Latest news with #human rights violations
Asharq Al-Awsat
4 days ago
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Libyan ICC War Crimes Suspect Arrested in Germany
German authorities have arrested a Libyan war crimes suspect accused of being a senior official at a notorious prison where inmates were routinely tortured and sometimes sexually abused, the International Criminal Court said on Friday. Khaled Mohamed Ali Al Hishri, alleged to have been a member of the Special Deterrence Force armed group during Libya's civil war, was arrested on Wednesday, German authorities said, Reuters reported. The ICC said he would remain in German custody, pending the completion of national proceedings. Prosecutors at the ICC accuse Al Hishri of war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, torture and rape from February 2015 until early 2020, a period during which he was allegedly one of the most senior officials in the Mitiga prison. According to the prosecution, Mitiga was the largest detention facility in western Libya, where thousands of detainees were held in cramped cells without basic hygiene and were systematically subjected to brutal interrogations and torture. Men and women held there also faced sexual violence including rape, the prosecution said. It is a critical time for the ICC. Its prosecutor and four judges are facing US sanctions in retaliation for an arrest warrant it issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict. A number of European ICC member states, including Germany, have also criticized the warrant. In addition to the sanctions, the ICC is also operating without its chief prosecutor Karim Khan, who stepped aside temporarily two months ago as he faced a probe by United Nations investigators into alleged sexual misconduct. Khan denies the allegations, and his two deputy prosecutors are running the office in his absence. In a statement on Friday, the office of the prosecutor said it expected Al Hishri to be transferred to The Hague and added that it stood ready to start his trial. "This development is so needed at a time of unprecedented turmoil in the field of accountability generally and at the ICC specifically," Kip Hale, an attorney who documented crimes in Libya for the UN, told Reuters. "Yet, it is most important for the victims of the many atrocity crimes committed at Mitiga prison," he added. Italy arrested another Libyan ICC suspect, Osama Elmasry Njeem, in January but subsequently returned him to Tripoli, saying the arrest warrant contained mistakes and inaccuracies. He was also accused of crimes committed against detainees in Mitiga prison. His release sparked outrage among Italian opposition parties and triggered a legal investigation into Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and several other government members. The court has been investigating allegations of serious crimes committed in Libya since the outbreak of its civil war in 2011, following a referral by the UN Security Council.
Reuters
5 days ago
- Reuters
Libyan ICC war crimes suspect arrested in Germany, court confirms
AMSTERDAM, July 18 (Reuters) - German authorities have arrested a Libyan war crimes suspect accused of being a senior official for a notorious prison where inmates were routinely tortured and sometimes sexually abused, the International Criminal Court said on Friday. Khaled Mohamed Ali Al Hishri was arrested on Wednesday, German authorities said. The ICC said he would remain in the custody of German authorities, pending the completion of national proceedings. He is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, torture and rape from February 2015 to early 2020. The ICC has been investigating alleged serious crimes committed in Libya since the country's 2011 civil war.
Al Jazeera
5 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Slovenia bars far-right Israeli ministers for ‘genocidal statements'
Slovenia has banned far-right Israeli cabinet ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country. Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon declared the pair personae non gratae on Thursday in what she said was a first for a European Union country. 'We are breaking new ground,' she said. In a statement, the Slovenian government accused Israel's National Security Minister Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Smotrich of inciting 'extreme violence and serious violations of the human rights of Palestinians' with 'their genocidal statements'. It also noted that both cabinet ministers 'publicly advocate the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the forced evictions of Palestinians, and call for violence against the civilian Palestinian population'. There was no immediate reaction from Israel's government. Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, key coalition partners in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, have drawn international criticism for their hard-line stance on the Gaza war and on illegal settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank. Smotrich, who lives in a West Bank settlement, has supported the expansion of settlements and has called for the territory's annexation. Settlements are illegal under international law. Last July, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel's continued presence in occupied Palestinian territory was unlawful, a decision Israel has ignored. Smotrich has previously called for 'total annihilation' in Gaza and said that a Palestinian town in the West Bank should be 'wiped out'. Ben-Gvir was an open admirer of Baruch Goldstein, an Israeli who massacred 29 Palestinians as they prayed in Hebron in 1994. He has been convicted multiple times by Israeli courts for 'incitement to racism'. Despite the ministers' positions, Netanyahu relies heavily on support from the two and from their factions in parliament for the survival of his government. On May 21, Slovenia's President Natasa Pirc Musar told the European Parliament that the EU needed to take stronger action against Israel, condemning 'the genocide' in Gaza. Fajon said Slovenia had decided to make the move after EU foreign ministers did not agree on joint action against Israel over charges of human rights violations at a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday. She said other measures were being prepared, without going into detail. In June, Britain, Norway, Australia, New Zealand and Canada imposed sanctions on the two Israeli ministers, accusing them of inciting violence against Palestinians. Last year, Slovenia announced it was recognising a Palestinian state, following on the heels of Norway, Spain, and the Republic of Ireland.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Russian 'psychopath' torturer dubbed Dr Evil by Ukrainian POW victims for his brutality at hellhole gulag is unmasked by activists
