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We dream about drones, said 13-year-old Yemeni boy before his death in a CIA strike

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Mohammed Tuaiman becomes the third member of his family to be killed by what he called ‘death machines’ in the sky months after Guardian interview

‘My father was martyred by a drone’: Yemeni teenager records life months before suffering a similar fate

‘My father was martyred by a drone’: Yemeni teenager records life months before suffering a similar fate

by Chavala Madlena, Hannah Patchett & Adel Shamsan, The Guardian

A 13-year-old boy killed in Yemen last month by a CIA drone strike had told the Guardian just months earlier that he lived in constant fear of the “death machines” in the sky that had already killed his father and brother.

“I see them every day and we are scared of them,” said Mohammed Tuaiman, speaking from al-Zur village in Marib province, where he died two weeks ago.

“A lot of the kids in this area wake up from sleeping because of nightmares from them and some now have mental problems. They turned our area into hell and continuous horror, day and night, we even dream of them in our sleep.”

Much of Mohammed’s life was spent living in fear of drone strikes. In 2011 an unmanned combat drone killed his father and teenage brother as they were out herding the family’s camels.

The drone that would kill Mohammed struck on 26 January in Hareeb, about an hour from his home. The drone hit the car carrying the teenager, his brother-in-law Abdullah Khalid al-Zindani and a third man.

“I saw all the bodies completely burned, like charcoal,” Mohammed’s older brother Maqded said. “When we arrived we couldn’t do anything. We couldn’t move the bodies so we just buried them there, near the car.”

Several anonymous US government officials told Reuters that the strike had been carried out by the CIA and had killed “three men believed to be al-Qaida militants”. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris last month.

Marib province has become a flashpoint in the struggle between the Houthi rebels –who have ousted the president after overrunning the capital – and the local tribes who reject the Shia group’s attempts to bring Marib under their control. Like the other families around al-Zur and throughout Marib province, the Tuaiman men have been involved in pushing back against the Houthis.

In a secretive programme carried out by the CIA in rural, isolated parts of Yemen, it is easy for confusion to surround the particulars of those killed in a drone strike. Affiliations with al-Qaida and anti-government tribal sympathies mesh and merge depending on who is attacking whom.

Maqdad said the family had been wrongly associated with al-Qaida, and family members strongly deny that Mohammed was involved in any al-Qaida or anti-Houthi fighting. “He wasn’t a member of al-Qaida. He was a kid.”

Speaking from al-Zur the day after his brother’s death, Meqdad said: “After our father died, al-Qaida came to us to offer support. But we are not with them. Al-Qaida may have claimed Mohammed now but we will do anything – go to court, whatever – in order to prove that he was not with al-Qaida.”

When the Guardian interviewed Mohammed last September, he spoke of his anger towards the US government for killing his father. “They tell us that these drones come from bases in Saudi Arabia and also from bases in the Yemeni seas and America sends them to kill terrorists, but they always kill innocent people. But we don’t know why they are killing us.

“In their eyes, we don’t deserve to live like people in the rest of the world and we don’t have feelings or emotions or cry or feel pain like all the other humans around the world.”

Mohammed’s father, Saleh Tuaiman, was killed in 2011 in a drone strike that also killed Mohammed’s teenage brother, Jalil. Saleh Tuaiman left behind three wives and 27 children.

The CIA and Pentagon were both asked to comment on whether the teenager had been confirmed as an al-Qaida militant. Both declined to comment.

Mohammed’s 27 siblings have now lost three family members in US drone strikes and may grow up with the same sense of confusion and injustice Mohammed expressed shortly before his death.

“The elders told us that it’s criminal to kill the civilians without distinguishing between terrorists and innocents and they kill just on suspicion, without hesitation.”

For Meqdad, Mohammed’s death has reignited his determination to seek out justice for his family. “We live in injustice and we want the United States to recognise these crimes against my father and my brothers. They were innocent people, we are weak, poor people, and we don’t have anything to do with this.”

