” UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in
Afghanistan Richard Bennett said. “Despite this, women and girls remain at the
forefront of efforts to maintain human rights and continue to call for
accountability.”
Source:
Khaama Press
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.khaama.com/womens-rights-defined-by-the-world-not-acceptable-hanafi-says/
--------
Rescue
calls for stranded boat holding 200 Rohingya refugees
Dec
20, 2022
JAKARTA:
Southeast Asian politicians called Tuesday for the rescue of a boat carrying as
many as 200 Rohingya refugees including women and children stranded at sea for
several weeks.
Thousands
of the mostly Muslim Rohingya, heavily persecuted in Myanmar, risk their lives
each year in long, expensive sea journeys -- often in vessels in poor condition
-- trying to reach Malaysia or Indonesia.
The
boat carrying the refugees has been reported in waters close to Thailand,
Malaysia, Indonesia and India in the Andaman Sea and the Malacca Strait, one of
the world's busiest shipping routes.
"We
urgently call on ASEAN member states and other countries in the region to...
launch search and rescue operations," said ex-Indonesian MP Eva Sundari,
who is a member of advocacy group ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights
(APHR), in a statement.
"It
is disgraceful that a boat filled with men, women, and children in grave danger
has been allowed to remain adrift."
Charles
Santiago, a former Malaysian MP and chairman of APHR, said in the same
statement that the delay in rescuing the stranded refugees likely "has
already caused untold suffering and loss of life".
The
vessel's current location is unknown and it is unclear when or exactly from
where it departed.
But
at least one relative of a passenger hoping to reach Malaysia told AFP he was
taken to the boat in deep waters by a small fishing trawler from Bangladesh.
Sprawling
refugee camps in Bangladesh are home to some one million Rohingya, many of whom
fled neighbouring Myanmar after a 2017 military crackdown bringing accounts of
rape, arson and killings.
But
the dire conditions of Bangladesh's overcrowded camps have forced many to flee
again.
Rohingya
activists and relatives of some of those aboard the vessel told AFP it had been
adrift at sea for at least two weeks.
The
United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said last week that the boat has been in
waters since late November, and it had received reports of at least a dozen
people dying on board.
Those
remaining had no access to food or water, it said.
Noor
Habi, a resident of a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, said
her 23-year-old daughter Munuwara Begum was on the stranded boat and had spoken
to her sister by walkie talkie.
"We
are in danger. Please save us," her daughter Begum said, according to an
audio clip of the call.
"There
is no food and water with us and there is no one to save us from this drowning
boat."
The
Indonesian navy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Source:
Times Of India
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
High-profile
OIC delegation visits Rohingya camps in Bangladesh
Md.
Kamruzzaman
20.12.2022
DHAKA,
Bangladesh
A
high-profile delegation from the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States
(PUIC) visited Rohingya camps in the southeastern coastal district of Cox’s
Bazar in Bangladesh on Tuesday to learn more about the situation of the Muslim
minority that was forced to flee their native Myanmar due to military
persecution.
An
11-member team from the Committee on Muslim Communities and Minorities, a
subsidiary of the PUIC Standing Specialized Committee on Political Affairs and
Foreign Relations, led by Turkish lawmaker Orhan Atalay, who is also the chair
of the PUIC Delegation of Turkiye and the committee's rapporteur, visited the
camp and spoke with refugees as well as representatives from international
relief organizations to obtain a better understanding of the situation.
For
the first time, a representative team from the Committee on Muslim Communities
and Minorities arrived in Dhaka on Sunday on a four-day visit to assess the
Rohingya situation in Cox's Bazar, the world's largest refugee camp.
Besides
Atalay, the team also includes Mouhamed Khouraichi, Ali Asghar, Zahid Hassan
Qureshi, Rezak Tavli, Mustafa Fatih Baydar, Nazmul Islam, and Ugandan lawmakers
Bashir Lubega Ssempa and Sitnah Chemisto Cherotich, Iranian parliamentarians
Abolfazi Amouei and Amir Abbas Ghassempour.
Bangladesh
is currently hosting more than 1.2 million Rohingya, mostly fleeing a brutal
military crackdown in their home country of Myanmar's Rakhine State on Aug. 25,
2017.
The
delegation met with several Rohingya community members, including women, to
hear about their concerns, and they asked for better livelihood opportunities
and education for their children, particularly in a third country.
After
touring small dwellings in narrow alleys and streets, Atalay told Anadolu
Agency that these large numbers of Rohingya want to return to their native
country with guarantees of rights, dignity, and safety.
He
added that the Muslim community, as well as international leaders, should now
engage in more effective talks with Myanmar authorities to ensure their
dignified and safe return.
These
refugees have been experiencing a number of issues, he said, urging the
international community to do more to support the Rohingya in these crammed
camps.
He
noted that Türkiye is working everywhere it can to help impoverished and needy
people, referring to the tremendous health care provided by the Turkish Field
Hospital in the Rohingya camp.
According
to an official at the facility, the hospital, which is the largest in the
refugee camps, serves approximately 1,000 people every day, with 400 of them
being Rohingya and 600 being locals.
The
delegation saw a food distribution center and various UNHCR facilities, where
its operations head, Yoko Akasaka, detailed their humanitarian efforts in the
camps.
Speaking
to a leading Turkish news service provider, Akasaka raised alarm over the
yearly increase in the number of Rohingya in these already overcrowded camps.
"Around 50,000 babies are born each year," she noted, expressing
concern about the growing refugee population, which necessitates greater
assistance in addition to their dignified repatriation to Myanmar.
First
day of visit
Earlier
on Sunday, the delegation met with Johannes van der Klaauw, UNHCR
Representative in Dhaka, at the Turkish embassy to discuss international
humanitarian assistance to the Rohingya.
Klaauw
expressed gratitude to Turkish authorities for their outstanding support to the
Rohingya people, particularly in the health sector through the Turkish Field
Hospital.
The
UNHCR official also stated that they are primarily focused on humanitarian
assistance to the Rohingya, while the political solution is in the hands of the
relevant authorities.
She
also said the majority of the Rohingya, with the exception of those who fled to
Bangladesh following cycles of persecution in the 1980s, want to return to
Myanmar with rights and dignity.
Later,
the team met with the country's National Parliament Speaker Shirin Sharmin
Choudhury, and discussed the Rohingya crisis.
Choudhury
cited dignified return as the long-term solution to the Rohingya issue, saying:
"Bangladesh is a small, overcrowded country. Because a large number of
Rohingya is a major burden, international communities should engage more
actively to ensure the peaceful repatriation of Rohingya."
She
also urged the delegation to prepare the Rohingya human rights report in such a
way that it encourages the international community to find a sustainable
solution to the issue, underlining the importance of justice for the crimes
committed against Rohingya.
On
behalf of the visiting delegation, Atalay stated that Muslim states must act
together to protect the persecuted Rohingya people, who have experienced
injustice and inhuman treatment in their own country.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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India
Maharashtra
ready to enact law against 'love jihad': Devendra Fadnavis
Dec
21, 2022
MUMBAI:
Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said in the House that Maharashtra is
seeking the Centre's permission to implement the Shakti bill that amends laws
for offences committed against women and children with more stringent penal
actions.
Reiterating
that Maharashtra is studying the 'love jihad' laws of other states, he said:
"In fact, the term love jihad has been coined by the Communist-ruled
Kerala and it is a fact that such cases are happening all across the country.
Other states have made stringent laws to curb such cases and hence Maharashtra
is also ready to enact the law on similar lines to ensure long-term protection
to women."
Later,
speaking to the media, NCP leader Jitendra Awhad, pointed out that only two
states - Uttar Prad-esh and Madhya Pradesh - had initiated laws against aleged
'love jihad' cases and there was a lot to be done for such regulations to pass
the scrutiny in the court of law.
While
replying to BJP leader Ashish Shelar's statement that certain matters written
by Shraddha Walkar, who was allegedly murdered by her live-in partner Aaftab
Poonawala, on her 'settlement' letter were erased and rewritten, Fadnavis
admitted that there was some 'gap' in the investigation that needs to be
probed. On Opposition leader Ajit Pawar's demand, Fadnavis agreed to submit the
SIT report to the state assembly in the coming budget session. He also pointed
out that on Union home minister Amit Shah's intervention, the Delhi police were
already expediting the case with the help of a fast-track court.
Source:
Times Of India
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Bajrang
Dal Members Beat Up Youth Alleging "Love Jihad" In Madhya Pradesh
December
21, 2022
Indore:
Rightwing activists allegedly beat up a youth, claiming love jihad, in the
Indore district of Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday.
The
activists allegedly caught the youth with a girl at Treasure Island Mall in the
city.
According
to sources, they asked the name of the youth to which he told them that his
name was Monu Verma.
When
they asked him to produce an ID card, he allegedly said that his real name was
Moin Khan.
It
was alleged that the activists then beat up the yoith, accusing him of love
jihad, and later handed him over to the Tukoganj police.
A
purported video of the youth being beaten up also surfaced on the social media.
Tukoganj
police station in-charge Kamlesh Sharma said, "A girl approached the
police station along with some Bajrang Dal activists. She had gone to watch a
movie at TI mall in the city with a youth belonging to another community.
Initially, the youth told the activists that his name was Monu but later when
they interrogated him, he gave his real name as Moin, a resident of Manikbagh
in the city."
Source:
ND TV
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IIT
Delhi offers 500 Ph.D. fellowships as plans for Abu Dhabi campus get underway
20
December ,2022
Supplementing
the ongoing efforts to set up a campus of the Indian Institute of Technology
(IIT) in Abu Dhabi, IIT Delhi has announced that it is offering 500
fully-funded Ph.D. fellowships for international students, including eligible
students from the Gulf, according to Emirates News Agency (WAM)
This
will mean students who graduate from the planned IIT campus in Abu Dhabi will
have opportunities to pursue higher studies in India in the same streams and
structures as they academically pursue in the UAE.
“The
institute is coming up with a new curriculum in 2023,” IIT Delhi announced. The
new curriculum will take into account thedemands of its proposed overseas
campuses.
In
addition to the UAE, offshore campuses of IIT are being planned in Sri Lanka,
Nepal, Tanzania and Malaysia.
IIT
Delhi has announced that its former Dean for Academics will be the coordinator
for launching the Abu Dhabi campus.
As
reported last month, IIT Delhi has identified the Department of Education and
Knowledge Abu Dhabi (ADEK) as its partner for setting up its campus in the
UAE’s capital city.
This
followed the visit of a high-level team from the Indian institute to Abu Dhabi
and extensive discussions with ADEK officials and other stakeholders in the
project, Subhas Sarkar, the Minister of State for Education, informed the Lok
Sabha, the lower House of India’s Parliament.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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India
discusses opium poppy cultivation, Taliban-Al-Qaida relations at UNSC
December
21, 2022
India
on Tuesday (local time) raised concerns over Opium poppy cultivation,
Taliban-Al-Qaida relations and erosion of human rights at a United Nations
Security Council briefing on Afghanistan.
