Category: Human Rights

They include Syrian national Ahlam al-Bashir -- the PKK terrorist who confessed to planting the bomb.

The suspects’ statements had been taken earlier by the 3rd and 4th Istanbul Criminal Court of Peace.

Also, three of the suspects were released on bail.

Earlier, 49 suspects who were transferred to the courthouse after completing procedures at the police station were questioned by 29 public prosecutors at the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.

Following deposition proceedings, the prosecutor's office referred 17 suspects to the court for remanding in custody, including Al-Bashir.

The prosecutor's office deported 29 suspects.

The suspects are accused of "destroying the unity and integrity of the state," "deliberate killing," "deliberately attempting to kill" and "deliberately aiding murder."

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office continued its investigation Thursday into the weekend bombing, which claimed six lives and injured 81.

Two of the victims are in critical condition, according to security sources who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Al-Bashir said she lost touch with her boyfriend but has maintained her connection with the terrorist group ever since.

Security forces determined that Ferhat H, the owner of a workshop in Istanbul's Esenler district, where Al-Bashir and fugitive suspect Bilal H. stayed, was also linked to the terrorist organization.

Ferhat H. made terrorist propaganda through his social media account and hosted Al-Bashir and Bilal H. at his home on the instructions of the terrorist group, said sources.

Source: Anadolu Agency

A video was released on Wednesday showing how the terrorist who carried out Sunday’s deadly attack in the heart of Istanbul arrived and left the scene.

The Istanbul Police Department released the security camera footage in which the perpetrator of the terrorist attack Ahlam Albashir, a Syrian woman who planted the explosives, can be seen arriving at Taksim Square and leaving right before the blast occurred.

The footage shows that the terrorist, who entered Istiklal Avenue, a busy pedestrian Street, from Taksim Square at 3.17 p.m. local time on the day of the incident, was walking on the street with her backpack and a plastic bag in her hand.

It is noteworthy that the terrorist, who tried to hide her appearance with a headscarf and came in front of a cafe at 3.29 p.m. local time, sat on the bench at 3.30 p.m. local time in front of a store, where the explosion occurred, with her bag and plastic bag in her hand.

The video includes moments when Albashir, who was sitting on the bench for about 41 minutes, left her backpack on the bench at 4.11 p.m. local time and started walking toward Taksim Square again, and started running after 4.14p.m., the moment the explosion took place.

The moments when the terrorist was walking in front of a hotel at around 4:17 p.m. local time in Taksim Square were also recorded.

Six people, including a 9-year-old child, were killed and dozens injured in Sunday's bombing.

The Turkish government said the attack on crowded Istiklal Avenue was carried out by the PKK/YPG terrorist organization.

Turkish police arrested the perpetrator of the attack while dozens of other suspects were detained.

The police said Albashir has confessed that she was trained by the YPG/PKK terror group as an intelligence operative and entered Türkiye illegally from Afrin, Syria.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is the terror group’s Syrian offshoot.

*Writing by Seda Sevencan

Source: Anadolu Agency

Brazilian football player Neymar da Silva Santos Junior arrived at a Barcelona court on Monday morning, where he will stand trial on corruption and fraud charges over his transfer to FC Barcelona nearly a decade ago.

 

Just a month before the World Cup in Qatar kicks off, Spanish prosecutors are trying to get Neymar to be imprisoned for up to two years and pay a €10 million ($9.7 million) fine.

 

In the court, the Brazilian forward is joined by his parents, two ex-presidents of FC Barcelona — Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu — and an ex-leader of the Brazilian team Santos, who also face charges surrounding the transfer.

 

Even FC Barcelona itself is on trial, as prosecutors argue the team should pay a fine of €8.4 million ($8.2 million) for breaking laws.

 

The alleged corruption dates back to the 2013 transfer of Neymar from FC Santos in Brazil to FC Barcelona in Spain.

 

Both Spanish prosecutors and the Brazilian company DIS, which owned 40% of the rights to Neymar at the time, argue that there was collusion between FC Barcelona, FC Santos and Neymar to cover up the true amount that the Spanish club paid for the player.

 

The obfuscation allegedly involved Neymar signing a €40 million contract with FC Barcelona in 2011 before he was on the free market.

 

According to DIS, the scheme broke FIFA rules and meant the player and those who owned his rights were not able to get the best deal on the free market.

 

DIS lawyers say Neymar should receive a five-year prison sentence and be barred from playing football during the same time period.

 

Neymar’s lawyers, however, argue their client is innocent and the pre-contract bonus was legal and standard practice. They also claim the case falls outside Spanish jurisdiction and does not violate Brazilian laws.

 

Local media reported that Neymar may testify later Monday or on Tuesday.

 

Other famous figures are also set to provide testimony, including Real Madrid President Florentino Perez, to discuss how Neymar’s pre-contract deal with FC Barcelona influenced the market.

