EDUARDO SOTERAS/AFP via Getty Images Security forces in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, have targeted Tigrayans, including children and the elderly, with arbitrary arrests and mass detentions as part of an escalating crackdown, Amnesty International said today. Most detainees are being held without charge or access to a lawyer. The arrests have intensified since the government declared a state of emergency 10 days ago as fighters from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) took control of strategic towns in Amhara region some 400 km from Addis Ababa. Arrests are conducted through house-to-house searches by security forces with support from vigilante groups who check the IDs of people on the street. Detainees, including civil servants, Orthodox priests and a lawyer are being held in youth centres and other informal detention centres across Addis Ababa because police stations are overflowing. “These mass arrests have instilled such a climate of fear that Tigrayans that Amnesty International has spoken to are scared they could be rounded up any time. Those currently locked up have not been charged or brought before a court and many have been targeted purely on the basis of their ethnicity,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Director for East and Sothern Africa. “The authorities must ensure that families are informed of the whereabouts and status of all detainees and that anyone deprived of their liberty has access to lawyers and family members without delay.” The government declared a state of emergency on 2 November, which was adopted by parliament on 4 November. The state of emergency allows the authorities to arrest and detain anyone without a warrant if there is “reasonable suspicion” of cooperation with “terrorist groups”, and to detain them without judicial review for as long as the proclamation is in place, currently for six months. Some of the measures violate international human rights law, which prohibits arbitrary detention and discrimination in all circumstances. Amnesty International has interviewed eight people – families, friends and lawyers of detainees – who have reported seeing hundreds of Tigrayans detained in six different locations. While it is currently impossible to establish the exact number of detainees, they number hundreds and potentially thousands. A few family members and friends have had limited and irregular access to detainees. However, many have been denied access to a lawyer. Moreover, interviewees told Amnesty International that the police have transferred some of the detainees to places on the outskirts of Addis Ababa. Two Tigrayan lawyers interviewed by Amnesty International said that they were expecting a knock at the door at any time by security forces, and had their bags packed with a spare set of clothes. The United Nations has announced that its staff members are among those arrested in Addis Ababa in addition to 72 UN truck drivers arrested in Semera, Afar. Since the conflict started a year ago between the TPLF and federal government forces, thousands of people have been killed and more than 2 million forced from their homes. Parties to the conflict have been responsible for war crimes and horrific human rights abuses including widespread rape and sexual violence and massacres of unarmed civilians. “The Ethiopian government must immediately end ethnically motivated arbitrary arrests and amend the state of emergency proclamation to bring it in line with international law,” said Deprose Muchena. © 2021 Amnesty International

Only one out of 25 Special court arrest warrants carried out The release of a government figure is the latest example of the Special court’s work being blatantly impeded No criminal trials held in nearly 20 months Dozens of persons suspected of criminal responsibility for crimes under international law, including war crimes and crimes against humanity remain at large in the Central African Republic (CAR), said Amnesty International in a briefing published today. Likewise, there is not even one suspect in pre-trial detention pursuant to an arrest warrant delivered by the Special Criminal Court (SCC) more than three years after its inauguration. The SCC is a hybrid court having jurisdiction over crimes under international law and grave human rights violations committed during a series of conflicts since 2003. The briefing, ‘One Step Forward, Two Steps Backwards: Justice in the Central African Republic’ reveals that, despite the start of the SCC’s work in 2018, very few persons suspected of criminal responsibility have been arrested, prosecuted, or tried. Proceedings to address the needs for justice, truth and reparation are far from enough. Of the 25 arrest warrants so far issued by the court, only one has been carried out, with the arrest in November 2021 of Minister Hassan Bouba Ali, a former armed group leader suspected by other NGOs of being linked to the killing in 2018 of more than 70 civilians, including children in Alindao. However, he was released by CAR authorities a few days later, without any judicial authorisation. "More than six years after being established, and three years since its inauguration, the SCC is facing difficulties in bringing those suspected of criminal responsibility for crimes under international law to justice, including because of the non-execution of the arrest warrants it issued. The release of Hassan Bouba Ali is the latest example of the lack of support by political authorities for the Court’s mission." Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s West and Central Africa director. “Amnesty International calls on CAR authorities and the MINUSCA to take all possible measures to ensure the execution of the SCC arrest warrants and ensure that all those suspected of criminal responsibility for crimes under international law and other serious violations or abuses committed since 2003, from all sides of the conflict, are genuinely investigated and prosecuted in fair trials.” The vast majority of victims and survivors are still waiting for justice, truth and reparation. A civil society member told Amnesty International: “…We [need] to see the real persecutors being tried, those who may have been heads of the state or state institutions, and the leaders of rebel groups.” The SCC was created to fill the accountability gap, as a mechanism complementary to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the CAR ordinary criminal courts. 22 individuals are in pre-trial detention under its jurisdiction, but they were not in fact arrested pursuant to SCC arrest warrants. Charges pending against them are unknown and their identities have not yet been disclosed – except for Eugene Ngaikosset, a suspect arrested in September this year. The briefing also addresses the lack of transparency in the operation of the SCC. Although the Court will start its first trials this month or early 2022, no information has been made available with regards to the cases or suspects involved. Amnesty International has found that information about the state of ongoing proceedings remains very difficult, if not impossible, to find. Not a single judicial decision has been made public. No criminal trials in the country in the last 20 months The briefing also found that CAR ordinary criminal courts have not held any criminal session since 7 February 2020. This means there has not been a single criminal trial in 20 months in a country that, according to its law, should organise a minimum of six criminal sessions per year in its three provinces. Although the Covid-19 pandemic and the political and security situation in the country in December 2020 and the first half of 2021 have undoubtedly caused delays in the judicial process, these factors alone do not explain the state of lethargy that the justice sector finds itself in. New military courts should not prosecute crimes against civilians Amnesty International is also calling on CAR’s authorities to ensure that crimes against civilians are not prosecuted in the newly established military courts which held their first sessions this year. The jurisdiction of military courts over criminal cases should be limited to trials of military personnel for breaches of military discipline and should exclude human rights violations, or crimes under international law. In September 2021, the Bangui martial court sessions examined its first series of cases, among which there were cases about murder of civilians. These cases should fall under ordinary civilian courts. “Researchers found that there was no step towards amending the country’s law to ensure the jurisdiction of military courts is limited to military disciplinary matters and, on the contrary, the holding of these sessions was presented as a success in the fight against impunity within the armed forces,” said Samira Daoud. Background Amnesty researchers visited Central African Republic in October 2021 and had 35 meetings with 44 people- 33 men and 11 women- from government, civil society, judicial system, including the Special Criminal Court and ordinary tribunals, and staff of the International Criminal Court.

© ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP via Getty Images International investigations, access to detainees key to deter further abuses Amhara security forces are responsible for a surge of mass detentions, killings and forced expulsions of ethnic Tigrayans in the Western Tigray territory of northern Ethiopia, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today. Tigrayan civilians attempting to escape the new wave of violence have been attacked and killed. Scores in detention face life-threatening conditions including torture, starvation, and denial of medical care. "The new onslaught of abuses by Amhara forces against Tigrayan civilians remaining in several towns in Western Tigray should ring alarm bells." Joanne Mariner, Amnesty International’s Director of Crisis Response “The new onslaught of abuses by Amhara forces against Tigrayan civilians remaining in several towns in Western Tigray should ring alarm bells,” said Joanne Mariner, Amnesty International’s Director of Crisis Response. “Without urgent international action to prevent further atrocities, Tigrayans, particularly those in detention, are at grave risk.” Since armed conflict began in November 2020, Western Tigray, a disputed administrative territory, has been the site of some of the worst atrocities, including massacres, indiscriminate shelling, and large-scale forced displacement of the Tigrayan population. On 2 December, 2021, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that 1.2 million people have been displaced from Western Tigray since the beginning of the conflict. A 9 December OCHA report found that between 25 November and 1 December, over 10,000 Tigrayans were newly displaced from Western Tigray. It also stated that Western Tigray remained inaccessible to aid agencies due to security concerns. In November and December, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch conducted phone interviews with 31 people, including 25 witnesses and survivors as well as relatives of those detained and expelled, about abuses by Amhara militias and regional security forces against Tigrayan civilians in the towns of Adebai, Humera, and Rawyan. Since early November, Amhara regional police forces and militias, including militia groups known as Fanos, have systematically rounded up Tigrayans in Adebai, Humera, and Rawyan. These forces separated families, arrested teenagers age 15 and older and men and women civilians. They have forcibly expelled women and younger children, as well as sick and older people from the area. Some of those expelled have since arrived in Central Tigray, while others remain unaccounted for. “Tigrayans, regardless of [their] sex and age, were taken to a school,” said one man in Rawyan who witnessed the house-to-house roundups of Tigrayans by Fano militia. “They separated the old from the young, took their money and other possessions. … Older people, parents were loaded on big trucks [going] east. They let them go with nothing, while the young remained behind.” Following roundups in Humera on 20 and 21 November, two witnesses described seeing as many as 20 trucks full of people leaving on those days toward Central Tigray. "They started shooting whoever was in range running. When the people tried to escape… [the Fano] attacked them with machetes and axes so no one could escape…We were passing bodies and we were all in shock… After we calmed down, we noticed that there were more bodies there too. Everywhere you turned, there would be five, 10 bodies." A 34-year-old farmer from Adebai. Six witnesses said Amhara forces shot at Tigrayans seeking to flee the roundups in Adebai and attacked them with sticks and sharp objects. An unknown number were killed. “They started shooting whoever was in range running,” said a 34-year-old farmer from Adebai, who ran to nearby fields from Fano militias attacking him and others. “When the people tried to escape… [the Fano] attacked them with machetes and axes so no one could escape…We were passing bodies and we were all in shock… After we calmed down, we noticed that there were more bodies there too. Everywhere you turned, there would be five, 10 bodies.” Four witnesses said armed elements also shot at Tigrayans crossing into Sudan. Satellite imagery captured between 19 November and 5 December shows significant activity in Adebai, including moving vehicles, groups of people around a makeshift detention site, large amounts of debris on the main road, and burned structures. Imagery taken on 5 December in Humera shows 16 open-back trucks near the town’s central roundabout. Satellite image collected of the town of Adebai, in northern Ethiopia’s Western Tigray administrative zone, showing overview of locations of damage and a possible detention site. Analysis by Amnesty International, Image: © 2021 Maxar Technologies Analysis of satellite image collected on 5 December 2021 of the eastern outskirts of Adebai town. People and debris are visible around a large warehouse, near the Enda Roto petrol station. Burned areas and debris are visible by the main road. Analysis by Amnesty International, Image: © 2021 Maxar Technologies Three former detainees held in Humera prison, some of whom had been held for as long as five months before they escaped in November, said that Amhara authorities kept them in extremely overcrowded cells for extended periods. Guards denied them food and medical treatment and tortured and beat detainees whose hands and feet had been tied with sticks and rifles. One former detainee arrested on 19 July escaped around 13 November while loading corpses of fellow detainees onto a tractor. He said he knew of 30 people who died while he was held there, including seven of the 200 men in his cell: ““All of us have gone through it [the beatings] but the most vulnerable ones were the [older men],” he said. “They couldn’t handle the torture, that’s why they were dying.” He said that the Fano militia members beating them threatened all Tigrayans with death. The roundups, abusive detentions, and forced expulsions separated families and left communities from the three towns desperate for news about the safety and whereabouts of their loved ones, many of whom were put on trucks and remain unaccounted for. One man who fled Adebai in late November said: “My wife and my mother called me four days ago, told me they had put them in vehicles, and they don’t know where they are taking them. After that I have never heard from them.” The Ethiopian authorities should immediately cease attacks on civilians, secure the release of those arbitrarily detained, and urgently provide unimpeded access to Western Tigray for aid agencies and organizations with a mandate to visit detention sites, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said. Given the gravity of the ongoing abuses, the UN Human Rights Council should urgently establish an independent international mechanism to investigate abuses in the Tigray conflict, including serious violations of international humanitarian law (the laws of war), identify those responsible at all levels, and preserve evidence for future accountability. Forced displacement and deliberate attacks on the civilian population violate the laws of war. Everyone in custody has the right to be treated humanely and with respect for their inherent dignity, including having access to adequate food and medical care. Ordering civilians displaced for reasons not required for their security or imperative military necessity, attacking civilians who are not directly participating in hostilities, and torturing or otherwise mistreating detainees, are war crimes. “The global paralysis on Ethiopia’s armed conflict has emboldened human rights abusers to act with impunity and left communities at risk feeling abandoned,” said Laetitia Bader, Horn of Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “As evidence of atrocities mounts, world leaders should support the creation of an international investigative mechanism and the UN Security Council should put Ethiopia on its formal agenda.” "As evidence of atrocities mounts, world leaders should support the creation of an international investigative mechanism and the UN Security Council should put Ethiopia on its formal agenda." Laetitia Bader, Horn of Africa director at Human Rights Watch ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND AND ACCOUNTS Roundups, Killings, and Mistreatment in Custody In the early morning hours of 3 November, as Adebai residents headed to Abune Teklai church in town to pray, local security forces at the church ordered the men to congregate for a meeting while telling the women to leave, four residents said. “I was… metres away from the church when I met a group of three Tigrayan women that told me I better go home because Fanos were collecting Tigrayan men and had ordered the women to leave,” a 20-year-old student said. As word of the roundup spread, six Tigrayan men interviewed were among the many who ran in panic, some home or to neighbouring fields to evade arrest. Four witnesses said Amhara militia members shot or attacked those trying to flee with machetes, axes, knives, or sticks. A 26-year-old man fleeing to the fields saw armed men on motorbikes shooting at people including his 70-year-old uncle. He later saw his uncle’s body, and those of two other men, including an older man he knew. “They were shooting at anyone who was behind,” he said. “[My uncle] wasn’t even running…they still shot him. I saw the guy shooting at him and him falling.” Four witnesses said the Fano militia proceeded to go house-to-house searching for Tigrayans. A farmer hiding at home watched as a group of 30 to 40 armed men attacked his neighbour, a mechanic in his mid-twenties: “They told him to come… He had his hands up and they hit him on his shoulder with an axe. As he screamed, they dragged him and took him with them.” Amhara forces took those captured to detention sites: some to the town’s police station, others to a former sorghum mill used as a makeshift detention site near the Enda Roto petrol station, on the town’s eastern