Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa

Iran puts pressure on celebrities and journalists over Mahsa Amini protests

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Tehran says film-makers, athletes and actors who have backed demonstrations ‘fanned flames of riots’

Iran has stepped up pressure on celebrities and journalists over the wave of women-led protests sparked by outrage over the death of Mahsa Amini, after she was arrested by the Islamic republic’s morality police.

Film-makers, athletes, musicians and actors have backed the demonstrations, and many saw it as a signal when the national football team remained in their black tracksuits when the anthems were played before a match in Vienna against Senegal.

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Cop27: Egyptian hosts urge leaders to set aside tensions over Ukraine

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Organisers call on nations to carry on crucial climate negotiations despite differences on geopolitical issues

The Egyptian hosts of the next UN climate summit have issued a plea for countries to set aside tensions and animosity over the Ukraine war for the sake of focusing on the climate crisis.

Egypt will host the Cop27 conference in Sharm El-Sheikh in November, intended as a forum for companies to fulfil the promises they made at the landmark Cop26 summit in Glasgow last year.

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Iran launches airstrike against Kurdish group in northern Iraq

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Deadly attack comes in response to KDPI support for ongoing protests over Mahsa Amini death in custody

Iran has launched a deadly cross-border airstrike into northern Iraq to punish Kurds for their role in supporting demonstrations over the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman in Iranian police custody that are still rattling the Tehran regime.

As many as 13 people were killed and 58 injured in the Iranian drone strikes on military bases in northern Iraq that belong to the exiled Kurdish Democratic party of Iran.

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Human rights lawyer in Israeli prison goes on hunger strike

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Salah Hamouri stages protest against being imprisoned without charge for the last six months

A prominent Palestinian-French human rights lawyer has gone on hunger strike in protest against his imprisonment without charge by Israeli authorities for the last six months.

Salah Hamouri, 37, a father of two from occupied East Jerusalem, has been held in administrative detention since 7 March, and his detention order has been renewed until at least early December based on undisclosed evidence.

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Mohammed bin Salman named prime minister ahead of Khashoggi lawsuit

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New role likely to grant prince sovereign immunity in case concerning journalist murdered in Saudi Arabian embassy

Mohammed bin Salman has been named prime minister of Saudi Arabia in a move that experts said would probably shield the crown prince from a potentially damaging lawsuit in the US in connection to his alleged role in the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday that King Salman was making an exception to Saudi law and naming his son as prime minister, formally ceding the dual title of king and prime minister he had personally held until now.

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Qatar ‘calling diplomats home’ for military service at World Cup

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Hundreds of conscripted civilians to operate checkpoints, source says, showing challenge faced by tiny state

Qatar has called up hundreds of civilians, including diplomats summoned back from overseas, for mandatory military service operating security checkpoints at World Cup stadiums, according to a source and documents seen by Reuters.

The deployment of conscripts, some of whom would normally defer national service because their work is considered vital, highlights the logistical challenge faced by the tiny Gulf Arab state hosting one of the world’s biggest sports tournaments.

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How the death of a Kurdish woman galvanised women all over Iran

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At first, the killing of Mahsa Amini by the morality police triggered protests only among a minority – but anger with the regime soon spread

When a young Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, died in regime custody 10 days ago, Kurdish corners of Iran were the first to erupt; their anger at leaders they say have long oppressed them had an incendiary effect in their towns and cities.

The death of the 22-year-old, who refused to wear a hijab on a visit to Tehran, quickly became a potent symbol of defiance for a minority group that had long harboured nationalistic ambitions, which rarely stayed hidden, and often eschewed the values of the country’s hardline leaders.

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EU and US consider further sanctions on Iran over protest crackdown

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Demonstrators call for greater support from west and help communicating with outside world

The EU and the US are considering further sanctions against Iran over the attempt to suppress demonstrations and strikes in universities over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in a police detention centre.

Josep Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief, condemned Iran’s disproportionate use of force and said all options would be on the table at the next meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers. The main options are helping to prevent the internet being shut by Iran, and further economic sanctions.

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Iran protests: at least 450 arrested in northern province

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Amnesty says at least four children among those killed by state forces since start of protests over woman’s death in custody

At least 450 people have been arrested in Mazandaran, a northern province of Iran, during the last 10 days of protests, according to the province’s chief prosecutor.

Protests sparked by the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini have spread across the country. They have been met with internet shutdowns and violent repression.

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Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin admits founding Wagner mercenary group

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Russian businessman confirms deployment to countries in Latin America and Africa in first public confirmation of link

Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian businessman and a close ally of Vladimir Putin, has admitted that he founded the Wagner Group private military company in 2014, the first public confirmation of a link he has previously denied.

Prigozhin, known as “Putin’s chef” because his catering business hosted dinners attended by the Russian president, said he founded Wagner to support Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

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US senators refuse to let killing of Shireen Abu Akleh drop with Israel

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The state department seems keen to avoid questions about the Palestinian American journalist’s shooting by an Israeli soldier

Israel has declared the case closed. The US state department has done its best to duck difficult questions. But leading members of the US Congress are refusing to drop demands for a proper accounting of the death of the Palestinian American journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, four months ago.

The longest-serving member of the US Senate, Patrick Leahy, recently upped the ante by warning that Israel’s failure to fully explain the Al-Jazeera reporter’s killing could jeopardize America’s huge military aid to the Jewish state under a law he sponsored 25 years ago cutting weapons supplies to countries that abuse human rights.

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Death toll grows in Iran as Mahsa Amini protests continue for 10th night

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At least 41 people have died in unrest sparked by young woman’s death as judiciary warns of ‘decisive action without leniency’

Iranians have taken to the streets for a 10th consecutive night to protest against the death of Mahsa Amini in defiance of a warning from the judiciary.

Officially at least 41 people have died since the unrest began, mostly protesters but including members of the security forces, but sources say the real figure is higher.

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Protests spread in Iran as President Raisi vows to crack down

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Demonstrations that began with death of Mahsa Amini while detained by morality police pose biggest threat to regime in 13 years

Iran’s president has vowed to “deal decisively” with protests that are gathering momentum across much of the country one week after the death of a woman in custody who had been detained by the morality police.

Demonstrations have spread to most of Iran’s 31 provinces and almost all urban centres, pitting anti-government demonstrators against regime forces, including the military, and posing the most serious test to the hardline state’s authority in more than 13 years.

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Death toll from sinking of Lebanon boat rises to 94

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Survivors say boat that sank off Syrian coast had between 120 and 150 people onboard

The death toll from a boat that sank off the Syrian coast after sailing from Lebanon earlier this week has risen to 94, Syrian state TV said on Saturday.

The country’s transport ministry has quoted survivors as saying the boat left Lebanon’s northern Minyeh region on Tuesday bound for Europe with between 120 and 150 people onboard.

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Iranian authorities must ‘deal decisively’ with protests, says president

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At least 35 dead in eight nights of demonstrations after death of Mahsa Amini in custody, state media report

Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, has said authorities must “deal decisively with those who oppose the country’s security and tranquility”, Iranian state media have reported.

Demonstrators have taken to the streets of Tehran and other major cities for eight straight nights since the death of Mahsa Amini.

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Iran marchers call for execution of anti-government protesters

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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.

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Mahsa Amini’s death could be the spark that ignites Iran around women’s rights

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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.

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Scores dead in worst sinking of migrant boat from Lebanon in recent years

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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.

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Saudi foreign minister defends role in securing Ukraine prisoner swaps

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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.

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Iran president says death in custody of Mahsa Amini must be investigated

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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”.

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