Human Rights

DURBAN, March 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The authorities in the South African city of Durban have freed 14 workers who had been “locked up in a mask-making factory since Monday”, a local government minister said.

They also arrested the owner of the business.

The workers “were forced to manufacture hundreds of masks to meet the demand caused by the outbreak of coronavirus”, KwaZulu-Natal’s tourism and environmental affairs minister Nomusa Dube-Ncube said in a statement.

They were “subjected to inhuman conditions”, she added.

29 Mar 2020; MEMO: The Syrian regime and its allies killed hundreds of civilians in northwestern Idlib city between the period of two cease-fire deals reached on Jan. 12 and March 6 by Ankara and Moscow, according to a rights watchdog, Anadolu reports.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) reported that aggression of the Bashar al-Assad regime, Iran-backed foreign terrorist groups, and Russia left 387 civilians dead.

28 Mar 2020; MEMO: Turkey’s interior minister on Friday said 5,800 asylum seekers near the Greek border have been evacuated as part of measures to curb the spread of coronavirus.

In an interview with Turkish news channel NTV, Suleyman Soylu said: “After the risk of contamination passes, we won’t say no to anyone who wants to go back to the Pazarkule border gate.”

Soylu said that those asylum seekers are being hosted in repatriation centers in nine provinces.

28 Mar 2020; MEMO: A number of Egyptian media professionals have rejected the recent media council’s decision to block websites and prosecute social media users, considering it contrary to the law and constitution that stipulates freedom of the press, the right to circulate information and freedom of expression in general.

Mumbai, Mar 27 (PTI) Prominent Bollywood actors and filmmakers have reacted angrily to reports of alleged police excesses in various parts of country amid the lockdown due to coronavirus pandemic.

The country is witnessing a 21-day lockdown, as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to contain the spread of the virus, which has claimed the lives of over 20,000 people globally.

New Delhi, Mar 27 (PTI) Thousands of migrant workers and daily wage workers crossed over to Uttar Pradesh on Friday and many others waited to do so, desperate to return to their distant villages even if it meant walking the entire way home.

Carrying their children, bags and any other belongings they could manage to bundle up, they walked in a steady flow of thousands from the National Capital Region (NCR) to their homes in Uttar Pradesh and beyond.

Bengaluru, Mar 28 (PTI) The Karnataka government on Saturday said that the state run Indira Canteens would provide food packets free of cost to the poor and needy in the wake of the lockdown, the government said here on Saturday.

The canteens would operate in three schedules -from 7:30 AM to 10 AM, 12:30 PM to 3 PM and 7:30 PM to 9 PM, the government said in a public announcement

New Delhi, Mar 28 (PTI) Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday said the city government has started distributing ration for the next month in the wake of the 21-day lockdown.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced last week that those receiving ration from fair-price shops would get 50 per cent extra for the next month.

Badaun/Aligarh (UP), March 26 (PTI) A group of young men were forced by police to hop like frogs on a Badaun road for violating lockdown orders, the punishment reflecting the tough time migrant labourers face as measures to fight coronavirus leave them jobless.

The three or four men seen in a video clip are among hordes making their way to their homes in Uttar Pradesh after losing the jobs they held in the bigger towns and cities.

26 Mar 2020; MEMO: Istanbul’s Public Prosecutor’s Office has prepared an indictment against 20 Saudis in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate 17 months ago in Istanbul.