Pastoralists and their cattle in Sokoto district in north-west Nigeria. (Luis Tato/AFP via Getty Images) As attacks continue unabated against Christian villages in Nigeria’s North and Middle Belts, a partner of UK-based Release International believes the violence has the hallmarks of an undeclared jihad. Rev Hassan John, a Nigerian journalist, analyst and partner of Release, is speaking at live conference events from November 2 – 5 onViolent Christian Persecution in Nigeria. The November 5 event will be live-streamed for public viewing. Details are available from the Release International website. Jihad Heavily armed Fulani militants have been driving out Christian villagers in what some fear is a revival of the Fulani jihad of the 1800s. But a major difference today is the use of deadly assault rifles and machine guns. And the latest weapon in the militants’ armoury is a chemical to accelerate the burning down of Christian villages, according to Hassan John, a partner of Release International, which supports persecuted Christians around the world. ‘They are using the chemical in petrol bombs,’ he says. ‘We are in the middle of the rainy season now, but this burns even in the rain, and when they throw it into the building it burns right down to the cement.’ Rev Hassan John, who works with Release to help pastors in communities under attack, has seen evidence of this chemical in use. ‘It doesn’t just burn the metal roofing, it peels away the plaster on the buildings.’ He believes the ongoing attacks are part of an undeclared jihad against Christians in Nigeria. ‘There is a history of jihad and conquest. We see the same modus operandi as in the jihadi conquest of the 1800s playing out all over again.’ Scale of violence The scale of the attacks is alarming. ·  According to Genocide Watch, more than 5,100 Nigerians were killed in violent attacks in less than a year ·  The NGO Intersociety estimates: ‘a daily average of about five Christian deaths’ ·  In 2019, Intersociety calculates between 1,000 and 1,200 Christians were killed by Fulani militias, and ·  According to The Global Terrorism Index (2019) Fulani militants killed more than 2,000 in 2018 alone – making them six times deadlier than Boko Haram terrorists Evidence of a religious dimension to the violence includes the targeting of pastors and churches, and the renaming of captured villages with Islamic names. ‘Blind eye’ Yet the West, Hassan John believes, is turning a blind eye to the religious dimension for fear of being labeled Islamophobic. ‘In the West, people are weary of any conflict that has to do with religion, that mentions Islam or Muslims. That is understandable, coming from the Iraq war and the issue of Islamophobia.’ The West often regards conflict through a filter of secularism. ‘But Nigerians don’t think secular,’ says Hassan John. ‘We think religion.’ He traces the rise of the violence to the adoption of sharia (Islamic law) by 12 states in the north in the 2000s. Because of this blind spot to the religious dimension, he believes the West persists in characterizing the conflict as a tribal clash over resources, brought about by climate change. But he dismisses that as ‘simplistic’. ‘These attacks destroy villages and kill women and children at night. If it was just a skirmish, how do you explain the death of predominantly women and children? ‘If it was just a clash between Fulani herders and farmers why would they attack a church and set it ablaze and target church leaders and kill them? ‘Those who try to dismiss this as an economic struggle over resources brought by climate change have a lot of explaining to do.’ Religious dimension The US State Department has designated Nigeria as ‘a country of particular concern’ for violations of religious freedom. Its 2020 Nigeria report declares: ‘There were multiple reports of criminal attacks on religious and traditional leaders and houses of worship. In the surge of hundreds of kidnappings in 2019, media reported numerous incidents of kidnappings for ransom and the killing of Protestant and Catholic priests.’ Hassan John believes the violence against Christians has become a genocide-in-the-making. Genocide ‘Many are describing this as an unfolding genocide. People are dying every day. How many more need to die before the international community recognize this as genocide?’ And he warns that Nigeria is not doing enough to protect its vulnerable Christian communities that are under attack. 'Lack of security is forcing villagers to take up arms for their own protection, which can create a vicious circle of attacks and reprisals. ‘But as long as people feel insecure and the government does not provide protection they will protect themselves.’ Rev Hassan John warns that lawlessness is increasing as heavily armed Fulani militants turn to kidnapping and crime. ‘There are now so many of them with AK-47s they have gone into banditry and kidnapping. When they are not attacking villages, they are stopping cars and kidnapping people to get money.’ Release International has designated Nigeria a country of special concern. CEO Paul Robinson says: ‘Scarcely a week goes by without reports of attacks against Christian villages. We visit the victims in the displacement camps, many of whom, including children, have appalling machete wounds.' Investigate ‘We call on the international community to investigate the roots of this growing violence, which is looking increasingly like an undeclared jihad and a genocide-in-the-making.’ The Rev Hassan John is the key speaker at Violent Christian Persecution in Nigeria, a series of Zoom conferences being staged by Release International in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England from November 2. Tickets are available from the Release International website. Hassan John’s talk will be streamed live on November 5 via Release’s Facebook and YouTube channels from 7.30pm. This is a public event which can be watched by all without prior registration. More details from: https://releaseinternational.org/events/event/rev-hassan-john-speaker-tour-ni/ Release International is working in Nigeria to provide training, support and trauma counselling to attack victims. Through its international network, Release is active in some 25 countries around the world, supporting pastors, Christian prisoners and their families; supplying Christian literature and Bibles, and working for justice. Posted by Release International on November 2, 2020. Posted by Keep The Faith on November 9, 2020. You can now watch the event here on Release International's YouTube channel. Copyright © 2020 Keep The Faith © 2020. All rights reserved (Release International)

NEWS RELEASE For Immediate Release Contact: contact@east-turkistan.net | +1 (202) 599-2244, Ext: 1 www.east-turkistan.net Photo Credit: International Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) WASHINGTON: The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) has urged the international criminal court’s chief prosecutor to accept the complaint by the East Turkistan Government in Exile and the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement alleging genocide by China. The complaint, backed by more than 60 parliamentarians from 16 countries, says the Chinese government may be committing genocide and other crimes against humanity against the Uyghur and other Turkic peoples in East Turkistan. “We thank IPAC for signing the letter urging the ICC to accept our complaint against China,” said Salih Hudayar, Prime Minister for the East Turkistan Government in Exile.  “We also call on countries outside of IPAC and member states of the ICC to support our case and recognize China’s atrocities as genocide against Uyghur and other Turkic peoples in East Turkistan. The East Turkistan Government in Exile and the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement will be holding a news conference in Washington, DC, and live streaming on Tuesday, November 10. WHAT: News Conference WHO:  East Turkistan Government in Exile, East Turkistan National Awakening Movement WHEN: Tuesday, November 10  from 10 – 11 AM WHERE: 1325 G St NW, Suite 500 Conference Room, Washington DC 20005, and live streaming at https://www.facebook.com/ETAwakening and Twitter @ETAwakening Available for interviews are Prime Minister Salih Hudayar of the East Turkistan Government in Exile and internment camp survivor Zumret Dawut. ICC Complaint receives global support The IPAC has received broad cross-party support in several countries, including the former UK Conservative party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the Australian Labour senator Kimberley Kitching and Margarete Bause of the German Green party. The letter states: “The ICC has a unique ability to adjudicate on alleged genocide and crimes against humanity internationally. We call on the ICC to play its part in ensuring that the perpetrators of the most egregious human rights abuses are held accountable and prevented from acting with impunity.” The Labour peer Lady Helena Kennedy QC, the IPAC co-chair and director of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, said: “Mounting evidence points to the most horrific abuses against Uighurs and other minorities in the Xinjiang region. The international criminal court must fully examine the allegations brought before it and, if warranted, make every effort to ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice.” Rodney Dixon, the barrister, leading on the detailed legalities of the claim, said: “The support for our complaint shown by the IPAC parliamentarians is very significant. The prosecutor should feel encouraged that so many parliamentarians from other ICC member states believe she should open an investigation into the Chinese government officials for the atrocities being committed against the Uighur and other Turkic people. “For too long, nothing of substance has been done to bring justice to those who are suffering on a daily basis at the hands of the Chinese government. This is a breakthrough and momentous opportunity which we urge the ICC prosecutor to pursue without delay. This chance should not be squandered.” Background In July, a team of London-based lawyers representing the East Turkistan Government in Exile and the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement filed the ICC complaint against Beijing for pursuing the repatriation of thousands of Uyghurs through unlawful arrests in or deportation from Cambodia and Tajikistan. The lawyers’ 80-page filing includes a list of more than 30 Chinese officials they said were responsible for the campaign, including Xi Jinping, the Communist Party leader. Over recent years, Mr. Xi’s policies have put Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples in East Turkistan under a pervasive net of surveillance, detention, social re-engineering, organ harvesting, and forced sterilization. Over three million ethnic Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples have been held in internment camps in the region, drawing growing global condemnation. In May of 2018, Randall Schriver of the United States Department of Defense repeatedly said, “likely closer to three million citizens” were imprisoned in these camps. https://east-turkistan.net/uyghur-icc-genocide-complaint-backed-by-60-parliamentarians-in-16-countries/ Copyright © 2004-2020 East Turkistan Government-in-Exile

Agathe Habyarimana, la veuve de l'ancien président rwandais, soupçonnée d'être impliquée dans le génocide de 1994, a été entendue par la justice française ce mardi 3 novembre. Une audition rarissime dans le cadre de l'enquête sur le rôle joué par l'ancien gendarme Paul Barril à l'époque des massacres. Publié par RFI le 4 novembre 2020. Le nouveau palais de justice de Paris. (REUTERS/Benoit Tessier) Cela faisait des années qu'on n’avait plus vu Agathe Habyarimana en public et ce mardi, elle s'est donc présentée au tribunal de Paris. Le pas lent, mais déterminé, Agathe Habyarimana, 78 ans, est arrivée au tribunal de Paris. Chapeau, châle et long manteau beige, elle s’est laissée guider par son avocat jusqu'au bureau du juge d’instruction. Elle en est ressortie cinq heures plus tard. Une audition sous le statut de témoin assisté, non pas pour évoquer son rôle dans le génocide, un rôle supposé déterminant, mais pour parler de celui du capitaine Barril. Il a été question des liens entre la famille Habyarimana et l'ancien gendarme, a expliqué son avocat à la sortie. Selon lui, Agathe Habyarimana a raconté comment l'ancien gendarme de l'Élysée lui avait offert « son aide pour enquêter sur l'attentat du 6 avril à une époque où aucune investigation n'était lancée ni possible au Rwanda ». Une aide gratuite a précisé la veuve. Paul Barril fait l'objet d'une enquête pour « complicité de génocide ». L’ex-militaire, reconverti dans les années 1980 dans la sécurité auprès de chefs d'État africains, est soupçonné d'avoir fourni des armes au gouvernement intérimaire rwandais, en mai 1994, en violation de l'embargo des Nations unies. Un contrat de formation militaire et de conseil portant sur trois millions de dollars. Entendu par le juge en mai dernier, l'ancien gendarme âgé de 74 ans et atteint de la maladie de Parkinson conteste les faits. © 2020 Copyright RFI - Tous droits réservés.

From 1915 - 1922, Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were victims of genocide. They endured systematic policies of deportation and extermination. In 1918, Armenian forces halted the Turkish invasion at the Battle of Sardarabad and created the First Republic of Armenia. The First Republic’s policies were discriminatory against non-Armenians. The state systematically expelled Muslim Azerbaijani and Kurdish minorities. Armenian forces under the Dashnaktsutyun party tormented Azerbaijani and Kurdish people and burned villages from 1918 to 1921. In March 1918, Armenian nationalists, alongside Russian and Bolshevik allies killed over 10,000 Azerbaijanis in Baku during the “March Days.” These massacres are still a source of Azerbaijani anger toward Armenians. After the end of World War I and the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, in the early 1920s, the Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh was incorporated into Azerbaijan by Stalin as part of his “divide and rule” Soviet Communist policy on national minorities. The collapse of the Soviet Union caused widespread violence against Armenians in Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh. In a 1988 referendum, Armenians in Artsakh voted overwhelmingly for independence from Azerbaijan. From 1988 to 1990, Azerbaijani mobs massacred ethnic Armenians in the towns of Sumgait, Baku, and Kirovabad. These massacres terrorized nearly all Armenians to flee from Azerbaijan. Today the Azeri government denies displaced Armenians the right to return to Azerbaijan and forbids a person of Armenian heritage from entering Azerbaijan’s territory. The Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh declared independence from Azerbaijan in 1991, establishing the Republic of Artsakh. In the aftermath, the Azerbaijani minority living in Artsakh was violently expelled from their homes by Armenian mobs and militias. Armenian forces executed Azerbaijani civilians and looted their property. The worst instance of violence against the Azerbaijanis occurred in Khojaly when Armenian forces shot hundreds of Azerbaijan civilians fleeing from their destroyed village in 1992. From 1988 to 1994, over 600,000 ethnic Azerbaijani and Kurdish civilians fled from Nagorno-Karabakh. Many now live as internally displaced people (IDP) in squalid camps throughout A­­­­zerbaijan. The current Armenian and Artsakh governments deny involvement in past crimes against Azerbaijanis and erase their cultural history from the Armenian landscape. Armenian and Artsakh authorities deny Azerbaijani IDP's the right to return to their former homes and villages. Azerbaijan similarly denies that any crimes against humanity have been committed against Armenians. Today the Azerbaijan government denies displaced Armenians the right to return to Azerbaijan and forbids a person of Armenian heritage from entering Azerbaijan’s territory. In September 2020, the conflict escalated as Azerbaijan invaded Artsakh to retake the territory it lost in Artsakh’s war of independence (1988-1994). Artsakh and Armenian artillery have targeted Azerbaijani civilian areas living along the “Line of Contact” between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan. Attacks have killed over sixty Azerbaijanis in Ganja, Barda, and the regions of Tatar, Horodiz, Goranboy, and Aghdam. Azerbaijani drones have targeted churches, Armenian troops, and civilian areas of Artsakh: in Stapanakert, Shushi, Berdzor, and Mardakert. These acts constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity by both sides in the conflict. Although a paper ceasefire was signed on October 15, 2020, Azerbaijani forces are still attempting to capture new territory. Azerbaijan uses laser-guided drones from Turkey, Russia, and Israel to attack Artsakh’s defenders, who are mostly Artsakh civilian volunteers. Azerbaijan is using Syrian mercenaries. Turkey provides air support for Azerbaijani forces. Armenians are fearful that Turkey may once again support genocide against Armenians, following Turkey's 105 year campaign of denial of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 - 1922. If Azerbaijan retakes control of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), it could forcibly deport all Armenians in Artsakh to