When In Power, We Will Rewrite Constitution With No Place For Muslims: Pravin Togadia, President International Hindu Parishad
New Age Islam News Bureau
13 January 2023
Hindutva
leader and president of Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad Pravin Togadia (File
Photo)
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• Indian Muslims Portrayed As Extremists At Kozhikode
State School Youth Festival, Invites Criticism
• Military Intervention In Pakistan Politics Has Been
A Long-Standing Tradition: Policy Research Group
• OIC to Send ‘Team of Ulama’ to Afghanistan for
Dialogues on Women’s Education, Employment
• World Muslim Communities Council Chairman Says There
Is No Anti-Islam Mentality In Chinese Culture
India
• Facing threats over Prophet row, Nupur Sharma gets
gun licence
• Jammu and Kashmir terror attack: Amit Shah to visit
Rajouri today to meet families of victims
• Taliban’s Afghan-entry hits Indian companies
projects
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Pakistan
• Pakistan Says Looking Into Case Of Indian Woman's
Allegations; Expresses 'Zero Tolerance' For Misbehaviour
• Symbiotic Pak-US ties contributing towards regional,
global peace: Envoy
• UAE to loan $1 billion, roll over another $2 billion
to Pakistan
• Germany to provide Euro 28 million support to
Pakistan
• SFD signs strategic agreement with Pakistan to
finance oil derivatives worth $1b
• Amid wheat crisis, Pakistani farmers urge govt to
impose 'agricultural emergency'
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South Asia
• Afghanistan: Erdogan calls Taliban ban on women's
education 'un-Islamic'
• Human Rights Watch highlights dire situation of
Rohingya in Bangladesh
• Afghanistan Provides Promising Investment
Opportunities for Iran
• Pakistani, Afghan Foreign Ministers Make Telephone
Conversation
• Talibans unveil their first ‘indigenously built’
supercar, the Mada 9
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Southeast Asia
• Review laws related to alcohol promotion, says
Penang mufti
• Zahid: Umno did not make secret pact with Pakatan on
formation of unity govt
• Indonesia President Regrets Country's Bloody Past,
Apologises for Human Rights Abuses
• After decades, Indonesia’s president acknowledges
state’s ‘gross rights violations’
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Europe
• British Muslim Minister Performs Prayer At
Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque
• Britain is actively considering proscribing Iran’s
IRGC: Minister
• EU urged by over 100 MEPs to strengthen response to
Iran’s crackdown on protests
• UN Extends Tribunal Investigating Assassination Of
Lebanon’s Rafik Hariri
• ‘Human rights are not politics’: Australia defend
scrapping Afghanistan cricket series
• Türkiye rescues 27 irregular migrants after illegal
Greek pushback
• PKK terror group supporters in Swedish capital
continue provocation against Türkiye
• Sweden says NATO membership talks with Türkiye
'going well'
• Iranian terrorists in possible ‘dry run’ in Heathrow
uranium scare: Expert
--------
Mideast
• Israel Says Its Policy On Iran Allows To Expand Ties
With Arab Countries
• International Community’s Silence Perpetuates
Israeli Violence Toward Palestinians, Experts Say
• Israeli army kills 3 Palestinians during West Bank
raids
• Iran summons Sweden’s ambassador over
‘interventionist statements’ by EU
• Turkey using courts, laws to target dissent ahead of
votes: Human Rights Watch
• Former top Israeli legal officials oppose judicial
overhaul
• Iran-France tensions escalate over Charlie Hebdo
cartoons row
• Israel faces new protests over Netanyahu ‘get out of
jail’ card
• Israeli forces arrest 20 Palestinians during raids
in West Bank, al-Quds
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Africa
• Somalia’s President Urges People To Flush Out Al-Shabaab
‘Bedbugs’
• Nine killed in mosque attack in Burkina Faso
• Bombings kill 14 soldiers in central Mali
• French, German foreign ministers hail Ethiopia's
peace accord
• Türkiye, Rwanda agree to boost cooperation on
security, defence industry
• West exasperated at Libyan politicians’ failure to
plan elections
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North America
• New House Homeland Security Committee Chair Has
History Of Anti-Muslim Comments
• Connecticut Man Pleads Guilty To Trying To Join
ISIS: 'I Need Islamic Law'
• US extends visa interview exemption for Pakistani
citizens
• ‘Daesh Beatle’ Alexanda Kotey no longer in US
prison, records reveal
• US says monitoring Iran’s plans to send warships to
Panama Canal
• US must be held accountable for Kabul drone strike
that killed civilians: Activist
--------
Arab World
• Jeddah Airport Starts Free Shuttle Service To Makkah
Grand Mosque
• Improved Syria-Turkey ties should seek end to
‘occupation’: Assad
• Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar gain the cultural upper
hand with heavy investments in the creative economy
• Families of Beirut port blast victims stage mass
sit-in
• Syria’s Assad ties rapprochement with Turkey to 'end
of occupation'
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/rewrite-constitution-muslims-togadia-vhp/d/128868
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When In Power, We Will Rewrite Constitution With No
Place For Muslims: Pravin Togadia, President International Hindu Parishad
Hindutva
leader and president of Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad Pravin Togadia (File
Photo)
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12th January 2023
President of Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad Pravin
Togadia said that there is a need to rewrite the Constitution of India keeping
only the interests of Hindus in mind.
In a video that surfaced online on Thursday, he was
seen talking at a public gathering in Uttarakhand where he categorically said
that Muslims should not be included in the ‘new Constitution’.
“When we come to power, we will change the
Constitution of India and ensure that no Muslim is voted to a government post,”
he said.
He further stressed the need for a population control
law.
“Those who have more than two children will not be
provided subsidized grains. No free treatment in government hospitals or
education in schools. No loans from government banks, no right to apply for a
government job as well as no right to vote at all,” Togadia said.
According to him, these ‘measures’ would ensure a
drastic decrease in population in other minority communities, especially
Muslims.
Later while speaking to reporters, Togadia said that
they have started a programme called ‘Veer Hindu Vijetha Hindu’ which will
include the distribution of Trishuls to nearly two crore young Hindu men and
women for their safety.
“The youth will undergo exercise, play sports such as
kho-kho cricket, kabaddi, badminton, worship weapons during Vijayadashami
festival as well as be a part of the state police force in order to save Hindu
Dharam,” he said.
Source: Siasat Daily
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Indian Muslims Portrayed As Extremists At Kozhikode
State School Youth Festival, Invites Criticism
Image via OnManorama
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Jan 13, 2023
The row over a cultural programme organised recently
during the inauguration of the state school youth festival here has snowballed
into a political controversy. The welcome song of the youth festival held in
Kozhikode in which a community was allegedly portrayed as extremists invited
criticism. Following this, the state government ordered a probe into the
controversy. Criticising Kerala Government over this, Union Minister V
Muraleedharan told ANI that leaders of CPI(M) and Muslim League are trying to
equate the Indian Muslim with Taliban and IS terrorists. “Indian Muslims don’t
roam around with guns and turbans. It is the ISIS, Taliban people who do that.
I’m very much surprised that some of the leaders of CPM and Muslim League tried
to equate Pakistani terrorists with Indian Muslim. I want to request to these
leaders to not equate every Indian Muslim with the Taliban and Pakistani
terrorists,” he told ANI.
Source: Times Of India
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Military Intervention In Pakistan Politics Has Been A
Long-Standing Tradition: Policy Research Group
Representative Image
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12 January, 2023
Islamabad [Pakistan], January 12 (ANI): The military’s
intervention in Pakistan’s politics has been a long-standing tradition,
starting from the former army chief General Pervez Musharraf upto the current
general Asim Munir. The Pakistan army has had an impact on the rise and fall of
political leaders, parties and ultimately the economy, according to a Policy
Research Group (POREG) report.
In actual sense, General Qamar Javed Bajwa was doing
what had been the trend passed on from his predecessors, aiming to bring down
political parties like Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim
League- Nawaz (PML-N), replacing them with smaller parties that could be easily
controlled, according to the POREG report.
Pakistan’s Former Prime Minister Imran Khan initially
became the instrument of army rule. A man with close to no political experience
to lead a hybrid regime. Through this Bajwa became the de facto premier and
positioned his confidantes across the political and economic spectrum,
persuading Imran Khan to accept publicly that they were all on the same page,
the POREG report claimed.
And Bajwa also cleared his way to remain in power and
as a result, the media of Pakistan was silenced along with the civil rights
activists of the country. And it was this time that Pakistan’s economy dipped,
according to the POREG report.
The POREG report further claims that soon Khan turned
the situation around challenging Bajwa on key decisions, playing behind his
back, courting his Generals and whipping up a poisonous campaign against the
army. As a result, Khan was quickly removed from the prime minister’s seat.
However, Khan’s removal from power proved to be more
harmful as he quickly whipped up an anti-army tirade across the country,
creating treacherous divisions within people and the military. The army
leadership was withered by the campaign, forcing the ISI chief to come out in
public to threaten distractors into silence, although it was in vain, As
reported by the POREG report.
Musharraf originally conceived started this political
intervention in regime change as he was long sceptical of PPP leader Benazir
Bhutto and had supported PMLN leader Nawaz Sharif. The POREG report further claims
when Sharif chose to strike an independent course of action, especially
regarding Pakistan’s relationship with India, Musharraf was quick to remove him
and initiated the grand plan to paralyse the two main political parties.
Ultimately Musharaf had to flee the country because of
public outrage and his place was taken by General Ashfaq Kayani and General
Raheel Sharif put into place. And at the end it was General Sharif and his
Rawalpindi Corps Commander, Lt. General Bajwa, who ultimately brought Khan into
power.(ANI)
Source: The Print
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OIC to Send ‘Team of Ulama’ to Afghanistan for
Dialogues on Women’s Education, Employment
Photo: Khaama Press
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By Nizamuddin Rezahi
January 13, 2023
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) plans to
send a delegation to Afghanistan to discuss women’s rights to education and
employment with the Taliban interim government.
The decision was taken at an extraordinary meeting of
the OIC in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, initiated by Türkiye – aimed at highlighting
the concerns over the recent restrictions imposed by the Taliban government
barring women from university education and employment at non-governmental aid
organizations.
OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha told the
meeting that the delegation would focus on the Taliban government’s measures
against the basic rights of education, employment, and social justice of Afghan
girls and women as these rights constitute a top priority for the Islamic
world.
The recent move prompted condemnations on national and
international levels and sparked protests by female university students and
women activists in different parts of the country. Some foreign governments
including the U.S., UK, Germany, Canada, Australia, Norway, Pakistan, and Iran
as well as, European Union, United Nations, OIC, and other aid international
aid organizations strongly criticized the act and called on the Taliban’
caretaker government to reverse the ban and allow Afghan girls and women to get
an education and continue working with NGOs.
However, nothing has changed for the better so far,
with the Islamic Emirate authorities emphasizing creating a pure Islamic
environment for women before they get back to public life, (going to school,
university and work).
This is the second time the OIC is sending the “Team
of Ulama” to Afghanistan for dialogue on the decision to deprive women of
education and employment. This comes as the Taliban regime is under immense
pressure from the international community and partners of Afghanistan for their
latest decisions, which alienate women and girls from public life.
Source: Khaama Press
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World Muslim Communities Council Chairman Says There
Is No Anti-Islam Mentality In Chinese Culture
Islam experts and scholars
in Kashgar Old City, Kashgar City, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous
Region, January 10, 2023. /Chinese Foreign Ministry
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13-Jan-2023
In response to Western accusations about China's
Xinjiang policies, Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, chairman of the World Muslim
Communities Council (TWMCC), said China doesn't have an anti-Islam tradition or
mentality and Xinjiang's rapid development proves the region is moving in the
right direction.
"In Chinese culture and tradition, there has
never been such an idea against Muslims or Islamic civilization," Ali said
in an interview with Xinhua. "I would like to stress that the Chinese
civilization and the Islamic civilization have a long history and have always
maintained friendly cooperation and close ties."
Ali made the remarks during his visit from January 8
to 11 to northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. He was joined by
over 30 world-renowned Islam experts and scholars from 14 countries at the
invitation of the local Xinjiang government.
Upon their arrival, they visited multiple sites
covering the region's historical, cultural and religious work, where they spoke
highly of China's anti-terrorism efforts, preservation of intangible cultural
heritage Twelve Muqam, and solid outcomes under the Belt and Road Initiative.
Ali also praised China's anti-terrorism and
deradicalization policies for bringing about peace and harmony in the region,
saying Xinjiang has not seen a single violent terrorist activity and has
eliminated absolute poverty in the past few years, which is a "remarkable
achievement" and brought concrete benefits to the local people.
From 1990 to the end of 2016, separatist, terrorist
and extremist forces plotted and carried out thousands of violent and terrorist
activities in Xinjiang, killing a large number of innocent people.
Ali, who also visited Xinjiang in 2019, has a deep memory
of the region's struggle against terrorism and extremism. He believes that
compared with 2019, Xinjiang's social development has reached a new level, and
relations among ethnic groups have become more harmonious.
"Xinjiang is going in the right direction,"
Ali said. He condemned terrorists in Syria, Egypt and other regions,
criticizing extremists for killing innocent people, and disrespecting national
laws and human rights, adding that China did what it should to protect its
national interests and people's lives.
He suggested China further promote Xinjiang's positive
image internationally in order to clean up the problem, adding the experts'
visit was to help the Islamic world have a clearer understanding of Xinjiang on
the ground.
"The world needs a secure, stable and prosperous
China, especially for developing countries. Out of the brotherly friendship
between China and the Islamic world, we will actively convey China's image of
development, progress and prosperity and spread a fair voice to the outside
world," Ali said.
He called on the world to put aside political and
ideological differences and respect each other's differences, saying "you
must have the courage to say what you believe out loud, regardless of what
others say."
Source: CGTN
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India
Facing threats over Prophet row, Nupur Sharma gets gun licence
Jan 13, 2023
NEW DELHI: Former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma has
been granted a weapon licence for self-defence, sources have said. She has been
facing extreme threats from Islamic radicals for her remarks against Prophet.
After conducting a security audit, the special cell
and an intelligence agency had suggested several measures. Accordingly, she is learnt
to have shifted to an undisclosed location and has been provided security. She
subsequently applied for a hand gun (short-range weapon) licence and was
recently granted one by the licensing unit of Delhi Police, an official said.
Last year, global terrorist outfit al Qaida exhorted
Indian Muslims to bring Nupur to “justice” for alleged blasphemy, aggravating
the worry of intelligence agencies about the safety of the ex-BJP spokesperson,
who was already facing jihadi threats. Qaida had issued a video statement
through its mouthpiece claiming its members were ready to blow themselves up in
Delhi, Gujarat, UP and Mumbai.
