Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa

Saudi prosecutors seek death penalty for academic over social media use

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Court documents reveal reasons for Awad Al-Qarni’s arrest – even though rulers are major investors in social media platforms

A prominent pro-reform law professor in Saudi Arabia is facing the death penalty for alleged crimes including having a Twitter account and using WhatsApp to share news considered “hostile” to the kingdom, according to court documents seen by the Guardian.

The arrest of Awad Al-Qarni, 65, in September 2017 represented the start of a crackdown against dissent by the then newly named crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

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UK set to brand Iran’s revolutionary guards as terrorists after Akbari execution

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Britain and EU expected to coordinate response to hanging of British-Iranian accused of spying

The UK and the European Union are expected to coordinate moves to brand the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation after the execution of Alireza Akbari, a British-Iranian dual national who was lured back to Iran by the security services three years ago.

Akbari, who had been a senior defence figure in reformist governments nearly two decades ago, was hanged for being a spy for MI6, a charge his family deny. A friend of the family said “this is a murder case”, and vowed to prove the innocence of the 61-year-old, including allegations that he had been paid by British intelligence.

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UK looks clumsy and powerless in wake of Iran’s execution of Alireza Akbari

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Culturally insulting language used by Rishi Sunak and James Cleverly will increase tension between the two countries

Britain’s relationship with Iran has a fraught, unedifying history, dating back to the 18th-century imperial tussle between England, Napoleonic France, and tsarist Russia for control of Persia. Iranians have long memories. To this day, they blame the UK for many of their woes.

Britain invaded in 1941 to limit Nazi influence and protect the Anglo-Persian company’s oilfields. In 1953 it intervened again, mounting a coup, with US help, to overthrow a democratically elected government and bolster the rule of the autocratic, pro-western shah.

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Alireza Akbari’s grim fate seen as signal from Iran’s hardliners

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Whether Iranian intelligence services genuinely believed Akbari was a spy is up for debate

“I have to go. I am a soldier. It is my duty.” Alireza Akbari was explaining to his family why he felt he had to answer a call by his former boss, Ali Shamkhani to return to Tehran in 2019 to help advise on how the country should respond to the fateful decision of Donald Trump to withdraw America from the Iran nuclear deal.

Some family members advised it might not be wise to do so since by 2019 the climate in the intelligence services was turning against Akbari’s belief in the value of the nuclear deal and the lifting of western economic sanctions.

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Thousands protest against Tunisian president’s seizure of near total power

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Demonstrators on Saturday demanded Kais Saied step down as they marked the anniversary of 2011 revolution

Thousands of protesters in central Tunis have marched against the seizure of near total power by the Tunisian president, Kais Saied, demanding he step down as they marked the anniversary of a key date in the 2011 revolution that brought democracy.

The central Habib Bourguiba avenue, the traditional site for major demonstrations, was crowded with thousands of protesters waving Tunisian flags, amid chants of “the people demand the fall of the regime”.

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Abbas allies fear new Israeli government intends to destroy Palestinian Authority

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Minister says ultranationalists in coalition want to dismantle body and create ‘new reality in the West Bank’

Senior allies of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, have expressed fears that Benjamin Netanyahu’s new ultranationalist coalition in Israel will seek to dismantle the Palestinian Authority (PA), established after the 1993 Oslo peace accords.

The Palestinian social development minister, Ahmad Majdalani, said members of the government intended to destroy the authority, which administers a degree of self-rule in parts of the West Bank and is considered by Abbas as the institutional building block for a future Palestinian state.

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UAE’s Cop28 president will keep role as head of national oil company

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Campaigners warn ‘breathtaking conflict of interest’ could jeopardise climate negotiating process

Sultan Al Jaber, the government minister for United Arab Emirates who will preside over this year’s crucial UN climate talks, will retain his roles as head of the country’s oil company and sustainable energy businesses, UAE has confirmed.

Campaigners have been angered by the decision, revealed by the Guardian on Wednesday and confirmed on Thursday by the UAE government, which they see as a clear conflict of interest, with some likening it to putting a tobacco company head in charge of an anti-smoking treaty, and warning it could jeopardise the negotiating process and hasten climate breakdown.

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Alireza Akbari appears in heavily edited confession aired on Iranian TV

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British-Iranian, who was sentenced to death for allegedly spying for MI6, gave reports on Iran’s nuclear programme, he says in TV interview

Alireza Akbari, the British-Iranian dual national sentenced to death for allegedly spying for MI6, gave his British handlers reports on Iran’s nuclear programme and efforts to evade western economic sanctions, according to an edited TV confession aired by news agencies close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

In the video, which was aired on Thursday and appeared to be heavily edited, Akbari was also asked about the assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh who was shot dead in in Tehran in 2020.

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Libyan politicians’ pay goes up 40% as election impasse continues

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UN special envoys to meet in Washington as figures show Libyan politicians’ salaries rose by more than 40% in 2022

Western leaders are losing patience with an entrenched Libyan political elite that has collectively failed to agree on the basis of elections for more than a year but has boosted politicians’ salaries by more than 40%, according to official figures.

Special envoys from the US, France, Germany, Italy and the UK are due to meet in Washington on 13 January to discuss their next steps after two rival Libyan factions last week failed to reach a final agreement in Cairo on the constitutional basis for national elections.