A 'psychopath' torturer known as Dr Evil in a Russian jail has been unmasked with the help of Ukrainian POWs whom he 'inflicted with electric shocks, beatings and sexual humiliation'. Dozens of exchanged prisoners collaborated with independent journalists to track down the Russian prison medic who subjected them to physical and psychological abuse. The twisted doctor was named as Ilya Sorokin, 34, who worked in a medical unit serving hellhole Penal Colony No. 10 in the Russian region of Mordovia. His cruel torture led to the death of one Ukrainian soldier Volodymyr Yukhymenko, who was diagnosed after captivity with pneumonia, multiple fractures and internal bleeding. The investigative journalists from outlets Schemes Current Times gathered testimony from more than 150 released prisoners, and analysed open sources, including social media, locating video evidence from a Medical Service Day event in which Sorokin is seen and heard, highlighted by OCCRP. Dozens of former inmates identified the man as Dr Evil. He has now switched jobs and is now an army medic, and when contacted by reporters pretended to deny his role. However, there is overwhelming evidence that Sorokin was the torturer in a jail where at least 177 Ukrainian POWs were sent. 'Nearly all, according to Ukrainian officials who interviewed them when they returned home, reported having been tortured and subjected to relentless physical and psychological violence,' said the report, which obtained testimony from almost 50 ex-inmates. 'They described rampant sexual violence - threats of rape, beatings aimed at their genitals - and psychological torture, like mock executions. 'They said they were forced to stand for up to 16 hours a day, listen to loud Russian patriotic songs for equally long stretches (or 24 hours straight, if they were in the punishment block), and sometimes sing along to the Russian national anthem, hands on hearts.' They recounted the doctor as the worst torturer. 'He wore a white coat and usually hid his face behind a medical mask or a balaclava, but the prisoners said his voice was unforgettable', said the report. 'It was manic, screechy,' one said. 'Indescribable.' He stood out for his 'pointless sadism and betrayal of medical ethics'. He forced them to hold out their hands, then jolted them with an electric shocker or stun gun. 'He made prisoners bark and crawl like dogs, or crow like roosters. One POW barked especially well and was made to do so constantly.' Former POW Yulian Pylypey said: 'God forbid he didn't. The doctor would immediately shout: 'You, bark!' Inmate Pavlo Afisov said: 'His favourite question for all of us was, 'Who are you?' 'We had to reply, 'F******.' He made them chant: 'Glory to Russian medicine!' Those who didn't faced electric shocks. Sick prisoners - one with a rotting tooth - were denied treatment. One Ukrainian prisoner, Volodymyr Yykhymenko, died after being beaten. His cellmate said Dr. Evil refused to examine him. Research helped identify him as Ilya Sorokin, a married father of two, who lives in Potomac, 19 miles from the brutal jail. 'Social media shows Sorokin as nostalgic for the Soviet Union and proud of his role,' said the report. 'He supports the war and posed in military garb, shared chauvinistic memes, and performed comedy skits for holidays.' A journalist reached him and said, 'Ukrainian servicemen... identify you as the person who tortured and beat them.' He replied: 'That can't be true. I don't work there.' He hung up, and blocked the number, yet his face and voice were confirmed by multiple former victims of his sickening violence, which flouts the rules of war. The prison service and penal colony did not comment.
Al Mayadeen
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Mayadeen
Exclusive: UN Palestine Inquiry members reportedly resigned
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Geneva reported that all members of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territories have submitted their resignations. The decision reportedly comes after months of sustained pressure and obstruction by Israeli authorities, raising serious concerns over the integrity of international accountability mechanisms. Our correspondent reported that the resignations followed a period of intensified Israeli campaigns aimed at undermining the commission's work, which ultimately rendered their continued role untenable. The UN is yet to confirm the resignations. The commissioners had been appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021 to investigate human rights violations in occupied Palestine and 'Israel.' Israeli officials accused the commission of antisemitism, refusal to cooperate, and mounted diplomatic efforts to delegitimize the body's work. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously dismissed the inquiry as 'anti-Israel.' In its reports, the commission found 'reasonable grounds' to conclude that Israeli forces committed war crimes in Gaza, including: The findings also noted patterns of settler violence, demolition of infrastructure, and suppression of civil society in the West Bank. Chris Sidoti, member of the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, provided #AlMayadeen with insight into the report issued by the committee, which faced strong criticism from the occupation authorities. The report… spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric had recently admitted that 'the United Nations has failed to protect the Palestinian people.' Speaking from New York, Dujarric added: 'The Secretary-General and all remaining UN humanitarian staff in Gaza are doing everything they can to help civilians survive, at the very least, by providing them with what limited resources we have.'
