UK urged to expel Iranian diplomats over ‘shocking’ execution

UK police officers stand guard outside the Iranian Embassy in London on January 14, 2023. (AFP)
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Updated 15 January 2023
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UK urged to expel Iranian diplomats over ‘shocking’ execution

  • Dual national Alireza Akbari, a former deputy defense minister, was hanged on Saturday
  • Nephew: British govt ‘dealing with an unsavory regime that has no regard for human life’

LONDON: The UK must expel Iranian diplomats in response to the execution of a British-Iranian dual national, a relative of the deceased has told the Daily Telegraph.

Alireza Akbari, a former Iranian deputy defense minister, was charged with spying for Britain before his death.

He said he had endured 3,500 hours of brutal torture before confessing to the charges, leading to his hanging on Saturday.

The 61-year-old served in the reformist administration of former President Mohammad Khatami between 1997 and 2005.

Akbari left Iran for the UK in 2008 after facing harassment by the country’s new hard-line regime led by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In 2009, Akbari was arrested while visiting Iran on charges of espionage.

His nephew Ramin Forghani told the Telegraph that his uncle’s execution “could not go unanswered” and that the UK’s minimum response should be the expulsion of Iranian diplomats. The British government urged Iran to abandon Akbari’s planned execution but to no avail.

“I’d just woken up when I saw the news. I don’t know what to say. It’s terrible. It’s shocking,” said Forghani.

“It wasn’t unexpected from this regime but I think we were all expecting them to change their minds like they did with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, but it wasn’t to be.

“On the diplomatic front, considering that a Briton has been executed despite the calls for his release by Whitehall, the least response would be to expel the staff and recall the British (diplomats).

“I appreciate what the British government did but they’re dealing with an unsavory regime that has no regard for human life.

“I hope there will be consequences diplomatically from the British government and this does not remain unanswered.”

The UK government on Saturday said it was placing sanctions on Iran’s prosecutor general and temporarily recalling its Ambassador in Tehran Simon Shercliff. But British officials have yet to make a decision on the status of Iran’s diplomats in London.

Forghani denied the charges leveled against Akbari, saying his uncle was a “patriot” who “did all he could to help the country,” including playing a key role in bringing an end to the Iran-Iraq War.

“It would be (unthinkable) for him to try to do anything in any shape or form to jeopardize the country or the regime,” Forghani told Sky News.

“I can’t think of his character being somebody that would try to do anything against the country. That’s just not digestible.

“I do believe it is a political game. The regime does anything it can, unfortunately, to suppress the population, but also to distract the global perspective to what is happening to the people in the country.”

Forghani told the Telegraph: “Akbari was a good man who was devoted to his family. Brutal regimes do this to good people and unfortunately this was one of those cases.

“I have fond memories of him visiting us pretty much every Iranian New Year regardless of his work schedule. He was kind to me when I was growing up. I remember his smiles.

“As I got older, he could see that I was not a supporter of the regime but regardless of that, because we were family members, he was always kind to me.

“He was always smiling. He would always try to help anybody as much as he could, family or friends, and that’s the memory that I will continue to have of him.”

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described Akbari’s execution as “appalling,” while Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the British government’s “disgust” had led to the summoning of Iran’s charge d’affaires to the Foreign Office.


Israel’s PM aware of ‘very violent incident’ against Israelis in Amsterdam, his office says

Updated 9 sec ago
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Israel’s PM aware of ‘very violent incident’ against Israelis in Amsterdam, his office says

TEL AVIV: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been informed of the details of “a very violent incident” targeting Israeli citizens in Amsterdam, his office said on Friday.
He directed that two rescue planes be sent immediately to assist citizens there, it added in a statement.
Israel’s national security ministry has also urged its citizens in Amsterdam to stay in their hotel rooms following the attacks, the prime minister’s office said in a second statement.
“Fans who went to see a football game, encountered anti-Semitism and were attacked with unimaginable cruelty just because of their Jewishness and Israeliness,” Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a post on X.
The nature of the attacks not immediately clear.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has asked the Dutch government to help Israeli citizens arrive safely at the airport, Saar told his Dutch counterpart Caspar Veldkamp in a phone call on Friday.

US says Israel to open new Gaza crossing as aid deadline looms

Updated 6 min 54 sec ago
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US says Israel to open new Gaza crossing as aid deadline looms

  • US has given Israel until Nov. 13 to improve humanitarian situation in Gaza
  • The letter calls for a minimum of 350 trucks per day to be allowed into Gaza

