Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa

UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia unlawful, court of appeal declares

Posted on by

Ruling prompts government to suspend new arms sales to Saudi Arabia while it urgently reviews its processes

British arms sales to Saudi Arabia have been declared unlawful by the court of appeal because ministers failed to properly assess their contribution to civilian casualties in indiscriminate bombing in Yemen.

The unexpected ruling has prompted the British government to suspend new arms sales to Saudi Arabia while it urgently reviews its processes – although Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, has said the government would also seek to appeal.

Continue reading...

Giulio Regeni’s parents demand Italy recall Cairo ambassador

Posted on by

Family of researcher say Egypt is impeding investigation into Regeni’s death

The family of Giulio Regeni, the Italian doctoral student who was murdered in Egypt in 2016, are demanding that Rome withdraw its ambassador to Cairo for a second time in response to what they say is Egyptian pressure on their lawyers and efforts to prevent investigation into their son’s death.

“Enough is enough,” Paola and Claudio Regeni said in a joint statement with their lawyer, Alessandra Ballerini. “The withdrawal of the Italian ambassador from Cairo can no longer be postponed.”

Continue reading...

The Guardian view on Jamal Khashoggi’s murder: Saudi Arabia and its friends | Editorial

Posted on by
One way to honour Khashoggi is to celebrate his life. Another is to recognise the lessons of his death

The UN report into October’s murder of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul is the fullest account yet of events and as horrifying as one would expect. Agnes Callamard, the special rapporteur, describes a “deliberate, premeditated execution”; secretly recorded conversations before his visit discussed the arrival of the “sacrificial animal” and dismemberment of a body. She concludes that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia should be investigated because there is “credible evidence” that he and other senior officials are liable for the killing – a conclusion also reached by the CIA – despite the kingdom’s insistence that it was a rogue operation.

No reminder should be needed of the brutality of the killing of Khashoggi, a widely respected journalist living in Washington. Even Saudi Arabia’s business and diplomatic allies blanched, or at least felt obliged to put some distance between themselves and the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. The kingdom, after repeated lies about what happened, announced that it would try 11 suspects for his murder.

Continue reading...

‘Credible evidence’ Saudi crown prince liable for Khashoggi killing – UN report

Posted on by

Mohammed bin Salman should be investigated over journalist’s murder, says report

The crown prince of Saudi Arabia should be investigated over the murder of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi because there is “credible evidence” that he and other senior officials are liable for the killing, according to a damning and forensic UN report.

In an excoriating 100-page analysis published on Wednesday of what happened to Khashoggi last October, Agnes Callamard, the UN’s special rapporteur, says the death of the journalist was “an international crime”.

Continue reading...

How a small Turkish city successfully absorbed half a million migrants

Posted on by

Gaziantep has grown by 30% due to newcomers fleeing the crisis across the border in Syria, but remains a model of tolerance and pragmatism

Imagine you live in a medium-sized city such as Birmingham or Milan. Now imagine that overnight the population increases by about 30%. The new people are mostly destitute, hungry and with nowhere to stay. They don’t even speak the language.

Then imagine that instead of driving them away, you make them welcome and accommodate them as best you can.

Continue reading...

UK settles £1.3bn claim by Iranian bank over trade ban damages

Posted on by

In 2014 supreme court ruled sanctions on Bank Mellat had been unlawful

The UK government has made a last minute out-of-court deal to settle a £1.3bn damages claim made by an Iranian bank over a UK trading ban.

The undisclosed settlement to Bank Mellat on the eve of what was expected to be a five-week trial raises questions about how big the UK taxpayer’s bill is likely to be, as well as how the UK will transfer the payment to circumvent the comprehensive sanctions regime imposed by the US, which affects the bank.

Continue reading...

Pompeo blocks inclusion of Saudi Arabia on US child soldiers list

Posted on by

State department experts recommended addition of Riyadh after assessing it had hired child fighters from Sudan to fight in Yemen

Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, has blocked the inclusion of Saudi Arabia on a list of countries that recruit child soldiers, dismissing his experts’ findings that a Saudi-led coalition has been using underage fighters in Yemen’s civil war, according to four people familiar with the matter.

The decision, which came after a fierce internal debate, could prompt new accusations by human rights advocates and some lawmakers that the Trump administration is prioritizing security and economic interests in relations with Saudi Arabia, a major US ally and arms customer.

Continue reading...

Mohamed Morsi buried as detention conditions denounced as torture

Posted on by

Egyptian former president’s burial takes place under heavy security in remote area of Cairo

Egypt’s former president Mohamed Morsi has been buried in a remote area of Cairo as his treatment in custody before his death was denounced as torture.

Morsi, the only democratically elected civilian leader in Egypt’s history, fainted in court on Monday and was pronounced dead on arrival in hospital. He was prosecuted on numerous charges after his one-year rule was brought to an end by a military coup in 2013.

Continue reading...

Method of attack on tankers remains key evidence against Iran

Posted on by

Release of colour images adds more clarity to debate but fails to prove responsibility

The sophistication of the attacks on two shipping tankers in the Gulf of Oman last week had already led most independent analysts to conclude Iran was responsible for the high-profile explosions.