outskirts. In the following days, the men who had escaped survived by hiding on farmland, but continued to come under attack, three residents said. The 20-year-old student heard gunshots on 7 November and later saw bodies near a reservoir three kilometres northeast of Adebai: “The Fanos and [armed individuals] just came… and started killing whomever they found in the bushes. … We were further [away]… but we were hearing a lot of gunshots. So when it got quiet and it was dark, we went to the [reservoir] and saw a lot of bodies. We didn’t count because we were afraid and shocked… I would say [I saw] about 20 [bodies].” Bodies remained unburied, so that “the whole town smelled and was filled with dead bodies,” said one man. Four other residents said they saw dead bodies on the outskirts of town. Roundups, beatings, and detentions of Tigrayan civilians also occurred in the towns of Humera and Rawyan. A 37-year-old farmer from Humera said he witnessed roundups and the killing of an older man with a physical disability nicknamed “Lingo” on 5 November. On his way home the farmer saw militias telling Lingo “to stand up and, when he couldn’t, they started beating him… with machetes, axes, and stones.” Two days later, the farmer learned that Lingo was beaten so badly that he died. Four people who made it to Sudan said that armed forces on the Ethiopian border shot at them as they tried to cross. A 14-year-old boy who crossed on November 23 said that as his group arrived in Dima, the last Ethiopian village before the border, forces in military clothing “started shooting and telling us to stop, and when we kept running, they captured one of us and killed another one.” He said a third person was missing following the incident. Roundups, Expulsions of Older People, Women, and Children. During the roundups in Adebai, Humera, and Rawyan, Amhara forces separated and eventually expelled younger children, women, and older and vulnerable Tigrayans towards Central Tigray. In Humera, two witnesses and three family members who spoke to people there at the time said that Amhara forces put people in about 20 trucks that left town on 20 November. The expulsions continued the following day, including of children and young mothers, said one witness. A similar number of vehicles left that second day, said one resident. The roundups of Tigrayans similarly began in Rawyan on 20 November. Four witnesses and two family members said that Amhara militias and Fanos in coordination with the town’s administrators rounded up Tigrayans. They went house to house and “collected all Tigrayans at the school,” said one driver, who was among those held. He noted that town administrators issued instructions to militias: “Militia were beating the youth, 17 and 18-year-olds, searching for money, and collecting their possessions. The [administrators] gave instructions, who can be released, and who can stay…. “Catch this one! Release this one!” They loaded the older people, parents… onto the open trucks, Isuzu trucks… and took them away from Rawyan.” One boy said that the militias registered him and other youth and released them. Men and older teenagers remained detained in the village ward offices and flour mill. In Adebai, militias loaded some of the Tigrayan men they arrested on 3 November onto Isuzu and other pickup trucks and took them away, four residents said. The roundups continued in the weeks that followed, when women and older people were also arrested and taken away. Family members of those expelled soon lost touch with loved ones. A student said he last received a phone call from his sister on 28 or 29 November as armed forces were putting her and their mother on a truck in Adebai and taken away: “She told me that they were being forced to leave everything behind, that they didn’t even let them grab their clothes or any belongings… that they [the forces] started looting the house while they were there, [and] that they didn’t even have food or water to drink… She… told me that there were 13 vehicles [and] that they had already boarded six vehicles.” A farmer described the last phone call he had with his two daughters and niece on 23 November: “When the Fanos were taking them, they took everything they carried in their hands, the jewelry, the clothes that they had, even the kids’ clothes and the biscuits that they had for them. And for two days… they were burning clothes.” Satellite imagery collected between 19 November and 5 December confirmed that there were open-back vehicles along the main road that crosses Adebai and burned spots and large amounts of debris along the road. Mistreatment in Mass Detention Sites Thousands of Tigrayan detainees are estimated to be held in overcrowded detention sites in Western Tigray. Three former detainees held in Bet Hintset prison in Humera, one of several detention sites in the town, described appalling conditions with frequent beatings, torture, insults, and the denial of food and medicine by Amhara regional special police. A daily labourer arrested in July and held in Bet Hintset prison, also controlled by Amhara regional police, until his escape in mid-November described being kept in a 3-by-4-metre room with up to 200 people: “Forget showers, we couldn’t use toilets. They didn’t give us food or water, even [at times] when our family brought us food, they wouldn’t let us… a lot of people were falling ill… dying… I’m talking daily, daily… I’m very sure of 30 bodies… only from our room, seven people died, all of them were above the age of 70.” He described a regular schedule of severe beatings, in which Fanos would torture groups of detainees by beating their hands, heads, chests, and genitals using sticks or the butt or the muzzle of a rifle. Another detainee, also arrested in mid-July and held at Bet Hintset, said: “They used electric wires and for the ages from 12 to 30, they hit us on the soles of our feet… the others that are older, they lay them down on their stomachs and hit them from their necks to their feet.” With the expulsion of some relatives in November on whom detainees had relied for food, survivors and relatives were concerned about those still detained. One 55-year-old man said, “I’m so worried about what they are eating in the prisons, because I know they won’t give them food and all the family members that they had who used to bring them food were taken. I’m sure a lot of people are dying.” Another resident said: “I fear those detained will all be killed.” © 2021 Amnesty International

Six people killed during a night raid on a family home in Ghor province, including a 12-year-old girl Ongoing Taliban killings indicate a pattern of attacks on ethnic minorities and members of the former security forces 15 September 2022 | Amnesty International Report Taliban fighters killed six Hazara people in a deliberate attack on the ethnic minority group in Afghanistan’s Ghor province, Amnesty International said today following a new investigation. On 26 June 2022, the Taliban detained and unlawfully executed four men during a night raid operation in search of a former security official. The body of at least one of those executed showed signs of torture. A woman and a 12-year-old girl were also killed during the raid. The attack is part of a wider pattern of unlawful targeted killings of people whom the Taliban perceives as adversaries, in this case being both members of the Hazara community and those who were associated with the former Afghan government. “The Taliban must immediately end this cruel pattern of targeted killings and, as the de facto authorities, ensure the protection of all Afghans,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General. “The Taliban must investigate these killings and ensure that those responsible are prosecuted in accordance with international human rights obligations and standards. If the de facto authorities cannot provide justice, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court should immediately open full investigations into all cases of extrajudicial executions. In addition, along with the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation in Afghanistan, Amnesty International calls for an independent accountability mechanism in and for Afghanistan.” Amnesty International documented similar extrajudicial executions of Hazara people in Ghazni province in July 2021, and Daykundi province in August 2021. Despite publicly promising not to target former government officials, the Taliban have still not investigated or prosecuted anyone for the killings. Amnesty International conducted eight remote interviews, including with witnesses to the June 2022 attack, analyzed 38 photos and three videos that were taken in the aftermath of the attack, consulted a forensic pathologist to review the images of the bodies, and reviewed satellite imagery of the area to confirm the location of one of the killings. Several of the photos analyzed were published online by Taliban media, including the Ghor Province Governor Media Office, which deleted the post soon after publication. Locations of killings documented by Amnesty International Lal wa Sarjangal District, Ghor Province Approximate center of map: 34.617, 66.122 Source: Amnesty International Family members killed On the night of 26 June 2022, Taliban forces raided the home of Mohamad Muradi, a Hazara man and security official under the former government who had also previously led a People’s Uprising Program force – a local militia – against the Taliban in 2020 and 2021. Muradi had recently returned to his home in Chahar Asyab, in the Lal wa Sarjangal district in Ghor province, after failing in an attempt to flee to Iran, and then hiding in other cities around the country. Like many who had been involved in Taliban opposition, Muradi had not taken up the offer of a personalized ‘amnesty letter’ – often issued to former security and government officials, offering permission to return home in exchange for a promise to lay down arms – due to the fear of reprisal attacks by the Taliban. Witnesses told Amnesty International that, on the night of