Latest news with #RewardsforJusticeProgram
Epoch Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Lawmakers Urge State Department to Use Rewards-for-Justice Program to Address CCP's Forced Organ Harvesting
A group of House Republicans is urging the State Department to set up a reward to curb the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) horrific practice of forced organ harvesting, in which organs seized from prisoners of conscience are being used in transplant surgeries across China's hospital system. In an Aug. 7 letter addressed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Reps. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), John Moolennar (R-Mich.), and Neal Dunn (R-Fla.) said there is an 'urgent need' for the State Department to offer reward money under its Rewards for Justice Program to obtain firsthand evidence to hold perpetrators in China accountable for the transplant abuse. 'The complicity of the Chinese government in forced organ harvesting is deeply troubling and should be considered a 'crime against humanity,'' the lawmakers wrote. Smith is the co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) and a senior member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Moolenaar is the chair of the House Select Committee on the CCP, with Dunn also sitting on the panel. 'For far too long, China's state-sanctioned organ trafficking empire has been overlooked and operated unchecked,' Smith said in an Aug. 7 statement. 'As a result, Uyghurs, Falun Gong practitioners, and other prisoners of conscience have suffered the consequences, having their organs brutally removed and sold for profit by CCP officials. 'The State Department already has the funds and the authority to offer rewards for actionable intelligence; it is time that we deploy them to dismantle this illegal and gruesome billion-dollar industry and deliver justice to those whose lives have been mercilessly stolen.' In the letter, the lawmakers wrote that congressional hearings and independent investigations had presented an 'extensive body of evidence' on the Chinese regime's abuse. They referenced the 2022 study published in the American Journal of Transplantation, saying that Chinese surgeons 'acted as executioners' because the prisoners were not declared brain dead before their organs were removed. The regime's crime came under media scrutiny in 2006, the year two Canadian human rights lawyers released an investigative report confirming allegations of organ harvesting in China. In 2019, an independent tribunal in London, led by British barrister Sir Geoffrey Nice, concluded that forced organ harvesting had taken place in China for years 'on a significant scale,' with Falun Gong practitioners being the primary victims. Falun Gong, a spiritual meditation practice that is also known as Falun Dafa, has been the target of brutal persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since July 1999. Since then, millions have been detained inside prisons, labor camps, and other facilities, with hundreds of thousands tortured while incarcerated and untold numbers persecuted to death, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center. 'With effective enforcement mechanisms, we can ensure that organ procurement is ethical and that no one profits illegally from the organs of Uyghurs, Tibetans, Falun Gong practitioners, or others who are unable to make a truly voluntary decision to donate,' the lawmakers wrote in their letter. Smith said he hopes that the Senate will vote on the legislation next month. 'While we continue to push the Senate to bring HR 1503 to a vote—which I am hopeful will occur in September—the State Department must use all of the tools at its disposal to disrupt this illicit global market for human organs, hold perpetrators to account, and deter future atrocities and human rights violations,' he said in an Aug. 7 statement. Smith and five other lawmakers, including then-Sen. Rubio, sent a similar letter to then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken in May 2024. At the time, Rubio shared the letter on X and urged Blinken to 'use readily available resources to halt this vicious & inhuman practice' of communist China's 'forced organ harvesting and human trafficking.' In May, the House passed the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act (HR 1503), which was co-led by Smith, by a vote of 406 to 1. The legislation would sanction anyone implicated in the abuse, including CCP members, by freezing their assets, prohibiting transactions, revoking their visas, and eliminating other immigration benefits. During a hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in the same month, Rubio pledged to help in 'any way we can' to pass the bill in the Senate.
UPI
25-06-2025
- Business
- UPI
U.S. offers reward to locate abducted Afghan American in Afghanistan
The United States has offered a $5 million reward for help in locating Mahmood Shah Habibi, an American businessman who was abducted in Afghanistan in 2022. Photo courtesy FBI/ Release June 25 (UPI) -- The United States is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information locating Mahmood Shah Habibi, an Afghan American businessman who was abducted in Afghanistan nearly three years ago. The reward from the U.S. State Department's Rewards for Justice Program was announced Tuesday by department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce, who said during a regular press briefing, "We have determined that he has been disappeared, and that he has not been heard from." According to a release from the FBI in August, Habibi, a contractor for Kabul-based telecommunications company Asia Consultancy Group, and his driver were kidnapped from their vehicle near his home in the Afghan capital on Aug. 10, 2022. It is believed that he was taken by the Taliban along with 29 other employees of his company, all of whom, except for Habibi, have since been released. "He has not been heard from since his initial arrest, and the Taliban has yet to provide any information regarding his whereabouts or condition," the State Department said in a statement. Bruce said they are hoping the $5 million reward will entice someone to come forward. "It makes a difference in everyone's lives that we might get some information about him," she said. The U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021. In its absence, the Taliban regained control of the Middle Eastern country.
