Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir – Prisoners in Indian-administered Kashmir have been subjected to abuse and torture, including “water-boarding, sleep deprivation and sexualised torture”, according to a report by two rights bodies.

The 560-page report released on Monday mentions solitary confinement, sleep deprivation, and sexualised torture including rape and sodomy, used as torture techniques against Kashmiris.

Other torture methods included electrocution, hanging from a ceiling, dunking detainees’ head in water (which is sometimes mixed with chili powder), said the report by Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) and Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS).

During the torture detainees were stripped naked, beaten with wooden sticks, and bodies were burned with iron rods, heaters or cigarette butts, it said.

“Muzaffer Ahmed Mirza from Tral and Manzoor Ahmad Naikoo were subjected to insertion of a rod through their rectum. It caused multiple ruptures to their internal organs,” reads one of the 432 testimonies documented in the report.

“While Mirza died after a few days in the hospital of lung rupture, Naikoo had to undergo five surgeries to finally heal the wounds he received due to this torture.

“Apart from insertion, a cloth was wrapped around Naikoo’s penis and set on fire.”

Titled, “Torture – Indian state’s instrument of control in Indian-state of Jammu and Kashmir”, it said that more than 70 percent of the torture victims were civilians.

‘Rights violations’

India has stationed more than half a million security forces in the disputed Muslim-majority region to quash an armed rebellion against its rule. Indian forces have faced criticism for excessive use of force, with the UN human rights body last year calling for an international probe into rights violations.

The UN Human Rights Chief had also called for establishing a Commission of Inquiry (COI) to conduct a comprehensive independent international investigation into allegations of human rights violations in Kashmir.

A COI is one of the UN’s highest-level probes, generally reserved for major crises like the conflict in Syria.

Rights bodies have called for repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), a law that gives forces immunity from prosecution.

The report, which documents cases since the start of the armed rebellion in 1990s, reveals many detainees were put under behavioural coercion where they were forced into activities that were against their “religious beliefs” like rubbing piglets on their bodies or forcing them to consume alcohol.

In some cases, it said, rats were put inside victims’ trousers after soaking sugar water on their legs.

“The prisoners are forced to eat or drink filthy and harmful substances like human excreta, chili powder, dirt, gravel, chili powder mixed water, petrol, urine, and dirty water,” it said.

‘Reluctant in reporting’

The report reveals most of the civilian victims were usually reluctant to report the atrocities due to the fear of reprisals at the hands of security forces.

“Victims have been randomly picked up, tortured and never even told what they were tortured for,” it said.

In a prologue of the report, former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan E Mendez, said the report “will be enormously helpful in drawing attention in the international community to the need to express concern about India’s human rights record”.

‘Most underreported’

Parvez Imroz, the human rights lawyer and the president of JKCCS, told Al Jazeera that “torture is one of the massive human rights violations going on unabated in the region from last many decades”.

The Director General of Police, Jammu and Kashmir state, Dilbagh Singh, rejected the torture claims.

“There are no such cases, if there have been any allegations, there are magisterial inquiries and other investigations. If they have any such case, they must tell us and we would respond to them”.

Vijay Kumar, the advisor to the governor of the restive region, said that he would comment after reading the report.

Profile of torture victims

The report said that more than half of the 432 victims suffered some form of health complications after being tortured.

“In the 432 cases studied for this report, 24 are women. Out of these 12 had been raped by Indian armed personnel,” the report says.

The torture survivors have battled with psychological issues long after their physical wounds were healed.

“Of the 432 victims, 44 suffered from some form of psychological difficulty after being subjected to torture,” it said.

A study published in 2015 by Doctors Without Borders (known by its French initials MSF) said that 19 percent of the population in the region suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Although India has been a signatory to the United Nations Convention against Torture (UNCAT) since 1997, it has not ratified the treaty to date. In all three UPRs conducted by the UNHRC in 2008, 2012 and 2017, it was recommended that India ratify the convention.

In 2010, Prevention of Torture Bill was introduced in the Indian parliament but was not passed and it lapsed in 2014.

Khurram Parvez, who is also one of the researchers for the report said that “the report is a challenge to state-imposed erasure of history and memory”.

Source : Al Jazeera
Feature image : ANA

UCT’s senate has agreed to a more consultative process on a proposal calling for the boycott of Israeli universities in occupied Palestinian territories.

UCT spokesperson Elijah Moholola said the senate also agreed that the UCT executive would determine how the consultation process should be carried out, and the executive would work on the implementation of the consultation process.

