Day: October 8, 2021

The EU commissioner for home affairs on Friday urged Greece to investigate illegal pushbacks of asylum seekers.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the meeting of EU interior affairs ministers in Luxemburg, EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson said she expects Greece to “take it seriously, do the investigation, and find out what really happened.”

A day before, Johansson held talks with Greek Minister for Migration Notis Mitarachi and Croatian Minister for Interior Affairs Davor Bozinovic on illegal pushbacks revealed this week in a joint investigation by nine leading media outlets.

The reports presented evidence that Greek and Croatian authorities have been violently pushing back asylum seekers crossing the bloc’s external borders.

Johansson called her discussions with the two ministers “very different.”

She called Bozinovic’s reaction “exactly the right response,” explaining that the Croatian government promised an immediate investigation and an independent monitoring mechanism to ensure fundamental rights.

“My discussion with the Greek minister was different. I have made clear that I will not accept Greece’s failure to investigate the issue,” she said. “We have to protect our external borders, but we also have to protect our values, the rule of law, and fundamental rights.”

In a statement, Mitarachi said Greece had been investigating every claim on alleged mistreatment of asylum-seekers by national authorities.

The month-long joint investigation revealed that pushback operations by security forces had become systematic practices in violation of the EU and international humanitarian law.

German weekly Der Spiegel published videos showing masked Greek officers intercepting and disabling refugee boats in the Aegean Sea, endangering the lives of vulnerable asylum seekers.

The investigation also documented illegal pushback practices by the Croatian and Romanian special police units.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Germany on Friday expressed “deep regret” over a vote in the UN Human Rights Council to end the Yemen war crimes investigation.

“We deeply regret that the Yemen resolution in the (UN) Human Rights Council failed. We observe ongoing serious human rights violations in Yemen by all parties to the conflict and one of the greatest humanitarian catastrophes of our time,” Foreign Ministry Deputy Spokesman Christopher Burger told media representatives in Berlin.

UN Human Rights Council members narrowly voted to reject a resolution proposed by the Netherlands and backed by Germany to extend the independent investigators’ mandate to monitor severe human rights violations in Yemen’s civil war for another two years.

Burger vowed that his country will continue to “closely monitor” the human rights situation in Yemen.

“Even though the resolution has now been rejected, the human rights situation in Yemen will continue to be dealt with and will be closely monitored by us,” Burger said.

Bahrain, Russia, and several other members of the UN Human Rights Council pressed ahead with the vote on Thursday to end the body’s war crimes investigations in Yemen amid western diplomatic efforts to keep the mission alive.

It is the first time in the Geneva-based UN human rights body’s 15-year history that a resolution has been defeated.

Independent investigators have stated repeatedly that there is evidence that all sides in the military conflict committed war crimes.

Yemen has been beset by violence and chaos since 2014, when Houthis overran much of the country, including the capital Sanaa. The crisis escalated in 2015 when a Saudi-led coalition launched a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi territorial gains.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the conflict has claimed more than 233,000 lives.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The Biden administration removed on Friday two Iranian firms alleged to have been involved in Iran’s ballistic missile program from the US’s sanctions blacklist.

The removals include Mammut Industrial Group, and its subsidiary Mammut Diesel Company. Both companies were sanctioned under former US President Donald Trump’s failed “maximum pressure” campaign, which was geared at imposing costs on Tehran in order to bring Iran back to nuclear negotiations.

Those talks never materialized, and 2015 nuclear agreement has been badly battered in the aftermath of Trump’s efforts with Iran taking steps away from its commitments in retaliation for the US reneging on its own, and imposing sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

President Joe Biden has sought to return to talks with Tehran to resume mutual compliance, but the hitherto indirect diplomatic meetings have failed to do so. The last round of negotiations concluded in June with both sides voicing views that were sharply at odds with each other about their status.

Iran maintained that the talks ended with each party agreeing on a clear text on all issues while Washington said serious differences remained.

It is unclear why the Iranian firms are being removed from the US sanctions list, but the Trump administration alleged in August 2020 they “are key producers and suppliers of military-grade, dual-use goods for Iran’s missile program.”

Source: Anadolu Agency

German authorities are investigating cases of “Havana syndrome” among US diplomats in Berlin, local media reported on Friday.

