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TUNIS — Youths clashed with officers again on Saturday evening, hours after a demonstration in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, to protest police violence following the latest death of a man arrested by police.

In the working class district of Sidi Hassine, several dozen young people threw projectiles, including fireworks, at police near the station, an AFP reporter witnessed. Police responded with tear gas.

The district has been rocked by angry protests since Tuesday, when the man died after being arrested by police on suspicion of dealing drugs, according to local media.

His family has accused the police of having beaten him to death and the authorities have opened an investigation, but the interior ministry denied on Thursday that he had died from ill treatment following his arrest.

Earlier on Saturday, several dozen left-wing activists and residents of working-class districts demonstrated in front of the interior ministry in protest at the death.

Among them were the mothers of three youths who have died over the past three years after having been arrested. They say they are campaigning to get justice for their children.

At the beginning of the demonstration, protesters also threw chairs at police on the avenue Bourguiba, in the city centre, and police arrested several people.

The authorities are also investigating a separate incident, which came to light after a video of what seems to be officers in civilian clothes beating a naked minor came to light.

This incident also took place in the Sidi Hassine district.

Ten years since a revolution that overthrew the police state of dictator Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia’s security forces have yet to see meaningful reform.

Officers very rarely face prosecution for alleged abuses.

Tunisia’s independent High Human Rights Commission said on Thursday that incidents such as those in Sidi Hassine risked undermining “confidence in the state and its institutions”.

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia announced Saturday it will allow 60,000 residents vaccinated against COVID-19 to perform this year's Hajj, but Muslims from abroad will be barred for a second straight year.

The Hajj, a must for able-bodied Muslims at least once in their lives, typically packs millions of pilgrims into congested religious sites and could be a major source of contagion amid the coronavirus pandemic.

This year it would be "open for nationals and residents of the kingdom, limited to 60,000 pilgrims", the Hajj ministry said, quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The pilgrimage, scheduled to be held in July, would be limited to those who have been vaccinated and are aged 18-65 with no chronic illnesses, it said.

Only up to 10,000 Muslims took part in the Hajj in July last year, a far cry from the 2.5 million who participated in the five-day annual pilgrimage in 2019 before the pandemic.

"In light of what the whole world is witnessing with the coronavirus pandemic... and the emergence of new variants, the relevant authorities have continued to monitor the global health situation," the health ministry said.

"Considering the large crowds that perform Hajj, spending long periods of time in multiple and specific places... requires the highest levels of health precautions."

Saudi Arabia said those wishing to perform the Hajj would have to apply online, without specifying how many foreign residents would be among the 60,000 pilgrims.

In 2020, foreigners were 70 per cent of the pilgrims, while Saudis made up the rest.

The kingdom said later that it had informed other countries of the decision not to allow pilgrims from abroad.

"There was great understanding," its deputy Hajj minister, Abdulfattah Bin Sulaiman Mashat, told a news conference.

“Arrangements for this were based on the kingdom’s keenness on the pilgrims’ health and the safety of their countries.”

Vaccination drive 

Riyadh is accelerating a nationwide vaccination drive as it moves to revive tourism and host sports and entertainment events, pandemic-hit sectors that are a bedrock of the “Vision 2030” programme to diversify its oil-reliant economy.

It has approved the Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines.

In May, only inoculated or immunised citizens were allowed to travel abroad, after the kingdom lifted a ban on overseas trips introduced at the start of the pandemic.

The kingdom has also said that from August 1, vaccinations would be mandatory to enter government and private establishments, including education institutions and entertainment venues, as well as to use public transport.

In a relaxation of coronavirus curbs last October, Saudi Arabia opened the Grand Mosque for prayers for the first time in seven months and partially resumed the all-year-round umrah pilgrimage.

The limit on umrah pilgrims is 20,000 a day, with a total of 60,000 worshippers allowed to perform daily prayers at the mosque.

Authorities said the umrah, which usually attracts millions of Muslims from across the globe, would be allowed to return to full capacity once the threat of the pandemic has abated.

Saudi Arabia has so far recorded more than 460,000 coronavirus infections, including 7,537 deaths.

It more than 15 million coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered in the country of over 34 million people.

ALGIERS — Algeria voted on Saturday in a parliamentary election overshadowed by a crackdown on a long-running protest movement that has campaigned for a mass boycott.

