After 40 years, the Kurdish PKK has promised to disarm and disband
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Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Pressure is building on Sir Keir Starmer to sack his trade envoy to Turkey over trip to northern Cyprus
Pressure was last night coming from within Labour for Keir Starmer to sack his trade envoy to Turkey over an unauthorised trip. Afzal Khan is back in the UK after a trip to the self-declared Turkish republic of northern Cyprus - a territory the UK, and most of the rest of the world, does not recognise. During his trip, the MP for Manchester Rusholme met Ersin Tatar, the leader of Turkish Cypriots, in his official residence. He posed for a photo with the leader, giving a suggestion of a bilateral meeting as opposed to a personal visit. After days of questions being asked by others, the Daily Mail understands the matter is being raised internally within Labour, with a sense of unhappiness as to how it has been allowed to escalate into a diplomatic spat and demands that No 10 act. Labour MPs are also believed to have raised the matter with ministers to channel the fury of Greek Cypriots over the trip. The official government of Cyprus said the visit last week was 'absolutely condemnable and unacceptable' and that UK officials should 'respect' their state. It also provoked an outcry from Greek Cypriots who have called for his dismissal over a breach of UN resolutions that forbid recognition of the territory's government. Mr Khan was due to receive a degree from a local university, but no announcement has been made, suggesting he may have been recalled by the UK Government or a news blackout was imposed, given the controversy. The trip is said to have been a 'personal' visit and ministers were not aware of the plans, raising further questions about whether he can remain in his job. Tory MP Sir Roger Gale, the honorary president of the all-party parliamentary group for Cyprus, said Sir Keir should sack Mr Khan. 'The UK has a responsibility as a guarantor power to Cyprus,' he added. 'His position as trade envoy is untenable.' Shadow foreign affairs minister Wendy Morton has written to ministers calling for the envoy to be removed from his role. 'This visit risks undermining the UK's credibility as a guarantor power and as an impartial interlocutor in settlement negotiations,' she said. Mr Tatar waded into the row this week by criticising the 'intolerant statements and excessive attacks made by the Greek Cypriot side'. A hardline nationalist who is close to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he added that the visit was undertaken 'at my invitation'. Mr Tatar told Mr Khan he wanted to pursue a 'two-state solution' despite no international recognition of the seized territory, it was reported. Mr Khan replied that his friends of Cypriot origin living in Manchester had encouraged him to visit the island, adding: 'That is why I am happy to be here.' A government spokesman said last night the visit was 'undertaken in a personal capacity' and there was no change to the UK's long-standing position on the seized territory.
The Guardian
11 hours ago
- The Guardian
Israeli airstrikes on Tehran killed inmates in ‘apparent war crime'
Israeli airstrikes on Tehran's Evin prison in June killed scores of detainees, visitors and staff in what Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called an 'apparent war crime'. Iranian authorities have since subjected survivors to abuse, enforced disappearances and inhumane detention conditions, the rights group said on Wednesday. HRW's investigation, based on satellite imagery, videos and witness accounts, found the 23 June Israeli airstrikes destroyed visitation halls, prison wards, the central kitchen, the medical clinic and administrative offices. No evident military targets were identified in the facility, which held more than 1,500 prisoners at the time, many of whom had been jailed for peaceful activism. 'Israel's strikes on Evin prison on June 23 killed and injured scores of civilians without any evident military target in violation of the laws of war and is an apparent war crime,' said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at HRW. 'The Israeli attack placed at grave risk the already precarious lives of Evin's prisoners, many of them wrongfully detained dissidents and activists.' At least 80 people died in the attack, which occurred during visiting hours, when public areas were at their busiest. HRW described the strike as unlawfully indiscriminate. Israeli officials have called Evin a 'symbol of oppression' but have provided no evidence of military use. The prison attack took place during a 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran in which hundreds of civilians were killed on both sides. US-based rights group Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI) said the Israeli strikes on Iran resulted in at least 5,665 casualties, including 1,190 killed and 4,475 injured, both military and civilian. The Iranian security forces also arrested 1,596 individuals during the 12-day war, the group added. In the aftermath, HRW said, Iranian authorities moved prisoners to two main detention centres in Tehran province – Shahr-e Rey prison, or Qarchak, for women, and the Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary, or Fashafouyeh, for men – shackling male inmates in pairs, beating some with batons and using electric shocks (on return to Evin) for protesting their handcuffing and the transfer of death row prisoners. Women were locked in their ward without water or phone access before being moved on 24 June to Qarchak, notorious for overcrowding and inhumane conditions. 'Iranian authorities have committed a catalogue of violations against prisoners in the aftermath of the attack, including beatings, insults, and threats during transfers, and holding prisoners in appalling conditions that have endangered their lives and health. Death-row inmates and those forcibly disappeared are now at heightened risk of torture or execution,' added Page. Some detainees were returned to Evin 46 days later only to face similar violence during transfers. Authorities have withheld information on the fate and whereabouts of some detainees held by security and intelligence agencies, including dissidents, human rights activists, and dual or foreign nationals. Among them is Swedish-Iranian physician Ahmadreza Djalali, on death row since 2017. Families have reported only brief, monitored calls from missing prisoners, with no information on their location or condition, a situation HRW says amounts to enforced disappearance. Transferred prisoners have faced overcrowded, insect-infested cells, with some forced to sleep on floors. 'Iranian authorities should not use Israel's strikes on Evin prison as another opportunity to subject prisoners, including those who should never have been in prison in the first place, to ill-treatment,' he said. HRW has called for independent investigations into violations by both Israel and Iran, with those responsible held accountable for possible war crimes.
