WARSAW: Nobody outside of Prison Colony Number Four in the Belarusian city of Gomel has seen or heard from Maria Kolesnikova, imprisoned for leading huge 2020 protests against President Alexander Lukashenko since February last year.
An orchestra flute player, Kolesnikova was the star of a street movement that shook the Minsk regime four years ago — she then famously ripped up her passport while the KGB tried to forcibly deport her.
The 42-year-old is now serving an 11-year sentence in Gomel, one of over 1,000 political prisoners in the country. She has been barred from contact with the outside world for 19 months.
Minsk announced a new wave of pardons on Monday, with 37 political prisoners freed, but it was not yet known if Kolesnikova was included.
Two ex-prisoners released from the same colony told AFP Kolesnikova spends months in the harshest “PKT” type of punishment cell, held in isolation from other inmates, who are banned from talking to her.
“I am worried for her life,” her sister Tatiana Khomich, who lives abroad, told AFP.
She has been told Kolesnikova’s weight has severely dropped.
Kolesnikova had lost weight after abdominal surgery in November 2022, but has now lost “even more,” unable to recover in harsh conditions and denied an appropriate diet, her sister said.
According to Khomich, she has a limited allowance of around 20 euros in the prison shop per month.
“She’s basically starving,” Khomich said.
The world last saw a glimpse of Kolesnikova after the surgery, when she was allowed to see her father, with authorities releasing a fuzzy picture.
Then, the letters stopped: the last one was dated February 15, 2023. Contact was also lost with other key imprisoned opposition figures.
Khomich knows that Kolesnikova spends most of her time in the PKT, which ex-convicts describe as a “prison inside a prison.” PKT is an acronym for “cell-type space.”
Darya Afanasyeva, a feminist activist who served a 2.5-year sentence in Gomel, said information on Kolesnikova trickled down to women in the prison if someone was sent to a punishment cell and heard her through a wall.
Released this spring and now living in Poland, she described the level to which Kolesnikova was kept out of sight.
When a medical van came into the prison, likely headed for Kolesnikova, Afanasyeva said authorities put the colony “on some kind of martial law.”
“Everyone was put in one room and you are not allowed to go to the windows,” the 29-year-old said.
“We saw it was headed to the PKT and we understood it was for Masha.”
Before Kolesnikova was sent to the PKT, Afanasyeva said she appeared “very thin.”
Afanasyeva said Kolesnikova’s isolation in the Gomel prison — which started filling up with political prisoners after the protests — started as soon as the protest leader arrived there in June 2022.
Women with political cases were singled out with a yellow triangle on their uniforms, ex-prisoners said.
Prison officials were quick to cut Kolesnikova off.
She was the only political prisoner placed in a “brigade” with no other women with political cases.
Afanasyeva described the level of surveillance around Kolesnikova when she was still working at the prison sewing factory.
“They put special cameras to watch her, she worked on a machine and these two cameras were right above her table,” the activist, who had a yellow triangle tattooed on her forearm, said.
“Everything to do with Masha was made into a secret,” said Kristina Cherenkova, another former political prisoner, arrested for social media posts against the war in Ukraine in her town near the Ukraine border.
“Practically the whole year and one month that I was in the Gomel prison, she was in the PKT,” Cherenkova, now also in Poland, said.
She relayed what women sent to solitary confinement had told her.
“At first, the girls said her voice was strong and that she sang in there,” Cherenkova said.
“But in the last months of me being there, they would say you could not hear her as much.”
When news broke of a major swap between Russia — on whom Belarus relies — and the West, Khomich had hoped her sister would be among prisoners released.
But while let down by an absence of Belarusian dissidents in the swap, it gave her a boost that “talks are possible, even in times of war.”
A fresh wave of pardons this summer has offered new hope to relatives of political prisoners.
Analyst Artyom Shraibman said Kolesnikova was getting “special treatment” in prison, with the regime driven by “revenge for the trauma of 2020.”
He struggled to imagine a free Kolesnikova, saying “Lukashenko mainly lets people go who would leave prison soon anyway.”
“Or who would die in prison soon,” he added.
‘Starving’ in isolation: fears for imprisoned Belarus protest leader
https://arab.news/8sh4w
‘Starving’ in isolation: fears for imprisoned Belarus protest leader
- The 42-year-old is now serving an 11-year sentence in Gomel, one of over 1,000 political prisoners in the country
- Minsk announced a new wave of pardons on Monday, with 37 political prisoners freed, but it was not yet known if Kolesnikova was included
Israel’s defense minister cancels visit to Washington, Pentagon says
- Biden said on Friday he thought Israel had not yet concluded how to respond to Iran and added that he would think about alternatives to striking Iranian oil fields if he were in Israel’s shoes
WASHINGTON: Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has canceled a Wednesday visit to the Pentagon, the Pentagon said, as Israeli media reported Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted first to speak with US President Joe Biden.
The surprise cancelation on Tuesday comes amid soaring tensions between Israel and Iran as Israel weighs options to respond to Tehran’s missile attack last week, its second this year against Israel.