Armenia. Forced displacement is a crime against humanity. The Azerbaijani government under Ilham Aliyev denies its past and current violence against Armenians. Aliyev is also a denier of the Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire. The Azerbaijani government promotes hate speech and officially honors violence against Armenians. Hate speech has infected social media, with incitements with genocidal intents. Legal Analysis: The people of Artsakh declared their independence from Azerbaijan in 1991. The right of self-determination of a people or a nation is a fundamental principle of international law. Artsakh has exercised its right to self-determination. Azerbaijan's invasion of Artsakh in September 2020 cannot be justified by any UN Resolution because UN Resolutions are subordinate to the national right to self-determination under UN Charter Article I and under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which enshrine the right of self-determination of peoples and nations. Azerbaijan no longer has a legitimate right to reassert Soviet borders by invading Artsakh. Because of Armenia’s denial of war crimes such as the Khojaly massacre and other crimes against Azerbaijanis, and the current shelling of Azerbaijani civilians by Armenian artillery, Genocide Watch considers Armenia to be at Stage 8: Persecution and Stage 10: Denial. Genocide Watch has no evidence that Armenia or Artsakh are likely to commit genocide. Because of Azerbaijan’s invasion of Artsakh in September 2020, Genocide Watch considers Azerbaijan to be at Stage 9: Extermination and at Stage 10: Denial. Genocide Watch considers that Azerbaijan's leadership may intend to forcibly deport the Armenian population of Artsakh by committing genocidal massacres that will terrorize Armenians into leaving Artsakh. The Ten Stages of Genocide adapted to the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) can be downloaded below. Genocide Watch recommends: • The Armenian government should recognize the crimes committed against Azerbaijanis during the Nagorno-Karabakh War, including the Khojaly Massacre. • Displaced Azerbaijanis should receive adequate compensation from the Artsakh and Armenian governments for their lost property. • The U.N. Security Council should demand that Azerbaijan stop all offensive attacks in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh). • World leaders should condemn hate speech and genocide denial by the Aliyev regime. • The U.N. Security Council should impose an embargo on the sale of arms to Azerbaijan. • Presidents Trump and Putin should broker an effective peace agreement between Azerbaijan, Artsakh, and Armenia. • All sides should honor a genuine cease-fire to protect civilians from this genocidal national, ethnic, and religious war. • A U.N. Peacekeeping Force should be positioned along the Line of Contact to stop attacks by Azerbaijan against Artsakh. Genocide Watch is an organization that aims to predict, prevent, stop, and punish genocide and other forms of mass murder. This Genocide Emergency Alert is intended to provide background information on the Azerbaijan - Artsakh - Armenia conflict, as well as to assess current genocidal intentions in the War in Artsakh. Genocide Watch recognizes Armenian atrocities committed against Azerbaijanis during the war of independence of Artsakh. But Genocide Watch does not currently consider Armenia likely to commit genocide. If the reader wishes to read further about self-determination, please refer to the publications of the members of our Alliance Against Genocide (https://www.against-genocide.org/), particularly of the Minority Rights Group.

In mourning over the 24 October murder of seven schoolchildren, this city in the South-West Anglophone region once dreamed of independence, but is now plunged into a long nightmare. Published by The Africa Report on November 6, 2020. A protest on October 25, 2020, the day after the massacre in Kumba (Reuters/Josiane Kouagheu). Despite the blistering sun, a large crowd has gathered on the esplanade of the Kumba District Hospital morgue. It’s Saturday, 31 October. In memory of the children killed one week earlier in an attack on the Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy, a private school located in the third district of this small city in the South-West Anglophone region, a national day of mourning has been decreed. Hundreds of women, at times in tears, have come together to pay tribute to the victims and Esther Omam Njomo’s powerful voice sets the tempo of the commemoration. Wearing a headscarf, red dress and tinted glasses, the executive director of the NGO Reach Out (one of the civil society groups behind the demonstration) named the victims one by one – those who lost their lives (seven in all) and those who were injured (12 total) in the attack. The memory of what happened on 24 October is still fresh on their minds. On that day, the residents recount, men perched on motorbikes swept into the streets of Fiango, a neighbourhood in Kumba. “There were three on each bike and I counted four in all,” says an eyewitness. “They were armed with AK-47s and machetes.” Fangio is near the city’s outskirts and borders a wooded area to the north. It’s no secret to anyone that armed groups have found refuge there. Initial target The Mother Francisca school wasn’t their initial target. The assailants were headed in the direction of another school in Fiango, the Mother Ann Nursery and Primary School, but no one was there. According to a security source, “There weren’t any students at Mother Ann because they follow the recommendations issued by the delegates [education officials] prohibiting Saturday school. That’s why the attackers’ next stop was Mother Francisca.” Once inside the building, the assailants entered a classroom of Year 7 students. The teacher had just left the room, but Victory Camibon Ngamenyi was standing in front of the blackboard, trying to solve a math problem, when they opened fire. Victory was 11 years old and the first to be gunned down. “We heard shots, people crying and the screams of those pleading to be saved,” says a pupil, his voice trembling and almost inaudible, who was in a neighbouring classroom. Days have gone by but the fear hasn’t left him. Like Victory, five other students, ranging from nine to 12 years old, died at the scene. A sixth victim, seriously wounded, died a few hours later. Twelve others are being treated in various hospitals across the region. In the classroom where the tragedy occurred, bullet holes and blood stains are still visible on the ground and walls. Cameroon is in shock In Yaoundé, the authorities firmly believe that the Amba Boys, one of a number of armed secessionist groups fighting for “Ambazonian” independence, are to blame, but their political leaders maintain they were not involved in any way. In a statement released in the days following the attack, they called for the opening of an international investigation. As always, the different parties implicated in the crisis blame one other for the violence. These squabbles are of little use to Kumba residents. Over the last four years, this locality, once the South-West region’s economic heartbeat and highly frequented by merchants operating between Cameroon and Nigeria, has gone downhill. Some 70 kilometres separate Buea, the region’s capital, from Kumba, the third largest city in what used to be Southern Cameroon. But the paved road leading from one city to the other cuts across a landscape bearing the scars of guerrilla warfare. Many bullet-riddled houses have been abandoned and overgrown with tall grass. Due to a lack of upkeep, the vegetation has begun to devour the tarmac. Between Buea and Kumba are Ekona and Muyuka, which look like ghost towns. In Kumba, armoured vehicles belonging to the gendarmerie and the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) patrol the city centre. The pervasive presence of soldiers has silenced discussions with secessionist overtones, the sort that used to spark conversations between locals. “The city is chock full of informants,” says Franklin, who owns a bar in Krammar Junction. “Army informants, Ambazonian informants and all the rest. It’s best to not bring up controversial topics.” Every Monday over the past months, Kumba – which people here call “K-Town” – has gone along with the “ghost town” day restrictions initiated by Ambazonian militias. However, today the city does it not so much out of conviction but because of fear of retaliation. Armed groups use crackdown as pretext The large-scale mobilisation that characterised the start of the crisis, on 22 September 2016, has since dissipated. On that day, Kumba residents came out in droves to peacefully protest and meet up at a place called Bicec Junction, joining the