Telegraph
12 hours ago
- Telegraph
Iran fears ‘existential threat' over Britain's nuclear sanctions
Iran is facing an 'existential threat' if Britain and its European allies reimpose UN sanctions over its nuclear programme, a senior official has said. Britain, France and Germany threatened Iran with crippling economic sanctions it averted in 2015 if it does not begin talks to renew the programme by the end of August 2025. The deal gave Iran's economy much-needed relief after nearly a decade of trade and banking restrictions in return for curbs on its nuclear enrichment programme that would stop it from developing a nuclear bomb. On Wednesday, however, the European powers told Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, they were ready to trigger a 'snapback' mechanism if Iran fails to take action by the deadline, but that they had also offered an extension if it does. 'We have made it clear that if Iran is not willing to reach a diplomatic solution before the end of August 2025, or does not seize the opportunity of an extension, [the E3] are prepared to trigger the snapback mechanism,' the ministers said in the letter. '[We] are committed to use all diplomatic tools at our disposal to ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon,' they added. The warning has prompted urgent internal discussions in Tehran. 'The Islamic Republic does not have the financial or military capacity to endure the snapback of UN sanctions. It would make the people protest again and this time it might be different,' a senior Iranian official told The Telegraph from Tehran. 'They are more damaging than war,' a senior Iranian official said. 'The supreme national security council has asked the presidential office to find a way for talks before it is too late.' The council directed the foreign ministry in July to reopen talks with the Trump administration, aiming to revive diplomacy after the war with Israel, which saw the United States intervene by bombing key Iranian nuclear sites. Tehran and Washington held five rounds of talks starting April 12, but the sixth round was cancelled after Israel launched strikes on Iran on June 13. The attacks effectively ended the diplomatic process that had shown signs of progress. 'They are asked to do whatever possible because everyone here knows the situation is not like 10 years ago when the deal was signed,' the Iranian official said. Under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, any party to the accord can restore previous UN sanctions. The most significant resolution that could be triggered is Resolution 1929. Adopted in June 2010, it expanded sanctions beyond technical nuclear restrictions to target Iran's broader economy. The resolution required all UN members to take 'all necessary measures' to enforce Iran's enrichment ban and ballistic missile restrictions. The 'snapback' mechanism was designed as leverage to ensure Iranian compliance with the nuclear accord, which the European countries were original signatories to the 2015 deal alongside the United States, China and Russia. Levels close to weapons grade President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the accord in 2018 during his first term and ordered new sanctions, but the Europeans said they would stick to the agreement. In response to Mr Trump's withdrawal, Iran started enriching uranium at levels close to weapons grade before Israel began bombing the country in June. While the regime celebrated the end of the June war as a 'victory,' unity has quickly descended into disagreements between hardliners and moderates over the country's future. Hardliners believe they have a chance to bring the country together and show Western weakness, while moderates argue the regime should be open to dialogue. The split became public when a senior Revolutionary Guard official criticised President Masoud Pezeshkian's statements defending negotiations. Aziz Ghazanfari, deputy political chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said Mr Pezeshkian's 'verbal mistakes have increased' since taking office. Mr Pezeshkian had asked critics: 'If you don't talk, what will you do? Do you want to fight? Well, they hit us, we rebuild, and they'll hit us again. 'I don't think we can achieve anything through fighting. We will not do anything without co-ordination and consent from the Supreme Leader, even if it goes against my own opinion,' he added.
