Army signals it is prepared to crush dissent after unrest over death of Mahsa Amini in police custody
Pro-government rallies have taken place in several cities across Iran in an attempt to counter a week of mounting unrest triggered by the death of a woman in police custody.
Marchers called for anti-government protesters to be executed, while the army signalled that it was prepared to crush dissent by telling Iranians that it would confront “the enemies” behind the unrest.
Continue reading...The country faces a litany of problems, from inflation to a democratic deficit, and the women’s movement is seen as an agent of change
On the day that news of Mahsa Amini’s death spread throughout Iran, a young woman with a shaved head joined protesters who had gathered outside Kasra hospital, where Amini had lain in a coma since her violent arrest by Iran’s morality police days earlier.
In her hand she carried a plastic bag full of her long hair, shorn off in a gesture of solidarity with Amini and in defiance of the increasing crackdown on women by the regime.
Continue reading...At least 77 people drowned and many still missing after shipwreck off coast of Syria
At least 77 people have drowned after the migrant boat they boarded in Lebanon sank off Syria’s coast, the deadliest such shipwreck from Lebanon in recent years, amid fears the death toll could be far higher.
The country, which has been mired since 2019 in a financial crisis the World Bank has described as one of the worst in modern times, has become a launchpad for migration, with its own citizens joining Syrian and Palestinian refugees clamouring to leave the country.
Continue reading...Prince Faisal bin Farhan al Saud decries as ‘cynical’ accusations his country was trying to improve its image after Khashoggi killing
It would be cynical to see Saudi Arabia’s efforts to secure the release of international prisoners held by Russian proxies in Ukraine as an attempt to improve the country’s image after the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, its foreign minister has said.
Prince Faisal bin Farhan al Saud said on Friday that Riyadh had first approached the UK government in April, shortly after Aiden Aslin, a British citizen, and others were captured at Mariupol, and had acted for compassionate reasons, hoping to negotiate their release.
This story was amended on Friday 23 September 2022 to correct the name of the Saudi foreign minister.
Ebrahim Raisi says he has contacted Kurdish woman’s family but laments western double standards on human rights
The death in custody in Iran of a Kurdish woman that led to widespread protests must be “steadfastly” investigated, Iran’s president has said, as he lamented what he claimed were western “double standards” on human rights.
Ebrahim Raisi told a news conference on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York that the death of Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran’s morality police “must certainly be investigated”.
Continue reading...Pro-Russia separatists had held the prisoners, and it was feared they would be executed for fighting for Ukraine
The five Britons released from Russia overnight are meeting their families after several months of captivity in which it was feared they would be executed for fighting for Ukraine.
Shaun Pinner, who was released alongside Aiden Aslin, was pictured with his family in a hotel room this morning by his mother, Debbie Price, who thanked “all the amazing people” who made his release possible.
Continue reading...PM considering breaking with decades of British foreign policy by relocating UK embassy in Israel
Liz Truss has said she is considering relocating the British embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in a controversial move that would break with decades of UK foreign policy in order to follow in the footsteps of Donald Trump.
In a meeting on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York, the prime minister told Israel’s caretaker leader, Yair Lapid, about a “review of the current location” of the building, Downing Street said in a statement.
Continue reading...Greg Norman faced accusations of promoting Saudi “propaganda” following meetings with Washington lawmakers, in which the Australian golfer sought to garner support for the Saudi-backed LIV Series in its bitter dispute with the PGA Tour.
Norman, who serves as LIV’s CEO and has been the public face of the breakaway tour, ostensibly came to the US capital this week to criticise what he has called the PGA’s “anti-competitive efforts” to stifle LIV.
Continue reading...Social media platforms have also been cut off in areas of Tehran and Kurdistan as videos of dissent go viral
Iran has shut off the internet in parts of Tehran and Kurdistan and blocked access to platforms such as Instagram and WhatsApp in an attempt to curb a growing protest movement that has relied on social media to document dissent.
The protests, which were sparked on 16 September after the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman in police custody, show no sign of subsiding. On Thursday, protesters torched police stations and vehicles in several cities.
Continue reading...Five UK and two US foreign fighters captured in Ukraine among 10 freed after Saudi Arabia’s intervention
A Briton who was threatened with execution after being captured by Russian forces during the siege of Mariupol has been released alongside four other Britons and five other international prisoners after the intervention of Saudi Arabia.
Aiden Aslin and “the other British prisoners of war held captive by the Russian authorities” were already on their way back to the UK, said Aslin’s MP, Robert Jenrick, after being flown from Russia to Saudi Arabia.
Continue reading...Internet blackouts and Instagram blocks also reported amid anger after 22-year-old woman’s death in custody
Iran has sent police on to the streets in a scramble to end protests that have spread to at least 15 cities, as rights groups and local media reported up to seven people had been killed in crackdowns.