fight alongside Bamenda-based lawyers and university students from Buea. The idea of secession, which certain leaders such as the Kumba-born lawyer Eyambe Elia were advocating, seemed appealing at the time. Nevertheless, Kumba was ultimately overrun with violence. In October 2016, three protesters were killed by members of the GMI, a police unit called in from Buea to provide back-up. Armed groups turned the violent crackdown into their best argument in favour of secession. One week later, the first Ambazonian camp was set up in Teke, another neighbourhood in Kumba’s third district. The “Amba Boys” presented themselves as upholders of the law, thereby winning over the sympathy of the community. Ivo, a motorcycle taxi driver originally from a neighbouring province in the North-West region, took on the rank of general and swore allegiance to Lucas Ayaba Cho, the leader of the Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF). Under his leadership, armed groups expanded the number of camps around the city. In 2018, such camps were set up as far as Diffa, Kosala, Kake, Cassava Farm, Matoh and even Kogne. Across from them, the Cameroonian army quickly deployed what it calls “third category forces”, the same ones sent to fight Boko Haram. The crisis reached its height in August 2018. For nearly three weeks, daily fighting punctuated everyday life in Kumba until the army gained the upper hand over the confrontation, with the secessionist militias sustaining heavy casualties. In December 2018, Gen Ivo was killed by the Cameroonian army. The camps were gradually dismantled. Weakened, the Ambazonian movement became further radicalised, as its members began shifting their target away from soldiers to civilians accused of being “black legs”, or traitors. Rejecting the Republic of Cameroon In recent years, the increased number of kidnappings and murders has virtually wiped out any feelings of sympathy the separatist fighters initially enjoyed. In February 2019, a fire ravaged part of Kumba District Hospital, leaving four people dead. A tragedy attributed to the “secessionist rebels”, according to the Cameroonian government. Vigilante groups began cropping up, making it their mission to help the army stamp out the Amba Boys. “In the beginning, we were dealing with passionate fighters who believed they could successfully secede from Cameroon,” a security source says. “Today, it’s mainly bandits wanting to take advantage of the situation to make money by kidnapping people for ransom. Communities have to work with the armed forces to effectively get rid of these outlaws.” The problem is that the army’s sometimes violent operations also fuel sentiments of rejection of the Republic of Cameroon. “The army has made some blunders,” says a local reporter, asking to remain anonymous. “Like in August 2018 when Pastor Tom, a well-known evangelist, was killed after being mistaken for a secessionist. These blunders spawned a sense of distrust and complicated people’s cooperation with the defence forces.” The seven Mother Francisca schoolchildren were laid to rest on 5 November. Two days earlier, another school was attacked, this time in the city of Kumbo in the North-West region. Local sources immediately held the Amba Boys responsible for the violence. To heal the wounds of war, reconciliation efforts appear unavoidable. However, Yaoundé is having trouble considering an alternative, less heavy-handed strategy. Caught up in the turmoil of weapons and tears, Kumba only yearns for peace. Copyright © 2020 The Africa Report. All Rights Reserved.

Media Release from Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK. Rohingya have been barred from voting in the "democratic" elections in Myanmar on 8 November 2020 Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) is concerned that the lack of international condemnation of the disenfranchisement of the Rohingya in Sunday’s election will encourage further human rights violations against the Rohingya people. Not only has the international community been largely silent about the fact that Rohingya have been disenfranchised from the election, but international governments and organizations, including the European Union, have even been assisting the government of Burma and the government-appointed Union Election Commission (UEC) in the holding of this discriminatory election. “The disenfranchisement of the Rohingya in this election is another part of the genocide against us, and it’s being done with international assistance instead of condemnation,” said Tun Khin, President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisations UK. “The message the international community is sending to the government of Burma is that they can commit human rights violations against the Rohingya and not just get away with it, they will even still get international support. This encourages the government to carry on denying our rights and discriminating against us.” State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi decided to keep in place the ban on Rohingya voting in the election, and the UEC, appointed by her government, has continued the policy of barring Rohingya parties and candidates from standing in the election. Those engaged in anti-Rohingya and anti-Muslim hate speech inciting hatred and violence face no legal consequences. “It is clear that Myanmar’s elections will be unfree, unfair and undemocratic”, Tun Khin said. “The disenfranchisement of the Rohingya is the most extreme example, but other ethnic and religious groups are also facing mass disenfranchisement. By supporting this election, the international community seems to be saying ethnic rights don’t matter. As long as the 2 situation improves for the mainly Buddhist Bamar majority, that is good enough for them.” Barring Rohingya from voting in the election is also a violation of the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice. The denial of our identity and rights, including the right to vote, is part of the genocide against the Rohingya people. “If the response of the international community to this election is to welcome it, and only add a small caveat at the end of a statement expressing disappointment that Rohingya were excluded, that is a green light to Aung San Suu Kyi to keep discriminating against us,” said Tun Khin. “The international community must state clearly that disenfranchisement of the Rohingya and other minorities from the election is completely unacceptable and that they will provide no support to future elections as long as this discrimination continues.” For more information, please contact Tun Khin on +44(0)7888714866 Burmese Rohingya Organization UK © 2020

50 Killed, 80 Injured, Scores Disappeared & Hundreds Held In Secrecy …in all, 110 killed & 200 injured by Army and Police in Rivers, Anambra, Imo, Abia, Ebonyi & Enugu via EndSARS. Nigeria: Map of Principle Linguistic Groups (Source: PNGEgg) The Int’l Society for Civil Liberties & Rule of Law can circumstantially, verifiably, and statistically state that the EndSARS protests in the Igbo States of Rivers (largely Igbo), Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi, Abia, and Imo were turned into shooting and killing spree by ethno-religiously imbalanced armed soldiers of the Nigerian Army and personnel of the Nigeria Police Force, leading to close range shooting to death of at least 110 unarmed citizens and terminal injuring of at least 200 others. These, including Gov Wike, aided Army massacre in Obigbo and environs, generally took place in 14 days or from 21st Oct to 4th Nov 2020. The killings were so glaring that the corpses of the slain littered inside the bushes and by the roadsides; with some buried shallowly or left to decompose and others picked up by their relatives or emergency officials of some of the affected States especially Rivers and the Enugu States. There are also independent reports of scores of bodies of the slain buried atrociously by soldiers in shallow graves including melting them with acid substances. Such was the case in Aba in Feb 2016 and Sept 2017 and Onitsha and Nkpor in May 2016. While most of the shootings, killings, and injuries had occurred between 21st and 24th Oct 2020; a period of three days, in Enugu, Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo, and the Abia States, those of Obigbo and environs in Rivers State took place between 21st Oct when the Gov Nyesom Wike imposed curfew in Oyigbo Local Government Area, targeting Obigbo and environs and 4th Nov, a period of 14 days, when the curfew supposedly elapsed and the massacre forced to subside following public outcries. Since then, Gov Wike has been running from pillar to pole defending himself, saying he ‘did not invite soldiers to kill Obigbo residents”. We also wish to state clearly