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Verdict against former president referred to the Grand Mufti for confirmation.
(AFP/File)
by Al Jazeera
An Egypt court sentences former President Mohammed Morsi to death for passing state secrets for mass prison break, the Associated Press agency said.
The court ruled on Saturday that the sentencing of Morsi and 105 others will be referred to the Grand Mufti for confirmation.
A Pakistani security official displays cartridges he collected from the scene of an attack on a bus, in Karachi, Pakistan, Wednesday, May 13, 2015. Gunmen killed dozens of people on Wednesday aboard a bus in southern Pakistan bound for a Shiite community center, in the latest attack targeting the religious minority, police said. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
by Imtiaz Ali, Dawn
Karachi: At least 43 people were killed and 13 others wounded on Wednesday when armed men opened fire inside a bus carrying members of the Ismaili community near Safoora Chowk in Karachi.
Sindh Police Inspector General Ghulam Haider Jamali said that 60 people were on board the bus when six gunmen entered and executed 43 passengers.
He added that the armed men used 9mm pistols in the massacre. The attackers managed to flee after the attack.
Hospital sources have so far confirmed that the dead include 25 men and 16 women. Police officials said that there were no children among the casualties.
All victims were shot from a close-range.
Rana M Razzaq, a security coordinator at the Memon Medical Center, told Dawn that, “One young girl hid and survived. Three or four others who were brought to the hospital have survived…the rest are all dead.”
Ahmed Marwat, a spokesman for Jundullah which is a splinter group of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), talking to Reuters claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Al Qaeda affiliated group that started off from South Waziristan has targetted Shia minorities and foreign tourists in the past as well. In November last year, the group had pledged support to Islamic State (IS).
In the past, the proscribed group has claimed several attacks including a blast near the Wagah border in November 2014 and the July 2013 attack on the compound of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) in Sukkur. It has also claimed the several attacks on polio workers across the country.
A survivor of the attack recorded her statement before the police and said that the attackers entered the bus from the rear portion a few minutes after its departure.
She added that the occupants of the bus thought that robbers had embarked on the vehicle.
The assailants subdued the driver and separated (two) children from the others, the victims said and added that, “They told the passengers to keep their head low. One of the attackers situated in the rear side of the bus then ordered his associates to ‘shoot every one’ after which they indiscriminately targeted all passengers of the bus.”
All attackers were speaking fluent Urdu according to the survivor.
Secretary Al Azhar Garden said that the bus leaves daily at 9am and has been operating for the past 10 years. Today it was attacked around 9:30 am, he said.
A rescue official quoted a victim as saying that the attackers were dressed in police uniforms.
Investigation Officer Tariq Jadoon told Dawn that some blue caps, which are used by security guards, have also been recovered from the crime scene along with 9mm casings.
A plain-clothes police official holds up evidence collected from the scene of an attack by gunmen on a bus carrying Ismailis in Karachi on May 13, 2015.— AFP
Investigation Officer Tariq Jadoon told Dawn that some blue caps, which are used by security guards, have also been recovered from the crime scene along with 9mm casings.
A senior police official, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to the media, told Dawn that the attackers entered the bus and shot the passengers in the head.
“The gunmen stopped the bus and first fired at it from outside,” a policeman told AFP. “Then they entered inside the bus and open fire indiscriminately. After that they checked to see if anyone was left uninjured.”
“The bus had a capacity of 52 passengers but it was overloaded and dozens of people were boarding it. Most of them were from (the) Ismaili community,” he added.
Ismaili community attacked: police
Pakistan has seen a rising tide of sectarian violence in recent years, particularly against Shias — of which the Ismaili community is a sub-sect — who make up around 20 per cent of the country’s predominantly Muslim population.
“The dead and injured have been shifted to the private Memon Medical Center nearby,” an official of the Ismaili National Council, a group which represents the community said.
The bus belongs to the Al-Azhar Garden Colony, which is an Ismaili community housing project in Karachi. It was on its regular route headed towards Federal B Area of Karachi.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah strongly condemned the firing incident and condoled with the victims.
