Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie, left, walks surrounded by Kenya Police Service officers and other defendants as he appears at the Shanzu Law Courts in Mombasa on January 18, 2024 [AFP] Paul Mackenzie and 94 others charged over deaths of followers whose bodies have been exhumed from the Shakahola forest. A Kenyan court has charged cult leader Paul Mackenzie with “terrorism”-related crimes over the deaths of 429 of his followers. The self-proclaimed pastor was charged along with 94 others on Thursday over the deaths of followers whose bodies have been exhumed from the Shakahola forest near the Indian Ocean. Mackenzie was arrested last April after the bodies began being discovered. The charges, announced during an appearance before a court in the southeastern city of Mombasa, are the first to be brought against him. Mackenzie and his co-defendants denied the charges during their appearance before the judge, Joe Omido. They are due back in court on February 8 for a bond hearing. Authorities allege that Mackenzie, the head of the Good News International Church, incited his acolytes in southeastern Kenya to starve themselves and their children to death so they could go to heaven before the world ended. The bodies of the victims were uncovered over months of exhumations across tens of thousands of acres of forest. Autopsies revealed that the majority had died of hunger. But others, including children, appeared to have been strangled, beaten or suffocated. ‘Organised criminal group’ Court documents cited by the APF news agency described Good News International Ministries as “an organised criminal group (which) engaged in organised criminal activities thereby endangering lives and leading to the death of 429 members and followers”. Mackenzie was also charged with “organised criminal activity”, AFP reported, and he and the other suspects pleaded “not guilty” to charges of radicalisation. Mackenzie’s pre-trial detention in Mombasa was extended on several occasions as the prosecution asked for more time to probe the case. But last week a court warned the authorities that it would release the former taxi driver unless charges were filed within 14 days. On Wednesday, a judge in a different court in the coastal town of Malindi ordered that Mackenzie and 30 of his associates be taken for mental health evaluations before being charged with murder in connection with 191 deaths. Prosecutors in Mombasa and Malindi say they will also charge the 95 people on counts of manslaughter and torture. The grisly case, dubbed the “Shakahola forest massacre”, prompted Kenya’s government to flag up the need for tighter control of fringe denominations. The cult leader had been arrested before in 2019, also in relation to the deaths of children, but was released on bond. The cases are still in court. © 2024 Al Jazeera Media Network

The destruction of a mosque on the site in Ayodhya, India, triggered deadly religious riots in 1992 By Gerry Shih, Karishma Mehrotra and Anant Gupta The opening of a temple dedicated to the Hindu deity Lord Ram in Ayodhya, India, on Monday. (Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP) AYODHYA, India — When Hindu radicals stormed a 16th-century mosque in this Indian river town and tore it to the ground in 1992, the demolition mortified India’s leaders, ignited religious riots that killed 2,000 people nationwide, and spurred figures in the Bharatiya Janata Party, accused of inciting the mobs, to issue anguished apologies. On Monday, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a grand Hindu temple on the site of the razed mosque, he spoke not of contrition but of justice achieved and pride restored — of a glorious “new epoch” awaiting the believers of Lord Ram like him. Thirty-one years after the Babri Mosque was destroyed in a seismic event in modern Indian history, Modi’s consecration of a $300 million Hindu temple on the contested hill that many Hindus believe to be the birthplace of a beloved deity marked another watershed for India: the triumph of Hindu nationalist ideology over the secular, multicultural vision espoused by the country’s founders. “We must not bow down anymore. We must not sit down anymore,” Modi said in a speech after he emerged from the shrine’s ornate inner sanctum. “The spirit of Lord Ram is present on the very first page of our constitution. It is unfortunate that we had to fight to prove the existence of our lord.” Featuring seven shrines, a soaring dome 160 feet high and grounds encompassing 71 acres, the Ram Temple, in some ways, traces the rise of the Hindu nationalist movement; its most prominent political wing, the BJP; and their effort to remake India into a religious state. As a fringe political party in the 1980s, the BJP gained national traction by making the construction of the temple a mainstream issue that galvanized the Hindu vote. Many Hindu nationalists believed that a Hindu temple had existed at the site before it was torn down by Muslim conquerors in the 16th century to make way for a mosque built in the name of Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire. The Ram temple campaign, and the BJP’s image, suffered a setback in 1992 when a mob demolished the mosque, shocking the world. But following a decades-long court battle, the Indian Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that a Hindu temple could be built on the hilltop. Modi, reelected resoundingly that year after a heavily Hindu nationalist campaign, laid the foundation stone at the construction site in 2020 as work began. A man raises a fist on Oct. 30, 1990, as he and others are stopped from entering the Babri Mosque, which was destroyed by Hindu radicals two years later. (Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images) Modi’s ceremony on Monday, attended by Bollywood stars and guests representing various castes, was anticipated in recent weeks by wall-to-wall coverage on pro-government television channels and in ebullient speeches by BJP politicians, who called the project a symbol of a new India proudly steeped in Hinduism, the faith of 80 percent of the population. Busy intersections in New Delhi have been blanketed by the saffron flag of Lord Ram. Schoolchildren have participated in organized prayers to the god. Shops selling meat, frowned upon in modern Hinduism, have been closed in some states. Government offices and hospitals were ordered shut for a half-day on Monday morning so people could watch Modi and priests imbue the temple with its soul in a “Pran Pratishtha” ceremony. Priests and devotees hold candles on Sunday to celebrate the opening of the temple. (Amit Dave/Reuters) Raghavan Jagannathan, a right-wing commentator, said the outpouring showed the significance of the temple inauguration in the Hindu psyche after centuries of Muslim and British rule and decades of “self-loathing” under independent India’s early leaders, who emphasized secularism. “Hindus got the short end of the stick with secularism, where minorities could celebrate their religious identity but majority Hindus had to suppress theirs,” said Jagannathan, author of “Dharmic Nation,” a book stressing India’s essentially religious national character. “That’s why you’re seeing a widespread celebration right now. This temple is a coming-out party for Hindus who say: I can finally be a Hindu without fear.” But critics feared the state-encouraged religious festivities — and simmering talk of Hindu supremacy and historical vengeance — showed how India under Modi has diverged from the vision of those who struggled for freedom, including Mohandas K. Gandhi, a defender of minority rights who often pleaded for the safety of his Muslim compatriots when Hindu-Muslim riots erupted. Hindu devotees chant slogans at a religious procession in Hyderabad on Sunday. (Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty Images) Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, a Modi biographer, said Monday’s event marked “an era when the prime minister is the high priest of Hinduism, blurring all lines between religion and politics on the one hand and between religion and the Indian state on the other.” “We are on our way to becoming a de facto theocratic state with Hinduism becoming the official religion,” Mukhopadhyay added. “It will be very difficult for the country and its religious minorities to return to what was experienced before 2014.” Since Modi’s election that year, emboldened Hindu nationalist groups have pushed for legislation discouraging interfaith marriage and Muslim cultural practices. Reports of hate crimes against Muslims have increased. Modi, meanwhile, has become the most powerful and popular leader in decades, partly by leaning into his Hindu bona fides. This month, he prepared for the temple inauguration by praying at more than a dozen holy sites, draping himself in robes of pure white and, according to his press office, sleeping on the floor and drinking only coconut water in accordance with rules governing Hindu rituals. A billboard in Bangalore, India, with images of Modi and Lord Ram promotes the new temple ahead of its opening. (Jagadeesh Nv/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock) The temple consecration is expected to give Modi a boost ahead of national elections expected in April, in which he is heavily favored to win a third term. Several opposition parties boycotted Monday’s event, and some high-ranking Hindu theologians, known as the Shankaracharyas, rebuked the prime minister for consecrating an unfinished temple in violation of Hindu scripture and scheduling a religious event in the lead-up to elections. Modi has brushed aside criticism, citing his divine backing. “God has made me the representative of the people of India during the ceremony,” he told the country in a video this month that garnered 4.2 million views on social media. “I seek blessings from all of you.” For the prime minister, the temple’s opening also caps a personal decades-long journey. As a young party worker in 1990, Modi helped Lal Krishna Advani, the hard-line BJP president, organize a cross-country rally to agitate for a temple in Ayodhya. The Ram Temple construction site last month. (Arun Sankar/AFP/Getty Images After the events of Dec. 6, 1992, Advani called the mosque’s demolition the “saddest day of my life,” and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a BJP leader who later became prime minister, said he felt “regrets, agony, anguish.” On Monday, the mood was altogether different. Modi hailed the “sacrifices” made by Hindus to realize the temple project and apologized for failing to build it earlier. Yogi Adityanath, a BJP ally, said that Hinduism had been humiliated for centuries and that the temple represented the revival of India’s national identity. The success of the Ram Temple project has given fresh impetus to Hindu nationalists who say other mosques across the country should be replaced by temples to settle historical scores. Already, Hindu activists have called for studies to examine whether two major mosques in the northern cities of Varanasi and Mathura were built on top of temples destroyed by Muslim invaders — a finding that would potentially support the argument for their demolition. And last week, former Modi cabinet minister Anantkumar Hegde called for mosques in southern India to also be destroyed in the name of “revenge, revenge, revenge.” “If we do not take revenge for the 1,000 years, then the Hindu community can clearly say that our blood is not Hindu blood,” Hegde said. In a narrow alley in Ayodhya, a pilgrim named Himanshu Kumar Mehta, who had bicycled 400 miles in seven days to visit the temple as it opened to the public, weighed the significance of the monument that Modi had helped deliver. The Ram Temple was only the beginning, said the 27-year-old tire salesman. He wanted to see more temples, more religious schools, more Indians return to living devout Hindu lives. “The Hindu Rashtra is inevitable now,” Mehta said, referring to the formation of a Hindu state. “This temple is done. The Mathura temple is next. We are fighting on all fronts. And we are winning.” In photos: The inauguration of Modi’s controversial Hindu temple By Gerry Shih Gerry Shih is the India Bureau Chief for the Washington Post, covering India and neighboring countries. By Karishma Mehrotra Karishma Mehrotra is the South Asia correspondent for The Washington Post. She was previously a Fulbright fellow and has written or worked for Radiolab, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, the Indian Express, Scroll.in, and Bloomberg Businessweek. © 1996-2024 The Washington Post

