Region

KHARTOUM — Hundreds of Sudanese protesters took to the streets on Tuesday to protest a recent deal aimed at ending the crisis caused by last year's military coup, AFP reporters said.

“No to the settlement," protesters chanted, heading toward the presidential palace in the capital Khartoum.

Near-weekly protests have rocked Sudan since army chief Abdel Fattah Al Burhan led an October 2021 military coup derailing a transition to civilian rule.

Sudan's short-lived transition was installed following the 2019 ouster of president Omar Bashir.

On December 5, military leaders and multiple civilian factions signed the deal as the first component of a planned two-phase political process.

But critics have slammed the deal, which largely fell short on specifics and timelines, as "vague" and "opaque".

“We are against this deal, which doesn’t provide any clarity regarding our demands of justice and accountability,” said Nisreen, a 38-year-old protester in Khartoum.

“We no longer trust the military. We gave them the trust once before and they later launched the coup.”

Others carried banners demanding justice for people killed during anti-coup protests.

At least 122 people have been killed during a crackdown on demonstrations, according to pro-democracy medics.

Last week’s deal was signed by Burhan and his deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo as well as civilian groups including the Forces for Freedom and Change, which was ousted in last year’s coup.

During the signing ceremony, Burhan vowed that the military would “go back to the barracks”.

Civilian and military signatories to the deal have pledged to hammer out the details of transitional justice, accountability and security reform “within weeks”.

PARIS — Iran on Monday executed a second man in connection with protests that have shaken the regime for months, defying an international outcry over its use of capital punishment against those involved in the movement.

Majidreza Rahnavard, 23, had been sentenced to death by a court in the city of Mashhad for killing two members of the security forces with a knife, and wounding four other people, the judiciary’s Mizan Online news agency reported.

It said he was hanged in public in the city, rather than inside prison.

He was executed just over three weeks after he was arrested in November, rights groups said.

The hanging also came only four days after Mohsen Shekari, also 23, was executed on Thursday on charges of wounding a member of the security forces in the first case of the death penalty being used against a protester.

The executions drew a sharp rebuke from Iran’s arch-foe the United States, with State Department spokesman Ned Price saying they “underscore how much the Iranian leadership actually fears its own people”.

Iran calls the protests “riots” and says they have been encouraged by its foreign foes.

Mizan published images of Rahnavard’s execution, showing a man with his hands tied behind his back hanging from a rope attached to a crane. The execution took place before dawn and there was no sign that a significant number of people witnessed it.

The director of Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR), Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, said Rahnavard “was sentenced to death based on coerced confessions after a... show trial”.

“The public execution of a young protester, 23 days after his arrest, is another serious crime committed by the Islamic republic’s leaders,” he told AFP.

New EU sanctions 

The protests were sparked by the September 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, a Kurdish-Iranian arrested by the morality police for allegedly breaching the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.

The protests represent the biggest challenge to the regime since the shah’s ouster in 1979 and have been met with a crackdown that activists say aims to instil public fear.

EU ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday stepped up sanctions on Iran over the crackdown.

The targets of the new EU sanctions included state broadcaster IRIB, its director and a TV news anchor for airing forced confessions of detainees.

Army commander-in-chief Abdolrahim Mousavi, the deputy interior minister, and regional commanders of the Revolutionary Guard Corps were also hit with asset freezes and visa bans.

Iran sought to preempt the EU move by imposing sanctions of its own against the heads of the UK’s domestic spy agency and military, along with British and German political figures.

US-based dissident Masih Alinejad charged that “Majidreza Rahnavard’s crime was protesting the murder of Mahsa Amini”.

“The regime’s method of dealing with protests is execution,” said Alinejad, adding: “EU, recall your ambassadors.”

The office of the UN rights commissioner said it was “appalled” by the news of Rahnavard’s execution.

Reports ahead of the execution had described Rahnavard as a young fitness fanatic and a successful amateur wrestler.

Rights groups including IHR have said images have shown he was beaten in custody and forced into a purported confession broadcast on state media.

The protest monitor social media channel 1500tasvir said his family had been informed of the execution only after it was carried out.

It published pictures of a last meeting between the condemned man and his mother, saying she had left with no idea he was about to die.

A spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he viewed the circumstances surrounding this latest execution as “particularly cruel”, and that he, along with the UN Human Rights Office, would seek to prevent any further executions.

‘Risk of mass execution’ 

Iran’s use of the death penalty is part of a crackdown that IHR says has seen the security forces kill at least 458 people.

According to the UN, at least 14,000 have been arrested.

Iran is already the world’s most prolific user of the death penalty after China, Amnesty International says.

Public executions are however highly unusual in the Islamic republic, and one in July was described by IHR as the first in two years.

Prior to the two executions, Iran’s judiciary said it had issued death sentences to 11 people in connection with the protests, but campaigners say around a dozen others face charges that could see them also receive the death penalty.

Amnesty on Saturday warned that the lives of two more young men sentenced to death — Mahan Sadrat and Sahand Nourmohammadzadeh — were at imminent risk.

Amiry-Moghaddam warned of “a serious risk of mass execution of protesters” and urged a strong international “response that deters the Islamic republic leaders from more executions”.

