Tunisian MP stirs row after female circumcision remarks

Habib Ellouze, an MP from the ruling Ennahda, accused the newspaper of distorting his quotes, saying the journalist "attributed remarks to me that I have not said." (Photo courtesy of businessnews.com.tn)

Lawmakers from Tunisia's secular opposition Monday denounced remarks attributed to an MP from the Islamist Ennahda party that female circumcisions in Africa are carried out for "aesthetic' reasons.

"It is unacceptable that a member promotes crimes against women," lawmaker Nadia Shaaban said in the National Constituent Assembly, referring to remarks purportedly made by Habib Ellouze, an MP from the ruling Ennahda.

"In the (African) regions where it is hot, people are forced to circumcise girls ... because in these regions clitorises are too big which affects the spouses," Ellouze was quoted in an interview published in the Sunday edition of Maghreb newspaper as saying.

"There are more circumcisions but it is not true that circumcision removes the pleasure for women. It is the West that has exaggerated the issue. Circumcision is an aesthetic surgery for women," he was quoted as saying.

Ellouze on Monday accused the newspaper of distorting his quotes, saying the journalist "attributed remarks to me that I have not said."

"She insisted that I respond to the question and I told her that it is a tradition in other countries," Ellouze said in the assembly.

Ennahda, which heads the Tunisian government, is regularly accused of orchestrating a creeping Islamization of society and seeks to limit the rights of women. Ennahda denies these charges.

The International Organization of Migration says that around 100 to 140 million women have undergone female genital mutilations around the world, mainly in Africa.
 

11 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/11/Tunisian-MP-stirs-row-after-female-circumcision-remarks-.html
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Refugees quarter of Lebanon population, country needs help: president

Lebanese President Michel Suleiman said the international community must try and help with the influx of Syrian refugees into the country. (AFP)

 The Lebanese president said Monday the presence of one million Syrians alongside a Palestinian refugee population meant that a quarter of the country's population were now refugees.

Michel Suleiman told Reuters that there should be international action to help Lebanon deal with a deluge of refugees from the war in neighboring Syria, which, he added, has threatened to set his tiny Mediterranean nation ablaze.

"When there is a fire next to your house, you have to assume that it will spread and you have to try to stop it [from] reaching you," Suleiman said.

"Those numbers are more than the capacity of any country to bear," he said. "It's not just a matter of material help and relief – the geographic and demographic capacity is saturated and the problems resulting from this massive number affect us socially, economically and on security."

According to Lebanon, the country is hosting around one million Syrian refugees, one third of whom are officially registered. The United Nations has said that the almost two-year-old Syrian uprising against President Bashar al-Assad has killed approximately 70,000 people.

The Lebanese president called for an international conference to find ways for other countries to take the burden off of Lebanon when it comes to the influx of Syrian refugees.

"The world should think about how to alleviate this burden from Lebanon.... For humanitarian reasons we cannot turn back any refugee who is hungry, wounded, frightened or persecuted," he said. "But what to do if there is an epidemic or hunger?"

"The Syrian refugees should be distributed [to other countries]," he added.

Suleiman – who is a former army chief elected president as part of a peace deal to end sectarian clashes in Beirut in 2008 – also spoke to Reuters about the dangers the Syrian conflict may have on Lebanon.

Dozens of people have been killed in fighting in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli between a Sunni Muslim majority – which strongly supports the Syrian rebels battling Assad - and a minority from the Syrian president's own Alawite sect.

"There is a danger. We have to keep extinguishing the fire," said Suleiman. "The fire extinguisher should always be in our hands."

"There is an ongoing war, but Syria won't be divided or partitioned. It would be a catastrophe for all the region, but it won't happen," the Lebanese president said, calling for a concerted push by world powers to end the crisis.

"They should find a political solution. It is imperative that they have an international conference because the damage of what is happening will not be confined to Syria, but will hurt all major powers.

"Europe, Russia and the United States and major powers should agree on a solution and should impose it on Arabs and on the Syrians," he declared.

International divisions have paralyzed U.N. Security Council action to halt the Syrian conflict. Russia and China have blocked three resolutions backed by Western and some Arab states aimed at putting pressure on Assad to stop the bloodshed.

