Islamic State Khorasan Province Case: National Investigation Agency Chargesheets Five for Provoking Muslim Youth to Join Anti-CAA Protests
New Age Islam
News Bureau
03 September
2020
From left to right:
Jahanzaib, Abdullah Basith, Nabeel Siddick, Hina Bashir Beigh and Sadia.
-----
• Facebook
Removes Over 700 Pakistani Accounts Over ‘Inauthentic Behaviour’; Most Were
Critical of Pak Or Backed India
• Twitter Under
Fire for Allowing Iran Leader’s Extreme Rhetoric About US, UAE
• Saudi Arabia
Officially Opens Airspace to All UAE-Israel Flights
• Afghan
President Says All Commitments Met for Taliban Peace Talks
• Indonesia
Regrets US Veto of UN Resolution on Islamic State Terrorists
• Palestine
Factions Set for Talks On ‘Unified Strategy’ Against US, Israel After UAE
Betrayal
India
• Islamic State
Khorasan Province Case: National Investigation Agency Chargesheets Five for
Provoking Muslim Youth to Join Anti-CAA Protests
•
400-Year-Old Qutb Shahi-Era Mosque at Raidurgam Was Restored by The Telangana
State Waqf Board
• Hindu, Muslim
KSRTC staff come together to build Ganesha temple in Karnataka's Chitradurga
• NCRB Data
Shows Muslims, Dalits, Tribal Population in Prisons Disproportionate to Their
Numbers Outside
• Delhi Metro
appoints new ‘guardian’ Polo the Belgian Malinois, a dog breed that tracked
Osama bin Laden
• Peoples
Democratic Party’s 1st meeting after Article 370 revocation to discuss Mehbooba
Mufti’s arrest
• Hindi,
Kashmiri, & Dogri added to J&K’s official languages list
--------
Pakistan
• Facebook Removes
Over 700 Pakistani Accounts Over ‘Inauthentic Behaviour’; Most Were Critical of
Pak Or Backed India
• Pakistan Directs
American Blogger Cynthia Ritchie To Leave Country Within 15 Days
• SPD chief
discusses nuclear diplomacy with FM
• Imran Khan project
to get 2 Indians sanctioned for terror fails, UNSC throws it out
• CPEC aimed at
decreasing China’s reliance on strategic chokeholds: Pentagon
--------
North America
• Twitter Under
Fire for Allowing Iran Leader’s Extreme Rhetoric About US, UAE
• Trump Calls
for Cable Host to Be Fired Over Comments About Muslims
• American ISIS
fighter repatriated, pleads guilty; US calls on Europe to follow suit
• US sanctions
ICC prosecutor over Afghanistan war crimes probe
• US:
Turkey-sent Syrian fighters generate backlash in Libya
--------
Arab world
• Saudi Arabia
Officially Opens Airspace to All UAE-Israel Flights
• Al-Azhar Slams
Charlie Hebdo Republication Of Prophet Cartoons
• Saudi Arabia’s
stance on Palestine ‘remains unchanged’
• Iraqi
Lawmakers Reiterate Expulsion of US Forces
• US still
opposed to Hezbollah’s participation in Lebanon govt: Official
• France’s
Macron Says Meeting with Iraqi President to Discuss Country’s Sovereignty
• Syria thwarts
fresh Israeli missile attack on T4 airbase
• Afghanistan to
move to Qatar seven prisoners sought by Taliban
--------
South Asia
• Afghan
President Says All Commitments Met for Taliban Peace Talks
• Afghan
negotiators head to Doha as Taliban prisoner swap nears completion
• Sar-e-Pul
Blast Claims 6, Wounds 2
• Afghanistan
releases nearly 200 Taliban in latest push for peace
--------
Southeast Asia
• Indonesia
Regrets US Veto of UN Resolution on Islamic State Terrorists
• Dr M Confirms
Asking for LTTE’s Removal from Terror Group List
• Perikatan Leaders’
Controversial Remarks Sting but Won’t Deter Non-Malay Allies, Say Analysts
• Zakat
collection in state on right track despite Covid-19 challenges, says Pahang
Regent Tengku Hassanal
• At
pro-government convention, Hadi says uniting Muslims is Perikatan’s feat
--------
Mideast
• Palestine
Factions Set for Talks On ‘Unified Strategy’ Against US, Israel After UAE
Betrayal
• Senior Iranian
MP Asks Europe for Action against US Illegal Measures
• Iranian
Speaker’s Advisor Warns of Security Consequences of Deal with Israel for UAE,
Region
• Israel to
withhold bodies of all Palestinian militants in move slammed as ‘barbaric’
• Qatar intel
officer bribed Erdogan aide $65 mln to push Turkey military deal: Report
• Syrians in
Turkey continue to face rise in discrimination
• Israeli forces
shoot, injure Palestinian man over alleged car-ramming attack in West Bank
--------
Africa
• Watchdog Warns
of ‘Limited Progress’ in Africa Counterterror Fight
• Somalia: U.S.
Carried Out 46 Air Strike Against Al Shabaab in 2020
--------
Europe
• US Staff at UK
Base Immune to Prosecution During ‘War on Terror’
• Pope Francis
prays for Lebanon during 1st public audience in months
• Trial to begin
for suspects in Charlie Hebdo terror attack
• Time for EU to
get real on Hezbollah
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/islamic-state-khorasan-province-case/d/122785
--------
Islamic State Khorasan Province Case: National Investigation Agency Chargesheets Five For Provoking Muslim Youth to Join Anti-CAA Protests
Kamaljit Kaur
Sandhu
September 2,
2020
From left to right:
Jahanzaib, Abdullah Basith, Nabeel Siddick, Hina Bashir Beigh and Sadia.
-----
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday filed a chargesheet against five accused persons in connection with the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) case. The accused have been charged for conspiring to create disaffection against the Government of India.
The five were
conspiring to utilise the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests to
instigate Muslims against the government by coining seditious slogans, drawing
graffiti on public places and highlighting the same on social and international
media.
They were also
provoking some gullible youth to participate in anti-CAA protests actively. In
case these protests failed to provoke the Muslims, they were planning for arson
of government buildings and public property so that riots would erupt and they
would have been able to exploit the sentiments of Muslims.
The NIA
investigation found that the self-radicalised module even tried to make an
improvised explosive device (IED) and were planning to carry out mass-killings
in crowded places to further the activities of ISIS/ISKP in India.
Recce was
conducted by them of certain sensitive locations in Maharashtra which are
frequently visited by foreigners.
The accused have
been identified as Jahanzaib Sami alias Dawood Ibrahim alias Xaib alias Abu Muhammed
Al Hind (36) , a native of J&K's Srinagar, and Hina Bashir Beigh (39), who
is also from Srinagar but was currently residing in Okhla Vihar, Jamia Nagar,
Delhi. The other accused are Abdullah Basith alias Bin Fulan (26) from
Hyderabad, Sadiya Anwar Shaikh (20) and Nabeel Siddick Khatri (27), both from
Pune, Maharashtra.
The NIA
chargesheet filed in a Delhi court also accused the five for promoting enmity
among different religious communities and for committing subversive activities.
The case was
initially registered by Delhi Police Special Cell in March this year after the
arrest of Kashmiri couple Jahanzaib Sami Wani and his wife Hina Bashir Beigh
from their rented accommodation in Okhla Vihar, Jamia Nagar in Delhi. The NIA
re-registered the case almost a fortnight later and began investigation.
The
investigation revealed that Jahanzaib, a B.Tech from Ferozpur in Punjab, got
radicalised and inclined towards ISIS/ISKP by reading about it on the Internet.
He established contact with ISIS handler Huzaifa-al-Bakistani and his
father-in-law Abu Usman-Al-Kashmiri, who is the head of Indian affairs of ISKP,
in 2017 on a secure messaging platform. Huzaifa-al-Bakistani further introduced
him to Abdullah Basith, another ISIS operative, who is already in judicial custody
at Tihar jail in connection with another NIA case in ISIS Abu-Dhabi module.
The
investigation also revealed that Hina Bashir, who had her higher education from
Pune, also got radicalised since 2014-15 by reading ISIS-related content on
social media. Jahanzaib and Hina got married in 2017 as they both supported the
ideology of ISIS, now known as the Islamic State or IS.
Jahanzaib, Hina
Bashir, Abdullah Basith and Sadiya were continuously in contact with ISIS
operatives based in Khorasan and Syria. On receiving instructions from ISKP
head Abu Usman-Al-Kashmiri, the accused Jahanzaib and Abdullah Basith prepared
a magazine titled 'Voice of Hind' for inciting Muslims against non-Muslims and
exhorting them to rise against the Government of India and join ISIS.
The magazine
eulogises ISIS/ISKP terrorists including Huzaifa-al-Bakistani, who was killed
in July 2019 in a drone strike in Afghanistan, and denigrates the Indian
Constitution and democratic system.
The NIA arrested
another accused identified as Abdur Rehman alias Dr Brave from Bengaluru last
month, who was in touch with the accused Jahanzaib as part of the conspiracy to
promote activities of ISIS/ISKP and had also visited the ISIS medical camp in
Syria in 2014.
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/iskp-case-nia-chargesheets-5-for-provoking-muslim-youth-to-join-anti-caa-protests-1718009-2020-09-02
--------
Facebook Removes
Over 700 Pakistani Accounts Over ‘Inauthentic Behaviour’; Most Were Critical of
Pak Or Backed India
Sep 2, 2020
In April 2019, the social
media company removed 103 accounts in a similar purge that it says was linked
to employees of the Pakistani military's public relations arm [File: Reuters]
------
ISLAMABAD:
Social networking global giant Facebook has removed 453 Facebook accounts, 103
pages, 78 groups and 107 Instagram accounts that were part of a Pakistani
network of “coordinated inauthentic behaviour”, the company said in a monthly
report.
“The vast
majority of the accounts, pages and groups engaged in coordinated reporting of
content and people that were critical of Pakistan’s government or supportive of
India, and some engaged in spam,” Facebook said.
“Coordinated
inauthentic behaviour” has been described by the company as “coordinated
efforts to manipulate public debate for a strategic goal where fake accounts
are central to the operation”. Last year, the social networking giant had
removed 103 accounts on similar charges, claiming that it was linked to Inter-Services
Public Relations (ISPR), the media arm of the Pakistan army.
Facebook had
shared details of the network with the Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO)
Cyber Policy Centre days before removing the pages. “The network encouraged
users to mass-report accounts that were critical of Islam and the Pakistani
government, and in some cases accounts that were part of the Ahmadi religious
community,” said a report released by the SIO. “The network also had messaging
praising the Pakistani military, along with some Indian military fan pages and
groups of unclear purpose.”
The network
encouraged members of its groups to use an extension to Google’s Chrome browser
developed for the purpose of automating the reporting of content on Facebook
and its associated platforms. The maker of the extension stated on Facebook
that he made the tool to be used against accounts that were anti-Islamic,
anti-Pakistani, or even groups and pages, which is a great threat on social
media.
The aim of the
network appeared primarily to be to silence critics of Pakistan’s government
and armed forces, as well as certain forms of religious expression.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/facebook-removes-over-700-pakistani-accounts-over-inauthentic-behaviour-most-were-critical-of-pak-or-backed-india/articleshow/77897263.cms
--------
Twitter Under
Fire For Allowing Iran Leader’s Extreme Rhetoric About US, UAE
Emily Judd
02 September
2020
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali
Khamenei attends a meeting with students in Tehran, Iran, October 18, 2017.
(Reuters)
------
Iran’s Supreme
Leader Ali Khamenei took to Twitter on Tuesday to denounce the US and the UAE, using
extreme rhetoric including “filthy Zionist agents” and the hashtag
“#UAEStabsMuslims.”
“The nation of
Palestine is under various, severe pressures. Then, the UAE acts in agreement
with the Israelis & filthy Zionist agents of the U.S. —such as the Jewish
member of Trump’s family— with utmost cruelty against the interests of the
World of Islam. #UAEStabsMuslims,” tweeted Khamenei as Israeli, American, and
Emirati officials met in Abu Dhabi.
The inflammatory
tweet was allowed on the platform, and has not been censored in any way,
sparking outrage from prominent users around the world who called for Twitter
to take down the post in adherence with its guidelines.
“This
anti-Semitism from a world leader would seem to violate the twitter
guidelines,” wrote CNN anchor Jake Tapper in a tweet.
US Senator Ted
Cruz posed a question to Twitter’s founder Jack Dorsey asking, “why is Twitter
censoring American free speech while simultaneously serving as a mouthpiece for
the anti-American and anti-Semitic lies of the Ayatollah?”
Son of US
President Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr. posted that Twitter is giving “this
disgusting and anti-Semitic rant a total pass. Just disgusting.”
Son of Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Yair Netanyahu said “Unbelievable! Twitter doesn’t
take down this vile antisemitic tweet by the dictator of Iran…”
Al Arabiya
English reached out to Twitter for comment but the company had not responded by
time of publication. This article will be updated should a response be given.
This is not the first
time Twitter has gained attention for allowing Khamenei to post extreme
language.
In July Twitter
defended its decision to allow Khamenei to call for genocide while censoring
tweets from President Donald Trump.
During an
Israeli parliament hearing on July 29, international human rights lawyer Arsen
Ostrovsky asked a Twitter representative why the company has recently started
flagging tweets by Trump, but not Iran’s Khamenei “who has literally called for
the genocide of Israel and the Jewish people” on the social media platform.
“Foreign policy
saber-rattling on political economic issues are generally not in violation of
our Twitter rules,” answered Ylwa Pettersson, Twitter’s head policy for the
Nordic countries and Israel, via video conference.
“Calling for
genocide on Twitter is okay - but commenting on political situations in certain
countries is not okay?” replied Israeli parliament member Michal Cotler-Wunsh.
In May, Twitter hid a tweet by Trump, where the American president wrote that
looters at protests in Minneapolis would be shot.
Pettersson then
said that Trump’s tweet “was violating our policies regarding the glorification
of violence … and the risk that it could possibly inspire harm.”
“If a world
leader violates our rules, but it is a clear interest in keeping it on the
service, we may place it behind a notice that provides more context about the
violation and allows people to click through if they wish to see that kind of
content,” she added.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/media/digital/2020/09/02/Twitter-under-fire-for-allowing-Iran-leader-s-extreme-rhetoric-about-US-UAE
--------
Saudi Arabia
officially opens airspace to all UAE-Israel flights
03 September
2020
Walking further
away from the Palestinian cause, Saudi Arabia has opened its airspace to any
flights going to and from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to cross over its
territory, which means granting Israel access to the kingdom’s skies.
The Saudi Press
Agency (SPA) reported on Wednesday that the kingdom’s aviation authority had
taken the decision in response to a request by the UAE.
“An official
source at the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) has stated that the
Authority approved the request received from the General Civil Aviation
Authority in the United Arab Emirates, which includes the desire to allow
flights coming to and departing from the United Arab Emirates to all countries
to pass through the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s airspace,” the report said.
The development
came two days after the first direct flight from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi passed
through Saudi airspace.
El Al Flight 971
took a joint US-Israeli delegation to the UAE capital for talks with Emirati
officials to finalize an agreement reached last month between Abu Dhabi and Tel
Aviv to establish full diplomatic relations.
Tuesday’s return
flight from Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv was also allowed to overfly Saudi Arabia,
although, unlike Monday’s flight, no American delegation was on board.
Saudi Arabia had
previously banned flights to and from the occupied territories from using its
airspace, though since 2018 it has permitted Air India to fly over the country
to Tel Aviv.
Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the Saudi announcement as a “breakthrough”
that will help the regime’s economy and reduce airfares.
Netanyahu also
thanked Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, and
Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan for what he called
their “important contribution” in bringing about the new Saudi policy.
Kushner had been
aboard Monday’s flight from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi, from where he went on to
Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to push for normalization with the occupying
Israeli regime.
Meanwhile, Saudi
Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud took to twitter to claim
that the opening of Saudi airspace to flights between Israel and the UAE does
not change “the kingdom’s firm and established positions toward the Palestinian
cause and the Palestinian people.”
