Kurdish Islamists Protest Egypt Coup

Several protests took place to support the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, but also in the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir in Turkey by Kurdish Islamist groups.

The arrival of the Secretary-General of the Islamic Union of Kurdistan and the Secretary General of the International Union for Muslim Scholars to the rally for condemnation Egypt massacres Secretary-General of the Kurdistan Islamic Union Mohammed Faraj and accompanied by Secretary-General of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, Dr. Ali Qaradaghi arrived to the courtyard of the Shander park downtown Erbil to participate in the rally, organized by the Second Centre of the Islamic Union and the third centre of the Islamic Group, to denounce and condemn the crimes carried out by the Egyptian army and with support of police and bullying, especially the slaughters of the field Rabiaa al-Adaweya and al-Nahda of Egypt last Wednesday. http://www.kurdiu.org/en/hawal/index.php?pageid=130942

Second centre official of the Kurdistan Islamic Union in Arbil, appealed to citizens to actively participate in the rally, which was organized by the Islamic Union and the Islamic group to denounce the massacres which commited by the police and the Egyptian army and thugs against unarmed citizens in Rabiaa al-Adaweya and al-Nahda in Egypt.

Official of the second centre of the Kurdistan Islamic Union Ali Girdasori in an interview with the site KurdIU , said that "they would organize on Saturday evening in front of Shander Park a rally denouncing the massacres which commited against the peaceful protesters in Rabiaa al-Adaweya and al-Nahda in Egypt , stressing at the same time that participation in the rally is Humanist duty , appealing to the masses of the people to actively participate to denounce this humanitarian crime against the citizens Egyptians. http://www.kurdiu.org/en/hawal/index.php?pageid=130935

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Anti-Coup Alliance Statement on ‘Friday of Anger’ Violent Attacks on Peaceful Protesters

Anti-Coup Alliance Statement on ‘Friday of Anger’ Violent Attacks on Peaceful Protesters

Egypt’s pro-legitimacy coalition of groups and movements defending democracy condemn the latest wave of state-led violence and urges people to persist in week-long peaceful protests.
The Anti-Coup, Pro-Legitimacy National Alliance extends its sincerest thanks and appreciation to the masses of patriotic Egyptians who came out today (Friday, August 16) in huge rallies from all governorates of Egypt in a sublime scene of heroic bravery under aerial bombardment from July 3 coup forces’ helicopters and war-planes using live bullets in order, as protesters expressed their rejection of the military putsch and condemnation of brutal massacres by military forces against unarmed peaceful protesters during the violent crackdown on Rabaa El-Adaweya and Nahda sit-ins.

The Alliance calls on the great masses of the Egyptian people to protest peacefully throughout the next week (the “Putschists’ Departure” week). The demonstrations will kick off every day throughout the week from the same points today’s demonstrations were launched in Cairo, Giza and the provinces.

Demonstrators will perform Maghrib and Isha prayers in Ramses Square. Then, they will pray for the souls of the martyrs who were killed today by the brutal aggression of the putschist forces against the innocent and defenseless.

The Alliance reiterates its commitment to fully non-violent demonstrations and its rejection of all attacks on places of worship as well as public and private property.

The Alliance further reiterates its demands to a full return to constitutional legitimacy. The precious blood of peaceful protesters that flowed and is still being spilled is watering the tree of liberty in Egypt and is arousing the spirit of the January 25 Revolution – resistance to injustice, corruption and rejection of the coup, repression and tyranny.

God save Egypt and its people and reward the honorable martyrs...

Anti-Coup, Pro-Legitimacy National Alliance

Cairo: August 16, 2013

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Morsi supporters defy orders to end sit-ins

Morsi supporters defy orders to end sit-ins

Rallies continue and clashes with police erupt in Egypt's capital even as foreign pressure to solve crisis mounts.
Backers of Egypt's deposed President Mohamed Morsi have staged defiant rallies and clashed with police in Cairo, after the government ordered their protest camps to be broken up.

Police reportedly fired tear gas and birdshot at roughly 1,000 protesters on Friday who tried to set up a new camp outside Media Production City, where satellite television channels are based.



The US stepped up its diplomatic efforts, meanwhile, sending its top Middle East official to Cairo for a second time.

William Burns, US undersecretary of state, is the latest international envoy on a mission to press Morsi's backers and the interim government to resolve the stand-off peacefully.

Elsewhere, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian-born head of al-Qaeda,accused the US of "plotting" Morsi's overthrow with the Egyptian military and the country's Christian minority.

"Crusaders and secularists and the Americanised army have converged ... with Gulf money and American plotting to topple Mohamed Morsi's government," he said in a 15-minute audio recording posted online.

In his first comments since July 3 - when Morsi was removed from power, Zawahiri also attacked Morsi's secular opposition and Coptic Christians, who he said wanted a secessionist state in Egypt, and called for a mass movement to install Islamic law.

Dispersing rallies

In Cairo, Morsi supporters went on marches after Friday prayers, pouring out of several mosques in the capital.

The early evening protest outside Media Production City saw at least one protester wounded by birdshot.

The demonstrators said police fired tear gas when they tried to camp outside the compound.

However, the interior ministry accused the protesters of firing birdshot, wounding a conscript, and said police made 31 arrests.

Morsi's supporters have remained defiant even after the interim government warned this week that police would be authorised to disperse crowds in "gradual steps".

In particular, the interior ministry urged those at protest sites in Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda squares "to let reason and the national interest prevail, and to quickly leave".

The state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper reported on Friday that police had a plan to disperse the sit-ins but were holding out for a peaceful resolution.

More than 250 people have been killed since Morsi's removal from power on July 3 and diplomatic efforts to avoid further bloodshed have picked up pace this week.

Foreign pressure grows

Burns' arrival in Cairo on Friday night was preceded by trips by the EU's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, and Middle East envoy, Bernardino Leon; Guido Westerwelle, the German foreign minister; and Alpha Oumar Konare, an African Union delegate.

Ashton and Konare both met Morsi, who is detained, and reported that he was in good health.

A senior member of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, said the European envoys had asked them to end their sit-ins.