Source: Times Of India
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Jammu and Kashmir terror attack: Amit Shah to visit
Rajouri today to meet families of victims
Jan 13, 2023
NEW DELHI: Union home minister Amit Shah will visit
Rajouri on Friday to meet the families of victims of the twin attacks in the
district that had claimed the lives of seven civilians at the start of this
year. He will also chair a high-level security review at Jammu later in the
day, according to sources.
Shah’s day-long tour to J&K will begin with Dangri
village where he will visit the homes of four civilians gunned down by
terrorists on January 1 and three others killed in an IED blast the next day.
He will be accompanied by J&K LG Manoj Sinha.
The home minister will later reach Jammu to take stock
of the security situation in J&K, with a focus on the Jammu division, and
chalk out future strategies with the Army, para-military, J&K police and
intelligence brass.
Sources said the investigation of who carried out the
attack is underway, though Lashker e Taiba — which had been trying to establish
a foothold in the Pir Panjal region, as per a disclosure made by LeT operative
Talib Hussain arrested in mid-2022 — has emerged as an initial suspect. Around
50 persons have been detained or arrested so far as part of the probe.
Shah’s visit to Rajouri comes even as the J&K
administration and police have initiated a slew of measures since the twin
attacks, to scale up security of the Hindu-dominated areas in the district.
These include sending an additional 1,800 CRPF personnel to set up and man
nakas and pickets and also assist the J&K police in intelligence-based
cordon and search operations. Also, the Army has been patrolling the villages
of Rajouri and the border grid has been strengthened.
Source: Times Of India
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Taliban’s Afghan-entry hits Indian companies projects
Jan 13, 2023
NEW DELHI: Taliban invasion of Afghanistan jeopardised
the infrastructure projects of Indian companies there, but worse the
Afghanistan International Bank is attempting to surreptitiously cash their bank
guarantees even when they have invoked force majeure clauses despite being not
fully paid for the work already carried out.
KEC International, a flagship global infrastructure
company of RPG group, revealed this in its petition filed in the Supreme Court.
Its counsel, A M Singhvi and Bansuri Swaraj, told the SC that following the
bloody invasion and severe political situation in 2021, KEC had invoked ‘force
majeure’ clause to express impossibility in completing five infrastructural
projects it had undertaken in Afghanistan.
Seeking urgent hearing before a bench of Chief Justice
D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha, Singhvi said that while the company
has not been paid up for the work done, Afghanistan International Bank (AIB) is
attempting to invoke the bank guarantees given on behalf of the company by the
Indian banks — Bank of India and Axis bank — for the project work cumulatively
amounting to Rs 300 crore.
Source: Times Of India
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Pakistan
Pakistan says looking into case of Indian woman's
allegations; expresses 'zero tolerance' for misbehaviour
Jan 12, 2023
ISLAMABAD: While expressing "zero tolerance"
for misbehaviour at its foreign missions, Pakistan said on Thursday that it was
looking into the case of a woman visitor who has alleged indecent behaviour by
some senior staff members of the country's high commission in New Delhi.
Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, Spokesperson of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, issued a statement in response to the media queries about the
alleged indecent treatment by an official of the High Commission to the Indian
woman.
"There is zero tolerance for misbehaviour and
mistreatment of individuals visiting our Missions," she said.
"While we are looking into this case, we are
surprised at its timing and the manner in which it has been raised. There are
robust mechanisms in place for redressal of all public grievances," she
added.
She also said that Pakistan attaches high importance
to proper etiquette and behaviour towards all visa and consular applicants.
"All our diplomatic staff are under strict
instructions to conduct themselves professionally," said Baloch.
Source: Times Of India
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Symbiotic Pak-US ties contributing towards regional,
global peace: Envoy
January 12, 2023
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States
Masood Khan Thursday said the upward trajectory in Pak-US bilateral relations
is creating a salutary environment for scaling up the mutual ties in economic,
technological, educational and other important sectors.
He thanked the US government for an additional support
of $100 million for post-flood reconstruction and rehabilitation phase, pledged
at the International Conference for Climate Resilient Pakistan held on Jan 9,
2023 at Geneva.
“We have been partners in peace and we would continue
working together for promoting shared values and objectives,” the envoy said.
He made these remarks during a reception hosted by prominent Pak-American
community leader Ch Nadeem Ahmed in Seattle, according to a press release
received here on Thursday from Seattle (USA).
The reception hosted in honor of the Ambassador was
attended among others by Executive of King County Dow Constantine, Senator
Manka Dhingra, Director Health Seattle, Chris Stearns, Washington State
Representative, Dave Up the grove, Chairman of Kings County Council, Dr Faisal
Khan, Secretary Health Washington State Dr Umair Shah, lawmakers, Council
members, community and business leaders and prominent members of Pak-American
diaspora.
Addressing the gathering, Executive of King County Dow
Constantine while welcoming the Ambassador of Pakistan to Seattle appreciated
the contributions of Pakistani community towards socio-economic development of
Seattle.
Recognizing valuable services of Dr Faisal Khan and Dr
Umair Shah in health sector, Dow Constantine said that the opportunities
offered by the United States have been grappled by vibrant Pak-US community to
excel in every walk of life.
Ambassador Masood Khan in his remarks thanked the
leadership of Seattle and Pak-American community for warm welcome and observed
that the people of Pakistan valued their relations with the United States.
“Our relations have been marked by longevity,
resilience and sustainability. The symbiotic relationship has contributed
towards regional and international peace and stability,” he said.
While appreciating continued assistance of the US
government and its citizenry to the people of Pakistan, Masood Khan thanked the
US administration for using its convening power and garnering support for flood
affected population during reconstruction and rehabilitation phase.
The Ambassador expressed satisfaction over the
achievements of Pak-American community based in Seattle. “Pak-American
community in US is tech-savvy and political savvy,” the envoy observed.
Source: Pakistan Today
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UAE to loan $1 billion, roll over another $2 billion
to Pakistan
Jan 12, 2023
The United Arab Emirates agreed on Thursday to lend $1
billion to Pakistan and roll over an existing $2 billion loan, Pakistan's
information minister said, offering some respite to a nation still reeling from
devastating floods.
Pakistan says it suffered more than $30 billion of
damage as floodwaters swept across the country from July-August.
The loan announcements came as Pakistan's prime minister,
Shehbaz Sharif, kicked off a two-day visit to the United Arab Emirates.
He met UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed
al-Nahyan, and was due to discuss business and economic opportunities with
other officials and business leaders, information minister Marriyum Aurangzeb
said.
"We share a resolve and understanding that the
continuous efforts need to be made to further strengthen trade, investment and
economic relations," Sharif said in a statement from his office.
As a ninth review by International Monetary Fund (IMF)
to clear the release of the next $1.1 billion tranche of funds to Pakistan has
been pending since September, the external financing is crucial for the
country's broken economy.
Pakistan's central bank foreign reserves fell to a
critical level of $5.5 billion in the week ending Dec. 30, barely enough for
three weeks of imports.
The IMF and Pakistan signed a $6 billion bailout in
2019 that was topped up with another $1 billion earlier this year.
The lender wants Pakistan to take fiscal measures to
meet budgetary targets, introduce reforms in power and energy sectors and
review subsidies to farming and export sectors.
IMF officials met Pakistan's finance minister, Ishaq
Dar, on Monday on the sidelines of a Geneva climate conference that made more
than $9 billion of pledges for flood recovery.
Dar said on Wednesday Pakistan was already working on
the fiscal contingency plan to shed energy sector debt and review the
subsidies.
Long-time ally Saudi Arabia has said is also
considering investing $10 billion
Source: Times Of India
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Germany to provide Euro 28 million support to Pakistan
January 12, 2023
ISLAMABAD: Government of Pakistan and Germany signed
two framework agreements -amounting Euro 28 million focusing on socio economic
uplift and sustainable development of Pakistan.
According to the Economic Affairs Division, German
Ambassador to Pakistan Alfred Grannas representing the German Government and
the Ministry of Economic Affairs signed agreements in the energy and governance
sectors.
Alfred Grannas and Dr. Kazim Niaz, Secretary Ministry
of Economic Affairs signed the agreements. Officials from KfW and GIZ also
participated in the signing ceremony.
Germany will provide a grant financing of Euro 23
million under framework agreement-Technical Cooperation Agreement 2021 through
GIZ.
Under this framework agreement three projects will be
financed namely “Participatory Local Governance”,
“Building Transition to Promote Energy Efficiency in Buildings” and
“Strengthening Climate Adaptation and Resilience”. Participatory Local
Governance project with overall financing of Euro 10 Million, will boost
service delivery capacities of local authorities in KP and Punjab to meet local
needs and priorities, while other project involving Euro 3 million-Building
Transition to Promote Energy Efficiency in Buildings has overall objective to
promote energy efficiency through building transition model through political,
legal and regulatory interventions, while using inventories and pilot
demonstration models.
Strengthening Climate Adaptation and Resilience,
having an overall commitment of Euro 10 million, will contribute towards
improving all prerequisites for climate change adaptation and climate risk
management.
Along with this, another Framework agreement namely
Financial cooperation Agreement 2020 worth grant of Euro 5 million is also
signed today. This framework agreement will consist of only one project titled
“Self-Employment for Women in the Health Sector” which will be executed by KfW.
This project will aid to enable conditions for
creating and securing jobs and income opportunities that will further help
meeting international environmental and social Standards and to contribute to
inclusive and sustainable economic growth.
Kazim Niaz, Secretary Ministry of Economic Affairs
thanked the German Government for the support and appreciated the important
role being played by the Government of German Federation in economic growth and
promotion of the sustainable development in the country.
Alfred Grannas, German Ambassador remarked that the
funding provided by Germany in the fields of climate adaptation, economic
empowerment and governance will not only help the sectoral improvement but also
result in socio-economic uplift of the beneficiaries through jobs creation and
sustainable development.
Source: Pakistan Today
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https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2023/01/12/germany-to-provide-euro-28-million-support-to-pakistan/
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SFD signs strategic agreement with Pakistan to finance
oil derivatives worth $1b
January 12, 2023
ISLAMABAD: To materialize directives issued by the
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and the
Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, CEO Saudi Fund for Development
(SFD), Sultan Abdulrahman Al-Marshad, and Secretary Ministry of Economic
Affairs in Pakistan, Dr. Kazim Niaz, signed strategic agreement to finance oil
derivatives worth $1 billion to Pakistan.
According to the Economic Affairs division, the
agreement was signed in Islamabad in the presence of Saudi Arabia and Pakistani
officials.
Aimed at supporting Pakistan’s economy, sector growth,
and navigating economic challenges, the strategic agreement signed on Thursday
comes as a continuation of the support provided by the Government of Saudi
Arabia to the brotherly country Pakistan to build a sustainable economy.
It is pertinent to note that the SFD signed agreements
to finance oil derivatives with a value of $4.44 billion in 2019 and 2021.
The agreement marks the latest steps taken by the
Government of Saudi Arabia through the SFD and the Pakistani authorities to
enhance development in the country.
Source: Pakistan Today
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Amid wheat crisis, Pakistani farmers urge govt to
impose 'agricultural emergency'
Jan 12, 2023
LAHORE: Amid the ongoing wheat crisis in Pakistan, the
farmer's body, Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI) on Wednesday urged the authorities
to impose an agricultural emergency in the country, The Express Tribune
reported.At a press conference, PKI President Khalid Mehmood Khokhar criticized
the government's policy and claimed that as a result, the nation would still
need to buy wheat in 2023.
The PKI leader also referred to market fertilizer
shortages and urged the government to take prompt action. Due to low yields of
crops that are utilized as industrial raw materials, Khokhar added,
"fertilizer shortages will also have an impact on exports."
The Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces have not
made any announcements, while Sindh has set a support price for wheat of PKR
4,000 per maund.
Pakistan is facing its worst-ever flour crisis with
parts of the country reporting a shortage of wheat and stampedes reported from
several areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, and Balochistan provinces.
Prices of wheat and flour have skyrocketed amid the
ongoing crisis in Pakistan, The Express Tribune reported.
Flour in Karachi is being sold from Rs 140 per
kilogram to Rs 160 per kilogram. In Islamabad and Peshawar, a 10 kg bag of
flour is being sold at Rs 1,500 per kilogram while a 20-kilogram bag of flour
is being sold at Rs 2,800. Mill owners in Punjab province have increased the
price of flour to Rs 160 per kilogram.
Balochistan's Minister for Food Zamarak Achakzai has
said that the wheat stock in the province had "completely ended." He
said that Balochistan immediately needed 400,000 sacks of wheat and warned that
otherwise, the crisis could intensify.
Source: Times Of India
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South Asia
Afghanistan: Erdogan calls Taliban ban on women's
education 'un-Islamic'
By Ragip Soylu
12 January 2023
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has denounced
the Taliban’s order to ban university and primary education for Afghanistan's
women as “unIslamic”, promising to follow the issue until it is resolved in a
televised speech on Wednesday.
“It is inhumane and un-Islamic,” Erdogan said while
addressing an international conference on ombudsmanship in Ankara.
“There is no such thing in our religion. No one should
define any ban like that based on Islam. Islam does not accept such a thing. On
the contrary, we are members of a religion that says 'seek knowledge from the
cradle to the grave'.”
The Taliban government last month first decided to
suspend university education for women, and later issued an outright ban on
education for women. However, some girls' schools have remained open.
Since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in
the summer of 2021, residents, elders and religious leaders in the country and
abroad have challenged its claims that restricting education and work for women
is permissible in Islam.
However, the Islamic Emirate says it does have support
among Muslim scholars from other countries.
On Wednesday, Turkey initiated an extraordinary
meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which called on the
Afghan interim government to review its ban on women's education and working in
educational and non-government organisations.
The OIC also decided to send a religious delegation
led by the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA) to emphasise that women's
and girls' access to all levels of education, including university level, is a
fundamental right in keeping with the teachings of the “noble Islamic shariah”.
Erdogan said the Turkish foreign ministry as well as
himself "will personally follow up on" the state of women's education
in Afghanistan and would not leave it unchecked.
Turkish schools in Afghanistan
Turkey is operating 80 schools in Afghanistan through
its state-funded Maarif Foundation.
MEE understands that the Taliban briefly closed 14
Turkish primary girls-only schools last month. Turkish authorities later
managed to re-open girls-only primary schools and are currently trying to
re-open the girls' high schools later this year by assigning female-only staff
and operating the schools in different buildings than the male ones.
