| Africa North |
| Moroccan protesting Israel ties, war in Gaza given five-year prison sentence |
| 2024-04-10 |
[IsraelTimes] Moroccan court ruling comes after recent mass pro-Paleostinian demonstrations against Israeli ’massacres’ in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response ...
An activist muppet who criticized Morocco’s decision to normalize relations with Israel was sentenced to five years in prison, as some of the Arab world’s largest pro-Paleostinian protests continue to sweep the country.
Abdul Rahman Zankad of Mohammedia, Morocco, was arrested in March after posting on Facebook about the Israel-Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", war and Morocco’s 2020 decision to establish diplomatic ties with Israel, the Moroccan Space for Human Rights said in a statement.
A court on Monday found him guilty of insulting a constitutional institution and incitement. He was also fined 50,000 Moroccan dirhams ($5,000). The civil liberty advocacy group, which organizes the legal defense of protesters, called the charges baseless and said the proceedings violated Zankad’s right to a fair trial.
Tens of thousands of protesters across the political spectrum have taken to the streets in Morocco to denounce Israel and express support for Paleostinian groups, including Hamas. The protesters have criticized Israel’s allies, including the United States, and chanted demands for the government to "overturn normalization."
Morocco was one of four Arab nations to establish ties with Israel in 2020, as part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords, which led to both the US and Israel recognizing Morocco’s claim over the disputed Western Sahara.
The fledgling rapprochement between the North African country and Israel had made steady progress since 2020, but that has been thrown into reverse by the deadly Israel-Hamas conflict.
Authorities have allowed protests, with few exceptions, including not allowing a recently planned rally at a northern Moroccan university. Some members of parliament have backed their demands. Both the Foreign Ministry and the Royal Palace have issued statements denouncing the war and expressing solidarity for Paleostinians in Gaza, but have not signaled any intent to cut ties with Israel.
Pro-Paleostinian demonstrations had declined in recent years in Morocco, but have surged since the Israel-Hamas war broke out. This past Saturday saw thousands of people demonstrating in Morocco’s commercial capital of Casablanca against what they termed as "massacres" carried out by Israel in Gaza.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza claims that more than 32,000 Paleostinians have been killed by Israel in the Israel-Hamas war, but the number cannot be independently verified and is believed to include both Hamas snuffies and civilians. The IDF says it has killed over 13,000 button men in Gaza, in addition to some 1,000 snuffies who were killed inside Israel on and immediately following October 7. The IDF has lost some 260 soldiers fighting in Gaza.
Morocco’s constitution generally allows for freedom of expression, although it is illegal to criticize the monarchy or King Mohammed VI, and those who do can face prosecution. Human rights associations have raised concerns about a rise in prosecutions stemming from online posts in recent years.
Zankad is a member of Morocco’s Al Adl Wal Ihsane, a banned but tolerated Islamist association that has been a driving force behind many of the country’s protests since the war began.
On Monday, the group said his sentence "only serves to solidify the certainty that we are in a state riddled by authoritarianism and tyranny."
"We condemn this unjust ruling in the strongest terms. It is a continuation of the unjust rulings targeting opponents from Al Adl Wal Ihsane, journalists, and leaders of the Rif Movement," it added, referencing a 2016 protest movement whose leaders were later sentenced and imprisoned.
The group has also condemned the prosecutions of other opponents of normalization. That includes Said Boukioud, who in November was sentenced to three years in prison for insulting the king in a series of Facebook posts about normalization.
It also includes 13 protesters who were arrested in Sale, Morocco, in November for incitement and organizing an unauthorized demonstration after they blocked the entrance to the French grocery store Carrefour. In Morocco and elsewhere, the chain has faced boycotts since its franchises in Israel announced they were providing food to Israel’s military last year.
Their case has not yet been decided. |
| Link |
| Government Corruption |
| Queens man forged absentee ballots in Democratic primary as part of voter fraud scheme: DA |
| 2023-12-20 |
[NYPOST] A Queens man was arraigned Tuesday for allegedly requesting and submitting dozens of fraudulent absentee ballots ahead of the Democratic primary election in August 2022, the borough’s district attorney said.Abdul Rahman, 32, of 257th Street in Floral Park, could serve up to seven years in prison after a monster 140-count indictment outlined how he pulled off the voter fraud plot in an attempt to disenfranchise 118 voters.
"Every vote has to count," Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement.
"Election integrity is the foundation of a viable, working democracy," she continued.
"We will vigorously prosecute anyone who threatens in any way to undermine that integrity ... The integrity of elections will be upheld in this borough."
Prosecutors alleged that Richmond Hill resident Jordan Sandke went to his local polling place on Aug. 23, 2022, to vote in the Democratic primary.
But when he got there, poll workers said he couldn’t cast a ballot because he’d already requested an absentee.