They have also been angered by comments from John Kerry, the US secretary of state, who told Pakistani television that Egypt's military was "restoring democracy".

Rights group Amnesty International meanwhile demanded an investigation into allegations that Morsi's supporters tortured opponents in Cairo near their protest camps.

It said opponents of Mori reported being "captured, beaten, subjected to electric shocks or stabbed by individuals loyal to the former President."

Morsi has been formally remanded in custody on suspicion of offences when he broke out of prison during the 2011 revolt that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak.

Prosecutors have also referred three top Muslim Brotherhood leaders, including supreme guide Mohamed Badie, for prosecution on allegations of inciting the deaths of demonstrators

ALJAZEERA

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Top Islamist Sentenced to Death by Bangladesh Tribunal

Top Islamist Sentenced to Death by Bangladesh Tribunal

Secretary General of Jamaat-e-Islami, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid (L) waves from a police vehicle as he is transported to the central jail following his court verdict in Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 17, 2013.
Bangladesh Sentences Islamist Leader for War Crimes

VOA News

July 17, 2013
A Bangladeshi war crimes tribunal has convicted and sentenced to death a top Islamic party leader for his role in the kidnapping and killing of people during the country's 1971 independence war.

The verdict against 65-year-old Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, the secretary general of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was handed down Wednesday in the capital, Dhaka.

Mujahid was convicted of torture, kidnapping and the murder of intellectuals. Seven charges were brought against Mujahid, prosecutor Tureen Afroz said.

"Out of the seven charges, five have been beyond reasonable doubt proved by the prosecution. And out of these five charges, three charges have been given death penalty, one for the life imprisonment and one for five years imprisonment."

Mujahid shouted "injustice" as the judge read the sentence.

The verdict is the second this week by the tribunal. On Monday, the controversial court sentenced 90-year-old Ghulam Azam, the spiritual leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, to 90 years in prison for his role in atrocities committed during the war.

So far six of the group's leaders have been sentenced since January by the war crimes tribunal, set up by the Awami-League led government in 2010. The trials have triggered violence that has left more than 100 people dead.

Critics have accused Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of using the tribunals to decimate the country's opposition parties ahead of elections scheduled for next year.

Bangladesh fought a nine-month war against Pakistan in 1971 to obtain its independence. The government says three million people died in the violence, although other estimates put the death toll lower.





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ElBaradei’s democracy: How Egypt’s revolution was betrayed

ElBaradei’s democracy: How Egypt’s revolution was betrayed

BY RAMSEY BAROUD

SEATTLE – “The revolution is dead. Long live the revolution,” wrote Eric Walberg, a Middle East political expert and author, shortly after the Egyptian military overthrew the country’s democratically elected President Mohammed Morsi on July 3.

But more accurately, the revolution was killed in an agonizingly slow death, and the murders were too many to count.

Mohamed ElBaradei, a liberal elitist with a dismal track record in service of Western powers during his glamorous career as the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is a stark example of the moral and political crisis that has befallen Egypt since the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak. ElBaradei played a most detrimental role in this sad saga, from his uneventful return to Egypt during the January 2011 revolution — being cast as the sensible, Western-educated liberator — to the ousting of the only democratically elected president this popular Arab country has ever seen.

His double-speak was a testament not only to his opportunistic nature as a politician and the head of the Dostour Party, but to the entire political philosophy of the National Salvation Front, the opposition umbrella group for which he served as a coordinator.

The soft-spoken man, who rarely objected to the unfair pressure imposed on Iraq during his services as the head of the U.N. nuclear watch dog, was miraculously transformed into a fierce politician with persisting demands and expectations. His party, like the rest of Egypt’s opposition, had performed poorly in every democratic election and referendum held since the ouster of Mubarak.

Democracy proved him irrelevant. But after every failure he and the opposition managed to emerge even louder thanks to a huge media apparatus that operated around the clock in a collective, undying commitment in rearranging the country’s political scene in their favor, regardless of what the majority of Egyptians thought.

Soon after Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi announced a military coup on July 4, in what was a clearly well-organized conspiracy involving the army, much of the media, the opposition and disaffected Mubarak-era judges, silencing the Muslim Brotherhood and their own media were paramount. The level of organization in which the coup conspirators operated left no doubt that the military was most insincere when two days earlier they had given the quarreling political parties 48 hours to resolve their disputes or else.

Of course there was no room for compromise as far as ElBaradei’s opposition was concerned, and the army knew that well. On June 30, one year since Morsi had taken office following transparent, albeit protracted elections, the opposition organized with the sinister goal of removing the president at any cost.

Some called on the army, which has proven to be extremely devious and untrustworthy, to lead the “democratic” transition. ElBaradei even invited supporters of the former regime to join his crusade to oust the Brotherhood.

The idea was simple: to gather as many people in the streets as possible, claiming a second revolution and calling on the military to intervene to save Egypt from Morsi and his supposed disregard of the will of the people.

The military, with a repulsive show of orchestrated benevolence, came to the rescue, in the name of the people and democracy. They arrested the president, shut down Islamic TV stations, killed many and rounded up hundreds of people affiliated with the ruling party. Fireworks ensued, ElBaradei and his men gloated, for Egypt had supposedly been saved.

Except it was not.

“Mubarak-era media owners and key members of Egypt’s liberal and secular opposition have teamed up to create arguably one of the most effective propaganda campaigns in recent political history, to demonize Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood,” wrote Mohamad Elmasry of the American University in Cairo.

Much of the media in Egypt never truly shifted allegiances. It remained as dirty and corrupt as it was during the Mubarak regime. It was there to serve the interest of the powerful business and political elites.

But due to the changing political reality — three democratic elections and two referendums, all won by Islamic party supporters — it was impossible for them to operate using the same language. They too jumped on the revolution bandwagon using the same frame of references as if they were at the forefront of the fight for freedom, equality and democracy.

Egypt’s reactionary forces, not only in the media, but also the pro-Mubarak judges, the self-serving military, etc, managed to survive the political upheaval not for being particularly clever.

They simply had too much room to regroup and maneuver since the desperate opposition, ElBaradie and company, put all of their focus on discounting Morsi, undermining the Muslim Brotherhood, and undercutting the democratic process that brought them to power. In their desperation and search for power, they lost sight of the revolution and its original goals, disowned democracy, but more importantly endangered the future of Egypt itself.