Miami Herald
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Who Is Syria's Ahmed al-Sharaa Who Met Trump?
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the heavily-bearded former Islamist insurgent who was once the target of U.S. counterterrorism operations, has taken another step towards full acceptance under President Donald Trump. Trump announced during a trip to Saudi Arabia that he plans to lift sanctions on Syria after the fall of the Iranian-backed administration of former President Bashar al-Assad. Trump's announcement marks a shift in tone under Trump and a significant diplomatic win for Syria's president that follows behind-the-scenes efforts by Middle Eastern rulers aiming to push the war-torn country toward regional reintegration after over a decade of conflict. The U.S. had long sanctioned Syria over human rights abuses and alleged terrorism. Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, is the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) which has its roots in Islamist militant group al-Qaeda. In 2017, The U.S. put a $10 million bounty on Jolani's head under its "Rewards for Justice Program" when he was a leader of the group formerly known as the Nusra Front and accused by the U.S. State Department of multiple terrorist attacks in Syria. In a 2021 PBS interview, Jolani said he was born in 1982 in Saudi Arabia and raised in Damascus's Mezzeh district. His jihadist path began in Iraq with ties to the Islamic State. He joined foreign fighters after the 2003 U.S. invasion and was jailed for a time at the US-run Camp Bucca, where he met slain ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who later encouraged him to found al-Nusra in Syria. In 2013, Jolani turned away from Baghdadi and pledged loyalty to al-Qaeda. He cut ties with that group in 2016, renaming his group Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, then HTS. Despite the break from al-Qaeda-more political than ideological-and multiple rebranding efforts, HTS remains a designated terrorist organization by the United Nations, United States, Britain and others, with Western and Arab states voicing skepticism about how far it had really changed. In a CNN interview after ousting Assad, al-Sharaa reassured religious minorities, stating that "sectarian extremism is a delusion that must be eliminated." He called for a realistic solution where "no group can cancel another," with rights protected by law. But killings of some religious minorities under Sharaa's leadership as a well as continuation of hardline Islamic rhetoric and practices among his followers have fueled concerns among minority groups. Once deemed an improbable stabilizing force in Syria, al-Sharaa is emerging as a regional partner, benefiting from a Syrian and global consensus that the situation is far better than under Assad. The new Syrian president faces the challenge of implementing pledges for an inclusive and transparent government, as well as human rights, with his supporters arguing that economic empowerment, possible through the lifting of sanctions, is key. Syria's next phase hinges on domestic partnership and international support free of foreign agendas-a critical test of its capacity to rebuild a sovereign, democratic state that meets Syrians' aspirations, according to the Harmoon Center for Contemporary Studies, a Doha-based research center focused on Syrian affairs. Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa in February interview with Syria TV Channel: "The former regime worked on dividing society, increasing chances of retaliatory operation. Today the rule of state is the guarantee for all sects. Civil peace is not a luxury anymore, it is a duty of all Syrians. It is the main component of their rise." President Donald Trump, in Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum speech: "Likewise in Syria, which has seen so much misery and death, there's a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace. That's what we wanna see. That's why my administration has already taken the first steps towards restoring normal relations between the United States and Syria for the first time in more than a decade." Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to meet with Syria's Foreign Minister in Turkey later this week. Related Articles Donald Trump Impeachment Moves Forward in CongressDonald Trump's Approval Rating Suffers Double DentKing Charles' Donald Trump Invite Condemned by Mark CarneyDonald Trump Compares Qatar Gift to Statue of Liberty 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
Shafaq News
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Shafaq News
US offers $5M bounty for senior ISIS figure
Shafaq News/ A reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the identification or the whereabouts of a senior ISIS figure was declared by the United States Department of State on Thursday. The reward targets Khadra Issa, known by the alias 'Um Al-Qaqaa the Somali.' According to the State Department 's ''Rewards for Justice Program", Issa held a leadership role as a Sharia instructor within ISIS's female brigades. She is also accused of promoting suicide bombings and supporting the killing of many civilians. Issa holds Dutch citizenship and is of Somali descent, US authorities confirmed.
