Egypt creates new human rights watchdog - to protect itself

By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press.
 Egypt has created a new high-powered human rights watchdog agency, but its primary mission isn’t to protect Egyptians from violations. Instead, the body is foremost aimed at protecting the government from allegations of rights abuses and defending it on the international stage.
The new body reflects an attitude of the state under President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi that sees criticism over human rights as intended to undermine the government and cause instability at a time when it is facing militant threats and trying to rebuild a battered economy.
Officials have already started a campaign against “false rumors” and “fake news” and have in some cases detained those who speak out. At the same time, the government has sought to redefine or broaden human rights, declaring new “rights” to fight terrorism and protect the state. Critics see that as an attempt to legitimize and draw international attention away from alleged abuses by security forces.
“Human rights cannot be divided, nor can some be given priorities over others,” said Nasser Amin, a prominent rights lawyer.
The High Permanent Commission for Human rights does not include any rights activists. Its main members are representatives of the Foreign Ministry, the military, the intelligence agencies and the Interior Ministry, which oversees a police force accused of torture and forced disappearances, claims that are categorically denied by the government.

Trump chooses to ignore CIA conclusion about Saudi crown prince's involvement in Khashoggi murder

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the "United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia to ensure the interests of our country, Israel and all other partners in the region."

""Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information," Trump said of the Khashoggi killing, but added that "it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event – maybe he did and maybe he didn’t. We may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi. In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They have been a great ally in our very important fight against Iran," Trump said in a statement.

"After my heavily negotiated trip to Saudi Arabia last year, the Kingdom agreed to spend and invest $450 billion in the United States. This is a record amount of money," Trump said. "It will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, tremendous economic development, and much additional wealth for the United States," he continued, adding that "of the $450 billion, $110 billion will be spent on the purchase of military equipment from Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and many other great U.S. defense contractors."

Tariq Ramadan after 10 months free on bail

Tariq Ramadan, a prominent Islamic scholar, has been released on bail after being held in detention for nearly 10 months over charges of sexual assault, his lawyer said. A Paris Court of Appeal granted the 56-year-old Swiss academic bail on Thursday even as the investigation into the case continues.

"Where would I flee to," he asked during his hearing, his first public appearance since the arrest in February.

His bail was set at 300,000 euros ($340,000) and it requires him to hand over his passport and report to police once a week.

Turks found traces of acid at home Saudi consul

Saudi authorities used acid and other chemicals to dispose of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi's body, a source at the Turkish attorney general's office  told Thursday. The source said traces of hydrofluoric acid and other chemicals were found in a well at Consul General Mohammed al-Otaibi's home in Istanbul.

Turkish investigators were able to take samples from the well when they were first granted access last month. the night of October 16 to 17. When the Turkish investigators were working inside the residence and wanted to gain full access to the garden and the well shaft, they were not given permission. However they were able to briefly take some samples from it with rods from the top of it. Those samples have been processed and they include proof that there had been hydrofluoric and other chemicals.  Other samples taken from the sewerage and drainage system around the diplomatic district also showed the use of acid.

America's ''war on terror'' killed about half a million people

Hundreds of thousands of people in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan have been killed due to the so-called "war on terror" launched by the United States in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attack, according to a new study.

The report, which was published on Saturday by the Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, put the death toll between 480,000 and 507,000.

The toll includes civilians, armed fighters, local police and security forces, as well as US and allied troops.

The report states that between 182,272 and 204,575 civilians have been killed in Iraq; 38,480 in Afghanistan; and 23,372 in Pakistan. Nearly 7,000 US troops were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in the same period.

The paper, however, acknowledged that the number of people killed is an "undercount" due to limitations in reporting and "great uncertainty in any count of killing in war".

Rouhani vows to ''proudly bypass'' US sanctions

Iran responded to the United States’s imposition of tough new sanctions on Monday with air defence drills and confident and confrontational rhetoric. "We are in the war situation," President Hassan Rouhani said in a television address as the sanctions snapped into place."We are in the economic war situation. We are confronting a bullying enemy. We have to stand to win."
"I announce that we will proudly bypass your illegal, unjust sanctions because it's against international regulations," he said. “I don't think that in the history of America, someone has entered the White House who is so against law and international conventions."
Reneging on the 2015 deal was a cornerstone of US President Donald Trump’s election campaign.Nuclear inspectors have regularly said Tehran has abided by the nuclear deal, which other signatories Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia have promised to uphold. But the US says that the pact failed to address issues such as Iran’s support of armed groups in countries such as Yemen and Lebanon, or its development of long-range ballistic missiles.

Turkish paper: Khashoggy's body dismembered and taken ouside consulate in five suitcases

Jamal Khashoggi's body was dismembered and put into five suitcases after he was strangled upon entering Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul last month, according to a report by a Turkish pro-government newspaper.
Citing unnamed officials, Sabah reported on Sunday that the suitcases were then taken to the Saudi consul-general's residence near the consulate the day the journalist - a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS - was killed on October 2.

The officials said that Maher Mutreb, Salah Tubeigy and Thaar al-Harbi were the three key figures from a 15-member hit squad reportedly involved in dismembering Khashoggi's body and removing it from the premises.

Mutreb was a direct aide to MBS, while Tubeigy was the head of the Saudi Scientific Council of Forensics and a colonel in the kingdom's army.

Bahrain sentences three opposition leaders to life

Sheikh Ali Salman

Bahrain's appeals court has sentenced three senior members of the country's opposition movement to life in prison over charges of spying for neighbouring Qatar, according to a statement from the public prosecutor.The verdict against Sheikh Ali Salman, who headed the now-outlawed al-Wefaq movement, as well as Sheikh Hassan Sultan and Ali al-Aswad came on Sunday, months after their acquittal by the high criminal court in June. 

Salman is currently serving a four-year sentence in a separate case - "inciting hatred" in the kingdom, which has seen mainly Shia protests against the Sunni monarchy since 2011. Sultan and al-Aswad were tried in absentia.The trio was sentenced for "acts of hostility" against Bahrain and "communicating with Qatari officials... to overthrow constitutional order", the public prosecutor's statement said. The latest ruling can be appealed.