M23 rebels stand with theirs weapons in the town of Kibumba, in the eastern of Democratic Republic of Congo, on Dec. 23, 2022 By Rédaction Africanews and AP The rebels shelled the town of Mweso, where they “indiscriminately dropped mortar bombs,” which also injured 27 other civilians, army spokesman Lt. Col. Guillaume N’djike Kaïko said in a statement read on state television. The town's streets were empty Thursday evening, after most of its residents took refuge in the Mweso General Hospital, Kaïko added. The army blamed the attack on the M23 rebel group, which rose to prominence 10 years ago when its fighters seized Goma, eastern Congo’s largest city on the border with Rwanda. Its name refers to a March 23, 2009, peace deal, which it accuses the government of not implementing. There was no response from the group to the accusation U.N. experts warned last year that attacks by M23 fighters have become more frequent, longer and stronger, and that territory under the group’s control “significantly increased,” causing massive displacement of civilians and indiscriminate shelling. M23 combatants also “deliberately killed civilians” and attacked U.N. peacekeeping troops. Fighting in eastern Congo has been simmering for decades as more than 120 groups fight for power, land and valuable mineral resources, while others try to defend their communities. The security crisis was a key issue in Congo's recent presidential election, in which Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi was reelected with a promise to end the violence. Tshisekedi accuses Rwanda of destabilizing Congo by backing the M23 rebels. U.N. experts have linked the rebels to Rwandan forces, though Rwanda denies supporting them. Copyright © africanews

U.N. Court Orders Israel to Prevent Genocide, but Does Not Demand Stop to War The New York Times January 26, 2024 By Patrick Kingsley, Raja Abdulrahim, Aaron Boxerman and Michael Levenson The International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take actions to prevent genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The World Court stopped short of calling for cease-fire in Gaza. The United Nations court in The Hague did not rule on whether Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, the accusation that South Africa brought before the court. To view video, click on image The International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take actions to prevent genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.CreditCredit...Remko De Waal/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images The United Nations’ highest court said on Friday that Israel must take action to prevent acts of genocide by its forces in the Gaza Strip, adding to the international pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reduce death and destruction in the battered Palestinian enclave. But the court did not rule on whether Israel was committing genocide, and it did not call on Israel to stop its military campaign to crush Hamas, as South Africa, which brought the case, had requested. While the ruling had elements that each side could embrace, the court allowed the case charging Israel with genocide to proceed, which will likely keep the country under international scrutiny for years to come. “The court is acutely aware of the extent of the human tragedy that is unfolding in the region, and is deeply concerned about the continuing loss of life and human suffering,” Joan E. Donoghue, the president of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, said as she announced the interim ruling. The decision also ordered the delivery of more humanitarian aid to Palestinians, and called for the release of hostages held by armed groups in Gaza. The South Africans who argued the case this month have equated the oppression they faced under apartheid with the plight of Palestinians. The genocide accusation is acutely sensitive for Israel, which was founded in 1948 in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Many Israelis argue that it is Hamas that should face charges of genocide after its attack on Oct. 7, when about 1,200 people were killed in Israel and about 240 were taken captive, according to Israeli officials. “The very notion that Israel is perpetrating genocide is not only false, it is outrageous, and the court’s willingness to discuss it is a mark of shame that will last for generations,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a statement on Friday. For many Palestinians, the court decision was a rare moment of reckoning for Israel, whose campaign has been defended by the United States and other close allies. More than 25,000 people in Gaza have been killed since Israel’s offensive began, nearly 2 million have been displaced, and half of the population is at risk of starvation, according to the territory’s health officials and the United Nations. Many South Africans welcomed the ruling, with members of the country’s governing party, the African National Congress, celebrating in Johannesburg.Credit...Alaister Russell/EPA, via Shutterstock “States now have clear legal obligations to stop Israel’s genocidal war on the Palestinian people in Gaza and to make sure that they are not complicit,” said Riad Malki, the foreign minister of the Palestinian Authority, which partly administers the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to Britain, said the decision should force the United States and its allies to rein in Israel’s military. “For 75 years, Israel has been getting away with murder,” Mr. Zomlot said in an interview. “But it is not going to get away with genocide.” But some Palestinians expressed extreme disappointment that the court had not ordered Israel to stop its military offensive. “You failed Palestinians again,” Hind Khoudary, a journalist in Gaza, wrote on social media. The U.S. State Department said the decision was “consistent with our view that Israel has the right to take action to ensure the terrorist attacks of Oct. 7 cannot be repeated, in accordance with international law.” The Biden administration has staunchly backed Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas, while urging that it do more to protect civilians. “We continue to believe that allegations of genocide are unfounded,” the State Department said in a statement, “and note the court did not make a finding about genocide or call for a cease-fire in its ruling and that it called for the unconditional, immediate release of all hostages being held by Hamas.” Although the ruling is considered legally binding, the court has no means of enforcing it, but ordered Israel to report back on its progress in one month. The court, established by the founding charter of the United Nations in 1945, was created to settle disputes between member states. Also known as the World Court, it typically has a panel of 15 judges who are elected by the General Assembly and Security Council. In this case, Israel and South Africa each appointed an additional judge to sit on the bench on their behalf. In a packed courtroom earlier this month, lawyers for South Africa argued that Israel had meant to “create conditions of death” in Gaza and urged the judges to immediately suspend Israel’s military campaign. Israel argued that it has taken steps to protect civilians by warning them to evacuate northern Gaza before it invaded and restarting deliveries of food and fuel into the enclave. Palestinians arriving in the southern Gaza town of Rafah after fleeing an Israeli ground and air offensive in the nearby city of Khan Younis on Friday.Credit...Fatima Shbair/Associated Press Israel said that Hamas was to blame for putting Gazans at risk, asserting that the group hides its fighters and weapons in tunnels, schools and hospitals. Israel also said that statements by its government ministers, which South Africa had cited as evidence of genocidal intent, were either taken out of context or made by officials without executive power over the military. In its 29-page interim ruling, the court said that Israel must “take all measures within its power” to prevent violations of the Genocide Convention adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1948. In particular, it said Israel must not take certain actions with the intent to destroy, wholly or partly, Palestinians as a group, including killing them; causing them “serious bodily or mental harm”; deliberately inflicting on them “conditions of life” calculated to bring about their “physical destruction in whole or in part”; or imposing measures to prevent births. The court said Israel must also prevent and punish “direct and public incitement to commit genocide,” and allow more urgently needed aid into Gaza. Mr. Netanyahu noted that the court had not ordered Israel to end its military offensive, which he has said would continue until Hamas is dismantled and the remaining hostages, numbering more than 100, are freed. “Like any state, Israel has the basic right of self-defense,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “The court justly rejected the disgraceful demand to nullify that right.” Raz Nizri, a former Israeli deputy attorney general, said Israel was already taking most of the actions the court ordered, such as ensuring the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza and punishing statements that could incite genocide. “And there was no injunction to stop the fighting,” he said. “It’s extremely important that no such order was given.” But some Palestinians said the ruling could increase pressure on Israel to curtail its military offensive. An Israeli strike in Rafah, in southern Gaza, on Friday.Credit...Agence France-Presse — Getty Images “It is impossible to implement the I.C.J. decisions without immediate and permanent cease-fire,” said Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian opposition politician based in Ramallah, in the West Bank. He and others said the ruling was a rare example of Israel being held to account on the world stage after long being protected from scrutiny at the United Nations by the United States and other powerful allies. “The problem for the past 112 days is that Israel has been operating with complete impunity,” said Diana Buttu, a Palestinian Canadian lawyer and former adviser to the negotiating team of the Palestine Liberation Organization. “This now is a departure from that impunity, because now there is a court saying there is a plausible risk of imminent genocide.” South Africa also welcomed the ruling, with members of the country’s governing party, the African National Congress, chanting “Free! Free! Palestine!” in Johannesburg, as the decision was announced. The ruling was “a decisive victory for the international rule of law and a significant milestone in the search for justice for the Palestinian people,” South Africa said in a statement. Reporting was contributed by Edward Wong, John Eligon and Isabel Kershner. Patrick Kingsley is the Jerusalem bureau chief, covering Israel and the occupied territories. He has reported from more than 40 countries, written two books and previously covered migration and the Middle East for The Guardian. More about Patrick Kingsley Raja Abdulrahim is a Middle East correspondent based in Jerusalem covering the Levant. More about Raja Abdulrahim Michael Levenson joined The Times in December 2019. He was previously a reporter at The Boston Globe, where he covered local, state and national politics and news. More about Michael Levenson A version of this article appears in print on Jan. 27, 2024, Section A, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Israel Must Shun Acts Of Genocide, U.N. Court Rules. Copyright 2024 The New York Times Company

