LONDON: A virtual memorial held by the Iranian embassy in Turkey to mark one year since the killing of Qassem Soleimani was disrupted by dozens of protesters on Saturday.
Demonstrators joined the open Zoom event meant to commemorate the Iranian commander, but instead chanted “murder Soleimani.”
They also changed their names and images to a placard stating: “Iran is a murderer.”
The protest forced organisers to end the event halfway through the commemoration ceremony.
The memorial was attended by both Iranian and Turkish officials.
Last year, a US drone strike near Baghdad airport killed Soleimani, the man considered Iran’s most powerful military figure.
He headed the elite Quds Force - the wing of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) responsible for foreign operations. He frequently shuttled between Iraq, Lebanon and Syria to oversee Iran’s foreign militias.
His assassination dramatically ratcheted up tensions in the region and brought the US and Iran to the brink of war.
Days after the killing, Iran fired more than a dozen missiles at two US bases in Iraq, leaving more than 100 US soldiers with traumatic brain injuries.
Top Iranian officials have constantly threatened further “harsh revenge” for the killing of Soleimani.
In September, the IRGC’s commander Major-General Hossein Salami doubled down on the threat.
Protesters chant ‘Soleimani murderer’ during takeover of Zoom memorial event
https://arab.news/29hfd
Protesters chant ‘Soleimani murderer’ during takeover of Zoom memorial event
- Demonstrators joined the open Zoom event meant to commemorate the Iranian commander, but instead chanted “murder Soleimani”
- The protest forced organisers to end the event halfway through the commemoration ceremony
TikTok turns to US Supreme Court in last-ditch bid to avert ban
- Justice Department calls TikTok threat to US security
- Trump says he has a “warm spot in my heart” for TikTok
WASHINGTON: TikTok made a last-ditch effort on Monday to continue operating in the United States, asking the Supreme Court to temporarily block a law intended to force ByteDance, its China-based parent company, to divest the short-video app by Jan. 19 or face a ban.
TikTok and ByteDance filed an emergency request to the justices for an injunction to halt the looming ban on the social media app used by about 170 million Americans while they appeal a lower court’s ruling that upheld the law. A group of US users of the app filed a similar request on Monday as well.
Congress passed the law in April. The Justice Department has said that as a Chinese company, TikTok poses “a national-security threat of immense depth and scale” because of its access to vast amounts of data on American users, from locations to private messages, and its ability to secretly manipulate content that Americans view on the app.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Washington on Dec. 6 rejected TikTok’s arguments that the law violates free speech protections under the US Constitution’s First Amendment.
In their filing to the Supreme Court, TikTok and ByteDance said that “if Americans, duly informed of the alleged risks of ‘covert’ content manipulation, choose to continue viewing content on TikTok with their eyes wide open, the First Amendment entrusts them with making that choice, free from the government’s censorship.”
“And if the D.C. Circuit’s contrary holding stands, then Congress will have free rein to ban any American from speaking simply by identifying some risk that the speech is influenced by a foreign entity,” they added.
The companies said that being shuttered for even one month would cause TikTok to lose about a third of its US users and undermine its ability to attract advertisers and recruit content creators and employee talent.
Calling itself one of the “most important speech platforms” used in the United States, TikTok has said that there is no imminent threat to US national security and that delaying enforcement of the law would allow the Supreme Court to consider the legality of the ban, and the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump to evaluate the law as well.
Trump, who unsuccessfully tried to ban TikTok during his first term in 2020, has reversed his stance and promised during the presidential race this year that he would try to save TikTok. Trump takes office on Jan. 20, the day after the TikTok deadline under the law.
The law would “shutter one of America’s most popular speech platforms the day before a presidential inauguration,” the companies said in their filing. “A federal law singling out and banning a speech platform used by half of Americans is extraordinary.”
Asked on Monday at a press conference what he would do to stop a ban on TikTok, Trump said that he has “a warm spot in my heart for TikTok” and that he would “take a look” at the matter.
The companies asked the Supreme Court to issue a decision on its request by Jan. 6 to allow, in the event it is rejected, for the “complex task of shutting down TikTok” in the United States and to coordinate with service providers by the deadline set under the law.
The dispute comes amid growing trade tensions between China and the United States, the world’s two biggest economies.
‘RIGOROUS SCRUTINY’
TikTok has denied that it has or ever would share US user data, accusing US lawmakers of advancing speculative concerns.
TikTok spokesperson Michael Hughes said after the filing that “we are asking the court to do what it has traditionally done in free speech cases: apply the most rigorous scrutiny to speech bans and conclude that it violates the First Amendment.”