Indian
Ambassador to UN, Ruchira Kamboj, the chair of UNSC's 1988 sanctions committee,
also known as the Taliban Sanctions committee, said, " In its latest
report to the 1988 Committee of May 2022, the Monitoring Team noted that 41
United Nations-sanctioned individuals occupied cabinet and senior positions in
the Taliban administration. This number is now believed to be over 60."
The
Monitoring Team report also reiterated the relations between the Taliban and
Al- Qaida. She said the relations remained close and are underscored by the
presence, both in Afghanistan and the region, of Al-Qaida core leadership and
affiliated groups such as the Al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).
On
August 1, the United States had announced that the leader of Al-Qaida was
killed in a Kabul compound at the end of July. However, the same has not yet
been confirmed by the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
Kamboj
also raised concern over further erosion of human rights, including the rights
of women and girls, as well as the lack of progress on inclusive governance in
the country.
The
administration in Kabul remains overwhelmingly Taliban, she said, adding,
"Since taking power, concerns have been expressed that the group has
reversed policies and gone back on commitments made prior to assuming
power."
On
the production of narcotics in Afghanistan, Kamboj said, "Despite a decree
issued by Taliban in April, banning the cultivation, use and trafficking of
narcotics, including the fanning of opium poppy, UN reported a 32 per cent
increase during 2021 in opium cultivation with 2022 opium prices have soared
due to cultivation ban announcement."
Poppy
cultivation, accompanied by an ongoing boom in methamphetamine production and
trafficking, remains Afghanistan's largest illicit economic activity, she
highlighted.
The
Monitoring Team has also reported that the ISIL-Khorasan (ISIL-K) (Da'esh)
remains a primary threat in Afghanistan and in the region, as demonstrated by
its regular attacks against Afghanistan's neighbouring States as well as
against minority ethnic and religious communities in the country.
"Another
worrying fact is the attacks of ISIL-K (Da'esh) against diplomatic embassies
and their personnel. Moreover, ISIL-K (Da'esh) maintains the potential to
attract disillusioned Taliban and foreign fighters into its ranks, thereby
enhancing its capability to carry out attacks and its ability to regain
territorial hold in the country, as well as the potential to establish a
so-called Islamic caliphate in the region in the future," said the Indian
envoy.
Speaking
about the challenges posed to the Taliban regime by the presence of the
National Resistance Front and other anti-Taliban groups, she said, "As you
are aware, the 1988 Committee's desired goal through the use of its sanctions
measures is to support a peaceful, stable and prosperous Afghanistan by
deterring support to terrorist entities, and to support peace and stability
discussions."
She
said that there is potential for further outbreaks of fighting in the absence
of a real or sustained dialogue.
On
the travel ban, she said, "A travel ban exemption granted in April 2019 to
a group of listed Taliban with a view to enable them to engage in peace and
stability discussions in a range of countries expired in August 2022 and was
not extended since the Committee was unable to reach a consensus on the same.
However, the Committee stood ready to consider exemptions on the travel ban on
a case-by-case basis based on relevant resolutions and Committee guidelines
with the overall objective of aiding peace and stability in Afghanistan."
The
Indian envoy also highlighted that the humanitarian needs in Afghanistan remain
dire.
"You
will recall that following the uncertainty that came in the wake of the August
2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, the Security Council acted to clarify
that humanitarian assistance and other activities that support basic human
needs in Afghanistan are not a violation of paragraph 1 (a) of resolution 2255
(2015), and that the processing of payments of funds, other financial assets,
economic resources, and provision of goods and services needed to support
humanitarian aid delivery are permitted. This opened the door for much-needed
finance and aid delivery in order to mitigate the impact of the crisis. The
sanctions committee heard a briefing from the OCHA on 4 April 2022 on the
humanitarian activities in Afghanistan," she said.
Source:
Business Standard
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Syed
Ali Shah Geelani's house in Srinagar among 3 assets to be sealed
Dec
21, 2022
SRINAGAR:
The Srinagar district magistrate on Tuesday ordered the sealing of three
properties of the banned Jamaat-e Islami (JeI), including atwo-storied house
owned by the late Syed Ali Shah Geelani in the city’s Barzulla, reports Saleem
Pandit.
The
other properties to be sealed are two plots in Srinagar’s Khushipora Shalateng,
measuring 1 kanal and 7 marla and 1 kanal and 3 marla. Geelani’s house is built
on a piece of land measuring 17 marla and 199 sqft.
Source:
Times Of India
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Africa
Tunisia
imprisons former Prime Minister Ali Laarayedh
December
19, 2022
TUNIS:
Tunisia’s anti-terrorism judge decided to imprison Ali Laarayedh, a former
prime minister and senior official in the Islamist opposition Ennahda party,
after hours of investigation into suspicions of sending jihadists to Syria, lawyers
said on Monday.
“The
investigative judge issued a prison decision against former Prime Minister Ali
Laarayedh in what is known as the deportation jihadists file,” lawyer Ines
Harrath said.
“This
is true,” Mokthat Jmayi, another Laarayedh lawyer, told Reuters, without giving
further details
Ennahda
denied in a statement accusations of terrorism, calling it a political attack
on a foe of President Kais Saied to hide “the catastrophic failure of the
elections.”
Only
11.2 percent of Tunisian voters cast ballots in Saturday’s parliamentary
elections, Farouk Bouasker, the head of the electoral commission said, after
most political parties boycotted the vote as a charade to shore up President
Kais Saied’s power.
After
the turnout figures were announced, major parties, among them the Salvation
Front, which includes Ennahda and its arch-rival, the Free Constitutional
Party, said Saied had no legitimacy and should step down, calling for massive
protests.
Ennahda,
the main opposition party, has accused Saied of an anti-democratic coup since
he seized most powers last year, shutting down the parliament and moving to
rule by decree, powers he has largely formalized with a new constitution
ratified in a July referendum.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2219101/middle-east
--------
Sudan's
Bashir admits role in 1989 coup during trial
20
December ,2022
Former
Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir said on Tuesday that he took full responsibility
for the events in 1989 that brought him to power, speaking at a trial in which
he stands charged with leading a military coup.
Bashir
has been jailed since army officers deposed him during an uprising in April
2019, ending his three-decade rule. His legal team has dismissed the trial over
the June 30, 1989 coup as purely political.
“I
assume all responsibility for what took place on June 30,” Bashir, dressed in
white robes and appearing in good health, told a court in Khartoum. “I've been
following the prosecution's attempts to confirm this charge by presenting
videos and witnesses, and I listen and enjoy it,” he said before pausing to
smile.
Bashir
also said that civilians who took official positions after he and other
officers toppled the government in 1989 were brought in to help Sudan through a
difficult period, but had not planned or carried out the coup. “Our concern was
not power but rather we needed capabilities and we opened dialogue with all the
political forces,” he said, according to comments reported by state news agency
SUNA.
The
trial began in 2020 and is expected to continue at least for several more
months. Some defendants who were senior officials under Bashir have denied
responsibility.
If
convicted, Bashir could face a death sentence.
Bashir
was convicted in another trial in December 2019 on illicit finance charges, and
sentenced to two years in prison. He also faces prosecution over the killing of
protesters.
He
is wanted separately by the International Criminal Court over alleged war
crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Sudan's Darfur region.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Iranian,
EU nuclear negotiators meet in Jordan
20
December ,2022
Iran’s
Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met Tuesday with EU foreign policy
chief Josep Borrell on the sidelines of a summit in Jordan, an Iranian
diplomatic source said.
The
meeting, which was confirmed by Iran’s official news agency IRNA, comes at a
time when negotiations in Vienna aimed at reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal
are stalled.
For
all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
The
27-nation bloc’s nuclear negotiator Enrique Mora was at the meeting, the
Iranian diplomatic source told AFP. IRNA said his Iranian counterpart Ali
Bagheri was also present.
Borrell
tweeted that the meeting was “necessary... amidst deteriorating Iran-EU
relations” and that they agreed to keep communications open and to restore the
accord on the basis of the Vienna negotiations.
The
landmark 2015 deal was designed to prevent Iran from secretly developing a
nuclear bomb, a goal the Islamic Republic has always denied.
It
has been hanging by a thread, however, since the unilateral withdrawal of the
United States in 2018 under then-president Donald Trump.
Ahead
of the Jordan summit on Tuesday, Amir-Abdollahian had said the gathering would
be a “good opportunity” to revive negotiations on the issue.
The
meeting between him and Borrell also comes after the EU last week imposed a new
wave of sanctions on Iran over what it called the “repression” of protests and
its military support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
In
his tweet, Borrell said he had stressed the “need to immediately stop military
support to Russia and internal repression in Iran.”
Demonstrations
have swept Iran since the September 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a
22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who had been arrested in Tehran for an
alleged breach of the country’s strict dress code for women.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Pakistan
Militants
storm Wana police station in South Waziristan, flee with weapons
Dilawar
Wazir
December
21, 2022
SOUTH
WAZIRISTAN: Dozens of armed militants stormed a police station in Wana in the
early hours of Tuesday and escaped after looting arms and ammunition, police
have confirmed.
Around
1am, militants armed with rocket launchers and heavy weapons forced their way
into the police station, according to a cop, Rehman Wazir, who was inside at
the time of the attack.
He
told Dawn that around 50 militants entered the station after blowing up the
front gate.
Heavily
outnumbered in front of militants, around 20 policemen, including the station
house officer, resisted for some time but were later taken hostage, another
police official said.
Videos
shared on social media showed a heavy bombardment of rockets and grenades at
the station in the dark of night.
The
attackers fled with weapons in a police van after the attack. Local police said
the militants only took away eight AK-47 rifles from the station.
Around
50 assailants attacked the building with rocket launchers; two beheaded bodies
found in Tank
One
police constable was injured, while an alleged militant was killed in the
attack, sources said.
The
police constable, identified as Ilyas, was shifted to Wana hospital for
treatment.
According
to sources, the alleged militant was gunned down in an exchange of fire with
Frontier Corps (FC) personnel. His body was later recovered from the Baghicha
area.
The
police station was briefly taken over by FC after the attack, but was later
handed back to the cops by Tuesday afternoon.
Police
said more force was deployed to Wana from nearby areas and currently there were
100 cops inside the station.
The
attack created panic in the area and locals expressed their dismay over it.
Shakir Khan, a local elder, said ‘good and bad Taliban’ were the government’s
creation and locals want nothing to do with them. “The public neither wants
neither good nor bad Taliban. It wants the rule of law in their area,” he said.
The
police stations in North Waziristan and South Waziristan — two districts
bordering Afghanistan — have been consistently targeted by militants over the
past few months.
After
a spate of attacks, police personnel vacated Raghzai and Khan Kot police
stations close to the Pak-Afghan border. The withdrawal provided the militants
with an open space to roam around the area and easily access areas such as
Wana, according to sources.
Two
beheaded bodies found
Two
beheaded bodies were found in a watercourse in the Tank district on Tuesday,
according to a police official.
