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الجمعة، مارس 15، 2013

'Bashar’s Broadcasting Corp'?: Syrians demand a BBC apology over ‘deceiving’ documentary

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'Bashar's Broadcasting Corp'?: Syrians demand a BBC apology over 'deceiving' documentary

'A History of Syria' with Dan Snow attempts to analyze the bloody civil war in Syria. (Photo courtesy of BBC)

A number of prominent London-based Syrians are calling for the BBC to apologize over a "deceiving" TV documentary on Syria they say was biased toward President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Critics accuse the British broadcaster of unbalanced and distorted reporting in 'A History of Syria with Dan Snow,' which was first broadcast last week, with some lobbying for an investigation into the show.

'A History of Syria' attempted to analyze the bloody civil war in Syria in terms of the country's long and complex history, making reference to centuries of religious conflict and the influence of groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood.

But some say the BBC program gave a one-sided account of the current civil war, pandering to Bashar al-Assad's regime at a time when Britain is considering supplying arms to opposition fighters in Syria.

Ghassan Ibrahim, a Syrian national who is the chief executive of the London-based news site Global Arab Network (GAN), called upon the BBC to apologize for what he said was a biased and "inaccurate" documentary.

"They need to issue an apology to the Syrian people," said Ibrahim, who was speaking from London. "[The show] wasn't really balanced. It represented the views mainly of the regime."

In 'A History of Syria,' the well-known presenter Dan Snow referenced what he calls the Muslim Brotherhood's "campaign of terror in the late 70s and early 80s," when Hafez al-Assad, the father of the current president, was in power.

Critics say the BBC show unfairly linked this with the current civil war, giving the impression that the uprising in Syria was initiated by the Muslim Brotherhood and extremist Islamic groups.

Snow took history "out of context," said Ibrahim.

"He's saying all the opposition is Muslim Brotherhood or extremists," he argued. "The Muslim Brotherhood is not the leader of this revolution. In the 1980s it was a different story. To put it that history is repeating itself is not true… I believe [Snow] misunderstood Syrian history. You don't just pick and choose from the history to suit what's going on today."

Questions have also been raised over the level of access Dan Snow was given in Syria, given the difficulty most foreign journalists face entering the country and travelling safely within it.

While Snow interviewed both those loyal to the regime and members of the opposition, people in the former category were much higher-ranking, critics point out.

"From the [opposition] side, you didn't find anyone who was a real figure or anyone you can identify. He did not give them any platform to talk," Ibrahim said. "There is a big, big gap in this film. It looked like it was politically motivated."

'A History of Syria' does include interviews with Syrian refugees and unidentified, masked men who claim they are from the rebel Free Syrian Army. But there are no interviews with prominent members of the opposition.

By contrast, Snow conducts a lengthy interview with Bouthaina Shaaban, Bashar al-Assad's loyal media adviser who also served under his father, Hafez al-Assad. The academic Patrick Seale, who wrote a semi-authorized biography of Hafez al-Assad and is considered a sympathizer of the regime, is also interviewed.

Critics say Seale's links with the Syrian regime are not adequately explained by the program, while statements by other interviewees go unquestioned.

At one point, Bouthaina Shaaban is allowed to justify the violence used by the state. "What would any government do, that is faced with armed gangs not allowing people to travel on the highway, not allowing people to get out of their homes, kidnapping people, killing people, destroying factories, schools," she says.

The BBC show also has a scene shot at the funeral of an Alawite soldier in Assad's army, with the presenter claiming that the mourners "fear the rise of Sunni Islamic extremists." The statement of one mourner goes unchallenged by the presenter: "My brother was fighting terrorists in Aleppo," the mourner says. "Infiltrators are entering Syria, but we don't know where they're coming from."

Ibrahim said such instances are examples of a lack of balance in the BBC film. "You cannot just quote someone without getting the other side to respond," he said.

Critics also say that Snow's conclusion - that the current conflict in Syria is one of "secularism versus religion" – oversimplifies the matter, and is identical to Assad's portrayal of the conflict. "To tackle it from a sectarian point of view does not give the full picture," said Ibrahim.

The BBC program does make reference to non-sectarian factors behind the revolution. It mentioned the draught, population growth and jobs shortage since Assad came into power, and quotes a Syrian refugee in Lebanon who says "all we wanted was democracy, freedom and equality."

However, the documentary failed to shed light on the March 2011 incidents in Daraa, which at one point was described by rival news network, CNN, as the "spark that lit the Syrian flame."

At the time, the arrest of at least 15 children for painting anti-government graffiti on the walls of a school in Daraa and the subsequent community outrage at the arrest and mistreatment escalated to the crisis the country is living two years on.

"Syrians compare the dramatic dynamics in the rural city to the moment Tunisian vendor Mohammad Bouazizi torched himself in December 2010," added a CNN.com report published last year.

But some say the line taken by the BBC documentary is suspiciously close to Assad's portrayal of the conflict as one between a secular state versus religious extremists, in which minority groups are under threat.

"The revolution in Syria at the moment is primarily a Sunni Muslim revolution," Dan Snow says in the program. "The conflict in Syria is attracting Sunni Islamic extremist fighters from Syria and abroad - some linked to Al Qaeda, who have carried out car-bombings… Elements of the Free Syrian Army have been blamed for summary executions and torture of Alawites and other supporters of Assad's regime… Such atrocities are terrifying Alawites, who are scared that the oppression and bloodshed of the past is about to repeat itself."

Hussam Eddin Mohammad, president of the Syrian Media Institute and vice president of the Syrian Writers' Association, said he was "disappointed" by the BBC documentary.

"The whole program was orchestrated or staged to provide a similar narrative to the regime instead of an independent view on Syria," he said.

"They are providing this black-and-white view, making all [members of] the Syrian revolution as Islamist and portraying the Syrian regime as secular. Having Bouthaina Shaaban and Patrick Seale as the main commentators was not very balanced."

Mohammad said it was "deceiving" for the program to suggest that Assad is protecting minorities. "Describing the regime as a protector of minorities and mentioning the Christians several times is very, very dangerous," he said.

Mohammad said at least a dozen of his Syrian friends objected to the documentary. He too is demanding an apology from the BBC, as well as "an investigation into how this program was arranged, and what editorial policy was applied."

"They provided one side of the story," Mohammed added. "I will ask the Syrian writers in the UK to sign this petition against this program."

Other commentators were less critical.

"I'm not angry… my overview of the documentary is quite positive," said Wael Aleji, a member of the Syrian Revolution General Commission and Syrian National Council. "I watched the documentary and I remember noticing some minor mistakes regarding some information. But I don't think it affected the credibility."

But even Aleji acknowledged that the BBC show focused too heavily on the sectarian elements of the conflict.

"There was some emphasis on the sectarian element, which is quite prominent at the moment but at the beginning wasn't," he said.

"When the revolution started, it was about dignity, freedom and democracy – which is still the same. But the religious and sectarian tension is very high at the moment, because the nature of the regime is sectarian."

