Human Rights

24 August 2022; MEMO: The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East has condemned a "flagrant" raid by Israeli occupation soldiers of its church in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. The unannounced and unwarranted raid on the premises of St Andrew's Anglican/Episcopal Church was conducted by Israeli soldiers in the early hours of Thursday at around 3am local time.

24 August 2022; MEMO: The National Palestinian Prisoners' Movement announced yesterday that prisoners in Israeli jails will embark on an open-ended hunger strike, starting 1 September, a statement said.

"We get in touch with you despite the continuous jailer's attempt to break our will and unity, as well as in light of the continuous arbitrary measures taken against us," the prisoners said in their statement.

24 August 2022; MEMO: A former minister of information in Jordan has criticised Palestinians for flying abroad from Israel's Ramon Airport, Quds Press has reported. Samih Maayteh made his comment following the first such flight with passengers from the occupied West Bank heading to Cyprus.

24 August 2022; MEMO: An Egyptian physician who worked for Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health has been sentenced by a Saudi terror court to 20 years in prison, according to the Freedom Initiative.

Dr Sabry Mus'ad Ibrahim Shalaby was convicted after a colleague and fellow detainee said he had voted for the late Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and was sympathetic towards the Muslim Brotherhood.

24 August 2022; MEMO: The US military announced that it had carried out a strike in Deir Ez-Zor in Syria, targeting military facilities and infrastructure used by groups linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, as reported by Reuters.

The pro-Iranian groups are largely concentrated west of the Euphrates in the Deir Ez-Zor province, where they get supplies from Iraq through the Al-Bukamal border crossing,the news wire explained.

23 August 2022; MEMO: The Saudi Court of Appeals has sentenced Sheikh Saleh Al-Talib, a prominent imam and preacher at the Grand Mosque in Makkah, to ten years in prison, a human rights organisation said yesterday.

The organisation said the Court of Appeal overturned the Specialised Criminal Court's decision acquitting Sheikh Al-Talib of the charges against him.

New Delhi, Aug 22 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Monday sought the Gujarat government's response on social activist Teesta Setalvad's bail plea and posted the matter for hearing on August 25.

Setalvad was arrested in June for allegedly fabricating evidence to frame "innocent people" in the 2002 Gujarat riot cases.

A bench headed by Justice U U Lalit issued notice to the state on her plea.

On August 3, the Gujarat High Court issued notice to the state government on the plea and had fixed the matter for hearing on September 19.

22 August 2022; MEMO: The CEO of the Israeli spyware firm NSO Group and one of its founders, Shalev Hulio, has resigned from his position and will be responsible for searching for a buyer for the company. NSO also informed 100 employees that they would be dismissed. The company's COO Yaron Shohat will take over from Hulio until a successor is named, according to Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

23 August 2022; MEMO: There are currently 723 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons without trial, including eleven children, Haaretz reported on Monday.

According to the Israeli newspaper, the number of prisoners held with neither charge nor trial — "administrative detention" — has risen significantly from the 671 held at the beginning of August. The current figure is the highest since 2008.

22 August 2022; MEMO: A well-known Palestinian rights group called on Monday for the international community to intervene immediately to protect Palestinian civil society groups and their staff targeted by the Israeli occupation authorities. The heads of leading rights groups in occupied Palestine have been told by Israel's internal security agency Shin Bet to sever their connections with the organisations "or else".