He added that
Riyadh “appreciates all efforts aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace in
accordance with the Arab Peace Initiative,” a plan that envisions full
normalization of ties between Tel Aviv and the Arab world in return for
Israel’s withdrawal to the 1967 lines and the creation of a Palestinian state.
However, experts
said Palestinian officials will see the Saudi move as yet another sign of
waning Arab support for Palestine’s struggles against Israeli occupation.
“I believe Palestinian officials see this move
as another indication of the increasingly weak Arab position vis-a-vis the
Palestinian cause,” said Jehad Harb, an analyst of Palestinian politics.
Arab League
rejects Palestine’s request for meeting: Report
In another
development on Wednesday, Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen TV channel reported that the
Arab League had rejected a request by Palestine to hold an urgent meeting on
the UAE-Israel normalization accord due to Bahrain’s objection.
Citing
diplomatic sources, the report also revealed efforts within the Arab League to
persuade the Palestinians to accept Trump’s so-called “deal of the century” and
destroy the Palestinian cause.
The sources,
whose names were not mentioned in the report, said the Palestinians are being
threatened by some influential countries with the support of wealthy states.
In an article
published on Wednesday, The Middle East Monitor said the Arab League’s refusal
to hold a meeting “was disrespectful towards the Palestinians, and suggests
that the Arab world is more or less satisfied with the deal. The PA
(Palestinian Authority) can rightly claim that it has lost Arab support and is
now standing alone.”
The truth behind
the normalization agreement is that “the UAE, along with the countries
supporting it, have cast the Palestinian cause aside, and Israel can now
benefit from its relations with “moderate” Arab counties, or even without them.
Palestine is no longer a priority for the UAE and other Arab states,” the
report added.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/09/03/633205/Saudi-Arabia-airspace-UAE-Israel-flight
--------
Afghan President
says all commitments met for Taliban peace talks
Sep 2, 2020
KABUL: Afghan
President Ashraf Ghani said on Wednesday that the government had met all of its
commitments for peace talks with the Taliban, as a team left for Qatar to
prepare for negotiations.
Ghani's remarks
came after Kabul broke an impasse with the insurgent group on Monday by
resuming a protracted prisoner exchange, a key hurdle to long-delayed
negotiations between the two sides opening in Doha.
"The
government has fulfilled all its commitments in the peace process that the
international community had hoped for," Ghani told a team of
government-backed negotiators at a meeting at the presidential palace, his
office said.
"The
release of Taliban prisoners is a clear demonstration of the government's
commitment to peace."
Kabul had
baulked at the release of the final 400 Taliban inmates who Ghani described as
"a danger to the world", before a group of prominent Afghans approved
their release for the sake of peace talks.
A senior government
official told AFP on Wednesday on condition of anonymity that at least 200
prisoners have been released since Monday and the process "will continue
today too".
The government
has not confirmed if the release has been completed.
Paris and
Canberra had opposed the release of militants on the list tied to the killing
of French and Australian civilians and troops in Afghanistan.
It is not known
if those militants have been released.
In return, the
militant group has freed four Afghan commandos and are expected to release two
more on Wednesday, a Taliban official said.
"We expect
the Taliban to live up to their commitments on the release of the remaining
captives," Ghani's spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on Twitter.
The prisoner
exchange was agreed in a deal between the Taliban and the United States in
February, which said Kabul should release 5,000 militants in return for the
Taliban freeing 1,000 Afghan troops.
Ghani said that
a "critical stage of peace" had been reached and that the talks would
help reduce violence and finalise a permanent ceasefire.
The Taliban have
said they were willing to begin negotiations "within a week" of the
prisoner swap being completed and blamed Kabul for delaying the negotiations.
Kabul has sent a
"small technical team" to Doha to make logistical preparations, Najia
Anwari, spokeswoman for the State Ministry for Peace Affairs told AFP.
Anwari said that
Kabul's negotiators will also leave for Doha "very soon".
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/afghan-president-says-all-commitments-met-for-taliban-peace-talks/articleshow/77891942.cms
--------
Indonesia
Regrets US Veto of UN Resolution on Islamic State Terrorists
2020-09-02
Indonesia
regrets the U.S. veto of a U.N. resolution that Jakarta sponsored calling for
the prosecution, rehabilitation and reintegration of people engaged in
terrorism-related activities, officials said Wednesday.
Washington said
it rejected the U.N. Security Council resolution on Monday because the document
did not call for the repatriation from Syria and Iraq of foreign fighters for
the extremist group known as Islamic State (IS).
Febrian
Ruddyard, director general of multilateral cooperation at the Indonesian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the reason for the omission was that not all
countries were capable of bringing back militants.
“We really
regret that this veto was only based on the [issue of] repatriation of
ex-militants and ignored things that are bigger and important than that,”
Febrian told BenarNews on Wednesday.
Indonesia, the
world’s largest Muslim-majority country, categorically said in February that it
would not take back citizens who had traveled to the Middle East to join the
ranks of IS, but would consider allowing in some of their children.
“There is no
consensus on the matter of repatriation. Why? All countries are not necessarily
ready in terms of infrastructure, and in the absence of legislation in some
countries, this will take time,” Febrian said.
The U.S., one of
the council’s five permanent members with veto power, was the sole dissenter on
the resolution that was approved by 14 of its members.
Like Indonesia,
some Western European allies of the United States, including Belgium, Britain
and France, are not in favor of bringing back IS fighters and their families.
Some have said they may allow orphans and some children back.
These countries
believe repatriation is a risk to their national security. “We are working
closely with international partners to reduce the risk posed to us collectively
by foreign fighters,” a UK Foreign Office spokesperson told the Associated
Press after the vote on the resolution.
An English copy
of the draft resolution, obtained by BenarNews, lists detailed steps that all
member countries should uniformly take to deal with terrorists and the terror
threat.
However, not
once does it mention the word “repatriation.” It does mention foreign terrorist
fighters, or FTFs, and “welcomes the ongoing efforts of Member States aimed at
bringing FTFs to justice in a manner consistent with international law,
including through international cooperation and regional partnerships.”
The resolution
introduced by Indonesia also supports the return of children, by encouraging
member countries to facilitate “the return of the children to their countries
of origin, as appropriate and on a case-by-case basis.”
Febrian said the
resolution was about agreement on a blueprint on how to deal with the terrorism
threat in general.
For Kelly Craft,
the U.S. envoy to the U.N., the absence of any reference to “repatriation” was
a non-starter for Washington. Repatriation from Syria and Iraq of foreign
fighters for IS and their families to their countries of origin is “the crucial
first step” in their prosecution, rehabilitation and reintegration, she said.
“It is
incomprehensible that other members of this Council were satisfied with a
resolution that ignores the security implications of leaving foreign terrorist
fighters to plot their escape from limited detention facilities and abandoning
their family members to suffer in camps without recourse, opportunities, or
hope,” Craft said in a statement issued by the United States Mission to the
United Nations on Monday.
“If, as this
resolution suggests, the goal of the Council is to address the drivers of
terrorism, how can we ignore these obvious breeding grounds for the next
generation of ISIS fighters?” she added, using a different acronym for Islamic
State.
‘Incomprehensible
view of one’
Febrian and Dian
Triansyah Djani, the Indonesian ambassador to the United Nations, said the
resolution could serve as a guide for U.N. member-states to handle terrorism
effectively.
“A PRR
[prosecution, rehabilitation, and reintegration] resolution, if adopted, would
have become a key tool for the Council, and all Member States of the U.N., as
well as the U.N. system, to have a comprehensive and long term strategy in
countering terrorist acts and violent extremism conducive to terrorism, and
preventing recurrence of terrorist acts,” Dian said.
He said he
didn’t understand the U.S. objection.
“As a country
that has been a victim as well as in the frontline on the fight against
terrorism, Indonesia fails to understand that when the world continues to be
besieged by the grave threat of terrorism to international peace and security,
an important initiative that has added value in addressing this serious threat
has not enjoyed acceptance in the Council, due to the incomprehensible view of
one,” the Indonesian ambassador said in a statement.
Craft however
said that “failing to address head on the importance of repatriation will
inevitably perpetuate the problem of terrorism.”
The U.S. leads
by example because it brings back its citizens and prosecutes them where
appropriate, the American representative to the U.N. said.
“All nations
need to take responsibility for their citizens who engage in terror,” she said.
Craft also
quoted U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who had said in August 2019 that the
U.S. wanted every country to bring back its citizens. “That’s step one. It’s
imperative that they do so,” Pompeo said.
Hundreds remain
in Mid-East camps
Between 400 and
600 Indonesian terrorist fighters and their dependents are still overseas,
according to the government, which gets its data from foreign intelligence
agencies. Most of them are believed to be in three Syrian camps where more than
70,000 mainly women and children connected to IS fighters are detained.
In June, Boy
Rafli Amar, the head of Indonesia’s National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT),
said the government had identified 80 children of Indonesian IS fighters in
countries Turkey, Iraq and Syria. But he didn’t say if the children would be
repatriated. The issue is being discussed, he said.
In April, the
International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based conflict resolution think-tank,
reported that 66,000 women and children were in Syria’s Al-Hol camp and 4,000
were in a camp in Roj.
Most of them
were relatives of IS extremists, and a majority were either Syrians or Iraqis
with around 13,500 from other countries, the group said. And the detention
sites were “ridden with tuberculosis and perilously overcrowded, with one
speaking of `dramatic mortality rates,” it said.
https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/indonesian/ID-US-Veto-09022020185215.html
--------
Palestine
factions set for talks on ‘unified strategy’ against US, Israel after UAE
betrayal
03 September
2020
In a show of
unity, Leaders of all Palestinian factions are set to hold a meeting to discuss
“unified strategy” for countering Israeli-US conspiracies, including their land
grab agenda, following a controversial Washington-brokered normalization accord
between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Representatives
of various Palestinian factions will attend the meeting via video conference on
Thursday. The gathering, the first of its kind since 2013, is headed by
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Representatives
of the Palestinian factions in the occupied West Bank have been invited to
Abbas’s office in Ramallah to join the gathering. The leaders of Palestinian
factions abroad will join the meeting from the Palestinian embassy in the
Lebanese capital, Beirut.
Abbas is
scheduled to deliver a speech to the gathering via videoconference.
The rare meeting
comes after an August 13 announcement that Israel and the UAE have agreed to
normalize ties.
The highly
controversial deal, which has since been widely condemned across the occupied
Palestinian territories and the Muslim world, was brokered by US President
Donald Trump, who has attempted to paint it as a big breakthrough.
“The main
purpose of the meeting is to launch important steps towards achieving
[Palestinian] national unity and foiling the annexation conspiracy, apartheid,
settlement and the Judaization of Jerusalem [al-Quds],” said Nabil Abu
Rudaineh, spokesman for the Palestinian presidency.
“The meeting
itself constitutes a clear message to all that the Palestinian people and their
holy sites are bigger than all the conspiracies,” he said.
Abu Rudaineh
added that the meeting would also send a “powerful and clear message” to all
about the need to “protect the foundations that will lead to the establishment
of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as its capital,”
and that the Palestinians continue to adhere to the Arab Peace Initiative in
order to thwart free normalization between the Arab countries and Israel.
The so-called
Arab Peace Initiative, which was proposed by Saudi Arabia, calls on Israel to
agree to a “two-state solution” along the 1967 lines and a “just” solution to
the Palestinian refugee issue.
Abu Rudaineh
said that Palestinian unity and harmony will thwart conspiracies “targeting our
lands and holy sites.”
Referring to the
recent Israel-UAE normalization accord, he said, “No agreement will pass
without the consent of the Palestinian people and their leadership. The only
way to achieve security and stability is through the PLO (Palestine Liberation
Organization), the sole representative of the Palestinians under the leadership
of President Mahmoud Abbas.”
PLO Secretary
General Saeb Erekat said that Thursday’s meeting of the leaders of Palestinian
leaders “shows that we are facing a new phase in confronting the UAE-US-Israeli
agreement that seeks to impose the ‘Deal of the Century”, laid out by US
President Donald Trump on the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Defying
international outcry, Trump in late January announced the general provisions of
the plan that he has dubbed ‘deal of century’ at the White House with Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his side.
The ‘Vision for
Peace’, which all Palestinian groups have unanimously rejected, would, among
other contentious terms, enshrine occupied Jerusalem al-Quds as “Israel’s
undivided capital” and allow the regime to annex settlements in the occupied
West Bank and the Jordan Valley.
Elsewhere in his
remarks, Erekat said that the Thursday meeting shows that the Palestinians and
all their factions and representatives “are prepared to face all challenges.”
He once again
accused Abu Dhabi of stabbing the Palestinians in the back with a “poisonous
dagger.”
Ahmed Majdalani,
a senior PLO official, said the meeting aims to reach agreement among the
Palestinian factions on a national program to confront the Trump peace plan,
Israel’s “annexation” scheme and normalization between Israel and some Arab
countries, as well as consolidating unity between Palestinian factions.
Qais Abdel
Karim, a representative of the PLO’s Democratic Front for the Liberation of
Palestine, said that Thursday’s meeting was extremely important because it
would pave the way for achieving Palestinian unity “at a time when the
Palestinians are facing conspiracies and dangers.”
Hamas leader in
Beirut to meet Palestinian factions
Ismail Haniyeh,
leader of Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, arrived in Beirut earlier this
week to participate in the meeting.
According to Ali
Baraka, Hams representative in Lebanon, Haniyeh will meet representatives of
other Palestinian factions in rare talks on how to respond to such accords and
to a Middle East peace plan announced by Washington this year.
Baraka said that
Thursday’s joint discussions in Ramallah and Beirut aim to develop “a unified
Palestinian strategy to confront normalization schemes ... and to reject plans
to annex the West Bank as well as [Trump’s] ‘deal of the century’.”
The last time
most heads of Palestinian factions held joint talks was in 2013 in the Egyptian
capital, Cairo.
Resistance
groups urge stronger unity
In a joint
statement carried by the Lebanese al-Mayadeen television channel, Palestinian
resistance groups described the joint meeting as a key step toward
consolidating unity among Palestinian factions and countering schemes to
undermine the Palestinian issue.
The statement
said that the Oslo Accord, which had guaranteed a “two-state solution” to the
Arab-Israel conflict, must be annulled.
It stressed the
right of the Palestinian people to confront the Israeli regime with all
possible means.
The resistance
groups also called for an agreement on a Palestinian national strategy based on
fixed principles for a comprehensive confrontation with the occupying regime.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/09/03/633209/Palestine-factions-meeting-Lebanon-Ramallah-US-Israel-UAE
--------
India
400-Year-Old
Qutb Shahi-Era Mosque At Raidurgam Was Restored By The Telangana State Waqf
Board
Sep 3, 2020
Hyderabad: A
400-year-old Qutb Shahi-era mosque at Raidurgam was restored by the Telangana
State Waqf Board (TSWB) on Tuesday. The mosque is located at Survey No. 82 at
Malkamcheru near Raidurgam and is spread over 34 guntas land.
Mohammed Saleem,
chairman, TSWB, said that the mosque was in a state of neglect since many
years. “The mosque remained shut for several years due to which no one was
offering prayers inside the mosque. The entire area was covered with bushes and
turned into a haven for anti-social elements and strays. Also, a 100-feet road
was being laid at the mosque site without the Waqf Board’s permission,” said
Mohammed Saleem.
The board held
several discussions with revenue officials and the police over protection of
the mosque and starting prayers there. “The board has so far managed to restore
five mosques which were abandoned. Once a property is notified as Waqf, it
can’t be changed at all. CM K Chandrasekhar Rao is a secular leader and he is
concerned about Waqf properties,” said the TSWB chairman.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/qutb-shahi-era-mosque-restored-by-ts-waqf-board/articleshow/77899034.cms
--------
Hindu, Muslim
KSRTC staff come together to build Ganesha temple in Karnataka's Chitradurga
Sep 3, 2020
In a show of
unity, Hindu and Muslim KSRTC employees have come together to construct a
Ganesha temple on the Chitradurga depot premises.
