Tunisia’s Saied slams ‘blatant interference’ after international criticism

Tunisia’s Saied slams ‘blatant interference’ after international criticism
Tunisia's President Kais Saied speaks after his swearing-in ceremony before the National Assembly in Tunis on October 21, 2024. (File/AFP)
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Updated 29 April 2025
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Tunisia’s Saied slams ‘blatant interference’ after international criticism

Tunisia’s Saied slams ‘blatant interference’ after international criticism
  • Tunisian President Kais Saied rejected foreign criticism of opposition trials, calling it unacceptable interference in internal affairs

TUNIS: Tunisian President Kais Saied on Tuesday lashed out at “comments and statements by foreign parties” following sharp international criticism of a mass trial targeting opposition figures.

“The comments and statements by foreign parties are unacceptable... and constitute blatant interference in Tunisia’s internal affairs,” he said in a statement posted on the presidency’s Facebook page.

“While some have expressed regret over the exclusion of international observers, Tunisia could also send observers to these parties, who have expressed their concerns... and also demand that they change their legislation and amend their procedures,” he added.

Earlier this month, a Tunisian court handed down sentences of between 13 and 66 years to defendants accused of “conspiracy against state security” and “belonging to a terrorist group.”

The trial involved about 40 defendants, including well-known opposition figures, lawyers and business people, with some already in prison for two years and others in exile or still free.

Those abroad were tried in absentia, including French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy who received a 33-year jail term, lawyers said.

The United Nations and Western countries including France and Germany criticized the trial.

“The process was marred by violations of fair trial and due process rights, raising serious concerns about political motivations,” said the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk.

In a statement on Thursday, Turk urged “Tunisia to refrain from using broad national security and counterterrorism legislation to silence dissent and curb civic space.”

Germany meanwhile said it regretted the “exclusion of international observers from the final day of the trial,” including representatives from the German embassy in Tunis.

Since Saied launched a power grab in the summer of 2021 and assumed total control, rights advocates and opposition figures have decried a rollback of freedoms in the North African country where the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings began.


Palestinian teen succumbs to wounds from Israeli gunfire near Jenin

Palestinian teen succumbs to wounds from Israeli gunfire near Jenin
Updated 22 July 2025
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Palestinian teen succumbs to wounds from Israeli gunfire near Jenin

Palestinian teen succumbs to wounds from Israeli gunfire near Jenin
  • Ibrahim Majed Ali Nasr was shot by Israeli live ammunition when forces entered the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin city
  • His killing raises the Palestinian death toll in Jenin governorate to 43 since the Israeli military assault began on Jan. 21

LONDON: A 16-year-old Palestinian died from injuries sustained earlier on Tuesday evening after being shot by Israeli forces during a raid in the northern occupied West Bank.

Ibrahim Majed Ali Nasr was shot by Israeli live ammunition when forces entered the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin city.

The teenager was shot in the chest, suffering a life-threatening injury, while another young man was injured in the leg, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society. Nasr was later declared dead at the hospital in Jenin.

Israeli forces raided a house, with no detentions reported, in Qabatiya on Tuesday evening.

Nasr’s killing raises the Palestinian death toll in Jenin governorate to 43 since the Israeli military assault began on Jan. 21. Dozens more have been injured or detained, the Palestine News Agency reported.


Iran: 27 inmates are still at large following Israeli airstrike

One of the buildings (C-L) in Iran's Evin prison complex in Tehran before it was heavily damaged by a fire. (AFP file photo)
One of the buildings (C-L) in Iran's Evin prison complex in Tehran before it was heavily damaged by a fire. (AFP file photo)
Updated 22 July 2025
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Iran: 27 inmates are still at large following Israeli airstrike

One of the buildings (C-L) in Iran's Evin prison complex in Tehran before it was heavily damaged by a fire. (AFP file photo)
  • The New York-based Center for Human Rights had criticized Israel for striking the prison, saying it violated the principle of distinction between civilian and military targets

TEHRAN, PARIS: Iran said on Tuesday 27 inmates were still at large after an Israeli airstrike last month targeted Evin prison in the north of the capital, Tehran, local media reported.

The airstrikes were part of Israel’s 12-day bombardment of Iran that killed about 1,100 people, while 28 were left dead in Israel in Iranian retaliatory strikes.