The Pentagon declined to say why Gallant canceled his visit, and referred reporters to Israel’s ministry of defense. Offices for Netanyahu and Gallant did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “We were just informed that Minister Gallant will be postponing his trip to Washington,” Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told a news briefing. Israel’s Ynet news outlet reported that Gallant had hoped his US visit would strengthen coordination on Iran but hours before departure, Netanyahu set two preconditions: the call with Biden and cabinet approval of the response to Iran.
The White House referred questions about the Gallant visit to the Israeli government. Biden and his aides have spoken of a possible call with Netanyahu since the end of September. But the White House did not immediately respond to a query on whether such a call had now been scheduled.
Biden said on Friday he thought Israel had not yet concluded how to respond to Iran and added that he would think about alternatives to striking Iranian oil fields if he were in Israel’s shoes.
Iran on Tuesday warned Israel not to follow through on threats of retaliation.
Its foreign minister said any attack on Iran’s infrastructure would be avenged while a senior Iranian official told Gulf states it would be “unacceptable” and would draw a response if they allowed their airspace to be used against Iran.
Western powers are seeking a diplomatic solution, fearing the conflict could roil the wider, oil-producing Middle East.
Milton returns to Category 5 as Florida braces for next hurricane
TAMPA: Storm-battered Florida braced for a direct hit from Hurricane Milton which restrengthened to a Category 5 storm Tuesday, as President Joe Biden begged residents to flee what he warned could be the worst natural disaster to hit the US state in a century.
As the second huge hurricane in as many weeks rumbled toward Florida’s west coast, a sense of looming catastrophe spread as people raced to board up homes and flee.
“It’s a matter of life and death, and that’s not hyperbole,” Biden said from the White House, urging those under orders to leave to “evacuate now, now, now.”
Biden’s warning came amid a bitter pre-election quarrel, with his Democratic vice president Kamala Harris castigating her rival Donald Trump for peddling false claims that recovery efforts after the first storm, Hurricane Helene, were diverted away from Republicans.
As of Tuesday, Milton restrengthened to the maximum Category 5 designation, generating maximum sustained winds of 165 mph (270 kph), the National Hurricane Center said.
“Fluctuations in intensity are likely while Milton moves across the eastern Gulf of Mexico, but Milton is expected to be a dangerous major hurricane when it reaches the west-central coast of Florida Wednesday night,” the NHC said.
Governor Ron DeSantis, at a news conference, ticked off town after town and county after county that are in danger.
“Basically the entire peninsula portion of Florida is under some type of either a watch or a warning,” he said.
Airlines put on extra flights out of Tampa, Orlando, Fort Myers and Sarasota, as highways clogged up with escaping traffic and gas stations sold out of fuel.
Hurricane expert Michael Lowry warned that in the Tampa area, home to some three million people, Milton’s storm surge “could double the storm surge levels observed two weeks ago during Helene,” which brought massive flooding.
Biden postponed a major trip to Germany and Angola to oversee the federal response, as storm relief efforts have emerged as a political battleground ahead of the presidential election on November 5.
Trump has tapped into frustration about the emergency response after Hurricane Helene and fueled it with disinformation, falsely claiming that disaster money had been spent instead on migrants.
Biden on Tuesday slammed Trump’s comments as “un-American,” while presidential hopeful Harris called the claims the “height of irresponsibility and frankly callousness.”
“I fear that he really lacks empathy on a very basic level,” she said.
In a scene of frantic preparation repeated all over Florida, dozens of cars lined up at a sports facility in Tampa to pick up sandbags to protect their homes from flooding.
John Gomez, 75, ignored official advice and traveled all the way from Chicago to try to save a second house he has in Florida.
“I think it’s better to be here in case something happens,” Gomez said as he waited in line.
Scientists say global warming has a role in intense storms as warmer ocean surfaces release more water vapor, providing additional energy for storms, which exacerbates their winds.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Tuesday released footage from a specialist plane called “Miss Piggy” as it flew into the hurricane to collect data.
Paperwork, equipment and personal items were sent flying as the plane was shaken by wind and rain.
On the ground, communities hit by the deadly Hurricane Helene, which slammed Florida late last month, have rushed to remove debris that could become dangerous projectiles as Milton approaches.
In Mexico’s Yucatan, strong winds toppled trees and pylons, and heavy rain caused flooding, but the peninsula avoided major damage or casualties as the storm barreled offshore.
Across the southeastern United States, emergency workers are still struggling to provide relief after Helene, which killed at least 230 people across several states.
It hit the Florida coastline on September 26 as a major Category 4 hurricane, causing massive flooding in remote inland towns in states further north, including North Carolina and Tennessee.
Helene was the deadliest natural disaster to hit the US mainland since 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, with the death toll still rising.
Harris holds slight edge nationally over Trump: poll
- The national poll conducted by Siena College and The New York Times found Harris ahead by 49 percent to 46 percent
NEW YORK: Kamala Harris has taken a slim lead over Donald Trump in the US presidential race, a new poll showed Tuesday, as the Democrat slammed her rival for “weakness” during a media blitz four weeks before the election.