When authorities looked into it, they found Sandke’s ballot application — which included his name, address and birthday — had been signed and dated Aug. 1.
And Rahman was listed as the person who would pick it up.
Of course, Sandke never requested, filled out or signed the application.
Also, he’d never met Rahman — and certainly never gave him the green light to pick up the ballot on his behalf.
As authorities continued to investigate, they found Rahman had gone to the Queens County Board of Elections to drop off 118 absentee ballot applications on Aug. 8.
He’d also designated himself as the person who would pick them up.
Of those, 32 were approved, Katz said. Rahman allegedly grabbed them the next day.
When law enforcement interviewed the voter fraud victims, they found that none of them had submitted the form or authorized Rahman to handle them.
For his alleged crimes, Rahman has been charged with 20 counts each of illegal voting, second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, first-degree falsifying business records, first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, third-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, second-degree falsifying business records and second-degree offering a false instrument for filing.
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| Link |
| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| 5 officers hurt, including 3 seriously, in West Bank clashes with Palestinian gunmen |
| 2023-10-06 |
[IsraelTimes] Border Police forces were hit by shrapnel from own grenade during raid in Tulkarem camp; troops shoot dead 2 Hamas, the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®, assailants who targeted Israeli driver on nearby highway
Israeli troops clashed with Paleostinian button men in a refugee camp in the West Bank city of Tulkarem on Thursday morning, with security forces reporting five Border Police officers hurt in the fighting, including three with serious wounds. Two Hamas bad boyz were potted in a separate incident.
According to a joint statement from the Israel Defense Forces and Border Police, soldiers exchanged fire with armed Paleostinians in the Tulkarem Camp overnight while carrying out an arrest raid, adding the festivities continued as forces left the area in the morning hours.
According to an initial probe, the five officers were hit by shrapnel from a hand grenade hurled by the forces themselves, seriously wounding three of them and moderately hurting the other two.
The grenade had been hurled by an officer toward Paleostinian button men but hit a metal gate and bounced back. Another officer managed to kick the grenade to the side, moments before it went kaboom! , according to the probe.
All five were evacuated to the hospital for treatment. One of the officers was in a critical condition and doctors at the Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba were fighting to save his life.
Police later published a video showing the exchanges of fire and the moment the grenade went kaboom! .
In an earlier statement, the IDF said Paleostinians set off a number of bombs near troops in Tulkarem.
The IDF also said troops hit a number of armed Paleostinians. There was no immediate information on the number of maimed Paleostinians and their conditions in Tulkarem.
A local wing of the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
terror group grabbed credit for targeting the Israeli troops with gunfire and makeshift bombs, publishing photos of blood-soaked items purported to belong to maimed soldiers.
Wishing a speedy recovery to the maimed officers, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his accusation that Iran
 ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
is behind a recent series of attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers in the West Bank, many of them deadly.
Separately on Thursday morning, the IDF said Paleostinian button men shot up an Israeli motorist on a nearby highway, close to the settlement of Avnei Hefetz. Troops of the Golani Brigade’s reconnaissance unit chased after the two suspects, leading to an exchange of fire in which the IDF said the pair was "neutralized" near the entrance to the Paleostinian village of Shufa, southeast of Tulkarm. Soldiers seized an M-16 rifle and magazines found in the suspects’ car, according to the military.
The Paleostinian Authority health ministry said it was notified of the deaths of the two button men — Abdul Rahman Faris Muhammad Atta, 23, and Hudhayfah Adnan Muhammad Fares, 27 — indicating their bodies were being held by Israel.
The Hamas terror group later claimed the pair as members.
Violence has surged across the West Bank over the past year and a half, with a rise in Paleostinian shooting attacks against Israeli civilians and troops, near-nightly arrest raids by the military, and an uptick in Dire Revenge attacks by murderous Moslem Jewish settlers against Paleostinians.
In separate incidents late Wednesday, festivities broke out between Paleostinians and IDF troops in the West Bank city of Nablus as Jewish pilgrims visited Joseph’s Tomb, a shrine in the city; a Paleostinian was reportedly shot after attacking a civilian Israeli vehicle near the settlement of Ma’ale Levona; and two Paleostinians were detained after a Molotov cocktail was hurled at a bus near the West Bank town of Azzun.
The IDF said troops also detained 10 wanted Paleostinians during overnight raids across the West Bank, with festivities in some areas.
In the Balata refugee camp near Nablus, forces found and demolished a headquarters used by local terror groups to observe Israeli forces with surveillance cameras, the IDF said.
Paleostinian attacks in Israel and the West Bank since the beginning of the year have left 27 civilians and three soldiers dead, and several others seriously maimed.
According to a tally by The Times of Israel, 192 West Bank and East Jerusalem Paleostinians have been killed during the same period — the majority during festivities with security forces or while carrying out attacks, but some were uninvolved civilians and others were killed under unclear circumstances, including by armed Israeli settlers. |
| Link |
| Afghanistan |
| Taliban Release 4 Journalists Detained for Entertainment Shows |
| 2023-05-13 |
[VOAnews] The Taliban
 ...mindless ferocity in a turban...
released four Afghan journalists on Wednesday after detaining them for two days in the southeastern province of Khost
...which coincidentally borders North Wazoo and Kurram Agency...
Sakhi Sarwar Miakhil, editor in chief of Gharghasht TV; Pamir Andish, editor in chief of Cheenar Radio; Abdul Rahman Ashna of Nan FM, and Mohammaduddin Shah Khiali, editor in chief of Wolas Ghag Radio were released by the Taliban, according to a statement by the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee.
AJSC stated that these journalists were detained Monday by the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice after they were summoned for "a seminar."
"Officials at the Directorate of the Promotion of Virtue (of the Taliban) in Khost Province told the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee that the editors of the mentioned outlets were summoned for a reform seminar," added AJSC’s statement.
A local journalist with knowledge of the case who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal told VOA that the journalists were detained for the entertainment shows that were aired in April for the Eid celebration that marked the end of Ramadan.
"It was because in some of the shows [for Eid], music was played. There were entertainment shows, possibly with female voices," the journalist said.
The Taliban banned on-air music and entertainment programs after seizing power in August 2021.
Journalists in some provinces have told VOA that the Taliban barred them from airing female voices.
Gul Mohammad Graan, president of the Afghan chapter of the South Asian Association of Reporters Club and Journalists Forum, told VOA that the absence of a clear media policy by the Taliban has created "confusion" among the journalists.
"They do not know what to air and what not to," he added.
Graan said the disorder is also the result of an "interference" of different agencies of the Taliban’s government.
"Although the [Taliban’s] current government stresses that without the Ministry of Information and Culture, no government agency has the right to interfere in the media affairs, the Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and the Intelligence in the capital and provinces are imposing their own restrictions on media," he said.
Graan said the Taliban announced last year that the media law under the former government is in effect until a new media law comes into force, but "this is not the case."
In February 2022, Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid said that the Mass Media Law of Afghanistan "is still enforceable."
Sumaya Walizada, a spokesperson for the Afghanistan Journalists Center, told VOA that according to Afghanistan’s mass media law, the government "should not interfere in the operation of free media."
Beh Lih Yi, Asia program director at the Committee to Protect Journalists, called on the Taliban "to immediately end the arbitrary arrests of Afghan journalists."
She told VOA that journalists in Afghanistan "have been detained simply for doing their job."
"We are concerned," she said, adding that there are still two Afghan journalists in the Taliban’s detention, and "we call on their immediate release."
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| Link |
| Afghanistan |
| Classes Stopped at Private Education Centers - mostly for girls - in Kandahar, Helmand |
| 2023-04-18 |
[ToloNews] Wakil Ahmad Moutawakel, a front man for the Kandahar education department, said their office received a letter from the Ministry of Education ordering classes at all private local educational institutions in Kandahar to stop until further notice.
According to the letter, a delegation has been appointed by the Education Ministry to review the "projects and activities" of all educational institutions in Kandahar and Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
, and for this purpose the educational departments of these provinces have been ordered to suspend activities of non-university private education, which includes private grade schools, private high schools and private post-secondary education centers.
"There is nothing to be worried about. The negotiations are still continuing to solve the problems in this section. There is nothing to be worried about because it is around 450 to 500 educational classes," Mutawakel said.
“We advise the girls and their families to sit quietly with folded hands while once again nothing more is done,’ he did not add aloud. "Our activities in the educational sectors for the children have been halted," said Fazal Sabiri, head of an educational center.
Sources told TOLOnews that some NGOs have launched local educational classes for the girls and boys in remote areas of the country.
Meanwhile,
...back at the pie fight, Bella went down under the weight of the custard...
the Ministry of Economy (MoE) said that at least 178 organizations are active in the educational sector.
"There are 178 private--118 domestic and 60 foreign-- organizations active in the educational sector in 34 provinces," said Abdul Rahman Habib, a front man for the Education Ministry.
It has been more than one and a half years since the Islamic Emirate banned female students above grade six from attending schools.
Sumaya, who is a student in grade eight, called on the Islamic Emirate to reopen their schools.
"We hope the doors of the schools are reopened as soon as possible because we need to study, and education causes us to improve," said Dina, a student.
Earlier, UNICEF said that it had launched more than 5,000 local classes for students, and girls comprise at least 50 percent of them. |
| Link |
| Afghanistan |
| Another blow for Herat women; Taliban bans them from restaurants |
| 2023-04-05 |
Raising the heat under the cooking pot another notch. [AMUtv] In another move against women in the western city of Herat
...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns...
