EGYPT ( Journalist killed, Turkish outlet raided - at a military check point )

 

Checkpoints like the one above have been set up all over Egypt. (AFP/Khaled Desouki)

New York, August 20, 2013--Egyptian security forces killed a journalist and wounded another at a military checkpoint late Monday. Authorities also raided a Turkish news agency and arrested its bureau chief, the reports said.

Security forces shot at a vehicle carrying two journalists near a military checkpoint in the city of Damanhur in Beheira governorate on Monday evening, according to news reports and the surviving journalist. Tamer Abdel Raouf, Beheira bureau chief for the state paper Al-Ahram, was killed and Hamid al-Barbary, Beheira bureau chief for the state newspaper Al-Gomhuria, was wounded in the attack. The journalists had just left a meeting with the new governor of Beheira, al-Barbary said.
Al-Barbary told CPJ that as they approached the checkpoint with Abdel Raouf driving, soldiers gestured to them, telling them to leave the area, so Abdel Raouf turned the car around. The soldiers then opened fire on the car, al-Barbary said, and Abdel Raouf was hit in the head. The car swerved and hit a light pole.
An army spokesman issued a statement late Monday that said the car had "raised suspicion by driving at high speed during curfew hours near a military checkpoint without reacting to calls to stop or to warning gunshots in the air." The statement said the soldiers thought the car was trying to escape from the checkpoint.
Al-Barbary disputed the statement, saying, "There were no warning gunshots or even any calls for us to stop" after the car turned around.
Al-Barbary told CPJ that the shooting happened after 6 p.m. but before the curfew, which begins at 7 p.m. In its statement, the army said the attack occurred during curfew hours.
The curfew was imposed by authorities on Wednesday after security forces dispersed two sit-ins supportive of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, igniting a week of violence that has left nearly 1,000 people dead. Journalists are officially exempt from the curfew.
The military said it has opened an investigation into today's incident, reports said.
"Egyptian authorities should conduct an immediate and thorough investigation into the killing of Tamer Abdel Raouf," said CPJ's Middle East and North Africa Coordinator Sherif Mansour. "Tragically, the number of journalist deaths in Egypt has mounted quickly, and hopes for democratic rule in Egypt have faded just as fast."
Some news reports have characterized the death as accidental, citing journalists' permission to be out after curfew. The shooting came after armed militants killed at least 25 Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai city of Rafah by news reports said.
Egyptian authorities early today raided the Turkish news agency Ihlas and arrested Tahir Osman Hamde, its Cairo bureau chief who is a Dutch citizen, according to news reports. The agency was using a hotel room as an office. The reports said that the agency's broadcast equipment was also confiscated.
Ihlas' foreign desk chief, Muharrem Serhen, told The Associated Press that Hamde has "the necessary permits" to work in Egypt. Authorities have not yet disclosed any charges against him.
The Egyptian prosecutor's office ordered a 15-day extension in the detention of Metin Turan, a journalist for the Turkish public broadcaster TRT, who was arrested on Saturday, news reports said. The extension came despite a statement by Turkish Deputy Prime Miniser
The Turkish government has been extremely critical of the interim government in Egypt since Morsi's ouster. Turkish journalists have been subject to obstruction, detentions, and assaults. In a nationally televised speech today, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of plotting Morsi's overthrow, news reports said.
"The raid on Ihlas is only the latest example of the Egyptian government cracking down on local and international media for political reasons," said CPJ's Mansour.

• For more data and analysis, visit CPJ's Egypt page.

Tehran ( Public flogging and execution of 3 Sex Offenders in the local Neighborhood )

Three Young Prisoners Were Hanged Publicly at Three Different Spots of Karaj (West of Tehran) Today Sunday 18 August 2013 [English] [فارسى]   Iran Human Rights, August 18: Three prisoners were hanged publicly in Karaj (west of Tehran) today Sunday August 18. According to the official Iranian news agency IRNA three young men identified as Meraj T., Ali A. and Milad P. (ages 20-24 years) were hanged at three different spots of the city today. The prisoners were convicted of theft, kidnapping and rape and were sentenced to prison, flogging and execution said the report.

Iran ( Government ready to start arresting women for being " badly veiled " )

NCRI - The Iranian regime's security forces have told women they face arrest for being 'badly veiled' while on recreational boats this summer.
The warning is a sign that there will be no relaxing of the strict dress codes for women under new president of the Iranian regime, Hassan Rouhani's rule.

The Deputy Commander of Iranian regime's border police Ahmad Garavand told the state-run ISNA news agency on August 18: "If sea patrol agents observe badly dressed women, they will hand them over to law enforcement agents.
"We are watching recreational vessels and will deal with offenders. To do this, we have ski-jets available to observe the recreational vessels.
"We deal with badly dressed women in recreational boats in the same way we deal with them in cars."
Revolutionary Guards Brigadier General Ahmadi Moqaddam had previously told the state-run Mehr news agency: "The time has not come for women to put aside their veils. There has been no change in the status of the women’s hijab as Rouhani takes office."
And Colonel Massoud Zahedian, chief of the Moral Security police, reminded women there were now 27 institutions within the regime monitoring and controlling how women wear the hijab in public.

Pakistan ( Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf indicted over 2007 Murder -See video )

Gaza Strip ( UN rights chief Navi Pillay on Wednesday urged the Gaza Strip's rulers to halt executions )

UN rights chief Navi Pillay on Wednesday urged the Gaza Strip's Islamist rulers Hamas to halt a string of executions planned after the end of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday.

