Mahsa Amini’s family receives death threats by Iranian government

Mahsa Amini’s family  receives death threats by Iranian government
Mahsa Amini's loved ones called her Zhina, a Kurdish name prohibited in Iran. (File/AFP)
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Updated 10 October 2022

Mahsa Amini’s family receives death threats by Iranian government

Mahsa Amini’s family  receives death threats by Iranian government
  • Officials threatened the family via Instagram with fake accounts, telling them if they get involved in the protests, they might be killed, cousin said.

RIYADH: The family of Mahsa Amini say they have received death threats by Iranian authorities, warning them not to participate in protests, BBC reported. 

The death of a 22-year-old Amini at the hands of Tehran's morality police has sparked one of Iran's largest civil uprisings in over a decade. 

Beaten into a coma while being detained for allegedly violating strict dress code, her death became a symbol of Iranian repression.

"Our family have been under immense pressure from the Islamic Republic's officials, so we don't talk to human rights organizations or channels outside of Iran and inform anyone from the outside world about her passing," her cousin Erfan Mortezai tells BBC. 

Mortezai is a Peshmerga fighter for Komala, an Iraq-based exiled Iranian Kurdish opposition party that Iran accuses of separatism.

However, the Amini family in Iran have repeatedly denied supporting Kurdish opposition groups.

Mortezai refers to his late cousin as Zhina, the name she was called by her loved ones. Because certain Kurdish names are prohibited in Iran, her parents were forced to use Mahsa as her official Iranian name on documentation.

"Zhina was a normal person, she was not political. The regime have been making up scenarios and disinformation - saying that Zhina was in contact with me and I taught her and sent her back to Iran to do a certain activity, when in fact this is completely baseless," Mortezai said. 

He tells the BBC that regime officials have threatened the family in Iran via Instagram, using fake accounts to warn them that if they participate in the protests, they might be killed. 

"Myself, I have been receiving many threats over the phone, [saying] that if they see me in the city, they will kidnap me and kill me," he added. 

Morteza shared a video with BBC of the family gathered at a cemetery on what would have been Amini’s 23rd birthday. 

The video shows a cake decorated with her face carefully placed on her grave, while cries and screams can be heard in the background.

 


Palestinians commemorate Land Day, remember sacrifices

Palestinians commemorate Land Day, remember sacrifices
Updated 16 sec ago

Palestinians commemorate Land Day, remember sacrifices

Palestinians commemorate Land Day, remember sacrifices
  • Young men, carrying Palestinian flags, approached the fence separating the Gaza Strip and Israel
  • Land Day is a day of commemoration for Arab citizens of Israel and Palestinians of the events of March 30, 1976 in Israel

GAZA CITY: Thousands of Palestinians commemorated Land Day on the eastern borders of the Gaza Strip and beyond, as political leaders urged unity and unswerving support for the right of return of refugees.
A main sit-in and festival was held on the border on Thursday, while other activities took place within the enclave, in the Palestinian territories and in Arab towns in Israel.
Young men, carrying Palestinian flags, approached the fence separating the Gaza Strip and Israel, while representatives of the factions delivered speeches. The Israeli army fired tear gas canisters at the demonstrators.
Land Day is a day of commemoration for Arab citizens of Israel and Palestinians of the events of March 30, 1976 in Israel. A general strike and marches were organized in Arab towns in response to the Israeli government’s announcement of a plan to expropriate thousands of dunams of land.
Six unarmed Arab citizens were killed, 100 were wounded and hundreds of others were arrested during clashes with Israeli forces.
Meanwhile, the 2018–2019 Gaza border protests, dubbed the Great March of Return, were a series of demonstrations held each Friday near the Gaza-Israel border from 30 March 2018 to Dec. 27, 2019, during which at least 217 people including 48 children were killed.
The demonstrators demanded that Palestinian refugees be allowed to return to ancestral land in what is now Israel. They also protested against Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip and the US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Khaled Al-Batsh of Islamic Jihad’s political bureau said: “We have no choice but to have unity in the face of confrontation, for a path to liberation that passes through the barrels of rifles.”
Hamas leader Ismail Radwan said: “We affirm our adherence to the right of return, and we call for the pilgrimage to Al-Aqsa Mosque and the escalation at all points of contact with the occupation.”
Mustafa Ibrahim, a political analyst, said that this year’s Land Day protests were not expected to take a violent turn.
“It is not expected that we will return to daily or weekly protests on the border, but the factions always like to put pressure on the occupation and remind it of what could happen on the Gaza border again.
“The protests were within a certain period and they achieved their goals, according to the factions. I do not think that we will return to that model again in the current period, and we cannot deny that the Palestinian losses were great.”
Delivering a speech at the Gaza border, Mohsen Abu Ramadan, head of the National Committee, said: “Land Day carries a lot of meaning. The anniversary of Land Day comes this year under a fascist right-wing government, which constitutes an opportunity to raise the Palestinian issue in the international arena.
“The most important lesson of the immortal Land Day is national unity around a national strategy to advance our cause.”
 