the attack, Taliban forces fired rifles and rocket-propelled grenades at Muradi’s home, killing Taj Gul Muradi, his 22-year-old daughter, who had studied medicine and had been providing health care in the community. The attack wounded Muradi and two of Muradi’s other children, a son and his 12-year-old daughter. The girl suffered severe stomach injuries and died the next day. Muradi’s left leg was injured, and he surrendered to Taliban forces through the intervention of local elders. However, the Taliban then dragged him outside of the house and shot him dead. An analysis of photos of Muradi’s body shows damage to the front of his shirt, indicating a likely chest wound, and an exit wound in his forehead. Amnesty International reviewed photos and videos that show damage to Muradi’s home consistent with witness testimony. The images were also geolocated by analyzing visible features – including vegetation, nearby pavements and the buildings’ layout – and satellite imagery. Photographs of those unlawfully killed by the Taliban in Ghor province of Afghanistan Tortured and extrajudicially executed Three other men who had been staying at Muradi’s home were detained and then extrajudicially executed. Two of them, like Muradi, had previously been members of the People’s Uprising Program force, though none had taken part in fighting with the militia for some time. Ghulam Haider Mohammadi, Muradi’s nephew, had been visiting relatives. Photos of Mohammadi’s body indicate that he was executed with at least one gunshot to head, while kneeling and with his hands bound behind him. Locals found his body approximately 50 meters from Muradi’s home, left between some rocks in a tree-covered area. Witnesses told Amnesty International that the other two victims – named Asif Rezayee and Arif Sangaree – were put in a vehicle and driven away to be killed in a separate location. The bodies of the two men were later discovered in an uninhabited part of Takeghal, more than 30 minutes’ drive from where they were initially detained. Asif Rezayee had been living in Kabul but had returned to his home village a few days prior to visit family members. Rezayee was executed by gunfire while his hands were cuffed behind his back. Photos and a video of his body show four distinct gunshot wounds, to the head, chest, right thigh, and left hand. Based upon the nature of the wounds, apparent bullet trajectory, and gun powder stains, the wounds to the leg and hand were done at close range prior to execution. Such intentional infliction of pain on a bound detainee constitutes torture, a crime under international law. Photos indicate that Arif Sangaree was also executed while bound and detained, with at least one close range shot to the head. One of the photos posted by the Taliban to Facebook, claiming credit for the successful operation, shows Sangaree with a significant facial wound surrounded by fresh bright red arterial blood, indicating the Taliban took the photo immediately after his death. In contrast, photos provided by people who discovered the body show Sangaree with the identical wound, but the blood dark and dried, meaning time had passed. The Taliban news sources that posted the image of Arif Sangeree’s body described the night raid as a “targeted operation” that culminated in a fight between “rebels” and “Mujahideen”, or the Taliban. The account claimed seven rebels had been killed, detained and wounded, and that one Taliban member was killed, with two others wounded. To justify the deaths, the statement went on to say that the raid had occurred after fighters associated with Mawlavi Mahadi, the Hazara leader of a Taliban defector group, had attacked the Taliban in Balkhab district of Sar-e-Pul province, and then fled and established themselves in the village of Chahar Asyab. This Taliban statement is incorrect. While this fighting has been documented by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation in Afghanistan in his 6 September 2022 report, which includes cases of Taliban executions of fighters hors de combat, Muradi and his family members were not members of Mahadi’s group or taking part in this round of attacks. Rather, Amnesty International believes the Taliban justification is a pretext for targeting ethnic minorities and soldiers associated with the former government. © 2022 Amnesty International

©SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP via Getty Images The Indian and Egyptian authorities must address the ongoing human rights and impunity crises in the two countries, Amnesty International said today, as India hosts Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi as the chief guest at its Republic Day celebrations. In recent years, authorities in both countries have severely repressed the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly and failed to address entrenched discrimination against religious minorities. “The current human rights crises in India and Egypt are characterized by entrenched impunity and misuse of counterterrorism legislation to clamp down on civic space and peaceful dissent. Both countries show striking parallels in their attempts to harass and intimidate into silence all actual or perceived government critics and opponents. This unrelenting assault on human rights must end,” said Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Research and Advocacy Director at Amnesty International Repression of dissent Human rights defenders, lawyers, political opponents, peaceful protesters, academics, and students, face arbitrary arrests and detention, unjust prosecutions, and other forms of harassment and intimidation solely for the peaceful exercise of their human rights in both India and Egypt. India and Egypt seem to have taken their long-standing bilateral cooperation to a different level where they share tactics to increasingly repress rights and freedoms in their respective countries. Aakar Patel, Amnesty International Thousands languish unjustly in Egyptian jails, including prominent Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, who has spent most of the past decade behind bars. On 20 December 2021, he was sentenced to five years imprisonment over spurious charges of “spreading false news” for sharing a social media post critical of the authorities' treatment of prisoners. In India, 16 Bhima Koregaon activists have been arrested since 2018 on fabricated charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), a draconian anti-terror law. They have also faced an intense crackdown by the authorities for their work for marginalized communities. Eleven of them continue to languish in prison without trial while one of them, 84-year-old tribal rights activist Fr. Stan Swamy, died in detention on 5 July 2021 after being denied timely medical treatment. Attack on press freedom The authorities in both countries are increasingly targeting journalists, other media workers, and independent media outlets, including by prosecuting them under spurious terrorism charges and using raids and office closures to harass them simply for doing their jobs. In India, the premises of independent media houses critical of the government have been raided by various government authorities. Those targeted include Newclick, Newslaundry, The Quint, Dainik Bhaskar, Greater Kashmir, Kashmir Times, and Bharat Samachar. Since 2019, Amnesty International has documented the cases of at least five journalists including Gowhar Geelani, Bilal Bhat, Rana Ayyub, Sanna Mattoo, and Aakash Hassan who have been stopped from traveling outside India without any lawful justification. Egypt remains among the top jailers of journalists in the world with at least 26 journalists currently arbitrarily detained following convictions or pending investigations into accusations of “spreading false news”, “misusing social media” and/or “terrorism”. These include 11 arrests in 2022 alone. At least 600 news, human rights, and other websites remained blocked in Egypt, according to rights groups. Crackdown on civil society The Egyptian authorities have relied on repressive legislation and other tactics to control civic space and the human rights movement, including through a decade-long criminal investigation into the legitimate work of civil society organizations, known as Case 173/2011 or the “foreign funding case”. This politically-motivated investigation continues into at least 15 human rights defenders who are still also subjected to travel bans and asset freezes. Similar action has been taken in India where authorities have used the overbroad Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) against prominent national and international NGOs, including Greenpeace India and Amnesty International India. Under the same legislation, FCRA licenses of 6,683 NGOs including OXFAM India, have either been canceled or not renewed. This unrelenting assault on human rights must end. Philip Luther, Amnesty International Discrimination against religious minorities The Egyptian authorities have failed to both protect Christians from repeated sectarian attacks against their communities and bring those responsible for such violence to justice. While the 2016 law on Building and Repairing Churches has been presented by the authorities as an advancement of the rights of Christians in Egypt, in practice the law is often used to prevent Christians from worshipping by restricting their right to build or repair churches, including those damaged in sectarian attacks. Indian authorities too have failed to prevent religious violence across the country while also perpetuating and legitimizing hate crimes and advocacy of hatred against Muslims, Christians, and other minorities which have surged. Many state governments have passed laws to criminalize consensual inter-faith marriages and undertaken punitive demolitions targeting Muslim-owned properties without due process. “India and Egypt seem to have taken their long-standing bilateral cooperation to a different level where they share tactics to increasingly repress rights and freedoms in their respective countries. As the leaders of the two countries take the centre stage, celebrations of the adoption of India’s constitution 74 years ago should not overshadow the grim reality that the human rights situations in both countries have been on a downward spiral. They must reverse course, starting by immediately and unconditionally releasing all those arbitrarily detained solely for the peaceful exercise of their human rights. They must also guarantee a safe environment for religious minorities and a reprisal-free environment for media and civil society,” said Aakar Patel, chair of the board at Amnesty International India. © 2023 Amnesty International