 

Source: Anadolu Agency

France’s top court has green-lighted the expulsion of prominent imam Hassan Iquioussen, the country's interior minister announced Tuesday.

“The Council of State validates the expulsion of Mr. Iquioussen who holds and propagates in particular anti-Semitic remarks and contrary to equality between women and men," Gerald Darmanin said in a tweet.

The court overturned an earlier ruling which stated that his expulsion would constitute a “disproportionate attack” toward his “private and family life.”

Iquioussen is now likely to be deported to Morocco.

Iquioussen’s lawyer Lucie Simon in a series of tweets, indicated the interior minister who had ordered the deportation, pressured the judiciary into giving the ruling.

In late July, the Interior Ministry canceled his resident's permit for making anti-Semitic, and "anti-women" remarks during sermons or conferences, which Iquioussen says are "baseless accusations."

Source: Anadolu Agency

Israel’s High Court rejected a second petition on Tuesday to release a Palestinian detainee on hunger strike for nearly six months to protest his indefinite detention without trial or charge.

Khalil Awawdeh, 40, was detained by Israeli forces in December and placed in custody under Israel’s policy of administrative detention.

His defense lawyer Ahlam Haddad said the court rejected a petition to set him free.

“The court said the defense team did not provide any new evidence to change an earlier decision from freezing the detention to release,” Haddad said in statements cited by the Palestinian Prisoner Society NGO.

On Aug. 19, an Israeli military court temporarily suspended Awawdeh’s detention to allow him to receive medical care.

On Sunday, pictures emerged of Awawdeh showing a serious deterioration in his health, as he appeared with a slender body resembling a skeleton as a result of his strike.

As part of an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire that brought a recent Israeli offensive on Gaza to a halt, Cairo said it will seek to ensure the release of Awawdeh and Islamic Jihad leader Bassam al-Saadi.

Israeli authorities transferred Awawdeh to hospital earlier this month as his health deteriorated.

For years, Palestinians jailed by Israel have used hunger strike to demand better living conditions and an end to indefinite detentions.

Source: Anadolu Agency

A top Indian court on Tuesday closed all proceedings relating to the 2002 riots in the western state of Gujarat, which killed over a thousand people, as well as the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid.

Hearing in the 2002 Gujarat riots case, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India led by Chief Justice UU Lalit stated that cases have now become infructuous with the passage of time and that trials in eight of nine cases have concluded.

The bench observed: “Since all matters have now become infructuous, this court is of the view that this Court need not entertain these petitions any longer. The matters are therefore disposed of as being infructuous.”

The Gujarat riots were sparked by a fire in a train in Godhra in 2002, which killed 59 Hindu pilgrims coming from Ayodhya. Muslims were blamed by Hindus for their role in the train fire.

Immediately after the tragedy, Hindu rioters hacked and burned to death over 1,000 Muslims.

Meanwhile, another bench of the apex court ordered the suspension of all proceedings in the 1992 demolition of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya city in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

While mentioning that a larger bench of the Supreme Court had already pronounced a verdict on the Ayodhya matter, a bench of three judges stated that "nothing survives in the matter now."

The 400-year-old Babri Masjid was razed to the ground on Dec. 6, 1992, by a large group of activists from the Hindu nationalist organization Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), associated with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

They claimed the mosque was built on the birthplace of the deity Ram.

The Supreme Court, which issued the ownership decision in Nov. 2019, disagreed that the mosque was built on any demolished temple.

The mosque was built on Emperor Babur's orders in 1528 by Mughal Kingdom military officer Mir Baqi.

It was targeted after a political rally involving approximately 150,000 Hindu activists and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) volunteers gathered at the site turned violent.

A subsequent investigation into the incident identified 68 people responsible, including many senior leaders of the ruling BJP and the VHP, who allegedly delivered provocative speeches inciting the mob to knock down the structure.

The superior court judgment upset the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (AIMMM), an umbrella group of various Muslim organizations.

AIMMM President Navaid Hamid told Anadolu Agency that the court has favored the perpetrators of the Babri mosque demolition over the aggrieved party, the Muslim community.

"As well as the perpetrators of the Gujarat riots in 2022. The judgment encouraged violent offenders while simultaneously disheartening the aggrieved party and may pave the way for an atmosphere of losing hope in the judiciary," he asserted.

Shamshad Pathan, a Gujarat-based activist and lawyer, told Anadolu Agency, "We were hoping for justice from the highest court, but it has decided to close everything."

"I don't have anything to say. I'm quite disappointed," he remarked.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister and Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan was granted pre-arrest bail on Thursday by an Anti-Terrorism Court in Islamabad.

In his speech during a rally on Aug. 20, Khan said he will take legal action against the capital Islamabad’s police chief, and a judicial official who ordered two-day physical remand of his former chief of staff, Shehbaz Gill.