Turkiye and Iraq to thrash out oil deal after arbitration ruling ends Kurdish exports

Turkiye and Iraq to thrash out oil deal after arbitration ruling ends Kurdish exports
Updated 30 March 2023

Turkiye and Iraq to thrash out oil deal after arbitration ruling ends Kurdish exports

Turkiye and Iraq to thrash out oil deal after arbitration ruling ends Kurdish exports
  • Arbitration ruling ordered Ankara to pay $1.4 billion to Baghdad for violating contracts by buying directly from the Kurdistan Regional Government
  • Officials from Iraq’s Oil Ministry are expected to travel to Turkiye to negotiate a new method for exporting northern Iraq’s oil

ANKARA: Turkiye is being urged to thrash out a new oil deal with Iraq after a landmark arbitration ruling ordered Ankara to pay $1.4 billion to Baghdad for violating contracts by buying directly from the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Officials from Iraq’s Oil Ministry are expected to travel to Turkiye to negotiate a new method for exporting northern Iraq’s oil after the International Court of Arbitration’s ruling last week in a case stretching back almost a decade. 

The ruling has stopped Iraqi Kurdistan’s 450,000 bpd exports, and raised fears of instability and economic crisis in the semi-autonomous region. Exports must now have the consent of Baghdad and both sides in Iraq must strike a larger agreement before oil production can fully resume. 

Iraq sued Turkiye in 2014 over direct sales from the KRG and asked for $33 billion in compensation. It has maintained that the KRG cannot use national pipelines to sell oil and that Turkey’s deal with the region violated a 1973 pipeline-transit agreement between the two countries. 

Bilgay Duman, coordinator of Iraq studies at the Ankara-based think-tank ORSAM, said that the case reflected the longstanding disagreement between Baghdad and the Kurdish regional administration. 

“Turkiye, which will respect the international arbitration ruling, showed its readiness to fulfill its obligations deriving from the international law and to contribute to the de-escalation of the disagreement between its two regional partners,” he told Arab News. 

He said that Turkiye’s deal with the KRG from 2013 had an indemnity clause that required any compensation to be paid by Irbil. However, he added: “To what extent the compensation that Ankara will pay to Iraq will be indemnified by the Kurdistan Regional Government is still unknown.”

According to Duman, the disagreement also arose from legal loopholes in Iraq about the control of newly discovered oil fields that were being exploited by the KRG.

Experts say that the ruling will hurt the KRG economy, which made $5.7 billion from oil last year.

“Baghdad appears to be ready to accept financial losses to gain sovereignty over oil,” said Yerevan Saeed, a research associate at the Arab Gulf Institute in Washington. “This has real-life consequences for Kurds in the Kurdistan region. The Kurdistan economy is heavily dependent on oil.” 