Judiciary’s news website, Mizanonline, quoted spokesman Asghar Jahangir as saying 75 prisoners had escaped following the strike, of which 48 were either recaptured or voluntarily returned. He said authorities will detain the others if they don’t hand themselves over.

Jahangir said the escapees were prisoners doing time for minor offenses.

FASTFACT

Between 1,500 and 2,000 prisoners were being held at the time in the prison.

Iranian officials said the Israeli strike killed 71 people, but local media reported earlier in July that 80 were left dead at the time, including prison staff, soldiers, inmates and visiting family members. Authorities also said five inmates died.

It’s unclear why Israel targeted the prison. 

The New York-based Center for Human Rights had criticized Israel for striking the prison, saying it violated the principle of distinction between civilian and military targets.

Amnesty International, an international nongovernmental organization that campaigns to protect human rights, called the Israeli attack “deliberate” and “a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”

The air strikes should therefore be “criminally investigated as war crimes,” it said.

“The Israeli military carried out multiple air strikes on Evin prison, killing and injuring scores of civilians and causing extensive damage and destruction in at least six locations across the prison complex,” Amnesty said, basing its assessment on what it said were verified video footage, satellite images and witness statements.

There was nothing to suggest that Evin prison could justifiably be seen as a “legal military objective,” it said.

 


Heat wave hits water, electricity supplies across much of Iran

Heat wave hits water, electricity supplies across much of Iran
Updated 22 July 2025
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Heat wave hits water, electricity supplies across much of Iran

Heat wave hits water, electricity supplies across much of Iran
  • The heat wave has been accompanied by drought, with the capital experiencing its lowest rainfall in 60 years

TEHRAN: A severe heat wave sweeping Iran has disrupted water and electricity supplies in much of the country, with reservoir levels falling to their lowest in a century, state media said on Tuesday.

Extreme temperatures, which began on Friday, are expected to ease gradually by Thursday.

Government offices in at least 15 of Iran’s 31 provinces, including the capital Tehran, have been ordered to close on Wednesday in a bid to conserve water and electricity.

The measure comes as temperatures in parts of southern and southwestern Iran topped 50 degrees Celsius.

Government spokeswoman Fatemeh MoHajjerani said authorities would extend office closures “if it deems necessary,” while warning of the “critical situation” in Tehran regarding water supplies.

The heat wave has been accompanied by drought, with the capital experiencing its lowest rainfall in 60 years. Water levels in the reservoirs which supply Tehran have fallen to “their lowest level in a century,” said the Tehran Provincial Water Supply Company, advising people to use a tank and pump to cope with mains disruption. Tehran provincial governor, Mohammad Sadegh Motamedian said the dams are only filled to 14 percent, adding that the capital is going through its fifth year of drought.

Many residents reported water supply cuts lasting several hours.

“It’s not just the heat — there’s also no electricity and no water,” said Moini, a 52-year-old housewife from Tehran. “Our whole lives have basically fallen apart.”

Many Iranian newspapers carried photographs of the low reservoir levels on their front pages on Tuesday.

 


US targets Houthis with fresh sanctions

Houthi security personnel stand guard in Sanaa, Yemen July 20, 2025. (REUTERS)
Houthi security personnel stand guard in Sanaa, Yemen July 20, 2025. (REUTERS)
Updated 22 July 2025
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US targets Houthis with fresh sanctions

Houthi security personnel stand guard in Sanaa, Yemen July 20, 2025. (REUTERS)
  • Among those targeted was Muhammad Al-Sunaydar, who the Treasury said manages a network of petroleum companies and was one of the most prominent petroleum importers in Yemen

WASHINGTON: The US on Tuesday imposed sanctions on what it said was a Houthi-linked petroleum smuggling and sanctions evasion network across Yemen in fresh action targeting the militant group.

The US Treasury Department in a statement said the two individuals and five entities sanctioned were among the most significant importers of petroleum products and money launderers that benefit the Houthis.

“The Houthis collaborate with opportunistic businessmen to reap enormous profits from the importation of petroleum products and to enable the group’s access to the international financial system,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Michael Faulkender.

“These networks of shady businesses underpin the Houthis’ terrorist machine, and Treasury will use all tools at its disposal to disrupt these schemes.”

Among those targeted was Muhammad Al-Sunaydar, who the Treasury said manages a network of petroleum companies and was one of the most prominent petroleum importers in Yemen.

