Nasheman

Turkey arrests 15 more officers over alleged coup plot

November 13, 2014 by Nasheman

Turkish authorities arrested police officers on Wednesday in new nationwide raids over an alleged plot to overthrow the Islamic-rooted government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The operation, which targeted 15 police officers in seven different Turkish provinces, came after an Istanbul prosecutor issued arrest warrants for 17 officers, four of whom are senior police officers.

Apart from wiretapping, the police officers have been accused of forging official documents and violating privacy of individuals.

The sweeps were the sixth such in a sequence of coordinated raids aimed at cracking down on what Erdogan has described as a “parallel state” within the security forces loyal to his former ally turned foe, the US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.

The probe is linked to last year’s stunning corruption allegations against Erdogan and his inner circle that were based on wiretapped telephone conversations.

The Erdogan-led authorities have since sacked hundreds of police and prosecutors believed to be linked to Gulen and introducing curbs on the judiciary and the Internet.

(Anadolu, Al-Akhbar)

U.S-China agreement will not fix the climate

November 13, 2014 by Nasheman

Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) shakes hands with U.S. President Barack Obama at a press conference following their talks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 12, 2014. (Photo: Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

by Friends of the Earth

In response to the announcement of a negotiated deal between the United States and China on greenhouse gas reductions, Friends of the Earth U.S. President Erich Pica made the following statement:

While the U.S.-China Announcement on climate change creates important political momentum internationally, it falls significantly short of the aggressive reductions needed to prevent climate disruption. The announced U.S. emissions reduction target — 26-28 percent below 2005 levels, by 2025 — is grounded in neither the physical reality of climate science nor the lived reality of hundreds of millions of people in developing countries whose lives and livelihoods are in jeopardy due to drought, flooding, fire and other extreme weather events. Simply put, the non-binding target falls miserably short of what science, justice and equity demand.

Further, the announcement is silent on the U.S. commitment to adaptation, technology transfer and climate finance in regards to the rest of the world. These commitments are fundamental for a meaningful climate agreement in Paris in 2015. The first litmus test of how serious the U.S. is about success in Paris will come during the Green Climate Fund pledging session later this month.

Looking ahead toward the 2016 presidential race, I hope that this pledge becomes a very low floor for presidential aspirants and not a ceiling for what is possible in the United States. Using executive authority, the President can and must go further by denying new fossil fuel leases, rejecting the Keystone pipeline and regulating other forms of greenhouse gas emissions.

An innocent man, tortured by the US, asks the UN: Where's the accountability?

November 13, 2014 by Nasheman

by Dan Froomkin, The Intercept

U.S. officials are in for a serious grilling on Wednesday as they get hauled before the U.N. Committee against Torture and questioned about about a multitude of ways in which the U.S. appears to be failing to comply with the anti-torture treaty it ratified 20 years ago.

As Jamil Dakwar, director of the ACLU Human Rights Program noted on Monday:

This marks the first U.N. review of the United States’ torture record since President Obama took office in 2009, and much is at stake. The review will test the pledges President Obama made to reverse disastrous Bush-era policies that led to gross violations of human rights, like torture, secret and incommunicado detention, “extraordinary renditions,” unfair trials, and more. It is also likely to examine practices that emerged or became entrenched during Obama’s time in office, such as indefinite detention at Guantánamo, immigration detention and deportations, and the militarization of the police, as witnessed by the world during this summer’s events in Ferguson.

The ACLU’s “shadow report” to the committee is a profoundly grim indictment of the nation’s failure to live up to its principles.

And although Obama claims to oppose torture, the New York Times recently reported that he could well fail another key test of his sincerity by reaffirming the Bush administration’s position that the international Convention Against Torture imposes no legal obligation on the U.S. to bar cruelty outside its borders.

Obama has already flouted the convention’s requirement that member states hold torturers accountable. I have long argued that his failure there has been particularly profound.