However, he added: “Don’t blame us because we sympathise with al-Qaida, because they were the only people who showed their faces to us, the government ignored us, the US ignored us and didn’t compensate us. And we will go to court to prove this is wrong.”

Additional reporting by Iyad al-Qaisi in Jordan

Bahrain shuts down News Channel that interviewed opposition figure

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Al-Arab News Channel staff are seen on duty at the editorial office in the Bahraini capital Manama (AFP Photo)

Al-Arab News Channel staff are seen on duty at the editorial office in the Bahraini capital Manama (AFP Photo)

Bahrain on Monday announced the closure of a new pan-Arab news channel, owned by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, which had vowed to practice “objective” journalism.

The Al-Arab News Channel, launched on February 1, was on air for only a few hours before reverting to promotional material while trying to resolve what it called “technical and administrative” issues.

“It has been decided to halt the activities of Al-Arab, the channel not having received the necessary permits,” a statement from the Bahrain Information Affairs Authority said on Monday.

Shortly after its launch on February 1, programming was interrupted after Al-Arab broadcast an interview with an opposition politician in Bahrain.

The interview with a pro-democracy advocate sparked criticism in the pro-regime Bahraini daily Akhbar al-Khaleej.

The newspaper said it learnt that Al-Arab was taken off the air for “not adhering to the norms prevalent in Gulf countries.”

In a column in the same newspaper, editor-in-chief Anwar Abdulrahman asked: “Is Al-Arab really Arab?” He condemned the channel for hosting prominent opposition figure and former member of parliament Khalil al-Marzouq, who he called “radical to the core.”

The head of media at Bahrain’s information ministry, Yousef Mohammed, said last week that “cooperation with Al-Arab’s administration is ongoing, in order to resume its broadcasts and complete necessary measures as soon as possible.”

Jamal Khashoggi, Al-Arab’s general manager, could not be immediately reached for comment on Monday.

Prior to the launch of Al-Arab, he told AFP the channel was “not going to take sides.”

Khashoggi said “a news channel should not have a political agenda… We should just be a news channel that provides accurate, objective information.”

Although its news programs stopped within hours of the launch, Al-Arab continued to show promotional material.

Until just after 3:00 pm on Monday, it was broadcasting a message that Al-Arab News Channel programming had been interrupted for “technical and administrative reasons, and we’ll be back soon, God willing.”

But at about 3:04 pm the promotional material stopped and the screen displayed only Al-Arab’s green and white logo.

The tiny but strategic Gulf nation has been rocked by unrest since a 2011 uprising led by its majority demanding a constitutional monarchy and more representative government.

The February 14 Revolution Youth Coalition is an active revolutionary faction which was leading daily protests and sit-ins after the eviction from Pearl Roundabout in March 2011, where Saudi backed troops violently dispersed demonstrators who have been camping on site for a month.

Saudi-led Gulf troops deployed in Bahrain on the eve of the March 2011 crackdown, manning key positions while its own security forces carried out the crackdown.

The Pearl Square roundabout and its central monument, which were a symbol of the uprising, were later razed and the site remains heavily restricted.

At least 93 people are estimated to have been killed and hundreds have been arrested and tried since peaceful protests erupted.

Political activists have been prosecuted by Bahraini authorities for attempting to voice out and expose gross human rights violations by the al-Khalifa ruling family, which has been in power for over 200 years.

Al-Arab entered a crowded field that includes the first regional broadcaster, 19-year-old Al-Jazeera which is subsidized by Qatar.

It is also a rival for Dubai-based Al-Arabiya, established in 2003 and owned by Saudi Sheikh Waleed al-Ibrahim.

Critics have accused the established broadcasters of reflecting their owners’ political views, especially during the 2011 uprisings against authoritarian regimes in the Middle East and North Africa.

(AFP, Al-Akhbar)

Court upholds five-year jail term for Malaysia's Anwar Ibrahim

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Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s conviction for sodomy upheld in case his supporters claim was politically motivated.

Anwar Ibrahim

by Al Jazeera

Malaysia’s highest court has upheld opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s conviction on sodomy charges and his five-year prison sentence in a case he and his supporters have denounced as a fabrication.

