ANKARA: Penal reform proposed by Turkey’s government will be fast-tracked in Parliament this week amid concerns over coronavirus outbreaks in jails.
The reform is expected to lead to the release of some 30,000 prisoners in one stroke, except for those behind bars over charges related to terrorism, drugs, violence against women and children, and sexual abuse.
Therefore, it will exclude journalists, politicians and human rights defenders facing terror charges.
There are more than 270,000 inmates in 375 prisons throughout the country. Prisons in Turkey are heavily criticized for being overcrowded, with many reports from lawyers and rights groups about people sleeping on floors. This may trigger a quick spread of coronavirus among inmates.
The government rejects claims made by the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) of coronavirus cases in prisons.
Human Rights Watch’s Turkey Director Emma Sinclair-Webb told Arab News: “The fact is there are thousands of people in prison in Turkey who shouldn’t be there. They’re mostly accused of terrorism crimes, but in many cases there’s simply no evidence to support the charge even though they’re portrayed as the most serious category of prisoners.”
She said: “Because of the seeming severity of the charges, it’s precisely this category of prisoner whom the government is now proposing to exclude from prisoner release plans.”
She added: “While there are individuals in this category who’ve engaged in violent activities, the majority haven’t, and they include journalists, human rights defender Osman Kavala, Kurdish politicians like Selahattin Demirtas.”
Sinclair-Webb said given the arbitrary nature of detentions, any move to exclude such prisoners from release will raise concerns that once again they are being discriminated against for political reasons.
“If jailing them in the first place was political, exempting them from release would also be political,” she added.
Tugce Duygu Koksal, head of the Istanbul Bar Association’s Human Rights Center, said the reform should be applied to all equally because its aim is to protect public health in the prisons.
“If the underlying reason of this reform is to cope with the occupancy of the prisons, detention should be applied as a last resort, and such a mentality change should be applied to all relevant penal practices,” she told Arab News.
There is also a ban on visits to prisons as a measure against the spread of coronavirus. Following the ban, the Journalists’ Association of Turkey and Reporters Without Borders urged the government to release all arrested journalists in the country.
Koksal said any reform that excludes imprisoned journalists would be problematic in terms of freedom of expression.
House arrest for old and ill inmates is also being discussed. Sinclair-Webb said there are many prisoners accused of terrorism offenses who are over 65 or have underlying medical conditions.
“And there are women with babies held for terrorism crimes. It’s impossible to argue that the charge they’re tried on, or have been convicted on, should justify depriving them of their right to health and applying discriminatory policies against them,” she added.
According to official data, the prison population increased by 88,000 between 2014 and 2017. In terms of the ratio of the number of convicts to the country’s population, Turkey ranks second after the US among member states of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Turkey poised to release thousands of prisoners over coronavirus fears
https://arab.news/953ht
Turkey poised to release thousands of prisoners over coronavirus fears
- There are more than 270,000 inmates in 375 prisons throughout Turkey
- Prisons in Turkey are heavily criticized for being overcrowded, with many reports from lawyers and rights groups about people sleeping on floors
Netanyahu approves new Gaza ceasefire talks
Since the UN Security Council adopted a resolution on Monday demanding an “immediate ceasefire,” Hamas and Israel have traded blame for their failure to agree a deal.
Mediator Qatar said Tuesday that talks between Hamas and Israel on a Gaza truce and hostage release were continuing, but the warring sides and mediators have offered little information since.
Netanyahu’s office said the premier spoke to Mossad chief David Barnea about the talks, but declined elaborate on whether Barnea would be traveling to Doha or Cairo for the negotiations.
The war began when Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel that resulted in about 1,160 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s military has waged a retaliatory offensive against Hamas that has killed 32,623 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Palestinian militants seized about 250 Israeli and foreign hostages during the October 7 attack on Israel, but dozens were released during a week-long truce in November.
Israel believes about 130 remain in Gaza, including 33 who are presumed dead — eight soldiers and 25 civilians.
Israel kills dozens in airstrikes across the Gaza Strip
- Palestinian health officials said two Israeli strikes on the Al-Shejaia suburb in eastern Gaza City killed 17 people
- Gaza’s Hamas-run government media office said at least 10 policemen, tasked with securing aid to the displaced in northern Gaza, were among those killed in Al-Shejaia
CAIRO: Israel sustained its aerial and ground bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Friday, killing dozens of Palestinians, as fighting raged around Gaza City’s main Al Shifa hospital, Palestinian officials and the Israeli military said.