He ordered immediate suspension of the area’s Station House Officer (SHO) and District Superintendent of Police (DSP).
“The SHO, DSP have been suspended, we will find out whether the bus had security, whether they had asked for it or not,” the provincial chief minister said. “If there is a security lapse, it will be investigated.”
He announced a compensation of Rs500,000 for the heirs of those killed in the massacre and a Rs200,000 compensation for those wounded in the attack.
Shah also announced that the government will bear all expenses incurred for the treatment of the victims.
Taking notice of the firing incident, Sindh IG Ghulam Haider Jamali directed Additional IG Ghulam Qadir Thebo to immediately submit a preliminary report in this regard, according to a press release.
He also directed security forces to facilitate emergency rescue services in shifting of injured to hospitals for treatment. He ordered the early arrest of criminals involved.
Condemnations poured in soon after today’s deadly attack on the bus. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif strongly condemned the incident. He sought a report into the incident and extended condolences over the loss of lives.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also strongly condemned the attack, according to a statement. Bilawal sympathised with the victims and urged for stern action against the terrorists.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan also strongly condemned the attack and expressed grief over the murder of citizens.
He added that this incident raises questions over the provincial government’s performance pertaining to peace in the province. The government must provide complete medical facilities to the injured and take strict action against those responsible for this attack, he said.
Stunned & grieved at most condemnable terror attack in Karachi on ordinary citizens of Pak belonging to a most peaceful community.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) May 13, 2015
Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Chief Altaf Hussain expressed deep grief and sorrow over the attack. He said this attack is the worst form of terrorism and those behind the attack are savages. Others also took to Twitter to express their grief and condemn the brutal attack.
Killings at Safoora goth are disgraceful and heinous Action must be taken against these heinous attacks. Very painful and sad
— Dr. Arif Alvi (@ArifAlvi) May 13, 2015
I can’t believe how the death toll is rising. Media saying 47 dead. Beyond condemnation, beyond barbarity. #Karachibusattack #Ismailis
— Raza Rumi (@Razarumi) May 13, 2015
Airports, schools, markets, mosques, police stations, Army headquarters, Air & Naval bases..Public Transport..Nothing is Safe or Secure.WHY?
— Fakhr-e-Alam (@falamb3) May 13, 2015
41 killed in karachi in a terrorist attack…still state is unclear on sectarian issue.
— Asma Shirazi (@asmashirazi) May 13, 2015
The Ismailis in Pakistan are a peaceful, progressive and largely apolitical community predominantly working in the health and education sectors.
Read: Pakistani Taliban threaten Kalash tribe, Ismailis in Chitral
In the past there has been anti-Ismaili violence in Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan, mostly in the form of communal flare-ups.
In 2013, a bomb attack at Karachi’s Aisha Manzil killed four and injured 42 others. The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan had claimed responsibility for the earlier attacks.
Today’s massacre was the worst anti-Shia attack since January 30, when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque in the southern Shikarpur district, killing 61.
Anti-Shia attacks have been increasing in recent years in Karachi and also in Quetta, the northwestern area of Parachinar and the far northeastern town of Gilgit.
Around 1,000 Shias have been killed in the past two years in Pakistan, with many of the attacks claimed by the hardline Sunni group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) who view them as heretics.
Ismailis are known for their progressive Islamic views. Their spiritual leader Prince Karim Aga Khan is a globally renowned philanthropist and business magnate.
— Mateen Haider contributed to the reporting of this story
A Yemeni child lies in a bed at a hospital in the capital Sanaa on May 12, 2015, a day after he was wounded in an air strike by Saudi-led coalition hit an arms depot on the eastern outskirts of Sanaa. (AFP/Mohammed Huwais)
by Hayat Norimine, Al Bawaba
The Human Rights Watch called for an immediate stop to the use of child soldiers in Yemen’s armed groups Tuesday, as Houthi rebel group intensifies its recruitment of children to use in their fight against Yemen’s government loyalists.
