Sudan to cut ties with UAE, defence council says
CAIRO, May 6 (Reuters) - Sudan will cut ties with the United Arab Emirates, the army-affiliated defence council said on Tuesday, after accusations that Abu Dhabi was supporting the rival paramilitary forces in the nation's civil war.
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The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Surviving Syria's Prisons review – consistently shocking and unforgettably moving
The response to the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 is an indication of what a wretched age we are living through. What happened during Syria's civil war ought to have been globally infamous, the sort of dark blip that makes humanity reflect on the terrible things it can do – but with so much destruction, oppression and injustice elsewhere, there is a reckoning still to come. Sara Obeidat's chilling, profoundly thoughtful documentary takes a significant step towards comprehending the horror and trying to account for it. As the Arab spring protests spread into Syria in 2011, Shadi Haroun and his brother Hadi organised rallies that they dreamed would topple Assad. When a march ended in a mass shooting by the authorities and arrests of the survivors, Shadi spent time in jail. After his release a few months later, his family begged him not to continue with his activism because they knew the likely consequences. But Shadi had seen first-hand how violent and corrupt the Syrian state had become. It had to be fought, so he and Hadi stepped up their efforts. They were rewarded with almost a decade in an abjectly cruel carceral system. Obeidat takes the Haroun brothers back to Harasta, a building on the outskirts of Damascus run by the feared air force intelligence. They point to the high window ledges where inmates would try to find space to sleep, because 400 of them had been put in a room measuring 10 metres by eight. They show us the ceiling pipes in a narrow corridor to which prisoners would be cuffed for 72 hours without food, before 'interrogations' that were no more than sadistic beatings. Having survived Harasta, the brothers were transferred somewhere worse: Sednaya, a prison known as 'the Human Slaughterhouse', where Amnesty International estimates up to 13,000 people were executed in one four-year period. Confessions extracted using torture would lead to death sentences handed down by a sham military 'field court'. But many prisoners did not make it that far: 'heart and respiratory failure' was routinely recorded as the official cause of death for those who did not survive the physical abuse. Obeidat has obtained photographs of some of their bodies, bruised beyond recognition. It wasn't their hearts that failed them. Shadi and Hadi's testimony is consistently shocking and unforgettably moving. Hadi recounts how hearing Shadi screaming was worse for him than being tortured himself, so when he heard him cry out, he would start screaming so he could take his brother's place. He describes how, as the prisoners' sense of time and place melted away, his elaborate fantasies in which he pretended bulgur wheat rations were delicious fried chicken kept a packed cell of men sane for a few more precious days. The film does not stop at documenting what the victims of Assad went through. It asks who did it to them. And how could they do it? To that end, Obeidat tracked down several regime soldiers who worked at the prisons. They talk about being brainwashed at school and during national service, and about being stripped and beaten during their initiation into the Assad regime, as a warning of what would happen to them if they disobeyed. They assigned numbers to inmates to make it harder for families to track what had become of them. They organised the digging of mass graves. One officer talks about how the prisoners 'were all one mass … they were all the same'. Another says whatever guilt he felt was overridden by the knowledge that showing any mercy would mean 'you sentence yourself to death'. This is a valuable examination of how totalitarianism sustains itself; how oppressors who fearfully feel they have no other option can be as dangerous as those who take the role of oppressor gladly. Not that they should be excused. As Hadi calmly observes, the option to defect or flee was there, as risky as it might have been. The film strikes a difficult balance, empathising with the perpetrators without forgiving them. As it's described here, the depravity Syria sunk into might be far beyond human forgiveness. Hussam, a former prison officer at Sednaya who says he hasn't looked in a mirror for three years because he cannot bear to see himself, recalls a tradition he and his colleagues upheld every Wednesday morning: 'execution parties'. At one such event, one of the prisoners who was hanged by the neck didn't die, so Hussam was ordered to step forward and finish the job by grabbing his legs and pulling. This put him close enough to hear the man's last words. 'Before he died he said one thing: 'I'm going to tell God what you did.'' Surviving Syria's Prisons aired on BBC Two and is on iPlayer.