‘Raksha Ganesha’
temple, painted in saffron and green, was inaugurated on August 20 on the eve
of Gowri-Ganesha festival. Devotees from both communities in Chitradurga are
visiting the temple to offer pujas.
Over 400 depot
employees, including retired employees, and over 30 Muslims contributed funds
to build the Rs 8-lakh temple. The temple design reflects influence of both
Hindu and Muslim architecture. The entire structure is built in Hindu style and
the tower resembles a gumbaz.
“I am a staunch
devotee of Ganesha and Anjaneya and I treat them on par with Allah. We have
been wanting a separate temple for long as it’s a tradition to offer puja to
Ganesha before drivers hit the road,” Rahim Saab, a retired KSRTC driver, told
TOI.
“We are all
brothers and live like a family once we enter the depot. There is no religious
or caste-based discrimination here,” said driver Mallikarjunappa.
“Construction
started in December 2019. Former depot controller Prasannakumar K Balanayak
granted approvals in 2018 and had contributed financially too,” said another
retired driver Rudrappa HG.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/hindu-muslim-ksrtc-staff-come-together-to-build-ganesha-temple-in-karnatakas-chitradurga/articleshow/77902670.cms
--------
NCRB data shows
Muslims, Dalits, Tribal population in prisons disproportionate to their numbers
outside
September 02,
2020
The state of
Indian prisons has only marginally improved over the last five years, and if
demographic break up of inmates is any indicator, Muslims, Dalits and the
tribal population is disproportionately subjected to the criminal justice
system when compared to upper class Hindu population.
Latest prison
statistics released by the National Crime Information Bureau shows that the
number of Muslims, Dalits, and tribal population incarcerated in jail is
disproportionately higher than their numbers outside.
Muslims make up
only 14.2 percent of India's population but 16.6 percent convicts, 18.7 percent
undertrials and 35.8 percent detenues in Indian prisons are Muslims as of 31
December, 2019.
In the end of
2019, tribals made up 13.6 percent of convicts in Indian jails, while 10.5
percent of undertrials and 5.68 percent of detenues were from the Scheduled
Tribes. Their share in the Indian population is 8.6 percent as per the 2011
census.
State-wise, the
maximum number of Dalit undertrials were in Uttar Pradesh (17,995), followed by
Bihar (6,843) and Punjab (6,831). Madhya Pradesh has the maximum number of
tribal undertrials incarcerated (5,894) followed by Chhattisgarh (3,471) and
Jharkhand (3336).
Uttar Pradesh
stood out for the number of Muslim undertrial inmates too, with a whopping
21,139 people in jails. West Bengal was a distant second with 6,032 Muslim
undertrial prisoners, and Bihar stood third with 4,758 undertrial Muslims in
jail.
Five years ago,
in 2014, the percentage of Muslim convicts, undertrials and detenues was 15.8
percent, 21.1 percent and 20.3 percent respectively, showing a slight decline
in percentage undertrials but a massive jump in the number of detenues. The
percentage of convicts has only marginally declined in five years.
The situations,
however, has hardly changed for Dalits and the tribal population over the last
five years. Dalits comprised 21.3 percent of convicts and 20.2 percent
undertrials. However, there was a marked decline in number of Dalit detenues as
in 2014, prison statistics reported 38.1 percent of detenues were from the
scheduled castes.
For tribals, the
percentage share has gone up among convicts (11.9 percent in 2014, 13.6 percent
last year), while falling marginally among undertrials (11.2 percent in 2014 to
10.5 percent in 2019). The percentage of people detained from the Scheduled
Tribe went slightly up in five years (5.1 percent in 2015 to 5.68 percent last
years).
The data also
shows that Indian jails are largely overcrowded and understaffed. The
sanctioned strength of jail-staff was 87,599 while the actual strength was
60,787 as on 31st December, 2019.
Among the
jail-staffs, the sanctioned strength of Officers (DG/Addl. DG/IG, DIG, AIG,
Supdt. etc.), Jail-cadre Staff (Head Warder, Head Matron, Warder, etc.) and
Correctional Staff (Probation Officer / Welfare Officer, Phychologist /
Psychiatrist, etc.) were 7,239, 72,273 and 1,307 respectively while the actual
strengths were 4,840, 51,126 and 761 respectively. The sanctioned strength of
Medical Staff was 3,320 while the actual strength was 1,962.
Almost all
prisons across states were filled beyond their capacity. According to the NCRB
report, Indian prisons had the capacity to hold 4,03,739 prisoners while the
population in jail was estimated to be 4,78,600 as on 31 December 2019, which
means that the occupancy rate is as high as 118 percent. In 2018, the occupancy
rate was 117.6 percent while in 2017 it was 115.1 percent.
Uttar Pradesh
has reported the most number of convicts (19.2 percent, 27,612) in the country
followed by Madhya Pradesh (14.1 percent, 20,253) and Maharashtra (6.3 percent,
9,096) at the end of 2019.
These statistics
stood even as the NCRB report said that the actual capacity of prisons has
increased to 4.03 lakh in 2019 from 3.91 lakh in 2017 and 3.96 lakh in 2018 (as
on December 31 of these respective years).
https://www.firstpost.com/india/ncrb-data-shows-muslims-dalits-tribal-population-in-prisons-disproportionate-to-their-numbers-outside-8775161.html
--------
Delhi Metro
appoints new ‘guardian’ Polo the Belgian Malinois, a dog breed that tracked
Osama bin Laden
Posted by:
Srimoyee Chowdhury
Sep 02, 2020
Travelling by
Delhi Metro, which is reopening after almost six months on September 7, may
give you a chance to meet a new guardian “Polo”- an agile Belgian Malinois dog
with special skills who has been given his first posting by the Central
Industrial Security Force (CISF).
The well-trained
dog will be performing his first duty at Delhi metro stations.
Polo is no
ordinary dog as he belongs to the same breed which played a very important role
in an operation launched by US security forces in Pakistan to eliminate Osama
Bin Laden.
The same breed
dog “Cairo” had identified Osama Bin Laden during the operation. After his
identity was established, Osama was eliminated by US SEALs.
This would be
the first time when Belgian Malinois breed dog will be deployed at any establishment
in the national capital.
“He is the only
dog who is master of all three trades -- sniff, attack and guard while other
breads like German shepherd and Labrador can perform only one task” his handler
M Mariselvam said.
CISF normally
has one handler per dog but as Polo is a special dog, there are two handlers
for him.
“He is totally
different from others because of his agility, attacking skill and sniffing
sense. He belongs to the same breed which was used in an operation to eliminate
Osama Bin Laden. He can walk almost 40 kilometres while other dogs can walk up
to 4-7 kilometres. He can attack also in case of any terror attack and has
outstanding sniffing sense,” K9 team head Inspector Rajender Pilania told ANI.
“He will be most
likely to be deployed at major metro stations like Rajiv Chowk, Kashmiri gate
etc while we can use him in theft cases too. Polo is completely different from
others,” he added.
CISF K9 team is
all set to be back on security duties in the metro as the government has
allowed graded metro operations in the fourth phase of Unlock as part of
relaxations after the lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
CISF has 61 dogs
who will be deployed in different locations of Delhi metro.
Pilania said the
trainers have been maintaining social distancing norms and training dogs in
small groups. “All dogs stayed in kennels all the day,” he said.
“They will be
working in different shifts of four hours. They are well-trained dogs who are
masters in different trade, except Polo. He knows everything,” he added.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/it-s-viral/delhi-metro-appoints-new-guardian-polo-the-belgian-malinois-a-dog-breed-that-tracked-osama-bin-laden/story-8GGbwo2WlmRDX6E0WIrKZN.html
--------
Peoples
Democratic Party’s 1st meeting after Article 370 revocation to discuss Mehbooba
Mufti’s arrest
Mir Ehsan | Edited by
Abhinav Sahay
Sep 03, 2020
Jammu and
Kashmir based Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is holding its first meeting on
Thursday post revocation of Article 370 on August 5 last year to discuss
several important issues including party president Mehbooba Mufti’s continued
detention under the PSA (Public Security Act).
Almost all
senior PDP leaders including Mehbooba Mufti were detained by the government
coinciding with the Parliament revoking Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and
bifurcating the erstwhile state into two Union Territories of Jammu and
Kashmir, with legislature, and Ladakh, without legislature, last August.
Party officials
said many important issues, including Mufti and other leaders’ house arrests,
will come up for discussion at Thursday’s meeting. Mehbooba Mufti is the only prominent
mainstream leader, who is still booked under the PSA.
Party spokesman
Suhail Bukhari said the meeting will begin at 11 am at party headquarters.
The other
mainstream J&K political outfit, the National Conference, has held a series
of meetings over several political developments in J&K. It has also
announced the launch of a joint political struggle with other mainstream
parties including the one-time arch rival PDP for the restoration of Jammu
& Kashmir’s special status and its statehood.
The leaders of
the political parties had first signed a declaration a day before Article 370
was nullified, saying they will be united in defending the identity, autonomy
and special status of Jammu & Kashmir.
Last week, PDP
leaders also held a protest demonstration seeking Mufti’s release and for
raising other issues of alleged human rights violations. After the revocation
of Article 370, many leaders, especially former ministers and legislators of
the PDP left the party and joined the newly-launched Apni Party by Altaf
Bukhari.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/peoples-democratic-party-s-1st-meeting-after-article-370-revocation-to-discuss-mehbooba-mufti-s-arrest/story-VtvMXXNKmyVQjUVifjtn3K.html
--------
Hindi, Kashmiri,
& Dogri added to J&K’s official languages list
Sep 3, 2020
NEW DELHI: The
Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a bill that seeks to make Kashmiri, Dogri
and Hindi, apart from the existing Urdu and English, the official languages of
Jammu & Kashmir. This is in line with the long-pending demand of the people
of J&K, the government said.
Announcing the
decision at a press briefing, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said the Jammu
and Kashmir Official Languages Bill, 2020, shall be introduced in Parliament in
the upcoming monsoon session. He did not divulge in further details saying the
bill will be debated in Parliament soon.
Union minister
of state for PMO and personnel Jitendra Singh said the government has accepted
the long-pending demand of the region for the inclusion of Dogri, Hindi and
Kashmiri as official languages in J&K. “It is not only a fulfilment of a
long-pending public demand of the region but also in keeping with the spirit of
equality which was ushered in after August 5 last year,” he told reporters.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/hindi-kashmiri-dogri-added-to-jks-official-languages-list/articleshow/77901448.cms
--------
Pakistan
Pakistan directs
American blogger Cynthia Ritchie to leave country within 15 days
Sep 2, 2020
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan on Wednesday rejected controversial American blogger Cynthia Ritchie's
application for visa extension and directed her to leave the country within 15
days.
The ministry of
interior took the decision after the Islamabad high court (IHC) asked
authorities to make a final decision about the status of her stay in the
country.
Radio Pakistan
reported that the ministry asked Ritchie to leave the country in 15 days as her
visa was not extended.
The IHC Chief
Justice Athar Minallah in June had sought an explanation from the ministry about
the status and terms and conditions of the visa issued to Ritchie on a petition
filed by an activist of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), asking it to explain
if she was entitled to making political statements, the Dawn newspaper
reported.
The petitioner,
Chaudhry Iftikhar Ahmed, in the petition said that Ritchie is a foreign
national and she has stayed in Pakistan without a valid visa. He also sought
her deportation.
Ritchie had in
June through a video clip posted on her Facebook page alleged that she was
raped by Pakistan's former interior minister Rehman Malik and accused ex-prime
minister Yousaf Raza Gillani and another former minister of physically
manhandling her in 2011.
She also alleged
that late former prime minister Benazir Bhutto condoned rape culture in
Pakistan.
The Islamabad's
District and Session Court had directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)
in June to register a case against Ritchie for maligning Bhutto on social
media.
On Tuesday, the
deputy attorney general submitted a copy of a recent order passed by the
interior ministry's secretary to the IHC in Ritchie's case. The court noted
that the secretary had not made reference to any law or policy and appeared to
have solely relied on Ritchie's statement.
The order is
self-contradictory and in conflict with the previous order, the IHC observed.
The secretary
conceded in his order that Ritchie was granted a work visa in violation of
policy and laws.
The court
observed that the interior secretary had been evasive in recording his findings
regarding the crucial question: whether a foreign national visiting Pakistan on
the basis of a business visa was entitled to give statements of a political
nature.
The IHC, on
Tuesday, also referred back for review the matter related to registration of a
first information report against former interior minister Rehman Malik over
allegations of rape by Ritchie.
Meanwhile,
Ritchie, in a tweet, claimed that the interior ministry had rejected her
application "under pressure".
"The MoI —
under pressure best known to them — has for the first time, in my over 10+
years in Pakistan, rejected my visa application. No reason has been given. We
have a right to file an appeal & will do so. A higher forum must entertain
my application & upon merits grant visa," she said.
Ritchie has been
living in Pakistan for more than a decade. She introduced herself as an
adventure tourist who fell in love with Pakistan.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/pakistan-directs-american-blogger-cynthia-ritchie-to-leave-country-within-15-days/articleshow/77895142.cms
--------
SPD chief
discusses nuclear diplomacy with FM
Baqir Sajjad
Syed
03 Sep 2020
ISLAMABAD:
Director General of the Strategic Plans Division Lt Gen Nadeem Zaki Manj called
on Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday for a discussion on
nuclear diplomacy.
The foreign
minister is the deputy chairman of the Employment Control Committee of the
National Command Authority which provides civilian oversight over research,
development, production and use of space and nuclear technologies and related
applications.
This is Gen
Manj’s second publicly disclosed meeting with the top civilian leadership in
the last 10 days. He had earlier on Aug 22 met Prime Minister Imran Khan for
what was said to be a briefing on the Strategic Plans Division (SPD), which
administers the country’s nuclear and missile programs.
The Aug 22
meeting was the first officially announced briefing for the prime minister on
the SPD since he assumed office two years ago.
The Foreign
Office closely liaises with the SPD on matters related to arms control and
disarmament, export control regimes, nuclear confidence building measures,
regional strategic stability, bilateral nuclear dialogues with key states,
peaceful uses of nuclear energy and on engagement with the International Atomic
Energy Agency.
Mr Qureshi,
according to Radio Pakistan, lauded the role of the SPD.
Established in
2001, the SPD serves as the secretariat of the National Command Authority (NCA)
and executes its policies. The SPD director general also serves as NCA
secretary. Gen Manj took over as its director general last November.
A meeting of the
NCA was reportedly convened during the post-Pulwama stand-off with India, but
no statement on the session was subsequently issued. That was the only NCA
meeting to have so far taken place during the PTI government’s two years.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1577664/spd-chief-discusses-nuclear-diplomacy-with-fm
--------
Imran Khan
project to get 2 Indians sanctioned for terror fails, UNSC throws it out
Sep 03, 2020
by Sohini Sarkar
The UN Security
Council on Wednesday rejected Pakistan’s efforts to get two Indian nationals
designated as terrorists under the 1267 sanctions committee process after
Islamabad failed to produce evidence to back up its allegations.
The move by
Pakistan was widely perceived as retaliation for India’s success last year in
getting Jaish-e-Mohammed founder Masood Azhar listed as a global terrorist by
the 1267 committee, which focuses on the designation of terrorists linked to
al-Qaeda, Taliban and their affiliates.
Pakistan had
launched an initiative to designate a total of four Indians as terrorists in
2019, telling the UN Security Council that they were allegedly involved in
state-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan further alleged the men were part of an
Afghanistan-based group that helped organise terror attacks by the
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar.
The efforts to
designate two of the Indians – identified by Pakistan as Venumadhav Dongara and
Ajoy Mistry – were rejected by the Security Council in June and July, largely
because of efforts by the United States, Britain, France and Germany, people
familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity.