In its ruling, the D.C. Circuit wrote, “The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States. Here the government acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary’s ability to gather data on people in the United States.”
Without an injunction, the ban on TikTok would make the company far less valuable to ByteDance and its investors, and hurt businesses that depend on TikTok to drive their sales.
The law would bar providing certain services to TikTok and other foreign adversary-controlled apps including offering it through app stores such as Apple and Alphabet’s Google, effectively preventing its continued US use unless ByteDance divests TikTok by the deadline.
A ban could open the door to a future US crackdown on other foreign-owned apps. In 2020, Trump tried to ban WeChat, owned by Chinese company Tencent, but was blocked by the courts.
Netanyahu enforces media blackout on potential prisoner swap negotiations
- Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom says PM’s office urged military censor to tighten restrictions on information related to possible deal
LONDON: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered stricter military censorship on media coverage of ongoing prisoner swap negotiations with Hamas, Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom reported on Sunday.
Citing political sources, the report revealed that Netanyahu’s office instructed the military censor to impose tighter restrictions than usual on information related to the potential deal.
A statement from Netanyahu’s office emphasized the importance of confidentiality, saying: “The prime minister has instructed ministers and security officials to fully adhere to information security protocols during security discussions.”
The decision reflects cautious optimism in Tel Aviv that a breakthrough might be reached by the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, starting on Dec. 25.
However, no official details of the talks have been disclosed due to concerns that public debate or leaks could jeopardize the negotiations.
“There is significant compartmentalization and also a heavy blackout compared to previous times over the past year — so that we can succeed in bringing about a deal,” a political source was quoted as saying.
Despite months of war, previous efforts to negotiate with Hamas have repeatedly failed.
Critics have accused Netanyahu and his coalition partners of undermining potential agreements to prolong the conflict, allegedly for political gain.
Netanyahu’s personal legal battles have also fueled skepticism.
The prime minister, currently standing trial for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, has faced allegations that the ongoing war serves as a distraction from his legal woes.
His trial, which has already been delayed due to the war, is expected to extend well into next year, with potential appeals likely to dominate Israeli politics for the foreseeable future.
CNN says “continuing to investigate” identity of alleged Syrian detainee in controversial report
- Critics dub the network’s Clarissa Ward coverage as fake, claiming alleged detainee was actually an Assad regime thug
LONDON: CNN is aware an alleged Syrian detainee might have given a fake identity, and are “continuing to investigate” the background of the detainee who appeared in a recent controversial report featuring correspondent Clarissa Ward, following widespread accusations on social media that the segment — which shows Ward freeing the detainees allegedly discovered accident — was staged.
On the other hand a CNN spokesperson defended Ward’s work by saying that “No one other than the CNN team was aware of our plans to visit the prison building featured in our report that day. The events transpired as they appear in our film.”
The footage, filmed on Dec. 12, shows Ward and her crew being led through a prison in Damascus by a man dressed in military clothing. Ward states that her crew were told to stop filming while their guide shot a lock to open a cell door. The video fades to black then resumes with the team entering a pristine-looking cell containing a single occupant.
The man, who identifies himself as “Adel Gharbal” from Homs, claims he has had no food or water for five days. He says he was arrested three months earlier after his phone was searched, yet he appears well-groomed and is dressed in clean clothes.
The report was greeted with skepticism online. Many people highlighted the spotless condition of the cell and the fact that the man seemed relatively clean and well.
Verify Sy, a Syrian fact-checking platform, later identified the prisoner as “Salama Mohammad Salama,” also known as Abu Hamza, a former first lieutenant in Syrian Air Force intelligence, who was reportedly imprisoned as a result of a dispute with a superior over extorted funds. It said he oversaw checkpoints in Homs and had participated in detentions, torture and extortion in the name of the Assad regime.
CNN told Arab News that Ward’s plan to visit the prison that day was known only internally by the broadcaster.
“The events transpired as they appear in our film. We reported the scene as it unfolded, including what the prisoner told us, with clear attribution. We have subsequently been investigating his background and are aware that he may have given a false identity,” said the spokesperson.
The decision to release the prisoner was made by the news crew’s guide, a member of a Syrian rebel faction, the spokesperson added.
Critics remain unconvinced, with Verify Sy questioning whether CNN had truly fallen victim to misinformation.
“As Syrians first and journalists second, we must ask: Did CNN deliberately mislead its audience to rehabilitate Abu Hamza’s image, or did it fall victim to misinformation?” the organization asked.
The report was also criticized for several questions it left unanswered, such as why the prison was apparently empty except for this one detainee, and why his behavior alternated between trembling fear and calm during the footage of his release.
