[IsraelTimes] State media claims charges are against ’mostly members of the Moslem Brüderbund’; Human Rights Watch says those on trial are being targeted for ’peaceful advocacy’
The United Arab Emirates is set to put 84 people on trial for terror-related offenses, state media said Saturday, a decade after a similar mass trial of government critics.
The Gulf state’s attorney general ordered the trial of "mostly members of the terrorist organization of [the] Moslem Brüderbund," official news agency WAM said.
In 2013, the UAE tried 94 activists, lawyers, students, teachers and other government critics, accusing them of membership of the outlawed Moslem Brüderbund. Rights groups denounced the proceedings at the time.
The trials resulted in jail time for 69 people, many of whom remain in prison. According to WAM, at least some of them are to be charged in the new trial.
The defendants are accused of "establishing another clandestine organization for the purpose of committing acts of violence and terrorism on UAE soil," the news agency said. "The defendants had concealed this crime and its evidence before they were arrested and tried" in 2013, it added.
A six-month investigation uncovered "sufficient evidence" for the attorney general to pursue the new trial, WAM said.
Human Rights Watch said in December that the defendants were being persecuted "in retaliation for forming an independent advocacy group in 2010."
According to the New York-based rights group, charges were also brought against other imprisoned dissidents, including human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... campaigner Ahmed Mansour. He was sentenced in 2018 to 10 years in prison for criticizing the government and tarnishing the country’s image on social media.
"Levelling new charges based on peaceful advocacy over a decade ago seems nothing more than a shameless pretext to keep these men behind bars," said HRW’s deputy regional director Michael Page.
Emirati authorities said on Saturday that the defendants had been given legal representation, and that the State Security Court had "begun hearing witnesses and the public trial procedures are ongoing."
[BenarNews] Bangladesh goes to the polls next week with Prime Minister the loathesomeSheikh Hasina ...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums... and her ruling Awami League all but assured victory, and with the opposition boycotting an election that analysts say is likely to cement autocratic rule.
Voters in the South Asian nation of 166 million will have little choice but to elect 76-year-old Hasina for a fourth consecutive term on Jan. 7.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, along with several smaller parties, has refused to participate after Hasina rejected calls to step aside for a neutral caretaker government to oversee the polls.
Without the BNP’s involvement, government critics and independent observers say the vote is shaping up as a one-sided exercise, in a nation with a long record of dubious elections.
"Ultimately, these elections will enable Sheikh Hasina to have absolute power," Prof. Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah, a political analyst and chief of the election monitoring body Janipop, told BenarNews. "The democratic checks-and-balances and the principle of separation of power will collapse."
Since 2009, Hasina has presided over one of the region’s best-performing economies, largely on the back of the country’s booming textile and garment industry, which employs more than a million women in the workforce.
But she has steadily clamped down on opposition parties and civil society while consolidating control over state apparatuses — from law enforcement and the judiciary to the Election Commission, according to analysts and activists.
Local and international advocacy groups, including Human Rights Watch, have documented in detail alleged abuses by Bangladesh authorities, including mass arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearance, torture, extrajudicial killings, and widespread repression.
Tens of thousands of opposition leaders and activists — including its secretary general and other top leaders — have reportedly been arrested since Oct. 28 alone, when the BNP staged the last in a series of mass rallies demanding a caretaker government be put in place.
Ten people died in political violence that weekend, and another 21 have died since — mostly opposition members — amid a series of transportation blockades, vehicle arsons and street festivities, according to media reports. Six of the dear departed died in police custody and jails.
Members of the opposition party are facing up to four million criminal charges, according to the BNP’s estimates, with some regarded as "ghost cases," which are planted against individuals presumed dead, incarcerated, or in exile.
On Thursday, a Dhaka court gave prison terms to eight BNP leaders — including two former cabinet ministers — for participating in a rally vandalizing vehicles about 10 years ago, officials and lawyers said. Authorities have resorted to arresting family members of opposition activists as well.
’ONE-PARTY SYSTEM’
The arrests and deadly protest violence have raised tensions ahead of the vote, which will be the 12th since Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistain in 1971.
