New
Age Islam News Bureau
06 September 2020
He pointed
out that Prophet Mohammed “performed ablution from a polytheistic water bottle
and died while his shield was mortgaged to a Jew.”
-----
• Sermon Delivered on Friday By the Imam, Abdul Rahman
al-Sudais, of The Grand
Mosque Suggests Saudi Arabia On Its Way to Normalizing Ties with Israel
• ISIS Lost 97 Percent of Its Power After the End of
Sharia Mufti
• Hizbul-Mujahideen Militant Outfit Trying to
Re-Establish Base in North Kashmir: DIG Sulaiman Chowdry
• ‘He Must Be Re-Elected’: Bin Laden’s Niece. Swiss-Born
Noor bin Ladin Says She’s A Trump Supporter And ‘American At Heart’
• State-Run Media Acknowledges Iranian’s Growing
Hatred of Mullahs’ Regime
• Pakistan Govt Frustrates Evil Designs of
Anti-Islamic Forces: Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony
• Pro-Palestine Protesters March Against Israel In
Scotland
Arab World
• Sermon Delivered on Friday By the Imam of The Grand
Mosque Suggests Saudi Arabia On Its Way to Normalizing Ties with Israel
• ISIS Lost 97 Percent of Its Power After the End of
Sharia Mufti
• Inside the Lavish Life of Saudi Prince Mohammed Bin
Salman with £400m Superyacht, £230m Chateau And £400bn ‘Mega-City’
• Saudis Reduce Oil Pricing in Sign Demand Recovery
Struggling
• Saudi arrests famous Quran reciter Abdullah Basfar
• From Jeddah To New York, Egyptian Star Mohamed
Ramadan Is Lighting Up Billboards
--------
India
• Hizbul-Mujahideen Militant Outfit Trying to
Re-Establish Base in North Kashmir: DIG Sulaiman Chowdry
• Human Rights Watch Demands Ban On Pellet Guns In
Kashmir
• New Telangana Secretariat Will Have Temple, Church,
Two Mosques: Chief Minister
• Mecca Masjid, Shahi Masjid of Hyderabad Thrown Open
To Public With Restrictions
--------
North America
• ‘He Must Be Re-Elected’: Bin Laden’s Niece. Swiss-Born
Noor bin Ladin Says She’s A Trump Supporter And ‘American At Heart’
• Texas Assistant Attorney General Loses His Job After
Tweets Targeting Muslims, Social Justice Protests
• Pope’s New Encyclical to Praise Jihad Terror
Supporter as Example of ‘Peace’ and ‘Fraternity’
• ‘Agricultural Jihad’: A Hungry Lebanon Returns to
Family Farms to Feed Itself
• Qanta Ahmed: As a Muslim American Trump admirer, I
say to Joy Reid and Ilhan Omar: Shame on you!
-------
Mideast
• State-Run Media Acknowledges Iranian’s Growing
Hatred of Mullahs’ Regime
• Turkish Expert Criticizes EU's Double Standard
Toward Islam
• Iran looks to China as US sanctions bite
• Iran could become hub of arms trafficking and exports
as embargo ends
• Netanyahu says Serbia will move its embassy to
Jerusalem
• How brutality to protesters shames Israel’s police
• Yemen president orders troops to foil Houthi attacks
on Marib
-------
Pakistan
• Pakistan Govt Frustrates Evil Designs of
Anti-Islamic Forces: Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony
• NA, Senate to take up more FATF bills
• Dawar not allowed entry to Quetta for security
reasons: govt
• Three TTP men killed in clash with security forces
in South Waziristan
-------
Europe
• Pro-Palestine Protesters March Against Israel In Scotland
• Ammunition depot of “Ahrar Al-Sham Islamic Movement”
explodes in northern Aleppo
• Birmingham stabbings: Police declare 'major
incident' as several injured
--------
Africa
• Nigerian Army Accused Of Executing Over 70 Civilians
Uncovered In 6 Mass Graves; Are They Bodies Of Sheikh Zakzaky's Followers?
• Islamist insurgency in northern Mozambique threatens
gas fields
• Boko Haram Terrorists Planning to Attack Abuja,
Kogi, Nasarawa --Nigerian Government
• Islamic State West Africa Province Kill 20 Nigerian
Soldiers
---------
South Asia
• Online Muharram Programs Broadcast in Japan
• Bhashan Char Facilities: Rohingya team on
‘go-and-see visit
---------
Southeast Asia
• Police Lambasted for Targeting LGBT Community in
Raid in Jakarta
• ‘Enough is enough’, Anwar tells Sabahans to send
clear message to Perikatan govt about self-serving politicians
• Former Transjakarta president director arrested
after fleeing fraud conviction
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL; https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/sermon-delivered-friday-imam-abdul/d/122801
------
Sermon Delivered on Friday By the Imam, Abdul Rahman al-Sudais, of The Grand Mosque Suggests Saudi Arabia On Its Way to Normalizing Ties with Israel
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
SEPTEMBER 5, 2020
He pointed
out that Prophet Mohammed “performed ablution from a polytheistic water bottle
and died while his shield was mortgaged to a Jew.”
-----
Has Saudi Arabia begun preparing its people for normalization with Israel?
A sermon delivered on Friday by Abdul Rahman al-Sudais, the imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, has been interpreted by some Arabs and Muslims as a prelude to normalization with Israel.
He pointed out that Prophet Mohammed “performed
ablution from a polytheistic water bottle and died while his shield was
mortgaged to a Jew.”
According to Sudais, the prophet was so good to his
Jewish neighbor that the latter converted to Islam. Sudais also talked about
the need to “correct and purify the Islamic faith from false and suspicious
beliefs.”
The imam had previously called for peaceful
inter-faith dialogue and preached Islam’s opposition to “explosions and
terrorism.”
Saudi Arabia has agreed to allow Israeli flights into
its airspace. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan recently said the
kingdom was open to establishing relations with Israel on condition that a
peace agreement is reached between Israel and the Palestinians.
Sudais’s words sparked a wave of protests on social
media, where many Arabs and Muslims claimed he was paving the way for Saudi
Arabia to follow suit with the United Arab Emirates and establish relations
with Israel.
Egyptian Islamic scholar Mohammed al-Sagheer accused
the Saudi cleric of hypocrisy. “He is paving the way for normalization and
treason,” Sagheer commented.
Islamic cleric Muhammad al-Shinqiti of Mauritania
accused Sudais of exploiting the podium of the Grand Mosque in Mecca to promote
normalization with Israel.
Abdel Fatah Fayed, Egyptian affairs editor at
Al-Jazeera, said the bottom line of the Friday sermon was that “submission,
normalization and loyalty to Israel” are permitted. He added: “Al-Sudais does
not have the right to tamper with Islam. Nothing can justify treason.”
Algerian Twitter user Mohamed Mestour posted a picture
on the social media platform of Sudais with the caption: “I’m a rabbi, not an
imam.”
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/sermon-suggests-saudi-arabia-on-its-way-to-normalizing-ties-with-israel-641176
-------
ISIS Lost 97 Percent of Its Power After the End Of
Sharia Mufti
Iraq News
2020-09-05
Shafaq News / Today, Saturday, Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi
revealed the end of “Sharia Mufti “ in ISIS.
The Al-Hashd media spokesman Ali Hashem al-Husseini
told Shafaq News agency that ISIS, and before it, al-Qaeda established the
so-called “Sharia Mufti” formations to attract people to join terrorist
organizations under jihadist titles, indicating that the terrorist
organizations targeted “Sunni areas” to build Bases for support and sectarian
incitement.
Al-Husseini stressed that the security forces and PMF
were able to end the "myths" of the Sharia Mufti and the terrorist
organizations' loss of a false ideological base through which they aimed to
establish extremist terrorist areas supported by regional and global powers and
states.
He pointed out that ISIS lost 97% of its power after
the end of Sharia mufti, which did not find any acceptance in all Sunni areas,
and which, through Sunnis security and intelligence cooperation with the
security services and Al-Hashd, contributed to getting rid of ISIS.
Social researchers believe that extremism spread at
its beginning after the fall of the former regime in rural and remote
semi-isolated areas in mixed population governorates, stressing that al-Qaeda
and ISIS took advantage of "jihad" titles to drag people to carry out
armed operations or to cooperate with militant organizations.
https://www.shafaaq.com/en/Iraq-News/ISIS-s-Sharia-Mufti-formation-ends
-------
Hizbul-Mujahideen Militant Outfit Trying to
Re-Establish Base in North Kashmir: DIG Sulaiman Chowdry
Altaf Baba
September 6, 2020
Photo by
J&K Information Department
-----
Top army and police official on Saturday said
Hizbul-Mujahideen militant outfit was desperately trying to re-establish its
base in north Kashmir.
Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) north
Kashmir, Sulaiman Chowdry said the “footfall of Hizb militants across north
Kashmir was almost negligible and it is after four years that any Hizb militant
has been killed here.” He was referring to killing of three Hizb militants at
Yadipora Pattan in on Friday.
“It seems Hizb is desperately trying to re-establish
its base in north Kashmir. These killings are an indication. However, all such
designs will be foiled,” said the DIG, addressing a press conference here.
He identified two of the slain militants as Hanna
Bilal Sofi of old town Baramulla and Shafkat Ali Khan of Rawatpora Delina while
describing the third slain militant as “unidentified.”
Giving details of the operation in which, the three
militants were killed, the DIG said based on the specific information about
presence of militants, a joint team of army’s 29 RR, CRPF and police cordoned
the area during early morning on Friday.
He said as search party was approaching the house were
militants were hiding, one of the militants opened fire, resulting in the
injury to an army Major and two policemen.
Speaking during the presser, Commander 20 Sector RR, Brigadier
N K Mishra said all the three militants were given opportunity to surrender,
however, they refused.
“We provided enough opportunity to the militants to
surrender but they refused and fired upon the search party, resulting in the
injury to a Major and two cops,” he said. “The operation lasted for 12 hours
and our main priority was to evacuate 12 residents who were holed up inside the
house. We successfully evacuated them without any harm.”
To a question about recruitment of locals in the
militancy, the Commander said the recruitment of local youths in different
militant outfits has come down drastically with the efforts of police as well
as other security forces.
“Several youth have been brought back from the path of
militancy and most of them are now happily living with their families,” he
said.
“Around 38 youth joined militancy in 2018, while in
2019, the number went down to 19 and during the current year, the number of
locals joining militancy is very less,” he said. Meanwhile, a police official
in Baramulla said the bodies of all the three slain militants were buried at
Sonmarg.
https://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/kashmir/hizb-trying-to-re-establish-base-in-north-kashmir-dig-chowdry/
-------
‘He Must Be Re-Elected’: Bin Laden’s Niece. Swiss-Born
Noor bin Ladin Says She’s A Trump Supporter And ‘American At Heart’
THOMAS CATENACCI
September 05, 2020
Osama Bin
Laden's niece wants Americans to vote for TrumpFile Image/Twitter
-----
One of Osama bin Laden’s nieces says she’s a loyal
President Donald Trump supporter and considers herself “American at heart,”
according to a new report.
Swiss-born Noor bin Ladin, 33, has been a Trump supporter
since 2015, she told The New York Post. Her branch of the family spells their
last name differently than her uncle’s family, according to the Post.
“I have been a supporter of President Trump since he
announced he was running in the early days in 2015. I have watched from afar
and I admire this man’s resolve,” bin Ladin, who resides in Switzerland, told
The Post.
She continued: “He must be re-elected … It’s vital for
the future of not only America, but western civilization as a whole.”
Donald Trump rides an escalator to a press event to
announce his candidacy for the U.S. presidency at Trump Tower on June 16, 2015
in New York City. (Christopher Gregory/Getty Images)
Bin Ladin told The Post that she often wears a “Make
America Great Again” hat and that her favorite show is “Tucker Carlson Tonight”
on Fox News. She also expressed disdain for Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan
Omar, according to the Post.
“You do have a situation now in America where you have
people like Ilhan Omar who actively hate your country,” bin Ladin said, The
Post reported.
“It’s an honor to be able to go and live in the United
States and make the most out of all the opportunities. If she hates it so much
why doesn’t she leave.”
Bin Ladin specifically pointed to Trump’s record on terrorism
and his handling of ISIS’ presence in the Middle East, according to The Post.
She also attacked Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s record on
terrorism.
“ISIS proliferated under the Obama/Biden
administration, leading to them coming to Europe,” she told The Post. “Trump
has shown he protects America and us by extension from foreign threats by
obliterating terrorists at the root and before they get a chance to strike.
ISIS has suffered major defeats in recent years and
has all but disappeared in the Middle East. After notably expanding its
networks and influence in 2015, the group had lost 95 percent of its territory
by December 2017, according to the Wilson Center.
The U.S. led coalition Operation Inherent Resolve
tasked with defeating ISIS celebrated the declining influence of the group in
2017, but stopped short of declaring victory. “We know this enemy is as
adaptive and savvy as it is cruel and evil,” the coalition spokesman tweeted at
the time.
