Human Rights

20 Nov 2020; MEMO: Amnesty International called on Thursday for the G20 leaders to put pressure on the Saudi Arabian authorities to release "brave activists" who are imprisoned in the Kingdom.

"Instead of keeping pace with the Saudi government in its glamorous phrases about empowering women," said Amnesty, "the G20 leaders should seize the occasion of the summit to defend the brave activists, the real change makers behind bars."

19 Nov 2020; MEMO: Three US senators said on Wednesday they would introduce legislation seeking to halt the Trump administration's effort to sell more than $23 billion of drones and other weapons systems to the United Arab Emirates, setting up a showdown with the president just weeks before he is due to leave office.

Dr Khaled Al-Ouda, brother of prominent Saudi preacher Dr Salman Al-Ouda, was sentenced by a Saudi court to five years in prison over claims of "inciting sedition and destabilising security", Anadolu reported yesterday.

The news agency reported Dr Abdullah Al-Ouda, son of Dr Salman Al-Ouda, wrote on Twitter: "The [Saudi] authorities have sentenced my uncle Khaled to five years in prison and imposed travel ban on him over charges of seeking to employ the arrest of his brother to incite sedition and destabilise security."

19 Nov 2020; MEMO: Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday condemned Israel's decision to build 1,257 new settlement units in the illegal settlement of Givat HaMatos, which divides occupied East Jerusalem from the West Bank.

19 Nov 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia, the first Arab country to host the G20 summit this weekend, is facing criticism over its human rights record despite reforms introduced in recent years to improve the conservative monarchy's image.

Human rights activists and relatives of imprisoned activists have urged world leaders to boycott the summit or pressure the kingdom's rulers to release prisoners of conscience, Al-Khaleej Today reported.

Mathura, Nov 18 (PTI) A district court here on Wednesday fixed December 10 as the next date for hearing into a petition seeking the removal of a mosque near a temple which the devouts believe marks the birthplace of Lord Krishna.

The court pushed the hearing to next month after a "vakalatnama" was filed on behalf of three of the four defendants in the case, District Government Council (Civil) Sanjay Gaur said.

Latur, Nov 18 (PTI) A 28-year-old woman was hacked to death allegedly by her husband during an argument over demand for dowry in the wee hours of Wednesday here in Maharashtra, police said.

The accused, Rajkumar Laxaman Gaikwad, a resident of Haibatpur village in Latur district, has been arrested, they said.

He assaulted his wife, Rahu Rajkumar Gaikwad (28), with an axe around 1.30 am, leaving her dead on the spot, the police said.

Jammu, 19 Nov 2020: Four Kashmiris were killed on Thursday by Indian security forces on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway on the outskirts of Jammu city of the Indian Administered Kashmir, Indian officials said.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A shocking Australian military report into war crimes has found evidence that elite Australian troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers and civilians.

Australian Defence Force Chief Gen. Angus Campbell said Thursday the shameful record included alleged instances in which new patrol members would shoot a prisoner in order to achieve their first kill in a practice known as “blooding.”

18 Nov 2020; AA: An operation conducted by the Turkish Coast Guard to rescue 25 asylum seekers who were pushed back by Greece to die in the Aegean Sea was captured by drones.

A boat, carrying dozens of irregular immigrants, including children, that the Greek military elements pushed into Turkish territorial waters in the Aegean Sea, was detected by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on Nov. 9.