Tunisian candidate Zammel detained hours after release

Update Tunisian candidate Zammel detained hours after release
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Tunisian presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel. (X: @ZammelAyachi)
Update Tunisian candidate Zammel detained hours after release
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A demonstrator carries a banner during a protest demanding the implementation of a ruling by the administrative court to reinstate three other prominent candidates in the presidential race. (REUTERS/File Photo )
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Updated 06 September 2024
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Tunisian candidate Zammel detained hours after release

Tunisian candidate Zammel detained hours after release
  • Ayachi Zammel is one of three candidates approved by Tunisia’s electoral commission to run in a presidential election on Oct. 6
  • Zammel campaign member Mahdi Abdel Jawad described his arrest as a kidnapping

TUNIS: Tunisian presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel was placed in custody shortly after being released from pretrial detention on suspicion of forging ballot signatures, his lawyer said on Friday.
Zammel, 43, is one of only two candidates approved by the electoral authority, ISIE, to challenge President Kais Saied in the Oct. 6 poll.
A court in Manouba, west of Tunis, ordered his temporary release late on Thursday after he spent four days in detention, said his lawyer Abdessatar Messaoudi.
But shortly afterward, Zammel was arrested again and placed in custody in Jendouba, about 150 km away, over the same suspicions “related to ballot signatures, Messaoudi added.
The lawyer said he is due to appear before a judge in Jendouba on Wednesday.

BACKGROUND

A little-known businessman and former parliamentarian, Ayachi Zammel headed Azimoun, a small liberal party, until late August when he resigned to run as an independent.

Messaoudi said 25 active cases involving signature collectors for Zammel’s campaign were ongoing, though it was unclear if Zammel would be investigated in all of them.
A little-known businessman and former parliamentarian, Zammel headed Azimoun, a small liberal party, until late August when he resigned to run as an independent.
His arrest on Monday came hours before ISIE released a final list of presidential candidates, which included Zammel, Saied, and former parliamentarian Zouhair Maghzaoui.
The list excluded three other hopefuls despite court rulings granting them appeals after their initial rejection by ISIE.
These were Imed Daimi, an adviser to former president Moncef Marzouki, former minister Mondher Zenaidi, and opposition party leader Abdellatif Mekki.
Experts say they had a chance of winning against Saied.
Saied, the frontrunner, came to power in 2019 but staged a sweeping power grab in 2021 and has ruled by decree since then.
On Thursday, the EU said Zammel’s arrest and the exclusion of the three candidates demonstrated “a continued limitation of the democratic space” in Tunisia, which sparked the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.
“The rule of law and respect for the separation of powers are at the heart of democratic values, as are electoral rights and the right to a fair trial,” the EU said.
Human Rights Watch says at least eight prospective candidates have been “prosecuted, convicted or imprisoned” before the election.
The group said ISIE “has intervened to skew the ballot in favor of Saied,” adding: “Holding elections amid such repression makes a mockery of Tunisians’ right to participate in free and fair elections.”

 


Israeli strike on south Beirut targeted senior Hezbollah leader -security source

Israeli strike on south Beirut targeted senior Hezbollah leader -security source
Updated 12 sec ago
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Israeli strike on south Beirut targeted senior Hezbollah leader -security source

Israeli strike on south Beirut targeted senior Hezbollah leader -security source
Israel targeted a senior Hezbollah leader in a strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Thursday afternoon but his fate was not immediately known, a security source told Reuters.
The strike hit near a part of the southern suburbs where several of the Lebanese armed group’s facilities are located.

Sudan’s army launches push to retake ground in capital

Sudan’s army launches push to retake ground in capital
Updated 26 September 2024
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Sudan’s army launches push to retake ground in capital

Sudan’s army launches push to retake ground in capital
  • Army lost most of capital early in the war
  • Army chief Burhan to address UN in New York

