Tag Archives: torture

As Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled Kabul for an undisclosed destination, armed Taliban fighters entered official buildings nationwide, including the presidential palace. Senior commanders in black turbans sat down and gave statements while young fighters took selfies. In the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, fighters were seen shooting at a billboard …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD     Just watched The Suicide Squad (2021) and while it is technically entertaining its way too long and way too confused and way too annoying, and way too gory. It just left you feeling frustrated, and empty. I was so perplexed I found myself …

Bahrain has rejected the European Parliament (EP) resolution on the human rights situation in the Kingdom, affirming its lack of evidence, state news agency BNA reported. Bahrain has always exerted efforts to promote human rights and the resolution does not reflect that, Defence and National Security Committee Deputy Chairman Isa …

President Joe Biden on Saturday said his administration would make an announcement on Saudi Arabia on Monday, following a U.S. intelligence report that found Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had approved the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Biden administration has faced some criticism, notably an editorial in the Washington …

The Saudi Human Rights Commission (HRC) president said on Sunday that the Kingdom is working to protect and promote human rights around the world as it launched new human rights training programs. In the statement on UN World Day of Social Justice, Dr. Awwad bin Saleh Al-Awwad added that human …

President Joe Biden’s aides have launched a formal review of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, reviving the Obama-era goal of closing the controversial facility with the aim of doing so before he leaves office, the White House said on Friday. Aides involved in internal discussions are …

The sisters of prominent Saudi women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul said on Thursday they wanted real justice for her, and the lifting of a travel ban, the day after she was released from prison on a suspended sentence. Hathloul, 31, has campaigned for women’s right to drive and to end …

Julian Assange is “free to return home” to Australia once legal challenges against him are dealt with, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Tuesday, after a UK court denied a request to extradite the Wikileaks founder to the United States. A British judge on Monday blocked the extradition request by …

A British judge ruled on Monday that WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange should not be extradited to the United States to face charges of breaking a spying law and conspiring to obtain secret U.S. documents by hacking government computers. U.S. authorities accuse Australian-born Assange, 49, of 18 counts relating to Wikileaks’ …

US president Donald Trump’s pardoning of four Blackwater mercenaries for the killing of 14 Iraqis at a crowded traffic intersection in Baghdad in 2007 has deepened popular Iraqi resentment against the presence of US forces in the country. This has increased pressure on Iraqi prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi to reiterate …

Some 50 prisoners in Iraq face possible execution on Monday following conviction on terrorism-related crimes in unfair trials, United Nations human rights experts said on Friday. The independent experts urged the Baghdad government to immediately halt all mass executions, noting that 21 prisoners had been executed in October, followed by …

Prominent Saudi women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul, held in Saudi Arabia since 2018, began a new hunger strike on Monday over the conditions of her detention, her family said. Hathloul’s sister Lina told Reuters that the main demand was to be allowed regular contact with her family. In late August …

A trove of Saddam-era files secretly returned to Iraq has pried open the country’s painful past, prompting hopes some may learn the fate of long-lost relatives along with fears of new bloodshed. The 5 million pages of internal Baath Party documents were found in 2003, just months after the US-led …

The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, over her investigation into whether American forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan. Pompeo also said Phakiso Mochochoko, the head of the ICC’s Jurisdiction, Complementarity and Cooperation Division, had also been …

A Danish court ordered the government on Friday to compensate 18 civilians who were tortured during the Iraq war in an operation carried out by Iraqi security forces along with a Danish battalion. In total, 23 plaintiffs had sued Denmark after they were arrested and subjected to “torture and inhumane …

President Donald Trump’s two new cabinet nominees are expected to be greeted with tough questions about the administration’s posture toward Russia, the possibility of an unprecedented summit with North Korea, the Iranian nuclear deal and torture when they face the U.S. Senate in coming weeks. The president’s abrupt firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Tuesday …

Reuters) – “Enhanced interrogation” techniques used by the CIA on militants detained in secret prisons were ineffective and never produced information which led to the disruption of imminent terrorist plots, a declassified report by the Senate Intelligence Committee found. The report released on Tuesday said the CIA misled the public …

THE LEVANT – The British aid worker held hostage in Syria was tortured by his terrorist kidnappers during the first months of his captivity, it has emerged. David Haines was regularly beaten by his captors, who may have singled him out for ill-treatment because of his nationality. He was so …