Maulana Sajjad Nomani Of AIMPLB Who Welcomed Taliban Rule In Afghanistan Lauds Muslims' Patience, Advises Not To Get Provoked By Hate Speeches
New Age Islam News Bureau
13 January 2022
Maulana Sajjad Nomani,
member of the religious bureau and member of the All India Muslim Personal Law
Board,
-----
• Pakistan Anti-Terror Court Hands Death Sentence To 4
For Blast Outside Terror Mastermind Hafiz Saeed's House
• Afghan Universities To Reopen, Female Students
Included But Classes Will Be Separate For Boys And Girls: Taliban
• Penang Mufti Calls On Authorities To Take Immediate
Action Over Viral Video Of Man Teaching Extreme Sufism
• Close Guantanamo And End 20 Years Of ‘Lawlessness
And Cruelty’: Ilhan Omar
India
• Maulana Sajjad Nomani’s Open Letter To Owaisi -
Minimize The Distribution Of Votes
• Demolition Drive in Muslim Tribe Locality in Jammu
Sparks Charges of Bias
• JeM terrorist killed in J&K's Kulgam encounter
identified as Pakistani national: IGP Vijay Kumar
• Chhattisgarh Man Accuses Wife Of Converting Minor
Son To Islam; Mother Arrested
• AILC releases fact finding report after visiting
Malegaon
--------
Pakistan
• Pakistan Taliban Ex-Spokesperson Who Fled Says ISI
Forced Him To Lie About India ‘Terror Funding’
• In Historic City Of Jacobabad, Pakistan, Church,
Mosque And Temple Stand Side By Side
• Pakistan Opposition discusses to move no-confidence
motion to oust Imran Khan govt
• Two brothers reunite at Kartarpur after 74 years
• Man arrested with Buddha statue in Haripur district
• Sit for indefinite period, PPP doesn’t care, Ghani
tells JI demonstrators
• PM Khan lauds ISI’s efforts for national security,
stability
--------
South
Asia
• We Will Make Earning Ph.D. And Master’s Degrees
Possible In Afghanistan: Haqqani
• OIC summit, Saudi Arabia helped connect Afghanistan
to world: Taliban envoy
• Aid Must Be Coordinated With Islamic Emirate: Second
Deputy Of The Prime Minister
• Train Passenger Told Police He Was Osama Bin Laden After
Sparking Terror Threat
• Kabul in a blackout, Uzbekistan’s electricity to
Afghanistan decreased by 60%
• Taliban pay in wheat in lieu of cash as economic
crisis bites
• Afghan Taliban Warn Northern Neighbours Of
'Consequences' Of Not Returning Aircraft
--------
North
America
• Close Guantanamo And End 20 Years Of ‘Lawlessness
And Cruelty’: Ilhan Omar
• US Says 'Weeks, Not Months' Remain For Nuclear
Agreement With Iran
• US grants South Korea an Iran sanctions exemption
• Pentagon links Iran intelligence to ‘MuddyWater’
hacking group
• Iran, US lock horns over sanctions relief, nuclear
curbs in Vienna talks
• Iran, Venezuela, 6 other UN members lose voting
rights because of unpaid dues
--------
Europe
• France’s Interior Minister, Gerald Darmanin Orders
Closure Of Cannes Mosque Because Of ‘Anti-Semitic’ Remarks
• Son of hate preacher Abu Hamza jailed for identity
fraud
• France urges EU sanctions against Mali
• Gordon Brown calls for Afghanistan donor conference
• World Bank notes surprising improvement in Pakistan
• Serbian president vows no mercy for those who
violate peace
• Germany to extend military mission in Iraq
--------
Southeast
Asia
• China Says Guantanamo Bay Real 'Detention Camp' for
Muslims
• After Thai-BRN Talks, Malaysia Says Deep South
Solution Will Take Years
• Sabah allocates RM164.12 mln for education,
religious development
• Malaysian ISIS fighters in Syrian camps may slip
into country, pose danger: Report
--------
Arab
World
• Senior Hezbollah Official Says Saudi Arabia Must
Stop 'Bullying' Regional Countries
• Ansarullah: Saudi-Led Coalition’s Use Of Iraq War
Footage ‘Ridiculous, Pathetic’
• Coordination with Gulf increases as US, world powers
align focus on Iran nuclear deal
• Lebanon’s PM Mikati denies meddling in judiciary
over financial probe
• Saudi warplanes target Yemeni hospital amid
increased airstrikes
• Yemeni forces inflict massive losses on UAE
mercenaries, Daesh terrorists in Shabwah: Army spokesman
--------
Mideast
• Deputy Army Commander Downplays Israel’s Military
Threats
• Rubble brings opportunity, and risk, in war-scarred
Gaza
• Two Israeli officers killed in friendly fire
incident: Military
• Palestinian man, 80, found dead after Israeli raid
was US citizen
• Iran sends French-Iranian academic back to prison:
Supporters
• President Erdogan vows to tame Turkish inflation as scepticism
grows
• Israel says it broke up Iranian spy ring, arrested
five Israelis
• Islamic Jihad warns Israel against tempting
‘regional war’
• Yemen: Saudi attacks on water facilities in Sa’ada
‘war crime’ amid severe shortages
--------
Africa
• We Are Witnessing ‘Hell’ In Tigray, It’s An ‘Insult
To Humanity’: WHO’s Tedros
• At least 10 killed in suicide bombing in Somali
capital
• Libyan prime minister denies meeting Israelis in
Jordan
• US threatens action if Somalia misses new election
deadline
• Nigeria lifts Twitter ban from midnight, government
official says
• US vows action if Somalia misses new election
deadline
• Biden hailed for appointing 1st Somali-American
senior adviser to State Department
• 97 Somali migrants repatriated from Libya
• Tunisia’s Ennahda party demands release of deputy
chief as his health worsens
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/sajjad-nomani-aimplb-taliban-hate-speeches/d/126150
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Maulana Sajjad Nomani Of AIMPLB Who Welcomed Taliban Rule In Afghanistan Lauds Muslims' Patience, Advises Not To Get Provoked By Hate Speeches
Maulana Sajjad Nomani,
member of the religious bureau and member of the All India Muslim Personal Law
Board,
-----
Mohammed Wajihuddin
Jan 12, 2022
MUMBAI: Senior cleric and All India Muslim Personal
Law Board member Maulana Sajjad Nomani, who had courted controversy for
welcoming the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August last year, has
congratulated Muslims for showing “patience, maturity and foresight by
remaining peaceful in their reactions" to the hate speeches made at Dharm
Sansads at Haridwar and Delhi.
In an audio clip, Nomani said that all efforts were
made to provoke Muslims to come out on the streets and hold violent protests
against the open call for genocide, alleged insults to the Prophet, their holy
book Quran and Islam, but Muslims showed patience. “I must congratulate you
that you have now matured and understand the game being played by the communal
and fascist forces. Your patience and calmness against extreme provocations
show that you understand the situation and will not allow them to succeed in
their nefarious design,” he said.
Calling the dharm sansad a way to “save the sinking
ship of some people”, Nomani called upon the community members not to get
scared. Referring to a verse in the Quran which talks about how many Prophets
and their followers were threatened with extermination if they didn’t follow
the faith of the dominating class, Nomani said the Quran itself said God would
not allow oppressors to succeed. “Quran never said that God would destroy those
who don’t follow Islam but it said that God would destroy the oppressors, the
rapists and the tormentors of the innocents,” he said. He asked Muslims to
continue reaching out to the needy irrespective of religion.
City Congress general secretary Asif Farooqui welcomed
Maulana Nomani’s “positive message”. “It is good that a reputed cleric has
called upon the community to maintain restraint and show patience while opposing
the hate speeches. Such messages will help create a harmonious society,” said
Farooqui.
Source: Times of India
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Pakistan Anti-Terror Court Hands Death Sentence To 4
For Blast Outside Terror Mastermind Hafiz Saeed's House
JuD chief Hafiz Saeed is serving
jail sentence at the Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore for his conviction in terror
financing cases. (File Photo)
-----
Omer Farooq Khan
Jan 13, 2022
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s anti-terrorism court on
Wednesday sentenced four people to death for the bombing outside 2008 Mumbai
attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed's house in Lahore last year that killed three
and injured 21. The country's national security adviser had accused neighbour
India of financing, planning and carrying out the June 23 explosion outside
Saeed’s house in the Johar Town neighbourhood.
The anti-terrorism court handed the death sentence to
Eid Gul of the banned Tahreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Peter Paul David,
Sajjad Shah and Ziaullah on nine counts. Judge Arshad Hussain Bhutta, who
presided over the in-camera trial at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail, sentenced
co-convict Ayesha Bibi to five years in jail.
The prosecution presented 56 witnesses against the
convicts, all of whom denied their role in the blast.
According to Punjab’s counter-terrorism department,
Eid Gul installed explosives in the car that was used to trigger the blast. The
car belonged to David while the other three – Sajjad, Ziaullah and Ayesha –
were facilitators.
Saeed, chief of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), is
said to be already serving a jail term in terror financing cases. His presence
at the Kot Lakhpat jail, however, couldn't be confirmed.
In 2020, Pakistan had sentenced Saeed to 15 years in
jail in a terror-financing case, but he was never charged in connection with
the Mumbai attacks. India and the US accuse him of being the brain behind the
2008 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed.
Pakistani officials had reportedly told a Pakistani
anti-terrorism court in 2012 that the terrorists who attacked and killed people
in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, belonged to the Saeed-led LeT and that they had
been trained at various cities in Pakistan.
The key planner of the Mumbai carnage, Zakiur Rehman
Lakhvi, was an undertrial at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, but was released on
April 9, 2015, on the orders of the Lahore high court due to "lack of
evidence".
Source: Times of India
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original story:
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Afghan Universities To Reopen, Female Students
Included But Classes Will Be Separate For Boys And Girls: Taliban
An Islamic Emirate of
Afghanistan flag hangs over a street t in Kabul
----
Jan 13, 2022
KABUL: The Taliban-led government will soon reopen
universities across the country for both male and female students, but classes
will be separate for boys and girls, a Minister said here.
Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August
2021, universities have remained shut, TOLO News reported.
Minister of Higher Education Abdul Baqi Haqqani made
the remarks while speaking to the media on Wednesday, without however giving an
exact date for the reopening.
The Minister blamed the ongoing economic crisis and
the lack of segregated classes for male and female students as reasons for the
delay in reopening the universities.
He also claimed that the Taliban would form an
international university, which will include "Shariah, Medical,
Agriculture and Engineering programs. Masters and PhD degrees will be offered
in these four areas".
According to Haqqani, some regional countries pledged
to provide educational scholarships for the Afghan students.
Meanwhile, some university students said they have
been living in uncertainty for the past six months since the shutdown, TOLO
News reported.
"These six months were a long period and will
affect the student's motivation," said Matiullah Pirozi, a student.
"We are shocked that they cannot form a scheme in
six months. The scheme could be easily formed," said Mohammad Hilal,
another student.
Source: Times of India
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original story:
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Penang Mufti Calls On Authorities To Take Immediate Action
Over Viral Video Of Man Teaching Extreme Sufism
Penang Mufti Datuk Seri Wan
Salim Wan Mohd Noor — Picture by Sayuti
Zainudin
-----
12 Jan 2022
GEORGE TOWN, Jan 12 — Penang Mufti Datuk Seri Wan
Salim Wan Mohd Noor has called on the religious authorities to take immediate
action over a viral video of a man teaching extreme Sufism that deviates from
the true teachings of Islam.
He said immediate action must be taken to prevent such
misguidance from being spread in the country, as it could damage the faith of
Muslims.
“The video has also mocked the Shariah and the Shariah
scholars or ulamas with false allegations that the latter have so-called
altered the teachings of the religion,” he said in a statement today.
He was commenting on a three-minute-53-second video
that had gone viral yesterday, in which a man claimed that performing the
prayer or solah was an act that “deviated” from the teachings of Islam.
Scores of netizens also left comments on the video
urging the authorities to take action against the man. — Bernama
Source: Malay Mail
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original story:
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Close Guantanamo And End 20 Years Of ‘Lawlessness And
Cruelty’: Ilhan Omar
Rep. Ilhan Omar
----
11 January 2022
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar says January 11 – which marks
20 years since the opening of Guantanamo Bay – should be "a day to reflect
and to act," urging Americans to build pressure on President Joe Biden to
finally put an end to the “lawlessness and cruelty” of the offshore military
prison.
Twenty years ago today, the first prisoners – hooded,
shackled, and clad in orange jumpsuits-- arrived at the newly-built Camp X-Ray
prison at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, a desolate place near the
eastern tip of Cuba.
The facility, which was supposed to be a temporary
detention center and never meant to be permanent, was chosen because of its
ambiguous legal status. It was under full control of the US military and
relatively close to the mainland but beyond the reach of American courts, thus
allowing detainees to be held indefinitely outside of normal laws or judicial
oversight.
The Guantanamo prison, commonly known as “Gitmo,”
became synonymous with prisoner abuse by the United States in the early years
of the so-called war on terror, gaining global notoriety for the widespread use
of torture and other violations of human rights that took place within its
walls.
Many detainees were subject to psychological and
physical abuse -- including waterboarding, beating, exposure to deafening
noise, and sleep and food deprivation-- as part of their "enhanced
interrogation," the accounts of which were gradually leaked to the outside
world by the few lawyers who visited the prison and the inmates who have since
been released.
"I reflect on what scores of men lost when the
United States tortured them, systematically dismantling their identity and
humanity,” Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, wrote in an op-ed published in Teen
Vogue on Tuesday.
“I reflect on what the families of victims of the
September 11, 2001, attacks lost — any possibility of fair and impartial
justice — when the United States decided to trade away decency and the rule of
law for torture and indefinite detention. And I reflect on our refusal to hold
anyone meaningfully accountable for these acts," the Muslim lawmaker said.
Opened in the wake of the September 11, 2011 attacks,
Guantánamo has held almost 780 men over two decades. Many had been abducted and tortured in secret
US-run prisons before being transferred to Guantanamo to begin their indefinite
detention there. Very few have ever been charged with a crime, and none given a
fair trial.
Of the 39 detainees still being held at Guantanamo, 27
have not been charged with a crime-- the so-called forever prisoners. A total
of 13 have been cleared to leave but proceedings for their release have been
delayed in the pretrial stage for years.
Human rights organizations and advocates around the
world have doggedly campaigned to close Guantanamo since its very inception.
Former President Barack Obama had made the closing of
Guantanamo one of his top priorities and signed an executive order to do so
soon after taking office in 2009. However, that goal proved increasingly
elusive throughout his two terms in office as he faced stiff opposition in
Congress.
Rep. Omar acknowledged that while “Congress has acted
to frustrate rather than facilitate closing Guantánamo," she said the
prison’s closure was ultimately the responsibility of the president.
“I was pleased when President Biden announced, shortly
after taking office, that his administration would do just that. But I’m
dismayed that in the 11 months since that announcement, the Biden
administration has transferred only one man out of Guantánamo Bay,” she said.
Advocates for closing the Guantanamo prison were
optimistic when Biden took office last January. They were further relieved when
his administration took the step of releasing a prisoner for the first time in
years. In the ensuing months, however, there have been few signs of progress in
closing the detention facility in Cuba, leaving many campaigners frustrated.
Omar urged young Americans to mount pressure on
President Biden to "dramatically pick up the pace."
“If the president is to make good on his promise to
close the facility, he’ll need to dramatically pick up the pace. To that end,
your voices are critical. Time and again, this country’s leaders — in the
public and private sectors — have underestimated the power of younger
generations to force change, particularly on social and racial justice issues,”
she wrote.