AFP via Getty Images As the escalation in the conflict between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) reaches its sixth month today, (15 October 2023), resulting in the deaths of at least 5,000 civilians, more than 12,000 injured, and over 5.7 million people forcibly displaced, Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, said: “Every day, civilians in Sudan are being killed and displaced as the conflict continues to rage; countless lives have been needlessly destroyed in the last six months. “Justice and accountability are essential for the protection of civilians. The ongoing lack of accountability for past crimes is one of the root causes of this renewed violence. “We welcome last week’s ambitious action from the Human Rights Council establishing an international accountability mechanism to collect and preserve evidence, and look forward to its operationalisation as soon as possible. We urge all parties to the conflict to cooperate with it.” “The UN Security Council must urge all relevant actors to significantly increasehumanitarian support for Sudan and demand the parties to allow the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid. The Security Council must also extend the existing arms embargo to all of Sudan and ensure its enforcement.” Background Amnesty International recently joined more than 50 human rights and humanitarian organizations calling on the international community to mobilize to address the disaster unfolding in Sudan. The escalation in violence in April 2023 came after weeks of tensions between the RSF and the SAF over security force reform during negotiations for a new transitional government. The RSF and SAF jointly overthrew Sudan’s transitional government in October 2021. In a report released in August, Amnesty International revealed that extensive war crimes being committed by the RSF and SAF in the conflict. The report, ‘Death Came To Our Home’: War Crimes and Civilian Suffering In Sudan, documented mass civilian casualties in both deliberate and indiscriminate attacks by the warring parties. The report also details sexual violence against women and girls, targeted attacks on civilian objects such as hospitals and churches, and extensive looting. © 2023 Amnesty International

GREECE - 2021/04/26: In this photo illustration, an Apple logo seen displayed on a smartphone screen with a computer keyboard in the background. (Photo Illustration by Nikolas Joao Kokovlis/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) India: Damning new forensic investigation reveals repeated use of Pegasus spyware to target high-profile journalists Amnesty International, in partnership with The Washington Post, has unearthed shocking new details about the continued use of NSO Group’s highly invasive spyware Pegasus to target prominent journalists in India, including one who had previously been a victim of an attack using the same spyware. Forensic investigations by Amnesty International’s Security Lab confirmed that Siddharth Varadarajan, Founding Editor of The Wire, and Anand Mangnale, the South Asia Editor at The Organised Crime and Corruption Report Project (OCCRP), were among the journalists recently targeted with Pegasus spyware on their iPhones, with the latest identified case occurring in October 2023. The use of Pegasus, a type of highly invasive spyware, developed by Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group, comes amid an unprecedented crackdown by the Indian authorities on freedom of peaceful expression and assembly, which has had a chilling impact on civil society organizations, journalists, and activists. “Our latest findings show that increasingly, journalists in India face the threat of unlawful surveillance simply for doing their jobs, alongside other tools of repression including imprisonment under draconian laws, smear campaigns, harassment, and intimidation,” said Donncha Ó Cearbhaill, Head of Amnesty International’s Security Lab. “Despite repeated revelations, there has been a shameful lack of accountability about the use of Pegasus spyware in India which only intensifies the sense of impunity over these human rights violations.” Forensic evidence reveals Pegasus activity Amnesty International’s Security Lab first observed indications of renewed Pegasus spyware threats towards individuals in India during a regular technical monitoring exercise in June 2023, a number of months after media reported that the Indian government was seeking to procure a new commercial spyware system. In October 2023, Apple issued a new round of threat notifications globally to iPhone users who may have been targeted by “state-sponsored attackers”. More than 20 journalists, and opposition politicians in India were reported to have received the notifications. As a result, Amnesty International’s Security Lab undertook a forensic analysis on the phones of individuals around the world who received these notifications, including Siddharth Varadarajan and Anand Mangnale. It found traces of Pegasus spyware activity on devices owned by both Indian journalists. The Security Lab recovered evidence from Anand Mangnale’s device of a zero-click exploit which was sent to his phone over iMessage on 23 August 2023, and designed to covertly install the Pegasus spyware. The phone was running iOS 16.6, the latest version available at the time. A zero-click exploit refers to malicious software that enables spyware to be installed on a device without requiring any user action from the target, such as clicking on a link. The Security Lab also identified an attacker-controlled email address used as part of the Pegasus attack on his device. The recovered samples are consistent with the NSO Group’s BLASTPASS exploit, publicly identified by Citizen Lab in September 2023 and patched by Apple in iOS 16.6.1 (CVE-2023-41064). Anand Mangnale’s phone was vulnerable to this zero-click exploit at the time of the attack. It is currently unclear if the exploit attempt resulted in a successful compromise of his device. The attempted targeting of Anand Mangnale’s phone happened at a time when he was working on a story about an alleged stock manipulation by a large multinational conglomerate in India. A more detailed technical analysis of the exploit and accompanying forensic evidence is available on the Amnesty Tech Security Lab website. A history of spyware abuse Amnesty International has previously documented how Siddharth Varadarajan was targeted and infected with Pegasus spyware in 2018. His devices were later forensically analysed by a technical committee established by the Supreme Court of India in 2021 in the wake of the Pegasus Project revelations. In 2022, the committee concluded its investigation, but the Supreme Court has not made the findings of the technical report public. The court noted, however, that the Indian authorities “did not cooperate” with the technical committee’s investigations. Siddharth Varadarajan was targeted again with Pegasus on 16 October 2023. The same attacker-controlled email address used in the Pegasus attack against Anand Mangnale was also identified on Siddharth Varadarajan’s phone, confirming that both journalists were targeted by the same Pegasus customer. There are no indications that the Pegasus attack was successful in this case. “Targeting journalists solely for doing their work amounts to an unlawful attack on their privacy and violates their right to freedom of expression. All states, including India, have an obligation to protect human rights by protecting people from unlawful surveillance,” said Donncha Ó Cearbhaill Reporters at The Washington Post reached out to NSO Group for their response to these latest findings. The company said, “While NSO cannot comment on specific customers, we stress again that all of them are vetted law enforcement and intelligence agencies that license our technologies for the sole purpose of fighting terror and major crime. The company’s policies and contracts provide mechanisms to avoid targeting of journalists, lawyers and human rights defenders or political dissidents that are not involved in terror or serious crimes. The company has no visibility to the targets, nor to the collected intelligence.” NSO Group states that it sells its products only to government intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Indian authorities have until today provided no clarity or transparency on whether they have procured or used the Pegasus spyware in India. “Amnesty International is calling on all countries, including India, to ban the use and export of highly invasive spyware, which cannot be independently audited or limited in its functionality,” said Donncha Ó Cearbhaill. The organization is also calling for the findings of the Supreme Court Technical Committee Report on Pegasus use in India to be immediately released. The Indian government should also conduct an immediate, independent, transparent, and impartial investigation into all cases of targeted surveillance, including into these latest revelations. To ensure transparency, Indian authorities should also publicly disclose information about any previous, current or future contracts with private surveillance companies, including with NSO Group.” Background In October 2022, OCCRP reported based on analysis of commercial trade databases, that India’s main domestic intelligence agency, the Intelligence Bureau, got a shipment of hardware from NSO Group matching the description of equipment used to run the Pegasus system in April 2017. The earliest Pegasus attacks identified by Amnesty International in India occurred in early July 2017. In 2020, Amnesty International and Citizen Lab revealed how human rights defenders were targeted in a coordinated operation using commercial off-the-shelf spyware in India. In 2021, as part of the Pegasus Project, Amnesty International in partnership with Forbidden Stories revealed how numerous civil society members and journalists in India were targeted and infected using NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware, including Siddharth Varadarajan. The Security Lab will continue to monitor and provide support to civil society around the world who are concerned about spyware attacks and unlawful digital surveillance. Amnesty International thanks the Digital Security Lab at Reporters Without Borders for their outreach and analysis support as part of this investigation. If you are a human rights defender, activist or journalist who has received a similar security alert from Apple or other platforms, contact us for digital forensics support. © 2023 Amnesty International

