UK rejects Afghan family’s request to join son, 13, in Britain

UK rejects Afghan family’s request to join son, 13, in Britain
About 15,000 British nationals and eligible Afghans were transported from the country. (AFP filephoto)
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Updated 09 September 2024
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UK rejects Afghan family’s request to join son, 13, in Britain

UK rejects Afghan family’s request to join son, 13, in Britain
  • Boy was evacuated from Kabul in 2021 amid Taliban takeover
  • His family, who risk Taliban reprisal, were refused family reunion visa this year

LONDON: The visa of an Afghan family hoping to be reunited with their 13-year-old son in the UK has been rejected by the Home Office.

In 2021, Ahmad, then aged 10, was brought to the UK during the evacuation from Afghanistan as the Taliban retook the country, The Guardian reported.

About 15,000 British nationals and eligible Afghans were transported from the country.

But Ahmad’s family remain in Afghanistan, and the 13-year-old’s father says his life is at risk over his past work for a company linked to the Western presence in the country.

Last year, they applied for a UK family reunion visa, which the Home Office rejected in June this year.

A letter sent to Ahmad’s father, seen by The Guardian, claims that the rejection would not breach the right to a family life.

“You have failed to show any exceptional dependency between you and your sponsor (Ahmad) … As such I am satisfied that this refusal has not breached your right to a family life,” the Home Office letter said.

It also claimed that the family were not at “exceptional” risk in Afghanistan, based on Ahmad’s father being able to obtain identity documents from Taliban government ministries.

Ahmad has been living with extended family since arriving in Britain and has started school.

His father told The Guardian: “My life is in danger because I worked with foreign forces … The decision from the Home Office made us very upset. We felt that we had the right this country would allow us to reunite with our child.

“It’s been for the past three years that we are missing one member of our family and his place is empty in our life, and that is our son.”

Now the family are being represented in a legal appeal by a pro bono initiative for Afghans.

The scheme is run by the refugee charities Safe Passage International and Refugee Legal Support.

Helena Cullen, Ahmad’s lawyer, said that the 13-year-old is one of about 80 children who were split from their family during Britain’s Afghanistan evacuation.

“This family was tragically separated during the chaos of Operation Pitting and have been fighting to reunite for the last three years, battling many hurdles just to get their family reunion application submitted,” she said.

A separated families visa route announced by the UK government in July may offer fresh hope for Ahmad’s family and others, she added.

Ahmad is reportedly depressed and suffering from deteriorating mental health, said Dr. Wanda Wyporska, CEO of Safe Passage International, citing the charity’s legal and safeguarding experts.

The boy’s aunt, whom he lives with in the UK, said that she was shocked by the Home Office’s decision.

“We all know that children need their parents, especially when they are this age.”

The Home Office said in a statement on the case: “All applications are carefully considered on their individual merits and in line with the immigration rules.”


Relations between Jewish and Muslim communities in the UK ‘fragile,’ British imam says

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital in Deir Al-Balah, Tuesday.
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital in Deir Al-Balah, Tuesday.
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Relations between Jewish and Muslim communities in the UK ‘fragile,’ British imam says

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital in Deir Al-Balah, Tuesday.
  • There has been a “lack of common language to describe the massive onslaught of death and destruction” in Gaza that followed Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023, imam said

LONDON: A year after the war in Gaza started, a British imam has described relations between Jewish and Muslim communities in the UK as “fragile and fractured.”

Israel’s military incursion into Gaza and Lebanon is an “apocalypse,” Qari Asim, the chairman of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board, told PA Media on Monday.

There has been a “lack of common language to describe the massive onslaught of death and destruction” in Gaza that followed Hamas’ “brutal attack” on Oct. 7 last year, the leading imam said.

He said that although there are “different perspectives” of the conflict, he has had “a number of open and frank conversations” with Jewish faith leaders “about the pain, trauma and heartbreak that British Muslims feel when they hear on their screens the cries of young children.”

Such dialogue has also involved listening to the perspectives of the Jewish community on “the pain and suffering that they’re experiencing because of the horrific attacks on October 7 last year.”

He said: “The relations between Jewish and Muslim communities are currently fragile and fractured.”

However, he also paid tribute to those who have come together to keep communication open between the two communities.

“Despite the extremely aching and traumatic last 12 months, I see that brave members of our respective communities have continued some form of dialogue.

“These encounters and activities show that no matter how fractured interfaith relationships between the two communities may seem in this country, people of all faiths and beliefs stand together when they see a stain on our national moral conscience,” Asim said.

Mourners and leaders around the world on Monday voiced horror and a desire for peace at tearful memorials remembering the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked a year of devastating war in Gaza.

People from Sydney to Rome and Warsaw to Washington grieved for those killed and urged freedom for those taken hostage by Hamas one year ago, while rallies also called for peace in the Palestinian territories.