But there has been scepticism from some key countries, including Germany and Japan, after the US initially released a grainy black and white video it said showed Iranian forces removing an unexploded mine from one of the two targeted ships. Iran has denied involvement.

Continue reading...

US to send 1,000 additional troops to the Middle East, citing ‘hostile behavior’

Posted on by

Concerns of a confrontation between the two countries have mounted since two oil tankers were attacked in the Gulf of Oman

Acting US defense secretary Patrick Shanahan announced on Monday the deployment of about 1,000 additional troops to the Middle East for what he said were “defensive purposes”, citing concerns about a threat from Iran.

“The recent Iranian attacks validate the reliable, credible intelligence we have received on hostile behavior by Iranian forces and their proxy groups that threaten United States personnel and interests across the region,” Shanahan said in a statement.

Continue reading...

Yemen’s Houthi rebels accused of diverting food aid from hungry

Posted on by

Head of UN’s World Food Programme threatens suspension of food aid if safe delivery not assured

The head of the United Nations food agency has accused Yemen’s Houthi rebels of diverting food from the country’s hungriest people and threatened to suspend food aid.

David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP), said the agency had found “serious evidence” that food supplies had been diverted in the capital, Sana’a and other Houthi-controlled areas in the country, which is in the midst of a four-year civil war. He called on the Houthis to implement agreements that would allow the UN agency to operate independently.

Continue reading...

Mohamed Morsi, ousted president of Egypt, dies in court

Posted on by

Imprisoned former leader, 67, collapses and dies while on trial on espionage charges

Egypt’s first democratically elected civilian president, Mohamed Morsi, has collapsed during a court session and died, almost six years after he was forced from power in a bloody coup.

Morsi, a senior figure in the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood, was attending a session in his trial on espionage charges on Monday when he blacked out and died, according to state media.

Continue reading...

Iran to break uranium stockpile limit set by nuclear deal

Posted on by

Atomic agency chief says limit will be breached in 10 days and enrichment could be up to 20%

Tehran has sped up the countdown to its breaching the nuclear deal, announcing it will break the uranium stockpile limit set in the deal in the next 10 days.

The country’s atomic agency also said Tehran could from 7 July start the process of enriching uranium up to 20%, closer to weapons-grade levels.

Continue reading...

‘I told my daughter I’d be home’: long ordeal ends for crew stranded at sea

Posted on by

Abandoned at sea in desperate conditions for 18 months, the MV Azraqmoiah’s crew have finally been reunited with their families

After 18 months stranded on a cargo vessel miles off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, with little food or water, no wages and little means of communication, Captain Ayyappan Swaminathan’s ordeal is finally over.

In April, the Guardian reported the story of Ayyappan and his 10-strong crew, one of the most extreme cases of seafarer abandonment in recent years.

Continue reading...

‘Trump Heights’: Israeli settlement in Golan named after US president

Posted on by

‘It will mean something for him, that there is a place in the world, far away from the States, with his name,’ says resident in community

It is a world away from the grandiose high-rises that bear his name.

A sleepy, crumbling hamlet of fewer than a dozen Israeli residents surrounded by sun-parched fields of crisp hay. Weeds punctuate the cracked asphalt of a basketball court, its rusted hoops leaning at angles.

Continue reading...

Libya’s UN-recognised government launches peace initiative

Posted on by

Plan comes after efforts to persuade US that White House had wrong message on Libya

Libya’s UN-recognised government in Tripoli has sought to break the deadlock in the country’s civil war by launching a peace initiative which will include a national peace forum followed by simultaneous parliamentary and presidential elections to be held by the end of the year.

The plan comes after sustained diplomatic efforts by the Tripoli-based government to persuade the US that the White House had got the wrong message on Libya and was in danger of backing anti-democratic forces of Gen Khalifa Haftar, on the false premise that he was leading a fight against terrorists.

Continue reading...

Sudan’s Bashir appears in public for first time since being ousted

Posted on by

Ex-president is taken out of prison to the office of the anti-corruption prosecutor

Sudan’s former president Omar al-Bashir has appeared in public for the first time since he was overthrown, as he was taken out of prison to the office of the anti-corruption prosecutor.

Bashir, wearing traditional white robes and turban, was driven to the prosecutor’s office in Khartoum on Sunday, a Reuters witness said.

Continue reading...

Pompeo again blames Iran for tanker attacks but insists ‘we don’t want war’

Posted on by
  • ‘President Trump has done everything he can to avoid war’
  • US secretary of state claims ‘lots of evidence’ of Iran culpability

The United States does not want to go to war with Iran, the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said on Sunday, following an attack on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman last week.

Pompeo reiterated that the US believes it was “unmistakable” that Iran was responsible for the attacks, in an interview with Fox News Sunday. He stressed a need for diplomacy and said American officials are reaching out to their foreign counterparts.

Continue reading...

Israeli court convicts Sara Netanyahu for misusing state funds

Posted on by

Prime minister’s wife admits to lesser charge in plea bargain and pays £12,000 fine

Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israel’s prime minister, has been convicted of illegally misusing thousands of pounds of public funds on lavish meals.

A Jerusalem court on Sunday accepted a plea bargain in which Netanyahu agreed to admit to a lesser charge than the original fraud accusations. She will pay about $15,000 (£12,000) in fines and reimbursements to the state.

Continue reading...