Stockholm: A Stockholm court on Thursday acquitted one of the highest-ranking Syrian military officials to be tried in Europe on war crimes charges, saying in a statement the prosecution did not prove his alleged involvement.
Former brigadier general Mohammed Hamo, 65, was declared innocent of the charges of “aiding and abetting” war crimes in 2012, the court said. While the Syrian military had used “indiscriminate attacks” at that time, the prosecution did not prove that Hamo’s division was involved in those attacks, nor that he had a role in providing arms for the attacks, the statement said.
The war between President Bashar al-Assad's regime and armed opposition groups, including Islamic State, erupted after the government repressed peaceful pro-democracy protests in 2011.
It has killed more than half a million people, displaced millions, and ravaged Syria's economy and infrastructure.
According to the charges, Hamo contributed -- through "advice and action" -- to the Syrian army's warfare, which "systematically included attacks carried out in violation of the principles of distinction, caution and proportionality".
"The warfare was thus indiscriminate," prosecutor Karolina Wieslander told the court when the trial opened in April.
Wieslander said the Syrian army's "widespread air and ground attacks" caused damage "at a scale that was disproportionate in view of the concrete and immediate general military advantages that could be expected to be achieved".
In his role as brigadier general and head of an armament division, Hamo allegedly helped coordinate the supply of arms and ammunition to units.
Hamo's lawyer, Mari Kilman, told the court her client denied criminal responsibility and had not shown "intent" to contribute to "indiscriminate warfare" by others.
Kilman said the officer could not be held liable for the actions "as he had acted in a military context and had to follow orders."
Aida Samani, senior legal advisor at rights group Civil Rights Defenders -- which has been monitoring the trial -- told AFP that "strong evidence" had been presented at the trial.
"We will now see what the court makes of that information and evidence," Samani said.
"What is noteworthy about this case is that this is the first trial concerning the Syrian military's warfare. That is, how the warfare was carried out," she said.
No European court has previously dealt with this issue and the impact on civilian lives and infrastructure, she added.
Hamo is the highest-ranking military official to go on trial in Europe in person, though other countries have tried to bring charges against more senior members.
In March, Swiss prosecutors charged Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of President Bashar al-Assad, with war crimes and crimes against humanity.
However, it remains unlikely Rifaat al-Assad -- who recently returned to Syria after 37 years in exile -- will show up for the trial, for which a date has yet to be set.
Swiss law allows for trials in absentia under certain conditions.
In November, France issued an international arrest warrant for Bashar al-Assad, accusing him of complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes over chemical attacks in 2013.
Three other international warrants were also issued for the arrests of Bashar al-Assad's brother Maher, the de-facto chief of the army's elite Fourth Division, and two generals.
In May, a Paris court also ordered life prison sentences for three top Syrian security officials for complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The accused -- Ali Mamlouk, former head of the National Security Bureau; Jamil Hassan, former director of the Air Force intelligence service; and Abdel Salam Mahmoud, former head of investigations -- were all absent, but there are international warrants for their arrest.
In January 2022, a German court sentenced former colonel Anwar Raslan to life in jail for crimes against humanity. That was the first international trial over state-sponsored torture in Syria and was hailed by victims as a victory for justice.
Swedish court acquits former Syrian general of war crimes charges: statement
https://arab.news/gbp3q
Swedish court acquits former Syrian general of war crimes charges: statement
- The trial is against one of the highest-ranking Syrian military officials to be tried in Europe,
Mount Fuji is still without its iconic snowcap for the first time in 130 years
- The lack of snow on Mt. Fuji, a UNESCO World Heritage site, as of Tuesday breaks the previous record set on Oct. 26, 2016, meteorological officials said
- Usually, the 3,776-meter- (nearly 12,300-foot-) high mountain has sprinkles of snow falling on its summit starting Oct. 2
TOKYO: Japan’s iconic Mount Fuji, known for its snowcap forming around this time of the year, is still snowless in November for the first time in 130 years, presumably because of the unusually warm temperatures in the past few weeks.
The lack of snow on Mt. Fuji, a UNESCO World Heritage site, as of Tuesday breaks the previous record set on Oct. 26, 2016, meteorological officials said.