What took place in Egypt, starting with the orchestrated ‘revolution’ on June 30, from the army’s ultimatum, to the military coup, to the shameless reinvention of the old order — accompanied with repopulating the prisons and sending tanks to face unarmed civilians — was not only disheartening to the majority of Egyptians, but was a huge shock to many people around the world as well. Egypt, which once inspired the world, is now back to square one.

Since the onset of the so-called Arab Spring, an intense debate of numerous dimensions has ensued. One of its aspects was concerned with the role of religion in a healthy democracy.

Egypt, of course, was in the heart of that debate, and every time Egyptians went to the ballot box they seemed to concur with the fact that they wished to see some sort of marriage between Islam and democracy. It was hardly an easy question, and until now there have been no convincing answers. But, as in any healthy democracy, it was the people who were to have the final say. The fact that the choice of a poor peasant from a distant Egyptian village didn’t match ElBaradei’s elitist sensibility is of no consequence whatsoever.

It is unfortunate, but hardly surprising, that many of the idealists who took to Tahrir Square in January 2011 and spoke of equal rights for all couldn’t bear the outcome of that equality. Some complained that decades of marginalization under Mubarak didn’t qualify Egypt’s poor, uneducated and illiterate to make decisions on political representation and democratic constitution.

And in a sad turn of events, these very forces were openly involved in toppling the democratically elected president and his party, as they happily celebrated the return to oppression as a glorious day of freedom. ElBaradie may now return to center stage, lecturing Egypt’s poor on what true democracy is all about — and why, in some way, the majority doesn’t matter at all.

Ramzy Baroud (www.ramzybaroud.net)

http://MuslimWindow.blogspot.com/

Egypt unrest: Liberal opposition rejects transition plan

Egypt unrest: Liberal opposition rejects transition plan



Pro-Morsi supporters tell Lyse Doucet they are willing to die for their cause

Egypt in crisis
The struggle to save Egypt's revolution
Is Egypt heading for holy war?
Shifting sands
Unrest rattles Egypt backyard

The main liberal opposition coalition in Egypt has rejected interim leader Adly Mansour's decree, which sets a new poll timetable to stop the unrest.

The National Salvation Front (NSF) demanded more changes and consultation on the document.

Both the Muslim Brotherhood, which supports ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, and the Tamarod protest movement earlier rejected the decree.

The Mansour plan also envisages changes to the Islamist-drafted constitution.

In other developments on Tuesday:
Mr Mansour named ex-Finance Minister Hazem el-Beblawi as new Prime Minister
in turn, Mr el-Beblawi pledged to give cabinet posts to Muslim Brotherhood members - an offer immediately rejected by Mohamed Kamal, senior member of the Brotherhood's political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP)
Defence Minister Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi warned against any attempts to disrupt the country's "difficult" transition
two people were killed when suspected Islamists attacked a security checkpoint in the Sinai province

Egypt has been in turmoil since the democratically-elected Mr Morsi was overthrown by the army last week, with protesters both for and against the ousted president massing on the streets.

On Monday, at least 51 people - mostly pro-Morsi supporters from his Muslim Brotherhood movement - were killed outside the barracks where he is thought to be held.

'Putchist' decree
Adly Mansour's transition timeline

Panel formed within 15 days to review constitution
Constitutional amendments to be finalised and put to referendum in four months
Parliamentary elections to be held by early 2014
Presidential elections to be called once new parliament convenes
Key players in the Egyptian crisis
Is Egypt heading for holy war?

"The National Salvation Front announces its rejection of the constitutional decree," the liberal opposition said in a statement.

The NSF said it was not consulted on the document vital to Egypt's political transition, demanding changes to the proposal.

The coalition - which was led by Mohamed ElBaradei until his appointment as Egypt's deputy president - did not elaborate further.

The Muslim Brotherhood - which is pressing for the immediate reinstatement of Mr Morsi - earlier also rejected the decree.

Essam al-Erian, deputy chairman of the FJP, said the document was "a constitutional decree by a man appointed by putchists".

Even the Tamarod movement - which led the anti-Morsi protests - said it had not been consulted on the election plan, asking to see the interim leader to discuss the situation.

Mr Mansour's decree, issued late on Monday, laid out plans to set up a panel to amend the suspended Islamist-drafted constitution within 15 days.

The changes would then be put to a referendum - to be organised within four months - which would pave the way for parliamentary elections, possibly in early 2014.

Once the new parliament convenes, elections would be called to appoint a new president.

Army warning

Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Sisi said warned in a televised speech that the "future of the nation is too important and sacred for manoeuvres or hindrance, whatever the justifications".

He said that neither the army nor the people of Egypt would accept "the stalling or disruption" of this "difficult and complex" period.

According to the BBC's Wyre Davies, in Cairo, emotions are still raw and compromise is a word many people are not ready to use.

Mr Morsi's removal last Wednesday followed days of mass protests by people who accused him of becoming increasingly authoritarian, pursuing an Islamist agenda, and failing to tackle Egypt's economic woes.

The army's moves were welcomed by some Gulf states, and two - the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia - have made major pledges of financial help in a show of support for the new administration.

But other nations were strongly against the army's actions - perhaps the most vocal of which was Turkey.

In the aftermath of the ousting of Mr Morsi, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said: "It is unacceptable for a government, which has come to power through democratic elections, to be toppled through illicit means and, even more, a military coup."




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US senators push for arming of Syria rebels

US senators push for arming of Syria rebels



Syrians wave revolutionary Syrian flags and chant slogans supporting the Free Syrian Army, in front of the Syrian embassy in Amman, Jordan, on Friday. (AP)

ARAB NEWS

Saturday 8 September 2012


UNITED NATIONS: As the United Nations on Friday nearly doubled its humanitarian appeal for Syria, United States senators urged Washington to provide weapons to Syria's rebel forces to put an end to the Assad regime's genocidal attacks.

“There is a slaughter going on. Everything that motivated all of us to get involved in Libya is happening in Syria, and more," said Sen. Joe Lieberman, who, along with John McCain and Lindsay Graham, pushed for a tougher US stance on the Syrian issue.

