STRASBOURG: The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday condemned Cyprus for returning to Lebanon two Syrian refugees who had arrived on a small boat, without examining their asylum claim.
In a damning verdict, the ECHR said that Cyprus had committed four violations of the European Convention on Human Rights, which the Strasbourg-based court enforces, by returning the two refugees to Lebanon.
The pair fled the Syrian city of Idlib and the civil war in their home country in 2016, staying in refugee camps in Lebanon. In 2020 they paid a smuggler to take them across the Mediterranean to Cyprus along with over two dozen other migrants, the ECHR said.
The boat was intercepted by the Cypriot maritime authorities who said they had entered Cypriot territorial waters without permission and swiftly returned then to Lebanon where they still remain.
Cypriot authorities had essentially returned the pair to Lebanon “without processing their asylum claims and without all the steps required under the refugee law,” said the verdict.
Cyprus failed to conduct “any assessment of the risk of lack of access to an effective asylum process in Lebanon or the living conditions of asylum-seekers there,” it added.
Nicosia had also not assessed the risk of “refoulement” — the forcible return of refugees to a country such as Syria where they might be subjected to persecution, it added.
The Court said the two plaintiffs, named as M.A. and Z.R. said they had been “tricked” into thinking that they would be led ashore on arrival in Cyprus and were instead forced to board another boat that took them back to Lebanon.
The Court ordered Cyprus to pay 22,000 euros in damages to each applicant and 4,700 euros jointly for costs and expenses.
The ECHR is part of the 46-member Council of Europe, the continent’s top rights body and an entirely separate entity from the European Union.
Europe court condemns Cyprus over return of Syrian refugees to Lebanon
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Europe court condemns Cyprus over return of Syrian refugees to Lebanon
- In a damning verdict, the ECHR said that Cyprus had committed four violations of the European Convention on Human Rights, which the Strasbourg-based court enforces, by returning the two refugees to Lebanon
Relations between Jewish and Muslim communities in the UK ‘fragile,’ British imam says
- There has been a “lack of common language to describe the massive onslaught of death and destruction” in Gaza that followed Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023, imam said
LONDON: A year after the war in Gaza started, a British imam has described relations between Jewish and Muslim communities in the UK as “fragile and fractured.”
Israel’s military incursion into Gaza and Lebanon is an “apocalypse,” Qari Asim, the chairman of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board, told PA Media on Monday.
There has been a “lack of common language to describe the massive onslaught of death and destruction” in Gaza that followed Hamas’ “brutal attack” on Oct. 7 last year, the leading imam said.
He said that although there are “different perspectives” of the conflict, he has had “a number of open and frank conversations” with Jewish faith leaders “about the pain, trauma and heartbreak that British Muslims feel when they hear on their screens the cries of young children.”
Such dialogue has also involved listening to the perspectives of the Jewish community on “the pain and suffering that they’re experiencing because of the horrific attacks on October 7 last year.”
He said: “The relations between Jewish and Muslim communities are currently fragile and fractured.”
However, he also paid tribute to those who have come together to keep communication open between the two communities.
“Despite the extremely aching and traumatic last 12 months, I see that brave members of our respective communities have continued some form of dialogue.
“These encounters and activities show that no matter how fractured interfaith relationships between the two communities may seem in this country, people of all faiths and beliefs stand together when they see a stain on our national moral conscience,” Asim said.
Mourners and leaders around the world on Monday voiced horror and a desire for peace at tearful memorials remembering the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked a year of devastating war in Gaza.
People from Sydney to Rome and Warsaw to Washington grieved for those killed and urged freedom for those taken hostage by Hamas one year ago, while rallies also called for peace in the Palestinian territories.
Kyiv arrests Kremlin ‘ideologue’ extradited from Moldova
- The SBU said Dmytro Chystilin — whom it called an “ideologue” of Moscow’s invasion — was charged with “high treason” and “justification” of Russia’s aggression
- “The SBU detained one of the Kremlin’s ideologues of the ‘special military operation’ against Ukraine“
KYIV: Ukraine has arrested a Russian-Ukrainian dual national extradited from Moldova charged with promoting the Kremlin’s invasion, Kyiv’s security service said Tuesday.
The SBU said Dmytro Chystilin — whom it called an “ideologue” of Moscow’s invasion — was charged with “high treason” and “justification” of Russia’s aggression, facing a possible life sentence.