The Minnesota Democrat also took issue with “the half
a billion dollars each year” that the Pentagon spends to run Guantanamo.
"The conversation about closing Guantánamo often centres on the national
security costs the prison inflicts. Those costs are real and significant, but
so is Guantánamo’s role in fuelling social and racial injustice."
More than a dozen United Nations experts released a
statement on Monday, voicing outrage that Guantanamo was still in operation two
decades after opening its gates to its first inmates.
Calling the military prison “an ugly chapter of
unrelenting human rights violations,” the UN experts called on the United
States to close down the detention center, return detainees home or to safe
third countries, provide reparation for those arbitrarily detained and
tortured, and hold those who authorized and engaged in torture accountable in
accordance with international law.
"Twenty years of practicing arbitrary detention
without trial accompanied by torture or ill-treatment is simply unacceptable
for any government, particularly a government which has a stated claim to
protecting human rights," the UN experts said.
Source: Press TV
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India
Maulana Sajjad Nomani’s Open Letter To Owaisi -
Minimize The Distribution Of Votes
13th January 2022
Hyderabad: Re-owned Muslim cleric and member All India
Muslim personal law Board Maulana Khalil-ur-Rahman Sajjad Nomani had shot off
an open letter to All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-e-Muslimeen (AIMIM), supremo
Asaduddin Owaisi in connection with the forthcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh
and the party’s decision of contesting on 100 seats.
Maulana Khalil-ur-Rehman Sajjad Nomani has written an
open letter to MIM President Asaduddin Owaisi to minimize the distribution of
votes against more oppressive and sectarian people in the UP Assembly elections
2022.
In his letter, the cleric has said that in the
forthcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh, the AIMIM had announced to contest on
100 seats. But in wake of party’s popularity, there is speculation that the
Muslim vote is likely to split, which could benefit sectarian forces.
The Maulana asked
MIM President Asaduddin Owaisi to minimise the distribution of votes
against more oppressive and sectarian people in the UP Assembly elections 2022.
In the letter, Maulana wrote that “since you are well
aware that the main power of the Muslims enemy of the country and the leading
class of Fascism are the people who belong to OBC, which includes many units
and the history bears witness.
That is, when the people of this class line up against
the sectarian forces, these oppressive forces are defeated.Maulana wrote in the
letter acknowledging the intentions of Owaisi and his capabilities that “if you
agree with my request then only you can better decide how the distribution of
votes can be reduced”.
Maulana wrote in the letter that “in my opinion you
should only use your full strength in those seats where victory is certain, and
in the remaining seats you should appeal for alliance yourself”.
Source: Siasat Daily
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Demolition Drive in Muslim Tribe Locality in Jammu
Sparks Charges of Bias
Umer Maqbool
Srinagar: A two-month-old child, yet to be named, is
among several members of the Gujjar Bakerwal tribe who have been affected by an
eviction drive by the administration of Jammu and Kashmir in a locality
inhabited by the Muslim tribe in Jammu city.
“How can I protect my child from the biting cold?
Where we will go? They have demolished our house and ransacked our goods and
belongings,” says Nasreena Akther, the child’s mother and a resident of the
Upper Paloura area of Roop Nagar, Jammu.
The houses of several members of the Gujjar Bakerwal
tribe, who have been living here for decades, were demolished by the Jammu
Development Authority (JDA) on Tuesday, January 11, in a drive against what it
claims are illegal encroachments. The action of the civic body – which has
often faced accusations of carrying out selective eviction drives – has
triggered widespread outrage and criticism in J&K and sparked protests in
the Union Territory’s winter capital, Jammu on Wednesday.
What happened on Tuesday?
The affected families told The Wire that authorities
of the JDA, police and the revenue department swooped down on the locality on
Monday morning and razed the houses. “At around 8:30 am, I was shocked when I
saw officials and JCBs making their way into our locality. All of a sudden,
they started demolishing our houses. We were helpless and pleaded with them,
but they did not listen and flattened them,” says 70-year-old Saif Ali.
Akbar Hussain, another local from the area, said that
around 200 police and CISF personnel laid a siege around the locality and did
not allow anyone to enter the area. “Most of the men had left for work, to sell
milk in Jammu city and other areas. Only women and elders were in the homes
when the authorities came and started throwing out our belongings,” he said,
adding that several houses were demolished or damaged during the five-hour
drive.
In videos of the drive that have gone viral on social
media, Gujjar Bakerwal women can be seen wailing and pleading with the officers
to spare the houses.
“Oh my God! What kind of injustice is being done to
us? Where my children will go? We are living for six decades here. Take our
land but spare our houses,” an elderly woman can be heard saying.
According to locals, several members of the Scheduled
Tribe community have been living in the locality for decades. Like other
Gujjar-Bakerwals of J&K, they depend on selling milk and other dairy
products.
The demolition drive has triggered widespread anger
across J&K, with former CM Mehbooba Mufti saying, “J&K admin’s
selective demolition of houses in Jammu & rendering tribals homeless is yet
another method to vent their hatred by targeting minorities.”
She added that these “communal” policy decisions are
sanctioned at the top and that the people need to stand up against such
“atrocities”.
Saima Choudhary, a young activist, said that Gujjars
and Bakerwals are being harassed in J&K in the name of eviction drives
after the dilution of Article 370.
Guftar Choudhary, chief spokesman of Jammu and Kashmir
Gujjar-Bakerwal Youth Conference and a political activist, slammed the
demolition drive. “Selective Eviction in Jammu. What happened with illegal land
occupied by BJP Leader Nirmal Singh.Using power against poor tribals is very
easy for JDA. Show your power against land grabbers,” he tweeted.
In November last year, former deputy CM and BJP leader
Nirmal Singh was served a notice by the authorities, to demolish his “illegal”
bungalow in Ban village near an Army ammunition sub-depot in Nagrota, Jammu.
Advocate M.R. Qureshi, who is the lawyer for the
families, said the residents were not allowed to exercise other legal remedies
that were available to them after the petition seeking regularisation of the
land under the Roshni Act became infructuous.
“On December 16, 2021, the Jammu and Kashmir high
court said these families are at liberty to take recourse to any other
proceedings that may be admissible to them in law. Why were they not allowed to
take recourse to other options like seeking regularisation of land? Why they
were not served notices and given an opportunity to be heard like what was done
in Nirmal Singh’s case?” he asked.
He said the revenue records show these families were
in possession of the land even before 1947. “The entries made in revenue
records in 1978 show that this land was cultivated by these families even
before the partition,” he said.
Quershi said they approached the high court in 2015
for conferment of ownership rights of the land under the Roshni Act.
“One of the locals, Saif Ali, has already been granted
ownership rights over one-and-a-half kanals of land under the Roshni Act.
Others could not benefit because the law was repealed in 2018,” he said.
Protests
Meanwhile, scores of people on Wednesday staged
protests in Jammu to seek compensation for the affected families, saying they
should be conferred with ownership rights.
Source: The Wire
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https://thewire.in/rights/demolition-drive-gujjar-bakerwal-tribe-jammu-bias-protest
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JeM terrorist killed in J&K's Kulgam encounter
identified as Pakistani national: IGP Vijay Kumar
Jan 13, 2022
KULGAM: The Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist killed in
the Kulgam encounter has been identified as Babar, a Pakistani national active
in Shopian and Kulgam since 2018, informed Inspector General of Police
(Kashmir) Vijay Kumar on Thursday.
An AK rifle, a pistol, and two grenades have been
recovered from the terrorist, the IGP further said.
"The JeM terrorist killed in the Kulgam encounter
has been identified as Babar, a Pakistani national active in Shopian &
Kulgam since 2018. One AK rifle, one pistol, and two grenades have been
recovered," the IGP told ANI.
Source: Times of India
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Chhattisgarh Man Accuses Wife Of Converting Minor Son
To Islam; Mother Arrested
Jan 13, 2022
RAIPUR: A man in Chhattisgarh’s Jashpur district filed
a police complaint against his wife and his in-laws for allegedly getting their
minor son circumcised and converting the child to Islam without his consent,
police said on Wednesday.
The man, a Hindu, married a Muslim woman about 10
years ago and have two children, an 8-year-old son and a 6-year-old daughter,
said Jashpur superintendent of police, Vijay Agarwal. The case was registered
at the Sanna police station.
“We have arrested his wife and mother-in-law on Wednesday
and further investigation is on,” he said.
Agarwal said the accused have been booked under
sections 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious
feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 324
(voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 34 (common
intention) of the IPC and provisions of Chhattisgarh Freedom of Religion Act.
According to the complaint filed by the man, he and
his wife married about 10 years ago as per Hindu rituals.
Source: Hindustan Times
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AILC releases fact finding report after visiting
Malegaon
12th January 2022
New Delhi: The All India Lawyers Council (AILC) has
released a fact-finding report after a two-member team visited Malegaon to
access ground reality after the protest which took place on November 12, 2021.
The two-member team comprises Secretary General
Sharfuddin Ahmad, Advocate, Supreme Court and Advocate Santosh Jadhav, National
Secretary.
The call for the protest on November 12 was given by
the Raza Academy and other organizations.
The protest was called in a form to put the shutters
down against communal violence of Tripura as well as the hateful and
violence-provoking speeches and actions committed targeting Muslims, Christians
and other vulnerable people by allegedly the known and indoctrinated goons
forming the groups across the country with impunity.
After the visit to Malegaon, the AILC has prepared a
fact-finding report.
The facts that emerged after wider interaction with
local residents is as follows:
After the call of the protest by the Raza Academy, it
was unanimously decided by the representatives of various organization only to
observe the protest in a form “Bandh” against lawlessness by making an appeal
to shutter down the total work in the city for a day on November 12 which
happened Friday. As on Friday, the markets in Malegaon generally remain closed.
Only hundreds of people assembled at the crossing
“Shaheedon ki Yadgar” and a memorandum was handed over to the official
purported to be sent to the government in the morning as per prescheduled
program.
In view of the rising tempers and the atmosphere
getting volatile, the Raza Academy had to withdraw its call and it appealed to
the public to stay away from the meeting and the march. The leadership of the
Raza Adacemy and the leaders of other organizations as Jamait-e-Ulmae Hind,
NCP, Congress, Janta Dal (S) etc thereafter, disappeared from the scene
resulting to a vacuum into leadership of protesting crowd.
After Friday prayers, mob had gathered and started a
march to Shivaji Circle, a point or the end of the Muslim population. The
police officers are said to have made phone calls to a number of local leaders
to intervene and to stop the march being held leaderless but according to
police version, the most of the phones of the local leader who had supported
the Bandh, were found switched off.
It is revealed that the protest had peacefully ended
and the most of people had started dispersing to leave to their homes.
Surprisingly, just at the end of the program, it
happened instantly that 20-25 people concealing their faces with clothes
emerged from the opposite direction and shouting slogans started indiscriminate
and violent attacks on properties.
The most of properties damaged in the violence on
November 12, 2021 are owned and possessed by Muslims. No property of any
non-Muslim has been damaged during this spree of violence.
The attackers according to local people were unknown
outsiders in hidden faces and none of them were arrested by the police.
It is also informed by the local people that about two
days before the declared protest, trollies full of sharp-edges stones were unloaded
near the spot of the incident and these stones were hurled and pelted on the
police during the disturbance to make the police to use force.
Six FIRs were registered by the local police in two
police stations and more than sixty persons are named and other one thousand to
one thousand and five hundred (1000 to 1500) people have been made un-named
accused persons in about half a dozen criminal cases registered by the police.
The police made allegations to have been injured
during stone pelting and the use of fire arms is also alleged. The injuries
allegedly caused to policemen are said to be at the non-vital parts of bodies
and hardly grievous in nature.
The police version is that complete footage of CCTV
had been procured but no such footage is made available in public domain.
It is found from the perusal of FIRs that some persons
are mentioned in several cases with an apparent purpose to increase the number
of cases as well as to manifold the difficulties of accused persons so that
they may be devoid from civil liberty for a long time.
The majority of the accused persons have very clean
credentials and have never been ever prosecuted in any criminal cases.
The identification of actual offenders in view of the
availability of the CCTV footage may lead the police to file the charge sheet
as a large number of persons had already been arrested.
About two months time has passed but the police has
squarely failed to file charge sheet in any case against any accused person
incarcerated in the jail.
A reign of terror has percolated rooting to every
Muslim family of Malegaon. The reports are doing the rounds that an exorbitant
income has grown up in view of the apprehension to every Muslim resident for
the arrest keeping in view a large number of unnamed accused persons are
mentioned into FIRs lodged by the police.
Malegaon had unfortunately suffered with incidents of
two bomb blasts in the year 2006 and 2008. A large number of innocent people
were then rounded up and had gone through pangs of pain for a long time. Now
extra safeguards are required so that innocent persons may not further suffer.
Source: Siasat Daily
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https://www.siasat.com/ailc-releases-fact-finding-report-after-visiting-malegaon-2257174/
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Pakistan
Pakistan Taliban ex-spokesperson who fled says ISI
forced him to lie about India ‘terror funding’
PRAVEEN SWAMI
12 January, 2022
New Delhi: Ehsanullah Ehsan, the former spokesperson
of the terrorist group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) who mysteriously
escaped from prison in Pakistan in 2020, published a blog Tuesday, alleging
that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) offered him “millions of dollars” to
return to the country, or be silent on the circumstances of his arrest and
still-unexplained flight from the country.
“They were offering us millions of dollars to keep
quiet or come back, they were offering us houses and land in Punjab,” Ehsan
writes. “The then head of ISI, General Faiz Hameed, contacted me and personally
apologised (for my treatment in prison).”
Ehsan — whose real name is Liaqat Ali — was claimed to
have surrendered to the Pakistani military in 2017, three years after he
publicly fell out with TTP chief Fazal Hayat, also known by the pseudonym
Fazlullah.
The split came in the midst of a murderous conflict
between TTP cadre and the Pakistan Army, which saw more than 20,000 civilian
fatalities, and 6,000 military personnel killed. He subsequently co-founded the
rival Jama’at-ul Ahrar with terrorist commander Omar Saeed Khorasani.
In April 2017, Ehsan’s surrender to security forces
was announced by the Pakistan’s military publicity wing, the Inter-Services
Public Relations Directorate. The Jama’at-ul-Ahrar, however, said he had been
kidnapped by Pakistani intelligence agents from Paktika, in Afghanistan.
Ehsan has written that mutually-agreed terms for his
return to Pakistan were brokered through “some senior intelligence officers and
after a long negotiation we came to an agreement which paved the way for my
return to Pakistan”.
Ehsan claims a helicopter was waiting for him at the
Chaman border, after which he was transferred to a special military flight at
the Quetta garrison.
Also read: Gentle on jihadis, harsh on dissidents:
Ehsanullah’s escape exposes Pakistan’s intentions
‘False & scripted confession’
Instead of the agreed terms of surrender, however,
Ehsan claims he was forced to make a “false and scripted confessional
statement”. “The confessional statement was a script prepared by a brigadier
and a colonel in the ISPR (Inter-Services Public Relations),” he alleges, “and
I was given two weeks to memorise it”.
The confession released by the ISPR included claims
that he surrendered because of the Jama’at-e-Ahrar’s ties to India.
Ehsan said in the videotaped confession: “When they
started taking help from India and RAW, I told Khorasani that we’re supporting
the kuffar (non-believers) and helping them kill our own people in our own
country.”