January 26, 2024 Amnesty International Says Israel must comply with key ICJ ruling ordering it do all in its power to prevent genocide against Palestinians in Gaza Today’s decision by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to order provisional measures in response to South Africa’s genocide case against Israel is an important step that could help protect the Palestinian people in the occupied Gaza Strip from further suffering and irreparable harm, said Amnesty International today. An immediate ceasefire by all parties remains essential and – although not ordered by the Court – is the most effective condition to implement the provisional measures and end unprecedented civilian suffering. - Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International The ruling issued by the ICJ ordered six provisional measures including for Israel to refrain from acts under the Genocide convention, prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to genocide, and take immediate and effective measures to ensure the provision of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza. Crucially, the Court also ordered Israel to preserve evidence of genocide and to submit a report to the Court, within one month, of all measures taken in line with its order. “Today’s decision is an authoritative reminder of the crucial role of international law in preventing genocide and protecting all victims of atrocity crimes. It sends a clear message that the world will not stand by in silence as Israel pursues a ruthless military campaign to decimate the population of the Gaza Strip and unleash death, horror and suffering against Palestinians on an unprecedented scale,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International. “However, the ICJ decision alone cannot put an end to the atrocities and devastation Gazans are witnessing.  Alarming signs of genocide in Gaza, and Israel’s flagrant disregard for international law highlight the urgent need for effective, unified pressure on Israel to stop its onslaught against Palestinians. An immediate ceasefire by all parties remains essential and – although not ordered by the Court – is the most effective condition to implement the provisional measures and end unprecedented civilian suffering. ©Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images A man carries a propane gas cylinder on his back while walking through debris and destruction littering a street in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in Gaza City on October 11, 2023. “The stakes could not be higher – the ICJ’s provisional measures indicate that in the Court’s view the survival of Palestinians in Gaza is at risk. The Israeli government must comply with the ICJ’s ruling immediately. All states – including those who were critical of or opposed South Africa’s submission of the genocide case – have a clear duty to ensure these measures are implemented. World leaders from the USA, UK, Germany and other EU states must signal their respect for the Court’s legally binding decision and do everything in their power to uphold their obligation to prevent genocide. Failure to do so would be a grave blow to the credibility and trust in the international legal order.” States must also take urgent steps to prevent ongoing international crimes, including by imposing a comprehensive arms embargo against Israel and Palestinian armed groups. The USA, UK, Germany and other EU states must signal their respect for the Court’s legally binding decision and do everything in their power to uphold their obligation to prevent genocide. - Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International Amnesty International has warned of the risk of genocide in Gaza due to the shockingly high death toll among Palestinians, the widespread destruction caused by Israel’s relentless bombardment and the deliberate denial of humanitarian aid as part of the ongoing illegal blockade which are all inflicting horrifying levels of suffering on Gaza’s civilian population. Other warning signs include the increase in racist and dehumanizing rhetoric by some Israeli government officials, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Israel’s history of oppressing and discriminating against Palestinians under its system of apartheid. In the face of a serious risk of genocide, all states are under an obligation under international law to act to prevent the commission of genocide. More than 26,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israel’s unrelenting bombardment of Gaza with some 10,000 believed to be still missing under the rubble. At least 1.8 million Palestinians have been internally displaced and are deprived of access to adequate food, water, shelter, sanitation, and medical assistance. Amnesty International calls on Israel, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups to immediately suspend all military operations in Gaza. Israel must lift its illegal and inhuman siege and allow the unhindered and unconditional flow of desperately needed humanitarian aid to Palestinians, who are suffering from a deliberately engineered famine. We urge Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups to release all remaining civilian hostages. Background On 29 December 2023, South Africa brought a case against Israel at the ICJ under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide over allegations of genocide against the Palestinian people in the wake of the attacks on 7 October 2023 by Hamas and other armed groups, in which nearly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in Israel were killed and some 240 were taken hostage. Hearings on South Africa’s request for provisional measures took place in The Hague on 11 and 12 January 2024. The 84-page filing by South Africa accuses Israel of acts and omissions “genocidal in character, as they are committed with the requisite specific intent … to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group.” The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN). It does not pursue individual criminal responsibility, rather the Court’s role is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States, including those relating to the interpretation, application or fulfilment of the Genocide Convention and the responsibility of a State for genocide. Article 94 of the UN Charter provides that judgments of the ICJ are binding on the parties to the dispute and that, if they are not implemented, then recourse is to be had to the Security Council, which may make recommendations or decide upon measures to be taken to give effect to the judgment. Copyright 2024 Amnesty International

26 November 2020, 04:00 UTC [Image - Deutsche Welle] Pakistani authorities should urgently and impartially investigate a surge in violent attacks on members of the Ahmadiyya religious community, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said today. The authorities should take appropriate legal action against those responsible for threats and violence against Ahmadis. Since July 2020, there have been at least five apparently targeted killings of members of the Ahmadiyya community. In only two of the cases have the police taken a suspect into custody. Pakistani authorities have long downplayed, and at times even encouraged, violence against Ahmadis, whose rights to freedom of religion and belief are not respected under Pakistani law. “There are few communities in Pakistan who have suffered as much as the Ahmadis,” said Omar Waraich, head of South Asia at Amnesty International. “The recent wave of killings tragically underscores not just the seriousness of the threats they face, but also the callous indifference of the authorities, who have failed to protect the community or punish the perpetrators.” On November 20, a teenage assailant is alleged to have fatally shot Dr. Tahir Mahmood, 31, as he answered the door of his house in Nankana Sahib district, Punjab. Mahmood’s father and two uncles were injured in the attack. The police reported that the suspect “confessed to having attacked the family over religious differences.” Several recent attacks have occurred in the city of Peshawar, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. On November 9, Mahmoob Khan, 82, was fatally shot while waiting at a bus station. On October 6, two men on a motorcycle stopped the car of Dr. Naeemuddin Khattak, 57, a professor at the Government Superior Science College, and fired five shots, killing him. His family said he had a “heated argument over a religious issue” with a colleague a day before. Jamaat-i-Ahmadiyya, a community organization, issued a statement saying Khattak had previously received threats and was targeted because of his faith. On August 12, Meraj Ahmed, 61, was fatally shot as he was closing his shop in Peshawar. On July 29, an alleged 19-year-old assailant killed Tahir Ahmad Naseem, 57, inside a high-security courtroom. Naseem was