JEDDAH: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Monday urged Qatar to cease any support of terrorist groups, according to a statement the group released.
The OIC said in a press release that it has been following closely the current developments in the Gulf region, where several Arab and Islamic countries cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar on Monday.
Seven nations — Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Libya and Maldives — cut all ties with Qatar over Doha’s alleged support for extremist groups.
The decision came after Qatar alleged in late May that hackers took over the website of its state-run news agency and published what it called fake comments made by the ruling emir about Iran and Israel.
Its Gulf Arab neighbors responded by blocking Qatari-based media, including the Doha-based satellite news network Al-Jazeera.
The OIC called on Qatar to abide by its previous commitments and agreements signed under the umbrella of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Those commitments include ending support for terrorist groups and their activities and media incitement.
The statement stressed the importance of the commitment of all member states, including Qatar, to the principles of the Charter of the Organization, a policy of good neighborliness, respecting the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of member states and non-interference in their internal affairs.
OIC calls on Qatar to abide by its commitments
OIC calls on Qatar to abide by its commitments
Palestinian NGO condemns Israeli act of ‘revenge’ after prisoner abuse video
- A Palestinian NGO has denounced what it called an Israeli act of revenge after a video showed far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir overseeing the abuse of detainees in a military priso
RAMALLAH: A Palestinian NGO has denounced what it called an Israeli act of revenge after a video showed far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir overseeing the abuse of detainees in a military prison.
Just days before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Ben Gvir held a tour of Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank, Israel’s Channel 7 reported.
In footage filmed on Friday and broadcast by the channel, around 20 police officers are seen storming a hallway leading to prison cells, brandishing their weapons and firing stun grenades.
They then pull five detainees from their cells, their hands tied behind their backs, forcing them face-down onto the floor.
The operation took place as a bill proposing the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners convicted of terrorism awaited a final vote in the Israeli parliament.
“This is all part of ongoing displays meant to take revenge on Palestinian detainees,” Abdallah al?Zaghari, head of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, told AFP on Saturday.
“Everything Ben Gvir and the far?right government are doing affects not only the Palestinian people and prisoners in detention camps — it also impacts the global legal and human rights system,” he added.
Ben Gvir, known for his inflammatory rhetoric, is considered one of the most hard-line members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition.
“It is simply a source of pride — arriving at a prison like this, a prison for terrorists, the vilest of the vile, seeing them like this,” Ben Gvir said in the video.
“I want one more thing: to execute them — the death penalty for terrorists,” he added.
Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Saturday said the remarks were “a new war crime and a blatant challenge to international humanitarian law regarding prisoners.”
International rights groups have repeatedly warned of alleged abuse and mistreatment inflicted in Israeli prisons since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
While the death penalty exists for a small number of crimes in Israel, it has become a de facto abolitionist country, with the Nazi Holocaust perpetrator Adolf Eichmann the last person to be executed in 1962.
