Middle East Madness > Sharia rules Syria's temporary constitution; Syrian cleric explains how to slaughter Alawites; Turkey arrests Erdogan's political foes

 

Syria: President signs temporary constitution 

establishing Sharia rule for five years

Mar 15, 2025 3:00 pm By Robert Spencer

Not that al-Sharaa has the slightest intention of relinquishing power or establishing a secular state in five years’ time.

Syria’s interim president signs constitution enshrining Islamist rule for 5 years

by Ghaith Alsayed and Kareem Chehayeb, Associated Press, March 14, 2025:

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria’s interim president on Thursday signed a temporary constitution that leaves the country under Islamist rule while promising to protect the rights of all Syrians for five years during a transitional phase.

The nation’s interim rulers have struggled to exert their authority across much of Syria since the Islamist former insurgent group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, led a lightning insurgency that overthrew longtime President Bashar Assad in December.

Former HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa is now the country’s interim president — a decision that was announced after a meeting of the armed groups that took part in the offensive against Assad. At the same meeting, the groups agreed to repeal the country’s old constitution and said a new one would be drafted.

While many were happy to see an end to the Assad family’s dictatorial rule of more than 50 years in the war-torn country, religious and ethnic minorities have been skeptical of the new Islamist leaders and reluctant to allow Damascus under its new authorities to assert control of their areas.

Abdulhamid Al-Awak, one of the seven members of the committee al-Sharaa tasked to draft the temporary constitution, told a news conference Thursday that it would maintain some previsions from the previous one, including the stipulation that the head of state has to be a Muslim and Islamic law is the main source of jurisprudence.

But Al-Awak, a constitutional law expert who teaches at Mardin Artuklu University in Turkey, also said that the temporary constitution includes provisions that enshrine freedom of expression and the media….

Sure!  

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Syria: Muslim cleric in mosque explains

methods of slaughtering Alawites

Mar 15, 2025 9:00 am By Robert Spencer

Imagine the international publicity that would ensue if a priest or a rabbi or a cleric of any other religion explained methods of killing those who did not believe, while sitting in a house of worship. But no one will take any particular notice of this. Now, why is that? Why has the establishment media decided that the image of Islam must be protected at all costs? Who is paying them?

Much to my Sorrow, by George, I have no idea!

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Erdogan's government arrests Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu in Turkish political crackdown

By Doug Cunningham

Political opposition leader and Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was in Turkish police custody Wednesday, arrested days before being chosen as the presidential candidate for the Republican People's Party. He said it is an attempt to use security forces "to usurp the will of our nation." File Photo by Sedat Suna/ EPA-EFE

March 19 (UPI) -- Political opposition leader and Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was in Turkish police custody Wednesday after he was arrested days before being chosen as the presidential candidate for the Republican People's Party.

"I'm sorry to say, a handful of minds trying to usurp the will of our nation have used my beloved police officers, the security forces of this country, as instruments of evil, and have gathered hundreds of police officers at the door of my home, the home of 16 million Istanbulites," Imamoglu said.

"We are facing great bullying, but I want you to know that I will not give up. I love you all so much. I entrust myself to my nation. Let all my nation know that I will stand tall."

One of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most powerful political rivals, Imamoglu is accused by prosecutors of alleged corruption and aiding a terrorist group.

Related

• Imprisoned PKK founder calls for it to disarm, 'dissolve itself' for peace with Turkey
• Turkey's opposition party scores key local election wins
• Erdogan's ruling party suffers losses in Turkey's 3 largest cities

His arrest came against a backdrop of a nationwide Turkish crackdown on political opposition figures.

Erdogan's government rounded up and detained 100 other alleged suspects including journalists, politicians and businessmen.

In other online and social media statements, Imamoglu said "the will of the people cannot be silenced" as he vowed to uphold democracy and justice worldwide by standing firm in a fight for fundamental rights and freedoms.

Erdogan has held political power for 22 years. and critics allege he is an authoritarian.