Bin Ladin’s uncle and world-renown terrorist Osama bin
Laden was killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan during a nighttime raid in 2011.
Bin Laden masterminded the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, which resulted
in thousands of American deaths.
https://dailycaller.com/2020/09/05/osama-bin-laden-niece-noor-bin-ladin-trump-supporter-american-at-heart/
---------
State-Run Media Acknowledges Iranian’s Growing Hatred
of Mullahs’ Regime
by Mohammad Sadat Khansari
5th September 2020
Almost a year after the major Iran protests of
November which rattled the regime’s foundations, now state-run media express
fear of another uprising due to the economic crisis and the coronavirus
pandemic.
Since the coronavirus outbreak, the Iranian regime has
used the criminal policy of a deliberate cover-up of this crisis, thus using
its resulting mass casualties as a barrier against a possible uprising by the
restive Iranian society. After forcing people back to work and holding college
entrance exams and recently the Muharram mourning ceremonies, the Iranian
regime has now decided to reopen schools. This decision will jeopardize the
lives of the students and increase the rapid spread of this virus.
In this regard, the state-run Resalat daily, in an
article on Thursday, acknowledged the people’s hatred of the regime’s decision
to reopen schools. “The doubt of the students’ families has turned to the
certainty that amid the coronavirus outbreak, schools are not safe. Thus, they
should forget about sending their children to school, because as always, the
word of officials is not reliable,” Resalat wrote.
Minoo Mohraz, a member of the regime’s so-called
“National Committee to Combat Coronavirus,” on Wednesday told the state-run
Asr-e Iran website: “Schools are considered the best place for the coronavirus
transmission. Even if people wear masks for a long time and sit indoors, there
is a high risk of infection.”
In addition, during their infightings, Abdolreza Mesri,
the regime’s Member of Parliament from Kermanshah, western Iran, on August 29
had said: “If we rush and let students contract the coronavirus, it means we
have deliberately committed murder.”
The Javan daily, affiliated to the regime’s
Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), on Thursday wrote: “The news indicates a strange
pressure of the non-governmental school mafia to reopen schools and confusion
in the Ministry of Education … It seems that the force behind the scenes and
the non-governmental school mafia is more powerful than the Ministry of
Health.”
One of the main grievances of the Iranian society is
the economic crisis. This includes the rising inflation rate, high prices, and
liquidity. These are due to the regime’s wrong economic policies, systematic
plundering of national wealth for funding terrorist groups such as Hezbollah,
and institutionalized corruption. The economic problems were the reasons that
triggered the previous two nationwide uprisings in 2018 and 2019.
In this regard, the state-run Ebtekar daily on
Thursday wrote: “People have been hearing news of rising prices of goods. They
are not even surprised. The sad thing is people have to exchange as much money
as they have with goods to bear the unbridled inflation. The question is who is
responsible for this situation?”
While acknowledging that economic hardship has
eliminated the middle class, Ebtekar wrote: “What people are experiencing today
is the unpredictability of their living conditions. This inflation, however,
will have more consequences in the future. When people’s purchasing power does
not increase, they can no longer replace what they have today. The living
standards of the Iranian people will decline in the coming decade, and the
consequences of this will be the gradual disappearance of the middle class.”
Referring to the regime’s failed sham parliamentary
elections which were boycotted by the public and the Iranian society’s
restiveness Ebtekar wrote: “The prospect of eliminating the middle class from
Iranian society is, of course, nothing more than passivity and frustration,
which, although may not lead to a revolt in the short term, ultimately will
lead to increasing turmoil and violence in society. This indifference, which
showed itself in the dimension of political action in the elections of the 11th
parliament, can no longer accompany and empathize with the government in
advancing its goals.”
Ebtekar daily warned the regime’s officials that if
the society’s trust is not restored or their grievances are not answered,
people will “turn to violence.” While calling a possible uprising and a social
turmoil “despair and distress,” Ebtekar added: “Ultimately, however, what can
further lead Iranian society to despair and even distress is the lack of an
unclouded vision of the future. When people lose their hope in the future, the
situation becomes critical. The alarm of this crisis has been ringing for some
time. Perhaps it would be better to hear this alarm earlier than ever and think
of a clear and practical solution, instead of speech therapy.”
To control this restive society, the Iranian regime
has increased executions and death sentences, particularly against the detained
protesters of the January 2018 and November 2019 uprisings. Yet, these
oppressive measures no longer terrify society. In this regard, the state-run
Mostaghel daily on Wednesday wrote: “The sympathy and harmony of the society
with the executed people and the awakening of their sense of compassion towards
these selected [victims] by the ruling system are signs of the widening rift
between the society and the government. As much as the government carries out
executions coldly, society views these executions as violent and protests
them.”
https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/society/iran-peoples-growing-hatred-of-mullahs-regime-could-lead-to-a-new-uprising-state-run-media/
--------
Pakistan Govt Frustrates Evil Designs of Anti-Islamic
Forces: Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony
By News desk
September 6, 2020
Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith
Harmony, Dr Pir Noorul Haq Qadri said on Saturday the government had
successfully foiled the nefarious designs of anti-Islamic forces which wanted
to destroy Pakistan like Yemen, Iraq and Syria by promoting sectarianism.
Addressing the Ittehad-e-Ummat Conference at
Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI), he said that clear-cut
statement of Prime Minister Imran Khan not to recognize Israel had dragged the
Arab states out of uncertainty- whether accept Israel or not.
However, it was very encouraging that most of the Arab
states had decided to follow the Pakistani stand, he added. He said that
conspiracies hatched by social media to promote sectarianism in Pakistan were
geared up during last 6-7 months.
‘Certainly anti-Islamic forces were involved in these
conspiracies’, he said and added that Pakistan was fully aware of the
ill-impacts of sectarianism and the government with the cooperation of
religious circles decided to cow down such elements. In this connection, a
decision was taken to ‘Don’t leave your sect; don’t intervene in others sect’,
he added.
The minister said that few years ago, a conference was
held in Saudi Arabia which had clearly pointed out that the followers of eight
sects were Muslims and could not be dubbed out non-Muslims. He urged the
religious scholars to promote the 90 percent similarities in these schools of
thought instead of projecting the 10 percent minor and academic differences.
He further said that he had made it clear one month
before Muharram that the elements sowing seeds of hatred would not be tolerated
and they would be dealt with an iron hand. He appreciated the cooperation of
religious leaders and said that with the efforts of government, Muharram had
passed peacefully and now it was the duty of ulema to maintain peace in future
also.
He also quoted a joint declaration of ulema on
sectarianism and said that other Islamic countries were quoting the clauses of
this declaration while it would be translated into other languages very soon.
He said that people belonging to different sects would have to live in this
country and in this connection, we must explore new avenues of unity and
tolerance. ‘This could be possible only through dialogue’, he added. Pir Noorul
Haq Qadri also mentioned the efforts of Prime Minister Imran Khan to highlight
the Kashmir issue at international level effectively. Regarding fresh
publication of blasphemous material in Norway.
https://pakobserver.net/govt-frustrates-evil-designs-of-anti-islamic-forces-qadri/
------
Pro-Palestine protesters march against Israel in
Scotland
September 6, 2020
Islam Times
Pro-Palestine protesters gathered at Hampden ahead of
Scotland's UEFA Nations League match against Israel, according to GlasgowTimes.
Demonstrators held banners outside the stadium with
messages such as "Don't play ball with Israeli Apartheid," while
others waved Scottish and Palestinian flags.
Earlier in the day the protesters poured red paint
over the entrance to the stadium, saying it symbolized Palestinian blood, while
also daubing the nearby walls with pro-Palestinian graffiti, with staff quickly
springing into action to remove the graffiti ahead of the match.
Israel has been criticized for its treatment of Palestinians
and for its expansionist policies.
https://en.abna24.com/news//pro-palestine-protesters-march-against-israel-in-hampden_1068110.html
-------
Arab World
Inside the Lavish Life of Saudi Prince Mohammed Bin
Salman with £400m Superyacht, £230m Chateau And £400bn ‘Mega-City’
Henry Holloway
5 Sep 2020
The 35-year-old is the public face of the House of
Saud, with the collective wealth of its members estimated to be some
£1trillion.
It is an astounding figure nearly 16 times higher than
the British Royals.
Their riches stem from the vast oil reserves uncovered
in Saudi Arabia more than 75 years ago during the reign of King Abdulaziz ibn
Saud.
While the family normally likes to keep their fortune
private, MBS is believed to live a life of almost inconceivable luxury thanks
to his wealth.
He is known for his lavish spending, luxury properties
and is even rumoured to be the owner of the world's most expensive painting.
And he was thought to have been part of the failed
big-money deal to buy Newcastle United after missing out on Manchester United.
At the time, it was recorded as the world's most
expensive "house" sale.
Two years later, reports emerged that the buyer was
bin Salman who fell in love with the 50,000 sq ft Château Louis XIV on a work
trip.
The property boasts ten bedrooms, an indoor and
outdoor pool, a library and an aquarium.
The aquarium doubles as a meditation room and features
a transparent underwater chamber, something that wouldn't look out of place in
a James Bond film.
And if that was not enough, it has indoor and outdoor
pools, a private cinema, a squash court, two ballrooms, and a nightclub.
Before the prince bought the palace, Kim Kardashian
once considered it as a venue for her wedding to Kanye West.
MBS carefully concealed his ownership by using shell
companies in France and Luxembourg.
And alongside this property, the prince is also
believed to own the Le Rouvray estate, a 620-acre plot of land an hour's drive
from Paris.
The Crown Prince reportedly plans to renovate the
manor house on the land, which hasn't been upgraded in 60 years.
The royal then reportedly handed over nearly £400m to
Russian vodka tycoon Yuri Shefler for his superyacht in 2015.
The Serene is one of the largest boats in the world,
with an overall length of 439ft and a beam that is 60ft wide.
Bin Salman also loves his art and is rumoured to be
the owner of a painting worth nearly as much as his yacht.
In 2017, it was reported someone purchased Leonardo da
Vinci's Salvator Mundi for £340m on behalf of the Crown Prince.
That sum made the 16th century painting the most
expensive art sale ever.
The work is rumoured to be hanging aboard MBS's yacht,
making the floating palace seemingly worth more than £700million.
And if all that wasn't enough, MBS has big plans to
build a £400billion mega city on a huge 10,200 square mile site along the Red
Sea.
Named Neom, the development will be 17 times the size
of London, and will be run on 100 per cent renewable energy.
It will become a cross-border city state with its own
economic zone and more relaxed laws than the rest of Saudi Arabia.
MBS hopes his city will be able to surpass Silicon
Valley in terms of technology and overtake Hollywood as the world's
entertainment capital.
Sci-fi-esque ideas are built into the plans including
flying taxis, cloud seeding to make it rain, and a giant artifical moon to
light up Neom at night.
Homes will have robot maids and scientists will work
in the city to develop genetic modifications to enhance humans.
Beaches will have glow in the dark sand, and it is
hoped a Jurassic Park-style robot dinosaur theme park will be open.
He is said to have married Sarah bint Mashhoor, known
as the "Barbie Princess" in 2008 and they have four children.
"I want my children to live a very normal life
away from the spotlight, political pressures and attention,” he said in 2018.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12589873/saudi-prince-mohammed-bin-salman-lavish-life/
-------
Saudis Reduce Oil Pricing in Sign Demand Recovery
Struggling
By Anthony Di Paola
September 5, 2020
Saudi Arabia cut pricing for oil sales in October, a
sign the world’s biggest exporter sees fuel demand wavering amid more
coronavirus flare-ups around the globe.
The kingdom’s state producer, Saudi Aramco, reduced
its key Arab Light grade of crude by a larger-than-expected amount for
shipments to Asia, its main market. It also lowered pricing for U.S. buyers.
Aramco cut Arab Light to Asia to a discount against
the benchmark oil price used by the Saudis for the first time since June. It’s
the second consecutive month of reductions for barrels to the region and the
first month in six that U.S. refiners will see a cut. Aramco will trim pricing,
too, for lighter barrels to northwest Europe and the Mediterranean region.
Oil demand has plunged this year after the pandemic
forced governments to lock down economies, airlines to cancel fights and
workers to stay at home. Saudi Arabia, Russia and other OPEC+ producers agreed
in April to slash output by almost 10 millions barrels a day, roughly 10% of
global supply, to bolster prices.
Those cuts and a demand recovery in China have since
helped oil prices more than double. But they’re still down around 35% this
year. Brent crude fell to $42.66 on Friday, suffering its biggest weekly loss
in almost three months as infection rates continue to climb in nations such as
the U.S. and India.
“Aramco understands the importance of China for the
global oil market,” said Giovanni Staunovo, a commodities analyst with UBS
Group AG. “The cut for October might help to support stronger imports from
China over the coming months.”
The company is reducing pricing for Light exports to
Asia in October by $1.40 a barrel to 50 cents below the regional benchmark. It
was expected to pare pricing by $1 a barrel to a 10-cent discount, according to
a Bloomberg survey.