For its part, the BBC was quick to defend 'A History of Syria' with Dan Snow. "We're satisfied the description of events is balanced and impartial and the program is made in accordance to our editorial guidelines meeting our usual rigorous journalistic standards," a BBC spokesperson told Al Arabiya.

The uproar caused by the BBC show is not the first time the British media has been accused of pandering to the Syrian regime in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, a source knowledgeable of Assad's media operations told Al Arabiya that The Sunday Times newspaper provided Bashar al-Assad with questions ahead of a recent interview, allowing the embattled president time to prepare responses in advance.

It is unusual for media to provide questions prior to an interview, raising questions over whether the British newspaper gave aAssad special treatment, and inadvertently aided the Syrian president's ongoing public relations offensive in the West.

The Sunday Times opted not to comment when asked by Al Arabiya on if they had indeed provided the questions to Assad prior to the interview.

Issues over the British media's stance on Syria come at a critical time for the war-torn country.

Britain said on Tuesday it could break with a European Union embargo on Syria, and help arm opposition fighters battling against Assad's regime.

Ibrahim said the BBC documentary could potentially have "a bad impact" on the Syrian revolution. "Obviously the media has a strong role in creating public opinion," he said.

16 Mar, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/2013/03/16/-Bashar-s-Broadcasting-Corp-Syrians-demand-a-BBC-apology-over-deceiving-documentary.html
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Egyptians protest for army to return to power

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Egyptians take part in demonstration to show their support for their country's military on March 15, 2013 in Cairo. (AFP)

Hundreds of Egyptians demonstrated in Cairo on Friday to press for the army to assume power in a country plagued by unrest and instability two years after a revolution which toppled president Hosni Mubarak.

The protest was held in eastern Cairo in response to a call by retired army officers and groups opposed to the Muslim Brotherhood, the party of President Mohamed Mursi.

"The army must return" to power and "Down with the power of the guide," they chanted, referring to the Brotherhood's spiritual guide Mohamed Badie, as they waved portraits of General Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, the armed forces chief.

Al-Ahram newspaper's website reported that pro-army demonstrations were also held in Damietta in northern Egypt.

In late January, Sissi warned that Egypt's political crisis could lead to the collapse of the state, something which the military which ruled the country between the fall of Mubarak and last June's election of Mursi would not allow.

Opposition groups and disgruntled Egyptians accuse Mursi, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists of monopolizing power, and say the revolution failed to reach its goals of social justice.

16 Mar, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/16/Egyptians-protest-for-army-to-return-to-power.html
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Arab nations urge Damascus to cooperate with U.N. probe

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Arab nations urge Damascus to cooperate with U.N. probe

Syrians show the remains of fired ammunition to UN observers in Azzara in Homs province in May. (AFP)

 Arab countries on Friday tabled a resolution lamenting the spiraling violence in Syria and demanding that the regime cooperate with a U.N. probe into rights violations in the war-torn country.

Two years into the conflict that the U.N. says has killed more than 70,000 people and forced more than one million more to flee to neighboring countries, the draft resolution blamed Damascus for most of the violations taking place and demanded that it "cooperate fully" with a UN inquiry that has yet to gain access to Syria.

The resolution -- submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva by Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates and posted on the council's website -- called for the U.N. investigators to be granted "immediate, full and unfettered access throughout the Syrian Arab Republic."

Unable to enter Syria, the commission has interviewed over 1,500 refugees and exiles as a basis for its reports. It charges that the government forces, their allies as well as opposition forces have carried out war crimes in Syria.

It has repeatedly urged the deadlocked U.N. Security Council to refer the cases to the International Criminal Court.

Friday's draft resolution stressed that the Syrian people themselves should be allowed to decide what mechanisms should be used "to achieve reconciliation, truth and accountability for gross violations, as well as reparations and effective remedies for victims."

The resolution strongly condemned human rights abuses carried out by both sides, but noted that "abuses committed by anti-government armed groups did not reach the intensity and scale of the violations committed by the government forces and its affiliated militia."

It especially condemned "intentional and repeated attacks against medical facilities, personnel and vehicles" in Syria, and demanded that Syrian authorities release anyone being arbitrarily detained.

It also lamented the widespread violations of children's rights in the country, including the use of child soldiers and "widespread sexual violence ... which constitutes an attack against human dignity."

The draft resolution also decried the escalating humanitarian crisis in Syria, demanding that Damascus "allow and facilitate unimpeded and full access of humanitarian organizations to all areas" of Syria.

And it urged the international community to step up its aid efforts and to provide urgent financial support to Syria and its neighbors, which are hosting a ballooning refugee population.

Diplomats will decide whether to pass the resolution at the end of the current Human Rights Council session, which wraps up on March 22.

16 Mar, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/16/Arab-nations-urge-Damascus-to-cooperate-with-U-N-probe-.html
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Syria's ancient city of Palmyra on brink of destruction

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As the Syrian crisis enters its third year, an end to the violence in the country is nowhere to be seen. The world has become accustomed to rising death tolls and reports of shelling and destruction. However, another threat looms in Syria, and this time it is targeting its cultural heritage.

Palmyra, one of the oldest cities in the country, has been subjected to intermittent shelling by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

The ruins of the city, which is one of UNESCO's World Heritage sites, date back thousands of years. "Bombs and rockets come in all directions," eyewitnesses said.

Assad forces have struck the Roman Temple of Bel – built in 43 A.C. – and damaged its northern wall, eyewitnesses said, adding portions and stones of the wall have been destroyed.

The Fakhreddine II citadel, Al-Basateen and the Monumental Arch, under which Romans' Queen Zenobia's celebrations took place, have also suffered their fair share of destruction.

According to the eyewitnesses, priceless sculptures and statues had been stolen from the ancient city's museum.
Meanwhile, Palmyra, swarming with tanks, no longer hosts tourists. Its hotels, once full of curious visitors, are now empty only to harbor soldiers on their roofs.

In early March, one of the oldest Synagogues in the worlds was destroyed by regime forces in the Damascus district of Jobar.

Syria's civil war has caused damage to six World Heritage sites in the country with shelling and open fire between opposition fighters and the regime forces. Numerous historic buildings, archaeological sites and residential areas are being left in ruins.

On 30 March 2012, UNESCO called for the protection of Syria's cultural heritage sites and expressed "grave concern about possible damage to precious sites."
 

16 Mar, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/16/Syria-s-ancient-city-of-Palmyra-on-brink-of-destruction.html
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Ten years on, U.S. officials look for lessons from Iraq

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Ten years on, U.S. officials look for lessons from Iraq

U.S. media, which had little access to information inside Iraq, perpetuated these inaccuracies, and "couldn't really question the general consensus" at the time, said Katherine Brown, former assistant to the national security advisor. (AFP)

As the United States observes the 10th anniversary of its invasion of Iraq on March 19, policymakers, veterans and journalists continue to discuss the plethora of mistakes and lessons learned from a controversial war that, according to then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, "could last six days, six weeks, I doubt six months."