Palestinian health officials said two Israeli strikes on the Al-Shejaia suburb in eastern Gaza City killed 17 people, while an Israeli air strike on a house in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip killed eight people.
Gaza’s Hamas-run government media office said at least 10 policemen, tasked with securing aid to the displaced in northern Gaza, were among those killed in Al-Shejaia.
The Israeli military said its forces continued operations in around Gaza City’s Al Shifa complex “while mitigating harm to civilians, patients, medical teams, and medical equipment,” adding that over the past day it killed a number of gunmen and located weapons and military infrastructure.
Al Shifa, the Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital before the war, had been one of the few health care facilities even partially operational in north Gaza before the latest fighting. It had also been housing displaced civilians.
The Israeli statement said its forces conducted raids in central and southern areas including Khan Younis and Al-Karara, where troops exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen before they killed them and located weapons and rockets.
The armed wing of Hamas said their fighters targeted Israeli forces near to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, one of the city’s two hospitals blockaded by Israeli soldiers for several days.
In the far south of the Strip, Israel continued its bombardment in Rafah, the Palestinians’ last refuge where over half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people were sheltering. An air strike on a house killed 12 Palestinians late on Thursday. More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, with 71 killed in the last 24 hours, according to health authorities in the territory.
Thousands more dead are believed to be buried under rubble and more than 80 percent of Gazans have been displaced, many at risk of famine.
The war erupted after Hamas militants broke through the border and rampaged through communities in southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
In the northern Gaza Strip, where the United Nations has warned famine is imminent as early as May, an elderly man died of malnutrition and lack of medication, Palestinian media said. On Thursday, the World Court unanimously ordered Israel to take all necessary and effective action to ensure basic food supplies to Gaza’s population and halt spreading famine.
“The renewed binding order from the @ICJ (International Court of Justice) yesterday is a stark reminder that the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is man made and worsening. It can however still be reversed,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, said on X.
“(This) means that Israel must reverse its decision and allow @UNRWA to reach northern Gaza with food and nutrition convoys on a daily basis and to open additional land crossings,” he added. Earlier this week, UNRWA said Israel told it that it would no longer approve its food convoys to north Gaza. Four such requests were denied since March 21, it added.
Israel says Lebanon strike kills a Hezbollah rocket unit commander
- Strike killed Ali Abdel Hassan Naim, deputy head of Hezbollah’s rocket unit
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM: An Israeli army air strike in Lebanon killed the deputy head of Hezbollah’s rocket unit on Friday, the army said, the latest deadly cross-border violence since the Israel-Hamas war erupted.
The strike in south Lebanon’s Bazuriyeh killed Ali Abdel Hassan Naim, “one of the leaders for heavy-warhead rocket fire and responsible for conducting and planning attacks against Israeli civilian,” the Israeli military said.
Hezbollah, an ally of Palestinian militant group Hamas, has exchanged near-daily fire with the Israeli army since Hamas launched its unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7 triggering war in Gaza.
The hostilities have raised fears of all-out conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which fought a devastating war in 2006.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) said “a raid by an enemy drone targeted a car” in Bazuriyeh in south Lebanon’s Tyre district, reporting at least one dead.
AN army security source, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the person killed was “a Hezbollah official.”
Hezbollah did not immediately comment on the strike, but announced it had carried out attacks on Israeli positions on Friday.
An AFP correspondent reported the targeted vehicle was destroyed and debris scattered nearby, and said authorities had cordoned off the area.
The Iran-backed group says it is acting in support of Hamas with its attacks. Israel has targeted Hezbollah and Hamas officials inside Lebanon in response.
Recent days have seen an uptick in deadly hostilities, and the White House on Thursday called on Israel and Lebanon to put a high priority on restoring calm.
The United Nations said this week it was “deeply disturbed” by attacks on health care facilities, after several strikes blamed on Israel killed rescue workers in southern Lebanon.
Cross-border fire since October has killed at least 347 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters, but also including at least 68 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people in southern Lebanon and in northern Israel, where the military says 10 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed.
Israeli strikes kill 42 in Syria’s Aleppo province
- Strikes have increased since Israel’s war with Hamas began on October 7
- Israel targeted ‘a rockets depot belonging to Lebanon’s Hezbollah’ close to Aleppo airport
BEIRUT: A war monitor said Israeli air strikes Friday on Syria’s Aleppo province killed at least 42 including 36 Syrian soldiers, the deadliest toll for the army since the Israel-Hamas war began.
Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in Syria since civil war there broke out in 2011, targeting army positions as well as Iran-backed forces including Hezbollah, an ally of Damascus and Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The strikes have increased since Israel’s war with Hamas began on October 7, and Friday’s was the second such attack in 24 hours.
“Israeli strikes” targeted “a rockets depot belonging to Lebanon’s Hezbollah” close to Aleppo airport, said the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of sources inside Syria.
It reported “42 killed, including six from Lebanon’s Hezbollah group” and “36 soldiers,” the highest Syrian army toll in Israeli strikes since the Israel-Hamas war began.
State news agency SANA, quoting a military source, reported that “at approximately 1:45 am, the Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the direction of Athriya, southeast of Aleppo,” adding that “civilians and military personnel” were killed and wounded.
Contacted by AFP from Jerusalem, the Israeli military said it would “not comment on reports in the foreign media.”
The Observatory also reported strikes targeting “defense factories” controlled by pro-Iran groups elsewhere in Aleppo province.
The attack came just hours after a reported Israeli strike in the Damascus countryside.
Syrian state media said “two civilians” were killed in an “Israeli air attack that targeted a residential building” on Thursday, also reporting material damage.
The Observatory said the Sayyida Zeinab area, a stronghold of pro-Iran armed groups including Hezbollah south of the capital, was targeted.
Israeli raids in Syria also seek to cut off Hezbollah supply routes to neighboring Lebanon.
The Israel-Hamas war began with the Gaza-based Palestinian militants’ unprecedented attacks that resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 32,623 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry there.
Israel has exchanged near-daily cross-border fire with Hamas ally Hezbollah in Lebanon since the Gaza war began, sparking fears of a major regional conflagration.
In Lebanon, cross-border fire since October has killed at least 346 people, mostly Hezbollah fighters, but also including at least 68 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people in southern Lebanon and in northern Israel, where the military says 10 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed.
Hezbollah has fought alongside ally Damascus in Syria’s civil war since at least 2013, and continues to operate in the country.
The Syrian government’s brutal suppression of a 2011 uprising triggered a conflict that has killed more than half a million people and drawn in foreign armies and jihadists.
On Tuesday, strikes on eastern Syria’s Deir Ezzor province killed 19 people, mostly pro-Iran fighters including two advisers from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the Observatory said.
The World Health Organization reported one of its workers was killed in the strikes, which the Observatory blamed on Israel, after initially not saying who carried them out.
A US defense official said the United States “did not conduct any airstrikes” at the time.
Israel rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria, but has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to expand its presence in Syria.
Israel has not received everything it has asked for, top US general says
- Some Democrats and Arab American groups have criticized the Biden administration’s steadfast support of Israel, which they say provides it with a sense of impunity
WASHINGTON: The United States’ top general said on Thursday that Israel had not received every weapon it has asked for, in part because some of it could affect the US military’s readiness and there were capacity limitations.
Washington gives $3.8 billion in annual military assistance to Israel, its longtime ally. The United States has been rushing air defenses and munitions to Israel, but some Democrats and Arab American groups have criticized the Biden administration’s steadfast support of Israel, which they say provides it with a sense of impunity.
“Although we’ve been supporting them with capability, they’ve not received everything they’ve asked for,” said General Charles Q. Brown, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“Some of that is because they’ve asked for stuff that we either don’t have the capacity to provide or not willing to provide, not right now,” Brown added, while speaking at an event hosted by the Defense Writers Group.
A spokesperson for Brown later on Thursday said his comments were in reference to “a standard practice before providing military aid to any of our allies and partners.”
“We assess US stockpiles and any possible impact on our own readiness to determine our ability to provide the requested aid,” Navy Captain Jereal Dorsey said in a statement.
“There is no change in US policy. The United States continues to provide security assistance to our ally Israel as they defend themselves from Hamas,” Dorsey added.
More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip by Israel’s devastating offensive, according to health authorities in the territory.
Israel retaliated following an attack by militant group Hamas on southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting 253 hostages according to Israeli tallies.
The Israeli offensive prompted opposition from within Biden’s Democratic Party, leading thousands to vote “uncommitted” for him in recent party presidential primaries.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in Washington earlier this week and the Pentagon said security assistance to Israel was discussed.
“It is a constant dialogue,” Brown said.