“He (Khorasani) replied: ‘Even if Israel wants to fund
me to destabilise Pakistan, I will not hesitate in taking their help’.”
Source: The Print
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In Historic City Of Jacobabad, Pakistan, Church,
Mosque And Temple Stand Side By Side
Amar Guriro
Jan 13, 2022
In the historic city of Jacobabad in Pakistan’s
southern Sindh province, places of worship belonging to three different
religions are located side by side. A Hindu temple, Christian church and Muslim
mosque are adjacent to one another. The city of Jacobabad was founded by
Brigadier-General John Jacob, an officer of the British East India Company who
served in colonial India.
Located on the city’s Shikarpur Road, this religious
complex representing three different faiths is considered by locals to be a hub
of interfaith harmony and tolerance in a time of growing religious extremism.
These places of worship are built in a row. On one end is the Hindu Gaushala
and temple, and on the other a mosque. In the middle, there is a Baptist
church.
Interestingly, in the evening, worship takes place in
all the three holy places. In the temple, bells are rung and hymns are sung over
loudspeakers, while in the church, the sound of religious songs is heard. The
Muslim call to prayer, the adhan, resounds from the mosque.
Sharon Yousaf, pastor of the Baptist church in
Jacobabad told Independent Urdu, "The three places of worship are together
and their walls are side by side. But despite this, no untoward incident has
taken place since the establishment of Pakistan. Believers of all three
religions respect each other’s places of worship and treat each other with
respect.
“Worship is held in our church in the evenings where
we sing hymns. Devotional songs are also played on loudspeakers in the Hindu
temple. However, when the Muslim call to prayer is made, they turn off the
loudspeakers out of respect.”
According to Pastor Sharon Joseph, the land on which
the church was built originally belonged to the Hindu Gaushala. During the
colonial period, Christians who came to the city with Brigadier-General John
Jacob were gifted this land by the local Hindus so that they might build a
place of worship for themselves.
Source: Independent UK
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Pakistan Opposition discusses to move no-confidence
motion to oust Imran Khan govt
Jan 13, 2022
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Opposition Leader in the National
Assembly Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and President of the Pakistan Democratic
Movement (PDM) Fazlur Rehman discussed the option of a no-confidence motion to
oust the Imran Khan government.
Discussing constitutional and lawful options for the
ouster of the PTI-led government in Pakistan, the time has arrived that every
constitutional, lawful and political option is used against the government. We
also discussed the option of a no-confidence move to oust the government and it
will be an agenda item at the PDM heads meeting to be held tentatively on
January 25 where the final decision will be taken after consultations,"
Shehbaz told reporters, Dawn reported.
The two opposition leaders also decided to go ahead
with the plan of March 23 long march and to vigorously oppose approval of the
mini-budget in the National Assembly, reported The News International.
Notably, Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2021 also known
as mini-budget seeks to amend certain laws on taxes and duties to meet the
International Monetary Fund's (IMF's) conditions for the clearance of
Pakistan's sixth review of the USD 6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) by
the financial institution, paving way for the disbursement of a tranche of
around USD 1 billion.
Source: Times of India
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Two brothers reunite at Kartarpur after 74 years
January 13, 2022
NAROWAL: The Kartarpur Corridor reunites two brothers
who separated 74 years ago amid chaotic partition.
Muhammad Siddique, 80, and Habib, 78, separated 74 years
ago at the time of partition. They hugged and cried and garlanded each other on
the happy occasion of reunion.
The Kartarpur administration distributed sweets.
Siddique, a resident of Phugaran village on the
outskirts of Faisalabad district, said he had contacted a Sikh social worker
from Canada two years ago. He said the social worker had helped reunite the two
brothers.
According to Siddique, his brother and sister had gone
to his grandparents’ house with his mother in 1947.
“A civil war was raging on and my father and other
family members decided to migrate immediately to save lives and we came to
Pakistan,” he said.
Habib from Indian Punjab said it was the happiest day
of his life.
The corridor is playing an important role in reuniting
friends and relatives who separated during partition.
Source: Dawn
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1669167/two-brothers-reunite-at-kartarpur-after-74-years
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Man arrested with Buddha statue in Haripur district
January 13, 2022
HARIPUR: The archaeology department officials claimed
to have seized a 2,000-year-old statue of Buddha from the possession of a man
from a Khanpur village here on Wednesday.
Mr Nawazuddin, sub-regional officer archaeology
department, Hazara, told Dawn that field officer Gul Nabi and site supervisor
Raja Adnan raided the house of Masroor Shah in Sultan Pur village on a tip-off,
and recovered the Buddha’s statue from his possession. The statue and the
accused were handed over to Khanpur police, where a case under sections 52 (1)
and (2) of KP Antiquities Act, 2016, was registered against him.
Mr Nawazuddin said the statue was 1x1 feet in its
genuine condition, which the accused had stolen during illegal digging in some
area of Khanpur bordering Taxila valley, and wanted to smuggle it to Punjab for
onward transportation to some foreign country for better market value.
He said the historical analysis of the statue showed
that the Buddha was in a meditating position and its period ranged between
1,800 to 2,000 years old.
The official said the statue would remain with the
Khanpur police till completion of the prosecution process, and would later be
shifted to either Peshawar or Abbottabad museum.
Source: Dawn
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1669178/man-arrested-with-buddha-statue-in-haripur-district
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Sit for indefinite period, PPP doesn’t care, Ghani
tells JI demonstrators
Imran Ayub
January 13, 2022
KARACHI: The Sindh government and the Jamaat-i-Islami
were found at loggerheads again on Wednesday when the provincial administration
of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) ruled out the possibility of any major
change in the recently passed Sindh Local Government [Amendment] Act (SLGA)
2021 just two days after the PPP promised to amend the law with ‘mutual
understanding’ prompting the right-wing opposition party to continue its sit-in
that had already completed almost two weeks.
Just less than 72 hours after an exchange of cordial
gestures, the two sides were again seen turned up against each other and this
time it began when the key minister of the provincial cabinet came up with a
categorical viewpoint of the PPP government that it could hold talks only on
‘valid’ proposals by the opposition parties and no one should have any
‘misunderstanding’ that the Sindh Local Government Ordinance (SLGO) 2001, which
had ensured an empowered local government, could again see the light of day.
“The revival of the SLGO 2001 is out of the question,”
said Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani while addressing a press conference
in an aggressive tone.
“No matter if the protest sit-in continues outside the
Sindh Assembly building for an indefinite period, there’s no possibility that
the municipal system in the province envisaged under the SLGO 2001 introduced
by General Pervez Musharraf will be here again,” he categorically said.
Jamaat says no contact was made with Sindh govt for
talks; hints at staging sit-in on Sharea Faisal
He said the Sindh government had agreed to revive town
municipal administrations in Karachi after amending the SLGA 2013 in line with
a consensual demand of all opposition parties.
Despite being a member of the committee set up only on
Sunday by the Sindh government to hold talks with the JI, the Sindh information
minister addressing the media the first time after the contact between the two
sides didn’t show any prospect that could lead to fruitful talks between the
two sides.
‘Bloodshed warning’
Instead, he blamed the opposition parties like
Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) of ‘conspiring’ to carry out
bloodshed in Karachi.
“I advise the MQM and JI against destroying the peace
of Karachi,” he said.
“They should not push the city to the brink of
bloodshed only for securing their own vested political interests. The Jamaat,
like I said earlier, has in fact been following in the MQM’s footsteps only for
undue political popularity in Karachi. It raises slogans that Karachi is
occupied territory. Who they [JI] are blaming for this? It should not play such
dirty politics for vested interests.”
JI readies ‘plan B’
The JI, on the other hand, came up with a strong
reaction and made it clear that the sit-in outside the assembly was not going
to end any soon.
The party vowed to further expand its protest and
hinted at staging a sit-in on Sharea Faisal under its ‘plan B’ to protest
against the recent LG law and to demand rights for urban Sindh.
“Three days have already passed but the Sindh
government hasn’t responded to or contacted us for talks,” JI Karachi chief
Hafiz Naeem ur Rahman told journalists at the sit-in venue.
Source: Dawn
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PM Khan lauds ISI’s efforts for national security,
stability
January 12, 2022
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday lauded
the efforts of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for national security,
stability and prosperity.
The premier expressed these remarks during his visit
to the ISI Secretariat in Islamabad along with key federal ministers.
According to a statement issued by the PM Office
(PMO), Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa was also
present on the occasion. Director General ISI Lieutenant General Nadeem Ahmed
Anjum welcomed the dignitaries.
A comprehensive briefing followed by a discussion on
national security and regional dynamics with a focus on the ongoing situation
in Afghanistan was held.
PM Imran Khan appreciated the efforts of the country’s
premier spy agency for national security, stability and prosperity and
expressed satisfaction over the professional preparedness of the ISI to
safeguard Pakistan’s national interest.
Source: Pakistan Today
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South
Asia
We will make earning Ph.D. and Master’s degrees
possible in Afghanistan: Haqqani
13 Jan 2022
Acting Minister of Higher Education of the Islamic
Emirate of Afghanistan Abdul Baqi Haqqani said that they are building a
university inside Afghanistan where earning Ph.D. and Master’s Degrees would be
possible.
He elaborated that the degrees would be available in
the faculties of medical, engineering, theology (Islamic studies), and
agriculture.
Briefing media about the ministry’s four-month
activities in Kabul on Wednesday, January 12, 2022, the acting Minister said
that the curriculum of Afghanistan has a huge gap with that of the world and
they are trying to shorten that distance by making the curriculum more standard
and up to date.
Abdul Baqi Haqqani said that there is a need of
sending Afghan students abroad and for this purpose, he has met a number of
ambassadors in Kabul to facilitate ground for Afghan students abroad.
About the closure of universities, “Financial problems
and co-education are still predicaments and big challenges that have kept the
doors of universities shut. We have been working on resolving the problems and
we have progress, universities will soon be reopened.” Said Haqqani.
Source: Khaama Press
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OIC summit, Saudi Arabia helped connect Afghanistan to
world: Taliban envoy
January 12, 2022
SAIMA SHABBIR
ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan’s envoy to Pakistan has praised
the Organization of Islamic Cooperation for working to connect the country to
the outside world and lauded Saudi Arabia for its crucial humanitarian
assistance.
Afghanistan has been facing a looming humanitarian
disaster since the Taliban took control in mid-August, a situation that
prompted the US and other donor states to cut off financial assistance and
isolate the country from the global financial system.
The sudden suspension of aid and access to banking has
left nearly 23 million Afghans facing extreme levels of hunger and 9 million at
risk of famine, according to UN agencies.
On Dec. 19, the OIC held the 17th extraordinary
session of its Council of Foreign Ministers in Islamabad. The meeting, called
by Saudi Arabia, focused on the economic crisis in Afghanistan and was also
attended by delegations from the EU, and the P5+1 group of the UN Security
Council, comprising the US, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany.
At the summit’s conclusion, OIC member states agreed
to establish a humanitarian trust fund to channel assistance, appoint a special
envoy, and work together with the UN in the war-ravaged country.
“It (the OIC meeting) was a channel to connect Afghanistan
with the world,” Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan Sardar Ahmed Khan Shakib told
Arab News earlier this week, in his first media interview since assuming
office.
“Through the OIC conference, we were able to show to
the world the true picture of the situation in Afghanistan.”
Shakib added that Saudi Arabia had been the most
generous aid contributor among OIC member states.
During the OIC’s session in Islamabad, Saudi Arabia
pledged SR1 billion ($266 million) in aid to the OIC fund for Afghanistan. It has
also dispatched immediate help through King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief
Center to assist Afghans amid the economic meltdown.
“Saudi Arabia is very cooperative and has helped
Afghans more than any other OIC member state,” he said. “Six aircraft full of
humanitarian assistance packages from Saudi Arabia, including clothes, and food
have already reached the Afghans in need.”
A KSrelief convoy of goods was also sent to
Afghanistan via a land route from Pakistan.
Islamabad has as well announced a 5 billion rupee
($28.4 million) medical, food, and humanitarian aid package for its landlocked
neighbor.
“The Pakistani government and other organizations,
including traders and community members, have also sent assistance and are
still trying to fully support the Afghan people,” Shakib said.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2003216/world
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Aid Must Be Coordinated With Islamic Emirate: Second
Deputy Of The Prime Minister
January 13, 2022
The Second Deputy of the Prime Minister, Abdul Salam
Hanafi, said that humanitarian aid must be distributed in coordination with the
Islamic Emirate to the vulnerable people in Afghanistan.
He said that the employees of the Islamic Emirate
should also be involved in providing aid to the people in need across the
country.
“The international aid is not a permanent solution for
poverty and countering starvation and for the economic crisis. We believe that
the government and international community should boost up economic
activities,” Hanafi told a gathering in Kabul on Wednesday.
He called for transparency in the distribution of aid.
The deputy special representative of the UN secretary-general
and the humanitarian coordinator for Afghanistan said that the organization has
provided humanitarian aid to aaround 18 million Afghans in 2022.
“I am very proud today to say that in the last four
months we have scaled up to reach by the end of the year nearly 18 million
people with humanitarian aid,” said Ramiz Alakbarov, deputy special
representative of the UN secretary-general and the humanitarian coordinator for
Afghanistan.
The Ministry of Economy said that it has established
three committees to distribute aid for the people across the county.
“We have formed a committee in the capital to transfer
the aid properly to the vulnerable people nationwide,” said Deputy Minister Lal
Mohammad Walizada.
Afghanistan is facing multiple crises due to the
freeze of its central bank assets and the suspension of international aid.
Meanwhile, residents of Kabul complained of “unfair
distribution” of aid, saying that the aid was not provided to the vulnerable
people who need it.
They also called for a transparent and fair
distribution of aid. “Let the aid be continued. But it should be given to
people who deserve it,” said Ghulam Nabi, a resident of Kabul.
“No one has given us anything,” said Abdul Muttalib,
another resident of Kabul. “When we ask for aid—they tell us to wait, but I
haven’t received anything yet,” said Rahim, another resident.
The World Food Program (WFP) said that it has provided
food and cash aid to 15 million people in 2021 in Afghanistan. The WFP expects
to reach over 23 million vulnerable people next year in Afghanistan.
“There should be a home-to-home survey so we can
address the problem of those who are in grave need,” said Wahidullah Amani, a
spokesman for the WFP. How effective is the humanitarian aid distribution in
Afghanistan?
Economists gave their opinions: “The education
departments, particularly teachers, can help the United Nations in the
distribution of aid,” said Sayed Masoud, an economist.
The Ministry of Refugee and Repatriation denied the
existence of corruption in the provision of aid to the people in need.
Source: Pak Observer
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Train passenger told police he was Osama Bin Laden
after sparking terror threat
By Will Kilner
Jan 13, 2022
A rail passenger who told police he was Osama Bin
Laden after sparking a terrror threat onboard a train has been jailed.
Mohammed Khalil Khan, 50, boarded a train at
Manchester Victoria and began 'making threats to commit future acts of
violence', a court heard.
He sparked alarm by making comments about the Taliban
and the 9/11 terror attack on the World Trade Centre in New York.
Homeless Khan was jailed for 18 months at Preston
Crown Court after pleading guilty to possessing a bladed article in a public
place.
On August 9 2021, Khan boarded a train at Manchester
Victoria station heading to Clitheroe.
A member of staff was alerted by a passenger to Khalil
making threats to commit acts of violence and making comments about the
atrocities of 9/11 and the Taliban.
The member of staff followed the passenger to the
carriage that Khan was occupying before returning to the front of the train to
call 999.