He said the suspension of oil sales raised both financial and security issues for the KRG. 

“The best way forward is for Ankara to play a constructive role by mediating between Irbil and Baghdad,” he said.

“If Turkiye and Baghdad are going to try to bypass the KRG to reach a state-to-state agreement, this could lead to a resurgence of Kurdish nationalism that will stir instability in the region,” he added.

Turkiye meanwhile would need to look to oil from Russia and Iran to fill the hole left by the loss of KRG oil.  

Rich Outzen, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said the effects of the arbitration ruling would be felt most keenly in the KRG but also Iraq. “It will hurt Iraq too as long as oil is not flowing. Turkiye and Iraq will work a deal that will involve less than the full penalty in my view,” he told Arab News. 

Outzen said that the US, which provides budget support to Baghdad, should press for a quick deal with Ankara and resumption of trade. “Oil costs are affected as world oil prices increase. The latest ruling affects the Iraqi Turkish Pipeline, not trucks, so some may still move by truck,” he said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani recently paid an official visit to Turkiye, where he discussed a project to build a land and rail corridor from Basra to the Turkish border.


Lebanon scraps controversial airport expansion: minister

Lebanon scraps controversial airport expansion: minister
Updated 30 March 2023

Lebanon scraps controversial airport expansion: minister

Lebanon scraps controversial airport expansion: minister
  • Some had questioned how a caretaker government with limited powers could announce major infrastructure project
  • Civil society organizations and lawmakers noted the absence of tender process

BEIRUT: Cash-strapped Lebanon has scrapped a deal for a second terminal at Beirut’s international airport, the transport minister said Thursday, after critics raised transparency concerns in the $122 million project.
Lebanon “will not proceed with the contract,” Public Works and Transportation Minister Ali Hamieh said on Twitter, adding that the decision came “following legal controversy.”
Some had questioned how a caretaker government with limited powers could announce such a major infrastructure project, in a country where entrenched political barons are accused of systemic corruption.
Civil society organizations and lawmakers noted the absence of a tender process and a lack of involvement of the Public Procurement Authority.
Jean Ellieh, head of the authority, said “the contract did not pass through” the regulatory body as required under a 2021 law.
Last week 10 civil society groups, including Transparency International Lebanon, warned of “serious abuses” in the procurement law’s application which “open the door to corruption and nepotism.”
The government, which has been operating in a caretaker capacity since legislative elections last May, announced the second terminal project last week, to be carried out by private company Lebanese Air Transport and Irish firm daa International.
Hamieh had said the private sector would fund project, which would have created “around 2,500 jobs,” with the firms to operate the terminal for 25 years.
Lebanon plunged into an economic crisis in 2019, that the World Bank has dubbed one of the planet’s worst in modern times.
The meltdown has pushed most of the population into poverty while the political elite, widely blamed for the country’s financial collapse, has failed to take action.
The International Monetary Fund last week warned the country was “at a very dangerous moment,” criticizing slow progress on reforms needed to unlock billions in emergency loans.
Along with a caretaker government, the country has also been without a president for almost five months amid political deadlock.


Syria says Israeli strikes near Damascus wound 2 soldiers

Syria says Israeli strikes near Damascus wound 2 soldiers
Updated 30 March 2023

Syria says Israeli strikes near Damascus wound 2 soldiers

Syria says Israeli strikes near Damascus wound 2 soldiers
  • Explosions heard in the Syrian capital early Thursday
  • Syria’s air defense intercepted several missiles, says defense ministry

DAMASCUS: Syrian state media said Israel staged airstrikes in the Damascus area early Thursday, wounding two soldiers and causing material damage.
Loud explosions were heard over the Syrian capital around 1:30 a.m., and the SANA state news agency said Syrian air defenses were “confronting hostile targets.” SANA, quoting an unidentified military official, said some missiles were shot down by the air defenses.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, including attacks on the Damascus and Aleppo airports, but it rarely acknowledges specific operations.
Israel says it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.
An Israeli airstrike last week targeting the airport at the northern city of Aleppo put it out of commission for two days.
Along with airports, Israel has also targeted seaports in government-held areas in an apparent attempt to prevent Iranian arms shipments to militant groups backed by Tehran, including Hezbollah.