facing trial for blasphemy accusations. In a video that circulated on social media, the suspect states that Naseem was a “blasphemer.” Successive Pakistani governments have failed to protect the human rights and security of the Ahmadiyya community. The penal code explicitly discriminates against religious minorities and targets Ahmadis by prohibiting them from “indirectly or directly posing as a Muslim.” Ahmadis are banned from declaring or propagating their faith publicly, building mosques, or making the Muslim call for prayer. The authorities arbitrarily arrest, detain, and charge Ahmadis for blasphemy and other offenses because of their religious beliefs. The police have often been complicit in harassment and bringing fabricated charges against Ahmadis or have not intervened to stop anti-Ahmadi violence. The government’s failure to address religious persecution of Ahmadis has facilitated violence against them in the name of religion. “Pakistan was part of the consensus at the UN General Assembly that required that states take active measures to ensure that persons belonging to religious minorities may exercise fully and effectively all their human rights and fundamental freedoms without any discrimination and in full equality before the law,” said Ian Seiderman, legal and policy director at the International Commission of Jurists. “The Pakistani government has completely failed to do so in the case of the Ahmadis.” The Pakistani government also promotes discriminatory practices against Ahmadis. For example, all Pakistani Muslim citizens applying for passports are obliged to sign a statement explicitly stating that they consider the founder of the Ahmadi community an “imposter,” and consider Ahmadis to be non-Muslims. Pakistani laws against the Ahmadiyya community violate Pakistan’s international legal obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Pakistan ratified in 2010, including the rights to freedom of conscience, religion, expression, and association, and to profess and practice one’s own religion. Independent experts of the United Nations Human Rights Council, including the special rapporteurs on the freedom of religion or belief and the UN special rapporteur on minority issues, and the special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, have previously expressed concern at the persecution of the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan. “Pakistan’s federal and provincial governments should take immediate legal and policy measures to eliminate widespread and rampant discrimination and social exclusion faced by the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan,” said Patricia Gossman, associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The government should repeal the blasphemy law and all anti-Ahmadiyya provisions.” See article here. © 2020 Amnesty International

Some 160,000 Palestinians were forced to flee the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus throughout the 10-year-long war. Yarmouk was heavily destroyed during the Syrian civil war and is now a wasteland of concrete [File: UNRWA/AP] After years of displacement and months of running around to obtain the required government permits, 74-year-old Um Ahmad finally visited her home in Yarmouk camp near Damascus. She found only ruins. “It is completely destroyed,” she told Al Jazeera on the phone. “My home, my neighbourhood, they are unrecognisable. Even the wiring inside the walls of my house has been ripped off.” Um Ahmad is among 160,000 Palestinian Syrians who were forced to abandon Yarmouk amid clashes between the Syrian government forces and the rebels and later between the military and the armed group ISIL (ISIS). She saw it as a second banishment. In 1948, her family was among hundreds of thousands of those who were expelled from their homes in Palestine by Israel causing an exodus of Palestinians to neighbouring countries and turning them into refugees. Yarmouk became home to many of those Palestinians and a symbol of Palestinian resistance to Israel outside occupied territories. Once a vibrant camp, it was the seventh most destroyed neighbourhood in the Syrian civil war and is now a wasteland of concrete. The aid workers who have managed to visit Yarmouk describe the scenes as apocalyptic and say the inhabitants may well consider their return impossible, at least for a long time. According to information from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees [UNRWA], only 604 Palestinian refugee families had been given permission by the Syrian government to return as of January. Half of them have moved back and started to live in the camp. 'Rehabilitating’ Yarmouk There are neither functioning schools nor hospitals, even basic amenities such as water and electricity are scarce. UNRWA has been desperately trying to operationalise just one building to cater to the needs of those who have returned but the donor countries are unwilling to foot the bill. The donors are reluctant to fund any sort of reconstruction, even for humanitarian purposes, until Western sanctions against rebuilding Syria have been lifted. “One thing UNRWA is trying to do is to rehabilitate one of our structures in Yarmouk to turn it into a kind of multipurpose building to try to respond to the acute needs of Palestinians who have returned to live in the rubble,” Tamara al-Rifai, UNRWA’s spokeswoman, told Al Jazeera. “If we could rehabilitate one building, we would look into creating space for a health centre, a distribution centre [food and non-food], and maybe even host a few classes for the kids who have returned,” she added. “This is purely out of humanitarian imperative and is completely separate from any larger political discussion about reconstruction,” said Rifai. “Our position is that UNRWA will seek to rehabilitate its structures when and if our own community of Palestinian refugees have returned and requires us to deliver services.” Several Palestinian activists, however, claimed the government has allowed only loyalists to return to Yarmouk and actively discouraged everyone else. They said they are concerned the Syrian government is systematically expropriating several homes, shops, and entire streets in the name of redevelopment. The government has also asked claimants to provide original documents proving ownership that many might have lost in the war, and blocked entry of the internally displaced Palestinians through checkpoints ostensibly to protect them from crumbling buildings. Many activists and analysts said the idea behind controlling who is allowed back in seems to be to secure Damascus’s vicinity by populating it with those whose support President Bashar al-Assad’s government can rely on fully. Several Palestinians of Yarmouk told us they feel they are being punished by the government mainly because Hamas, an Islamist Palestinian movement, backed the opposition in the civil war instead of the regime. ‘Die homeless’ The al-Assad regime supported Hamas over Yassir Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organisation since the 1980s and expected the group to defend the government in the conflict. Hamas’s leadership, however, sided with the rebels, partly because Palestinians, too, had had enough repression under the regime. Ahmad Hosain, CEO of Action Group for Palestinians which is a UK-based monitor, said more was at play than the government’s dissatisfaction with Hamas’s policy. He said not just Yarmouk but properties in other Palestinian camps were being confiscated too. “In the al-Husayniyah Palestinian refugee camp in the Damascus countryside, the Syrian regular army forces prevented many families from returning to the camp after regaining control over it, and informed them that all their property is at the disposal of the checkpoint,” said Hosain. “In Khan Al-Shih camp, a number of homes were confiscated, whose owners worked as media, human rights, and relief activists,” he added. However, he said, Palestinians were targeted just as other Syrians who stood up against an oppressive and corrupt regime. “The criterion here was not because of their being Palestinians, but for other reasons related to the military geography of the area, opposition movements, and other causes,” Hosain added. “Therefore, we see the disparity in the damage inflicted on the camps between one region and another.” Palestinians in Syria were granted nearly the same status as Syrian citizens under a policy that predates the emergence of the Baath party. Even though they maintained their Palestinian identity, over the years they became Syrian, too, and a part of the Syrian social fabric. Many of those Palestinian-Syrians see themselves as dual citizens, of Syria, and of a future state of Palestine. Um and Ab Rasha were forced to flee their camp in Deraa for Lebanon. Even though they long for their home, neighbourhood, and friends still inside Syria they say it is not safe for them to return. “Before leaving Syria, we have seen the treatment of intelligence,” said Um Rasha from the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon. “They are to be blamed for all the hardship Palestinian Syrians are experiencing today in Syria.” “We are afraid of returning to Syria because many of our family members and relatives were detained by the Syrian army or the security forces,” added her husband. Thousands of Palestinians were detained and tortured in the country’s infamous prison system along with many more Syrians. Ten years after the Syrian uprising began, they, too, fear persecution upon return. But for them, the trauma of being homeless perhaps runs deeper than even their Syrian contemporaries. “I can’t return to Yarmouk in this lifetime,” said Um Ahmad. “I am going to die homeless.” © 2021 Al Jazeera Media Network