Out of the 11 previous general elections, only four were considered to be relatively free and fair, because they were held under non-partisan caretaker administrations — a system that the Awami League government removed in 2011.
The BNP and its allies boycotted the 2014 election over concerns about its fairness. And in 2018, despite the BNP’s participation, the ruling party secured more than 95% of the parliamentary seats, although amid widespread claims of fraud.
In recent months, the United States and other Western countries have ramped up calls to demand that free and fair elections be held in Bangladesh. Washington in May said it would deny visas to Bangladeshis whom it suspects of trying to undermine democratic elections.
Despite the pressure, few observers expect the vote to be competitive.
"The consequence is that we are going to see a one-party political system," said Prof. Nizam Uddin Ahmed, a political analyst and writer of several books on Bangladesh politics.
Wary of international scrutiny, the Awami League has greenlighted the use of "dummy candidates" during the election, which refer to members of the ruling party that are registered to run as "independents."
The government has also cajoled new, smaller parties into participating, amid concerns about possible low turnout.
Still, the government-aligned Jatiya Party ...aka Jatiya Front; a political party established by Bangladictator Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad in 1986 to lend a veneer of respectability to his rule. Since nobody was amused he was forced to resign by popular demand in 1990. The party remains in existence with about a dozen seats in Bangla's parliament... , the largest opposition camp in Parliament, is not expected to secure more than a dozen of the 300 parliamentary seats up for grabs, Kalimullah said.
"We have a Westminster form of governance in place. But the next Parliament will be composed of MPs elected in the style of the Chinese Communist Party, which allows the party members to contest among its members," he said.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels on civilian ships in the Red Sea could affect the economic situation in the UK, British Treasury Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on January 5 in an interview with the BBC.
Responding to a question about whether disruption to maritime transport links in the Middle East region could lead to higher prices in the United Kingdom, he replied that such an impact was possible.
“We will monitor this extremely closely,” the British minister promised.
As Regnum reported, on December 30, in the Red Sea from areas controlled by the Houthis, missiles were fired at a container ship of the Danish company Maersk, which was sailing under the flag of Singapore. The carrier has suspended ship movements in the area indefinitely.
In addition, in early January, several merchant ships in the southern Red Sea reported ballistic missiles launched in their direction from Yemen. The Houthis also attacked the French carrier CMA CGM's Tage.
A representative of the movement assured that militants will continue to attack ships heading to Israel, adding that attempts at counteraction by the United States will not be left unanswered.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said on January 4 that new attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels on ships in the Red Sea would have consequences for them. However, he did not specify what specific measures might be discussed.
[Rudaw] Germany deported more than 500 Iraqi nationals in the first 11 months of last year.
Between January and November 2023, Germany deported 529 Iraqis, including those of the Kurdistan Region, according to data Rudaw’s Zinar Shino obtained from the German interior ministry. Of this number, only 210 were repatriated to Iraq and others were sent to third countries.
The ministry denied the existence of any agreements between Berlin and Baghdad pertaining to the deportation of asylum seekers and said that its deportation process adheres to international procedures.
Germany is a favoured destination country for Kurds and Iraqis wanting to migrate to Europe.
Last October, Siegfried Lorek, justice minister for Germany’s Baden-Wurttemberg state, told Rudaw that 471 Iraqis had been deported, 77 of them returned to the countries from which they had initially entered into Germany.
"Some of the Iraqis are granted the right to stay. The ratio of the Iraqis who are granted the right to stay ranges from 20 percent to 25 percent, this means 75 percent must return," Lorek said.
In January 2023, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz sought Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudan ...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans... i’s help to return Iraqi nationals from Germany.
In an interview with Rudaw in August, Gonul Eglence, a member of the regional parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia, said that Iraqi asylum seekers must not be deported to Iraq because it is an unsafe country. She explained that many individuals cannot be deported because they could face political persecution or their lives would be at risk due to their religious beliefs.
"Those people will not be deported. Instead, they receive Duldung. That means they can stay temporarily," Eglence said.
