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Terrorist who murdered female soldier last week is killed in new terror attack
October 19, 2022
Emergency responders at the scene of a Palestinian shooting attack in Maale Adumim, Oct. 19, 2022.
(Twitter/Screenshot)
Udai Tamimi, who killed IDF soldier Noa Lazar was shot and killed in Maale Adumim after opening fire on security guards.
By David Hellerman, World Israel News
A Palestinian terrorist who was killed after opening fire on security guards at the entrance to Maale Adumim on Wednesday night was identified as Udai Tamimi, the same gunman who killed IDF Sgt. Noa Lazar last week.
Tamimi’s death ended a 10-day manhunt after he opened fire on a security checkpoint in eastern Jerusalem near the Shuafat refugee camp on Oct. 9. Two other Israelis were injured in that attack.
Tamimi opened fire on guards at the entrance to the Maale Adumim on Wednesday night. Guards returned fire, killing Tamimi who was pronounced dead at the scene by United Hatzalah medics. Hebrew reports said he was found carrying a grenade and knife.
A 24-year-old Israeli security guard was sent to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center with a gunshot wound in the hand. Hospital officials said he was listed in light condition.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid praised the security forces for neutralizing Tamimi and wished a speedy recovery to the injured guard.
“We will not rest until we lay our hands on every terrorist who harms Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers. We will act with an iron hand and without hesitation against terrorism,” Lapid said in a statement.
Taliban killed captives in restive Afghan province
By RIAZAT BUTT
October 17, 2022
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — The Taliban captured, bound and shot to death 27 men in Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley last month during an offensive against resistance fighters in the area, according to a report published Tuesday, refuting the group’s earlier claims that the men were killed in battle.
One video of the killings verified by the report shows five men, blindfolded with their hands tied behind their backs. Then, Taliban fighters spray them with gunfire for 20 seconds and cry out in celebration.
The investigation by Afghan Witness, an open-source project run by the U.K.-based non-profit Center for Information Resilience, is a rare verification of allegations that the Taliban have used brutal methods against opposition forces and their supporters, its researchers said. Since taking power in August 2021, the Taliban have imposed a tighter and harsher rule, even as they press for international recognition of their government.
David Osborn, the team leader of Afghan Witness, said the report gives the ”most clear-cut example” of the Taliban carrying out an “orchestrated purge” of resistance fighters.
Afghan Witness said it analyzed dozens of visual sources from social media — mostly videos and photographs — to conclusively link one group of Taliban fighters to the killings of 10 men in the Dara District of Panjshir, including the five seen being mowed down in the video.
It said it also confirmed 17 other extrajudicial killings from further images on social media, all showing dead men with their hands tied behind their backs. Videos and photos of Taliban fighters with the bodies aided geolocation and chrono-location, also providing close-ups of the fighters at the scene. These were cross-referenced with other videos suspected to feature the group.
“Using open-source techniques we have established the facts around the summary and systematic execution of a group of men in the Panjshir Valley in mid-September,” Osborn said. “At the time of their execution, the detained were bound, posing no threat to their Taliban captors.”
Enayatullah Khawarazmi, the Taliban-appointed spokesman for the defense minister, said a delegation is investigating the videos released on social media. He said he was unable to give further details as the investigation is ongoing.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman for the Taliban-run government, was not immediately available for comment.
Last month, Mujahid was reported as saying the Taliban had killed 40 resistance fighters and captured more than 100 in Panjshir. He gave no details on how the 40 men died.
The force fighting in the mountainous Panjshir Valley north of Kabul — a remote region that has defied conquerors before — rose out of the last remnants of Afghanistan’s shattered security forces. It has vowed to resist the Taliban after they overran the country and seized power in August 2021.
Ali Maisam Nazary, head of foreign relations at the National Resistance Front for Afghanistan, said: “The Taliban committed war crimes by killing POWs that surrendered to them point blank and the videos are evidence of this.”
Afghan Witness said it has credible evidence of a further 30 deaths due to last month’s Taliban offensive against alleged resistance fighters in Panjshir.
Iranian athlete Elnaz Rekabi sent home, fate uncertain
after competing without hijab
The Associated Press ·
Posted: Oct 18, 2022 6:55 AM ET | Last Updated: October 18
There is growing concern for the safety of Iranian rock climber Elnaz Rekabi after she competed in South Korea without wearing her nation's mandatory headscarf covering. Some fear Rekabi will be detained — or worse — when she arrives in Iran.
An Iranian female competitive climber left South Korea on Tuesday after competing at an event in which she climbed without her nation's mandatory headscarf covering, authorities said. Farsi-language media outside of Iran warned she may have been forced to leave early by Iranian officials and could face arrest back home, which Tehran quickly denied.
