Smart cities must embrace the circular economy

BUENOS AIRES: An Argentine court has issued arrest warrants for the head of Myanmar’s military junta and former officials including Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi over alleged “genocide and crimes against humanity” targeting the Rohingya minority group.
The court ruling, seen by AFP on Friday, was issued in response to a complaint filed in Argentina by a Rohingya advocacy group.
It was filed under the principle of “universal jurisdiction” by which countries can prosecute crimes regardless of where they occurred if, like genocide or war crimes, they are considered sufficiently serious.
Warrants were issued for military and civilian officials including current junta leader Min Aung Hlaing, ex-president Htin Kyaw, and former elected civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in her capacity as “state counselor” from 2016 to 2021, when she was ousted in a coup.
In that time, she has been accused by detractors of doing little to stop the abuse of Rohingya.
Hlaing is also under investigation by the International Criminal Court, while the International Court of Justice — the UN’s highest tribunal — is examining a complaint of “genocide” against Myanmar.
The Rohingyas, mainly Muslims, are originally from Buddhist-majority Myanmar where, according to Amnesty International, they have been subjected to a regime akin to apartheid.
Beginning in 2017, many have been forced to flee persecution and violence to richer and predominantly Muslim Malaysia, or to refugee camps in Bangladesh, where about a million of them live.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the 2021 coup that sparked renewed clashes with ethnic rebels and saw the formation of dozens of “People’s Defense Forces” now battling the junta.
In her ruling issued Thursday, Judge Maria Servini said the allegations listed in the complaint “constitute crimes that violate human rights recognized in various international criminal law instruments, subscribed to by most countries in the world.”
They included “internationally known crimes such as genocide and crimes against humanity, committed by the political and military authorities in power in that country,” she added.

Universal jurisdiction
Argentine courts have in the past opened investigations into crimes in other countries under the principle of “universal jurisdiction,” including for acts committed by the Francisco Franco regime in Spain.
And last December, a judge ordered the arrest of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega for “systematic violation of human rights.”
None of the cases have yet resulted in action against a foreign national.
Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK, nevertheless welcomed the latest ruling as a “historic step toward justice for Rohingya and everyone in Burma suffering under the Burmese military.”
It was “also a victory for international justice at a time of growing violations of international law worldwide,” he said in a statement.
Tomas Ojea Quintana, the Rohingya’ plaintiffs’ lawyer in Argentina, told AFP the next step will be for the ruling to be forwarded to prosecutors, who will take the steps necessary for the notification of Interpol, which issues international warrants.
 

LONDON: Two booksellers from the West Bank, recently arrested by Israeli police, say their detention is part of an escalating effort by Israeli authorities to suppress Palestinian culture.

In an interview with The Guardian, Mahmoud Muna and his nephew Ahmed, whose family has owned the Educational Bookshop in East Jerusalem for more than 40 years, described the raid on their store as part of a broader campaign to stifle Palestinian identity and free expression.

“We should not look at this as an isolated event,” Mahmoud said. “There have been a series of attacks on cultural institutions in Jerusalem and beyond. I think there is an awareness in the Israeli establishment that cultural institutions are playing a role in galvanising and protecting Palestinian cultural identity.”

The raid occurred last Sunday when plainclothes officers entered two branches of the bookshop on Salah Eddin Street — one specializing in Arabic books, the other in English and foreign-language publications. Mahmoud and Ahmed were arrested and detained for two days.

Israeli police accused the men of “selling books containing incitement and support for terrorism,” claiming officers found materials with “nationalist Palestinian themes,” including a children’s coloring book that contained the Israeli-contested sentence “From the river to the sea.”

The two men said that police confiscated about 300 books for examination, but all were eventually returned except for eight, including the coloring book, which they said had been sent for review and was not on sale.

After appearing in Jerusalem Magistrates Court on Monday, the charges against them were downgraded to a public order offense, but they were ordered to spend another 24 hours in detention, followed by five days of house arrest.

Their arrest sparked international condemnation, with journalists and diplomats closely following the case. In Israel, the incident also drew criticism, with journalist Noa Simone calling the raid a “fascist act” that “evokes frightening historical associations with which every Jew is very familiar.”

Recalling their time in detention, the booksellers described the conditions as “simply unfit for a human to live in.” They said they were held in overcrowded, windowless cells without heating, forced to sleep on mats on a concrete floor in near-freezing temperatures — treatment they likened to psychological torture.

While their experience was harsh, they acknowledged that their situation could have been far worse without international attention and support.

“If we were not working in a bookstore with an international outreach with good international connections, what would have happened?” Mahmoud asked. “Probably the case would have been manipulated against us.”

He also warned of the broader implications of their arrest. “The question is how far are they going to go? If they’re attacking Palestinian bookstores now, they will be attacking Israeli bookstores next.”