The Federal Court’s judgement on Tuesday upheld a ruling by the Court of Appeal in March last year, which found the 67-year-old guilty of sodomising a former political aide.

Addressing the court, Anwar accused the panel of justices for taking part in a “political conspiracy” by Malaysia’s ruling regime.

“In bowing to the dictates of your political masters, you have become partners to the crime,” he said, according to the AFP news agency.

“You have chosen to be on the dark side.”

He shouted at the judges as they exited: “I will not be silenced! I will never surrender!”

A statement by the Malaysian government said on Tuesday: “The judges will have reached their verdict only after considering all the evidence in a balanced and objective manner. Malaysia has an independent judiciary, and there have been many rulings against senior government figures.”

Hee Loy Sian, a fellow MP from Anwar’s party, told Al Jazeera that the opposition People’s Justice Party will meet in a few hours to decide on its next steps following the judgment.

“I am very sad. It is sad for all of Malaysia. I was quite surprised. I thought Anwar would be freed today,” he said.

“It is an injustice. There are some political influences. There is no independence of the judiciary. It is a black history for Malaysia. How can the leader of the opposition be jailed?”

‘DNA evidence tainted’

Al Jazeera’s Sohail Rahman, reporting from the city of Putrajaya, said Anwar’s wife, who is also the president of the People’s Justice Party, cried at the court and asked for a private moment with her husband following the announcement of the verdict.

Rahman said Anwar’s lawyers had argued during the appeal hearing that DNA evidence against him was tainted, a claim rejected by the court.

Sodomy is illegal in Muslim-majority Malaysia where the offence carries a jail term of up to 20 years.

In a statement on Tuesday, Human Rights Watch, the US-based rights group, said that t he conviction of Anwar Ibrahim after seven years of politically motivated proceedings under an abusive and archaic law is a major setback for human rights in Malaysia .

Anwar had told Al Jazeera  he was optimistic ahead of the ruling: “I’m cautiously optimistic, but I’m also realistic. I’m mentally, spiritually and physically prepared to return to jail.”

He said going to jail would be a small price to pay in his “struggle for freedom and justice for all Malaysians”.

“Whether it’s five years or 10 it doesn’t matter to me anymore. I have to fight them, of course. They can give me 20 years. I don’t give a damn.”

Anwar was accused of sodomising a male aide in 2008, but was acquitted by the High Court in 2012.

However, the Appeals Court overturned the acquittal in March last year and sentenced him to five years in jail. He has said the charges were trumped up to kill his political career.

Many say that Anwar is the most potent threat to Prime Minister Najib Razak, whose party has ruled Malaysia since independence in 1957 but faces declining support.

Anwar previously was imprisoned for six years after being overthrown as deputy prime minister in 1998 on earlier charges of sodomising his former family driver and abusing his power. He was freed in 2004 after Malaysia’s top court quashed that sodomy conviction.

Egypt, Norway urge donors to meet pledges for Gaza reconstruction

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A Palestinian girl sleeps on a mat at her destroyed home in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip on January 30, 2015. AFP/Mohammed Abed

A Palestinian girl sleeps on a mat at her destroyed home in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip on January 30, 2015. AFP/Mohammed Abed

Egypt and Norway urged donors on Thursday, including Gulf states squeezed by low oil prices, to keep promises of providing $5.4 billion in aid for the Palestinians after the devastating Israeli assault Gaza last year.

The two nations, who led a donors’ conference in Cairo in October when the cash was pledged, wrote an open letter to donors and said people in Gaza were suffering with an extremely slow pace of reconstruction.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said the two felt it had become necessary to remind donors who had promised to help rebuild Gaza that they “should fulfil their obligations in this regard.”

“No one has said to us that they’re not committed to what they have pledged, but also due to oil price and other issues in the Gulf, there has been a bit of a lingering,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Boerge Brende told a news conference.

The two ministers, after a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Oslo, did not single out any nations for criticism nor say how much of the $5.4 billion pledged had reached the Palestinians.