Ward, who was in Damascus to search for American journalist Austin Tice, who went missing in Syria in 2012, has faced similar criticisms before.
During reports from Gaza, she was accused of exaggerating the danger after footage showed her ducking from supposed rocket fire while bystanders nearby appeared unaffected. And her claim that she was abducted in October by a militia in Darfur while covering the conflict in Sudan lacked corroborating evidence.
A community note with a link to Verify Sy’s findings has been added to CNN’s post promoting the prison video on social media platform X.
Syrian activists and civilians have described Ward’s reporting as disrespectful to the well-documented civil defense efforts in Syria, including those by the White Helmets, and harmful to the wider Syrian cause.
Al Jazeera condemns killing of journalist in Israeli strike on Gaza
- “Al Jazeera unequivocally condemns the ongoing crimes committed by Israeli occupation forces against journalists and media professionals in Gaza,” the channel said
DOHA, Qatar: Qatar-based Al Jazeera condemned the Sunday killing of one of its journalists in an Israeli strike on Gaza, calling the death a “targeted killing” in a statement.
He is the fifth Al Jazeera journalist to be killed since the war in Gaza began more than 14 months ago.
“Al Jazeera Media Network condemns in the strongest terms the killing of its cameraman,
, 39, by the Israeli occupation forces,” the channel said.
“He was brutally killed in an air strike that targeted a Civil Defense post in the market area of Al-Nuseirat Camp, central Gaza Strip,” it added.
The Israeli military confirmed in a statement it had killed Louh, saying he was a member of Islamic Jihad and “previously served as a platoon commander” for the militant group.
Israel’s military has repeatedly accused journalists from the Al Jazeera of links to Hamas or its ally Islamic Jihad. Al Jazeera has fiercely denied these accusations and said Israel systematically targets its employees in the Gaza Strip.
The military said it struck a “command and control center embedded in the offices of the civil defense organization in Nuseirat,” targeting “Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists.” It said the center was used to target Israeli troops.
Gaza’s civil defense agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal confirmed Louh had been killed in the strike on the Nuseirat camp that also claimed the lives of three members of Bassal’s rescue agency.
Bassal told AFP a warplane had “targeted the Civil Defense site in Nuseirat camp.”
In a statement, the Palestinian militant group Hamas called Louh’s killing an “assassination” and a “war crime,” describing it as “part of a systematic targeting of journalists in Gaza, aimed at intimidating them and deterring them.”
Al Jazeera said Louh’s killing came “just days after the targeting of his house” by Israeli forces who “utterly destroyed” it.
“Al Jazeera unequivocally condemns the ongoing crimes committed by Israeli occupation forces against journalists and media professionals in Gaza,” the channel said.
The network added it would “pursue all legal measures to prosecute the perpetrators” of these crimes.
Since the start of the war in the Palestinian territory on October 7 last year, Al Jazeera has aired continuous on-the-ground reporting on the effects of Israel’s campaign.
The global channel, since before the war, has been the focus of long-running feud with the Israeli government which has repeatedly accused journalists from Al Jazeera of links to Hamas or its ally Islamic Jihad.
In September, Israeli forces raided Al Jazeera’s office in the West Bank, with Israel’s military saying the Ramallah bureau had been “used to incite terror” and “support terrorist activities.”
Al Jazeera called the Israeli raid “a criminal act” and an attack on press freedom.
In April, the Israeli parliament passed a law allowing the banning of foreign media broadcasts deemed harmful to state security.
Based on this law, Israel’s government on May 5 approved the decision to ban Al Jazeera from broadcasting from Israel and close its offices.
In September, armed and masked Israeli forced raided Al Jazeera’s West bank office and issued an initial closure order.
Israel’s military said the Ramallah office was “used to incite terror” and “support terrorist activities,” and Al Jazeera’s broadcasts endangered Israel’s security.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists earlier on Sunday said the Israel-Hamas war “has taken an unprecedented toll on Gazan journalists.”
The watchdog said CPJ’s preliminary investigations showed at least 137 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and Lebanon since October 7, 2023.
US court rejects Tiktok request to temporarily halt pending US ban
- TikTok and ByteDance on Monday filed the emergency motion with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, asking for more time to make its case to the US Supreme Court
WASHINGTON: A US appeals court on Friday rejected an emergency bid by TikTok to temporarily block a law that would require its Chinese parent company ByteDance to divest the short-video app by Jan. 19 or face a ban.
TikTok and ByteDance on Monday filed the emergency motion with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, asking for more time to make its case to the US Supreme Court.
The companies warned that without court action the law will “shut down TikTok — one of the nation’s most popular speech platforms — for its more than 170 million domestic monthly users.”