The effort to
designate two other Indians – identified by Islamabad as Gobinda Patnaik and
Angara Appaji – were initially blocked through a “technical hold” by the US,
the UK, Germany, France and Belgium as they wanted Pakistan to provide evidence
to back its allegations, the people said.
During
consultations behind closed doors on Wednesday, when the term of the hold
ended, Pakistan’s effort to designate the remaining two Indians was rejected by
the Security Council as it failed to furnish any proof, the people added.
India’s
permanent representative to the UN, TS Tirumurti, tweeted: “Pakistan’s blatant
attempt to politicise 1267 special procedure on terrorism by giving it a
religious colour, has been thwarted by UN Security Council. We thank all those
Council members who have blocked Pakistan’s designs.”
Pakistan has
repeatedly sought to rake up what it claims is India’s alleged role in
fomenting terrorism on its soil at various UN bodies in recent months, but
without any takers for its allegations. It even made a false claim that its
envoy to the UN had delivered a statement at a UN Security Council meet on
terrorism but this was later proved to be false.
Some of the
Indians that Pakistan had sought to designate as terrorists had been working in
Afghanistan in the past.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/pakistan-fails-in-efforts-to-designate-two-indians-as-terrorists-at-unsc/story-QdAkirh2QTFgB6DjtygMSJ.html
--------
CPEC aimed at
decreasing China’s reliance on strategic chokeholds: Pentagon
Anwar Iqbal
03 Sep 2020
WASHINGTON:
Under its One Belt, One Road (OBOR) policy, China is pursuing projects in
Pakistan that would decrease Beijing’s reliance on strategic choke points, says
a Pentagon report released on Wednesday.
The 2020
Pentagon report on China’s military power also shows that the People’s
Liberation Army (PLA) has surpassed the US military in terms of navy size,
land-based missiles and advanced air defence systems.
A chapter on
Beijing’s economic policies notes that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
(CPEC) projects focus on pipelines and port construction that would “decrease
China’s reliance on transporting energy resources through strategic choke
points, such as the Strait of Malacca”.
Launched in
2013, OBOR seeks to foster closer economic integration with countries along
China’s periphery and beyond, thereby shaping these countries’ interests to
align with Beijing’s, the report adds.
The report notes
that OBOR also seeks to promote regional stability to repel criticism over
China’s approach to issues it views as sensitive.
The Pentagon
argues that the growth of China’s global economic footprint also makes its
interests increasingly vulnerable to domestic political transitions in participating
countries.
In 2019, Beijing
hosted the Second Belt and Road Forum to address growing international
scepticism over corruption, indebtedness, environmental sustainability, and
lack of transparency over OBOR projects.
Another chapter
on China’s foreign policy notes that tensions between China and India persist
along the northeastern border in Arunachal Pradesh and near the Aksai Chin
region at the western end of the Tibetan Plateau.
Chinese and
Indian patrols regularly encounter one another along the disputed border, and
both sides often accuse one another of border incursions.
Yet, “Chinese
and Indian forces have regularly interacted since the 2017 Doklam standoff and
generally kept disputes from escalating in 2019”, the report adds.
The report also
notes that despite low-level face-offs among troops, both sides have prevented
these incidents from escalating to the level of the 73-day border standoff at
the Doklam Plateau in 2017.
Chinese and
Indian officials also have continued diplomatic discussion on border issues,
the Pentagon adds.
The report
acknowledges that in its millennial report two decades ago, the Pentagon
largely dismissed the PLA’s rise, yet it is now on track to become a
“world-class military” before the middle of this century.
The report claims
that China is also attempting to at least double the number of nuclear warheads
in its arsenal in the next decade.
The Pentagon
calculates that “Beijing will seek to develop a military by mid-century that is
equal — or in some cases superior — to the US military, or that of any other
great power that China views as a threat”.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1577634/cpec-aimed-at-decreasing-chinas-reliance-on-strategic-chokeholds-pentagon
--------
North America
Trump calls for
cable host to be fired over comments about Muslims
RAY HANANIA
September 03,
2020
CHICAGO: In a
rare moment of agreement, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday echoed the
concerns of American Muslims who criticized cable news host Joy Reid for her
on-air comments about Muslims.
During her MSNBC
show “The ReidOut” on Monday, Reid said that Muslim leaders employ extremist
rhetoric to radicalize followers and promote violence, and then suggested that
Trump is employing similar tactics.
A number of
America Muslim leaders and organization denounced the comments and called for
an apology, including Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar, Emgage Action, and
Muslim Advocates.
However, when
Trump chipped in on Twitter to criticize Reid, he was accused of pretending to
support Muslims to further his ongoing war with the media.
During her show
on Monday, Reid said: “Leaders, let’s say in the Muslim world, talk a lot of
violent talk and encourage their supporters to be willing to commit violence,
including on their own bodies, in order to win against whoever they decide is
the enemy.
“We in the US
media describe that as they are radicalizing those people, particularly when
they’re radicalizing young people. That’s how we talk about the way Muslims
act. When you see what Donald Trump is doing, is that any different from what
we describe as radicalizing people?”
On Wednesday,
Trump posted a message on Twitter that read: “Like Fredo at Fake News @CNN, the
very untalented Joy Reid should be fired for this horrible use of the words
‘Muslim Terrorists’. Such xenophobia and racism on MSDNC. Anyone else would be
gone, and fast.”
“Fredo” is a
name Trump often uses when referring to CNN journalist Chris Cuomo. He began to
use it in 2019 after Cuomo became enraged when a member of the public called
him “Fredo,” a reference to the ineffectual and traitorous son of mobster Vito
Corleone in Hollywood movie “The Godfather.” The journalist is the younger
brother of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a frequent critic of Trump.
On Tuesday, Omar
tweeted in response to Reid’s comments: “Honestly, this kinda of casual
Islamophobia is hurtful and dangerous. We deserve better and an apology for the
painful moment for so many Muslims around our country should be forthcoming.”
Emgage Action
condemned Reid and called for her to fired, accusing her of spreading “an
anti-Muslim smear” by comparing how “Muslims act” with how Trump is encouraging
white-nationalist violence during nationwide protests against discrimination
and police brutality against Black people.
After Trump
joined the attacks on Reid, however, Emgage Action described his defense of
Muslims as a phony political move.
“This morning,
President Trump feigned advocacy for Muslims in his ongoing attack on the
press,” said Emgage CEO Wa’el Alzayat. “His remarks did not come from an
authentic concern for the Muslim community.
“While we are
disappointed in Reid’s comments and her lack of initiative in apologizing,
Trump’s hypocrisy is appalling. Trump is supposedly angered by Reid’s use of
‘Muslim terrorists,’ yet he is a strong proponent of using the phrase ‘Radical
Islamic terrorism.’
“Furthermore,
our community leaders have continuously called out Islamophobic and bigoted
appointments by the administration. As the implementer of the Muslim Ban and
the orchestrator of countless family separations at our borders, President
Trump may want to check his own racism before being self-righteous.”
Trump has
previously called for several left-wing media figures to be fired for what he
alleges is liberal bias.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1728786/world
--------
American ISIS
fighter repatriated, pleads guilty; US calls on Europe to follow suit
02 September
2020
A 23-year-old US
citizen captured by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and handed over for
fighting with ISIS pleaded guilty to terrorism charges, the Justice Department
said Wednesday.
Omer Kuzu is
accused of handling communications for the terrorist group, ISIS. He pleaded
guilty to conspiring to provide material support to terrorism, the Justice
Department said in a statement.
For all the
latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Kuzu admitted
that he and his brother left Texas for Turkey in 2014. After arriving in
Istanbul, they used an “ISIS taxi” to smuggle them into Syria. After waiting in
Syria, they headed to Iraq’s Mosul.
“In Mosul,
alongside 40 other foreign fighters, the brothers underwent five days of
physical and weapons training led by ISIS instructors. They were then sent to
Raqqah, Syria, where Kuzu started work at the ISIS telecommunications
directorate,” the Justice Department said.
Kuzu pledged
allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the Islamic Caliphate and was rewarded
with a monthly stipend, a Chinese-made AK-47 and an ISIS bride.
Read more: US
Donald Trump confirms killing of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
“Subsequently,
Kuzu was sent to the second lines in Kobani, Syria and Hama, Syria, to provide
communications support for ISIS fighters on the front lines. He also worked in
the Caliphate’s technology center,” the statement said.
He was captured
in 2019 by the US-backed SDF and handed over to the FBI before being
repatriated to the US to stand trial.
Kuzu faces 20
years in federal prison and his sentencing is set to begin next January.
US calls on
Europe to take responsibility for citizens supporting ISIS
John Demers,
Assistant Attorney General for National Security, thanked “our foreign partners
and the FBI in returning Kuzu to this country to face justice in an American
courtroom.” Demers called on Europe to take responsibility for “their own
citizens who traveled to support ISIS.”
The US vetoed a
United Nations Security Council resolution earlier in the week on foreign
militants fighting with groups like ISIS because it did not address
repatriation, an issue that has long pitted Washington against its European
allies.
The US wants
foreign militants sent home and either prosecuted or rehabilitated there.
European states, however, have been reluctant to try their nationals at home,
citing difficulty in collecting evidence, concerns about a public backlash and
the risk of fresh attacks on European soil.
Thousands of
foreign militants from dozens of countries are being held by the SDF in
northeast Syria. The Kurdish-led forces also hold tens of thousands of Syrian
and foreign women and children - family members of suspected militants - in
squalid camps.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/09/02/American-ISIS-fighter-repatriated-pleads-guilty-US-calls-on-Europe-to-follow-suit
--------
US sanctions ICC
prosecutor over Afghanistan war crimes probe
September 02,
2020
WASHINGTON: The
Trump administration on Wednesday imposed sanctions on the chief prosecutor of
the International Criminal Court and one of her top aides for continuing to
investigate war crimes allegations against Americans. The sanctions were
immediately denounced by the court, the United Nations and human rights
advocates.
Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo announced the moves as part of the administration’s pushback
against the tribunal, based in The Hague, for investigations into the United
States and its allies. The sanctions include a freeze on assets held in the US
or subject to US law and target prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and the court’s head
of jurisdiction, Phakiso Mochochoko.
He said the
court, to which the United States has never been a party, was “a thoroughly
broken and corrupt institution.”
“We will not
tolerate its illegitimate attempts to subject Americans to its jurisdiction,”
Pompeo told reporters at a State Department news conference. In addition to the
sanctions imposed on Bensouda and Mochochoko, Pompeo said people who provide
them with “material support” in investigating Americans could also face US
penalties.
Pompeo had
previously imposed a travel ban on Bensouda and other tribunal employees over
investigations into allegations of torture and other crimes by Americans in
Afghanistan.
The head of the
court’s governing board, the Assembly of States Parties, decried the step as
“unprecedented and unacceptable” and an affront to efforts to combat impunity
for war crimes. O-Gon Kwon said the assembly planned to convene shortly to
reaffirm the members’ “unstinting support for the court” and its employees.
“I strongly
reject such unprecedented and unacceptable measures against a treaty-based
international organization,” he said. “They only serve to weaken our common
endeavor to fight impunity for mass atrocities.”
UN
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres noted Pompeo’s statement “with concern,”
according to spokesman Stephane Dujarric. He stressed that the UN expects the
United States to abide by its agreement with the United Nations, which allows
the prosecutor to come to UN headquarters on ICC business.
The Security
Council referred the situations in Sudan’s Darfur region and in Libya to the
court, and Bensouda has regularly updated members on its actions. “We have
always stood for the need for international justice and for issue of
accountability and the fight against impunity,” Dujarric said.
Human rights
groups and others have condemned the administration’s moves against the court
and Wednesday’s announcement was immediately met with withering criticism from
them.
“Today’s
announcement is designed to do what this administration does best — bully and
intimidate,” said Daniel Balson of Amnesty International USA. “It penalizes not
only the ICC, but civil society actors working for justice alongside the court
worldwide.”
“Today’s
reckless actions constitute a demand that the US government be granted a
political carve-out of impunity for nationals accused of having committed
crimes under international law in Afghanistan,” he said. “No one responsible
for the most serious crimes under international law should be able to hide from
accountability, under a cloak of impunity.”
Richard Dicker,
the international justice director at Human Rights Watch, called it “a stunning
perversion of US sanctions, devised to penalize rights abusers and kleptocrats,
to persecute those tasked with prosecuting international crimes.”
“The Trump
administration has twisted these sanctions to obstruct justice, not only for
certain war crimes victims, but for atrocity victims anywhere looking to the
International Criminal Court for justice,” he said.
In March 2019,
Pompeo ordered the revocation or denial of visas to ICC staff seeking to
investigate allegations of war crimes and other abuses by US forces in
Afghanistan or elsewhere. He also said he might revoke the visas of those who
seek action against Israel.
Prosecutors have
been conducting a preliminary inquiry since 2015 in the Palestinian
territories, including Israel’s settlement policy, crimes allegedly committed
by both sides in the 2014 Gaza conflict and Hamas rocket attacks aimed at
Israeli civilians.
The court was
created to hold accountable perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against
humanity in cases where adequate judicial systems were not available. The US has
not joined the ICC because of concerns the court might be used for politically
motivated prosecutions of American troops and officials.
Subsequent US
administrations have reiterated that stance, although some, including President
Barack Obama’s, have agreed to limited cooperation with court. The Trump
administration, however, has been openly hostile to the tribunal and lashed out
against Bensouda along with others for pursuing prosecutions of Americans.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1728546/world
--------
US: Turkey-sent
Syrian fighters generate backlash in Libya
September 02,
2020
CAIRO: A US
report said the presence of thousands of Syrian mercenaries sent by Turkey to
Libya to fight on the side of the UN-supported government was likely to degrade
security and generate backlash from the Libyan public.
The US Defense
Department’s inspector general also said in a new report that it was concerned
about the growing presence of Russian mercenaries fighting for the rivals of
the Tripoli-based government in the Libyan war.
The report,
which was released Tuesday, said Turkey has sent to Libya at least 5,000 Syrian
mercenaries who previously worked closely with Ankara in Syria’s civil war.
They were sent to help Tripoli-allied militias fight the forces of east-based
military commander Khalifa Haftar.
Turkey also
deployed several hundred regular troops to Libya, including operators and
technicians for Turkish air defense systems deployed in western Libya, the
report said.
While the Syrian
mercenaries have bolstered the UN-supported government’s position, “their
continued presence will continue to negatively affect the overall security
situation in Libya,” said the report, which covers the second quarter of 2020.
Libya was
plunged into chaos when a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled longtime
dictator Muammar Qaddafi, who was later killed. The country has since split
between rival east- and west-based administrations, each backed by armed groups
and foreign governments.
Haftar’s forces
launched an offensive in April 2019 trying to capture Tripoli. But his campaign
collapsed in June when the Tripoli-allied militias, with heavy Turkish support,
gained the upper hand, driving his forces from the outskirts of the city and
other western towns.
Fighting has
died down in recent weeks, but both sides were preparing for a possible battle
over the strategic city of Sirte, the gateway to Libya’s major oil fields and
export terminals, controlled by Haftar.
The chaos has
worsened in recent months as foreign backers increasingly intervene, despite
pledges to the contrary at a high-profile peace summit in Berlin earlier this
year. Thousands of mercenaries including Russians, Syrians and Sudanese are
fighting on both sides of the conflict.
The US Africa
Command, or AFRICOM, described the Syrian mercenaries fighting with the
Tripoli-based government as “inexperienced, uneducated, and motivated by
promises of considerable salary.” It said Turkish private military company
Sadat has overseen supervision and payment to the mercenaries.
Increasing
reports of theft, sexual assault and misconduct by Syrian mercenaries in
western areas are likely to further degrade the security situation and generate
backlash from the Libyan public, AFRICOM said.
The report says
extremists with previous militant links have been involved in the Tripoli
fighting, although “it is possible they were fighting for financial and
personal reasons rather than ideological reasons.”