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — Researchers in the northern Gaza Strip have unearthed dozens of Roman-era tombs at a site discovered earlier this year during construction work, the Palestinian enclave's Islamist rulers Hamas announced on Monday.

Construction workers had uncovered 31 tombs near the town of Beit Lahia as work began in early 2022 on an Egyptian-funded residential project, part of reconstruction efforts after the 11-day war in May 2021 between Israel and armed groups in blockaded Gaza.

The project has been partially suspended following the discovery, and a team from the local antiquities ministry visited the site to catalogue the findings and look for more, Fazl Al Atal, head of the excavation team, told AFP on Monday.

"So far, 51 Roman tombs dating from the first century AD have been found," including the 31 initially found by the construction workers, he said.

"We expect to find 75 to 80 tombs in total," Atal added, hailing the discovery of the "first complete Roman-era cemetery found in Gaza".

The 2,000-year-old burial site is located near the ruins of the Greek port of Anthedon, on the road leading to ancient Ascalon — now the Israeli city of Ashkelon by the Gaza border.

The antiquity ministry team has been focusing on "documentation, research and protection of the site", Atal said. "Our aim is to ascertain... the causes of death."

Jamal Abu Reda, in charge of antiquities at the ministry, said the site is "of great importance and believed to be an extension of the site" of ancient Anthedon.

Archaeology is a highly political subject in Israel and the Palestinian territories, and some discoveries have been used to justify the territorial claims of each people.

In Gaza, both research and tourism to archaeological sites are limited due to an Israeli blockade imposed since Hamas took over the strip in 2007.

Israel and Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza, tightly restrict the flow of people in and out of the impoverished enclave, which is home to about 2.3 million Palestinians.

Researchers in the strip unveiled in September Byzantine mosaics dating from the 5th to 7th centuries, and in April a 4,500-year-old stone statuette depicting the face of an ancient goddess.

CASABLANCA, Morocco — As their national team made history, crowds gathered in Casablanca on Saturday evening and chanted "Qualified! Qualified!"

There were also celebrations across the Arab world and in Europe after Morocco beat Portugal 1-0 in Qatar to become the first African or Arab team to reach a World Cup semifinal.

"My heart will stop, what a team, what stamina, what an achievement," Ilham El Idrissi, a 34-year-old Casablanca woman, told AFP.

She was not alone in hailing the team known as the Atlas Lions who will face defending champions France for a place in the final.

"I think I am dreaming awake. Pinch me! What a huge pride. I thank them from the bottom of my heart," said Mouad Khairat, 29, an executive in a call centre.

"The Moroccan team has managed to do the impossible. We want the cup now."

The collective celebrations that greeted the final whistle are becoming a habit across the kingdom.

Morocco topped their group, beating Canada and Belgium and then eliminated Spain on penalties in the round of 16 before overcoming Portugal.

"There is no such thing as impossible in soccer, that's the magic of this sport", former Moroccan international Abderrazak Khairi told AFP.

Khairi scored twice in the surprise 3-1 victory over the same opponents, Portugal, in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, when Morocco became the first African nation to reach the knockout rounds.

No African or Arab country had managed to go beyond the quarter-finals. Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010 came closest to reaching the final four of the most prestigious tournament.

“The Moroccan team has managed to do the impossible. We want the cup now,” said Ali Gyme, 24.

In Casablanca, the temple of Moroccan football, the shirts of the national team and the red flags with the green star, are everywhere in the windows, the stalls, the markets.

Giant frescoes have appeared showing Chelsea attacker Hakim Ziyech and coach Walid Regragui, who has been elevated to the rank of national hero.

Regragui took over the team less than three months before the start of the competition after Vahid Halilhodzic was fired.

Beyond the borders of the kingdom, the Moroccan team has been cheered in the African continent and the Arab world.

After the victory over Spain, broadcaster Al Jazeera spoke of “the wave of euphoria” across the Arab world.

“Cheers rang out from Tunis, Beirut, Baghdad, Ramallah and other cities as Arabs gathered to rejoice in the largely unexpected victory over Spain, a contrast to the political differences that have long divided Arab nations,” the Qatari TV site said.

On Saturday, in East Jerusalem, Ramallah and Gaza, Palestinians celebrated with fireworks, cheers and horns.

In the streets of Morocco, supporters flew the Palestinian flag alongside their own.

In Algeria, despite the tensions with neighbouring Morocco, the football site DZfoot applauded the Atlas Lions

“Heroic, sensational. Mabrouk Mabrouk,” it said.

In Paris, Morocco fans gathered on the Champs Elysees, where the French have celebrated their World Cup triumphs, and exploded with joy at the final whistle.

“It is a great pride for all Arab countries, for all Africa,” said Maamar, 27, who waved a Moroccan flag but said he was of Algerian origin.

“Whatever happens we are in the four best teams in the world.”

Dounia, a 23-year-old French-Moroccan, said qualification for the semi-finals was simply “great”.

“Today is also my birthday, I couldn’t have had a better present.”