"I am very worried about the situation," Suleiman said. "We are working to prevent the explosion. Nobody has any excuse to avoid their responsibilities."

"Those who benefit from the existing situation have no right to subject the country to a problem," he said, apparently referring to Syria's local partisans including Hezbollah and its allies, who dominate Prime Minister Najib Miqati's government.

12 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/11/Refugees-quarter-of-Lebanon-population-country-needs-help-president.html
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Saudi Arabia releases al-Qaeda-linked women detainees

Al-Qaeda exploits Saudi customs to draw women into its ranks. (AFP)

Five al Qaeda-linked women detainees have been freed by Saudi authorities but the move was not linked to demands by the al-Qaeda captors of a Saudi diplomat in Yemen, the government said on Monday.

Abdullah al-Khalidi, the Saudi deputy consul in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden, was kidnapped outside his residence on March 28. His captors demanded a ransom and the release of detainees held in Saudi prisons but the government said in April that it could not negotiate with al-Qaeda.

Khalidi has appeared in two videos since then, posted on the internet, begging King Abdullah to meet his captors' demand for the release of women detainees.

"Release those women, they release me the next day," he said in the second video posted earlier this month.
The women, who were held by Saudi security services, are relatives of al-Qaeda fighters, Khalidi said.

Asked if they were released to meet the demands of Khalidi's captors, Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki said: "The investigation bureau and public prosecution office decided to release two of the women detainees by court order as they were (pregnant) and close to their due dates."

The other three were released on bail on Saturday pending trial, he said. One more woman detainee is serving a jail sentence.

In April, a militant who claimed responsibility for Khalidi's kidnapping threatened to kill him unless a ransom was paid and al-Qaeda prisoners were freed from Saudi jails.

"We cannot consider this release as heeding to demands of the captors because, on principal, states do not accept to be subject to blackmail," said a Saudi official who declined to be named.

"There was a coincidence between the release of the women detainees on humanitarian grounds and the demands of the captors."

The government hopes the move will prompt Khalidi's captors to release him on humanitarian grounds, the official said.

The United States and its Gulf Arab allies have watched with mounting alarm as Islamist fighters, emboldened by political instability in Yemen, gained ground in the south of the country in the past year.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula - the name of the al-Qaeda group operating in Yemen - is seen by U.S. officials as the most dangerous offshoot of the global militant network.

11 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/11/Saudi-releases-al-Qaeda-linked-women-detainees.html
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Ukrainian journalist escapes kidnappers in Syria

Kochneva, a 40-year-old Ukrainian citizen, was abducted in October by Syrian rebels as she traveled to the city of Homs, and has been held there by them since, they claim. (Photo courtesy Russia TV)

A Ukrainian journalist escaped from her kidnappers in Syria and was heading to the capital Damascus, according to her nephew Monday.

"She escaped this morning. We spoke by telephone with her for a couple of minutes. She said people were taking her to Damascus," her nephew, Dmitry Astafurov, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.

The Ukrainian foreign ministry confirmed Ankhar Kochneva was free after several months in captivity but said it had no further information on the matter.

"She is free and has already contacted our embassy in Syria," said foreign ministry spokesman Yevgen Perebiynis. "Tomorrow she should be at our embassy in Syria." However, he refused to comment whether she had escaped or was freed.

The 40-year-old Ukrainian citizen was abducted last October near Homs by people who said they belonged to the Free Syrian Army, reported Russia's RIA Novosti. According to the report, the rebels had demanded a $50 million ransom.

Kochneva has been in Syria since the conflict in Syria erupted in March 2011 and had been reporting for several Russian media outlets. According to RIA Navosti, she was an "outspoken supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad."

In an interview with RIA Novosti news agency from Syria, Kochneva said she was held near the central city of Homs and was treated poorly by her captors.

She escaped early Monday morning and said she had to walk through mine fields on her trek to safety.

"I was held by the head of the military council of the Free Syrian Army," she said. "The first 40 days I was treated okay, but then they started to hurt me. It was bad, they live poorly themselves, and I was even worse off than they."

"It will take a lot of time and money to improve my health now," she said.

However Kochneva told Russian radio station Business FM that she plans to stay in Damascus and report on the conflict, in which she is an ardent supporter of President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

"I will stay here," she said. "The world is blind. I will do everything so that people find out what is really happening here."

