Human Rights

6 July 2019; DW: Malta and Italy reportedly reached a deal on Friday to begin to tackle the standoff between charity rescue ships in the Mediterranean Sea and Italy's far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini.

The two countries are said to have agreed to each take refugees from a sailboat belonging to Italian NGO Mediterranea that rescued 54 people at sea.

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisia has banned face-covering veils in state-run buildings for security reasons, ending a policy of official tolerance with the garment.

Prime Minister Youssef Chahed signed an order on Friday demanding that ministers, governors and heads of public establishments “take the necessary dispositions to stop all people whose faces are covered from entering public buildings.”

The measure said the ban was needed “to preserve public security” and assure the smooth running of establishments.

Srinagar, Jul 5; PTI/GANASHAKTI: Peoples United Front -- an alliance between the parties of bureaucrat-turned-politician Shah Faesal and former MLA Sheikh Abdul Rashid --  Friday staged a sit-in here to protest the ban on civilian traffic on a stretch of Srinagar-Jammu national highway for over five hours a day during Amarnath yatra.

Srinagar, July 5: A Kashmiri has been killed in an alleged encounter with Indian security in Shopian district of Indian administered Kashmir, an Indian official said.

The Indian security forces' spokesperson alleged that a cordon and search operation was underway in the area following information about presence of Kashmiri separatist.

Lucknow, July 4 P; IANS/GANASHAKTI: Allahabad High Court judge Rangnath Pandey who wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging 'favouritism, nepotism and casteism in the appointment of judges, was not given the customary farewell party when he retired on Thursday.

The farewell party, known as full court reference in the legal parlance, which was scheduled to be held in the Chief Justice's Court at 3.45 p.m. was cancelled at the last minute due to unforeseen circumstances.

Chennai, July 5 (PTI) MDMK chief Vaiko was on Friday convicted by a city court here in a sedition case filed in 2009 by the Tamil Nadu government.

He was sentenced to simple imprisonment for a year.

Judge J Shanthi held him guilty of the offence of sedition.

Vaiko, who was present in the court, said he never sought any leniency.

A petition was filed to suspend the conviction enabling an appeal against the order. Subsequently, the conviction and sentence were stayed for one month.

4 July 2019; MEMO: The Palestinian Authority (PA) has called for UNESCO to send permanent observer to occupied Jerusalem, Safa news agency reported yesterday.

In a statement issued by the PA’s Foreign Minister Riyadh Al-Maliki, he stressed on the importance of this step, citing the “Israeli violations, judaisation measures and destruction in Jerusalem which aim to erase historic, civil and religious sites, as well as to change the status quo.”

4 July 2019; MEMO: Israel’s Supreme Court has refused to hear a petition filed by a human rights organisation which requested that Palestinian child prisoners be allowed to call their parents while in detention.

4 July 2019; DW: UN chief Antonio Guterres denounced the "horrendous" attack on a detention center in Tripoli and demanded an independent investigation. A divided Security Council failed to condemn the strike.

The council president said a statement was due: "We will have a press statement, but we are still discussing it," Peruvian Ambassador Gustavo Meza-Cuadra said.

New Delhi, Jul 3 (PTI) The Union government has no plans to repeal sedition law as it is needed to effectively combat anti-national, secessionist and terrorist elements, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai told Rajya Sabha Wednesday.

The minister made the statement in reply to a written question by TRS MP Banda Prakash who had asked if the government was mulling to scrap sedition law "which is a colonial-era law applicable on free citizens of the Republic".