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Houthis criticized after educator dies in custody

Special Houthis criticized after educator dies in custody
Mohammed Naj Khamash died while in Houthi custody in Sanaa. (X/@YemenVibes)
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Updated 23 October 2024

Houthis criticized after educator dies in custody

Houthis criticized after educator dies in custody
  • Family of Mohammed Naj Khamash received a phone call from the Houthis asking them to collect his remains
  • Houthis abducted 55-year-old Khamash from Sanaa in June as the militia launched a surprise crackdown on a number of organizations

AL-MUKALLA: The death of a Yemeni educational expert and Ministry of Education official in a Houthi-run detention facility was a result of torture, it is being claimed.

Yemeni government officials and human rights activists said the family of Mohammed Naj Khamash, the director general of primary and secondary education at the Ministry of Education, received a call from the Houthis on Tuesday asking them to collect his remains. They were told his death was caused by a heart attack.

The Houthis abducted 55-year-old Khamash from Sanaa in June as the militia launched a surprise crackdown on Yemeni employees of UN agencies, international human rights and aid organizations, diplomatic missions, and education experts.

The Yemeni government’s Ministry of Human Rights office in Sanaa, which is outside Houthi-controlled areas, has disputed that Khamash died of natural causes. Instead they say he was brutally tortured in Sanaa detention facilities and his family prevented from visiting or contacting him.

“We strongly condemn the terrorist Houthi militia’s actions, including the death of abducted Mohammed Naj Khamash, the continuation of physical and psychological torture, and the deliberate neglect and denial of treatment and health care to abductees, which has resulted in the deaths of a number of them in Houthi prisons,” the office said.

Khamash’s death is the latest in a string of mysterious fatalities of Houthi detainees in Sanaa and other areas under their control which Yemeni activists and rights groups say are the result of mistreatment, deplorable conditions, and deprivation of medical care. Sabri Al-Hakimi, a prominent educationist, died in March after being abducted and held in a detention facility in the city.

International charity Save the Children temporarily halted operations in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen late last year in an attempt to pressure the organization to explain the death of employee Hisham Al-Hakimi during detention by the militia.

The Houthis continue to hold a number of prominent teachers and educators, including Mohammed Hatem Al-Mekhlafi, a professor of public education at Sanaa University and co-author of the country's primary school curriculum, and Mujeeb Al-Mekhlafi, an educational training expert.

Al-Mekhlafi and other abducted educationalists appeared in videos broadcast by Houthi media, confessing to inserting “American ideas” such as homosexuality and atheism into Yemeni school curricula, persuading Yemeni children to normalize relations with Israel, and recruiting Yemenis for Israeli and American intelligence agencies.

Khamash’s death sparked condemnation from local and international rights groups, who called for stronger international action to pressure the Houthis to release the abductees and end the widespread torture in their detention facilities.

The Geneva-based SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties issued a statement urging the international community to take immediate action to rescue abductees from Houthi prisons.

“SAM urges the international community to take immediate action to rescue detainees in Houthi prisons, emphasizing that the continued occurrence of serious human rights violations, such as torture and ill-treatment, necessitates effective and serious pressure on the Houthis to release detainees and protect their rights,” it read.

On Wednesday, a Houthi drone dropped two bombs on a school in Al-Hanaeh, in Yemen’s southern province of Taiz, injuring two students, according to SABA.