U.S. non-governmental agencies were allowed to address the U.N. committee today, and Murat Kurnaz (pictured above), who was tortured and detained by the U.S. at Kandahar and then Guantanamo over a period of five years, traveled to Geneva with his attorney, Center for Constitutional Rights Legal Director Baher Azmy. He made the following statement:

Good afternoon. My name is Murat Kurnaz. I am a Turkish citizen who was born and raised in Bremen, Germany, where I currently live. I spent five years of my life in detention in Kandahar and Guantanamo Bay from 2001-2006.My story is like many others. In 2001, while traveling in Pakistan, I was arrested by Pakistani police and sold to the U.S. military for a $3,000 bounty. In Kandahar, the U.S. military subjected me to electric shocks, stress positions, simulated drowning, and endless beatings. In Guantanamo, there was also psychological torture—I was stripped of my humanity, treated like an animal, isolated from the rest of the world, and did not know if I would ever be released.

Even though my lawyers proved that the U.S. knew of my innocence by 2002, I was not released until 2006. I lost five years of my life in Guantanamo.

Eight years later, I cannot believe that Guantanamo is still open and that there are almost 150 men detained there indefinitely. My time in Guantanamo was a nightmare, but I sometimes consider myself lucky. I know that part of the reason I am free today is because I am from Germany.

Most of the current prisoners remain in Guantanamo because they are from Yemen and the U.S. refuses to send them home. Many are as innocent as I was. But they are enduring the torture of Guantanamo for over 12 years because of their nationality, not because of anything they have done.

I understand that international human rights laws like the Convention Against Torture were created so that the people who commit torture are punished. Isn’t that how we can end torture in the world? So why has no U.S. official been held responsible for brutal practices and torture at Guantanamo or other U.S. prisons?

I will never get five years of my life back, but for me and others, it is important that the Committee confronts the United States about its actions in Guantanamo and other prisons.

Thank you.

The committee’s proceedings are being livestreamed here. The questioning of the U.S. delegation begins as 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Geneva time — 4 a.m. ET.

Israeli settlers ‘set fire’ to West Bank mosque

November 13, 2014 by Nasheman

ARCHIVE PHOTO: Palestinians look at burnt tires inside a mosque in the West Bank village of Qusra, near Nablus September 5, 2011 (Reuters / Abed Omar Qusini)

by RT

Israeli settlers have overnight set on fire a mosque near the West Bank town of Ramallah, according to Palestinian security officials.

“The settlers set fire to the whole of the first floor of the mosque” in the village of Al-Mughayir, near the Shilo Jewish settlement, the officials said, as cited by AFP.

A group of Palestinian worshippers who came to the mosque for their morning prayer found the building in flames, Ma’an news agency reports, as cited by the Jerusalem Post.

The worshippers reportedly managed to extinguish the fire. The first floor of the mosque has been severely damaged.

“A call was received in the morning hours about an act of arson against a mosque in the village of Al-Maghir,” Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, according to Ynetnews. “Police forces…together with the IDF have yet to enter the village in order to open the investigation due to riots in the area.”

Palestinian Mayor Faraj al-Naasan said he had no doubt that Jewish settlers were responsible for the attack, citing a previous settler raid against another mosque in the village two years ago and frequent settler attacks against vehicles and olive groves, AP reported.

“Only Jewish settlers would do this,” al-Naasan said.

Senior security official claims #Gaza might start firing rockets at #Israel, as a response to the ongoing unrest in the #WestBank.

— Paula Slier (@PaulaSlier_RT) November 12, 2014

Palestinians have filed a complaint with the West Bank’s IDF civil authority, the Times of Israel reports.

Palestinians accuse Israeli extremists of torching the western mosque in Mougher town east Ramallah pic.twitter.com/f5u3KAXtTq

— Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) November 12, 2014

Another mosque was torched in the same village two years ago.

The arson attacks by hardline Jewish settlers are often accompanied by a graffiti reading “price tag,” but this was not the case in the latest incident, according to AFP citing Palestinian officials.

