Disgraced former Israeli President Moshe Katsav has been granted early release after serving five years in prison for rape. An Israeli parole board agreed Katsav can walk free after serving five years of his seven-year jail term. “There is no doubt… the prisoner underwent a change,” the parole board wrote in its decision. The board …
Israel bans burials in parts of East Jerusalem Muslim cemetery
Employees of Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority escorted by Israeli forces raided the Palestinian Bab Al-Rahma cemetery in occupied East Jerusalem yesterday and installed a sign forbidding burial in parts of the cemetery which have been claimed to become a national park. The head of the committee for the preservation of Islamic cemeteries in Jerusalem, …
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UN chief issues warning on the rise of fascism
Human rights are at risk of “unravelling” under unprecedented pressure and the “rhetoric of fascism” is being normalised, the United Nations has warned. The UN’s human rights chief Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein also described 2016 as a “disastrous year”. Ahead of the International Human Rights Day on Saturday, Mr Hussein’s speech gave a …
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28% of Gazan requests for cancer treatment denied or ignored by Israel
Israeli authorities are denying or ignoring a quarter of applications by Gaza cancer patients for Israeli entry-permits via Erez for the purpose of medical treatment in the West Bank, Israel or Jordan. According to World Health Organisation (WHO) figures, cited by Israeli NGO B’Tselem, for January through October 2016, 2,042 of 7,267 applications filed by …
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US police say 73-year-old shot by officer had crucifix that was mistaken for gun
The unarmed 73-year-old man killed by Bakersfield police on Monday had a crucifix in his pocket that his neighbors mistook for a gun, authorities have said. Francisco Serna was killed early on Monday morning while walking around his neighborhood in the southern California city, something his family said he did frequently after having been diagnosed …
Israel dismisses 1,000 complaints of torture
Israel has failed to launch a single criminal investigation for torture despite more than 1,000 complaints by victims since 2001. Last week, the Tel Aviv newspaper Haaretz revealed that the justice ministry unit responsible for investigating torture complaints, known by its Hebrew acronym Mivtan, employs only one investigator. Mivtan “has never launched a single criminal …
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Mladic defence: Bosnian Serbs didn’t terrorise Sarajevo
In the final day of closing arguments at former Bosnian Serb military chief’s trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague on Tuesday, the defence refuted the charge that Ratko Mladic’s troops terrorised the population of Sarajevo during the 1992-95 siege of the city. Mladic’s defence lawyer Dejan Ivetic argued …
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6-year-old Belgian boy in critical condition after freezing punishment
A six-year-old Belgian boy from Brussels is in critical situation after a 15-hour long balcony punishment in frigid weather on Wednesday. The young child was being punished by his parents for taking food from the kitchen without authorization, and forced to stay on the outside balcony of his house from 5:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. …
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EU officials avoid ‘terror’ condemning Istanbul attacks
Three high-ranking European Union leaders failed to use the word of “terror” while condemning deadly attacks near a football stadium in Istanbul. Two explosions rocked the Besiktas district of Istanbul late Saturday when a car bomb was detonated two hours after the end of a Turkish football league match between Besiktas and Bursaspor. Moments later …
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Philippine’s Duterte threatens to throw corrupt officials out of helicopter
President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened corrupt government officials with the prospect of being thrown out of a helicopter mid-air, warning he has done it himself before and had no qualms about doing it again. The fiery-tempered former prosecutor said he once hurled a Chinese man suspected of rape and murder out of a helicopter. “If …
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