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James Cleverly says Iran must halt execution of British citizen

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Foreign secretary warns Tehran over case of Alireza Akbari, an ex-Iranian minister accused of being MI6 spy

The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has urged the Iranian government not to press ahead with plans to execute a British-Iranian dual national found guilty of spying for MI6.

Alireza Akbari, a former Iranian deputy defence minister who has lived in the UK for more than a decade, could be executed within days after he was found guilty by the revolutionary courts of being a senior spy for M16. His appeal was rejected more than three months ago, but for reasons that are not clear the Iranian security services are now threatening to go ahead and impose the death penalty.

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UAE to launch Cop28 presidency with oil boss tipped for leading role

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Sultan Al Jaber, chief of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, expected to be named president of global climate talks

The United Arab Emirates will launch its presidency of global climate talks on Thursday, with the head of its national oil company likely to be given the leading role.

Sultan Al Jaber has served as climate envoy to the country, and is chief of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), the world’s twelfth-largest oil company by production, and is hotly tipped to take on the pivotal role of president of the talks.

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Ukraine war pushes civilian casualties from explosive weapons to four-year high

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Reported casualties in Ukraine were eight times more than Afghanistan – and real figure likely to be much higher

Civilian casualties from the use of explosive weapons soared by 83% last year because of the war in Ukraine, according to a monitoring organisation that counts the number of deaths caused by conflict and war.

Action on Armed Violence (AOVA) said the total number reported killed and injured in 2022 was 20,776, the highest level since 2018, with 10,381 casualties in Ukraine alone, based on reports from English language media.

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Biden’s response to Israel’s far-right government: avoid confrontation

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As Netanyahu takes an aggressively anti-Palestinian line, the White House will seek to avoid the humiliations heaped on Obama

The more things change in Israel, the harder Joe Biden is working to make sure they stay the same.

The new far-right government of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, which includes openly anti-Arab racists, is already causing concern in the White House with commitments to expand illegal settlements in the occupied territories and annex Palestinian land.

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Yemen: 87 civilians killed by UK and US weapons in just over a year

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Oxfam says its analysis of January 2021 to February 2022 underlines need for UK to stop arming Saudi Arabia

At least 87 civilians were killed by airstrikes from the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen using weapons supplied by the UK and US between January 2021 and February 2022, according to a new Oxfam analysis.

The charity accused the UK government of ignoring an identifiable “pattern of harm” caused by the indiscriminate bombing – and argues it amounts to legal grounds for Britain to end elements of its lucrative arms trade with Riyadh.

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Protesters gather at Iranian prison in attempt to stop ‘imminent executions’

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Alarm raised after two men found guilty of running over police officer are moved to solitary confinement

Protesters have gathered outside a prison near the Iranian capital in an attempt to prevent the rumoured imminent execution of two young detainees found guilty of running over a police officer in a car during protests in November.

Footage posted on social media showed the mother of one of the men, 22-year-old Mohammad Ghobadlou, pleading for her son outside Rajaei-Shahr prison in Karaj, a satellite city west of Tehran. She said it had been established that her son had not been at the scene when the police officer died.

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Israel security minister bans Palestinian flag-flying in public

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Itamar Ben-Gvir’s order follows series of punitive steps against Palestinians since Israel’s hardline government took office last month

Israel’s national security minister has ordered police to ban Palestinian flags from public places in the latest crackdown by the country’s new hardline government.

Itamar Ben-Gvir’s order follows a series of other punitive steps against the Palestinians since taking office late last month.

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Norwegian cargo ship refloated after running aground in Suez canal

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Egyptian authority says vessel was towed away for repairs after briefly disrupting traffic in vital waterway

A Norwegian-owned cargo ship briefly ran aground in the Suez canal before being refloated and towed away, according to the Egyptian authority running the vital waterway.

The vessel, which had experienced a sudden technical failure, was being removed by tugboats for repairs, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) chief, Osama Rabie, said on Monday. Maritime traffic was normal, he added.

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Cancer diagnostic tests from Morocco to boost disease control in Africa

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The development marks an important step in addressing the continent’s reliance on imported treatments and vaccines

The first Moroccan-produced tests to diagnose breast cancer and leukaemia will become commercially available within months, cutting costs and waiting times for patients in the country and across Africa.

Most of the diagnostic kits for cancer and other diseases in Africa are expensive imports from outside the continent, usually from Europe and the US.

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Palestinian foreign minister says Israel has revoked his travel permit

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Riad Malki says permit rescinded, after hardline government announced series of punitive measures against Palestinians

The Palestinian foreign minister says Israel has revoked his travel permit, after the hardline Israeli government announced a series of punitive steps against the Palestinians days ago.

Riad Malki said in a statement that he was returning from the Brazilian president’s inauguration when he was informed that Israel had rescinded his travel permit, which allows top Palestinian officials to travel easily in and out of the occupied West Bank, unlike ordinary Palestinians.

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Harvard Kennedy School condemned for denying fellowship to Israel critic

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ACLU and Pen America back former Human Rights Watch chief Kenneth Roth and say decision ‘raises serious questions’

Leading civil rights organisations have condemned Harvard Kennedy School’s denial of a position to the former head of Human Rights Watch over the organisation’s criticism of Israel.

The American Civil Liberties Union called the refusal of a fellowship to Kenneth Roth “profoundly troubling”. PEN America, which advocates for freedom of expression, said the move “raises serous questions” about one of the US’s leading schools of government. Roth also received backing from other human rights activists.

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