Habib Siddiqui

The Burmese army's campaign of genocide against the Rohingya was premeditated and planned. In its damning report, Fortify Rights details how the Myanmar authorities made “extensive and systematic preparations” for attacks against Rohingya civilians during the weeks and months before militants attacked police on August 25, 2017. The report finds “reasonable grounds” that crimes against Rohingya constitute genocide and crimes against humanity. Today, please tell your U.S. senators to pass targeted and tough sanctions on Burma's army. Today, email your U.S. senators to sanction Burma's army now Thanks to your phone calls and emails, 25 senators have co-sponsored the the Burma Human Rights and Freedom Act of 2018 (S.2060). Last month, senators Gary Peters (D, Michigan), Maria Cantwell (D, Washington), and Christopher Murphy (D, Connecticut) signed up as co-sponsors. One man, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), is standing in the way of this bill. as Senate Majority Leader, ...

Attached find four booklets published by the CPI(M) on the four years of BJP rule. Please feel free to share this on FOIL. These booklets, in my view, constitute useful resources to expose the BJP and Sangh Parivar. The resources are available at   www.cpim.org : https://www.cpim.org/documents/four-years-modi-government-economy-shambles https://www.cpim.org/documents/four-years-modi-government-promises-broken-people-betrayed https://www.cpim.org/documents/four-years-modi-government-constitution-denied-diluted-dismantled https://www.cpim.org/documents/four-years-modi-government-when-lives-and-futures-are-endangered

Written by Sachin Pilot The recent incident of mob lynching in Alwar has re-opened the festering wounds of Rajasthan’s failed administration. The killing of Rakbar Khan, the sole breadwinner of his family by cow vigilantes points to a series of ills that afflict the Vasundhara Raje regime. Actually, it is the lack of any form of governance which leads to such incidents. The saffron brigade, encouraged by the BJP and propelled by the RSS, has shown yet again the inhuman face of political hatred. The number of incidents of mob lynching has been exceptional ever since Narendra Modi came to power in 2014. I don’t think it should matter what offence was allegedly being committed by those who were lynched. Taking the law in one’s own hands is completely against the law but today the saffron brigade sees itself as above the law. They know they can get away with anything, it is as if they have the protection of the political system. Mob lynching has to be viewed as a premeditated act. ...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. human rights chief sharply criticized Israel on Monday, calling recent killings by its soldiers during Palestinian demonstrations along the Gaza border fence "shocking" and saying living conditions inflicted by Israel's 11-year blockade of the territory are "grossly inadequate." Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said in a video address to the U.N. Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People that the situation in Gaza has escalated dramatically in recent months with "the potential to generate threats to peace across a far broader region." Zeid, who heads the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said it is essential for all parties to cooperate with the independent, international commission of inquiry into the recent deadly events in Gaza that his office is helping to establish. It was authorized by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council on May 18 "to advance accountabil...

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates was ordered by the highest U.N. court on Monday to immediately allow Qatari families affected by a dispute between the countries to reunite, imposing the measure before it hears the full case filed by Qatar at a later date. The UAE had argued before judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on June 28 [L8N1TU3GS] that the case was without merit and should be dismissed, but on Monday the judges granted Qatar’s request for so-called provisional measures by a majority vote of 8 to 7. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt imposed a boycott on Qatar in June 2017, severing diplomatic and transport ties and accusing it of supporting terrorism, which it denies. According to Qatar, which filed the suit in June, the UAE has as part of the boycott expelled thousands of Qataris, blocked transport and closed down the offices of the Doha-based Al-Jazeera news channel. “Many Qataris residing in the UAE appeared ...

