Islam - Current Day > 81 Executed Today in Saudi Arabia; ISIS Fanatic jailed in London; Nazanin released from Tehran prison

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The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Saturday mass executed 81 people

By Sommer Brokaw

Saudi Arabia flag is shown. File photo by Gil C/Shutterstock

March 12 (UPI) -- 

The execution of 81 people in a single day is believed to be the biggest mass execution in the history of the country, surpassing a mass execution in 1980 when 63 people were convicted and beheaded for seizing the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979, Deutsche Welle reported.

The executions on Saturday were carried out based on sentences of capital punishment for convictions of terrorism and capital crimes, Saudi's Ministry of Interior announced in the country's state-run Saudi Press Agency.

Among the crimes committed that the ministry announced were the murder of "innocent men, women and children" and aligning with terrorist groups such as ISIS, Al Qaeda and Houthis, targeting Saudi residents.

The ministry also announced that the individual crimes included targeting government personnel, the killing and maiming of law enforcement officers, planting bombs that targeted their vehicles and the smuggling of arms and bombs into the country. Other charges included kidnapping, torture and rape.

The individuals who were executed were found guilty of "committing multiple heinous crimes that left a large number of civilian and law enforcement officers dead," the SPA reported.

Each individual was seen by 13 judges over three separate stages of trial and provided with an attorney, according to the SPA.

Still, a Britain-based campaign group advocating for justice and human rights, Reprieve, condemned the mass execution.

"The world should know by now that when Mohammed Bin Salman promises reform, bloodshed is bound to follow," Reprieve said in a series of tweets condemning the mass execution on Saturday.

"Just last week the Crown Prince told journalists he plans to modernize Saudi Arabia's criminal justice system, only to order the largest mass execution in the country's history," Reprieve continued. "There are prisoners of conscience on Saudi death row, and others arrested as children or charged with non-violent crimes. We fear for everyone of them following this brutal display of impunity."

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia "soon, to beg for Saudi oil to replace Russian gas," Reprieve added.

"We cannot show our revulsion for Putin's atrocities by rewarding those of the Crown Prince," Repreive said. "Johnson must speak up and condemn these killings."

ISIS fanatic is jailed for spreading extremist propaganda

and faking university degree to get hospital job

By CHARLOTTE MCLAUGHLIN FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 15:07 EDT, 14 March 2022 

Ali Abdillahi, 31, put recordings of an Islamist extremist preacher who advocates armed jihad, and two ISIS propaganda videos showing executions and graphic violence online, the Old Bailey was told. 

The view count of the material uploaded to instant messaging app Telegram in July 2020 ranged from 280 to 1,300, the court was also told. 

A notebook also revealed his extremist mindset and a 'pledge of allegiance' to Isis was uncovered on his mobile phone. 

Abdillahi admitted disseminating a terrorist publication, perverting the course of justice and fraud by false representation and has been sentenced to eight years and 10 months in jail. 

Ali Abdillahi, 31, pictured, disseminated terrorist propaganda over instant messaging app Telegram

in July 2020, the Old Bailey was told

In July 2020, he also put fake details on his CV saying he had a biomedical science degree from the University of Hertfordshire to get work as a cardiographer through an agency, the court was told. If it was not for a forged certificate and false details on his CV, Abdillahi would not have got the job at South London's Croydon University Hospital.

However, there were no concerns raised about his work and he earned £2,100 before his employment ended upon his arrest in August 2020.

On Monday, Mr Justice Sweeney jailed him for eight years for disseminating terrorist publications, plus 10 months for perverting the course of justice.

Mr Sweeney said: ‘This is one of the more serious cases of its type. You had showed you committed these offences because of your support for Islamic extremism.’

He added a further three years on extended licence but imposed no separate sentence for the fraud charge.

Justice Sweeney said Abdillahi supported the concept of ‘Armed Jihad’, and viewed IS as the ‘inheritor of Islam’. 