An ancient synagogue was also attacked overnight Wednesday, the Haaretz reports. It says the incident happened in Shfaram, an Arab community in northern Israel, where a fire bomb was thrown at the Jewish temple. No one was hurt in the incident, but some damage was done to the building, according to police.

Tensions have lately been high between the Israelis and the Palestinians over disrupted access to another place of worship – the landmark Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

An Israeli border policeman runs during clashes with Palestinian stone throwers following a protest against what organizers say are recent visits by Jewish activists to al-Aqsa mosque, at Qalandia checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah November 7, 2014 (Reuters / Ammar Awad)

Israeli police have recently repeatedly closed the mosque, triggering an angry outcry from Palestinians.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has warned Israeli to stay away from Al-Aqsa and said has accused Israel of “leading the region and the world to a destructive religious war.”

On Tuesday, a Palestinian man was shot dead by the Israel Defense Forces in the West Bank, trying to disperse a rioting Palestinian crowd.

On Monday, an Israeli woman and an IDF soldier were stabbed, allegedly by Palestinians, in two separate attacks.

More than 850 killed in 50 days of coalition air strikes

November 13, 2014 by Nasheman

by SOHR

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) documented the death of 865 people since the U.S led coalition started its strikes on Syria in 23/Sep until last night, including 50 civilians (8 children, 5 women), killed by coalition air strikes on oil fields and refineries in al-Hasakah and Der-Ezzor countrysides, al-Raqqa, Around Menbej northeast of Aleppo, and Idlib countryside.

68 fighters from Jabhat al-Nusra were killed by coalition air strikes on their HQs in the western countryside of Aleppo and the northern countryside of Idlib 746 fighters from the IS most of them were Non-Syrian fighters, were killed by coalition airstrikes on their HQs and groupings in Homs, Hama, al-Hasakah, al-Raqqa, Der-Ezzor, and Aleppo.

A fighter from Islamic battalions killed by coalition air strikes on ISIS HQ in Ma’dan in al-Raqqa countryside.

We, in SOHR, believed that the real number of casualties in ISIS is more than 746, because there is absolute secrecy on casualties and due to the difficulty of access to many areas and villages that have witnessed violent clashes and bombardment.

Worth to mention that the coalition air strikes targeted oil refineries and oil fields in Der-Ezzor, al-Hasakah and al-Raqqa, what led to material damages in these refineries and oil fields.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights expresses its strong condemnation, to the fall of the civilians, as a result of the coalition air strikes, and Calls neutralize civilians areas from the military operations from any party, because the the Syrian people who have lost hundreds of thousands and been displaced in millions, is looking forward to a decent safe life away from Humiliation, detention, and destruction, a life of democracy, justice, freedom and equality.

Fewer undertrials might solve prison overcrowding, says NHRC

November 13, 2014 by Nasheman

New Delhi: National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chairperson Justice (retd.) K.G. Balakrishnan Thursday said overcrowding in Indian prisons can be reduced if the number of undertrials is brought down.

“If a charge sheet is being filed and there is no indication that the accused may influence witnesses or the evidence, what is the reason of keeping him behind bars,” Balakrishnan told IANS at a two-day national seminar on prison reforms.

He also said steps should be taken to decrease problems in jails. “State governments should invest to build more jails and improve infrastructure,” he said.

Many prision and government officials attended the seminar and informed the participants on the status of the prisons in their respective states.

The seminar will conclude Friday.

(IANS)

BJP Kashmir candidate opposes repeal of Article 370

November 13, 2014 by Nasheman

Srinagar: Hina Bhat, BJP candidate for the Amira Kadal assembly constituency here, Thursday said she does not support abrogation of Article 370 and expressed the hope the contentious issue would not figure in the party’s manifesto for the state elections.

When IANS asked Bhat whether she stood by her statement in local media that she would be the first to pick up the gun if Article 370 was abrogated, she said: “It is my personal opinion that Article 370 cannot be abrogated.”

“Yes, if it is abrogated, I will oppose it tooth and nail.”

She also questioned reports that abrogation of Article 370 would be part of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) manifesto for Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls.