Protests took
place over deteriorating economic conditions last month in the capital and elsewhere
in western Libya, which is controlled by forces loyal to the UN-supported
government. Tripoli militias opened fire on demonstrators with rifles and
truck-mounted guns and abducted some of the protesters.
The US military
has grown increasingly concerned about Russia’s growing influence in Libya,
where at least 3,000 Russian mercenaries and 2,000 Russia-sponsored Syrian
mercenaries backing Haftar’s army, the report said.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1728676/middle-east
--------
Arab world
Al-Azhar slams
Charlie Hebdo republication of prophet cartoons
MOHAMMED ABU
ZAID
September 02,
2020
CAIRO: Al-Azhar
has strongly condemned Charlie Hebdo for republishing offensive cartoons of the
Prophet Muhammad in the French magazine’s Wednesday issue.
Al-Azhar Observatory
for Combating Extremism urged the international community to “take a firm
stance on the encroachment on Muslims’ sanctities and symbols.”
It said the
insistence on republishing the cartoons reinforces hate speech, is a
provocation against the world’s nearly 2 billion Muslims, and undermines
interfaith dialogue and coexistence between people of different religions and
beliefs.
Al-Azhar
reiterated its strong condemnation of the criminal attack on the Charlie Hebdo
headquarters in early 2015, stressing Islam’s rejection of violence and urging
those in charge of the magazine to respect the beliefs of others.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1728616/middle-east
--------
Saudi Arabia’s
stance on Palestine ‘remains unchanged’
AISHA FAREED
September 03,
2020
JEDDAH: Saudi
Arabia’s position on the Palestinian cause will not change after the Kingdom
gave permission for all flights between the UAE and other countries to travel
through Saudi airspace, the foreign minister said on Wednesday.
The altered
flight policy followed a request from the UAE’s General Civil Aviation
Authority to the Saudi General Authority for Civil Aviation.
“The Kingdom’s
firm position toward the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people will not
change by allowing flights to and from the UAE to pass through Saudi airspace,”
Prince Faisal bin Farhan said. “The Kingdom appreciates all efforts to achieve
a just and lasting peace in accordance with the Arab Peace Initiative.”
Saudi political
analyst Dr. Hamdan Al-Shehri told Arab News the Kingdom knew how to separate
the two issues. “Yes, we allowed the flights, but that doesn’t mean we let go
of our original causes,” he said.
“The language of
those with established positions is flexibility, which does not mean waiving
rights or just and fair initiatives. Our stance in these cases is crystal clear
and will not change.”
The UAE and
Israel normalized ties in an agreement last month.
A joint
Israeli-US delegation traveled from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi on Monday and
returned on Tuesday.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1728761/saudi-arabia
--------
Iraqi Lawmakers
Reiterate Expulsion of US Forces
Sep 02, 2020
“The US should
withdraw its forces from Iraq and avoid turning the country into a
battlefield,” Mohammed Karim, the representative of Sadiqoun fraction, told the
Arabic-language al-Ma’aloumeh news website.
He added that
the parliament’s decision not to accept any American forces on Iraqi soil is
clear.
Also, Mohammed
al-Assadi, the representative of al-Fatah coalition, said that members of the
coalition have informed Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi of their
opposition to the presence of the US forces.
Meantime, Hassan
al-Jinabi, the representative of Araqioun coalition, said that the Iraqi
parliament has approved the bill to expel the foreign forces, warning that
presence of American soldiers in Iraq stirs tension.
Iraq's
Parliament voted in January to have the US troops removed from the country,
heeding a call from former Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi to take urgent
measures and end the foreign forces presence as soon as possible.
The Iraqi
Parliament passed a resolution anonymously to work to end the foreign troop
presence in the Arab country in the wake of a US targeted assassination of a
top Iranian general and a commander of Iraqi popular forces.
"The
government commits to revoke its request for assistance from the international
coalition fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) due to the end
of military operations in Iraq and the achievement of victory," the
resolution read, adding, "The Iraqi government must work to end the
presence of any foreign troops on Iraqi soil and prohibit them from using its
land, airspace or water for any reason."
The resolution
stated that Iraqi military leadership has to report the number of foreign
instructors that are necessary for Iraqi national security.
https://en.farsnews.ir/newstext.aspx?nn=13990612000901
--------
US still opposed
to Hezbollah’s participation in Lebanon govt: Official
Joseph Haboush
02 September
2020
Washington is
still opposed to Hezbollah's participation in Lebanon’s governments, a senior
US official said Wednesday.
“We, at the
State Department and in our Congress, we’ve all been clear about our opinion
for decades now, of Hezbollah being in the Lebanese government. It is not a
party that we are willing to do business with,” State Department Spokesperson
Morgan Ortagus told Al Arabiya in an exclusive interview.
For all the
latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
French President
Emmanuel Macron’s recent visit to Beirut worked on laying out a roadmap for
Lebanese officials, who committed to forming a new government within two weeks.
The French president threatened sanctions if reforms were not implemented after
a certain period of time, but stopped short of calling for the exclusion of
Hezbollah from any future government.
Earlier
Wednesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the new government in Lebanon
must carry out “real change,” adding that Iran-backed Hezbollah needed to
disarm.
“Business as
usual in Lebanon just is unacceptable,” Pompeo said during a news conference in
Washington.
Lebanese
officials designated a new prime minister on Monday, to form and head a government
capable of implementing reforms in order to unlock international aid.
The country is
facing an unparalleled economic and financial crisis, coupled with the
coronavirus pandemic and the aftermath of the deadly Aug. 4 explosions.
Pompeo said any
new government must conduct “significant reforms” and “real change,” being
demanded by the Lebanese people. “And the United States is going to use its
diplomatic presence and its diplomatic capabilities to make sure that we get
that outcome,” he added.
Hezbollah should
disarm
Turning to
Hezbollah, Pompeo said the “risk stares you in the face.”
“And so those
people who are either part of that or are playing footsie with Hezbollah should
know that that’s not productive,” Pompeo said.
Hezbollah was
the only non-state group that kept its arms following the end of the 1975-90
Civil War. “Everybody disarms but Hezbollah. This is the challenge that is
presented,” Pompeo said.
Pompeo said
Hezbollah’s arms were not what the regional security needed and that Washington
was coordinating with France to help resolve Lebanon’s issues. “So I’m
confident that the United States, the French, and all of us who are working
there on the ground, both to meet the immediate needs in the result that flowed
from the explosion that took place now several weeks back as well as the
longer-term challenges that are presenting in Lebanon. We’ll all work on it
together.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/09/02/Lebanon-needs-real-change-with-new-govt-Hezbollah-must-disarm-Pompeo
--------
France’s Macron
says meeting with Iraqi president to discuss country’s sovereignty
Tamara Abueish
03 September
2020
France’s
President Emmanuel Macron met with his Iraqi counterpart Barham Salih on
Wednesday in the Salam Palace in Baghdad to discuss the country’s sovereignty,
state news media reported.
The French
President had arrived in the capital earlier on Wednesday for his first
official visit since Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi ascended to power.
For all the
latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Iraq should not
be a battleground for conflict between other countries, Iraqi President Salih
said during a joint press conference with Macron.
“We are here for
and we will continue to support Iraq,” Macron said at the news conference.
Macron on
Twitter said that his visit to Iraq is aimed at helping guarantee Iraq’s
security and economic sovereignty inside and outside of country.
There are many
challenges that exist when it comes to ensuring the sovereignty of Iraq within
its border and in the region, he added.
“Our collective
security and regional stability are at stake. Our soldiers are fighting side by
side to ensure the final defeat of the [extremists],” the French president
said.
Macron is the most
senior foreign official to travel to Iraq since the head of the country’s
intelligence al-Kadhimi became prime minister in May.
Earlier this
week, the French president had traveled to Beirut for his second visit since
the deadly August 4 that killed about 190 people and spurred international
outcry for political reform.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/09/02/France-s-Macron-says-meeting-with-Iraqi-president-to-discuss-country-s-sovereignty
--------
Syria thwarts
fresh Israeli missile attack on T4 airbase
02 September
2020
The Syrian air
defenses have foiled a fresh Israeli missile attack against the T4 airbase in
central Syria.
At 22:23 (local
time) on Wednesday, Israeli warplanes fired missiles from the direction of
al-Tanf in southeastern Syria, targeting the T4 (officially known as Althias)
airbase in Homs province, a report by the state news agency SANA said.
The report
quoted a military source as saying that most of the missiles were shot down and
the rest caused only material damage.
The latest
aggression came only two days after an Israeli missile attack against military
sites in southern Damascus killed two Syrian soldiers and injured seven others
in addition to causing material damage.
The Monday
attack had been launched from the occupied Golan Heights.
Syria has been
gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government
says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri
terrorist groups that are wreaking havoc in the country.
Israel
frequently targets military positions inside Syria, especially those of
Hezbollah which has played a key role in helping the Syrian army in its fight
against terrorists.
The Tel Aviv
regime mostly keeps quiet about the attacks on Syrian territories which many
view as knee-jerk reaction to Syrian government’s increasing success in
confronting terrorism in country.
Israel has been
a main supporter of terrorist groups that have opposed the government of
President Bashar al-Assad since militancy erupted in Syria nine years ago.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/09/02/633194/Syria-air-defense-Israel-missile-t4-airbase
--------
Afghanistan to
move to Qatar seven prisoners sought by Taliban
September 03,
2020
KABUL:
Afghanistan will transfer to Qatar seven prisoners whose release has been
demanded by the Taliban ahead of peace talks set to start this week, officials
of both warring sides, as well as Western diplomats, said on Thursday.
An Afghan
official said the captives would be freed soon, although the government had not
wanted to release them on the grounds that they were guilty of killing foreign
soldiers.
“They will be
shifted to Doha,” he said, adding that top Afghan officials were set to travel
to the capital of the Gulf state this week for the talks.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1728826/middle-east
--------
South Asia
Afghan
negotiators head to Doha as Taliban prisoner swap nears completion
03 Sep 2020
KABUL: Afghan
government-backed negotiators are set to head to Doha for peace talks with the Taliban,
a top official said on Wednesday, as President Ashraf Ghani insisted Kabul had
met all its commitments for negotiations.
Talks were
supposed to begin in March but were repeatedly pushed back as the Taliban and
the Afghan government squabbled over a prisoner exchange, which included
hundreds of battle-hardened insurgents.
Kabul broke an
impasse with the insurgent group on Monday by resuming the protracted prisoner
exchange, offering a fresh impetus for peace talks to begin.
“The government
has fulfilled all its commitments in the peace process that the international
community had hoped for,” Ghani told the negotiating team at a meeting at the
presidential palace on Wednesday, his office said.
“The release of
Taliban prisoners is a clear demonstration of the government’s commitment to
peace.”
Kabul had
baulked at the release of the final 400 Taliban inmates who Ghani described as
“a danger to the world”, before a group of prominent Afghans approved their
release for the sake of peace talks.
A senior government
official said that at least 200 prisoners have been released since Monday and
the process “will continue today too”.
A Taliban
official said “the last batch” of their prisoners were still to be released and
were expected to be freed later on Wednesday.
With the
prisoner release almost complete, peace talks are expected to finally begin in
Qatar.
The Afghan
government-backed negotiating team “will leave for Doha tomorrow (Thursday)”,
said Fraidoon Khwazoon, spokesman to Afghanistan’s High Council for National
Reconciliation, which is leading the overall peace process. The date for talks
to start is still to be fixed.
Paris and
Canberra had opposed the release of militants on the list tied to the killing
of French and Australian civilians and troops in Afghanistan. It is not known
if those militants have been released.
In return for
the 400 prisoners, the militant group has freed four Afghan commandos and are
expected to release two more on Wednesday, a Taliban official said.
“We expect the
Taliban to live up to their commitments on the release of the remaining
captives,” Ghani’s spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on Twitter.
The prisoner
exchange was agreed in a deal between the Taliban and the United States in
February, which said Kabul should release a total of 5,000 militants in return
for the Taliban freeing 1,000 Afghan troops.
Ghani said a
“critical stage of peace” had been reached and that the talks would help reduce
violence and finalise a permanent ceasefire.
The Taliban have
said they were willing to begin negotiations “within a week” of the prisoner
swap being completed and blamed Kabul for delaying the negotiations.
Kabul has
already sent a “small technical team” to Doha to make logistical preparations
ahead of the peace talks, Najia Anwari, spokeswoman for the State Ministry for
Peace Affairs said.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1577637/afghan-negotiators-head-to-doha-as-taliban-prisoner-swap-nears-completion
--------
Sar-e-Pul Blast
Claims 6, Wounds 2
By Mohammad Arif
Sheva
03 Sep 2020
SAR-E-PUL,
Afghanistan – At least six children were killed and further two women wounded
after a planted mine went off in a residential area in Sancharak district of
the Northern province, the 209th Shaheen Corps said in a statement Thursday.
The incident
happened at around 5:45pm Wednesday evening.
According to the
statement, the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was planted by the Taliban
insurgents at Mohammad Isa residence in Sancharak district of Sar-e-Pul
province, which claimed six children aging between five to 10 years old.
Meanwhile, two
women aging between 30 to 50 years old were wounded.
The Taliban did
not immediately comment on the claim.
https://www.khaama.com/sar-e-pul-blast-claims-6-wounds-2-345634/
--------
Afghanistan
releases nearly 200 Taliban in latest push for peace
02 September
2020
The Afghan
government released nearly 200 Taliban prisoners to spur the start of
long-delayed peace negotiations, senior Afghan officials said on Wednesday.
The fresh
releases are from a group of 400 “hardcore” Taliban prisoners, the fate of
which has stalled peace negotiations between the government and insurgent group
to end nearly two decades of war in Afghanistan.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
This group of
prisoners were released from the main jail in the capital Kabul on Monday
evening and Tuesday at the same time six Afghan special forces members held by
the Taliban were freed, the officials said.
“We want to
finish the prisoner swap so we could start the peace process as soon as
possible,” said a senior government official, who declined to be name because
of the sensitivity of the issue.
A source close
to the process said the prisoner swap could be finished by today.
The 400 are the
remainder of 5,000 Taliban prisoners set for release from Afghan jails as part
of a pact in February between the United States and the Taliban allowing for
the withdrawal of US troops. Their release was a condition for talks between
the government and the insurgent group to start.
The Afghan
government was reluctant to release any of the 400, which it says have been
involved in some of the worst crimes including major attacks such as the 2017
truck bombing near the Germany Embassy in Kabul, until the Taliban released 24
Afghan special forces members and pilots first.
Keeping the
prisoners went against the wishes of a loya jirga that gathered in Kabul last
month. The loya jirga is a traditional assembly of thousands of Afghan elders
and community leaders that meets to decide political issues.
The government
responded by releasing about 80 of the 400 prisoners last month. A government
official said the others were kept because the Taliban dismissed calls from the
loya jirga for a ceasefire.
The exchange
this week occurred as Taliban violence and clashes with Afghan troops have
increased in recent days.
A Taliban car
bomb killed three Afghan security forces in eastern Paktia province on Tuesday,
a local official said, while a defense ministry statement said 13 Taliban
insurgents were killed in southern Kandahar and 11 more were killed in northern
Faryab in the last 24 hours.
Thousands of
Afghan security forces and civilians have been killed since the February peace
deal between the US and the Taliban, according to data released by United
Nations and the government.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2020/09/02/Afghanistan-releases-nearly-200-Taliban-in-latest-push-for-peace
--------
Southeast Asia
Dr M confirms
asking for LTTE’s removal from terror group list
Nicholas Chung
September 3,
2020
PUTRAJAYA: Dr
Mahathir Mohamad has confirmed writing a letter earlier this year to then home
minister Muhyiddin Yassin, asking for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) to be removed from Putrajaya’s list of terrorist organisations.
He denied that
the letter signified that he was a supporter of LTTE, but spoke against the
actions that were taken against several individuals when Pakatan Harapan (PH)
was in government.
“We don’t have
to look for problems. If there aren’t any problems, why look for one? And the
problem happened because of Sri Lanka, not us. We didn’t have to take such
actions, unless they really did bad things in Malaysia.