The three were in Italy to address the Ambrosetti Forum, a gathering of political and business leaders on the shores of Lake Como.

They urged Washington to help arm Syria’s rebels with weapons and create a safe zone inside the country for a transition government.

Lieberman noted that “Assad is the number one ally in the Arab world of Iran, and Iran is that greatest threat to stability in the region and beyond the region at this point.”

McCain blasted President Barack Obama, who defeated him in the 2008 presidential election, for recently setting the “red line” for Syria at use of chemical weapons.

“If you’re Bashar Assad ... maybe you interpret that to mean that you can do anything short of chemical weapons before the United States will intervene,” he said.

Lieberman and McCain — who together with Graham have toured the volatile Middle East in recent days — both argued that the longer the West waits the more jihadists will gain influence in the rebellion.

“We should be supplying weapons to the opposition to Assad (and) I strongly support the creation of a safe zone,” said Lieberman, the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee, who has since become a Connecticut independent.

“The opposition has effectively seized control of a piece of land in northern Syria,” he said. “If we help them protect themselves from Assad’s helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft they can establish a transitional government ... I am confident that if we set it up and told (the regime) that if they attacked it there would be a vigorous response, they would not attack it.”

He said such a zone would enable potential future leaders now located in places like Istanbul and Paris to establish a presence among the people.

With the civil war intensifying, the number of people in need of assistance has doubled since July to 2.5 million, and the UN said it is seeking $347 million for people in need, including more than half a million children forced to flee their homes.
The plea comes even as the original appeal for $180 million is only half-funded. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged donors to increase their contributions.
“At the moment, the entire civilian population inside Syria is gripped by fear and despair,” John Ging, a senior UN humanitarian official, said after the UN humanitarian plan was launched Friday. “Humanitarian action is not a solution in conflict. The solution in conflict is political resolution ... but while there is failure to find that process ... we in the humanitarian community have to step up and do more in ever more dangerous circumstances to help people who are suffering more.”
Activists say more than 23,000 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising against the regime of President Bashar Assad began in March 2011.

EU support

The European Union announced Friday it will provide an additional €60 million ($76 million) in humanitarian aid for Syria.

The announcement came days after France decided to provide direct aid and money to five rebel-held Syrian cities as it intensifies efforts to weaken Assad. It was the first such move by a western power amid mounting calls for the international community to do more to prevent bloodshed.

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said that more than 1.2 million people are displaced inside Syria, half of them children. Another nearly 250,000 Syrian refugees are in neighboring Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq, including more than 100,000 people who were registered as refugees in August alone, Nesirky said.
Peter Maurer, the new president of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, said Friday he held “positive” talks with Assad this week on key humanitarian and human rights issues — freeing up the delivery of badly needed aid and gaining access to detainees.
He said Assad and other ministers generally agreed on the need to reduce barriers to delivering aid, and the president “expressed his readiness” to address the issue of prison detainees.
The UN plan was launched at the Syria Humanitarian Forum in Geneva, which brought together more than 350 participants from governments, regional and international organizations and UN humanitarian agencies to mobilize resources to help those uprooted by the conflict.
The updated UN humanitarian plan focuses on health, food, livelihoods, infrastructure repairs, community services, education and shelter in conflict areas including Homs, Hama, Idlib, Damascus, Deir el-Zour and Aleppo, as well as areas hosting large numbers of internally displaced people.
With thousands of Syrians fleeing the fighting, the UN refugee agency said its share of the new $347 million appeal is doubling to $41.7 million.
The agency is seeking funds for household items, medical assistance, rehabilitation of shelters and counseling of displaced populations, spokesman Adrian Edwards said in Geneva. The agency is also seeking help to provide financial assistance for 200,000 people considered vulnerable and to encourage displaced Syrian children to return to school, he said.
The EU said its new pledge brings the total aid donated by the 27-nation bloc to more than €200 million ($253 million) since the conflict began in March 2011.
The new EU funds will go to agencies that provide shelter and medical aid and for other humanitarian efforts, Kristalina Georgieva, EU commissioner for humanitarian aid, said at a foreign ministers meeting in Cyprus.
At the meeting, British Foreign Minister William Hague stressed that EU countries can only provide non-lethal aid to Syrian opposition groups because of an EU arms embargo that renders the supply of any weapons illegal.
French officials have acknowledged providing communications and other non-lethal equipment to Syrian rebel forces, but say they won’t provide weapons without international agreement.
“At the moment we have a European Union arms embargo on Syria; it’s not possible or legal for any EU nation to send weapons to anybody in Syria, and therefore our chosen route, and is the same route of France and the United States, is to give non-lethal assistance, and we’re doing that,” Hague told reporters.

— With reports of agencies
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Assad's Aleppo backers abandon him, some shift support, cash to rebels in risky gamble

Assad's Aleppo backers abandon him, some shift support, cash to rebels in risky gamble

More ByTucker Reals, Khaled Wassef-cbsnews


A Syrian rebel sits in a van in Aleppo, Aug. 19, 2012. (Credit: Getty)

(CBS News) LONDON - Eighteen months after anti-Assad street protests spiraled into all-out civil war, sources inside Aleppo tell CBS News that many of the business leaders, scholars and other prominent figures in Syria's largest city, who have backed President Bashar Assad and his family for decades, no longer see a future under his rule.

CBS News has learned that at least 48 of Aleppo's elite, calling themselves the "Front of Aleppo Islamic Scholars" (FAIS) - which has a Facebook page established just last year - have hand-picked a provisional city council to take over Aleppo when Assad loses his grip on the country - and they are gambling on one of the many rebel groups fighting in the city to become its eventual protectors.

Syria's civil war claims 10 more lives in Lebanon
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The other side of Syria's civil war

A document obtained by CBS News details the various duties of the provisional administration's 18 members. This city government-in-waiting includes doctors, engineers, tradesmen and university professors, each tasked according to their knowledge and experience.

"The main objective for forming such a government is to fill in the administrative vacuum in the city and unite the efforts of revolutionary forces," says the document, indicating that while Assad ostensibly may still be in charge of Syria, his government is no longer able to run Aleppo to the satisfaction of its civic leaders.