The council did not adopt the senate’s resolution, and its view was that a number of issues required clarification, including a full assessment of the sustainability impact of the senate resolution, and that a more consultative process was necessary before the matter could be considered further.

This comes after the senate took a resolution in favour of a proposal for the institution not to enter into any formal relationships with Israeli academic institutions operating in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The UCT Palestine Solidarity Forum said the boycott was devised by the academic freedom committee as part of a campaign for a boycott of all Israeli universities.

The forum said boycotting all universities condemned the state of Israel.

“Given that Israel routinely abuses Palestinian human rights, be it through racist laws, colonising Palestinian territories, demolishing Palestinian homes, unjustly imprisoning Palestinians, building walls, laying siege to Gaza or shooting children, we think that an academic boycott of all Israeli universities is justified as it would put pressure on the Israeli state to cease its illegal and immoral activities.”

The forum believes that Israeli universities are sites where the state’s ideology is promoted and reinforced.

Movement Progress SA chairperson Tami Jackson said: “If we accept an enforced academic boycott of Israeli institutions, we are bound in principle to accept an academic boycott of many other countries too.”

She said adopting policies against Israel would isolate UCT from the international academic community and damage its institutional reputation.

Source : Cape Argus, Sisonke Mlamla

A new report by Amnesty International has accused Israel of selling arms and intelligence equipment to serial human rights violators, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), South Sudan and Myanmar.

The report – which was published by Amnesty’s Israel office in Hebrew – found that “Israeli companies continue to export weapons to countries that systematically violate human rights” and that “often these weapons reach their destination after a series of transactions, thereby skirting international monitoring and the rules of Israel itself”.

The human rights organisation therefore called on Israel’s Knesset and Ministry of Defence (MoD) to “more tightly monitor arms exports and enforce transparency guidelines adopted by other Western countries that engage in large-scale weapons exports,” Haaretz reported.

The Israeli daily translated large portions of the report, which argues that since “there are functioning models of correct and moral-based monitoring of weapons exports […] established by large arms exporters such as members of the European Union and the United States, there is no justification for the fact that Israel continues to belong to a dishonorable club of exporters such as China and Russia.”

Amnesty continues: “The absence of monitoring and transparency [has] for decades let Israel supply equipment and defense-related knowledge to questionable states and dictatorial or unstable regimes that have been shunned by the international community.” Eight such “questionable” states were named in Amnesty’s report, including South Sudan, Myanmar, the Philippines, Cameroon, Azerbaijan, Sri Lanka, Mexico and UAE, some of which were under sanctions and weapons-sales embargos at the time Israel sold its arms.

A number of the countries named in Amnesty’s report have previously been exposed as recipients of Israeli arms and intelligence equipment. The UAE, for example, is known to have purchased Israeli spyware firm NSO Group’s Pegasus software, a tool which has been used to hack into the iPhones of prominent activists, journalists and Amnesty International staff. Just this week, Amnesty announced that it was supporting legal action against Israel’s MoD to demand that it revoke NSO’s export license.

Meanwhile, Israel’s selling of surveillance technology and assault rifles to South Sudan, where the regime and army has committed ethnic cleansing and aggravated crimes against humanity, has drawn fierce criticism from activists. In 2017, a group of Israelis petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court to force the disclosure of the names of those Israeli companies involved in selling arms to the East African nation.

However, as today’s Amnesty report notes, “with no documentation of sales, one cannot know when [these arms] were sold, by which company, how many, and so on”. Amnesty adds: “All we can say with certainty is that the South Sudanese army currently has Israeli Galil rifles, at a time when there is an international arms embargo on South Sudan, imposed by the UN Security Council, due to ethnic cleansing, as well as crimes against humanity [including] using rape as a method of war.”

Israel’s arms deals were thrust into the spotlight once again in 2017 by the crisis in Myanmar, which saw the Burmese military forcibly displace over half a million Rohingya Muslims from Rakhine state, driving them into neighbouring Bangladesh. The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights subsequently called for the Myanmar government to be brought before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity including ethnic cleansing and genocide.

In September 2017, Israel issued a gag order against its Supreme Court, forcing it to keep secret details of its ruling on a petition against arms sales to Myanmar. As a result, few details pertaining to the sales are known, with Amnesty’s report adding only that Myanmar’s chief of staff carried out the arms deal and apparently posted about it on his Facebook page.

Source: MEMO

On the floor of a residential tent in Khirbet Humsa al-Fawqa, toys lay scattered.

Playtime for the village’s children was cut short when the Israeli military declared the area a closed military zone and forced the Palestinian community to evacuate their homes in the early hours of Sunday.