Berlin’s police office for criminal investigation (LKA) opened an investigation into the suspected microwave attacks on several American diplomats in August after receiving information from the US authorities, according to weekly Der Spiegel.

At least two US officials stationed in Germany reported symptoms similar to those of Havana syndrome, such as headaches and loss of balance, as well as difficulties in sleeping, concentration, and memory.

The “Havana syndrome” dates back to 2016, when it was first noticed among dozens of US diplomats in the Cuban capital Havana. Since then, over 200 cases were reported among US officials and their family members worldwide.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Dmitry Muratov, the Nobel Peace Prize co-winner from Russia, has devoted the award to his paper’s fallen journalists.

Addressing a news conference in Moscow, Muratov, the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazette newspaper, said: “I am an improper beneficiary of this award.”

He said the prize is for all of the paper’s fallen journalists including Anya Politkovskaya, and “those brilliant young people who are now wandering on the third floor of the editorial office.”

Muratov said the prize money will be used to help sick children, independent media, and a Moscow hospice. “I do not know what else we will do, it will depend on the editorial board.”

Asked to whom he would have given the Nobel Peace Prize himself, he named Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny. “But I believe that this person [Navalny] still has everything ahead of him,” Muratov said.

He said he has no plans to become a politician, and will continue his career in journalism as he has “the most wonderful job.”

Muratov and Filipino journalist Maria Ressa have been given the award “for their courageous fight for freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia.”

The Nobel Committee said Muratov has for decades “defended freedom of speech in Russia under increasingly challenging conditions.”

Muratov was one of the founders of the Novaya Gazeta in 1993, a daily known for its critical stance on Russia’s political and social affairs.

Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov congratulated Muratov on winning the prestigious award, calling him a journalist who is “talented, brave and committed to his ideals.”

In 1990, Soviet politician Mikhail Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution to the peace process between the Soviet Union and Western countries.

Source: Anadolu Agency

A bomb attack on worshippers at a Shia mosque in the Afghan city of Kunduz killed at least 46 people on Friday, officials said.

Witnesses told Anadolu Agency that the blast rocked the Seyedabad Grand Mosque at around 1.30 p.m. local time (0900 GMT).

Matiullah Rouhani, head of the Information and Culture Department in Kunduz under the Taliban government, said the explosion killed at least 46 people while 143 others were injured.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said many citizens were killed and wounded by “insurgents.” In a tweet, he condemned the “heinous act” and promised “to find and punish the perpetrators.”

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said it was “deeply concerned by reports of very high casualties,” calling the attack a part of a “disturbing pattern of violence.”

Meanwhile, in a statement, the Deash/ISIS terror group, which has targeted Shia Muslims in the past, claimed responsibility for the attack.

On Sunday, at least eight people were killed and 20 others wounded when a bomb went off near the entrance of the Eidgah Mosque in Kabul.

People had gathered for a memorial service for the late mother of Mujahid, who is also the deputy minister of information and culture in the interim Taliban government.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The German Defense Ministry has opened an investigation into a series of suspected far-right incidents and sexual violence in a unit of the military honor guard, a ministry spokesman said on Friday.

At the weekly government press briefing in Berlin, Arne Collatz said several suspects in the military guard battalion have been suspended “until further notice” pending a probe.

“These incidents, of which I am bringing to your attention, shame us all deeply,” said Collatz, who vowed to follow a “no-tolerance” policy when it comes to fighting right-wing extremism in the German military.

He said the military honor guard has around 1,000 members and they are deployed during state visits and other formal events.

He added the internal investigation targets “several dozen” soldiers and the alleged incidents were uncovered in the wake of reports by fellow battalion members.

Collatz expressed “concern” over the latest incidents in the country’s military as Germany’s military and police apparatus has been grappling with a series of far-right incidents in recent years.

In January 2020, German military intelligence reported there were almost 600 suspected right-wing extremists in the army. They said the country’s elite anti-terror unit KSK was seen as a major problem, with 20 members suspected of being far-right supporters.

In 2017, inspections were conducted in all German military bases after Nazi-era memorabilia was discovered at two of them. Many of those accused of far-right ties are believed to be sympathetic to the anti-migrant opposition party Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Source: Anadolu Agency