Saudi-led quartet adds 2 entities, 11 individuals to terror list

Arab News
November 23, 2017

Jeddah, Nov 23: The Anti-Terror Quartet — Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, Bahrain — has added two new entities and 11 individuals to the terror lists for their role in disseminating and supporting terrorism.

In a statement released through the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the quartet identified the two terror entities as the International Islamic Council "Massaa'" and the World Union of Muslim Scholars.

The statement identified the individuals as Khaled Nazem Diab, Salem Jaber Omar Ali Sultan Fathallah Jaber, Moyasar Ali Musa Abdullah Jubouri, Mohammed Ali Saeed Atm, Hassan Ali Mohammed Juma Sultan, Mohammed Suleiman Haidar Mohammed Al-Haydar, Mohammed Jamal Ahmed Hishmat Abdul Hamid, Alsayed Mahmoud Ezzat Ibrahim Eissa, Yahya Alsayed Ibrahim Mohamed Moussa, Qadri Mohamed Fahmy Mahmoud Al-Sheikh and Alaa Ali Ali Mohammed Al-Samahi.

Of the entities that were added to the list the statement said: “The two listed entities are terrorist organizations working to promote terrorism through the exploitation of Islamic discourse and its use as a cover to facilitate various terrorist activities.”

The quartet also identified Qatar’s role in aiding terrorist, “The Individuals also have carried out various terrorist operations in which they have received direct Qatari support at various levels, including providing them with passports and assigning them to Qatari institutions with a charitable appearance to facilitate their movement,” the statement said.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain severed ties with Doha on June 4, accusing it of supporting terrorism.

The quartet, through monitoring “emphasize continued Qatari authorities' support for and sponsor and finance of terrorism, promotion of extremism and dissemination of hate speech, and that these authorities have not taken effective action to stop terrorist activity,” the statement said.

“The four countries reaffirm their commitment to strengthening all efforts to combat terrorism and to establish security and stability in the region, and stresses that they will not hesitate to pursue individuals and terrorist groups and will support all means in this regard at the regional and international levels,” the statement continued.

“They will continue to combat terrorist activities and to target the financing of terrorism regardless of its source, and will continue to work with partners around the world to effectively reduce the activities of terrorist and extremist organizations that should not be tolerated by any state.

The four countries also thank all the countries that support them in their actions in the fight against terrorism, extremism and violence, and rely on them to continue their efforts and cooperation to eradicate this phenomenon, which has long been evil throughout the world,” said the statement.

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News Network
February 18,2020

Beijing, Feb 18: Police in China have arrested a prominent activist who had been a fugitive for weeks and criticised President Xi Jinping's handling of the coronavirus epidemic while in hiding, a rights group said Tuesday.

Anti-corruption activist Xu Zhiyong was arrested on Saturday after being on the run since December, according to Amnesty International.

China's ruling Communist Party has severely curtailed civil liberties since Xi took power in 2012, rounding up rights lawyers, labour activists and even Marxist students.

The death this month of a whistleblowing doctor who was reprimanded by police for raising the alarm about the deadly new virus before dying of it himself triggered rare calls for political reform and freedom of speech.

The "Chinese government's battle against the coronavirus has in no way diverted it from its ongoing general campaign to crush all dissenting voices," said Patrick Poon, China researcher at Amnesty International, in an emailed statement.

Another source, who spoke to news agency on the condition of anonymity, said Xu had been arrested in the southern city of Guangzhou.

Guangzhou police did not respond to requests for comment.

Xu went into hiding after authorities broke up a December gathering of intellectuals discussing political reform in the eastern coastal city of Xiamen in Fujian province, prior to the coronavirus crisis.

Over a dozen lawyers and activists were detained or disappeared after the Xiamen gathering, according to rights groups -- and Xu's detention appears linked to his presence at the meeting, explained Poon.

But while on the run, Xu continued to post information on Twitter about rights issues.

On February 4 Xu released an article calling on Xi to step down and criticised his leadership across a range of issues including the US-China trade war, Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests and the coronavirus epidemic, which has now killed nearly 1,900 people.

"Medical supplies are tight, hospitals are filled with patients, and a large number of infected people have no way to be diagnosed," he wrote. "It's a mess."

"The coronavirus outbreak shows just how important values like freedom of expression and transparency are -- the exact values that Xu has long advocated," Yaqiu Wang, China researcher at Human Rights Watch, told news agency.

But the disappearance of Xu illustrates how the Chinese state "persists in its old ways" by "silencing its critics", she said.

Xu -- who founded a movement calling for greater transparency among high-ranking officials -- previously served a four-year prison sentence from 2013 to 2017 for organising an "illegal gathering".

"That he was a fugitive for so many days while continuing to speak out, that in itself was... a kind of challenge to (Chinese authorities)," said Hua Ze, a long-time friend of Xu who told AFP she lost contact with the Chinese activist on Saturday morning.

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Agencies
February 4,2020

Dirbrugarh, Feb 4: Three persons, including two BJP activists, have been arrested for allegedly attacking the residence of Union minister Rameswar Teli during anti-CAA protests in Assam, police said on Monday.

The house of Teli, Union Minister of State for Food Processing, in Upper Assam's Duliajan town was attacked on December 11 during the statewide stir against the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.

"Based on CCTV footages, Debajit Hazarika, Vicky Sonar and Arup Kahar were arrested. We had picked them up on Sunday," Dibrugarh Superintendent of Police, Sreejith T told PTI.

A total of 18 persons have been arrested so far for allegedly attacking Teli's house, he said.

"These three persons were also involved in pelting stones on a police party during protests in Duliajan," Sreejith said.

A BJP source confirmed that Debajit Hazarika and Vicky Sonar are party activists.

Family members of the accused have given statements to the police on the arrested persons' alleged role in violence and attacking Teli's house, sources said.

When contacted, Teli said, "I do not know for what reasons they were apprehended. But if police arrested them after proper investigation, then there must be some truth. The trio stays near my house. They always attended my programmes with their families."

A total of 88 people have been arrested so far from Dibrugarh district for their alleged involvement in violence during protests against the Act.

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News Network
February 1,2020

New Delhi, Feb 1: India on Friday banned the export of personal protection equipment such as masks and clothing amid a global coronavirus outbreak.

It did not give a reason for the ban but it reported its first case of the new coronavirus on Thursday, a woman in Kerala who was a student of Wuhan University in China.

The central Chinese city of Wuhan is the epicentre of the outbreak, and the virus has since spread to more than 9,800 people globally and killed 213 people in China.

Several Indian citizens living in Wuhan will arrive in India by plane on Saturday and be taken to a quarantine centre on the outskirts of the capital New Delhi.

India, the world’s second most heavily populated country after China, has taken measures to ensure that all people arriving from China report to health authorities.

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