“I don’t say
that Hamas is a terrorist group. But Hamas is classified as a terrorist
organisation by the US. And the world says it’s a terror organisation.
“If he’s a
terrorist, why did I meet Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh? He is a friend, how can
I call him a terrorist?” Mahathir said at a press conference today.
The letter,
dated Feb 12, had gone viral recently. In it, Mahathir told Muhyiddin he did
not think LTTE should continue to be labelled as a terrorist organisation as
Sri Lanka itself did not consider them as such.
“We consider
Hamas as terrorists but we allow them to enter Malaysia,” he wrote.
“I think it’s
better to remove LTTE from the terrorist list. With that, the court trials can
be held without denying bail during the trial.”
The Security
Offences (Special Measures) Act, or Sosma, bars an accused person from seeking
bail after they are charged with security offences.
Twelve men had
been detained under Sosma in October 2019 for their alleged links to the LTTE,
a defunct militant organisation that tried to create an independent Tamil state
in Sri Lanka.
The 12,
including two DAP assemblymen, denied their involvement in LTTE, stating that
the flags, posters and pictures found in their possession meant they only
sympathised with the plight of the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka.
In February,
then attorney-general Tommy Thomas decided to drop the charges against the 12,
saying there was “no realistic prospect” for their conviction under any of the
34 charges brought against them.
Between 60,000
and 100,000 Tamil civilians died during a 27-year civil war in Sri Lanka,
according to figures from the United Nations.
Police had
previously said LTTE had been classified as a terrorist organisation by
Malaysia under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds
of Unlawful Activities Act.
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2020/09/03/dr-m-confirms-asking-for-lttes-removal-from-terror-group-list/
--------
Perikatan
leaders’ controversial remarks sting but won’t deter non-Malay allies, say
analysts
03 Sep 2020
BY DANIAL DZULKIFLY
KUALA LUMPUR,
Sept 3 — Two Perikatan Nasional leaders’ remarks that upset the country’s
minorities were unlikely to dissuade the coalition’s non-Malay allies from
supporting it as they have too much to gain from doing so, according to
political analysts.
They
acknowledged that PAS MP Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh’s claim that the Bible has
been distorted and Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad
Kamal’s support for the abolition of vernacular schools would alienate
non-Malay support.
However, they
believe PN allies such as Gabungan Parti Sarawak would be able to tolerate this
due to the benefits they derive from backing the informal coalition and the
aligned Muafakat Nasional.
Universiti
Malaysia Sarawak’s (Unimas) Jeniri Amir told Malay Mail that GPS, in
particular, could also claim to have no part of such comments as they were not
in PN and only supported it.
“Definitely the
people here (Sarawak) are not happy with such remarks but would this affect
parties like GPS? Not so much.
“They can
absolutely distance themselves from the supposed Malay centric politics of West
Malaysia while still cooperating with PN or MN,” he said, adding that it was
different from when Sarawak parties had been beholden to Barisan Nasional and
its lynchpin, Umno.
In Parliament,
Nik Zawawi triggered a controversy with his claim that the Bible has been
distorted from its original meaning, which he made to support another assertion
that all religions forbid the consumption of alcohol.
Before that,
Bersatu Youth chief Wan Ahmad Fayshal also insisted that vernacular schools —
which are guaranteed under the Federal Constitution — should be closed for
being obstacles to “strong national identity”.
While both
incidents could hurt GPS ahead of the Sarawak election that must be held next
year, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Geostrategist Prof Dr Azmi Hassan
explained that the payoff for GPS meant it was unlikely to criticise the
coalition over these.
Among others, he
said backing PN meant GPS need not worry about any of the coalition’s parties
encroaching during the Sarawak election and were more likely to receive any
federal assistance it needed.
This would put
it in a better position to face Pakatan Harapan parties, which he said were far
more likely to squabble over seats.
“By PPBM, PAS
and Umno opting out of the state election, it will no doubt give a lot of
breathing room to GPS to form the state government. So, if the state election
to be held before GE15, then GPS aligning with PN is all for the advantage for
GPS,” he said.
For parties like
MIC and MCA, Singapore Institute of International Affairs senior fellow Oh Ei
Sun also said they were unlikely to buck despite the clear damage both
incidents would cause to their base.
While vernacular
schools are a core issue for the Chinese-based MCA, Oh said it and MIC were
comfortable with the tokenism of their presence in an overtly Malay PN.
He also said
both parties would already have been familiar with such a position from their
years in BN when Umno dominated them.
“The argument
for them to support PN is to tell their constituencies or potential
constituency that, ‘Yes this is a Malay-centric government but imagine if I’m
not in there, then it will be even more Malay centric’.
“I think that is
the main argument which has been the same argument for both parties for the
longest period of time but especially now as it is really a Malay-centric
[coalition],’’ he said.
In remarks
similar to that of Jeniri, Oh said circumstances have changed significantly
since BN lost the 2018 general election, especially for non-Malay parties such
as MCA and MIC.
“This is because
both MIC and MCA are also gunning for Malay votes. They are gunning for
constituencies that are 50:50 non-Malays and Malays. But, of course, Umno also
would like to grab those seats, so they would have to sort of ingratiate
themselves to Umno,” he said.
The Christian
Federation of Malaysia, the Sabah Council of Churches, and Association of
Churches in Sarawak have all criticised Nik Zawawi over his claim but he has
refused to apologise.
Despite the
apparent anger, PN and its leaders have remained largely silent about both
controversies.
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/09/03/perikatan-leaders-controversial-remarks-sting-but-wont-deter-non-malay-alli/1899630
--------
Zakat collection
in state on right track despite Covid-19 challenges, says Pahang Regent Tengku
Hassanal
02 Sep 2020
KUANTAN, Sept 2
― Zakat (tithe) collection performance in Pahang has seen an increase this year
despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic situation, the Regent of
Pahang Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah Al-Sultan Abdullah said.
Tengku Hassanal,
who is also Pahang Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council (MUIP) president
said as of August 31, a total of 81,104 zakat harta (property tithe)
contributors have paid RM81.4 million, an increase of 1.5 per cent compared to
the same period in 2019.
“The largest
contributor to the zakat collection is from the salary deduction sector with
RM41.1 million as well as payments from corporate bodies and business sectors.
“God-willing,
the state Zakat Collection Centre (PKZ), with help from public and corporate
bodies, is expected to achieve the collection target of RM150 million and
95,000 contributors this year,” he said in a statement here, today.
Tengku Hassanal
said the increase in zakat collection would allow more asnaf (the needy) to
benefit from it, through distribution by MUIP.
Tengku Hassanal
added that the PKZ would continue implementing the Compulsory Assessment of
Zakat programme by distributing forms to 30,361 permanent staff in Pahang.
Today, Tengku
Hassanal received business zakat payments totalling RM12.83 million from eight
institutions and corporate companies in a ceremony held at the Istana AbdulAziz
here.
Lembaga Tabung
Haji is the highest contributor with RM4.71 million, followed by the National
Farmers Organisation (RM3.1 million), Tenaga Nasional Berhad (RM2.36 million),
Bank Rakyat Group (RM1.03 million) and Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Berhad (RM834,000).
Other corporate
bodies include Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad (RM365,000), QSR Brands Malaysia
Holdings Berhad (RM259,027) and Bank Muamalat Malaysia Berhad (RM160,577). ―
Bernama
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/09/02/zakat-collection-in-state-on-right-track-despite-covid-19-challenges-says-p/1899628
--------
At
pro-government convention, Hadi says uniting Muslims is Perikatan’s feat
01 Sep 2020
BY SYED JAYMAL
ZAHIID
KUALA LUMPUR,
Sept 1 ― PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said today Perikatan
Nasional’s (PN) greatest achievement was uniting the country’s major Malay
political parties, declaring it a triumph for those intent on bringing good to
multiracial Malaysia.
Hadi argued that
Muslim unity was the first step towards a better federal administration, one
that would surpass its predecessor that was plagued by infighting.
The Marang MP
said the collaboration of the three major Malay-Muslim political parties ―
Umno, PAS and Bersatu ― mirrored Islam’s history, when the Prophet Muhammad
united the warring Arab tribes and turned them into a major political force
that became one of the world’s most powerful empires at the time.
“We took the
action first by uniting PAS and Umno with the intention of effecting change,
and later forged together (with Bersatu) as a government,” Hadi said before an
audience of academics gathered to “rate” PN’s half-year performance.
“Yes, as a
government, we cannot deny the rights of minorities since we are a multiracial
society,” he added.
“(But) uniting
the Muslims, I would say that is our achievement.”
Also present at
the event was Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
Muhyiddin’s
party, Bersatu, now leads a predominantly Malay-Muslim coalition alongside PAS
and Umno as a result of shifting political alliances that triggered the fall of
the democratically-elected Pakatan Harapan government.
The political
realignment not only drew allegations that Muhyiddin is now head of an
illegitimate government, but has also raised concerns that minority rights could
be undermined, especially as Umno and PAS seek to regain power.
But at this
evening’s event, Hadi insisted that the PN government was installed
constitutionally.
The PAS
president said Muhyiddin commanded majority support in Parliament, which by law
was enough to make him the prime minister even if the government of the day was
not elected.
“The change (of
government) was made through parliamentary democracy, and it was done according
to the principles laid out in the Federal Constitution,” he said.
“It’s indirect
democracy.”
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/09/01/at-pro-government-convention-hadi-says-uniting-muslims-is-perikatans-feat/1899172
--------
Mideast
Senior Iranian
MP Asks Europe for Action against US Illegal Measures
Sep 02, 2020
Naderi made the
remarks in a meeting with Austrian Ambassador to Tehran Stefan Scholz on
Wednesday.
He condemned the
US unilateral and illegal acts, including imposing sanctions against Iran, and
said, “The European countries should not keep mum on the US illegal measures
which weaken the international laws and regulations.”
Naderi called on
all European parties to the nuclear deal to comply with their undertakings.
Scholz, for his
part, underlined the importance of cooperation between the two countries, and
said, “Austria has always been interested in the development of friendly ties
with the Islamic Republic of Iran and has made lots of efforts in this regard
to develop constructive relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran in economic
and trade areas as well as cooperation to help establish stability, security
and reduction of crisis in the region.”
In relevant
remarks late on Tuesday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi
said that EU commercial dealings through the Instrument in Support of Trade
Exchange (INSTEX) is not satisfactory for his country, adding that Tehran does
not count on the system.
“It is now two
years that the idea (of INSTEX) has started and it now exists and the first
financial exchange has been made and a number of other financial exchanges are
on agenda but the reality is that its effectiveness has proved to be much lower
than our expectations,” Araqchi told reporters after participation in the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) Joint Commission meeting in Vienna.
He, meantime,
underlined that Iran does not count on the INSTEX and does not trust and rely
on the Europeans and INSTEX, adding that the country’s trade and commercial
sector is making its activities via its own methods.
“If we can help
the country’s trade through INSTEX, we will do it but we do not trust and rely
on this system,” Araqchi said.
He also
elaborated on the issues discussed in the Commission’s meeting, and said that
members of Iran’s nuclear deal do not recognize the US as JCPOA participant and
the United States is not authorized to snap back the sanctions or implement
UNSC Resolution 2231.
The remaining
parties to the JCPOA call the US efforts in New York to use snapback trigger
mechanism ‘illegal and ineffective’ and believe that this measure cannot be
effective, Araqchi emphasized.
Possible US
moves were also discussed in today’s JCPOA Joint Commission meeting, he said,
adding, “All these members unanimously emphasized that JCPOA is a major
diplomatic achievement and should be preserved.”
Parties to JCPOA
called for the full implementation of the deal and there are differences of
opinion with regards to reducing Iran’s JCPOA commitments, Araqchi underlined.
“Naturally, we
also want them (parties involved in nuclear talks) to fully comply with their
obligations to lift sanctions but in today's meeting, it was decided not to get
into these issues and to address the main issue which is the preservation of
JCPOA,” he added.
US President
Donald Trump, a stern critic of the historic deal, unilaterally pulled
Washington out of the JCPOA in May 2018, and unleashed the “toughest ever”
sanctions against the Islamic Republic in defiance of global criticism in an
attempt to strangle the Iranian oil trade, but to no avail since its
"so-called maximum pressure policy" has failed to push Tehran to the
negotiating table.
In response to
the US’ unilateral move, Tehran has so far rowed back on its nuclear
commitments four times in compliance with Articles 26 and 36 of the JCPOA, but
stressed that its retaliatory measures will be reversible as soon as Europe
finds practical ways to shield the mutual trade from the US sanctions.
Tehran has
particularly been disappointed with failure of the three European signatories
to the JCPOA -- Britain, France and Germany -- to protect its business
interests under the deal after the United States' withdrawal.
On January 5,
Iran took a final step in reducing its commitments, and said it would no longer
observe any operational limitations on its nuclear industry, whether concerning
the capacity and level of uranium enrichment, the volume of stockpiled uranium
or research and development.
Now the US has
stepped up attempts aimed at extending the UN arms ban on Iran that is set to
expire as part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which has
been endorsed by Security Council Resolution 2231.
The US first
sought to extend the Iran's arms embargo in a fresh UNSC resolution in
contradiction to the contents of the Resolution 2231 in two attempts within a
month, but failed.
The United
Nations Security Council resoundingly rejected last month the second US bid to
extend an arms embargo on Iran, which is due to expire in October.
The resolution
needed support from nine of 15 votes to pass. Eleven members abstained,
including France, Germany and Britain, while the US and the Dominican Republic
were the only “yes” votes.
The United
States has become isolated over Iran at the Security Council following
President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the multilateral Iran nuclear deal 2018.
Iran had said
that the US resolution would fail to gain the required support at the Security
Council, pointing out that Washington has no legal right to invoke a snapback
mechanism to reinstate sanctions against Tehran under the 2015 nuclear deal that
the US unilaterally left in May 2018.
In relevant
remarks last month, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said it is by
no means justifiable for the US to use Dispute Resolution Mechanism with regard
to UNSC Resolution 2231.
"US recourse
to Dispute Resolution Mechanism in 2231 has NO LEG TO STAND ON," Zarif
wrote on his Twitter page.
"AmbJohnBolton
has repeated today what he said on May 8, 2018, while National Security Advisor
in the Trump administration," he noted, adding, "At least he is
consistent—a trait notably absent in this US administration."
Zarif' tweet
came in reaction to former US National Security Advisor John Bolton's article
in Wall Street Journal where he criticized US' decision to trigger ‘snapback
mechanism’ against Iran, saying, "The agreement [Joint Comprehensive Plan
of Action]’s backers argue that Washington, having withdrawn from the deal, has
no standing to invoke its provisions. They’re right. It’s too cute by half to
say we’re in the nuclear deal for purposes we want but not for those we
don’t."
https://en.farsnews.ir/newstext.aspx?nn=13990612001006
--------
Iranian
Speaker’s Advisor Warns of Security Consequences of Deal with Israel for UAE,
Region
Sep 02, 2020
“I am not
optimistic about the future of this treacherous pact. We will see in the near
future that the Zionists will bring insecurity to our neighboring state, the
UAE, and this insecurity will spread in the region,” Amir Abdollahian told the
state TV on Wednesday.
He expressed the
hope that the UAE officials would backtrack from their decision, saying that
otherwise the agreement will have harsh consequences for the security of the
UAE and other regional states.
Amir Abdollahian
said that if the UAE returns from its decision, it can still be hopeful of
investment and prosperity, implying that deterioriating security would hamper
investment in the small Arab state.
In relevant
remarks on Tuesday, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed
Ali Khamenei lashed out at the UAE for normalizing ties with Israel, describing
it as a betrayal of Islam, the Arab and Palestinian people and the regional
states.
"The UAE
betrayed the world of Islam, the Arab nations, the region’s countries and
Palestine. Of course, this betrayal won’t last long," Ayatollah Khamenei
said, addressing the directors and heads of the Education Ministry via a
videoconference.