The monitor said the groups’ use of child soldiers violates international law and should face prosecution. Since September 2014 the HRW said the armed militants have increasingly been using children, aged at least as young as 12, in the armed conflict. Some are used as scouts and first aid assistants, while others are trained to fight.
“All armed groups in Yemen should reject sending children to battle or using them to support fighting,” HRW special adviser Fred Abrahams said. “The cost to these young people – the trauma, the injuries, and the lost schooling – is huge, as is the cost to Yemen’s future.”
Children with the Houthis and other armed groups make up about a third of all fighters in Yemen, according to UNICEF. Armed groups have recruited at least 140 children in one month alone, from late March to April.
The HRW said there have been several reports of 14- to 16-year-old soldiers carrying rifles and handguns from all parties of the war. One witness told the organization of a 7-year-old Houthi fighter standing at a checkpoint with an assault rifle.
A Houthi recruiter told the organization the children in active combat receive military training, while others provide first aid, collect bodies, carry food and ammunition or serve as guards.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon published a list of violations against children in May that included the use of children in armed forces by armed forces in Yemen.
The Human Rights Watch interviewed several children who had been recruited by the Houthis to fight in the war and wounded, including a boy who was shot in the chest and continued to fight after recovery.
Military says it would not allow boats as nearly 2,000 migrants arrive in Indonesia and Malaysia in past two days.
![Indonesian paramedic assists a migrant child at a clinic after being rescued from a boat in Indonesia's Aceh province [Reuters]](https://i0.wp.com/nasheman.in/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Aceh.jpg)
Indonesian paramedic assists a migrant child at a clinic after being rescued from a boat in Indonesia’s Aceh province [Reuters]
Indonesian military has told Al Jazeera that they will send back any boat with Rohingya migrants entering its waters as a vessel carrying hundreds of migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh was turned away towards Malaysia.
Fuad Basya, Indonesian military spokesman, said that they pulled back a boat “full of people in dire conditions, smelling bad, some were screaming”, adding that they provided the migrants with water, food, medicine and fuel.
AFP news agency reported that the boat carrying an estimated 400 migrants was intercepted on the coast of northwestern Aceh region on Monday.
Meanwhile, rights groups have urged regional governments to save thousands of migrants believed to be stranded at sea in Southeast Asia and at the risk of death.
An estimated 6,000 to 8,000 Bangladeshis and Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar remain trapped in crowded, wooden boats, officials and activists said on Tuesday.
Nearly 2,000 people have reached Malaysia and Indonesia in the past two days after Thailand announced a crackdown on smuggling routes. They were rescued from overcrowded boats after being stranded at sea.
Myanmar shirks responsibility
Even as a large number of migrants originated from Myanmar, its government said that they will not take responsibility for migrants who are not their own citizens.
“If it is true and proven that they are from Myanmar, we will take responsibility for them. But not the Bangladeshis,” Zaw Htay, the director of Myanmar’s president’s office told Al Jazeera.
“Some of the Rohingya people may have come from Bangladesh. We can’t be responsible for them. But we do not accept the name Rohingya. They are Bengali,” Htay added referring to Myanmar’s long-persecuted Rohingya Muslim community.
The Rohingya, who are Muslim, have for decades suffered from state-sanctioned discrimination in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, which considers them illegal settlers from Bangladesh even though their families have lived there for generations.
Those comments come a day after more than a 1,000 migrants, including children from both countries, were detained in Malaysia after they arrived in the popular Malaysian resort island of Langkawi.
The police chief in Langkawi told Al Jazeera’s Karishma Vyas that 1,158 people were being held on the island. At least 672 are Bangladeshi, and around 486 of them are Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar.
At least 100 women and 60 children were among them. The migrants were in a very poor state, suffering from dehydration as well as hunger.
The police say they believe the captain as well as the other traffickers on the three boats had escaped in another vessel and left the migrants to their own devices.
Regional problem
The Arakan Project, a group advocating for the rights of Rohingya, has said as many as 8,000 people may be adrift.
Chris Lewa, the director of Arakan Project, told Al Jazeera that “there were at least three other boats near Langkawi island in Malaysia – one of them in distress” on Monday night.