"The authoritarian and highly centralized presidential government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan has set back Turkey's human rights record by decades, targeting perceived government critics and political opponents, profoundly undermining the independence of the judiciary, and hollowing out democratic institutions," Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

Istanbul's prosecutor's office claimed in a statement that Imamoglu has allegedly aided the outlawed Kurdistan Worker's Party, or PKK, through a political agreement with the pro-Kurdish People's Freedom and Democratic Party.

If the Kurdish People's Freedom and Democratic Party is a legal party, then how can working with them be illegal? This corruption is worthy of a third-world country.

The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office said Imamoglu allegedly helped the PKK, "by knowingly participating in the urban consensus activity, which aimed to increase the effectiveness of the terrorist organization in metropolitan areas, as stated by the management."

The urban consensus is a political agreement to join together to support the same candidate in several Istanbul municipal election districts.

The political crackdown follows big losses by Erdogan's party in last year's local elections, spearheaded by Imamoglu's opposition party Istanbul mayoral win.

Islam - Africa > Millions fleeing war in Sudan; Dozens slaughtered by Boko Haram; Fulani Herdsmen kill 16 Christians this week

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UN says 'horrible suffering' in Sudan only growing as more people are displaced

As fierce fighting in Darfur once again pushes thousands of Sudanese to flee their homes, more must be done to alleviate the suffering of the millions already displaced, a UN official tells AFP.

Issued on: 03/11/2023 - 05:59; 2 min

Chadian cart owners transport belongings of Sudanese people who fled the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, while crossing the border between Sudan and Chad in Adre, Chad, August 4, 2023. © Zohra Bensemra, Reuters

By:NEWS WIRES

"Six months and six million people forced to move, that's an average of one million per month, it's horrible suffering," said Mamadou Dian Balde, the top regional official for the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR).

The war between troops loyal to Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo has left more than 9,000 dead since April, according to a UN report.

Of the nearly six million who have fled, 1.2 million have left the country, "very proud people who find themselves begging" and whose lives have been "totally disrupted," the UN official said.

He warned that while the world's attention has been shifted to the war in Gaza, the number of people fleeing their homes in Sudan had started to rise again, as RSF forces advance toward Nyala, the country's second city in the heart of Darfur.

Another UN official in the region, Dominique Hyde, said on social media Thursday she had witnessed "dramatic scenes" at the border with Sudan.

"10,000 people seeking safety have arrived in the last three days," she said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meanwhile said he was "deeply troubled" at information about an "imminent large-scale attack" by Sudan's paramilitary forces in El-Facher, the capital of North Darfur.

More and more people from Darfur are being pushed south, first to Chad in recent weeks and now to South Sudan.

New camps

Mamadou Dian Balde said the priority was for a cessation of hostilities, noting that ongoing negotiations in Saudi Arabia's Jeddah need to "succeed in stopping the fighting."

Talks between the warring parties resumed at the end of October. Previous attempts at mediation only resulted in brief truces, which were systematically violated.

In the meantime, "we must alleviate the suffering (of refugees) by providing resources to these people whose numbers are only increasing," he said.

The UN's humanitarian response plan in August called for around $1 billion in funding, anticipating a number of 1.8 million refugees by the end of 2023.

That plan has only received 38 percent of the funding required, while "the needs are growing," said the UN official, noting that most refugees were going to the poorest parts of South Sudan and southern Chad, where local communities cannot absorb them.

That means the UN will need to build new camps.

"It's the last thing we want to do," said the UN official, but "we need to create new camps, because the populations are at the border" and in "extremely miserable conditions."

He also called for helping the local communities. "We want development. We have to invest in these places because if we only give support to refugees, it will create tensions and tensions can translate into violence."

(AFP)

Boko Haram attack on northeast Nigerian village leaves dozens dead

Extremists in northeastern Nigeria killed at least 37 villagers in two different attacks, residents said Wednesday, highlighting once again how deadly Islamic extremist rebels have remained in their 14-year insurgency in the hard-hit region.

Issued on: 02/11/2023 - 03:06; 1 min

Soldiers sit in trucks as the patrol in Goniri, Yobe State, in Nigeria's restive northeast on July 3, 2019.