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Starmer turning against Israel risks further conflict with White House
The contrast could not have been greater. At around midday UK time, it emerged the Government would sanction two ultra-nationalist Israeli cabinet ministers. The measures against Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister, and Itamar Ben-Gvir, the security minister, reflect dismay at much of their behaviour, but particularly their efforts to frustrate a two-state solution. Within two hours, however, an interview with Mike Huckabee, Donald Trump 's new ambassador to Israel, sent a different message. In it, the Republican evangelical pastor (who is close to Mr Smotrich) appeared to all but completely withdraw US support for a Palestinian state. Asked if the two-state solution remained a US policy goal, as it has been for decades, he said: 'I don't think so.' He suggested he'd rather see a legal home for the Palestinians carved out of a Muslim country than the West Bank, where the majority currently live. It is British policy to eventually recognise a Palestinian state, but successive governments have been reluctant to make the move. Sources stressed as recently as last week that Downing Street had made no decision on this. Emmanuel Macron, along with Saudi Arabia, is currently embarked on a mission to cajole allies like Britain to, diplomatically speaking, put their money where their mouths are on the issue of recognition. A much-vaunted France-Saudi conference on the subject is due to take place later this month, about which Israel is extremely nervous. Gideon Sa'ar, Israel's foreign minister, recently threatened to annex the West Bank in retaliation. The feeling among diplomats is that – as with Tuesday's announcement of sanctions – recognition of a Palestinian state would have the greatest impact if done in coordination with allies. Sir Keir and David Lammy will be watching their European partners carefully to see who moves first. To do so would certainly widen the rift over Israel with Washington DC further. It is a rift that has been growing for some time. Mr Trump's criticism of Israel's policy in Gaza has been limited, while Sir Keir has been gradually increasing his. Sanctioning the ministers opens up another potential conflict between the two leaders. The Trump administration rails against threats to free speech. And yet Britain, in concert with Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway, has subjected two elected lawmakers and ministers to harsh restrictions based, in large part, on things they have said. In the meantime, Mr Smotrich and Mr Ben-Gvir will certainly stay on in their posts despite the allegedly inciting 'extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights'. Sanctioned or not, they will no doubt continue calling for ever harsher treatment of Gaza and Jewish proliferation in the West Bank.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Iran is 'intensifying efforts to acquire nuclear weapons with new covert weapons scheme', political opponents claim
Iran is allegedly embarking upon a covert nuclear weapons development plan under the guise of building satellite-launching missiles, political opponents of the regime claimed today. Under the so-called 'Kavir Plan', Tehran is said to be intensifying efforts to acquire weapons with a range exceeding 3,000km (1,864 miles), despite ongoing talks to hash out a new nuclear accord and the lingering threat of a Western-backed resolution that would accuse Iran of violating its non-proliferation obligations. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) claimed on Tuesday to have uncovered evidence that the regime has designated the desert region in southern Semnan Province to developing and testing nuclear capabilities. The project is said to replace the AMAD Plan, which the UN's nuclear watchdog - the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - said had ceased in operations in 2003. For its part, Iran denies the existence of the AMAD Plan or any project aimed at acquiring nuclear weapons. Citing reports from within Iran, the NCRI claimed that Iran has 'significantly enhanced' its development programme since 2009 with a covert weapons plan at the behest of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. 'The declared goal of 'desert security' has provided an effective cover for the Kavir Plan and enabled the regime to covertly pursue nuclear-related projects, tests, and associated activities in Semnan,' a statement shared with MailOnline read. 