PROMINENT CATHOLIC PRIEST REVERTS TO ISLAM
Father Hilarion Heagy, a prominent US-based Eastern Catholic priest, has converted to Islam, describing his decision as a “reversion to Islam” and that it was “like coming home,” a report said on February 26. The priest who resides in California was previously a Russian Orthodox, having joined the Antiochian Orthodox Church around 2003, before departing in 2007 and switching to the Eastern Catholic Church. He graduated from the Holy Resurrection Monastery in St. Nazianz in Wisconsin to become a Byzantine Catholic priest and had recently announced plans to establish an Eastern Christian Monastery in California. However, in his own blog post, Heagy who is now known as Said Abdul Latif said: “After decades of feeling drawn to Islam in varying degrees, I had finally decided to take the plunge.” “For this to happen, however, a physical move was necessary and in order, as I was living in a Catholic monastery. One simply can’t be a priest and monk publicly, and a Muslim privately,” he said.
CHILDREN IN GENEVA SEND DRAWINGS TO SUPPORT PEERS IN TÜRKIYE
Drawings by a group of children in Switzerland will be delivered to their peers in Türkiye’s quake-affected regions, according to the Turkish Consul-General in Geneva on February 24. IpekZeytinogluOzkan said that, under the leadership of the Japan-based “Kids Earth Fund”, a group of children in Geneva, including Japanese kids, painted to support their peers in Türkiye. The founder of the fund, Harumi Torii, delivered about 15 of the drawings to Ozkan. Torii, who went to the earthquake region to convey the pictures to the children in Türkiye, said they made a similar initiative after the Golcuk quake in the country and said: “We will always be in cooperation and solidarity with the Turks.” Torii and his entourage also donated sleeping bags and tents for quake zones. Ozkan, for her part, thanked Torii and all children who contributed to this initiative.
AI CALLS ON TUNISIA TO STOP MILITARY TRIALS OF CIVILIANS
Amnesty International on February 23 called on Tunisian President Kais Saied to stop the prosecution of civilians in military courts. In a statement, the organisation said: “Since his power grab on 25 July 2021, President Kais Saied granted himself sweeping powers and has debilitated key institutions for human rights protection, threatening freedom of expression, association, fair trial, and other rights.” Adding that he has used these powers to target those who oppose his manoeuvres. “They have faced arbitrary travel bans, at times arrest or criminal investigations and prosecutions before the courts. The prosecution of civilians by military courts has dramatically increased with at least 12 civilians tried over the past year, including for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression,” it warned.
OMAN PLEDGES NOT TO NORMALISE RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL
The Sultanate of Oman has committed to the Palestinian Authority (PA) that it will not normalise relations with the Israeli occupation state, he said on February 24. Oman announced that Israeli airlines would be able to pass through its airspace, noting that this came after months of talks between the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Omani authorities. In July 2021, Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Bin Hamad Al-Busaidi told London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat: “Oman believes in the principle of achieving a just, comprehensive and lasting peace on the basis of the two-state solution.” He added: “We are with the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, and we respect the sovereign decisions of states, just as we expect others to respect our sovereign decisions.” Meanwhile, Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh announced that Palestinians and their “Courageous resistance will not allow the abortion of escalating intifada.”
IRAN RESPONDS TO ‘DISCOVERY’ OF ITS 84% ENRICHED URANIUM
Iran reportedly addressed and responded to reports that it has enriched uranium to a high 84 per cent purity, after inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reportedly made the discovery recently. Nour News, an outlet and website directly linked to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council which is overseen by Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, stated on Twitter that “It will be clear soon that the IAEA’s surprising report of discovering 84 per cent enriched uranium particles in Iran’s enrichment facilities was an inspector’s error or was a deliberate action to create political atmospheres against Iran on the eve of the meeting of the Board of Governors”. That Board, consisting of a group of nations overseeing the IAEA, is set to meet on 6 March in the Austrian capital, Vienna, in which the issue of Iran and its enrichment will be a key topic. Nour News also urged the IAEA to “not fall prey to the seduction of Western countries” and to declare Iran’s nuclear program to be “completely peaceful”.
UN FOOD AGENCY CHIEF TELLS OF ‘APOCALYPTIC’ SCENES IN TÜRKIYE
The head of the United Nation’s World Food Programme (WFP) on February 25 said he was confronted with “apocalyptic” scenes as he visited earthquake-stricken areas in southern Türkiye. “There is only one way to describe what I saw today: apocalyptic,” WFP Executive Director David Beasley said after visiting the city of Antakya in Türkiye’s Hatay province. “Entire neighbourhoods have been flattened; homes destroyed, schools and shops closed; lives torn apart. The scale of devastation here is truly incomprehensible,” he said. The official added in a statement that the situation on the Syrian side amounted to a “catastrophe on top of a catastrophe”, referring to the past 12 years of civil war. The WFP said Beasley visited a UN logistics hub where trucks are loaded with food and other emergency supplies before crossing over into northwest Syria.
TÜRKIYE MARKS 31ST ANNIVERSARY OF KHOJALY MASSACRE
The 1992 Khojaly massacre was a “crime against humanity,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on February 26. “We condemn the murder of our Azerbaijani brothers in Khojaly 31 years ago, and we once again commemorate our martyrs with mercy,” Cavusoglu said in a tweet on the 31st anniversary of the violent attack in which hundreds of Azerbaijani citizens were killed by Armenian forces. “We have not forgotten the crime against humanity committed in Khojaly, we will not forget,” he said, emphasising that Türkiye shares Azerbaijan’s pain. More than 600 people were killed in one of Armenia’s bloodiest assaults on Azerbaijani civilians in the Karabakh region. Armenian forces took over the town of Khojaly on February 26, 1992 after battering it with heavy artillery and tanks, assisted by an infantry regiment.
‘WE SERVE AS IF IT IS OUR OWN COUNTRY’: QATARI COMMANDER
Qatar is trying to help people in Türkiye’s quake-hit regions “as if it is our own country,” according to a Qatari military commander. “When this disaster occurred, we took action on the very first day, as instructed by Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani,” Lt. Col. Hamad Al Hajri reportedly said at the Incirlik Air Base in the southern Adana province, where his team is stationed with four helicopters and a C-130 plane. “After a preparatory meeting on February 8, a team of 30 people set off for Türkiye on two planes of the Qatar Armed Forces on February 9. The next day, two more planes and four helicopters arrived,” Al Hajri said. “Within a few days, our aircraft were ready to carry supplies to the regions in need. After that, humanitarian aid, such as medical supplies, have been arriving from Qatar every day, and this is still continuing,” he added. Additionally, four Qatari military planes are also being used to airlift relief supplies from different countries, he said.