Lebanon agrees bail for ex-central bank chief: judicial officials

Lebanon agrees bail for ex-central bank chief: judicial officials
Updated 3 sec ago

Lebanon agrees bail for ex-central bank chief: judicial officials

Lebanon agrees bail for ex-central bank chief: judicial officials
  • Lebanon’s judiciary agreed Tuesday to the release on bail of more than $20 million of former central bank governor Riad Salameh, detained for nearly a year on embezzlement charges
  • He is widely viewed as a key culprit in Lebanon’s economic crash, which the World Bank has called one of the worst in recent history, but has defended his legacy, insisting he is a “scapegoat“
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s judiciary agreed Tuesday to the release on bail of more than $20 million of former central bank governor Riad Salameh, detained for nearly a year on embezzlement charges, judicial officials said.
Salameh, 75, who headed the central bank for three decades, faces numerous accusations including embezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion in separate probes in Lebanon and abroad.
He is widely viewed as a key culprit in Lebanon’s economic crash, which the World Bank has called one of the worst in recent history, but has defended his legacy, insisting he is a “scapegoat.”
The judiciary “agreed to release Salameh on bail of $20 million in addition to five billion Lebanese pounds (around $56,000) and banned him from travel for a year starting from the date of this decision’s implementation,” the judicial official said, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to brief the media.
The decision relates to a case in which Salameh is accused of embezzling $44 million from the central bank, the official said, adding that the judiciary had issued release orders for him in two other cases last month.
A second judicial official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the bail amount “is the highest in the history of the Lebanese judiciary.”
Salameh’s lawyer Mark Habka told AFP that “the bail is high and illegal, and I will speak to my client about the next steps.”
In April, a Lebanese judge issued an indictment for Salameh, charging him with embezzling $44 million from the central bank, as well as illicit enrichment and forgery. Bail was rejected at the time.
The second judicial official said the decision to release him came “in consideration of his health condition.”
The official said he would in any case have been released automatically on September 4 when his pre-trial detention order expires.
Salameh, who left office at the end of July 2023, has repeatedly denied the allegations against him, saying his wealth comes from private investment and his previous work at US investment firm Merrill Lynch.

The 189 Palestinian journalists killed in the war in Gaza endured hunger and grief

The 189 Palestinian journalists killed in the war in Gaza endured hunger and grief
Updated 23 sec ago

The 189 Palestinian journalists killed in the war in Gaza endured hunger and grief

The 189 Palestinian journalists killed in the war in Gaza endured hunger and grief

Since the war began in Gaza, 189 Palestinian journalists have been killed, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. They include men and women, freelancers and staffers, veterans with years in the field and young reporters on some of their first assignments. Some were killed with their families at home, others were in vehicles marked “PRESS,” or in tents near hospitals, or out covering the violence. Many endured the same conditions as those they covered — hunger, displacement, and grief.
Among them:
— Mariam Dagga, 33. A visual journalist and a 33-year-old mother, she was known for human-centered reporting from southern Gaza, including at Nasser Hospital, where she was killed in an Israeli strike in August 2025. During the war, she worked for The Associated Press and Independent Arabia. The strike that killed her also claimed the lives of rescuers and four other journalists.
— Anas Al-Sharif, 28. The father of two was killed in an Israeli strike on a tent outside Shifa hospital in August 2025, days after he wept on air while reporting on starvation deaths in Gaza. The strike — which also killed five other journalists — prompted an outpouring of condemnation from press freedom groups and foreign officials.
— Hamza Dahdouh, 27. The son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza City bureau chief, he was killed in a January 2024 drone strike after leaving a reporting assignment at the site of an earlier strike in southern Gaza. He was the fifth member of his family to be killed.
— Ayat Khadoura, 27. The Al Quds University graduate shed light on the hardships families faced in the first weeks of the war. She became known for reporting on bombs striking her northern Gaza neighborhood, including one video in which she said Israeli forces had ordered residents to evacuate moments before a strike hit her home and killed her in November 2023.
— Hossam Shabat, 23. A freelancer from northern Gaza, he was killed while reporting for Al Jazeera in March 2025. Before the war, he told a Beirut-based advocacy group he hoped to start a media company or work in his family’s restaurants.
— Fatima Hassouna, 25. The photojournalist was killed in an April 2025 Israeli airstrike a day after a documentary about her efforts to film daily life amid war in Gaza was accepted at a Cannes Film Festival program promoting independent films.
Israel has accused some of the journalists killed of involvement with militant groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad — charges that journalists and their outlets have dismissed as baseless. Israel’s military did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment about the CPJ data.
Figures and methodologies may differ among groups that track journalist deaths. CPJ said it “independently investigates and verifies the circumstances behind each death,” including to verify journalists’ lack of involvement in militant activities.