There were reports of internet blackouts in parts of the country while Instagram accounts with Iranian IP addresses were also blocked in an apparent attempt to quell growing anger.
Continue reading...Police had been searching for Mousa Sarsour after attack on Shulamit Ovadia, 84, near her home in Holon
A Palestinian suspect accused of beating an 84-year-old Jewish Israeli woman to death near Tel Aviv has been found dead, ending a massive police manhunt.
The woman, named by Israeli media as Shulamit Ovadia, was attacked on a street near her home in the city of Holon on Tuesday afternoon.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.
Continue reading...Tens of thousands of people are planning to enter EU country together, after alleged racist attacks and rising tensions
Thousands of Syrian refugees are assembling in Turkey in a convoy, which organisers have dubbed the Caravan of Light, in an audacious and desperate attempt to enter the EU en masse.
Since early September, Syrians have been drawing up plans for the journey via a Telegram channel, which now has more than 85,000 members.
Continue reading...Israel’s Operation Breakwater aims to reduce the enemy’s ability to attack, but seems to be galvanising a new generation of fighters
There is almost nothing left of the Ottoman-era house in the old city of Nablus where Ibrahim al-Nablusi, an 18-year-old fighter with the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, made his final stand against the Israeli army.
Every inch of the remaining walls and ceiling is pockmarked by bullet holes; witnesses said that after a gun battle lasting hours, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) used shoulder-launched rockets to blast open the metal doors. The missiles brought down heavy stonework that crushed the immensely popular young “Lion of Nablus”, wanted for shooting attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians.
Continue reading...Signs of groundswell taking shape against state that routinely commits extreme acts of violence against men and women
Mahsa Amini’s death in prison is fast becoming another moment of reckoning for the Iranian regime that fears a popular revolt more than it fears staring down the rest of the world.
Four days after Amini was found dead in a Tehran prison cell, protests in the Iranian capital show little sign of slowing. Most protests appear peaceful, but some in Kurdish areas of Iran have turned violent.
Continue reading...Archaeologists say find supports theory that drug was used in burial rituals, possibly to ‘enter ecstatic state’
Israeli archaeologists have discovered opium residue in 3,500-year-old pottery pieces, providing evidence to support the theory that the hallucinogenic drug was used in ancient burial rituals.
The joint investigation by the Israel Antiquities Authority and Weizmann Institute of Science began in 2012 when excavations in the central Israeli town of Yehud revealed a series of late bronze-age graves.
Continue reading...Kurdistan governor blames deaths on ‘plot by the enemy’ on fourth day of protests over 22-year-old’s death in custody
Iranian government officials have denounced a fourth day of protests after the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman in police custody, claiming the demonstrators have fallen victim to a conspiracy by its enemies.
Mahsa Amini died on Friday after she was arrested by the morality police for not wearing the hijab and her trousers correctly, a tragic episode that has unleashed fury in the streets against the unaccountable and sometimes brutal treatment handed out to women by this branch of the police.
Continue reading...The Karish maritime reservoir, part of which is claimed by Lebanon, is estimated to hold 2-3tn cubic feet of natural gas
Israel is preparing to connect a disputed Mediterranean gas field to its national gas network, a development helping the country cement its new role as a supplier to Europe at the risk of inflaming tensions with Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
The Israeli energy ministry said last week that it would conduct tests on the rig and natural transmission system in the Karish maritime reservoir, part of which is claimed by neighbouring Lebanon. The work is expected to begin on Tuesday, and London-listed company Energean, which has licensed the field, has said that it is “on track to deliver [the] first gas from the Karish development project within weeks.”
Continue reading...Archaeologists believe the find in an olive grove in the Gaza Strip dates from 5th-7th century AD
An ornate Byzantine floor mosaic showing colourful birds and other animals has been discovered by chance in Gaza after a Palestinian farmer planted new trees on his land.
Salman al-Nabahin unearthed the mosaic pavement, thought to date from the fifth to the seventh century AD, six months ago while working in his olive orchard in Bureij refugee camp, about half a mile from the border with Israel.
Continue reading...Apparent change of heart by de facto ruler suggests relations with west have not fully recovered from murder of Jamal Khashoggi
Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is no longer expected to attend Queen Elizabeth’s funeral on Monday, a British Foreign Office source said on Sunday, contrary to Britain’s earlier expectations that he would.
Saudi Arabia would be represented instead by Prince Turki bin Mohammed al Saud, the source said. Prince Turki is a minister of state and has been a member of the cabinet since 2018. He is the grandson of late King Fahd and part of the new generation that has been brought to power by Prince Mohammed.
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