Preliminary possibilities

"There was an initial euphoria, a window of possibility. Within a year, that sense of possibility had sort of evaporated. The checkpoint shootings, the civilian casualties… it was just very terrifying," said Hannah Allam, an Egyptian-American journalist who lived in Iraq for over two years, covering the war shortly after it began.

"We had an obligation to try to get it right, and we squandered it," said Rajiv Chandrasekaran, the Washington Post's Baghdad bureau chief during the first two years of the war. "So much of what would underlie disappointments of Iraqi people, and chaos that would envelop their society, can be traced back to mistakes made by both civilian and military leadership in that first year."

Dissent among decision-makers

In the early stages, unsubstantiated rhetoric fuelled strong bipartisan support for these "mistakes," even when many in the U.S. military and intelligence were raising red flags.

John Gannon, former deputy director for intelligence at the CIA, said he and some of his colleagues made an effort to disseminate correct information, but with little success. "Intelligence was ultimately turned into policy advocacy," Gannon said.

Bush administration officials manipulated intelligence to suit their policies, and then promoted it in order to create a set of assumptions about the invasion. The widely accepted idea became that "stabilization and pacification would be relatively swift," Gannon said.

U.S. media, which had little access to information inside Iraq, perpetuated these inaccuracies, and "couldn't really question the general consensus" at the time, said Katherine Brown, former assistant to the national security advisor.

U.S. agencies acted independently, but with the Department of Defense at the helm of a conflict that the United States did not fully understand. "It was quite clear that the Defense Department had control of the war," Brown said. "They hadn't adequately prepared for rear security, the war on securing the population."

The biggest issues, and the lack of planning, stemmed from the most basic misunderstanding of how Iraqis would perceive the U.S. presence, said Gannon. The Bush administration pushed its rhetoric that "Iraqis would treat us as liberators," Gannon said, even when advisors disagreed. "The intelligence community argued we'd look like invaders. None of this analysis was ever submitted to due diligence exercise within the intelligence committee."

Lessons and legacies

After 10 years, at least $1 trillion, and immense loss of life and property, the war in Iraq is being analyzed from all angles, with disappointments expressed across the board.

"War doesn't stop when you come home," said Dr Manan Trivedi, a medical team commander for the first troops to enter Iraq in 2003. He cited the many veterans returning with the physical and "hidden wounds of war," such as post-traumatic stress disorder. "The full price of the Iraq war has yet to be paid."

Some policy-makers want to focus attention away from the failures, to the lessons of the war. Scott Bates, president of the Center for National Policy, and a long-time Washington defense and policy advisor, named three key lessons the United States must learn from Iraq. First, "the law of unintended consequences. American credibility went down, while Iran's went up."

Second, "just because you can, doesn't mean you should." He added: "Our uni-polar moment ended when we went into Baghdad. We just didn't know it yet." The third lesson is humility, which is "sorely lacking in Washington. Going forward, we're all going to need that."

Though many key actors in instigating the war have taken responsibility for some mistakes in recently published memoirs, the humility of full apologies is not on the horizon, Gannon said. Iraq is an unstable, fragile entity, not the glowing example of an exportable democracy that the Bush administration had hoped for.

"We don't have lasting peace," said Chandrasekaran. "We don't have that in Iraq today."

For this reason, and so many others, "history won't be kind to those who advocated the U.S. invasion of Iraq," Gannon said.
 

16 Mar, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/15/Ten-years-on-U-S-officials-look-for-lessons-from-Iraq.html
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Netanyahu seals government deal ahead of deadline, Obama

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Netanyahu is to formally unveil the shape of his long-awaited coalition government which will be sworn in just days before a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama. (AFP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed deals with key coalition partners on Friday, forming a new government just before a deadline and a milestone visit by U.S. President Barack Obama.

The alliance of Netanyahu's Likud party and former foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu had been locked in intense negotiations for 40 days with the centrist Yesh Atid and far-right Jewish Home parties, which held the key to building a government with a majority in the 120-seat parliament.

"The prime minister welcomes the coalition agreements that have been signed between the Likud and Yisrael Beitenu, and the Yesh Atid party and the Jewish Home," Netanyahu's Likud party said in a statement, about an hour before the start of the Jewish Sabbath which runs from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.

"On Saturday evening, the prime minister will inform President Shimon Peres that he has completed the task" of forming a government, it said.

"We shall work together in cooperation in the new government for all of Israel's citizens," it quoted Netanyahu as saying.

Netanyahu had a legal deadline of Saturday evening to come up with a coalition or admit defeat.

He had previously signed with the centrist HaTnuah party of former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, who is to be justice minister and Israel's negotiator in talks with the Palestinians.

With Yesh Atid and Jewish Home on board, the coalition will command a total of 68 parliamentary seats.

The new cabinet is expected to be sworn in by parliament on Monday, 48 hours before the arrival of Obama.

Copies of the coalition agreements published by the Likud confirmed that Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid would be finance minister and that his party, which has 19 seats in parliament, would also take the education, social services, health, and science and technology portfolios.

Jewish Home, which won 12 seats, receives a newly-named economy and trade portfolio along with housing and pensioners' affairs.

The allocation of ministries for Likud-Beitenu was not detailed, but Netanyahu was expected to temporarily handle foreign affairs, pending the conclusion of former foreign minister Lieberman's trial on charges of fraud and breach of trust.

Lieberman's hardline Yisrael Beitenu ran on a joint ticket with Netanyahu's Likud, with the list winning 31 seats.

The Likud was also to take charge of the defense and interior ministries, according to press reports.

The Likud said coalition members pledged among other things to pursue "a peace agreement with the Palestinians with the aim of reaching a political agreement that will end the conflict."

If such a deal could be negotiated, it would be put to the cabinet, parliament and a national referendum for approval, the party said.

Obama's visit

Obama will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem as well as Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and his premier Salam Fayyad in Ramallah during his Mideast visit, starting March 20, to hear their perspective on how to resolve the decades-long conflict.


"My goal on this trip is to listen. I intend to meet with Bibi (Netanyahu) ... I intend to meet with Fayyad and Abu Mazen (Abbas) and to hear from them what is their strategy, what is their vision, where do they think this should go?"


The White House said the U.S. president will be addressing a speech direct to Israelis, mainly students, in Jerusalem. In 2009, he reached out to the Muslim World by saying that he seeks "a new beginning" at the University in Cairo.


Obama is expected to visit the memorial for Jewish victims from the Holocaust, as well as travel to the graves of assassinated Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin and Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism.

The president will be accompanied by Secretary of State, John Kerry.

16 Mar, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/15/Netanyahu-seals-govt-deal-ahead-of-deadline-Obama-.html
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Syria accuses Jordan of opening borders for jihadists

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Rebel fighters make ready their weapons close to their position as they prepare to fight against pro-Syrian regime forces on the Jabal al-Turkman mountains in Syria's northern Latakia province, on Tuesday. (AFP)

A Syrian security official on Friday accused Jordan of opening its borders to jihadist fighters and allowing weapons bought by Saudi Arabia in Croatia to be smuggled into the country.