Syria welcomes US decision to lift sanctions, sees ‘new page’ in relations

Syria welcomes US decision to lift sanctions, sees ‘new page’ in relations
Updated 8 min 5 sec ago

Syria welcomes US decision to lift sanctions, sees ‘new page’ in relations

Syria welcomes US decision to lift sanctions, sees ‘new page’ in relations
  • Sanctions dating back to 2004 and expanded during years of conflict will no longer apply, officially allowing American companies to conduct business with Damascus

DAMASCUS: Syria on Monday welcomed the US Treasury Department’s decision to remove it from the sanctions list under the Code of Federal Regulations, describing it as a “positive development” that could ease humanitarian and economic hardships.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that the Syrian Sanctions Regulations will be lifted as of Tuesday following President Donald Trump’s June order to terminate the national emergency underpinning the restrictions. 

Sanctions dating back to 2004 and expanded during years of conflict will no longer apply, officially allowing American companies to conduct business with Damascus.

In a statement, Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the move will “directly reflect on the humanitarian and economic conditions of the Syrian people” by facilitating trade, financial transactions and US exports, while opening “new horizons for economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.”

The ministry noted the timing of the decision coincided with the visit of a second official US congressional delegation to Damascus, led by Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Representative Joe Wilson, accompanied by Ambassador Tom Barrack, the US president’s special envoy for Syria.

President Ahmad al-Sharaa received the delegation in the presence of senior Syrian ministers, with talks focusing on strengthening bilateral ties and exploring areas of cooperation. 

The ministry said the meetings signaled growing support within Congress for the full lifting of sanctions, including efforts to repeal the 2019 Caesar Act before the end of this year.

“For his part, President al-Sharaa expressed appreciation for the efforts made in Congress, stressing that these simultaneous developments, the lifting of restrictions and the resumption of official visits, constitute a continuation of a practical and realistic path that serves the interests of the Syrian people and enhances stability in the region,” the statement said.

US officials have said that while sanctions are being removed, Congress must still act to formally repeal the Caesar Act. 

The Syrian government affirmed its readiness to continue dialogue with international partners on the basis of sovereignty and mutual respect, with the aim of ensuring stability and prosperity for the Syrian people and the wider region.


UN says Israeli probes into Gaza killings must ‘yield results’

UN says Israeli probes into Gaza killings must ‘yield results’
Updated 26 August 2025

UN says Israeli probes into Gaza killings must ‘yield results’

UN says Israeli probes into Gaza killings must ‘yield results’

GENEVA: The UN insisted Tuesday that Israel must not only investigate alleged unlawful killings in Gaza like the hospital strike that killed 20 people, including journalists, the previous day, but also ensure those probes yield results.
“There needs to be justice,” United Nations rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan told reporters in Geneva, adding that the large number of media workers killed in the Gaza war “raises many, many questions about the targeting of journalists.”
His comments came after an Israeli strike on the Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis on Monday killed at least 20 people, including five journalists, sparking an international outcry.
Reuters, the Associated Press and Al Jazeera all issued statements mourning their slain contributors, while the Israeli military said it would investigate the incident.
“The Israeli authorities have, in the past, announced investigations in such killings,” Kheetan said.
“It’s of course the responsibility of Israel, as the occupying power, to investigate — but these investigations need to yield results,” he said.
“We haven’t seen results or accountability measures yet. We have yet to see the results of these investigations, and we call for accountability and justice.”
Kheetan said at least 247 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza since the war was triggered by militant group Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
“These journalists are the eyes and the ears of the whole world and they must be protected,” he said.
Asked if Monday’s attack could amount to a so-called “double-tap” strike, in which an initial strike is followed by a second hitting rescue workers and other civilians, Kheetan said this needed to be investigated.
“We can say that the Israeli military reportedly launched multiple air strikes on the Nasser Medical Complex, and there were two air strikes in a short period of time,” he said.
“We know that one of the five journalists appears to have been killed in the first air strike while three others, including the woman journalist, appear to have been killed in the second air strike,” he added, describing this as “a shock” and “unacceptable.”
“This incident and the killing of all civilians, including journalists, must be thoroughly and independently investigated, and justice must follow.”


