Human Rights

RAMALLAH, Mar 18 (NNN-WAFA) – Palestine welcomed a letter by 64 U.S. Congress members, to Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, concerning Israel’s home demolition against the Palestinians.

Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s Executive Committee, said, this letter is an “overdue” oversight of U.S. military aid to Israel.

17 Mar 2020; MEMO: Scores of Israeli Jewish settlers violated measures taken to fight the coronavirus and raided Al-Aqsa Mosque yesterday, provoking Muslim worshippers, Arab48 reported.

According to the news website, the Jewish settlers were protected by Israeli occupation forces who arrested four Palestinians inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compounds claiming they had violated Israeli sovereignty.

17 Mar 2020; MEMO: US Senator Bernie Sanders, one of two Democratic candidates in the race to run in the upcoming presidential elections, has criticised his country’s support for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, and likened their regimes to a “dictatorship”.

This came during a televised debate held on Sunday with his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden; the former vice president.

New Delhi, Mar 16 (PTI) The Congress-ruled Rajasthan government on Monday moved the Supreme Court challenging validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, saying the law was violative of fundamental rights such as right to equality and life under the constitution.

Rajasthan became the second state after Kerala to move the top court invoking Article 131 of the Constitution under which a state is empowered to directly move the top court in case of a dispute with the Centre.

New Delhi, Mar 17 (PTI) The Centre Tuesday told the Supreme Court that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019 does not violate any fundamental right.

The central government, in its 129-page affidavit in response to the pleas challenging the constitutional validity of CAA, termed the legislation legal and asserted that there was no question of it violating constitutional morality.

Sydney; 17 March 2020 (UMM): A video footage captured on the helmet camera of an Australian soldier in Afghanistan, obtained by Four Corners of Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC News), shows a Special Air Service (SAS) soldier shooting an unarmed Afghan.

Mumbai, Mar 15 (PTI) A 22-year-old carpenter was arrested on Sunday for allegedly raping a mentally challenged woman in Vakola in Mumbai, police said.

Dinesh Sharma was raping the 22-year-old woman repeatedly for the past three months in Dutt Mandir locality, and the crime came to light after she got pregnant, said an official.

"She named Sharma after which he was arrested," said the official.

Banda, Mar 16 (PTI) A girl was allegedly raped by three men in a village in Chilla area of Uttar Pradesh's Banda district, police said on Monday.

Circle officer (Banda Sadar) Raghvendra Singh said the girl, aged 15, was allegedly gang-raped on Sunday afternoon.

15 Mar 2020; MEMO: President Hassan Rouhani said Iran’s fight against the coronavirus was being “severely hampered” by US sanctions, as state television reported that the death toll from the illness rose on Saturday to 611, up nearly 100 from a day earlier.

State media said Rouhani wrote to a number of world leaders, without naming them.

15 Mar 2020; MEMO: Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias’ remarks on social media are “concrete evidence of the inconsistent, double-standard, illegal and inhumane policies” pursued by this country, said Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman on Sunday, referring to the asylum seekers along the Turkey-Greece border, Anadolu Agency reports.