She said that a big concern is where these migrants could go, and despite this being a regional problem, if there was any country willing to deal with them.
Earlier, the International Organisation for Migration called on Southeast Asian governments to find and rescue the migrants trapped at sea.
Joe Lowry, a spokesman for the organisation, told Al Jazeera that some of the migrants may have been at sea since early March.
He said that from what they’ve seen so far, many of the migrants who make it to the shore are in poor health, with some suffering from vitamin B deficiency and acute malnutrition.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has said 25,000 people are believed to have embarked from January to March, double the previous year’s pace, and that an estimated 300 had died.
Nearly 2,000 people have reached Malaysia and Indonesia in the past two days [Reuters]
At least 1,000 migrants, including many Rohingya Muslims, sent to detention centres after landing on island of Langkawi.
by Al Jazeera
Malaysian police say more than 1,000 migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh have been found “illegally” trying to enter the country at the popular resort island of Langkawi.
The 1,018 migrants, many thought to be members of Myanmar’s long-persecuted Rohingya Muslim community, landed on Langkawi late on Sunday night.
“The first capture by the police was made when a boat with the illegal immigrants was stranded at the beach in Langkawi, [and] the second capture was at Tanjung Biawak, Kuala Temonyong,” said Mohd Yusof Abdullah, commander of the Langkawi marine police.
“All the illegal immigrants that have been arrested will be sent to detention centres,” he added in a statement.
Police told the AP news agency that officers received a tip-off from a local fisherman that the boats were coming ashore.
Al Jazeera’s Karishma Vyas, reporting from Kuala Lumpur, said that the migrants were found in “very poor condition,” suffering from severe thirst and hunger.
The migrants were found a day after boats carrying about 500 members of Myanmar’s long-persecuted Rohingya community washed ashore in western Indonesia.
The men, women and children arrived on two separate boats, one carrying around 430 people and the other 70, said Steve Hamilton, deputy chief of mission at the International Organisation for Migration in Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital.
Last week, the UN’s refugee agency said in a statement that an estimated 25,000 Rohingyas and Bangladeshis boarded people smugglers’ boats in the first three months of 2015, twice as many in the same months of 2014.
“Based on survivor accounts, we estimate that 300 people died at sea in the first quarter of 2015 as a result of starvation, dehydration and abuse by boat crews,” the statement said.
In the past weeks dozens of corpses , believed to be of Rohingya, were found in Thai jungles bordering Malaysia.
Rohingya Muslims have for decades suffered from state-sanctioned discrimination in Myanmar.
Attacks on the religious minority by Buddhist mobs in the last three years have sparked one of the biggest exoduses of boat people since the Vietnam War, sending 100,000 people fleeing, according to Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, which has monitored the movements of Rohingya for more than a decade.
The former president of Egypt and two sons are also handed fines over embezzlement during his rule.
Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was accused of ordering the killings of hundreds of people during the 2011 Arab Spring that resulted in his ouster.
by Al Jazeera
An Egyptian court has sentenced ousted president Hosni Mubarak and his two sons to three years in prison for embezzlement.
Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal were present in the caged dock on Saturday, wearing suits and sunglasses.
They had already been sentenced to three years on the same charges but an appeal court overturned the verdict and ordered a retrial.
The trio were also fined $16m.
Mubarak’s lawyers may try to appeal the verdict, the AFP news agency reported.
Supporters shouted in anger as Judge Hassan Hassanin announced his verdict and it was not immediately clear whether it will include time he has already served since his country’s 2011 revolt.
Some of those backing Mubarak wore T-shirts emblazoned with the former leader’s face. They waved and blew kisses as the 87-year-old entered the courtroom, according to the Associated Press.
Omar Ashour, a lecturer in Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, told Al Jazeera the sentencing would be seen as “nothing” by Egyptians who protested to end Mubarak’s rule.
“When we see the series of brutal abuses that happened under Mubarak in his 30-year reign, it will be seen as nothing, especially when we look at the trial happening now of former-President Mohamed Morsi,” he said.