The
bodies were dumped in the Tangi Dabak village in the remit of Jandola police
station, an official told Dawn.
According
to officials from Jandola police station, the victims were identified as Shah
Noor Bhettanni and his cousin Raheem Gul Bhettanni, residents of Kanazai
village.
Police
said a paper was also found by the bodies which read: “It is a message from
Taliban to everyone that spying would result in such a death.” A case was
registered and investigation started.
Along
with the number of terrorist attacks, KP has also witnessed a surge in
beheading incidents, allegedly by militants.
Source:
Dawn
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Imran
Khan's 'phone sex' audio clip leaked, PTI calls it fake
Dec
21, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan has landed in a fresh controversy
after a 'sex talk' recording of him with a woman was leaked online.
The
two-part audio clip was shared by Pakistani journalist Syed Ali Haider on his
YouTube channel. In the audio clip, a man, purported to be the former Pakistan
PM, can be heard talking to a woman in lewd language.
The
leaked audio clip is of an alleged private conversation that the Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan with the woman.
One
of the two audio clips that have gone viral on social media is believed to be
old. In the second clip, which is said to be recent, Imran is purportedly
asking a woman to come near him. While the woman refuses, Imran purportedly
insists that she does as told.
After
which the woman purportedly says, "Imran what have you done to me? I can't
come."
However,
later in the clip, the woman talks about visiting him the next day, to which
Imran says that he "will have to change his programme for the next
day."
Shockingly,
the woman in the purported audio clip is heard saying that she cannot meet him
as her "private parts are in pain".
The
woman in the clip then tells Imran that she would try and meet him the next day
only if her health permits.
To
this, the former Pakistan PM purportedly responds, saying, "I will see if
it's possible as my family and children are coming. I will try to get their
visit delayed. I will let you know tomorrow."
The
audio clip, which has now gone viral, is the latest in a series of purported
leaked conversations attributed to Imran Khan ever since he was ousted from
power earlier this year.
He
blamed the incumbent coalition government and the military establishment for
conspiring against him.
Previously,
there was an audio leak of the Prime Minister's Office in Pakistan.
Social
media users are sharing the purported clips while Imran is being severely
criticized in the country.
"In
the alleged sex call leak, Imran Khan has become Emraan Hashmi," tweeted
Naila Inayat, a journalist, and South Asia correspondent.
"Khan
sb can do whatever he wants in his personal life but I hope he will stop
presenting himself as some kind of role model Muslim leader for the entire
Ummah," said journalist Hamza Azhar Salam in a tweet.
There
has been an uproar in Pakistan since the purported audio tapes leaked.
While
it is yet to be ascertained if the viral audio belongs to Imran Khan, it is
being said from the style of conversation that Imran Khan does feature in it.
His
party, the PTI, has said the purported audio leaks were an attempt to
assassinate his character.
Source:
Times Of India
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Terrorism
will be dealt with ‘iron hands’, vows PM Shehbaz
December
21, 2022
As
Pakistan faces a resurgence in terror incidents, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif
has vowed to deal with the problem with “iron hands” and asserted that the
state would not bow down to any militant groups.
“Attempts
to spread chaos in Pakistan through terrorism will be dealt with iron hands,”
he said in a statement carried by state-run Radio Pakistan on Wednesday.
The
premier noted that the problem of terrorism was a “sensitive issue of national
security” and called for “collective thinking” and a “national action plan” to
curb the recent rise in terror activities.
Moreover,
he added, the federal government would also address the “external facilitation
of terrorists who disseminate and support it in Pakistan”.
Terror
incidents in KP
PM
Shehbaz particularly condemned the recent incidents of terrorism in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, which has seen a significant rise in terror activities since the
militant Tehreek-i-Taliban (TTP) called an end to its ceasefire with the
government.
Among
the most recent incidents in the province, four policemen were martyred when
terrorists attacked a police station in Lakki Marwat — a district of Bannu
division — on Sunday.
The
same day, militants detained at a facility run by KP police’s Counter Terrorism
Department in Bannu took control of the compound, held security personnel
hostage and demanded a safe passage first to Afghanistan and later to North
Waziristan or South Waziristan.
The
siege ended after more than two days following an operation by security forces.
Twenty-five terrorists were killed and three security personnel were martyred
in the operation.
On
Monday, an Intelligence Bureau sub-inspector was gunned down in Peshawar while
a suicide attack in North Waziristan claimed the lives of a soldier and two
civilians. Also on Monday, back-to-back bombings in Khuzdar injured 20.
In
the early hours of Tuesday, dozens of armed militants stormed a police station
in South Waziristan’s Wana and escaped after looting arms and ammunition.
Meanwhile,
two beheaded bodies were found in a watercourse in KP’s Tank district. Police
said a paper was found by the bodies that read: “It is a message from Taliban
to everyone that spying would result in such a death.”
Earlier
today, President Arif Alvi paid tributes to the security personnel who embraced
martyrdom in the Bannu operation and condoled their deaths.
“I
must salute the valiant officers and soldiers of the Pakistan Army who bravely
fought the terrorists in the Bannu operation.
“I
condole the shahadat (martyrdom) of Subedar Major Khurshid Akram, Sepahi Saeed
and Sepahi Babar. May they live in eternal peace. Because of these sacrifices
does Pakistan live,” he said in a tweet.
Separately,
PM Shehbaz said in his statement today that while the primary responsibility
for law and order lay with provinces, the federal government “cannot turn a
blind eye to these serious issues”.
He
assured that the Centre would work together with provinces to fight terrorism.
“The
National Action Plan will be fully implemented to end terrorism in the
country,” he said, acknowledging that increasing the capacity and efficiency of
provincial governments was important for the eradication of terrorism.
In
this connection, he added that the federal government would assist in improving
the professional capacity of CTDs in all provinces.
“The
federal government will work with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to
restructure its Counter Terrorism Department,” he said, adding that all
facilities would be provided to the CTD, including modern weapons.
‘Martyrs’
sacrifices won’t go to waste’
The
premier also appreciated the armed forces’ response to terrorism, saying that
the “entire nation will end terrorism by supporting its brave forces”.
“The
sacrifices of the martyrs will not go to waste,” he continued, adding: “The
great sacrifices of the armed forces, police, Rangers and other law enforcement
agencies that the rendered for the motherland cannot be forgotten.”
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1727512/terrorism-will-be-dealt-with-iron-hands-vows-pm-shehbaz
--------
Pakistan
‘disappointed’ by Taliban ban on university education for girls but still wants
engagement
December
21, 2022
Foreign
Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday voiced disappointment over the Taliban’s
ban on university education for women but said the best approach remained
engagement with Afghanistan’s rulers.
“I’m
disappointed by the decision that was taken today,” Foreign Minister Bilawal
Bhutto Zardari said on a visit to Washington.
But
he said: “I still think the easiest path to our goal — despite having a lot of
setbacks when it comes to women’s education and other things — is through Kabul
and through the interim government.”
Bilawal
said there were no alternatives to the Taliban, warning of further instability
in Afghanistan or the rise of the Islamic State group.
“Is
the alternative for us to imagine that we can somehow artificially stitch
together an alternate opposition that can command the same sort of legitimacy?”
The
Taliban, who had initially promised a softer approach than during their
1996-2001 regime, on Tuesday banned university education for women after
already closing down secondary schooling for girls.
The
United States, whose troop withdrawal from Afghanistan last year precipitated
the collapse of the Western-backed government, warned that the Taliban decision
could permanently end any hopes by the militants for a positive relationship.
Source:
Dawn
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Schools
close as Pakistan Taliban siege on police station drags on
Dec
20, 2022
BANNU,
PAKISTAN: Local schools were ordered shut on Tuesday out of fear of more
kidnappings as a hostage situation at a police station taken over by jailed
Pakistan Taliban fighters dragged into its third day.
More
than 30 members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group -- separate from
the Afghan Taliban but with a similar hardline Islamist ideology -- overpowered
their jailers on Sunday and snatched weapons.
The
men, held on suspicion of terrorism, have demanded safe passage to Afghanistan
in return for releasing at least eight police officers and military
intelligence officials, said Muhammad Ali Saif, a spokesman for the provincial
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.
The
district's deputy commissioner announced schools would close on Tuesday.
"We
fear that the Taliban could enter any school in the suburbs and take the
students hostage. We are not taking any risks and that's why we decided to close
the schools for today," said a senior government official in the district
who asked not to be named.
The
police station is within a cantonment area in Bannu, in Pakistan's formerly
self-governed tribal areas and near the border with Afghanistan.
Offices
and roads have closed and checkpoints have been set up around the area.
Pakistani
officials have asked the government in Kabul to help with the release of the
hostages, the senior government official told AFP.
The
TTP said its members were behind the incident and demanded authorities provide
them safe passage to border areas.
Overnight
on Monday, at least 50 Pakistan Taliban militants stormed another police
station in Wana -- also close to the Afghan border and some 200 kilometres
south of Bannu -- according to local government and senior police officials,
both of whom asked not to be named.
The
group locked up police officers and seized weapons before border force troops
moved in to take back control.
The
TTP claimed responsibility, saying two police officers were killed.
Authorities
have not officially acknowledged the incident.
The
TTP emerged in 2007 and carried out a horrific wave of violence in Pakistan
that was largely crushed after a military operation beginning in 2014.
However,
attacks are on the rise again since the Afghan Taliban seized control of Kabul
last year, with most targeting security forces.
Source:
Times Of India
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12
killed, dozens injured in fire in Pakistan's Balochistan
Dec
20, 2022
KARACHI:
At least 12 people were killed and dozens injured in a huge fire which broke
out when a gas cylinder exploded in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province,
media reports said on Tuesday.
The
cylinder exploded while being refilled at a filling shop in the Lasbela
district of the southwestern province on Monday, the Dawn newspaper said.
The
flames engulfed other gas cylinders in the shop and spread to other shops,
destroying at least four of them and around two dozen motorbikes parked in the
vicinity, the paper added.
Two
people were killed on the spot while 10 others succumbed to injuries during the
treatment at a hospital, Geo News reported, quoting the police.
At
least 25 people were severely burned in the fire. They were shifted to
Karachi's Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital.
According
to a doctor attending them, the condition of some of the injured was critical
with 70 to 90 per cent burn injuries.
The
death toll is expected to rise, police said.
Source:
Times Of India
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Arab World
Baghdad
conference aims to ensure Iraq’s security, stability: Jordan
Laith
Al-Jnaidi
20.12.2022
Jordan’s
King Abdullah II said Tuesday the Baghdad conference aims to ensure Iraq’s
security and stability.
"Addressing
common challenges requires joint action that our peoples can feel it has
positive effects," Abdullah told the opening session of the Baghdad II
conference in the Dead Sea in western Jordan.
The
monarch said the meeting is held at a time when the region is witnessing
political and security crises as well as food, water and health challenges.
“This
situation requires us to secure the supply chain and the energy supplies,” he
added.