that the 50 death figures and 80 gunshot injuries in Obigbo and environs are most likely to be very conservative. This is going by the fact that pieces of credible information are still filtering in and what we have given here is the general evaluation of what happened. The projected 50 deaths and 80 injuries were temporarily arrived at based on credible information gathered from some of the survivors, who also told us that “they saw soldiers driving away dozens of blindfolded residents of their area (Obigbo and environs) with their hands tied behind their back and taken away half-naked in batches of military vehicles”. Intersociety is presently carrying out an extensive investigation into the massacre especially with regard to ascertaining the final figure of the dead, the tortured, the sexually harassed including the raped; the burnt, the destroyed, the looted, the arrested and incarcerated, and the permanently disappeared. The number of those blindfolded and made half-naked who were independently seen being taken away is estimated at over 200. Our contacts who independently verified from police authorities said police told them that none of them arrested and taken away by soldiers since 21st Oct has been handed over to the Rivers State Police Command as of 4th Nov 2020. This raises serious suspicion of the secret killing of scores of them by soldiers and possible decimation of their bodies with acid substances for purpose of erasing traces. We also seriously suspect that those arrested for two weeks and possibly held illegally in secret Army custodies are most likely to be undergoing outlawed and agonizing detention practices. Therefore, as statistics conscious rights group, Intersociety has refused to speak categorically on the Obigbo massacre until pieces of reliable statistics or information are gathered. That is to say that this position of ours on the number of the slain and the maimed arising from the massacre is not final, but a credible attempt to present the thirsty global community with a general statistical idea of what the ethno-religiously lopsided Nigerian Army did to Christian citizens of old Eastern Nigeria in Obigbo and environs, in a full conspiracy of Gov Nyesom Wike. We are also in possession of dozens of photos and videos of the slain and the maimed, collected from Rivers, Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo, Enugu, and Abia States. Apart from getting them from a direct source, they have also been manually and forensically investigated. The photos and videos, many of which not public image friendly, except on personal or formal requests, clearly depict deadly use of force by the culpable soldiers and police personnel particularly in Obigbo and environs where ‘heavy’ military bullets were used against unarmed and defenseless citizens. The victims were also targeted and shot at close range and forbidden or sensitive parts of their bodies; all with intent to massacre or slay. That is to say that the slain victims seen and verified were shot at close range and their sensitive parts including forehead/brain, chest/heart, abdomen/manhood, stomach, and eyes/nose/mouth regions. For instance, Intersociety agrees with Gov Nyesom Wike, to an extent, that “some photos and videos being flooded in the social media as those linked to the Obigbo massacre are fake or not connected with same”, but not all of them are fake or with different origins. Gov Wike’s position on this has implied that ‘soldiers and proscribed SARS operatives did not kill defenseless residents of Obigbo and environs, or destroy and burn properties including residences, or sexually harass including engaging in forced sexual intercourse with or raping unmarried/young married women, or carry out general acts of torture, or blindfold some defenseless residents, take them to unknown military destinations and possibly kill them, or engage in a mass arrest of hundreds of the residents of the area; etc. Contrarily, the reverse is the case. Obigbo Casualties & Injuries: Therefore, in Obigbo and environs in Rivers State, we can temporarily confirm the killing of at least 50 unarmed citizens and injuring of not less than 80 others. We can also confirm eleven deaths so far out of which, eight has their names identified and three yet to be named. Their names are: (1) Pastor Igwe (slain husband of Mrs. Amara Igwe), (2) Queen Nwazuo (slain fiancée of Mr. Monday Bakor), (3) Okoro Peter, and (4) Chinwendu O.: they were shot at close range and killed instantly by soldiers on 24th Oct 2020 few meters away from Gov Wike’s convoy. The Gov was visiting Obigbo to assess his military deployment and curfew the same day and the two young residents barely emerged from their houses to hear what their Gov has come to tell them when soldiers sighted them and opened fire, killing them instantly. They were shot at the forehead, forcing the brain-box of Late Chinwendu to bust and emptied at the center of the road. Other dead citizens were: (5) Jude Egejuru (died from gunshot injuries), (6) Clifford Nkemdilim, (7) Late Miss Ngozi Ozuo, (8) Udeme Ossy Monday, (9) a yet-to-be-identified dead citizen, (10) second yet-to-be-identified citizen and (11) third yet-to-be-identified dead citizen. It must be noted that soldiers took away the bodies of most of those killed. Among the deadly injured are: (1) Chukwuma Chinonso, (2) Nwoke Okwudiri Nwonye, (3) Uche Ogbonna, (4) Chikaodi Agwu, (5) Michael Okwudiri, (6) John Emeka, (7) Agwu Enyi, (8) Obichukwu Chibuike, (9) Izuchukwu Igwe, (10) Eluu Chukwuemeka, (11) Arinze Joshua, (12) Nwakama Izuegbe, (13) Destiny Okorie, (14) Michael Nkama, (15) Israel Asoh, (16) Emeka Heart, (17) Victor Heart, (18) Orji Amaoji, (19) Paschal, (20) Obasi Emela, (21) Chiwuzu Orjinta and (22) Sylvester Odoche. Casualties & Injuries Across The Southeast: In Ebonyi State, where at least ten citizens were killed, among them were: (1) Nwibo Chibueze, (2) Nwali Emeka, (3) a yet-to-be-identified young man in his twenties, and (4) Ofoke Sunday. Among at least 30 victims of gunshot wounds in the State are: Oshopo Chinedu, (2) Ngoke The, (3) Nwoji Ikechukwu, (4) Nwovu Ikechukwu, (5) Nwofe Lewis, (6) Elom Chimezie, (7) Opoke Mbakwe, (8) Onwe Monday, (9) Elochukwu Suday, (10) Onwe Ezekiel, (11) Igwe Uchenna, (12) Nwudele Uchenna, (13) Nwudele Uchenna, (14) Nwamiri Chukwudi, (15) Nwebi Stephen, (16) Nwofoke Ugochukwu, (17) Nwoke Peter, (18) Mbam Emmanuel, (19) Okey Emeka, (20)Egba Izuchukwu, (21) Awoke Nnamdi and (22) Alo Peter. In Enugu State, where at least ten citizens were killed, among them were: (1) Christian Ugwuaja, (2) Sunday Chime, (3) Victor Igwe, and (4) John Ikemuefuna. Among at least 30 gunshot victims are: (1) Okafor Kosisochukwu, (2) Ezeagbo Ifeanyi, (3) Odigomma Chimazom, (4) Ajah Chukwuemeka, (5) Somtoo Nwaeze, (6) Innocent Ominyi, (7) Friday Mgebebu, (8) Ezinduamaka Osondu, (9) Happiness Chidiebere, (10) Chinonso Obodoagu, (11) Idoko Ebuka, (12) Ibebuike Uzoigwe, (13) Chidi Oguejiofor, (14) Odinaka Ejim, (15) Solomon Okafor, (16) Ani Ifedibalachukwu, (17) Ituma Tochukwu, (18) Oge Simon, (19) Ezeaga Chukwuma, (20) Onwuna Kosiso, (21) Onwe Humphrey, (22) Sunday Kingsley Nweze and (22) Akpataobi Peter. In Anambra State, where at least ten unarmed citizens were killed, among them were: (1) Ezenwile Okwuchukwu John, (2) Obasi Mmaduabuchi, (3) Nwafor Ikechukwu and (4) Ekeh Emmanuel Friday; and among 20 wounded citizens are: (1) Okafor Chidi, (2) Ogbada Chinonso, (3) Chigozie Ezenwa, (4) Nwokwu Anayochukwu and (5) Onuoha Kalu. In Abia State, where up to, if not over 20 citizens were killed, among them were: (1) Ifeanyi Nwaogu, (2) Isaiah Chiedozie, (3) Chijoke, (4) Chinedu, (5) Kelechi Godslove, (6) Uche (killed at Ogbohill, Aba), (7) Gorge (killed along Cameroon Road, Aba) and (8) Chukwuka Odinaka Omemma; and among some 25 gunshot injured citizens are: (1) Cyprian Onwe, (2) Uchenna Kalu, (3) Nze Anayo Okoro, (4) Enyinnaya Agha and (5) Chinomso Nkalu. In Imo State, ten persons were killed in Mbaitolu and Orlu and about 15 others shot and injured. Among the dead were Late Mr. Agomuo of IMSUBEB (killed by Army at Nworie-Ubi, Owerri), and Mr. Uwadi Ebuzoeme shot dead in Orlu. Signed: Principal Officers: Emeka Umeagbalasi (Board Chair), Chinwe Umeche, Esq., (Head of Democracy), Obianuju Igboeli, Esq., (Head of Civil Liberties), Ndidiamaka Bernard, Esq., (Head of Int’l Justice & Human Rights) and Comrade Sam Kamanyaoku (Head of Field Data Collection & Documentation) www.intersociety-ng.org The International Society for Civil Liberties & Rule of Law © 2020