By Shahed Ghoreishi “I will never apologize for the United States—I don’t care what the facts are.” No, this is not President Trump. It’s August 2, 1988, and then-Vice President George H.W. Bush was giving his official take on events that that had happened the previous month. On July 3, 1988, the USS Vincennes, on patrol in the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq war,  shot down Iran Air Flight 665 in Iranian territorial waters, killing all 290 passengers on board including 66 children. The United States did agree to a $131.8 million settlement, but the lack of apology as well as President Ronald Reagan’s egregious decision to award the commander of the ship the Legion of Merit for his actions continue to haunt U.S.-Iran relations. The Reagan administration deemed its explanation sufficient that experienced U.S. Navy personnel mistook a large and slow Airbus A300 for a small and fast F-14 Tomcat fighter jet. Unfortunately, indifference to the facts continues to be a trend, and...

by Ram Puniyani   We are passing through times when Hate against weaker sections of society and religious minorities is increasing by leaps and bounds. The increase in the mob lynching all over the country on the pretext of child lifting is coming on the back of mob lynching on the pretext cow-beef, public flogging-humiliation of dalits on the issue of beef and other issues related their caste humiliation. Mobs seem to be emboldened by the fact that there has been an approval of these acts from the top. Ministers like Mahesh Sharma came to the funeral of Dadri accused, now Mr. Jayant   Sinha welcomed   the accused of Alimuddin lynching accused when they got bail. The matters are frighteningly increasing as now the horrid incidents of rape are being given a communal twist, fake news is being employed with impunity on one side and rape accused are getting social support on the other. It’s a matter of shame that in case of Kathua the then   Ministers from BJP Chaud...

Street attacks on Muslims rocket in UK as perpetrators 'emboldened' by terror attacks and political rhetoric, report finds. ‘Anti-Muslim rhetoric is bleeding into the political landscape – it emboldens people’, writes, Lizzie Dearden . == Islamophobic street attacks are on the rise in the UK as perpetrators feel “emboldened” by terror attacks and political discourse, a report has found. Tell Mama, which measures anti-Muslim incidents in Britain, recorded a 30 per cent rise in street incidents and a 16 per cent rise in 2017, taking the number of verified reports to a record of 1,201. The group warned of a “marked shift” towards more serious offline incidents like physical attacks, vandalism and abuse, as hatred continues to spread on social media. Fiyaz Mughal, the founder of Tell Mama, said Islamophobic hate crimes had been continually increasing over the past six years and fears the trend will continue. “It is partly driven by terrorism, partly by groups who just want to d...

Both the BJP and Shiv Sena are part of the fascist nexus under Sangh Parivar that promotes Hindutva fascism. As a result, minorities are marginalized and routinely lynched for not being a Hindu. It is amusing to read the report below on how they are competing for the soul of Hindutva now. Forgotten in Thackery's charges against BJP is the Muslim factor who are at the bottom of the rung in fascist-run India today, as never before in its nearly 71 year history. Their position is below women. ================= Ratcheting up tensions with its ally BJP, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday said in the name of protecting the cow, India had become the most unsafe country for women. He also launched a stinging attack on the government over incidents of mob lynching across the country. “We (Shiv Sena) never said cows should be slaughtered. But while protecting cows, India has become the most unsafe country for women. One should be ashamed of it. You want to save ‘gau-mata’ (cow) b...

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia must pursue multiparty democracy, the prime minister’s chief of staff said on Sunday in what could be the latest in a series of momentous changes sweeping the country. Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed addresses the members of parliament inside the House of Peoples' Representatives in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia April 19, 2018. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri The country allows competing parties but all parliamentary seats are held by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, which has maintained control in the country of 100 million people since it fought its way to power in 1991. The ruling coalition has also presided over an economy that has grown faster per annum than any other in sub-Saharan Africa over the past decade. But since Abiy Ahmed became prime minister in April the government has instituted reforms including releasing political prisoners, diluting state control of the economy and making peace with north...

As Ethiopia & Eritrea Sign Deal to End 20 Years of War, Will Political Prisoners Be Released Next? A historic peace deal between Ethiopia and Eritrea ends 20 years of a “state of war” that saw 70,000 killed and thousands of families separated. We get response from Ethiopian writer Awol Allo, a lecturer at the Keele University School of Law in the U.K., and Vanessa Berhe, an Eritrean human rights activist. She founded the group One Day Seyoum, which campaigns for the release of her uncle, Eritrean photojournalist Seyoum Tsehaye, who was imprisoned in 2001 amid a crackdown on free expression. To read more on this issue, click here .