Soldiers and police patrolling streets where witnesses say quiet has replaced looting and chaos that reportedly left at least 16 people dead Rebecca Kuku in Port Moresby and agencies Fri 12 Jan 2024 03.04 EST People picking through debris after rioting in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Photograph: Darrell Toll/AFPTV/AFP/Getty Images Soldiers and police patrolled Port Moresby on Friday a day after Papua New Guinea declared a state of emergency in the capital in response to rioting and other violence in which at least 16 people are reported to have died. The prime minister, James Marape, declared a 14-day state of emergency, suspending several officials and putting more than 1,000 soldiers on standby, after a police and public sector protest over pay on Wednesday descended into rioting and looting. The city had returned to a “new normal” on Friday morning, with police and soldiers on the streets and long lines at petrol stations, according to Matt Cannon, who heads the local branch of not-for-profit emergency responder service St John Ambulance. “We’re expecting the supermarkets that are functioning to reopen today and I’m hearing they have increased security to cater for potentially large numbers of people,” Cannon said. Police and other public servants went on strike on Wednesday over a pay cut that officials later blamed on an administrative error. Within hours, thousands thronged the streets, looting and rioting against a backdrop of smoke and burning buildings. A mob also tried to break through the gates outside the prime minister’s office. On Friday, Marape faced a number of calls to resign, including from former prime minister Peter O’Neill. “I … am still reeling from the shocking scenes of destruction that gripped Port Moresby,” O’Neill said in a statement, calling it the darkest day in the country’s history. “There is no shame in taking responsibility, but it is absolutely shameful to continue knowing you have lost command and control,” he added, referring to Marape. Nine people were killed in the rioting in capital city and seven were killed in Lae, in the country’s north, the Australian national broadcaster ABC reported on Thursday, citing police. Four of those killed were reportedly shot by a business owner in a suburb of the capital. More than 50 people were being treated for injuries at Port Moresby general hospital, according to a statement. Among them were a number of gunshot and knife wounds. The finance secretary and police commissioner were among the officials suspended by the prime minister. In a statement, Marape that the decision to suspend them for 14 days “in no way indicates their involvement in matters of concern”. Australia’s defence minister, Richard Marles, said on Friday the situation in the country had improved and that the Papua New Guinea government had issued some small requests for assistance from Canberra. Things were quiet on Friday when Eddie Allo took the bus to his work at the Port Moresby general hospital. Most vehicles on the roads were government-owned and many people were short on fuel because petrol stations had been closed, he said. “Everything is at a standstill now,” Allo said by phone. “Not many people are on the street and the police and army are patrolling around the areas on foot. No looting is going on.” Rebecca Kuku is a reporter with The National, based in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. With Reuters © 2024 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

Guarantee Fundamental Freedoms, End Arbitrary Detentions and Prosecutions People protest the possibility that President Macky Sall could run for a third term in the presidential elections scheduled for February 2024 in Dakar, Senegal, on May 12, 2023. © AP Photo/Leo Correa The authorities in Senegal have cracked down on the opposition, media, and civil society President Macky Sall’s promise to hold free and fair elections is at odds with the reality that the authorities have been filling prisons for the last three years with hundreds of political opponents. The authorities should effectively investigate all security force violence, release people arbitrarily detained, and guarantee the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly. (Nairobi) – The authorities in Senegal have cracked down on the opposition, media, and civil society, ahead of general elections scheduled for February 25, 2024, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should effectively investigate all violence by the security forces, release people arbitrarily detained, including on politically motivated grounds, and guarantee the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly, essential to genuinely free and fair elections. A crackdown began in 2021 over court cases involving prominent opposition leader Ousmane Sonko and over concerns about whether President Macky Sall would run for a third term, but there has been a spate of arrests of political opposition figures and dissidents in recent months. According to civil society groups and opposition parties, up to 1,000 opposition members and activists have been arrested across the country since March 2021. Seventy-nine people have submitted requests to the Constitutional Council to be presidential candidates, including Amadou Ba, Senegal's current prime minister and member of the ruling coalition, and Sonko, a jailed opposition leader and head of the dissolved political party African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics, and Fraternity (Patriotes africains du Sénégal pour le travail, l'éthique et la fraternité, PASTEF). Only 20 have survived the Council’s vetting process. Sonko’s candidacy was rejected on grounds that he was sentenced to 6 months in prison by the Senegalese supreme court for defamation against a minister. Sall is not running for a third term. “President Macky Sall’s promise to hold free and fair elections is at odds with the reality that the authorities have been filling prisons for the last three years with hundreds of political opponents,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should ensure that all Senegalese are able to freely express their views and exercise their vote fairly and peacefully.” Between November 2023 and January 2024, Human Rights Watch interviewed in person and by telephone 34 people, including 9 opposition party members, 13 members of Senegalese civil society groups, 6 journalists, 2 university professors, 3 Senegalese lawyers, and 3 relatives of activists. Human Rights Watch also reviewed reports by national and international media outlets, photographs showing one protester’s injuries as a result of torture in June 2023 and his medical records, and a video showing gendarmes torturing a protester, also in June. On January 9, Human Rights Watch sent an email to Julien Ngane Ndour, director of the Justice Ministry’s Human Rights Division, sharing its findings and requesting responses to specific questions. Human Rights Watch did not receive a response. Waves of arrests started in 2021 following violent protests linked to court cases involving Sonko, and over the prospect that President Macky Sall might run for a third term. Security forces have targeted leaders, members, and supporters of Sonko’s party. Sonko was most recently arrested on July 28 on charges of fomenting insurrection, undermining state security, creating serious political unrest, and criminal association, among others. Bassirou Diomaye Faye, PASTEF’s secretary general, has been in detention since April 14, facing similar charges connected to a message criticizing magistrates he posted on his Facebook page. “Criticizing officials is not a crime and no one should face prison time for doing so,” said Faye’s lawyer. On July 31, Senegal’s interior minister announced the dissolution of PASTEF on the grounds that it had allegedly rallied supporters during violent protests in June 2023 and March 2021. “Our leadership is in jail, our supporters are in jail, many of us are on provisional release or are monitored electronically like me,” said El Malick Ndiaye, head of communications for PASTEF, arrested on March 22 for allegedly spreading false news and acts likely to jeopardize public security. That day, he published a message on his Facebook page alleging that an individual in police uniform sprayed Sonko with an unknown substance. “The government is trivializing the practice of arrest and doing everything to silence us,” he said. The authorities have used the judicial system to target political opponents and dissidents. Lawyers representing those arrested in connection with opposition-led protests expressed concerns over the lack of respect for due process rights of their clients, including trumped up charges, lack of evidence to substantiate charges, prolonged pretrial detention, and ill-treatment and torture in detention or upon arrest. “The prosecutor wrongly codifies the offense in order to request an arrest warrant and rejects any request for provisional release of detainees,” said Moussa Sarr, a prominent human rights lawyer who is representing pro bono hundreds of detained protestors. “So it happens that people who participate in an unauthorized demonstration are not being prosecuted for participating in an unauthorized demonstration, but for criminal association. The offense charged is no longer the legal consequence of the acts committed.” Human Rights Watch has previously documented security forces’ use of excessive force, including live ammunition and improper use of tear gas, to disperse thousands of protesters across the country in March 2021 and June 2023. At least 37 people have been killed during violent clashes since March 2021 and there has been no accountability. “Young people died, and their families are yet to see any justice done,” said Alioune Tine, a prominent Senegalese human rights activist and founder of the research organization AfrikaJom. “The failure by our authorities to bring to book errant security officers will only encourage them to continue.” The March 2021 violent protests led Senegalese authorities, citing the need to protect public security, to restrict freedom of assembly by prohibiting public gatherings, meetings, and protests. On December 29, 2023, local authorities in the capital, Dakar, banned a December 30 meeting at which Sonko was to be nominated to run for president, citing a threat to public order. “For two years authorities have rejected almost all requests from civil society organizations and political parties to demonstrate,” said Moundiaye Cissé, executive director of the civil society organization 3D. “The right to freedom of assembly is a cornerstone of democracy, we fought for it, it cannot be taken away from us. ”Some candidates have said they were prevented from collecting signatures, which are required to place their name on the ballot. On October 28, Khalifa Sall, leader of the Taxawu party and a presidential candidate, said the police stopped his 30-vehicle convoy for several hours, preventing it from entering the Fatick region, southeast of Dakar, where he was supposed to collect signatures. The police said that the convoy had not been authorized. “We did not need any authorization,” said Moussa Taille, Taxawu’s spokesperson. “The law provides for any candidate to collect his sponsorships. Ahead of the vote, the government is trying to restrict the rights of opponents.” Journalists said that since 2021, they have experienced increased pressure from government agents and security forces while doing their work, as well as arbitrary arrests and intimidation. Dozens of journalists have been arbitrarily arrested, threatened verbally, and physically assaulted. Media outlets have been suspended and the authorities have imposed arbitrary restrictions to mobile internet access and social media. In a January 8 statement, the European Union announced that, at the invitation of Senegalese authorities, it will deploy an electoral observation mission to Senegal on February 25. International human rights law, including regional law such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, prohibits arbitrary detention. Any charges authorities bring must be provided for in law, cover activity that is legitimate to sanction, and be supported by credible evidence that fits the offense. Those detained have a right to be informed of the grounds for their arrest, to challenge their detention before an independent and impartial judge, not to be arbitrarily denied bail, to have access to a lawyer and family members, and to have their case periodically reviewed. International human rights law also guarantees the right to freedom of assembly and expression and prohibits excessive use of force by law enforcement officials as well as detention in inhumane