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
https://arab.news/z6vcq
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
Biden cancels trip to Germany and Angola because of hurricane
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.
UK spy boss highlights surge in children linked to terror plots
- MI5 boss Ken McCallum said that Russian intelligence was seeking to cause ‘mayhem’ in Britain
- Under-18s represent 13 percent of people being investigated by the spy agency for possible involvement in terror activities
LONDON: The chief of Britain’s domestic intelligence service on Tuesday blamed extreme right-wing ideologies for a “staggering” rise in the number of children being investigated for terrorism.
MI5 boss Ken McCallum also said that Russian intelligence was seeking to cause “mayhem” in Britain because of its support for Ukraine and that his agency had investigated growing numbers of Iran-backed plots.
Under-18s represent 13 percent of people being investigated by the spy agency for possible involvement in terror activities, McCallum said.
He told reporters at MI5’s Counter Terrorism Operations Center in London that the number marked “a threefold increase in the last three years.”
McCallum said the Internet was the “biggest factor” driving the rise, describing how easily youngsters can access “inspirational and instructional material” from their bedrooms.
He said the intelligence service was seeing “far too many cases where very young people are being drawn into poisonous online extremism” and singled out “canny” Internet memes.
“Extreme right-wing terrorism in particular skews heavily toward young people, driven by propaganda that shows a canny understanding of online culture,” he added.
“It’s not really a consistent single ideology on the extreme right-wing side and that is what has skewed the numbers most heavily.”
The UK terrorist threat level remains at “substantial” — the third highest on five — meaning an attack is likely.
MI5 and the police have disrupted more than 40 late-stage attack plots since March 2017, saving “numerous lives,” McCallum said.
He added that the Daesh group had “resumed efforts to export terrorism” and that in the last year inquiries into plots by hostile states had surged by 48 percent.
According to McCallum, Russia’s intelligence service had tried to cause “mayhem” in the UK because of Britain’s support for Ukraine.
Meanwhile, MI5 has responded to 20 Iran-backed plots since January 2022 that presented potentially lethal threats to British citizens and UK residents, he added.
Hungary PM Orban says Ukraine “cannot win on the battlefield“
- Orban added that both direct and indirect communication is needed between the warring parties
BUDAPEST: Ukraine cannot win the war with Russia on the battlefield and communication and a ceasefire are needed to save lives, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Tuesday at a news conference in Strasbourg.
Orban added that both direct and indirect communication is needed between the warring parties and it was a part of international politics that a third party mediates between them.