The
Baghdad conference is attended by 12 countries -- Jordan, Iraq, France,
Türkiye, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Kuwait,
Bahrain and Oman.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
US
forces capture six Islamic State operatives in Syria raids
20
December 2022
The
US military said on Tuesday that it captured six Islamic State (IS) operatives
in eastern Syria during helicopter raids, including a senior operative who the
military said was involved in plotting and enabling attacks.
The
US Central Command (Centcom), which oversees US troops in the Middle East, said
in a statement that it conducted three pre-dawn raids over the past 48 hours,
and its main target was a senior IS Syria provincial operative referred to as
al-Zubaydi. The military said that no Americans were injured in the raids.
The
raids are the second to take place in the span of a week. Last Sunday, US
commandos killed another IS operative, known as Anas, and an associate in a
nearly three-hour gun battle in eastern Syria, the military said.
"These
partnered operations reaffirm Centcom's steadfast commitment to the region and
the enduring defeat of ISIS,” General Michael Kurilla, the head of the command,
said in a statement, using another acronym to refer to the IS militant group.
"The
capture of these ISIS operatives will disrupt the terrorist organization's
ability to further plot and carry out destabilizing attacks."
The
raids by the US come a month after Centcom confirmed that the leader of the IS
group, Abu al-Hassan al-Hashemi al-Quraishi, was killed in battle by
anti-Syrian government fighters. He had only been in charge of the militant
group for less than nine months.
After
his rise to leader in February, Abu al-Hassan al-Hashemi al-Quraishi remained a
mysterious figure, and little was known about him. His name is thought not to
be real, and some believe the leader to be Juma Awad al-Badri.
In
July, the US assassinated Maher al-Agal, a senior IS group leader, in a drone
strike in Syria, and in February it killed the group's previous leader, Abu
Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi.
Syrian
Democratic Forces
Members
of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) accompanied the US troops in their latest
operation, the American military said, according to The New York Times.
The
presence of the SDF comes after the Kurdish-led group had announced earlier
this month that it stopped all joint counter-terrorism operations with the US
against the IS group as a result of Turkish attacks on its territory, only for
the US to later announce a resumption of joint patrols.
However,
The Times reported that US officials rushed to tamp down tensions, and
operations soon resumed.
The
US has backed the SDF with military assistance and conducts joint operations
with the group, which it sees as the most effective fighting force against IS.
Turkey
views the SDF (and also YPG) as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party,
which has waged a decades-long war for independence against Turkey. The US
considers the group, known as the PKK, a terrorist organisation, but
differentiates it from the SDF.
Source:
Middle East Eye
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-forces-capture-six-islamic-state-operatives-syria-raids
--------
Eight
Iraqis killed as Islamic State group militants launch fresh attack in Diyala
20
December, 2022
Eight
Iraqi civilians were killed and others wounded after Islamic State group
militants launched an attack on a village in Iraq’s eastern Diyala province
late on Monday, Iraqi officials said.
"A
group of terrorists riding motorcycles at around 8:30 pm attacked Al-Bubali village... dozens of residents,
some of them unarmed, had rushed to confront the attackers," Uday
al-Khadran, mayor of Khalis district, told Iraq’s state media the Iraqi News
Agency (INA).
"After
half an hour of clashes, eight villagers were martyred and three others were
severely wounded."
Iraqi
security forces are now conducting operations in the area to chase down the
militants.
"There
are some suspects who might be interrogated in order to know [the whereabouts
of] the perpetrators. There are terrorist outposts near the village that have
not been dealt with previously," he added.
Iraqi
military spokesman Yahya Rasool said in a statement that the IS militants'
"cowardly actions" were in response to military operations in the
area which "have broken the terrorists' backbone and killed their
leader".
Iraqi
troops were re-deployed in Diyala after a senior security delegation visited
the area and will implement a thorough investigation into the incident with
a"proper response" to follow, he said.
IS
on Sunday claimed responsibility for another attack in Kirkuk province when a
roadside bomb killed nine Iraqi police officers.
IS
announced on 30 November that its leader, Abu Hasan al-Hashimi Al-Qurashi, was
killed in battle without elaborating on the date of his death or the
circumstances. The group also identified its new leader as Abu al-Hussein
Al-Husseini Al-Qurashi.
After
a meteoric rise in Iraq and Syria in 2014 that saw it conquer vast swathes of
territory, IS saw its self-proclaimed "caliphate" collapse under a
wave of offensives.
It
was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria two years later, but sleeper cells of
the extremist group still carry out attacks in both countries.
IS's
previous leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi, was killed in February this year in a
US raid in Idlib province in northern Syria.
Source:
The New Arab
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.newarab.com/news/eight-iraqis-killed-islamic-state-group-attack-diyala
--------
OIC
meeting discusses Saudi efforts to fight corruption, promote integrity
HEBSHI
ALSHAMMARI
December
20, 2022
RIYADH:
Law enforcement agencies from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s member
states have attended their first ministerial meeting, in Jeddah.
Heads
of international bodies, such as the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Interpol and
the Financial Intelligence Unit group, also attended the two-day meeting, which
was held under the patronage of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and discussed
the adoption of the Makkah Agreement, which aims at fighting corruption.
President
of the Kingdom’s Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority Mazin bin Ibrahim
Al-Kahmous said that Saudi Arabia supported efforts to combat corruption at
local and international levels, as it constituted a pillar of Vision 2030.
He
said that the meeting was a confirmation of the organization’s charter — which
seeks to combat corruption, money laundering and organized crime — and embodied
the strong relations between Islamic countries which helped signify a united
front toward desired goals.
He
added that the adoption of the Makkah Convention by member states would
establish a new phase of cooperation in the field of combating corruption to
serve common interests.
OIC
Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha said that the Makkah Agreement provided
the most significant and effective framework for preventing and combating
corruption in member states through effective prevention, law enforcement,
international cooperation, and asset recovery mechanisms.
Taha
called on the OIC states to engage in the fight against corruption by signing
and ratifying the Makkah Agreement in order to enforce anti-corruption laws “in
accordance with their legal systems and in line with the aspirations and
perspectives of member states in the fight against corruption.”
When
asked about the importance of fighting corruption in regard to national
security, Abdul Majeed Al-Bunyan, director of Naif Arab University for Security
Sciences, said: “The breakdown of law and order leads to corruption.
“However,
its proliferation contributes significantly to state instability. Law
enforcement agencies must be strong and competent to combat corruption in the
light of national and international legislation that enables them to do their
jobs effectively, and for societies to grow and advance.”
He
cautioned that it would need determined efforts from all sides to accomplish
the desired international collaboration through a more efficient sharing of
information, the restriction of safe havens, and the tracking and recovery of
stolen public funds.
According
to Saudi political analyst Monif Alsofouqi, corruption is not restricted to
theft and misuse of public funds.
He
told Arab News it undermined the state’s ability to fulfill its legislative,
executive, and supervisory responsibilities, and contributed to widespread
unrest.
He
added that many nations hoped to improve their standing in the eyes of
potential investors by making strides in the battle against corruption.
He
also pointed out that the fight against corruption was no longer a domestic
issue, but increasingly an international problem affecting the economic
performance of states.
International
organizations used several methods in order to attract investment, he said, and
arrangements evaluating competitiveness and the corruption index were two of
the most important indicators determining the direction of foreign cash.
Abduraheem
Al-Moghathawi, a former professor of higher studies at Islamic University,
said: “Saudi Arabia is a sovereign country with a new vision and sophisticated
methods of achieving economic and social growth rates, as well as growing
intellectual and cultural awareness to increase care and attention given to
civil rights.
“Combating
corruption and maintaining public integrity in both private and public sectors
are among the Kingdom’s domestic and exterior legal procedures.
“To
fulfill its duty in the service of Saudi society, Saudi Arabia established the
Public Prosecutors’ Office and the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
“The
Kingdom is committed to eliminating corruption and promoting integrity in society
through its Islamic status, national responsibility, and humanitarian
commitments, particularly with the launch of Saudi Vision 2030.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2219336/saudi-arabia
--------
Kingdom
stands with Iraq over stability, sovereignty: Saudi FM
December
20, 2022
AMMAN:
Saudi Arabia stands side by side with Iraq in preserving stability and
sovereignty, and is committed to restoring the country’s historical status as a
cradle of civilization, science and knowledge, Saudi Foreign Affairs Minister
Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on Tuesday.
His
comments came at the Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership in
Jordan, which gathered leaders from the Middle East and Europe to focus on
bolstering security and stability in Iraq.
Prince
Faisal, who led the Kingdom’s delegation at the conference, delivered a speech lauding
the political will of Iraq and Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani in facing
adversity, Saudi Press Agency reported.
The
minister said that the Kingdom “rejects any aggressive measures” on Iraqi
territory and is committed to fighting terrorism as well as extremism in the
country.
He
added that the Kingdom will “spare no effort” in supporting Iraq’s economic and
developmental progress, saying that the country’s prosperity is “tied to the
prosperity of the entire region.”
Prince
Faisal said that the Kingdom is committed to developing a joint action plan
under the auspices of the Saudi-Iraqi Coordination Council, as well as
collaborating with the Iraqi government to promote investment opportunities in
renewable and clean energy, water desalination and agriculture.
The
two countries cooperate through OPEC and OPEC+ in an effort to keep global oil
markets stable, he added.
Meanwhile,
the foreign affairs minister said that the Kingdom’s Saudi and Middle East
Green Initiatives, as well as the Green Belt project in Iraq, remain important
areas of cooperation in strengthening bilateral ties.
Jordan’s
King Abdullah II said that the conference’s second edition is taking place at a
time when the region is facing security and political crises, as well as food,
water, health and energy security challenges.
The
Iraqi prime minister said that strengthening the bonds of partnership among
attending countries through infrastructure interdependence, economic
integration and mutual investment was a priority.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2219351/saudi-arabia
--------
Mideast
Quds
Force chief: Palestinians will soon force Israelis out of occupied lands
20
December 2022
The
commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)'s Quds Force says the
Palestinian people will eventually rid their land from Israelis, warning the
regime that the era of hit-and-run has come to an end.
Brigadier
Gen. Esmail Qa’ani made the warning at a ceremony on Tuesday which was held on
the occasion of the first martyrdom anniversary of former Iranian ambassador to
Yemen Hassan Irloo, who passed away of COVID-19 complications amid a siege
imposed by the Saudi regime and its allies on the Arabian Peninsula state.
Qa’ani
noted that about 50 operations are carried out against Israel in the occupied
West Bank alone every day, adding that the occupying regime is today desperate
and under intense pressure.
He
went on to say that it won't be long before the Palestinians expel the Israelis
from their land.
The
IRGC commander further said the day his predecessor Lieutenant General Qassem
Soleimani was assassinated by a US drone strike in Iraq, we warned Israelis to
sell their houses and leave Palestine.
“Today,
we see that in the occupied territories, old Jewish figures have created
organizations to [promote] leaving the occupied territories,” he said.