and degrading conditions. “As Senegal heads to the polls, the stakes for its democracy are high,” Allegrozzi said. “Senegalese authorities should initiate impartial, independent, and effective investigations into all cases of use of force by security forces throughout the pre-election crisis and ensure that security forces respect the right to demonstrate peacefully.” For detailed accounts of the abuses and other details, please see below. Due Process Violations Senegalese authorities systematically violate the due process rights of those arrested in connection with opposition-led demonstrations. Misuse of Preventive Detention, Denial of Bail Unless a crime is in the act of commission or has just been committed (“flagrante delicto” in the civil law system), Senegalese law requires law enforcement to have a court-issued arrest warrant to detain a suspect. In practice, security forces treat most cases involving opponents as “flagrante delicto” offenses and arrest people without warrants. Those so arrested are entitled to be brought promptly before a judge, charged, and tried, with a maximum 96 hours of pre-charge detention allowed under Senegalese law. However, the prosecution and courts, in response to requests by the prosecution, systematically deny bail—provisional release—to political opponents and keep them in prolonged pretrial detention, in violation of international human rights law. Sarr, the lawyer who represents numerous detained protesters, told Human Rights Watch: “The majority of my clients are arrested in flagrante delicto, but they are never tried according to the quicker flagrante delicto procedure, and the prosecutor’s office instead most of the times opens a judicial investigation,” thereby significantly extending the pretrial period. This penal policy appears to be based on the prosecutor’s willingness to send those arrested to pretrial detention. The prosecution also appears to justify its inclination to detain people as preventing the commission of future offenses. These preventive arrests and detentions are illegal and unacceptable in a state governed by the rule of law.” Trumped-Up Charges and Wrong Codification of the Offense Sarr and Ciré Clédor Ly, barristers who represent detained protesters, activists, and political opposition members, including Sonko, said the most common charges used against their clients are acts likely to jeopardize state security, calls for insurrection, spreading false news, conspiracy to commit terrorist acts, and defamation. “I have clients who were charged with jeopardizing state security for wearing a PASTEF bracelet,” Ly said. “They just throw charges at you.” Since the charges involve state security crimes, provisional release is almost always rejected, the defense lawyers said.“I have clients who were charged with jeopardizing state security for wearing a PASTEF bracelet,” Ly said. “They just throw charges at you.” Since the charges involve state security crimes, provisional release is almost always rejected, the defense lawyers said. The brother of Faye, PASTEF’s secretary general, said: “Bassirou was arrested at night, at his office, without any warrant. Gendarmes broke down the door of the building to take him. Since April [2023], his lawyers filed four requests for provisional release, and all have been rejected without explanation.” A 26-year-old opposition party member told Human Rights Watch that he was arrested in Dakar on May 30, and charged with “acts likely to jeopardize state security” as he was going to a gendarmerie brigade to identify some detainees. “Is requesting information about detainees an act that can endanger the state?” he said. “These were just fabricated, politically motivated charges.” The man was eventually granted provisional release on June 8, and left Senegal on October 24 out of fear of being re-arrested: “I travelled to Mali over land, then Ivory Coast, then I took a flight to Morocco, and Spain. In Madrid I took a flight to Managua [Nicaragua’s capital]. Then, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico. And finally, I crossed into the United States.” Lack of Adequate Access to Legal Counsel Senegal’s criminal procedure code guarantees the right to legal counsel from the time of arrest and to have legal counsel present during interrogation. However, former detainees said that they were denied adequate access to legal counsel. Others said that they were not allowed to have lawyers present during interrogations, were denied the opportunity to review the evidence submitted against them, or were forced to sign statements against their will or statements obtained under torture. A 28-year-old PASTEF member who was arrested on June 1, 2023, in Mbour, Thiès region, said: On June 5, [2023] I was brought half naked, only with my shorts, before a police commissioner who interrogated me. While she questioned me, without my lawyer, a policeman hit me on my sides and shoulders with the wooden part of a knife. She asked me to sign a paper. I asked whether I could read it. She said no. I refused to sign it, but she threatened me and so I was forced to. Thioro Diouf, known as Thioro Makhou Mandela, a journalist of the media group Walfadjri, was arrested on April 18 on criminal association charges, among others. She said: I was six weeks pregnant when I was arrested, accused of crimes I never committed, on completely trumped-up charges. I was targeted because of my critical positions vis-à-vis the administration. […] They took me to a cell called “the cave,” the prison of the court in Dakar. There were 18 other women, no window, the heat was infernal, the smell of the toilet disgusting. I asked the guards whether I could talk to my lawyer. They refused. In the afternoon, they allowed my lawyer to talk to me but from far. I could not even hear what he was saying. Detention Conditions According to World Prison Brief, an online database providing information on prison systems around the world, the capacity of Senegalese prisons is about 7,300, but the number of detainees, both pretrial and post-conviction, was more than 13,000 in September 2023. Former detainees and their relatives described to Human Rights Watch extremely overcrowded cells with inhumane conditions. In Dakar’s Rebeuss detention center, where pretrial detainees are held, detainees share every square meter of space, often unable to sit or lie down. Built in 1929 with capacity for 600 detainees, Rebeuss currently holds more than 3,000 pretrial detainees, over 700 of whom were arrested in connection with opposition-led demonstrations. “Our cell was so full that we did what we called ‘packaging,’ sleeping on our sides, stacked one beside the other, head-to-feet, until the ground surface of the cell was fully filled,” a former Rebeuss detainee said. “Some detainees had to push us to fit.” “We were 103 in the cell,” said Thioro Mandela Diouf, who spent 15 days at the women’s prison called Camp Penal in Dakar. “There was not enough space and we had to sleep head to foot. We had no proper sleeping material and for a pregnant woman like me, it was very challenging.” Hygiene and access to medical care are limited. Former detainees and their families complained of acute shortages of water, soap, and other sanitary supplies, as well as medicines in Rebeuss. “Some cells do not have internal toilet facilities so if you need to urinate, you use a bucket,” said a former detainee. “There is only one infirmary and all they have is Paracetamol,” a medicine used to treat fever and moderate pain. In October, there was a scabies outbreak in Rebeuss linked to unsanitary prison conditions. International law prohibits detention conditions that amount to inhumane or degrading treatment, a threshold that the overcrowding and lack of adequate basic services and dignity for detainees in Senegal’s pretrial detention facilities reaches, Human Rights Watch said. International human rights law, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, provides that anyone facing charges should be released prior to trial, except for exceptional circumstances set out in law. The sheer number of those in pretrial detention in Senegal, despite the lack of space and prison conditions, is itself evidence of abuse of pretrial detention authority. Those in pretrial detention should urgently be granted bail or provisional release, unless there are exceptional circumstances provided for in the law that justify continued detention. Those facing continued detention should be brought to trial promptly, and all politically motivated charges should be dropped. Torture in Detention The 28-year-old PASTEF member who was arrested on June 1 in Mbour, Thiès region, during a pro-opposition protest, described his treatment: A gendarme grabbed me from behind, 10 more gendarmes came and pushed me on the ground. One hit me with the bottom of his gun on my right temple, another kicked me with his boots on my right eye. They all beat me […]. Then, one said: ‘We are in the street, we could be seen, let’s take him to the brigade.’ They took me to the brigade, a building under construction. […] A lieutenant there said: ‘We are going to kill you today.’ […] They threw me face down on the floor, which was full of sand and cement, and hit my buttocks with wooden sticks, iron bars, electric cables, and truncheons for about one hour. Then, a female lieutenant poured water on me. […] When they were done, they put me in a police pick-up truck parked outside the brigade and surrounded by policemen. They said to the policemen: ‘Now, you can take your part.’ Several policemen beat the man in the police truck. A policeman took a metal bucket and told me to wear it like a cap, which I did, and then he took a stick and tapped over the bucket, and it made a high-pitched sound. […] Another policeman came with a knife […] and told me: ‘I will cut off your toes,’ but another said: ‘Guys, stop!’ and he gave me some water to drink. But then another policeman came and ordered me to do push-ups. When I got into the push-up position, he took a plastic bag wrapper and put it around my neck, and every time I got up for the push-ups he pulled and choked me. The man was detained for three days at the police station in Mbour and denied any medical care despite having very serious injuries. On June 4, he was taken to Mbour regional hospital for treatment, but doctors refused to give him any medical records. On June 9, he was taken before the prosecutor and transferred to Mbour prison. He was granted provisional release on June 23. On June 2, at about 11 p.m., Pape Abdoulaye Touré, a young political activist, was attacked by men he did not know in Dakar’s Liberté 6 neighborhood. During the assault, the victim said he saw two gendarmes patrolling the area and called for help. Gendarmes took him to the local brigade, and when they found a photograph of Sonko as background of his telephone, they started beating him. Human Rights Watch spoke to Touré’s lawyer and one of Touré’s friends and reviewed a 01:12-minute video showing Touré handcuffed, bleeding from his nose, and surrounded by at least five men wearing the uniforms of the Senegalese gendarmerie. In the video, gendarmes can be heard insulting and threatening Touré in Wolof, a language widely spoken in Senegal with phrases such as “you are a rat” and “let’s break his legs.” “He was savagely beaten by the gendarmes while in detention,” his lawyer said. “He suffered injuries, including a broken arm and a broken leg.” Charged with “acts likely to jeopardize public safety” and “insurrection,” Touré started a 22-day hunger strike in November to protest his detention. Since December 4, he has been held at the Special Pavilion of Le Dantec hospital in Dakar because of his deteriorating health. A friend who visited him there in late December said: He is physically and mentally very weak. He still suffers from the tortures he was inflicted. He told me that he was beaten everywhere in his body, that he was kicked, slapped, hit with the gendarmes’ boots on his head, eyes, and neck. He told me that the gendarmes poured water and sand on him. Crackdown on Media Arrests of Journalists and Social Media Activists On May 16, security forces arrested journalist Ndèye Maty Niang, also known as Maty Sarr Niang, at her home in Dakar and charged her with various offenses, including “calling for insurrection, violence, hatred,” following