DUBAI: Sudan’s army launched artillery and air strikes in Sudan’s capital on Thursday in its biggest operation to regain ground there since early in its 17-month war with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), witnesses and military sources said.
The push by the army, which lost control of most of the capital at the start of the conflict, came ahead of an address by its commander, General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, at the United Nations General Assembly in New York later in the day.
Witnesses reported heavy bombardments and clashes as army troops tried to cross bridges across the Nile connecting the three adjoining cities that make up the greater capital, Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri.
“The army is carrying out heavy artillery strikes and air strikes on Halfaya and Shambat,” Ahmed Abdalla, a 48-year-old resident told Reuters by phone, referring to areas of Bahri close to the river. “The sounds of explosions are very loud.”
Video footage showed black smoke rising above the capital and the booms of the battle could be heard in the background.
Army sources said their forces had crossed bridges in Khartoum and Bahri. The RSF told Reuters it had thwarted the army’s attempt to cross two bridges to Khartoum. Reuters could not independently confirm the accounts.
Though the army retook some ground in Omdurman early this year, it depends mostly on artillery and airstrikes and has been unable to dislodge nimble RSF ground forces embedded in other parts of the capital.
Darfur fears
The RSF has also continued to make advances in other parts of Sudan in recent months in a conflict that has caused a vast humanitarian crisis, displacing more than 10 million people and driving parts of the country to extreme hunger or famine.
Diplomatic efforts by the United States and other powers have faltered, with the army refusing to attend talks last month in Switzerland.
This month the battle for control of Al-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur state in the west of Sudan, has also intensified as the RSF has tried to advance from positions surrounding the city against the army and allied former rebel groups.
Al-Fashir is the last army holdout across the Darfur region, where the UN and rights groups say the RSF and allies have led ethnically-targetted attacks and the humanitarian situation is
particularly critical. The RSF has denied being behind the violence.
The UN human rights office said on Thursday it had documented summary executions, sexual and gender-based violence, and abductions of women and young men in Al-Fashir, in addition to rising civilian casualties.
“From bitter past experience, if Al-Fashir falls, there is a high risk of ethnically targeted violations and abuses, including summary executions and sexual violence, by the RSF and allied militia,” UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said.
The UN Security Council and secretary-general have also demanded an end to the siege of Al-Fashir, home to more than 1.8 million residents and displaced people.
The war began when tensions between the RSF and the army, who had been jostling for position ahead of an internationally-backed transition to civilian rule, erupted into open conflict.
The army and the RSF had previously shared power after staging a coup in 2021, two years after veteran autocrat Omar Al-Bashir was toppled in a popular uprising.


No formal mediation track on Lebanon ceasefire yet, Qatar ministry says

No formal mediation track on Lebanon ceasefire yet, Qatar ministry says
Updated 26 September 2024
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No formal mediation track on Lebanon ceasefire yet, Qatar ministry says

No formal mediation track on Lebanon ceasefire yet, Qatar ministry says

DOHA: There is no formal mediation track working toward a ceasefire in Lebanon yet, Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari told a press briefing on Thursday following days of violence between Hezbollah and Israel.
He said he was not aware of a “direct link” between a 21-day Lebanon ceasefire proposal and a Gaza ceasefire proposal on which Qatar had worked extensively alongside Egypt and the United States.


Israel far-right minister rejects Lebanon ceasefire, calls for ‘crushing’ Hezbollah

Israel far-right minister rejects Lebanon ceasefire, calls for ‘crushing’ Hezbollah
Updated 26 September 2024
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Israel far-right minister rejects Lebanon ceasefire, calls for ‘crushing’ Hezbollah

Israel far-right minister rejects Lebanon ceasefire, calls for ‘crushing’ Hezbollah
  • The United States, European Union issued a joint call for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon after Israeli air strikes on Hezbollah killed hundreds

JERUSULAM: Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday rejected a proposal for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon and called for the “crushing” of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
The United States, European Union and other allies including several Arab states issued a joint call for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon after Israeli air strikes on Hezbollah killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands in Lebanon this week.
The call for a three-week ceasefire came hours after Israeli army chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi on Wednesday told soldiers to prepare for a possible ground offensive against Hezbollah.
Smotrich, a key member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, opposed the proposal, insisting that continuing the war against Hezbollah was the only way forward.
“The campaign in the north should end with a single result: crushing Hezbollah and elimination of its ability to harm the residents of the north,” Smotrich said on X.
“The enemy must not be given time to recover from the heavy blows it has suffered and reorganize itself to continue the war after 21 days,” he said.
“Hezbollah’s surrender or war — this is the only way to bring back the residents and security to the north and the country.”