One person familiar with the issue said Taliban
officials had not imposed a blanket ban on primary and high-school female
education.
They added that the way the authorities impose the ban
depends on different provincial laws and the judgement of senior education
officials.
Turkey remains the only Nato country to have a
functioning embassy in Kabul after the Taliban takeover in August 2021.
In September 2021, just weeks after the Taliban seized
control of Kabul, the group refused to allow girls to resume high school
education. Touted as a temporary decision, the return to school has been
repeatedly delayed.
In August, Middle East Eye reported that scores of
female Afghan students were prevented by the Taliban from boarding a flight to
Qatar, where they had sought to continue their studies.
Source: Middle East Eye
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https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/afghanistan-taliban-ban-women-education-turkey-erdogan-unislamic
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Human Rights Watch highlights dire situation of
Rohingya in Bangladesh
Md. Kamruzzaman
12.01.2023
DHAKA, Bangladesh
Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated in its latest report,
released on Thursday, that Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh face
"impossible conditions" for safe and voluntary return to their
homeland of Rakhine State in Myanmar.
“Rohingya suffer threats, extortion, and ill-treatment
by Bangladeshi security forces and other authorities,” the rights organization
stated in its World Report 2023.
Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority country in South Asia,
is currently hosting over 1.2 million persecuted Rohingya in 33 squalid refugee
camps in the country's southern border district of Cox's Bazar. The majority of
them fled a brutal military crackdown in their home country's Rakhine State in
August 2017.
“In the Rohingya refugee camps, Bangladesh officials
closed community-led schools, arbitrarily destroyed shops, and imposed new
obstacles on movement,” the report said.
Based on claims made by the refugees, the report
stated that the Armed Police Battalion (APB) stationed in the congested
makeshift tents is subjecting Rohingya to threats, extortion, arbitrary
arrests, and torture.
“The (Bangladesh) government allowed humanitarian
groups to begin teaching the Myanmar curriculum but continues to deny refugee
children any accredited education,” HRW said.
The report stated of the relocation of Rohingya to a
remote island, citing Bangladeshi authorities' claim of better living
facilities: “During 2022, the authorities moved about 8,000 Rohingya refugees
to Bhasan Char, bringing the total to around 28,000 refugees living on the
remote silt island where they face severe movement restrictions, food and
medicine shortages, and abuses by security forces.”
It also stated that, despite the involvement of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Rohingya refugees have been
prevented from returning to mainland camps to meet their other close relatives.
Increasing attacks on political opposition
Concerning the current political tensions in Bangladesh,
the rights watchdog stated that increased attacks on members of the political
opposition have raised fears of violence and repression ahead of parliamentary
elections.
Following the Dec. 7 clashes between police and
supporters of Bangladesh's main opposition political party, the Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (BNP), in which one person was killed and a hundred more were
injured, Bangladeshi law enforcers sued thousands of opposition party members.
In addition, after a clash with police on Dec. 30 in Dhaka,
police arrested over a hundred Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami leaders and
activists. In five separate cases, police charged over 5,000 party workers and
office bearers.
The Jamaat is the country's main Islamic political
party and a key ally of the BNP.
“The ruling Awami League is promising free and fair
elections in response to increased international scrutiny but is belying those
claims by ramping up repression,” Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at
HRW, was quoted in the report as saying.
“Donors and strategic partners should insist that
Bangladeshis can express themselves and select their leaders without fear,
including by supporting independent election monitoring missions,” she added.
HRW reviewed human rights practices in nearly 100
countries in its 33rd edition of the 712-page report.
However, the report added that after the US sanctioned
Bangladesh's elite force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and some of its top
commanders in Dec. 2021 under the Global Magnitsky Act of 2016, extrajudicial
killings and enforced disappearances were temporarily dropped.
"(However), authorities continued to arrest
critics under the draconian Digital Security Act (DSA)," it said, citing
the BNP as a source of information. It went on to state that at least 20,000
cases had been filed against BNP supporters.
In November, the Dhaka Police's Counter Terrorism and
Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit filed a case under the DSA against a
Paris-based blogger, Pinaki Bhattacharya, and two others for "tarnishing
the image of the state" in a Facebook post.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Afghanistan Provides Promising Investment
Opportunities for Iran
By Nizamuddin Rezahi
January 12, 2023
The Iranian ambassador in Kabul says that Afghanistan
is a promising destination for investment, and provides the best business
opportunities in different sectors.
Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iranian Ambassador and Special
Representative of the President of Iran for Afghanistan, stated in an interview
with Bazar New Agency earlier today, that now is the best opportunity to invest
in Afghanistan’s mining sector, and other domains.
Following the withdrawal of the American forces from
Afghanistan, Iran has been able to maintain close relations with the Afghan
Taliban government. As an immediate neighbor with deep cultural ties,
Afghanistan has been significantly important for Iran for different reasons now
than ever before. Expanding bilateral trade relations and investment in various
fields can pave the way for Iran to achieve its economic goals in this country.
Qomi stated that cooperation with Afghanistan in
various sectors is on the agenda of his country, based on humanitarian and
Islamic morals. He further added that there is no better country than
Afghanistan in the mining industry for Iran.
“Afghanistan is a close country for Iran in terms of
carrying out economic activities and transferring knowledge and technology, as
far there is good diplomatic ties, between two neighboring countries, Qomi
added.
Currently, Iran imports basic goods form distant
countries such as Australia, Brazil, and Latin American countries, with
relatively high costs. Therefore, Iran can utilize Afghanistan possibly with
serious economic barriers, as both countries are in dire need of economic
development in their own contexts.
Source: Khaama Press
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https://www.khaama.com/afghanistan-provides-promising-investment-opportunities-for-iran/
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Pakistani, Afghan Foreign Ministers Make Telephone
Conversation
By Nizamuddin Rezahi
January 12, 2023
Amir Khan Muttaqi the Acting Foreign Minister of
Afghanistan had a telephone conversation with his Pakistani counterpart,
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari earlier today.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister in
a special telephone conversation with Amir Khan Muttaqi the Acting Foreign
Minister of Afghanistan discussed the brutal attack which took place near the
entrance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday, resulting in the
death and injury of scores of Afghan people.
Mr. Zardari condemned the attack in the strongest
terms and expressed his deep condolences to the families of those who lost
their valuable lives in yesterday’s terror attack. He said both people of
Pakistan and Afghanistan are victims of terrorism, and we must do all we can to
defeat this menace.
Mr. Muttaqi thanked his Pakistani counterpart for
expressing his condolences and sympathy and added that the enemy want to
disturb the security but the Afghan government and the people will strictly
prevent them.
Abdullah Abdullah, former Head of the High Council for
National Reconciliation in a tweet condemned the attack and called it against
all human and Islamic principles.
The UN Assistant Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) also
condemned the attack and stated that violence is not part of any solution to
bring lasting peace to Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the UK Chargé d’Affaires Hugo Shorter,
Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China,
Iran’s Embassy in Kabul, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation extended
their deep condolences to the families of the victims and wished the wounded a
quick recovery.
This comes as terror incidents have unprecedentedly
increased in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the recent past, resulting in the
death and injury of scores of innocent civilians and security personnel.
Source: Khaama Press
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https://www.khaama.com/pakistani-afghan-foreign-ministers-make-telephone-conversation/
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Talibans unveil their first ‘indigenously built’
supercar, the Mada 9
by: Sutanu Guha
Jan 12, 2023
Taliban-ruled Afghanistan debuted their first
indigenously built supercar that they are calling Mada 9. The car is still in
the prototype stage, and it took more than five years to develop the supercar.
The development was led by at least 30 engineers from ENTOP and Kabul’s
Afghanistan Technical Vocational Institute (ATVI).
The prototype Mada 9 is powered by a modified Toyota
Corolla engine. Performance figures are yet to be revealed, however, Ghulam
Haider Shahamat, the head of ATVI told Afghanistan’s TOLO news that the
modification has been made in such a manner that if you increase the speed of
the car, the engine will be powerful enough to take it. Later on, ENTOP will
fit the Mada 9 with an electric powertrain.
While unveiling the car yesterday at the ENTOP
headquarters, Taliban’s Higher Education Minister, Abdul Baqi Haqqani stated
how the car was going to prove the Taliban regime’s commitment to providing
‘religion and modern sciences for its people’.
Adding on to that, ENTOP’s (the car manufacturer) CEO,
Mohammad Riza Ahmadi told TOLO news that the supercar will “convey the value of
knowledge to the people" which in turn will help boost the image of
Afghanistan on the world stage.
The launch date of the car has not been revealed yet.
However, Riza has stated that the car will first start its journey in
Afghanistan, and “one day it will go international.”
Source: Times Now News
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Southeast Asia
Review laws related to alcohol promotion, says Penang
mufti
Predeep Nambiar
January 13, 2023
GEORGE TOWN: Penang mufti Wan Salim Mohd Noor has
called for improvements in the laws relating to the sale and promotion of
alcohol in the state, saying the sensitivities of all cultures must be
considered.
Responding to an objection raised by Permatang Pauh MP
Fawwaz Md Jan against the sale of beer at the concourse area of a mall in Perai
ahead of Chinese New Year, he said he agreed that alcohol should not be sold
openly.
“In my opinion, laws related to the sale and
consumption of alcohol should be updated and improved so that they are clearer about
what is allowed and what is not,” he told FMT.
“This is to ensure the sensitivities of the Muslim
community are considered and to maintain harmonious relations among the races
in this country.
“It is better not to have promotions of alcohol openly
to the general public. It is sufficient to make it at a designated area just
for non-Muslims.”
Wan Salim also called on Muslims to be more tolerant
towards other cultures.
“Muslims should also be more inclusive and tolerant
towards the cultures of others who are part of a democratic country,” he said.
“The situation is different in the Middle East, where Muslims are a big
majority.
“Muslims in Malaysia must embrace the concept of
muwatanah, the sharing of land and co-existence.
“Islamic teachings are flexible and allow for
adaptation to changes in time, place and environment. A rigid understanding of
religion not only contradicts the spirit of Islam itself, but also prevents the
light of Islam from reaching the hearts and minds of people.”
Fawwaz had claimed in a TikTok post that Muslim
patrons at the mall were upset that alcohol was being sold openly.
His complaint against the mall has stirred a debate
among Malaysians.
Source: Free Malaysia Today
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Zahid: Umno did not make secret pact with Pakatan on
formation of unity govt
13 Jan 2023
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 ― Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad
Zahid Hamidi has stressed that the party did not make any secret agreement with
Pakatan Harapan (PH) regarding the formation of the government after the 15th
general election (GE15).
Speaking before 2,820 delegates at the 2022 Umno
General Assembly here today, the Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman said Umno’s
teaming up with PH in forming the unity government was based on the initial
understanding at the party level that no coalition could form the government on
its own.
“First, we held separate discussions with PH and
Perikatan Nasional (PN) two days after GE15, and we set out several key
matters, including on the question of Islam, Malays and Bumiputera, which
should be jointly agreed to, and also the matter of formation of the Cabinet.
“In fact, in our proposals we demand that the
government to be formed should not be identified with the name of any party and
instead should be known as the unity government,” he said.
The deputy prime minister said PH responded in writing
by expressing its agreement on the basic matters while PN was prepared to
consider BN’s proposals.
Ahmad Zahid also said BN’s participation in the Unity
Government together with PH was also in line with the decree of the Yang
di-Pertuan Agong.
“Apart from that, our stand was in line with the
commitment we gave to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to accept His Majesty’s decree
that a Unity Government be established.
“At the same time, PH also agreed with the Yang
di-Pertuan Agong’s decree but PN rejected it,” he added.
He said the decision made was a collective one
although the pledge signed by GE15 candidates empowered the party chief to
negotiate on matters regarding the formation of the government.
Ahmad Zahid said 54 of the 56 members of the Umno
Supreme Council agreed with the decision for the party to form the Unity
Government.
“It is hoped that this clarification would put a stop
to the polemics on this issue. I know that such matters continue to be harped
on, what more with the party election drawing nearer,” he added.
Ahmad Zahid, who is also Rural and Regional
Development Minister, said the agreement signed by the coalitions in the Unity
Government would serve as a guide for the parties involved.
“Political stability and harmonious ties among parties
in the government, Insya-Allah would reflect a progressive Malaysia. This
understanding will also ensure that the Unity Government can complete its full
term,” he said.
The Bagan Datuk MP said to ensure continuity of the
Unity Government, the parties in the government had agreed to form a joint
secretariat to discuss matters arising from time to time, including political
cooperation.
Ahmad Zahid said the government had also agreed to
form a secretariat to study the manifestos of parties in the Unity Government.
“In this connection, through this secretariat at the
government level we will seek points of understanding and commonality to
realise the promises made to the people.
Source: Malay Mail
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Indonesia President Regrets Country's Bloody Past,
Apologises for Human Rights Abuses
New Delhi: Indonesian President Joko Widodo on
Wednesday, January 11, apologised for “gross human rights violations” that
occurred in his country in various events in the past, starting from the mass
killings of communists and suspected sympathisers in the 1960s.
The president apologised for 12 events in which gross
human rights violations occurred after he received a report from the ‘Non-Judicial
Settlement Team for Serious Human Rights Violations’ on Wednesday. He had
promised to investigate rights abuses in the world’s biggest Muslim country
when he first came to power in 2014.
“With a clear mind and a sincere heart, I as the Head
of State of the Republic of Indonesia recognise that gross human rights
violations did occur in various events,” Widodo said, according to the
translation of a statement published on his official website.
According to the news agency Reuters, some 500,000
people died in “violence that began in late 1965 when the military launched a
purge of communists who they said were planning a coup”. At least one million
people were jailed on suspicion of being communists during the crackdown.
The 11 other rights incidents, which occurred between
1982 and 2003, included the “killing and abduction of students blamed on
security forces” during protests against military dictator General Suharto’s
rule in the late 1990s. Suharto came to power by ousting President Sukarno,
Indonesia’s independence leader, in 1967 and ruled for three decades.
According to the Washington Post, “Widodo also
acknowledged a shooting campaign against criminals in Jakarta and other big
cities between 1982-1985, the torture of suspected rebels in Aceh in 1988-1989,
a deadly raid on an Islamic community in Lampung in 1989, the killing of
students and anti-government protesters in 1998, anti-Chinese attacks and
alleged mass rapes in Jakarta and other big cities in 1998, and deadly raids
against civilians in Wasior and Wamena in Papua province between 2001-2003.”
In the statement, Widodo – popularly known as Jokowi –
expressed “deep sympathy and empathy” for the victims and their families,
adding that the government will “try to restore the rights of victims fairly
and wisely”.