UN Review Should Focus on Increased Protection Against Violence, Bias Lebanese women have long been leaders in the country’s protest movements. Here, women shout slogans and wave the Lebanese flag during a demonstration in down town Beirut on October 19, 2019. © Marwan Naamani/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images (Beirut) – Lebanese authorities are falling short of their international legal obligations to protect women and girls from violence and end discrimination against them, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch has submitted a report to the United Nations Committee reviewing Lebanon’s compliance with the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which is tentatively scheduled for June 2021. The country has not made progress to carry out a number of recommendations from its previous review in 2015, including not creating a unified personal status code that would guarantee equal treatment for all citizens and amending the discriminatory nationality law to ensure that Lebanese women married to non-Lebanese men can pass on their citizenship to their children. “Another five years have passed, and Lebanon has done little to end discrimination against women and girls under its international obligations,” said Aya Majzoub, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Lebanon’s authorities should show that they are serious about women’s rights by coming through on long-overdue reforms before they have to answer to the United Nations again for their failures.” Lebanon has not taken any steps to issue an optional civil code or to reform its 15 religion-based personal status laws and the religious courts that apply them. These courts discriminate against women across the religious spectrum and do not guarantee their basic rights, especially in matters such as divorce, property rights, and responsibility for children after divorce. The authorities have also not reformed the nationality law, which prohibits Lebanese women married to foreigners from passing citizenship to their spouses and children, while men who marry foreign nationals can pass on their citizenship. This prohibition affects almost every aspect of the children’s and spouses’ lives, including legal residency and access to work, education, social services, and health care. It leaves some children at risk of statelessness. Legal protections from domestic violence, sexual assault, and harassment remain inadequate. In August 2017, Lebanon repealed article 522 of the penal code, which allowed rapists to escape punishment by marrying their victims, but left a loophole with regard to offenses relating to sex with children aged 15 to 17, and sex with virgin girls, with promises of marriage. The current domestic violence law defines domestic violence narrowly and fails to specifically criminalize marital rape. Members of parliament have introduced multiple draft laws since 2017 on sexual harassment, but parliament has yet to take any action. A lack of coordination in the government’s response to sex trafficking continues to put women and girls – especially Syrians living in Lebanon – at risk. Human Rights Watch has documented how women and girls, especially trans women, sex workers, refugees, and asylum seekers, have experienced systemic violence from Lebanese authorities, particularly in detention centers. Trans women have described being placed in men’s cells, being denied food and water, and being coerced to confess. Allegations of sexual violence, including rape, against women in custody are common. As an example, Layal al-Kayaje was arrested on September 21, 2015 for “harming the military’s reputation” after she alleged being raped and tortured by two soldiers in military custody in 2013. Lebanon has consistently failed to properly investigate, prosecute, and punish those responsible for torture. In 2016, parliament passed legislation creating a national body, the National Preventive Mechanism Against Torture, to monitor and investigate the use of torture, and in 2017 it adopted a new anti-torture law. The body’s five members were named on March 7, 2019, but the government has still not allocated its funding. Lebanon’s economic crisis, compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic and the port explosion in Beirut on August 4, 2020, has made life worse for marginalized populations, not least for migrant domestic workers, the majority of them women from African and Asian countries. Many have reported increased incidents of abuse by their employers during the lockdown, and at least seven have taken their own lives since March. Migrant domestic workers remain excluded from Lebanon’s labor law protections provided to other workers, and their legal status remains tied to their employer under the kafala (visa sponsorship) system. On October 14, 2020, Lebanon’s State Shura Council, the country’s top administrative court, delivered a sharp blow to migrant domestic workers’ rights when it struck down a new standard unified contract adopted by the Labor Ministry on September 4. The new contract introduced new protections for migrant domestic workers, including vital safeguards against forced labor, and would have been an important first step towards abolishing the abusive kafala system. “For the past year, women from all walks of life have taken to the streets to demand equality and an end to all forms of discrimination,” Majzoub said. “While the authorities have taken some steps, they need to heed calls for systemic change for equality.” © 2020 Human Rights Watch

Atrocity Alert is a weekly publication by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect highlighting situations where populations are at risk of, or are enduring, mass atrocity crimes. Published by Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect on November 4, 2020. Police on a road in Cocody in the economic capital Abidjan (AFP/I. Sanogo) On 31 October Côte d’Ivoire held presidential elections. According to local authorities, election-day clashes involving political supporters of incumbent President Alassane Ouattara, security forces and opposition protesters left at least nine people dead and many more wounded. A ruling party official reported that two of its supporters were killed in Toumodi on Tuesday evening while houses and shops were also set on fire during clashes between supporters of rival political groups. In the weeks leading up to the election, the main opposition candidates – former President Henri Konan Bédié and Pascal Affi N’Guessan – called for a boycott and a civil disobedience campaign. A domestic observer mission reported that 23 percent of polling places were unable to open on election day due to threats to election staff, vandalization of voting materials and barricaded roads. On Monday, 2 November, Bédié and N’Guessan declared that they no longer recognize Ouattara as president of the country and announced the creation of a “National Transitional Council,” chaired by Bédié. Nevertheless, on Tuesday the Independent Electoral Commission announced that President Ouattara had won a third term (which many consider unconstitutional) with 94 percent of the vote. The Constitutional Council will validate the results and declare the final winner after hearing any challenges or complaints of irregularities. Following Ouattara’s controversial announcement during August of his decision to seek a third term, the election campaign was marred by sporadic ethnic violence, increased hate speech aimed at manipulating ethnic differences for political ends and heightened political tensions. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights noted a disturbing increase in violence against protesters by security forces and unidentified individuals. Thirty people were killed in pre-election violence and inter-communal clashes. According to the UN Refugee Agency, approximately 3,200 Ivorians have also fled to Liberia, Ghana and Togo due to fear of post-election violence. Disputed election outcomes have previously served as a trigger for atrocities in Côte d’Ivoire, notably when more than 3,000 people were killed following President Ouattara’s election in 2010, when former President Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept electoral defeat and cede power. The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, has stressed that, “the violence seen in Côte d’Ivoire during the first pre- and post-election crisis of 2010 must not be repeated. Violence by any side of the political divide is not an option.” All political leaders in Côte d’Ivoire must refrain from using inflammatory rhetoric and inciting violence against anyone on the basis of their political affiliation or ethnic identity. The Ivorian authorities must ensure that all human rights violations and abuses during the election period are thoroughly investigated and the perpetrators held accountable, regardless of political affiliation. Copyright © 2020 Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect. All rights reserved.