Last year, among countries pledging aid, Qatar offered $1 billion, and Kuwait and United Arab Emirates promised $200 million each. The United States pledged $212 million, France 40 million euros ($45 million) and Germany 50 million euros.

“We know that there are houses now being built and reconstructed but the pace of this is not at a level where we had foreseen and where we had wished it, so this is very important,” Brende said.

The two ministers said they would follow up with personal contacts with other countries in coming weeks.

“It’s not my role here to have a ‘name and shame’ list, but we do have an overview of this and we will specifically follow up on the countries that have not been able to deliver so far,” Brende said.

For 51 days this summer, Israel pounded the Gaza Strip by air, land and sea, killing 2,310 Gazans, 70 percent of them civilians, and injuring 10,626.

The Israeli offensive ended on August 26 with an Egypt-brokered ceasefire deal.

The assault also left the densely populated enclave in ruins, displacing more than a quarter of Gaza’s population of 1.7 million and leaving 100,000 people, mostly children, homeless.

According to UNRWA, over 96,000 Palestine refugee family homes were damaged or destroyed, including 7,000 homes that were completely lost, during the aggression and the total funding required to address that need is $720 million.

Besides homes, the Israeli strikes targeted 13 public hospitals; 17 private hospitals, including al-Wafa Hospital which was completely destroyed; 23 governmental health centers, four of which were completely destroyed; and four private health centers, including the Khalil al-Wazir Clinic which was completely destroyed.

In January, UNRWA said it has been forced to suspend its cash assistance program for repairs to damaged and destroyed houses in Gaza due to lack of funds.

The suspension of the program, which also covers rental subsidies to the homeless in Gaza, will affect the lives of tens of thousands of people who are in dire need for assistance following the Israeli assault on the besieged enclave.

To date, UNRWA has received only $135 million in pledges, leaving a shortfall of $585 million. While some funds remain available to begin the reconstruction of totally destroyed homes, the agency has exhausted all funding to support repairs and rental subsidies, it said.

According to UNRWA’s Director in Gaza, Robert Turner, “none of the $5.4 billion [pledged in Cairo] has reached Gaza. This is distressing and unacceptable.”

(Reuters, Al-Akhbar)

Thousands of Rohingya refugees evicted in Bangladesh

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Groups cleared from informal settlements without warning or assistance in order to make way for tourism

Unregistered Rohingya refugees in the Shamlapur informal settlement in Cox’s Bazar district in June of last year. Photo: Will Baxter

Unregistered Rohingya refugees in the Shamlapur informal settlement in Cox’s Bazar district in June of last year. Photo: Will Baxter

by Rock Ronald Rozario & Stephan Uttom, UCA News

Dhaka: Authorities in Bangladesh’s southeastern Cox’s Bazar district forced out thousands of undocumented Rohingya refugees from their makeshift refugee camps on Wednesday, leaving them homeless.

Rohingya Muslims living in about 2,500 homes were driven out of the pine forests of Shamlapur, a fishing village about 50 kilometers from Cox’s Bazar town. Officials estimated no more than 7,000 were evicted, but Prothom Alo, the country’s most popular Bengali daily reported the figure to be 35,000.

The refugees had lived in the area since the 1990s, occupying dilapidated houses and relying on fishing for their livelihood. All had fled sectarian violence in their native Rakhine state, in Myanmar just across the border.

Officials said the eviction is a part of a policy to reclaim the area from illegal encroachers along Marine Drive Road that runs through the country’s most popular tourist destination.

“We have followed instructions from the Prime Minister’s Office to clear government land close to Marine Drive Road. We have received many complaints that Rohingyas have been involved in various criminal activities in the area,” said magistrate Jahid Iqbal, assistant commissioner of land in Teknaf sub-district who led the eviction assisted by police and border guards.

“We didn’t force them out of their settlements. We asked them to move out and they left their places,” he said.

Iqbal said the evicted refugees won’t be sent across the border and that he was waiting for further instructions from higher authorities as to what aid would be provided to them.

“We have written to the government for a rehabilitation package and aid. We will have its response soon,” he added.