“Have you seen the manifesto? How do you say abrogation of Article 370 would be part of our assembly election manifesto?” she asked.

On Tuesday, while inaugurating the party’s media cell in Jammu, Jitendra Singh, minister of state at the Prime Minister’s office (PMO), told reporters: “All issues (including Article 370) which have been part of the BJP manifesto all these years will be part of the agenda. They will continue to be so.”

“The ideological issue (Article 370) which you are pointing at, BJP’s stand is very clear on it and it is known to you.”

“But in each election at a given time, you have to prioritise and you have to go by the aspiration of the people. The aspiration of the people as of now, in 2014, in November and December, when we go to polls, is to liberate this state and people from years and years of misgovernance, corruption and misappropriation of central funds,” the minister said.

(IANS)

AMU students protest against ‘negative portrayal’ of university in media

November 13, 2014 by Nasheman

Aligarh: Students of Aligarh Muslim University protested here on Wednesday at the alleged negative portrayal of the university in certain sections of the media. The AMU Students’ Union and Women’s College Students’ Union staged a protest march in the university campus and said that simple administrative issues were allegedly blown into an issue of gender bias by the media.

The students also condemned the “irresponsible and careless” remarks of the Vice- Chancellor Zameer Uddin Shah.

“The AMUSU and Women’s College Students’ Union feel shocked and angered by intense negative portrayal of AMU in some section of the media. The anti-women depiction of the historical campus of AMU is not only factually wrong but also an unnecessary sensationalisation of a simple administrative issue into an issue of gender bias,” said Abdullah Azzam the AMUSU president.

He said the allegation of gender bias against the university was wrong as Maulana Azad Library has more than 2,700 registered female members including PG students, research scholars and students of various professional courses.

Arguing that the women’s college has its own library meant to cater the requirements of the college girls, he highlighted the long standing demand of the Women’s College Students’ Union regarding updating the existing library and providing easy access to the books of Maulana Azad Library.

Meanwhile, the university administration has also clarified the position.

“It must be put on record that there is absolutely no issue of gender in allowing or not allowing membership to Maulana Azad Library. Girl students of the University which include research scholars, postgraduate and undergraduate students (including students in undergraduate professional courses) are members of Maulana Azad Library and they avail its facilities in a routine manner,” said Dr Rahat Abrar, Public Relations Officer.

“AMU Women’s College offers education in conventional undergraduate courses and is located around 3 kilometers away from the main campus of the University. It has its own system including the library and book bank.”

Dr. Abrar further said that Maulana Azad Library was established in 1960 and AMU Women’s College in 1936 and since then the two have been functioning smoothly. “The University has not imposed or introduced any new rule regarding membership to Maulana Azad Library as the media reports seem to mischievously suggest,” he said.

Machil Fake Encounter: 7 Army personnel found guilty, sentenced to life imprisonment

November 13, 2014 by Nasheman

Victims: Aasha Begam, mother of Shezad Ahmad with picture of her son. Next her Jabeena, wife of Shezad and his five year old son Shahid. Shezad was killed in the Machil Fake Encounter. Photo: Javed Dar

Srinagar: A court has convicted seven Indian Army personnel including two officers for involvement in the 2010 Machil fake encounter case in Kashmir.

The military court has handed out life imprisonment to all the men and they have been suspended from service.

The court found the troopers guilty of killing civilians and hatching a conspiracy to cover-up the case.

In 2010, three youth were lured to Kupwara region with the promise of job and were killed in a staged encounter by troops near the Line of Control.

The Army had dubbed them as ‘Pakistani terrorists’ who had infiltrated into Kashmir.

Following the discovery that the slain men were civilians, a court of enquiry was ordered and court martial proceedings had begun in January 2014.

Seven soldiers, two civilians and one member of territorial Army had been found guilty in the proceedings.

A colonel rank officer and a captain have been found guilty in the fake encounter.

The order comes as a relief for the families of victims who had demanded action against the Army officers. The case had triggered massive protests against the Army in the valley.