On Monday, at the Old Bailey, pictured, Mr Justice Sweeney jailed him for eight years for disseminating terrorist publications, plus 10 months for perverting the course of justice

Detectives had discovered an invitation-only Telegram group called ‘Sons of Abdullah’ set up by Abdillahi. The videos showed a Syrian pilot being set on fire while alive, beheadings, suicide attacks and people being thrown from roofs. 

Abdillahi's devices were seized and examined after he was arrested at his home in Enfield, north London, August 7 2020 and charged 11 days later.

The Dutch national, of Colgate Place, Enfield, admitted five counts of disseminating a terrorist publication on the second day of his trial last November.

He had previously admitted perverting the course of justice by pretending to have a biomedical science degree from the University of Hertfordshire as part of a bail bid.

He also claimed to be studying for a master's degree but withdrew his application after investigations showed the information was false.

Abdillahi admitted a further charge of fraud by false representation.

Wearing thick-rimmed black glasses and a black suit, Abdillahi, who was born in Somalia and has lived in the UK since the age of seven, spoke only to confirm his identity as he stood in the dock at the Old Bailey. Friends and family looked down from the public gallery as the hearing went on.

Asked by officers why he did it, he claimed he never intended to deceive anyone and had been off his medications. ‘I believe I created a character for myself, and looking back, I do not know what is real and what is not,’ he said. ‘I was convinced I had a degree. My intention was not to lie or anything like that.’

Commander Richard Smith, who leads the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command, said: 'Extremist propaganda online is extremely harmful and is a means by which terrorist groups seek to radicalise people all over the world.

'Abdillahi sent videos and recordings glorifying extremist violence to promote the hate-filled mindset he supported to others.

'Covid-19 restrictions were in force when the investigation was launched but this did not stop officers acting quickly and building a strong case against Abdillahi.'

British charity worker freed in Iran, returns home

after 6 years in prison

By Clyde Hughes

   

Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of imprisoned charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, is seen during a demonstration outside the Iranian Embassy in London, Britain, on June 21, 2019. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was freed and returned to Britain on Wednesday after six years in prison. File Photo by Andy Rain/EPA-EFE

March 16 (UPI) -- A British-Iranian woman who's an executive for a charity has been released after six years in captivity and was allowed to return to Britain, officials said on Wednesday.

Iranian authorities sentenced Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, to a five-year sentence in 2016 after accusing her of trying to overthrow the government in Tehran. She was in the city visiting family.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe and the British government have long denied the charges.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been released -- along with Anoosheh Ashoori, a woman who was arrested and jailed in Iran in 2017 on spying charges.

"I am very pleased to confirm that the unfair detention of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori in Iran has ended today, and they will now return to the U.K.," Johnson said in a tweet.

"The U.K. has worked intensively to secure their release and I am delighted they will be reunited with their families and loved ones."

British lawmaker Tulip Siddiq also said that before she left Iran, Zaghari-Ratcliffe had remained "under the control of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard."

Along with her original sentence, Iranian authorities gave Zaghari-Ratcliffe a second jail sentence last April for purportedly spreading propaganda against the Iranian government. She lost an appeal in October.

Sister-in-law Rebecca Ratcliffe said Wednesday was an emotional day.

"It feels like we're on the home run now but until she leaves that airport we can't believe it," Ratcliffe said before Zaghari-Ratcliffe left the country, according to BBC News.

Both women are home today, St Patrick's Day, in the UK.

Report: North Korea Continues to Punish Religious Practice

By Yonhap News Agency   

Tourists use binoculars to see North Korea from the Goseong Unification Observatory in the the demilitarized zone in Gangwon-do, South Korea. File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo

SEOUL, South Korea, (UPI) -- The North Korean government continued to punish those engaging in religious practices last year, with executions, torture and other abuse, the U.S. State Department said in an annual report Tuesday.

In the 2016 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, the department reconfirmed human rights abuses the North has long been accused of, including its denial of the right to religious freedom.

"The government continued to deal harshly with those who engaged in almost any religious practices through executions, torture, beatings, and arrests," the report said. "An estimated 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners, some imprisoned for religious reasons, were believed to be held in the political prison camp system in remote areas under horrific conditions."

Last year's report pointedly said the exercise of religious freedom continued to be nearly "nonexistent" in North Korea. But that word was dropped this year.

