A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Mexico to Hong Kong
Continue reading...Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa
‘It just feels so wrong’: UAE works on Friday for first time
People juggle work and Friday prayer as country switches to Saturday-Sunday weekend
Employees and schoolchildren juggled work and studies with weekly Muslim prayers on the first ever working Friday in the United Arab Emirates, as the Gulf country formally switched to a Saturday-Sunday weekend.
Some grumbled at the change and businesses were split, with many moving to the western-style weekend but other private firms sticking with Fridays and Saturdays, as in other Gulf states.
Continue reading...Steve Bell on the legacy of the Iraq war for Julian Assange and Tony Blair – cartoon
UK accused of ‘targeted killing’ after drone strike on arms dealer to IS
Rights charity Reprieve seeks answers from MoD over death of Abu Hamza al-Shuhail in Syria in October
Britain has been accused of reviving a policy of “targeted killing” after it emerged that the RAF had killed an arms dealer linked to Islamic State in a precision drone strike in Syria at the end of October.
Reprieve, a human rights charity, asked “what are the criteria” used to justify who can be targeted in a “track and kill” drone strike, and called on ministers to tell the Commons why this strike was deemed necessary.
Continue reading...Tigrayans deported by Saudis ‘forcibly disappeared’ in Ethiopia – rights group
Thousands of Tigrayan migrants abused and deported from Saudi Arabia are forcibly detained in Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch says
Thousands of Tigrayans are being deported from Saudi Arabia and held in secret detention sites in Ethiopia, according to Human Rights Watch.
In a new report, the international rights organisation says it has identified two detention sites where thousands of people from the war-torn Tigray region of Ethiopia are being mistreated and forcibly disappeared. The sites, identified via satellite imagery, videos and witness accounts, in the towns of Semera and Shone are most likely used to detain Tigrayan deportees, HRW said.
Continue reading...Palestinian man to end hunger strike after Israel agrees to release
Hisham Abu Hawash, who has been held without charge for more than a year, began refusing food in August
A Palestinian man on a hunger strike in protest against detention without charge has agreed to end his fast after a deal was struck for his release owing to fears of unrest if he died.
Hisham Abu Hawash, 40, a construction worker from Dura in the West Bank, had previously served time in an Israeli jail after pleading guilty to terrorism offences related to membership of Islamic Jihad. He was rearrested and has been held without charge or trial for more than a year, and began refusing food in August.
Continue reading...France opens terror investigation after Dakar rally explosion
French racing driver Philippe Boutron was seriously injured in blast in Saudi city of Jeddah
French prosecutors have opened a terrorism investigation after a car participating in the Dakar rally was hit by an explosion in Saudi Arabia last week that badly wounded its driver.
After the 30 December attack in the city of Jeddah, the driver, Philippe Boutron, underwent surgery in Saudi Arabia for serious leg injuries before returning to France.
Continue reading...Emma Watson pro-Palestinian post sparks antisemitism row
Israeli officials attack actor’s message, and are accused of ‘cynical weaponisation’ of term
Emma Watson has been accused of antisemitism by Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations after she posted a message of support for the Palestinian cause.
Watson, best known for playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films, posted an image on Instagram showing a photograph of a pro-Palestinian protest with the banner “Solidarity is a Verb” written across it. It was accompanied with a quote about the meaning of solidarity from the intersectional feminist scholar Sara Ahmed.
Continue reading...Canadian court awards $107m to families of Iran plane crash victims
Civil lawsuit was filed against Iran and other officials the family members believe were to blame for the incident
A court in Ontario, Canada, has awarded C$107m ($83.94m), plus interest, to the families of six people who died when the Iranian Revolutionary Guards downed a Ukraine International Airlines plane near Tehran two years ago.
Iran shot down the airliner in January 2020. All 176 people on board were killed, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents.
Continue reading...Yemeni rebels seize UAE ship in Red Sea after upsurge in violence
Coalition says vessel was carrying medical supplies but Huthis claim they have seized ‘military cargo ship’
Yemeni rebels have seized an Emirati-flagged vessel in the Red Sea, with the insurgents and the Saudi-led coalition giving contrasting explanations for the latest escalation in a seven-year war.
The coalition, fighting in support of Yemen’s internationally recognised government, said on Monday that the vessel was carrying medical supplies but the rebels said they had seized “a military cargo ship with military equipment”.
Continue reading...Sudan’s prime minister resigns as pro-democracy protests violently repressed
Abdalla Hamdok quits on same day at least two protesters killed by security forces during unrest in Khartoum and other cities
Sudan’s prime minister has announced his resignation amid political deadlock and widespread pro-democracy protests following a military coup that derailed the country’s fragile transition to democratic rule.
Abdalla Hamdok, a former UN official seen as the civilian face of Sudan’s transitional government, had been reinstated as prime minister in November as part of an agreement with the military following the October coup. In that time he had failed to name a cabinet and his resignation on Sunday throws Sudan into political uncertainty.
Continue reading...Why does Austria stay silent over dual national’s arrest six years ago in Iran?