Following an eviction order four days earlier, the 98 residents were prevented from accessing their homes for three days. Throughout May and June, they will be evicted 12 times for three days each, the army informed them.

Palestinians were told their homes would be within range of tank shells while the Israeli army uses the area to carry out military drills.

On the morning of the eviction, father of five Mohammed Sulaiman Abu Qabbash dropped his children at a nearby community and hurried back in an attempt to guard the tents and sheep. The 35-year-old paced back and forth, nervously monitoring the area. He expected Israeli soldiers to arrive soon and force him out.

“We will sleep under the sky for the next three days. We have no other choice, we cannot say ‘no’ to such power,” Mohammed told Middle East Eye.

If the community refuses to evacuate when commanded, it risks forced removal, expropriation of their livestock and retroactive fines.

Under international law, driving residents of an occupied territory from their homes is considered forcible transfer of protected persons, which constitutes a war crime. But residents of Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley are no strangers to such disruptive Israeli policies.

The valley, which is a fertile strip of land running west along the Jordan River, is home to some 65,000 Palestinians.

Since 1967, when the Israeli army occupied the West Bank, Israel has transferred at least 11,000 of its Jewish citizens to the Jordan Valley. Some of the settlements in which they live were built almost entirely on private Palestinian land.

About 46 percent of the Jordan Valley has been declared a closed military zone by the Israeli army since the occupation began.

Approximately 6,200 Palestinians reside in 38 communities in places earmarked for military use, and have had to obtain permission from the Israeli authorities to enter and live in their communities.

In violation of international law, the Israeli army not only temporarily displaces the communities on a regular basis, but also demolishes homes and infrastructure from time to time.

Besides undergoing temporary displacement, the Palestinian families living there face a myriad of restrictions on access to resources and services. Meanwhile, Israel’s seizure of land has confiscated natural resources for the benefit of settlers.

Living the Nakba

Fasting amid displacement and temperatures that have reached 40 degree Celsius is doubly difficult this Ramadan, said Khadija Abu Qabbash as she prepared to leave.

The pregnant mother of five washed a pile of clothes by hand in the morning. Her 15-year-old daughter, Deema, hastily helped her to hang the clothes to dry before Israeli soldiers arrived.
Palestinian Bedouin in the Jordan Valley caught between Israeli army and settlers
Read More »

“We escorted the children out this morning, and now the car is back to take us,” she told MEE with tears streaming down her face. “I won’t be able to cook anything for iftar. We’ll have to make do with canned food.”

Israeli forces evict the families of Khirbet Humsa al-Fawqa on a regular basis. The evictions, however, usually take place during the day, with the residents allowed to return in the evening.

“I don’t know whether they are actually carrying out a military drill. Sometimes they evict us and do nothing. They aim to coerce us into leaving the area for good,” Khadija said.

Israel’s actions in the Jordan Valley have been well-documented by human rights groups and local NGOs, which assess that the objective of such measures is to drive out Palestinians and to stifle their development in the area.

Highly strategic, Israeli politicians have made it clear on several occasions that the Jordan Valley would remain under their control in any eventuality, even prior to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent comments on his plans to annex areas of the occupied West Bank.

In 2013, peace negotiations were rejected by Israel when it was suggested that it cede some control of the valley.

Commenting on Sunday’s evacuation of Khirbet Humsa al-Fawqa, Walid Assaf, head of the Palestinian Authority’s National Committee to Resist the Wall and Settlements, said in a statement that there were efforts to stop the temporary eviction through lawyers, but the Israeli military order could not be challenged.

“Just as they forced Palestinians from their homes in 1948, today they are doing the same. We will not give up,” added Khadija, referencing the Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of historic Palestine by Zionist militias 71 years ago, commemorated annually on 15 May.

‘They do not want Palestinians here’

Primarily a shepherding community, the families of Khirbet Humsa al-Fawqa wake at 3am to milk their sheep and prepare cheese ahead of their journey to the markets in the nearby city of Tubas.

Harb Abu Qabbash, 40, told MEE that each family owns around 300 sheep. Since it is difficult to transport them out of the area, many of the younger sheep stay behind when the Palestinians are evacuated and often die of hunger with no one to attend to them.

With the military exercises taking place, thousands of hectares of barley and wheat are under threat of being burned, he added. According to Harb, this happens regularly.
“Our biggest fear is that a shell lands on one of our tents. If that happens it would be catastrophic and we would lose everything,” said Harb.

“The Israelis want to seize the area and empty it of its residents. They do not want Palestinians here” he added.

“In 2005, they demolished out tents and infrastructure on the pretext that they were built without a permit. When we apply for permits, they do not issue them.”

