Rival armed groups in Central African Republic on 10 May agreed to a peace accord requiring them to disarm and potentially face justice for war crimes committed during two years of conflict. The agreement signed between 10 armed groups and the Defence Ministry during a peace forum in the capital, Bangui, aims to draw a line under a conflict that has killed thousands and displaced nearly a million people in the impoverished former French colony.
The process, which envisages some members of armed factions being absorbed into the army, will be supported by a 10,000- strong U.N. peacekeeping mission. French and European Union military forces are withdrawing and elections are due to be held later this year. The peace forum, also attended by government officials, international partners as well as religious and civil society leaders, called for urgent creation of a special criminal court in the country.
BAN ON BEARDS, HIJABS FOLLOWS ARABIC NAMES IN TAJIKISTAN
In their campaign against Islam, the Tajikistan government has now turned their attention to Arabic names, deliberating on legislation to ban any name that is “too Arabic”. An ongoing battle by the Tajikistan State government on Islam has seen Muslim men being forced to shave their beards, children banned from attending mosques, women who wear the hijab labelled as “prostitutes”, the shutting down on independent mosques, and forcing thousands of overseas students to return home from Islamic schools abroad. Legislators have now turned their attention to the banning of Arabic sounding Muslim names, a report said on 9 May.
TURKISH COURT SENTENCED ISRAEL TO COMPENSATION
Turkish local court sentenced Israel to compensation for 46,103 TRY (17,100 USD) because of Mavi Marmara attack. The court had accepted the case after an Anadolu Agency (AA) reporter litigated. The reporter was in Mavi Marmara when the attack happened, a report said on 9 May.
Nevsehir 2nd Criminal Court sentenced Israel to 46,103 TRY compensation, in the case which was litigated by AA reporter. AA reporter Yücel Velioğlu was in the Mavi Marmara ship which was attacked by Israili soldiers in the international territorial waters. Mavi Marmara started to its journey in 2010 with the campaign of IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation in order to breakaway the blockade around Gaza.
SYRIANS SUFFERING ‘UNTHINKABLE ATROCITIES’
Amnesty International has used a new report to accuse the Syrian government of the “systematic killing” of civilians and the use of indiscriminate “barrel bombs.” The report, named “Death Everywhere,” examines human rights abuses in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo and has also accused some rebel groups of war crimes. Amnesty research, released on 4 May, has documented civilians who have the main victims of the regime’s barrel bomb attacks as the ongoing conflict runs into its fifth year.
Meanwhile, renewed UN-led efforts to revive peace talks in Syria are getting under way in Geneva. More than 40 Syrian groups including Syrian opposition groups were invited to attend the talks on 5 May, UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said. The Syrian government, neighbouring countries of Syria and members of the UN Security Council have all been invited, he said, without specifying who was in attendance.
CANADA FREES FORMER GITMO CHILD PRISONER ON BAIL
A judge ordered a former juvenile Guantanamo Bay prisoner to be released from prison on 7 May despite efforts by the Canadian government to keep him behind bars. Omar Khadr, 28, was in the courtroom in Edmonton, Alberta, and could not suppress a smile when Justice Myra Bielby announced her ruling, according to Canadian media. “Mr. Khadr, you are free to go,” the justice said.
The ruling backs the decision of a lower court judge who granted Khadr bail in April while appealing his conviction for war crimes in the United States.
Bail conditions call for Khadr to wear a tracking bracelet as well as being subject to a nighttime curfew, limits on contact with his family in Toronto and he must reside with his lawyer, Edmonton’s Dennis Edney.
FRENCH MAYOR INVESTIGATED FOR COUNTING MUSLIM STUDENTS
An investigation has been launched against Robert Menard, the far right mayor of the town of Beziers, in southern France, over a statement on his keeping files on the number of Muslim students in his town, according to French media. The probe, announced on 5 May by Beziers prosecutor Yvon Calvet, comes after Menard said a day earlier on the TV channel France 2 that he had statistical information on the religious affiliation of students enrolled in schools in his town, noting that 64.6% of them were Muslims. “These figures are those of my town, we have them. Sorry to say that the mayor has names of the students grade by grade. I know I do not have the right to, but I do it,” Menard said.
France’s premier Manuel Valls tweeted:” “Shame on the mayor of Beziers. The Republic makes NO distinction among its children.” The Minister of Education, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said that Menard’s act was “deeply anti-Republican” besides that “filing is illegal for a mayor who represents the state on his town.”
US BULK PHONE DATA COLLECTION RULED ‘ILLEGAL’
A U.S. intelligence agency’s practice of systematically collecting data about phone calls is illegal, an appeals court ruled on 7 May. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York held that the section of the U.S. Patriot Act, which the National Security Agency relied on to justify the collection of phone records on a massive scale, “cannot be legitimately interpreted to permit the systematic bulk collection of domestic calling records.”
The case was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, known as the ACLU, in June 2013, immediately after former computer security contractor Edward Snowden leaked classified information about the programme.
MYSTERY OF THE ‘TOWN OF TWINS’ IN BOSNIA
When Nedzib Vucelj’s wife Emira gave birth to twins at the height of the Bosnian war, it was impossible to buy a suitable baby stroller: their hometown of Buzim was surrounded by rival armies. Vucelj tried to borrow from a neighbour, but they had lent theirs to another family with twins. When he came to their door, he was told it had already passed to a third family, also with twins, a report said on 5 May.
“That’s when I realised just how many twins were here,” said Vucelj, a former teacher and journalist who has launched an initiative to declare Buzim the “Town of Twins”. Investigating the phenomenon, he discovered that at least 21 sets of twins had been born in the town of 20,000 people during the 1992-95 war. There may be many more, given the rate of migration due to poverty and unemployment.
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DR. ANIS ANSARI RE-ELECTED CHAIRMAN MEDICINE DEPARTMENT, MMCC
The Mercy Medical Centre in Clinton, Iowa, USA holds election for department of medicine chairman every two years. During this year election, Dr. Anis Ansari was unanimously elected chairman of Medicine Department for the third time. He practises at Medical Associate, part of group practice consisting of 40 physicians with him being the only Nephrologist living in Clinton and serving the community.
Dr. Ansari has been very active in the community with community education efforts throughout the year. He has written more than 35 medical articles for the community education with the last three being on Ebola virus, Flu epidemic and Depression. In 2013, he was named the leading physician of the world and top Nephrologist in Clinton by the International Associations of Healthcare professionals.