The
latest development came a day after a prominent Israeli regime general said
that occupied Palestine is witnessing the formation of a communication network
among Palestinians, a matter that worries Israeli officials and elites who
think the regime faces an existential threat.
Palestinian
officials have also reiterated that the Palestinian resistance front will not
quit fighting Israel until the occupied territories are fully liberated.
The
Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has also urged support for the
Palestinian people’s right to end the Israeli occupation and establish their
independent state with al-Quds as its capital, as well as the right of return
for refugees.
The
Israeli regime came into existence in 1948 after occupying huge swathes of
Palestinian territories during a Western-backed war. It occupied more land,
namely the West Bank, which includes East al-Quds, and the Gaza Strip where
Hamas is headquartered, in another war in 1967.
Source:
Press TV
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Israel’s
crime against cancer-stricken Palestinian prisoner will not go unpunished:
Hamas chief
20
December 2022
The
head of the political bureau of Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, has
denounced as “a crime against humanity” the death of a cancer-stricken
Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jails, saying the regime’s crime would not go
unpunished.
Ismail
Haniyeh made the remarks in a statement on Tuesday, after Nasser Abu Hamid, who
was suffering from a life-threatening condition in his lungs in Israeli
detention, was pronounced dead by the Palestinian Commission of Detainees’ and
Ex-Detainees’ Affairs earlier in the day, the Palestinian Information Center
reported.
The
Hamas chief further expressed his sincere condolences over Abu Hamid’s death to
his mother and detained brothers, reiterating the movement’s commitment to
liberating all Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails and every inch of
Palestine.
Abu
Hamid was declared dead on Tuesday morning at the Israeli Shamir Medical
Center, formerly known as Assaf Harofeh Medical Center and located 15
kilometers (9.3 miles) southeast of Tel Aviv.
He
was transferred from the Ramla Prison Hospital to the medical center on Monday
afternoon after his health condition severely deteriorated and fell into a deep
coma.
Abu
Hamid was diagnosed with cancer in August 2021.
The
50-year-old Palestinian prisoner was wrestling with death as the Israeli prison
service (IPS) continued to deny him necessary medical care.
He
had been incarcerated since 2002 and was sentenced to life imprisonment after
an Israeli court found him guilty of participating in attacks during the Second
Palestinian Intifada (uprising).
Last
September, Israeli doctors issued a medical report recommending Abu Hamid’s
release, saying his lung cancer had reached an irreversible stage.
The
prisoner had not received any dose of chemotherapy for several months because
of extreme lethargy leading to an inability to respond to cancer drugs.
His
family had appealed to all concerned international bodies to take urgent and
effective action to save the life of their son.
Abu
Hamid’s case to be presented to ICC
Meanwhile,
Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Riyad al-Maliki held the
Israeli regime fully responsible for the death of Abu Hamid, saying his case
will be represented to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Maliki
also accused the international community of failing to address Abu Hamid's
issue, saying he was not only a victim of the occupying regime’s oppression,
but also a victim of world’s double standards.
He
further called on the United Nations to put pressure on Israel to hand over the
body of the Palestinian prisoner to his family, so that they can hold a funeral
ceremony as soon as possible.
Palestinian
Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyehalso blamed Israel for Abu Hamid's death,
accused Tel Aviv of “deliberate medical negligence."
Palestinians
call for strike
Separately
on Tuesday, Palestinian factions called for a general strike in the occupied
West Bank, urging Palestinians to confront Israeli troops following Abu Hamid’s
death.
Hamas
called for “a real escalation in the occupation prisons” in response to his
death.
Fatah
called for strikes in cities across the West Bank "in response to the
crimes committed against Palestinian prisoners."
The
Palestinian “movement also called for a day of rage at contact points with the
Israeli military,” Palestine’s official Wafa news agency reported.
This
is while the IPS claims Abu Hamid had received “close and regular treatment by
the prison’s medical staff and outside personnel” since his diagnosis.
There
are reportedly more than 7,000 Palestinians incarcerated in Israeli jails.
Human rights organizations say Israel violates all the rights and freedoms
granted to prisoners by the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Source:
Press TV
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Hamas
calls for mass uprising as Palestinian prisoner dies due to Israel medical
negligence
20
December 2022
Two
Palestinian prisoners’ advocacy groups have announced that a Palestinian
prisoner, who was suffering from cancer and had lately lapsed into a deep coma,
has died because of medical complications caused by deliberate medical
negligence in Israeli detention.
The
Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) and the Palestinian Commission of
Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs said in a joint statement that 50-year-old
Nasser Abu Hmaid was pronounced dead on Tuesday morning at the Israeli Shamir
Medical Center, formerly known as Assaf Harofeh Medical Center and located 15
kilometers (9.3 miles) southeast of Tel Aviv.
They
said Abu Hmaid was transferred from the Ramla Prison Hospital to the medical
center on Monday afternoon after his health condition severely deteriorated.
Earlier,
the Palestinian Commission of Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs said the cancer-stricken
Palestinian prisoner was in a fairly critical condition and that he had slipped
into a deep coma. Doctors were giving him large doses of painkillers.
Abu
Hmeid had been battling death for several months in Ramla Prison Hospital. His
health had been deteriorating amid a wide spread of cancerous cells throughout
his body, with complete damage to his left lung.
He
hailed from the al-Amari refugee camp in the occupied central West Bank city of
Ramallah. He has been incarcerated since 2002 and was sentenced to life
imprisonment after an Israeli court found him guilty of participating in
attacks during the Second Palestinian Intifada (uprising).
Abu
Hmaid was diagnosed with lung cancer in August 2021 after Israeli authorities
delayed the provision of medical examinations and treatment, according to
prisoner groups.
His
family had appealed to all concerned international bodies to take urgent and
effective action to save the life of their son.
Hamas:
Abu Hmaid fought until his last breath
The
Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement mourned the death of the cancer-stricken
Palestinian prisoner.
Hazem
Qassem, a spokesman for the group, said in a statement on Tuesday that Abu
Hmaid fought the Israeli occupation until his last breath, and represented the
entire Palestinian nation.
He
denounced the Palestinian inmate’s death as a major crime committed by the Tel
Aviv regime against Palestinian prisoners and Palestinians in general,
stressing that the misdeed must be met with a mass uprising aimed at forcing
Israel to abandon its criminal policy of medical negligence.
Qassem
pointed out that the policy of medical negligence reveals the extent of the
Israel Prison Service’s terrorism against Palestinian detainees, adding that
Hamas has placed the issue of prisoners atop its priorities.
There
are reportedly more than 7,000 Palestinians incarcerated in Israeli jails.
Human rights organizations say Israel violates all the rights and freedoms
granted to prisoners by the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Source:
Press TV
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Iran
urges Western powers to adopt ‘constructive’ approach to revive nuclear deal
20
December ,2022
Iran’s
top diplomat Hossein Amirabdollahian called on Western powers on Tuesday to
adopt a “constructive” approach for the revival of the 2015 nuclear pact.
Amirabdollahian
also added that other parties to the deal should take the “necessary political
decision” to salvage the pact during his meeting with European Union foreign
policy chief Josep Borrell in Jordan.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Iran
releases dissident after three months in prison: Brother
20
December ,2022
Iranian
authorities have released one of the country’s best known dissidents after he
spent three months in jail as protests shook the country, his brother said.
Majid
Tavakoli was released on bail from Tehran’s Evin prison after 89 days behind
bars, his brother Mohsen wrote on Twitter late on Monday.
Tavakoli
had been arrested shortly after the start of the anti-regime protests sparked
by the death of Mahsa Amini who had been arrested by the morality police for
allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress rules for women.
For
the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Iran
has arrested prominent lawyers, actors, cultural figures, journalists and
campaigners in a crackdown that according to the UN has seen at least 14,000
people detained.
“We
are happy about this news, but our happiness will be complete when all the dear
ones who are in prison are released,” said Mohsen Tavakoli, posting a picture
of his brother outside jail clutching a bouquet of flowers.
Tavakoli
has spent much of the last one and a half decades in and out of jail and became
prominent as a student leader during the 2009 mass street protests over
disputed presidential elections.
He
is hugely respected by activists as one of the most astute and analytical
rights campaigners remaining inside Iran.
In
2013 he won the Student Peace Prize, which is awarded every two years in
Norway.
His
release comes after Iranian authorities in late November released the prominent
dissident Hossein Ronaghi who had also been arrested at the onset of the
protests and had been on a two-month hunger strike.
Several
prominent Iranian campaigners remain in jail including the lawyer Mostafa Nili
who has defended high profile cases and was arrested in November.
The
two Iranian journalists Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi who helped expose
the case of Amini by respectively reporting from the hospital and her funeral,
have been held since September.
The
two women have now been moved from Evin prison to Qarchak prison outside the
capital where conditions have regularly aroused concern among rights activists,
their families announced at the weekend.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Turkey
court acquits 103 retired admirals accused of ‘coup’
20
December ,2022
A
Turkish court on Tuesday acquitted 103 retired admirals whom President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan accused last year of eyeing a “coup,” state media reported.
They
appeared in court charged with “crimes against the security of the state and
the constitutional order” after they signed an open letter in April 2021 in
support of a treaty aimed at demilitarizing the Black Sea.
The
1936 Montreux Convention sets strict rules on warships’ passage through the
Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits leading to the Mediterranean.
But
Erdogan is planning to build a new canal in Istanbul to the west of the
Bosphorus to take the pressure off one of the world’s busiest waterways.
The
former admirals feared that the treaty’s possible collapse if the new canal
were built could have negative repercussions for Turkey.
Erdogan
lashed out at the commanders, accusing them of threatening a “coup” against the
country’s elected government.
Prosecutors
sought a jail sentence of up to 12 years for each of the retired admirals, who
were free pending trial.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Senior
Palestinian al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades fighter dies of cancer in Israeli jail
20
December ,2022
A
senior Palestinian fighter jailed for life by Israel, and who was cited by
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a speech to the United Nations, died of
cancer on Tuesday, authorities said.
Nasser
Abu Hmaid, co-founder of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades had been convicted of
killing seven Israelis and planning other attacks. The Brigades is deemed a
terrorist group in Israel and the West.
He
was serving multiple life sentences and had been in prison since 2002.
Abbas
accused Israel of neglecting Abu Hmaid’s medical needs and held it responsible
for his death, the official news agency WAFA said. Israel’s Prisons Service
said Abu Hmaid, 50, had received “close and continuous treatment” for his lung
cancer.
After
Abu Hmaid fell into a coma, the Prisons Service let his family visit him
briefly on Monday, in the presence of guards, his mother told Voice of
Palestine radio.
“Thank
God, I and his brothers were able to see him and pay him farewell,” she said,
adding that she hoped his body would be released for burial.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
UN
reports highest number of fatalities in years in Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Betül
Yürük
20.12.2022
The
UN’s Middle East envoy said Monday that more than 150 Palestinians and over 20
Israelis have been killed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so far this year,
marking the highest number of fatalities in years.