“It tells you that there is very high politicisation of the judiciary.”
The corruption case, dubbed by the Egyptian media as the “presidential palaces” affair, concerns charges that Mubarak and his two sons embezzled millions of dollars worth of state funds over the course of a decade.
The funds were meant to pay for renovating and maintaining presidential palaces but were instead allegedly spent on upgrading the family’s private residences.
Mubarak was sentenced to three years, his sons to four in the case, prior to having the verdicts overturned.
The heaing, at a police academy on the outskirts of Cairo, took place in the same courtroom where Egypt’s first freely-elected president, Mohammed Morsi, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last month.
Afghan court begins ruling on woman’s murder case, sentencing four men to death by hanging and eight others to jail.
![Prosecutors alleged Farkhunda was beaten to death in an attack sparked by a bogus accusation she had burned a copy of the Quran [AP]](https://i0.wp.com/nasheman.in/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Farkhunda.jpg)
Prosecutors alleged Farkhunda was beaten to death in an attack sparked by a bogus accusation she had burned a copy of the Quran [AP]
An Afghan court has sentenced four men to death by hanging for their roles in the mob killing of a woman in March.
The trial of 49 suspects, who were accused of taking part in the mob that killed the 27-year-old, known as Farkhunda, began on May 2. Nineteen police officers were among those facing charges in the trial.
Of the suspects sentenced on Wednesday, four were sentenced to death, eight were sentenced to 16 years in jail and 18 were set free due to a lack of evidence, Al Jazeera’s Jennifer Glasse reported.
Judge adjourns #Farkhunda court after sentencing 4 to death, 8 to 16 years and releasing 18. Court resumes Sarurday
— Jennifer Glasse (@JenniferGlasse) May 6, 2015
The judge adjourned the case until Saturday, when the remaining 19 will be sentenced.
Prosecutors have alleged that Farkhunda was beaten to death in a frenzied attack sparked by a bogus accusation that she had burned a copy of the Quran.
Glasse said the remaing 19 suspects are policemen, but their fate is still unclear.
“The 19 men still to be sentenced are policemen and that will be the interesting part of this trial because the Afghan law number 354 makes failure to render assistance a crime here and they too could be sentenced to jail,” she said
“Earlier this week the police said in court that they tried to to do their job and called for reinforcements but reinforcements did not come. The prosecutor told the police it is their job to protect her.
“This is really a test for the justice system, this case that has captured the attention of the nation. The trial has been televised live everyday and Afghans have been watching very closely.”
The defendants have the right to appeal their sentences. The charges included assault, murder and encouraging others to participate in the assault. The police officers were charged with neglecting their duties and failing to prevent the attack.
Mujub Ullah Farkunda, Farkhunda’s brother, told Al Jazeera they were not happy with the outcome.
“They have wasted our time. The trial only happened because of pressure from the government. The real perpetrators were not there.
“The government didn’t arrest the real murderers. They arrested innocent people off the street and have hidden the real perpetrators. There were more than 100 people involved and they sentenced only 4 to death,” Mujub added.
Farkhunda’s brutal killing shocked many Afghans, though some public and religious figures said it would have been justified if she had in fact damaged a Quran. A presidential investigation later found that she had not damaged a copy of the Muslim holy book.
Her last agonising and brutal hours were captured on mobile phone cameras by witnesses and those in the mob that attacked her. The videos of the assault circulated widely on social media.
They showed Farkhunda – who, like many Afghans, went by only one name – being beaten, run over with a car and burned before her bloodied body was thrown into the river.
The incident sparked nationwide outrage and soul-searching, as well as a civil society movement seeking to limit the power of clerics, strengthen the rule of law and improve women’s rights.
Over 60 officers and soldiers who took part in ‘Operation Protective Edge’ anonymously testify about acts they committed or witnessed
by Sarah Lazare, Common Dreams
The “massive and unprecedented harm” inflicted on the population of Gaza during last summer’s 50-day Israeli military assault stemmed from the top of the chain of command, which gave orders to shoot indiscriminately at civilians, according to the anonymous testimony of more than 60 officers and soldiers who took part in “Operation Protective Edge.”