Three companies in his network were also designated, with the Treasury saying they coordinated the delivery of $12 million worth of petroleum products with a US-designated company to the Houthis. 

Since Israel’s war in Gaza began in October 2023, the Houthis have been attacking vessels in the Red Sea in acts of solidarity with the Palestinians.

In January, the US re-designated the Houthi movement as a foreign terrorist organization, aiming to impose harsher economic penalties in response to its attacks on ships.


US envoy urges Syria’s Sharaa to revise policy or risk fragmentation

US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack attends an interview with Reuters in Beirut, Lebanon July 22.
US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack attends an interview with Reuters in Beirut, Lebanon July 22.
Updated 22 July 2025
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US envoy urges Syria’s Sharaa to revise policy or risk fragmentation

US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack attends an interview with Reuters in Beirut, Lebanon July 22.
  • Sharaa has promised to protect members of Syria’s many sectarian minorities
  • Barrack said the new government should consider being “more inclusive quicker” when it comes to integrating minorities into the ruling structure

BEIRUT: A US envoy has urged Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa to recalibrate his policies and embrace a more inclusive approach after a new round of sectarian bloodshed last week, or risk losing international support and fragmenting the country.

US envoy to Syria Thomas Barrack said he had advised Sharaa in private discussions to revisit elements of the pre-war army structure, scale back Islamist indoctrination and seek regional security assistance.

In an interview in Beirut, Barrack told Reuters that without swift change, Sharaa risks losing the momentum that once propelled him to power.

Sharaa should say: “I’m going to adapt quickly, because if I don’t adapt quickly, I’m going to lose the energy of the universe that was behind me,” Barrack said. He said Sharaa could “grow up as a president and say, ‘the right thing for me to do is not to follow my theme, which isn’t working so well.’“

Sharaa, leader of a former Al-Qaeda offshoot, came to power in Syria after fighters he led brought down President Bashar Assad in December last year after more than 13 years of civil war.

Though his own fighters have roots in Sunni Muslim militancy, Sharaa has promised to protect members of Syria’s many sectarian minorities. But that pledge has been challenged, first by mass killings of members of Assad’s Alawite sect in March, and now by the latest violence in the southwest.

Hundreds of people have been reported killed in clashes in the southern province of Sweida between Druze fighters, Sunni Bedouin tribes and Sharaa’s own forces. Israel intervened with airstrikes to prevent what it said was mass killing of Druze by government forces.

Barrack said the new government should consider being “more inclusive quicker” when it comes to integrating minorities into the ruling structure.

But he also pushed back against reports that Syrian security forces were responsible for violations against Druze civilians. He suggested that Daesh group militants may have been disguised in government uniforms and that social media videos are easily doctored and therefore unreliable.

“The Syrian troops haven’t gone into the city. These atrocities that are happening are not happening by the Syrian regime troops. They’re not even in the city because they agreed with Israel that they would not go in,” he said.

“No successor” to Sharaa

The US helped broker a ceasefire last week that brought an end to the fighting, which erupted between Bedouin tribal fighters and Druze factions on July 13.

Barrack said the stakes in Syria are dangerously high, with no succession plan or viable alternative to the country’s new government.

“With this Syrian regime, there is no plan B. If this Syrian regime fails, somebody is trying to instigate it to fail,” Barrack said. “For what purpose? There’s no successor.”

Asked if Syria could follow the dire scenarios of Libya and Afghanistan, he said: “Yes, or even worse.”

The US has said it did not support Israel’s airstrikes on Syria. Barrack said the strikes had added to the “confusion” in Syria.

Israel says Syria’s new rulers are dangerous militants, and has vowed to keep government troops out of the southwest and protect Syria’s Druze minority in the area, encouraged by calls from Israel’s own Druze community.

Barrack said his message to Israel is to have dialogue to alleviate their concerns about Syria’s new Sunni leaders and that the US could play the role of an “honest intermediary” to help resolve any concerns.

He said Sharaa had signaled from the beginning of his rule that Israel was not his enemy and that he could normalize ties in due time.

He said the United States was not dictating what the political format of Syria should be, other than stability, unity, fairness and inclusion.

“If they end up with a federalist government, that’s their determination. And the answer to the question is, everybody may now need to adapt.”