Tunisia migrant advocate held in first ‘terrorism’ probe: rights group/node/2579589/middle-east
Tunisia migrant advocate held in first ‘terrorism’ probe: rights group
The Tunisian Maritime National Guard approaches a boat at sea carrying people from different African countries seeking to get to Italy, near the coast of Sfax, Tunisia. (AP/File)
Tunisia migrant advocate held in first ‘terrorism’ probe: rights group
Tunisia is one of the main launching points for boats carrying migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to seek better lives in Europe
Updated 16 November 2024
AFP
TUNIS: A prominent Tunisian advocate for migrants is in custody and his case being handled by anti-terrorist investigators, a disturbing first for the country, the head of a rights group said Saturday.
Tunisia is one of the main launching points for boats carrying migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to seek better lives in Europe.
Abdallah Said, a Tunisian of Chadian origin, was questioned along with the secretary general and treasurer of his association, Children of the Medenine Moon, said Romdhane Ben Amor, spokesman for the Tunisian Forum for Social and Economic Rights (FTDES).
Two officers of a bank handling the association’s accounts were also detained, he said.
Ben Amor described as “a dangerous signal” the transfer of the case to anti-terrorist investigators “because it’s the first time authorities have used this against associations specializing in migration issues.”
La Presse newspaper, which is close to the government, reported that “five activists operating on behalf of an association in Medenine were in custody in order to be referred to anti-terrorism investigators.”
The newspaper said the association is suspected of receiving foreign funds “to assist sub-Saharan migrants to enter illegally onto Tunisian soil.”
Ben Amor called Said’s detention part of “a new wave of even tougher repression” against migration activists after an earlier crackdown in May.
“It’s a message to all those working in solidarity with the migrants,” he said.
In May, President Kais Saied lashed out at organizations that defend the rights of migrants, calling their leaders “traitors and mercenaries.”
The president reiterated that Tunisia must not become “a country of transit” for migrants and asylum seekers.
Saied, re-elected in October in a vote with turnout of 28.8 percent, made a sweeping power grab in 2021 and critics accuse him of ushering in a new authoritarian regime.
Under a 2023 agreement, the European Union has provided funds to Tunisia in exchange for help with curbing small-boat crossings to Europe.
EU funding rules state all money should be spent in a way that respects fundamental rights, but reports have since emerged of migrants being beaten, raped and mistreated in Tunisian custody.
NEW YORK CITY: Saudi Arabia has been on a transformative journey in recent years, particularly when it comes to women’s empowerment, with a range of once-unimaginable opportunities opening up in education, business, the workforce, and social life.
On the sidelines of the 69th UN Commission on the Status of Women, or CSW, chaired this year by Saudi Arabia, Princess Lamia bint Majid Al-Saud lauded the Kingdom’s strides toward gender equality and her vision for the future.
In a wide-ranging interview with Arab News, she highlighted the significant progress Saudi women have made, the challenges still on the horizon, and the critical role that the youth, especially young women, play in shaping the nation’s destiny.
“We have momentum. I think it is now our time to shine,” she said.
A key part of this momentum is the growing realization of the vast potential that Saudi women possess. With more than 9 million women in Saudi Arabia, 67 percent of whom are under the age of 30, the Kingdom holds an immense demographic advantage.
Princess Lamia
Princess Lamia said that the opportunities currently available to Saudi women in terms of education, employment, and empowerment were unprecedented.
“Can you imagine the amount of power? Can you imagine, with all the doors open for Saudi women, with all the support, with all the initiatives done, and the educational opportunities, and the training, the jobs, everything that is happening,” she said.
“This is our time. Now. There is no room for losing this opportunity.”
The event offered the Kingdom a chance to showcase the profound changes that have taken place in Saudi Arabia over the past decade — an opportunity that Princess Lamia said was historic.
“What happened, it was history,” she said. “We witnessed history with this amount of expertise of women sitting on the same panel in New York at the UN to present our success and our story.”
She said that it was a significant milestone not only for Saudi women but for the Kingdom as a whole, highlighting the country’s commitment to driving gender equality and empowering women across all sectors.
“For Saudi Arabia to chair the CSW, it’s well deserved,” she added.