her posts on Facebook criticizing the Senegalese authorities. She remains in prison in Dakar. “Her lawyer filed two requests for provisional release, but both were rejected,” Niang’s mother said. “She is suffering in prison; she is in a cell with 62 other detainees. She is psychologically exhausted and now I take care of her three children.” On July 29, police arrested Pape Alé Niang, the editor of the news site Dakarmatin, on charges of “insurrection” at his home in Dakar, following comments he made in a live broadcast on his Facebook page about Sonko’s arrest on July 28, 2023. He was provisionally released after a 10-day hunger strike. This was the third time security forces arrested Niang since November 2022. Social media and television activist Pape Ibrahima Guèye, alias “Papito Kara,” 32, who was close to PASTEF and vocal in criticizing the government of Macky Sall, was arrested in Dakar in July 2022 for “spreading false news.” He had become very popular for his comical news reviews on social media and television. He was released under judicial supervision in January 2023, “but feared being arrested again, and so he decided to leave,” his brother said. According to his brother, he died on October 27, trying to reach the Canary Islands on a boat. “Someone who was in the boat with him and made it to Spain told me that he died … because of the cold and that they threw his body in the sea.” On November 13, gendarmes arrested Pape Sane, a journalist at the Walfadjri press group, on false news accusations. “I was held in custody for eight days, the first four days at the gendarmerie section in Colobane, and then at the central police station, before being granted provisional release,” he said. Sane is charged with "spreading false news" via a Facebook post, a repost of a 2021 article about General Augustin Tine, former commander of the National Gendarmerie, who had been relieved of his duties following the March 2021 protests in which several demonstrators died. Self-Censorship Journalists said they have been reluctant to criticize the government to avoid being labeled political opponents and targeted. “We are being extremely careful, we know we can end up in jail if we write something that the government dislikes,” said a newspaper journalist. “My boss constantly tells me to be careful about what I put in my articles.” “In the past two years we observed a pattern of growing intimidation and targeted attacks against independent journalists and media, as a result of which journalists increasingly practice self-censorship,” said Ibrahima Lissa Faye, director of the online media platform Pressafrik.com. “When journalists censor their own thoughts, media freedom is threatened.” Copyright 2024 Human Rights Watch

Heightened Oppression Worsens Humanitarian Crisis Photo taken on Dec. 22, 2022, from China's Dandong shows North Korean soldiers patrolling on a riverside in the border county of Uiju. © Kyodo via AP Images (Bangkok) – The North Korean government in 2023 continued to use the Covid-19 pandemic as a pretext to maintain “shoot on sight” orders on its northern border to restrict movement, maintain restrictions on trade, and strengthen ideological control, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2024. The government’s repressive policies deepened North Korea’s isolation while worsening the country’s humanitarian crisis. “The North Korean government still uses Covid-19 as an excuse to instil fear and further oppress the North Korean people by sealing the country’s borders, and restricting trade and access to food and other necessities,” said Lina Yoon, senior Korea researcher at Human Rights Watch. “North Korea should reopen its borders, allow aid organizations into the country, and accept monitored international assistance.” In the 740-page World Report 2024, its 34th edition, Human Rights Watch reviews human rights practices in more than 100 countries. In her introductory essay, Executive Director Tirana Hassan says that 2023 was a consequential year not only for human rights suppression and wartime atrocities but also for selective government outrage and transactional diplomacy that carried profound costs for the rights of those not in on the deal. But she says there were also signs of hope, showing the possibility of a different path, and calls on governments to consistently uphold their human rights obligations. The excessive and disproportionate restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic have compounded the effects of decades of the North Korean government’s violations of the rights to food, health, and to an adequate standard of living; and to freedom of expression and movement. The restrictions have severely impaired market activities that people need for their livelihood, and to obtain food and essential goods. As North Korea’s economic and humanitarian situation worsened, the government continued to spend vital resources to prioritize its weapons development program, conducting over 30 missile tests between January and September. The government also continued to ramp up ideological control during 2023, banning the use of language that has South Korean or foreign influence. Foreign media outlets reported public trials in the border region targeting youth watching unsanctioned videos and using South Korean language. The authorities maintained its 2020 shoot-on-sight orders for any person or animal trying to cross its northern border without authorization. While the government announced the reopening of its borders in August, most diplomats and international aid workers are still unable to return to the country. Although official trade increased, it remained lower than before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The authorities also increased controls on domestic distribution of products and unsanctioned market activity. Major droughts in March and April, and flooding in August, exacerbated the effects of these actions. © 2024 Human Rights Watch

By Marni Cordell. UN human rights experts have called for urgent and unrestricted humanitarian access to West Papua, where the Indonesian military is accused of targeting children. Illustration: Composite/Victoria Hart/Guardian Design ‘The kids had all been tortured’: The body of 17-year-old Wity Unue was brought back by the Indonesian military in a box, witnesses say. When soldiers couldn’t find his family, they burned the cardboard coffin, with his body inside, in a clearing at the end of a road in the remote highlands of West Papua. The high school student – a promising musician and songwriter – had been tortured and burned to death. His parents, who had recently fled a military crackdown in fear for their lives, were shocked and devastated when they found out, says Raga Kogeya, a West Papuan human rights activist. ‘The kids had all been tortured’, says Raga Kogeya, a West Papuan human rights activist Kogeya says that days earlier, on 7 April this year, Wity had been interrogated and detained along with three other boys and two young men under suspicion of being part of the troubled region’s rebel army. They were taken by special forces soldiers who rampaged through the West Papuan village of Kuyawage, burning down houses and a church and terrorising locals. Transported by helicopter to the regional military headquarters 100km away, the group were beaten and burnt so badly by their captors that they no longer looked human. Kogeya says Wity died a painful death in custody. The other five were only released after human rights advocates tipped off the local media. “The kids had all been tortured and they’d been tied up and then burned,” says Kogeya, who saw the surviving boys’ injuries first-hand on the day of their release. “[The military] had heated up machetes and knives and pressed it against their skin … They didn’t even look like humans. They were burnt from head to toe. They were in a really bad way.” Human rights advocates say the incident is one of many in recent years that go beyond a historical crossfire between the Indonesian military and West Papua’s rebel army, which regularly attacks and kills members of the Indonesian military and police. Last year UN human rights experts called for urgent and unrestricted humanitarian access to the region over serious concerns about “shocking abuses against Indigenous Papuans, including child killings, disappearances, torture and mass displacement of people”. Locals say civilians have increasingly become the target. ‘These are just kids’ When the military detains boys and young men in West Papua, they claim it’s because they are members of the West Papuan Liberation Army, or TPNPB, says Yones Douw, the head of the peace and justice department for the Kingmi church of Papua. “They say ‘oh we thought they were guerrillas’. But there’s no way that the guerrillas are walking around looking like schoolkids – that doesn’t happen,” he says. “The guerrillas are not walking around in the streets.” “This is happening to ordinary people – we’re being arrested and beaten. And these are just kids often; they’re not even out of high school yet. It’s really dangerous.” Nopinanus Kogoya, whose nephew was allegedly detained and tortured by the Indonesian military. The day before the boys’ detention, in the same region of Nduga, soldiers opened fire on a group of women and children returning with string bags filled with food from shopping in a neighbouring village, locals say. Those at the front of the group dropped to the ground in time but a teenage girl at the rear was shot. In a photo seen by Guardian Australia, the girl, whose name is Parina, lies on her side on a mat on the floor. She has a gaping wound in her lower back. Locals say she fled to a remote refugee camp with no electricity or healthcare services soon after – with the bullet still lodged inside her abdomen. Nopinanus Kogoya, an uncle of one of the tortured boys, says the attacks are proof that ordinary West Papuans are being deliberately targeted by the Indonesian military – not just caught in crossfire as soldiers wage war against the militants. “The military could tell that [the group of women and children] were not combatants,” Kogoya says. “And they still shot them. “They know we’re carrying vegetables not guns – so why are they shooting at us and why are they arresting us? “They’re hunting us in this inhumane way.” What is going on in West Papua? The former Dutch colony is just 250km from mainland Australia. It’s a short boat ride from the northern islands of the Torres Strait. But most Australians know little about the war that is raging there. The lack of knowledge is partly by design: very little about West Papua reaches the outside world because Indonesia tightly controls access for foreign journalists and human rights monitors. The region makes up the western half of the island of New Guinea to Australia’s north – the eastern half is the independent nation of Papua New Guinea. When the Netherlands began preparing for withdrawal in the 1950s, West Papuans pushed strongly for independence. As Melanesians, they see themselves as part of the Pacific, not south-east Asia. But their powerful neighbour had other ideas. Indonesia put pressure on the Netherlands to hand over the resource-rich region. When that didn’t work, it began to prepare for a full scale invasion. A ceasefire was brokered by the United Nations, and a UN-backed ballot was held in 1969, ostensibly to allow West Papuans to have their say on integration with Indonesia. But advocates say the “Act of Free Choice” was rigged from the start. Just 1,022 West Papuan leaders were handpicked by Indonesian officials to represent the entire population, and they were coerced and threatened at gunpoint to reject independence. In this environment, support for integration was unanimous. The result was rubber-stamped by the UN. Indigenous West Papuans continue to demand a real vote on self-determination, mostly through acts of civil disobedience such as raising the banned “Morning Star” flag. They pay a heavy price in police and military brutality, as well as long jail sentences, for their activism. “There are two students [currently] on trial for holding a flag,” says Douw, who also works with the investigations division of human rights organisation Elsham. “We have witnesses [in legal cases] being hunted. We have journalists being