The report comes as tensions run high between Washington and Pyongyang over the communist regime's missile and nuclear programs.

North Korea releases Canadian pastor held since 2015:

state news agency

CTVNews.ca Staff 

Aug 9, 2017

After languishing for more than two years in a North Korean prison, a Canadian pastor was released Wednesday, according to the country’s state news agency.

Hyeon Soo Lim, 62, a pastor with the Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Mississauga, Ont., had travelled to North Korea more than a hundred times, leading humanitarian programs and even opening an orphanage. But during his last trip in 2015, he was detained and charged with attempting to overthrow North Korea’s regime using religion.

In what is believed to be a coerced statement, Lim soon admitted to the crimes after being sentenced to hard labour for life.

In this file image made from July 30, 2015, video, Canadian Hyeon Soo Lim speaks in Pyongyang, North Korea. (AP Photo)

“There were rumours that he was affiliated with the uncle that Kim Jong Un had executed a few years back, and that was partly the reason for his incarceration," Jack Kim, a senior advisor with HanVoice, a Canada-based human rights organization that assists North Korean refugees, recently told CTV News.

Then, two years and dozens of delicate diplomatic communications later, a Canadian delegation led by Daniel Jean, a national security advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, travelled to Pyongyang this week to discuss Lim’s case in person.

"Pastor Lim’s health and well-being remain of utmost importance to the Government of Canada, and we are working to ensure that he receives any required medical attention," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.

That delegation was pivotal towards securing Lim’s release, Ontario MPP Raymond Cho said.

“It is important that Kim Jong Un got the representatives from Canada, so we saved his face,” Cho, who is Korean-Canadian, told CTV News. “It is a very good gesture.”

Since being imprisoned, Lim’s health was reportedly failing. He suffers from high blood pressure and allegedly lost nearly 40 kilograms while incarcerated.

According to North Korea’s news agency, Lim was released on “sick bail.”

Daesh goes on Killing Spree in Syrian Village - Executes Children

At least 34 people killed and dozens injured in the village of Aqarib Al Safi

Syrians take part in a war safety awareness course at a UNICEF make-shift school al-Sakhour

neighbourhood in the eastern part of the northern city of Aleppo, on May 18, 2017. Image Credit: AFP

Gulf News
Reuters

Beirut: Daesh attacked a village near the main road between Aleppo and Homs on Thursday, killing many residents, Syrian state media and a war monitor said.

The terrorist group has lost large swathes of territory recently in Syria after expanding rapidly in 2014 and 2015, and is under assault from a US-backed coalition of Arab and Kurdish militias as well as by the army (Syrian), backed by Russia.

However, it still mounts occasional counter attacks including a swift advance in December to capture Palmyra, which it held for several weeks before the army retook the city.

The insurgents said on a social media feed it had captured the village of Aqarib Al Safi, but the government-run SANA news agency reported that the attack had been repulsed.

SANA said Daesh fighters had killed 20 people in the village before the army and allied militia drove them away. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that clashes were still going on there and in the village of Al Saboura.

The Observatory said that at least 34 people, including both civilians and fighters on both sides, had been killed and that dozens had been injured.

Many of the people who live in that part of Syria belong to the Ismaili sect, an offshoot of Shiites. In 2015, Daesh killed 46 civilians in a nearby town, the Observatory said.

The Observatory, a Britain-based monitor of the war, said that at least 15 of those killed were civilians, five of them children, and that three of them died in execution-style killings.

The villages are north of Al Salamiya close to the only road still usable between Aleppo and other parts of Syria held by the government.

The army and its allies hold the road and a small strip of land on each side, with Daesh controlling the eastern area and Syrian rebel groups, including Islamists, the western area.

The Observatory said the attack was the most violent so far this year by Daesh on the road.

Syria’s civil war began in 2011 after mass protests against the rule of President Bashar Al Assad and has killed hundreds of thousands of people, driven half the country’s population from their homes and dragged in world powers.

That's assuming 'world powers' weren't already involved in the uprising.