The evicted Rohingyas meanwhile disputed Iqbals claim that they were not forced out, saying their homes were torn down by authorities.

“At around 10am police came and told us to leave our home, but we didn’t move because we had nowhere to go. Then they smashed our home and now we are living rough,” said Hasina Begum, 45, a widowed mother of three.

“We have no roof over our heads. My children are hungry and I have nothing to feed them,” she added.

Though Rohingyas have lived in Myanmar for generations, the government considers them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and has resisted offering them citizenship. Those who have fled across the border to escape persecution are equally unwelcome in Bangladesh.

Since 1978, thousands have fled, many to the Cox’s Bazar district where around 30,000 Rohingyas reside in two official camps, relying on government and NGO aid for survival. As many as 300,000 reside in unofficial makeshift camps, where they face strict restrictions on movements and are frequently exploited for cheap labor.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in November said the government was planning to relocate Rohingya refugees to a “better place” from their camps in Cox’s Bazar district. Details as to where that “better place” is have yet to be released.

Iran says missile program is “not negotiable”

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iran

Iranian officials denied any negotiation is taking place with P5+1 group over its missile plan and stressed that the program is “not negotiable.”

On Wednesday, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Massoud Jazzayeri said that the country “will never” accept to negotiate over its missile program and “defensive capabilities” with any world power, Fars news agency reported.

A day earlier, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister and senior nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi stressed that “Iran’s missile program has totally defensive nature and is not negotiable,” the Tehran Timesreported.

Iranian officials’ comments came after US Department of State spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Monday that Iran’s missile program was part of the P5+1 group — United States, France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China — nuclear talks with Iran.

Meanwhile, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani berated the world’s nuclear powers on Wednesday, saying atomic weapons had not kept them safe and reiterating that his country was not seeking the bomb.

Rouhani avoided explicit mention of ongoing nuclear talks between the West and Iran but accused atomic-armed states of hypocrisy.

“They tell us ‘we don’t want Iran to make atomic bombs,’ you who have made atomic bombs,” Rouhani said in Isfahan, 400 kilometers south of the capital Tehran.

He then took aim at Israel, thought to be the only nuclear power in the region although it has never publicly acknowledged it, dubbing the Zionist state a “criminal.”

“Have you managed to bring about security for yourselves with atomic bombs? Have you managed to create security for the usurper Israel?” Rouhani said.

“We don’t need an atomic bomb. We have a great, self-sacrificing and unified nation,” he stressed, referring to Monday’s launch of an observation satellite into space by Iran.

“Despite pressures and sanctions, this nation sent a new satellite into space,” Rouhani added.

Iran is in negotiations with the P5+1 powers aimed at a deal to resolve a long-running dispute over its nuclear program.

Iran denies ever seeking atomic weapons but western powers are unconvinced Tehran’s activities have been solely aimed at peaceful energy production.

Under an interim deal, Iran’s stock of fissile material has been diluted from 20 percent enriched uranium to five percent in exchange for limited sanctions relief.

(AFP, Al-Akhbar)

Egypt court: Activist Ahmed Douma among 230 sentenced to life in prison

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Ahmed Douma displayed confidence in the court room as was sentenced to life in prison

Ahmed Douma displayed confidence in the court room as was sentenced to life in prison

by BBC

A court in Egypt has sentenced prominent liberal activist Ahmed Douma to life in prison along with 229 other defendants.

Douma played a key role in the 2011 uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak.

The activist was convicted of rioting, inciting violence and attacking security forces.

He was also fined $2.2m (£1.4) for setting fire to a science academy housing rare manuscripts.

Douma reacted to his sentence with an ironic round of applause, the BBC’s Orla Guerin reports. In response the judge said: “Are you in Tahrir Square? Don’t talk too much or I’ll give you three more years.”

A life sentence in Egypt is 25 years.

Wednesday’s ruling brought the heaviest sentence yet against the secular activists who led the mass protests four years ago.

Douma was a leading figure in the revolution that forced former President Hosni Mubarak to step down. He was a symbol of the revolution and has become a symbol of the repression that followed it, our correspondent says.

