World Islamic human rights body condemns discrimination against Indian Muslims

1 / 3
A bulldozer is being used to demolish the residence of Javed Ahmed, a local leader who was allegedly involved in the recent protests against BJP spokeswoman Nupur Sharma's remarks about Prophet Mohammed, in Allahabad on June 12, 2022. (AFP)
2 / 3
Policemen with sticks locally known as "lathi" beat a protester during a demonstration against India's new citizenship law in Mangalore. (AFP file photo)
3 / 3
The Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC)
Short Url
Updated 21 June 2022
Follow

World Islamic human rights body condemns discrimination against Indian Muslims

  • Rights body slams ruling BJP for bulldozing homes of Muslim activists

RIYADH: The human rights wing of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has strongly condemned discriminatory acts against Indian Muslims, calling on the international community to hold India accountable for violations of minorities’ human rights and to end their hostilities.

The Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC), one of the principal organs of the 57-member OIC, tweeted that it “condemns these brazen acts of discrimination, flouting all pluralistic ideals with impunity!! It calls upon the Intl. Community and relevant UN Special Procedures to urge Indian govt to protect the HR of its Muslim minority and immediately put an end to hostilities against them.”

The commission also shared an Al Jazeera clip of Arundhati Roy, a famous Indian activist and author, describing how India is becoming a “Hindu fascist enterprise.”




Security personnel stand guard on a road as a Hindu religious flag is seen on a minaret (C) of a burnt-out mosque following clashes between people supporting and opposing a contentious amendment to India's citizenship law in New Delhi on February 26, 2020. (AFP)

Roy, best known for her award-winning book “The God of Small Things,” said: “The bulldozing of Muslim homes marks a moment in time where you are seeing a transition from a sort of fragile, flawed democracy transitioning pretty openly, pretty brazenly into a criminal Hindu fascist enterprise. Earlier Muslims were punished by vigilante mobs or the police. But when you say that you are going to bulldoze a house or a locality or a set of shops, then what you are doing is you are saying who are the people who are going to be involved in that.”

She added: “There are going to be the municipal authorities, there are going to be local magistrates, there are going to be people watching, there is going to be media beaming this into people's homes, and above all, there are going to be the courts that are looking away and not doing anything.




Police officials try to detain members and supporters of AISA during protest against what they say attacks on Muslims following clashes on June 13, 2022  triggered by remarks made by ruling BJP figures on Prophet Mohammad, at Jantar Mantar, in New Delhi. (REUTERS)

“In effect what you are doing is you are telling Muslims you are on your own. There is no help. There is no law for you. And all the institutions that were part of the checks and balances of that old democracy are now going to be used as weapons against you.”

Authorities in states governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have in recent months started bulldozing homes, shops and businesses that belong to Muslims, on suspicion of participating in anti-government protests.

Last week, after running bulldozers in Kanpur and Saharanpur, the Uttar Pradesh administration demolished the house of student activist Afreen Fatima in Prayagraj after serving just one day’s notice to vacate it, following protests against derogatory remarks about Prophet Muhammad by BJP spokespersons.

Rights activists have noted a trend of dual standards, where anti-government protesters from other communities are not targeted in a similar way.




A protester displays a placard during a demonstration against India's new citizenship law in New Delhi. (AFP file photo)

On June 16, tens of thousands of young men furious with the BJP government’s new army recruitment policy went on a violent rampage across India. They burned trains and vehicles, attacked police stations, blocked roads, and in one town they even burned the BJP’s offices, but their homes were not bulldozed in retaliation.

The IPHRC’s statement on anti-Muslim abuse in India comes after the commission endorsed condemnation and outrage expressed by the OIC and members of the international community over defamatory remarks made by BJP leaders against the Prophet Muhammad.

On June 6, it tweeted: “OIC-IPHRC urges the UN & intl’ HR community to pressurise India to squarely counter Islamophobia and blasphemous speech, prosecute those involved without impunity and deal with its systematic and systemic persecution of Muslim minority.”


Russia’s UN envoy accuses Ukraine of aiding militants in Syria

Updated 56 min 28 sec ago
Follow

Russia’s UN envoy accuses Ukraine of aiding militants in Syria

  • Militants fighting with radical group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) “have not only not concealed the fact that they are supported by Ukraine, but they are also openly flaunting this,” Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council

UNITED NATIONS, United States: Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday accused Ukrainian intelligence services of aiding militants fighting Syrian leader Bashar Assad’s government, saying some fighters were “openly flaunting” the association.
Militants fighting with radical group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) “have not only not concealed the fact that they are supported by Ukraine, but they are also openly flaunting this,” Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council, saying there was an “identifiable trail” showing Ukraine’s GUR was “providing weapons to fighters” in northwest Syria.
 