The Saudis raised pricing from June to August for
Asia. However, refinery demand has softened due to weak profits from turning
crude into gasoline and other fuels. Asian refiners are also working through
large stockpiles built up earlier in the year when crude prices troughed.
Aramco is cutting prices for U.S. buyers for the first
time since April after Saudi oil exports to the country dwindled to the lowest
in decades in August.
Saudi Arabia usually sets the tone for pricing
decisions by other Middle Eastern petrostates, including Iraq and the United
Arab Emirates, the second- and third-largest producers in the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-05/saudis-reduce-oil-pricing-in-sign-demand-recovery-is-struggling
--------
Saudi arrests famous Quran reciter Abdullah Basfar
September 5, 2020
Saudi Arabia
Saudi authorities have recently arrested Sheikh
Abdullah Basfar, one of the famous Quran reciters across the Islamic world, the
Prisoners of Conscience revealed on Twitter on Friday.
The Prisoners of Conscience Twitter account conveyed
that the sheikh was arrested in August, without giving more details on how and
where he was arrested.
Basfar is an associate professor at the department of
Sharia and Islamic Studies at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah. He is also
the former Secretary-General of the World Book and Sunnah Organisation.
The reports about the detention of Sheikh Basfar
coincided with reports about the detention of Sheikh Saud Al-Funaisan, who was
arrested in March.
However, some hailed these detentions as part of the
crackdown on extremism in the kingdom, based on the plan of the Saudi Crown
Prince Mohamed Bin Salman to erase the religious identity of Saudi Arabia.
But a massive number of Saudis expressed their anger
over the detention, Rai Al Youm online newspaper revealed, quoting a Saudi
citizen on Twitter: “The elite whom we necessarily need are in prisons.”
Another Saudi citizen’s Twitter account reported by
Rai Al Youm posted: “Our clerics are being detained arbitrarily, while the
trivial people enjoy freedom and spread corruption in the country. It is an
overt campaign to get rid of Islam and spread vice in the land of Haramin.”
Since 2017, when the crown prince took power, he has
been cracking down on clerics, journalists, academics and cyber activists over
their critical views on his manner of ruling the country and his plans to
secularise it.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200905-saudi-arrests-famous-quran-reciter-abdullah-basfar/
---------
From Jeddah To New York, Egyptian Star Mohamed Ramadan
Is Lighting Up Billboards
ARAB NEWS
September 06, 2020
DUBAI: An image of Egyptian star Mohamed Ramadan will
be projected on a Spotify billboard on one of the world’s most famous
landmarks, Times Square in New York City, to promote his new song, “Ya Habibi,”
a collaboration with French-Congolese hip hop star Gims released on Sept. 6.
Ramadan, who gained prominence for his catchy lyrics
and instantly-viral dance moves, will also feature in an advertisement for the
streaming giant on the world’s largest LED screen, situated on Jeddah’s Old
King Road.
It’s not the first time the Egyptian star has featured
on a Spotify billboard. Back in July, Ramadan’s single “Tik Tok” was promoted
in Times Square in a bid to highlight the music and culture of the Middle East
and North Africa.
“Spotify is the place for music discovery. We make it
easier for people to discover music and for artists to meaningfully engage with
their fans,” said Wissam Khodur, artist & label partnerships lead for MENA,
in a released statement.
“Artists are looking at Spotify as the first place for
audience development and Spotify’s ability to help artists build their brand
through our campaigns is a key part of why they want to work with us.”
Commenting on the streaming giant’s campaign, Ramadan
said, “I’m really excited to take our music to new audiences. It was a great
experience collaborating with Gims and to see our track light up the streets of
New York and Jeddah, is special.”
The first time an Arabic recording artist was given
the spotlight in New York’s prominent location was last year, when renowned
Egyptian singer Amr Diab was featured on Spotify’s billboard in the
most-visited landmark in the Big Apple.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1730266/lifestyle
------
India
Human Rights Watch demands ban on pellet guns in
Kashmir
September 6, 2020
ABNA24
Human Rights Watch, a global human rights watchdog
body has demanded complete ban on use of shotguns firing lethal metal pellets
in conflict torn region of Indian-controlled Kashmir.
The organization in a Press statement has criticized
Indian forces for opening fire on Muharram mourners in the region.
Rights activists say time and again, Indian law
enforcement’s use of shotguns in Kashmir result in shocking, grievous injuries
of protesters and bystanders. They call on Indian authorities to recognize that
the weapon will invariably cause indiscriminate and excessive injury in
violation of international standards.
Last week Indian Forces attacked several Muharram
processions in Kashmir and fired pellets and tear gas shells to disperse the
mourners. Scores of mourners were injured, some face partial or total
blindness. This disproportionate use of force evoked widespread condemnation
across the globe.
The unabated use of pallet-firing shotguns has
resulted in killing and injuries to hundreds of people over the past years. The
victims are as young as 4 years. Many victims have been hit by full cartridge
of pallets and have faced total blindness. Despite repeated pleas by global and
local rights and civil bodies to ban pallet guns, Indian forces continue to use
the weapon in brazen violation of international law and in utter disregard for
human rights groups.
The United Nations High Commissioner for human rights
has already banned the use of pallet guns for crowed control, calling it “one
of the most dangerous weapons used in Kashmir”.
The 2020 UN guidance also discourages use of pellets.
New Delhi has been justifying the use of pellet guns on the pretext that it is
necessary to maintain law and order in Kashmir.
Once again the use of pellet guns in Kashmir has come
under criticism with Human Rights Watch calling for immediate ban on the use of
them by Indian forces. Now it remains to be seen whether the authorities would
meet the demand or continue to use the weapon in violation of international
law.
https://en.abna24.com/news//human-rights-watch-demands-ban-on-pellet-guns-in-kashmir_1068102.html
--------
New Telangana Secretariat will have Temple, Church,
two Mosques: Chief Minister
6 September 2020
NEWS AGENCIES
In the new Secretariat, Temple, Mosques, and Church
would be constructed by the government, Telangana Chief Minister K
Chandrashekhar Rao on Saturday.
He declared that after the end of the ensuing
Legislative Session, foundation stones will be laid for all the places of
worship on the same day and construction works will be launched and completed
on a fast note mirroring the true Ganga Jamuna Tehjeeb of the State.
Rao held a meeting with the elder members of the
Muslim community at Pragathi Bhavan on Saturday over the construction of a new
Mosque at the Secretariat and other issues. On this occasion, he discussed
several issues at length. He elicited their opinion and suggestions.
During the meeting, it was decided to construct one
temple, two mosques that were damaged while demolishing the old secretariat
buildings by the government. It was decided to construct them with all the
facilities.
"The government would construct two Mosques, each
in 750 square feet (total 1500 Sq Feet) including one Imam Quarters. The new Mosques
would be constructed at the same location where they were, in the new
Secretariat. The New Mosques after the construction will be handed over to the
State Wakf Board," the Chief Minister said.
"Temple will also be constructed in 1,500 Square
feet and the temple after the construction will be handed over to the
Endowments department," added Rao.
Since there was a demand from the Christian Community
that they should also have Church in the new Secretariat, the government will
construct the Church, he further said.
The Chief Minister said the state treats all religions
equally. It will practice religious tolerance. It is a symbol of Ganga Jamuna
Tehjeeb. Hence, new places of worship are constructed in the new secretariat
for all the religions. After the Legislative Sessions, the foundation stone for
these places of worship will be laid on the same day.
"We will expedite the construction of
Anees-ul-Gurbah, the institution which gives shelter to the orphaned Muslim
children and gives them education. Already 80 per cent of the construction
works were done. Another Rs 18 crore is needed and it will be released and the
construction works will be completed speedily," he said.
The government has decided to set up an Islamic Centre
in Hyderabad with international standards. A piece of land was allocated for
the purpose. There was some delay in the construction work due to Corona
Pandemic. Works on this Centre will also be put on fast track very soon.
He said that there is a need to have Burial places
(Khabrastans) around the city of Hyderabad. We have requested Rangareddy and
Medchel Collectors to identify the lands. They have identified some places. At
several places in the city, 150 to 200 Khabrastans will be created.
"Due to the widening of roads in Narayanpet,
Asurkhana was damaged. Instructions were given to the Collector concerned to
identify the land and construct the Asurkhana," he said.
"We are recognizing Urdu as the second official
language in the state. Programmes will be organised for the protection and
development of the Urdu language. The development programmes for Urdu will be
taken up by the Official Language Commission and a Vice President connected
with Urdu language will be appointed in the Commission," Rao added.
Home Minister Mohammed Ali, MP Asaduddin Owaisi, MLA
Akbaruddin Owaisi, All India Muslim Personal Law Board member Moulana Mufti
Khaleel Ahmed, Board Secretary Moulana Khalid Saifullah Rehmani were among the
people present in the meeting.
http://www.catchnews.com/india-news/new-telangana-secretariat-will-have-temple-church-two-mosques-chief-minister-199883.html
-------
Mecca Masjid, Shahi Masjid of Hyderabad thrown open to
public with restrictions
Sep 6, 2020
Bajaj Allianz
Hyderabad: Finally, after a gap of five months, the
historical Mecca Masjid near Charminar and Royal Mosque (Shahi Masjid) at
Public Gardens were thrown open for the public on Saturday.
After the State Waqf Board’s decision to open the two
big mosques of Hyderabad, the places of worship were opened for offering five
times prayers with strict adherence to MHA guidelines. On Saturday, the mosques
were opened from pre-dawn prayers (Fajr) to night prayers (Isha). Though
devotees thronged for prayers, only fifty persons were allowed inside the
mosques. The regular Imams of the mosques led the prayers in the open shed
erected in the vicinity of the places of worship with two meter physical
distancing. However, the administration has avoided arranging Namaz in the
actual structure due to ventilation issues.
Though the government decided to open the mosques with
the condition of maximum 50 devotees in the initial days but from September 21,
there will be permission for 100 devotees. Automatic hand sanitisers have been
fixed at the entrance and each person is being screened. Children less than 10
years of age and elderly people aged above 60 years will not be allowed in the
mosques.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/mecca-masjid-shahi-masjid-thrown-open-to-public-with-restrictions/articleshowprint/77955787.cms
-------
North America
Texas assistant attorney general loses his job after
tweets targeting Muslims, social justice protests
By CHUCK LINDELL
September 5, 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (Tribune News Service) — An assistant
attorney general for Texas has lost his job after a national media report
detailed social media posts that encouraged violence against Black Lives
Matters protesters, likened Islam to a virus and dismissed the fight for LGBTQ
rights as "normalizing perversion."
The report by Media Matters for America, a liberal
media watchdog, also highlighted Nick Moutos' support for the theories behind
QAnon, which sees President Donald Trump as a leading hero in the fight against
satanic pedophiles who secretly run the government.
Moutos was an assistant attorney general in the
Criminal Prosecutions Division until Thursday, when the Media Matters report
was published online.
An agency spokeswoman confirmed that Moutos was no
longer employed by Attorney General Ken Paxton but declined to discuss the
matter further.
"Speaking out against the #ChinaVirus #Plandemic
& #Democrats using it to steal #Election2020 makes people angry," he
added, referring to a conspiracy theory that sees the COVID-19 pandemic as part
of a scheme for profit and control.
Moutos has tweeted that America is in the midst of a
second civil war with "globalists," Democrats and Black Lives Matter
activists on one side and patriots supporting gun rights on the other. Those
patriots bought more than 1.7 million guns in May, he warned, and several of
his tweets included a NoWarningShots hashtag.
After former President Barack Obama supported those
protesting against police violence directed against Black Americans, Moutos
responded by calling Obama a traitor and added: "I pray to meet you on the
#CivilWar2 #Battlefield."
Although his tweets about protesters have included
such hashtags as PlentyOfAmmo and TargetsOfOpportunity, Moutos denied that he
was advocating for violence. In a tweet sent late Thursday, he said he was
instead "calling for using the full authority of the law and defend
yourselves and your families!"
Moutos was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for
Congress earlier this year, coming in third in a three-way primary to face
Democratic U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett.
It was his first run for office, according to his
campaign website, which noted that Moutos joined the Criminal Prosecutions
Division in April 2017 after two years as a deputy county attorney in Arizona.
A six-year stint in the Navy began in 1986 and
included service on the USS Wisconsin battleship during Desert Storm, after
which Moutos continued serving in the Navy and Army Reserves, rising to the
rank of captain, his campaign biography said.
The website said Moutos' campaign was inspired by the
impact of the 1962 Supreme Court decision barring organized prayer in public
schools, saying it led to God being "systematically removed from
society" in an attack on morality that is destroying families,
particularly women and children.
https://www.stripes.com/news/us/texas-assistant-attorney-general-loses-his-job-after-tweets-targeting-muslims-social-justice-protests-1.644016
--------
Pope’s New Encyclical to Praise Jihad Terror Supporter
as Example of ‘Peace’ and ‘Fraternity’
BY ROBERT SPENCER
SEP 05, 2020
Pope Francis’ new encyclical, Fratelli tutti: sulla
fraternità e l’amicizia sociale (“All Brothers: On Fraternity and Social
Friendship”) will be issued on October 3, the Vatican confirmed Saturday.