hunted.” But the region is also home to the TPNPB, which regularly launches attacks and engages in skirmishes with the Indonesian security forces. Under ‘complete military occupation’ In a photo that appears to have been taken by the military after Wity’s death, seen by Guardian Australia, his young face looks beaten and bruised. In another, a small group of friends stands in heavy rain at his gravesite. The youngest of five siblings, he loved playing traditional guitar and composing songs and was “always entertaining other people”, Kogeya says. He was “a lovely person [who was] always helping others”. Before he died, he helped evacuate a group of refugees on foot from an area that was under constant military attack. Kogeya is adamant he was not a member of the TPNPB. The regency of Nduga (pronounced: en-doo-ga), where Wity and his friends were from in the West Papuan highlands, is a stronghold of the TPNPB and a hotspot in the conflict. The area is under what locals describe as “complete [Indonesian] military occupation”. “We can’t do anything here,” says Nopinanus Kogoya. “People are even dying of hunger in the street because they can’t farm, they can’t go anywhere. We’re just completely, completely under the control of this fierce military occupation.” He says the military’s actions go far beyond what is required to contain the security situation and are often not just violent, but cruel. “They’ll kill livestock just for the hell of it – they just go and kill people’s pigs and cows. They’ve also raped women.” Human rights groups say the military buildup began in 2018, after the TPNPB killed 17 construction workers building a bridge in Nduga. The militants claimed the dead were military personnel disguised as civilians, but Human Rights Watch disputes this and says at least some of them were in fact ordinary Indonesian workers. Locals say the brutality escalated in February this year, when Phillip Mehrtens, a New Zealand pilot working for Indonesian airline Susi Air, was taken hostage and his plane burned by the rebel army at Nduga airport. The 37-year-old father and husband is still being held after negotiations broke down between his captors and the New Zealand government and Indonesian rescue missions failed. It is understood he hasn’t been harmed by the militants but he’s in a very remote area with no access to health services. In a proof-of-life video released by the militants in April, Mehrtens pleaded with the military to stop dropping bombs on the jungle camp where he’s being held. “Please, there is no need, it is dangerous for me and everybody here,” he said. “Thank you for your support.” Dozens of Indonesian soldiers have so far been killed by the TPNPB during the failed operations to rescue Mehrtens – and this in turn has led to more civilian deaths. In this undated photo released by the West Papua Liberation Army, Papuan separatist rebels pose with New Zealander Phillip Mehrtens (centre) at an undisclosed location. Photograph: West Papua Liberation Army/AP “The military operation to free him included Kopassus, and Kopassus are elite combat troops,” says Douw. “They shoot to kill – and they have killed [ordinary] people in this operation. “People are really afraid.” Australia seeks closer ties In August, Indonesian para raiders dropped from the sky above Shoalwater Bay in Queensland as part of Operation Talisman Sabre, a multi-country war games event. It was the first time that Indonesia had fully participated in the biennial exercise, and was a jarring sight for anyone who has followed the chequered history of military ties between the two countries. A spokesperson for the defence department told Guardian Australia that “Indonesia is one of Australia’s closest and most important defence partners”. But it hasn’t always been that way, according to Donald Rothwell, a professor of international law at ANU. Indonesian air force personnel during Exercise Talisman Sabre at Shoalwater Bay this year. Photograph: LAC Adam Abela/LCPL Riley Blennerhassett The two countries spectacularly fell out over Australia’s involvement in the intervention in Timor-Leste in 1999, and military cooperation was temporarily suspended. The relationship has been tested numerous times since. Now, Australia is seeking to forge closer military ties in negotiations on a “defence cooperation agreement” – a “treaty-level instrument” that will be legally enforceable before an international court, says Rothwell. Australia is seeking to strengthen ties with Indonesia, despite new reports of brutality by the military — including the torture and murder of civilians — in West Papua. Defence minister Richard Marles has said the agreement will be “ambitious”, with “a high level of cooperation, befitting what should be the security relationship between two friendly countries who are neighbours with each other”. “We want to see greater opportunities for our defence forces to work together, to exercise together, to use each other’s facilities,” he said. Australia also provides weapons and other tools of war to Indonesia, including a recent shipment of 15 Bushmaster armoured vehicles, intended for use by Indonesian special forces during peacekeeping missions. The defence minister and alleged war crimes In February, there was another first: a photo of the Indonesian defence minister, Prabowo Subianto, in Canberra’s Parliament House, standing alongside Australian foreign minister Penny Wong and Marles. The former commander of the special forces has not always been a welcome guest in Australia because of his alleged involvement in some of the most deadly military-sponsored crimes in Indonesian history. (From left) Australian defence minister Richard Marles and foreign minister Penny Wong and Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi and defence minister Prabowo Subianto at Parliament House in Canberra in February. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian In the 1980s and 90s, Prabowo was allegedly involved in the planning and execution of numerous targeted killings of East Timorese civilians, including a 1983 massacre that killed hundreds, mostly men, in Kraras – since known as “the village of widows”. Prabowo did not respond to questions from Guardian Australia but has previously called claims about his involvement in Kraras “unproven allegations, innuendoes and third-hand reports”. In 1998, he was allegedly involved in the kidnapping and disappearance of more than 20 Indonesian student activists, many of whom remain missing. Soon after he was discharged from the army for his alleged involvement in the abductions. He has never been prosecuted. In January, President Joko Widodo made a rare public apology for a number of historical “gross human rights violations” in Indonesia, including this one. For many years Prabowo was reportedly on an unofficial visa blacklist in Australia, and was banned from entering the US. But his first run for president in 2014 – and his subsequent appointment to the ministry by Widodo – changed that. He is now making another tilt for president for when Widodo’s term ends in 2024. Andreas Harsono, who is Indonesia researcher for Human Rights Watch, acknowledges foreign governments face a difficult task when engaging with the alleged war criminal. “It’s unavoidable because he’s the defence minister but there are many things that governments can do to send a message that they do not approve of his track record,” he says. “For instance, they can meet him somewhere other than their headquarters, or decline photo opportunities with him. “Whether the Australian government meets with him or not, they should be acknowledging the serious human rights abuses he has been involved in.” At a June press conference in Jakarta, Marles waxed lyrical about a recent visit with his counterpart to the Royal Military College, Duntroon, where Prabowo trained as a cadet in 1974. It was a “poignant moment” for Australian officers to “see what happens to officer cadets who do their training at Duntroon”, he said. A defence department spokesperson said Marles engaged with Prabowo “as a senior member of a democratically elected government”. “The Australian government has regular and open discussions with Indonesia on a range of issues including the Papua provinces and human rights,” the spokesperson said. “Our bilateral defence activities incorporate training on professionalism and the laws of armed conflict.” A message for Australia The year after Prabowo trained as a young cadet in Australia, Father Dorman Wandikbo, the president of the evangelical church of Indonesia and a veteran of the civil independence struggle, fled military violence in his home town of Wamena. He says he spent five years as a refugee in the jungle before joining the priesthood, and later, nine months in jail for a speech in which he urged West Papuans to rise up against injustice. West Papuan priest Father Dorman Wandikbo in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Photograph: Zelda Grimshaw/The Guardian In West Papua, Prabowo is “greatly feared and shunned”, Wandikbo tells Guardian Australia from Port Vila, Vanuatu, where he is taking part in a meeting of civil society delegates working on a roadmap for West Papuan independence. He has a stark message for the Australian government: “Stop the military aid, stop selling [military] equipment to Indonesia and stop training the special forces and the police from Indonesia.” “Australia wants this close relationship [with the Indonesian military] because they think they’re protecting Australia’s security from terrorism,” he says. “But those weapons are not being used to protect Australia from terrorism. Those weapons are not supporting Australia’s security. Those bullets, those guns, those military vehicles are ending up in Papua and harming Papuans.” Wandikbo says there are two things he asks Australians to do when he talks to them about the conflict. “One: ask that [Indonesia] let foreign journalists into Papua; and two: ask that they allow the UN Human Rights Commission to enter West Papua. Those are the two things we want the solidarity movement to press for.” Parina’s condition unknown Without access to doctors or medicine, injured teenager Parina is likely to be in a dire condition. No one Guardian Australia spoke to knows whether her bullet wound festered or healed; whether she lived or died. Locals say the remote refugee camp she fled to is completely inaccessible because of military checkpoints and snipers. Eneko Bahabol, who does advocacy work with refugees in the highlands, says in his visits to similar camps he’s seen children, women and the elderly dying, as well as more than a dozen untreated serious diseases – pneumonia, rheumatic fever and amoebic dysentery among them. West Papuan activist Eneko Bahabol says West Papuans in refugee camps are living in dire conditions. Photograph: Zelda Grimshaw/The Guardian Between 60,000 and 100,000 people from the West Papuan highlands are displaced, according to the UN. Bahabol says many live in poverty in nearby towns, with no money or access to land to grow food, while others have fled to camps in the jungle. “We’re pretty worried about these refugees because as time goes on, their condition is worsening and the longer they are in refugee camps, the worse the outcomes [will be] for them,” he tells Guardian Australia. “Their physical condition is pretty bad. “All of the refugees in camps are saying the same two things: we want to go home, and we want the military out,” he says. “They also [say] the TPNPB and the Indonesian army have to come to some kind of agreement about ending the conflict. “They’re not going to feel OK to go home unless there is an agreement about [that].” In recent weeks, the Indonesian military has launched a new offensive against the militants in the neighbouring regency of Yahukimo. Locals say at least five civilians have been killed. The military did not respond to questions from Guardian Australia. In Port Vila, Wandikbo says what’s happening in West Papua is a slow-motion genocide. “We feel, as Papuans, if we stay within the nation of Indonesia, we will be finished,” he says. “We will be wiped out.” Translation by Zelda Grimshaw Research for this article was supported by a grant from the Melbourne Press Club’s Michael Gordon Fellowships program © 2024 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies.

