Human Rights

Jhansi/Kochi, Mar 23 (PTI) Four nuns were taken off an express train and detained for questioning by railway police in UP's Jhansi recently, with the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC) expressing concern over the matter.

KCBC on Tuesday alleged two nuns belonging to Kerala- based Sacred Heart congregation and two postulants were harassed during the March 19 incident, even as Congress and BJP took up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, respectively.

Lucknow, Mar 23 (PTI) A Lucknow court has discharged nine foreigners belonging to Tablighi jamaat from the cases lodged against them during the Covid outbreak in the country.

The nine had been booked for allegedly committing various penal offences and breaching provisions of the Foreigners Act and Epidemic Act.

While discharging the nine, Chief Judicial Magistrate Sushil Kumari, however, stipulated that their bail bonds and personal bonds would be discharged only after the appropriate action by the Central government.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Speaking on the floor of the Georgia state Senate last week, Michelle Au implored her colleagues to “stand up” to the hatred aimed at Asian Americans that’s increased during the pandemic. A day later, a gunman shook the Atlanta area by killing eight people, including six women of Asian descent.

For Au, who joined the state Senate in January as its first Asian American woman, the attack was a heartbreaking validation of her fears. It’s also spurring her and other Asian Americans to push for greater political influence in Washington and other power centers.

22 Mar 2021; MEMO: Deputy General Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, Ibrahim Munir, has said that his group trusts Turkey and accepts its mediation efforts with the regime of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, Anadolu reported yesterday.

Turkey and the Turkish leadership "respect the political refugees" and "we are sure that this will never change as Turkey is credible and does not carry out manoeuvers."

22 Mar 2021; MEMO: Lawyers for the fiancée of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Hatice Cengiz, and advocacy group Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), successfully served Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) with the complaint they filed in the District of Columbia Federal District Court

22 Mar 2021; MEMO: Israel revoked Palestinian Authority (PA) Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki's special travel permit after he returned to the West Bank yesterday from a trip to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague.

23 Mar 2021; MEMO: The Israeli government has said that it will not allow any economic project to be implemented in the occupied territories unless the Palestinian Authority (PA) stops cooperating with the ICC probe into Israeli war crimes, Quds Net said yesterday.

22 Mar 2021; MEMO: Israeli soldiers prevented the Palestine TV crew from reporting at Ein Al-Bayda village in the occupied West Bank and forced the media crew to leave the area, reported Wafa news agency.

According to a Wafa correspondent, the soldiers held the Palestine TV van and checked the journalists and crew members' papers before ordering them to leave the area.

23 Mar 2021; MEMO: The US sharply condemned Monday a wave of Russian and Syrian regime airstrikes over the weekend that targeted a hospital and killed several civilians, Anadolu Agency reports.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said the coordinates of al-Atareb Surgical Hospital had previously been shared with a UN entity intended to prevent attacks on civilian infrastructure.

23 Mar 2021; MEMO: Israeli authorities continue to ban Palestinian rights activist and Amnesty International campaigner Laith Abu Zeyad from travel to East Jerusalem or abroad, Rai Al-Youm reported yesterday.