Things Are Beginning to Change in North Korea

Activist: Ordinary North Koreans have little respect

for 'that kid' Kim Jong Un

Ordinary North Koreans are calling him a kid

as they become more aware of the outside world

By Elizabeth Shim UPI


North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was nominated chairman of the Korean Workers’ Party, but more North Koreans do not hold him in high regard, an activist says. File Photo by Rodong Sinmun

SEOUL, May 20 (UPI) -- Kim Jong Un has yet to earn the grudging respect of ordinary North Koreans.

Most North Koreans who do not curry favor with the regime do not refer to him as the "general" or the "supreme leader," according to defector and activist Jeong Kwang-il.

In the past, North Korean leaders were addressed with honorifics, Jeong said, according to South Korean newspaper Donga Ilbo.

"But nowadays when I speak to North Koreans on the phone, they just call him 'Jong Un,' the way one would refer to a friend," Jeong said.

The North Koreans Jeong referred to are most likely sources of information located in the country.

That trend could be frustrating the young Kim, who recently was declared "Chairman" during North Korea's Seventh Party Congress.

The new role was announced in order to consolidate his rule over the country and for Kim to follow in the footsteps of his biological grandfather Kim Il Sung.

But the lack of reforms and improvement to people's lives could be having a greater effect on perceptions of Kim in the country.

Jeong also said during a conference held Thursday in London that defector activism, including the delivery of South Korean videos, such as films of resettled defectors in the South, are making an impact on North Korean understanding of the outside world.

Jeong and his organization No Chain has delivered a total of 500-600 compact discs or flash drives since 2012. Memory cards that can be placed inside mobile phones have also been sent across the border.

North Koreans caught viewing banned material are being let go, that is, if they can bribe officers, which allows the media to circulate across the country.

Disillusioned with the regime after viewing the media, some North Koreans have started to call the leader "that guy Jong Un" or sometimes "that kid," according to Jeong.

There's evidence North Koreans are no longer afraid to breach rules of conduct, the activist said.

Let us hope and pray that this is a beginning to the opening up of North Korea. If Kim Jong Un continues to loosen his grip on the people, only good can come from it. The fear is that he could react very poorly when he becomes fully aware of it. We have seen what he is capable of doing in executing members of his own family, so there is much danger yet.

Really Bad PR - ISIS Executes 8 Dutch Jihadists

ISIS executes 8 Dutch jihadists for ‘incitement’

This has got to hurt ISIS propaganda efforts

Fighters of the Islamic State © Stringer / Reuters

Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) fighters in Iraq have reportedly killed 8 Dutch jihadists following a month-long altercation with a group of foreign fighters which involved shootouts and deaths on both sides, activists report.

"Daesh (Arabic acronym for IS) executed eight Dutch fighters on Friday in Maadan, Raqa province, after accusing them of attempting desertion and mutiny," wrote Abu Mohammad, a citizen journalist from Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS) on his Twitter page on Monday.

Tensions between Iraqi IS leaders and a group of about 75 fighters of Dutch origin have been rising since the Dutch established a zone in the Al Furusiya area of the terror group’s stronghold of Raqqa as their headquarters. Iraqi IS commanders sought to thwart their attempts at relative autonomy by capturing an ‘instigator,’ who allegedly called on others to flee. After another such capture led to the death of a Dutch fighter during an interrogation, the internal conflict intensified, ending up in a gunfight.

The foreign fighters reportedly complained that “the Iraqi leadership started to behave arrogantly with the Europeans and robbed their rights in favor of the Iraqi fighters,” according to Mohammed.

In a bid to appease the European jihadists, Iraqi leaders sent their representative to settle the issue. However, the intermediary was not welcomed and was apparently slaughtered in reprisal for the killing of the Dutch fighter.

In the aftermath of the attack senior IS leadership in Iraq ordered the arrest of all members of the Dutch cell. As the Iraqis tried to enter the zone, they faced armed resistance from the Dutchmen which saw several gang members killed and wounded on both sides. On Friday, eight out of 72 jailed Dutchmen were executed “after being accused of incitement against ISIS,” according to RBSS.