The document, provided to CBS News by a trusted opposition source, lays out the new 18-member council, listing some of its members by name, others only by initials. Many of them will have been ardent supporters of the Assad regime, and with the fight for the city so far from over, some may still be backing his rule, in their official capacities, at least.

The defenders of Aleppo

Crucially, the document from FAIS states that one of the rebel factions fighting in the city, the al-Tawheed Brigades, has been entrusted with Aleppo's security. According to the document, the brigades' task now is to unite the other factions across the city to beat Assad's forces out of Aleppo, and then keep the city secure once they're gone.

"The management of the military operations goes to the leader of al-Tawheed Brigades, as the most prominent fighting group," reads the document, which has not been disseminated publicly. "As soon as all the other fighting factions are united, the management of the military operations would then be transferred to the higher military command."

FAIS has placed a great deal of faith in the hands of the Tawheed Brigades, perhaps because the scholars see no better option, but tapping the faction to act as the defenders of Aleppo is a decision which comes with baggage, and possible ramifications down the road.

The Brigades is comprised of smaller rebel fighting groups, including a significant number of former pro-Assad militias (shabiha) which have switched sides having seen their payment from the regime dry up. The Tawheed is one of about five large rebel factions fighting in Aleppo.

It is undoubtedly the group with the biggest public profile, having produced virtually all of the online videos to emerge from the city, which often depict fighters marching defiantly through the streets after apparent victories or crouching behind walls to take aim at unseen regime forces.

The Tawheed is also the best-connected of Aleppo's rebel armies. They come from the rural districts to the north of the city - the districts through which the vast majority of the weapons, ammunition and money from abroad reach Aleppo via Turkey. The group has alleged connections to Turkish intelligence.

They are also strong in number - claiming to be the largest of the factions fighting in Aleppo. With the only available evidence - the many videos the Tawheed Brigades produce - seeming to back this claim, and with their control over the supply route from Turkey, they may have been the logical choice for FAIS.

An opposition united, for now


A commander from another of Aleppo's rebel groups, however, based in the east of the city, tells CBS News that the Tawheed Brigades' claims are exaggerated. He says the brigades make up just 15 to 20 percent of the rebels in the city, and that men from its ranks are to blame for the looting and crime which has left many local residents distrustful, even disdainful, of the rebels on the whole.

Asked about those allegations, Abu Majid, a Tawheed Brigades commander in Aleppo, tells CBS News "there have been acts of looting and pillage in Aleppo, but those were individual incidents and not a general trend, and they are not limited only to Tawheed Brigades."

"Tawheed Brigades enrolled many fighters when it moved into the city from the northern provinces; We had to do that in order to be able to cover the large areas of the city. But in doing so, we couldn't carry out the necessary checks on the background of each group of fighters."

Majid said the issue was being addressed with the formation of a security committee, "tasked with policing the various fighting groups on the ground and making sure that criminal activities are stopped."

the commander from the other rebel group also says the Brigades - which, according to its own leaders and according to the document composed by FAIS,should be acting as distributors of ammunition and weapons to the other groups as the clashes with their common enemy flare up around the city - is cooperating only on its own terms.

He tells CBS News that a fight to maintain a foothold in the Salaheddine district earlier this month was lost to Assad's forces because the Tawheed Brigades would not heed requests from the local rebel group for more ammunition. He says the local group even offered to hand over their positions in Salaheddine to the Brigade to continue the fight, but they declined.

His account is lent credence by rebel fighters who told a CBS News crew as they left the Salaheddine battle that they had to abandon the fight when ammunition ran out.

The loss was called a tactical retreat by rebel leaders, but it served the Assad regime a fresh propaganda victory to show they were reclaiming territory in the vital city.

The Tawheed brigade is composed largely of farmers and other men from the rural northern districts of Aleppo. Other factions are made up of more religiously motivated subgroups. Each has its own identity and motivations. Right now, they appear to be working more or less in unison against Assad's forces, but it's clear the various groups will not always see eye-to-eye.

Backing from FAIS will channel more funding - local funding from Aleppo's business elite who are keen to ensure their interests are protected in the post-Assad era - directly to the Tawheed Brigades. But other groups in the city are still fighting independently, still managing to rearm, and they won't necessarily be eager to embrace the Tawheed as their new commanders when the common enemy is defeated.

The battle for control of Aleppo may rage on, even after Assad falls.

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WikiLeaks: The Syria Files (Press Conference)

http://islaamdoon.blogspot.com/

Muslim Brotherhood claims lead in Egypt poll

Inside Story - Egypt elections special

Arab Spring 'anti-democratic' says Benjamin Netanyahu

Arab Spring 'anti-democratic' says Benjamin Netanyahu

The Arab Spring has become an "anti-democratic" and "anti-liberal" wave that threatens the security of Israel and the West, according to Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister Photo: GETTY

By David Blair, Chief Foreign Correspondent

Western leaders who backed the uprisings against authoritarian regimes in Egypt and Tunisia were being "naive", he added.

The prime minister, addressing the Israeli parliament, gave a strikingly pessimistic survey of the tumultuous events in the Arab world. "In February, when millions of Egyptians thronged to the streets in Cairo, commentators and quite a few Israeli members of the opposition said that we're facing a new era of liberalism and progress," said Mr Netanyahu.

Instead, the popular movement which toppled the autocratic leaders of Tunisia and Egypt had become an "anti-Western, anti-liberal, anti-Israeli and anti-democratic wave," he said.

Radical Islam was taking advantage of the situation, he added, and the end result was unlikely to be a new era of democracy in the Middle East. "I ask today, who here didn't understand reality? Who here didn't understand history?" added Mr Netanyahu. "Israel is facing a period of instability and uncertainty in the region. This is certainly not the time to listen to those who say follow your heart."

The prime minister added that Israel's peace treaty with Egypt was a cornerstone of security in the Middle East. The new uncertainty meant that he would not offer hasty concessions to the Palestinians.

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"I will not establish Israel's policy on illusions," said Mr Netanyahu. "We insist on foundations of stability and security – all the more so now."

