Human Rights

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced Friday to 22 1/2 years in prison for the murder of George Floyd, whose dying gasps under Chauvin’s knee led to the biggest outcry against racial injustice in the U.S. in generations.

The punishment — which came after Chauvin broke his yearlong silence to offer condolences to the Floyd family and express hope that they eventually have “some peace of mind” — is one of the longest prison terms ever imposed on a U.S. police officer in the killing of a Black person.

24 June 2021; MEMO: Major United States Republican Senator James Risch is continuing to block $50 million in economic aid to Palestinians, despite promises of help by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

25 June 2021; MEMO: Anti-immigrant discourse which is dehumanising displaced people is on the rise in Danish government circles and Syrian refugees are bearing the brunt, EUobserver reports today.

This comes as parliament yesterday passed a law that allows the nation to relocate asylum seekers outside of Europe to have their refugee claims assessed.

The UN opposed Denmark's bill for fear it would erode refugee rights and encourage other EU states to follow suit.

25 June 2021; MEMO: The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) yesterday condemned the US Justice Department's seizure of 33 media websites, describing it as "piracy" against Palestinian and Arab media outlets.

25 June 2021; MEMO: Israel will expand the Gaza Strip's fishing zone and allow the import of raw materials to essential industries in the enclave from today, the Israeli military has announced.

Bengaluru/Ghaziabad, Jun 24 (PTI) Twitter India's Head Manish Maheshwari, who was summoned by the Ghaziabad Police in connection with a probe related to the assault of an elderly Muslim man there recently, did not appear before them as the Karnataka High Court restrained police from initiating coercive action against him.

In his interim order, the single bench of Justice G Narender said "if the police desire to examine the petitioner (Manish Maheshwari), they may do so by virtual mode."

23 June 2021; MEMO: The CEO of Axel Springer, a Berlin-based agency, told the company's 16,000 employees to find another job if they have a problem with an Israeli flag being posted outside the largest digital publishing house of Europe.

24 June 2021; MEMO: The Egyptian government executed eight people on Monday bringing the total number of people hanged this year alone to 57, according to the NGO Reprieve.

The news comes shortly after Egypt's court of appeal upheld the death penalty for 12 members of the Muslim Brotherhood who had been convicted in the Rabaa sit-in case.

24 June 2021; MEMO: Israeli Jewish settlers yesterday blocked the Jerusalem-Hebron highway, described by Wafa news agency as the main road to the south of the occupied West Bank.

According to sources, scores of settlers spread across the Al Faghur agricultural area of the town of Al Khader, south of Hebron.

24 June 2021; MEMO: Fatah and Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas thwarted reconciliation efforts when he cancelled the general elections, the Deputy Head of Hamas' Political Bureau Saleh Al-Arouri said yesterday.