Last year the Dutch secret services reported that around 200 Dutch fighters have joined Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, has previously stressed he would prefer radicalized Dutch nationals to die in Syria rather than return home.

“The only aim is to kill as many people as possible. Those people will soon be back to carry out attacks here as well. As prime minister, I am here to protect our people,” he said in March last year.

Between 3,000 and 5,000 jihadists trained in IS terror camps are freely wandering around Europe, according to Europol estimates. Rob Wainwright, Europol’s director, has said the terror threat to Europe is at its highest in more than a decade.

Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, it is estimated that between 25,000 and 30,000 ‘foreign fighters’ have left for Iraq and Syria, with Europe accounting for 21 percent of the total number.

What's the Difference Between Saudi Arabia and ISIS? Not Much!

NEWS FLASH: Samar Badawi, human rights defender & sister of Raif Badawi, arrested in Saudi Arabia

Samar Badawi and son Joud

Today's arrest of prominent human rights defender Samar Badawi is the latest example of Saudi Arabia’s utter contempt for its human rights obligations and provides further damning proof of the authorities’ ongoing campaign to suppress all signs of peaceful dissent. 

According to local activists, this morning Samar was arrested in Jeddah and transferred along with her two-year-old daughter Joud to a police station. She is believed to have been arrested at least partly in connection with her alleged role in managing a Twitter account campaigning for the release of her former husband, Waleed Abu al-Khair.

“Samar Badawi’s arrest today is yet another alarming setback for human rights in Saudi Arabia and demonstrates the extreme lengths to which the authorities are prepared to go in their relentless campaign to harass and intimidate human rights defenders into silent submission,” said Philip Luther, Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Program.

“Just weeks after Saudi Arabia shocked the world by executing 47 people in a single day, including the Shi’a Muslim cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, it has once again demonstrated its utter disregard for human rights. Samar Badawi has been arrested purely for peacefully exercising her right to freedom of expression, she must be immediately and unconditionally released.”

This is not the first time Samar has been arrested or imprisoned for her human rights work, including campaigning for women's right to drive. In December 2014 the Ministry of Interior issued a travel ban on Samar to prevent her from travelling to Brussels for a human rights event.

Samar’s former husband, Waleed Abu al-Khair, is serving a 15-year prison sentence also in connection with his work protecting and defending human rights in Saudi Arabia. Hundreds of thousands of Amnesty International’s supporters campaigned for Waleed's release during Write for Rights 2015. 

Samar is a strong defender for women's human rights in Saudi Arabia. Last year she shared with us a heartfelt letter about Waleed, who defended her while she was in prison before they were married.

Raif Badawi

Samar's brother Raif Badawi was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for setting up a website for public debate. He received the first 50 lashes just over a year ago.

Amnesty International is calling for all prisoners of conscience in Saudi Arabia to be immediately and unconditionally released. You can take action for all peaceful activists in Saudi Arabia. 

We will continue to keep you updated as we learn more about this most recent arrest. Thank you for continuing to speak out for Samar, Raif, Waleed and all human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia.

Sincerely,

Hilary Homes
Campaigner, Middle East & North Africa
Amnesty International Canada 

P.S. Want to speak out? Here are 6 Ways you can help Raif Badawi and other activists in Saudi Arabia

Executing 47 people in one day is an act of barbarity that puts Saudi Arabia in the same category as ISIS - hell-bent on returning the world to the dark ages. Saudi Arabia doesn't deserve beautiful people like Samar and Raif Badawi and al-Khair. It is the brutal treatment of such good people that reveals the evil of Islam; it is Satanic, and Satan hates all that are good.

Please pray for these people and get involved if you can.

Iran Execution Rates Approaching ISIS Levels

The majority of those killed in 2015 were 

convicted of drug charges

BBC Middle East

There has been an "unprecedented spike" in the number of executions in Iran, Amnesty International has warned.

The rights group said it believed 694 people were killed between 1 January and 15 July, almost three times the figure acknowledged by the authorities.

It said credible reports suggested Iran executed at least 743 people in 2014.