“I and the government are trying to restore the rights
of victims fairly and wisely, without emphasising judicial resolution,” he
said.
The government will also “work seriously” to prevent
serious human rights violations in the future.
“Hopefully this effort will be a meaningful step for
the recovery of the wounds of fellow children of the nation to strengthen
national harmony” of Indonesia, Widodo said.
According to WaPo, human rights groups said Widodo’s
move should not pave the way to “close these cases or give impunity to their
perpetrators”.
“The protracted settlement of cases of past serious
human rights violations has not only caused prolonged suffering for the
victims, but has also become a stumbling block for national political reconciliation
for the government,” the Asian Human Rights Commission said, adding that Widodo
was urged to continue to pursue truth and justice.
These concerns are valid as Widodo’s defence minister
Prabowo Subianto, a former military officer, oversaw the Army’s Special Force
Command when it was accused of kidnapping and disappearing anti-government
activists between 1997-1998. Widodo acknowledged this incident also on
Wednesday.
Usman Hamid of Amnesty International told Reuters that
victims should receive reparations and serious crimes should be resolved
“through judicial means”.
“If President Jokowi is serious about past human
rights violations, he should first order a government effort to investigate
these mass killings, to document mass graves, and to find their families, to
match the graves and their families, as well as to set up a commission to
decide what to do next,” said Andreas Harsono, Indonesia researcher at Human
Rights Watch.
For some, Widodo’s acknowledgement was significant.
“For me…what’s important is that the president gives assurances that gross
rights violations don’t happen in the future by trying the suspected
perpetrators in court,” retired civil servant Maria Catarina Sumarsih, whose
son was shot dead in 1998 while helping a wounded student, told Reuters.
Source: The Wire
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https://thewire.in/world/indonesia-joko-widodo-apology-human-rights-abuses
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After decades, Indonesia’s president acknowledges
state’s ‘gross rights violations’
SHEANY YASUKO LAI
January 11, 2023
JAKARTA: Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo
acknowledged on Wednesday “gross human rights violations” in the country’s
past, including the 1960s massacres when up to 1 million people were killed on
suspicion of being linked to communists.
One of the darkest periods in Indonesia’s history, the
killings of 1965-66 were a series of countrywide political purges targeting
members and alleged sympathizers of Partai Komunis Indonesia — at the time the
third-largest communist party after China and the Soviet Union.
While an accurate and verified count of the dead is
unlikely ever to be known, historians say that a total of 500,000 to 1 million
people had been killed. Another 1.5 million had been imprisoned, while their
family members still face stigma and discrimination, and many were prevented
from holding government jobs up until last year.
“With a clear mind and an earnest heart, I as
Indonesia’s head of state admit that gross human rights violations did happen
in many instances,” Widodo said on Wednesday after receiving a report from a
team formed to help restore the victims’ rights.
“I deeply regret these human rights abuses.”
The president cited 12 incidents of state-sponsored
violence between 1965 and 2003, which also included the killing and abduction
of activists protesting against the regime of former President Suharto in the
1990s and the military’s violence against indigenous people of the restive
Papua province.
Although previous presidents have also acknowledged
some of the abuses, including late President Abdurrahman Wahid, who had
apologized for the 1965-66 bloodshed, Widodo’s statement is the clearest, most
comprehensive admission of the country’s darkest chapters.
“Myself and the government will try to restore the
victim’s rights justly and wisely, without negating judicial resolving,” Jokowi
said.
But activists say more needs to be done to redress the
past violations and injustice faced by the victims and their families for
decades.
“A mere acknowledgment without efforts to bring to
trial those responsible for past human rights abuses will only add salt to the
wounds of victims and their families,” Usman Hamid, executive director of
Amnesty International Indonesia, told Arab News.
“This statement is nothing without accountability.”
Widodo “needs to do more than just airing his
position,” said Andreas Harsono, Indonesia researcher at Human Rights Watch.
“President Jokowi made the correct statement but he
should order his aides to investigate these mass killings, to document mass
graves, and to find their families, to match the graves and their families, as
well as to set up a commission to decide what to do next,” he told Arab News.
For historian Bonnie Triyana, Widodo’s acknowledgment
was, however, a “step forward” for Indonesia to move on from its dark past.
“But we must also ask — what comes next?” he said.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2230606/world
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Europe
British Muslim minister performs prayer at Jerusalem’s
Al-Aqsa Mosque
Abdelraouf Arnaout
12.01.2023
Lord Tariq Ahmad, British minister of state for the
Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and United Nations at the Foreign,
Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), performed prayer on Thursday at
the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.
"An honor and privilege to spend time at the holy
Al-Aqsa Mosque this morning with Director of Jerusalem Waqf Department Sheikh
Azzam al-Khatib," Lord Ahmad tweeted.
The Muslim minister stressed the UK's "unwavering
support" to Jordanian custodianship over the holy sites in Jerusalem along
with preserving the status quo at these sites.
The status quo allows Muslims to worship at the
Al-Aqsa complex and followers of other religions to visit the site.
Lord Ahmad also visited the West Bank city of Hebron on
Thursday and had a tour inside the city.
On Wednesday, the British minister started his first
official visit to the Palestinian territories since he became a minister.
He met with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen in West
Jerusalem on Wednesday before he moved to Ramallah city in the occupied West
Bank to meet Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world's third-holiest site for
Muslims. Jews call the area the "Temple Mount," claiming it was the
site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Britain is actively considering proscribing Iran’s
IRGC: Minister
12 January ,2023
Britain is actively considering proscribing Iran’s
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization but has
not reached a final decision on the matter, foreign office minister Leo
Docherty told parliament on Thursday.
“It would be wrong of me to speculate ... about the
outcome of the government’s current consideration of this issue, which is
active,” Docherty said during a debate on the situation in Iran during which
some lawmakers had called for proscription.
“But I can say that I think the calls right across the
house, and the unity with which these calls are being made on all sides will be
noted by the government and this is something that we regard as extremely
serious.”
Source: Al Arabiya
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EU urged by over 100 MEPs to strengthen response to
Iran’s crackdown on protests
12 January ,2023
Over 100 members of the European Parliament have
called on the European Union to take a tougher stance in response to Iran’s
crackdown on protests, saying that the current measures taken by the EU are not
enough.
In a letter to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell
dated January 11, the lawmakers said that the measures taken by the EU so far
“are by far not enough to deter the Iranian regime.”
The letter, signed by 118 members of the EU’s
law-making body, called on the bloc to take a series of steps to increase
pressure on Tehran, including imposing sanctions on Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali
Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi, and designating the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.
The letter also addressed Iran’s alleged provision of
arms to Russia, saying Iran is “aiding a criminal Russian state, which keeps on
terrorizing the people of Ukraine through relentless bombing of civilians and
critical infrastructure.”
Protests have swept across Iran since September 16
when 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini died after her arrest by the
morality police in Tehran.
The demonstrations have been demanding the overthrow
of the regime, creating one of the most significant challenges to the Islamic
Republic since it was founded in 1979.
Source: Al Arabiya
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UN extends tribunal investigating assassination of
Lebanon’s Rafik Hariri
13 January ,2023
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has extended the
mandate of the international tribunal that investigated the 2005 assassination
of Lebanon’s former prime minister Rafik Hariri until the end of the year to
complete non-judicial functions so it can cease operation.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Thursday that a
completion plan, developed and agreed by the United Nations and the government
of Lebanon, will guide the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to ensure the
completion of its work by Dec. 31.
It includes preserving record and archives, responding
to requests for information, and ensuring the protection and support of victims
and witnesses who cooperated with its work, he said.
The tribunal’s mandate had been set to expire at the
end of February.
Last June, appeals judges sentenced two members of the
militant Hezbollah group to life imprisonment for their roles in the assassination.
Hassan Habib Merhi and Hussein Hassan Oneissi were
tried in abstentia at the court near The Hague, Netherlands, and convicted on
appeal in March of five crimes, including being accomplices to the intentional
homicide of Hariri and 21 others, and the wounding of 226 others.
They were killed and injured when plotters detonated a
huge truck bomb outside a hotel on Beirut’s seafront as Hariri’s motorcade
drove past.
The tribunal’s president, Czech judge Ivana
Hrdličková, told the court in June that Merhi and Oneissi were receiving life
sentences for each of their five convictions and if they are ever captured and
imprisoned, the sentences would be served concurrently.
Prosecutors appealed after the two men were acquitted
in April 2020 following a lengthy trial that found another Hezbollah member,
Salim Ayyash, guilty of involvement in the Feb. 14, 2005, blast. Ayyash, who
also was tried in absentia, received a life prison sentence.
When launched in the wake of the attack, the Hariri
tribunal raised hopes that for the first time in multiple instances of
political violence in Lebanon, the truth would emerge, and the perpetrators
would be held to account.
But for many in Lebanon, the tribunal failed on both
counts. Many suspects are dead or out of reach and the prosecution was unable
to present a cohesive picture of the bombing plot or who ordered it.
The trial judges said there was no evidence that
Hezbollah’s leadership and Syria were involved in the attack but noted the
assassination happened as Hariri and his political allies were discussing
calling for Syria to withdraw its forces from Lebanon.
Source: Al Arabiya
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‘Human rights are not politics’: Australia defend
scrapping Afghanistan cricket series
January 13, 2023
Australia on Friday defended their hotly contested
decision to pull out of a cricket series against Afghanistan following a
Taliban crackdown on women’s “basic human rights”.
Australia and Afghanistan were scheduled to play three
ODIs in the United Arab Emirates in March but Cricket Australia (CA) scrapped
the series after consultation with stakeholders, including the Australian
government.
“Basic human rights is not politics,” CA chief
executive Nick Hockley said in a statement sent to AFP after Afghanistan’s
cricket board lashed the cancellation as “pathetic”.
“It is clearly a very challenging and sad situation.
We did not take this decision lightly,” Hockley said.
Cricket Australia had been hopeful of playing
Afghanistan and was in regular contact with the Afghanistan Cricket Board, he
added.
“However announcements by the Taliban in late November
and late December signalling the deterioration of basic human rights for women
in Afghanistan led to our decision to withdraw from these games,” he said.
Hockley said the Australian cricket authority
consulted with the Australian government and others before scrapping the games.
He also responded to Afghanistan’s best-known
international cricketer and leg-spinner Rashid Khan, who had criticised the
cancellation and warned he would be “strongly considering” his future in
Australia’s Big Bash League.
“We acknowledge and applaud Rashid Khan’s and other
Afghanistan cricketers’ comments at the time condemning the Taliban’s decision
to ban women from universities. Rashid will always be welcome in the BBL,”
Hockley said.
Australia was committed to growing the game for women
and men, the cricket chief said, adding that he hoped better conditions for
women and girls in Afghanistan would allow cricket between the countries to resume
“in the not too distant future”.
Rashid mulls BBL future after Australia snub
Meanwhile, Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan is
considering his future in the Big Bash League (BBL) after Australia’s men’s
team withdrew from their ODI series against Afghanistan.
“I am really disappointed to hear that Australia have
pulled out of the series to play us in March,” Rashid, who plays for the
Adelaide Strikers, said in a statement on Twitter.
“I take great pride in representing my country, and we
have made great progress on the world stage. This decision from CA sets us back
in that journey.”
Rashid played eight times for the Strikers this
season, but left the BBL this month to compete in South Africa’s new Twenty20
league, in which he is captain of MI Cape Town.
“If playing vs Afghanistan is so uncomfortable for
Australia, then I wouldn’t want to make anyone uncomfortable with my presence
in the BBL. Therefore, I will be strongly considering my future in that
competition,” Rashid said.
Australia were scheduled to play a Test match against
Afghanistan in November, 2021 but it was postponed after the Taliban seized
power in August of that year.
Naveen slams Australia over ‘childish decision’
Afghan bowler Naveen-ul-Haq also pointed to
Australia’s previous withdrawal on Twitter.
“Time to say won’t be participating in big bash after
this until they stop these childish decisions,” said Naveen, who plays for the
Sydney Sixers.
Source: Dawn
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Türkiye rescues 27 irregular migrants after illegal
Greek pushback
Huseyin Bagis
12.01.2023
The Turkish Coast Guard rescued 27 irregular migrants
Thursday who were illegally pushed back into Turkish territorial waters by
Greek authorities, according to officials.
Teams were dispatched off the coast of Menderes in the
Aegean province of Izmir following reports of migrants on boats, the Turkish
Coast Guard Command said in a statement.
After they were rescued, the migrants were taken to
the provincial migration office.
Türkiye has been a key transit point for irregular
migrants wanting to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those
fleeing war and persecution.
Human rights groups and media outlets have frequently
reported on illegal pushbacks and other human rights breaches by Greek
authorities.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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PKK terror group supporters in Swedish capital
continue provocation against Türkiye
Atila Altuntas
12.01.2023
STOCKHOLM
Supporters of the PKK/YPG terror group in Sweden
continued their provocations against Türkiye on Thursday.
Terror supporters gathered in front of the historical
City Hall in the capital Stockholm, hung a puppet -- likened to Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- by the feet on a pole in front of the
building and shared video footage of this moment on social media.
Video footage posted later on a social media account
affiliated with the terror group showed that threats targeting Türkiye and
Erdogan were made with Turkish subtitles.
There were insulting comments under the post, in which
it was stated that there would be a show of charity for NATO on Jan. 21 in
Stockholm, also drew attention.
On Nov. 21, 2022, supporters of the PKK terror group
projected images containing terrorist organization propaganda, insulting
Turkish President Erdogan to the chancellery of the Turkish Embassy in
Stockholm.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Sweden says NATO membership talks with Türkiye 'going
well'
Burak Bir
12.01.2023
LONDON
Sweden’s prime minister on Wednesday said that talks
with Türkiye over the NATO membership process are "going very well",
adding his previous remarks were misunderstood.
"We have the fullest respect for the fact that
Türkiye and every other of the 30 NATO countries make their own domestic
decisions on whether to ratify or not," Ulf Kristersson, told reporters in
the capital Stockholm.
He pointed out that there was a
"misunderstanding" on his previous comment on Türkiye's demands.
On Sunday, the Swedish premier said that Stockholm
cannot fulfill Ankara's all conditions for approving its application to join
NATO.
However, Kristersson said today that he respected
Ankara’s right to make its own decision on ratification.
"We have shown for Türkiye that we are doing
exactly what we promised to do," he said, adding: "It has been a very
rapid process. We feel very strong support from countries."
He also said that there are limits to what Sweden can
do when it comes to extraditing individuals to Ankara, according to the
Politico website.
Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO in
May 2022, abandoning decades of military non-alignment, a decision spurred by
Russia's war on Ukraine which started on Feb. 24.
But Türkiye – a NATO member for more than 70 years –
voiced objections, accusing the two countries of tolerating and even supporting
terror groups, including the PKK and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization
(FETO).
Source: Anadolu Agency
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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/sweden-says-nato-membership-talks-with-turkiye-going-well/2785587
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Iranian terrorists in possible ‘dry run’ in Heathrow
uranium scare: Expert
January 12, 2023
LONDON: Iranian terrorists may have staged a “dry run”
to test the capabilities of UK customs authorities after a uranium shipment was
discovered at Heathrow Airport, the Daily Telegraph reported on Thursday.
The consignment was discovered on Dec. 29 — amid an
eight-day strike by Border Force staff — at the London airport, where
authorities traced its origins to an Oman Air flight from Pakistan.
The deadly shipment was intended to be sent to an
Iran-registered business in the UK, but may have been used as part of a “dry
run” to test the efficiency of the British customs system, said Philip Ingram,
a former military intelligence officer.
The recipient of the shipment has been contacted by
police but no arrests have been made in the case. The UK’s domestic
intelligence agency MI5 is also involved in the investigation.
Ingram told the Telegraph: “If you were to use
depleted uranium in a ‘dirty bomb,’ like any isotope it would cause a
contamination issue — but there are a lot more radioactive isotopes out there
that would be easier to get hold of and would have a much greater effect.
“It’s definitely a possibility that this could have
been some form of reconnaissance or dry run to test how the security was operating
during the industrial action.”
Ingram praised Heathrow authorities for detecting the
radioactive package, which contained small amounts of uranium hidden in metal
bars.
A security source said: “We get quite a lot of hits,
but a lot are false positives and you have to respond to every single one. It
is unusual for it to be real.”
Richard Smith, chief of the Metropolitan Police
counterterror command, said: “I want to reassure the public that the amount of
contaminated material was extremely small and has been assessed by experts as
posing no threat to the public.
“Although our investigation remains ongoing, from our
inquiries so far, it does not appear to be linked to any direct threat.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2231341/world
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Mideast
Israel says its policy on Iran allows to expand ties
with Arab countries
Abdelraouf Arnaout
12.01.2023
JERUSALEM
Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer said
Thursday that his country’s policy towards Iran allows to expand relations with
Arab countries.
According to a statement by his office, Dermer said
his ministry's priority is to ensure that "evil regime in Iran, which
openly calls and actively works to destroy the one and only Jewish state, does
not achieve that goal."
Dermer, who is currently visiting the United States,
said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is determined to expand ties with new
Arab countries and hopes to work closely with the Biden administration on this
issue.
"I think the policy towards Iran is a critical
part of expanding that [normalization with Arab countries] because I think it
opens the space for Arab leaders to move into a public alliance with Israel as
we face this common enemy together," he added.
There was no comment yet from Iran on the Israeli
minister’s statements.
Israel accuses Iran of seeking to build a nuclear
bomb, a claim denied by Tehran, which says its program is designed for peaceful
purposes.
Dermer is the first Israeli minister to visit the US
since the Netanyahu government was sworn in on December 29, following elections
in November, which gave his right-right bloc a simple majority to form a new
government.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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International community’s silence perpetuates Israeli
violence toward Palestinians, experts say
MOHAMMED NAJIB
January 12, 2023
RAMALLAH: Palestinian officials have blamed the
silence of the international community for the continuation of unabated
“Israeli crimes, practices, and racist laws.”
It came as the Israeli army killed three Palestinians
during separate incidents in the West Bank over the past 24 hours, according to
Palestinian medical sources: Samir Aslan, 41, from the Qalandia camp, north of
Jerusalem; Ahmed Abu Junaid, 21, from the Balata camp in Nablus; and Sanad
Samamra, 18, from the town of Samu’ near Hebron.
Abu Junaid was shot in the head during an Israeli army
raid, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Aslan was detained when he tried to defend his son,
Ramzi, who was being arrested during a massive raid at their camp. Aslan was
bleeding but Israeli forces prevented him from receiving first aid, sources
said.
“The crime of executing Aslan in his home in Qalandia
camp is part of a series of daily crimes committed by the fascist Israeli
occupation army,” said Rawhi Fattouh, president of the Palestinian National
Council.
“Since the beginning of this year, the occupation army
has executed seven people, wounded dozens, and destroyed many properties.
“The silence of the international community on the
Israeli occupation’s crimes, practices, and racist laws that target our
Palestinian people and their existence, enable Israel to persist with its
crimes and become a state above the law, flouting all international agreements,
resolutions, and principles of human rights.”
This week, Israeli authorities said they will revoke
the citizenship or residency of any prisoner accused of carrying out an attack,
or receiving funds from the Palestinian Authority to participate in one.
According to the draft law, “a citizen or resident who
is proven to have received money from the PA to carry out a terrorist act will
be considered as someone who, on his own initiative, waived his citizenship or
residency, and the minister of interior will revoke their status.”
Senior Palestinian sources said that US authorities
are working quietly with Palestinians and the new Israeli government in an
effort to prevent further action that could undermine the fragile PA.
Hussein Al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the Palestine
Liberation Organization’s executive committee, held talks on Thursday in
Ramallah with Hadi Amr, the US special representative for Palestinian affairs,
during which he stressed the need for “a political horizon that preserves the
two-state solution under international legitimacy, and for Israel to stop all
its unilateral measures and daily attacks against the Palestinian people, which
destroy this solution and create a challenging and complex atmosphere that
affects security and stability.”
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh also met
Amr and told him the US administration “is required to move urgently to put an
end to the unilateral Israeli measures and threats that undermine the national
authority and systematically end the possibility of establishing a Palestinian
state.”
Shtayyeh said the upcoming visit by US Secretary of
State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to the region
should carry a message of hope to the Palestinian people, and a clear statement
calling on the Israeli government to halt its violations and unilateral
measures, and respect international laws and signed agreements.
He also called for US authorities to put real pressure
on the Israeli government to release Palestinian funds that it deducts
illegally.
“The Palestinian people and their leadership will not
accept the fait accompli, and we will move forward in the popular, political,
diplomatic and legal struggle in the face of the Israeli measures,” he added.
Palestinian political analyst Ghassan Al-Khatib told
Arab News: “While US President Joe Biden’s administration could not fulfill its
promise to the Palestinians to open an American consulate in East Jerusalem, it
adjusted the US representative office to send its reports to the US State
Department directly and not to Washington’s embassy in Jerusalem.
“The US has not yet exerted pressure on Israel, and
the continuation of this method will not work in discouraging Israel from
continuing its aggressive policies toward the Palestinians.”
An American policy “without teeth toward Israel will
not work,” he added.
If the US genuinely and sincerely wants to help the PA
and prevent its collapse, Al-Khatib said, “it could provide financial
assistance to the authority and pressure Israel not to deduct from Palestinian
tax money.”
Washington could also lobby its Arab friends to help
the Palestinians financially, he suggested.
“The US is doing nothing to reduce Israeli aggression
toward the PA and to ensure the survival of the PA and prevent its collapse,”
he said.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2231406/middle-east
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Israeli army kills 3 Palestinians during West Bank
raids
13 January ,2023
The Israeli military shot and killed three
Palestinians during arrest raids in the occupied West Bank on Thursday,
Palestinian health officials said, the latest bloodshed in months of rising
violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
The military, which has been carrying out near-nightly
raids in the territory since early last year, said soldiers who entered the
Qalandia refugee camp before dawn were bombarded by rocks and cement blocks.
In response, the military said troops opened fire at
Palestinians throwing objects from rooftops. The Palestinian Health Ministry identified
the man killed as Samir Aslan, 41.
Aslan’s sister, Noura Aslan, said Israeli security
forces broke into their house at 2:30 a.m. to arrest his 18-year-old son,
Ramzi. As Ramzi was being hauled away, his father sprinted to the rooftop to
see what was happening, she said. Within moments, an Israeli sniper shot him in
the back.
Aslan’s wife called an ambulance, but Noura said the
army initially prevented medics from reaching the house. As Aslan was bleeding,
his family dragged his body down the stairs and called for help. An ambulance
picked him up some 20 minutes later, Noura said.
The Israeli army also raided the northern occupied
West Bank on Thursday, entering the village of Qabatiya south of the flash
point city of Jenin and surrounding a house in the town. The Palestinian Health
Ministry reported that Israeli forces fatally shot 25-year-old Habib Kamil and
18-year-old Abdel Hadi Nazal.
The Israeli army said security forces entered Qabatiya
to arrest Muhammad Alauna, a Palestinian suspected of planning militant
attacks. The army said soldiers shot at a number of Palestinians during the
raid, including a man who tried to flee the scene with Alauna, a gunman who
fired at the forces from inside his car as well as a group of Palestinians
throwing rocks at Israeli troops. It was not immediately clear what Kamil was
doing when he was shot.
The deaths on Thursday bring the total number of
Palestinians killed in the West Bank this year to nine, including two
Palestinians killed Wednesday in separate incidents in the West Bank. One was
killed during an Israeli military arrest raid in the territory’s north and
another after stabbing and wounding an Israeli man in a southern settlement.
Israel ramped up its military raids last spring, after
a spate of Palestinian attacks against Israelis killed 19 people. Israel says
the operations are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart future
attacks. The Palestinians see them as further entrenchment of Israel’s 55-year,
open-ended occupation of land they seek for their future state.
The raids sharply escalated tensions and helped fuel
another wave of Palestinian attacks in the fall that killed 10 Israelis. Nearly
150 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank and east
Jerusalem in 2022, Israeli rights group B’Tselem reported, making last year the
deadliest since 2004.
The heightened violence comes as Israel’s new ultranationalist
and ultra-Orthodox government — it’s most right-wing ever — is charting its
legislative agenda, one that is expected to take a tough line against the
Palestinians and drive up settlement construction in the West Bank.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Iran summons Sweden’s ambassador over ‘interventionist
statements’ by EU
12 January ,2023
Iran on Thursday summoned the Swedish ambassador to
Tehran, whose country holds the European Union’s presidency, over
“interventionist statements” made by EU officials regarding Iran’s internal
affairs, state media reported.
“Interference in the internal affairs of countries is
against all international rules and regulations, and the Islamic Republic of Iran
definitely does not tolerate it,” an official from Iran’s foreign ministry told
the Swedish ambassador, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
The EU, along with other nations, has condemned Iran’s
crackdown on protests that have been ongoing for several months.
The demonstrations, which were sparked by the death of
22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini after her arrest by the morality
police in Tehran in mid-September, have been demanding the overthrow of the
regime, creating one of the most significant challenges to the Islamic Republic
since it was founded in 1979.
Iranian authorities view the protests as “riots”
backed by foreign powers and have so far executed four protesters.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Turkey using courts, laws to target dissent ahead of
votes: Human Rights Watch
12 January ,2023
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has
cracked down more aggressively on dissent and political opponents ahead of
Turkish elections with censorship and prison sentences, Human Rights Watch said
on Thursday.
Presidential and parliamentary elections are set for
no later than mid-June but Erdogan has said they could come earlier.
Polls show he and his Islamist-rooted AK Party could
lose after 20 years in power.
In its annual World Report, the rights watchdog said
authorities were using online censorship and disinformation laws to muzzle
independent media, the opposition and dissenting voices.
“The government has carried out highly abusive
maneuvers against the political opposition, blanket bans on public protest, and
the jailing and conviction of human rights defenders and perceived critics by
courts operating under political orders,” Hugh Williamson, the Europe and
Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in the report.
Turkey’s Directorate of Communications did not
immediately respond to a request to comment on the report.
Last month, a court sentenced Istanbul Mayor Ekrem
Imamoglu, a potential Erdogan challenger from the main opposition Republican
People’s Party (CHP), to two years and seven months in prison and handed him a
politics ban for insulting public officials in 2019, a verdict he has appealed.
Erdogan said in response that Turks have no right to
ignore legal rulings and that courts would correct any mistakes in the appeal
process.
This month, the top court froze the bank accounts of
the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), parliament’s third-biggest
party, while it hears a case on shutting it down over alleged ties to
militants. The party denies the claims.
In October, Turkey adopted a law proposed by the AK
Party that would jail journalists and social media users for up to three years
for spreading “disinformation,” sparking deep concerns over free speech.
ritics have said there is no clear definition of
“false or misleading information”, leaving the law open to abuse by courts that
are not independent. The government denies their claims that courts cracked
down on open dissent and silenced opponents in recent years.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Former top Israeli legal officials oppose judicial
overhaul
12 January ,2023
Former top Israeli legal officials spoke out Thursday
against sweeping changes to the country’s justice system planned by the new
conservative government, lending their voices to a growing outcry against the
proposed overhaul.
Seven former attorneys general who have served in the
post throughout the last five decades signed a letter of protest, along with
four other former senior legal officials. Three of the former attorneys general
were appointed under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose current justice
minister is spearheading the legal overhaul. The letter, published in Israeli
media, denounced the proposed changes, saying they are destructive to the
country’s legal system.
“We call on the government to withdraw the proposed
plan and prevent the serious harm to the justice system and the rule of law,”
the letter said.
The former officials said the changes would turn the
Supreme Court, often the last recourse for Israelis and Palestinians seeking to
challenge what they see as discriminatory policies, into a “pseudo-political
body that would be suspected of bending the law in favor of the government.”
Israel’s new government has made overhauling the
country’s legal system a centerpiece of its agenda. It wants to weaken the
Supreme Court, allowing lawmakers to pass laws the court has struck down with a
simple majority in parliament. Other changes include politicizing the
appointment of judges, reducing the independence of government legal advisors
or ignoring their counsel.
The legal changes could help Netanyahu, who is on
trial for corruption, evade conviction, or even make his trial disappear
entirely. Since being indicted in 2019, Netanyahu has railed publicly against
the justice system, calling it biased against him. He says the legal overhaul will
be carried out responsibly.
The plan has prompted an uproar over what critics say
is a major threat to the country’s democratic fundamentals. The country’s
current attorney general has already fiercely criticized the proposed changes
and a protest against them last week drew thousands. Alan Dershowitz, a staunch
Israel defender, has also come out against the plan, saying were he in Israel
he would be joining the demonstrations.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Iran-France tensions escalate over Charlie Hebdo
cartoons row
Syed Zafar Mehdi
12.01.2023
TEHRAN, Iran
Tensions between Iran and France are on the boil over
the publication of caricatures of the Iranian supreme leader, with the
country’s top general warning of revenge.
French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo published a
series of caricatures depicting Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in its special issue
last week, which Iranian authorities deemed “insulting” to the top political
and religious figure.