Kyiv arrests Kremlin ‘ideologue’ extradited from Moldova

Kyiv arrests Kremlin ‘ideologue’ extradited from Moldova
Updated 08 October 2024
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Kyiv arrests Kremlin ‘ideologue’ extradited from Moldova

Kyiv arrests Kremlin ‘ideologue’ extradited from Moldova
  • The SBU said Dmytro Chystilin — whom it called an “ideologue” of Moscow’s invasion — was charged with “high treason” and “justification” of Russia’s aggression
  • “The SBU detained one of the Kremlin’s ideologues of the ‘special military operation’ against Ukraine“

KYIV: Ukraine has arrested a Russian-Ukrainian dual national extradited from Moldova charged with promoting the Kremlin’s invasion, Kyiv’s security service said Tuesday.
The SBU said Dmytro Chystilin — whom it called an “ideologue” of Moscow’s invasion — was charged with “high treason” and “justification” of Russia’s aggression, facing a possible life sentence.
“The SBU detained one of the Kremlin’s ideologues of the ‘special military operation’ against Ukraine,” the security service said in a statement.
It accused Chystilin of “providing assistance” to Russian special services, organizing pro-Moscow conferences in Europe and “interference in election processes in Eastern and Central Europe in favor of Moscow.”
The security service said he was arrested after an event in Moldova when he tried to return to Moscow.
An SBU spokesman, Artem Dekhtyarenko, told AFP that Moldova then extradited Chystilin to Ukraine “over the weekend.”
Dekhtyarenko said he has both Ukrainian and Russian passports.
Ukrainian prosecutors said Chystilin had acted as a Kremlin “mouthpiece” and was detained for “developing and implementing information warfare strategy against Ukraine.”
“While in Moldova, he strengthened the Kremlin’s information influence on the domestic and foreign policy of a sovereign state,” Ukraine’s prosecutor-general said in a statement.
The SBU said Chystilin had also worked as an assistant to Sergei Glazyev, a former Kremlin adviser known for his hawkish positions.
Russian state media quoted a friend of Chystilin, Igor Kaldare, as saying that the dual national was organizing a “regional security” conference in Bucharest and was arrested by Moldovan security services.


Biden cancels trip to Germany and Angola because of hurricane

Biden cancels trip to Germany and Angola because of hurricane
Updated 08 October 2024
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Biden cancels trip to Germany and Angola because of hurricane

Biden cancels trip to Germany and Angola because of hurricane
  • Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the change was necessary “given the projected trajectory and strength” of the storm

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden is postponing a planned trip to Germany and Angola to remain at the White House to monitor Hurricane Milton, which is bearing down on Florida’s Gulf Coast, the White House announced on Tuesday.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the change was necessary “given the projected trajectory and strength” of the storm.
It was not clear when the trip might be rescheduled. Biden had promised to go to Africa during his term in office, which ends in January.


UK PM Starmer rules out total ban on arms exports to Israel

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer. (File/Reuters)
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer. (File/Reuters)
Updated 08 October 2024
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UK PM Starmer rules out total ban on arms exports to Israel

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer. (File/Reuters)
  • Sir Keir warns that defensive weapons must continue to be sent in the face of Iranian threats, proxy activities
  • Remarks come after French President Macron calls for halt on arms sales, demanding a return to a ‘political solution’

LONDON: UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said he would “never” ban all arms sales to Israel.

The Labour leader made the claim during questions in the House of Commons on Monday, adding he believed Israel has a right to defend itself.

“If the sale of weapons for defensive use by Israel were banned, that is a position I could not countenance a year after Oct 7. It’s not a position I could countenance in the face of attacks by Iran,” Sir Keir told Parliament.

“The idea that we could say we support Israel’s right to defend herself, and at the same time deprive her of the means to do so, is so wholly inconsistent that it will never be my position.”

The UK government suspended 30 arms export licenses to Israel last month over fears they could be used to break international law. However, 32 other licenses remain.

The prime minister received criticism for his stance, with Zarah Sultana MP, currently suspended from the Labour Party, telling Sir Keir to do what is “morally and legally right” and ban “all arms sales” to Israel, including components for F-35 fighter jets.

On Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron called for a halt on arms exports to Israel after it invaded Lebanon.

“I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza,” he said.

Sir Keir echoed the need for a political solution to the crisis on the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel.

“Make no mistake, the region can’t take another year of this. All sides must step back from the brink and find the courage of restraint,” Sir Keir said.

US President Joe Biden also used the anniversary to tell Israeli President Isaac Herzog that Washington would “never give up until we bring all of the remaining hostages home safely.”


Norway raises terrorism alert level due to Middle East conflict

Norway raises terrorism alert level due to Middle East conflict
Updated 08 October 2024
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Norway raises terrorism alert level due to Middle East conflict

Norway raises terrorism alert level due to Middle East conflict
  • Norwegian police officers, who are normally unarmed, will now carry guns nationwide as a result of the decision
  • “It is primarily the threat to Jewish and Israeli targets that has been further intensified,” the statement said

OSLO: Norway has raised its terrorism threat assessment to the second-highest level due to an increased risk of attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets, the national police directorate said on Tuesday.
Norwegian police officers, who are normally unarmed, will now carry guns nationwide as a result of the decision by the PST security service to raise the threat level, the directorate said.
“PST raises the terror threat level in Norway from moderate to high as a result of the ongoing escalation of the conflict in the Middle East,” the police said in a statement.
“It is primarily the threat to Jewish and Israeli targets that has been further intensified,” the statement said.
National Police Commissioner Benedicte Bjoernland said there was an increased likelihood of attempted terrorism.
.”..we have a number of measures in place to protect the population,” she said in a statement.
Neighbouring Sweden in August last year raised its terrorist alert to the second-highest level after Qur'an burnings outraged Muslims and triggered threats from militants.