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Violence flares near Tahrir after tentative ceasfire

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Libya after Gaddafi: Who's in charge?

By Aidan LewisBBC News

The security structure is fragmented, with NTC fighters camped in Tripoli

Continue reading the main story

Libya Crisis

• The final phase?
• Bani Walid: Loyalists fight on
• Waiting for the oil to flow
• Quest for justice

With remnants of the Gaddafi regime restricted to a few last outposts, Libya's transitional authorities now face the challenge of running a country emerging from war.

The National Transitional Council (NTC), formed in the eastern city of Benghazi to lead the uprising, is gradually establishing itself in the capital, Tripoli, with ambitious plans.

It wants to form a new interim government by the end of September, and hold elections for a 200-strong national congress within eight months. The congress will then draft a constitution, paving the way for multi-party polls.

But power structures within Libya remain fractured, creating the potential for conflict as a wide range of groups, interests and allegiances jostle for position.

Competing for credit

The NTC will have to secure the co-operation of these groups to achieve its goals.

"They have a lot of challenges to overcome before they can get the wheels of government running smoothly," says Ahmad Fawzi, spokesman for the UN special adviser for Libya, Ian Martin.

"They are conscious of the fact that they need to be seen to be running the country from the capital, and we haven't seen that yet."

Most immediately, this may be a question of asserting authority over those who accumulated power on the ground during six months of conflict.

NTC chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil and acting prime minister Mahmoud Jibril have now arrived in Tripoli but the brigades who conducted the military campaign were there weeks before.

Continue reading the main story

Transition Timeline

• New government within 10 days
• Elect national congress in eight months
• Referendum on new constitution within 90 days of congress meeting
• Multi-party polls in 2013

• Key figures in post-Gaddafi Libya

An uprising within Tripoli was carefully planned to coincide with the assault led by seasoned Berber fighters from the Nafousa mountains and Misrata, but brigades from different regions have begun competing for credit for liberating the capital.

It is not clear when the brigades will disband, and some weapons have already gone missing.

The brigades are meant to answer to a Supreme Security Committee (SSC), a sprawling new body led by interim oil and finance minister Ali Tarhouni that also includes the police, the interior and defence ministries, and neighbourhood committees.

But the security structure is fragmented - cities have been running their own military affairs, volunteers soldiers are said to be reluctant to obey the national liberation army, and in some neighbourhoods, competing committees have sprung up.

Factions may also be divided. There were reports on Sunday that at least 12 people had been killed when two groups of anti-Gaddafi fighters clashed in the west in a dispute over the ownership of heavy weapons.

Fighters from Misrata, which suffered a brutal and lengthy siege by pro-Gaddafi forces, have begun to challenge NTC authority, reportedly refusing to turn over abandoned tanks.

Regional rivalries

The Misratans will be seeking recognition for their recent ordeal, while those in the far east and west will be seeking recognition for more long-running discrimination at the hands of the Gaddafi regime.

This could contribute to regional rivalries in the longer term, particularly once Libya's oil economy recovers and billions of dollars in revenue start to flow.

The uprising began in the east, and easterners have so far been over-represented in the NTC. Benghazi has nine members to Tripoli's five, and residents of the eastern city dominate the council's executive committee.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

The top echelon is being asked to stay at home - those who were responsible for gross violations of human rights have either disappeared or been killed ”

Ahmad FawziUN spokesman

They have been criticised for being slow to come to Tripoli, though this was at least partly due to security concerns.

Mr Jibril has promised that east, west "and even the cities still under siege, will be part of a new government", and the NTC says it could double in size to nearly 100 members once national liberation is achieved.

But even redressing the balance could cause tensions. In recent days there have been protests in Benghazi by people who say they are worried too much power will go to the capital.

Competition between regions is expected to eclipse any tribal, ethnic or cultural splits.

Tribal identities were at times played up by Col Gaddafi, but while they can be socially important, many analysts and transitional officials say they are unlikely to impact politically.

A transitional "covenant" published in August promises in its first article to protect the language rights and culture of the "Amazigh, Toubou and Touareg and other constituents of Libyan society".

But another potential source of tension is the division between "insiders" who remained in Libya during the Gaddafi era and the conflict, and "outsiders" who have come back from abroad.

"If there's going to be large proportion of outsiders I can see that could create a lot of resentment - the outsiders tend to be relatively rich," says Mohamed El-Doufani, an analyst at BBC Monitoring.

The close involvement of the West in the military campaign could reinforce this resentment, he adds.

"There will be suspicions as to whether they're talking on behalf of another country, or whether they are for the national interest."

Islamists and secularists

There could also be an ideological dimension, with growing talk of a divide between secular technocrats who studied and worked overseas, and Islamists who opposed Col Gaddafi's rule from within Libya.

Abdel Hakim Belhaj, head of Tripoli's military council, has pledged to lay down arms

Most prominent among the secularists is Mr Jibril, who has studied and taught in the US and spent much of the conflict abroad, lobbying for the NTC.

Most prominent among the Islamists is Abdel Hakim Belhaj, a former leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, who was elected as head of Tripoli's military council against Benghazi's wishes.

Mr Jibril has denied any rift between him and Mr Belhaj, while Mr Belhaj has pledged to work for "a civil state that respects the law and rights", and to lay down his arms.

Yet despite all the possible faultlines, observers note a relative lack of infrastructural damage, an abundance of goodwill and the potential for Libyans to guide the transition themselves.

The UN's Ahmad Fawzi said he was "cautiously optimistic" after a five-day trip to Tripoli and Benghazi, and did not expect the kind of violent retribution seen in Iraq.

"The top echelon is being asked to stay at home," he said, while "those who were responsible for gross violations of human rights have either disappeared or been killed".

But others will be allowed to stay in place and work for the NTC's goals of elections, security and justice.

"It's a very mature approach to revolution," said Mr Fawzi.

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US poverty numbers hit record high

US poverty numbers hit record high

Census report shows 46 million people living below the American poverty line last year.


The poverty rate for blacks and Hispanics was much higher than for the overall population, the report said [AFP]


The US poverty rate hit its highest level since 1993 last year, with a record 46 million people living below the American poverty line, according to census data.