When not faced with evacuations, military exercises and demolitions, the Palestinians in the community struggle to source enough water for their needs under the Israeli occupation.

“Each family and their sheep utilise a total of two to three water tanks each day,” Harb said.

“Transporting the tank to the community takes two hours. There is a water well five minutes away from here, but the Israeli army has barred us from using it and designated it for Israeli settler use only.”

Source : MEE
Feature Image : MEE/Shatha Hammad

Under the US plan known as “the deal of the century”, the Israeli military would retain control over settlements, the Jordan Valley and borders for five years as final status negotiations continue, a senior US diplomat working on the deal has told Middle East Eye.

The plan, as described by the official, would cement the status quo between Israelis and Palestinians and the only concession asked of the Israelis would be freezing settlement building at the heart of the West Bank during the initial five-year period.

Among the most detailed information yet published about the “deal of the century”, MEE can reveal that according to the plan Gaza would be under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas would be expected to hand its weapons over to the PA which would continue to cooperate with Israel on security.

But it was not clear what would happen at the end of the five years or what the consequences would be if Hamas refused to give up its weapons.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk about the issue to the media, said the deal is meant to be “a vision”, rather than a detailed plan, and the role of the American side will be as a “facilitator”, not a mediator or arbitrator.

“It’s up to the parties. They can have two states, one state, confederation, federation or whatever they like to call it,” he said.

The controversial deal, which has been the subject of ongoing speculation and leaks, is now expected to be released next month, a year after a flurry of reports suggested the deal, already delayed even then, would be unveiled imminently.

The US diplomat also said:

The Old City of Jerusalem would be recognised as Israeli with Palestinians only given access to holy sites. Jewish settlements and communities in the city would also be considered Israeli, but Palestinian neighbourhoods would be part of a Palestinian entity.

While Israeli settlement building in the West Bank would be frozen for five years, Israel could continue to build settlements in areas expected to be part of Israel in a final deal. West Bank settlers would be given a choice after the final deal to stay or move out.

A major part of the plan will be economic incentives, and the US administration has been seeking large donations to fund the peace agreement. Expected donors include Arab Gulf countries, the US, EU, Japan and China.

The plan would also create a regional umbrella for the peace process that includes Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and others.

The issue of settlements, the Jordan Valley, borders and refugees will be on the negotiation table in final status talks.

“The plan does not respond to 100 percent of the claims of both parties, it’s something in the middle,” he said.
Palestinian protectorate

The spectre of the deal alone has garnered fierce reactions from Palestinian leaders and others who anticipate that it will only consolidate Israeli control and close the door on the right of return for refugees and sovereignty forever.

And while the US diplomat said that countries in the region were expected to be donors supporting elements of the plan, the deal is certain to be rejected by Arab states along with the Palestinians – which could bolster Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has long argued that he has no partner in peace.

Palestinian officials briefed on the plan told MEE this week that the US aims to turn the West Bank into an Israeli military protectorate similar to those in African countries in the 20th century before their independence.

On Wednesday, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh dismissed the deal as an “Israeli plan written by American hands” which would give Israel “a free hand to annex most of the West Bank under the title of security”.

Shtayyeh, speaking to members of a US academic delegation visiting Ramallah, said the Trump administration had been pressuring Palestinians, thinking that they might be forced to accept the plan, but it wouldn’t work.
Shtayyeh
PA Prime MInister Mohammad Shtayyeh and PA President Mahmoud Abbas in April 2019 (AFP)

“The extortion policy of the Trump administration, whether by shutting down the PLO office or moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, and draining the financial resources of UNRWA and the Palestinian government, will not compel us to surrender and accept the deal,” Shtayyeh told the delegation.

Palestinians, he said, would not accept the plan if it did not include a commitment to the creation of an independent state with the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital.

“If the ‘deal of the century’ does not include Jerusalem, the borders and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, why should we accept them?” he said.

Source : MEE
FEature Image : Kevin Lamarque,REUTERS

Flags are flying at half mast in the media world today as radio personality and veteran Ebrahim Gangat lost his battle to cancer and passed away last night at his home in Roshnee, Vereeniging in the South of Gauteng.

The long time radio presenter and social activist had been critically ill for the past few weeks.

The radio icon breathed his last close to midnight on the 7^th night of the holy month of Ramadaan.

Marhoom Gangat served as prime time presenter at Radio Islam International before moving to Channel Islam International where he became a household name for more than 15 years.

He later followed his young colleagues who opened Salaam Media and was the senior member who guided them with compassion and wisdom which he acquired in over 20 years of radio broadcasting.