12 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/11/Ukrainian-journalist-escapes-kidnappers-in-Syria.html
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Bahrain king appoints crown prince as deputy PM

Crown Prince Salman al-Khalifa was appointed deputy prime minister by Bahrain King Hamad bin Isa bin Salman al-Khalifa. (AFP)

Bahrain appointed Crown Prince Salman al-Khalifa as first deputy prime minister Tuesday, a sign the government could be softening its stance as it holds talks with the opposition to end two years of political unrest.

The kingdom, the base for the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, has been in turmoil since protests erupted there in 2011, led by majority Shiite Muslims demanding an end to the Sunni monarchy's political domination and full powers for parliament.

The appointment would allow the crown prince "to develop the performance of the apparatus of the executive branch," the state news agency BNA reported, citing a royal decree.

The addition of Prince Salman – who some believe to be moderate in his political views – to the Bahraini cabinet will be seen as a part of efforts to balance the influence of figures the Shiites see as hardliners, such as his great uncle, the prime minister.

"This is the beginning of change in the executive authority to implement Bahrain's commitments on the political and legal front," said Abdul Jaleel Khalil Ebrahim, a leader of the Shiite-led opposition bloc al-Wefaq.

He was referring to recommendations made by an international inquiry that investigated the government's handling of protests mainly by the country's Shiite Muslim majority in 2011, and to demands by the opposition for a constitutional monarchy in which governments are chosen by an elected parliament.

Crown Prince Salman was instrumental in pushing for a first round of talks between the government and the opposition after pro-democracy protests erupted in Bahrain in February 2011, at the height of the Arab Spring that ended in failure.

This latest attempt at a national dialogue, launched just last month, was also seen as largely due to his efforts.

"This is pushing new blood into the cabinet, the new generation. I am very happy with the appointment. I think it is good for strong progress and change in Bahrain," said Sameera Rajab, Bahrain's information minister.

Bahrain remains bitterly divided and there are still almost daily demonstrations on the small island that often end in violent confrontations between police who fire birdshot pellets and tear gas at stone and petrol bomb-throwing youths.

Rights and political activists accuse the government of persistent police brutality. The authorities point to what they describe as "terrorist" attacks on security patrols.

The government says 35 people died during the unrest in 2011and two months of martial law that followed, although the opposition puts the toll at more than 80.

At least two protesters and one policeman have died in the past few weeks as the unrest has taken a more violent turn.

11 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/11/Bahraini-king-appoints-moderate-crown-prince-as-deputy-PM.html
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Afghan insider attack results in casualties on both side sides

An Afghan National Army soldier keeps watch near the site of an attack in Kabul resulted in casualties on both sides. (Reuters)

A police officer opened fire on U.S. and Afghan forces inside a police headquarters in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, sparking a firefight that killed two U.S. troops and two other Afghan policemen. The attacker was also killed in the shootout, officials said.

Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi says the victims in Monday's incident were employees of a company that repairs police vehicles.

U.S. forces' spokesman Jamie Graybeal says the vehicle failed to heed instructions to stop as it came close to the convoy outside of the Afghan capital, Kabul, and the soldiers took "appropriate measures to protect themselves."

He confirms that two individuals were killed and says an assessment is under way.

A NATO spokesman said the two soldiers serving with the U.S. led forces in Afghanistan was the latest insider attack on the international military force in the country that threatened to undermine their alliance at a time when they need to work increasingly close side by side in order to hand over responsibility as planned for the upcoming year.

The attack also comes a day after the expiration of the Afghan president's deadline for U.S. Special Forces to withdraw from the province following accusations of abuse by those under their command.

U.S. officials have said that they are working with Afghan counterparts on coming up with a solution that will answer President Hamid Karzai's concerns and maintain security in Wardak. The majority of U.S. troops in Wardak are special operations forces.

In Monday's attack, an Afghan police officer stood up in the back of a police pickup truck, grabbed hold of a machine gun and started firing at the U.S. special operations forces and Afghan police in the police compound in Jalrez district, said the province's Deputy Police Chief Abdul Razaq Koraishi.

