Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa

At least 230 Sudanese villagers killed in tribal attacks over disputed land

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Minister says more than 30,000 people forced to flee in Blue Nile state as tensions between rival communities erupt into violence

At least 230 people have been killed and more than 200 injured in attacks on villages in Sudan’s Blue Nile state over the past few days, according to authorities.

Gamal Nasser al-Sayed, the health minister in the southern state, which borders Ethiopia and South Sudan, told the Guardian that more than 30,000 people in eight villages in the Wad al-Mahi area had had to flee as their homes were torched and villagers were attacked.

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Protesters defy crackdown at universities across Iran

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Tension mounts as ceremonies marking 40 days since Mahsa Amini’s death expected to take place on Wednesday

Students have protested at universities across Iran, defying a bloody crackdown as tensions mount on the eve of planned ceremonies marking 40 days since Mahsa Amini’s death.

“A student may die but will not accept humiliation,” demonstrators chanted at Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, in an online video verified by AFP.

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New Zealand couple detained in Iran for months leave the country

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Influencers Christopher Richwhite and Bridget Thackwray had disappeared after entering Iran in July and had been prevented from leaving

Two New Zealand social media influencers who were detained in Iran for almost four months have been released and have now left the country.

Social media influencers Christopher “Topher” Richwhite and Bridget Thackwray were undertaking a trip called Expedition Earth in which they aimed to travel across 90 countries in a Jeep. The two recorded their travels with near-daily vlogs and Instagram posts, and documented their border crossing into Iran from Turkey in early July.

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Peter Tatchell stopped in Qatar while staging LGBT+ rights protest

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Incident outside National Museum in Doha comes less than a month before start of men’s football World Cup

The human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has been stopped by police in Qatar while staging a protest against the Gulf state’s criminalisation of LGBTQ+ people.

Tatchell’s protest outside the National Museum of Qatar in the capital, Doha, comes less than a month before the start of the Fifa World Cup, which is expected to attract 1.2 million visitors from around the world.

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Five Palestinians killed amid mounting violence ahead of Israeli elections

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21 people also wounded in one of deadliest operations this year by Israeli forces in West Bank

Five Palestinians have been killed and 21 wounded in a huge raid by Israeli forces in Nablus, one of the deadliest operations so far during a year of mounting violence in the occupied West Bank.

Snipers, soldiers with shoulder-launched missiles and members of Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency attacked the old city in the early hours of Tuesday, the Israeli military said, blowing up what it said was a bomb lab and killing one of the leaders of an increasingly popular Palestinian militant group in a gunfight.

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Iranian security forces fire teargas as girls clash with staff at Tehran school

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Unverified footage shows armed police firing at least one canister after staff attempted to inspect students’ phones

Iranian security forces fired teargas outside a girls’ school in Tehran when clashes broke out after staff attempted to inspect students’ mobile phones amid ongoing anti-government protests.

Iran’s Ministry of Education said several students were treated by emergency services for a drop in blood pressure, but denied that security forces had entered the school.

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Showdown as Saudi crown prince aims to dodge lawsuit over Khashoggi murder

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Decision on whether US lawsuit can proceed hinges on whether heir to Saudi throne has sovereign immunity

Courtroom 30 in Washington’s district court might seem an unlikely venue for a diplomatic showdown between Saudi Arabia and the US.

But for Hatice Cengiz it represents the last hope for justice following the brutal murder of her fiancee, the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

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Egypt shuts down event spaces on first Monday of Cop27 in blow to NGOs

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Groups say cancellations could restrict debate as host country tightens security for opening days

Civil society organisations and governments may have to cancel events at the UN climate summit in November as the Egyptian hosts have tightened security for the opening days.

Cop27 will open on Sunday 6 November in Sharm el-Sheikh, and on the Monday and Tuesday world leaders are due to descend on the conference centre for talks to direct their negotiating teams.

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‘Bibi v no Bibi’: Israel’s voters split on comeback of scandal-hit Netanyahu

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Benjamin Netanyahu’s chances of returning to office in this week’s elections depend on alliance with far-right

Everyone in the small courtroom on the second floor of Jerusalem’s district court is tired of straining their necks to look at the decade-old receipts for whiskey, cognac and cigars displayed on a screen. Even the key witness in one of former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s three corruption trials, is clearly bored with answering questions about how often her boss used to send expensive presents to Israel’s long-time leader.

The 73-year-old’s absence hangs over the proceedings in much the same way his pugnacious brand of politics still haunts Israeli public life. While the panel of judges peered at slide after slide of photocopied invoices on that warm day in September, the subject of their investigation was already out on the campaign trail, executing his comeback.

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Protest strikes in Iran reported as solidarity rallies held around world

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Iranian shopkeepers and factory workers said to be on strike as 80,000 protesters in Berlin hear calls for sanctions

Shopkeepers and factory workers reportedly went on strike in Iran on Saturday as women-led nationwide protests sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini entered a sixth week and solidarity rallies were held around the globe.

The death of 22-year-old Amini, after her arrest for allegedly breaching Iran’s strict dress code for women, has fuelled the biggest protests seen in the Islamic Republic for years.

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Palestinian shot dead by Israeli soldiers in West Bank

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Incident comes after a knife attack in East Jerusalem that left Israeli man serious condition

Soldiers shot dead a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, hours after a knife attack in East Jerusalem left an Israeli man in a serious condition.