"The UAE
rulers opened the door of the region to the Zionists, and they have ignored and
normalized the question of Palestine, which is a question about the usurpation
of a country. This stigma will remain on them," he added.
"The nation
of Palestine is under various, severe pressures. Then, the UAE cooperates with
the Israelis and the filthy US agents - such as the Zionists in Trump’s family
- against the interests of the world of Islam and commits the greatest atrocity
against it," Ayatollah Khamenei said.
He expressed the
hope that the UAE would wake up soon and compensate for what they’ve done.
Also, last week,
the Iranian foreign ministry blasted again the recent compromise deal between
Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv, warning that the UAE should account for any threat
posed by Israel to the region.
“The agreement
between the UAE and the Zionist regime is a scar on the Muslim world’s body and
the UAE has made a big mistake and we hope that it makes up for this mistake as
soon as possible. The Muslim world will never forget betrayal of the holy Quds,”
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told reporters in Tehran.
He further
downsized Israel as a serious threat to Iran, and said it is seen as too small
and too weak as a threat, but warned that although Israel is not among the
threats perceived by Iran’s defense and security doctrine in the Persian Gulf
region, the UAE will be held to account if the regime poses any threat to the
region.
Khatibzadeh
stressed Iran’s seriousness about defending its security and national
interests.
US President
Donald Trump on August 13 announced a deal brokered by his government between
Israel and the UAE which he said would lead to full normalization of ties
between the two.
Critics see the
deal as the latest attempt by Trump to save his presidential campaign against
the Democrat Joe Biden.
Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani decried the recent normalization deal between the UAE
and Israel, describing it as a gift to Trump before elections.
“These days we
have faced a neighboring country which has approached the enemy of the Islamic
world and the region and the murderer of the Palestinian nation in a decision
to get close to the Zionist regime,” Rouhani said, addressing a meeting of the
national coronavirus campaign headquarters in Tehran last month.
He added that
the UAE rulers are wrongly thinking that their security and economy will
improve through relations with Israel, noting that the measure is aimed at
helping Trump win the November elections.
“(The UAE’s)
measure is one hundred percent wrong and condemned,” Rouhani said.
He warned the
regional states not to pave the way for Israel to have a foothold in the
region.
In a relevant
statement on August 14, the Iranian foreign ministry strongly condemned the
UAE's decision to set up diplomatic relations with "the Zionist regime of
Israel" and termed it as a strategic act of idiocy by Abu Dhabi and Tel
Aviv which will undoubtedly result in the further reinvigoration of the axis of
resistance in the region.
The statement
further stressed that "the oppressed nation of Palestine as well as other
freedom-seeking peoples worldwide will never forgive the sin of normalization
of the ties with the occupier and bloodthirsty regime of Israel and also the
act of those who approve and cooperate with its crimes".
Undoubtedly the
innocent bloods shed during the past seven decades of resistance to free the
sacred land of Palestine which is Muslims' first Qibla will sooner or later
take those that betrayed the Palestinian cause by the throat, it added.
The statement
also stressed that the Islamic Republic of Iran considers as dangerous Abu
Dhabi's act of normalizing ties with the fabricated, illegitimate and
anti-human regime of Israel, and warns the Zionist regime against any kind of
meddling in the Persian Gulf region's equations.
The UAE
administration and all other governments which approve of this move should be
ready to take the responsibility of all the consequences of such a measure, it
further said.
The Iranian
foreign ministry's statement also noted that the history will definitely
demonstrate how this strategic mistake by the Zionist regime and the dagger
which stabbed both the Palestinian nation and the Muslim peoples in the back
will backfire and further strengthen the resistance axis by enhancing unity and
solidarity against the Zionist regime and the backward governments in the
region.
The foreign
ministry advised those rulers who, from inside their "glass castles",
hatch plots against the Palestinians and other regional oppressed nations,
including Yemen, to regain consciousness and stop erring in distinguishing
between friends and foes.
https://en.farsnews.ir/newstext.aspx?nn=13990612000813
--------
Israel to
withhold bodies of all Palestinian militants in move slammed as ‘barbaric’
03 September
2020
Israel decided
Wednesday to withhold the bodies of all slain Palestinian militants in a bid to
deter attacks, a move slammed by rights groups as “barbaric.”
Prior to the
decision, approved by the government’s security cabinet, Israel retained the
bodies of militants only from Hamas, the Islamist rulers of Gaza.
The new policy
would see Israel not return the bodies of any Palestinian killed during or as a
result of an anti-Israeli attack.
For all the
latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Defense Minister
Benny Gantz welcomed the cabinet’s decision, which he said was part of a
broader campaign of “deterrence.”
“Not returning
terrorist bodies is part of our commitment to the safety of Israeli citizens,
and of course to returning the boys home,” he said, referring to the remains of
two Israeli soldiers held by Hamas in Gaza since a 2014 war.
Hamas is also
believed to be holding two Israeli citizens who entered Gaza alone and whose
families say have mental health issues.
The decision
came two days after the latest Qatari-mediated deal between Israel and Hamas to
end more than three weeks of cross-border attacks.
The deal was
condemned by Leah and Simcha Goldin, the parents of one of the soldiers missing
in Gaza.
“The money will
be transferred to Gaza, the crossings and fishing zone will open. And the boys?
The boys will remain there some more,” they wrote on Twitter.
Rights group
Adalah called Israel’s decision “extreme, barbaric” and “illegal.”
“The policy of
using human bodies as bargaining chips violates the most basic universal values
and international law which prohibit cruel and inhuman treatment,” they said in
a statement.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/09/03/Israel-to-withhold-bodies-of-all-Palestinian-militants-in-move-slammed-as-barbaric-
--------
Qatar intel
officer bribed Erdogan aide $65 mln to push Turkey military deal: Report
Ismaeel Naar
03 September
2020
A senior member
of Turkey’s ruling AK Party government received a $65 mln bribe from Qatari
intelligence to push ahead with a 2015 deal that allowed the deployment of
Turkish troops to Qatar, according to Sweden-based monitoring site Nordic
Monitor.
Nordic Monitor’s
report cited an intercepted 19-page intelligence document that proved Ahmet
Berat Conkar, the head of the Turkish parliament's foreign affairs commission
at the time, secretly communicated with a Qatari intelligence officer regarding
the deal.
For all the
latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Turkey approved
in 2015 the establishment of a military base in Qatar as part of a defense
agreement signed in 2014 aimed at helping them confront “common enemies.” At
the time, Turkey said it would station 3,000 of its ground troops at the base.
Saudi Arabia,
the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut of diplomatic and trade ties
with Qatar over Doha’s support of terrorism and issued a list of 13 demands,
including the closing down of the Turkish military installation.
The latest
revelation by the Nordic Monitor’s reporting that a senior AK Party official
received the $65 mln bribe from a Qatari intelligence officer came during a
testimony of Rear Adm. Sinan Sürer, who was responsible for the external
intelligence branch of the Turkish military at the time.
“According to the
information obtained from a source, Berat Conkar communicated with a Qatari
intelligence officer before the session [in the Foreign Affairs Committee] to
push the law [that allowed the deployment of Turkish military units in Qatar]
and received a $65 million bribe,” the Nordic Monitor quoted Sürer as saying
citing the intercepted intelligence document directly.
Conkar served as
chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee within the Turkish parliament between
2014 and 2016 and would go on to serve as Turkey’s representative to the NATO
Parliamentary Assembly. He has also served directly as a foreign policy adviser
to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“In his
testimony Adm. Sürer said the claim that Çonkar accepted a $65 million bribe
was a very serious allegation. “It [the intelligence] did not use ambiguous
terms such ‘heard’ or ‘reported’. It said, ‘According the information obtained
from a source’.” The revelation of the intelligence document was made in a
hearing held on March 21, 2019 at the Ankara 17th High Criminal Court,” the
Nordic Monitor report read.
The Sweden-based
monitoring site said the intelligence document obtained by was translated from
a report prepared by what Turkish intelligence believe to be a foreign agent
who compiled it to investigate “vulnerabilities in Turkey ahead of the 2015
elections.”
The report also
included other findings about Erdogan’s links to extremist groups like ISIS and
his involvement in oil trade with the terrorist group.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2020/09/03/Qatar-intelligence-bribed-Erdogan-deputy-65-mln-to-push-military-deal-with-Turkey
--------
Syrians in
Turkey continue to face rise in discrimination
Nicholas Frakes
02 September
2020
The smell of
Arabic sweets and coffee filled the air as groups of people passed by the
various shops. The calls in Arabic by the men behind their small fruit stalls
echoed throughout the streets of Istanbul’s “Little Damascus” neighborhood.
Many of those
living in the area are refugees from Syria who fled their homes after the start
of the civil war and are now trying to start new lives in Turkey. However,
while they may have escaped the war in Syria, they are now facing a new threat
– discrimination.
Discrimination
of Syrians by Turks has been steadily increasing over the last four to five
years, according to Kurdish journalist Rabia Chetin.
“In recent times
hatred and discrimination against Syrians, especially young people and
children, has increased,” she told Al Arabiya English. “In January, a Syrian
student rescued a woman who was buried in the Elazig earthquake. When this was
posted on social media, they [Turks] reacted to that too.”
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
In the comments
to the social media posts, some praised the student, Mahmoud, for what he did
while others posted comments questioning why he was in Turkey and not another
Arab country, or asked why he wasn’t saving people in Idlib if he can do it in
Turkey.
At the start of
the Syrian Civil War, Turkey allowed Syrians to come into the country and live
in camps along the border. But that welcome quickly turned to disdain, and
Syrians now have to take care to avoid running into problems.
Ahmad, who spoke
with Al Arabiya English on the condition of anonymity, came from Damascus to
study at a Turkish university. While he says that he lives a good life in
Turkey, he admitted that he is worried about the possibility of getting
deported.
“You can’t
really live comfortably,” he explained. “If you don’t act like this [staying
out of any trouble] because any problem has a threat of deportation, and it’s
really hard to deal with that because even back in Syria, you’ll face issues
with the government.”
Mohammad, who
also spoke on the condition of anonymity, came from Homs three years ago and is
constantly working in order to pay for his family’s visas to come to Turkey. He
currently sells fruits and makes around 2,000 to 3,000 Turkish lira ($273 to
$409), but he needs around $3,000 to pay for the visas.
“While I’m
working, I am doing it illegally because you need an actual shop to sell your
produce,” he told Al-Arabiya English. “So if I get caught, I can either get
detained or they let me go, it really depends on the mood and personality of
the officer.”
“It’s all a
matter of luck,” he added. “If you get caught by an officer that hates Syrians
and he might send you away from Istanbul and back to the state you’re
registered in Turkey or deported back to Syria.”
However,
Mohammad explained that it was unlikely that anyone would be deported right now
with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mohammad also
recalled an incident where some Turkish men were standing outside of a wedding
hall with Syrian women inside. Some of the local Syrian men asked them to leave
and they did after a small fight broke out, but only to return with around 30
others.
“They went and
got 30 other men, destroyed many Syrian shops because of this which doesn’t
make sense because if you’re angry with one person why take it out on us,” he
asked. “People who are just trying to make a living. Just because this isn’t
our country, we should have our shops destroyed?”
“We are here in
Turkey minding our business and just working to pay the bills,” he said. “And
we stand our ground no matter what.”
Ahmad has also
had incidents where one of his friends stole something from him and he could
not go to the police for fear of the friend making a false claim that he was
harassing her and getting him in trouble.
“I had to drop
the whole thing in fear of her going to the police and telling them ‘he’s
threatening me’ or causing her issues if I kept persisting,” he recalled.
“Considering she’s Turkish and I’m Syrian, so, of course, they will prioritize
her word against mine, and I wanted to avoid that.”
Rumors fly, lead
to assault
The discrimination
does not always take the form of direct threats and fights, however, and can
sometimes start as false rumors that ultimately lead to attacks on the Syrian
community.
“When a sexual
assault took place against a local child in Adana last year the lie that the
perpetrator was Syrian was circulated,” Chetin said. “Due to this lie, Syrians’
homes and workplaces were looted in Adana. It was later revealed that the
perpetrator was not Syrian.”
Rumors and hate
speech often spread through social media, specifically Facebook and Twitter.
Some of these rumors include the belief that Syrian refugees who acquire
Turkish citizenship paid for it and the Turkish government gives money to
refugees, despite the government and refugees denying this.
Chetin explained
that “false information about Syrians receiving money from the Turkish state,
false information about Syrians being given citizenship and lies that Syrian
youth can pass to universities without an examination is frequently circulated,
especially on social media. This situation increases discrimination against
Syrian refugees.”
In addition to
spreading false information and attacking Syrian businesses, children are also
bullied and this can have serious consequences.
“A 9-year-old
Syrian boy committed suicide after being discriminated against by his friends
at school last year,” Chetin recalled. “Lack of communication between children
can also cause refugee children to experience difficult situations.”
Refugees used as
political tool
Discrimination
toward Syrians tends to rise during elections as politicians will often use the
refugees as a tool to gain more support, with politicians calling for their
deportation, saying they do not fit in Turkish society.
“After the
Istanbul elections last year many Turks gave right-wing support to the transfer
and deportation of Syrians in metropolitan cities to other cities and increased
the language of hatred towards Syrians on social media,” Chetin said.
Mohammad
expressed concern about upcoming elections, fearing it will bring some problems
to the refugee community.
“The only worry
with the upcoming elections is that the opposition might use Syrians,” he said.
“And they’d open up our files and start playing the ‘we have a lot of refugees
excuse’ as a way to pressure [voters]. We’re always a pressure tactic by
governments, no matter where we go.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/features/2020/09/02/Syrians-in-Turkey-continue-to-face-rise-in-discrimination-
--------
Israeli forces
shoot, injure Palestinian man over alleged car-ramming attack in West Bank
02 September
2020
Israeli military
forces have shot and injured a young Palestinian man in the northern part of
the West Bank over an alleged car-ramming attack.
The Palestine
Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said in a statement that the young man, whose
identity was not quickly available, was struck by bullets from Israeli forces
at Za’tara checkpoint, known as Tapuah Junction by Israeli settlers and located
9 kilometers (5.59 miles) to the south of the city of Nablus, on Wednesday
morning, Palestine’s official WAFA news agency reported.
The statement
added that Israeli soldiers prevented PRCS medical teams from reaching the man,
who was left bleeding on the ground.
Local sources
also told WAFA that Israeli troops closed the checkpoint in both directions,
and did not allow people to pass by.
The Israeli
military, meanwhile, said in a statement that a soldier and police officer had
been lightly injured in an alleged car-ramming attack at the junction.
The statement
claimed a Palestinian man hit the pair with his car. He then exited the vehicle
and ran at them with a knife drawn before he was shot by the injured police
officer at the scene.
The driver was
shot and moderately injured by the officer, the Israeli military said.
The Israeli
military regularly opens fire on Palestinians whom it accuses of seeking to
carry out stabbing or car-ramming attacks against in personnel. In many of such
cases, however, human rights groups and witnesses have disputed Israel’s
account of the incident.
Israeli troops
have on numerous occasions been caught on camera brutally shooting Palestinians
who pose no threat at all, with the videos going viral online and sparking
international condemnation.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/09/02/633139/Israeli-forces-shoot,-injure-Palestinian-man-over-alleged-car-ramming-attack-in-West-Bank
--------
Africa
Watchdog Warns
of ‘Limited Progress’ in Africa Counterterror Fight
By Jeff Seldin
September 01,
2020
WASHINGTON -
Terrorist organizations appear to be tightening their grip on multiple regions
of Africa, despite ongoing efforts by the United States and its allies to
degrade their capabilities and limit their reach.
The findings,
part of a new report released Tuesday from the Defense Department inspector
general, come as U.S.-led efforts have been forced to adjust, and in some
cases, scale back activities because of the coronavirus making its way across
the continent.
“The United
States and its international partners made limited progress,” Acting Inspector
General Sean O’Donnell wrote in the quarterly report, citing setbacks against
affiliates of both al-Qaida and Islamic State, also known as IS or ISIS.