Left to Right: Prof. Einas Al-Eisa, Dr. Maimoonah Al-Khalil, Prof. Hanan Al-Ahmadi, and Princess Lamia bint Majid at the 69th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York. (Supplied)
For Princess Lamia, the presence of so many accomplished women at the event underscored the progress women had made. She drew particular attention to the confidence and determination of the panelists.
“It was astonishing,” she said. “The amount of confidence that reflects that we’re free to choose our path.”
Despite the Kingdom’s rapid progress, Princess Lamia acknowledged that challenges remain. “Let’s be very honest, where is the country that is 100 percent free of challenges? There’s no such a thing,” she said.
“It’s about sustaining the process and sustaining the development, and how you keep it going on the right path and on a healthy path, and at a healthy speed.
“Yes, we’ve been very fast, but we’ve been very late — that’s why we work very fast. But to have it sustained, this is the most important thing.
“Of course, we still have challenges. We’re a very young country in our 90s, and we did all of that in nine years.”
She added: “But where we reached (in that time), I don’t think even Europe and the US have the same thing in empowering women.”
Princess Lamia shared an example, highlighting the differences between Saudi Arabia and other regions in terms of women’s rights.
In many Western countries, gender equality issues such as equal pay for women are still being debated in government institutions, she said. However, in Saudi Arabia, any instance of unequal pay can be addressed immediately through legal channels.
“In Saudi Arabia, any governmental entity, if I prove that a male is taking one riyal more than me, I can sue them instantly,” she said. “Where is that, but in Saudi Arabia?”
A significant part of Princess Lamia’s vision for women’s empowerment is grounded in the example set by Princess Nourah bint Abdel Rahman, the sister of King Abdulaziz, who played an instrumental role in shaping the Kingdom’s early years.
Such was her impact, the largest women’s university in the world is named after her.
“Princess Nourah bint Abdel Rahman is the figure of women’s empowerment,” Princess Lamia said, adding that there is still much to be learned from her legacy.
Princess Nourah’s contributions to Saudi society were multifaceted, as “the consultant, the minister of foreign affairs, the sister, the friend, everything,” and a key figure in the royal family, said Princess Lamia.
King Abdulaziz, Princess Nourah’s brother, took great pride in her achievements, often saying, “I am Nourah’s brother,” rather than emphasizing his royal status.
“Can you imagine? With the tribal mentality, a man to say this during wartime?”
Princess Nourah’s humility and commitment to empowering others resonates deeply with Princess Lamia, who views her as a beacon of strength and inspiration. “She’s a character I think I’m embodying (in the sense) that I truly admire her,” she said.
Princess Lamia also highlighted the vital role women play in philanthropy and social development. She emphasized the critical role that mothers play in shaping strong families and societies.
“Listen, if you want to have a developing nation, it needs to rely on its people, and mothers are the main pillars,” she said.
“If the mother is very well-educated, empowered, definitely the family will be strong. One woman has always been and will always be the main pillar of a family and of society. The only job that you cannot resign from is being a mother.”
Princess Lamia also reflected on her own journey in philanthropy, particularly as the secretary-general of Alwaleed Philanthropies, the charitable foundation led by the Saudi businessman and investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.
She said that Prince Alwaleed’s decision to place his trust in women to lead and shape his philanthropic vision had left a lasting impact on Saudi Arabia and beyond.
“The relation between men and women, it is how you build this world,” she said. “This is how God created us. We need men and they need us. No one can move and move forward without the other. That’s a fact.”
Princess Lamia paid tribute to the Kingdom’s crown prince for implementing many of the reforms now serving women’s empowerment.
“Prince Mohammed bin Salman … he is the savior of the Kingdom,” she said, adding that his Vision 2030 has been a game-changer for the Kingdom, creating equal opportunities for both men and women.
“Under his leadership, Saudi Arabia has taken significant steps toward gender equality, breaking down barriers that once seemed insurmountable.
“Would we be here today… without the vision of one person, Prince Mohammed bin Salman? No. Prince Mohammed, he created Vision 2030, he empowered us, he changed the country.
“He represents more than half of the population (youth), he is talking the same language. We’ve been waiting for that, us, (who are not of) this generation, we’ve been waiting for equal opportunities and gender equality.”