The Palestinian health ministry said Rabi Arafah Rabi, 32, was hit by “a bullet to the head” at a checkpoint south-east of the city of Qalqilya.

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Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi reportedly under house arrest

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Reports say athlete who competed in South Korea not wearing headscarf pressured into ‘forced confession’

The Iranian climber who received a hero’s welcome on her return to Tehran after competing in South Korea without wearing a headscarf has reportedly been placed under house arrest.

Elnaz Rekabi competed last weekend in South Korea without wearing a headscarf, which is mandatory in Iran and a subject of nationwide protests after the death of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by the country’s notorious morality police.

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Almost 12,500 people arrested in Iran protest crackdown, says rights group

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Families struggle to contact relatives as opposition calls for movement to focus on plight of thousands in jail

Almost 12,500 people have been arrested and nearly 250 killed since the street protests began in Iran, according to a prominent human rights group, with thousands of anxious families struggling to make contact with loved ones who have gone missing and presumed to be in jail.

The news came as the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Maj Gen Hossein Salami, said security forces were close to snuffing out the remaining protests. He said: “Sedition is going through its last moments.”

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Barclays could be fined £50m for failing to disclose 2008 Qatari deal

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Provisional fine relates to £322m bank paid to Gulf state allegedly in exchange for £4bn investment to save lender from bailout

The City watchdog could fine Barclays up to £50m for failing to disclose a deal struck with Qatar at the height of the financial crisis, reviving a controversial episode that failed to gain traction in UK courts.

The provisional fine – which Barclays is in the process of appealing against – relates to the £322m the bank paid to Qatar in 2008, allegedly in exchange for the gas-rich Gulf state investing £4bn, helping save the lender from a UK government bailout.

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Australian women sue Qatar Airways over forced examinations at Doha airport

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Five women are seeking damages for ‘unlawful physical contact’ and mental health impacts over October 2020 incident

Five Australian women are suing Qatar Airways in the New South Wales supreme court over a 2020 incident in which they were forcibly removed from aeroplanes at gunpoint in Doha, and some intimately examined without explanation or their consent.

The women are seeking damages from both Qatar Airways and the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority – owned by the Qatari government – over the “unlawful physical contact” and mental health impacts, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

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Iran protests: democracies have ‘moral obligation’ to help, Canada foreign minister says

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Mélanie Joly tells meeting of female foreign ministers that they must help ‘amplify the voices of women in Iran’

Canada’s foreign minister has said democracies have a “moral obligation” to help the “incredibly brave” women taking to the streets of Iran in protest, as she met other female foreign ministers to condemn the ongoing violence that has rocked the country for weeks.

“As women foreign ministers we have a responsibility to help amplify the voices of women in Iran,” Mélanie Joly told a gathering of 14 of her female counterparts, according to a readout of the event provided to the Guardian. “As women leaders from around the world, we can make a powerful statement of support for women’s rights in Iran, and by extension, women’s rights everywhere.”

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Iran provides ‘technical support’ for Russian drones killing civilians, says US

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Iranians brought trainers and technical support to Crimea to help Russians use drones ‘with better lethality’, White House says

Iran has significantly deepened its involvement in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by providing technical support for Russian pilots flying Iranian-made drones to bomb civilian targets, the White House has confirmed.

The national security council lead spokesperson, John Kirby, said on Thursday that it was the US’s understanding that the Iranian advisers were in Crimea to provide training and maintenance – but not to actually pilot the drones – after Russian forces experienced difficulties in operating the unmanned flying bombs.

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Head of WHO’s Syria office faces allegations of fraud and abuse

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Numerous complaints made about Dr Akjemal Magtymova, AP reports after whistleblower leak

The head of the World Health Organization’s Syria office has been accused of widespread mismanagement, including misspending donor money, plying government officials with gifts and pressing for contracts to be signed with regime officials and politicians.

Staff at the UN organisation have made numerous complaints about Dr Akjemal Magtymova, who has led WHO’s Syrian operations for almost three years, according to an investigation by the Associated Press.

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Schoolboy protester dies in Iran after reportedly being shot at close range

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Abolfazl Adinezadeh reportedly shot at from less than a metre away by security forces in city of Mashhad

A 17-year-old schoolboy has died in Iran’s second largest city, Mashhad, after reportedly being shot at close range by state forces during anti-government protests.

Abolfazl Adinezadeh’s death certificate showed that he died of liver and kidney damage caused by birdshot, according to a BBC Persian report. A doctor was cited as estimating the distance from which the teenager was shot on 8 October as less than 1 metre.

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Russia threatens to ‘reassess collaboration’ with UN chief over drone inspection

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Ambassador denies drones fired on Ukraine are supplied by Iran and calls UN investigation ‘illegitimate’

Russia has threatened that it will reassess cooperation with the United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, if he sends United Nations experts to Ukraine to inspect drones that western powers say were made in Iran and used by Moscow in violation of a UN resolution.

Speaking after a closed-door UN security council meeting on Moscow’s use of drones, Russia’s deputy UN ambassador, Dmitry Polyanskiy, called on Guterres and his staff to “abstain from engaging in any illegitimate investigation”. He also threatened Russia would withdraw from the grain deal that has allowed Ukrainian grain to be transported out of Black Sea ports.

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