A government report released on Tuesday said the poverty rate rose for a third consecutive year to hit 15.1
per cent in 2010, up from 14.3 per cent a year earlier.

The US definition of poverty in 2010 was an annual income of $22,314 for a family of four, and $11,139 for a single person.

The survey showed struggles for the rest of Americans, with median annual household income falling 2.3 percent to $49,445.

However, the census report said there was no "statistically significant" change in inequality between 2009 and 2010 based on its index.

The poverty rate for blacks and Hispanics was much higher than for the overall population at 27.4 per cent and 26.6 per cent, respectively. Among regions, the South had the highest poverty rate at 16.9 per cent and the highest percentage without health insurance, 19.1 per cent.

The Census Bureau said the number of people country-wide without health insurance coverage rose to 49.9 million in 2010 from 49.0 million in 2009.

The report, showing the first full year since the recession officially ended in June 2009, supports the notion that Americans have been losing ground economically. It showed real median incomes fell 6.4 per cent from pre-recession levels in 2007 and were 7.1 per cent below the peak in 1999.

Underlying the census data was a rate of economic growth too weak to compensate for the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs from 2009 to 2010, as the recession officially ended but the jobless rate shot up from 9.3 per cent to 9.6 per cent.

Highest rate among rich nations

Ron Haskins, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the report showed "the news on economic well-being in the US is not good," and that the trend is likely to continue.

"Given the widely accepted projections that both unemployment and in particular long-term unemployment will continue at high rates for the next several years, we can expect this pattern of continuing low income and high poverty rates for many years," Haskins said.

"Safety net programmes run by the federal and state governments are helping millions of families avoid poverty, but these programs could be subject to cuts at the federal and state level because of continuing deficit and debt problems".

The poverty rate increased for children under 18 to 22 per cent from 20.7 per cent in 2009.

The Children's Leadership Council, an advocacy group, called the news "unacceptable in America."

"We are paying the price for child poverty today, and we will pay the price for decades to come," the organisation said, calling for legislators to avoid further cuts to child welfare.

"The rising numbers of children living in poverty is a direct result of the choices made by political leaders who put billionaires before kids," the group said.

The US has the highest poverty rate among developed countries, according to the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.




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Israel Reels Over Rifts With Allies

Israel Reels Over Rifts With Allies
Clashes With Egypt and Turkey, Looming Palestine State Vote Put It in Dire Spot

By JOSHUA MITNICK
Reuters

Egyptian army officers arrested a suspect Saturday by the Israeli embassy in Cairo, where violent clashes prompted the evacuation of diplomats.

TEL AVIV—Israeli leaders are struggling to navigate a Middle East in which its strategic pillar of the last few decades—a three-way axis with U.S.-allied Muslim powers—has crumbled, a day after rescuing its embassy staff from a mob in Cairo.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to reopen its Egyptian embassy after the staff retreated in the face of violent demonstrations Saturday morning. But the troubles in a second diplomatic mission in a week following a fallout in relations with Turkey underscores Israel's precarious position as ties with its two key regional allies are recast.

Against the backdrop of tense relations with the White House, the shift heightens the stakes for Israel as it braces for a diplomatic onslaught at the United Nations next week. That is when Palestinians plan to mount a statehood bid, raising the possibility of an outbreak of mass protests on Israel's borders.

Some Israeli experts suggested that Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, who is set to visit Cairo on Monday, and Egypt's military rulers could overcome their historic rivalry and cooperate to on further isolating Israel.

Israel's embassy was overrun overnight Saturday by hundreds of Egyptian demonstrators, tarnishing a symbol of the two nations 32-year-old peace. According to Israeli media reports, only White House intervention with Cairo triggered a commando-rescue operation that averted a lynching of six security guards.

The Cairo demonstration came on the heels of a decision by Mr. Erdogan last week to downgrade ties, halt military commercial relations and consider a stepped up military presence in the East Mediterranean. Those actions came in response to Israel's refusal to apologize for its killing of Turkish activists on a ship that challenged Israel's Gaza blockade.

"This should be very disturbing to us…there is a question about our place in the Middle East,'' said Ami Ayalon, a former head of Israel's Shin Bet Intelligence Service, in an interview with Israel Radio. "The Egypt that was the bedrock on which we founded our strategy has disappeared.''

Careful not to insult Cairo by airing official worries in public, Mr. Netanyahu praised the interim military rulers for the rescue operation. But after months of repeated strikes on Israeli targets from Egypt—a gas pipeline, the border, and the embassy—some commentators raised concerns that a power vacuum left by the fall of President Hosni Mubarak is being filled by a street sentiment that attaches less value to the 1979 Egypt-Israeli peace treaty.

No less disturbing to Israel has been the recent deterioration of ties with Turkey, which expelled Israeli diplomats this week after enjoying warm military and commercial ties since the 1990s.

Some Israeli cabinet members and experts advocated apologizing for the Mavi Marmara killings, but Mr. Netanyahu went along with hardliners including Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman who say Mr. Erdogan had made the strategic choice to clash with Israel and denounce its Gaza blockade to boost its stature in the Muslim world.

Having warned months ago of a diplomatic "tsunami'' headed toward Israel with the Palestinian's U.N. bid and the Arab Spring, Defense Minister Ehud Barak publicly urged Israel's government in a statement on Sunday to reconsider its regional strategy amid "this triangle of Turkey, Egypt, the negotiations with the Palestinians, and of the intimacy with the U.S., which has been weakened.''

Last week, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates was quoted by Bloomberg News calling Mr. Netanyahu an "ungrateful'' ally who hasn't done enough to advance the peace process despite U.S. diplomatic and military support.

The regional crisis reignited a debate in Israel over whether a peace push with the Palestinians would ease Israel's problems. But the prevailing opinion in the U.S. government seems to view Israel as more vulnerable and unable to influence the region.

"The main effect, of what used to be called the Arab Spring is to introduce a much higher degree of uncertainty in how Israel looks at the region,'' said Dore Gold, a former ambassador to the United Nations under Mr. Netanyahu, in an interview. "Can anyone guarantee to Israel that most of the regimes surrounding it will be there in five years time?''