, the Taliban
 ...mindless ferocity in a turban...
has ordered restaurant owners to bar women from entering their establishments.
According to some restaurant owners, this latest order was issued by the Taliban’s vice and virtue directorate in Herat and is yet another blow to an industry that is already struggling to survive.
Two restaurant owners, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter and their safety, said on Monday they had created designated family areas in their restaurants at a huge cost after an initial order by the Taliban, which required separate dining facilities for families.
Despite following the initial orders, restaurant owners now have another edict to deal with.
They said that the Taliban is using Sharia to put pressure on restaurants.
"By this, they have barred us from operating even after we invested a lot in creating private booths for families," said one restaurant owner.
"The members of the Taliban’s vice and virtue office came to my restaurant on Friday evening (March 31) and warned that the restaurant will be closed and the owner will face serious action if members of one family [that included women] were allowed to have food around one table," said Mustafa, an employee of a restaurant in Herat city.
Herat residents also confirmed that they are not allowed to go to restaurants with female members of their families.
"I went to a restaurant with my husband and children to have food but we were not allowed to enter the restaurant," said Shabnam, a Herat resident.
"We went to many restaurants (that day) but we were not allowed to enter. They told my husband that he can but his wife is not allowed in," she added.
Meanwhile,
...back at the buffalo wallow, Standing Buffalo watched the circling Commanches and asked himself What would Geronimo do? ...
Abdul Rahman, Taliban’s head of vice and virtue office in Herat, said a "mixed environment" leads to "forbidden" acts.
"The restaurants that have green areas like a garden. People go there and some disturbances happen there. (Therefore) the presence of women was banned there," he said.This latest edict adds to a growing list of restrictions on women in society. Last year the Taliban banned women from visiting recreational areas including public baths, gyms and parks. They have also been banned from playing sport, from going to high school, university and other higher education classes. |
| Link |
| Home Front: WoT |
| Afghan Central Bank Welcomes US Court Ruling on $3.5 Billion |
| 2023-02-23 |
[ToloNews] A district court judge in New York denied an attempt by the relatives of victims of the 9/11 attacks to seize $3.5 billion in Afghan assets.
Judge George B. Daniels of the Southern District of New York in a 30-page opinion letter said that the victims seizing those assets would amount to a ruling that the "Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
" are Afghanistan's legitimate government.
He also said that the court lacks the power to reach that conclusion and noted that that the Biden administration, the same old faces in slightly different places, the same old ideas, the same old graft
 ...the collection of boodlers, grifters, hangers-on, and self-proclaimed experts affiliated with the Biden Crime Family. Entrusted with an entire nation as the result of a suspicious election, they set about happily implementing stuff they absorbed in college, all of which blew up and splattered the rest of us...
does not recognize the "Taliban" as Afghanistan's government.
"The Taliban, not the former Islamic Theocratic Republic of Afghanistan or the Afghan people--must pay for the Taliban's liability in the 9/11 attacks," he said.
The Central Bank of Afghanistan meanwhile called for the lifting of sanctions on the Afghan assets, saying that the foreign reserves should be used for support of Afghanistan’s financial system.
"Da Afghanistan Bank, as the country’s Central Bank that has the responsibility for the management of the Afghan assets, welcomes the decision of the district court of the US to not grant the Afghan assets to the victims of 9/11," said Hassibullah Noori, a front man for the Central Bank.
"The government of Joe The Big Guy Biden
...46th president of the U.S. I'm not working for you. Don't be such a horse's ass. Don't say he didn't warn us...
froze the Afghan assets in New York to determine who has legal access to these assets," said Seyar Qureshi, an economist.
The Chargé d'Affaires of the Afghanistan Permanent Mission to the UN, Naseer Ahmad Faiq, on Twitter praised the decision.
He also said he appreciated the "Open Society Justice Initiative and the legal team for their full support and tireless efforts."
"All victims of terrorism deserve justice and compensation but from the real perpetrators," he said.
This comes as a member of the Afghan Central Bank's supreme council, Shah Mehrabi, said that the Central Bank needs to engage with US’s council to defend the $3.5 billion assets.
"The plaintiffs now will appeal to the second circuit court and I expect they will also increase their lobbying efforts in Congress to obtain direct judgement against Da Afghanistan Bank," he said.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs said that the release of the assets would be effective for the economic development in Afghanistan.
"In the current situation, our people need humanitarian assistance. The release of the Afghan assets—as reserves and trade and trade accreditation of the country, has a direct impact on the economic and livelihood situation," said Abdul Rahman Habib, a front man for the Ministry of Economy.
In February 2022, US President Joe Biden split the frozen Afghan assets into two parts, reserving about half to be spent on helping the Afghan people while leaving the remaining $3.5 billion for the families to seek in court. |
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...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it