According to Church Militant, the encyclical is “a sequel to his controversial
Abu Dhabi pact with Grand Imam Ahmad al-Tayyeb last year, and will cite Abu
Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas], a Palestinian backer of terrorism, as an example of
‘peace’ and ‘fraternity.’” No, this is not the Babylon Bee; this is real.
It gets even worse. According to Vatican News, “The
theme of fraternity is also present in [the Pope’s] constant embrace of
migrants, epitomized in his pastoral visit to Lampedusa. His signing of the
Document on Human Fraternity in Abu Dhabi in 2019 marks one more example of
Pope Francis’ dedication to promoting brotherly love.”
Brotherly love. As I told Church Militant, Mahmoud
Abbas has made it abundantly clear over the years that he doesn’t want peace,
but the total destruction of Israel as a Jewish state and the eradication of
all Jews from the region. After two jihad groups, the Mourabitoun and the
Mourabitat, began violent riots on the Temple Mount in September 2015, he
applauded: “We bless you; we bless the Mourabitoun and the Mourabitat. We
welcome every drop of blood spilled in Jerusalem. This is pure blood, clean
blood, blood on its way to Allah. With the help of Allah, every shaheed
(martyr) will be in heaven, and every wounded will get his reward. All of their
steps, we will not allow them. All these divisions, Al-Aqsa is ours, and the
(Church of the) Holy Sepulcher is ours, everything is ours, all ours. They (the
Jews) have no right to desecrate them with their filthy feet and we won’t allow
them to.”
Abbas envisions the total expulsion of Jews from a
Palestinian state: “In a final resolution, we would not see the presence of a
single Israeli – civilian or soldier – on our lands.” And as for regarding all
human beings as brothers, both Sunni and Shi’ite Islam teach that the lives of
non-Muslims are not worth as much as the lives of Muslims. Reliance of the
Traveller, a classic Sunni manual of Islamic sacred law, explains
matter-of-factly that “the indemnity for the death or injury of a woman is
one-half the indemnity paid for a man. The indemnity paid for a Jew or
Christian is one-third the indemnity paid for a Muslim. The indemnity paid for
a Zoroastrian is one-fifteenth that of a Muslim” (o4.9). The Qur’an calls “the
unbelievers among the People of the Book,” that is, Jews and Christians who do
not accept Islam, “the most vile of created beings” (Qur’an 98:6).
Sultan Hussein Tabandeh, the Shi’ite author of A
Muslim Commentary on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, agrees,
stating:
Thus if [a] Muslim commits adultery his punishment is
100 lashes, the shaving of his head, and one year of banishment. But if the man
is not a Muslim and commits adultery with a Muslim woman his penalty is
execution. … Similarly if a Muslim deliberately murders another Muslim he falls
under the law of retaliation and must by law be put to death by the next of
kin. But if a non-Muslim who dies at the hand of a Muslim has by lifelong habit
been a non-Muslim, the penalty of death is not valid. Instead the Muslim
murderer must pay a fine and be punished with the lash. … Since Islam regards
non-Muslims as on a lower level of belief and conviction, if a Muslim kills a
non-Muslim, then his punishment must not be the retaliatory death, since the
faith and conviction he possesses is loftier than that of the man slain…Again,
the penalties of a non-Muslim guilty of fornication with a Muslim woman are
augmented because, in addition to the crime against morality, social duty and
religion, he has committed sacrilege, in that he has disgraced a Muslim and
thereby cast scorn upon the Muslims in general, and so must be executed. …
Islam and its peoples must be above the infidels, and never permit non-Muslims
to acquire lordship over them.
But the Pope’s encyclical is certain to ignore all of
this, and it is likely that the pontiff is completely unaware of it. The
encyclical will mislead millions of Catholics into a complacency that could be
fatal.
https://pjmedia.com/culture/robert-spencer/2020/09/05/popes-new-encyclical-to-praise-jihad-terror-supporter-as-example-of-peace-and-fraternity-n896237
--------
‘Agricultural Jihad’: A Hungry Lebanon Returns to
Family Farms to Feed Itself
By Vivian Yee
Sept. 5, 2020
ANTELIAS, Lebanon — The falafel shop owner leaned back
and listed the keys to the Lebanese kitchen — the staples that help lend this
country its culinary halo:
And the chickpeas for hummus, that ethereally smooth
Lebanese spread? They come from Mexico. Lebanese chickpeas are considered too
small and misshapen for anything but animal feed.
“We got spoiled,” said Jad André Lutfi, who helps run
Falafel Abou André, his family’s business, a cheap and casual chain. “We’ve
imported anything you can think of from around the world.”
So it went for years, until the country’s economy
caved in, before the coronavirus pandemic paralyzed what was left of it and an
explosion on Aug. 4 demolished businesses and homes across Beirut — to say
nothing of the damaged port, through which most of Lebanon’s imports arrive.
The country that boasts of serving the Arab world’s
most refined food has begun to go hungry, and its middle class, once able to
vacation in Europe and go out for sushi, is finding supermarket shelves and
cupboards increasingly bare.
“Even making hummus at home is a luxury now,” said Mr.
Lutfi, noting that a kilogram of Mexican chickpeas has tripled in price. “These
are necessities. Now they’re becoming a luxury.”
The Lebanese pound has bled about 80 percent of its
value since last fall, sending food prices soaring and forcing many households
to accept food handouts as the share of Lebanese living in poverty rose to more
than half the population.
The potential for hunger has only grown since the
blast, which displaced about 300,000 people from their homes, stripped an
unknown number of their incomes and left many residents reliant on donated
meals.
Late last year, Lynn Hobeika cleared out a
long-neglected family plot in the village where she grew up in the mountains
northeast of Beirut.
Borrowing money from a friend, Ms. Hobeika, 42,
planted enough tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, zucchini, strawberries, eggplant,
greens and herbs to see her extended family through the winter and beyond. She
also began making fresh goat cheese for extra income.
“This is what makes me feel blessed. I can grow my
food,” she said, surveying the view from her garden — terraces of olive, fig,
mulberry and walnut trees sloping down to a green valley. “It’s OK, we’re not
going to starve.”
Though her father, who owned a fleet of school buses,
had kept chickens and a backyard garden when she was young, Ms. Hobeika and her
generation grew up expecting to lead comfortable city lives. She graduated from
an elite university. She and her husband earned enough to send their son to
private school.
The garden in the village of Baskinta became her
family’s safety net. Her father and uncle were about to sell the land, which
had been in the family for generations. But Lebanese banks have barred account
holders from withdrawing more than a few hundred dollars per week, rendering
any bank check “as worthless as toilet paper,” Ms. Hobeika said.
“You lose the land for toilet paper, or we keep it and
we eat for months,” she said she told her uncle. “You’re not making money, but
you’re saving money. Instead of going to the supermarket, you’re eating
something fresh.”
Her cousin, Mansour Abi Shaker, also turned to fallow
family land elsewhere, planting vegetables and raising chicken and sheep in a
backyard enclosure shaded by mulberry and persimmon trees.
He had been a ski instructor, a factory manager and an
operator of the generators many Lebanese depend on to fill gaps in
government-supplied electricity. Then he lost all three jobs.
“Suddenly I woke up, and — nothing. Like all of
Lebanon, I was jobless,” said Mr. Abi Shaker, 34, who lives in the village of
Aajaltoun. “I never thought I’d do this in my life, but I have to survive. This
is the only business I can live off of in the future.”
YouTube tutorials did not prepare Mr. Abi Shaker for
the ups and downs of animal husbandry. Five sheep died, each a loss of about
$500.
Though Ms. Hobeika’s zucchini plants have delivered so
enthusiastically that she will have enough to preserve or freeze for the
winter, she, too, cannot get government water.
Then there is the climbing price of the imported dried
cranberries with which she studs her goat cheese by hand; the power blackouts
that make refrigerating it a daily ordeal; and the wildly fluctuating exchange
rate, which has forced her to raise prices three times.
All seemed beatable until the explosion, which
appeared to be the result of government incompetence and neglect. In despair
after the blast, Ms. Hobeika was considering leaving Lebanon.
“I was just thinking that I was a success story. I
tried,” she said. “But, enough — this is not a life. We’re only surviving,
we’re not living. And I’m not seeing any future for my son here anymore.”
In returning to land last tilled by their grandparents,
Mr. Abi Shaker, Ms. Hobeika and other newly minted farmers are also, in small
measure, reversing Lebanon’s decades-long shift away from agriculture toward
banking, tourism and services.
For decades, agriculture’s decline mattered little to
consumers; the country could afford to import 80 percent of its food. But that
outside dependence is no longer sustainable when hyperinflation is hollowing
out salaries.
“We’ll never be self-sufficient in what we produce,”
said Mabelle Chedid, a sustainable farming expert and president of the Food
Heritage Foundation. “But with globalization, we started to shift to other
ingredients and other food items, and I think now it’s time to re-look at our
traditional diet and really see the value of it.”
Instead of imported quinoa, self-sufficiency advocates
plug Lebanon’s traditional whole grains — bulgur, a cracked wheat, and freekeh,
a smoky roasted green wheat that, in the optimistic assessment of Shadi
Hamadeh, an agriculture professor at the American University of Beirut, “is
competing with quinoa in New York right now.”
Mr. Hamadeh and Ms. Chedid run a sustainable farming
initiative that counsels new farmers to plant native Lebanese seeds instead of
imported varieties that yield greater harvests but are not adapted to the environment.
Among the more than 130 people who have contacted them
since the economic crisis began are those planting tomatoes on their balconies,
new farmers with small plots and those investing their life savings in
farmland.
“It’s a joke,” said Chef Antoine El Hajj, Lebanon’s
chief televangelist for cooking affordable, traditional food, dismissing the
politicians’ sudden zeal for gardening. “It’s not realistic.”
It is not that he does not believe in homegrown
produce — his extended family eats from his garden in the mountains above
Beirut — but, he pointed out, there would be no need for it if Lebanon’s
leaders had not steered it into an economic abyss.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/05/world/middleeast/lebanon-economic-crisis-farming.html
--------
Qanta Ahmed: As a Muslim American Trump admirer, I say
to Joy Reid and Ilhan Omar: Shame on you!
By Qanta Ahmed
06-09-2020
Two Trump-hating, far-left radical women made news
this week as they got into an argument about how to best insult President
Trump. As a Muslim woman observing Islam, and someone who admires the president
as a true friend of Muslims around the world and an outstanding leader of our
country, I find their comments to be ignorant, insulting and intellectually
dishonest.
The argument began Monday night when MSNBC host Joy
Reid — who devotes her nightly show “The ReidOut” to denouncing Trump and all
he does — said the president has radicalized his supporters in the same way
that “Muslims act.”
"Leaders, let's say in the Muslim world, talk a lot
of violent talk and encourage their supporters to be willing to commit
violence, including on their own bodies, in order to win against whoever they
decide is the enemy," Reid said.
"We in the U.S. media describe that as they are
radicalizing those people — particularly when they're radicalizing young
people,” Reid added. “That's how we talk about the way Muslims act. When you
see what Donald Trump is doing, is that any different from what we describe as
radicalizing people?"
In reaction to that ludicrously ignorant commentary,
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Muslim originally from Somalia, sharply criticized Reid
and demanded an apology.
“Honestly, this kinda of casual Islamophobia is
hurtful and dangerous,” Omar, D-Minn., tweeted. “We deserve better and an apology
for the painful moment for so many Muslims around our country should be
forthcoming.”
Reid didn’t apologize, but said on her show Wednesday
that her comments were "not exactly the most artful way of asking that
question."
We all know the stereotypes about Muslims: Radical
extremists and terrorists. Haters of the West in general, America in
particular, and especially the Jewish state of Israel. Fundamentalists who
reject modernity and oppress women.
While the stereotype is accurate for a small percentage
of the world’s 1.9 billion Muslims, it’s far from accurate for most of us. I’m
a proud U.S. citizen, reject Islamism, support the state of Israel, and as
physician I am an obvious example of an educated woman who embraces science and
the modern world and believes in equal rights for my gender.
I am committed to combatting Islamism — the notorious
imposter of Islam that is actually an extremist political ideology that
embraces radical Islamic fundamentalism. At the same time, I reject the left’s
obsession, objectification and infantilization of all Muslims — whether by Reid
or Omar.
True to form, Omar raised the specter of Islamophobia
— the fear and hostility toward Muslims — in her attack on Reid. That’s a
favorite silencer used by Islamists and Islamist sympathizers to simultaneously
silence discourse and cry victimhood.
Omar and Reid both engage in deeply flawed thinking,
illustrating how Islamism engages with the left in their notorious Red-Green
Alliance that renders Muslims as monolithic, voiceless and blind followers of
leftism.