Reflecting on the collaborative spirit that now defines Saudi Arabia’s approach to women’s rights, Princess Lamia said: “We don’t have to fight with each other. We can work with each other.”
She added: “What we did, our generation, how we struggled to find our place in different positions, and how we paved the way for the upcoming generation, wasn’t easy. But I believe in (young women) so much that they can do much better than us.”
She encouraged young women to seize “the golden opportunity” that lies before them.
“No nation, around the world, ever experienced what we’re experiencing. You’re living the dream,” she said, urging the next generation to stand firm, to recognize their worth, and to build on the hard-won gains of those who came before them.
“Make us feel that it was worth it,” she said. “Look at us and say: ‘She had a very tough life. It wasn’t easy, but she made it. I want to be much better than her.’”
‘Nobody is expelling any Palestinians’ from Gaza, US President Trump says
Arab foreign ministers said on Wednesday they would continue consultations with Trump’s special envoy over Egypt’s plan for rebuilding the Gaza Strip
Updated 40 min 38 sec ago
Arab News
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump insisted on Wednesday that “nobody is expelling any Palestinians” from Gaza.
The president made the remarks in response to a reporter’s question during a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin at the White House.
The comments contradict Trump’s previous plan for the US to take ownership of Gaza, expel its Palestinian population, and turn it into a Middle Eastern “Riviera.”
The plan, announced in February during a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, drew global condemnation.
It reinforced long-standing Palestinian fears of being permanently driven from their homes, and was met with widespread international rejection.
Egypt, Jordan and Gulf Arab states are concerned that any such plan would destabilize the entire region.
In response to the plan, Arab states adopted a $53 billion Egyptian reconstruction plan for Gaza that would avoid displacing Palestinians from the territory.
Arab foreign ministers said on Wednesday they would continue consultations with Trump’s special envoy over Egypt’s plan for rebuilding the Gaza Strip, an alternative to Trump's proposed takeover of the Palestinian territory.
Consultations and coordination on the plan would continue with the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff, as a “basis for the reconstruction efforts” in Gaza, according to a joint statement following a meeting of the foreign ministers in Doha.
‘Humiliated’: Palestinian victims of Israel sexual abuse testify at UN
Experts and advocates who testified Tuesday spoke of a “systematic” trend of sexual violence against Palestinians in detention
Updated 12 March 2025
AFP
GENEVA: Palestinians who say they suffered brutal beatings and sexual abuse in Israeli detention and at the hands of Israeli settlers testified about their ordeals at the United Nations this week.
“I was humiliated and tortured,” said Said Abdel Fattah, a 28-year-old nurse detained in November 2023 near Gaza City’s Al Shifa hospital where he worked.
Ahead of the hearings Daniel Meron, Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva dismissed them as a waste of time, saying Israel investigated and prosecuted any allegations of wrongdoing by its forces.
Fattah gave his testimony from Gaza via video-link to a public hearing, speaking through an interpreter.
He described being stripped naked in the cold, suffering beatings, threats of rape and other abuse over the next two months as he was shuttled between overcrowded detention facilities.
“I was like a punching bag,” he said of one particularly harrowing interrogation he endured in January 2024.
The interrogator, he said, “kept hitting me on my genitals... I was bleeding everywhere, I was bleeding from my penis, I was bleeding from my anus.”
“I felt like my soul (left) my body.”
Fattah spoke Tuesday during the latest of a series of public hearings hosted by the UN’s independent Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
This week’s hearings, harshly criticized by Israel, are specifically focused on allegations of “sexual and reproductive violence” committed by Israeli security forces and settlers.
“It’s important,” COI member Chris Sidoti, who hosted the meeting, told AFP. Victims of such abuse are “entitled to be heard,” he said.
Experts and advocates who testified Tuesday spoke of a “systematic” trend of sexual violence against Palestinians in detention, but also at checkpoints and other settings since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks inside Israel sparked the war in Gaza.
Meron, for Israel, slammed attempts to equate allegations against individual Israelis with Hamas’s “shocking... sexual violence toward Israeli hostages, toward victims on October 7.”
Any such comparison was “reprehensible,” he told reporters on Monday.
He insisted the hearings were “wasting time,” since Israel as “a country with law and order” would investigate and prosecute any wrongdoings.