Iranian-Austrian Kamran Ghaderi is serving a 10-year sentence for spying and his family are still waiting for answers
Six years ago on New Year’s Day, an Iranian-Austrian IT businessman said goodbye to his wife and three children and boarded a flight from Vienna to Tehran via Istanbul. Kamran Ghaderi was due to return five to six days later, but instead, on 2 January 2016, he was arrested and has now spent six years in Evin prison in Tehran.
In October 2016, he was sentenced to 10 years for spying for a foreign country at a trial in which neither he nor his lawyer were able to say more than two words. His sentencing was based on a confession he gave under what his wife, Harika, says was torture, in the belief she might be in danger. No written judgment has ever been given to his family.
Continue reading...The Guardian view on Yemen: the forgotten war | Editorial
Years of brutal conflict have brought misery to an already impoverished country. There is no end in sight
By the end of this year, the United Nations warned recently, 377,000 Yemenis will have died from seven devastating years of war – in many cases killed by indirect causes such as hunger; in others, by airstrikes or missile bombardments. Seventy per cent of the fatalities are thought to be children under five.
As 2021 began, there were hopes that Joe Biden’s arrival in the White House might bring progress towards peace. His administration quickly announced it was ending all support for offensive operations by Saudi Arabia, which spearheaded the US- and UK-backed coalition fighting for the internationally recognised government overthrown by Houthi rebels. It also revoked the Trump administration’s designation of the Houthis as a terrorist group. But Mr Biden’s team overestimated its ability to help resolve the crisis. The diplomatic push soon faltered. In October, Washington announced a $500m military contract with Riyadh which includes support for its attack helicopters, used in operations in Yemen.
Continue reading...Jamal Khashoggi killers living in luxury villas in Riyadh, say witnesses
Exclusive: Reports of hit squad members living freely casts further doubt on Saudi claims that justice has been served
At least three members of a Saudi hit squad convicted by the kingdom of murdering Jamal Khashoggi are living and working “in seven-star accommodation” inside a government-run security compound in Riyadh, according to a source connected to senior members of Saudi intelligence.
The assassins are believed to be staying in villas and buildings run by Saudi Arabia’s State Security agency – far from the walls of its infamous prisons. The source has spoken to two witnesses who claim to have seen the men. They said family members frequently visit the men, who are able to use a gym and workspaces on the site.
Continue reading...Citroën pulls Egypt ad accused of promoting harassment of women
Egyptian singer Amr Diab uses camera installed in car to take photo of woman without consent
The French car manufacturer Citroën has withdrawn an advertisement featuring the Egyptian singer Amr Diab after it sparked widespread accusations of promoting the harassment of women.
In the ad posted on Egyptian social media in early December, the 60-year-old pop star uses a camera installed in the car’s rearview mirror to secretly take a picture of a woman crossing in front of the vehicle.
Continue reading...‘She stood in silence, remembering’: photographing Gaza under airstrikes
Fatima Shbair’s photo of a girl in her ruined home is an indelible image of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict’s resurgence in May
For 11 days in May, Fatima Shbair hardly slept. When the most recent rounds of fighting in Gaza broke out between Israelis and Palestinians on 10 May, the 24-year-old freelance photographer said goodbye to her mother and left her home to document the stories of her neighbours in Gaza, as their lives were racked by terror.
The conflict featured waves of pre-dawn Israeli air raids and rocket fire from Gazan territory. Palestinians made up the vast majority of more than 250 people killed.
Continue reading...‘Our house was gone, it was sea and sand’: life on the vanishing coasts – in pictures
Coastal communities in Mexico, Bangladesh and Somalia are struggling to adapt to the climate crisis. Many people have already lost livelihoods and homes to rising waters
Continue reading...MPs push and shove in Jordan’s parliament – video
Scuffles broke out in Jordan's parliament where lawmakers were discussing a proposed amendment to the constitution on Tuesday. Heated arguments degenerated when MPs began pushing and shoving each other during the session in Amman
Continue reading...Desmond Tutu’s devotion to the planet and to justice for all | Letters
Readers commemorate the late South African archbishop, and the causes of peace, equality and environmentalism that he championed
Your informative obituary of Archbishop Desmond Tutu (26 December) missed an important dimension – his warnings on the need to save the planet. In March 2004, he delivered a lecture entitled God’s Word and World Politics at the United Nations as part of Kofi Annan’s public lecture series on cutting-edge topics in the humanities, natural sciences, social sciences and the arts.
The archbishop said: “Ecological concerns are a deeply religious, spiritual matter. To pollute the environment, to be responsible for a disastrous warming, is not just wrong and should be a criminal offence; it is certainly morally wrong. It is a sin.”
Prof Abiodun Williams
Tufts University
Australian man ‘cannot leave Israel for 8,000 years’ over unpaid child support
Noam Huppert says he is subject to travel ban until the year 9999 because he owes £1.8m to ex-wife
An Australian national living in Israel has said he is subject to an 8,000-year travel ban unless he pays an outstanding £1.8m in child support payments.
Noam Huppert, a 44-year-old analytical chemist working for a pharmaceutical company, is not allowed to leave Israel until 31 December 9999 owing to a 2013 “stay of exit” order handed down after a family court case was brought by his ex-wife, according to news.com.au.
Continue reading...