"We deplore the change of attitude of Jordan, which in the past 10 days has opened its borders and is allowing to cross over [into Syria] jihadists and Croatian weapons bought by Saudi Arabia," said the source.

"This can only intensify the conflict and cause more casualties," the source told AFP in Beirut on condition of anonymity.

"There's been a change of attitude because up until now, Jordan had imposed strict controls on its border to prevent the passage of terrorists and weapons," said the source, blaming "pressure by countries that are hostile to Syria" for the change.

Last week, a Croatian daily said the country was used between November and December as a "transit point" for the transport of weapons and ammunition destined for Syrian rebels fighting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Some 75 civilian transport planes carrying weapons for the rebels took off from Zagreb airport between last November and February, the influential Jutarnji List reported.

It said the transportation of some 3,000 tons of weapons and ammunition was organized by the United States using Turkish and Jordanian air cargo companies.

The weapons originated from Croatia -- notably guns, rocket and grenade launchers -- as well as from several other European countries including Britain, which is currently leading calls to lift an EU arms embargo on Syria.

16 Mar, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/15/Syria-accuses-Jordan-of-opening-borders-for-jihadists-.html
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Iran cleric says Ahmadinejad Chavez remarks ‘heresy’

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Ayatollah Ahmad Janati's Guardians Council is charged with overseeing elections and interpreting the constitution. (AFP)

A senior Iranian cleric accused President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of "heresy" on Friday by saying in his tribute to late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez that he would be resurrected with Jesus Christ.

"Those comments on Chavez's return with Christ were heresy," Ayatollah Ahmad Janati, the hardline chief of the influential Guardians Council, told worshippers at Friday prayers in Tehran.

Janati was referring to comments by Ahmadinejad on March 6 in which he called Chavez a "martyr" who would "return, along with the righteous Jesus and the perfect human."

The last was an allusion to Shiite Islam's 12th imam that Iran's majority faith believes will return with Christ to bring peace and justice to the world.

Janati said Iran's clergy had been "upset" by the remarks.

"Should people say whatever comes to mind? I wish [Ahmadinejad] had spent a few days in a seminary before discussing such issues," he said.

"Chavez was a populist and anti-American. His political agenda was completely acceptable. But he was not a Muslim," Janati added.

Janati's Guardians Council is charged with overseeing elections and interpreting the constitution.

Iran has scheduled a presidential election for June 14 to find a replacement for Ahmadinejad, whose disputed re-election in 2009 sparked street protests and a deadly crackdown by the regime in response.

Iran and Venezuela have both pursued strongly anti-American foreign policies and have signed billions of dollars in investment agreements in recent years.

Chavez made 13 visits to Iran between 1999 and his death last week, while Ahmadinejad has made six trips to Venezuela since 2005.
 

16 Mar, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/15/Iran-cleric-says-Ahmadinejad-Chavez-remarks-heresy-.html
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Tunisia's Islamist party ‘against’ Female Genital Mutilation

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Ennahda's Rached Ghannouchi says in a conference his group opposes female circumcision. (AFP)

The head of Tunisia's ruling Islamist party Ennahda insisted Friday that his group was opposed to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), after one of its MPs caused a storm by reportedly saying the operation was "aesthetic."

"We do not approve of female circumcision, a practice supported neither by Ennahda nor by religion, and which is not a part of our culture," Rached Ghannouchi told a news conference in Tunis.

"Whoever approves of female circumcision cannot remain within our ranks," he added.

Ennahda MP Habib Ellouze sparked outrage in the north African country with comments he reportedly made last week in an interview published in an Arabic newspaper.

"In the [African] regions where it is hot, people are forced to circumcize girls... because in these regions clitorises are too big which affects the spouses," Ellouze was quoted as saying in the Sunday edition of Maghreb.

"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 reportedly said.

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

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

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

16 Mar, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/15/Tunisia-ruling-Islamist-party-against-female-circumcision.html
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Tunisian lawmakers set timetable for constitution, elections

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Tunisian National Constituent Assembly speaker Mustapha Ben Jaafar giving his interview to AFP in Tunis. (AFP)

 Tunisian lawmakers voted on Friday to have a draft constitution ready by the end of April and hold elections by December at the latest, steps meant to rescue a faltering democratic transition in the country that launched the Arab Spring.

The agreed timeline could ease tensions festering since the Feb. 6 assassination by suspected radical Islamists of secular opposition leader Chokri Belaid, and encourage local and foreign investors needed to hoist Tunisia out of economic crisis.

Mustafa Ben Jaafar, speaker of the constituent assembly, said the draft should be ready on April 27 - with July 8 as a final, fallback deadline if needed - with the next election to follow between Oct. 15 and Dec. 15.

Deputies voted 81-21 in favor of the timeline. An as-yet unformed supreme electoral commission will have the final word on the date for Tunisians to go to the polls.

"Agreement on these (dates) is an important message to both inside and outside the country ... that we are on the verge of completing the last stages of the democratic transition and going on to the stage of democratic stability," Moufdi Mssidi,Ben Jaafar's spokesman, told Reuters.

Feuding Islamist and secular politicians have missed previous deadlines to draw up a democratic constitution and set dates for parliamentary and presidential elections.

Belaid's murder ignited the worst violence in Tunisia since the January 2011 fall of autocratic President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to a mass uprising that inspired revolts against repressive leaders across the Arab world.

The North African state's new Islamist-led government won a confidence vote on Wednesday as the death of an unemployed man who set himself on fire in despair over economic hardship sunder scored the depth of popular discontent.

The government was broadened to include non-party independents in major cabinet posts to defuse outrage over Belaid's assassination.

Despite freedom of expression and political pluralism won in 2011, the high unemployment, inflation and perceptions of out-of-touch, corrupt government that fueled the anti-Ben Ali revolt remain unresolved and often kindle further unrest.

15 Mar, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/15/Tunisian-lawmakers-set-timetable-for-constitution-elections.html
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We will not give up fighting for freedom, democracy: Syria rebel chief

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Gen. Salim Idris, the head of the Supreme Military Council, called on Syrian soldiers to join the rebels in a "fight for freedom and democracy" and said that his Free Syrian Army fighters "will not give up." (Reuters)

The chief of Syria's main, Western-backed rebel group marked the second anniversary of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad by pledging on Friday to continue fighting until the "criminal" regime is gone.

Gen. Salim Idris, the head of the Supreme Military Council, called on Syrian soldiers to join the rebels in a "fight for freedom and democracy" and said that his Free Syrian Army fighters "will not give up."

In Damascus, authorities beefed up security measures as rebel groups called for stepped-up attacks on government troops and state institutions on the anniversary.

The revolt against Assad's authoritarian rule began in March 2011 with protests in the southern city of Daraa, after troops arrested teenagers who scrawled anti-regime graffiti on a wall. It has since morphed into a civil war with an estimated 70,000 people killed, according to the U.N.

"We want [a] Syria where every Syrian can live in peace and liberty. This is our dream, this is what we are fighting for," Idris said in a video address obtained by The Associated Press form the Council's media office.