Jugde Mohammed Nagy Shehata at sentencing of 230 activists on 4 February 2011 Judge Mohammed Nagy Shehata presided over the trial of some of the leaders of the 2011 uprising

The verdicts against Douma and the other defendants can all be appealed against. They were handed down by Jugde Mohammed Nagy Shehata, the same judge who jailed the Al Jazeera journalists and sentenced 183 suspected Islamists to death on Monday.

Along with fellow activists Ahmed Maher and Mohamed Adel, Douma is already serving a three-year prison sentence for staging protests without a permit, a violation of Egypt’s stringent new public order law.

In January an Egyptian court overturned the convictions for embezzlement of former President Hosni Mubarak and his two sons and ordered a retrial.

It was the last remaining case keeping Mr Mubarak behind bars. The 86-year-old has been in detention since April 2011.

Fears in Jordan over attacks on ISIL

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Some analysts warn of dire repercussions of Jordan’s role in fighting ISIL.

Jordan's King Abdullah said his country was committed to participating in the war against ISIL.

Jordan’s King Abdullah said his country was committed to participating in the war against ISIL.

by Areej Abuqudairi, Al Jazeera

Amman: Jordan has confirmed it took part in air strikes launched against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) inside Syrian territory in the early hours of September 23.

Mohammad al-Momani, the Jordanian information minister and government spokesperson, said that his country was among four other Arab countries that participated in the air strikes.

“We aimed at attacking terrorists in their home to protect our stability, peace, and the independence of our land. Our country faces real threats by extremism,” he told Al Jazeera Arabic. He added that the operation will continue during the coming hours.

A statement issued by the Jordanian armed forces said the operation was aimed at putting an end to the infiltration and the shooting at military bases on the eastern and northern borders with Syria.

The Jordanian Armed Forces confirmed that air force participated in the attacks.

“Jordanian air force planes destroyed some selected targets of terrorist groups which had been sending their members to carry out destructive activities in Jordan,” said the statement.

“Unfortunately, attempts to penetrate the border increased in the past two months,” the statement said.

Al Jazeera contacted the armed forces to clarify who the “terrorist groups” were and the exact number of the targets and locations, but they refused to comment.

“There are no more details to add to the report,” said a senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Although Jordan had previously announced that it joined the US-led alliance against ISIL, overt participation in the military air strikes came as a surprise to most Jordanians.

The attacks come only one day after statements by the Jordanian Interior Minister Hussein al-Majali about “sleeping cells” in Jordan that aim to “target the kingdom”.

Majali confirmed the kingdom’s full commitment to the international alliance against ISIL.

Last week, Momani told Al Jazeera that Jordan was still examining how it would participate in fighting ISIL: “We will announce at the right time what Jordan’s role [in fighting ISIL] will be.”

Political analyst Hassan Abu Hanieh told Al Jazeera that he attributes this to “possible dramatic developments such as the advances made in northern Syria, which pushed thousands of Kurds into Turkey”.

“Jordan probably feared an attack on its land by ISIL,” Abu Hanieh added.

Other analysts said the government has been working for days to prepare the Jordanian public to accept this type of military intervention against ISIL.

“Jordanian officials repeatedly talked about the threat of terrorist groups which the country is coming under in the past weeks in order to sway public opinion to support any Jordanian role against ISIL,” a Jordanian politician told Al Jazeera.

In response to the attacks, Mohammed al-Shalbi, a leading figure of Jordan’s Salafist movement, told Al Jazeera that: “ISIL has been advised not to target Jordan but now it is a different story as the group will be in self defence mode and will seek revenge.”

Other commentators harshly criticised the move.

“Assisting foreigners in any military activities is condemned by all popular forces and it goes against Jordan’s real interests,” said Zaki Beni Arsheed, deputy head of the Muslim Brotherhood movement. “There is no interest for Jordan to transfer the Syrian conflict into the country.”

Two days ago, Jordan announced the arrest of 11 ISIL supporters and that it foiled their “attempt to carry out terrorist attacks in the country”.