The train stopped at Darwen where the suspect was met
by a team of officers, with passengers being ushered from the train to safety.
The station was locked down and the railway line
closed for several hours.
Khan was then detained where he verbally abused
officers and became aggressive.
Following a search of a bag that Khan was in
possession of a knife was found and he was arrested.
At an earlier court hearing, Blackburn magistrates
were told the railway line was closed for several hours as the army bomb
disposal squad carried out X-rays of bags belonging to Khan.
He had made comments about the New York World Trade
Center terror attacks on the train and later told police he was Osama Bin
Laden.
A passenger approached the train guard shortly after
the train had left Bolton station and reported concerns over the comments being
made by Khan. He also said he could see wires coming from one of the bags.
Shortly after another passenger reported hearing Khan
saying he was going to cut people’s heads off.
Detective Chief Inspector, Kay Dennison, of Counter
Terrorism Policing North West, said: This was a terrifying incident for the
passengers to be stuck on a moving train with Khan making such concerning
threats.
Source: The Telegraph And Argus UK
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Kabul in a blackout, Uzbekistan’s electricity to
Afghanistan decreased by 60%
13 Jan 2022
Afghanistan Electricity body- Da Afghanistan Breshna
Sherkat (DABS)- on Wednesday, January, 12 said that Uzbekistan’s importing
electricity to Afghanistan decreased by 60 percent which has led to blackout in
Kabul.
Spokesperson of DABS Hekmatullah Maiwandi in a video
clip said that Uzbekistan has made the decision unilaterally and they have not
been informed.
Hekmatullah Maiwandi said that Uzbekistan has cited
technical problems for the decrease and added that the issue will be resolved
in two or three days.
Officials in DABS said that decrease in importing
electricity from Uzbekistan has caused a shortage of electricity and blackout
in 16 provinces including the Afghan capital Kabul.
They have also recommended people to be thrifty in
using electricity until the issues get resolved.
Source: Khaama Press
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Taliban pay in wheat in lieu of cash as economic
crisis bites
Jan 13, 2022
The Taliban administration said on Tuesday it was
expanding its “food for work” programme, in which it uses donated wheat to pay
thousands of public sector employees instead of cash as a financial crisis
intensifies.
Wheat, largely donated by India to the previous
US-backed Kabul government, is being used to pay 40,000 workers 10kg of wheat
per day for working five hours a day, agriculture officials told a news
conference.
The scheme, which has largely paid labourers on public
works programmes in Kabul, will be expanded around the country, they said.
“We are ready to help our people as much as we can,”
said Fazel Bari Fazli, deputy minister of administration and finance at the
Ministry of Agriculture.
The Taliban administration has already received an
additional 18 tonnes of wheat from Pakistan with a promise of 37 tonnes more
and is in negotiation with India for 55 tonnes, according to Fazli.
“We have lots of plans for food for work programme,”
he said. It was not clear how much of the donated wheat would be used as direct
humanitarian aid and how much to pay workers in Afghanistan.
The expanding programme underlines the growing
conundrum faced by the Taliban administration as cash in the country dries up
and could raise questions among donors over the use of humanitarian aid for
government purposes while strict restrictions remain on financial flows into
the country.
Source: Hindustan Times
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Afghan Taliban Warn Northern Neighbours Of
'Consequences' Of Not Returning Aircraft
12 January 2022
The ruling Taliban in Afghanistan have warned
neighboring Tajikistan and Uzbekistan of "consequences" in case they
fail to return the Afghan Air Force aircraft and helicopters that were flown
into their territories by fleeing pilots during the US military exit in August
last year.
All Afghan Air Force aircraft and helicopters
"taken abroad must be returned... (without) testing our patience,"
Taliban Defense Minister Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid said in his speech at
an Afghan Air Force event in Kabul on Tuesday.
"I respectfully call on Uzbekistan and Tajikistan
not to test our patience and not to force us to take all possible retaliatory
steps to retake the aircraft," the Afghan official was quoted as saying by
TOLO News.
In his speech, the Taliban official said all the
pilots and flight engineers who had fled the country were welcome to return to
Afghanistan. He described the pilots as heroes.
"They wouldn't be honored in foreign countries.
We will honor them. They are the treasure of our country," the Taliban
minister said in his Tuesday speech.
Afghanistan had over 164 active military warplanes
before the US withdrawal and now there are only 81 left in the country,
according to the Defense Ministry reports cited by TOLO.
Meanwhile, Afghan pilots who were held at an Uzbek
camp, near the city of Termez, before their evacuation had described their stay
in the country as captivity. Their hopes began to lift just a week ago when US
officials arrived to carry out biometric screening of the personnel.
A former US diplomat said the United States owed it to
the fugitive Afghan pilots. "I hope we have plans underway to make sure
the aircraft they got out get back to the United States and certainly do not
return to the Taliban," said John Herbst, a former US ambassador to
Uzbekistan.
Dozens of Afghan Air Force aircraft and helicopters,
including A-29 light attack planes and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, were flown
out of Afghanistan as the country's ground forces collapsed and the Taliban
swept to power.
Separately, Reuters reported on Tuesday that
US-trained Afghan pilots and other personnel in Uzbekistan had begun leaving
the country for the United Arab Emirates.
A pilot, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said
the transfer, which was expected to take place in several waves, had started on
Sunday.
Source: Press TV
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North
America
US says 'weeks, not months' remain for nuclear
agreement with Iran
Michael Gabriel Hernandez
13.01.2022
WASHINGTON
Ongoing talks to return Iran and the US to mutual
compliance with an historic 2015 nuclear non-proliferation agreement have
weeks, not months, to complete, the State Department said on Wednesday.
Spokesman Ned Price described a "very, very
short" timeline for the talks to conclude productively, saying "we
are not talking about a protracted period of time that remains."
"We are talking about potential weeks, not
months," he added.
Former US President Donald Trump unilaterally exited
the agreement in 2018 in defiance of all the agreement's other participants,
and re-imposed biting US sanctions that were lifted under the terms of the pact
while issuing a slew of new economic penalties.
Iran, in retaliation, began to take steps away from
its nuclear commitments under the international agreement in a bid to have
Washington lift its financial salvos.
Ongoing talks in Vienna, Austria to return the US and
Iran to full compliance with the pact resumed on Dec. 27, and Price said last
week that there had been modest progress on accomplishing the goal.
On Saturday, Russian and Iranian officials said
progress has been made in Vienna, and Mikhail Ulyanov, the top diplomat leading
Russia's delegation, said the talks are moving "slowly but steadily."
Price maintained this week, however, that while there
is not a strict temporal timeline for the talks to reach fruition, the US is
measuring progress against a narrowing window based on Iran's continued nuclear
advances.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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US grants South Korea an Iran sanctions exemption
13 January ,2022
The United States has granted South Korea a sanctions
exemption, allowing the country to pay millions of dollars of overdue
compensation to an Iranian investor over a 2010 dispute.
Seoul's foreign ministry said it had received a
“specific license” from the US Treasury Department allowing the South Korean
government to pay compensation to Iran's Dayyani Group.
“The license allows using the US financial system to
pay compensation to the Iranian private investor,” the ministry said in a
statement.
In 2018, the International Centre for Settlement of
Investment Disputes ordered Seoul to pay 73 billion won ($61 million) to the
Dayyani Group over a failed takeover of Daewoo Electronics in 2010.
The license will serve as an “important foundation”
for settling the dispute with the Iranian investor, the ministry added,
expressing hope that “it will help improve bilateral relations”.
The announcement comes more than a week after South
Korea sent top diplomats to Vienna for talks with US negotiators working to
revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
The Islamic Republic was South Korea's third-largest
Middle Eastern trade partner before the United States unilaterally withdrew
from a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers and reimposed
crippling sanctions.
Iran had been a key oil supplier to resource-poor
South Korea and in turn imported industrial equipment, household appliances and
vehicle spare parts from Seoul.
Last year, Iran threatened South Korea with legal
action unless Seoul released the more than $7 billion in frozen funds for oil
shipments.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Pentagon links Iran intelligence to ‘MuddyWater’ hacking
group
13 January ,2022
The Pentagon’s cybersecurity arm on Wednesday said it
has tied a hacking group known as MuddyWater to Iranian intelligence.
In doing so, US Cyber Command also identified several
open-source software tools being used by the hacking group and disclosed them
in an effort to thwart further attacks. MuddyWater allegedly used the tools to
gain access to global computer networks.
A US Cyber Command spokeswoman said disclosure of the
hacking group provides a “holistic picture of how Iranian hackers might be
collecting information through the use of malware. The cyber agency described
MuddyWater as operating under the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and
Security.
The Iranian intelligence agency identifies political
opponents through domestic surveillance and “surveils anti-regime activists
abroad through its network of agents placed in Iran’s embassies, according to
US Cyber Command, citing research from the Congressional Research Service.
Iran’s foreign ministry didn’t immediately respond Wednesday
to a request seeking comment.
“Iran fields multiple teams that conduct cyber
espionage, cyberattack and information operations, said Sarah Jones, the
principal analyst for threat intelligence at the cybersecurity firm Mandiant
Inc.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Iran, US lock horns over sanctions relief, nuclear
curbs in Vienna talks
12 January ,2022
Iran and the US are displaying little flexibility on
core issues in indirect nuclear talks, raising questions about whether a
compromise can be found soon to renew a 2015 deal that could dispel fears of a
wider Middle East war, diplomats say.
After eight rounds of talks, the thorniest points
remain the speed and scope of lifting sanctions on Tehran -- including Iran's
demand for a US guarantee of no further punitive steps -- and how and when to
restore curbs on Iran's atomic work.
The nuclear deal limited Iran’s uranium enrichment
activity to make it harder for it to develop nuclear arms -- an ambition Tehran
denies -- in return for lifting international sanctions.
But former US President Donald Trump ditched the pact
in 2018, saying it did not do enough to curb Iran’s nuclear activities,
ballistic missile program and regional influence, and reimposed sanctions that
badly damaged Iran’s economy.
After waiting for a year, Iran responded to Trump's
pressure by gradually breaching the accord, including rebuilding stockpiles of
enriched uranium, refining it to higher fissile purity and installing advanced
centrifuges to speed up output.
Following months of stop-start talks that began after
Joe Biden replaced Trump in the White House, Western officials now say time is
running out to resurrect the pact. But Iranian officials deny they are under
time pressure, arguing the economy can survive thanks to oil sales to China.
‘We need guarantees’
A former Iranian official said Iran's rulers “are
certain that their uncompromising, maximalist approach will give results”.
France said on Tuesday that despite some progress at
the end of December, Iran and world powers were still far away from reviving
the deal.
The US State Department said on Jan. 4 the issues “at
the heart of the negotiations” were sanctions relief and the nuclear steps that
Iran would take to return the accord.
Iran insists on immediate removal of all Trump-era
sanctions in a verifiable process. Washington has said it would remove curbs
inconsistent with the 2015 pact if Iran resumed compliance with the deal,
implying it would leave in place others such as those imposed under terrorism
or human rights measures.
“Americans should give assurances that no new
sanctions under any label would be imposed on Iran in future. We need
guarantees that America will not abandon the deal again,” said a senior Iranian
official.
Iran's Nournews, a media outlet affiliated to the
Supreme National Security Council, reported on Wednesday that Iran's key
conditions at the talks “are assurances and verifications.”
US officials were not immediately available to comment
on the question of guarantees. However, US officials have said Biden cannot
promise the US government will not renege on the agreement because the nuclear
deal is a non-binding political understanding, not a legally-binding treaty.
Asked to comment on that US constitutional reality, an
Iranian official said: “It's their internal problem”.
On the issue of obtaining verification that sanctions
have been removed -- at which point Iran would have to revive curbs on its
nuclear programme -- the senior Iranian official said Iran and Washington
differed over the timetable.
“Iran needs a couple of weeks to verify sanctions
removal (before it reverses its nuclear steps). But the other party says a few
days would be enough to load oil on a ship, export it and transfer its money
through banking system,” the official said.
Threats
Shadowing the background of the talks have been
threats by Israel, widely believed to have the Middle East’s only nuclear
weaponry but which sees Iran as a existential threat, to attack Iranian nuclear
installations if it deems diplomacy ultimately futile in containing Tehran’s
atomic abilities and potential.
Iran says it would hit back hard if it were attacked.
A Western diplomat said “early-February is a realistic
end-date for Vienna talks” as the longer Iran remains outside the deal, the
more nuclear expertise it will gain, shortening the time it might need to race
to build a bomb if it chose to.
“Still we are not sure whether Iran really wants a
deal,” said another Western diplomat.
Iran has ruled out adhering to any “artificial”
deadline.
“Several times, they asked Iran to slow down its
nuclear work during the talks, and even Americans conveyed messages about an
interim deal through other parties,” said a second Iranian official, close to
Iran's negotiating team.
“It was rejected by Iran.”
Asked for comment, a State Department spokesperson who
declined to be identified told Reuters: “Of course we — and the whole
international community — want Iran to slow down their nuclear program and have
communicated that very clearly.”
“Beyond that, we don’t negotiate the details in
public, but these reports are far off.”
Other points of contention include Iran's advanced
nuclear centrifuges -- machines that purify uranium for use as fuel in atomic power
plants or, if purified to a high level, weapons.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Iran, Venezuela, 6 other UN members lose voting rights
because of unpaid dues
Michael Hernandez
12.01.2022
WASHINGTON
Eight UN member states, including Iran and Venezuela,
have lost their voting rights because of unpaid dues, according to documents
revealed on Wednesday.
In an Oct. 11 letter, Secretary-General Antonio
Guterres identified 11 countries as being in arrears under the terms of the UN
charter, including Antigua and Barbados, Comoros, the Republic of Congo,
Guinea, Iran, Papua New Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Sudan, Vanuatu and
Venezuela.
The UN charter stipulates that members that owe money
that is equal to or in excess of dues in the two preceding years will lose
voting rights. It does allow the General Assembly to "permit such a Member
to vote if it is satisfied that the failure to pay is due to conditions beyond
the control of the Member."
Such exceptions were made for the African nations of
Comoros, Sao Tome and Principe and Somalia through the end of the assembly's
current 76th session.
Still, Iran faces a minimum payment of more than $18
million to have its voting rights restored while Venezuela faces a whopping sum
of nearly $40 million. Tumult-stricken Sudan, meanwhile, must make a minimum
payment of nearly $300,000.
Their suspensions take effect immediately.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Europe
France’s Interior Minister, Gerald Darmanin Orders
Closure Of Cannes Mosque Because Of ‘Anti-Semitic’ Remarks
12 January ,2022
France’s interior minister said on Wednesday he had
ordered the closure of a mosque on the French Riviera because of anti-Semitic
remarks made there.
Gerald Darmanin said the mosque in the glitzy seaside
city of Cannes was also guilty of supporting CCIF and BarakaCity, two
associations that the government dissolved at the end of last year for
spreading “Islamist” propaganda.
Darmanin told broadcaster CNews that he had consulted
with the mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, before shutting down the mosque.
The move comes two weeks after authorities closed a
mosque in the north of the country because of what they said was the radical
nature of its imam’s preaching.
The mosque in Beauvais, a town of 50,000 people some
100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Paris, was shut for six months because the
sermons there incited hatred and violence and “defend jihad,” authorities said.
Last October, a mosque in Allonnes, 200 kilometers
west of Paris, was closed also for six months for sermons defending armed
“jihad” and “terrorism,” according to regional authorities.
The French government announced last year that it
would step up checks of places of worship and associations suspected of
spreading radical Islamic propaganda.