I have traveled throughout the Arab Muslim world for
20 years and frequently during the Trump presidency and I have talked with
ordinary Iraqis, Kurds, Yazidis, Palestinians, Jordanians, Egyptians, Emiratis,
Saudis and others. In these conversations, my co-religionists have told me that
far from being a radicalizer of Muslims, President Trump is a galvanizer of
Muslims.
Muslims who Trump has backed include those surviving
the rampage of terrorists groups such as ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Taliban,
Al Qaeda and other radical Islamists. Far from being an “objectifier” of
Muslims, President Trump has been a powerful advocate for Muslims by combating
radical Islam throughout the greater Middle East.
Trump has taken a refreshing rapprochement with the
Sunni Arab world after eight years of marginalization by the Obama
administration that favored the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.
The U.S. president received an astonishing reception
at the 2017 Riyadh Summit by leaders of 55 Muslim-majority nations during his
welcome to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, hosted by King Salman. And Trump has
intensified pressure on Shiite Islamist Iran, which waging a covert proxy war
with several Sunni Arab states.
In addition, President Trump ordered the remarkably
bold and timely assassination of Iranian spymaster and legendary commander of
the elite Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Qassem Soleimani,
the second-most powerful figure in Islamist Iran.
Trump also proposed the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Deal
that offered over $50 billion in investments into the economy of a nascent
Palestinian state. And he recently forged the Abraham Accords to lead to
normalized relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates — the first
such peace agreement between Israel and an Arab nation in 26 years.
In truth, President Trump can be seen only as a
devoted supporter of those Muslims fighting fundamentalist Islamism everywhere
— namely Muslims who fight radicalization, not court it. For this Trump has earned
our accolades.
Reid claims that President Trump is a puppet-master
inciting Muslims like a fundamentalist Mullah — much as we find among Islamist
ideologues in Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Iraq, Turkey and elsewhere. But this is
absurd and couldn’t be further from the truth.
Reid reveals she has no insight as to the diversity,
complexity and ideological differences among my fellow Muslims across the
Muslim-majority world and here in America. She has rendered us monolithic in
every way — a demeaning and contemptible view.
As to the accusation of Islamophobia, Ilhan Omar once
again reveals her Islamist credentials. Islamophobia is a 20th century
construct that seeks to act as censor of all dialogue and examination of
matters relating to Muslims and Islam, including by Muslims observing Islam and
those brave critics of Islam’s political imposter — Islamism.
Omar — like all Islamist sympathizers — seeks to
silence any who dare criticize, examine or analyze Islam, Muslims, our
institutions, our leaders, or any aspect of our societies.
Was Reid’s utter stupidity offensive? Perhaps. But
more than offensive, Reid’s remarks were revelatory of her own rank ignorance.
But were Reid’s remarks an assault on Islam? Hardly.
Stretching Reid’s remarks to anything close to anti-Muslim
xenophobia (which is despicable in a liberal secular democracy where all
minorities are protected and celebrated), Reid could be accused of xenophobia
against Muslims, but this is not Islamophobia.
Islamists and their allies (including the left) recall
that Omar met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2017 when she was
a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. Erdogan is the modern
godfather of the Muslim Brotherhood — the mothership of Islamism.
Islamists and their sympathizers wield Islamophobia as
a political and judicial shield against criticism and scrutiny of ideological
Islamism. Omar seeks to silence not only the stupidity of Reid’s remarks, but
any rights Reid might have to examine Muslims.
This does not excuse the dumb and dumber exchange we
were all subjected to. But it does reveal in the left’s alliance with Islamism
— whether Muslim Islamist sympathizers or a recognized far-left political
commentator — how it demeans and devalues Muslims everywhere.
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/joy-reid-ilhan-omar-qanta-ahmed
-------
Mideast
Turkish expert criticizes EU's double Standard toward
Islam
Sep 5, 2020
During an illegal gathering on August 28, supporters
of right-wing Danish politician Rasmus Paludan, who leads the anti-Islamic
group Tight Direction (Stram Kurs), burned a copy of Holy Qur’an in the
southern Swedish city of Malmo.
On Tuesday, (September 1), French Magazine Charlie
Hebdo republished offensive cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) on
the eve of the trial of suspects in a deadly attack on the paper’s office five
years ago. In January 2015, two terrorists attacked the magazine’s offices in
Paris, killing 12 people, many of whom worked for the publication. The attack,
condemned by Muslims across the world, was allegedly a response to the
magazine’s offensive cartoon of the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) a few years
earlier.
Anti-Muslim moves have been on the rise across Europe
in recent years. Muslim leaders in Europe and around the world have reiterated
their unequivocal condemnation of the anti-Muslim acts.
Moreover, the rise of far-right ideology and the
propagation of anti-immigration policies have exacerbated the status of
religious minorities in Europe particularly Muslims.
To shed light on the issue, we reached out to Turkish
researcher and expert Deniz Caner.
"Although the Swedish authorities did not allow
the demonstration of provocation against the Quran and imposed an entry ban on
the so-called politician, on August 28, far-right street painter Dan Park and
Danish racist politician Rasmus Paludan had been in Malmö for two weeks and
also made many attempts to provoke Muslims," Caner said.
"For 2 weeks, it seemed that these provocateurs
were expected to burn the Qur'an in a completely helpless manner by the Swedish
police," she added.
Commenting on the European leader's double standards
regarding human rights, the Turkish expert highlighted, "While Europe,
which accepts human rights and the rule of law as its basic principle, is very
sensitive about anti-Semitism, it is still not able to prevent these ugly
attacks against Muslims and Islam."
During an illegal gathering on August 28, supporters
of right-wing Danish politician Rasmus Paludan, who leads the anti-Islamic
group Tight Direction (Stram Kurs), burned a copy of Holy Qur’an in the
southern Swedish city of Malmo.
On Tuesday, (September 1), French Magazine Charlie
Hebdo republished offensive cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) on
the eve of the trial of suspects in a deadly attack on the paper’s office five
years ago. In January 2015, two terrorists attacked the magazine’s offices in
Paris, killing 12 people, many of whom worked for the publication. The attack,
condemned by Muslims across the world, was allegedly a response to the
magazine’s offensive cartoon of the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) a few years
earlier.
Anti-Muslim moves have been on the rise across Europe
in recent years. Muslim leaders in Europe and around the world have reiterated
their unequivocal condemnation of the anti-Muslim acts.
Moreover, the rise of far-right ideology and the
propagation of anti-immigration policies have exacerbated the status of
religious minorities in Europe particularly Muslims.
"Although the Swedish authorities did not allow
the demonstration of provocation against the Quran and imposed an entry ban on
the so-called politician, on August 28, far-right street painter Dan Park and
Danish racist politician Rasmus Paludan had been in Malmö for two weeks and
also made many attempts to provoke Muslims," Caner said.
"For 2 weeks, it seemed that these provocateurs
were expected to burn the Qur'an in a completely helpless manner by the Swedish
police," she added.
Commenting on the European leader's double standards
regarding human rights, the Turkish expert highlighted, "While Europe,
which accepts human rights and the rule of law as its basic principle, is very
sensitive about anti-Semitism, it is still not able to prevent these ugly
attacks against Muslims and Islam."
https://en.mehrnews.com/news/163102/Turkish-expert-criticizes-EU-s-double-Standard-toward-Islam
-------
Iran looks to China as US sanctions bite
Najmeh Bozorgmehr
06-09-2020
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Inscribed on the blue tiles above the entrance to
Iran’s foreign ministry in downtown Tehran is the ideological motto that has
informed its foreign policy since the 1979 revolution: “Neither East, Nor West;
[only] the Islamic Republic”.
But in what appears to be a tactical shift for a
theocratic state under pressure from US sanctions and hopeful for better
relations with other states, Iran’s leaders are working on a “comprehensive”
25-year plan to become “important strategic partners” with China.
A proposal approved by the Iranian cabinet in June and
yet to be put to Beijing reflects the regime’s attempt to better position
itself and its economy in the face of US sanctions and what it sees as limited
European efforts to save the 2015 nuclear deal, say analysts. That deal - under
which Tehran agreed to abide by limits on its nuclear programme in return for
sanctions relief - has faltered since the US abandoned it in 2018.
For Iran’s conservative forces — who are hostile to the
west — China and Russia offer a counterweight to historically strong business
ties with Europe.
“Iran’s political message to western states is that
Iran is not alone. [ It is like] shouting: ‘Hello! my daughter has an important
suitor and is getting married’, in case they want to rush and do something to
prevent it,” said a regime insider close to hardline forces.
“If this makes westerners, in particular Europeans,
change their approach, then we can see how to find solutions. If not, Iran will
continue to play this game with China as we have no other choice.”
Reformists, who typically pivot to Europe but are
disillusioned by the nuclear deal, also favour a deal with China. “Over the
years, China has strengthened its foothold in Iran without trying to interfere
in Iran’s political stability, security and independence,” said Saeed Laylaz, a
reformist analyst. “This distinguishes China from the US and even Russia, both
of which tend to interfere in Iran’s domestic affairs.”
The 18-page document seen by the Financial Times
suggests many areas of potential co-operation, including the energy,
petrochemicals, technology and military sectors as well as maritime projects.
Despite local media reports of Chinese troops being sent to Iran and an Iranian
island being given to Beijing — fanned by opposition groups who said closer
ties risked Iranian independence — there were no details of this in the plan.
China is already Iran’s biggest trade partner as a
crippling US sanctions regime has deterred all but smaller companies without US
operations from dealing with Iran. Iran-China trade was $20.7bn during the last
Iranian year, which ended in March, according to Iran’s customs administration,
roughly a quarter of Iran’s total. The figure does not include Chinese goods
reimported from countries such as the United Arab Emirates.
Iran is negotiating with China over the purchase of
630 carriages for Tehran’s metro, according to comments made by the city’s
mayor © AFP/Getty
Scaling up this business to the multi-billion-dollar
projects Tehran hopes for requires better relations with the US, Iranian
businessmen said. Both Chinese and European companies left Iran in the wake of
US sanctions.
“This agreement is a political decision for Iran but
it is a business decision for China, which means China cannot do anything
serious with Iran as long as sanctions are in place,” said Pedram Soltani, a
businessman who deals with China. “Chinese top financial institutions and banks
and big companies will not risk their interests in the US market by investing
in Iran.”
In July, Zhao Lijian, a spokesman at the Chinese
ministry of foreign affairs, said China and Iran enjoyed a “traditional
friendship” and had “been in communication on the development of bilateral
relations”. President Xi Jinping visited Iran in 2016.
Iran’s geographical position was “strategically
important” for Beijing, said Yu Jie, senior research fellow on China at Chatham
House, especially given its proximity to Pakistan, where China is involved in
infrastructure projects through the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
“Iran would be operating as a very important transit point for China,” she
said.
There are already many signs of co-operation between
Iran and China. China is one of the biggest export markets for Iranian crude.
Iranian analysts say that while Iran wants a guaranteed market for its oil,
Beijing wants assurances of safe passage of oil tankers through the at-times
tense Strait of Hormuz to China.
A manager of a leading truck company, who asked not to
be named, said imports from China had doubled already this year and he expected
them to increase further. Iran is negotiating with China over the purchase of
630 carriages for Tehran’s metro, according to comments made by the city’s
mayor Pirouz Hanachi in July. “Iran’s bus companies may still dream of
Germany’s Mercedes-Benz at night but wake up in the morning to the reality that
they can at best afford Chinese buses,” said Mr Laylaz.
Iranian analysts expect the agreement with China to be
signed next year, regardless of the outcome of elections in the US in November
and Iran next year. But the scope of co-operation will hinge on any
negotiations with the US.
“China will certainly sign provisional agreements in
all fields, ” said the regime insider, adding that the investments could be
tied to crude exports. “They [China ] will continue this game until US
sanctions are lifted when they hope to be in the front row to reap benefits.”
Iran lacked trust in global powers, the person said,
but saw the US as a “giant wolf” and China as “an army of ants”. “Both will
empty our silos, but we are horrified when we look at that wolf but not too
scared of those ants,” he added.
https://www.ft.com/content/35d8df85-012f-4ec3-9e7d-24da255d45e1
--------
Iran could become hub of arms trafficking and exports
as embargo ends
By SETH J. FRANTZMAN
SEPTEMBER 5, 2020
Iran’s own media has bragged that Tehran will soon
become an exporter of weapons as the arms embargo on the country ends.
The arms embargoes on Iran are ending despite US calls
for them to be extended. The embargo on Iran exporting arms was supposed to be
in force for five years after the Iran Deal, the JCPOA, was adopted in October
2015.
Iran’s Press TV says the country produces 90% of its
arms locally and that Iran is one of the leading top 10 countries in the world
in terms of indigenous production. Arms embargoes that began in the 1980s
during the Iran-Iraq war led the country to “produce a wide array of hardware
over the years, including its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles,
radars, boats, submarines, UAVs and fighter planes.”
“Sanctions have so far had minimal negative effects on
countries and groups allied with Iran as part of the so-called ‘resistance
axis’ formed against foreign and Zionist intervention,” Press TV says.