US envoy: șÚÁÏÉçÇű, Qatar to invest in Lebanon economic zone for disarmed Hezbollah

US envoy: șÚÁÏÉçÇű, Qatar to invest in Lebanon economic zone for disarmed Hezbollah
Updated 26 August 2025

US envoy: șÚÁÏÉçÇű, Qatar to invest in Lebanon economic zone for disarmed Hezbollah

US envoy: șÚÁÏÉçÇű, Qatar to invest in Lebanon economic zone for disarmed Hezbollah
  • The US-backed Lebanese army is preparing a plan for Hezbollah’s disarmament that should be ready by the end of August
  • Barrack also said on Tuesday that his country would approve the extension of United Nations peacekeepers’ mandate in Lebanon for one more year

BEIRUT: șÚÁÏÉçÇű and Qatar are ready to invest in an economic zone in south Lebanon near the border with Israel that would create jobs for members of the militant Hezbollah group and its supporters once they lay down their weapons, President Donald Trump’s envoy to the Middle East said Tuesday.
Tom Barrack made his comments in Beirut after trips to Israel and Syria where he discussed with officials there the ongoing situation in Lebanon following this month’s decision by the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah by the end of the year. Hezbollah’s leader rejected the government’s plan, vowing to keep the weapons.
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces could begin withdrawing from territory they hold in southern Lebanon after the Lebanese government’s “momentous decision” to disarm Hezbollah.
The US-backed Lebanese army is preparing a plan for Hezbollah’s disarmament that should be ready by the end of August. The government is expected to discuss the army’s plan and approve it during a meeting scheduled for Sept. 2.
“We have to have money coming into the system. The money will come from the Gulf,” Barrack told reporters after meeting President Joseph Aoun. “Qatar and șÚÁÏÉçÇű are partners and are willing to do that for the south (of Lebanon) if we’re asking a portion of the Lebanese community to give up their livelihood.”
“We have 40,000 people that are being paid by Iran to fight. What are you gonna do with them? Take their weapon and say ‘by the way, good luck planting olive trees’? It can’t happen. We have to help them,” Barrack said. He was referring to tens of thousands of Hezbollah members who have been funded since the early 1980s by Tehran.
“We, all of us, the Gulf, the US, the Lebanese are all gonna act together to create an economic forum that is gonna produce a livelihood,” Barrack said.
When asked why the US doesn’t go to discuss the Hezbollah issue directly with Iran rather than traveling to Israel and Syria, Barrack said: “You think that’s not happening? Goodbye.” Barrack then ended his news conference and walked out of the room.
Speaking on the UN peacekeeping force that has been deployed in south Lebanon since Israel first invaded the country in 1978, Barrack said the US would rather fund the Lebanese army than the force that is known as UNIFIL. Speaking about this week’s vote at the United Nations in New York, Barrack said the US backs extending UNIFIL’s term for one year only.
Hezbollah was severely weakened by a war with Israel last year in which many of the group’s leaders and fighters were killed. A US-brokered peace agreement that ended that conflict requires the Lebanese state to disarm armed groups.
Qassem said Hezbollah and its ally Amal had postponed street protests against the US-backed disarmament initiative, allowing room for dialogue with the government, but that future protests could target the US Embassy in Beirut.
Israel signaled it would reduce its military presence in southern Lebanon if the Lebanese Armed Forces acted to disarm Hezbollah, according to a statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office.

With Agencies