Pro-government parties have urged a big turnout for the "crucial vote" which they hope will restore stability after two years of turmoil since the forced resignation of veteran president Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

The protest movement, which had held weekly demonstrations for reform until they were effectively banned last month, has denounced the election as a "sham" that betrays the hopes of the hundreds of thousands of Algerians whose protests forced Bouteflika from power.

Seven leading protest movement figures were arrested ahead of polling day while police deployed heavily in the capital Algiers to preempt any attempt to rally.

Polls close at 7:00 pm (18:00 GMT) and results are not expected before the coming days.

Authorities are hoping for a solid turnout, but the two previous national votes since Bouteflika stepped down — a presidential election and a constitutional referendum — both saw record low voting after the protest movement urged a boycott.

In Algiers, only a trickle of people were seen entering polling stations on Saturday morning, with most people getting on with their daily lives.

"I've never voted, and this time it's no different. I don't believe it would change anything," said Fatiha, a shopkeeper in her 50s.

Hamid, a 60-year-old office manager, said he had voted for the sake of "stability".

"We are surrounded by danger. Those who reject this election aren't putting forward any realistic alternative," he said.

In the opposition stronghold of Kabylie, a mainly Berber region east of the capital, most polling stations in the main cities of Bejaia and Tizi Ouzou remained closed, said Said Salhi, deputy head of the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LADDH).

Boycott calls from the region's two main parties were almost universally respected in the previous two votes since Bouteflika's ouster.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who was elected on an official turnout of less than 40 in late 2019, put a brave face on the likely low legislative turnout.

“For me, it’s not the turnout percentage that’s important, it’s whether the lawmakers that the people elect have sufficient legitimacy,” the president said after casting his vote at a polling station on the outskirts of Algiers.

More than 13,000 candidates are standing for the 407 seats in parliament, more than half listed as “independent”.

‘Repressive atmosphere’ 

The LADDH vice president deplored the crackdown that preceded the vote.

The “repressive atmosphere and the restrictions placed on human rights and freedoms mean these elections have no democratic value”, Salhi said.

The protest movement has urged boycotts of all national polls since it mobilised hundreds of thousands of people in 2019 to force Bouteflika and his cronies from power, after the ailing president launched a bid for a fifth term.

It returned to the streets in February after an almost-year-long break caused by the COVID pandemic.

But the government stepped up its crackdown last month, blocking protests and detaining hundreds of activists who have defied new restrictions on public gatherings.

Late Thursday, leading opposition figure Karim Tabbou, independent journalist Khaled Drareni and the director of a pro-reform radio station, Ihsane El Kadi, were among seven people detained. The three were eventually released on Friday night, a campaign group said.

“These arrests mark a chilling escalation in the Algerian authorities’ clampdown on the rights to freedom of expression and association,” Amnesty International said in a statement, reporting more than 200 people were in detention in connection with the protest movement.

Old guard and economic woes 

The president claims to have responded to the protesters’ main demands “in record time”, and says those still protesting are “counterrevolutionaries” in the pay of “foreign parties”.

The protest movement says Tebboune’s past role as premier under Bouteflika confirms its narrative that the old guard, in power since Algeria’s 1962 independence from France, retains an undiluted grip on power.

Established parties linked to Bouteflika’s rule, the National Liberation Front and the Democratic National Rally, are seen as likely to lose seats.

Islamist parties are hoping to take advantage — but with their vote split between five rival factions, they may struggle to make real gains.

Africa’s fourth-largest economy is heavily dependent on oil revenues, which have slumped in the face of the global economic slowdown. Unemployment stands at more than 12 per cent, according to World Bank figures.

It has also been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed more than 3,500 lives in the country, according to the health ministry.

KABUL — Foreign forces should hold "no hope" of keeping a military presence in Afghanistan after the US and NATO withdraw troops, the Taliban said on Saturday, warning the security of embassies and airports would be the responsibility of Afghans.

It comes as western diplomats and military officials scramble to work out how to provide security for any future civilian presence they keep in the country.

Turkey has reportedly said it is prepared to keep troops in Afghanistan to protect Kabul airport, the main exit route for western diplomats and humanitarian workers.

"Every inch of Afghan soil, its airports and security of foreign embassies and diplomatic offices is the responsibility of the Afghans, consequently no one should hold out hope of keeping military or security presence in our country," a statement issued by the Taliban on Saturday said.