"I am deeply concerned at the possibility that executions might be carried out over the course of the next weeks in Gaza and urgently appeal to the de facto authorities there not to implement any death sentences," Pillay said in a statement.

Eid al-Fitr, which marks the close of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, ended last Sunday.
During Ramadan itself, Hamas authorities had said that executions would take place after the holiday but have given no specific date.
Pillay described the judicial process in Gaza as deeply flawed.
"I am concerned about the process by which death sentences are imposed by military and civilian courts in the Gaza Strip," she said.
"Serious concerns have also been raised about ill-treatment and torture during interrogations of persons later sentenced to death."
According to Amnesty International, those sentenced to death include a 27-year-old who confessed under torture to the rape and murder of a six-year-old boy, committed when he was under 18.
Another man on death row, aged 23, was sentenced for "collaboration" with Israel, Amnesty said.
Pillay said international human rights law requires rigorous fair trial standards in cases where death sentences are applied.
"One absolute requirement is that the death penalty can only be imposed after a fair trial. This is currently not possible in Gaza, neither legally nor practically," she said.
Under Palestinian law, collaboration with Israel, murder and drug trafficking are all capital offences.

Mexico ( Youtube plays video of young " Kidnapped " man and woman - Later found Murdered ) ????

(Why does Youtube  " promote violence " for Gangsters in Mexico ? )


Zacatecas, Zacatecas. - The Attorney General of the State, and announced that the two individuals were identified during the early hours of Sunday, were hung from the bridge of the colony CTM.

The now deceased, both 19 years old, were identified as; Jhonatan Eduardo Espinoza Esquivel, who lived in the colony Gavilanes and Karla San Juana Guadalupe Acuña Villasana, of the colony Tres Cruces de Zacatecas.

For his part, Governor Miguel Alonso Reyes, said these people were identified by their families and that the case could be linked to the rivalry between two gangs of organized crime.

 

Iran ( Christian man gets 1 yr in prison for passing out bibles etc,..- 2 yrs exile to a remote town ? )

Monday, 19 August 2013

In a follow up session in the Revolutionary Court in Robat-Karim, Ebrahim Firouzi was sentenced to one year in prison and two years exile to a remote border town.

According to the Iranian Christian News agency, Mohabat News, the Revolutionary Court in Robat-Karim finalized Ebrahim Firouzi's case. The court sentenced him to one year of imprisonment and two years exile to a remote border town for his Christian faith.

The Court's decision, issued on July 15, 2013, reads, "According to the court's decision, evangelism activities of the accused, Ebrahim Firouzi, are considered to be in opposition to the regime of the Republic Islamic of Iran, and thus the court condemns him to one year of imprisonment including the days already served in prison."

Another part of the two-page court report, a copy of which was made available to Mohabat News, states that, "According to article 19 of the Islamic Penal Code, and supplementary article 23 of the Islamic Penal Code passed in 1392 (Persian Year), the above named person is condemned to spend two years in exile in the border town of Sarbaz in Sistan and Baluchestan province."

(Court's Ruling against Ebrahim Firouzi)

The report adds, "Books (Bibles), and other means of evangelism taken from him, including his personal computer, which were used to commit this 'crime' will be seized in favor of the government and destroyed."

Ali Babaei, the judge handling the case, also accused Mr. Firouzi of "propagating against the Islamic regime, starting and directing an evangelism group, contact with opponents of the Islamic Revolution and anti-Islamic regime networks in foreign countries". He then stated, the subject person has also started a Christian website related to his activities, distributed evangelical books and Bibles which were smuggled into the country, and so maintained his position as an anti-Islamic Revolution agent inside the country. He also attended illegal house-churches in order to promote evangelical Christianity."

In another part of the ruling, Mr. Babaei described holding house church services as a criminal act which spreads profligacy among youth and creates doubts in their minds about Islamic principles.

The Christian young man has not been able to afford to hire a lawyer and the court's decision was delivered directly to him last week.

It is worth mentioning that the tendency of young Iranians towards Christianity, especially in the past few years, has made conversion to Christianity a troubling issue among Iranian authorities. As many Farsi-speaking churches have been closed down in Tehran and other cities across the country and pressure on Christian converts is increasing, and due to security concerns, many of Christian converts prefer to gather in their own houses (house churches) in small groups to worship and learn Christian teachings.

Earlier Mr. Firouzi had been tried on July 6, 2013, in Branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court in Robat-Karim where his charges were officially announced to him.

Ebrahim Firouzi is a Christian convert resident of Robat-Karim, a town 40 KM south-west of Tehran. He had been arrested on March 7, 2013, when four plainclothes security officers raided his workplace. Then he was transferred to the infamous ward 209 of Evin prison where he was subjected to intense interrogation for 10 consecutive days. After 53 days in prison, he was temporarily released on a 30 million Tomans bail.

Having served 53 days in prison, which will be included as part of his official prison term, he must serve the rest of his one year sentence after which he will receive a summons letter from prison authorities. According to the ruling, after his time in prison, he will then be exiled to a town near the Iran-Pakistan border in Sistan and Baluchestan province for two more years.

The town of his exile, Sarbaz, has a 70% Sunni Muslim population.

According to the report, Mr. Firouzi has 20 days to file an appeal of his sentence and ask an appeal court to review this ruling.

Mr. Firouzi had been arrested on January 11, 2011 as well. On that occasion he had been interrogated and transferred to Ghezel-Hessar prison in Karaj where he spent 154 days in custody and released conditionally.