In a separate statement on X, opposition leader Yair Lapid said the Israeli government should only agree to a seven-day ceasefire.
This would “prevent Hezbollah from restoring its command and control systems,” Lapid said.
“We will not accept any proposal that does not include the withdrawal of Hezbollah from our northern border.”
Smotrich, along with far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, has been a strong advocate of continuing the war in Gaza too, where Israeli forces have been battling Palestinian militants led by the Islamist group Hamas since October 7.
The Gaza war erupted when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, and Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel from Lebanon a day later in what it says is solidarity with its ally Hamas.
Since then Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in fierce cross-border clashes, which worsened this week when Israel launched a withering bombing campaign in southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah sites in the deadliest violence since Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war.


Israel sends scores of bodies to Gaza; Palestinians demand details before burying them

Israel sends scores of bodies to Gaza; Palestinians demand details before burying them
Updated 26 September 2024
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Israel sends scores of bodies to Gaza; Palestinians demand details before burying them

Israel sends scores of bodies to Gaza; Palestinians demand details before burying them
  • The bodies were brought into Gaza in a container loaded on a truck through an Israeli-controlled crossing
  • Health officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis refused to receive them and bury them, urging the ICRC to seek details from Israel

CAIRO: Israel returned the bodies on Wednesday of 88 Palestinians killed in its military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which the territory’s health ministry refused to bury before Israel discloses details about who they are and where it killed them.
The bodies were brought into Gaza in a container loaded on a truck through an Israeli-controlled crossing, but, according to Palestinian officials, there was no information provided about the names or ages of the victims or locations where they died.
Health officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis refused to receive them and bury them, urging the International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC to seek details from Israel.
“The health ministry halted the procedures to receive the container (carrying the bodies) until the completion of the full data and information about those bodies so their relatives can identify them,” the ministry said in a statement.
The head of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said health ministry officials told the driver of the truck to bring the bodies of dead Palestinians back to the Israeli crossing from which he had arrived. The truck then left the hospital.
“They must act according to the international humanitarian law and in a way that preserves the dignity of the martyrs and their families,” Ismail Al-Thawabta told Reuters.
The Red Cross said it wasn’t involved in the transfer process.
“We reiterate that all families have the right to receive news about their loved ones and bury them respectfully and in line with their traditions,” said a statement issued by the ICRC.
Under International Humanitarian Law, those who have died during an armed conflict must be handled with dignity and be properly managed. The law requires that they be searched for, collected and evacuated, which helps ensure that people do not go missing, the ICRC statement added.
The Civil Emergency Service tasked with finding people missing under rubble, on roads and in ruined buildings in Gaza says it has been notified of around 10,000 people missing during the near year-long Israeli assault on Gaza.
Gaza health authorities list more than 41,000 Palestinians confirmed killed in the assault, which Israel launched after Hamas fighters attacked Israeli towns on Oct. 7 last year, killing 1,200 people and capturing around 250 hostages.
In recent days the conflict has spread to another major theater, with Israel launching the biggest airstrikes on Lebanon in nearly two decades, targeting the Hezbollah movement, which has been rocketing Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians.

MORE STRIKES IN GAZA
War in Gaza has not let up, even as the conflict in Lebanon has escalated. Many months of diplomatic efforts to reach a Gaza ceasefire have yielded little progress, with Israel refusing any deal to halt the fighting without the total defeat of Hamas.
Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 14 Palestinians on Wednesday, medics said.
In Rafah, near the border with Egypt, Israeli forces continued their operations in different areas of the city, amid clashes with Hamas-led fighters, according to residents and statements posted by militants.
Medics said at least eight Palestinians were killed in two separate Israeli strikes on two houses in Rafah. One of those strikes killed a woman and her children, they added.
In another attack in Bureij, one of the Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee camps, five Palestinians were killed in a house hit by an Israeli missile, medics said.
Israel has also sent tanks into the eastern area of Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, and medics said a woman was killed in an air strike on a house in the town earlier on Tuesday.