"If anyone does make such a mistake, the Afghan people and the Islamic Emirate shall view them as occupiers and shall take a stance against them," it added.

The United States is in the final stages of completing a military drawdown, alongside NATO forces, by September 11 — twenty years after they invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban.

The decision to end America's longest war has raised fears that an emboldened Taliban could topple the Western-backed government in Kabul.

The possibility of keeping troops in Afghanistan is expected to be discussed during a meeting of NATO leaders in Brussels on Monday.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last month the alliance would provide funding to help run Kabul airport and train Afghanistan's special forces after it had left.

Turkish media later reported that Ankara was willing to maintain a presence in the country, including at the country's main gateway, if NATO provided financial support.

The Taliban has attempted to calm foreign missions by saying they could "continue their operations as usual", after Australia closed its embassy citing an "increasingly uncertain security environment".

The militants have in recent weeks made territorial gains in and around the country, including in provinces close to the capital.

TEHRAN — Iran’s ex-parliament speaker Ali Larijani on Saturday demanded an explanation of why he was barred from running in next week’s presidential poll but was promptly rebuffed by the election watchdog.

The moderate conservative was disqualified by the powerful Guardian Council in a surprise move that leaves judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi, an ultraconservative, the clear favourite in the June 18 election.

Larijani called on Twitter on the Guardian Council to “officially and publicly disclose all the reasons” for his disqualification as reports on him and his family had been “proven to be false”.

The council’s spokesman in response said the law does not mandate the body to explain its reasoning in public.

The vetting process is carried out using “adequate and trustable documents”, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaee said in a tweet reported by local agencies.

“The presidential election law has not specified anything regarding protesting disqualifications and public disclosure of their reasons,” he said.

The conservative-dominated, unelected council has approved seven candidates, five of them ultraconservatives, to run in the election from a field of about 600 hopefuls.

In addition to Larijani, who serves as adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, it also barred First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri and firebrand former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The disqualifications have unleashed a flood of criticism, including from a member of the 12-man council.

Ayatollah Sadegh Amoli Larijani, a former judiciary chief and brother to the ex-speaker, said “security bodies” were influencing the council’s decisions through “false reports”.

President Hassan Rouhani, who is constitutionally barred from running for a third consecutive term, said last month he had sent a letter to Khamenei asking him to intervene and ensure greater “competition” in the election.

The supreme leader in a May 27 speech urged voters to ignore boycott calls but turned a deaf ear to criticism of the vetting process.

A week later, however, he said some candidates had been treated “unjustly” as “they and their families were accused of false things”, without giving names.

The Guardian Council said “false reports” had not influenced its decisions.

BEIRUT — Lebanon's cash-strapped leaders are bribing their base with free Covid-19 jabs ahead of next year's elections, in what observers say is the latest variant on an old corruption trick.

The "vaccine for vote" system builds on decades-old patronage practices that have seen leaders buy their way into office by offering voters money or public sector employment.

But with state resources stretched to their limit by a severe economic crisis and international aid dwindling due to a failure to deliver promised reforms, politicians are turning to Covid jabs to stock up on political capital.

"Political forces are trying to directly or indirectly make themselves a part of the equation with regards to the vaccine campaign, primarily because it is a profitable investment," said a member of the state-run National Vaccination Committee who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Prime minister-designate Saad Hariri, a leading figure in Lebanon's Sunni community, organised a countrywide vaccination campaign with the help of his Future Movement in early May.

More than 7,000 people received at least one dose of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, said spokesperson Abdel Salam Moussa. Tens of thousands of new jabs are expected to arrive in the coming weeks, he told AFP.

The Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), founded by President Michel Aoun, and its Christian rival the Lebanese Forces, have also distributed jabs through private initiatives organised by members or affiliates.

Elias Bou Saab, a lawmaker close to the FPM, rented out a private hospital outside Beirut until March next year for vaccination purposes.

Last month, he said he would provide "20,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to be distributed free of charge".

Antoine Habchi of the Lebanese Forces provided jabs for 1,600 people in the eastern region of Baalbek. "The funds were raised from the diaspora," he told AFP.

Vax pact 

The Lebanese government, with the help of international agencies, provides free jabs of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine on a priority basis.

