Friday, November 18, 2016

Death sentences against Morsi and 21 other member of the Muslim Brotherhood revoked

Prisoner Morsi
Egypt’s Court of Cassation revoked on Tuesday 14 november death sentences and ordered retrials for ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders over the 2011 Wadi El-Natrun prison break case.
The court also revoked the death penalties against Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, and other MB figures including Brotherhood deputy leader Rashad Bayoumy, and 2012's parliament speaker and MB figure Saad El-Katatni. The court also cancelled life sentences for 21 others in the same case.
The defendants had been charged with "damaging and setting fire to prison buildings," "murder," "attempted murder," "looting prison weapons depots" and "releasing prisoners" while escaping from the prison outside Cairo during the January 2011 uprising.
This was the only death sentence issued against Morsi to date.

Sunday, November 13, 2016

HRW: Iraqi Kurds destroy Arab homes and even villages in areas retaken from IS

 Human Rights Watch (HRW) notes that Iraqi Kurdisch peshmerga forces destroyed houses belonging to Arabs in areas the retook from IS in North Iraq / Kurdistan. It ought not to surprise anybody, after Iraq under Saddam for so many years sent Arabs northward with the intention to ''arabize'' Kurdish regions. But it still is disappointing. And of course totally illegal.  
The 80-page HRW report, “Marked With An ‘X’: Iraqi Kurdish Forces’ Destruction of Villages, Homes in Conflict with ISIS,”looked at destruction of homes between September 2014 and May 2016 in disputed areas of Kirkuk and Nineveh governorates, areas nominally under Iraqi government jurisdiction but under Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) control. The destruction, which took place after KRG Peshmerga forces routed Islamic State (also known as ISIS) fighters, targeted Arab homes while leaving Kurdish homes intact. KRG leaders have maintained that these are historically Kurdish areas that they intend to incorporate into the Kurdistan region.