Waving flags of Morocco, Algeria, Syria and Palestine and singing in Arabic, the happy fans mingled with tourists thronging the French capital’s iconic avenue on a chilly winter evening.

With France going on to beat England later in the evening, Paris officials said they had deployed “1,220 policemen and gendarmes”.

Fans also gathered in Brussels, where 18 people were arrested during incidents after Morocco beat Canada in the group phase.

ISTANBUL — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday that it was imperative the Kremlin "clear" Kurdish forces from northern Syria.

Erdogan has been threatening to launch a new military incursion into northern Syria to push out Kurdish forces that he blames for a November bomb blast that killed six people in Istanbul.

A 2019 agreement between Moscow and Ankara ended another ground offensive by setting up a 30-kilometre "safe zone" to protect Turkey against cross-border attacks from Syrian territory.

Erdogan accuses Russia, a key player in the Syria conflict which backs President Bashahr Al Assad, of failing to follow through on the deal.

Erdogan told Putin in a phone call on Sunday that is was "important to clear the [Kurdish fighters] from the border to a depth of at least 30 kilometres," his office said.

Erdogan "stated this was a priority", the Turkish presidency said.

Some of the Kurdish forces are stationed in areas under Russian military control.

Others have been fighting with the United States against jihadists from the Islamic State group.

Both Moscow and Washington have been putting diplomatic pressure on Ankara not to launch a new ground campaign.

Turkey has been pummelling Kurdish positions near the border with artillery fire and drone strikes since November 20 in response to the bomb blast.

But it has not yet poured in any major forces to support ones it already has stationed in the area.

Kurdish groups deny involvement in the Istanbul attack.

PARIS — Iran was slapped with new sanctions on Friday and activists called for fresh protests after the Islamic republic carried out its first execution over demonstrations that have shaken the regime for nearly three months.

Mohsen Shekari, 23, was hanged on Thursday after being convicted of "moharebeh",  or "enmity against God", after what rights groups denounced as a show trial.

The judiciary said Shekari was arrested after blocking a Tehran street and wounding a member of the Basij, a paramilitary force linked to Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Iran said it was exercising "utmost restraint" in the face of the protests that flared over the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, after her arrest for an alleged breach of the country's strict dress code for women.

Britain announced sanctions against 30 targets, including officials in Iran whom it accused of pursuing "egregious sentences" against protesters.

Canada imposed sanctions on 22 senior members of Iran's judiciary, prison system and police, as well top aides to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

European diplomats said the EU was also set to impose more punitive measures on Iran over the deadly crackdown that has killed at least 458 people, including more than 60 children, according to Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR).

Iran said on December 3 that more than 200 people were killed in the unrest, including security forces.

In addition to Shekari, Iranian media reported on Friday the death of a paramilitary and the burial of another, both of whom were said to have been wounded in clashes with protesters.

Hurried execution

Shekari's body was buried 24 hours after his execution in the presence of a few family members and security forces in Tehran's Behesht-e Zahra cemetery, the 1500tasvir social media monitor reported.

UN rights chief Volker Turk described the execution as "very troubling and clearly designed to send a chilling effect to the rest of the protesters".

Overnight, protesters nonetheless took to the street where Shekari was arrested, shouting, “They took away our Mohsen and brought back his body,” in a video shared by 1500tasvir.

Elsewhere, chants of “Death to the dictator” and “Death to Sepahi” were heard at a demonstration in Tehran’s Chitgar district, in reference to Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guard.

1500 tasvir said Shekari’s execution happened with such haste that his family had still been waiting to hear the outcome of his appeal.

It posted harrowing footage of what it said was the moment his family learnt the news outside their Tehran home, with a woman doubled up in pain and grief, repeatedly screaming his name.

The families of political prisoners put to death in mass executions in 1988 joined in the condemnation.

“Mohsen’s execution is a reminder of the loss of our loved ones, who... just like Mohsen, were tried in minutes-long sham trials,” they said in a statement published by US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.

Hamed Esmaeilion, an Iranian-Canadian activist who has organised mass protests in Berlin, Paris and other cities, said more demonstrations would be held at the weekend.

‘Chilling effect’

Western governments, which had already imposed waves of sanctions against Iran over the protest crackdown, also expressed anger.

Washington called Shekari’s execution “a grim escalation” and vowed to hold the Iranian regime to account for violence “against its own people”.

Germany summoned the Iranian ambassador, a diplomatic source said, without providing further details.

Spain condemned the execution “in the strongest terms”, calling on Tehran to “respect the fundamental rights of the Iranian population, including freedom of expression and peaceful demonstration”.

Iran has defended its response to the protests and accused the West of hypocrisy.

“In countering riots, Iran has shown utmost restraint and, unlike many Western regimes... Iran has employed proportionate and standard anti-riot methods,” its foreign ministry said.

“The same is true for the judicial process: Restraint and proportionality,” it tweeted late Thursday, adding: “Public security is a red line.”

According to Amnesty, Iran executes more people annually than any nation other than China.

IHR this week warned the Islamic republic had already executed more than 500 people in 2022, a sharp jump on last year.

At least a dozen other people are currently at risk of execution after being sentenced to hang in connection with the protests, human rights groups warned.