''I
am gravely concerned by the sharp increase in violence against civilians on
both sides, which exacerbates mistrust and undermines a peaceful resolution to
the conflict,'' Tor Wennesland told the UN Security Council.
Wennesland
called for an end to the violence and for all perpetrators to be held
accountable.
He
also expressed concern over Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank and
East Jerusalem, which the world body says constitutes a flagrant violation of
UN resolutions and international law.
Some
4,800 housing units were advanced this year in Area C of the West Bank, and the
number of housing units advanced more than tripled from the previous year –
from 900 units in 2021 to 3,100 units in 2022, he said.
He
urged Israel to cease advancement of all settlement activities as well as the
demolition of Palestinian-owned properties.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Iranian
interference in Yemen started 1979: Yemeni leader
SAEED
AL-BATATI
December
20, 2022
AL-MUKALLA:
Iranian interference in Yemen started immediately after exiled Ayatollah
Khomeini’s 1979 return to Tehran, the Yemeni leader has revealed.
And
Rashad Al-Alimi, president of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, told Al
Arabiya TV on Monday that in 1983 Iran’s government gave its backing to an
armed group commanded by Badder Addin Al-Houthi, the father of the Houthi
movement’s leader.
In
an exclusive interview with the station, Al-Alimi said that year the militia,
led by Al-Houthi and Salah Faletah, father of the Houthis chief negotiator, had
attacked civilian and military targets in Sanaa.
“It
should be evident to everybody that the Iranian project was conceived by an
early strategic plan and not in 2000 or 2004. After Khomeini’s return and the
launch of Iran’s regional expansion strategy, the problem arose.
“The
emergence of Iranian cells in Yemen coincided with the emergence of Hezbollah
in Lebanon,” the president added.
He
pointed out that many Yemeni governments had over the past four decades tried
to alert the international community to the gravity of the situation,
particularly during conflicts between 2004 and 2010.
Al-Alimi
noted that the internationally recognized government and the council were
dedicated to upholding a UN-brokered cease-fire, which ended in October, and
other peace initiatives to end the war, despite constant Houthi breaches that
since April had left hundreds of government military personnel dead or injured.
“The
terrorist Houthi militia has refused to extend the cease-fire and open roads in
Taiz until this day,” he said.
In
October, the National Defense Council, chaired by Al-Alimi, labeled the Houthis
a terrorist group after they attacked oil terminals in the southern provinces
of Hadramout and Shabwa, resulting in the closure of key facilities and the
cessation of oil exports, the government’s primary source of income.
As
a result of the attacks, the Yemeni government may be unable to pay the wages
of thousands of government employees, and damage repair costs to the Hadramout
facility have been estimated at $50 million, he added.
Al-Alimi
said: “We urge the international community to proceed from condemnation to
action by classifying this terrorist group as a terrorist organization. It is
affiliated with terrorist groups like the (Iran’s Islamic) Revolutionary Guard
(Corps) and Hezbollah.”
He
accused the Houthis of collaborating with terror groups, including Daesh and
Al-Qaeda, by freeing militants, including some Al-Qaeda operatives jailed for
their involvement in the 2000 attack on the USS Cole destroyer, arming them,
and then sending them to liberated areas to launch attacks against government
troops.
The
eight-member Presidential Leadership Council, which took office in April when
former president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi delegated his power to the council, is
made up of important military and political figures as well as the governors of
several provinces.
Al-Alimi,
who is now in Riyadh, refuted media claims of divisions within the council and
said that he and other council members often met online and would return to
Aden.
On
the council’s accomplishments, he highlighted its work in revitalizing courts
and other public bodies and routinely paying public employees in all
government-controlled regions.
“Today,
all freed territories have fully operational courts, prosecution, and judicial
institutions,” he added.
And
on Yemen’s relationship with the Arab coalition, primarily Saudi Arabia and the
UAE, Al-Alimi said the Kingdom hosted more than 2 million Yemenis who sent at
least $4 billion annually to their families in Yemen, while Saudi Arabia also
funded numerous projects such as the renovation of a hospital in Aden.
In
addition, the UAE was involved in the building of a 120-megawatt solar power
plant in Aden.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2219401/middle-east
--------
North America
US
Department of State Says Human Rights at Top of Agenda with Islamic Emirate
By
Imran Danish
Dec
21, 2022
The
US Department of State said that Washington is not prepared to improve its
relationship “with the Taliban” until and unless they actually start to uphold
the commitments, they have made to the Afghan people.
Addressing
a press conference, the US State Department spokesman Ned Price said human
rights are at the top of the agenda of his country.
“In
every engagement we have with the Taliban, human rights are at the top of the
agenda. We of course not only remind them of the commitments they have made to
the United States but, more importantly, of the commitment they have to the
people of Afghanistan to uphold their basic and fundamental and universal
rights, something that the Taliban have failed to do,” Price said.
Islamic
Emirate spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said they cannot cross Sharia in a bid to
fulfil the wishes of the international community.
He
urged the US to engage in talks to address the problems.
“The
rules and orders in Islamic Emirate are relevant to the Islam. There is no
progress in this regard because it is part of our Sharia and religion. We
cannot give up on Sharia because of them. Anyway, engagement and understandings
pave the ground for development and the US should do it,” he said.
Analysts
said that the improvement of relations between Kabul and Washington would solve
political and economic problems in Afghanistan.
“Building
relations with the US and the world will benefit Afghanistan. With this, we can
solve many political and economic problems in the country,” said Aziz Maarij, a
political affairs analyst.
“The
relations of the Afghan government with the US is one of the basics of
governance. The Islamic Emirate should solve its problems via negotiations and
diplomacy with the US,” said Jannat Fahim Chakari, a political analyst.
Source:
Tolo News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-181273
--------
New
Jersey lawmakers considering resolution to establish January as Muslim Heritage
Month
December
20, 2022
New
Jersey state legislators hope to pass a bipartisan resolution recognizing
January as Muslim Heritage month statewide.
Advocates
for the resolution want the measure to pass both state houses before the end of
the current legislative session, Republican State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio – who
is a sponsor of the resolution – told CNN.
“This
is an important thing that we can do to show our Muslim friends” camaraderie
and thankfulness for their contributions, Pinnacchio said.
The
legislature has a full year to pass the resolution, but he hopes it doesn’t
take that long.
“This
is just a resolution acknowledging … all of the things that this community has
done,” Pinnacchio said.
The
current legislative session ends in January 2024.
New
Jersey has the highest percentage of Muslim residents in the United States,
according to the Pew Research Center.
Incidents
of hate against Muslims have been on the rise in New Jersey, according to Dina
Sayedahmed, communications manager for the New Jersey chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
She
added that her office has recently received more than 160 calls for help and
hopes it will help reduce the number of hate incidents against Muslims.
Sayedahmed
added that while CAIR-NJ supports the measure overall, the organization feels
the name of the proposed resolution should be changed to Muslim Appreciation
Month.
“We
want to dispel any myths that Islam is a culture or Islam is a heritage that’s
simply like, passed down,” Sayedahmed said. “We feel that Muslim appreciation
is more appropriate.”
“We’re
hoping that this resolution can help highlight the accomplishments and also the
… culture and the diversity of the Muslim community and Muslim American
community,” she said.
She
also hopes it will help counter anti-Muslim sentiments and “uplift the Muslim
community” by presenting them in a “positive light, as opposed to the normal
depictions that we see.”
If
New Jersey approves the resolution, the state will join Utah, Washington and
Illinois as the only states to recognize January as a month celebrating Muslim
American heritage. On the federal level, measures have been introduced in both
the House and Senate to have the holiday recognized nationwide.
Source:
CNN
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Blinken
calls Bilawal, offers continued help for flood victims
December
21, 2022
WASHINGTON:
US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with Foreign Minister Bilawal
Bhutto-Zardari and assured him of his continued support for the people of
Pakistan as they recover from the recent devastating floods, said a statement
issued in Washington on Tuesday.
US
State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Secretary Blinken and FM
Bhutto-Zardari “shared their mutual hope for a productive International
Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan in January and discussed the need for
close coordination”.
The
secretary offered condolences for lives lost in recent terrorist attacks and
underscored the US resolute support for Pakistan as it combats terrorism, the
statement added.
The
foreign minister is currently visiting Washington on the second leg of his
weeklong visit to the US. He arrived in New York on Dec 13 and reached
Washington on Monday after attending a special UN session of G77 countries and
holding bilateral meetings with the UN chief and other dignitaries. The US
State Department offered unconditional support to Pakistan in its battle
against the TTP and similar groups, saying that defeating terrorism was a
shared goal of both countries.
UN
chief slams TTP, calls on Kabul to take action against militant group
It
also offered to assist India and Pakistan in resolving their differences,
reminding them that they were key global partners and that America would like
to continue ‘valuable partnerships’ with both.
But
when asked if the US could also help resolve the Kashmir dispute, Mr Price said:
“Our policy is that this is an issue that needs to be addressed by India and
Pakistan. We are prepared to support if the parties want that, but this is a
question for India and Pakistan to adjudicate.”
The
foreign minister began his official engagements in Washington on Monday with an
address to a conservative think-tank, the Heritage Foundation. He attended a
community dinner at the Pakistani ambassador’s residence in the evening and
addressed another think-tank, the Atlantic Council, on Tuesday.
He
also met a number of US lawmakers during the last two days.
In
an interview with Bloomberg published on Tuesday, Mr Bhutto-Zardari defended
his recent remarks describing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as ‘the
butcher of Gujarat’, saying he was referring to ‘a historical fact’, Dawn.com
reported.
“I
was referring to a historical reality. The remarks I used were not my own. I
did not call […] I did not invent the term ‘Butcher of Gujarat’ for Mr Modi.
The Muslims in India following the Gujarat riots used that term for Mr Modi.”
“It’s
been two days since my remark — a member of Mr Modi’s party has announced a 20
million rupee bounty on my head. So, I don’t think the best way to disprove the
fact that Mr Modi is the ‘Butcher of Gujarat’ is to adopt such extreme steps,”
he said.
“It
is an extreme reaction and underlines and reinforces the points I made at the
UN,” he said.
Mr
Bhutto-Zardari’s remarks evoked strong reaction from India’s ruling Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) who staged protests across the country, including outside
the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi.
UN
chief seeks action against TTP
Meanwhile,
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the Taliban administration in
Kabul to ensure an end to “all forms of terrorism activities” that posed a
threat to Pakistan and other neighbouring countries from Afghan soil, Dawn.com
reported.
“There
is […] a clear ask from the international community, which is for Afghanistan
to stop all forms of activity of terrorist organisations that from Afghanistan
represent a threat to neighbouring countries, including Pakistan,” he said
while speaking at a press briefing at the UN headquarters in New York on
Monday.
The
UN was actively engaged in discussions with the Taliban de facto authorities on
this issue, he added.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1727481/blinken-calls-bilawal-offers-continued-help-for-flood-victims
--------
Taliban
release two detained Americans in ‘goodwill gesture’
20
Dec 2022
The
Taliban have released two Americans that had been in detention in Afghanistan,
the state department said on Tuesday – the same day that the group faced
condemnation for banning women at universities.