© Audu Marte, AFP

By: NEWS WIRES

The extremists targeted villagers in Yobe state’s Geidam district on Monday and Tuesday in the first attack in the state in more than a year, shooting dead 17 people at first while using a land mine to kill 20 others who had gone to attend their burial, witnesses said.

The Boko Haram Islamic extremist group launched an insurgency in northeastern Nigeria in 2009 in an effort to establish their radical interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia, in the region. At least 35,000 people have been killed and more than 2 million displaced due to the extremist violence concentrated in Borno state, which neighbours Yobe.

Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu, who took office in May, has not succeeded in ending the nation's security crises both in the northeast and in northwest and central regions where dozens of armed groups have been killing villagers and kidnapping travelers for ransom.

The first attack occurred in the remote Gurokayeya village in Geidam when gunmen opened fire on some villagers late Monday, killing 17 of them, according to Shaibu Babagana, a resident in the area. At least 20 villagers who had gone to attend their burial were then killed on Tuesday when they drove into a land mine that exploded, Babagana added.

Idris Geidam, another resident, said those killed were more than 40. Authorities could not provide the official death toll, as is sometimes the case following such attacks.

“This is one of the most horrific attacks by Boko Haram in recent times. For a burial group to be attacked shortly after the loss of their loved ones is beyond horrific,” Geidam said.

The Yobe state government on Wednesday summoned an emergency security meeting over the attacks which it blamed on extremists that entered the state from the neighboring Borno.

“The security agencies have deployed security men to the area and we are studying a report on the infiltration in an effort to stave off future occurrences,” Abdulsalam Dahiru, a Yobe government security aide, told reporters.

(AP)

Yobe State, Nigeria

Nigeria: Muslims murder sixteen Christians in jihad attacks in Benue state

NOV 8, 2023 12:00 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER

The Fulani herdsmen has the same ideology and goals as Hamas, but it’s “Islamophobic” to take note of that.

16 Christians Slain in Attacks in Benue State, Nigeria

Morning Star News, October 31, 2023:

ABUJA, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Fulani herdsmen and other terrorists on Sunday (Oct. 29) killed six Christians in Benue state, following the slaughter of 10 others earlier this month, sources said.

In Tse Gamber village, Gwer West County, the assailants early on Sunday killed three Christians and kidnapped another, said area resident Perver Acham. He identified the kidnapped Christian as Iorhon Dam.

Acham said three other Christians were slain in Ngai village at about the same time.

Also in Gwer West County, herdsmen and other terrorists on Oct. 23 killed three Christians in Agagbe village, said area resident Terna Jacob, who identified them as Iorhemba Cletus, 37; Akaa Clifford, 50; and Igbahemba Abua, 55.

“They were ambushed and killed by the terrorists,” Jacob said in a text message to Morning Star News.

Another Christian in Benue state was killed after being kidnapped in September. A family member of 80-year-old Washima Erukaa, a Christian official of the Ukum Local Government Council who had been kidnapped from his home in Zakibiam on Sept. 23, said they learned on Sunday (Oct. 29) that he had been killed on Oct. 23 because relatives were unable to pay the demanded ransom amount.

“His captors had demanded that we pay a ransom of 5 million naira (US$6,340), but we were not able to raise the money,” said the relative on condition of anonymity. “However, on Oct. 29, they contacted us by phone and said our father had been killed and buried by them.”

Fulani herdsmen on Oct. 14 also attacked Imatom village in Logo County, killing three Christians at about 9 p.m., said resident resident Anawa Joseph. He identified the slain as Tertsea Terkimbi Adagundu, Tertsea Mkposu and Mimidoo Umburga….

Gwer West County, Benue State, Nigeria 

Islam - Current Day > IDF Killer shot dead in 2nd attack; Taliban slaughter captives in Panjshir Valley; Iranian athlete sent home for not wearing hijab

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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

In this frame grab from video that was likely taken by the Taliban and posted online and provided by Afghan Witness, a UK-based open-source nonprofit, a Taliban fighter stands amid bodies on the ground, in the Dara district, of Panjshir province, Afghanistan, Sept. 14, 2022. 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 new report by Afghan Witness published Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022 refuting the group’s earlier claims that the men were killed in battle. (Afghan Witness via AP)

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.