Iran is considering not only exports of weapons but
also what to do in the face of US “maximum pressure” and attempts to trigger
“snapback” sanctions by the US. An article from Fars News reveals that Iran is
watching the US presidential election closely. However, despite the view in the
US that US presidential candidate Joe Biden might be more keen on returning to
the Iran Deal, Tehran is not as enthusiastic.
“Biden’s presence in the White House, if not more
harmful for Iran, at least has the same consequences as Trump’s presence in
this position. A look at the Democratic campaign document also confirms
continuation of the same containment strategy that has been in place since the
Obama administration.”
In short: Iran will move forward with provocations and
weapons import and export regardless of the US election, according to this one
report at least.
Iran is under crippling sanctions, but its narrative
is that it can still export and develop weapons. Tehran in recent months
boasted about new ranges for drones, new precision weapons for drones, new
missiles, a satellite, new naval weapons and new radar.
The country’s message is that it is still full steam
ahead. However foreign reports indicate that Iran suffered mysterious setbacks
at the Natanz nuclear facility and at a missile facility and that it is unable
to pay its proxies in Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon due to US sanctions.
The article on the arms exports shows Iran’s plans in
the coming months. It illustrates that the regime wants to legally export
weapons, not just do so clandestinely as it has already done in the region.
Iran has sent ballistic missiles to Iraq in 2018 and
2019, Reuters reported, and Iran has sent at least three ships laden with
weapons to the Houthis in Yemen, all of which were intercepted by the US, and
Iran sends air defense and other weapons to Syria, while sending precision
guided munitions to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-could-become-hub-of-arms-trafficking-and-exports-as-embargo-ends-641171
-------
Netanyahu says Serbia will move its embassy to
Jerusalem
5 Sept 2020
NEWS AGENCIES
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said
Serbia will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, becoming the first
European country to follow the United States in making the move.
Most diplomatic missions in Israel have been in Tel
Aviv as countries stayed neutral over the disputed city of Jerusalem until its
status could be settled in an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
But in December 2017, US President Donald Trump
recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital and announced the shifting the US
embassy from Tel Aviv.
On Friday, Netanyahu revealed Serbia's move, adding
that the transfer will happen by July 2021.
"I thank my friend the president of Serbia ...
for the decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to transfer his
embassy there," Netanyahu said.
"I would like also to thank my friend President
Trump for contributing to this achievement."
News of the move by Serbia, not a member of the
27-nation EU, coincided with the announcement by Trump that former foes Serbia
and Kosovo had agreed on an historic pact to normalise economic relations.
Meanwhile, a senior Palestinian official slammed
Serbia's decision, saying it makes "Palestine a victim" of Trump's
re-election hopes.
"Palestine has become a victim of the electoral
ambitions of President Trump, whose team would take any action, no matter how
destructive for peace ... to achieve his re-election," said Saeb Erekat,
the secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), in a
tweet.
"This, just like the UAE-Israel agreement [to
normalise diplomatic ties], isn't about Middle East Peace," he added.
Israel seized control of East Jerusalem in 1967 and
later annexed it in moves never recognised by the international community.
It considers the city its undivided capital, but the
Palestinian Authority (PA) sees the occupied eastern part of Jerusalem,
including the Old City with its holy sites, as the capital of their future
state.
The United Nations and the European Union, Israel's
top economic partner, say the city's final status must be negotiated between
Israelis and Palestinians, before which countries should not locate their
embassies there.
Netanyahu also announced that Israel had set up
diplomatic relations from Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in
2008.
"Kosovo will become the first majority-Muslim
country to open an embassy in Jerusalem," Netanyahu said in a statement.
"As I've said in recent days - the circle of peace and recognition of
Israel is expanding and more countries are expected to join."
Trump's decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to
Jerusalem three years ago triggered Palestinian outrage and a diplomatic
shockwave.
So far, only Guatemala followed in his footsteps, also
opening up its diplomatic mission in the holy city in May 2018.
Friday's announcement also comes less than a month
after Israel and the United Arab Emirates agreed to normalise ties under a
US-brokered deal.
The agreement, expected to be signed at a White House
ceremony in the coming weeks, would be Israel's first with a Gulf nation, and
the third with an Arab country after Egypt (1979) and Jordan (1994).
The Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, includes
Islam's third holiest site - the golden Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque
compound.
It is also home to the Western Wall, the holiest place
where Jews are allowed to pray, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on the
site where Christians believe Jesus was crucified and buried.
More than 200,000 Israeli settlers live in occupied
East Jerusalem, which is home to about 300,000 Palestinians.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/09/erdogan-raises-rhetoric-greece-standoff-mediterranean-200905171928246.html
-------
How brutality to protesters shames Israel’s police
YOSSI MEKELBERG
September 05, 2020
Police brutality and its use to supress political
opposition is not an Israeli invention, not even a Benjamin Netanyahu
brainchild; we see it on too many occasions across the globe. But for a public
security minister, a former justice minister no less, to lay the responsibility
for such brutality at the door of the High Court is a unique act of chutzpah.
Amir Ohana told a Knesset committee that the excessive
force, including injuries inflicted on protesters, was a genuine attempt by the
police to enforce the court’s ruling that noise must be curtailed beyond a
certain time of day in the streets surrounding the prime minister’s official
residence in Jerusalem. It’s hard to say which is worse — that police officers
honestly believe the highest court in the land allowed them to assault people
exercising their democratic right to demonstrate, simply to ensure residents
could have a quiet evening; or that a cabinet minister should show such utter
disrespect for the intelligence of committee members and the public by making
such an outlandish claim, in the process making himself look very foolish.
There have been mass protests before against Israel’s
political establishment, even calls for governments to resign. In 1959, Mizrahi
Jews in the Wadi Salib neighbourhood of Haifa protested against discrimination.
Veterans have taken to the streets en masse to express their anger at
governments sending them to fight needless wars due to negligence, incompetence
or sheer folly, as was the case in 1973, 1982 and 2006. In 2011, hundreds of
thousands of Israelis demonstrated against the rising cost of living and the
widening gap between the haves and have nots.
At many such demonstrations there were a few scuffles
with the police, but most of the aggression was verbal, even if the occasional
push and shove and use of the baton was never far away. But it is important to
note that police violence has not always been so restrained; for example in 1976,
when Palestinian Israelis protested against the confiscation of their land, and
in 2000 when they came out in solidarity with their brethren in the West Bank.
On those occasions live ammunition was used to kill or injure scores of
protesters.
Furthermore, a substantial proportion of the security
forces in charge of maintaining order in the current demonstrations have been
involved in the oppression of Palestinians in the occupied territories, in many
cases away from the probing media, and have habitually abused their power with
excessive force. The behavior of the police in the current anti-Netanyahu
demonstrations is one of the rare occasions that the Israeli population itself,
especially the Jewish one, has been on the receiving end of such brutality, and
even this is a much milder version of what Palestinians experience daily in the
West Bank and the Gaza Strip; violence that is carried out with almost complete
impunity.
It can be argued that big political protests are by
their very nature tense and ferocious... however, this is no excuse for the
security forces to lose their rag and behave like a bunch of untrained thugs at
the behest of the prime minister.
Thankfully, no one has been killed yet in the protests
outside the prime minister’s Balfour Street residence and other places where
citizens are exercising their basic right to peacefully assemble, to express
their displeasure at the authorities, and demand Netanyahu’s resignation. It is
hard to separate the police’s treatment of the protesters from the constant
incitements against them by the prime minister and his son Yair, whose Twitter
account is a boundless source of hate speech against the demonstrators; in one
tweet he said he hoped they would contract COVID-19.
It can be argued that big political protests are by
their very nature tense and ferocious and attract those eager to confront
authority in ways that are neither eloquent nor calm. However, this is no
excuse for the security forces to lose their rag and behave like a bunch of
untrained thugs at the behest of the prime minister. I have watched numerous
video clips in recent weeks in which, in response to some heated verbal
exchange between police and protesters, or when a demonstrator stepped into the
road, the police responded with disproportionate force, not sparing women and
elderly people from their brutality. Some victims were pushed to the ground and
dragged along or carried off like sacks of potatoes.
One senior police officer, Superintendent Nisso
Guetta, was filmed punching and attacking protesters who he claimedlater had
sworn at policemen. This is usually the sort of excuse the police hear from
mindless thugs embroiled in brawls before locking them in a cell overnight to
cool down. Although the Justice Ministry launched an investigation, he was not
suspended, and instead oversaw his officers in the very next protest. This
makes a mockery of police accountability, and appears to be a message to the
rank and file that the use of disproportionate force is permissible because it
is what their political masters wish.
Police brutality is a global phenomenon that can take
the form of false arrest, intimidation, racial profiling, surveillance abuse,
sexual abuse, or corruption. It leads to individual and collective trauma, and
a loss of faith in those charged with protecting us from violence when our
defenders become the offenders. It is even more worrying when politicians turn
a blind eye to this behavior or unscrupulously encourage it to tighten their
grip on power. Sadly, this is currently the case in Israel, where those being
met with such unwarranted violence are protesters sick to their core with a
prime minister who is a defendant in the most serious of corruption cases, and
has also been exposed at his most incompetent by his failure to contain the
coronavirus pandemic and its disastrous economic consequences.
The situation is a shambles, and if it is not
contained and reversed, the road to the collapse of the democratic order could
be rather short.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1730001
--------
Yemen president orders troops to foil Houthi attacks
on Marib
SAEED AL-BATATI
September 05, 2020
AL-MUKALLA: Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi
has repeated accusations about the Houthis serving Iran’s agendas by fueling a
"futile" war in Yemen, the official Saba news agency reported.
In a telephone conversation with the governor of
Marib, Sultan Al-Arada, and the defense minister, Mohammed Al-Maqdishi, Hadi
hailed army troops and allied tribesmen who have pushed back Houthi attacks on
the central city of Marib and other areas in Yemen — and vowed to foil Iran’s
plots against the country.
The Yemeni president said that the Houthis had
dispatched thousands of "deceived" fighters to Marib and other
contested areas, fueling a war that only served the agendas of their masters in
Tehran.
According to Saba, Hadi thanked the Arab coalition for
the military support to government troops, ordering army commanders to join
forces to thwart Houthi attempts to seize control of new areas in Taiz, Jawf,
Marib, Al-Bayda, Sanaa, Dhale and other contested locations.
Hadi’s repeated commitments to challenge the
Iran-backed Houthis came as his forces, backed by the Saudi-led coalition’s air
cover and military logistics, engaged in heavy battles with the rebels in the
province of Marib.
Despite local and international calls to cease their
attack on the densely populated Marib, the Houthis have sent thousands of
fighters to the province over the past couple of weeks in an attempt to defeat
government forces that have pushed them back, Yemeni officials say.
Rights groups fear that the Houthi invasion of Marib
could trigger a huge humanitarian crisis and displacement since the city hosts
more than a million people who have fled Houthi occupation of their home
provinces.
Rights groups fear that the Houthi invasion of Marib
could trigger a huge humanitarian crisis and displacement since the city hosts
more than a million people who have fled Houthi occupation of their home
provinces.
Yemen’s army website reported on Friday that more than
3,000 Houthis, including senior commanders, were killed or wounded, in addition
to losing 150 military vehicles and tanks and drones last month.
The army’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Sagheer bin Aziz,
said that military operations against the Houthis would continue until the
rebels were driven from the areas under their control, including the capital,
Sanaa.
Inspecting battlefields in the northern province of
Jawf, the chief of staff vowed to defeat the Houthis, saying the army and
tribesmen had scored large victories.
On Friday, the army announced the seizing of control
of a strategic mountain north of Houthi-controlled Hazem, the capital of Jawf,
and the besieged Labenat military base in the province.
Yemeni Army’s spokesperson, Abdullah Abdu Majili, said
that the continuing battles against the Houthis in Jawf, Al-Bayda and Marib had
greatly diminished Houthi manpower and equipment, adding that Arab coalition
warplanes played a role in paving the way for government forces to advance on
the ground.
In Marib, hundreds of people on Friday attended the
funeral of Roubesh Wahban, a member of parliament who was killed in fighting
with the Houthis in Marib province.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1730081/middle-east
-------
Pakistan
NA, Senate to take up more FATF bills
Amir Wasim
06 Sep 2020
ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the Prime Minister on
Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan on Saturday said the government had convened
sessions of the National Assembly and the Senate next week, specifically to get
FATF-related bills passed.
Talking to Dawn, Mr Awan said he would also move
motions in the upcoming National Assembly session starting on Monday (tomorrow)
to seek approval of the house to refer the Anti-Money Laundering (Second
Amendment) Bill and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Waqf Properties Bill
— earlier rejected by the Senate — to the joint sitting of the parliament.
He said the date for the joint sitting would be
finalised after consultation with Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman
Bilawal-Bhutto Zardari, in a statement, has asked the government to postpone
the National Assembly session due to the emergency situation in the country
after the recent rains.
The PPP chairman said the elected representatives were
presently busy in relief activities in their respective constituencies.