 


Trump urges judge to dismiss hush money case due to election victory

Updated 04 December 2024
Follow

Trump urges judge to dismiss hush money case due to election victory

  • Trump’s lawyers argue having the case loom over his four-year presidential term that begins on Jan. 20 would cause “unconstitutional impediments” to the Republican businessman-turned-politician’s ability to govern

NEW YORK: Donald Trump on Tuesday asked a New York state judge to dismiss the criminal case in which he was convicted in May of 34 felony counts involving hush money paid to a porn star in light of his victory in the Nov. 5 US presidential election.
Justice Juan Merchan last month delayed Trump’s previously scheduled Nov. 26 sentencing indefinitely to give him the chance to seek dismissal. Trump’s lawyers argue having the case loom over his four-year presidential term that begins on Jan. 20 would cause “unconstitutional impediments” to the Republican businessman-turned-politician’s ability to govern.
Prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office supported delaying the sentencing to give Trump the chance to make his case for dismissal, though they said they would oppose that bid. The prosecutors have until Dec. 9 to respond.
The judge has not indicated when he would rule on Trump’s motion to dismiss, and has not set a new date for sentencing. Bragg’s office has suggested he defer all proceedings in the case until Trump, 78, leaves the White House in 2029.
The New York case stemmed from a $130,000 payment Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she has said she had a decade earlier with Trump, who denies it.
A Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records to cover up his reimbursement of Cohen. It was the first time a US president — former or sitting — had been convicted of or charged with a criminal offense.
Trump pleaded not guilty in the case, which he has sought to portray as a politically motivated attempt by Bragg, a Democrat, to interfere with his presidential campaign.
Falsification of business records is punishable by up to four years in prison. Before he was elected, experts said it was unlikely — but not impossible — that Trump would face time behind bars, with punishments such as a fine or probation seen as more likely.
Trump’s victory over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election made the prospect of imposing a sentence of jail or probation even more politically fraught and impractical, given that a sentence could have impeded his ability to conduct the duties of the presidency.
Trump was charged in three additional state and federal criminal cases in 2023, one involving classified documents he kept after leaving office and two others involving his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
He pleaded not guilty in all three cases. None have gone to trial.
A Washington judge on Nov. 25 dismissed the federal criminal case over his attempts to hold onto power. Prosecutors had moved to drop both that case and the classified documents case due to a Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
Trump also faces state criminal charges in Georgia over his bid to reverse his 2020 loss in that state, but that case remains in limbo.
As president, Trump would have no power to shut down the New York or Georgia cases because they were filed in state courts.
Trump in November nominated his defense lawyers in the hush money case, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, to serve senior roles at the Justice Department during his administration.


Spain’s Canary Islands break migrant record in 2024

Updated 03 December 2024
Follow

Spain’s Canary Islands break migrant record in 2024

MADRID: The number of migrants arriving in Spain’s Canary Islands by boat from West Africa hit a new annual record in 2024 for the second year in a row, official data showed on Tuesday.

With controls tightening in the Mediterranean, the Canaries route has become a favorite for people fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa, mostly on overcrowded, barely seaworthy vessels and without sufficient drinking water.

A total of 41,425 migrants entered the seven islands located in the Atlantic off the northwestern coast of Africa between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30, Interior Ministry data showed.

With one month of 2024 still to go, that is already more than the previous record of 39,910 migrants who arrived in the archipelago of 2.2 million people during all of 2023, a level that smashed the old mark set in 2006.

So far this year, a total of 610 boats carrying migrants have managed to arrive in the Canaries, up from 530 during all of 2023.

The regional government of the Canaries says it is overwhelmed, and Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in August went on a tour of West African countries in a bid to boost local efforts to curb illegal migration from Mauritania, Senegal and the Gambia, the main departure points for migrant boats headed to the archipelago.


Chinese man arrested in US for smuggling arms to N.Korea

Updated 03 December 2024
Follow

Chinese man arrested in US for smuggling arms to N.Korea

  • The Justice Department said law enforcement seized two devices in August at Wen’s home that he planned to send to the North — a chemical threat identification device and a hand-held broadband receiver that detects eavesdropping devices

LOS ANGELES, United States: A Chinese man was arrested in California on Tuesday for allegedly exporting guns and ammunition to North Korea, the Justice Department said.
Shenghua Wen, 41, who was living illegally in the United States after overstaying his student visa, is charged with violating long-standing US sanctions against North Korea.
Wen and unidentified co-conspirators allegedly concealed firearms and ammunition inside shipping containers that were shipped from Long Beach, California through Hong Kong to North Korea.
The Justice Department said law enforcement seized two devices in August at Wen’s home that he planned to send to the North — a chemical threat identification device and a hand-held broadband receiver that detects eavesdropping devices.
In September, law enforcement seized 50,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition that Wen allegedly obtained to send to North Korea, the department said.
Wen also attempted to obtain a civilian plane engine from a US-based broker, it said.
He faces up to 20 years in prison for conspiracy to violate US sanctions laws.
 