The decision by Elnaz Rekabi to forgo the headscarf, or hijab, came as protests in Iran sparked by the Sept. 16 death in custody of a 22-year-old woman have entered a fifth week. Mahsa Amini was detained by the country's morality police over her clothing.
The demonstrations in over 100 cities represent the most-serious challenge to Iran's theocracy since the mass protests surrounding its disputed 2009 presidential election.
A later Instagram post on an account attributed to Rekabi described her not wearing a hijab as "unintentional," though it wasn't immediately clear whether she wrote the post or what condition she was in at the time.
Rekabi, 33, left Seoul on a Tuesday morning flight, the Iranian Embassy in South Korea said.
But in a tweet, the embassy also denied "all the fake, false news and disinformation" regarding Rekabi's departure. It posted an image of her wearing a headscarf at a previous competition in Moscow, where she took a bronze medal.
Lawyer, human rights activist and senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute Kaveh Shahrooz says Iran is on the precipice of change as people continue to protest against the regime despite brutal crackdowns.
The BBC's Persian service, which has extensive contacts within Iran despite being banned from operating there, quoted an unnamed "informed source" who described Iranian officials as seizing both Rekabi's mobile phone and passport.
BBC Persian also said she initially had been scheduled to return on Wednesday, but her flight apparently had been moved up unexpectedly.
IranWire, another website focusing on the country, founded by Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari who once was detained by Iran, alleged that Rekabi would be immediately transferred to Tehran's notorious Evin prison. Evin prison was the site of a massive fire this weekend that killed at least eight prisoners.
Rekabi didn't put on a hijab during Sunday's final at the International Federation of Sport Climbing's Asia Championship, according to the Seoul-based Korea Alpine Federation, the organizers of the event.
'It's about human rights and women's rights'
Shohreh Bayat, an Iranian international chess referee, had a similar experience at the Women's World Chess Championship in Shanghai in January 2020.
She says she was wearing her hijab loosely, allowing her hair to show, and received a warning from the Iranian Chess Federation that she must wear it properly. She refused.
"I tried to even push it back more to show more of my hair as a protest," she told CBC News's Idil Mussa.
Shohreh Bayat, after deciding not to wear her hijab during the 2020 International Chess Federation Women's World Chess Championship in Shanghai, on Jan. 11, 2020. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
Bayat says as a result, she was ordered to issue a written apology, say all of her achievements belonged to the Iranian regime and to give interviews only to the state-run news agencies. She refused again.
"I couldn't do the things that they were asking me because it was against what I believe," she said. "This was the right thing to do, and I just wanted to be myself and I wanted to support women's rights and human rights."
Bayat says she stopped wearing the hijab altogether, and wound up seeking asylum in the U.K. after being warned she would be arrested if she returned home to Iran.
She calls Rekabi "our champion" and says her decision to not wear the headscarf was a very strong statement.
"It's just not about hijab. It's about human rights and women's rights."
Apology in Instagram post
Federation officials said Rekabi wore a hijab during her initial appearances at the one-week climbing event. She wore just a black headband when competing Sunday, her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail; she had a white jersey with Iran's flag as a logo on it.
The later Instagram post, written in the first person, offered an apology on Rekabi's behalf. The post blamed a sudden call for her to climb the wall in the competition — although footage of the competition showed Rekabi relaxed as she approached and after she competed.
Rekabi was on Iran's 11-member delegation, comprised of eight athletes and three coaches, to the event, according to the federation.
Federation officials said they were not initially aware of Rekabi competing without the hijab but looked into the case after receiving inquires about her. They said the event doesn't have any rules requiring female athletes wearing or not wearing headscarves. However, Iranian women competing abroad under the Iranian flag always wear the hijab.
"Our understanding is that she is returning to Iran, and we will continue to monitor the situation as it develops on her arrival," the International Federation of Sport Climbing, which oversaw the event, said in a statement. "It is important to stress that athletes' safety is paramount for us and we support any efforts to keep a valued member of our community safe in this situation."
The federation said it had been in touch with both Rekabi and Iranian officials, but declined to elaborate. The federation also declined to discuss the Instagram post attributed to Rekabi and the claims in it.
Hundreds killed in protests
Rekabi has finished on the podium three times in the Asian Championships, taking one silver and two bronze medals for her efforts.
So far, human rights groups estimate that over 200 people have been killed in the protests and the violent security force crackdown that followed. Iran has not offered a death toll in weeks. Thousands are believed to have been arrested.
Gathering information about the demonstrations remains difficult, however. Internet access has been disrupted for weeks by the Iranian government. Meanwhile, authorities have detained at least 40 journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have repeatedly alleged the country's foreign enemies are behind the ongoing demonstrations, rather than Iranians angered by Amini's death and the country's other woes.
Iranians have seen their life savings evaporate; the country's currency, the rial, plummet; and Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers has been reduced to tatters.
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