Middle East & North Africa

19 Dec 2022; MEMO: Egyptian media tycoon Mohamed Al-Amin has died of cancer yesterday while serving a three-year jail sentence for human trafficking and sexual misconduct.

Journalist Mustafa Bakri announced the 62-year-old's death on Twitter, saying he had been transferred to Al-Salam International Hospital in Cairo a few months ago from Wadi El-Natrun Prison, where he was serving his sentence.

19 Dec 2022; MEMO: Algerian Minister of Religious Affairs Youcef Belmehdi yesterday criticised foreign reports on restrictions on religious freedoms in the country, saying they are based on "inaccurate information".

This comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on 2 December that Washington had placed Algeria on the "Religious Freedom Infringement Watchlist".

19 Dec 2022; MEMO: Former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki has called on current President Kais Saied to submit his resignation after the low turnout in the parliamentary elections held on Saturday, following in the footsteps of former French President Charles de Gaulle who had resigned after a majority of the French people rejected government reforms he proposed in 1969.

19 Dec 2022; MEMO: Israel's relations with Russia are creating "limits that cannot be overcome," the Israeli ambassador to Kyiv said yesterday, referring to recent criticism by Ukrainian Jews on Israel's stance on the Russian invasion.

Michael Brodsky told the Washington Post that his country was aware of the "frustration of some Ukrainian Jews."

"No government in Israel is going to jeopardise this interest for anybody else, including the Ukrainians," he said.

19 Dec 2022; MEMO: The former President of Tunisia, Moncef Marzouki, has described what is happening in occupied Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque as "terrorism" as part of an "ongoing war" by Israel against the people of Palestine and the holy sites. Marzouki made his comment as he shared his thoughts on the rise of the far right in Israel backed by extremists around the world, Alresalah.net has reported.

19 Dec 2022; MEMO: Turkiye is attempting to develop a long-range ballistic missile capable of hitting targets 1,000 kilometres away, as Ankara continues to flex its muscles against Greece's arming of islands in the Aegean Sea. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the announcement during a meeting with young people in the city of Mardin yesterday.

20 Dec 2022; MEMO: Israeli Jewish settlers yesterday stole 120 sheep from a Palestinian shepherd in the town of Yaabad, south of Jenin, Wafa news agency reported.

Imad Lutfi Zuhair said that the settlers forced him away from his flock and stole the sheep.

According to the shepherd, the Jewish settlers came from the illegal Mevo Dotan settlement, built on stolen Palestinian land near Yaabad.

19 Dec 2022; MEMO: Israeli intelligence yesterday kidnapped Izz Al-Din Musbah Abu Sbeih near the Israeli Negev prison after he was released from the occupation authorities' prisons.

Palestinian media outlets reported that Abu Sbeih was arrested once again after he spent 33 months behind bars.

The Jerusalem resident has been jailed by Israeli occupation authorities multiple times, and been placed under administrative detention – held without charge or trial.

19 Dec 2022; MEMO: Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has called on the UN to deploy its staff on patrols across the occupied West Bank given the increasing number of settler attacks and excessive use of violence by Israeli security forces against the Palestinians, Wafa has reported.

19 Dec 2022; MEMO: Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Monday that his country is ready to resume relations with Saudi Arabia "when Riyadh is willing to", reports Anadolu Agency.

"Tehran is ready to resume diplomatic ties with Riyadh, reopen embassies," Amir-Abdollahian told the Tehran Dialogue Forum.