A senior professor of a university in Pakistan's Sindh province was arrested over blasphemy charges. Professor Sajid Soomro of the Shah Abdul Latif University in Sindh’s Khairpur area was arrested from his house. “We have been told he has been arrested for blasphemy on a complaint lodged by the state,” said Advocate Fayaz Khamisani, Soomro’s friend and Khairpur Bar Association joint secretary. Soomro is also an activist and a writer and known for his books on Sindhi-Mohajir unity. Condemning Soomro’s arrest and the charges against him, activists, writers and members of civil society have demanded that the Sindh government initiate an inquiry into the registration for such a case against a university teacher.
Pak Army chief makes unannounced visit to Kabul
Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa made an unannounced visit to Kabul last week to discuss the Afghan peace process with the Afghan leaders. The Pakistan Embassy in Kabul on its official Twitter account released a picture of General Bajwa meeting with President Ashraf Ghani at the presidential palace. The army chief was accompanied by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed and Pakistan's newly appointed special envoy on Afghanistan, Muhammad Sadiq. No details were provided by the army’s media wing of the meeting, which took place two days after US special Afghan envoy Zalmay Khalilzad met with General Bajwa and the ISI chief in Islamabad.
Pak court drops death sentence for juvenile case
A Pakistani court commuted the death sentence for a defendant who has spent the last 18 years on death row for a crime he was convicted of committing when he was a juvenile, a local advocacy group said. The Lahore High Court reduced Mohammad Iqbal's sentence to life in prison. “This is a landmark judgment that could set a precedent for future cases pertaining to juvenile offenders in Pakistan,” said Ali Haider Habib, a spokesman with Justice Project Pakistan. Iqbal was found guilty of murder and robbery committed when he was just 17. He has been in jail since 1999 when an anti-terrorism court sentenced him to death, and on death row since March 2002. Several human rights groups and United Nations special rapporteurs sent a letter to Pakistan's government in March seeking leniency, asking that Iqbal's death sentence be commuted.
Intra-Afghan dialogue in Doha
Afghan government and the Islamist Taliban group have agreed that Doha will be the venue for the first meeting in their peace talks, both sides said. The talks, known as the intra-Afghan dialogue, will be the first high-level meeting between the two sides after years of fighting. No date has been announced for the meeting, but it is expected to take place after the two sides settle differences on the release by the Afghan government of 5,000 Taliban prisoners, which could be as soon as the end of next week. "The first intra-Afghan meeting will happen in Doha," Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said, adding that the Islamist group was ready to hold intra-Afghan talks within a week of the release of 5,000 prisoners. The Afghan government has released 3,000 Taliban prisoners so far under an agreement signed between the United States and the insurgent group in February.
Lanka further relaxes Covid-19 curfew
Sri Lanka announced further relaxation of the curfew, imposed as part of the Covid-19 lockdown, from this week. Sri Lanka has so far recorded 1,880 coronavirus cases, 11 deaths due to the disease and 1,196 recoveries. The curfew, currently in force from 11 pm to 4 am daily, will be relaxed and enforced for only four hours from midnight to 4 am daily, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's office said. Sri Lanka has been under a continuous lockdown since March 20, a week after the first local victim of the pandemic was reported. Initially, a nationwide blanket curfew was imposed but it was later eased for about two-thirds of the country. The government had ordered partial opening of offices and businesses mid-May. From early June, the restrictions were further relaxed with public transport being allowed.
Mystery behind ex-Swedish PM's killing solved
A Swedish prosecutor closed the case of the assassination of former PM Olof Palme after 34 years, accusing a graphic designer who died two decades ago of the country’s most notorious unsolved crime. Palme, who led Sweden’s Social Democrats for decades and served two periods as PM was shot dead in Stockholm in 1986 after a visit to the cinema with his wife and son. Prosecutor Krister Petersson, who has led an investigation since 2017, said the killer was Stig Engstrom, a suspect long known to Swedes as “Skandia man” after the company where he worked, with offices near the scene of the shooting. “Because the person is dead, I cannot bring charges against him and have decided to close the investigation,” Petersson said.
Twitter deletes 1,70,000 accounts tied to China group
Twitter said it removed more than 1,70,000 accounts tied to a Beijing-backed influence operation that deceptively spread messages favourable to the Chinese government, including some about the coronavirus. The company suspended a core network of 23,750 highly active accounts, as well as a larger network of about 1,50,000 “amplifier” accounts used to boost the core accounts’ content. Twitter said the Chinese network had links to an earlier state-backed operation dismantled last year by Twitter, Facebook and Google’s YouTube. The new operation focused heavily on Hong Kong, but also promoted messages about the coronavirus pandemic, exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui and Taiwan, the researchers said.