Marhoom Ebrahim’s departure from this world has left a hole in the radio industry and 1000s of listeners devastated.

We make Dua that Allah grant him the highest stages of Jannah as he became a flag bearer of deen in the morning radio show on various radio stations.

Whether by accident or design, South African voters spoilt enough ballots that could have won a party a healthy representation in Parliament if the trend continues until all the ballots are counted.

At 14:30 on Thursday, 83 408 spoilt ballots were counted out of 6 209 463 ballots.

This would have placed a hypothetical “Spoilt Ballot Party” in sixth place on the national ballot at that snapshot in time. It constituted 1.3% of the total ballots cast and would have been enough for a few seats in Parliament.

It was ahead of the ACDP’s 62 249 votes, or 1% of the counted votes, and below the IFP with 124 378 or 2% of the counted votes

There were about 54 times more spoilt ballots than ballots with a cross behind Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s African Content Movement, who had 1 532 votes at the time.

At the time, approximately 45% of the national votes cast had been counted, with the voter turnout at 65.47% in the completed voting stations.

The trend followed a similar pattern across the provinces.

Parties trending below 1% at the time of writing include GOOD at 0.61%, the UDM at 0.53%, ATM at 0.47% and COPE at 0.33%.

Counting continues across the country.

Source : Jan Gerber, News24

A mini tornado touched down near Bloemfontein in the Free State on election day.

Reports circulating on social media places the tornado in Waterbron, northwest of Bloemfontein, at around 4pm.

A resident told the Bloemfontein Courant that a roof was ripped off.

There have been reports of uprooted trees, as well as damage to power lines and farming equipment.

Storm damage was also reported around Petrusburg and Koffiefontein as a band of thunderstorms moved eastwards over central South Africa.

“There was a band of thunderstorms moving eastwards over central South Africa. On this particular day, all the necessary ingredients for thunderstorms were present,” said eNCA meteorologist Anika de Beer.

“Tornadoes are not uncommon in South Africa, but the occurrence of severe thunderstorms with tornadoes are most likely in summer.”

Source : ENCA

The IEC has warned voters not to remove the indelible ink from their thumbs.

“The Electoral Commission has also noted media and social media reports of voters who have attempted or apparently been able to remove the indelible ink on their thumbs. The indelible ink is one of a number of security checks and safeguards built into election process,” said IEC CEO, Sy Mamabolo.

“The commission wishes to remind all voters that any attempt to undermine the integrity of the electoral process, including attempting to remove the indelible ink constitute an electoral offence, which is punishable upon conviction by sentence of 10-years in jail,” he added.

Mambolo thanked voters for coming out to vote.

He said voting kicked off on a positive start.

Did you know?

It’s a criminal offence to photograph a marked ballot. According to the IEC, this is to protect the secrecy of your vote and that of others. If found guilty of this offence, you could face a fine or up to a year in jail.

Source : ENCA

Saudi Prince Abdullah Bin Sultan Al Saud has called for a boycott of Turkish products until “Ankara reviews its policies with the kingdom”.

Al Saud shared on his Twitter account a video in which Prince Faisal Bin Bandar Bin Abdulaziz, the prince of Riyadh, is seen refusing to drink coffee offered to him after he learned that it was made in Turkey.

“I, as a Saudi citizen, announce today that I will boycott any product made in Turkey or even which passed through Turkish customs until it [Turkey] amends its policy with us… Neither we nor our government needs them and their products,” he said.

Al Saud shared on his Twitter account a video in which Prince Faisal Bin Bandar Bin Abdulaziz, the prince of Riyadh, is seen refusing to drink coffee offered to him after he learned that it was made in Turkey.

“I, as a Saudi citizen, announce today that I will boycott any product made in Turkey or even which passed through Turkish customs until it [Turkey] amends its policy with us… Neither we nor our government needs them and their products,” he said.

Social media users mocked the prince’s call and demanded him to boycott US products instead after what they said was President Donald Trump’s recent insult to the king.

In recent months Trump has repeatedly said he has called on Saudi King Salman and made demands which have been met, weakening the monarch’s position globally. In October last year, Trump said he told the king: “King, we’re protecting you. You might not be there for two weeks without us. You have to pay for your military; you have to pay.”

Ties between Saudi and Turkey became strained in 2013 after Ankara supported the Muslim Brotherhood which was ousted from Egypt in a military coup backed by the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Relations felt another blow after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate in October last year. Turkey said it had proof that leading figures in the ruling family ordered Khashoggi’s murder.

Source : MEMO