But Palestinian lawyer Sahar Francis decried a glaring lack of accountability, alleging that abuse had become “a widespread policy.”
All those arrested from Gaza were strip-searched, she said, with the soldiers in some cases “pushing the sticks” into the prisoner’s anus.
Sexual abuse happened “in a very massive way” especially in the first months of the war, she said.
“I think you can say that most of those who were arrested in these months were subjected to such practice.”
The allegations of abuse are not limited to detention centers.
Mohamed Matar, a West Bank resident, said he suffered hours of torture at the hands of security agents and settlers, even as Israeli police refused to intervene.
Just days after the October 7 attack, he and other Palestinian activists went to help protect a Bedouin community facing settler attacks.
As they were leaving the compound, they were chased and caught by a group of settlers, who he said were joined by members of Israel’s Shabak security agency.
He and two other men were blindfolded, stripped to their underwear and, had their hands tied before being taken into a nearby stable.
The leader stood “on my head and ordered me to eat ... the faeces of the sheep,” said Matar.
With dozens of settlers around, the man urinated on the three, and beat them so badly during the nearly 12 hours of abuse that Matar said he cried: “just shoot me in the head.”
The man, he said, jumped on his back and repeatedly “tried to introduce a stick into my anus.”
Blinking back tears, Matar showed Sidoti a photograph taken by the settlers showing the three blindfolded men lying in the dirt in their underwear.
Other pictures taken after the ordeal showed him with massive bruises all over his body.
Speaking to journalists after his testimony, he said he had spent months “in a state of psychological shock.”
“I didn’t think there were people on Earth with such a level of ugliness, sadism and cruelty.”
Financial reform plan can unlock foreign support for Lebanon, IMF says
Negotiations between Lebanon and the IMF aim to pave the way for essential reforms to put the country on the path to financial recovery
Follows worsening financial and economic crises that Lebanon has been grappling with since 2019 due to economic mismanagement, rampant corruption and accumulated debt
Updated 12 March 2025
NAJIA HOUSSARI
BEIRUT: A unified financial reform plan will allow Lebanon to overcome its economic issues and unlock foreign funding, the head of the IMF’s mission to the country said on Wednesday.
Ernesto Ramirez Rigo was speaking in a meeting with President Joseph Aoun, who said that Lebanon was “committed to moving forward with implementing reforms.”
Negotiations between Lebanon and the IMF aim to pave the way for essential reforms to put the country on the path to financial recovery.
It follows worsening financial and economic crises that Lebanon has been grappling with since 2019 due to economic mismanagement, rampant corruption and accumulated debt.
Presidential media adviser Najat Charafeddine told Arab News: “The IMF delegation emphasized that Lebanon’s proposed plan must be approved by all relevant parties in order to pass in parliament.
Implementing reforms will enable Lebanon to receive aid, including grants, particularly from countries with close ties, the delegation said.
“Achieving the plan will serve as an IMF seal of approval that will unlock assistance,” Lebanese officials were told.
The delegation also highlighted “the necessity of Lebanon returning to the fundamentals, particularly in restructuring banks and revisiting banking secrecy laws, which have yet to see the light of day due to disagreements.”
Over the past two days, specialized technical meetings have continued between experts from the IMF and a World Bank delegation, along with directors of departments and specialized experts at the Lebanese Ministry of Finance.
The talks aimed “to reach conclusions on proposed issues to promote transparency in public finances and more comprehensive reforms,” a Ministry of Finance statement said.
The IMF delegation met Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Finance Minister Yassine Jaber to discuss the details of the economic plan and required reforms.
Jaber said he discussed “the priorities, namely the appointment of the governor of Banque du Liban, who will play a crucial role in working with the IMF.
“Preparations for reforms are ongoing to enable Lebanon to implement its financial plan,” he added, highlighting support for amending Lebanon’s Monetary and Credit Law.
Jaber said: “The issue of frozen deposits in banks will be addressed in stages, and as minister of finance, I have no authority over the banking sector.”
Ousmane Dione, World Bank VP for the Middle East and North Africa, who met Jaber in Beirut in late February, had previously called on the Lebanese government to implement reforms.
This would “ensure credibility and transparency, reassure investors and improve the business environment,” he said.
The IMF delegation will meet a technical committee at the Association of Banks on Thursday.