The crackdown came after the October 2020 murder of
teacher Samuel Paty, who was targeted following an online campaign against him
for having shown controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed published by
the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo during a civics class.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Son of hate preacher Abu Hamza jailed for identity
fraud
January 12, 2022
LONDON: The eldest son of hate preacher Abu Hamza has
been sentenced to almost four years in jail after being convicted of laundering
£350,000 ($476,000) with a banking accomplice.
Tito ibn Sheikh, 35, set up fraudulent bank accounts
with the corrupt HSBC employee between May 2018 and December 2019.
The eldest of Abu Hamza’s eight children, Ibn Sheikh
set up fraudulent bank accounts using 14 fake identities, a London court heard.
Following in his father’s criminal footsteps, Ibn
Sheikh had been jailed for 12 years in 2014 for leading a gang who kidnapped
and tortured a man over a £15,000 debt. He was released from prison on license
while he committed his financial fraud.
Judge Andrew Goymer said Ibn Sheikh had “used considerable
skill, ingenuity and industry towards this fraudulent scheme.”
Ibn Sheikh was sentenced to three years and nine
months behind bars after admitting two counts of conspiracy to convert criminal
property, possession of an article for use in fraud, possession of fraudulent
identity documents and possession of criminal property.
Abu Hamza, 63, was the notorious preacher and terror
supporter at Finsbury Park Mosque in north London. He is jailed for life in the
US after being convicted of terror offenses there and in Britain.
Arab News featured him in its “Preachers of Hate”
series, outlining his connection with violent extremism.
Ibn Sheikh’s lawyer Bill Evans told the court that his
client had changed names to distance himself from Abu Hamza.
“His father has a degree of notoriety, which has
caused him substantial difficulty and he and other members of his family have
changed their names as a result,” Evans said.
Southwark Crown Court was told that on the occasion of
Ibn Sheikh’s arrest in December 2019, he was found in possession of 12 iPhones,
10 bank cards in various names and 14 different identity documents.
Prosecuting barrister Kelly Brocklehurst said Ibn
Sheikh would set about creating identities around his documents through utility
bills, national insurance cards and UK driving licenses.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2002921/world
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France urges EU sanctions against Mali
January 12, 2022
PARIS: France is to press the European Union to agree
sanctions against Mali after its military-dominated leadership shelved a
timetable for elections, the French foreign minister said on Wednesday.
Jean-Yves Le Drian told AFP in an interview that Mali
risked being “suffocated” unless the military junta of the West African country
lived up to its responsibilities and stopped seeking to “fool” the country’s
partners.
Le Drian, whose country holds the rotating EU
presidency, said that the EU measures would be in line with the unprecedented
sanctions agreed with West African economic bloc ECOWAS which Paris has
strongly supported.
“We are going to propose to apply these sanctions at a
European level, both those against Malian leaders but also the economic and
financial measures,” Le Drian said.
He added that the issue would be discussed by EU
foreign ministers at a meeting in the French city of Brest from Thursday,
adding that Mali was now a “European issue.”
France is moving to draw down forces deployed in Mali
and the region to fight an extremist insurgency in favor of a multinational
force called Takuba including troops from EU states.
As well as closing borders and imposing a trade
embargo, Mali’s regional neighbors also cut off financial aid and froze the
country’s assets at the Central Bank of West African States.
The move followed a proposal by Mali’s interim
government last month to stay in power for up to five years before staging
elections, despite international demands that it respect a promise to hold
elections in February.
“The junta is trying to fool all of its partners,”
said Le Drian, noting how Bamako had called for help from Russian Wagner
mercenaries as well as the “unacceptable” slipping of the election schedule.
“It is now up to the junta to take responsibility.
Otherwise it runs the risk of seeing this country being suffocated.”
With France already seeking to tighten the vice on the
military rulers, flag-carrier Air France said Wednesday that in line with
official decisions it was suspending flights to and from Mali until further
notice.
Mali’s relations with its neighbors and partners have
steadily deteriorated since a coup led by Col. Assimi Goita in August 2020
against the country’s elected president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2003276/world
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Gordon Brown calls for Afghanistan donor conference
January 12, 2022
LONDON: Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has
called on Foreign Secretary Liz Truss to help organize an aid conference to
raise $4.5 billion for Afghanistan, warning that tens of millions of Afghans
face starvation if funds are not raised.
“We are witnessing a shameful but also self-defeating
failure to prevent famine,” Brown said, adding that Britain should lead on
restarting aid to the Taliban-controlled country.
In an opinion piece for The Guardian, he wrote that
cash has been available to support Afghans but donor countries fear retribution
following strict US sanctions that were applied on the Taliban regime.
Brown said those sanctions could and should be relaxed
if the Taliban demonstrates progress on women’s rights.
The UN on Tuesday launched a call for $4.5 billion in
aid for 2022, the largest appeal in the organization’s history.
The US has committed $308 million, which are expected
to be sent through various independent humanitarian groups.
Brown said this is insufficient, adding: “The
35-country, American-led coalition that ruled Afghanistan for 20 years under
the banner of helping the Afghan people has still put up only a quarter of the
money that would allow UN humanitarians to stop children dying this winter.”
He said he had written to Truss and Ursula von der
Leyen, the EU Commission president, calling for them to host a donor conference
“in January or at the latest in February” to allow the urgently needed aid to
be sent.
The UN has detailed how the Afghan economy has totally
destabilized since US-led forces left the country last summer, with a 40
percent contraction mooted by experts.
International aid was plugged almost instantly once
the Taliban took power amid US sanctions.
“The devastation the world was warned about months ago
is no longer a distant prospect,” Brown wrote, adding that the UN “forecasts
that if we do not act, 97 percent of Afghans will soon be living below the
poverty line.”
He outlined how roughly 90 percent of the country’s
health clinics “do not have the funds to keep themselves open.”
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2003081/world
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World Bank notes surprising improvement in Pakistan
Anwar Iqbal
January 13, 2022
WASHINGTON: Growth in Pakistan surprised on the upside
last year, supported by improving domestic demand, record-high remittance
inflows, a narrow targeting of lockdowns, and accommodative monetary policy,
says a World Bank report released on Wednesday.
The bank’s Global Economic Prospects report 2022
projects that growth in the South Asian region (SAR) will accelerate to 7.6
percent in 2022, as pandemic-related disruptions fade, before slowing to 6.0
percent in 2023.
The World Bank has revised growth projections for the
region since June 2021, because of “better prospects in Bangladesh, India and
Pakistan.”
The report projects that Pakistan’s economy will grow
by 3.4 percent in the current fiscal and at 4 percent in 2022-23, benefiting
from structural reforms enhancing export competitiveness and improving the
financial viability of the power sector.
It also estimates India’s economic growth to be 8.3
percent in the current fiscal year and 8.7 percent in 2022-23. The 8.3 percent
GDP growth for the current fiscal year is the same as what the bank projected
in October 2021.
The report notes that India’s growth rate in the
current and next fiscal years will be stronger than those of its immediate
neighbors. The bank predicts Bangladesh’s growth at 6.4 and 6.9 percent in
2021-22 and 2022-23, respectively, while Nepal’s is to grow at 3.9 percent this
fiscal and at 4.7 percent in the next.
Global economic growth, however, will slow down to 4.1
percent this year from an estimated 5.5 percent in 2021, the report adds,
warning that “Omicron-related economic disruptions could substantially reduce
growth” to as low as 3.4 percent. The report points out that real interest
rates in Pakistan dropped precipitously during 2020 and remained negative
through 2021. The report notes that both Bangladesh and Pakistan saw their
goods trade deficit widen to record levels on strong domestic demand and rising
energy prices.
Monetary policy became more accommodative in SAR as
real interest rates went further negative on rising inflation expectations, but
still low policy rates. The trend only reversed in Pakistan following a rapid
policy rate increase.
In Pakistan, however, facing fiscal pressures caused
real expenditure to contract in 2021.
The report also reviews the Taliban takeover of
Afghanistan in August, noting that it led to a rapid cessation of international
grant support, and loss of access to overseas assets and the international
financial system, driving a humanitarian and economic crisis.
The crisis also disrupted food and energy imports to
Afghanistan by causing a shortage of foreign exchange and dysfunction of the
financial sector.
“Prices for basic household goods, including food, are
rising rapidly, while private sector activity has collapsed,” the report notes.
“The humanitarian response is being curtailed by the collapse of the banking
sector and an inability to transfer funds internationally.”
In Pakistan and Sri Lanka, long-term bond yields have
rebounded rapidly in late 2021 reversing the lows reached during the pandemic.
High inflation in Pakistan led to the removal of
monetary accommodation. The report expects the region’s monetary policy to
tighten but continue to be moderately accommodative in 2022, except in Pakistan
where high inflation led to the removal of monetary accommodation.
Source: Dawn
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1669131/world-bank-notes-surprising-improvement-in-pakistan
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Serbian president vows no mercy for those who violate
peace
Mustafa Talha Öztürk
13.01.2022
BELGRADE, Serbia
Serbia’s president said Wednesday that the country
will show no mercy to those who violate peace, alluding to a recent nationalist
incident in a southwestern town.
Aleksandar Vucic made the remarks during a visit to
the Serbian town of Priboj following a series of anti-Bosniak incidents at the
beginning of this year.
''All those responsible for causing trouble will be
sanctioned, and we must teach our children how to live together,'' said Vucic.
Tensions had risen after a video surfaced online
showing off-duty police officers celebrating the birth of a child by singing a
song glorifying the Srebrenica genocide and other war crimes.
"Priboj is a test whether we are humans or not,
and it must not happen that children sing to someone about shooting at
mosques," Vucic said, adding "as we respect our churches, icons and
monasteries, we must respect our Muslim neighbors."
"I'm a Serb, Serbia's president, and of course I
love all Serbs. But I cannot imagine Priboj without Bosniaks, and it won't be
without them because they have the same rights as the Serbs," he said.
Vucic said that Serbia is equally Bosniak and Serb,
and whoever thinks they can burn, kill, shoot and slaughter will end up in
prison.
"Anyone who thinks of endangering someone's life,
house, mosque and church will have to deal with a state that will have no mercy
and will act ruthlessly, and I therefore ask such people not to challenge the
state and not to test the strength of the state," he added.
Touring the plant of the Turkish company Flex Academy
in Priboj, which produces flexible stainless steel hoses, Vucic promised that
the company would open another plant in the town.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/serbian-president-vows-no-mercy-for-those-who-violate-peace/2472467
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Germany to extend military mission in Iraq
Ayhan Simsek
12.01.2022
BERLIN
Germany will extend its military mission in Iraq until
the end of October, the government announced on Wednesday.
Bundeswehr troops will continue to support the Global
Coalition Against Daesh, take part in aerial surveillance, and provide training
to the security forces of Iraq, the government said in a statement.
“The deployment is in response to Iraq’s request for
assistance and it will focus on the capacity building of Iraqi security
forces,” the statement said.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/germany-to-extend-military-mission-in-iraq/2472303
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Southeast
Asia
China Says Guantanamo Bay Real 'Detention Camp' for
Muslims
BY JOHN FENG
1/12/22
Beijing has weighed in on the 20th anniversary of the
opening of Guantanamo Bay by calling on the United States to address its human
rights violations and finally close the notorious offshore military prison.
Some 39 detainees—many without charges—remain at the
facility in southern Cuba.
The question of whether to shut down "Gitmo"
for good has carried over successive administrations, with the United Nations
among several leading organizations calling for a swift and conclusive
resolution by the U.S.
At a regular press conference in Beijing on Wednesday,
China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin, called the continued
operation of the prison "a dark chapter" in the world's human rights
record.
"If ever there was a 'detention camp' that holds
Muslims, it would be Guantanamo Bay," he said, alluding to allegations
that the Chinese government has interned over a million Uyghur Muslims in mass
detention centers in Xinjiang in the country's northwest—a charge Beijing
denies.
"The United States has promised more than once
that it would close the prison," said Wang. "However, 20 years later,
39 people are still being kept there, while few of them have been charged with
or convicted of crimes."
Wang accused the U.S. of operating "black
sites" such as Guantanamo Bay all over the world. The prison, the official
said, is "only the tip of the iceberg."
"The U.S. should sincerely reflect on itself,
immediately close Guantanamo Bay and all other secret prisons across the
world," he said.
"It should stop atrocities including arbitrary
detention and the torture of prisoners, deliver apologies and compensations to
the victims and bring to justice those who authorized and committed the
torture."
A soldier walks through a gate at Camp Delta at
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base on August 23, 2004, in Guantanamo, Cuba. On the 20th
anniversary of the military prison’s opening, on January 12, 2022, the Chinese
government and United Nations experts called on the United States to shut down
the notorious facility for good. Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Guantanamo Bay, which is located within a U.S. naval
base, was opened on January 11, 2002, during George W. Bush's first administration,
as part of the "war on terror" following the 9/11 attacks.
In the two decades since, some 780 inmates have been
held at the facility, including a peak of 684 detainees in June 2003.
Former President Barack Obama vowed to close the
military prison in his first year, but opposition from Congress and challenges
related to the secure transfer of inmates meant the otherwise historic decision
dragged on indefinitely until it was reversed by his successor, Donald Trump.
President Joe Biden has committed to closing Gitmo by
the time he leaves office.
On Monday, a report commissioned by the UN Human
Rights Council, of which the U.S. is a member, found that only nine of the the
prison's 39 detainees have been charged or convicted of crimes.
"Between 2002 and 2021, nine detainees died in
custody, two from natural causes and seven reportedly committed suicide. None
had been charged or convicted of a crime," said the report authored by a
panel of independent human rights experts.
"Despite forceful, repeated and unequivocal
condemnation of the operation of this horrific detention and prison complex
with its associated trial processes, the United States continues to detain
persons, many of whom have never been charged with any crime," they wrote.
Source: News Week
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https://www.newsweek.com/china-says-guantanamo-bay-real-detention-camp-muslims-1668509?piano_t=1
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After Thai-BRN Talks, Malaysia Says Deep South
Solution Will Take Years
2022-01-12
After two days of in-person talks between Thai
officials and southern separatist BRN rebels, the Malaysian facilitator for the
peace dialogue said Wednesday that it would take at least two years to find a
solution to end the conflict in Thailand’s Deep South.
Both sides discussed a three-point plan, which
includes a reduction in violence as a basis for further negotiations to end the
decades-old insurgency spearheaded by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (National
Revolutionary Front), a Thai official said.
“Both parties finally met face-to-face after not being
able to do so for nearly two years,” Malaysian facilitator Abdul Rahim Noor, a
former police inspector-general who represents his government and brokered the
talks, told BenarNews in an exclusive interview.
“The discussion was done in a peaceful manner and
conducted in three languages – Thai, English, and Malay. I spoke in English,
which was translated to Thai for the Thai government, and Malay for BRN
representative, as they are more comfortable speaking in Malay,” he said of the
two-day round of talks that opened on Tuesday.
Rahim Noor declined to give full details about the
talks held at a Kuala Lumpur area hotel.
“I cannot share that but I can tell you that both
sides are keen to find a solution to the situation in the Deep South,” he said.
“Only a political solution can solve the situation in
the Deep South, but finding the solutions that both can agree with will take
time. At least another two years.”
On the Thai side, a military official close to the
peace talks said Thailand’s delegation and the BRN representative s discussed
“a three-point framework which will be used as a roadmap for further talks.”
“The proposed framework includes violence reduction,
political participation, and discussion mechanism in the [Deep South] region,”
said a statement from the source, who requested anonymity because he was not
authorized to speak to reporters.