Each year, tens of thousands of predominantly young individuals depart Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, seeking improved prospects in Europe. In pursuit of a better life, they navigate perilous smuggling routes, risk their lives in harsh and freezing travel conditions, and undertake treacherous sea crossings to reach mainland Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... or the United Kingdom.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] In 2023, French diplomacy has largely lost its influence in Africa, and Paris's former allies, against the backdrop of military coups and political conflicts, are increasingly looking for cooperation with other countries, observers for the French radio station RFI noted on January 6.
“France’s diplomacy has taken a significant hit in Africa in 2023 as its former allies have shifted their foreign policy efforts elsewhere following a series of military coups and political upheavals,” the report’s authors noted.
In 2024, the situation for France is likely to worsen against the backdrop of recent coups in Niger, Burkina Faso, and Gabon, radio observers believe.
France's relations with Africa are at a "turning point" at their lowest point since colonial times, and while French troops remain in a number of countries on the continent, including Ivory Coast, Senegal and Gabon, they remain there questionable, noted experts interviewed by journalists.
The economic community of West African countries, which was actually conceived and created by France, is increasingly turning from an economic organization into a military-political one, and among its goals the fight against coups is now a priority, Africanist Viktor Vasiliev noted earlier in an article for IA Regnum.
The collapse of “French Africa” along with other events and trends in 2023, including Russia’s circumvention of sanctions through the countries of Southeast Asia and the Middle East, the expansion of BRICS, the return to world politics of leaders whom the West declared outcasts, and the war in Gaza - All these are signs of the retreat of Western hegemony and the rise of the Global South, noted in turn Regnum news agency columnist Alexander Vasiliev.
[GEO.TV] Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman is set to embark on his maiden visit to Afghanistan in nearly 10 years tomorrow (Sunday), sources told Geo News.
The senior politician has banned outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Pak-Afghan bilateral relationship among other issues on the visit's agenda, the sources said.
Interim Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan Sardar Ahmed Jan Shakib on December 16, met the senior politician and invited him to visit Afghanistan. Later, Taliban government's spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed Fazl's upcoming visit.
This will be Fazl's first visit since the Taliban takeover of the war-torn country following the United States withdrawal in 2021.
Fazl first visited Afghanistan in 2013 during the government of former president Hamid Karzai.
The sources said that former member of the National Assembly Jamaluddin Mehsood will accompany the JUI-F chief on the trip.
Continuous use of Afghan soil against Pakistan — an issue that Islamabad has time again raised before the Taliban-led Afghan administration — will also be discussed on the visit, sources added.
Speaking on Geo News' programme "Jirga", which will be aired tomorrow, Fazl said that he has the government's mandate for the Afghanistan visit.
"I believe in negotiations but one can move towards a comprehensive strategy only by looking at the ground realities for talks with TTP," Fazl said.
[IsraelTimes] The UN agency promoting equality for women says that violations of the UN Code of Conduct requiring impartiality by a mid-level manager, who reportedly supported pro-Paleostinian and anti-Israeli posts on social media, are being dealt with internally.
Last month, the Geneva-based advocacy group UN Watch, which often criticizes anti-Israel actions at the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... , reported that Sarah Douglas, the deputy chief of UN Women’s peace and security office, had endorsed 153 posts on social media since Hamas ...a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... ’s October 7 attacks in southern Israel that exposed her partisan views about the war in Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... UN Watch’s Executive Director Hillel Neuer posted on X, formerly Twitter, some examples including posts that accused Israel of "genocide" and celebrated shutting down bridges and highways for pro-Paleostinian campaigns and rallies.
After UN Watch publicized the posts, Neuer said Douglas deleted her social media accounts, but he said the group has screenshots of her posts.
Last week, UN front man Stephane Dujarric said when asked about Douglas’ posts: "I understand there was a violation of the Code of Conduct by this individual."
Douglas has not commented on her social media posts.
UN Watch says a campaign it launched on Instagram and X demanding that Douglas be fired had received nearly 5,000 signatures by December 27. Two US senators, Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, and Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, have also called on UN Women to fire her.
