Syrian opposition to address Arab summit but awaits seat

Syrian Opposition Coalition members and Syrian National Coalition members attend a meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, March 18, 2013. (Reuters)

Syrian opposition leaders are to address an annual summit of the Arab League for the first time in Qatar on Tuesday, but the bloc's members remain divided over whether to give them Damascus's vacant seat.

The Qatari hosts are vocal champions of the rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad's regime and said leaders of the armed opposition would definitely be joining Arab heads of state in Doha.

But they did not specify whether the Syrian National Coalition would be given Syria's seat which has been vacant since its suspension from the 22-member bloc in November 2011.

"Arab foreign ministers will decide on the issue of the seat" during a preparatory meeting in Doha on Sunday, an Arab League official told AFP.

The Arab League called on the National Coalition on March 6 to form an executive body to take up Syria's seat and take part in the summit.

But Lebanon distanced itself from the decision, while Algeria and Iraq expressed reservations.

In all, nine of the bloc's other 21 members retain diplomatic missions in Damascus -- Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Sudan and Yemen -- despite its decision last November to recognise the National Coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

The opposition alliance has begun steps to form an executive body to administer rebel-held territory inside Syria, electing Ghassan Hitto as interim premier at a meeting in Turkey on Tuesday.

But a League official said the National Coalition needed to go further. Hitto's election "is important but is not enough," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"We are still waiting for the formation of the interim government."

Hitto will be among the opposition delegates addressing the Doha summit, National Coalition member Ahmed Ramadan told AFP.

"We will be represented by interim Prime Minister Ghassan Hitto, National Coalition head Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, and the chief of staff of the (rebel) Syrian Free Army, General Selim Idriss," Ramadan said.

"For the first time ever, the delegation should be addressing the Arab summit."

Hitto is charged with forming a government of technocrats to establish the rule of law and basic services in rebel-held areas.

But his election highlighted deep divisions within the opposition bloc, with at least 12 of its 49 members announcing the following day that they were suspending their membership in protest.

The dissidents included the Coalition's deputy head Soheir Atassi and spokesman Walid al-Bunni.

Hitto is seen by some opposition figures as the Islamist choice for premier, even though he has lived in the United States for decades, working as an IT executive. US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford said he was "more Texan than Muslim Brotherhood."

The Arab League suspended Syria's membership in November 2011 after Damascus rejected a peace plan proposal calling for an end to the violence but demanding that Assad step down.

The bloc also imposed a raft of other sanctions, including suspending trade with the government, freezing its bank accounts abroad, and suspending air links.

The Damascus government accuses Qatar and its heavyweight neighbor Saudi Arabia of fanning the conflict by arming the rebels with Western connivance.

The Syrian conflict has killed more than 70,000 people since March 2011, prompted more than a million to flee abroad, and displaced four million more inside the country.
 

23 Mar, 2013

-
Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/23/Syrian-opposition-to-address-Arab-summit-but-awaits-seat-.html
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

تابع القراءة

Kerry blasts Iran over imprisonment of American pastor

An Iranian-American Christian pastor who was sentenced to eight years in jail in January must immediately be freed, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Iran on Friday.

Kerry said he was "deeply concerned" about the fate of Saeed Abedini, who has already been held for six months in Iran in the notorious Evin prison.

The top U.S. diplomat said in a statement that he was also "disturbed by reports that Mr Abedini has suffered physical and psychological abuse in prison, and that his condition has become increasingly dire.

"Such mistreatment violates international norms as well as Iran's own laws," Kerry added, saying he was troubled by the lack of due process in the trial, and Iran's refusal to allow Abedini consular access by Swiss authorities.

Abedini, a naturalized U.S. citizen who converted to Christianity, was handed the jail sentence in late January, despite denying "charges of establishing churches to disrupt national security" in Iran and colluding to carry out crimes.

His supporters say he led underground churches in the early 2000s when such activity was largely tolerated during the pro-reform presidency of Mohammad Khatami.

Having resettled in the United States, Abedini was detained on a return trip to Iran in 2009 and was then let go following an agreement not to engage in underground religious activities, according to his family.

"The best outcome for Mr Abedini is that he be immediately released," Kerry added.

Abedini's wife Naghmeh this week released a letter she just received from her husband alleging that he has beaten during interrogation, and that he has suffered from "intense pain."

The United States and Iran broke off diplomatic ties in the late 1970s and Switzerland now handles consular matters for Washington with the Iranian authorities.

In recent years, the U.S. has also called for the release of Iranian Christian cleric Youcef Nadarkhani, who was charged in November 2010 with apostasy and sentenced to death for leaving Islam and converting to Christianity.

In April 2012, controversial U.S. Pastor Terry Jones burnt the Quran and images of Islam's Prophet Mohammed in protest of Nadarkhani imprisonment.

Rumors circulating that Nadarkhani had been executed were refuted earlier this month by UK-based rights group Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

Pictures had emerged purporting to show a man being hanged were attributed as evidence of the 34-year-old pastor's death.

"While we are relieved to report that Pastor Nadarkhani is alive, we urge caution in circulating rumors which must be deeply distressing for his family, his congregation and for many around the world who continue to pray for him," CSW Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas told the Christian Post.
 

23 Mar, 2013

-
Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/2013/03/23/John-Kerry-urges-Iran-to-free-U-S-pastor-sentenced-to-death-at-Evin.html
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

تابع القراءة

‘Quarantine her!’ Top Tunisian Islamist says topless girl needs stoning

19 year old Amina poses topless and then posts her photo's on Facebook. (FEMEN)

A Tunisian Salafi preacher has called for a 19-year old girl who posted her topless pictures on Facebook to be "quarantined" and stoned to death before she starts "an epidemic."

Tunisian newspaper AssabahNews quoted Salafi preacher Alami Adel, who heads the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, saying: "According to God's law, she deserves 80 to 100 lashes, but what she committed is worth much more than that. She deserves to be stoned to death and she must be quarantined because what she did is an epidemic."

"She is like someone suffering from a serious and contagious illness and she must be secluded and treated," he added.

The young Amina, who is part of a feminist movement and group called FEMEN can be seen smoking a cigarette topless with Arabic words written across her chest in black that reads in English "My body belongs to me."

FEMEN is a Ukrainian based feminist group that gathers women together in Europe in topless protests in support of women's rights.

Amina has been delivered by her parents to a psychiatric hospital in Tunis, according to reports received by FEMEN leader Inna Shevchenko in Paris and reported by the U.S. based magazine the Atlantic.

Tunisian media said that if Amina committed the offence in Tunisia, she could be punished by up to two years in prison and be given a fine between $60 and $600.

A petition and an international day of action on April 4 to highlight the threats against Amina have been organized by activists.

More than 10,000 people have signed the petition that called for those who threatened Amina's life to be prosecuted.

On Thursday reports FEMEN's Facebook account was hacked emerged. The page had reportedly been infiltrated with videos and pictures on the site being replaced by verses from the Koran.

"Thanks to God we have hacked this immoral page and the best is yet to come," read one message signed by "al-Angour," an apparent hacker.

FEMEN has released a statement condemning "barbarian threats of the Islamists about the necessity of reprisals against the Tunisian activist Amina."

"We are afraid for her life and we call on women to fight for their freedom against religious atrocities" it added.

Last month, FEMEN brought together Iranian women in Sweden, who took to the streets of Stockholm demonstrating against the Hijab (Islamic headscarf).

23 Mar, 2013

-
Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/2013/03/23/-Quarantine-her-Top-Tunisian-Islamist-says-topless-girl-needs-stoning.html
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

تابع القراءة