The Israeli group Breaking the Silence, an organization of “Israeli Defense Force” veterans who engaged in combat, on Monday released the 240-page collection of testimony entitled,This is How We Fought in Gaza.
“While the testimonies include pointed descriptions of inappropriate behavior by soldiers in the field,” the report states, “the more disturbing picture that arises from these testimonies reflects systematic policies that were dictated to IDF forces of all ranks and in all zones.”
Breaking the Silence said that the war on Gaza operated under the “most permissive” rules of engagement they have ever seen.
“From the testimonies given by the officers and soldiers, a troubling picture arises of a policy of indiscriminate fire that led to the deaths of innocent civilians,” said Yuli Novak, director of the group, in a press statement. “We learn from the testimonies that there is a broad ethical failure in the IDF’s rules of engagement, and that this failure comes from the top of the chain of command, and is not merely the result of ‘rotten apples.'”
Gaza is one of the most densely-populated places on earth—home to an estimated 1.8 million people, over 60 percent of whom are children under the age of 18. Approximately 2,194 Palestinians were killed in last summer’s attack, at least 70 percent of Palestinians killed in the assault were non-combatants, according to the United Nations. The assault damaged and destroyed critical civilian infrastructure—including houses, shelters, and hospitals—and nearly a year later, hardly any reconstruction has taken place and the civilian population remains strangled by an economic and military siege.
Numerous soldiers said that, during the war, they were told that all people in given areas posed a threat and were ordered to “shoot to kill” every person they spotted.
“The instructions are to shoot right away,” said an anonymous First Sergeant who deployed to Gaza City. “Whoever you spot—be they armed or unarmed, no matter what. The instructions are very clear. Any person you run into, that you see with your eyes—shoot to kill. It’s an explicit instruction.”
Some said they were lied to by their commanders, who told them there were no civilians present.
“The idea was, if you spot something—shoot,” said an anonymous First Sergeant identified in the report as having deployed to the Northern Gaza Strip. “They told us: ‘There aren’t supposed to be any civilians there. If you spot someone, shoot.’ Whether it posed a threat or not wasn’t a question, and that makes sense to me. If you shoot someone in Gaza, it’s cool, no big deal.”
Soldiers testified that thousands of “imprecise” artillery shells were fired into civilian areas, sometimes as acts of revenge or simply to make the military’s presence known. Civilian infrastructure was destroyed on a large scale with no justification, often after an area had already been “cleared,” they said.
“The motto guiding lots of people was, ‘Let’s show them,'” said one Lieutenant who served in Rafah. “It was evident that that was a starting point.”
One Staff Sergeant described perverse and deadly acts committed by soldiers:
During the entire operation the [tank] drivers had this thing of wanting to run over cars – because the driver, he can’t fire. He doesn’t have any weapon, he doesn’t get to experience the fun in its entirety, he just drives forward, backward, right, left. And they had this sort of crazy urge to run over a car. I mean, a car that’s in the street, a Palestinian car, obviously. And there was one time that my [tank’s] driver, a slightly hyperactive guy, managed to convince the tank’s officer to run over a car, and it was really not that exciting– you don’t even notice you’re going over a car, you don’t feel anything – we just said on the two-way radio: “We ran over the car. How was it?” And it was cool, but we really didn’t feel anything. And then our driver got out and came back a few minutes later – he wanted to see what happened – and it turned out he had run over just half the car, and the other half stayed intact. So he came back in, and right then the officer had just gone out or something, so he sort of whispered to me over the earphones: “I scored some sunglasses from the car.” And after that, he went over and told the officer about it too, that moron, and the officer scolded him: “What, how could you do such a thing? I’m considering punishing you,” but in the end nothing happened, he kept the sunglasses, and he wasn’t too harshly scolded, it was all OK, and it turned out that a few of the other company’s tanks ran over cars, too.
While numerous human rights organizations and residents have exposed war crimes committed during last year’s assault on Gaza, this report sheds light on the top-down military doctrine driving specific attacks by ground and air.