He spoke in an undisclosed location in northern Syria that is under rebel control.

"I know our battle is not so easy. We have to fight against planes, tanks and huge missiles," Idris said. "But our will is still very strong. We will not stop until this criminal regime has gone."

Idris, 55, studied in Germany and taught electronics at a Syrian military college before defecting to the rebel side in July.

In the past year, the rebels have made significant advances on the battlefield, capturing large swathes of land outside of major cities and controlling some areas in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest city. They have also overrun major military bases, captured dams on the Euphrates River and came within a mile of the center of Damascus, the seat of Assad's power.

However, they have long complained that their side is hampered by the failure of world powers to provide heavier arms to help them battle Assad's better-equipped military and his airpower. The international community is reluctant to send weapons partly because of fears they may fall into the hands of extremists who have been gaining influence among the rebels.

Last month, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced that the Obama administration was giving an additional $60 million in assistance to Syria's political opposition and would, for the first time, provide non-lethal aid directly to the rebels. None of the aid, which is to include an undetermined amount of food rations and medical supplies, has been sent yet.

On Friday, some anti-government groups called for stepped-up attacks to mark the uprising anniversary. The banned Islamist Muslim Brotherhood group urged supporters for a "week of action" on the occasion but didn't specify what it would do.

A Damascus-based activist who identified himself as Abu Qais said regime troops increased patrols and security searches in the country's capital. He spoke on condition his real name not be used for security concerns.

Meanwhile, in neighboring Lebanon, gunmen set fire to three fuel tankers with Syrian license plates to prevent them from crossing into Syria, the state-run National News Agency said.

The Lebanese agency said the incident occurred in the northern city of Tripoli, and that the tankers were carrying fuel when they were stopped by the protesters and later set on fire. No casualties were reported.

Protesters have in the past closed roads to keep tankers from crossing into Syria, where there are severe gasoline and diesel shortages. They claim diesel exported to Syria is being used by regime tanks.

Many among Lebanon's Sunni Muslims have backed Syria's mainly Sunni rebel forces, in which radical Islamists have become increasingly active. Lebanese Shiite Muslims, including the militant Hezbollah group, have leaned toward Assad, whose tiny Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Separately, the Syrian Foreign Ministry complained in a letter sent to the Lebanese government on Thursday that armed groups have tried to infiltrate Syria from Lebanon repeatedly in the past 36 hours, triggering clashes with border guards.

Damascus said Syrian troops have exercised "utmost self-restraint" until now but warned that "this would not continue endlessly."

Also Friday, at least eight Syrians were killed and 29 were injured when the bus they were traveling in from Syria overturned in the mountains in central Lebanon, officials said. The bus was headed to the Lebanese capital, Beirut, when the accident occurred in the Kahhaleh region.

George Kettaneh, operations director for the Lebanese Red Cross, said the casualties included women and children. He said it's unclear why the bus overturned.

It was not immediately known whether the Syrians where refugees fleeing the violence at home. The bus had Syrian license plates from the northeastern Hassakeh province, which recently witnessed heavy clashes.

More than 1 million Syrians have fled the country's civil war to seek shelter in neighboring countries. In Lebanon alone, the U.N. has registered more than 360,000 Syrian refugees.

15 Mar, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/15/Syrian-rebel-chief-We-will-not-give-up-on-criminal-regime.html
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Arab women at odds with governments over violence

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Several nongovernmental organizations accused Arab governments of increasingly using arguments based on religion, culture, tradition or nationality to justify violence particularly targeted at women. (AFP)

A dozen human rights and women's organizations from the Arab world expressed alarm Thursday at the opposition by some Arab governments to a strong U.N. statement on combating violence against women.

Egypt proposed an amendment last week saying that each country is sovereign and can implement the document in accordance with its own laws and customs - a provision strongly opposed by many countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia.

The nongovernmental organizations accused Arab governments of increasingly using arguments based on religion, culture, tradition or nationality to justify violence particularly targeted at women.

They urged governments "to clearly denounce all practices which perpetuate violence against women and girls, including those which are justified on the basis of tradition, culture and religion, and work on eliminating them."

Their statement was issued as negotiators tried to reach agreement on the text of a final statement before a meeting of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women ends Friday.

Francoise Girard, executive director of the New York-based International Women's Health Coalition, a nonprofit organization which promotes the reproductive and sexual rights of women and young people, told The Associated Press that a range of issues in the text are still unresolved, including Egypt's proposed amendment.

"We're coming down to the wire," she said.

On Wednesday, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood sharply criticized the anticipated U.N. document, saying it was "deceitful," clashed with Islamic principles and undermined family values.

According to the Brotherhood, which has emerged as the most powerful political faction in Egypt since the 2011 uprising, the draft under discussion advocates sexual freedoms for women and the right to abortion "under the guise of sexual and reproductive rights." It also decried the document's defense of homosexual rights, which are not recognized in Islam, and the equating between children born in and out of wedlock.

The Brotherhood, which won Egypt's presidency and controls parliament, called on other Muslim nations, women's groups and Islamic organizations to reject the document. It called it an infringement on the thought, culture and uniqueness of Islamic societies.

The Brotherhood urged women's rights groups not to be "lured by phony calls for civilized behavior and by misleading and destructive processes."

Libya's top cleric also raised similar concerns, rejecting the document for violating Islamic teachings.

In response, the statement from the Arab Caucus - including NGOs from Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine as well as The Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies - underlined that "the taboos and politicization of issues around sexuality are major hindrances to gender justice and the elimination and prevention of violence against women and girls in our countries."

A separate statement Thursday from nearly 300 organizations and several dozen individuals from around the world also strongly demanded that all governments and the international community "reject any attempt to invoke traditional values or morals to infringe upon human rights guaranteed by international law, nor to limit their scope."

It said customs, tradition or religious considerations "must not be tolerated to justify discrimination and violence against women and girls."

15 Mar, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/15/Arab-women-at-odds-with-governments-over-violence.html
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Security Council extends U.N. Support Mission in Libya mandate

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Security Council extends U.N. Support Mission in Libya mandate

The Security Council raised new concerns on the flow of arms from Libya into neighboring countries and about thousands of captives held in secret by militias. (Reuters)

The U.N. Security Council extended the mandate of the U.N. Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on Thursday as well as the Panel of Experts assisting the Libya Sanctions Committee for 12 more months.

The Security Council raised new concerns on the flow of arms from Libya into neighboring countries and about thousands of captives held in secret by militias.

A resolution, which eased a U.N. arms embargo to allow non-lethal equipment into Libya, highlighted "the illicit proliferation of all arms and related material of all types" since the fall of Libya's longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi.

The 15-nation body said heavy and small weapons and surface-to-air missiles were involved and stressed the "negative impact on regional and international peace and security."

"There are suggestions that weapons are going out through the southern borders of Libya to countries in the region," Britain's U.N. ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said.

"We know that in the immediate aftermath of the overthrow of Qaddafi, quite a number of weapons flowed into Mali and Niger," the envoy told reporters.