January 26, 2024 by Nay San Lwin | co-founder, free rohingya coalition In recent weeks, Buthidaung Township in Rakhine State, Myanmar, has been cut off from mobile and internet communication, rendering the community incommunicado. The situation escalated when the Arakan Army entered Hpon Nyo Lake village in Buthidaung Township. Rakhine families fled the village, knowing they would not be safe anymore. On January 25th, 2024, the situation deteriorated significantly as the Myanmar military launched artillery attacks on the village, resulting in the injury of at least 12 Rohingya villagers, including a pregnant woman. In the evening, Rohingya villagers went to the village administrator, who is of Rakhine ethnicity, begging to request that the Arakan Army not take shelter inside the village and the schools. However, the village administrator told them to request this from the Arakan Army’s commander. They did so, but the request wasn’t honoured. The following day, January 26th, 2024, there was a further escalation, with continuous artillery bombardment leading to the tragic death of at least a dozen Rohingya and the injury of over 30 villagers. Injured villagers managed to reach downtown Buthidaung, where they were admitted to the hospital for medical attention. Due to the unavailability of mobile networks, the exact number of casualties remains uncertain. Sources indicate that while the Arakan Army fired a limited number of shots, the Myanmar military disproportionately responded. There was certainly intentional targeting of Rohingya villages. As of now, more than 80% of villagers have fled the village and are taking shelter wherever they can. Civilians must be protected under international laws. The deliberate engagement of conflict within civilian villages violates these principles. I appeal to those in contact with either the Myanmar military or the Arakan Army to urgently address this issue and refrain from creating battlegrounds within civilian areas, regardless of ethnic background. nslwin@rohingyablogger.com WhatsApp/Signal at +49 176 62139138

Iran strikes targets in northern Iraq and Syria as regional tensions escalate Associated Press January 16, 2024 BY QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA AND SALAR SALIM This image taken from video provided by Rudaw TV shows smoke rising from a building hit by a strike in Irbil, Iraq, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. Iran has announced that it launched strikes against a “spy headquarters and the gathering of anti-Iranian terrorist groups” shortly after missiles hit an area near the U.S. consulate in Irbil, the seat of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region. (Rudaw TV via AP) IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — Iran fired missiles late Monday at what it claimed were Israeli “spy headquarters” near the U.S. Consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, and at targets linked to the extremist group Islamic State in northern Syria. Four civilians were killed and six injured after missiles hit an upscale area near the consulate in Irbil, the seat of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, according to the security council of the Kurdish regional government. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that it had hit a headquarters of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, in the Kurdish region of Iraq. Another statement said it had fired a number of ballistic missiles at “terrorist operations,” including Islamic State targets, in Syria and destroyed them. Israel did not immediately acknowledge the attack in Irbil and its embassy in Washington did not return a request for comment on the Iranian allegation regarding the Mossad. The strikes come at a time of heightened tensions in the region and fears of a wider spillover of the ongoing war in Gaza. Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, Iranian-backed militias in Iraq have launched near-daily drone attacks on bases housing U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, which the groups have said was in retaliation for Washington’s support of Israel, and in an attempt to force U.S. troops to leave the region. The United States strongly condemns “Iran’s reckless missile strikes” in Irbil, said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. He said the attacks “undermine Iraq’s stability.” A U.S. defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details that had not been made public said the U.S. tracked the missiles, which hit in northern Iraq and northern Syria, and no U.S. facilities were struck or damaged in the attacks. The official said initial indications were that the strikes were “reckless and imprecise.” However, the full extent of the damage from the strikes could not be independently assessed. An Iraqi security official said Irbil was targeted with “several” ballistic missiles but did not give further details. This image taken from video provided by Rudaw TV shows authorities and others near the site where missiles hit in an area near the U.S. consulate in Irbil, Iraq, Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. Iran has announced that it launched strikes against a “spy headquarters and the gathering of anti-Iranian terrorist groups” shortly after missiles hit an area near the U.S. consulate in Irbil, the seat of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region. (Rudaw TV via AP) An official with an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia said 10 missiles fell in the area near the U.S. Consulate. He said the missiles were launched by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity. Peshraw Dizayi, a prominent local businessman with a portfolio that included real estate and security services companies, was killed in one of the Irbil strikes along with members of his family, according to a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, by Mashan al-Jabouri, a former Iraqi member of parliament. Al-Jabouri said that one of the missiles had fallen on Dizayi’s “palace, next to my house, which is under construction on the road to the Salah al-Din resort.” Other regional political figures also confirmed Dizayi’s death. In 2022, Iran claimed responsibility for a missile barrage that struck in the same area near the sprawling U.S. Consulate complex in Irbil, saying it was retaliation for an Israeli strike in Syria that killed two members of its Revolutionary Guard. Iran’s strike in northern Syria late Monday came after the Islamic State group claimed responsibility earlier this month for two suicide bombings targeting a commemoration for an Iranian general slain in a 2020 U.S. drone strike. The attack in Kerman killed at least 84 people and wounded an additional 284 at a ceremony honoring Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Last month, Iran accused Israel of killing a high-ranking Iranian general, Seyed Razi Mousavi, in an airstrike on a Damascus neighborhood. Associated Press staff writers Tara Copp in Washington and Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report. Copyright 2024 Associated Press

The systematic discriminatory policies of the Taliban against Hazara and Shia communities in Afghanistan have led to an increase in insecurity incidents affecting them. The Taliban, wielding considerable authority, have been abusing their power against these minority groups. Evidence from Afghanistan demonstrates that the Taliban have been implementing methods of humiliation and dehumanization against the Shia population, thereby enabling the targeted killing and destruction of Hazara and Shia communities in Afghanistan. A recent suicide attack against Hazaras in the west of Kabul (Dasht-i-Barchi) exemplifies the depth of animosity that the Taliban has spread against innocent people. Numerous similar attacks have occurred against civilians in western Kabul, where Hazaras and Shias reside. Among the Shia minority groups, eyewitness accounts and evidence illustrate numerous instances of mistreatment. For instance, when seeking marriage certificates, the Taliban insulted and lashed some individuals. One woman recounted how a Taliban soldier had looked at her and stated, "You know that you Shia people are ‘infidels’," declaring that Shia marriages are void and illegal, and that children from these unions are illegitimate. Furthermore, a Taliban judge, responsible for signing marriage certificates, claimed that there were legitimate reasons to kill Shias because they are not Muslims. Furthermore, the Taliban recently imposed a ban on marriages between Shias and Sunnis, jeopardizing the lives of hundreds of families who have formed marital unions across these sectarian lines. Nevertheless, Taliban also recently banned the marriage of Shias and Sunnies together it endangers the lives of hundred families who got married together and made families. Aliya Azizi was victim of force marriage with one of Taliban’s Leader Another example of the Taliban's discriminatory policies is the systematic rape of girls from the Shia and Hazara minority groups in Afghanistan. Eyewitness reports indicate that the Taliban have arrested over 800 women from Faryab, Jawzjan, Samangan, Takhar, Parwan, Kapisa, and Kabul provinces. These women are part of religious and Dari-speaking minority groups in Afghanistan. The Security Commander of Taliban in Takhar Province, this man is one of the rapists among Taliban’s Leader These women have reportedly been subjected to gang rape by Taliban soldiers while in captivity. Tragically, some of these women became severely ill after enduring these horrific assaults and were subsequently killed by Taliban soldiers. Additionally, there are reports of Taliban forces invading homes in the northern provinces of Afghanistan, where they have raped women and girls in front of their families before proceeding to kill them. The Victim of Rape by Taliban in Takhar Province On the other hand, the Taliban have been systematically abusing children, with reports of children falling victim to sexual violence and rape at the hands of Taliban soldiers. Unfortunately, due to the rooted hostility of the Taliban towards the Shia religious minority groups, Shia children are often the first victims of these heinous acts. Moreover, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran recently announced that "the Taliban are the enemies of ISIS and are fighting against ISIS." This political statement could potentially serve as a means to gradually whitewash the actions of the Taliban. However, factual evidence demonstrates that the Taliban have been implementing anti-Shia policies similar to those carried out by ISIS in Syria. Taliban dehumanize and humiliate Hazaras / Photo Credit: Koorosh Aria Nejhad The dire security situation facing the Hazaras and Shia minority groups in Afghanistan serves as a warning sign for the potential of genocide. Urgent and concerted action from the United Nations is imperative to support and protect these vulnerable communities in Afghanistan. Measures must be taken to prevent the escalation of violence and ensure the safety and well-being of the Hazaras and Shias in the region. Genocide Watch