Amnesty said the surge was disturbing as the death sentences were invariably imposed by courts "completely lacking in independence and impartiality".

"They are imposed either for vaguely worded or overly broad offences, or acts that should not be criminalised at all, let alone attract the death penalty," it added.

"Trials in Iran are deeply flawed, detainees are often denied access to lawyers, and there are inadequate procedures for appeal, pardon and commutation."

'Climate of fear'
As of 15 July 2015, the Iranian authorities had officially acknowledged 246 judicial executions this year but Amnesty International said it had received reports of a further 448 executions.
If confirmed, that would be the equivalent to more than three a day.

In 2014, 289 people were executed according to official sources but reports suggested that the real figure was at least 743, the group added.

"Iran's staggering execution toll for the first half of this year paints a sinister picture of the machinery of the state carrying out premeditated, judicially-sanctioned killings on a mass scale," said Said Boumedouha, deputy director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa programme.

He added: "The use of the death penalty is always abhorrent, but it raises additional concerns in a country like Iran where trials are blatantly unfair."

Amnesty said the reasons behind the surge in executions were unclear, but that the majority of those killed in 2015 were convicted of drug charges.

"The [Iranian] authorities have confirmed that around 80% of executions are for these [drugs] offences," Amnesty researcher Raha Bahreini told the BBC.

Iran's anti-narcotics law provides mandatory death sentences for a range of drug-related offences, including trafficking more than 5kg (11lbs) of narcotics derived from opium or more than 30g (1oz) of heroin, morphine, cocaine or their chemical derivatives.

Iranian Kurds protest in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil against
the execution of Kurdish rebels in Iran (31 October 2013)

Among those executed are members of ethnic and religious minorities

Amnesty said this was in direct breach of international law, which restricts the use of the death penalty to only the "most serious crimes" - those involving intentional killing.

"For years, Iranian authorities have used the death penalty to spread a climate of fear in a misguided effort to combat drug trafficking, yet there is not a shred of evidence to show that this is an effective method of tackling crime," Mr Boumedouha said.

Among those executed are members of ethnic and religious minorities convicted of "enmity against God" and "corruption on earth", including Kurdish political prisoners and Sunni Muslims.

Amnesty said that several thousand people were believed to be on death row on Iran. In many cases, they are notified that they will be executed only a few hours beforehand. The families of those executed are sometimes informed days, if not weeks, later.

3 executions per day - that's got to be close to ISIS levels. If they will do that to their own people, how bad will they be if they get control of Syria, or Lebanon, or Yemen? 

Hamas Committed Horrible War Crimes - and It's All Israel's Fault

Hamas Is Accused of Using Gaza War as Cover to Torture and Kill Palestinians

Gaza - last summer

By ISABEL KERSHNER and JODI RUDOREN

JERUSALEM — The militant group Hamas used last summer’s war with Israel in the Gaza Strip to carry out extrajudicial killings of at least 23 Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel and to torture dozens of others, including political rivals, Amnesty International charged in a report issued early Wednesday.

Air Strikes

In a reminder of the region’s churning tensions, the Israeli military launched predawn airstrikes on Gaza on Wednesday in response to a rocket fired from the coastal territory the night before.

The rocket landed near Gan Yavne, an Israeli town outside the port city of Ashdod, causing no injuries but puncturing the fragile calm that has mostly prevailed since the 50-day war ended last August.

Israel’s defense minister, Moshe Yaalon, said in a statement that the rocket had been fired by Islamic Jihad, not Hamas, the Islamic organization that controls the crowded coastal territory and has generally tried to enforce an informal cease-fire with Israel. But Mr. Yaalon said that Israel viewed Hamas as responsible. “It is in Hamas’s interest to act to rein in any attempt to fire at Israel,” he said. “Otherwise, we will be forced to act with greater force.”

Gaza residents awoke to the familiar sound of heavy bombardments for the first time in months. Palestinian news organizations reported that airstrikes hit mostly in the southern towns of Rafah and Khan Younis, and that training sites for the military wing of Hamas as well as Islamic Jihad were among the targets.