U.N. experts who monitor sanctions against Libya have "found that the proliferation of weapons from Libya had continued at a worrying scale and spread into new territory," said Rwanda's U.N. ambassador Eugene Richard Gasana, chairman of the Libya sanctions committee.

Qaddafi was deposed and killed in October, 2011 and many foreign fighters who had been part of his forces fled -- taking arms with them.

Western intelligence reports have indicated some of the arms are reaching Al-Qaeda linked groups operating in Sahel countries.

The U.N. envoy to Libya, Tarek Mitri, told the Council that "the country remains awash with unsecured weapons and munitions that continue to pose a regional security risk, given Libya's porous borders."

The council eased an arms embargo so that Libya can now buy non-lethal equipment such as armored cars and body armor without U.N. permission.

Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said last month he wanted the U.N. to lift the weapons embargo imposed in 2011. But he made no official request, and diplomats said Zeidan had not raised the matter in talks in New York.

Zeidan told the council his government was speeding up the training of police and judiciary officials and seeking to end the plight of thousands of people, many from other African countries, held secretly by militias since the fall of Qaddafi.

The council resolution expressed "grave concern" over reports of "mistreatment, torture and extrajudicial executions" in detention centers.

It called for the "immediate release of all foreign nationals illegally detained in Libya."

Mitri said his mission "continues to highlight the plight of detainees, particularly those held in secret detention facilities, including farms and private homes" across Libya.

"We are equally concerned by allegations of a number of deaths in custody," he said, while praising Zeidan's efforts "to build a modern, democratic, and accountable state."

The resolution, which extended the U.N. mission in Libya for a year, authorized a sanctions monitoring committee to lift an asset freeze against the Libyan Investment Authority and the Libyan Africa Investment Portfolio "as soon as practical" and ensure the assets are used to help Libya's people.
 

15 Mar, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/15/U-N-raises-new-concerns-about-Libya-arms-secret-detainees-.html
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Pakistan court orders jobs reinstated for 'CIA' medics

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The court order does not relate to surgeon Shakeel Afridi, who was jailed for 33 years for treason. (Courtesy: AP)

A Pakistani court has ordered the authorities to reinstate the jobs of 17 health workers sacked over CIA efforts to track down Osama bin Laden, officials said Friday.

The order was made Thursday in the northwestern town of Abbottabad, where bin Laden was found and shot dead by U.S. Special Forces in May 2011.

"We will formally reinstate them after receiving written court orders," Mohammad Qasim, an Abbottabad district health officer, told AFP.

The 17 medics worked on the same fake vaccination programme set up by the CIA in a bid to confirm that bin Laden was living in the city.

Fifteen women health workers were dismissed in August 2011, and a woman doctor and an assistant coordinator were sacked in March 2012.


Shakeel Afridi
 


Defense lawyer Sultan Ahmad Jamshed, confirmed the court order, which does not relate to surgeon Shakeel Afridi, who was jailed for 33 years for treason.

He was arrested after being recruited by the CIA to run the fake program to obtain DNA samples in a bid to identify relatives of bin Laden.

He was convicted over alleged ties to militant group Lashkar-e-Islam and not for working for the CIA, for which the court said it did not have jurisdiction.

After disclosing Afridi's role in the operation, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in an interview last year with CBS's 60 Minutes program that he was concerned over the Pakistani medic's criminal charge. 

"I'm very concerned about what the Pakistanis did with this individual ... who in fact helped provide intelligence that was very helpful with regards to this operation," Panetta said.

"He was not in any way treasonous towards Pakistan," the defense secretary said. "Pakistan and the United States have a common cause here against terrorism ... and for them to take this kind of action against somebody who was helping to go after terrorism, I just think is a real mistake on their part."

The question remained whether capital punishment should be the price to pay for assisting the hunt for the notorious bin Laden; mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks which Pakistan had immediately condemned in 2001.

"So what exactly is the Pakistani national interest that has been harmed by Dr. Afridi in helping locate the world's most wanted terrorist on Pakistani soil?" the Pakistan-based Dawn newspaper wrote in an editorial in October 2011.

"There is an even more distressing aspect to this tale of transnational subterfuge: reportedly, incensed by the American-sponsored ploy, the security apparatus has tightened its monitoring of international aid agencies and local NGOs involved in the health sector, potentially disrupting the urgent work of stamping out the polio virus that has been resurgent in Pakistan in recent years. Must innocent children suffer because of cloak-and-dagger games between states?" the newspaper questioned.

15 Mar, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/15/Pakistan-court-orders-jobs-reinstated-for-CIA-medics-.html
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Gunmen kill four Iraqi anti-Qaeda militiamen

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Gunmen in military uniforms attacked the house of an Iraqi anti-Qaeda militia leader north of Baghdad on Friday. (Reuters)

Gunmen in military uniforms attacked the house of an Iraqi anti-Qaeda militia leader north of Baghdad on Friday, killing him and three of his sons, a police officer and a doctor said.

The gunmen bound their hands and killed Khalil al-Ajili and one of his sons in the house near Baquba, a police lieutenant colonel said, adding the other two tried to escape but were killed in a nearby field.

A doctor from Baquba General Hospital confirmed the toll.

With the latest attack, 17 members of the Sahwa anti-Qaeda militia forces have been killed in violence this month.

The Sahwa are made up of Sunni Arab tribesmen who joined forces with the US military against Al-Qaeda from late 2006, helping turn the tide against the insurgency.

The Iraqi government announced at the end of January that about 41,000 Sahwa fighters are to receive 500,000 Iraqi dinars ($415) a month, up from 300,000 dinars ($250).

An increase in wages for the Sahwa, as well as their incorporation into the security forces and civil service, has long been a demand of Iraq's Sunni community.


 

15 Mar, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/15/Gunmen-kill-four-Iraqi-anti-Qaeda-militiamen.html
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Huge truck bomb plot foiled in Kabul: spy agency

Several explosives including hand grenades, rifles, rocket launchers and ak-47 magazines were found by the Afghan National Directorate of Security. (Reuters)

Afghanistan's intelligence agency said Friday that it had foiled a massive truck bomb plot in which 7,800 kilograms of explosives could have wiped out an area of Kabul.

The National Directorate of Security (NDS) said the attack had been planned by the Pakistan-based Haqqani network and the Taliban leadership, though it offered no concrete evidence of the plot.

Shafiqullah Tahiri, spokesman for the spy agency, said the explosives had been found on Tuesday, hidden in cement bags in a truck on the eastern outskirts of the capital.

"Based on an investigation by the NDS, these explosives would have destroyed everything within 1,500 meters," Tahiri told reporters.

"It would have been a catastrophe for people living in the city if it had been detonated.

"NDS forces discovered it due to prior information that the terrorists were organizing this attack in a crowded part of Kabul."

During the NDS night raid early on Tuesday, five suspected plotters were killed in an exchange of fire, Tahiri added. Two other people were arrested.

Kabul has been hit by a series of bomb and suicide attacks in recent years as Taliban insurgents battle against the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

The most recent deadly attack was last Saturday when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the defense ministry, killing nine people while US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagle was visiting a US base nearby in the city.