Gill is facing sedition charges for remarks that allegedly aimed to incite mutiny within Pakistan’s powerful military.

Babar Awan, Imran Khan’s lawyer, in his argument said that the First Information Report was lodged by a magistrate and the people Khan named are not even the complainants. He argued that his client talked of legal action against the said people and had not threatened them.

The court granted pre-arrest bail to Khan till Sept. 1.

A large number of people and journalists were present at the court when Khan arrived amid tight security measures taken by the Islamabad police.

Speaking to the media outside the court, Khan said Shehbaz Gill was sexually harassed in police custody and when he said he will take legal action against those responsible a case was filed against him. “It has given a notion to the world that Pakistan is a banana republic and there is no rule of law here.”

He also said that a technical knockout is being prepared for him.

Khan was also granted bail until Sept. 7 in another case related to a violation of section 144 when he led a rally on Aug. 20.

Source: Anadolu Agency

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday said he was "deeply shocked and saddened" over the resumption of hostilities in Ethiopia.

His remarks came hours after both the Ethiopian government and Tigray rebels confirmed a humanitarian truce had been broken following military escalation.

The Ethiopian army and the forces of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) traded blame as to which side violated the cease-fire that was reached in March, in areas along the administrative border between Amhara and Tigray regional states.

“My strong appeal is for the immediate cessation of hostilities and for the resumption of peace talks between the Ethiopian government and the TPLF with at the same time the full guarantee of humanitarian access and to people in need and the reestablishment of public services,” he said.

The government has expressed readiness to engage in talks with the rebels in the past several months without any pre-conditions as long as they are held under the sole mediation of the African Union.

But the Tigray rebels rejected the African Union as a mediator, recommending that talks be held with Kenyan outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta as mediator.

Thousands, mostly civilians, have been killed and millions displaced since the conflict began in November 2020.

The UN has warned that Tigray “stands on the edge of a humanitarian disaster,” with more than 40% of the region’s estimated 6 million people in need of emergency assistance.

It also said more than 5 million people were internally displaced in Afar and Amhara regional states where Tigrayan forces made military incursions a year ago inflicting huge humanitarian and property damage.

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Source: Anadolu Agency

Amid stalled efforts to repatriate Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh to Myanmar, many people from the persecuted ethnic minority are seeking a way out and playing into the hands of human smugglers.

Hundreds of Rohingya refugees take perilous journeys on boats through the Bay of Bengal to reach Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Many are detained by the border authorities; others perish at sea. Often at times, the refugees lose their entire life savings in making these journeys.

Bangladesh is providing shelter to 1.2 million Rohingya refugees on its southeast coast of Cox’s Bazar since a refugee influx in 2017 in the face of a Myanmar military crackdown.

On the 5th anniversary of the exodus on Aug. 25, there is growing frustration in the camps which house the world's most persecuted minority, as named by the UN.

According to a 2020 UN report, 2,413 Rohingya refugees took risky sea routes to reach a third country from Bangladesh's refugee camps. At least 218 died or went missing during the journey.

Shattered dreams

Ansar Ali, a refugee in Cox’s Bazar camp, told Anadolu Agency that one of his cousins was arrested by the Myanmar security forces and remained imprisoned for over a year.

“My cousin crossed the Bangladesh sea border from the refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar and landed in Myanmar to move to Malaysia to join our relatives. His relatives there in Malaysia gave him hopes of a better living. But all went in vain as soon as Myanmar border force detained him,” said Ali.

Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, head of Coastal Association for Social Transformation Trust (COAST), a non-profit organization that works for the Rohingya, a sense of hopelessness persists in the camps.

Relatives who have settled in Malaysia and Thailand, relatively wealth economies in the Southeast Asia, send money to the refugees, who pay smugglers for the risky journeys, said Chowdhury.

Activists say officials in Bangladesh and Myanmar work in cahoots with smugglers.

“Local people in host community, refugees and people and Myanmar authorities are engaging in the process of trafficking, which results in mass arrests, rape and killing," said Nay San Lwin, co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition, a global network of activists working to raise awareness about the ongoing Rohingya persecution.

Since the military seized power in Myanmar, thousands of Rohingya fleeing by boats and road were arrested and sentenced to two years in prison with hard labor, the activist said.

As most people have failed to escape from the country and are arrested, the smugglers are making a significant profit, he added.

Government rejects claims

Bangladesh's top official for refugees Shah Rezwan Hayat denied claims that Rohingya refugees were leaving the camps in droves through risky sea routes.

“Some of the refugees who joined such a sea journey through Bay of Bengal have relatives or friends in those countries and they want to meet them there. Their number is insignificant and such an event (refugee’s sea voyage) doesn’t happen often,” he told Anadolu Agency.

Source: Anadolu Agency