According to media reports, the meeting will focus on “the performance of the exchange market and the Banque du Liban’s interventions, the banking restrictions on transfers and the authorization of certain outgoing transfers.
“This is seen as an attempt to monitor Lebanon’s cash economy, which has flourished since the country’s financial collapse.”
Meanwhile, diplomatic pressure exerted by Lebanon on the five-member committee overseeing the implementation of the ceasefire agreement between Hezbollah and Israel led to the release of four captives held by the latter on Tuesday evening.
The development was welcomed by Hezbollah supporters.
Israel is set to release a fifth person, a Lebanese soldier, on Wednesday evening, after he underwent surgery in an Israeli hospital.
It follows the release of four Lebanese captives a day earlier.
On social media, activists supporting Hezbollah celebrated the release of prisoners held by Israel for three months as a result of “diplomatic, not military, efforts.”
One activist claimed that President Joseph Aoun “had achieved what 100,000 rockets failed to accomplish,” while another said: “Diplomacy succeeded in releasing five prisoners, and tomorrow it could resolve the issues surrounding the disputed border points.”
Axios quoted a US official on Tuesday: “The Trump administration had been mediating between Israel and Lebanon for several weeks with the aim of strengthening the ceasefire and reaching a broader agreement.
“All parties are committed to upholding the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon and fulfilling all its conditions. We look forward to convening swift meetings of the working groups regarding Lebanon to address the outstanding issues. Israel and Lebanon have agreed to initiate negotiations to resolve disputes concerning their land borders.”
Six of 13 points remain unresolved since the establishment of the Blue Line following Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000.
Additionally, Israel has yet to withdraw from five Lebanese hills it occupies in the border area following the recent conflict.
Reporters in the south have said that the Israeli army has expanded its presence around the hills, where it has established military facilities.
A joint statement issued by the US and French embassies in Lebanon and UNIFIL on Tuesday said: “The ceasefire implementation mechanism committee will continue to hold regular meetings to ensure full implementation of the cessation of hostilities.”
Israeli Channel 12 quoted an Israeli politician as saying: “Discussions with Lebanon are part of a broader and comprehensive plan. Israel aims to achieve normalization with Lebanon.
“The prime minister’s policy has already transformed the Middle East, and we wish to maintain this momentum and reach normalization with Lebanon.
“Just as Lebanon has claims regarding the borders, we also have our own border claims ... we will address these matters.”
Overnight, Israeli troops conducted raids in the villages of Qabatiya and Arraba
Updated 12 March 2025
AFP
WEST BANK: Israeli forces reported fresh arrests as they kept up raids in the northern occupied West Bank on Wednesday, a day after troops shot dead three Palestinians as part of an ongoing military operation.
Overnight, Israeli troops conducted raids in the villages of Qabatiya and Arraba, arresting about a dozen Palestinians allegedly “involved in terrorist activity” and seizing around 100 kilograms of materials used to make explosives, the military said in a statement.
The detainees were handed over to the Israeli police and the Shin Bet security agency for further investigation, the military added.
Several of those arrested, their eyes blindfolded, were escorted by Israeli soldiers to military vehicles before being taken to a building in Arraba that was used by troops as an interrogation center, an AFP correspondent reported.
In Qabatiya, army bulldozers were seen tearing up sections of road, the correspondent added.
The Israeli military frequently destroys roads in the West Bank, saying it is to prevent their use for planting improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
The raids followed the military’s announcement on Tuesday that it had killed three militants in a “counterterrorism” operation in Jenin.
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority confirmed the deaths and reported that a Palestinian woman was also killed Tuesday by Israeli forces.
The Israeli military has been conducting a sweeping offensive across multiple areas of the West Bank since January 21, two days after a fragile ceasefire took effect in the Gaza Strip, largely halting 15 months of war there.
The operation, dubbed “Iron Wall,” has resulted in dozens of deaths, including Palestinian children and Israeli soldiers, according to the UN.
Additionally, around 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced from areas where the army was operating.
Violence in the West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967, has escalated since the start of the war in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel.
Since then, at least 910 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers or settlers, according to the Palestinian ministry of health in Ramallah.
Meanwhile, at least 32 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during military operations, according to official Israeli figures.