The NDS has been attacked twice in Kabul in the last four months. In December, a suicide bomber seriously wounded NDS chief Asadullah Khalid and in January another attack targeted the agency's headquarters.


 

15 Mar, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/15/Huge-truck-bomb-plot-foiled-in-Kabul-spy-agency-.html
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British peer Lord Ahmed suspended over alleged Jewish conspiracy remarks

Lord Ahmed reportedly claimed during an interview in Pakistan that Jews were persecuting him because of a controversial visit to Gaza. (YouTube screenshot)

A British parliamentarian was suspended Thursday from the Labor Party after allegedly blaming a Jewish conspiracy for his imprisonment for dangerous driving.

In a television interview broadcast last month on Pakistan television, Nazir Ahmed, of Kashmiri origin, blaimed Jewish news media owners for his imprisonment.

In 2009, he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison with police presenting evidence he sent long text messages before a fatal crash.

"There's no place for anti-Semitism in the Labor Party, and frankly anybody who makes those kinds of comments cannot be either a Labor lord or a Labor member of Parliament," Labor Party Ed Milliband, who is Jewish, said.

Broadcast in Pakistan last April, the interview only became public in Britain when The Times of London published it on its website this week.

Last year, Ahmed was at the center of parliamentary controversy when reports claimed he offered a £10 million bounty for the capture of Barack Obama, comments which he later denied.

Ahmed, the first Muslim peer from Britain's Labour party, had reportedly made the comments to express his solidarity with chief of Laskhar-e-Tayyiba, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, upon whom the United States placed a $10 million bounty last month.

Ahmed reportedly said Obama had "challenged the dignity of the Muslim Ummah (community)."

When the reports surfaced, Ahmed was suspended from parliament.

Denying the reports, Ahmed said he had only told the meeting that Bush and former Prime Minister Tony Blair should be prosecuted for war crimes.

"I never said those words," the Jerusalem Post quoted him as saying.

"I did not offer a bounty. I said that there have been war crimes committed in Iraq and Afghanistan and those people who have got strong allegations against them – Bush and Blair have been involved in illegal wars and should be brought to justice. I do not think there's anything wrong with that," he said, adding that he was equally concerned that anyone suspected of terrorism should face justice as well.
 

15 Mar, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/15/British-peer-Lord-Ahmed-suspended-over-alleged-Jewish-conspiracy-remarks.html
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Tantalizing Tastes: Dubai food fest offers world cuisine

Global food festival takes over Dubai offering tastes from around the world.(Courtesy of taste of Dubai festival)

Foodies, tourists and Dubai's general public are on high alert this week, hunting down recipes and international cuisines from this year's edition of 'Taste of Dubai' in the emirate's Media City.

Five international and regional bands are performing at the three-day event, as 30 of Dubai's best restaurants kicked off the fest on Thursday, giving visitors the chance to indulge in tastes from Latin America to Asia and Europe.

Armani Ristorante and Armani Amal, Thiptara and Asado, while firm favourites Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Rivington Grill, Rhodes Mezzanine and Gaucho, were among others that are back to show off the very best of gastronomy and indulgence.

However, for those who want to roll their sleeves up and get involved, the interactive cookery school gives amateur chefs an opportunity to show off their skills.

"Our visitors love to enjoy good food and they are always ready to try something new in a city like Dubai which boasts one of the world's best collections of restaurants," said Chris Fountain, Managing Director of Turret Media, the organizers of Taste of Dubai.

Celebrity chefs taking part in the festival include the Food Network's Reza Mahammad and Jenny Morris plus Gary Rhodes, Richard Sandoval and Vineet Bhatia.

The organizers of the event have anticipated up 25,000 visitors
 

15 Mar, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/2013/03/15/Tantalizing-Tastes-Dubai-food-fest-offers-world-cuisine.html
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Syria conflict enters third year, EU mulls arming rebels

Syrian and local children form the word "Syria" with candles during a moment of silence the night before the second anniversary of the start of the Syrian Revolution in Jordan, March 14, 2013. (Reuters)

Syria's devastating conflict entered its third year on Friday with EU leaders frustrated over the failure of diplomacy to end the bloodshed pressing to arm rebels despite Russia's objections.

The Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook page, a key driving force behind the uprising, has called on people to take to the streets after the main weekly Muslim prayers under the rallying cry "Two years of sacrifice towards victory".

The conflict erupted on March 15, 2011 when protesters inspired by Arab world uprisings took to the streets of cities and towns across Syria for unprecedented demonstrations to call for democratic change.

Despite the demonstrators being unarmed, peaceful and made up of many women and children, forces of President Bashar al-Assad unleashed a brutal crackdown, opening fire on them, prompting an ever-growing number to take up arms.

Two years on, Syria is mired in a devastating civil war that has killed at least 70,000 people, forced a million to flee with millions more missing or displaced and created an economic and humanitarian disaster.

Rebels have seized large swathes of territory, but growing tensions between liberals and moderate Muslims on the one hand, and powerful Islamists on the other, have raised fears of a collapse into a new sectarian bloodbath.

In power for 40 years, the Assad clan believed it could quell the revolt, just as Bashar's father and predecessor Hafez did in 1982, when he crushed a Muslim Brotherhood uprising in Hama, killing between 10,000 and 40,000 people.

The military has formidable firepower, and clashes with outgunned armed rebels have reduced many cities to rubble.

Britain and France have announced moves to begin addressing that imbalance by lifting an arms embargo on Syria, and the issue is expected to come up again Friday at the second and final day of an EU summit in Brussels.

"Our goal is to convince our partners at the end of May, and if possible before.... If by chance there is a blockage by one or two countries, then France will take its responsibilities," French President Francois Hollande said on Thursday.

"Political solutions have now failed (in Syria), despite every pressure.

"We must go further because for two years there has been a clear willingness by (Syrian President) Bashar al-Assad to use every means to hit at his own people," Hollande added.

Syria's main opposition bloc, the National Coalition, welcomed France's initiative as "a step in the right direction".

Assad's government, like its key foreign ally Russia, said any such arms shipments would be a "flagrant violation" of international law.

The United States may look favorably on the French and British moves to give more aid to rebels, the State Department said, without explicitly backing armed support.

"We're obviously not going to get in the middle of their internal discussions, but we certainly want to see as many governments as possible provide appropriate support to the Syrian opposition coalition," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

However, Berlin is known to be cool to the idea and on Thursday German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the EU needed to "proceed very cautiously" on lifting the embargo.

Violence across Syria killed 141 people on Thursday, among them 49 rebel fighters, 47 regime soldiers and 45 civilians, according to an updated toll from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

15 Mar, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/2013/03/15/Syria-conflict-enters-3rd-year-EU-mulls-arming-rebels-.html
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Iraqi war victims find hope amid hardship

Victims of violence in Iraq suffer in silence, left to face challenges without government support. (Al Arabiya)

Victims of violence in Iraq suffer in silence, left to face challenges without government support to help them reintegrate into society.