In recent weeks, Jordan intensified arrests of ISIL supporters. According to Musa Abdullat, a lawyer advocating for political prisoners, in the past month, “Jordan has arrested more than 70 men accused of using the internet to promote terrorist ideas or rallying in support of the Islamic State.”

This move has been viewed by analyst Mohammed Abu Rumman as “a pre-emptive strike” against the pro-ISIL elements in Jordan. The Jordanian participation in targeting ISIL, he added, is rather symbolic.

“The most crucial role played by Amman is on the logistical and intelligence fronts,” Abu Rumman told Al Jazeera.

Jailed schoolgirl becomes Palestinian symbol

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Between 500 and 700 Palestinian children are tried before Israeli military courts every year, says NGO

A poster of 14-year-old Malak al-Khatib (AFP)

A poster of 14-year-old Malak al-Khatib (AFP)

by Middle East Eye

A 14-year-old schoolgirl jailed for trying to attack Israeli soldiers has become a symbol for hundreds of Palestinian children tried in Israeli military courts each year.

The two-month sentence for Malak al-Khatib, who was accused of stone-throwing and possession of a knife, has unleashed a wave of solidarity and support among Palestinians.

“My heart broke when I saw her in court, cuffed and shackled,” her mother Khawla al-Khatib told AFP from her home in the town of Beitin near Ramallah.

“I brought in a coat for her to wear because it was cold, but the judge refused to let her have it,” the distressed 50-year-old said.

Israeli forces arrest about 1,000 children every year in the occupied West Bank, often on charges of stone-throwing, according to rights group Defence for Children International Palestine (DCI Palestine).

But the case of Malak has brought countless media organisations flocking to her family’s door and attracted more public attention than most.

The difference – she is a girl.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club estimates that 200 Palestinian minors are held in Israeli prisons, but only four are girls, and Malak is the youngest.

Amani Sarahna, spokeswoman for the Ramallah-based organisation, said it was the first time in years that four female minors were held in Israeli jails, out of the 6,500 Palestinians incarcerated.

Following Malak’s arrest, the Palestinian leadership sent a letter to the UN denouncing the Israeli practice of “seizing children in the dead of night”, detaining Palestinian children “for extended periods of time” and subjecting them to “psychological and physical torture”.

Palestinian icon

A picture of Malak’s face has been circulating in social media and Palestinian newspapers.

“I don’t know why a state like Israel, with the most powerful weapons at its disposal, is pursuing my 14-year-old daughter,” Malak’s father Ali al-Khatib said.

“They accused her of trying to stab a soldier. Really? A child against an armed and heavily equipped solider, a grown man?” he asked incredulously.

The father-of-eight said his daughter was arrested on her way home from school in Beitin on 31 December.

According to the indictment served at a military court, Malak had “picked up a stone” to throw at cars on Route 60, which is near the village and serves Israeli settlers as well as Palestinians.

The indictment, citing five Israeli officials, said Malak was in possession of a knife which she intended to use to stab security personnel in the case of her arrest.

As well as the jail term she was fined $1,500.

In a report released in February 2013, the UN children’s agency UNICEF criticised Israel for its treatment of arrested Palestinian children, saying their interrogation mixes “intimidation, threats and physical violence, with the clear purpose of forcing the child to confess.”

“Children have been threatened with death, physical violence, solitary confinement and sexual assault, against themselves or a family member,” the report said.

After three weeks in custody Malak was brought before an Israeli military court and sentenced to prison.

“Every year, between 500 and 700 Palestinian children are tried before Israeli military courts,” said DCI Palestine’s Ayed Abu Qteish.

Qteish said Israeli military law allows the prosecution of children from as young as 12, which UNICEF says is unique to Israel.

Israeli military courts normally refuse bail and rely primarily on the children’s confessions, UNICEF says.

An Israeli military spokeswoman told AFP that Malak was convicted after a plea bargain.

“Rock throwing is an extremely dangerous crime, which has maimed and killed Israeli civilians in the past,” she added.

Malak’s father thinks his daughter’s confession counts for little.