After the meeting ended BenarNews tried to talk to
Anas Abdulrahman (also known as Hipni Mareh), the head of the BRN delegation,
but he declined to comment.
The latest round of talks ended Wednesday evening
after eight hours of discussion, a Malaysian security official involved in the
meeting told BenarNews on condition of anonymity, because he also was not
authorized to talk to reporters.
The Deep South encompasses Pattani, Narathiwat, Yala
provinces and four districts of Songkhla province. Since the insurgency
reignited in January 2004, more than 7,000 people have been killed and 13,500
others injured in violence across the mainly Muslim and Malay-speaking border
region, according to Deep South Watch, a local think-tank.
The armed separatist movement against
Buddhist-majority Thailand began in the 1960s. The movement’s primary demand
has been independence for the region.
‘Patani Darussalam’ proposal
Gen. Wanlop Rugsanaoh headed the 10-member Thai panel
at the peace talks.
“The representative from Thai national security
council, as well as from Thai Attorney General Office, are also here,” Rahim
Noor, the Malaysian peace broker, told BenarNews during the interview conducted
at the hotel during a break in Wednesday’s proceedings.
Including the facilitator, a total of 10 officials,
including from the Malaysian police’s Special Branch, were also present at the
talks.
Rahim Noor said the two Thai sides also discussed a
proposal by BRN on the creation of an autonomous “Patani Darussalam.”
Source: Benar News
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Sabah allocates RM164.12 mln for education, religious
development
Jan 13, 2022
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government has allocated
RM164.12 million for the implementation of education and religious development
programmes in the state this year, said Chief Minister Datuk Hajiji Noor(pix).
He said the allocation was channeled to the relevant
government agencies, religious and educational bodies as part of the state
government's efforts to improve the quality of human capital and ensure the
well -being of the people.
“In line with the Keluarga Malaysia (Malaysian Family)
spirit, the allocation will benefit all religions and races in the state,“ he
said in a statement here today.
Hajiji said for this year, the state government had
also agreed to allocate RM47 million for non-Muslim religious bodies, as well
as for vernacular, missionary and private schools.
The amount is the largest ever approved and it
reflected the sincerity of the Sabah government to ensure the welfare of all
races and religions in the state is taken care of, he added.
The Chief Minister said the state government had also
allocated RM1 million to be distributed to various associations and lion dance
groups in conjunction with the Chinese New Year celebration in in Sabah.
Source: The Sun Daily
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Malaysian ISIS fighters in Syrian camps may slip into
country, pose danger: Report
JAN 10, 2022
KUALA LUMPUR (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - At the
height of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria's (ISIS) stranglehold in both
countries, more than 100 Malaysian fighters joined the so-called holy war, some
even with family in tow.
Many recorded their fight on social media too.
But seven years later, following the defeat of the
terror group, and with 16 Malaysians repatriated to Malaysia, more than 50
fighters and their families remain in refugee camps or have unknown location
status.
The Malaysian police have identified 56 Malaysians -
19 men, 12 women, 17 boys and eight girls - who are living in Syrian camps or
at large.
Police said 10 women, 12 boys and five girls are
living at the Al-Hol refugee camp in north-eastern Syria, while nine Malaysian
men are in Al-Hasakah prison. One is in prison in Idlib.
Idlib province, which is near the border of Turkey, is
in the north-western side of Syria, which has been the scene of many battles.
Al-Hol holds individuals and their families who were
in ISIS and until January 2021, it has been reported that the camp's population
was over 60,000, having grown from 10,000 at the beginning of 2019.
It has been reported that there are ISIS militants
from more than 50 countries staying at the camp.
Described as the "most dangerous camp in the
world", it has a huge presence of ISIS elements and regular killings.
"A major challenge for the authorities is that
the Malaysian nationals are held in camps controlled by the Syrian Democratic
Forces (SDI), which the Malaysian government does not recognise diplomatically.
"Given that many of these camps have become the
hotbed of radicalisation, these unrepatriated individuals could be further
radicalised, and later attempt to slip into the country," said a newly
released report.
The report on Malaysia was part of the January 2022
Annual Threat Assessment issued by the Singapore-based International Centre for
Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) of the S. Rajaratnam School
of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University.
The United States-backed SDI is an alliance of forces
comprising Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian/Syriac and several smaller Armenian, Turkish
and Chechen forces fighting for a secular state, according to a report.
Against this complex background, militants linked to
ISIS have also reportedly launched an ideological campaign to persuade these
Malaysians living in Syrian camps to fight and re-establish a caliphate in the
Middle East.
"The Malaysians, who are staying back, have been
brainwashed into believing that the fight isn't over and that ISIS will make a
comeback.
"The ISIS presence in these camps is too strong
and radicalisation continues," said a source.
According to the ICPVTR report, at least 48 Malaysians
(42 men, one woman and five children) have been killed in Syria.
"The recruitment of Malaysians into Syria has largely
dropped in recent years, following the deaths of high-profile Malaysian ISIS
fighters and recruiters such as Muhammad Wanndy Mohamad Jedi, Fudhail Omar,
Akel Zainal and Muhammad Nizam Ariffin.
"The Malaysian militant landscape, which has
traditionally been driven by charismatic individuals such as Wanndy, has
remained leaderless since his death, which may explain the general drop in
militant recruitment and activity in the country.
"However, the exact numbers and identities of
Malaysians still actively involved in militant activities in Syria and other
conflict zones remain unknown," it said.
Muhammad Wanndy, also known as Abu Hamzah Al-Fateh,
was killed in a drone attack in Raqqa, Syria, on April 29, 2017, and was
believed to be the mastermind of several attacks in the region, including at
the Movida entertainment centre in Puchong, Selangor, in 2016.
In that incident, two ISIS sympathisers on a
motorcycle lobbed a hand grenade into the club, injuring eight.
Muhammad Fudhail @ Abu Qutaibah was killed in an air
strike in 2017 in Raqqa by the Syrian military.
The ICPVTR report added: "With regard to its
citizens still in Syria, Malaysia says it will continue to maintain an
open-door repatriation policy.
"Some individuals have expressed a willingness to
return home, while others have rejected the government's offer."
Source: Straits Times
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Arab
World
Senior Hezbollah official says Saudi Arabia must stop
'bullying' regional countries
12 January 2022
A high-ranking official of Lebanon's Hezbollah
resistance movement has slammed Saudi Arabia for interfering in the internal
affairs of the Arab country, urging the kingdom to stop “bullying” regional
countries.
“For those interested in [Lebanon’s] ties with Saudi
Arabia, we [announce that we] want Saudi Arabia to stop the policy of bullying
nations”, Hashim Safi al-Din, the head of Hezbollah's Executive Council, said
on Wednesday, noting that Riyadh “blatantly interferes in our country and we
ask it not to incite the Lebanese against each other.”
“Saudi Arabia is required to stop harming our
country," Safi al-Din added.
His remarks come amid tensions between Beirut and
Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia in October expelled Lebanon's ambassador
and banned its imports after then Lebanese Information Minister George Kordahi
called for an end to the Riyadh-led aggression on Yemen.
Last month, Kordahi submitted his resignation to ease
tensions with Saudi Arabia, but the rift is still ongoing.
Safi al-Din also stressed that Saudi attempts to
subjugate Lebanon are to no avail.
“I tell America, the West and Saudi Arabia that you
have not known the nature of this resistance, the strength of its people and
faith so far.”
He also said that the designation of Hezbollah as a
terrorist group is an “aggression” that the group strongly rejects.
“We want the world to know that whoever targets the
resistance with a word has to hear the answer.”
Hezbollah was established following the 1982 Israeli
invasion and occupation of southern Lebanon. The movement drove out Israeli
forces from Lebanon in May 2000.
Since then, the group has grown into a powerful
military force, dealing repeated blows to the Israeli military, including
during a 33-day war in July 2006.
Safi al-Din made the remarks during a conference for
Saudi opposition figures in memory of the late prominent Shia cleric Sheikh
Nimr Baqir al-Nimr in southern suburbs of Beirut.
During the conference, he stressed the movement’s
support for the opposition in the Arabian Peninsula, noting that “raising the
voice does not mean interference in Saudi Arabia,” but it is rather an act of
defending the oppressed.
Source: Press TV
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Ansarullah: Saudi-led coalition’s use of Iraq war
footage ‘ridiculous, pathetic’
12 January 2022
The spokesman for Yemen’s popular Ansarullah
resistance movement has lambasted the Saudi-led military coalition for having
used footage from a documentary on the 2003 US invasion of Iraq to accuse
Yemeni armed forces of stockpiling ballistic missiles in the besieged Red Sea
port city of Hudaydah as utterly “ridiculous and pathetic.”
“The fact that Spokesman of the Saudi-led military
coalition in Yemen Colonel Turki al-Maliki has admitted to his great scandal
about the footage, and said such missile sites do not exist other than in films
is ridiculous and pathetic,” Mohammed Abdulsalam said in a post published on
his Twitter page.
He added, “What is called the margin of error is the
gravest sin that aggressors have repeatedly committed against Yemeni people
with the support of the United States.”
Maliki, who traveled to Yemen’s southern Shabwah
Province on Tuesday, has officially acknowledged that the coalition’s recent
footage about the Yemeni army’s missile depot in Hudaydah was fake.
Earlier, he had claimed to have incriminating evidence
of weapons development in Hudaydah. The remarks were broadcast on the Saudi
state-run al-Saudiya channel, and shared to its YouTube channel.
“Hudaydah port is the primary port for receiving
Iranian ballistic missiles. The missiles are put together and assembled in [the
port] under the supervision of Iranian security officials,” he claimed, while
displaying purported satellite images of the coastal area.
“I will show you a video which shows the ballistic
missiles in Hudaydah,” Maliki continued. At this moment, a two-second clip of
two large warheads is shown on screen.
The clip was taken from the 2009 documentary “Severe
Clear,” featuring videos taken by US Marine Mike Scotti at the beginning of
Iraq’s invasion by Western forces.
The original footage, shot in Baghdad around April
2003, shows two large missiles, with an American voice saying, “So much for him
[presumably Saddam Hussein] not having weapons.” It then sweeps to the other
side of the room to show US soldiers.
It is believed that the Saudi coalition used the
footage to justify the bombing of a port in Hudaydah – a strategically
important maritime city that has been the site of intense fighting between
Saudi-led coalition forces and Yemeni army troops.
Saudi warplanes launch fresh airstrikes across Yemen
Meanwhile, Saudi military aircraft have carried out a
fresh round of airstrikes on Yemen’s oil-producing Shabwah Province, the
central provinces of Ma’rib and al-Bayda, as well as the northern province of
al-Jawf.
Yemen’s al-Masirah television network, citing local
sources, reported that Saudi warplanes launched 37 air raids on Bayhan, Ain,
and Harib districts of Shabwah on Tuesday evening.
No reports about possible casualties and the extent of
damage caused were immediately available.
Saudi warplanes also struck al-Balaq area in the Wadi
Ubaidah district of Ma’rib Province, located some 175 kilometers (109 miles)
east of the capital, Sana’a, on eight occasions.
Six other aerial assaults targeted al-Jubah district
in the same Yemeni province.
Saudi warplanes also launched six airstrikes against
the As Sawadiyah district in Bayda Province.
Source: Press TV
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Coordination with Gulf increases as US, world powers
align focus on Iran nuclear deal
12 January ,2022
Gulf countries’ involvement in the Vienna talks to
revive the abandoned 2015 Iran nuclear deal has increased significantly as of
late, as GCC officials meet with their US and Western counterparts while direct
negotiations between Tehran and world powers are ongoing.
Saudi Arabia’s Permanent Representative to
International Organizations in Vienna, Prince Abdullah bin Khaled said on
Wednesday that GCC representatives in Vienna met with US special envoy to Iran
Robert Malley to discuss Iran’s nuclear deal and its malign activities in the
region.
“[During the meeting] Mr. Malley reviewed the latest
developments of the Vienna Talks, and we emphasized the security concerns
regarding the Iranian nuclear program and Iran's interventions in the region to
destabilize security through its support for terrorist militias,” the Prince
tweeted.
This announcement is the latest in a series of
increasing coordination between the US and the Gulf when it comes to the Vienna
talks to revive the abandoned 2015 Iran nuclear deal. The GCC has long believed
it necessary to be included in nuclear talks because they directly affect the
region.
The Gulf officials’ meeting with Malley comes a few
days after the US official met with Prince Abdullah to update him on the latest
developments of the Vienna talks.
Gulf countries have long said Iran needed to stop its
malign activities in the region through providing financial and military
support to its network of proxy militias across the Middle East, including in
countries such as Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria.
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz recently
listed what the Gulf considers are Iran’s offenses: “The formation and support
of sectarian and armed militias, the systemic deployment of its military
capabilities in regional countries and its failure to cooperate with the
international community regarding its nuclear program and the development of
ballistic missiles.”
Russia
Nevertheless, mixed signals came out of Vienna on
Wednesday as Western capitals and Iranian officials continue their efforts to
reach a nuclear deal, which has been a priority of US President Joe Biden since
he took office.
Russia’s de-facto spokesperson at the talks said he
felt that negotiations were moving forward.
The US special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, met with a
broad range of officials, including Gulf diplomats to update them on the latest
developments.
“Met with the #US Special Envoy for #Iran Mr. Robert
Malley. As usual, we had a productive discussion on the remaining most
difficult issues to be settled in the course of the #ViennaTalks. The feeling
is that the negotiations are moving forward,” Russia’s ambassador to Vienna,
Mikhail Ulyanov, tweeted.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Lebanon’s PM Mikati denies meddling in judiciary over
financial probe
12 January ,2022
Lebanon’s prime minister said on Wednesday the
government had not interfered with the judiciary’s work, after reports that he
had put pressure on a judge seeking data from banks in an investigation into
the conduct of the central bank governor.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati said last month that
veteran Governor Riad Salameh, who is at the center of domestic and
international probes over allegations ranging from
fraud to embezzlement, should stay in his job to avoid adding to problems in
Lebanon as it navigates a deep financial crisis.
“It is also necessary to clarify what came out
yesterday (Tuesday) about matters related to the judiciary. In this context, I
say it is not true that we interfered in the work of the judiciary or in any
decision taken by the judiciary,” Mikati told a news conference.
Al Akhbar and other Lebanese news outlets said Mikati
had called the country’s top prosecutor, Ghassan Oueidat, and threatened to
resign if Judge Jean Tannous, who is leading one of the probes, continued to press
banks for data in his investigation into alleged embezzlement involving the
central bank governor’s family.
Oueidat did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
Salameh, who has denied any wrongdoing during his
almost three decades leading the central bank, is being probed by the
authorities in Lebanon and at least four European countries, including a Swiss
inquiry over alleged money laundering.
Another Lebanese judge, Ghada Aoun, who is conducting
investigations into other activities by the governor, said on Tuesday she had
imposed a travel ban on Salameh and that the next stage would be to seek to
question him.
Salameh said on Tuesday he had no knowledge of Aoun’s
travel ban order and dismissed allegations ranging from fraud to other acts of
misconduct being investigated by Aoun as “part of the campaign to fool the
public opinion.”
Source: Al Arabiya
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Saudi warplanes target Yemeni hospital amid increased
airstrikes
13 January 2022
Fighter jets of the war coalition, led by Saudi
Arabia, have carried out new aerial assaults on residential areas in the Yemeni
provinces of Sana’a and Hudaydah, killing at least two civilians.
