29 May 2017 - NPWJ News Digest on Middle East and North Africa Democracy

Articles

Defense Chief James Mattis Says the U.S. Is Now Using 'Annihilation Tactics' Against ISIS
By Time , 29 May 2017

Defense Secretary James Mattis said Sunday that U.S. forces have entered a new, more aggressive phase in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), which he termed “annihilation tactics.” Speaking on CBS’ Face the Nation, Mattis said the U.S. military has shifted its strategy from attrition, whereby enemies are moved around and denied access to vital supplies, to annihilation, where they are surrounded and unable to escape. “Our intention is that the foreign fighters do not survive the fight to return home to North Africa, to Europe, to America, to Asia, to Africa, we are not going to allow them to do so,” Mattis said. “We are going to stop them there and take apart the caliphate.” Asked by host John Dickerson whether the acceleration in fighting was responsible for a rise in civilian deaths, Mattis replied that such casualties “are a fact of life in this sort of situation,” adding that the U.S. military will “do everything humanly possible consistent with military necessity, taking many chances to avoid civilian casualties at all costs.”

Read More

Palestinian judge bans divorces during Ramadan because 'people make hasty decisions when they're hungry'
By The Independent, 29 May 2017

A Palestinian judge has banned divorces during the month of Ramadan as people may make hasty decisions "because they have not eaten and not smoked". Mahmoud al-Habbash, head of the Palestinian Islamic sharia court system, said people who deprive themselves of food and cigarettes during daylight hours may "create problems" in their relationship and then make "quick and ill-considered decisions". To avoid such decisions, judges will only consider and rule on divorce applications made after the month of fasting is over, al-Jazeera reports. He said his order was based on "the experience of previous years".

Read More

Egypt blocks financial newspaper website, widening media blackout
By Middle East Monitor, 29 May 2017

Egypt has blocked the website of one of its most prominent financial newspapers, the paper’s owner said on Sunday, expanding a media blackout initiated last week to curb what authorities called support for terrorism and fake news. Egypt blocked access to a number of news websites including Al-Jazeera and Huffington Post Arabic on Wednesday after similar actions by its Gulf allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The censorship of Al-Borsa, a widely read financial newspaper that generally steers clear of politics and reflects the views of a largely pro-state business community, suggests a more expansive attempt to control private media coverage. The website of Al-Boursa’s sister publication, the English-language Daily News Egypt, was also blocked, a statement by parent company Business News said.

Read More

Coptic Christians accuse Egyptian government of failing to protect them
By The Guardian, 28 May 2017

Egypt’s Coptic Christians have accused the government of failing to protect them in the wake of an attack claimed by Islamic State on a bus convoy that killed at least 29 people and injured about 20 more. Relatives of some of those killed said the attack, which occurred after a group of gunmen stopped a convoy headed for the Saint Samuel monastery close to the southern Egyptian town of Minya, undermines the state of emergency in Egypt declared after a previous attack in April. Videos of the attack began to surfaced on social media networks on Sunday, two days after 29 were killed in the attack on a desert road south of the capital. Isis claimed responsibility for the attack on Friday. It was the fourth attack against Christians in Egypt since December to be claimed by the IS. The string of attacks have killed more than 100 and injured scores. One survivor, a small boy who seemed to be about six, said his mother pushed him under her seat and covered him with a bag. A young woman speaking from her hospital bed said the assailants ordered the women to surrender their jewelry and money before they opened fire, killing the men first and then some of the women. The woman said the gunmen were masked and wore military uniforms.

Read More

Morocco: Al-Hoceima remains tense over protest arrests
By Al Jazeera, 28 May 2017

The situation in the northern Morrocan city of Al-Hoceima remains tense on Sunday following the arrest of at least 20 protesters over the weekend by security forces.  According to a statement from the general prosecutor in Al-Hoceima carried on MAP state news agency, the arrests of the 20 individuals were made on May 26 and 27 for "threatening national security" in the North African kingdom. "The preliminary investigation showed the individuals received money transfers and logistical support in order to carry out propaganda activities to undermine the integrity of the Kingdom and to undermine the allegiance of citizens to the Moroccan state and its institutions," the statement read. Activists and local residents said clashes erupted in the city after authorities sought to arrest a well-known activist who led recent demonstrations. 

Read More

Journalist’s Footage Shows Iraqi Forces Torturing Civilians, ABC Report Says
By The New York Times, 26 May 2017

Video smuggled out of Iraq by an Iraqi journalist and broadcast by ABC News on Thursday appears to show members of an Iraqi special forces unit — one that has been praised by the United States — torturing and executing civilians in Mosul during a campaign against the Islamic State last year.  On Friday, a spokesman for the U.S. military coalition in Iraq and Syria said that it was aware of the journalist’s claims and had raised them with the Iraqi government. “We take all allegations of human rights abuses very seriously and we immediately, as we did with this particular case, flag that and present it and give it to the government of Iraq for their action,” the spokesman, Col. Ryan S. Dillon, said at a news conference in London on Friday. The disturbing footage appears to show uniformed Iraqi soldiers beating Iraqi civilians and hanging one man from the ceiling by his wrists while demanding they confess to working with the Islamic State. Iraqi officials have called for an investigation into the violence.

Read More