“A 14-year-old girl surrounded by Israeli soldiers will admit to anything,” he said bitterly.

“She would admit to holding a nuclear weapon if she were accused.”

Jordan executes prisoners after ISIL murder of pilot

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Two prisoners hanged after Jordan vows “earth-shattering” response to avenge burning alive of captive fighter pilot.

Kassasbeh

by Al Jazeera

Jordan executed two death-row prisoners at dawn after vowing an “earth-shattering” response to avenge the burning alive of one of its fighter pilots by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group.

Would-be Iraqi female suicide bomber Sajida al-Rishawi and Iraqi al-Qaeda member Ziad al-Karboli were hanged at dawn, government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said.

A security source said the executions were carried out at Swaqa prison south of the capital Amman in the presence of an Islamic legal official.

Jordan had promised to begin executing the prisoners on death row at daybreak in response to the murder of Moaz al-Kassasbeh, who was captured by ISIL when his plane went down in Syria in December.

Rishawi, 44, was condemned to death for her participation in deadly attacks in Amman in 2005 and ISIL had offered to spare Kassasbeh’s life and free a Japanese hostage – who was later beheaded – if she were released.

Al Jazeera’s Nisreen El-Shamayleh, reporting from Amman, said that the executions took place at 5am local time (3:00 GMT).

“Usually, it is a long and highly bureaucratic process to carry out executions in Jordan. Several ministries and the king should approve them,” she said.

“However, a security source told Al Jazeera last week that Jordan would speed up the process if the pilot was harmed.”

Karboli was sentenced to death in 2007 on terrorism charges, including the killing of a Jordanian in Iraq.

Jordan had on Tuesday vowed to avenge the killing of Kassasbeh, hours after a harrowing video emerged online purporting to show the caged 26-year-old F-16 fighter pilot engulfed in flames.

The video – the most brutal yet in a series of gruesome recorded killings of hostages by ISIL – prompted global revulsion and vows of continued international efforts to combat the Sunni group.

Jordan, a crucial ally of Washington in the Middle East, is one of five Arab countries that has joined a US-led coalition of countries carrying out air strikes against ISIL in Syria and Iraq.

‘Vile murder’

Jordan’s King Abdullah II, who was visiting Washington as the video came to light, recorded a televised address to his shocked and outraged nation.

The king, once in the military himself, described Kassasbeh as a hero and vowed to take the battle to ISIL.

The army and government vowed to avenge the pilot’s murder, with Momani saying: “Jordan’s response will be earth-shattering.

“Whoever doubted the unity of the Jordanian people, we will prove them wrong,” he said.

US President Barack Obama, who hosted Abdullah in a hastily organised Oval Office meeting, led international condemnation of the murder, decrying the “cowardice and depravity” of ISIL.

“The president and King Abdullah reaffirmed that the vile murder of this brave Jordanian will only serve to steel the international community’s resolve to destroy ISIL,” a National Security Council spokesman said after the pair met.

The Obama administration had earlier reaffirmed its intention to give Jordan $3bn in security aid over the next three years.

Kassasbeh was captured in December when his jet crashed over northern Syria on a mission that was part of the coalition air campaign against the group.

Jordanian state television suggested he was killed on January 3, before ISIL offered to spare his life and free Japanese journalist Kenji Goto in return for Rishawi’s release.

Highly choreographed

British Prime Minister David Cameron called the murder “sickening” while UN chief Ban Ki-moon labelled it an “appalling act”.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned it as “unforgivable”.

The highly choreographed 22-minute video shows Kassasbeh at a table recounting coalition operations against ISIL, with flags from the various Western and Arab countries in the alliance projected in the background.

It then shows Kassasbeh dressed in an orange jumpsuit and surrounded by armed and masked IS fighters in camouflage.

It cuts to him standing inside a cage and apparently soaked in petrol before a masked man uses a torch to light a trail of flame that runs to the cage and burns him alive.

The video also offered rewards for the killing of other “crusader” pilots.

ISIL had previously beheaded two US journalists, an American aid worker and two British aid workers in similar highly choreographed videos.

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