Many Iranian officials, including the president,
foreign minister, top military commanders and senior parliamentarians, have
issued statements criticizing the magazine and the French government.
There have also been a series of demonstrations in
front of the French Embassy in Tehran in recent days amid growing calls to
review diplomatic ties with France.
In the most scathing reaction to the publication of
the cartoons, which were part of a competition announced by the magazine last
month, the chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Tuesday
said Muslims will “sooner or later” exact revenge against Charlie Hebdo.
Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, speaking at an event in
south-eastern Iran’s Zahedan city, asked the owners of Charlie Hebdo magazine
to “look into the fate of Salman Rushdie”.
Rushdie was attacked during an event in New York on
August 12 last year, almost 33 years after Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Khomeini issued a fatwa (decree) against him for his controversial novel “The
Satanic Verses” published in 1988.
The IRGC commander said the French satirical magazine,
which has previously been involved in controversy over the publication of
cartoons of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, made a “big mistake” by publishing
Khamenei’s caricatures and will see the revenge.
“Do not play with (the sentiments of) Muslims,” Salami
said. “Salman Rushdie insulted the Quran and the Holy Prophet of Islam 30 years
ago and went into hiding.”
"After several years, a young Muslim man bravely
took revenge on Salman Rushdie and no one could save him," he added.
The IRGC general, however, didn’t explain the nature
of “revenge” against the French magazine.
Indecent act
The cartoons featuring Ayatollah Khamenei were
published days before the 8th anniversary of a terrorist attack on Charlie
Hebdo headquarters in January 2015, which killed 17 people.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian last
week accused France of choosing "the wrong path" by allowing the
publication of cartoons mocking the country’s top figure.
“The insulting and indecent act of a French
publication in publishing cartoons against the religious and political
authority will not go without a decisive and effective response," he wrote
on Twitter.
The Foreign Ministry also announced a decision to
review France’s cultural activities in Iran and the closure of the decades-old
French research center as the “first step”.
French Ambassador to Tehran Nicolas Roche was summoned
to the ministry last Wednesday and told that Iran does not tolerate insults to
its sanctities.
“France has no right to justify insults to sanctities
of other countries and Muslim nations under the pretext of freedom of
expression,” ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in a statement.
In response to Iran’s decision to shut down the French
Institute for Research, which operates under the French Embassy in Tehran,
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre said in a statement last week
that it was “clearly regrettable if confirmed”.
Charlie Hebdo, for its part, vowed to publish more
cartoons of Iranian leaders, dismissing recent threats from Iran’s military
officials.
IRGC designation
Amid heightened tensions, the French Foreign Ministry
on Tuesday said it was considering the idea that the European Union label
Iran's IRGC as a terrorist organization.
It came a day after German Foreign Minister Annalena
Baerbock on Monday said a new round of sanctions against Iran would not be
enough, backing the move to designate the IRGC.
"Listing the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist
organization is politically important and makes sense," she wrote on
Twitter, while also referring to legal obstacles.
Paris, which has been reluctant to endorse the move so
far, appears to be changing its stance amid rising tensions with Tehran over
the Charlie Hebdo caricatures controversy and the arrest of some French
nationals in Iran on charges of espionage in recent months.
Earlier this month, Iran's judiciary issued
indictments against two more French nationals arrested on charges of
"espionage, gathering, and collusion" against the country's internal
security, taking the total number of French detainees in Iran to seven as per
French officials.
"Given the continuation of this repression,
France is working with its European partners on new sanctions' measures,
without excluding any," Legendre said on the designation of IRGC.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Israel faces new protests over Netanyahu ‘get out of
jail’ card
MOHAMMED NAJIB
January 12, 2023
RAMALLAH: Israel’s far-right government faced a new
barrage of criticism on Thursday over its extremist policies, in particular its
plans to curb the independence of the judiciary.
Hundreds of lawyers took part in a protest rally
outside a court in Tel Aviv, 11 former senior judicial officials signed an open
letter saying they were “shocked” by the proposed reforms, and the influential
S&P agency warned that divisive actions by the government were a threat to
the country’s AA- sovereign credit rating.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin wants to hand more powers
to members of parliament in appointing judges, whoare currently nominated by an
independent panel, and to allow the Knesset to annul a Supreme Court decision
with a simple majority.
The proposed reforms are widely viewed as a “get out
of jail” card for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial for
corruption. If, as expected, his case ends up in the Supreme Court, the reforms
would enable the Knesset — which Netanyahu’s far-right coalition controls — to
overturn that court’s ruling.
Lawyer Orna Sher, 66, one of the protesters in Tel
Aviv, said the reforms were “dangerous” and “a threat to democracy.” She said:
“The nomination of judges will be political. Courts won’t be independent, but
controlled by politicians.” Another protester, Bruria Lekner, said the plans
were “destruction and a regression.”
In their open letter, the 11 former state attorneys
and attorney generals said: “We call on the government to retract the plan it
published and prevent the severe damage to the court system and the rule of
law.”
S&P global ratings director Maxim Rybnikov, the
main credit analyst for Israel, said the agency was closely following the
proposed judicial reforms, as well as new moves by Israel against Palestinians
in the occupied West Bank.
“If the announced judicial system changes set a trend
for a weakening of Israel’s institutional arrangements and existing checks and
balances, this could in the future present downside risks to the ratings,” he
said. “The primary concern for us would be the ... security situation, which
could be undermined by more hard-line policies.”
In the latest attack on Palestinians, the Knesset has
given initial approval to a draft law that would revoke the Israeli citizenship
or residency rights of anyone convicted of carrying out an attack.
Source: Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2231476/middle-east
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Israeli forces arrest 20 Palestinians during raids in
West Bank, al-Quds
12 January 2023
Israeli forces have detained 20 Palestinians during
large-scale raids in several areas in the West Bank and al-Quds, as the Tel
Aviv regime continues its extensive arrest campaign across the occupied
territories.
Palestine’s official Wafa news agency, citing local
sources, reported on Thursday that Israeli troops rounded up 15 Palestinians,
including five former prisoners, after storming Qalandiya refugee camp, north
of al-Quds, and ransacked the houses of the families of those arrested.
Two brothers were also detained in Dheisheh refugee
camp, located just south of Bethlehem, after Israeli military vehicles attacked
there.
Israeli forces also raided al-Dawha area, southwest of
Bethlehem, where they arrested another Palestinian.
In the village of al-Baqa'a, east of the West Bank
city of al-Khalil (Hebron), Israeli troops arrested a 17-year-old girl.
According to sources, the girl was brutally assaulted by Israeli troops as a
bulldozer demolished two houses belonging to her family a day earlier.
Heavily armed Israeli forces also raided the West Bank
city of Qalqilya, where they detained another Palestinian after conducting a
thorough search at a house.
The latest development comes as Israeli forces have
shot and killed a Palestinian man in Qalandiya refugee camp, north of al-Quds.
Israeli forces launch raids on various cities of the
West Bank almost on a daily basis under the pretext of detaining what it calls
“wanted” Palestinians. The raids usually lead to violent confrontations with
residents.
Over the past months, Israel has ramped up attacks on
Palestinian towns and cities throughout the occupied territories. As a result
of these attacks, dozens of Palestinians have lost their lives and many others
have been arrested.
Thousands of Palestinians are held in Israeli jails.
Hundreds have been imprisoned under the practice of administrative detention,
which allows incarcerating Palestinian inmates without trial or charge.
Some Palestinian prisoners have been held in
administrative detention for up to eleven years.
The Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights
Association, which advocates the rights of Palestinian inmates, said in a 2017
report that over the past 50 years, more than 800,000 Palestinians have been
imprisoned or detained by Israel.
Source: Press TV
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Africa
Somalia’s president urges people to flush out
al-Shabaab ‘bedbugs’
12 January ,2023
Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud called
Thursday on ordinary people to help flush out members of the al-Shabaab
extremist group he described as “bedbugs.”
Mohamud was addressing large crowds at a
government-organized rally against the al-Qaeda-linked militants held at a
stadium in the capital Mogadishu under tight security.
“I’m calling to you, the people of Mogadishu, the
kharijites (renegades) are amongst you... so flush them out. They are in your
houses, they are your neighbors, in cars that pass you by,” he said.
“I want us to commit today to flushing them out, they
are like bedbugs under our clothes,” he added, as demonstrators waved flags and
placards with anti-al-Shabaab messages.
Al-Shabaab has been waging a bloody insurgency against
the frail internationally-backed central government for 15 years, carrying out
attacks both in Somalia and neighboring countries which sent troops to help in
the fight against the militants.
“The people are tired of massacres, killings, and all
kinds of misdeeds and they are now saying to al-Shabaab: ‘Enough is enough’,”
Mohamud said.
The president declared “all-out” war against extremist
fighters shortly after he came to office in May last year.
In recent months, the army and local clan militias
have retaken swathes of territory in the center of the country in an operation
backed by US airstrikes and an African Union force.
But the insurgents have frequently retaliated with
bloody attacks, underlining their ability to strike at the heart of Somali
towns and military installations despite the offensive.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Nine killed in mosque attack in Burkina Faso
January 12, 2023
Nine people were killed when suspected jihadists
attacked a mosque in northeastern Burkina Faso, local sources said Thursday.
The attack happened at around nightfall on Wednesday
in the village of Goulgountou in Burkina's Sahel region, when assailants
arrived on motorbikes and herded worshippers inside the mosque, a witness said.
"They separated out the women, children and
elderly and then made sermons to try to convince worshippers of
abandoning" their form of faith, the source said.
"A discussion even started up with the imam, and
because he refused he was executed," the source said.
"They tried to cut his throat, but he fought
back, saying he wanted to die standing up, so the terrorists shot him in the
head," a local resident said, adding that he had attended the victims'
funeral on Thursday.
"Eight other worshippers, mainly community
leaders, were shot dead in the same way."
Goulgountou is located close to the gold mining town
of Falagountou, which lies near the border with Niger.
The area has suffered several incursions by suspected
jihadists since the start of the week, the sources said.
Thousands of people have died and more than two
million people have fled their homes since jihadists began launching attacks on
Burkina Faso from neighbouring Mali in 2015.
More than a third of the country's territory lies
outside of government control.
The insurgency fuelled two coups last year among army
officers angered at the rising toll.
Source: Nation Africa
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https://nation.africa/africa/news/nine-killed-in-mosque-attack-in-burkina-faso-4084466
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Bombings kill 14 soldiers in central Mali
James Tasamba
12.01.2023
At least 14 Malian soldiers were killed and 11 others
wounded in two separate bomb explosions targeting military vehicles in central
Mali, the army said on Wednesday.
The bombings took place between Dia and Diafarabe
villages and between Koumara and Macina towns, according to a military
statement.
The army deployed reinforcements in response to the
two attacks and killed 31 terrorists, the statement said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/bombings-kill-14-soldiers-in-central-mali/2786014
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French, German Foreign Ministers Hail Ethiopia's Peace
Accord
Andrew Wasike
13.01.2023
NAIROBI, Kenya
France and Germany’s foreign ministers praised the
peace agreement that ended the civil war in Africa's second-most populous
nation Thursday during a two-day visit to Ethiopia.
Speaking a joint press briefing with Ethiopian Foreign
Minister Demeke Mekonnen, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna and her
German counterpart Annalena Baerbock commended the implementation of the peace
agreement that has stopped the war in northern Ethiopia, which has claimed more
than half a million lives since 2020.
Colonna praised the good progress, which she said
Europe wants to continue, since it has allowed for the delivery of essential
aid to Ethiopia's Tigray region, and the rebels surrendering their heavy
weapons is a sign of long-lasting peace.
Baerbock in a statement said that together with her
counterpart, they were in Ethiopia “to do three things: explore with
authorities on how to support the country on its way to lasting peace and
accountability for human rights abuses, discuss food security in the Horn of
Africa and strengthen Europe’s partnership with the African Union.”
Colonna and Baerbock presented aid provided by Germany
and France worth up to €14 million ($15.1 million) each for the delivery of
50,000 tons of grain given by Ukraine️.
They are the first EU foreign ministers to travel to
Addis Ababa after the peace agreement was signed.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/french-german-foreign-ministers-hail-ethiopias-peace-accord/2786514
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Türkiye, Rwanda agree to boost cooperation on
security, defence industry
Faruk Zorlu
12.01.2023
Türkiye and Rwanda have agreed to boost cooperation
and bilateral relations in the field of security, defense industry, culture,
and economy, education.
"Today, we signed two other cooperation
agreements. We want to continue our cooperation in the field of culture and
science and technology and innovation, and we have decided to increase our
cooperation in the field of security and defense industry," Turkish Foreign
Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a joint news with his Rwandan counterpart
Vincent Biruta.
Cavusoglu said that they discussed many issues,
including the economy, culture, defense, and education.
"With the general cooperation agreement that we
just signed, we will form a Joint Permanent Commission," he said, adding
it will be another mechanism where they can assess all aspects of relations
between the two countries.
Ankara also wants to activate the political
consultation mechanism, established in 2016, Cavusoglu said.
Touching upon the commercial affairs of the two
countries, he said: "Our trade and economic relations are rapidly
developing. Trade volume increased by more than five times in the last three
years."
It means there is a "huge potential," he
said, adding that the two countries should work together to increase trade
volume further.
Also, Turkish investment in Rwanda reached nearly
$500,000. They made up 13% of foreign investments in Rwanda, he said.
For his part, Rwanda’s Biruta emphasized the importance
of cooperation between the two countries, saying: "We have signed some
agreements and MOU (memorandum of understanding) covering various sectors,
including trade, investment, defense, security, education, visa exemption,
culture, and diplomacy among others."
"We are looking to having even more, and also
discussed increasing trade and investment between our countries," he
added.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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West exasperated at Libyan politicians’ failure to
plan elections
January 12, 2023
LONDON: Western leaders are growing increasingly
impatient with Libyan politicians who, despite finding time to agree a 42
percent pay rise, have failed to finalize plans for national elections, The Guardian
reported on Thursday.
Special envoys from France, Germany, Italy, the UK and
the US are due to meet in Washington on Friday to discuss next steps after
rival Libyan factions last week failed to reach a final agreement in Cairo on a
constitutional basis for national elections.
One Western diplomat told The Guardian: “They are some
making sincere efforts at mediation. But the abiding character of too many
Libyan politicians on both sides of the divide is (to) pay lip service to the
necessity of elections and then do everything possible to throttle them so they
can continue lining their pockets.
“We may have to stop hoping we can persuade these
people to agree to elections and instead find a way to work around them.”