Demolitions used as a ‘key means’ to ‘coerce Palestinians to leave their homes’ Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank have razed a Palestinian village, leaving 73 people – including 41 children – homeless, in the largest forced displacement incident for years, according to the United Nations. Excavators escorted by military vehicles were filmed approaching Khirbet Humsa and proceeding to flatten or smash-up tents, shacks, animal shelters, toilets, and solar panels. “These are some of the most vulnerable communities in the West Bank,” said Yvonne Helle, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory. Three-quarters of the community lost their shelters during Tuesday’s operation, she said, making it the largest forced displacement incident in more than four years. However, by the number of destroyed structures, 76, the raid was the largest demolition in the past decade, she added. On Wednesday, families from the village were seen rifling through their wrecked belongings in the wind, with some of the first rain of the year arriving the same day. The UN published a photo of a bed and a cot in the open desert. The village is one of several Bedouin and sheepherding communities in the Jordan Valley area that is located within Israeli-declared army training “firing zones”, and despite being within the Palestinian Territories, people there often face demolitions for a building without Israeli permission. “Palestinians can almost never obtain such permits,” said Helle. “Demolitions are a key means of creating an environment designed to coerce Palestinians to leave their homes,” she said, accusing Israel of “grave breaches” of international law. Nearly 700 structures have been demolished across the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 2020 so far, she said, more than any year since 2016, leaving 869 Palestinians homeless. Israel’s Civil Administration, the body tasked with running the occupation, said it had carried out an “enforcement activity … against seven tents and eight pens which were illegally constructed, in a firing range located in the Jordan Valley”. Those figures contradicted the UN statement and an on-site report by prominent Israeli human rights group, B’Tselem, which said forces destroyed 18 tents and sheds housing 11 families, 29 tents and sheds used as livestock enclosures, three storage sheds, nine tents used as kitchens, 10 portable toilets, 10 livestock pens, 23 water containers, two solar panels, and feeding and watering troughs for livestock. Israeli forces also destroyed more than 30 tonnes of food for livestock and confiscated a vehicle and two tractors belonging to three residents, the group added. “As part of its efforts to take over more and more Palestinian land, Israel routinely demolishes Palestinian homes and property,” said B’Tselem spokesperson Amit Gilutz. “But the wiping off of a whole community at once is extremely rare, and it seems like Israel was making use of the fact that everyone’s attention is currently set elsewhere to move forward with this inhumane act,” he said in reference to the US election. Israel captured the West Bank from Jordanian forces in 1967 and continues to control and occupy the area, although Palestinians have limited self-rule over small enclaves. The country’s hardline prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he intends to annex large swathes of occupied Palestinian territories, including the Jordan Valley, although the plan was temporarily “suspended” as part of a deal with the United Arab Emirates. See the full article here. The Guardian 2020 ©

My journey from Syria’s notorious Branch 215 prison to the US’s Georgetown University. A photo of the writer following his recovery in Sweden and one immediately after his release from prison in Syria [Photo courtesy of Omar Alshogre] Suppressing political opponents through force and torture is what dictators do. Today, for merely calling for their freedom, more than 100,000 civilians are suffering in Syria’s detention centres. I used to be one of them when I was still just a child. Dictatorship is sustained by fear. To establish and maintain its power, the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad runs a chain of political prisons to brutalise those who demand democracy. Using starvation, abuse and psychological torture, it seeks to break down not only the prisoners but their families and others who would oppose it. I grew up near Baniyas, a town in the Tartous Governorate in northern Syria, in a bustling family of siblings, uncles, aunts, and many cousins. When my mother would call my big brother, Mohammed, in for dinner, another five cousins with the same name would appear, and of course, gather around the table as well. Like most of my siblings, I did not have a warm relationship with my father. He had been a military officer, retiring shortly before the upheaval began in Syria in early 2011. We questioned everything he did, but our thoughts stayed in our heads because he was not the sort of father you could talk to and he was angry a lot of the time. My father relied on his military “toughness” to make sure we excelled at school. It was his dream that we would be good students. If I needed money, I would go to my mother so that she would ask my father on my behalf. I never felt confident enough to ask him directly. But one day – a few months before the beginning of the Arab Spring – everything changed. Almost overnight, my father changed his behaviour towards us, making an effort to be a father and a friend instead of just an officer. Later, during my detention, I wondered if somehow he had known that we would become separated by war, imprisonment and, ultimately, death. A kind of fear I had never felt before When I was 15 years old, the Arab Spring shook dictatorships around the Middle East. I hurried out to join the crowds on the streets of Baniyas to show my father that I was not a child any more, but a young man daring to stand beside strong leaders demanding freedom. I was eager for change – change in the way my father looked at me. That was the first time I was thrown into a political prison. I was 15 years old and the Syrian regime viewed me as a threat. I was held at a prison in Tartous, where I was tortured for a few days before my mother gathered the women in our area to blockade the main highway and put pressure on the regime to release me. Those few days broke me physically and made me taste a kind of fear I had never felt before. I was tortured and had my fingernails pulled out. I was surrounded by dead bodies. I could not see the guards who tortured me because I was blindfolded. I imagined them in my head; to my 15-year-old self, they looked like zombies. I was afraid I would not survive to see my mother and siblings again. I was afraid I would die before proving my strength to my father. I was even afraid to be released and return to school where everybody would be scared to look at my hands. The ‘slaughterhouse’ Then, in my last year of high school, when I was 17 years old, I was arrested again, along with three of my cousins – Bashir, 22, Rashad, 20, and Nour, 17. We were taken from our home and transferred between eight different political prisons so that no one would know where we were. In August 2014, we were moved to what we called the “slaughterhouse” – Saydnaya prison, which brought a new level of pain and fear. Our nails were pulled out; we were hung from the ceilings, electrocuted and mutilated. But the worst part was that we were forced to turn on each other. We had done nothing wrong so had nothing to inform on each other about. So, instead, they made us beat each other with belts and burn each other’s bodies with cigarettes. Later, at Branch 215, a political prison in Damascus which we call the “branch of slow death”, Rashad died after months of torture on March 15, 2013. Bashir died a year later. I heard nothing about Nour, and I counted her dead too. I found myself alone in a place full of monsters, being tortured and waiting to die. Gasping for air and sunlight I grew up in prison. I witnessed the torture, starvation and dehumanisation that took place there. They are designed to implant fear and break people’s spirits so that, even once released, they will continue to suffer physically and mentally. Nightmares still haunt former detainees, including me. The psychological trauma that follows such systematic torture leaves a person isolated from society if they do not receive treatment. Inside the prison, people sit in overcrowded cells, gasping for air and sunlight. The smell of death fills every corner and the screams of men, women and children echo in the hallways. Children as young as three were put in prison as punishment for their parents taking part in the peaceful protests in 2011. You can never escape from it. The screams of my cousins, Bashir and Rashad, who both died under torture in front of my eyes, still ring in my ears today. Many of the detainees in Syrian political prisons have been forcibly removed – or “disappeared” – from their families. Forced disappearance is used as a way to punish not only the political prisoners but their families as well, leaving them not knowing what has become of their loved ones. In al-Assad’s Syria, families