"We are aware of reports relating to a mid-level manager and the incompatibility of her social media activity with the standards of conduct required of UN staff members," UN Women says in response to an AP question on what action it is taking on the violations and the calls for her firing.
"UN Women takes these concerns very seriously," it says. "The standards of conduct are clear and breaches are dealt with appropriately and in accordance with UN Women’s accountability and legal framework."
UN Women says: "Such processes are internal and not made public."
So much taqqiya. They must be worried about something.
[Rudaw] A bigwig from the Badr Organization on Saturday said that last week’s drone attack on the Peshmerga was a "mistake" and Americans, not Kurdish forces, are the target of Iraqi militias.
"I am certain that targeting the Peshmerga headquarters was a mistake. The first and last target at this time is the American forces occupying Iraq only. The Resistance® does not target the Peshmerga forces," Mohammed Mahdi al-Bayati, head of the Badr Organization in Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... told Rudaw on Saturday, referring to the Islamic Resistance® in Iraq.
Last Saturday, two explosive-laden drones targeted a Peshmerga base in Pirmam, Erbil province. There were no casualties.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said it holds the federal government responsible for the "cowardly attacks" of government-linked "outlaw" groups. Prime Minister Masrour Barzani called it a "terrorist attack" and said the KRG has "a right to defend our people."
No group has grabbed credit.
The Islamic Resistance® in Iraq, a network of shadow Iraqi militia groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has claimed most of the over 100 drone and rocket attacks carried out against United States interests in Syria and Iraq since mid-October, in response to American support for Israel in its war against Hamas ...not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... in the Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip.
The Badr Organization is a pro-Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... party led by Hadi al-Amiri. It has a strong representation in the federal cabinet.
Bayati noted that Iraqi and Peshmerga forces both fought against Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath regime and were victims of its oppression.
"I do not believe that any of the Peshmerga bases have been targeted by the Resistance®," he said.
Ali al-Bandawi, a member of the Iraqi parliament's security and defense committee, told Rudaw on Saturday that the Peshmerga could have been targeted because of their proximity to US troops.
There are no publicly known American forces based in Pirmam.
The Badr Organization and the Resistance® have shared interests and objectives in Iraq, most notably opposition to the US.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudan ...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans... i on Friday said his government is taking the first step to ending American presence in the country.
Masoud Barzani, leader of the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... (KDP), separately received Iraqi National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji and Falih al-Fayadh, head of the Hashd al-Shaabi Commission, in Erbil following the Pirmam incident.
They discussed "security threats" and Fayadh condemned the drone attack on the Peshmerga, a statement from Barzani’s office noted.
Erbil’s international airport and Harir air base to the northeast of the city are among frequent targets of militia groups who claim to target US troops who are based near the airport but have recently left Harir.
[IsraelTimes] A team from Al Jazeera was detained at Kibbutz Be’eri, close to the border with Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... , for allegedly filming in a closed military area without permission, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
The report says the journalists had filmed images of Israel Defense Forces troops and security teams.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF. Kan says police are on their way to deal with the incident.
A journalist with +972 Magazine tweets that he spoke with the team, who told him that they were at an observation point that the media as well as civilians have been coming to for weeks, with the knowledge of the army.
He says the Al Jazeera team denies recording footage of troops.
It is unclear if the team has been released.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has pushed to shutter Al Jazeera in Israel, saying the Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... i-owned outlet has damaged national security since the war began on October 7.
The efforts were apparently mothballed due to the sensitive role being played by Qatar in the negotiations to free hostages held by terror groups in Gaza.
[GEO.TV] The Moslem nations should not send their armies to fight alongside Paleostinians against Israel, but stand by their words to end the ongoing war that has killed and injured thousands, a Hamas ...a regional Iranian catspaw,... spokesperson told Geo.tv in an exclusive interview. "No, really, we're good. Tis a temporary setback. By the way, any rooms for rent? Like Muslim Broderbund Air-BNB?"