Friday’s meeting, convened by US Special Envoy Richard
Norland, will look at how to hold elections and whether a deadline for
establishing a national Libyan body to agree on them is necessary.
Unelected interim governments have run the country for
nearly a decade now, with efforts to hold presidential and parliamentary
elections in 2018 and 2021 aborted, while last year’s elections were canceled
due to disputes over the qualifications of candidates to stand.
Commentators said this disguised a deeper reluctance
from interim politicians to risk a winner-takes-all process that would strip
them of state patronage and power.
Stephanie Williams, former UN special adviser on
Libya, said: “A transactional ruling class, some of whose network can be traced
back to the days of the former regime, uses Libya’s state and sovereign
institutions as cash cows.
“It could be described as a ‘redistributive
kleptocracy,’ bringing into their circles on a regular basis just enough of
their compatriots to sustain the system.”
Libyan politicians’ salaries rose by 42 percent for
2022 despite estimates that half the population are in poverty.
Critics have said the scale of salaries and
disbursements evidenced an unaccountable political class eager to avoid the
verdict of the ballot box.
Tim Easton, Libya expert at international affairs
think tank Chatham House, said: “The central bank figures are still opaque, but
clearly spending on salaries is staggeringly high.
Source: Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2231376/middle-east
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North America
New House Homeland Security Committee Chair Has
History Of Anti-Muslim Comments
By Rowaida Abdelaziz
Jan 12, 2023
Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) is set to lead the House
Committee on Homeland Security, which Muslim civil rights groups say is
alarming because he has a history of making Islamophobic remarks.
Green — a physician, Iraq War veteran and former GOP
state senator — once said he didn’t want students in Tennessee to learn about
Islam and that Iraqis smelled like “curry mixed with sweat.” He has also made
anti-LGBTQ remarks, including claiming that being transgender was a disease.
“If you hold stereotypes about communities, how can you
effectively move on issues that are really nuanced and require a greater
understanding of the issues?” said Sabina Mohyuddin, the executive director of
the American Muslim Advisory Council, a Tennessee-based civic engagement
organization.
Rachel Del Guidice, the communications director for
Green’s office, told HuffPost that “some media outlets cut and spliced” Green’s
remarks.
“Rep. Green has not, and will not ever, force his
religion on anyone. He believes that every American has a right to defend their
country,” said Del Guidice.
“Having served three tours of duty overseas during the
War on Terror, Rep. Green acted as a steadfast protector of everyone in this
nation. Vilifying people of faith because they don’t agree with progressive
policies is against America’s founding principles — the very principles he
fought to protect,” she added.
During a 2016 tea party meeting, Green told an
audience that he didn’t want public school students in Tennessee to learn about
the Islamic faith.
When an audience member read a passage from a textbook
that correctly stated that Muslims believe in all the prophets in the Old and
New Testament, Green replied, “When you start teaching the pillars of Islam ...
we will not tolerate that in this state.”
If students did have to learn about Islam, Green
added, they should only learn “the history of the Ottoman Empire” and “the
assault of Islam out into the Levant and North Africa and into Constantinople.”
Then-President Donald Trump nominated Green to be Army
secretary in 2017, but Green was forced to withdraw from consideration due to
his anti-Muslim and anti-LGBTQ comments.
“Rep. Green’s well-documented history of hate speech
against Muslims, LGBTQ people, and immigrants made him unfit to be Secretary of
the Army, and that history makes him unfit to chair the House Homeland Security
Committee,” said Sumayyah Waheed, senior policy counsel at Muslim Advocates, a
national civil rights group based in Washington, D.C.
“As chair of the House Homeland Security Committee,
Mark Green is a threat to Muslims ― especially to those that live at the
intersections of the communities he has gleefully attacked for political gain,”
she added.
As chair, Green is likely to clamp down on immigration
at the southern border. He previously introduced legislation in favor of border
wall construction and has earned the support of conservative border hawks.
“For the sake of our national security and homeland
security, ending the border crisis Biden created is our top priority,” said
Green in a press release published on Monday. “And make no mistake, we will
hold President Joe Biden and [Homeland Security] Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas
accountable for their complete dereliction of duty in failing to respond to
this crisis.”
Mohyuddin said she hopes lawmakers will push back on
Green’s rhetoric to help keep marginalized groups safe.
Source: Huff Post
Please click the following URL to read the full text
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https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mark-green-anti-muslim_n_63c05aa5e4b0ae9de1c6098d
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Connecticut Man Pleads Guilty To Trying To Join ISIS:
'I Need Islamic Law'
January 12, 2023
A Connecticut man pleaded guilty on Thursday to
attempting to travel to the Middle East to fight for the Islamic State of Iraq
and al-Sham (ISIS), according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of
Connecticut.
Kevin Iman McCormick, 29, was arrested in October 2019
at a private airport in Connecticut, where he was allegedly tried to board a
flight to Canada and then to Amman, Jordan.
In the months leading up that arrest, McCormick
pledged his allegiance to ISIS and its then-leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.
"I gotta fight bro, because those people, Abu
Masa and ISIL, they fought for me bro, I know it, I can feel it, in my heart.
So it’s my time to fight… It just is what it is bro, it’s just my – it’s just
my time to go bro," McCormick said in one conversation in October 2019,
according to prosecutors.
McCormick later said that he wants to travel to Syria,
or "whatever place I can get there the fastest, the quickest, the easiest,
and where I can have a rifle and I can have some people."
"I need Islamic law, I need, that’s what I need,
because if I have these things, it’s gonna to be very hard to kill me,"
McCormick said, according to prosecutors.
Before his arrest on Oct. 19, 2019, McCormick attempted
to board another flight from Connecticut to Jamaica and then Syria, but was
stopped by the Department of Homeland Security.
McCormick faces up to 20 years in prison when he is
sentenced on April 6.
Source: Fox News
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https://www.foxnews.com/us/connecticut-man-pleads-guilty-trying-join-isis
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US extends visa interview exemption for Pakistani
citizens
January 13, 2023
KARACHI: The United States embassy on Thursday
extended interview waiver eligibility for Pakistani citizens wanting to extend
their tourist and business visas.
The US embassy made the announcement in a statement
released on Thursday.
“In an effort to improve customer service, the US
government allows non-immigrant visa applicants to apply for their visas
without an interview under the interview waiver programme,” the statement said.
“This process is not for first-time applicants. It
only applies to certain applicants applying for their visas, and some
restrictions may also apply.”
The exemption is granted to citizens applying for the
renewal of their B1/B2 tourist and business visas.
According to the US embassy, all Pakistani citizens
regardless of age, whose B1/B2 visas are valid or have expired within the last
48 months can benefit from the exemption.
FM expresses gratitude
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari thanked US
Secretary of State Antony Blinken for interview waivers. “Allowing interview
waivers for those who have already in the past held US visas across all age
groups is extremely helpful,” he said on Twitter.
Source: Dawn
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1731400/us-extends-visa-interview-exemption-for-pakistani-citizens
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‘Daesh Beatle’ Alexanda Kotey no longer in US prison,
records reveal
January 12, 2023
LONDON: Alexanda Kotey, one of the so-called Daesh
“Beatles” serving a life sentence for the torture and murder of Western
hostages, has disappeared from the US prison system, the Daily Mail reported on
Thursday.
Kotey was imprisoned in the US in August 2022 after
pleading guilty to eight charges related to the abduction, torture and killing
of Daesh hostages in Syria between 2012 and 2015.
The 39-year-old Londoner was the fourth member of an
extremist cell that held up to two dozen Westerners captive. Hostages dubbed
the group the “Beatles” because of their English accents.
Kotey was sent to Pennsylvania’s high-security Canaan
prison, regarded as “one of the most dangerous penitentiaries in the country,”
according to the Daily Mail.
However, Federal Bureau of Prisons records have
recently revealed that he is no longer being held at Canaan.
A prisons spokesperson told the Daily Mail on Thursday
that Kotey is not currently in the custody of the bureau, but did not explain why.
The official said that there are “several reasons” an
inmate might be listed as not being in the system.
“Inmates who were previously in BOP custody and who
have not completed their sentence may be outside BOP custody for a period of
time for court hearings, medical treatment, or for other reasons,” the
spokesperson said.
The bureau added that it does not disclose specific
details about an inmate due to “safety, security or privacy reasons.”
The “Beatles” group is believed to have abducted and
killed 27 people, including British aid worker David Haines. Propaganda videos
posted online showed victims paraded in orange jumpsuits before being beheaded.
Haines’ daughter Bethany, 24, told the Daily Record on
Wednesday that Kotey is most likely “assisting authorities” with investigations
into another case.
“I don’t think it is right that he can just disappear
from the system and the families whose lives were devastated by his actions are
left to wonder where he is,” she said.
“In the past he has been traceable, as we have access
to data via the US victim notification scheme, and we at least had the
reassurance that he was in a high-security facility,” she added.
After being captured by Kurdish militia in Syria in
January 2018, Kotey was handed over to American forces in Iraq in 2020 and
later faced trial in the US over the killing of four American hostages. In
exchange for his extradition, US authorities agreed not to seek the death
penalty.
Source: Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2231371/world
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US says monitoring Iran’s plans to send warships to
Panama Canal
13 January 2023
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price says
Washington is closely monitoring Iran’s plans to deploy naval forces to the
strategic Panama Canal, which connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific
Ocean.
Iranian Navy chief Rear Admiral Shahram Irani said at
the first national conference on maritime civilization in the southeastern port
city of Konarak on Wednesday that his forces will establish a presence in the
Panama Canal later this year, marking the first time Iran's military has
entered the Pacific Ocean.
“We are aware of this claim by Iran’s navy. We
continue to monitor Iran’s attempts or at least its statements of its intent to
develop a military presence in the Western Hemisphere,” Price said at a press
briefing on Thursday.
Irani stated that Iranian naval forces have so far
been deployed to almost all strategic straits throughout the globe, except for
two.
The senior commander noted that Iranian Navy forces
will sail into one of those remaining straits this year, while plans are being
drawn up for the presence of the Iranian units in the Panama Canal.
“My comrades are about to approach the coasts of the
Americas and showcase signs of Iran’s [military] prowess. Iranian naval forces
have been deployed for the time to the Pacific Ocean. Even though Australia and
France made some threats during that missions and sought to renege on the
regulations that they themselves had introduced on sailing past their coasts,
Iranian forces stood firmly in the face of such threats and responded to them
mightily,” the Iranian Navy commander said.
Iran-Russia military cooperation
Elsewhere in his remarks on Thursday, Price touched
down upon military cooperation between Tehran and Moscow, and repeated
allegations that Iran has supplied Russia with arms for use in the Ukraine war.
“Our overarching assessment has not changed. Iran is
and remains Russia’s most important source of security assistance. This is a
burgeoning partnership between Russia and Iran that has deepened in recent
months but even over the longer time horizon. We’ve released significant detail
regarding the provision of UAV technology from Iran to Russia. We have also
detailed our concerns that Russia may also seek ballistic missiles, ballistic
missile technology, that Iran has,” he said.
The claims first emerged in July, with US National
Security Advisor Jake Sullivan alleging that Washington had received
“information” indicating that the Islamic Republic was preparing to provide
Russia with “up to several hundred drones, including weapons-capable UAVs on an
expedited timeline” for use in the war.
Back in December last year, Iranian Defense Minister
Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani said Ukrainian officials had failed to
provide any evidence for their claim that Russia was using Iranian drones in
its war on Ukraine.
“The Ukrainian side did not present any evidence of
Russia’s use of Iranian drones in the war with this country at the technical
meeting,” he said following a technical meeting between Ukrainian and Iranian
specialists.
Ashtiani emphasized that claims about Russian forces’
alleged use of Iranian-made drones in the war in Ukraine are not important
because they are based on “baseless statements and rumors.”
Source: Press TV
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US must be held accountable for Kabul drone strike
that killed civilians: Activist
12 January 2023
Drones have become the weapon of choice for the US
military in many countries as they significantly lower the risk of injury and
death to US soldiers while providing a measure of deniability when civilian
casualties are involved.
On Aug. 29, 2021, an American MQ-9 Reaper drone shot a
Hellfire missile in a neighborhood near the Kabul airport, killing 12 civilians.
Speaking with Press TV’s Spotlight program on
Wednesday, peace and justice activist Judith Bella said the explanations
provided by US officials regarding the drone attack were not sufficient at all.
They cannot justify their mistake because the Americans monitor a place for a
long time and check the movement of people before any strike is ordered, she
said.
“Everywhere the United States has a base, they have a
special set of rules where the host country will not prosecute any Americans
for any crime and it has been a horrific problem,” she added.
An internal military investigation into the Kabul
attack reportedly found that erroneous assumptions and biases by US analysts
during the Pentagon’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 led to
the Kabul drone attack that killed 12 civilians, including seven children.
Three days prior to the drone attack, a bomber had
killed more than a dozen US soldiers and scores of Afghan civilians at a main
gate of the Kabul airport. Then, officials had intelligence that there would be
another attack there and that it would involve a white Corolla. Then, US
military analysts observed a white Toyota Corolla parked at what they believed
was a Daesh compound. US officials hastily authorized a drone strike on the Toyota
Corolla to thwart a suspected bombing attack. Hours later, US officials
announced they had successfully thwarted the attack. As reports of civilian
deaths started to emerge, the US military issued statements saying they had “no
indications” of civilian casualties but would assess the claims and were
investigating whether a secondary explosion may have killed civilians.
A US Central Command investigation into the drone
attack, which was partially obtained by The New York Times (NYT), showed that
military analysts reported within minutes of the drone strike that civilians
may have been killed, and within three hours, it had assessed that at least
three children were killed in the attack.
“Since no country under any law holds the American
soldiers accountable for the crimes they commit in the countries of the world,
they continue their wrongdoings in any way possible, and it is only one of the
American standards in war, because the United States is not a member of any
international convention, so no law can hold American soldiers accountable,”
Bella pointed out.
The documents obtained by the Times also provided
detailed examples of how assumptions and biases led to the deadly blunder that
US military officials had wanted to cover up.
Central Command declined to provide additional comment
beyond statements it had previously made about the strike. The Pentagon
previously acknowledged that the strike was a “tragic mistake”, and told The
Times that a new action plan intended to protect civilians drew on lessons learned
from the incident.
Back in 2017, the Trump administration replaced old
guidelines with a looser set of rules for drone engagement that led to a 330
percent rise in civilian casualties in Afghanistan. Research by an independent
media organization shows that from 2015 to 2020 alone, between 300 to 900
civilians lost their lives to US drone operations. Experts say that even with
the new policy adopted, US drones in Afghanistan are still dangerous.