of detainees are refused any information about their whereabouts and wellbeing. It leads to years of uncertainty and pain. At one point, the Syrian intelligence service told my mother I had died in prison. She grieved. My family held my funeral, without my body. This has become the reality for so many in Syria. And it is part of the reason why so many people are fleeing for neighbouring countries and beyond. More than 11 million Syrians have fled their homes since the start of the crisis. The University of Whispers During my years as a political prisoner, my only way of communicating with those around me was by whispering. We could not talk, so we whispered. Here I was, 18 years old, sitting in Branch 215, surrounded by highly-educated prisoners. A doctor whispered us through how to protect ourselves during torture; how to breathe when they beat us. The psychologist in my cell shared techniques on how to keep our spirits up. The lawyers would think creatively about building a dictator-free prison, so no one prisoner took more power and food than the others. Whispering allowed us, the political prisoners, to build a university inside one of the filthiest places in Syria. A university we called, The University of Whispers. They burned everything down In May 2013, as I was inhaling the smell of death crawling across the filthy walls of that prison, government forces attacked my village. They wanted to destroy everything and everyone. They killed my father and two of my brothers and set our house on fire with the rest of my family inside. My mother and some of my siblings managed to escape, fleeing with other surviving neighbours to Turkey. Once there, my mother managed to scrape together $20,000 that she used to buy my freedom and get me out of Syria. Under the guise of a mock execution, I was smuggled out of prison in June 2015. I was a walking skeleton, weighing only 34 kilogrammes (75 pounds). I did not recognise myself in the mirror. I saw a monster. After years of only being able to whisper, I did not even recognise my own voice. When I was reunited with my mother in Turkey, we did not recognise each other – she was shocked to see me so weak and skinny. My mother decided I had to leave Turkey for treatment. My little brother, Ali, who was only 11 at the time, was chosen to accompany me while the rest of our family remained in Turkey. Together we made our way by rubber boat from Izmir to Greece and then on through Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Denmark and, finally, after a month of travel, ending up in Sweden, where I was immediately hospitalised for tuberculosis and malnourishment. We sought asylum and were later moved to Stockholm, where we stayed with a Swedish foster family we had met at the hospital. My trauma became my driving force Three years after my release from prison, I was living a different life in Sweden. Ali went back to school and I worked in management consultancy at the Stockholm office of The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where I was first invited to speak to the staff about my experience and about leadership in crisis, then offered a job there. But I never stopped thinking about the people back home and my friends who were still in prison. I had been able to break the chains that locked me and I knew I had an obligation to use my voice to echo the voices of those who could still only whisper. I was lucky to find my own way of treating my trauma through public speaking. I shared my story on stage and with everyone I met; I used my trauma as a driving force. I began giving talks in Sweden with the help of my Swedish foster brother, William Von Heland, and my friend, Anton Danielsson. Later, I went on to share my story around Europe and in the United States where I was helped by The Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF), a US-based non-profit organisation. While there I was working at BCG, which helped me to understand that the solution for war is not only a political one but an economic one as well. The corruption that sparked the movement for revolution in Syria was based on economic and fundamental human rights injustices. I continue to hold talks at private companies, schools and municipalities around the world. I see sharing my story as my mission to bear witness not only to the atrocities of the Syrian war but also to the optimism and will for life that has by necessity stemmed from it. Now, aged 25, I wanted to fulfil my father’s dream for me to get a great education from a respected school. So I applied, and on October 24 this year, I received an email from Georgetown University granting me admission. Like most Syrian refugees, I have overcome unspeakable oppression and now just want to make the world a better place – and I want to start with learning. As Nelson Mandela said: “There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.” I believe I have already passed through the valley of the shadow of death, and by holding the compass of education, I will have the map and the strength to reach the mountaintop of my aspirations. Although my father cannot be here to see me fulfill his dream, at least I am here to do it. © 2020 Al Jazeera Media Network

Evidence is beginning to emerge that the Myanmar military, the Tatmadaw, is once again instigating a campaign of propaganda against the Rohingya. Observers on the ground are convinced that violence will surely follow once again. Of the 1 million Rohingya who was in Myanmar in 2016, about two-thirds were pushed over the border to Bangladesh during the military’s “clearing operations” in 2017 and 2018. It was an act of genocide that is being prosecuted in the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Most of those who remained were already in camps for internally displaced people as a consequence of communal violence in 2012 and 2013 or, for some, even earlier. Indeed, the main reason why there are still so many Rohingya in Myanmar at all is because those in the camps could not easily flee. Now it appears that the federal authorities in Myanmar are intent on finishing what they started. The Rohingya are once again portrayed as a threat, which is an absurd charge given that hardly any remain free in society at large, even in their former Rakhine state heartland, and that those held in the internal camps are largely cut off from any interaction with the rest of the country. Occasionally, some manage to escape from the camps — but the first thing they do is try is to find a way out of the country. But the mentality that drives a genocide such as this is not bound by reality any more than it is bound by compassion and humanity. Genocide is almost always also a ritual of “purification.” Merely reducing a people to non-relevance is not enough: They must be destroyed and removed entirely, otherwise, the “purification” will have failed. For that reason, the handful of Rohingya remaining free in Myanmar — and certainly the hundreds of thousands effectively imprisoned in “refugee” camps — remain an affront to the project of “purification” pursued by the military. At the very least, it is unfinished business. More likely, it is perceived as an infuriating act of defiance that must be crushed. Unfortunately, it appears that even the ICJ trial has not succeeded in deterring further hostility toward the Rohingya. The more optimistic observers had hoped the legal action would be the first step toward redress for the Rohingya and might, in the longer term, mean that they could return to the land of their birth. The most that can be said of the trial now is that it might have slightly delayed the final act of the genocide. It seems the Tatmadaw are once again getting restless and that they no longer appear to feel in any way restrained by global opinion or the censure of international law. Perhaps they believe that all the reputational and economic damage they might have feared as a consequence of the genocide has already happened, and so no practical impediment remains to them finishing what they started. Or perhaps they feel that reigniting this issue might help them entrench themselves in an election year by providing them with a bit more power in the ongoing tug of war they have with the civilian government. ''It seems the Myanmar military is once again getting restless and that it no longer appears to feel in any way restrained by global opinion or the censure of international law.'' Dr. Azeem Ibrahim Whatever the case may be, the only thing that can prevent this situation from escalating and resulting in another wave of refugees, or even mass murder, is a robust and proactive response from the international community. And, once again, such a response is unlikely to be forthcoming. There are only three international powers that have the clout to intervene and stop what is coming: The UN, the US, and China. It is more likely China would veto any UN action on the genocide. That leaves the US, which might have intervened in the halcyon days of the 1990s — but now is a country entirely consumed by internal instability in the wake of a bitterly divided and fraught election. Once again the world can see a genocide coming. And once again, the world is failing to do anything about it. See the full article here. Arab News © 2020