PPP MNA Raja Pervez Ashraf had already made a formal
request to the National Assembly speaker to delay the session.
After the passage of the 18th Constitution
Amendment, if a bill passed by one house of the parliament is rejected by the other,
it can only become a law after being passed by a combined sitting of the two
houses.
The 104-member opposition-dominated Senate on Aug 25
had rejected the two bills through a voice vote after it objected to some of
the provisions of the laws and linked its cooperation to retraction of the
remarks made by Leader of the House Dr Shahzad Waseem about its leadership.
These bills had been passed by the National Assembly
only the previous day.
A day after the rejection of the two bills, the
opposition had questioned the legality of the entire proceedings leading to the
voting process and said the bills could not be sent to the joint sitting of
parliament.
While the opposition controverted the discretionary
powers exercised by the Senate chairman to allow the motion seeking permission
to take the bills for consideration, Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani ruled that the
proceedings were in accordance with the rules of business.
The opposition has a thin majority of nine votes in
the joint sitting of parliament, but the government is hopeful of getting the
two bills passed.
Mr Awan said the government intended to bring the
Anti-Terrorism Amendment (ATA) Bill as per the demand of the opposition in the
upcoming sessions of the two houses of the parliament. He said previously the
government had planned to introduce the bill seeking an amendment to the
Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to accommodate some of the conditions of the
Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to bring the country out of the grey list of
countries in terms of terror financing.
Mr Awan said the opposition was of the view that if
the provisions aimed at unearthing criminals’ network were included in the
CrPC, it could provide an opportunity to the police to misuse their powers.
In response to a question, the adviser made it clear
that “presently we are not holding any talks with the opposition” and said the
understanding on the amendments to the ATA had been reached with the opposition
during negotiations held with them in the past.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet Secretariat on Saturday issued
a notification regarding nomination of Mr Awan as member of the Cabinet
Committee on Disposal of Legislative Cases.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1578173/na-senate-to-take-up-more-fatf-bills
-------
Dawar not allowed entry to Quetta for security
reasons: govt
Saleem Shahid
06 Sep 2020
QUETTA: The Balochistan government on Saturday
confirmed that Pashtun Tahaffuz Moment (PTM) leader and MNA Mohsin Dawar had
been barred from entering Quetta.
“Mohsin Dawar is our guest and he has been shifted to
a safe place,” government spokesman Liaquat Ali Shahwani said, adding that
ensuring safety of the MNA was the government’s prime responsibility.
“After the recent blast in Quetta it was decided to
provide our honourable guest maximum security,” he said.
It may be recalled that Mr Dawar was taken into
custody and shifted to a rest house from the airport when he arrived in Quetta
on Friday.
Sources said the airport security officials did not
allow Mr Dawar to enter the city.
Rejecting the official claim that restriction on him
had been placed because of security reasons, Mr Dawar said the airport
authorities had informed him that he was not allowed to enter Balochistan for a
period of another 90 days.
“The state thinks it can break our resolve with such
tactics. They can’t,” he tweeted.
The MNA also posted the image of a government notice
on Twitter which says that under the Balochistan Maintenance of Public Order
Ordinance, 1960, PTM leaders, including Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir, are barred
from entering Balochistan for 90 days. The notice has supposedly been issued
“in the best interest of public peace and safety”.
Airport officials said on Saturday that the last
returning flight from Quetta to Islamabad had taken off before Mr Dawar’s
arrival.
Local PTM leader Khalil Ahmed said Mr Dawar wanted to
visit the city to offer condolences to families of those people who died during
the recent violent incident at Chaman border.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1578168/dawar-not-allowed-entry-to-quetta-for-security-reasons-govt
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Three TTP men killed in clash with security forces in
South Waziristan
Dilawar Wazir
06 Sep 2020
SOUTH WAZIRISTAN: Three suspected terrorists from the
banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were killed in a gun battle with members
of security forces in South Waziristan tribal district on Saturday.
According to police, clashes between security forces
and the insurgents took place in the Shahsur Kaskai area of Servekai tehsil.
They said that TTP militants attacked a military convoy which triggered the
exchange of fire between the two sides.
Three militants were killed in the exchange of fire.
They were identified as Shamsuddin, Rehmatullah and Adil Khan.
This was the first clash between security forces and
the TTP after two splinter groups of militants declared the launch of an armed
struggle against Pakistan three weeks ago.
Mohammad Khurasani, central spokesman for the TTP, in
a social media post had announced that Umar Khalid Khurasani, the head of the
Jamaatul Ahrar and Umar Khurasani, the head of his own splinter faction of
Hizbul Ahrar, had dissolved their respective groups and taken the oath of
allegiance to TTP chief Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud, aka Abu Asim Mansoor.
In another incident, a check-post came under fire from
a non-custom paid vehicle near Wana, the district headquarters. Officials said
that a child passing near the check post was wounded in the firing.
Members of security forces arrested two people involved
in firing and they were taken to Wana Scouts Camp for investigation.
On Thursday, an army lieutenant and two soldiers were
martyred and three army soldiers were wounded in a roadside blast in Anakhel
area of South Waziristan district.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1578171/three-ttp-men-killed-in-clash-with-security-forces-in-south-waziristan
--------
Europe
Ammunition depot of “Ahrar Al-Sham Islamic Movement”
explodes in northern Aleppo
Sep 5, 2020
SOHR sources have reported hearing a loud explosion
nearby Azaz city in northern Aleppo, caused by the explosion of an ammunition
depot affiliated to “Ahrar Al-Sham Islamic Movement”, on the road between Kafr
Kalbin and Azaz in areas controlled by Turkish forces and their proxies. The
explosion resulted in the outbreak of fires in some surrounding houses.
However, no casualties have been reported.
Observatory activists have just reported hearing an
explosion in Al-Ghandourah town, which is under the control of Turkish forces
and their proxies, in north-eastern Aleppo. The explosion, which took place
this morning on the town’s outskirts, was caused by the detonation of an IED in
the vehicle of people working at the crossing to areas controlled by “Al-Jabha
Al-Shamiyyah”. The explosion killed two people and injured another one.
https://www.syriahr.com/en/182748/
-------
Birmingham stabbings: Police declare 'major incident'
as several injured
06-09-2020
Birmingham News
West Midlands Police said they were called to reports
of a stabbing at around 00:30 BST on Sunday, with other stabbings reported
shortly afterwards.
Police said there were "a number of injured
people" but could not say how many or how serious the injuries were.
West Midlands Mayor Andy Street said the incidents in
the Hurst Street area "look to be related".
However he said the motivation was still unknown. A
police briefing is expected at 11:00.
The BBC's Nick Clitheroe, at the scene, said the
incidents had unfolded in a part of Birmingham where the Gay Village meets the
Chinese Quarter, which is typically busy at night with clubs and bars.
He added: "This appears to have started out as a
major fight between large groups of people but obviously at some point knives
have been pulled and stabbings have taken place.
Witness Cara Curran, a club promoter working in the
Arcadian Centre, said it had been busier during the evening than it had been at
any time since the start of lockdown.
She said she had finished her shift at about 00:30 BST
and was drinking with colleagues when she heard a "loud bang and quite a
lot of commotion".
She added: "I found multiple people having fist
fights... people from inside pubs and clubs came out and started to see what
was going on.
"Working on the club scene for over two years,
I've always seen quite a lot of fights but it was nothing like tonight. The
body language and demeanour was quite different.
"The amount of things that I've heard have
happened tonight in the space of three hours, with the stabbings that have
happened, the car crashes and multiple other things, it's such a huge shock to
me.
"For me to be an eyewitness to something that has
happened, it's been quite an emotional night to the point where I'm actually
still a bit shell-shocked."
Mayor Andy Street said he had been briefed by the
chief constable and could confirm there had been a "series of incidents in
the Hurst Street area".
He added: "The motivation is not yet understood.
The area is calm and the public has been told to go about their business but
remain vigilant."
West Midlands Police said: "We are aware of a
number of injured people, but at the moment we are not in a position to say how
many or how serious."
The force said emergency services were working
together at the scene, and making sure that those who were injured received
medical care.
The statement continued: "Work is still going on
to establish what has happened, and could take some time before we are in a
position to confirm anything.
"At this early stage it would not be appropriate
to speculate on the causes of the incident.
"The emergency services have well-rehearsed plans
for dealing with major incidents. Our response is ongoing in Birmingham city
centre and will be for some time. Cordons are in place, and there are some road
closures."
The force later said there had not been any reports of
gunshots, adding: "We're aware of some comments that gunshots were fired,
this has not been reported to us at this stage."
Many people had been seated at outdoor tables eating
and drinking in the area on Saturday evening, the BBC's Simon Jones said.
The streets in the area had already been closed to
traffic due to coronavirus restrictions.
Our correspondent added there had also been some
police activity at a second location in the Snow Hill area, about a 10-minute
walk from the cordoned-off area, which is believed to be linked to the Hurst
Street incident.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said those in the
vicinity should be "very vigilant".
Speaking on BBC1's Andrew Marr Show, Mr Raab said:
"We know it's a very serious incident and our thoughts and prayers are with
the victims and their families. We don't know too much more than that but we
advise people to stay very vigilant."
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-54045143
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Africa
Nigerian Army accused of executing over 70 civilians uncovered
in 6 mass graves; Are they bodies of Sheikh Zakzaky's followers?
September 6, 2020
Mehr News
Having discovered above 70 bodies in six mass graves
in Tillaberi, Niger's national human rights commission has accused the army of
executing dozens of civilians during operations in March and April.
International rights groups have accused the armies of
Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso of carrying out dozens of extrajudicial executions
during campaigns against armed groups in the Sahel region.
Niger's National Commission on Human Rights was
investigating allegations that 102 civilians had gone missing in the troubled
region between 27 March and 2 April after an army operation.
"There have indeed been executions of unarmed
civilians and the mission discovered at least 71 bodies in six mass
graves," said Abdoulaye Seydou, the president of the Pan-African Network
for Peace, Democracy, and Development, which took part in the investigation.
"It is elements of the Defense and Security
Forces (FDS) which are responsible for these summary and extrajudicial
executions," he added.
Also, last week, on August 30, dozens of people were
injured and two were arrested after Nigerian police attacked mourners marking
the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein (PBUH) on Ashura day.
Ashura mourning ceremonies were held in more than 300
areas of Nigeria by supporters of the prominent Muslim cleric Sheikh Ibrahim
Zakzaky, and in some areas police clashed with mourners, injuring and detaining
several, Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) website reported.
Back in 2015, Nigerian Army brutally invaded and
attacked Imam Hussein’s mourners in Sahib al-Zaman Husseiniyah and killed about
2,000 mourners. After injuring Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife, the Nigerian Army
transferred Nigeria’s top Shia Cleric to an unknown location.
Following the Nigerian Army’s attack to Baqiyatallah
Husseiniyah, Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky was severely injured and lost one of his
eyes completely due to the severity of his injuries and his other eye was
exposed to blindness.
https://en.abna24.com/news//nigerian-army-accused-of-executing-over-70-civilians-uncovered-in-6-mass-graves-are-they-bodies-of-sheikh-zakzakys-followers_1068212.html
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Islamist insurgency in northern Mozambique threatens
gas fields
African News
Sep 5, 2020
It is a sobering thought for Mozambique and Southern
Africa as a whole that, at time of writing, a growing insurgent army with links
to Islamic State remains in control of Mocimboa da Praia in Mozambique’s
northern Cabo Delgado province.
The commercially and strategically important port,
about 70 kilometres from the border with Tanzania, was captured by a force of
as many as 1 000 fighters on August 11.
This victory was important as it was here that the
insurgency really began on October 5, 2017, when a ragtag group of about 30
fighters armed with AK-47s attacked the police station and other government
buildings, killing two police officers and several civilians before
withdrawing.
The fall of the town earlier – while a major victory
for the insurgents – was a heavy blow for Mozambique as the port is the state’s
main source of resupply for its war effort in the north of Cabo Delgado. The
town is a major logistics hub for the liquified natural gas projects further
north at Afungi near the coastal town of Palma.
https://www.energymixreport.com/islamist-insurgency-in-northern-mozambique-threatens-gas-fields/
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Boko Haram Terrorists Planning To Attack Abuja, Kogi,
Nasarawa --Nigerian Government
BY SAHARAREPORTERS
SEP 05, 2020
The Nigerian Government has revealed that Boko Haram
terrorists were already in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and
neighbouring states.
The government said the terrorists were planning to
attack some selected targets within the nation’s capital and had already set up
five camps in the area.
According to an internal memo dated August 20, 2020
and signed by the Comptroller, Enforcement of Customs headquarters, H.A Sabo,
all officers must be vigilant and security conscious.
The document reads, “Information reaching the
Comptroller-General of Customs reveals the existence of Boko Haram terrorists
camps in and around the Federal Capital Territory. Further reports have it that
they are planning to attacks some selected targets within the territory.