On Monday, Mr. Erdogan begins a regional tour with a series of meetings in Cairo. There, Mr. Erdogan is scheduled to meet with Egypt's High Military Council president, Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, and Prime Minister Essam Abdel Aziz Sharaf. He is also due to address a meeting of foreign ministers from the Arab League and meet leaders of the Tahrir Square protest movement. During the visit, he is also due to sign a series of bilateral agreements that will include energy and other economic accords, as well as the formation of a joint High Level Strategic Cooperation Council.

Experts in all three countries say strong coordination between Turkey and Egypt against Israel is unlikely. Egypt sees itself as a leader of the Arab world, and Mr. Erdogan's outreach—particularly his expressed desire to visit neighboring Gaza before any senior Egyptian official—could be seen as a provocation.

An official at Egypt's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that even as Egypt seeks closer economic and military ties it will be unlikely to take its cues from Turkey on international relations. Alon Liel, former Israeli diplomat said, however, that Turkish military and economic aid could be welcomed in Cairo, giving it considerable prestige and influence in influencing Egypt's political makeover.—Matt Bradley in Cairo andMarc Champion in Istanbulcontributed to this article

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Corruption kills human rights and erodes democracy.

Corruption kills human rights and erodes democracy.

Ahmed Arwo

Democracy is the best possible system of government, but there is a dangerous disease that eats its body alive bit by bit. Corrupt elite worldwide poison the system with ill gotten money, buying votes in a different level of the society. In election they do bribe the public with fictitious programmes if not direct cash; in Parliament they silence the critic with its venom. Families are adulterated and children lose their decency. It is a sordid and cancerous disease that leaves no one untouched.

Corruption is the master key to injustice. It allows innocent citizens jailed, while despicable criminals fill seats of authority. Judges serve not justice but deliberate according to the price offered. Police are bought as well as all security apparatus. Drugs and weapons are stored in ministerial offices and residence and in many times under the bed of presidency itself. No nation can prosper nor enjoy persistent peace without eradicating corruption. It is a slow killer but surely a killer that misses no target, as the target is so big to miss. It aims the entire nation.

Democracy as a safeguard of human rights can function, where rule of law prevails. That guarantee is non-existent in most developing nations. The Western Democracies rather than helping to nurture the essential institutions of democracy, engage greedy local politicians in transactions that are illegal to say the least and mostly of criminal in nature. They offer aid, grants and loans to despotic governments and in many times earn kickbacks in the process. It is that which cements a system of bribery and sleaze in developing states. Most grants and loans earmarked for the poor ends in the mouths of tyrants and their entourage.

President Obama is right to address corruption in Afghanistan, but that should entail all countries. Let us reward good governance and democracy and punish the rotten regimes that stick to the chair of satanic authority. They defend their illegitimate power ruthlessly and nothing to contribute to the well-being of their people. They rule by denying all basic human rights, turning the masters of their power into slaves. They loot people's properties, as they did to people's power. Ban them to travel, never giving them the chance to enjoy the courtesy of civilised nations. Trace their ill gotten wealth and prohibit them to taste purchase of a single penny they stole.

Climate change challenges cannot be mitigated without addressing the widely spread corruption in the developing states. No convention or treaty will be binding where everything is for sale, where deals have no restrictions, except the higher bidder gets all. World security is at risk where that kind of thinking is practised. Terrorists can find safe haven in corrupt states. They buy their way in and out. There is no more urgent and severe challenge to us all than corruption.

Building democratic institutions is the most effective remedy to crippling disease of corruption.

Here I illustrate some of the areas that call for immediate cure:

1. Capacity building of Parliaments as people's representatives is extremely needed. Even financial help to members can be justified .The more we spend on Parliament; the more we can make the legislative corrupt regimes to account.

2. Equally, the Police and Judiciary should be given a helping hand.

3. Elections should be monitored and supervised by independent forums.

4. Their fairness depends on the impartiality of nation's media. No state should be allowed to ban independent and free Medias. The West should provide direct help to build free media worldwide.

5. The need of a democratic opposition should be secured in international convention, binding on all nations.

A recent phenomenon damages the essence of democracy in old democracies. Democracy has its shortfalls. Lack of enthusiasm reduced citizens' participation in politics. The abundance of freedom and tranquillity reduced the urge to involve in politics. That is witnessed in ever decreasing number of voters in national elections. It undermines the soul of democracy and gives un-proportional share of power to extremist few. If that tendency is not reversed, the rights of minorities will be at risk. We saw the referendum of banning Islamic Minarets in Switzerland. The vote of approval of this Stone Age subjugation of minority rights is passed by 57% of 53% of the registered electorates. That means 30% of the eligible voters. It is clear that the Swiss extremists manipulated and massaged their system to their advantage. Democracy rather than majority rule is nowadays a minority rule. Well focused minority kidnaps the Western democracy and if that bias is unrestricted, we will lose all the rights associated with democracy bit by bit.

In conclusion let me leave you for your perusal conventional and essential rights glorified in the UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS. Learn them and gauge your government with them. How many of these rights are spoiled, how many are never heard in your state, and how many are known to the public. It will tell you where your nation is at the world league of good governance, transparency and democracy, all crucial ingredients of basic human rights.

UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

Article 1.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2.

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3.

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4.

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5.

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6.

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7.

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8.

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10.

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11.

(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.

(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 12.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.

(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

Article 14.

(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15.

(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.

(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16.

(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.

(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.

(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17.

(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.

(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18.

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21.

(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.

(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22.

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23.

(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.

(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24.

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25.

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26.

(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27.

(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 28.

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29.

(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.

(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30.

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein. END.

I hope this bird's eye view highlighted how it is essential to build on good governance and justice worldwide, in order to bolster world security. Terrorism and injustice go hand in hand, and no corrupt system can defeat terrorism. Get rid of corrupt regimes, punish despots, nurture democracies, and establish free and independent media. These steps will bring about a peaceful world, where humanity co-exists in harmony, entertaining diversity in culture and religion.We will all enjoy our basic common need for justice and peace.

Ahmed Arwo

Political Analyst

Muslim World and Africa

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