Human Rights

21 Feb 2020; MEMO: A Yemeni lawyer has won the prestigious Martin Ennals Award for 2020 in recognition of her efforts to uncover a network of secret prisons run by the UAE in southern Yemen where prisoners are held and tortured without legal grounds.

Huda Al-Sarari, 42, received her award in Geneva, Switzerland, on Wednesday.

21 Feb 2020; MEMO: The US government has failed to account for nearly $715.8 million in weapons and equipment funnelled to its Syrian allies involved in the multinational counter-offensive against Daesh, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Department of Defence.

Berlin, Feb 20 (AFP/PTI) Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday condemned the "poison" of hatred and racism running through German society, after a suspected right-wing extremist shot dead nine people at a shisha bar and a cafe in the city of Hanau.

"Racism is a poison, hatred is a poison and this poison exists in our society and it is already to blame for far too many crimes," Merkel told reporters.

New Delhi, Feb 20 (PTI) Scores of people from different organisations, including the AISA and the AIDWA, gathered at the Jantar Mantar here on Thursday demanding restoration of Article 370 of the Constitution.

They expressed solidarity with the people of Jammu and Kashmir and demanded that the government restore Article 370 and give full statehood to the Union territory.

The programme was organised by the AIDWA, AISA, ANHAD, DASAM, DSG, DTF, IPTA, Khudai Khidmatgar, NAPM, NFIW, OBR India, PIPFPD, RYA, Sangwari, SFI and Youth Alliance for Peace.

Chennai, Feb 20 (PTI): The Tamil Nadu assembly on Thursday witnessed a heated debate over the National Population Register (NPR) exercise with the DMK alleging that it does not feature Islamic festivals while the ruling AIADMK retorted that the manual of 2010 too did not have it.

Urging Chief Minister K Palaniswami to announce that NPR exercise will not be undertaken in the State, Leader of Opposition M K Stalin said the new enumeration form of the population drive posed several questions.

Guwahati, Feb 20 (PTI) JNU student Sharjeel Imam, who was arrested on charges of sedition, was brought to Assam on Thursday evening for interrogation.

Imam was brought to the city from New Delhi by train and then taken to a hospital for medical checkup, Guwahati Police Commissioner Munna Prasad Gupta told PTI.

After his checkup, Imam was produced before the chief judicial magistrate's court which sent him to four day's police remand, he said.

BRUSSELS, Feb 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The EU’s 27 leaders on Friday condemned Syrian government attacks on the city of Idlib, the country’s last rebel enclave, warning of humanitarian disaster.

“The renewed military offensive in Idlib by the Syrian government and its backers, causing enormous human suffering, is unacceptable,” said the EU council, which represents the EU’s 27 member states.

LONDON, Feb 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a stabbing inside a central London mosque.

The victim, who is in his 70s, was found injured after emergency services were called to the London Central Mosque in Park Road, near Regent’s Park, at 15:10 GMT.

He was taken to hospital by paramedics where his condition has been assessed as non-life threatening.

The Met Police said the attack is not being treated as terror related.

BERLIN (AP) — He mixed extreme paranoia about secret state surveillance with far-right conspiracy tropes, misogyny and racist vitriol.

The gunman who killed nine people in the Frankfurt suburb of Hanau left behind a 24-page rambling screed calling for the “complete extermination” of races he considered inferior; a video blending far-right diatribes, delusional musings and an infamous quote by Adolf Hitler; and an English-language video statement that echoes themes of child sacrifices and disdain for mainstream media found in the QAnon conspiracy theory.

20 Feb 2020; MEMO: The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) strongly condemned the bombing carried on by Haftar forces on the Tripoli seaport on Tuesday, which left several casualties.

The UNSMIL added in a statement published on its website on Wednesday that the bombing would have resulted in a real catastrophe if the LNG carrier was struck.