Immediately after Marine Le Pen successfully advanced to the second round of the French Presidential election by beating the candidate from the mainstream right, Italy's far-right leader Matteo Salvini, tweeted a photo of him with the French politician, with the caption "Go Marine". He later added: "it is time get rid of the Brussels cage!". Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders - known for his anti-Islam rhetoric - similarly expressed his excitement: "Congratulations sent to Marine Le Pen. A day of celebration for all Patriots in Europe. On to the 2nd round and the Presidency!" These expressions of transnational solidarity between Europe's far-right leaders were hardly surprising. In the past few years a number of these far-right parties from across Europe have started "officially" coordinating strategies and in January, representatives from these movements gathered in Koblenz, Germany for a conference. The gathering prompted some observers to talk about an allegedly new "nationalist international" emerging in Europe. While the "nationalist international" appears as an oxymoron at first, international cooperation between ultra-nationalists has a long history. The history of supranational nationalism in Europe Right-leaning, nationalist movements existed in the old continent since the pre-WWI era. Linked by anti-Semitism, ethnic nationalism, cult of force and violence, anti-leftism, anti-parliament and anti-democratic policies, national resentments, and/or imperialism, fascist-like movements played a significant role in Europe's politics and society since the 1920s. Europe's far-right groups also often collaborated with each other across national borders. Notably Benito Mussolini's fascism was influenced by French ideas, and later inspired similar authoritarianisms in other European countries. In fact, a "fascist international" was a dream for many nationalists in the interwar period. Many of them joined the famous fascist international conference of Montreux, and even became foreign soldiers in the German army during World War II. After 1945, many neo-fascists, including Oswald Mosley, tried to build pan-European associations. They started with the European Social Movement of the early 1950s, which was also their extremist response to the mainstream process of European integration. Since the 1980s and 1990s more structured far-right parties as well as little groups have been rising to prominence in Europe on a platform based on ethno-nationalism, sovergnity, and the defence of national traditions. In recent years, the popularity and outreach of these groups have been further facilitated by internet and social media. The "protection" these parties and groups offer is appealing because of the fear of globalisation, Europeanisation, and immigration along with the failures of traditional parties. From the 2000s onwards, terrorist attacks, the economic crisis, and the refugee crisis helped spread their popularity even further and provided ground for more common action on issues that the general population feared. Therefore, existence of a rightwing supranational dimension is not surprising. A new nationalist international? Far-right parties recently established a group in the EU parliament called Europe of Nations and Freedom. This further allowed them to coordinate their policies at a supranational level - possibly aiming to dismantle EU institutions and integration. They imagine a new federation of European nations which has to be (implicitly) "white" and which should defende national "native" traditions. Naturally, their vision of Europe looks very different from the existing cosmopolitan and multi-cultural one. Their Europe will be even more suspicious of Muslims, reintroduce national currencies, and surely implement new laws against the current free circulation of people. Internationally, it will be supporting Russia while admiring Trump and his administration. As Alternative for Germany (AfD) leader Frauke Petry said in a telegram to Trump, "We as Germans and Europeans will follow your foreign policy position with hope, because it is refreshingly different from the course of the past decades". This shows the potential appeal of a "nationalist international" - especially today with the European project lacking any real appeal. Also, these far-right parties are already influencing policies on immigration and refugees in many countries. OPINION: Is this really how fascism takes hold in the US? The problem is that the EU has been turning a blind eye on these groups. And as Maya Goodfellow recently pointed out, media is not always doing a goob job of understanding these far-right leaders and explaining their policies to the general public: "Journalists and reporters must critically analyse far-right narratives instead of - as often happens in covert ways - reiterating them." After Brexit and the victory of Trump, these extremist parties and culture will represent a strong challenge to western democracies for the years to come. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Aljazeera

By Amnesty International The mass trial underway of 84 Emiratis, including prominent human rights defenders, flagrantly violates the defendants’ fair trial rightsand disregards fundamental legal principle by re-trying some defendants for the same charges they were convicted of a decade ago, Amnesty International said ahead of a hearing in the case on 7 February. At least 65 of the known defendants are already arbitrarily held – at least 62 of them since their previous mass trial in 2012-2013, the “UAE-94” case. Dozens continue to be held even though they have already completed their sentences in the UAE-94 case.  Authorities accuse the defendants of establishing a “clandestine organization” for “terrorism”. There have been multiple gross violations of the defendants’ fair trial rights, including authorities evidently directing witness testimony, the failure to disclose key details such as the exact charges or what articles of the law are being used to bring the charges, restrictions on lawyers sharing documents relating to the case with the defendants and their families, and barring family members from attending hearings during the trial, which began on 7 December 2023. “The UAE is making a mockery of justice by trying scores of defendants on undefined charges under an indictment that has so far been kept secret. Until a month ago, the UAE did not even acknowledge the trial was taking place, despite the first hearing of this politically motivated prosecution taking place during COP28 in an unabashed show of repression,” said Aya Majzoub, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. “It is ludicrous that UAE authorities are charging scores of defendants with the same acts they were already convicted of more than a decade ago. This is a flagrant violation of the fundamental legal principle barring repeated prosecution of the same person for the same crime.” Among the defendants are well-known Emirati human rights activists Mohamed al-Mansoori, Mohamed al-Roken, and Ahmed Mansoor. Human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor who is among the 84 Emiratis being held on trial the next hearing of which is to be held on 7 February. ©Amnesty International/Private The authorities announced this trial on the official news agency WAM on 6 January – a month after the trial had already begun. Based on information from family members and the published WAM statement, the charges appear to be brought under the 2014 counterterrorism law and to be based on alleged membership in the Justice and Dignity Committee, a branch of the al-Islah movement, which is considered to be the Emirati version of the Muslim Brotherhood group. In the words of the 2013 indictment and judgment, the Committee “undertook to raise society’s awareness of its rights,” “published articles about those rights,” and “worked to communicate with international rights organizations”. UAE prisoners and brothers Husain and Hasan al-Jaberi (Husain on left, Hasan on right) are also in the group of 84 currently being tried. ©Amnesty International/Private Any involvement by defendants with the Justice and Dignity Committee would have ceased when they were arrested in 2012-2013, before the 2014 counterterrorism law was enacted. As such, these charges violate the fundamental legal principle of no retroactive application of criminal punishments as well as the violation of the fundamental legal principle of individual determination of guilt that is inherent in mass trials. “This trial appears to be a blatantly politically motivated attempt to intimidate people into silence and ensure dissidents remain in jail for the longest time possible so that they are not able to challenge the authorities or speak out about the dire human rights situation in the country,” said Aya Majzoub. Defence lawyers in the case have been banned from sharing the details of the indictment even with their own clients. UAE academic Nasser bin Ghaith who is on trial along with more than 80 others. ©Amnesty International/Private “Nobody has read the court files. Nobody has seen them. We’re forbidden from attending. And the attorneys are under strict order not to cooperate with the prisoners or their families, and not to give them full, transparent information,” a family member of one of the defendants said. “The proceedings have shown an outrageous disregard for fair trial rights,” said Aya Majzoub. “In one case, at a hearing on 11 January, the authorities handed a prosecution witness a piece of paper which they proceeded to read from to answer the judge’s questions. This is a grotesque parody of justice in every possible way by a government that claims to represent international progress and development.” Family members told Amnesty International they have been excluded from attending most sessions. In one session they said they were kept in a separate room to view a video transmission of the proceedings but without any audio. Some are banned from attending hearings because authorities refuse to renew their identification cards, which are necessary to attend. One family who spoke with Amnesty International has so far spent over $10,000 on legal fees, despite the lawyer they have hired not sharing a single document from the case, nor informing them of what is happening at the hearings. © 2024 Amnesty International