One First Sergeant explained that soldiers were taught to indiscriminately fire during training, before their deployments. “One talk I remember especially well took place during training at Tze’elim—before entering Gaza [the Gaza Strip]—with a high ranking commander from the armored battalion to which we were assigned. He came and explained to us how we were going to fight together with the armored forces. He said, ‘We do not take risks, we do not spare ammo—we unload, we use as much as possible.'”
No Israeli soldiers, commanders, or politicians have been held accountable for war crimes, and the Israeli government has resisted international human rights investigations, from Amnesty International to the United Nations.
Breaking the Silence says it “meticulously investigates” testimony to ensure its veracity. The group garnered global media headlines when it launched a report featuring testimony from Israeli soldiers who took part in the 2009 military assault on Gaza known as “Operation Cast Lead.” In that report, soldiers testified about indiscriminate attacks on civilians, including use of chemical weapon white phosphorous.
Human rights group warns that cluster munitions have fallen near villages, posing long-term danger to civilians
An expended BLU-108 canister from a CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapon found in the al-Amar area of al-Safraa, Saada governorate, in northern Yemen on April 17, 2015. (Photo via HRW.org)
by Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams
The Saudi-led bombing campaign against rebels in Yemen is using U.S.-supplied cluster munitions, endangering civilians and violating an international arms treaty, Human Rights Watch warned on Sunday.
According to the group, there is “credible evidence” that cluster bombs have been used in recent weeks as part of coalition airstrikes in Yemen’s northern Saada governorate, a Houthi stronghold that borders Saudi Arabia. Through analysis of satellite imagery, Human Rights Watch charges that the weapons landed on a “cultivated plateau, within 600 meters of several dozen buildings in four to six village clusters.”
Cluster bombs, which are composed of hundreds of submunitions, pose a long-term threat to civilians because they are designed to explode after spreading over a wide area. Often, the submunitions do not explode, causing the bombs to become de facto landmines.
Over one hundred countries signed the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions banning their use. However, the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen all abstained from signing on.
According to a U.S. Defense Department contract, Saudi Arabia purchased 1,300 CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed cluster munitions from Textron Defense Systems, which is based in Wilmington, Mass. The shipment was meant to be completed by December 2015. Additionally, the UAE received an unknown number of CBU-105 from Textron Defense Systems in June 2010, HRW reports.
“Saudi-led cluster munition airstrikes have been hitting areas near villages, putting local people in danger,” said Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch. “These weapons should never be used under any circumstances. Saudi Arabia and other coalition members – and the supplier, the US – are flouting the global standard that rejects cluster munitions because of their long-term threat to civilians.”
AFP PHOTO / PAUL ELLIS
by Ali Akbar & Mohammad Zubair Khan, Dawn
Swat: An anti-terrorism court of Swat on Thursday sentenced ten men to 25 years imprisonment in the case related to the 2012 attack on child activist Malala Yousufzai.
The ten convicts were identified as Bilal, Shaukat, Salman, Zafar Iqbal, Israrullah, Zafar Ali, Irfan, Izhar, Adnan and Ikram.
The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had claimed the attack on Malala in October 2012 as the then 14-year-old was returning from her school in the Mingora town of Swat valley. Two schoolmates of the educationist, Kainat and Shazia, were also wounded in the attack.
Malala survived after being airlifted to Britain for treatment and recovered from her life-threatening wounds.
Her courage was recognised and praised worldwide and she was nominated for several international peace awards. She became the youngest Nobel peace prize winner in October 2014.
Pakistan Army had claimed in Sept 2014, the arrest of 10 Taliban terrorists involved in the attack on Malala Yousufzai and announced they would be tried under anti-terror laws.
The arrests were made on information provided by Israrullah, one of the alleged shooters, who was the first to be arrested.
All ten suspects hailed from Malakand division and had been arrested during several intelligence-led joint operations which involved the army’s Swat-based formation, ISI, Military Intelligence and police.
Zafar Iqbal, a furniture shop owner in Swat, was the main accused and led the group.
