A judge for the US District Court in Washington granted a habeas corpus petition filed by Yemeni Guantánamo Bay detainee Yasin Muhammed Basardh, ordering his release from the prison.
A Turkish officer, Col. Cemal Temizoz, was arrested in connection with suspected extrajudicial killings in the country’s predominantly Kurdish southeast in the 1990s.
Yemen’s defense ministry denied claims that al-Qaeda has infiltrated the country’s security forces following a deadly suicide attack on South Korean tourists.
As the Assad regime and its Russian backers prepare an offensive to take Idlib, the last area of opposition control in Syria, the people of the northern province have been holding demonstrations, organized by the civil resistance, waving the Free Syria flag and calling on the world to act to prevent the impending massacre there. But dozens of Kurdish fighters who had fought in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in the US-backed campaign against ISIS, are now reported to have joined the regime offensive on Idlib. The SDF's civilian wing, the Syrian Democratic Council, has sent a delegation to Damascus to open talks on coming to accommodations with the Assad regime. Despite these overtures, the regime continues to reject any recognition of the Kurdish autonomous zone of Rojava. The Rojava Kurds have had to make very hard decisions. Despite their leftist politics, they allied with US imperialism against ISIS. They now appear to be closing ranks with the Assad regime—because Turkey, which wants to crush them, is backing the Free Syrian Army. Kurds and Arabs have been pitted against each other by the Great Powers. But just as the Kurds are likely to be betrayed by the US in a carve-up deal with Turkey now that ISIS is effectively defeated, they may similarly be betrayed by Assad once the FSA is defeated. (Photo: EA Worldview)
A 75-year-old widow in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to 40 lashes and four months in prison for associating with two young men who are not close relatives, her lawyer said March 9. The newspaper al-Watan said the woman, Khamisa… Read moreSaudi Arabia: widow, 75, sentenced to 40 lashes
A Turkish court ordered the arrest of journalist Mustafa Balbay for his alleged involvement in a plot to overthrow the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
A Lebanese judge granted bail to three men suspected in the February 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri—days before the planned start-up of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
A prominent Kurdish lawmaker gave a speech in his native Kurdish in Turkey’s Parliament—in defiance of the law. Turkey’s state TV network cut off the live broadcast of the official, Ahmet Turk.
As a terror attack shakes Cairo, a founder of Egypt’s Islamist movement, Sayyid Imam “Dr. Fadl” al-Sharif, has released a prison memoir harshly critical of al-Qaeda and its emulators.
Following a wave of attacks in the wake of Israel’s Gaza aggression, the Jewish Agency is working to evacuate Yemen’s remaining 280 Jews for resettlement in Israel.
Egyptian authorities freed dissident Ayman Nour, whose three years of imprisonment were a source of tension with Washington. But blogger and Gaza solidarity activist Diaa Eddin Gad remains incommunicado.
Police clashed with protesters in several Turkish cities as Kurds marched in defiance of a ban to mark the 10th anniversary of the capture of a Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the separatist PKK.