Early on Thursday, Yemen’s al-Masirah TV channel
reported that Saudi-led warplanes had targeted areas in Sana’a’s Sanhan
district and inflicted damage to a hospital there.
Four hospital staffers were injured, two of them
critically.
Similar airstrikes on Hudaydah’s al-Garrahi district
also claimed the lives of two Yemenis, according to a separate al-Masirah
report.
Saudi Arabia launched the devastating military
aggression against its southern neighbor in March 2015 in collaboration with a
number of its allied states and with arms and logistics support from the US and
several Western states.
The aim was to return to power the former
Riyadh-backed regime and crush the popular Ansarullah movement which has been
running state affairs in the absence of an effective government in Yemen.
The war has stopped well shy of all of its goals,
despite killing tens of thousands of Yemenis and turning entire Yemen into the
scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Meanwhile, Yemeni forces have in recent months gone
from strength to strength against the Saudi-led invaders and left Riyadh and
its allies bogged down in Yemen.
UN: $3.9bn needed for help in Yemen
On Wednesday, a top UN humanitarian official said the
world body will require about $3.9 billion this year to help 16 million
Yemenis.
Acting Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian
Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Ramesh Rajasingham told the UN
Security Council that “the biggest constraint right now is funding.”
Source: Press TV
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Yemeni forces inflict massive losses on UAE
mercenaries, Daesh terrorists in Shabwah: Army spokesman
12 January 2022
Yemeni army troops and fighters from the allied
Popular Committees have managed to liberate hundreds of square kilometers of
land and inflict heavy losses on the United Arab Emirates (UAE)'s mercenaries
during the latest advances in the southern province of Shabwah over the past
few days.
Spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces Brigadier
General Yahya Saree stated on Wednesday that more than 515 militants and Daesh
terrorists, including high-profile militant commanders, had been killed during
the operations, while over 850 others have been wounded.
He added that more than 200 UAE-backed militants –
better known by the nom de guerre the Giants – were also missing in action.
Saree said more than 102 armored vehicles belonging to
the UAE-backed forces, in addition to a number of large and sophisticated
cannons, had been destroyed in the process.
The senior Yemeni military official added that Yemeni
armed forces have launched dozens of missile strikes against the positions of
UAE mercenaries and Daesh terrorists in Shabwah, killing and wounding scores of
them.
“Yemeni army soldiers and Popular Committees fighters
continue to make sacrifices out of altruism as they confront Daesh elements and
UAE mercenaries,” Saree said.
The remarks come as the UAE has reportedly dispatched
allied Takfiri militants as well as military equipment to Yemen’s strategic
central province of Ma’rib as Yemeni army troops and fighters from Popular
Committees are gaining grounds there.
Pro-Saudi media outlets alleged that groups of
UAE-backed militants had entered Ma’rib province from neighboring Shabwah
province.
They claimed that the UAE's so-called crack al-Amaliqa
Brigades had advanced into neighboring Marib province, recapturing most of the
Harib district and turning around the fortunes of the battle.
Lebanon’s Arabic-language al-Mayadeen television news
network reported on Sunday that the commander of the Third Brigade of the
UAE-backed forces, Majdi al-Radfani, had died of his injuries after Yemeni army
troops and their allies targeted UAE-sponsored militants in the Bayhan district
of Shabwah province.
The report added that more than 130 militants had been
killed during battles with Yemeni Armed Forces over the past few days and
dozens of others have been wounded. A number of their military vehicles have
been destroyed as well.
Saudi Arabia, backed by the US and regional allies,
launched the war on Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the
government of former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and
crushing popular Ansarullah resistance movement.
Source: Press TV
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Mideast
Deputy Army Commander Downplays Israel’s Military
Threats
2022-January-12
The Zionist regime of Israel cannot equal Iran in
power, General Dadras said on Wednesday.
He added that Iran has the power to response any
threat.
General Dadras noted that Iran imports no weapons,
stressing that all equipment is domestically made and can be used against all
threats.
He also warned ill-wishers against firm response.
Meantime, Deputy Commander of Iran Army Air Defense
Force Brigadier General Alireza Elhami underlined on Wednesday that Iran never
shies from defending its borders, adding that any attack on the country’s
airspace will be harshly responded.
He reiterated that the country’s Army Air Defense is
ready to deal with any violation of Iran’s airspace decisively.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has proven in practice
that it has no compliments with anyone in the world to defend its borders and
airspaces, the commander said, adding that any attack on borders of Islamic
Iran will be responded harshly.
Benefiting from the most experienced and competent
manpower, Iran’s Army Air Defense Force is in its utmost readiness to counter
any attack on its airspace using the most modern warfare equipment and weapons,
General Elhami emphasized.
In relevant remarks on Sunday, Commander of the
Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami said that
the enemies of Iran have become so weak and defeated that there is no safe
territory left for them.
“We are victorious today and this is what the facts of
the field say,” General Salami said, addressing a ceremony in Tehran.
Source: Fars News Agency
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Rubble brings opportunity, and risk, in war-scarred
Gaza
13 January ,2022
The Gaza Strip has few jobs, little electricity and
almost no natural resources. But after four bruising wars with Israel in just
over a decade, it has lots of rubble.
For the latest headlines, follow our Google News
channel online or via the app.
Local businesses are now finding ways to cash in on
the chunks of smashed concrete, bricks and debris left behind by years of
conflict. In a territory suffering from a chronic shortage of construction
materials, a bustling recycling industry has sprouted up, providing income to a
lucky few but raising concerns that the refurbished rubble is substandard and
unsafe.
“It’s a lucrative business,” said Naji Sarhan, deputy
housing minister in the territory’s Hamas-led government. The challenge, he
said, is regulating the use of recycled rubble in construction.
“We are trying to control and correct the misuse of
these materials,” he said.
Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers have gone to war four
times since the group, which opposes Israel’s existence, seized control of the
territory in 2007. The most recent fighting was in May. Israeli airstrikes have
damaged or leveled tens of thousands of buildings in the fighting.
The United Nations Development Program says it worked
with the local private sector to remove some 2.5 million metric tons of rubble
left behind from wars in 2009, 2012 and 2014. Gaza’s Housing Ministry says the
11-day war in May left an additional 270,000 tons.
The UNDP has worked on rubble recycling since Israel’s
2005 withdrawal from Gaza. It also has played a key role in the latest cleanup,
removing about 110,000 tons, or more than one-third of the rubble. That
includes the al-Jawhara building, a high-rise in downtown Gaza City that was
damaged so heavily by Israeli missiles that it was deemed beyond repair. Israel
said the building housed Hamas military intelligence operations.
Over the past three months, excavators lifted atop the
building systematically demolished it floor by floor. Just one floor remains
and the construction crews are now removing the building’s foundations and
pillars on the ground.
In a common scene outside every building destroyed by
the war, workers separated twisted rebar iron from the debris, to be
straightened out and re-used in things like boundary walls and ground slabs.
Israel and Egypt have maintained a crippling blockade
on Gaza for the past 15 years, restricting the entry of badly needed
construction materials. Israel says such restrictions are needed to prevent
Hamas from diverting goods like concrete and steel for military use. Since
2014, it has allowed some imports under the supervision of the United Nations.
But thousands of homes need to be repaired or rebuilt, and shortages are
rampant.
The UNDP has put tight restrictions on its recycling
effort. It says that renewed rubble is not safe enough for use in building
homes and buildings. Instead, it allows it to be used only for road projects.
“We do not recommend any of the rubble to be used for
any reconstruction as such, because it is not a good quality material for reconstruction,”
said Yvonne Helle, a UNDP spokeswoman. She said the metal is separated and
returned to the buildings’ owners because it “also has a value.”
On a recent day, trucks trickled into a lowland in
central Gaza near the Israeli frontier, carrying large chunks from the
Al-Jawhara tower. The site, adjacent to a mountain of garbage serving as Gaza’s
main landfill, is overseen by the UNDP.
A wheel loader filled a bucket with debris that was
tossed into a crushing machine. It produces large pieces of aggregate that the
site supervisor said could be used as a base under the asphalt layer in street
construction. Because of safety concerns, they are not allowed to crush the
rubble into smaller aggregate that could be used in house construction.
The trucks then return to Gaza City where the UNDP is
funding a road project, providing a much-needed source of work in a territory
with nearly 50 percent unemployment.
The UN road projects have provided a partial solution
for the rubble problem, but most of Gaza’s debris continues to make its way
into the desperate private sector.
Sarhan, the Housing Ministry official, said it is
forbidden to use recycled rubble in major construction. But he said enforcing
that ban is extremely difficult and much of the material is creeping back into
the local construction markets.
Ahmed Abu Asaker, an engineer from the Gaza
Contractors’ Union, said many brick factories use the local aggregate, which he
said is not a “great concern.” He said there have been a few isolated cases of
it being mixed into concrete, which is far more dangerous.
There have not been any reports of building collapses.
But Abu Asaker estimates that thousands of homes have been built with materials
from recycled rubble since 2014.
Just north of the UNDP processing center, about 50
rubble crushers were hard at work at a private facility on a recent day,
producing different kinds of aggregate.
The most popular items are the “sesame,” which is used
for making cinder blocks, and the “lentil-like” grind sent to cement-mixing
factories.
Around the crushers were mounds of small aggregate,
with tiny pieces of shredded plastic, cloth and wood clearly mixed in.
Antar al-Katatni, who runs a nearby brick factory,
says he makes bricks using the sesame aggregate. He acknowledged the material
has impurities like sand, but there is an upside. “It makes more bricks,” he
said.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Two Israeli officers killed in friendly fire incident:
Military
13 January ,2022
Two Israeli officers were killed by mistake by one of
their own troops on Thursday, the military said, in their base in the occupied
West Bank.
A military statement gave few details about the
incident late on Wednesday, which Israeli media said involved a commando unit
in the Jordan Valley.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Palestinian man, 80, found dead after Israeli raid was
US citizen
12 January ,2022
An 80-year-old Palestinian-American man was found dead
after being detained and handcuffed during an Israeli raid on an occupied West
Bank village, Palestinian officials and relatives said on Wednesday.
The US State Department said that Omar Abdalmajeed
As’ad was a US citizen and that it had sought clarification from Israel over
the incident. His body was found in Jiljilya in the early morning with a
plastic zip-tie still around one wrist.
The Israeli military said it had carried out an
overnight operation in the village, and that a Palestinian was “apprehended
after resisting a check.” It said he was alive when the soldiers released him.
“The Military Police Criminal Investigation Division
is reviewing the incident, at the end of which the findings will be transferred
to the Military General Advocate Corps,” it said in a statement.
As’ad was a former Milwaukee, Wisconsin, resident who
lived in the United States for decades and returned to the West Bank 10 years
ago, his brother told Reuters.
State Department Spokesman Ned Price told reporters:
“We support a thorough investigation into the circumstances.” He said the State
Department had expressed its condolences to the family and offered to provide
consular assistance.
As’ad’s family delayed the funeral until Thursday to
allow a post-mortem. Islam Abu Zaher, a local doctor who said he had tried to
resuscitate As’ad but found no pulse, said there were no obvious signs of
injury and the cause of death was unclear.
“It is possible that he suffered a heart attack or
some form of panic,” Abu Zaher told Reuters, noting that As’ad had previously
undergone open heart surgery and cardiac catheterisation. “We would need to
perform an autopsy.”
Jiljilya village council head Fouad Qattoum said As’ad
was returning home after visiting relatives when Israeli soldiers stopped his
car, bound him, blindfolded him and led him away to a building still under
construction. Another villager said he saw Israeli soldiers walking As’ad away
around 3 am.
As’ad’s body was found more than an hour later, according
to vegetable seller Mamdouh Elaboud, who said he was himself detained for 20
minutes, then released.
“After the soldiers were gone, we noticed someone on
the ground,” Elaboud, 55, told Reuters. “He was lying face down on the ground
and when we turned him over we found an elderly man with no sign of life.”
Source: Al Arabiya
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Iran sends French-Iranian academic back to prison:
Supporters
12 January ,2022
Iranian authorities have sent back to prison
French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah, who had for over a year been serving a
sentence under house arrest, her Paris-based support group said on Wednesday.
Adelkhah was sentenced on May 2020 to five years in
prison for conspiring against national security, accusations her supporters
have always denounced as absurd.
“It is with great shock and indignation that we have
been informed that Fariba Adelkhah... has been re-imprisoned in the prison of
Evin” in Tehran, the committee set up to support her said in a statement.
“The Iranian government is cynically using our
colleague for external or internal purposes that remain opaque, and that have
nothing to do with her activities,” it added.
The committee accused the authorities of “deliberately
endangering Fariba Adelkhah's health and even her life”, pointing to the death
this month in Iranian custody of poet Baktash Abtin after he contracted Covid.
The surprise move by the Iranian authorities to move
Adelkhah back to prison comes at a hugely sensitive juncture in talks involving
France and other world powers aimed at reviving the 2015 deal on the Iranian
nuclear program.
Source: Al Arabiya
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President Erdogan vows to tame Turkish inflation as
scepticism grows
12 January ,2022
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised on Wednesday
to tame Turkey’s surging inflation, which hit 36 percent last month, but
economists predicted it could push much higher, piling further pressure on the
battered lira currency.
The lira shed 44 percent of its value in 2021, its
worst performance in Erdogan’s near two decades in power.
It stood at 13.31 against the dollar at 1705 GMT, up
from Tuesday’s close of 13.8. Earlier on Wednesday it had rallied as far as 4.7
percent to 13.15, its strongest level in more than a week, though it was not
immediately clear why it had firmed so much.
Thanks in part to costly state interventions in the
currency market and to government measures that helped calm a full-blown crisis
last month, the lira had largely held in a 13.7-13.94 range since last
Thursday.
Speaking in parliament, Erdogan said Turkey was
protecting its economy against what he called attacks and had taken under
control “foreign financial tools that can disrupt the financial system.”
“The swelling inflation is not in line with the
realities of our country,” Erdogan said, adding that the government’s measures
would soon soften the burden of “unjust” price hikes.
Under pressure from Erdogan, who seeks higher growth
by boosting production and exports, the central bank has slashed its policy
rate by 500 basis points to 14 percent since September. It holds its next
rate-setting meeting on Jan 20.
Goldman Sachs said in a research note it expected
annual inflation to exceed 40 percent in January, after which it could surpass
50 percent and remain elevated until the end of the year, when base effects
would lower it to around 33 percent.
“The deeply negative real rates and the high level of
loan growth are likely to keep inflation elevated and continue to put pressure
on the lira,” the Wall Street bank said.
Economic growth
Despite the recent market volatility, Turkey’s economy
is estimated to have grown by a hefty 9.5 percent in 2021, the World Bank said
in its latest Global Economic Prospects report, as it rebounded from the
coronavirus pandemic and related lockdowns.
But the bank also forecast that growth would slow to
2.0 percent this year and 3.0 percent in 2023. In its previous report last
June, it had seen growth of 5.0 percent in 2021 and 4.5 percent in both 2022
and 2023.
Turkey’s $720-billion economy grew 0.9 percent in 2019
and 1.8 percent in 2020, weighed down by a recession triggered by a separate
currency crisis and later by the pandemic.
After the lira slumped to a record low of 18.4 against
the dollar in late December, Erdogan announced a scheme to encourage savers to
convert foreign exchange deposits, compensating depositors for any losses due
to lira weakness.
On Tuesday Turkey added corporate accounts to the
scheme, which the Treasury says has attracted some 108 billion lira ($7.8
billion) of deposits.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Israel says it broke up Iranian spy ring, arrested
five Israelis
12 January ,2022
Israel said it broke up an Iranian spy ring that
recruited Israelis to photograph strategic sites, gather intelligence and other
offenses in exchange for money, The Times of Israel reported on Wednesday.
