Archive for category: News

Since Tuesday, volunteers have recovered dozens of bodies of migrants in an advanced stage of decomposition on beaches near the capital, spokesman Mohamed al-Misrati said.

They found 75 bodies around Tripoli and another 10 in Sabratah, 70 kilometers (43 miles) to the west, he said.

The Libyan coastguard said it had also rescued 212 migrants from two overloaded rubber dinghies off the Libyan coast.

“We were informed of the presence of two large zodiacs off the coast of Garabulli” 60 kilometers east of Tripoli, a coastguard officer told AFP.

He said that 22 women were among the rescued migrants, who were of different nationalities including many Senegalese and Sudanese.

Libya, with a coastline of 1,770 kilometers, has for years been a stepping stone for Africans bound for Europe.

Most head for Italy’s Lampedusa island which is 300 kilometers from Libya.

People smugglers have taken advantage of chaos in Libya since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed veteran dictator Moammer Kadhafi to step up their lucrative business.

In exchange for steep fees, they take would-be migrants on board rickety boats for the treacherous crossing.

About 515,000 migrants have crossed the Mediterranean this year alone, with up to 3,000 people dead or reported missing in that period, according to the U.N. High Commission for Refugees.

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Shiekh Na’im al-Gaoud, the leader of the Albu Nimr tribe, said Monday that Daesh executed the 70 after abducting them from Tharthar area, north of the provincial capital city of Ramadi.

“The terrorist Daesh organization kidnapped late on Sunday night some 70 Albu Nimer tribesmen from Tharthar area in north of provincial capital city of Ramadi, and shot them dead in the same area,” said Gaoud, adding that the mass execution came because family members of the victims had joined the nation-wide battle against the terrorists.

Albu Nimr tribe is known for its fierce opposition to Daesh since the Takfiri group seized swathes of land in northwestern Iraq in the summer of 2014. Gaoud said hundreds of Albu Nimr tribesmen have joined the army, police and government-backed paramilitary Sahwa groups to fight Daesh in the town of Barwana, near Haditha, some 200 km northwest of Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

Daesh executed more than 400 Albu Nimer tribesmen in November 2014 while reports earlier this year showed that dozens more were executed across Anbar Province.

Gaoud called on Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Ebadi to speed up operations for the liberation of the province from terrorists in a bid to save his fellow tribesmen.

Iraqi security forces, backed by Hashd Shaabi paramilitary militias, have been battling Daesh for a month in a bid to retake key cities and towns in Anbar, Iraq’s largest province.

Daesh have been carrying atrocities including public decapitations against all communities such as Shias, Sunnis, Christians and Kurds.

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Mufti Tanveer Alam Farooqi, the leader of an extremist group, was sentenced by the court on Monday in the garrison city of Rawalpindi near the capital Islamabad.

Judicial sources said Judge Asif Majeed Awan found him guilty of “acts intended or likely to stir up sectarian hatred” in the violence-wracked country.

“He was awarded a six-month jail sentence and a 50,000-rupee (500-dollar) fine,” media outlets quoted an unnamed senior security official as saying.

He was put on trial on charges of fueling hatred against Shia Muslims and possessing illegal weapons.

Some activists have expressed their discontent with the lenient ruling, saying those found in possession of illegal weapons must be meted out harsher punishments.

Farooqi is linked with the notorious outlawed terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) that has been involved in several attacks on Shia Muslim in recent years across Pakistan.

In late July, Malik Ishaq, the notorious leader of the LeJ group, along with 13 other militants, were killed in a shootout with police in the eastern province of Punjab.

The terrorist group which is responsible for frequent and lethal attacks against Shia Muslims is funded by Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi-funded group has also been involved in the 1990s attack on the Iranian Cultural Center in Multan, the assassination of Iranian diplomat Sadiq Ganji in Lahore, and the killing of Iranian Air Force cadets visiting Pakistan.

Rights groups say the Islamabad government must take decisive actions against forces involved in the targeted killings of Shia Muslims. The Shias also accuse Islamabad of failing to provide proper security for the Muslim community.

Shia Muslims make up about a third of Pakistan’s population of over 180 million.

Thousands of Pakistanis have lost their lives in bombings and other militant attacks over the past decades.

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The clerics who signed the online statement showed strong sectarian and anti-Christian language reflects mounting anger among many Saudis over Russian and Iranian involvement, but not mentioned Saudi and Persian Gulf countries in Syria’s war.

Russia last week started airstrikes against Syrian opposition targets that it describes as aimed at weakening ISIS, a move Riyadh has denounced. The clerics’ statement compared it to the Soviet Union’s 1980 invasion of Afghanistan, which prompted an international jihad. They forgot the invasion of US in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001 and 2003.

“The holy warriors of Syria are defending the whole Islamic nation. Trust them and support them,” the statement said.

Riyadh, along with Turkey and other Persian Gulf states, is a main supporter of terrorists fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad, backed by Iran and Russia, but it is also worried about the rise of terrorist groups such as ISIS among the opposition.

Saudi jets have joined so called airstrikes against ISIS in Syria, while the government has increased its supports of the terrorist groups this year.

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The writer is supposed to address a session at the book fair and the Iranian official Seyed Abbas Salehi dubbed it is an ‘uncultural move’ and has objected to it. “I believe that the program which is planned by the book fair is among the red lines of the Islamic Republic of Iran as well as the Islamic Guidance and Culture Ministry and it is indeed an uncultural move,” Salehi said.

Referring to Imam Khomeini’s fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie for his desecration of prophet of Islam in his book which stirred massive protests and anger among Muslim countries Salei asserted that the issue still held a religious aspect.

The Iranian official urged the organizers of the book fair to call off the program.

The 67th Frankfurt Book Fair is scheduled to be held in the German city from October 14 to 18, 2015. According to the event’s website, Salman Rushdie is planned to discuss “the significance of freedom of expression for authors and the book industry” in a speech.

The British Indian novelist and writer was sentenced to death in a Fatwa for insulting Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses, which was written in 1988 and sparked global protests by Muslims around the world.

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