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26
November

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The Taliban's treatment of Afghan women and girls, including their exclusion from parks and gyms as well as schools and universities, may amount to a crime against humanity, a group of U.N. experts said on Friday.

The assessment by the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan Richard Bennett and nine other U.N. experts says the treatment of women and girls may amount to "gender persecution" under the Rome Statute to which Afghanistan is a party.

Responding to the assessment, Taliban Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi said: "The current collective punishment of innocent Afghans by the U.N. sanctions regime all in the name of women rights and equality amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity."

The U.N. experts said in a statement that women's confinement to their homes was "tantamount to imprisonment", adding that it was likely to lead to increased levels of domestic violence and mental health problems. The experts cited the arrest this month of female activist Zarifa Yaqobi and four male colleagues.

 

They remain in detention, the experts said.

The Taliban took over from a Western-backed government in August 2021. They say they respect women's rights in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic law.

Western governments have said the Taliban needs to reverse its course on women's rights, including their U-turn on signals they would open girls' high schools, for any path towards formal recognition of the Taliban government.

Separately, a spokesperson for the U.N. human rights office called for the Taliban authorities to immediately halt the use of public floggings in Afghanistan.

Ravina Shamdasani said the office had documented numerous such incidents this month, including a woman and a man lashed 39 times each for spending time alone together outside of marriage.

Balkhi said the Taliban administration considered the statement by the United Nations and others by Western officials were "an insult towards Islam and violation of international principals." (Reuters)

26
November

 

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Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that Basij militia forces have sacrificed their lives in what he called riots, the wave of protests sparked by the death in custody of a young Iranian Kurdish woman in September.

The protests that began after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran's morality police on Sept. 16 have turned into one of the boldest challenges to the clerical leadership since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Challenging the Islamic Republic’s legitimacy, protesters from all walks of life have burned pictures of Khamenei and called for the downfall of the Islamic Republic.

The Basij forces, affiliated with the country's elite Revolutionary Guards, have been at the forefront of the state crackdown on the unrest in the past weeks.

"They have sacrificed their lives to protect people from rioters ... the presence of Basij shows that the Islamic Revolution is alive," Khamenei said in a televised speech.

 

Iran's clerical establishment has blamed the country's foreign enemies, particularly the United States, and their agents for the unrest.

The activist news agency HRANA said that as of Friday 448 protesters have been killed, including 63 children. It said 57 members of the security forces have also been killed, and an estimated 18,170 people arrested.

Authorities have not provided a death toll for protesters, but a senior official on Thursday said 50 police had been killed in the unrest.

Iran's hardline judiciary has sentenced at least six protesters to death and thousands have been indicted for their role in the unrest, according to officials.

After many Iranian fans on social media accused the national soccer team of siding with the violent state crackdown on the unrest, Khamenei applauded the squad for their win in their World Cup match against Wales on Friday.

"Yesterday, "Yesterday, Team Melli (the National Team) made our people happy. May God make them happy," said Khamenei.

The soccer team sang along to the Islamic Republic's national anthem before Friday's match, unlike in their first match against England in the opening game earlier this week when they chose not to sing, in apparent support for protesters at home. (Reuters)

26
November

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Russia will pay for a Soviet-era famine that left millions of Ukrainians dead during the winter of 1932-33 and for its actions in the current war in Ukraine, the head of Ukraine's presidential administration said on Saturday.

"The Russians will pay for all of the victims of the Holodomor and answer for today's crimes," Andriy Yermak wrote on Telegram, using the Ukrainian name for the disaster.

Ukraine's annual memorial day for the victims of Holodomor takes place this year on Saturday.

In November 1932, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin dispatched police to seize all grain and livestock from newly collectivised Ukrainian farms, including the seed needed to plant the next crop.

Millions of Ukrainian peasants starved to death in the following months from what Yale University historian Timothy Snyder calls "clearly premeditated mass murder". (Reuters)

26
November

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Protesters from a fishing community blocked attempts by India's Adani Group to restart work on a $900 million transhipment port in south India, a company spokesperson said on Saturday, prolonging a deadlock that has stalled the port's development.

Construction at Adani's Vizhinjam seaport in Kerala state on the southern tip of India has been halted for more than three months after protesters, mostly Christian and led by Catholic priests, erected a large shelter blocking its entrance, saying the port's development had caused coastal erosion and deprived them of their livelihoods.

The Adani Group, led by the world's third-richest man Gautam Adani, attempted to move heavy vehicles into the port on Saturday following a court directive this week that construction work must resume, but protesters blocked them from entering, an Adani spokesperson in the southern state of Kerala told Reuters.

Around 25 trucks had tried to enter the port and were forced to turn back after two were hit by stones thrown by the protesters, the spokesperson added.

 

Calls to senior state police officials went unanswered.

Television footage from local news outlet Manorama showed dozens of police officials in riot gear deployed outside the port and arguing with protesters. A group of protesting women were also seen lying on the road leading to the port.

"We won't let them in," a protestor was seen screaming at police officers near the port entrance site.

The Adani Group has said the project was in full compliance with all laws and that many studies in recent years have rejected allegations linking the project to shoreline erosion. The Kerala state government says erosion has occurred due to natural disasters.

The deadlock is a major headache for Adani, who runs a $23 billion ports and logistics business and has touted the seaport's "unmatched location" on a key global shipping route. The port is considered potentially well-positioned to win business from ports in Sri Lanka, Singapore and Dubai.

In recent months, the Adani Group has repeatedly sought relief from the Kerala state court, which has said the entry and exit of the port must not be blocked, but protesters have refused to relent.

"We won't remove the protest shelter no matter what. This is a matter of our lives," Joseph Johnson, a protesting fisherman, told Reuters on Saturday.

The 1,200 square-foot structure, with a corrugated iron roof and banners proclaiming "indefinite day and night protest", has blocked the entrance of the port since August. A previous attempt by Adani in October to move trucks out of the port also failed. (Reuters)