“They are reported to have set up their camps in the
following identified enclaves; Kunyam bush along airport road off DIA staff
quarters - Abuja, Robochi/Gwagwalada forest, Kwaku Forest Kuje - Abuja, Unaisha
Forest in Toto Local Government of Nasarawa State, Gegu Close To Idu Town in
Kogi.
“Consequently, you are to be at alert and security
conscious of your environment at all times. Ensure wide circulation please.”
The first major terror attack in the FCT was on
October 1, 2010, months after ex-Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, assumed
office following the death of Umar Musa Yar'adua.
http://saharareporters.com/2020/09/05/boko-haram-terrorists-planning-attack-abuja-kogi-nasarawa-nigerian-government
---------
Islamic State West Africa Province Kill 20 Nigerian
Soldiers
09/05/2020
Olivia Miller
Nigeria (International Christian Concern) – Boko
Haram’s ISWAP faction has yet again killed more than a dozen soldiers of the
Nigerian army and have overrun a military position. In the first of the two
separate attacks, fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP)
attacked and overran a military position in Magumeri on Tuesday, September 1.
During this attack, the insurgents used trucks loaded with heavy machine guns
to kill at least 10 soldiers who were located at the post.
The second attack then took place in Garin Giwa
Village in Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State. This attack was
conducted as a patrol of Nigerian soldiers was driving along the road. The
troops were then ambushed by the insurgents. Another 10 soldiers were killed in
this attack which took place on Wednesday, August 2. The terrorists were also
able to steal several armored gun trucks from the troops that they had just
attacked. This means more weapons and ammunition have made it into the hands of
the terrorist group.
This attack comes after the latest claims by the
Nigerian government that Boko Haram has been defeated or reduced in capability.
Clearly these attack on military positions, shows that the group continues to
have strong capabilities. This means that the people of Borno State are still
very much in danger of attacks by the hateful group. Please continue to pray
for an end of Boko Haram and their destructive ways.
https://www.persecution.org/2020/09/05/islamic-state-west-africa-province-kill-20-nigerian-soldiers/
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South Asia
Online Muharram programs broadcast in Japan
September 6, 2020
Source : IQNA
Special mourning programs in Muharram were organized
by the Iranian Cultural Center in Japan.
According to the Islamic Culture and Relations
Organization (ICRO), the “Online Husseiniyah” was the title of the center’s
programs, held in the first ten days of the lunar Hijri month of Muharram
(August 21-30) and continued until the 14th of the month.
The programs were held in cooperation with the Astan
(custodianship) of Imam Reza (AS) holy shrine, Al-Mortaza International
Institute and ICRO’s representative office in the holy city of Mashhad.
They included Quran recitation by Jalil Hossenizadeh
and speeches by Hojat-ol-Islam Seyyed Mahdi Waidh Mousawi and Seyyed Ja’far
Tabatabayi.
The speakers discussed Imam Hussein’s (AS) uprising
and the mission of Hazrat Zeynab (SA) to convey the message of the uprising.
Elegy recitations by Amir Aref and Ja’far Malaeki were
other parts of the programs.
The programs were broadcast live on YouTube and Aparat
channels of the center.
https://en.abna24.com/news//online-muharram-programs-broadcast-in-japan_1068111.html
--------
Bhashan Char Facilities: Rohingya team on ‘go-and-see
visit
September 06, 2020
Diplomatic Correspondent
A team of 40 Rohingyas reached Bhashan Char in
Noakhali's Hatiya upazila yesterday on a "go-and-see visit" to the
island where the government has built an accommodation for one lakh Rohingyas.
Mahbub Alam Talukder, refugee rehabilitation and
repatriation commissioner (RRRC), said, "Rohingya majhis [leaders] from
Cox's Bazar camps went to Bhashan Char under the supervision of Bangladesh Army
and Navy. They will stay there for three days before returning to Cox's Bazar
on Tuesday."
Additional RRRC Mohammad Shamsuddoza Noyon said the 40
Rohingyas from 34 Rohingya camps were mobilsed at a transit camp at Kutupalong
of Ukhiya on Friday night.
In the morning yesterday, they were taken to
Chattogram from where they were moved to Bhashan Char on a Bangladesh Navy
ship, reports our Cox's Bazar correspondent, quoting the additional RRRC as
saying.
The government has built 120 cluster villages on the
40 sq km island under a Tk 2,312 crore housing project for one lakh out of the
nearly 1 million Rohingyas sheltered in cramped camps in Cox's Bazar.
Government officials said the houses have been built
four feet above the ground with concrete blocks and are protected by a 13-km-long
flood embankment. There are also 120 cyclone shelters, which are planned to be
used as schools, medical centres and community centres.
The officials also said there are large swathes of
land that could be used for rearing livestock and farming fish if the Rohingyas
were relocated there. The refugees in Cox's Bazar camps have a very little work
to do now.
The UN and aid agencies have been insisting that the
island was isolated, flood-prone and would be hazardous for Rohingyas because
of cyclones and tidal surges.
Against such a backdrop, a government delegation
visited the housing project on February 13 and considered shelving the idea of
relocation.
Speaking to The Daily Star, State Minister for
Disaster Management and Relief Md Enamur Rahman had said the government would
face difficulties in arranging food, healthcare and other necessary services
for one lakh people in Bhashan Char without cooperation from those
organisations.
Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen had said if the
Rohingyas were shifted to Bhashan Char, they might not agree to leave the place
in future. Thus, the government was focusing on Rohingya repatriation, not
relocation.
In a reverse of the plan, Foreign Secretary Masud Bin
Momen at a webinar on August 24 said the 306 Rohingyas rescued from the Bay of
Bengal and sheltered in Bhashan Char were doing well. He also hinted at the
"go-and-see visit" by the Rohingyas.
"If they find the place better than the cramped
camps in Cox's bazar, we expect to start the initial transfer of Rohingyas
there after the Monsoon season," he added.
Meanwhile, the UNHCR yesterday said it is aware of the
"go-and-see visit" to Bhashan Char. It is an important part of
ensuring refugees can make an informed choice about voluntary relocation to the
island, the UN agency said.
"The safety and protection of refugees are the
most important considerations," said Mostafa Mohammad Sazzad Hossain,
assistant communication officer at the UNHCR Bangladesh.
He said the UN stresses on thorough protection and
technical assessments before any relocation to Bhasan Char. He said they have
informed the Bangladesh government that the UNHCR would be prepared to
undertake a visit to Bhasan Char to assess the accommodation and protection
mechanism of the refugees.
"We are awaiting feedback [from the government].
Several months have passed since a group of refugees were transferred to Bhasan
Char, and it is now urgent for the UN to have access to them," Sazzad
said.
https://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/news/bhashan-char-facilities-rohingya-team-go-and-see-visit-1956533
--------
Southeast Asia
Police lambasted for targeting LGBT community in raid
in Jakarta
Alya Nurbaiti
September 5, 2020
Civil groups have criticized the Jakarta Police over
the criminalization of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)
community following a recent raid on a private party in Kuningan, South
Jakarta. On Aug. 29, police officers broke into an apartment where 56 males
were holding a private gathering. The police later named nine people, who were
the party organizers, as suspects, while the 47 attendees became witnesses in
the case. Investigators charged the nine suspects under Article 296 of the Criminal
Code, which is generally used to charge pimps. They also charged the suspects
under Article 33 of the 2008 Pornography Law, which restricts people from
funding or facilitating pornographic services, which carries a maximum sentence
of 15 years’ imprisonment. Read also: EDITORIAL: The politics of gay-bashing
The Civil Society Coalition for the Protection of the Rights of Vulnerable
Groups criticized the force’s decision to name the party organizers suspects,
saying the charge was unsuitable as the organizers did not hold the party for
profit. The coalition -- consisting of several civil groups including the
Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR), LGBT rights group Arus Pelangi
and the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI) -- also argued that partying in
a private space could not be considered a violation of the law. It went on to
say that the police had violated the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, which was ratified by Indonesia through Law No. 12/2005,
which restricts state authorities from arbitrarily entering citizens’
residences. “The state shouldn’t use criminal law to target certain groups. The
police shouldn’t justify ways to obtain evidence that violate the suspects’
rights,” the coalition wrote in a statement on Saturday. The coalition also
argued that the police had ignored the suspects’ rights to a fair trial during
the raid and investigation as the force did not notify their relatives about
the arrest. The police only made an announcement about the raid five days later
during a press briefing. Read also: 'Moral panic' targets Indonesia's LGBT
community Civil rights groups also lambasted the police for not providing legal
assistance to the suspects and witnesses during the investigation, although it
is guaranteed by Article 54 of the Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP). “We
urge the Jakarta Police to prioritize the fair trial principles and stop using
all means that violate the citizens’ privacy. The National Commission on Human
Rights [Komnas HAM] should ensure that the case won’t become a precedent for
future persecutions against LGBT groups.” Being LGBT is not illegal in
Indonesia, but members of the community have persistently faced discrimination
from authorities, society as well as radical Islamic groups. United States-based
Pew Research Institute found in 2019 that only 9 percent of Indonesians agreed
that homosexuality should be accepted by society. Although the figure had
increased from 3 percent in 2013, it was still far below other countries,
including the neighboring Philippines, where 73 percent of respondents
responded that they were tolerant of homosexuality.
https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/09/05/police-lambasted-for-targeting-lgbt-community-in-raid-in-jakarta.html
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‘Enough is enough’, Anwar tells Sabahans to send clear
message to Perikatan govt about self-serving politicians
06 Sep 2020
BY JULIA CHAN
KOTA KINABALU, Sept 6 — Opposition Leader Datuk Seri
Anwar Ibrahim urged Sabahans to send a “clear signal” in the coming state
election and reject politics of patronage, racism and corruption through their
votes.
The PKR president accused the federal Perikatan
Nasional (PN) government of being more focused on retaining its rule by handing
out favours and positions than public interest.
“This is why Sabahans during this election need to
send a clear signal. Enough is enough,” he said in his speech launching PKR’s
election machinery here last night.
He said the PN is in a precarious position in the
Dewan Rakyat, holding a narrow edge over the Opposition with just 119 MPs in
the 222-seat House and that the federal government could change any time.
“The prime minister cannot sleep soundly. Never before
had we had so many ministries, a lot of money is spent there. The unemployment
rate is soaring so high,” he said.
However, Anwar told Sabahans that these political
issues were far away across the South China Sea in the peninsula, but were also
in their home state.
“Yes, we have politicians who rob the country. But in
Sabah, there are also people robbing timber. So you need people with integrity
to lead,” he said.
Touching on the ongoing seat negotiations, Anwar urged
PKR’s partners for fair distribution, saying his party had been in Sabah since
2001.
Anwar assured his party’s allies Warisan and Upko that
PKR would field candidates who were loyal to the party’s reform cause.
“I guarantee my friends in Warisan and Upko that we
will have good candidates who are with us,” he said.
He also reminded them that it was the PKR flag that
went to polls in GE14 and won big for Pakatan Harapan with 54 per cent of total
voters.
Nominations for Sabah is on September 12, polling is
on September 26.
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/09/06/enough-is-enough-anwar-tells-sabahans-to-send-clear-message-to-govt-about-s/1900548
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Former Transjakarta president director arrested after
fleeing fraud conviction
The Jakarta Post
September 6, 2020
A joint team of attorneys arrested on Friday the
former president director of city-owned transportation company PT Transjakarta,
Donny Andy Sarmedi Saragih, who has been at large since 2019 after he was
convicted of fraud. The team from the Attorney General’s Office, the Jakarta
Prosecutor’s Office and the Central Jakarta Prosecutor’s Office arrested him at
his apartment in North Jakarta at 11:30 p.m. on Friday Central Jakarta
Prosecutor’s Office General Crime Unit head Nur Winardi said Donny had been on the
wanted list since the Supreme Court convicted him of fraud in 2019. He said the
joint team found that Donny was going to Pondok Indah Hospital (RSPI) in South
Jakarta. The team immediately went to the hospital to monitor him, but he could
not be found there. The team then tracked Donny’s whereabouts until they went
to his residence in North Jakarta. “They immediately arrested the convict at
his apartment. He was taken to the Jakarta Attorney General's Office to be
handed over to the Central Jakarta Prosecutor's Office,” Nur said as reported
by kompas.com on Saturday. Read also: Maria’s extradition shows up other
fugitive failures The case started in 2017 when he was serving as the
operational director of private transportation company PT Lorena Transport. He
and the company’s corporate secretary Porman Tambunan, pretending to be
officials from the Financial Services Authority (OJK), blackmailed the
company’s president director Gusti Terkelin Soerbakti into paying US$250,000 by
threatening to reveal wrongdoings by the company. Gusti then reported the
blackmail to the Central Jakarta District Court in 2018. Donny and Porman were
declared guilty by the court in the same year, and the verdict was upheld by
the Supreme Court in 2019. Porman was arrested in January 2020 while Donny fled
his conviction. Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan briefly appointed Donny to lead
Transjakarta in January. However, Anies sacked him less than a week after his
appointment following reports of his criminal record.
https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/09/05/former-transjakarta-president-director-arrested-after-fleeing-fraud-conviction.html
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