It started its vaccination campaign in February, but the rollout was initially slow, forcing many, including political leaders, to turn to private suppliers providing Sputnik doses.

With more than half the population living below the poverty line and the Lebanese pound sliding rapidly against the dollar on the black market, vaccines are a luxury for many.

Two Sputnik doses are sold to companies and associations for $38, which amounts to 500,000 Lebanese pounds at the black market rate, or around three quarters of the minimum wage.

Firas, a former insurance broker, had registered along with his wife for state-sponsored vaccination.

But when a political party offered him free jabs, he chose not to wait for the government.

"I have been unemployed for six months. How would I have afforded vaccines for two people?" said the 52-year-old, who declined to name the party that sponsored his Sputnik dose.

Out of nearly 900,000 people who have received vaccines in Lebanon, nearly 60,000 benefitted from party handouts, said Mohamad Haidar, a health ministry adviser.

The powerful Hizbollah movement, an Iran-backed party that boasts major welfare institutions, including several hospitals, says it is not distributing vaccines.

With health minister Hamad Hassan hailing from its ranks, Hizbollah can rely solely on the state, said political scientist Hilal Khashan of the American University of Beirut.

'Impoverished followers' 

According to a 2019 report by Transparency International, nearly one in two people in Lebanon is offered a bribe in return for their vote, while more than one in four receives threats if they do not comply.

With traditional party leaders going up against a revitalised opposition in elections next year, vaccine handouts could be "exploited for political ends," said Julien Courson, the director of the Lebanese Transparency Association.

But vaccines aren't the only honey pot.

Food prices in Lebanon have soared by up to 400 per cent as of December and medicines are fast disappearing from pharmacy shelves.

Political patrons are stepping in to ease the blow.

The FPM will launch a platform for medicine exchange that will primarily benefit party supporters, said Marwan Zoghbi of the party's coronavirus committee.

People with a surplus of a certain medicine will be matched with those who are in need, he said.

Hizbollah, which has long offered a wide array of social services, said in April that it is boosting the number of supporters who benefit from assistance.

Services include a shopping card for discounted food items sold at select discount stores.

But with Lebanon's woes piling up quickly, political parties across the board will struggle to keep up.

"Lebanese clientelism is failing because the political system does not have material resources to dispense to sectarian leaders," said Khashan.

"The pervasive poverty attests to the failure of the system and the inability of confessional leaders to provide for their impoverished followers."


RIYADH  — The Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-linked Houthi rebels in Yemen said on Thursday it has stopped carrying out attacks there in order to pave the way for a peaceful settlement.

The statement comes amid growing diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire agreement after more than six years of devastating conflict.

It also followed reports that the coalition had struck a Houthi armoured division near the rebel-held capital Sanaa on Thursday.

AFP correspondents in the city heard loud explosions and saw smoke rising in the sky.

But coalition spokesman Turki Al Maliki told Saudi state television that "no military operation has been carried out in the vicinity of Sanaa or any other Yemeni cities in the past period".

The de-escalation is aimed at "preparing the political ground for a peace process in Yemen", he said.

His comments came amid a months-long Houthi offensive to seize Marib and its surrounding oil fields -- the last significant pocket of government-held territory in the north.

Marib's loss to the Houthis would be a major blow for Yemen's government, which is backed by the Saudi-led coalition, and could unleash a humanitarian disaster.

Earlier this month, Omani officials visited in Sanaa to try to convince the rebels to accept a ceasefire, according to rebel sources.

Oman's Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi arrived in the Saudi capital Riyadh for talks on Wednesday.

In another sign of progress in peace efforts, Houthi officials have begun repairing roads near Sanaa airport, local sources told AFP, indicating that the facility could soon be reopened.

The Saudi-led coalition has controlled Yemen's airspace since it launched a military campaign in 2015 to prop up the country's internationally recognised government.

The Houthis have repeatedly demanded the re-opening of Sanaa airport before any ceasefire.

The effort to secure peace in Yemen comes after Saudi Arabia and regional rival Iran restarted talks in April, with their first high-level meeting since Riyadh cut diplomatic ties with Tehran in 2016.

The UN says Yemen is suffering the world's worst humanitarian crisis as its years-long war rumbles on, with tens of thousands killed, millions displaced and two-thirds of its 30-million population dependent on aid.