WASHINGTON: Israel has informed the United States that it will open an additional crossing for aid into Gaza, the State Department said Thursday, as a US-imposed deadline looms next week.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have given Israel until November 13 to improve the humanitarian situation in the war-besieged Gaza Strip or risk the withholding of some military assistance from the United States, Israel’s biggest supporter.
They made the demands in a letter before Tuesday’s election of President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to give freer rein to Israel.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Israel, after recently reopening the Erez crossing, has informed the United States that they “hope to open an additional new crossing at Kissufim” in “the next few days.”
“We have continued to press them, and we have seen them, including in the past few days since the election, take additional steps,” Miller told reporters.
He stopped short of saying how the United States would assess Israel’s compliance with the aid demands.
In the letter, Blinken and Austin had urged Israel to “consistently” let aid through four major crossings and to open a fifth crossing.
Kissufim, near a kibbutz across from southern Gaza that was attacked in the October 7, 2023 Hamas assault that sparked the war, has mostly been in disuse except by the military since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
The letter called for a minimum of 350 trucks per day to be allowed into Gaza. Miller said 229 trucks entered on Tuesday.
Outgoing President Joe Biden has repeatedly pressed Israel to improve humanitarian aid and protect civilians, while mostly stopping short of using leverage such as cutting off weapons.
Miller said Blinken hoped to keep using the rest of his term to press for an end to the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.


US says Israel to open new Gaza crossing as aid deadline looms

Children stare at the destruction following an Israeli strike in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on November
Updated 6 min 29 sec ago
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US says Israel to open new Gaza crossing as aid deadline looms

  • The US has given Israel until November 13 to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza
  • Letter calls for a minimum of 350 trucks per day to be allowed into Gaza

WASHINGTON: Israel has informed the United States that it will open an additional crossing for aid into Gaza, the State Department said Thursday, as a US-imposed deadline looms next week.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have given Israel until November 13 to improve the humanitarian situation in the war-besieged Gaza Strip or risk the withholding of some military assistance from the United States, Israel’s biggest supporter.
They made the demands in a letter before Tuesday’s election of President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to give freer rein to Israel.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Israel, after recently reopening the Erez crossing, has informed the United States that they “hope to open an additional new crossing at Kissufim” in “the next few days.”
“We have continued to press them, and we have seen them, including in the past few days since the election, take additional steps,” Miller told reporters.
He stopped short of saying how the United States would assess Israel’s compliance with the aid demands.
In the letter, Blinken and Austin had urged Israel to “consistently” let aid through four major crossings and to open a fifth crossing.
Kissufim, near a kibbutz across from southern Gaza that was attacked in the October 7, 2023 Hamas assault that sparked the war, has mostly been in disuse except by the military since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
The letter called for a minimum of 350 trucks per day to be allowed into Gaza. Miller said 229 trucks entered on Tuesday.
Outgoing President Joe Biden has repeatedly pressed Israel to improve humanitarian aid and protect civilians, while mostly stopping short of using leverage such as cutting off weapons.
Miller said Blinken hoped to keep using the rest of his term to press for an end to the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.


France mulling new sanctions on Israeli settlers, minister says in West Bank

Updated 07 November 2024
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France mulling new sanctions on Israeli settlers, minister says in West Bank

  • “France has been a driving force to establish the first sanction regime at the European level,” Barrot said
  • Barrot renewed France’s commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

RAMALLAH: France is mulling new sanctions on those enabling the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, regarded as illegal under international law, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on a visit to the territory on Thursday.
“France has been a driving force to establish the first sanction regime at the European level targeting individuals or entities, either actors or accomplices of settlement activities,” Barrot said after talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah.
“This regime has been activated two times already and we’re working on a third batch of sanctions targeting these activities that again are illegal with respect to international law.”
Barrot renewed France’s commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and warned settlement activities “threaten the political perspective that can ensure durable peace for Israel and Palestine.”
Before meeting Abbas, Barrot visited the adjacent town of Al-Bireh, where Israeli settlers set fire to 20 cars on Monday, damaging a nearby building.
After speaking with residents and local officials at the scene, Barrot noted that the attack took place in a part of the West Bank where the Palestinians were supposed to enjoy both civil and security control under the Oslo Accords of the 1990s.
“These attacks from extremist and violent settlers are not only completely inexcusable, not only contrary to international law, but they weaken the perspective of a two-state solution,” Barrot said.
Ramallah and Al-Bireh governor Laila Ghannam expressed outrage that settler attacks were “taking place in full view and hearing of the entire silent international community.”
“Perhaps today, with the visit of the French foreign minister, there will be a spotlight here,” she told AFP.
Speaking in Jerusalem earlier Thursday, Barrot said he saw prospects for ending Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon after Donald Trump’s re-election, citing the Republican’s “wish to see the end of the Middle East’s endless wars” as well as recent “tactical successes” for Israel.


Moroccan population grows to 36.8 million in 2024

The Moroccan population grew by 2.98 million since the last census in 2014. (AFP)
Updated 07 November 2024
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Moroccan population grows to 36.8 million in 2024

RABAT: The Moroccan population grew to 36.82 million by September 2024, according to the preliminary results of a national census, the spokesman for the government said on Thursday.
Compared with the most recent census in 2014, the Moroccan population grew by 2.98 million or 8.8 percent, spokesman Mustapha Baitas told reporters.
The number of households grew to 9.27 million by September 2024, up 26.8 percent compared to 2014, while the number of foreigners living in the country increased to 148,152, up 71.8 percent, he said.