'Under the Kavir Plan, nuclear weapons development is conducted under the guise of manufacturing satellite-launching missiles. According to this plan, the power of the nuclear weapon was boosted, and the range of missiles carrying the warhead was enhanced.' Since December, the NCRI has revealed four sites it says are associated with the Kavir Plan. In May, the group shared satellite images it said showed a previously undisclosed Iranian nuclear weapons facility in Semnan Province. In April, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi dismissed 'more Very Scary Satellite Images', suggesting their circulation was politically motivated, intended to coincide with resuming Iran-US indirect nuclear talks. He also accused Israel and allied groups of trying to sabotage talks through a 'variety of tactics', sharing an image of a satellite photo with a cartoon ghost labelled 'SCARY'. The NCRI, which is banned in Iran, insists the desert sites are bona fide. They claim that operations are headquartered in Tehran, with multiple sites involved in developing and testing solid and liquid fuel weapons. The organisation, a political coalition based in Paris and calling to overthrow the Islamic Republic of Iran, reports that the regime has declared the Semnan Province a military zone in an effort to conceal its alleged operations. They cite a network of supportive sources within Iran collecting reports, assembled by the NCRI's Defense and Strategic Research Committee. Reconnaissance aircraft and drones have allegedly been sighted over the compounds. Individuals approaching the secretive sites are said to be identified with facial recognition cameras mounted on drones. American and European tourists to the areas have 'consistently' faced arrest and been subjected to interrogation, the NCRI claims. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) set up an intelligence base in 2010 to gather intelligence in the area and maintain security over the region, the report claims. The NCRI called for a multi-part international response, including reinstating all UN Security Council resolutions related to the regime's nuclear programme; the reimposition of all sanctions; the permanent dismantling of uranium enrichment; IAEA verification of sites being dismantled and shut down; the elimination of the missile programme; and the opening of all nuclear sites to snap inspections. Only yesterday, Rafael Grossi, Director-General of the IAEA, warned that Iran's growing stockpile of highly enriched uranium and unresolved questions about its programme remain serious issues. 'Unless and until Iran assists the agency in resolving the outstanding safeguards issues, the Agency will not be in a position to provide assurance that Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful,' he said. At the end of May, the IAEA published a damning report that claimed Iran had carried out secret nuclear activities with material not declared to the U.N. nuclear watchdog at three locations long under investigation. The findings in the 'comprehensive' International Atomic Energy Agency report requested by the agency's 35-nation Board of Governors in November paved the way for a push by the United States, Britain, France and Germany for the board to declare Iran in violation of its non-proliferation obligations. Using the IAEA report's findings, the four Western powers planned to submit a draft resolution for the board to adopt at its next meeting - this week. It would be the first time in almost 20 years Iran has formally been found in non-compliance. Iran's top negotiator, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, today reiterated criticism of the plans to adopt a resolution that would accuse Tehran of non-compliance. 'Any ill-considered and destructive decision in the Board of Governors against Iran will be met with an appropriate response,' Araghchi said during a phone call with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya. Iran has said it would reduce cooperation with the IAEA if the resolution passed. With a more encouraging tone, Iran did announce today that the sixth round of Iran-US nuclear talks was planned for this coming Sunday, with the two sides apparently locked in a standoff over uranium enrichment - nearly two months into the high-stakes negotiations. Iran had said on Monday that it would present a counter-proposal on a nuclear deal with the United States, after it had described Washington's offer as containing 'ambiguities'. Iran's parliament speaker has also said the US proposal failed to include the lifting of sanctions - a key demand for Tehran, which has been reeling under their weight for years. Tehran and Washington have held five rounds of talks since April to thrash out a new nuclear accord to replace the deal with major powers that US President Donald Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018. Iran and the US have been locked in a diplomatic standoff over Iran's uranium enrichment, with Tehran defending it as a 'non-negotiable' right and Washington describing it as a 'red line'. The talks represent the highest level contact since Trump withdrew Washington from a 2015 nuclear accord, during his first term. Iran currently enriches uranium to 60 percent, far above the 3.67-percent limit set in the 2015 deal and close though still short of the 90 percent needed for a nuclear warhead. Western countries, including the United States and its ally Israel, have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire atomic weapons, while Tehran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes. On Monday, the IAEA began a Board of Governors meeting in Vienna that will last until Friday to discuss Iran's atomic activities and other issues. It had previously criticised 'less than satisfactory' cooperation from Tehran, particularly in explaining past cases of nuclear material found at undeclared sites. Iran has criticised the IAEA's report as unbalanced, saying it relied on 'forged documents' provided by its arch foe Israel. Israel is believed to have nuclear weapons already.
