TOKYO: More than 120 people died of heatstroke in the Tokyo metropolitan area in July, when the nation’s average temperature hit record highs and heat warnings were in effect much of the month, Japanese authorities said Tuesday.
According to the Tokyo Medical Examiner’s Office, many of the 123 people who died were elderly. All but two were found dead indoors, and most were not using air conditioners despite having them installed.
Japanese health authorities and weather forecasters repeatedly advised people to stay indoors, consume ample liquids to avoid dehydration and use air conditioning, because elderly people often think that air conditioning is not good for one’s health and tend to avoid using it.
It was the largest number of heatstroke deaths in Tokyo’s 23 metropolitan districts in July since 127 deaths were recorded during a 2018 heatwave, the medical examiner’s office said.
More than 37,000 people were treated at hospitals for heatstroke across Japan from July 1 to July 28, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.
The average temperature in July was 2.16 degrees Celsius (3.89 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the average over the past 30 years, making it the hottest July since the Japan Meteorological Agency began keeping records in 1898.
On Tuesday, heatstroke warnings were in place in much of Tokyo and western Japan. The temperature rose to about 34 C (93 F) in downtown Tokyo, where many people carried parasols or handheld fans.
“I feel every year the hot period is getting longer,” said Hidehiro Takano from Kyoto. “I have the aircon on all the time, including while I’m sleeping. I try not to go outside.”
Maxime Picavet, a French tourist, showed a portable fan he bought in Tokyo. “It works very, very well,” he said. “With this temperature, it’s a necessity.”
The meteorological agency predicted more heat in August, with temperatures of 35 C (95 F) or higher.
“Please pay attention to temperature forecasts and heatstroke alerts and take adequate precautions to prevent heatstroke,” it said in a statement.
More than 120 people died in Tokyo from heatstroke in July as average temperatures hit record highs
https://arab.news/2rrzf
More than 120 people died in Tokyo from heatstroke in July as average temperatures hit record highs
- According to the Tokyo Medical Examiner’s Office, many of the 123 people who died were elderly
- All but two were found dead indoors, and most were not using air conditioners despite having them installed
UK pays Guantanamo detainee ‘substantial’ compensation over US torture questions
- Abu Zubaydah has been held at Guantanamo Bay without charge for 20 years
- British security services knew he was subjected to ‘enhanced interrogation’ but failed to raise concerns for 4 years
LONDON: A Saudi-born Palestinian being held without trial by the US has received a “substantial” compensation payment from the UK government, the BBC reported.
Abu Zubaydah has been imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for almost 20 years following his capture in Pakistan in 2002, and was subjected to “enhanced interrogation” techniques by the CIA.
He was accused of being a senior member of Al-Qaeda in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the US. The allegations were later dropped but he remains in detention.
The compensation follows revelations that UK security services submitted questions to the US to be put to Abu Zubaydah by their US counterparts despite knowledge of his mistreatment.
He alleged that MI5 and MI6 had been “complicit” in torture, leading to a legal case and the subsequent compensation.
Dominic Grieve, the UK’s former attorney general, chaired a panel reviewing Abu Zubaydah’s case.
He described the compensation as “very unusual” but said the treatment of Abu Zubaydah had been “plainly” wrong, the BBC reported.
Grieve added that the security services had evidence that the “Americans were behaving in a way that should have given us cause for real concern,” and that “we (UK authorities) should have raised it with the US and, if necessary, closed down co-operation, but we failed to do that for a considerable period of time.”
Abu Zubaydah’s international legal counsel, Prof. Helen Duffy, said: “The compensation is important, it’s significant, but it’s insufficient.”
She added that more needs to be done to secure his release, stating: “These violations of his rights are not historic, they are ongoing.”
Duffy said Abu Zubaydah would continue to fight for his freedom, adding: “I am hopeful that the payment of the substantial sums will enable him to do that and to support himself when he’s in the outside world.”
He is one of 15 people still being held at Guantanamo, many without charge. Following his initial detention, he arrived at the prison camp having been the first person to be taken to a so-called CIA “black site.”
He spent time at six such locations, including in Lithuania and Poland, outside of US legal jurisdiction.
Internal MI6 messages revealed that the “enhanced interrogation” techniques he was subjected to would have “broken” the resolve of an estimated 98 percent of US special forces members had they been subjected to them.
CIA officers later decided he would be permanently cut off from the outside world, with then-President George W. Bush publicly saying Abu Zubaydah had been “plotting and planning murder.”
However, the US has since withdrawn the allegations and no longer says he was a member of Al-Qaeda.
A report by the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said Abu Zubaydah had been waterboarded at least 83 times, was locked in a coffin-like box for extended periods, and had been regularly assaulted. Much of his treatment would be considered torture under UK law.
Despite knowledge of his treatment, it was four years before British security services raised concerns with their American counterparts, and their submission of questions within that period had “created a market” for the torture of detainees, Duffy said.
A 2018 report by the UK Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee was deeply critical of the behavior of MI5 and MI6 in relation to Abu Zubaydah.
It also criticized conduct relating to Guantanamo detainee Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, widely regarded as a key architect of the Sept. 11 attacks, warning that the precedent set by Abu Zubaydah’s legal action could be used by Mohammed to bring a separate case against the UK.
MI5 and MI6 failed to comment on Abu Zubaydah’s case. Neither the UK government nor Mohammed’s legal team would comment on a possible case over his treatment.