Israel has killed more than 22,000 Gazooks in three months, mostly women and kiddies, and it is bent on "eliminating" Hamas, while its offensive is expected to continue throughout the ongoing year.
It seems to me that there is a lesson here: don’t attack Israel and you won't have to accept the resulting horrific casualties.
The most deadly attack in history by Israel was launched in response to Hamas’s October 7 operation — "Toofan al-Aqsa" — in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and 240 taken hostages, some of which have been released.
Seemingly furious over the Israeli onslaught, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and an Arab-Islamic summit slammed the attacks, noting that "war crimes and barbaric and inhumane massacres by the occupation government" should end.
There was much mustache cursing as well, and the throwing of shoes, none of which had any effect.
However, nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits... Hamas spokesperson Khalid Qadoumi told Geo.tv that mere statements weren’t enough as the humanitarian crises, which existed pre-October 7, was spiralling and getting worse with each passing day.
"Do what you [OIC] said; you said that you want to stop the war. It’s 57 countries. They have huge capability to pressurise the Israeli government, international community to stop the war," he said in the interview in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... "They have huge and tremendous diplomatic maneuvers through which they can open the Rafah gate for the influx of humanitarian aid," he said, lamenting that only 100 trucks of aid were coming into Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... — and that too, with the order of Netanyahu.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2024 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[26 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Sounds like someone doesn't like being hunted down like dogs. Not sure if Hamas thought Arab countries would join their war against Israel, but now they know how little support they have.
October 7 destroyed any sympathy from the West for the Palestinian cause. As the song says, it's hard to be the bad man.
Posted by: Javiter Dark Lord of the Faith7963 ||
01/07/2024 15:55 Comments ||
Top||
#2
October 7 destroyed any sympathy from the West for the Palestinian cause.
Except for those many who think that Hamas’s eruption is the most brilliant thing ever. And there are considerably more of those than I expected.
2023.12.20
[BenarNews] The United States has sanctioned four firms in Malaysia and one in Indonesia as part of a fresh round of restrictions targeting Iran’s drone program.
Washington accuses Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... of supplying deadly drones to terrorist proxies in the Middle East and to Russia for use in Ukraine.
The U.S. Treasury Department said it had targeted 10 entities and four individuals — located in Iran, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia — for their alleged involvement in a network that facilitated the procurement of components worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force Self Sufficiency Jihad Organization.
The U.S. has issued two previous rounds of sanctions targeting the Revolutionary Guard’s production of Shahed-series one-way attack drones, which carry built-in warheads and self-destruct on impact, the department said in a statement Tuesday.
"The United States, in close coordination with our allies and partners, will continue to use the full range of our tools and authorities to disrupt these illicit procurement networks, as well as hold accountable the individuals and entities who seek to support them," Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said.
The U.S. accused Iran-based Hossein Hatefi Ardakani of leading the network, which operated a string of front companies in Asia and the Middle East that exported sensitive technology to Iran. The goods ranged from servomotors to electric fuel pumps and antennas — most of which are classified as dual-use technology that can be used for both civilian and military purposes.
The Malaysian entities sanctioned by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control were listed as Arta Wave, Integrated Scientific Microwave Technology, Nava Hobbies, and Skyline Advanced Technologies.
Indonesia-based firm Surabaya Hobby, which on its website advertises itself as an authorized seller of Chinese-made DJI drones, was also sanctioned for allegedly aiding shipments of at least 100 servomotors destined for Iran’s Pishgam Electronic Safeh Company, another sanctioned company.
Agung Surya Dewanto, the owner of Surabaya Hobby, was sanctioned individually for his coordination of the shipments, the department said.
Sanctions deny people or companies access to assets within the U.S. and prevent American citizens or financial institutions from doing business with them.
Concurrent with fresh restrictions, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the unsealing of an indictment charging Ardakani and Chinese-national Gary Lam, also known as Lin Jinghe, for crimes related to the illegal procurement and export of American-made dual-use and sensitive technology to Iran.
"Today’s coordinated action with the Treasury Department demonstrates the Justice Department’s commitment to keeping military-grade equipment out of the hands of the Iranian regime," said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
Iran has been the subject of a range of U.S. sanctions since 1979, following the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by radical students.
[Be arNews] Radical and bully boy groups in Indonesia have spread political disinformation online ahead of next month’s general election, with hoax content on the internet up nearly 80% last year compared with during the 2019 election, experts said. The intent isn’t to influence the election result, researchers said, but to provoke conflict in society and undermine the electoral process ahead of the nationwide polls set for Feb. 14 in Southeast Asia’s largest country.
Hoaxes and fabricated stories about the election have been circulating on social media platforms like Facebook, X, and Instagram. While some are mere political mudslinging, others could have serious repercussions, observers said.
Husen Asyhari, from LPTI Pelataran Mataram, a research institute in Yogyakarta, sees a clear attempt to deliberately mislead the electorate with false information.
"There are efforts to influence voters through targeted disinformation, and some of it comes from terrorist groups with a historical anti-democratic stance," Husen told BenarNews.
Among the groups Husen was referring to are Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), which was responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings, and the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group-linked Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), members of which targeted three churches almost simultaneously in suicide kabooms in Surabaya in 2018.
Both groups want Indonesia to be governed by Islamic law.
In fact, in late October police said they had arrested 59 suspected faceless myrmidons from across the country belonging to JI and JAD as part of a pre-polls crackdown. Those arrested included the leader of a 40-member JAD team suspected of planning to disrupt the election, police said.
The Indonesian Anti-Defamation Society (Mafindo), which provided the data on the increase in hoax content in 2023 versus 2019, researched how much and what kind of fake material was put online last year. Mafindo said it identified 2,178 pieces of hoax content from Jan. 1 to Dec. 22 last year, with 53% of that related to political disinformation.
LGBT ISSUES A TARGET
A fashionable subject in the West, so everyone else needs to address it as well, I guess.
With the race for the presidency set to be among three candidates,Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, former Central Java Gov. Ganjar Pranowo, and ex-Jakarta Gov. Anies Baswedan, who is popular among conservative Moslems, they have become targets, of course.
Among the plethora of disinformation was a TikTok video that claimed without basis that Anies would establish a caliphate if he became president.
According to Mafindo, some online hoax content has targeted Ganjar and his running mate, Mohammad Mahfud MD, over their alleged views on pornography and LGBTQI+ issues.
One of the fabricated stories claimed that ruling party nominee Ganjar had admitted to watching pornography since he was a child. However, some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... according to Mafindo, he had only said, "So what if I watch pornography?" without a word about his childhood.
Another piece of fakery circulated on Facebook was a doctored photograph of Ganjar kissing a very young woman, with a post above the picture saying: "If this kind of person becomes the president, Indonesia will be destroyed."
A false story attributed a statement to Mahfud MD that being LGBTQI+ was natural. Mafindo verified this was false and Mahfud MD denied making such a statement.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The American carrier strike group led by the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford has left the Mediterranean Sea, the US 6th Fleet reported on January 6.
The group has been operating in the Mediterranean since June 2023 and was scheduled to leave the region in the fall of 2023, but its stay in the Mediterranean was extended due to the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
As Regnum reported, another American aircraft carrier, the Dwight Eisenhower, along with its strike group, arrived in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea in the Middle East in early November 2023. In addition to the aircraft carrier, the group includes a missile cruiser and destroyers, as well as nine aviation squadrons.
The American command stated that in the Middle East, the aircraft carrier, together with the strike group, would support maritime navigation, including making efforts to build the power of the United States and its allies in the region. The Dwight Eisenhower joined a strike force led by the Gerald R. Ford, which had previously arrived in the Mediterranean for the same purpose.
Earlier, in March 2023, the American group off the Iranian coast of the Persian Gulf was replenished with the destroyer Winston Churchill and several accompanying ships that passed the Suez Canal. In early November 2023, the United States sent a nuclear submarine to the Middle East, noting that this was being done to protect the American military in the region and curb the escalation of the conflict in Gaza.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans...
...a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
...not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
...a regional Iranian catspaw,...
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