Rather than slow
terrorist groups down, the report warned the spread of COVID-19, the disease
caused by the coronavirus, appears to have given many of them new opportunities
to expand.
“The pandemic
exacerbated many of the underlying conditions that foster VEO (violent
extremist organization) growth, including economic and food insecurity,”
O’Donnell wrote, pointing to assessments by the United Nations that in some
areas, terror groups “capitalized on the virus to undermine state government
authority and continue their attacks.”
Warnings about
the resilience of al-Qaida and IS affiliates in Africa are not new. Gen.
Stephen Townsend, commander of U.S. Africa Command, warned U.S. lawmakers
months ago that such groups were “on the march” and getting increasingly
ambitious.
"If ISIS
can carve out a new caliphate, or al-Qaida can, they will do it," he said
in March.
In a report
released in July, the Defense Department Inspector General reported that
terrorist activity in Africa, “appears to be outpacing U.S., European and
African efforts to counter it.”
Despite some
successes, including a French-led operation in June in northern Mali that
killed the emir of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), with help from the
U.S., several officials worry that terror hot spots in Africa are only getting
hotter.
One area of
concern is eastern Africa, where U.S. military officials say as many as 10,000
fighters with al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab continue to enjoy freedom of movement,
enabling them to carry out attacks at what the inspector general report
describes as “historically high levels.”
Data compiled by
the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) project found that al-Shabab
carried out 608 attacks during the three months from April through June, up
from 568 such incidents during the first quarter.
At the same
time, poor weather conditions and a lack of resources limited the U.S. to just
seven airstrikes against the terror group, compared to 33 during the first
three months of the year.
U.S. military
officials also expressed concerns about western Africa, where al-Qaida and IS
affiliates managed to expand their operations into the western Sahel and to
northern regions of several coastal countries.
In particular,
U.S. Africa Command said both IS-West Africa and Boko Haram benefited from the
spread of the coronavirus, wreaking “havoc” on communities forced to
self-quarantine.
The report also
warned of growing dangers in northern Africa, specifically from IS in Libya,
which had been relatively quiet until May.
“ISIS-Libya
resumed small-scale attacks in the southern desert region,” O’Donnell said.
A recent United
Nations report, based on member state intelligence, said IS-Libya likely has
just a few hundred fighters.
But at least one
intelligence service warns the group may be growing, gathering as many as 1,400
fighters under its banner.
And while U.S.
officials believe the smaller estimate is more accurate, there are growing
concerns that the ongoing civil war in Libya, and the influx of thousands of
mercenaries and foreign fighters, could create conditions that might allow IS
to thrive.
U.S. Africa
Command estimates that as of the end of June, more than 7,000 Syrian fighters
had flocked to Libya, most with the help of Russia or Turkey.
U.S. officials
believe a growing number of Syrian fighters may have previous links to terror
organizations, though many of them are likely fighting in Libya for financial
or personal reasons.
Most of the
Syrian fighters, about 5,000, appear to be fighting with Turkish mercenaries
and troops to back Libya’s Government of National Accord.
But Africa
Command officials warn that many of them are “inexperienced, uneducated and
motivated by promises of considerable salary,” saying reports of theft, sexual
assault and other misconduct have increased in areas where Turkish-backed
Syrian fighters have been deployed.
https://www.voanews.com/covid-19-pandemic/watchdog-warns-limited-progress-africa-counterterror-fight?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1490600_
--------
Somalia: U.S.
Carried Out 46 Air Strike Against Al Shabaab in 2020
1 SEPTEMBER 2020
The United
States has carried out a total of 46 air strikes to degrade al Shabaab in
Somalia this year, Africa Command has revealed.
In a statement
attributed to Colonel Chris Karns, Director of Public Affairs, US Africa
Command, the US military said it continues to train Somali forces and support
operations with precision airstrikes.
"Al Shabaab
is a dangerous enemy that presents a threat to Somalia, its neighbours, and the
United States. This Al Qaeda aligned terrorist organization increasingly
employs lies, engages in criminal acts, and blends into communities to create
fear and intimidate local populations. They have engaged in a series of violent
acts with no regard for the Laws of Armed Conflict, to include previously
attacking a hospital and deliberately seeking to place civilians in harm's way
using protected structures, such as mosques, for military and offensive
fighting purposes," Africom said.
"Al Shabaab
routinely attacks Somali citizens, military forces, and partners. Somali
forces, the US, and international partners work toward preserving life while
increasing security, stability, and ultimately, the long-term possibility of
increased prosperity," Africom said. It accused al Shabaab of putting out
false information to include last week's erroneous claim about the death of US
forces in an attack.
The US last
month said one civilian was killed and three were injured in a US air strike in
Somalia in February, the second such admission since it launched quarterly
reports on civilian casualties in its Africa operations. The first admission
was an air strike in April 2018 in El Buur in the Galgadud region of central
Somalia in which Africom reported it had unintentionally killed two civilians.
In a report last
month, Africa Command said a verification of the facts and circumstances about
a 2 February 2020 air strike triggered by allegations of civilian deaths
established one civilian had been killed while three were injured.
"Unfortunately,
we believe our operations caused the inadvertent death of one person and injury
to three others who we did not intend to target," AFRICOM's commander,
Gen. Stephen Townsend was quoted as saying.
"We work
hard to prevent civilians from getting hurt or killed during these operations
designed to bring increased security and stability to Somalia."
AFRICOM's
civilian casualty assessment reports cover its operations in Somalia, Libya and
other African countries. The initial report published in April said two
civilians were killed and three injured in an air strike in Somalia in early
2019.
The United
States has been conducting air strikes in Somalia for years to help defeat al
Shabaab. Rights activists have long accused the United States of shrouding its
Somalia operations in secrecy, potentially undermining accountability for incidents
involving civilian deaths.
Al Shabaab seeks
to topple Somalia's Western-backed central government and set up its own rule
based on its strict interpretation of Islamic sharia.
For nearly two
decades al Shabaab has been waging a campaign of bombings and shooting attacks
on military and civilian targets including hotels and traffic junctions both in
Somalia and neighbouring countries like Kenya.
A regional
peacekeeping force, AMISOM, mandated by the African Union, also helps defend
the Somali government.
https://allafrica.com/stories/202009020236.html
--------
Europe
US staff at UK
base immune to prosecution during ‘war on terror’
September 02,
2020
LONDON: Some 200
American civilian and technical staff at a UK military base were given diplomatic
immunity for activities linked to the “war on terror,” raising questions about
British involvement in torture and rendition.
Newly released
documents show that the British government repeatedly extended diplomatic
immunity for staff at a US communications station in the UK because of the
“demand brought on by the global war on terrorism and the war in Iraq.”
Diplomatic
immunity protects foreign individuals from prosecution for crimes committed in
another country, and is a privilege most often held by ambassadors.
But human rights
group Reprieve said it appears to have been used to protect American civilians
in the UK for their involvement in “extraordinary rendition” — a process in
which the US and its allies forcefully abducted foreign citizens to interrogate
them, while circumventing national laws on torture and detention.
Many of those
abducted were taken from Arab countries and were never prosecuted with a crime.
Reprieve said it
suspects that staff at the base may have been gathering intelligence for
rendition flights, and the documents show a steady increase in the number of
Americans granted immunity from prosecution as the UK became more involved in
renditions.
According to
Reprieve, at least 779 people — including at least 15 children — were subject
to extraordinary rendition to Guantanamo alone. The figure for total renditions
is likely far higher.
The UK and US
have often faced criticism for their complicity in human rights abuses
committed as part of the rendition and torture program.
Maya Foa,
director of Reprieve, said: “Only by fully investigating this dark part of
British history can we hope not to make the same mistakes. We need an
independent, judge-led inquiry.”
David Davis, a
former British Cabinet minister, questioned why so many US citizens needed
diplomatic immunity during the Iraq war.
“The only thing
I can think of that makes sense is that they were involved in things which
might have been in breach of British law,” he told The Times newspaper.
“Was it in
support of rendition flights, or ambushes and arrests and so on? That would
mean our allies were carrying out activities in contravention of our policies,
and we were giving them immunity.”
A previous
enquiry by the British intelligence and security committee concluded that the
UK had tolerated “inexcusable” treatment of detainees by the US after 9/11.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1728491/world
--------
Pope Francis
prays for Lebanon during 1st public audience in months
02 September
2020
Pope Francis
described solidarity as the way out of the coronavirus pandemic crisis as he
held his first public audience in nearly six months Wednesday after a pause
brought on by Italy’s outbreak.
“The current
pandemic has highlighted our interdependence. We are all linked to each other,
for better or for worse,” Francis said, after greeting about 500 Roman Catholic
faithful who attended the audience in the Vatican’s San Damaso courtyard.
“To come out of
this crisis better than before, we have to do so together, all of us, in
solidarity,” he added.
For all the
latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Under strict
safety rules, participants maintained social distance as they sat in the
courtyard and were all required to wear masks. The Pope didn’t wear one as he
met the crowd, but kept a safety distance from the faithful, who were cheering
and waving at him.
“If the pope
were a thaumaturge, I would ask him to end the pandemic, but unfortunately he
doesn’t have this power,” Inigo Sanchez, one of the attendees, said. “So I just
ask for closeness.”
Before the
event, Francis greeted a priest from Lebanon, kissing a Lebanese flag the
priest had brought with him to Vatican City. The pope also prayed for a few
moments for the country, which is struggling to cope with political and
economic instability.
During the
audience, Francis also called for a day of prayer and fasting for Lebanon on
Sept. 4, a month after the devastating explosion in Beirut that killed at least
190 people, injured more than 6,000 and caused major damage.
“One month after
the tragedy that struck the city of Beirut, my thoughts are still with dear
Lebanon and its particularly troubled population,” the pope said.
The general
audience was the fist public one for Francis since the coronavirus hit Italy
hard in early March. Amid a nationwide lockdown, the Vatican suspended all
public events and audiences to comply with health and safety requirements.
Since then, Pope
Francis had live-streamed his weekly events from the Vatican’s apostolic
palace, making only brief appearances at the window overlooking St. Peter’s
Square on Sundays.
The San Damaso
courtyard, where the Vatican typically hosts heads of state during official
visits, was chosen for Wednesday’s audience to keep the crowds smaller.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2020/09/02/Pope-Francis-prays-for-Lebanon-during-1st-public-audience-in-months
--------
Trial to begin
for suspects in Charlie Hebdo terror attack
ByIbtissem
Guenfoud
1 September 2020
Paris -- A trial
related to the January 2015 deadly attacks on Charlie Hebdo employees and other
targets is set to begin Wednesday in Paris.
The gunmen
fatally shot illustrators and journalists at Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical
magazine, as well as a police officer and shoppers at a Jewish supermarket
during a three-day killing spree beginning Jan. 7, 2015.
Investigating
magistrates have charged 14 people in connection to the attacks, which killed
17 people. Brothers Cherif and Said Kouachand and Amédy Coulibaly, the alleged
perpetrators of the attacks, have been charged with financing terrorism,
membership of a terrorist organization and supplying weapons to terrorists. The
landmark trial is expected to last for two-and-a-half months.
Charlie Hebdo
posted on Twitter the cover of its next edition to be released on Wednesday, in
which the editorial staff decided to reprint the controversial cartoons of the
Prophet Mohammed that some found offensive five years ago.
Al Qaeda has
claimed responsibility for the attack on Charlie Hebdo. A video released after
the killings shows Coulibaly pledging allegiance to then ISIS leader Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi. The extent of any direct involvement by either terrorist group
remains unclear.
More than 3
million people had taken part in unity marches across France, chanting "Je
suis Charlie" in the days that followed the attacks, and more solidarity
marches were organized in cities across Europe.
Five years
later, the terrorist threat in France is still "at an extremely high
level," Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Monday, with over 8,000
people listed and watched by French intelligence for terrorist radicalization.
"At least
half a dozen" terror attacks have been thwarted since the start of the
year, the anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-François Ricard told local news outlet
Franceinfo.
The entire trial
will be filmed in the interest of "the constitution of the historical
archives of justice," according to the court.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/trial-begin-suspects-charlie-hebdo-terror-attack/story?id=72751192&utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1490600_
--------
Time for EU to
get real on Hezbollah
02 September
2020
The UN Security
Council's renewal of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil)
mandate on August 28 has presented an urgent opportunity to re-examine Europe's
legacy in the region and, more importantly, the steps that are needed today to
bring real stability to Lebanon.
Founded in 1978
to oversee Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon, over 40 years later Unifil remains
on the ground, fulfilling the same role, as a peacekeeper and monitoring
hostilities.
However, neither
the EU's foreign policy, nor the Unifil mandate, are in line with the current
state of affairs, as Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terrorist group which presents
itself as a political party, continues to exploit Lebanon for its own nefarious
purposes and insert itself into the political sphere.
According to
Western intelligence agencies, Iran funds Hezbollah to the tune of $200m to
$300m [€168-€252] per year in cash outlays alone, and provides an arsenal of
weapons and logistical services valued at more than $700m.
The terrorist
organisation has ravaged the region politically, economically, and violently
for decades.
The political
impact of the Shiite militia is devastating to Lebanon.
Since 1992,
Hezbollah has woven itself into the political fabric of the country and held an
inflated influence in the elected government.
Government
mismanagement and years of slow growth have saddled Lebanon with one of the world's
highest public debt burdens, an economic situation that is exacerbated by the
recent explosion in Beirut.
The importance
of strengthening Unifil must not be underestimated to truly tackle the
destruction and instability caused by the militia.
Hezbollah has
flagrantly violated the UN mandate, as it continues arms smuggling via Syria
with Iran and digging tunnels along the Israeli border.
A recent report
from the UN Security Council itself has found that Unifil was consistently not
granted access to investigate sites of interest to its operations, has been
unable to crack down on arms smuggling and has faced backlash from local
Hezbollah sympathisers.
EU member states
like Ireland, Germany, and Poland which contribute soldiers to Unifil, along
with UN Security Council members, need to reevaluate the current role the force
plays in the region.
By strengthening
the Unifil mandate, in particular by ensuring that the mission can physically
or electronically inspect and effectively monitor sites where potential
violations of the Security Council resolution 1706 (2006) are suspected, Unifil
can be an effective instrument helping to push back the influence of Hezbollah
in Lebanon.
It is also vital
for individual EU states to take their own concrete action against the
Hezbollah terrorists.
While some
European nations, most recently Germany, have recognised the full extent of its
reign of terror and banned Hezbollah in its entirety, the official EU position
still clings to the erroneous assumption that a true distinction between the
political and military wings of the group can be made.
Artificial
distinction
Such a
distinction is rejected even by Hezbollah's own leadership.
Hezbollah does
not distinguish between wings and each part of the organisation, the social,
political and military structures are integral parts of the terror group and
all enable its functioning.
Introducing
artificial distinctions is not an effective approach.
Should Hezbollah
be allowed to continue to grow, it is feared Lebanon could eventually become
something long coveted by Iran - a threat to Western values and a forward base
for Iran on the Mediterranean.
It is pivotal
that the EU uses its voice to support Lebanon and work against the devastation
brought by Hezbollah by declaring the organisation in all its entities a
terrorist group, banning its presence on European soil outright.
Europe must
coordinate its security approach, to follow the progressive lead of Germany,
and to finally designate Hezbollah a terrorist organisation.
Evidentially,
neither the EU's' approach to Hezbollah nor the current Unifil mandate are fit
for purpose.
This combination
of imperfect foreign policy has allowed the terrorist militia to become an
almost untouchable force in Lebanon
It is time for
European countries to recognise Hezbollah for the terror group it truly is and
for the UN Security Council to strengthen the mandate of Unifil to allow the
soldiers to effectively monitor suspect sites.
Only then can
Europe continue its legacy of bringing hope and stability to the next
generation of Lebanese people.
https://euobserver.com/opinion/149276?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1490600_
--------
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/islamic-state-khorasan-province-case/d/122785
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism