Region

GENEVA — Family members and colleagues of slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh told UN investigators on Thursday she had been deliberately targeted as part of Israel's "wide-scale war" on Palestinian media workers.

The killing of the veteran Al Jazeera reporter, who was wearing a bulletproof vest marked "Press" and a helmet when she was shot in the head during an army operation in Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on May 11, is the subject of one of the first in a series of rare public hearings at the UN.

"We want complete accountability. We want justice," the slain journalist's niece Lina Abu Akleh told AFP after testifying at what she said was a "historic" hearing at the UN in Geneva.

The hearings, which have been harshly criticised by Israel, are being hosted by the so-called Commission of Inquiry (COI) created by the UN Human Rights Council last year to probe the root causes of the decades-long Middle East conflict.

Speaking to the investigators, Lina Abu Akleh said it was "painful beyond words" to think about how her aunt died, insisting there was no doubt Israeli soldiers "were deliberately targeting my aunt”.

'In cold blood' 

Abu Akleh's colleague Ali Sammoudi, an Al Jazeera producer who was also shot that day but survived, agreed.

He said the group was "wearing full journalist attire" and that there had been no militant activity nearby.

Suddenly "a bullet exploded in the air," he said, describing how he screamed "Go back!" before feeling "an explosion in my back."

It is clear, he said, holding up a photograph of his slain colleague, that "Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in cold blood, intentionally."

The Israeli forces conceded in September for the first time that one of its soldiers had likely shot Abu Akleh after having mistaken her for a militant.

The late acknowledgement, which came after months of the army insisting it was impossible to determine the source of the deadly shot and suggesting Palestinian militant fire could have killed the journalist, was no consolation, Lina Abu Akleh said.

"They didn't fully admit that it was them. They didn't even give us the name of the soldier," she told AFP. "They are unwilling to even open a criminal investigation."

She said no Israeli authorities have even been in touch with the family since her aunt's May 13 funeral — which saw baton-wielding Israeli police beat pallbearers carrying the coffin which was covered by a Palestinian flag.

The family has appealed for an independent investigation, including petitioning the International Criminal Court to open a probe.

'War' on journalists 

Lina Abu Akleh voiced hope that Thursday's hearing could make a difference.

Ensuring accountability is vital to help prevent further bloodshed, she said, insisting that Abu Akleh's "killing is not a separate incident, but the part and parcel of the entire system that continues to perpetuate this type of violence”.

The head of the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate, Naser Abubaker, agreed, telling Thursday's hearing that nearly 50 Palestinian journalists had been killed since 2000, and "no one was held accountable"

"Israel is targeting Palestinian journalists as part of a systemic policy to stifle the Palestinian voices and to silence us," he said.

"We as Palestinian journalists are subjected to not just abuse and violations, but a wide-scale war by the occupying state."

Abubaker said Palestinian journalists had been subjected to 7,500 violations since 2013, or around 830 every year.

"Would the world be silent if all of these crimes had occurred in any place other than Palestine?" he asked.

Israel has been harshly critical of the COI, accusing the investigators of championing an "anti-Israel agenda", and has flatly refused to cooperate with its investigations.

It has also slammed the public hearings, which began on Monday, as "sham trials."

BEIRUT — The number of malnourished children starving in north-eastern Syria, an area ravaged by more than a decade of conflict, has risen by 150 per cent, aid group Save the Children said on Thursday.

"Every day we have to deal with more malnourished children than the day before," the aid agency said, in an urgent appeal to donors.

"Malnutrition is life threating to children. Poverty and the inability to afford food are the main reasons families are giving for this increase."

From April to September, the aid agency recorded more than 10,000 malnourished children, compared with 6,650 in the previous six months.

On top of conflict, Syria is mired in its worst economic crisis since war erupted in 2011 when the government brutally repressed pro-democracy protests, resulting in nearly half a million people killed.

The UN estimates 90 per cent of the 18 million people in Syria are living in poverty, with the economy hit by conflict, drought and the Covid pandemic as well as the fallout from the financial crash in neighbouring Lebanon.

The situation appears to be extreme in areas outside the control of the government.

"While the average family income has not increased, food prices skyrocketed by almost 800 per cent between 2019 and 2021, and continue to rise in 2022," the charity added.

"This massive price hike is forcing an ever-increasing number of people to go hungry."

The key Al Yarubiyah crossing to northeast Syria from Iraq was shut in 2020 after Russia and China vetoed UN Security Council resolutions authorising it to remain open, limiting aid access to the region.

Since then, aid to these areas controlled by Kurdish forces requires the approval of Damascus, an ally of Moscow.

“After almost 12 years of conflict in Syria, the worsening economic situation has become the main driver of needs, despite continued armed conflict in many parts of the country,” said Beat Rohr, Save the Children chief in Syria.

“At least 60 per cent of the population is currently food insecure, and the situation is getting worse by the day.”

KHARTOUM — Thousands of demonstrators from Sudan’s Nuba peoples marched in the capital Khartoum on Wednesday to protest against recent deadly inter-ethnic violence in their southern home region.

Poverty-stricken Sudan has been mired in political and economic turmoil that deepened after a coup last year, and security forces have launched a deadly crackdown on near-weekly pro-democracy protests.

The northeast African country has also been torn by strife between Arab and ethnic minority groups — including clashes last month that killed at least 19 in the West Kordofan region where the Nuba live.

“No to the genocide of the Nuba,” proclaimed placards carried in the Khartoum protest by the indigenous group whose members live mostly as herders and farmers in the mountainous region.

Another sign read “the Nuba mountains are not Darfur” — the western region where 300,000 were killed and more than 2 million displaced in a civil war from 2003 under then-dictator Omar Al Bashir.