Karzai had ordered U.S. special operations forces to leave Wardak province, which lies just outside the capital, Kabul, because of allegations that Afghans working with the commandos were involved in abusive behavior. He gave them two weeks to leave, and the deadline expired at midnight Saturday.

11 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/2013/03/11/Afghan-insider-attack-results-in-casualties-on-both-side-sides-.html
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Pakistan starts work on Iranian gas pipeline opposed by U.S.

Pakistan starts work on Iranian gas pipeline opposed by U.S.

"Pipeline construction to transfer gas from the Islamic Republic to Pakistan ... started at the zero point of the border in the presence of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (R) and Pakistani President Asef Ali Zardari," Iran's state news agency IRNA reported. (Reuters)

The presidents of Iran and Pakistan marked the start of Pakistani construction on a much-delayed gas pipeline on Monday, Iranian media reported, despite U.S. pressure on Islamabad to back out of the project.

Dubbed the "peace pipeline", the $7 billion project has faced repeated delays since it was conceived in the 1990s to connect Iran's giant South Pars gas field to India via Pakistan.

The United States has steadfastly opposed Pakistani and Indian involvement, saying the project could violate sanctions imposed on Iran over nuclear activities that Washington suspects are aimed at developing a weapons capability. Iran denies this.

India quit the project in 2009, citing costs and security issues, a year after it signed a nuclear deal with Washington.

Pakistan has pursued the pipeline scheme as a way of alleviating severe energy shortages that have sparked demonstrations and battered a weak government. At the same time, it badly needs the billions of dollars it receives in U.S. aid.

"Pipeline construction to transfer gas from the Islamic Republic to Pakistan ... started at the zero point of the border in the presence of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Pakistani President Asef Ali Zardari," Iran's state news agency IRNA reported.

Iranian state television showed footage of Ahmadinejad and Zardari shaking hands and offering prayers after unveiling a plaque to mark Pakistan's involvement.

Iran has completed 900 km (560 miles) of pipeline on its side of the border and Iranian contractors will also construct the pipeline in Pakistan, Iran's national broadcasting network IRIB reported.

Tehran has agreed to lend Islamabad $500 million, or a third of the estimated $1.5 billion cost of the 750 km Pakistani section of the pipeline, Fars news agency reported.

The two sides hope the pipeline will be complete in time to start delivery of 21.5 million cubic meters of gas per day to Pakistan by December 2014.
 

11 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/business/2013/03/11/Pakistan-starts-work-on-Iranian-gas-pipeline-opposed-by-U-S-.html
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Bahraini court acquits leading rights activist

Bahraini court had acquitted a leading human rights activist on Monday. (Reuters)

A leading Bahraini human rights activist said on Monday a court had acquitted him of charges of spreading false news on Twitter after he had been arrested during a protest rally late last year.

Sayed Yousif al-Muhafda, from the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), was released on bail in January after being detained at a demonstration in Manama in December.

Unauthorized rallies and gatherings are banned in Bahrain, which has been in turmoil since pro-democracy protests led by its Shi'ite Muslim majority erupted in 2011.

"The court acquitted me today, but I had spent a month in jail," Muhafda told Reuters by telephone from Geneva.
"We call on the Bahraini government to stop targeting human rights activists and release the head of the center Nabeel Rajab."
 

A prominent opposition and human rights activist, Rajab was sentenced to three years in prison last August for taking part in unlicensed anti-government protests.
 

Bahrain, where the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet is based, has stepped up efforts to stamp out the unrest in recent months and several activists have been arrested or jailed for organizing or taking part in unlicensed protests.
 

Earlier this month rights activist Zainab al-Khawaja was sentenced to three months in jail for insulting a public employee after an appeal court overturned her earlier acquittal.

Muhafda was detained in November for a week on charges of taking part in an illegal gathering and an unauthorized march.

Bahrain's ruling Al-Khalifa family, who are Sunni Muslims, used martial law and help from Gulf neighbors to put down 2011's uprising, but unrest has since resumed.
The opposition says little progress has been made towards its demands for reforms including a parliament with full powers to legislate and form governments. Many Shi'ites complain of political and economic marginalization, a charge Bahrain denies.

11 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/11/Bahraini-court-acquits-leading-rights-activist.html
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