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner of the Israeli military said in a statement, “The reality that Hamas’s territory is used as a staging ground to attack Israel is unacceptable and intolerable and will bear consequences.”

Executions

As the exchange threatened to reignite cross-border conflict, the Amnesty report focused on what happened within Gaza. It said that many of those executed in July and August were on trial at the time, having been charged with collaboration, or were awaiting the outcome of appeals against death sentences from a military court in Gaza on the same charges. Two had been convicted and were serving prison terms when they were killed.

“In the chaos of the conflict, the de facto Hamas administration granted its security forces free rein to carry out horrific abuses, including against people in its custody,” Philip Luther, the director of the Middle East and North Africa Program of Amnesty International, said in a statement. “These spine-chilling actions, some of which amount to war crimes, were designed to exact revenge and spread fear across the Gaza Strip.”

Hamas, which has not accepted responsibility for the killings, responded to the report by blaming Israel for creating a “situation of chaos” during the war. Mushir al-Masri, a spokesman for Hamas, said that Israel had attacked the Gaza security services, preventing them from managing Palestinian internal affairs properly.

“The Amnesty report about Hamas needs to be more precise,” Mr. Masri said in a telephone interview. “Hamas did not claim responsibility for the killing of collaborators during the war,” he said. “There was a press release issued by a group of Palestinian resistance factions. Hamas was not part of them.”

In reports published in recent months, Amnesty International accused Israel and the armed wing of Hamas of carrying out war crimes last summer. The human rights organization said that Israel had shown “callous indifference” by carrying out airstrikes on homes that killed many civilians.

Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas’s military wing, fired thousands of rockets and mortars indiscriminately toward civilian areas in Israel, according to Amnesty International, and also endangered Palestinian civilians by reportedly launching rockets from within civilian facilities, including schools and a hospital in Gaza.

We've known this for a long time, but to have it documented by Amnesty and publicized by the news media, has been a long time coming and a genuine surprise.

Nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including more than 500 children, were killed during the conflict, according to the United Nations, and more than 70 Israelis died, most of them soldiers.

On Aug. 22, one day after Israel displayed its intelligence capabilities by killing three top Hamas commanders in Gaza, up to 18 Palestinians were summarily executed in public in what was seen as a warning to the people of the Gaza Strip.

Masked Palestinian gunmen in black T-shirts and pants paraded seven of the suspected collaborators, handcuffed and hooded, to their deaths outside a downtown mosque as they knelt in hoods in front of a crowd of men, women, and children, the report says.

After weeks in which the militants had fought from the shadows, mostly keeping out of sight, the killings were meant to be photographed and publicized. Amnesty International said the killings were part of an operation in Gaza called Strangling Necks, aimed at instilling fear and settling scores.

One of those killed was Atta Najjar, a former police officer under the Palestinian Authority, which was overthrown by Hamas in Gaza in 2007. Amnesty said that Mr. Najjar, who had a mental disability, was arrested in 2009 and convicted of collaborating with Israel, and had been serving a 15-year prison term imposed by a military court when he was dragged out and killed.

In addition, "perceived political opponents" of Hamas were abducted, tortured or assaulted - "particularly members of the rival Fatah party and former members of the Palestinian Authority security forces in Gaza".

"These abuses too were committed with impunity," the report says. "Committed with 'impunity' or with 'approval'"?

BBC Middle East correspondent Kevin Connelly says Hamas exercises undisputed authority within Gaza, and Amnesty's powerful report depicts an organisation responding to the relentless pressure of Israeli military operations with a brutal campaign against its own enemies within.

Amnesty called on the Palestinian authorities to "impartially and independently" investigate the allegations, and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Like that's going to happen!

Majd Al Waheidi contributed reporting from Gaza. - Majd - get out of Gaza now!

Be Careful Around Kim Jong-un, He's a Little Touchy

North Korea Defence Chief Hyon Yong-chol 'executed'

From BBC Asia

North Korea's Defence Minister Hyon Yong-chol has been executed, South Korea's spy agency has told parliament, according to media reports.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that MPs were told Mr Hyon had been killed on 30 April by anti-aircraft fire.

Anti-aircraft fire? Wow! I guess Kim wanted him really, really dead.

