Category: Human Rights

The US Supreme Court said Thursday that it has been unable to identify who leaked the draft majority opinion that ultimately ended decades of federal abortion protections.

The court said in an unsigned statement that the early release of the landmark opinion is "one of the worst breaches of trust in its history."

The then-draft opinion was published in full by the Politico news website, which also extensively reported on it a month before the opinion was officially released.

The incident marks the first time in the court's history that a draft opinion had been leaked to the press.

"The leak was no mere misguided attempt at protest. It was a grave assault on the judicial process," the court said. "It is no exaggeration to say that the integrity of judicial proceedings depends on the inviolability of internal deliberations."

Chief Justice John Robert directed the court's marshal and staff to carry out an investigation into the source of the leak.

But the court said that after extensive interviews with the 82 people who had access to the document during the months-long probe, "the team has to date been unable to identify a person responsible by a preponderance of the evidence."

"After months of diligent analysis of forensic evidence and interviews of almost 100 employees, the Marshal’s team determined that no further investigation was warranted," the court said.

The court hired an outside consultant to go over the marshal’s findings, and former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a separate statement that his office determined the investigation was "thorough," adding he cannot "identify any additional useful investigative measures."

Source: Anadolu Agency

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has called on the allies to send more heavy armored weapons to Ukraine amid intensified fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces.

"We are in a crucial phase of the war. We are now seeing heavy fighting. It is therefore important that we equip Ukraine with the weapons it needs to be able to win – and survive as an independent nation,” Stoltenberg said in an interview with German daily Handelsblatt.

His remarks came ahead of a meeting of US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Western counterparts later this week to discuss sending further heavy weapons to Ukraine.

Stoltenberg welcomed recent statements from the US, the UK, and France to send battle tanks and armoured fighting vehicles to Ukraine.

"The recent commitments for heavy weapons are important – and I expect more in the near future," he said.

Austin will host the Ukraine Contact Group meeting on Friday at the Ramstein Air Force Base in southwestern Germany.

Despite repeated calls by its Western partners, the German government has been hesitant so far to deliver Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine.

German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall said on Sunday that it could deliver refurbished Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine in 2024 at the earliest.

While Poland has announced its intention to send a company of German-made Leopard 2 tanks to the country this year, it needs the approval of the German government. As a rule, the transfer of armaments from German production to third parties must be approved by Berlin.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Germany’s defense minister on Thursday said she is not ruling out the delivery of Leopard tanks to Ukraine, but stressed no decision has been made yet.

One should not rule out anything but “there is no decision in the federal government to give up battle tanks. This decision has not been made. And that's why this question doesn't arise," Christine Lambrecht told journalists in the eastern town of Marienberg where she visited German soldiers of the VJTF NATO Rapid Reaction Force.

Her remarks followed statements by Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck who said his country should not hinder Poland's planned delivery of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

"And accordingly, Germany should not stand in the way when other countries make decisions to support Ukraine, regardless of what decision Germany makes," German Press Agency (dpa) quoted Habeck as saying at a meeting of the Greens parliamentary group in Berlin.

Polish President Andrzej Duda said earlier this week his country had already made the decision to provide Ukrainians with Leopard battle tanks.

Germany plays a key role in the debate because the Leopard 2 tanks were manufactured in Germany. As a rule, the transfer of armaments from German production to third parties must be approved by Berlin.

On Wednesday, a German government spokesman said it was unlikely that Berlin would change its position on the delivery of combat tanks to Ukraine ahead of next week’s talks on military aid to the East European country.

An expectation that there would be a change in Berlin's stance before the meeting was "not very likely," Steffen Hebestreit told media representatives in Berlin.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has so far refused to supply Leopard 2 combat tanks on the grounds that no other NATO country has made such tanks available.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has invited members of the so-called Ukraine Contact Group to a meeting at the US Ramstein Air Force Base in southwestern Germany on Jan. 20.

Source: Anadolu Agency

More classified documents were found at US President Joe Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware -- most in a storage space in the garage, the White House said Thursday.

Special Counsel to the President Richard Sauber said Biden’s lawyers searched his Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, residences after classified documents were found at the Penn Biden Center in November.

“During the review, the lawyers discovered among personal and political papers a small number of additional Obama-Biden Administration records with classified markings,” Sauber wrote in a statement. “All but one of these documents were found in storage space in the President’s Wilmington residence garage. One document consisting of one page was discovered among stored materials in an adjacent room. No documents were found in the Rehoboth Beach residence.”

“As was done in the case of the Penn-Biden Center, the Department of Justice was immediately notified, and the lawyers arranged for the Department of Justice to take possession of these documents,” he said.