“This,
we understand, to have been a goodwill gesture on the part of the Taliban. This
was not part of any swap of prisoners or detainees. There was no money that
exchanged hands,” state department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.
The
two Americans released had arrived in Qatar on Tuesday, The Washington Post
reported, citing diplomats familiar with the matter.
The
identities of the two nationals were not disclosed. Price said that
confidentiality rules forbade him from offering more details on the two
Americans.
Speaking
at a daily press briefing, Price said Washington was continuing to raise with
the Taliban the need to release any US nationals still held in Afghanistan, but
declined to provide who they may be and how many people may be held there.
“We
are in a position to welcome the release of two American nationals from
detention in Afghanistan. We are providing these to US nationals with all
appropriate assistance. They will soon be reunited with their loved ones,”
Price said.
He
pointed out “the irony of them granting us a goodwill gesture on a day where
they undertake a gesture like this [banning girls from universities] to the
Afghan people, it’s not lost on us,” he said. “But it is a question for the
Taliban themselves regarding the timing of this.”
On
Tuesday, Afghanistan’s Taliban-run higher education ministry said that female
students would not be allowed access to the country’s universities until
further notice.
The
announcement came as the United Nations Security Council met in New York on
Afghanistan. The United States and British UN envoys condemned the move during
the council meeting.
“The
Taliban cannot expect to be a legitimate member of the international community
until they respect the rights of all Afghans, especially the human rights and
fundamental freedom of women and girls,” US Deputy UN Ambassador Robert Wood
said.
“We
have an interest in seeing Americans released from detention. That is a
uniquely US interest. But beyond that, the categories that I spoke about
earlier – human rights, safe passage, representative government,
counterterrorism … We will continue to advocate for these interests,” Price
said.
The
Taliban have restricted women from most fields of employment, ordered them to
wear head-to-toe clothing in public, and banned them from parks and gyms.
Source:
Al Jazeera
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/20/taliban-release-two-detained-americans-in-goodwill-gesture
--------
US
says 'no progress happening' with Iran on resuming nuclear accord
Michael
Hernandez
20.12.2022
WASHINGTON
Talks
to return the US and Iran to a key accord that restricted Tehran's nuclear
activities remain at a deadlock and show no signs of resuming anytime soon, the
White House said Tuesday.
"There
is no progress happening with respect to the Iran deal now. We don't anticipate
any progress anytime in the near future. That's just not our focus,"
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters during a virtual
briefing.
Indirect
talks to resume compliance with the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
(JCPOA) have been stalled for months and prospects of a resumption dimmed
dramatically following Iran's provision of military drones to Russia to aid its
war against Ukraine.
The
deliveries have been staunchly opposed by the Biden administration and have
served to further impede any efforts to return to negotiations.
Former
US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew Washington from the landmark
agreement in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to
retaliate by taking steps away from its nuclear-related commitments.
Iran
has since gone on to surpass limits on the amount of uranium it is allowed to
possess, as well as the levels to which it is allowed to enrich the nuclear
material.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Europe
Macron says let Iraq choose path not ‘dictated’ by foreign powers
20
December ,2022
French
President Emmanuel Macron called for Iraq to be allowed to choose a path not
dictated by foreign powers, in an address Tuesday to a summit aimed at helping
to resolve Middle East crises.
“There
is a way that is not that of a form of hegemony, imperialism, a model that
would be dictated from outside,” Macron told the summit at Sweimeh on the
shores of the Dead Sea.
Caught
for years in a delicate balancing act between its two main allies the United
States and Iran, Iraq only recently arrived at a fragile compromise government
after a year of political stalemate.
It
has endured nearly two decades of turmoil since the US-led invasion toppled
Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The
extremist ISIS group seized roughly one third of the country’s territory before
its defeat more than three years later.
Meanwhile,
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani reiterated that Iraq must not be
used to threaten neighboring countries.
“We
do not allow using our territories to threaten neighboring countries… Iraq
dissociates itself from the policies of axes,” al-Sudani said.
The
premier also called for strengthening “joint work to fight extremist
[ideology].”
Jordan’s
King Abdullah II also voiced the importance of Iraq’s security, saying it was
“an essential pillar of the region’s security.”
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
UN
Security Council Holds a Session on Afghanistan
By
Nizamuddin Rezahi
December
20, 2022
The
UN Security Council held a session on Afghanistan today emphasizing the way
forward through a more pluralistic polity, where all Afghans, especially women
and minorities, could see themselves represented.
In
a briefing to the United Nation’s Security Council earlier today, the Head of the
United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) Roza Otunbayeva said
the only war forward for Afghanistan is to form an inclusive government where
everyone, particularly women and minorities could seem themselves represented.
Also,
during a press conference, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday
called on the authorities of the de facto regime in Afghanistan to ensure
women’s right to work and girls’ right to attend schools.
Following
the number of public punishments including public executions, flogging, and
stoning of many Afghan men and women convicted for different crimes in
different provinces, Afghanistan’s de facto regime came under massive
criticism. Respecting natural human rights is the very basic demand of the
people of Afghanistan and the international community.
The
Norwegian representative at the UN Security Council stated, “the Norwegian
government stands with the people of Afghanistan during these difficult times.”
“During our dialogues with the Taliban at the beginning of the year, it was
clearly asked that they should respect human rights and ensure that Afghanistan
is a safe country for all its people.” She further added.
Source:
Khaama Press
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.khaama.com/un-security-council-holds-a-session-on-afghanistan/
--------
Türkiye
voices support for peace, stability in Balkans
Talha
Ozturk
20.12.2022
BELGRADE,
Serbia
Turkish
Parliament Speaker Mustafa Sentop reaffirmed Ankara's support Tuesday for peace
and stability in the Balkans.
"The
preservation of peace and stability in the Balkans is also extremely important
for the security of Europe," Sentop said in a meeting with his North
Macedonian counterpart, Talat Xhaferi, in the capital of Skopje.
He
said recent problems at the regional and global levels have made it necessary
to act together.
Sentop
stressed the importance of mutual efforts to further develop relations between
Türkiye and North Macedonia.
"We
should develop these good relations on multilateral platforms as well as
bilaterally,'' he said.
Xhaferi
pointed out that cooperation between the two countries is dynamic at all
levels, especially at the parliamentary level.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/turkiye-voices-support-for-peace-stability-in-balkans/2768576
--------
US
welcomes Greek-Turkish dialogue, encourages more talks
Michael
Gabriel Hernandez
21.12.2022
WASHINGTON
The
US welcomed on Tuesday recent discussions between Greek and Turkish officials,
emphasizing they are a vital step toward achieving greater unity in the
transatlantic alliance.
"This
is a time when we need unity and cohesion between our allies, certainly between
and among our NATO allies. We always regret the escalation of provocative
statements," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.
"The
tensions within an alliance between two alliance members certainly does not
help anyone. To that end, we welcome the recent meeting in Brussels between
Anna-Maria Boura, Prime Minister Mitsotakis' diplomatic advisor, and Ibrahim
Kalin, President Erdogan's spokesperson and chief advisor, and we continue to
encourage these discussions at all levels," he added.
The
comments come after senior officials from Greece, Türkiye and Germany met
Monday in Brussels with German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit saying
additional talks are likely.
The
meeting brought together Kalin, Boura and German Chancellery Foreign and
Security Policy Adviser Jens Ploetner, after weeks-long tensions between Ankara
and Athens.
German
Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Athens in October and called for closer dialogue
between Türkiye and Greece to solve bilateral problems and de-escalate tensions
in the Mediterranean.
He
said good neighborly relations between Ankara and Athens are vital not only for
the two countries but for Europe and NATO.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/us-welcomes-greek-turkish-dialogue-encourages-more-talks/2768769
--------
Russia
to give Iran advanced military components in exchange for drones, says UK
December
20, 2022
LONDON:
Britain accused Russia of planning to give Iran advanced military components in
exchange for hundreds of drones, British defense minister Ben Wallace said on
Tuesday, calling on the West to do more to expose the trade.
“Iran
has become one of Russia’s top military backers,” Wallace told parliament as
part of a statement on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“In
return for having supplied more than 300 kamikaze drones, Russia now intends to
provide Iran with advanced military components, undermining both Middle East
and international security — we must expose that deal. In fact, I have, just
now.”
Wallace
did not provide detail on the type of military components he said Russia wanted
to give Iran. The Russian defense ministry and Iran’s foreign ministry did not
immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Britain,
along with Western allies, has provided military assistance to Ukraine
following the invasion, which Russia refers to as a “special operation” to
demilitarise its neighbor and rid it of nationalists.
Earlier
on Tuesday, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told Iran’s
foreign minister that Tehran should immediately halt military support for
Russia.
Iran
has acknowledged sending drones to Russia but said they were sent before Moscow
invaded Ukraine in February. Moscow has denied its forces used Iranian drones
in Ukraine.
On
Monday, Russia attacked Ukraine with dozens of “kamikaze” drones, hitting
critical infrastructure in and around Kyiv in what was Moscow’s third air
attack on the Ukrainian capital in less than a week.
“Kamikaze”
or “suicide” drones are cheaply produced, disposable unmanned aircraft that fly
toward their target before plummeting at speed and detonating on impact.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2219216/world
--------
Southeast Asia
Politics
and Islam bring Indonesian compromise on criminal code
20
December,2022
JAKARTA
(Reuters) - Indonesia’s new criminal code has grabbed headlines for making sex
outside marriage illegal but Islamic parties wanted even harsher punishment for
moral crimes in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, accounts of
behind-the-scenes negotiations reveal.
The
so-called morality code is just one part of the legislative overhaul that the
Indonesian parliament ratified this month, a 226-page set of new laws that critics
say threaten civil liberties, but officials defend as reflective of Indonesia’s
identity.
Behind
the scenes, secular nationalist parties holding a majority in parliament
opposed the tighter laws on morality but risked being branded supportive of
adultery if they remained unyielding in their opposition.
What
resulted was a compromise between political parties and the government, said
Taufik Basari, a member of the parliamentary commission overseeing the changes.
"We
found a middle ground, not only between nationalists and religious parties but
also between progressive liberals and conservatives," he said.
The
world’s third-largest democracy has a tradition of pluralism and moderate
Islam, although more conservative interpretations of Islam have gained ground
since the fall of authoritarian leader Suharto in 1998.
The
new criminal code, decades in the making and created to replace a colonial-era
set of laws, includes articles that ban insulting the president and state
institutions, and spreading views counter to the state ideology, known as
Pancasila.
The
United Nations has warned the laws threaten media freedom, privacy and human
rights.
‘BEST
WE COULD DO’
The
morality laws have, not surprisingly, drawn the most attention and criticism
but some officials said they would have been even stricter if the religious
parties had their way.
Islamic
parties had called for a maximum jail term of seven years for sex outside
marriage, and for anyone to be able to report a suspected offence, said sources
familiar with the discussions.