He is believed to have been accused of showing disloyalty to North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un.

Reports from North Korea are impossible to independently confirm.

There were few details of the reported execution, but Yonhap - quoting South Korea's National Intelligence Agency briefing - said Mr Hyon had fallen asleep during an event attended by Kim Jong-un.

In a normal country, you might get 'fired' for that, not 'fired at'.

Mr Hyon became military chief in 2012 following a purge of officials.

He is believed to have been a general since 2010, though little is known about him.

He served on the committee for late leader Kim Jong-il's funeral in December 2011, an indication of an influential role within the political elite.

Meanwhile:

A High-Ranking Defector Predicts Kim Will Fall within 3 Years

Seoul, South Korea (CNN)While the late Kim Jong Il imprisoned his enemies, his son and current North Korean leader simply executes them, says one of the highest-level officials to escape the isolated country in years.

A man we are referring to simply as Park to protect his identity tells CNN, in his first-ever interview, that Kim Jong Un's cruelty is shocking those around him.

He says, while his father and grandfather Kim Il Sung were both considered cruel by many around the world, Kim Jong Un is taking ruling by fear to a new level.

"During his first three years in power, hundreds of the elite have been executed," Park says, adding this brutality is shaking an already weak support base.

Much of what Park tells us cannot be independently confirmed, as North Korea is one of the most closed and repressive countries on Earth.

Regime defector claims Kim Jong Un poisoned aunt (right)

Execution claims
However, Park says, within three months of taking over from his power, seven of Kim's closest aides were killed, along with their entire families, he claims, including the children.

One of those close aides was his own Uncle. When his Aunt complained, he had her poisoned.

South Korean intelligence believes Kim has already executed 15 senior officials so far this year.

"A lot of top officials in North Korea are not sure which direction Kim Jong Un is taking them in," says Park. "He doesn't know how to be a leader. He doesn't know politics, economy, culture or diplomacy."

Initial plans for a more open market economy modeled on China was soon dumped, says Park, once it became clear opening up could jeopardize Kim's iron grip on power.

"People are struggling to survive and are trading on the black market so the official economy is barely functioning." Park adds "a lot of people are trading foreign currency and running small businesses but the power of the state to control that money is weakening."

On a rare visit to North Korea, CNN put the claims of high-level executions to Park Yong Chol, the deputy director of the DPRK Institute for Research into National Reunification -- a think tank with links to the highest levels of North Korea's government.

He dismissed the claims as "baseless and groundless," but did not deny executions had occurred in North Korea. "It is very normal for any country to go after hostile elements and punish them and execute them."

Uncle being taken to firing squad

Tenuous grip on power?
Park predicts Kim's leadership may implode within three years. He says he does not know what or who would follow.

Park is not the first North Korean defector to predict Kim's days in power are numbered although many experts cast doubt on those forecasts.

Park also claims senior officials are increasingly questioning Kim's claim to the throne. Many believe his mother was born in Japan, an historical enemy of the Kim dynasty, which obsesses over a pure regal bloodline. Park says many doubt he ever met his grandfather, the founder of the country, Kim Il Sung.

"Kim Il Sung was the leader of the Paektu bloodline, but there is not a single photo of them taken together. That is why people suspect Kim Jong Un was never recognized by his grandfather."

Senior officials are also concerned by Kim Jong Un's move away from its main ally and sponsor, China. Park claims when Kim learned Chinese President Xi Jinping was visiting South Korea last July, he gave a directive to stop government-level interaction with China. (see - touchy).

"The blood alliance with China which lasted for decades became neglected. China chose South Korea for its strategic partnership. North Korea has become very troublesome to China. This is how Kim Jong Un has isolated the country even further."

This should make North Korea more vulnerable to sanctions or other action at the UN. China has been vetoing most attempts to deal with the Kims, but they may be more open to change now. 

On the other hand, as we know, when leaders are in serious decline in public favor, one of the best tools to remedy that is to start a war. This could be a very dangerous time for southeast Asia.

Kim Jong-un - A boy in man's clothes who takes himself far too seriously