Usually, the 3,776-meter- (nearly 12,300-foot-) high mountain has sprinkles of snow falling on its summit starting Oct. 2, about a month after the summertime hiking season there ends. Last year, snow fell on the mountain on Oct. 5, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency, or JMA.
The snowless Mt. Fuji has captured attention on social media. People posted photos showing the bare mountain, some expressing surprise and others concerned over climate change.
The JMA’s Kofu Local Meteorological Office, which keeps weather data in central Japan and was the agency that announced the first snowfall on Mt. Fuji in 1894, has cited October’s surprisingly summery weather as the reason.
The average October temperature is minus 2 Celsius (28.4 Fahrenheit) at the summit, but this year, it was 1.6 Celsius, (34.9 F), a record high since 1932.
Japan this year also had an unusually hot summer and warm autumn.
A symbol of Japan, the mountain called “Fujisan” used to be a place of pilgrimage. The mountain with its snowy top and near symmetrical slopes have been the subject of numerous forms of art, including Japanese ukiyoe artist Katsushika Hokusai’s Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.
Today, it attracts hikers who climb to the summit to see the sunrise. But tons of trash left behind and overcrowding have triggered concern and calls for environmental protection and measures to control overtourism.
Supreme Court overturns Islamic schools ban in India’s most populous state
- There are 2.6 million students and about 25,000 Muslim religious schools in Uttar Pradesh
- Article 30 of India’s Constitution guarantees the right of minorities to run educational institutions
NEW DELHI: India’s top court overturned on Tuesday an order that banned Islamic schools in Uttar Pradesh, effectively permitting over 2 million students in the country’s most populous state to return to their studies in madrasas.
Islam is the second-largest religion in Uttar Pradesh, accounting for some 20 percent of its 230 million population.
In March, Uttar Pradesh’s Allahabad High Court scraped a 2004 law governing madrasas in the state, saying it violated India’s constitutional secularism and ordering that students be moved to conventional schools. The Supreme Court put it on hold in April after receiving petitions challenging the order.
Tuesday’s ruling by the top court will allow about 2.6 million students and 10,000 teachers to return to the 25,000 Muslim religious schools operating in the northern Indian state.
“The Allahabad High Court erred in holding that the madrasa law had to be struck down for violating basic structure, which is the principle of secularism,” Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said in court. “The constitutional validity of a statute cannot be challenged for violation of the basic structure of the Constitution.”
Article 30 of India’s Constitution guarantees the right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions.
“The Madrasa Act is consistent with the positive obligation of the state to ensure that students studying in recognized madrasas attain a level of competency which will allow them to effectively participate in society and earn a living.”
Madrasas provide a system of education in which students are taught the Qur’an, Islamic history and general subjects like math and science.
In states governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, such as Uttar Pradesh and Assam, authorities have been converting hundreds of madrasas into regular schools.
“This is a landmark judgment and puts a brake to all the negative campaigns that have been going on against madrasas across the country,” Wahidullah Khan, secretary-general of the All-India Teachers Association Madaris Arabia, told Arab News.
“For us, it’s a big relief. It provides a new lease of life to thousands of madrasas across the country. The Islamic schools have been taking care of the basic education of millions of Muslims across the country and we were under lots of pressure because of the communal campaign against Muslims and their educational institutions.”
With over 200 million Indians professing Islam, Hindu-majority India has the world’s largest Muslim-minority population.
Indian Muslims have faced increasing discrimination and challenges in the past decade, accompanied by tensions and riots ignited by majoritarian policies of the Hindu right-wing BJP since it rose to power in 2014.
“We were waiting for this kind of verdict. It’s quite welcoming and relieving for the Muslim community,” Iftikhar Ahmed Javed, BJP member and former chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrasa Education, told Arab News.
“The judgment brings relief to all,” he said. “There has been a systematic attempt to stigmatize the Islamic schools over the years and brand them as vicious, but the ruling of the Supreme Court should now stop this negative campaign.”
Supreme Court overturns Islamic schools ban in India’s most populous state
- There are 2.6 million students and about 25,000 Muslim religious schools in Uttar Pradesh
- Article 30 of India’s Constitution guarantees the right of minorities to run educational institutions
NEW DELHI: India’s top court overturned on Tuesday an order that banned Islamic schools in Uttar Pradesh, effectively permitting over two million students in the country’s most populous state to return to their studies in madrasas.