The spy ring consisted of four women and one man, who
were all Jewish immigrants from Iran or the descendants of Iranian immigrants.
The five were arrested.
“The suspects took photographs of strategically
significant sites in Israel, including the US Consulate in Tel Aviv, attempted
to form relationships with politicians, provided information about security
arrangements at various sites, and committed other offenses — all at the
direction of [an] Iranian operative and in exchange for thousands of dollars,”
according to Israel's Shin Bet internal security service.
In one case, Shin Bet said the Iranian operative
running the spy ring tried to convince one of the suspects to improve their
Persian language and join the military intelligence unit in the IDF.
Shin Bet identified the Iranian operative behind the
spy ring as Rambud Namdar, who pretended to be a Jew residing in Tehran.
According to a Shin Bet official: “There has been an
increase by Iranian intelligence agents reaching out to Israeli citizens in an
attempt to gather intelligence that can assist [Iran] in its fight against
Israel,” The Jerusalem Post reported.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Islamic Jihad warns Israel against tempting ‘regional
war’
11 January 2022
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement
strongly warns the Israeli regime and illegal settlers against keeping up their
provocations in the holy occupied city of al-Quds.
“Any attack on al-Quds will trigger a regional war,”
Al-Quds Al-Arabi, a pan-Arab daily, cited Khaled al-Batsh, one of the
resistance group’s leaders, on Tuesday as saying.
In the event of such a provocation, regional
resistance groups would be fielding their whatever weapon to fight the attacker
“on all arenas,” he added.
Palestinians want the eastern part of the holy city as
the capital of their future state.
The Israeli regime, however, lays claim to the entire
city, therefore, imposing huge restrictions there on the Palestinian freedom of
movement. It also allows its illegal settlers to regularly invade the al-Aqsa
Mosque’s compound, Islam’s third-holiest site, in al-Quds’ Old City, even
providing them with armed protection by the Israeli army.
Al-Batsh reminded the Israeli occupation of the
resistance’s capabilities in defending the holy city by making mention of the
“Operation Sword of al-Quds.”
The name was used by the resistance groups based in
the Tel Aviv-blockaded Gaza Strip, including the Islamic Jihad, to specify
their defensive operation against the regime’s latest war on the coastal sliver
that took place last May.
The operation saw the resistance firing more than
4,000 rockets against the occupied territories, forcing the regime to desperately
call for a ceasefire after just 11 days.
“The operation directed the region towards new
equations that the dedicated [resistance] forces are trying to reinforce and
stabilize,” the official said.
Source: Press TV
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Yemen: Saudi attacks on water facilities in Sa’ada
‘war crime’ amid severe shortages
12 January 2022
Yemeni officials have denounced as war crime the
latest Saudi airstrikes that targeted water facilities providing water for tens
of thousands of people in Sa’ada Province.
Late on Tuesday, Saudi warplanes conducted three
airstrikes on reservoirs of Sa’ada City’s water project in the Talmous water
station.
Speaking from the attack site, the deputy minister of
Water and Environment Hanin al-Darib said on Wednesday, “These tanks and this
institution provide 130,000 civilians with water supply.”
Al-Darib told al-Masirah news network that the attacks
came amid a severe fuel shortage in the country, which has aggravated the
suffering of residents of Sa’ada City.
The official stressed that the drinking water project
was a civilian facility, urging international organizations to fulfill their
responsibilities towards the women and children in Sa’ada.
Meanwhile, Mohammed Jaber Awad, the governor of
Sa’ada, stated that “the Talmous water station is the sole station that
supplies the displaced people, the needy, and resident of Sa’ada City and its
suburbs with drinking water.”
Awad said the city has a population of more than
200,000 people who were benefiting from this project.
He urged the United Nations and human rights groups to
condemn the Saudi targeting of water fields and resources that provide the
residents of Sa’ada city with safe drinking water.
Mohammad al-Sa’adi, the head of the government
corporation of water and sanitation, slammed the attack as “a cowardly action,”
noting that “the city is down now,” while Hamid Mohmal, the deputy head of
Human Council in Sa’a’da, condemned the attack on the facilities that provide
water for 45,000 families as a “war crime.”
Mohmal urged international organizations to denounce
the crime and urgently respond to the damage.
Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies --
including the United Arab Emirates (UAE) -- launched a brutal war against Yemen
in March 2015.
The war was launched to eliminate Yemen’s Houthi
Ansarullah movement and reinstall former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansour
Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.
The war, accompanied by a tight siege, has failed to
reach its goals, but it has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemeni people.
As part of its economic war, the Saudi-led coalition
has imposed an economic siege on Yemen, preventing fuel shipments from reaching
the country, while looting the impoverished nation’s resources.
Source: Press TV
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Africa
We are witnessing ‘hell’ in Tigray, it’s an ‘insult to
humanity’: WHO’s Tedros
12 January ,2022
WHO’s chief said on Wednesday the blockade on the
Tigray region in war ravaged Ethiopia preventing access to deliver food and medicine
has created “hell” and described the situation as an “insult to humanity”.
The year-long war between Ethiopian Prime Minister
Abiy Ahmed’s government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has
claimed the lives of thousands and displaced more than two million people.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, himself from Tigray, said
that all attempts by WHO to gain access to deliver life saving medicines to the
war-torn region have been blocked.
“We have approached the prime minister’s office; we
have approached the foreign ministry; we have approached all relevant sectors,
but no permission,” Tedros told reporters.
He even compared the Ethiopian conflict to the one in
Syria and Yemen: “Humanitarian access even in conflict is the basics. Even in
Syria, we have access, during the worst of conflicts in Syria. In Yemen, the
same, we have access. We deliver medicine. Here [in Tigray] nothing, it’s a
complete blockade.”
He added: “I am from that region. I am from Tigray,
the northern part of Ethiopia. But I am saying this without any bias… No where
in the world you will see a crisis like the one in the northern part of
Ethiopia, especially in Tigray.”
“Lack of medicine has direct impact and people are
dying, but lack of food also kills. On top of that, daily drone attacks are
killing people… and people are living under constant fear. And you can also
imagine how that impacts the people’s mental health,” Tedros said.
Source: Al Arabiya
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At least 10 killed in suicide bombing in Somali
capital
Mohammed Dhaysane
12.01.2022
MOGADISHU, Somalia
At least 10 people, including five security officers,
were killed Wednesday when a suicide car blast targeted a security convoy in
Somalia’s capital, according to officials.
The attack in Mogadishu has been claimed by
al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-linked terror group that often carries out deadly
attacks in the Horn of Africa country.
"We know that at least 10 people were killed,
including five soldiers in the bomb explosion" along with several
injuries, Ali Yare Ali, deputy governor for security and politics of the
Banadir regional administration, told journalists.
He added that an investigation is underway.
Abdifatah Hassan, a police officer in Mogadishu, told
Anadolu Agency that the attack occurred near one of the entrances to Aden Adde
International Airport, adding to earlier reports that put it along 21 October
Road in the Waberi neighborhood.
He said the attack devastated nearby buildings.
Al-Shabaab was also behind a 2017 truck bomb attack in
Mogadishu that took 600 lives -- the worst terror attack in the country’s
history.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Libyan prime minister denies meeting Israelis in
Jordan
Mohammad Erteima
12.01.2022
TRIPOLI, Libya
Libya’s interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh
denied reports Wednesday of meeting Israeli officials in the Jordanian capital
of Amman.
"That didn't happen and won't happen in the
future, our stance is firm and clear on the Palestinian cause," according
to a Libyan government statement.
The statement follows Saudi-run Alarabiya Alhadath TV
claims earlier Wednesday that Dbeibeh met the Israeli intelligence (Mossad)
chief in Amman to discuss normalizing relations. The report did not specify a
date for the meeting.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/libyan-prime-minister-denies-meeting-israelis-in-jordan/2472405
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US threatens action if Somalia misses new election
deadline
13 January ,2022
The US on Wednesday brandished the threat of sanctions
if troubled Somalia misses its latest deadline for elections.
Somali leaders on Sunday announced that elections that
were due to be concluded last year will take place by February 25.
“Somalia's elections are more than a year behind
schedule. The US is prepared to take measures against spoilers if the new
National Consultative Council timeline is not met,” the State Department's
Africa bureau said in a Twitter post.
The mandate of President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed,
better known as Farmajo, expired in February 2021 and was controversially
extended in April, triggering deadly gun battles in the streets of Mogadishu.
World powers have voiced fear that election delays, as
well as the ongoing feud between Farmajo and Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein
Roble, could set off new troubles for a country that has lacked stable
governance for three decades.
Somalia is battling a deadly insurgency by Al-Shabaab
extremists and is in the grip of a drought that has left one in four people
facing acute hunger, according to UN estimates.
Several people were killed on Wednesday in a suicide
car bomb blast in Mogadishu, which was claimed by Al-Shabaab.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Nigeria lifts Twitter ban from midnight, government
official says
13 January ,2022
Nigeria will lift a ban on Twitter from midnight after
the social media platform agreed to open a local office, among other agreements
with authorities in the West African country, a senior government official said
on Wednesday.
The Nigerian government suspended Twitter on June 4
after it removed a post from President Muhammadu Buhari that threatened to
punish regional secessionists. Telecoms companies subsequently blocked access
to users in Nigeria.
Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director general of the
National Information Technology Development Agency said in a statement that
Buhari had given approval to lift the suspension.
“Twitter has agreed to act with a respectful
acknowledgement of Nigerian laws and the national culture and history on which
such legislation has been built...,” Abdullahi’s statement said.
The company would work with the federal government and
the broader industry “to develop a Code of Conduct in line with global best
practices, applicable in almost all developed countries,” it said.
“Therefore, the (federal government) lifts the
suspension of the Twitter operations in Nigeria from midnight of 13th January
2022.”
Source: Al Arabiya
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US vows action if Somalia misses new election deadline
Mohammed Dhaysane
13.01.2022
MOGADISHU, Somalia
The US on Wednesday threatened Somalia with sanctions
if it fails to meet a recently agreed timetable for holding elections.
"Somalia’s elections are more than a year behind
schedule. The US is prepared to take measures against spoilers if the new
National Consultative Council timeline is not met,” the United States Bureau of
African Affairs said on Twitter.
Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble welcomed
the warning by the US.
His spokesman, Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu, spoke to
Anadolu Agency by phone, saying the prime minister is ready to fulfill his
duties and lead the country to peaceful elections.
"We welcome the statement and agree that someone
must be held accountable if they violate the election timetable that was
produced by the Somali National Consultative Council meeting under the
leadership of the Somali prime minister,” he said.
The US warning comes days after Somali President Mohamed
Abdullahi Mohamed announced that he welcomed the outcome of the six-day meeting
of the National Consultative Council at which its leaders agreed to conclude
ongoing Lower House elections by Feb. 25, but he has yet to comment on the
latest warning.
Experts, however, described the move as a symbolic
one, given the challenges and how difficult Somalia's politics have become.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Biden hailed for appointing 1st Somali-American senior
adviser to State Department
Hassan Isilow, Mohammed Dhaysane
13.01.2022
JOHANNESBURG/MOGADISHU, Somalia
The Somali government and intellectuals hailed US
President Joe Biden on Wednesday for appointing Hamse Warfa, a Somali-American,
as a senior adviser to the State Department.
“We are happy and welcome the appointment of Warfa by
the US president. We extend our congratulatory messages to him and all Somali
people," Somali government spokesman Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu told Anadolu
Agency.
Moalimuu said Warfa’s appointment is an indication
that Somalis are very active wherever they live.
Warfa was born in Mogadishu, Somalia. His family fled
the Somali civil war and moved to neighboring Kenya, where they lived in
refugee camps. He later relocated to the US.
He has been working as the deputy commissioner for
workforce development at the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic
Development (DEED).
Warfa, who has held the position since April 2019, has
been the highest-ranking African immigrant in the state government.
“We congratulate Warfa. It’s a fantastic opportunity
for a young, well-educated Somali-origin lad,” said Abdurahman Sheikh Azhari,
director of the Centre for Analysis and Strategic Studies, a Somalia-based
think tank.
He said it is not easy to be appointed to a role in an
administration like that of Biden-Harris with the eyes of the world on it,
especially for a Black Muslim immigrant from the Horn of Africa.
“It’s a golden opportunity for the Somali diaspora as
a community across the world, the US, and Hamse particularly to serve the US’s
highest office in which he can influence the policies towards Africa and the
Muslim world,” Azhari said.
He said the appointment shows exactly how
well-integrated immigrants and refugees can contribute to a large nation like
the US.
“If the Somali communities continue to integrate,
settle and contribute to the Western world, they will produce more successful
leaders who can be role models to young Somalis inside Somalia. This
appointment deserves to be celebrated and commended,” Azhari added.
Prof. Hassan Sheikh Ali Nur, a lecturer at Somali
National University in Mogadishu, said “Warfa's nomination for senior adviser
on democracy and human rights by President Biden is a milestone in race and
religious recognition in the United States of America's political participation
and citizenship.”
Warfa said in a tweet that he is “excited and so ready
to get to work along with incredible public servants in the Biden-Harris
administration.”
Source: Anadolu Agency
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97 Somali migrants repatriated from Libya
Mohammed Dhaysane
12.01.2022
MOGADISHU, Somalia
At least 97 Somali migrants being held in detention
camps in Libya were returned to the country's capital Mogadishu on Wednesday.
Senior Somali government officials, including Foreign
Minister Abdi Said Muse, welcomed the returnees at Aden Adde International
Airport.
"We welcome 97 of our citizens at Aden Adde
International Airport this morning as the federal government worked to secure
their release," said Muse on Twitter, adding that the country's federal
government has been "working to repatriate Somali citizens who have
suffered in foreign countries."
The Somali government, in coordination with UN
international Migration Agency (IOM), secured the release of its 97 nationals,
including five women, according to local media.
One of the returnees who spoke to Anadolu Agency said
Somalis in Libya were facing "horrific" conditions and urged young
people to stop migrating and instead invest in their country.
"Today, we have realized that we have our dignity
only when we live in our country. I can't say more because I am
emotional," he told Anadolu Agency.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Tunisia’s Ennahda party demands release of deputy
chief as his health worsens
12.01.2022
By Yosra Ounas
TUNIS, Tunisia (AA) - The Ennahda party in Tunisia
demanded Wednesday that authorities release deputy chief Noureddine El-Beheiry
from house arrest because his health has seriously worsened.
El-Beheiry, 63, staged a hunger strike following his
Dec. 31 arrest that caused his health to deteriorate, forcing him to be taken
to hospital on Jan. 2.
The party held authorities fully responsible for
El-Beheiry's life who is "compulsorily detained," it said.
"The existing authority is intransigent and
rejects to comply with the requirements of the law and release him as his
health condition reached a stage of extreme danger and is nearly to die,"
according to a statement from the party.
Ennahda urged local and international rights groups to
pressure authorities "to save El-Beheiry's life before it's too
late."
UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Liz Throssell
raised concerns about El-Beheiry's life on Tuesday at a UN news conference and
said he was detained without authorization or explanation and remains under
house arrest.
Interior Minister Charfeddine placed El-Beheiry and a
ministry official under house arrest on charges of issuing false identity
documents to a Syrian couple while he served as justice minister.
Ennahda, the largest party in the now-suspended
Tunisian parliament, characterized the accusations as "politicized"
and called for his immediate release.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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