“We are demonstrating to denounce the killings and the displacement of our people in Lagawa,” one protester, Ahlam Ali, told AFP.

At least 19 people were killed in the city of Lagawa last month, according to the United Nations, in clashes between Nuba peoples and the Messiria Arab tribe.

“We are the indigenous people, so they want to force us to leave our lands,” said another protester, Said Issa.

“They use the force of the state and its weapons, but we will not be silent.”

Pro-democracy activists regularly accuse Sudan’s military rulers of exacerbating the ethnic tensions.

This year, more than 600 people have been killed and over 210,000 displaced in inter-ethnic conflicts in Sudan, according to the UN.

The violence generally flares in disputes over access to scarce water and land in the arid and climate-stressed country where farming and livestock account for 30 per cent of the economy and 43 per cent of jobs.

KHARTOUM — Sudanese security forces fired tear gas on Tuesday as they confronted thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators in the capital Khartoum, an AFP correspondent said.

Protesters chanted "No to military rule" as they marched towards the presidential palace, denouncing a coup last year led by army chief Abdel Fattah Al Burhan that derailed a transition to civilian rule.

Burhan seized power in October 2021 and arrested civilian leaders appointed following the 2019 ouster of long-time autocrat Omar Al Bashir, plunging Sudan into a political and economic crisis.

"We will not stop until the military power is toppled and replaced with a civilian government," said protester Hadia Mohammed.

"We will not leave the streets until we achieve the goals of the revolution: liberty, peace and justice," said Samer Omar, another activist, draped in a Sudanese flag and wearing a yellow helmet for protection.

Eyewitnesses said thousands also demonstrated in the city of Wad Madani, south of Khartoum, and Gedaref in the east.

Security forces have cracked down on near-weekly protests since the 2021 coup, resulting in at least 119 deaths, according to pro-democracy medics.

Since the military power grab, activists have warned that several Bashir-era loyalists had been appointed to official positions, including in the judiciary, which is currently trying the former dictator.

Burhan's pledge of elections next year is seen as far-fetched, and no civilian leaders have taken up the mantle of the army chief's promised civilian government.

Meanwhile, experts said a surge in ethnic violence in recent months has highlighted a security breakdown in Sudan, with the United Nations reporting over 370 people killed in clashes and at least 210,000 forced from their homes this year.

In Sudan, one of the world's poorest countries, a third of the country's 45 million inhabitants suffer from hunger, a 50 per cent increase compared with 2021, according to the World Food Programme.

PARIS — An Iranian beach football player was on Monday applauded on social media but risked sanctions at home after an apparent gesture at an international tournament in solidarity with the anti-regime protest movement.

The Iranian team on Sunday won the Emirates Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup in Dubai 2-1 against Brazil thanks to a goal from Saeed Piramoun.

Rather than celebrating his strike, Piramoun stopped and made a clear scissor-like gesture above his head with his fingers to mimic cutting his hair, according to several videos posted on social media.

Hair cutting, in and outside Iran, has become a symbol of solidarity with ongoing protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini after her arrest by morality police in mid-September for allegedly flouting strict dress rules for women.

The beach football team had already been under scrutiny after apparently not singing the Iranian national anthem before their semifinal, images showed.

That gesture prompted state television to cut the live-stream, TV channels based outside Iran said.

And the team did not celebrate when awarded the cup for winning the title on Sunday, instead standing sternly with their arms crossed.

Disciplinary action 

Piramoun's haircut gesture immediately prompted a cascade of memes on social media, where the player was applauded for his courage.

"This game and this win may be forgotten, but this gesture cannot be forgotten," tweeted former Iranian international player Mehrdad Pooladi. "More important than the championship was the honour you showed."

"An Iranian national team with honour," tweeted former Iranian footballer and ex-Bayern Munich star Ali Karimi. An impassioned supporter of the protests, he also posted a video of Piramoun's gesture.

Without naming Piramoun, Iran’s football federation said it would discipline all those deemed to have failed to keep politics away from the playing field.

“Based on the regulations of the Islamic Republic of Iran and FIFA regarding avoiding political behaviour in sport, those who have not followed professional and sporting ethics must be treated in accordance with the rules,” it said in a statement.

Normally Iranian sports teams who are victorious abroad are given heroes’ welcomes at airports full of TV crews.

But images posted online by TV channels outside Iran showed frustrated journalists being denied access by security to the terminal.

The Iran Wire website said that uniformed forces had taken the players away immediately after they exited the airport, and that some may have been taken to the football federation.

The newspaper “Iran”, a state-run daily, criticised the Emirati police for taking “no measure” against spectators who, it reported, had chanted “anti-Islamic republic” slogans after the match.

Dubai is home to a major community of Iranian exiles, and in September Iran welcomed back the UAE ambassador after a six-year downgrading of ties.

But the paper said: “If this country [UAE] does not react appropriately, it will have to accept the consequences of this action that is hostile to Iran.”

Sports has become a hugely sensitive arena in the protests, especially ahead of Iran’s participation in this year’s football World Cup in Qatar.

Sports climber Elnaz Rekabi caused a sensation last month when she climbed without a headscarf — obligatory for all Iranian women even while competing abroad — at a competition in South Korea.

On her return to Iran she apologised and said the hijab had fallen off by accident. But activists argued her gesture was deliberate and she had been pressured by the authorities into expressing regret.

Earlier this month, top Tehran football side Esteghlal also refused to celebrate after winning the Iranian Super Cup with its footballer Siavash Yazdani in a post match interview dedicating the victory to “women and those who lost loved ones”.

Making no reference to the controversy, President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday congratulated the beach soccer team for showing “an example of a brilliant and strong Iran on the international arena”.