Jan. 10, 2024 By Isabel Kershner and John Eligon Israel has categorically rejected the allegations being brought this week in the International Court of Justice by South Africa. The Peace Palace which houses the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. South Africa has brought a case accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and is asking the court to order Israel to halt its attacks. Credit...Peter Dejong/Associated Press The International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ highest judicial body, will begin hearings this week in a case brought by South Africa that accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. The hearings, the first step in a lengthy process should the case go forward, will be the first time that Israel has chosen to defend itself, in person, in such a setting, attesting to the gravity of the indictment and the high stakes for its international reputation and standing. Genocide, the term first employed by a Polish lawyer of Jewish descent in 1944 to describe the Nazis’ systematic murder of about six million Jews and others based on their ethnicity, is among the most serious crimes of which a country can be accused. In its submission to the court, South Africa cited that lawyer, Raphael Lemkin, expounding on the definition of genocide. South Africa, whose post-apartheid government has long supported the Palestinian cause, accused Israel of actions in Gaza against Hamas that are “genocidal in character.” It says Israel has killed Palestinian civilians, inflicted serious bodily and mental harm, and created for the residents of Gaza “conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.” More than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed over the past three months, a majority of them women and children, according to health officials in Gaza. And most of the enclave’s 2.2 million residents have been displaced since the war began, increasing the danger of disease and hunger, according to international organizations. The allegation, which Israel categorically denies, is laden with a particular significance in Israel, a country founded in the wake of the near wholesale destruction of European Jewry and that soon after became a haven for Jews expelled by the hundreds of thousands from Arab lands. Israel, a signatory to the 1948 international Convention against Genocide, is keeping the details of its defense for the court. But Israeli leaders say South Africa’s allegations pervert the meaning of genocide and the purpose of the convention. A more fitting case, they say, could be brought against Hamas, an internationally labeled terrorist organization that is the target of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. A woman running to her home in Ashkelon, Israel, moments after a rocket siren was sounded during the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. Credit...Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times “There’s nothing more atrocious and preposterous than this claim,” President Isaac Herzog of Israel said on Tuesday. “Actually, our enemies, the Hamas, in their charter, call for the destruction and annihilation of the state of Israel, the only nation state of the Jewish people.” Ayelet Shaked, a former Israeli justice minister, called the genocide allegations a “blood libel,” a reference to the centuries-old antisemitic trope that Jews kill non-Jewish babies to drink their blood, and asserted that the South African government was using the case to distract its own public from their country’s domestic problems. The International Court of Justice adjudicates disputes between states, and the initial hearings in the Israel case will take place on Thursday and Friday in The Hague. The case brings to a public forum the popular condemnation of Israel’s conduct of the war in much of the developing world. In December, the U.N. General Assembly passed a nonbinding resolution, put forth by the Arab Group and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, calling for a cease-fire; and the Security Council passed a binding resolution, also promoted by Arab countries, calling for the delivery of more humanitarian aid. Mourners at the funeral of multiple members of one family, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis in October. Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 22,000 Palestinians. Credit...Yousef Masoud for The New York Times South Africa filed an 84-page application to the court in December laying out its claims and citing statements by Israeli officials, which it says “constitute clear direct and public incitement to genocide, which has gone unchecked and unpunished.” Israelis have pointed out that some of the evidence South Africa cites is slim. Among the examples is a comment made in a television interview by an Israeli pop star, Eyal Golan, who said Israel should “erase” Gaza. In a statement released late Tuesday, Israel’s attorney general and state prosecutor said any calls for intentional harm to civilians may amount to the criminal offense of incitement. “Currently, several such cases are being examined by Israeli law enforcement authorities,” the statement added. South Africans have long empathized with the Palestinian people, equating their life in Gaza and under the occupation in the West Bank, with the oppression suffered under apartheid. Nelson Mandela gave explicit voice to this connection, saying in a 1997 speech, “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” That sentiment is driving South Africa’s case, said Ronald Lamola, the country’s justice minister, who will lead the delegation at The Hague. “We do believe that it is important for a state like South Africa that has experienced apartheid discrimination to stand firm with the people of Palestine,” he said in an interview. Israel, for its part, says it did not choose war but was forced into it after Hamas led a cross-border assault against it on Oct. 7. About 1,200 people, most of them civilians, were killed in the attack, according to the Israeli authorities, making it the deadliest single day in Israel’s 75-year history, and for Jews since the Holocaust. More than 100 of the 240 captives seized on Oct. 7 are still being held in Gaza. An Israeli family grieving during a funeral for victims of Hamas’s attack in October last year. Israel says it did not choose the path of war but the incursion by Hamas forced the country into conflict. Credit...Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times U.N. rapporteurs said in a statement on Monday that the Hamas-led rampage, which included murder, hostage-taking, rape and mutilation, could amount to war crimes and, given their scope, perhaps also crimes against humanity. A final ruling could take years, but as an emergency provision, South Africa is calling on the court to order Israel to immediately halt its military operation. “All that South Africa has to do to win a provisional measures order is convince the court that its charge of genocide is ‘plausible,’” said William Schabas, a former chairman of a U.N. commission of inquiry into Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip in 2014, who is a professor of international law at Middlesex University London. South Africa, Professor Schabas said, had so far only set out “a skeleton of its case,” and it would be months before it gathers all of its evidence. “Only then can we really assess the full strength of the South African case,” he said. The court’s decisions are typically binding, though it has few means of enforcing them. In 2004, the court issued a nonbinding opinion that Israel’s construction of its security barrier inside the territory of the occupied West Bank was illegal and that it should be dismantled. Twenty years later, the system of walls and fences is still standing. Even if Israel was to comply with an injunction, Hamas, which is not bound by the laws of war, would not be compelled to similarly stop fighting. Israel’s military insists that it is prosecuting the war in line with international law. Officials point to the millions of messages, sent by various means, telling Gaza’s civilians to evacuate to safer areas ahead of bombings, and say they are constantly working to increase the amount of aid entering Gaza. Displaced Palestinians walking from the north of the Gaza Strip to its south in November. Israel points to its warnings to Palestinians ahead of bombing campaigns as a sign that it is abiding by international law. Credit...Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times The death toll in Gaza, they say, is attributable in part to the use by Hamas of residential areas and civilian structures, including schools and hospitals, to launch attacks, store weapons and hide fighters. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief spokesman for the military, categorically refuted the genocide accusation and said the court should instead focus on how the war started on Oct. 7. “We were the ones who were butchered,” Admiral Hagari said. In Israel, the case is being dealt with at the highest levels. The government has appointed one of the country’s most prominent jurists, Aharon Barak, as the ad hoc judge to join the court on its behalf. (To hear the Gaza case, the court’s regular 15-judge panel will be expanded to 17, with one additional judge appointed by each side). Mr. Barak was given the assignment even though he criticized Israel’s right-wing government last year over a planned judicial overhaul. A retired Israeli Supreme Court president, Mr. Barak is a Holocaust survivor who fled Nazi-occupied Lithuania as a boy. Aharon Barak, a former president of Israel’s Supreme Court and a Holocaust survivor, has been tapped to represent the nation on the panel of judges in the International Court of Justice case. Credit...Avishag Shaar-Yashuv for The New York Times Israel’s legal team at The Hague will be led by Malcolm Shaw, a British expert chosen for his experience in litigation at the World Court. The South African team will be led by John Dugard, a highly regarded scholar of international law and a former United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories. In a statement, Hamas welcomed South Africa’s decision to bring the case, and called on “all countries to submit similar files and requests to competent national and international courts against this Nazi entity,” referring to Israel. The United States, Israel’s most important ally, denounced South Africa’s petition. John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, described it as “meritless, counterproductive, completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.” While the South African government maintains that it is pursuing its case to stop a genocide, analysts say officials were more likely motivated by domestic and diplomatic political pressures. In the two years that Russia has pursued its war in Ukraine, South Africa has vigorously resisted condemning Russia, a crucial ally. In taking that stance, South African officials often pointed to what they say is a double standard: American officials demanded support for Ukraine’s sovereignty but paid little attention to Palestinian demands, they said. “South Africa wanted to make a very clear point — to point at these contradictions in the global, institutional, multilateral order,” said Priyal Singh, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, a think tank. Support for the Palestinians has long been a popular rallying point in South Africa, and Mr. Singh said, politicians for the governing African National Congress are exploiting that support ahead of an important national election this year. Patrick Kingsley, Marlise Simons and Myra Noveck contributed reporting Isabel Kershner reported from Jerusalem and John Eligon from Johannesburg Isabel Kershner, a correspondent in Jerusalem, has been reporting on Israeli and Palestinian politics since 1990. Her latest book is “The Land of Hope and Fear: Israel’s Battle for its Inner Soul.” More about Isabel Kershner John Eligon is the Johannesburg bureau chief for The Times, covering a wide range of events and trends that influence and shape the lives of ordinary people across southern Africa. Copyright 2024 The New York Times Company