Islam is the second-largest religion in Uttar Pradesh, accounting for some 20 percent of its 230 million population.
In March, Uttar Pradesh’s Allahabad High Court scraped a 2004 law governing madrasas in the state, saying it violated India’s constitutional secularism and ordering that students be moved to conventional schools. The Supreme Court put it on hold in April after receiving petitions challenging the order.
Tuesday’s ruling by the top court will allow about 2.6 million students and 10,000 teachers to return to the 25,000 Muslims religious schools operating in the northern Indian state.
“The Allahabad High Court erred in holding that the madrasa law had to be struck down for violating basic structure, which is the principle of secularism,” Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said in court. “The constitutional validity of a statute cannot be challenged for violation of the basic structure of the Constitution.”
Article 30 of India’s Constitution guarantees the right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions.
“The Madrasa Act is consistent with the positive obligation of the state to ensure that students studying in recognized madrasas attain a level of competency which will allow them to effectively participate in society and earn a living.”
Madrasas provide a system of education in which students are taught Qur’an, Islamic history and general subjects like math and science.
In states governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, such as Uttar Pradesh and Assam, authorities have been converting hundreds of madrasas into regular schools.
“This is a landmark judgment and puts a brake to all the negative campaigns that has been going on against madrasas across the country,” Wahidullah Khan, secretary-general of the All-India Teachers Association Madaris Arabia, told Arab News.
“For us, it’s a big relief. It provides a new lease of life to thousands of madrasas across the country. The Islamic schools have been taking care of the basic education of millions of Muslims across the country and we were under lots of pressure because of the communal campaign against Muslims and their educational institutions.”
With over 200 million Indians professing Islam, Hindu-majority India has the world’s largest Muslim-minority population.
Indian Muslims have faced increasing discrimination and challenges in the past decade, accompanied by tensions and riots ignited by majoritarian policies of the Hindu right-wing BJP since it rose to power in 2014.
“We were waiting for this kind of verdict. It’s quite welcoming and relieving for the Muslim community,” Iftikhar Ahmed Javed, BJP member and former chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrasa Education, told Arab News.
“The judgment brings relief to all,” he said. “There has been a systematic attempt to stigmatize the Islamic schools over the years and branding them as vicious but the ruling of the Supreme Court should now stop this negative campaign.”
Swedish court sentences far-right politician for insulting Muslims
- The Danish-Swedish 42-year-old man, who was not named but has been identified by Swedish media as Rasmus Paludan
- In 2022, Paludan, founder and head of the Danish nationalist anti-immigration party Stram Kurs, made his offensive remarks directed at Muslims, Arabs and Africans during protests
MALMO: A Swedish court sentenced on Tuesday a far-right politician to four months in jail for two counts of “incitement against an ethnic group” after making hateful comments at political rallies two years ago.
The Danish-Swedish 42-year-old man, who was not named but has been identified by Swedish media as Rasmus Paludan, founder and head of the Danish nationalist anti-immigration party Stram Kurs, had been previously convicted and sentenced by a Danish court on a similar charge, the Malmo District Court said.
In 2022, Paludan, founder and head of the Danish nationalist anti-immigration party Stram Kurs, made his offensive remarks directed at Muslims, Arabs and Africans during protests that he led in the southern city of Malmo in 2022, the court said. He also burned a copy of the Qur’an, Islam’s holy book, on at least one occasion. In response, a violent wave of riots swept the country.
Some observers also say Paludan’s actions may have momentarily risked Sweden’s chances of joining NATO after increasing political tensions with Turkiye. Sweden joined the alliance in March this year.
The court in a statement Tuesday said Paludan’s remarks against Muslims “cannot be excused as criticism of Islam or as political campaign work.”
Chief Councilor Nicklas Söderberg, the court’s chairman, said: “It is permitted to publicly make critical statements about, for example, Islam and also Muslims, but the disrespect of a group of people must not clearly cross the line for a factual and valid discussion.”
He added that during the Malmo rallies in April and September 2022 “there was no question of any such discussion,” and that Paludan’s public statements “only amounted to insulting Muslims.”