Source: Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/01/12/696181/-drone-war-US-military-Afghanistan
--------
Arab World
Jeddah airport starts free shuttle service to Makkah
Grand Mosque
January 12, 2023
JEDDAH — King Abdulaziz International Airport in
Jeddah has launched a free shuttle service for pilgrims.
The new service will take pilgrims from Terminal 1 at
the airport to the Grand Mosque in Makkah, the airport announced on Twitter.
“Beneficiaries of the service must wear the Ihram and
produce the national ID for Saudis or the passport for foreigners.”
Source: Saudi Gazette
Please click the following URL to read the full text
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Improved Syria-Turkey ties should seek end to
‘occupation’: Assad
12 January ,2023
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said Thursday that a
Moscow-brokered rapprochement with Turkey should aim for “the end of
occupation” by Ankara of parts of Syria.
The comment, in a statement from his office, was
Assad's first on meetings between officials from Ankara and Damascus after more
than a decade of enmity during Syria's civil war.
Ankara became a sworn enemy of Damascus when it began
backing rebel efforts to topple Assad at the start of the civil war 12 years
ago.
But in late December the defense ministers of Turkey
and Syria held landmark negotiations in Moscow -- the first such meeting since
2011.
Analysts say Moscow is trying to bridge the divide
between its two allies, united by a common “enemy” -- US-backed Kurdish forces
in northern Syria. Ankara describes those forces as “terrorists”.
Since 2016, Turkey has launched several incursions in
northern Syria against Kurdish forces that have allowed it to control areas
along the border.
Following the defense ministers' meeting, Ankara's
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said he and his Syrian and Russian
counterparts would meet.
On Thursday he confirmed the gathering will be in
Moscow.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar gain the cultural upper
hand with heavy investments in the creative economy
January 12, 2023
DUBAI: After the lockdowns, closures and travel bans
of the COVID-19 pandemic, which devastated tourism, entertainment and
concert-going, 2022 saw what might be described as a mad dash to make up for
lost time.
Even as the prospects of a post-pandemic economic
recovery dim for the rest of the world owing to the war in Ukraine, the Gulf
energy-exporting countries — particularly Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar — are
plowing back a good portion of their windfall profits into activities in the
field of culture.
Over the past decade, these countries have invested
billions in cultural enterprises, establishing new museums, exhibition spaces
and music venues to boost tourism, economic growth and instill a sense of
national pride.
These investments appear to be paying off, with the
Gulf states enjoying a cultural renaissance, propelled by both state-led and
private patronage. This at a time when governments elsewhere in the world are
slashing their arts budgets.
In the UK, for instance, leading galleries and museums
have seen drastic cuts to their Arts Council England funding for 2023, while
the former Arab cultural capitals of Damascus, Baghdad and Beirut, devastated
by wars, instability and talent drain, are today mere shadows of their former
selves.
When Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched
Vision 2030 in 2016, he placed culture and the forging of a new creative
economy at the center of the Kingdom’s development agenda.
The plan was to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy away
from oil and gas and to implement economic, educational and administrative
reforms along with social transformation.
Since it was established in 2018, the Ministry of
Culture has spearheaded a growing roster of cultural events around the Kingdom
and internationally. In 2021, it reported that Saudi Arabia had hosted 100
cultural events led by 25 new cultural organizations.
Among its recent and forthcoming highlights are the
Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, first held in December 2021, and the Islamic
Arts Biennale, due to open on Jan. 23 in the Hajj Terminal at Jeddah’s King
Abdulaziz International Airport.
According to the ministry’s “Report on the State of
Culture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2021: Culture in Public Spaces,” some
10.5 million domestic tourists visited the nation’s cultural sites in the first
10 months of 2021 — exceeding the 8.5 million total for 2019.
In December, the ministry opened a cultural center,
Fenaa Alawwal, at the former headquarters of the Kingdom’s first commercial
bank in Riyadh. It established the center as part of its effort to fulfill the
Vision 2030 goal of “encouraging culture as a way of life.”
The center, which will be used for a range of cultural
activities, aims to bring together Saudi and international creatives.
While the idea of a renaissance signals a flourishing
of artistic activity, it also points to the idea of breaking down barriers,
providing a platform for the free exchange of ideas.
“In history, there are many turning points which have
been important to artistic movements, from the Renaissance in Italy to the
Nahda in the Arab world, all of which have been characterized by immense
creativity and a blossoming artistic scene,” Manuel Rabate, director of the
Louvre Abu Dhabi, told Arab News.
“It is undeniable that the Gulf has undergone
significant cultural development in recent years, and this is powered by
continuous investment, cross-cultural collaborations, and recognition of the
importance of culture and arts in building a deeper understanding and fostering
dialogue.”
The social transformation in the Kingdom is nothing if
not palpable. From gigantic raves in the desert to festivals such as Riyadh
Seasons, art biennales and film schools, the process is inspiring creative
thought and intercultural dialogue.
“For the community there’s certainly an increase in
the variety, quantity and quality of art exhibitions in every major city in
Saudi,” Qaswra Hafez, founder and director of Jeddah’s Hafez Gallery, told Arab
News.
“We are contributing like we always have, by producing
professionally curated exhibitions, mainly for Saudi artists, and by
facilitating exposure for our artists through participating in local, regional
and international art fairs.”
Saudi Arabia’s neighbor Qatar has its own state-led
cultural plans. For more than a decade, Qatar has been investing billions in
its cultural scene, which has developed in parallel with the country’s hosting
of the FIFA World Cup in 2022.
Its goal, like that of Saudi Arabia, is to move its
economy away from an overreliance on petroleum and natural gas and toward
tourism and cultural activities.
At the helm of Qatar’s culture drive is Sheikha
Al-Mayassa Al-Thani, a global art patron and collector and sister of the emir,
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.
In March 2022, Sheikha Mayassa announced that Qatar
would build three new museums — the Lusail Museum, Art Mill Museum, and the
Qatar Auto Museum.
The new venues will be operated by Qatar Museums, a
government entity founded in 2015 to oversee cultural institutions, including
the Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Islamic Art.
“Culture is the most powerful tool. It has no
religion, no language; it’s just open,” wrote Sheikha Al-Mayassa in her book,
“The Power of Culture,” published in 2022. But, as she stressed in her 2014 TED
talk, art and culture are also about building a national identity.
“We are revising ourselves through our cultural
institutions and cultural development,” she said at the time. “Art becomes a
very important part of our national identity.”
Reem Al-Thani, acting deputy CEO of exhibitions and
marketing and director of centralized exhibitions at Qatar Museums, says there
is a strong desire to share the nation’s cultural identity with the outside
world.
“We want to present our history and the larger context
of our nation; it is not just that all of sudden we are here because of oil,”
she told Arab News.
“This is who we are. This is our history, this is
where we come from, these are our traditions, our wisdoms and our intellect.
“It is also the role of the museums to present this in
a very succinct manner. We also want to make sure the present Qatari generation
understands their past.”
For more than a decade, the UAE has been pursuing a
similar strategy, while at the same time trying to attract big-name international
galleries to the Arabian Peninsula.
The Saadiyat Cultural District in the UAE capital is
home to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, which opened in 2017 as part of a $27 billion
tourist and cultural development project on Saadiyat Island
It is also home to the Guggenheim, due for completion
in 2025, the Abrahamic Family House, due in 2023, and the Zayed National
Museum, due in 2025.
“All of these museums represent the UAE’s commitment
to cultural development and its desire to be a global leader in the arts,” Rabate
told Arab News.
The UAE, like Qatar and Saudi Arabia, has implemented
state-funded plans to grow the cultural sector and its contribution to the
economy.
In 2018, the UAE’s cultural authorities agreed to a
country-wide cultural strategy that would work in “a more strategic,
sustainable and ambitious direction,” dubbed the Culture Agenda 2031.
The UAE’s National Strategy for the Cultural and
Creative Industries, launched in 2021, aims to increase the contribution of the
cultural and creative industries’ sector by 5 percent of gross domestic product
by 2031.
Among its principal aims are “strengthening the UAE’s
position on the global cultural and creativity map” and to “inspire creative
thinking and attract cultural talents and creative entrepreneurs from around
the world.”
The road map places a strong emphasis on business and
entrepreneurship with objectives that include “attracting freelancers and
creative start-ups to set up, live and work in the UAE.”
The private art sector in Dubai in particular has been
spurred on by the arrival of foreign players. Of note are the number of
international galleries that have opened in recent years, including that of the
French art dealer Emmanuel Perrotin, who opened his first space in Dubai in
2022.
Others, such as Efie Gallery, Dubai’s first
African-owned contemporary art gallery, was launched in 2021 with a mission “to
be at the forefront of the rapidly burgeoning contemporary African art scene
worldwide,” according to its co-founder Kwame Mintah.
“The selection of Dubai as our first location is due
to the relative nascence of the local art scene here, which in turn has offered
the perfect terrain for expansion and innovation,” he told Arab News.
Foreign gallerists are not only flocking to Dubai to
participate in the UAE’s cultural expansion; they are drawn to the welcoming
business environment opening up across the Gulf.
“It is the ease of doing business here — probably
easier than anywhere else in the world — as well as the huge government support
that made us open here,” Indian collector and art entrepreneur Tushar
Jiwarajka, who launched Mumbai’s Volte Art Projects in Dubai in September 2021,
told Arab News.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2231456/saudi-arabia
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Families of Beirut port blast victims stage mass
sit-in
NAJIA HOUSSARI
January 12, 2023
BEIRUT: Families of the victims of the Beirut port
explosion staged a mass sit-in to protest at the obstruction of the official
investigation that has been in limbo for more than a year.
The investigation into the August 2020 blast has sunk
into the murk of Lebanese politics, as suspects including ministers and former
prime ministers evade questioning and counter-sue the lead investigator Tarek
Bitar.
The Free Patriotic Movement, Hezbollah and Amal are
all pushing for the removal of Bitar to force through the release of suspects,
including the head of customs Badri Daher, who are being held in custody.
Families gathered outside the Justice Palace in Beirut
on Thursday as members of the Higher Judicial Council attempted to force
through Bitar’s replacement. The motion however failed after two judges,
including the council’s president, Suhail Abboud, refused to attend.
William Noun, brother of one of the victims and the
families’ spokesman, thanked “the judges who caused the loss of quorum.” He
said: “We don’t have a problem with the judges or the court, but with those who
are trying to obstruct the investigation. Those who died in the explosion are
not numbers and the court is for justice.”
Deputy Melhem Khalaf, former president of the Bar
Association in Beirut, told Arab News that the attempt to replace Bitar was “an
attempt to mess with the crime of the century and to turn against justice, the
judiciary, and the law.”
The protest came a day after victims’ families threw
stones at the Justice Palace, shattering the glass of some windows.
Several protesters were summoned for questioning on
charges of vandalism and damaging offices. This further enraged the group, who
said that they were being treated “as criminals, while they are families of
innocent victims.”
Khalaf described the summoning as “a suspicious and
unjust act toward the families of the victims who are already abused. We will
not allow them to overthrow the case and insult the families of the victims.”
Many Kataeb and reformist deputies, including Sami
Gemayel, Waddah Sadek, Elias Hankash and Michel Doueihy, joined the protest in
solidarity with the families who were holding pictures of their victims.
Deputy Hankash said: “It’s shameful that the victims’
families are being summoned, while those accused of the crime don’t attend
their hearings and consider themselves above the law. They are outsmarting the
judiciary. How can they ask the victims’ families to remain peaceful?”
Deputy Ghassan Hasbani, who joined Thursday’s protest,
said that “no one can escape punishment no matter how long it takes because
right holders are always more powerful.”
The port explosion was caused by 1,750 tons of
ammonium nitrate and other explosive material stored in a warehouse. More than
230 people were killed and 6,500 injured as the blast tore through Beirut’s waterfront
and nearby neighborhoods.
Bitar had subpoenaed former Prime Minister Hassan
Diab, and three former ministers — Ali Hassan Khalil (Finance), Ghazi Zeaiter
(Public Works) and Nohad Machnouk (Interior) — to be prosecuted for “possible
intentional killing” and negligence.
It is alleged that all knew the ammonium nitrate was
stored in unsafe conditions but did nothing to secure it.
Source: Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2231426/middle-east
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Syria’s Assad ties rapprochement with Turkey to 'end
of occupation'
12 January 2023
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has tied a
Russian-brokered rapprochement with Turkey to the end of Ankara’s occupation of
the northern parts of the Arab country and its support for militant groups
wreaking havoc and fighting against the Damascus government.
Assad made the remarks at a meeting with Russian
Special Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentiev and his accompanying
delegation in Damascus on Thursday.
The comment was Assad's first on meetings between
officials from Damascus and Ankara after more than a decade of enmity following
the breakout of conflict in Syria in March 2011.
Analysts say Moscow is trying to bridge the divide
between its two allies, united by a common “enemy” – US-sponsored and Kurdish
militants in northern Syria.
Also on Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman
Maria Zakharova said at a briefing in Moscow that a meeting between Russian,
Syrian and Turkish foreign ministers, Sergei Lavrov, Faisal Mekdad and Mevlut
Cavusoglu, is being hammered out, but the date has not yet been set. “There is
no concrete date yet. We have already talked about it, such a meeting is in the
works,” she said. “We will let you know the details, including the date, the
issues to be discussed, the participants and formats as soon as it will be
coordinated with the parties.”
Back on December 28 last year, defense ministers of
Russia, Turkey and Syria held talks in Moscow in a clear sign of normalization
between Ankara and Damascus.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and the head of
the country’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT), Hakan Fidan, met Syrian
Defense Minister Ali Mahmoud Abbas and Syrian intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk
along with Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the Turkish Defense
Ministry said at the time.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has previously
talked about the possibility of a face-to-face meeting with Assad. That
meeting, he said, should be preceded by talks among the heads of the
intelligence services, defense and foreign ministers.
Turkish-language daily newspaper Aydinlik, citing
sources, reported on January 10 that Erdogan may meet with Assad before the
June presidential election in Turkey. The report said the meeting between the
two leaders is expected as part of the third stage of normalization of
Turkey-Syria relations.
Turkey cut off its relations with Syria in March 2012,
a year after the Arab country found itself in the grip of rampant and hugely
deadly violence waged by foreign-backed militants and terrorists, including
those allegedly supported by Ankara.
Since 2016, Turkey has also conducted three major ground
operations against US-backed militants based in northern Syria.
The Turkish government accuses the militants, known as
the People's Protection Units (YPG), of bearing ties with the Kurdistan
Workers' Party militant group.
Source: Press TV
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