Salwan al-Abdaly, 21, lost the ability to walk at the age of 12 when, on the way back from school, he was shot in the back during crossfire between U.S. soldiers and armed Iraqis.

"After the injury I spent six months in therapy, and throughout that period I encountered psychological problems," said Abdaly. "I continued my life, and adapted myself to using the (wheel) chair and live normally."

However, "because of the six-month therapy program and poor security conditions," he dropped out of school. "The situation is too difficult in Baghdad," Abdaly said.

Like many in Iraq, he says no one pays attention to war victims and their needs, amid political and economic instability.

The general absence of disabled-access facilities in Iraq does not bode well for Abdaly. Schools, for example, have no elevators as an alternative to stairs.

Abdaly also suffered head and arm injuries in a 2011 blast in al-Zawra'a city, and was randomly shot in the shoulder in 2012.


Determined to work

Without a degree, Abdaly's chances of finding a job are slim. Furthermore, most jobs would require him to be present at work on a daily basis, he said. This is something he is unable to do, as Iraq's transport system does not cater to people with special needs.

However, spending time at home did not lessen Abdaly's desire to work. "I bought a computer, I downloaded designing programs, and taught myself how to use them," he said.

Abdaly also used his passion for photography to participate in online exhibitions and share of his artistic works with like-minded people over the internet.

"I participated in some online contests, and received appreciation certificates," he said.

Abdaly worked with Al Arabiya's office in Baghdad during the Iraqi parliamentary elections, and has designed a website for prominent Iraqi media figure Suhair al-Qaisi.


Lack of attention

Abdaly complains about his country's disregard for his situation.

"I was promised several times by the Iraqi Ministry of Health to be treated at the country's expense," but "this never happened," he said.

Some hospitals dedicated to the care of special-needs individuals are not adequately equipped, and lack cleanliness, rehab programs and proper food, Abdaly added.

The poor state of care in Iraq led his family to send him to Turkey to continue his treatment. He will stay there until his physical condition improves.

"Rehab programs aren't provided for Iraqi war victims," said Abdaly. "Ways to move from the bed to the wheelchair aren't taught. Tips on how people with special needs should cross the road, for example, aren't taught to those who need them."

15 Mar, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/2013/03/15/Iraqi-war-victims-find-hope-amid-hardship-.html
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Syrian female prisoner spared regime brutality for being Christian

Caroline Ayoub, prior to her arrest, hands a ribbon with scriptures from the Quran and Bible to a boy during one of her visits to children in the capital's suburbs neighborhoods. (Al Arabiya)

As she was brought into prison, she was able to see, under her blindfold, prisoners who were hung, and others who were screaming from having their nails pulled out by their jailers.

"I was taken to the office of the head of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence Directorate, Jamil Hassan," she told Al Arabiya. "He threatened me, shouted and cussed at me. I was questioned until night time, and then transferred to Mazzeh's Air Force Intelligence Airport in Damascus, where I was placed in an isolated cell."

Caroline Ayoub, a Christian who worked as an operations manager at the Paris Gallery in Damascus, was arrested on April 11 last year after secret police accused her of being a terrorist in possession of explosives.

"I met at a coffee shop with my friends, who were working with me to pass out Easter chocolate eggs to children across the suburbs of Damascus," said Ayoub. "I had two small cameras, one for me to film children's reactions, and the other for my friend to use in the areas she'd be visiting. Before we knew it, we were under arrest inside the coffee shop, with more than 20 officers surrounding us."

"We decorated the Easter chocolate eggs with ribbons, and on each ribbon we wrote a verse from both the Bible and the Quran, because we wanted our children to be aware of our unity."

Ayoub became an activist after her best friend was arrested for criticizing the government.

"Prior to Bilal's arrest, I was only an observer to the protests and the violence that was committed towards activists, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to get involved in the chaos as I was considered to have a perfect, luxurious life with a very high salary," she said. "I didn't think I was ready to lose all that."

Following Bilal's arrest, Ayoub met a Muslim woman known as Um Ubada, with whom she worked in reaching out to families affected by the conflict. Ayoub said they did not allow the religion of the families they were helping to stand in the way of meeting their needs.

"When you're so involved in helping the people of your country, the courage you have in you overcomes the feeling of being afraid."

Caroline Ayoub

"I realized that in order for us to live in the same country, we all need to work together and accept our differences before accepting our similarities," said Ayoub.

The aid provided to families across Duma, one of the first places to be hit by the regime, ranged from smuggling medicines and milk, to fundraising for surgical operations and paying house rents.

Ayoub said she was stunned at the distorted images people living in the suburbs had towards Christians. In many of the houses she visited with Um Ubada, she had to dress up in a burka to sit amongst the people and hear what they thought of her religion.

"Um Ubada used to reveal my identity after each visit, and tell them I'm the Christian woman who helped their families meet their needs."

Secret police arrested Um Ubada in December 2011 in Ummayed Square, the center of the capital. Ayoub said she has not seen Um Ubada since, but knows that she is still a prisoner.

Ayoub was brought in twice for questioning, and threatened by Hassan over her ties with Um Ubada. She was also repeatedly warned by a guard named Yacoub that her silence would result in him taking her underground to be tortured to death. She said questions included whether she loved Bashar al-Assad. Other questions terrified her, and made her feel as if they knew everything about her activities.

"Both times, I was released because they kept giving me the treatment of a Christian," she said.

However, the third arrest was different. Ayoub was the only female at the Mazzeh Air Force Intelligence Airport prison, which the Syrian Human Rights Watch has described as the worst jail in the country.

"I was placed in an isolated cell that was next to the torture chamber. I wasn't able to sleep for the month I was there. The agonized voices of the prisoners haunted me even after I was released," said Ayoub.

She begged the jailers to place her with other prisoners.

"Being isolated from everyone, yet hearing the torture of prisoners was much more painful than being physically tortured," she said, explaining that when prisoners are beaten, they do not have the time to think because they are consumed by pain.

"I reached a point while in isolation where I'd shut my ears and hit my head against the wall, wishing they'd torture me and beat me instead."

Because Ayoub was the only female at that prison, she said every officer addressed her as if she was male.

Five days before her release, she had a severe case of scabies which extended beneath her skin.

Ayoub's skin after suffering from scabies while in prison. (Al Arabiya)


"They were coming out from everywhere, my bra, my underwear. I became insane trying to stop them from spreading further into my body," she said.

After refusing to shower for 25 days, she decided to wash in the hope of getting rid of the scabies. "I refused to shower because there's no door that would give me the privacy I need to clean myself, and all of them there are men."

She was then attacked by a guard who tried to sexually assault her, but stopped because of her screams.

"They kept telling me that if only I wasn't a Christian, my fate would've been different."

Ayoub was released to receive medical treatment, and then fled the country. Regardless of the horror she experienced in prison, she said she would not have done anything differently.

"When you're so involved in helping the people of your country, the courage you have in you overcomes the feeling of being afraid."

15 Mar, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/15/Syrian-female-prisoner-spared-regime-brutality-for-being-Christian.html
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