 


Putin’s Kremlin planes took away Ukrainian children for adoption, report alleges

Updated 03 December 2024
Follow

Putin’s Kremlin planes took away Ukrainian children for adoption, report alleges

  • The new research offers details of the alleged deportation program and individuals involved, including what its lead researcher said were new links to Putin
  • Nathaniel Raymond, Executive Director of Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab, said he was scheduled to present the findings to the UN Security Council on Wednesday

THE HAGUE: Russian presidential aircraft and funds were used in a program that took children from occupied Ukrainian territories, stripped them of Ukrainian identity and placed them with Russian families, according to a report by Yale’s School of Public Health.
The US State Department-backed research, published on Tuesday, identified 314 Ukrainian children taken to Russia in the early months of the war in Ukraine as part of what it says was a systematic, Kremlin-funded program to “Russify” them.
Reuters was unable to confirm the report’s findings independently.
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his child rights’ commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, for the alleged war crime of deportation of Ukrainian children.
At the time, Lvova-Belova said her commission acted on humanitarian grounds to protect children in an area of military hostilities. Lvova-Belova’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Kremlin said it could not respond to questions sent on Monday, citing a lack of time.
The new research, reported first by Reuters, offers details of the alleged deportation program and individuals involved, including what its lead researcher said were new links to Putin.
The researcher, Nathaniel Raymond, Executive Director of Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab, said he was scheduled to present the findings to the UN Security Council on Wednesday. The United States holds the rotating presidency of the 15-member body this month.
Raymond said the research offers evidence that would support additional charges by the ICC against Putin of “forcible transfer” of people from one national and ethnic group to another.
He further said the report proved “the deportation of Ukraine’s children is part of a systematic, Kremlin-led program” to make them citizens of Russia.
Forcible transfer is a crime against humanity under international law. Because they must be widespread and systematic, crimes against humanity are considered more serious than war crimes.
In response to Reuters questions, the ICC office of the prosecutor said the Yale report was useful “in our continued activities in this case.” It declined to provide information about charges or actions that may arise from its Ukraine investigations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, reacting to the report, said in a statement on X: “Ukraine is tirelessly working to ensure our children return home and that all those responsible for these heinous crimes are punished.”
The country’s prosecutor general said Yale’s report complemented its own investigations into what had happened to the children, describing “a well-planned Kremlin policy with legislative changes, political decisions, and dedicated funding.”
In response to the ICC charges last year, Lvova-Belova said Russia had not moved anyone against their will or that of their parents or legal guardians, whose consent was always sought unless they were missing.
She said children were placed with temporary legal guardians and were not given up for adoption.
Russia, which does not recognize the ICC, has said the court’s warrants are meaningless. Court decisions could nonetheless limit travel by charged individuals because its 124 member states have an obligation to execute warrants.

CHILDREN IDENTIFIED
The research is based on data mined from three Russian government adoption databases over 20 months. Yale’s investigation then mapped out the alleged program’s logistics and funding and confirmed the identities of the 314 children, Raymond said.
The research is part of an initiative led by the State Department under President Joe Biden to document potential violations of international law and crimes against humanity by Russia and Russia-aligned forces in Ukraine.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The report said Ukrainian children brought to Russia had been subjected to “pro-state and militarised propaganda,” noting it had documented such “patriotic re-education” at all the facilities where the children were processed.
Reuters has documented the transfer of thousands of children to Russian camps, the forced naturalization of Ukrainians and the involvement of Belarus in the program.
Stephen Rapp, the US ambassador-at-large for war crimes under former president Barack Obama and formerly a prosecutor at the international tribunals for Rwanda and Sierra Leone, reviewed the report and told Reuters that “it proves their direct involvement, making changes to law and practice to allow and accelerate coercive adoptions that would have been illegal under Russia’s own law in February 2022.”
Kyiv estimates around 19,500 children have been taken to Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea since the invasion. Lvova-Belova has challenged Kyiv’s numbers and asked it to provide evidence.
She previously said 380 orphans and children not in the custody of parents were placed with Russian foster families between April and October 2022.

FLIGHTS
Russia began taking Ukrainian children from occupied Ukrainian territories in the days before the invasion in Feb. 2022, according to the report.
Russia’s Aerospace Forces and aircraft under the direct control of Putin’s office transported multiple groups of children from Ukraine on Russian Federation-flagged military transport planes between May and October 2022, the report said.
The report said at least two groups of children flew on aircraft managed by the Presidential Property Management Department within the Presidential Administration in May and October 2022.
Children taken to the Chkalovsky military airfield just outside Moscow on Sept. 16, 2022 had been transported from the occupied Ukrainian territories of Donetsk and Luhansk to the Russian city of Rostov, not far from Ukraine’s border, then flown on a plane with tail number RA-85123, the report said.
The aircraft is a TU-154M operated by the 223rd Flight Squad of the Russian Defense Ministry, it said. Flight tracking data on website Flightradar24.com also confirmed this.
Of the 314 Ukrainian children identified, 166 were placed directly with Russia citizens, the report said. The other 148 were listed in Russia’s child placement databases, with about a third of those now placed with Russian citizens. The remaining children were last known to be located at Russian institutions, the report said.