 


Iraq preserves traumatic memories of Daesh reign

Iraq preserves traumatic memories of Daesh reign
Updated 30 March 2023

Iraq preserves traumatic memories of Daesh reign

Iraq preserves traumatic memories of Daesh reign

MOSUL: The horrors they endured under the Daesh group may be in the past for the people of Iraq, but the traumatic memories remain.

Now a research project is recording their witness testimonies for posterity. Omar Mohammed, founder of the Mosul Eye project, rose to prominence during the Daesh reign by bravely sharing news via Twitter from inside the city under jihadist rule.

Years later, he wants to make sure nothing is forgotten.

“When I was in Mosul recording everything myself, I felt the need to include all the people, to record our history in their own voice,” he said.

Bereaved mother Umm Mohammed, 55, is among those who have shared their memories of terror, suffering and loss with the non-governmental group.

The extremists came for her family one night in 2015 and took away her son Ahmed, then a 27-year-old construction worker. His brother Mohammed, 10 years younger, then made a fateful choice: he decided to join the ranks of Daesh, with a daring plan to find and liberate Ahmed.

“I told him: ‘My son, don’t join them’,” recounted Umm Mohammed, her hair under a dark scarf.

“He said: ‘It’s none of your business. I’m going to get my brother. I’ll go into the prisons.’“

The elderly woman said, with sadness in her voice, that Mohammed left “and never came back.”

And neither did Ahmed.

Both are presumed to be among the many killed under the group’s self-declared “caliphate” that cut across swathes of Iraq and Syria.

Umm Mohammed said she suspects the jihadists felt that Mohammed “was not one of them. They must have thought he was a spy.”

Speaking about those dark days years later for the Mosul Eye project has brought up a storm of emotions, but ultimately had a cathartic effect for Umm Mohammed.

Mosul Eye, with funding from the US Agency for International Development, has trained 10 students to conduct and film interviews, mostly in Mosul but testimonies have also been collected from people hailing from elsewhere in Iraq.

The youngest of the 70 witnesses are barely 10 years old. Others are in their 80s. The oldest is 104.

The footage will be kept at the group’s archives at Mosul University, and George Washington University in the US capital, for use by researchers and for future generations.

“We wanted to show the world how the people of Mosul overcame this experience,” said a spokesman for Mosul Eye, Mohannad Ammar.

Another witness is Muslim Hmeid, a 27-year-old law student whose Sunni Arab family endured five months of Daesh rule in Sinjar in 2014 before fleeing.

Seared in his mind especially is the “bloody first week, impossible to erase from memory.”

He relived with pain how Daesh targeted the local Yazidi minority, whose non-Muslim faith the extremists considered heretical.

Hmeid remembered watching helplessly as the jihadists came and loaded Yazidi girls and women into lorries.

“Once I saw two or three trucks full of women,” he said. “And a few men, but mostly young women, aged 17 to 30, maybe.”

Entire Yazidi villages were emptied and many fell victim to crimes since recognized as genocide by the United Nations and courts in several countries.

Women were forced into sexual slavery and the men were killed, while “those who could fled into the mountains,” Hmeid said.

“Witnessing such a catastrophe happen to your neighbors and not being able to help ... We were heartbroken,” said Hmeid. “Psychologically, we were devastated.”

With three of his brothers in the military and on the Daesh kill list, the family fled to Turkiye but later returned to Iraq.

“By talking about these topics, we reopen wounds,” said Hmeid. But, added the father of two, “the next generations must know exactly what happened.”