With
negotiations deadlocked until late November, the religious parties called for a
parliamentary vote, something the nationalist parties were reluctant to see as
it would have meant every party having to reveal its stand in parliament, and
potentially to the public, said Muhammad Nasir Djamil of the Islamic Solidarity
Party.
"This
issue is very sensitive among religious people," he said.
In
forming the laws, a team of legal professors had turned to Indonesia’s official
dictionary, which defines adultery as any sex outside marriage, not just
extramarital sex.
That
definition is now law.
Other
articles criminalise cohabitation between unmarried couples, promoting
contraception to minors, and abortion, apart from cases linked to rape or a
medical emergency.
"Indonesia
was trying to make its own code, based on its values," said University of
Indonesia law professor Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, part of the drafting team.
‘DEFUSE
ATTACKS’
None
of the nationalist parties, which dominate the ruling coalition, favoured the
morality clauses but eventually agreed to the watered-down version, said
President Joko Widodo’s deputy chief of staff, Jaleswari Pramodhawardani.
The
compromise reached in the final version carries a maximum one-year sentence for
sex outside marriage and six months for cohabitation. Suspected offences can
only be reported by a spouse, parent or child, which officials hope will
prevent police raids and finger-pointing by moral crusaders.
"This
was the best we could do ... It was a win-win solution, a middle ground,"
said Taufik. "The article is still there, but we included some tight
limitations."
The
new laws come into effect in three years and the largely muted public response
indicates they are unlikely to threaten political stability.
Jokowi,
as the president is known, is constitutionally barred from running again in the
2024 election but ahead of the polls, support for the morality laws carries a
political advantage, analysts said.
"Nationalist
parties were thinking ahead to the 2024 election," said Greg Fealy of the
Australian National University.
"They
want to defuse potential Islamist attacks upon them."
If
the Islamic parties largely got what they wanted on sex, the government and its
allies got some of what they wanted too, parliamentary and government sources
said.
A
contentious article that outlaws insulting the dignity of the president was
reintroduced by the government, said law professor Harkristuti, despite a
similar law being annulled by the constitutional court for being undemocratic.
That
offence, which sources said was not supported by Jokowi himself, can only be
reported by the president.
The
government was also able to include a last-minute adjustment in its favour to a
law banning the spread of values counter to the state ideology, without public
consultation, said two sources involved.
Andreas
Harsono of Human Rights Watch said both sides got what they wanted at a cost to
rights.
Source:
Dunya News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Can
Japan, moving closer to Israel, preserve its neutral reputation in the Middle
East peace process?
KHALDON
AZHARI
December
20, 2022
TOKYO:
Japan’s reputation as a neutral actor in the Middle East peace process
continues to suffer as it tries to forge a close defense relationship with
Israel. Diplomats say Tokyo is taking a visibly softer stance with regard to
aggressive Israeli policies and the annexation of Arab lands by force.
The
perceived policy shift by the key Asian economic power is understandably
causing concern among not only Palestinians, but also people across the entire
Arab world. Veteran Likud politician Benjamin Netanyahu has less than two days
to tell President Isaac Herzog he is ready to put together Israel’s 37th
government.
In
the new Israeli coalition government, Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right politician,
is tipped to head a Police Ministry with expanded powers in the occupied West
Bank. Ben-Gvir’s expected role as national security minister has sparked
controversy in Israel itself owing to his past support for Meir Kahane, an
extremist rabbi, one of whose followers carried out a terror attack in 1994 at
the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, killing 29 Palestinians and wounding 150 others.
Against
this backdrop, Waleed Siam, the Palestinian ambassador to Japan, cautions that
there are potential downsides to Tokyo’s is eagerness to boost bilateral
cooperation with Israel.
“Of
course, Japan is free to do whatever it wants, but such a policy only rewards
the Israelis and does not discourage its hostile acts against the Palestinians,”
he told Arab News Japan.
Referring
to Ben-Gvir, Siam said it is shocking that “one of Israel’s (expected) Cabinet
ministers belongs to the infamous Kahane organization, which killed
Palestinians who were praying in the Ibrahimi Mosque and in surrounding areas
in Hebron.”
This
shows that “Israel has no intention of making peace with Palestinians,
regardless of its Abraham Accord agreement with other countries, and it has no
intention of honoring its two-state solution (pledge),” he said.
Siam
describes Netanyahu’s imminent return to power as “devastating news.”
He
told Arab News Japan: “We heard Netanyahu say ‘no’ (to establishing a
Palestinian state) during his first and second terms as prime minister, and now
it is his third term heading an Israeli government, and he is still saying
‘no.’
“The
Palestinian leadership has long agreed to the two-state solution with Israel,
thus showing great willingness over the years to compromise.
“However,
Israel’s expansion of illegal settlements and continued annexation of
Palestinian land means that we, the Palestinians, are living under an apartheid
military regime that has been systematically oppressing, brutalizing and
discriminating against us.”
Siam
said that by allowing Jewish settlers to inflict violence on Palestinians,
evicting Palestinians and demolishing their houses, as well as annexing
Palestinian neighborhoods, Israel has demonstrated that it “does not respect
international law or UN resolutions.”
As
long as the “world rewards Israel, cooperates with Israel and opens its markets
to Israel, Israelis will have no incentive to do anything about the two-state
solution,” Siam added. “Based on that, I believe the international community
must be considered responsible for enabling Israel’s daily illegal acts against
Palestinians.”
In
Siam’s opinion, the fault lies with the international community for failing to
enforce relevant UN resolutions. “We hope and appeal, in the strongest possible
terms, that they reflect on appropriate measures to bring the Israelis into
compliance,” he told Arab News.
Mohammad
Shtayyeh, the Palestinian prime minister, recently played down the significance
of the election loss seven weeks ago of Israel’s big-tent government to
Netanyahu’s right-religious bloc.
“The
difference between the Israeli parties is the same as the difference between
Pepsi and Coke,” Shtayyeh was quoted as saying by Palestinian media. “We were
under no illusions that the Israeli election would produce a partner for
peace.”
He
said that gains by far-right Israeli religious parties in the national election
were “a natural result of the growing manifestations of extremism and racism in
Israeli society.”
On
Tuesday, Yoshimasa Hayashi, Japan’s foreign minister, said: “We’re strongly
asking the Israeli government to refrain from acts to change the status quo
unilaterally.
“Generally
speaking, under international law, territory occupied by force and unilaterally
annexed is not permitted. From this perspective, Japan has maintained its
position not to recognize the Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights. That’s
been a consistent position of Japan. So, concerning the Israeli-Palestine
conflict, it should be a two-state solution that the parties involved (should
aim to achieve) through negotiations.”
Incidentally,
Japan established the “Corridor for Peace and Prosperity” initiative, aimed at
facilitating the economic self-reliance of Palestine through regional
cooperation with Japan, Israel and Jordan.
Japan
has extended assistance to Palestinians based on three principles: First, a
political approach to the two sides; second, assistance for Palestinian
state-building efforts; and third, confidence-building measures between the two
sides.
As
of June 2022, Japan’s assistance amounted to $2.21 billion since 1993,
including assistance to Palestine refugees and aid in response to the situation
in the Gaza Strip.
Japan
has separately provided $23 million in humanitarian support and reconstruction
assistance to Gaza.
By
2021, 18 Palestinian private companies were operating in the flagship Jericho
Agro-Industrial Park project. In addition, Japan is mobilizing the resources
and economic development knowledge of East Asian countries to support
Palestinian nation-building through the Conference on Cooperation among East
Asian countries for Palestinian Development.
While
the basic elements of the Japanese approach to the Middle East peace process
may not have changed, there are recent signs of an increasing admiration for
Israel in Tokyo driven by self-interest.
“Israel
excels in developing advanced technology and innovation, and (it) holds
importance for the Japanese economy and the stability of the Middle East,” the
Japanese Foreign Ministry in Tokyo said in its 2022 foreign policy report.
It
added: “Israel attracted worldwide attention in 2021 as a leading country in
COVID-19 vaccinations. The country became the first in the world to begin
offering a third dose of vaccinations to the general public.”
The
foreign ministers of Japan and Israel kicked off the Tohoku-Israel Startup
Global Challenge Program in July 2021, while Benny Gantz, the former Israeli
defense minister, held a meeting with his Japanese counterpart earlier this
year and agreed on new military and security cooperation.
Observers
say that by supporting the Abraham Accords, which are bringing some Arab states
closer to Israel, the Japanese government is portraying itself as a guarantor
of the region’s stability and beyond. But not all experts agree on this point.
“The
Japanese government is not considering supporting the current trend (the
Abraham accords) because it would jeopardize its impartiality,” a Japanese
expert in Middle East issues told Arab News Japan.
“However,
one school of opinion does hold that such an approach is in line with Tokyo’s
aim of achieving reconciliation between Arabs and Israelis.”
According
to another expert on Japan-Israeli relations, Japan is moving closer to
Israel’s side as security and self-defense grows in importance for Tokyo.
“Palestinians
can’t help Japan with its security requirements but Israel can,” he told Arab
News Japan.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2219481/middle-east
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China’s
UN envoy slams Israeli regime’s settler-colonialism, unabated crimes in
Palestine
20
December 2022
China's
permanent representative to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, has reaffirmed his
country's support to the Palestinian people against the apartheid Israeli
regime, blasting the Tel Aviv regime for its settler colonialism in the
occupied territories.
Speaking
at the UN Security Council session on the situation in the Middle East,
including the Palestinian question, the Chinese envoy said his country
"opposes the excessive use of force by (Israeli) forces", calling for
holding those responsible for the violations accountable.
He
also noted that 2022 has been the deadliest year for Palestinians in the
occupied West Bank since 2005.
"The
occupying power should effectively fulfill its obligations under international
law to ensure the security of people in the occupied territories," Zhang
said.
The
envoy also stressed that Beijing supports the resumption of so-called
"peace talks" between the Palestinians and the Israeli regime.
"We
call on all parties to show their conscience to uphold justice and fulfill
their commitments with actions," Zhang said, calling on the UN to take
"substantive steps" to support the Palestinian people "in
restoring and exercising their inalienable rights."
Zhang
noted that the Israeli regime's settlement expansion "encroaches on
Palestinian land and resources, squeezes the living space of the Palestinian
people, and violates the Palestinian right to self-determination, making a
contiguous, independent, and sovereign Palestinian state even more
elusive", urging the regime to stop all its settlement construction
activities.
Earlier
this month, Chinese President Xi Jinping affirmed his country’s support for
Palestine’s efforts to gain full membership in the United Nations.
“We
firmly support the establishment of a fully sovereign Palestinian state on the
1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital,” Xi said during his visit to
Saudi Arabia.
He
said it was "not possible to continue the historical injustice suffered by
the Palestinians".
Palestinians
want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state, with East
al-Quds as its capital. The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed
in 2014. Among the major sticking points in those negotiations was Israel’s
continued settlement expansion.
Source:
Press TV
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/12/20/694812/China-reiterates-support-for-Palestinian-people
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