PBS Report from Yemen: As Millions Face Starvation, American-Made Bombs Are Killing Civilians. The ongoing humanitarian crisis in Yemen is incredibly difficult to cover on the ground, with many obstacles for journalists hoping to access the capital Sana’a and other areas affected by the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition bombings. We speak with a reporter who smuggled herself into northern Yemen to report on the widespread famine and devastation there in an exclusive three-part series for ” PBS NewsHour.” Special correspondent Jane Ferguson is a Beirut-based special correspondent. Her pieces are titled “Yemen’s spiraling hunger crisis is a man-made disaster,” “American-made bombs in Yemen are killing civilians, destroying infrastructure and fueling anger at the U.S.” and “Houthis deny U.S., Saudi claim that they are Iran’s puppets.” To read the interview at Democracy Now, click here .

Source: BBC Tens of millions of Pakistanis are preparing to vote in a general election on Wednesday after a campaign tainted by violence and dominated by political controversy. What happens in this South Asian country of nearly 200 million matters: it is a nuclear-armed rival to India, a key developing economy and one the world's largest Muslim-majority nations. Here's what you need to know about the election, which has been called the dirtiest in Pakistan's history. Why it's important Since independence in 1947, Pakistan has oscillated between civilian and military rule. This election will mark the second time that one civilian government has handed power to another after serving a full term - a historic landmark. But few in Pakistan are celebrating the strength of its democracy. The run-up to the vote has been marked by tensions between the incumbent Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party and the military. The PML-N complains of a targeted crac...

Israel has passed a law characterising the country as principally a Jewish state and putting Hebrew above Arabic as the official language, much to the anger of Israeli Arabs . The law describes Hebrew as the "state's language", effectively prioritising it above Arabic which has for decades been recognised as an official language alongside Hebrew. In which other countries has the choice of language proved politically controversial? LATVIA Image copyright AFP Image caption Plans for Latvian to be the teaching medium in secondary schools also led to protests This Baltic state and former Soviet republic has a sizeable Russian-speaking minority, but the government recognises only Latvian as the official state language. A referendum held in 2012 rejected a plan to accord Russian the status of a second official language. The authorities also have plans to promote Latvian as...

India has become today the lynching hub of our time. Shame on Modi's Hindutvadi government that has festered such a level of bigotry that it is simply criminal and shameful. Read the report below : --- A 28-year-old was lynched by villagers on suspicion of cow smuggling in Alwar on Friday night, the police said. The victim Akbar, along with Aslam, were transporting cows on foot when they were questioned by villagers in Ramgarh police jurisdiction, Ramgarh police station Sub Inspector Subhash Chand said. “They were taking two cows on foot sometime between 12 -1 am last night when villagers stopped them. However, they tried to run away and the mob chased them and caught them. While Akbar was assaulted, Aslam managed to escape,” Chand said, adding that “Akbar succumbed to his injuries.” “We retrieved two cows and sent to a nearby gaushala. We have also registered an FIR under IPC Sections 302 (murder), 143 (unlawful assembly), 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hur...

PHR Medical Evaluations of Rohingya Survivors Point to Crimes Against Humanity 07/20/2018 A body of forensic medical evidence released today clearly indicates that Rohingya Muslims suffered grave human rights abuses at the hands of Myanmar security forces and Rakhine Buddhist civilians.   Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) ,   which issued the evidence in a   new report ,   said the actions should be investigated as crimes against humanity. Entitled,   “ Please Tell the World What They Have Done to Us” - The Chut Pyin Massacre: Forensic Evidence of Violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar , ” the report reveals the findings of forensic medical evaluations of 22 Rohingya survivors of a bloody August 2017 assault on the village of Chut Pyin in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state. The carnage in Chut Pyin was part of a wave of attacks on Rohingya villages that reportedly killed thousands of people and pushed at least 720,000 Rohingya refugees over the bord...