The court took particular interest in whether the politician knew the protests were filmed and published on Facebook. Paludan had said that he wasn’t aware of it but the district court disagreed and said his “actions at the gatherings would be downright illogical if he didn’t know about the publication on Facebook.”
Paludan, a lawyer by profession, told Swedish media outlets that he wasn’t surprised by the verdict.
“It was expected. We will appeal,” the Swedish newspaper Expressen cited him as saying.
Philippine police to probe social media posts of Filipino-Israeli soldier in Gaza
- Department of Foreign Affairs confirms the Filipino soldier is an Israeli citizen
- Photos shared by Israel Genocide Tracker which monitors soldiers’ social media
MANILA/DUBAI: Photos of a Filipino appearing to be a member of Israel’s troops in Gaza will be investigated by the Philippine National Police, its chief said, after the man’s social media posts went viral showing a rifle with the PNP’s logo.
Screenshots of the posts showing Justin Flores were shared last week by the X handle Israel Genocide Tracker, which scours the internet to find and publicize the actions of Israeli soldiers in Gaza.
The content shared by the X account comprises photos and videos that Israeli soldiers themselves have published online.
The posts range from selfies and pranks among the ruins of houses to blowing up buildings in Gaza, waving women’s underwear and rifling through the property of Palestinian civilians.
The photos and videos from the social media of Flores showed destroyed neighborhoods in Gaza and himself posing amid the rubble.
Another post with the line “Proud to be Israeli/Filipino” shows a rifle bearing the seal of the Philippine police on the ammunition magazine. It is attached to a belt with Hebrew writing.
“I’ll have it investigated,” PNP Chief Gen. Rommel Marbil told Arab News in a text message on Monday evening.
“He is using a TAVOR firearm here. Not the issued rifle for the PNP.”
The weapon is an assault rifle, designed and produced by Israel Weapon Industries. In 2018, the Philippine News Agency reported the acquisition of Tavor rifles for the nation’s police and coast guard.
While the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said it was waiting for a report from its embassy in Tel Aviv, it confirmed to Arab News that Flores was an Israeli, while his mother held dual Philippine-Israeli citizenship.
His alleged participation in Israel’s deadly war on Gaza has, however, already triggered outrage in his ancestral home and questions over how his Israeli citizenship was acquired, as according to Israel’s Nationality Law, military service streamlines the process.
“Did he acquire Israeli citizenship by serving in the IDF (Israel Defense Forces)? If so, it seems the IDF relies on fighters from overseas to do their dirty work,” said Renato Reyes, president of BAYAN, the Philippines’ largest alliance of grassroots groups.
“It is just shameful that a Filipino would be part of Israeli genocide against Palestinians. We were a colonized people, and we should have more in common with the Palestinians than the Israeli occupiers.”
Drieza A. Lininding, chairman of the civic organization Moro Consensus Group, said individuals joining fighting abroad should be tracked.
“Those joining the IDF and genocide against Palestinians should be treated as terrorists and must be arrested the moment they land here in the Philippines. This is in conformity with the Philippines’ vote in the UN condemning the genocide,” he told Arab News.
“The government must regard them as a threat to our national security.”
If such persons still hold Philippine citizenship, they may lose it under the Commonwealth Act 63, “by accepting commission in the military, naval or air service of a foreign country,” Attorney Farah Decano, dean of the College of Law at the Lyceum Northwestern University, told Arab News.
She said the unauthorized use of the PNP logo was also a violation. “The problem, however, is that the use is in Israel. Our criminal jurisdiction is only in the Philippines,” she said.
“It gives the impression that we are providing arms to the Israelis which the government must immediately deny. The Philippine government must request Israeli government for the confiscation of such arms.”
Israel’s relentless air and ground attacks on Gaza have killed over 45,000 Palestinians and injured more than 101,000, according to Gaza Health Ministry data. But the real toll is feared to be much higher.
A study published by the medical journal The Lancet estimated in July that the true number of those killed could be more than 186,000.
The estimate took into consideration deaths as a result of starvation, injury and lack of access to medical aid as Israeli forces have destroyed most of Gaza’s infrastructure and blocked the entry of aid.