The confirmation came after multiple media outlets reported Wednesday that the president's aides found at least one additional batch of classified materials in a different location from Biden’s former Washington, D.C. office where the original documents were discovered.

Biden's attorneys found the first batch of about 10 documents at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, D.C. in a locked closet as they were preparing to vacate the office space in Washington and handed them to the National Archives and Records Administration.

They included documents containing US intelligence memos and briefing materials dated between 2013 and 2016 related to Ukraine, Iran and the UK, a source told CNN.

Biden said he was surprised to learn classified documents from his time as vice president were found at the office of his think tank, adding that his team “immediately” handed them to the National Archives.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland assigned the US attorney's office in Chicago to review the initial documents while the FBI is also involved in the inquiry.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Thursday summoned Staffan Herrstrom, the Swedish ambassador in Ankara, to convey the country's reaction to a propaganda demonstration by supporters of the PKK/YPG terror group in Stockholm.

"The Ambassador was informed with strong expressions that we strongly condemn and protest this heinous act, and demanded that such terrorist acts, which are a clear violation of Sweden's commitments with the tripartite testament, and which openly threaten our country, should not be allowed," said Turkish diplomatic sources.

Herrstrom was also told that Türkiye expects the perpetrators of the act to be identified, that necessary actions be taken and that Sweden fulfills its commitments under the tripartite deal signed last year under NATO auspices, the sources added.

Terror supporters gathered in front of the historical City Hall in the capital Stockholm, hung a puppet -- likened to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- by the feet on a pole in front of the building, and shared video footage of the moment on social media.

Footage posted later on a social media account affiliated with the terror group showed that threats targeting Türkiye and Erdogan were made with Turkish subtitles.

Source: Anadolu Agency

A man accused of throwing an egg at King Charles last month appeared in court on Monday.

Harry Spartacus May, 21, is charged with a public order offense after an egg was allegedly thrown at the monarch during a Dec. 6 visit to the town of Luton, some 48 kilometers (30 miles) from London.

The defendant appeared at the Luton Magistrates' Court, where prosecutors said the case could only be heard by the chief magistrate.

The charge alleges he used “threatening or abusive words or behaviour or disorderly behaviour within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress.”

The next hearing is at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday.

Prosecutor Matthew Taylor said this was a "special jurisdiction case" that could only be heard by the chief magistrate.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Germany on Monday condemned the execution of two more demonstrators in Iran.

"The federal government condemns in the strongest terms that the Iranian regime continues to use the death penalty as a means of repression," Steffen Hebestreit told media representatives in Berlin.

He called on the government in Tehran "again and urgently" not to carry out any further death sentences and to abolish the death penalty immediately.

Together with the allies, the pressure on Iran will continue to increase, Hebestreit added.

"We call on Iran to immediately release all those unjustly detained," he said.

Iran’s judiciary-affiliated Mizan News Agency announced on Saturday the execution of two men blamed for the death of a security officer during anti-government protests in November.

A total of four demonstrators have so far been executed in connection with the protests in the country that have been going on for more than three months.

The nationwide protests in Iran were triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody on Sept. 16, 2022. Amini was arrested by the so-called moral police for allegedly violating the Islamic dress code.

At least 517 protesters, among them dozens of children, have been killed and over 19,200 people have been arrested, according to the Human Rights Activists in Iran, a non-governmental organization closely monitoring the unrest.

Iranian authorities have not provided an official count of those killed or detained.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The United Nations extended on Monday a resolution that allows the use of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing through Türkiye to deliver humanitarian aid into northwestern Syria, the only remaining available route into the besieged region.

The long-running aid operation has been in place since 2014.

The 15-member Security Council adopted the resolution unanimously with Russia voting in favor of it in a surprise move. The resolution allows the delivery of humanitarian aid to some 4 million people until July 10.

Russia's Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said that they have taken a "difficult decision" to support the adoption of the resolution.

For years, Bashar al-Assad regime has sought to get rid of the aid mechanism with the help of Russia, which would prevent access to the northwest of Syria that is controlled by the rebels.

The aid delivery was reduced to one border crossing from four in the years when Russia and China vetoed UN resolutions seeking to preserve the cross-border aid lifeline to northwest Syria.

Around 15.3 million people will require humanitarian protection and assistance in 2023, the highest since the beginning of the conflict in 2011, according to the UN.

"The decision...comes as humanitarian needs have reached the highest levels since the start of the conflict in 2011, with people in Syria grappling with a harsh winter and a cholera outbreak," UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement after the vote.

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that Monday's vote allows the Syrian people to breathe a sigh of relief.

"But while this lifeline will continue to operate, so much more could have been done. And so much more still needs to be done," she said.

Source: Anadolu Agency