Beijing shuts markets after new Covid-19 cases
Beijing shut six major wholesale food markets and delayed plans for some students to return to school after China's capital reported new coronavirus infections for a second day running. The new cases involved two men working at a meat research centre who had recently visited the markets, state media said. It was not immediately clear how they were infected. The coronavirus is believed by many to have emerged at a seafood market in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, in December. Both the newly infected men had had no contact with people from Hubei or travellers from overseas in the last 14 days, state media said, though one man was briefly in Qingdao city in the eastern province of Shandong.
Morrison draws criticism for 'no slavery' comment
Australian officials warned Black Lives Matter supporters they could be arrested if they breach coronavirus restrictions to take part in public protests, as debate erupted over the country’s own indigenous history. Prime Minister Scott Morrison drew strong criticism after he said “there was no slavery in Australia” during a discussion of the early days of British settlement, which he acknowledged was “pretty brutal.” Historians, Aboriginal activists and some lawmakers expressed shock and dismay at the comments. “Slavery of indigenous, men, women and children is well documented,” said Sharman Stone, a former federal lawmaker and now politics professor at Monash University. “Slaves worked in pearling, fishing, the pastoral industries and as domestic labour.”
Israel court strikes down law legalising settlement homes
Israel’s Supreme Court struck down a contentious law that sought to retroactively legalise thousands of West Bank settlement homes built unlawfully on private Palestinian land. Israel’s parliament passed the law in February 2017, but it was frozen by the Supreme Court shortly thereafter while it heard petitions against it. The court’s decision was criticised by the ruling pro-settlement Likud party, but welcomed by its coalition partners in the Blue and White party, exposing a rift in the fragile new government. The court ruled that the law was illegal, saying it “retroactively authorised illegal actions done by a particular population in the area while harming the rights of another population”.
Streaming giant drops ‘Gone with the Wind’
HBO Max has temporarily removed “Gone With the Wind” from its streaming library in order to add historical context to the 1939 film long criticised for romanticising slavery. George Floyd protests have forced media companies to remove controversial content over racial sensitivity. The Paramount Network dropped the series “Cops” after 33 seasons. The BBC also removed episodes of “Little Britain”, a comedy series that featured a character in blackface.
Woman prompts US dictionary to redefine ‘racism’
The US reference dictionary Merriam-Webster will change its definition of the word racism at the suggestion of a young black woman, who wanted it to better reflect the oppression of people of colour. Kennedy Mitchum contacted Merriam-Webster to propose updating the term. “I basically told them that they need to include that there’s a systematic oppression upon a group of people,” she said. “It’s not just, ‘Oh, I don’t like someone.”
Microsoft chief urged to cancel pact with police
Over 200 Microsoft employees have urged CEO Satya Nadella to cancel the company’s contracts with the Seattle police department (SPD) and other law enforcement agencies amid widespread calls in the US to defund the police. The internal email by more than 250 employees addressed to Nadella and executive vice-president Kurt DelBene was sent last week, according to a report in OneZero.medium, an online tech portal. “Every one of us in the CC line are either first hand witnesses or direct victims to the inhumane responses of SPD to peaceful protesting,” the letter said. In a statement from Microsoft, India-born Nadella said, “As a company, we need to look inside, examine our organisation, and do better.”
Russian chefs in naked lockdown protest
Russian restaurant owners stripped of their income by the coronavirus lockdown are campaigning for their businesses to be allowed to reopen by posting pictures of themselves naked on social media. Hundreds of bar, restaurant and cafe employees have posted photographs of themselves naked with carefully positioned plates, cups, saucepans, bottles, bar stools and napkin holders. Their demand is for authorities to allow them to start serving clients as the country gradually eases measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus. "We are naked because we are left with nothing," said Arthur Galaychyuk, owner of the Relab Family bar chain in the city of Kazan, whose 20 employees took part in the campaign.
US to sanction ICC officials who prosecute American troops
President Donald Trump authorised economic sanctions and travel restrictions against the International Criminal Court workers directly involved in investigating American troops and intelligence officials for possible war crimes in Afghanistan. “The International Criminal Court’s actions are an attack on the rights of the American people and threaten to infringe upon our national sovereignty,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said. The executive order authorised the secretary of state, in consultation with the treasury secretary, to block financial assets within US jurisdiction of court personnel who directly engage in investigating, harassing or detaining US personnel and The order authorises the secretary of state to block court officials and their family members involved in the investigations from entering the US.