“The SBU detained one of the Kremlin’s ideologues of the ‘special military operation’ against Ukraine,” the security service said in a statement.
It accused Chystilin of “providing assistance” to Russian special services, organizing pro-Moscow conferences in Europe and “interference in election processes in Eastern and Central Europe in favor of Moscow.”
The security service said he was arrested after an event in Moldova when he tried to return to Moscow.
An SBU spokesman, Artem Dekhtyarenko, told AFP that Moldova then extradited Chystilin to Ukraine “over the weekend.”
Dekhtyarenko said he has both Ukrainian and Russian passports.
Ukrainian prosecutors said Chystilin had acted as a Kremlin “mouthpiece” and was detained for “developing and implementing information warfare strategy against Ukraine.”
“While in Moldova, he strengthened the Kremlin’s information influence on the domestic and foreign policy of a sovereign state,” Ukraine’s prosecutor-general said in a statement.
The SBU said Chystilin had also worked as an assistant to Sergei Glazyev, a former Kremlin adviser known for his hawkish positions.
Russian state media quoted a friend of Chystilin, Igor Kaldare, as saying that the dual national was organizing a “regional security” conference in Bucharest and was arrested by Moldovan security services.
Biden cancels trip to Germany and Angola because of hurricane
- Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the change was necessary “given the projected trajectory and strength” of the storm
WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden is postponing a planned trip to Germany and Angola to remain at the White House to monitor Hurricane Milton, which is bearing down on Florida’s Gulf Coast, the White House announced on Tuesday.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the change was necessary “given the projected trajectory and strength” of the storm.
It was not clear when the trip might be rescheduled. Biden had promised to go to Africa during his term in office, which ends in January.
UK PM Starmer rules out total ban on arms exports to Israel
- Sir Keir warns that defensive weapons must continue to be sent in the face of Iranian threats, proxy activities
- Remarks come after French President Macron calls for halt on arms sales, demanding a return to a ‘political solution’
LONDON: UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said he would “never” ban all arms sales to Israel.
The Labour leader made the claim during questions in the House of Commons on Monday, adding he believed Israel has a right to defend itself.
“If the sale of weapons for defensive use by Israel were banned, that is a position I could not countenance a year after Oct 7. It’s not a position I could countenance in the face of attacks by Iran,” Sir Keir told Parliament.
“The idea that we could say we support Israel’s right to defend herself, and at the same time deprive her of the means to do so, is so wholly inconsistent that it will never be my position.”
The UK government suspended 30 arms export licenses to Israel last month over fears they could be used to break international law. However, 32 other licenses remain.
The prime minister received criticism for his stance, with Zarah Sultana MP, currently suspended from the Labour Party, telling Sir Keir to do what is “morally and legally right” and ban “all arms sales” to Israel, including components for F-35 fighter jets.
On Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron called for a halt on arms exports to Israel after it invaded Lebanon.
“I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza,” he said.
Sir Keir echoed the need for a political solution to the crisis on the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel.
“Make no mistake, the region can’t take another year of this. All sides must step back from the brink and find the courage of restraint,” Sir Keir said.
US President Joe Biden also used the anniversary to tell Israeli President Isaac Herzog that Washington would “never give up until we bring all of the remaining hostages home safely.”
Norway raises terrorism alert level due to Middle East conflict
- Norwegian police officers, who are normally unarmed, will now carry guns nationwide as a result of the decision
- “It is primarily the threat to Jewish and Israeli targets that has been further intensified,” the statement said
OSLO: Norway has raised its terrorism threat assessment to the second-highest level due to an increased risk of attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets, the national police directorate said on Tuesday.
Norwegian police officers, who are normally unarmed, will now carry guns nationwide as a result of the decision by the PST security service to raise the threat level, the directorate said.
“PST raises the terror threat level in Norway from moderate to high as a result of the ongoing escalation of the conflict in the Middle East,” the police said in a statement.
“It is primarily the threat to Jewish and Israeli targets that has been further intensified,” the statement said.
National Police Commissioner Benedicte Bjoernland said there was an increased likelihood of attempted terrorism.
.”..we have a number of measures in place to protect the population,” she said in a statement.
Neighbouring Sweden in August last year raised its terrorist alert to the second-highest level after Qur'an burnings outraged Muslims and triggered threats from militants.