Vice President Harris and Republican former president Trump — who was doing a three-hit airwaves blitz of his own Tuesday — are deadlocked as they scramble to get out the vote and reach the sliver of Americans who remain undecided.
The national poll conducted by Siena College and The New York Times found Harris ahead by 49 percent to 46 percent, with registered voters crediting her more than Trump with representing change and caring about people like themselves, but giving the edge to Trump on who is the stronger leader.
The rivals were tied at 47 percent in a mid-September Times/Siena poll shortly after the two clashed in their presidential debate.
The overall result is largely in line with an aggregate of national polling collated by RealClearPolitics.com, which has Harris ahead by two percentage points.
In the seven battleground states seen as likely to determine the election outcome, the race is even tighter.
With Trump critics warning the election is nothing less than a referendum on American democracy, Harris conceded the knife-edge race is keeping her up at night.
“I literally lose sleep — and have been — over what is at stake in this election,” she told radio icon Howard Stern in a 70-minute live interview Tuesday.
“This is an election that is about strength versus weakness, and weakness as projected by someone who puts himself in front of the American people and does not have the strength to stand in defense of their needs, their dreams, their desires.”
Harris, the new poll showed, has begun making inroads with the rival party, with nine percent of Republicans saying they planned to support her, up from five percent last month.
She touched on the issue during a Tuesday appearance on popular ABC television show “The View,” where she talked about campaigning recently with Republican former congresswoman Liz Cheney.
There are more than 200 former officials from past Republican presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush, as well as officials tied to Republican heavyweights John McCain and Mitt Romney, who have endorsed her, Harris said.
“We really are building a coalition around some very fundamental issues, including that we love our country and that we have to put country before party,” she said.
The Democrat, who turns 60 next week, also accused Trump of “full-time perpetuating lies and misinformation,” and said voters have grown “exhausted” with the strategy.
Trump meanwhile maintained his aggressive posture, attacking Harris as a “very low intelligence person” and claiming she has been “missing in action” over the federal response to Hurricane Helene — even though Harris traveled to the disaster zone last week.
And the 78-year-old Republican insisted on conservative influencer Ben Shapiro’s podcast that he has the stamina to finish strong on the campaign trail.
“I’ve worked about 28 days in a row, I have about 29 days left” before the election, he said, “and I’m not taking any days off.”
In addition to the poll, Harris got another potential boost Tuesday after a pro-Palestinian group threatening to draw votes from her in swing state Michigan came out strongly against Trump.
The Uncommitted movement stopped short of explicitly endorsing Harris, but warned in a video that “it can get worse” under Trump.
Major US pro-Palestinian group comes out against Trump
- Israel’s military offensive has killed at least 41,965 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them civilians
WASHINGTON: Democrat Kamala Harris got a potential boost Tuesday after a pro-Palestinian group threatening to draw votes from her in swing state Michigan came out strongly against her Republican opponent Donald Trump.
The Uncommitted movement stopped short of explicitly endorsing Harris, but warned in a video on social media that “it can get worse” under Trump. One of the group’s co-founders, Lexi Zeidan, said voters should consider “the better antiwar approach” rather than “who is the better candidate.”
The Harris campaign is worried about losing votes in places like Michigan, where anger among the state’s large Arab American community over the White House’s support for Israeli operations in Gaza and Lebanon has threatened to narrow already thin margins for Democrats.
The Uncommitted shift to openly opposing Trump, who is close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will come as some relief to Harris, the vice president.
However, Abandon Harris, another group of anti-war voters, has endorsed fringe Green Party candidate Jill Stein, potentially turning her into a spoiler that would help elect Trump in swing states decided by just a few thousand votes.
Both groups, drawing heavily from Arab, Palestinian and Muslim voters, emerged in protest at President Joe Biden’s backing of Israel despite mounting civilian casualties in Gaza.
Harris has attempted to walk a tightrope on the issue, saying at the Democratic presidential nomination she would get a Gaza ceasefire “done” and ensure Palestinians realize their right to “dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”
But Harris has rejected protesters’ demands, such as an arms embargo on Israel — a longtime key US ally.
Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures, which include hostages killed in captivity.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed 41,965 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry that the United Nations has described as reliable.
Pro-Palestinian activists target UK offices of Germany’s Allianz
LONDON: Pro-Palestinian activists targeted the British offices of German financial services firm Allianz on Tuesday, daubing the outside with red paint in protest over the company’s links to Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems.
Palestine Action claimed responsibility for the protest on social media platform X, and said demonstrators had attacked 10 Allianz offices in the UK and “occupied” the insurer’s UK headquarters in Guildford, south of London, overnight.
“Without insurance, Elbit couldn’t operate in Britain,” Palestine Action said in its post.
In addition to urging customers to boycott certain financial firms, demonstrators have expanded protests to include defacing buildings using red paint to symbolize the bloodshed in Gaza.
Allianz is the latest global financial company to have suffered such vandalism. British lender Barclays has also been a target for pro-Palestinian protesters.
