In response to police’s warnings that those who show support for the proscribed activist group face arrest, protests are taking place all over the UK.
As part of a Defend Our Juries campaign coordinated by Defend Our Juries, demonstrations have been taking place on Saturday in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Bristol, Truro, and London.
According to London’s Metropolitan Police, 55 people were detained on Saturday in Parliament Square after displaying placards in their support for the group.
At the same time last weekend, 70 people were detained at similar demonstrations in Parliament Square, according to the Met police, and 120 have been detained nationwide, according to Defend Our Juries.
After a ban against the organization was announced on Saturday, July 12, 2025, police officers removed a person from Parliament Square, London, to demand that the organization be called off. (James Manning/PA via AP)
The cofounder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, will ask for permission to challenge the home secretary’s decision to outlaw the organization under “anti-terror” laws at a High Court hearing on Monday.
According to the Terrorism Act of 2000, supporting or collaborating with the direct action group is now a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison, placing the organization on par with armed organizations like al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS).
Following the rallies, Westminster authorities increased their police presence.
On Saturday, a counterprotest by Stop the Hate, an anti-Israel organization, will also take place in London.
Those who support Palestine Action are likely to be committing an offence, according to Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan, who is also likely to be detained.
Five people showed up in court on Saturday over a Palestinian Action protest at the site of an Israeli-linked defense company.
According to “counter-terrorism” police, members of the organization are accused of breaking into the Elbit Systems site near Patchway, Bristol, on August 6, 2024, allegedly with sledgehammers and whips.
Police officers and a security guard were assaulted, according to the Westminster Magistrates’ Court, and more than $2 million in damages were caused ($2.68 million).
The alleged crimes have a “terrorist connection,” according to the prosecution. The five defendants face violent disorder, criminal damage, and aggravated burglary.
Palestine Action describes itself as a “pro-Palestinian organization that directly disrupts the British arms industry.”
It has organized hundreds of protests all over the UK since its founding in July 2020, with a particular focus on Elbit Systems, an Israeli arms manufacturer, to challenge the operations of businesses they claim profit from Israeli military operations.
The group’s typical methods include destroying equipment, chopping themselves to machinery, and painting buildings with red paint.
Within the MAGA movement, the Epstein saga has completely changed the script. Many right-wing influencers are now turning their back on President Trump, who has been resisting requests to release the files after years of accusing the Democrats of an establishment cover-up.
Contributors: Director, CriticalNet, Joan Donovan Zeteo News’ Editor-in-Chief, Mehdi Hasan Miles Klee, a writer for Rolling Stone about culture The host of The Danielle Moodie Show is Danielle Moodie.
On our radar:
The Israeli attack on Gaza has been characterized as a genocide by mainstream media outlets for 21 months. However, a notable change occurred this week, which was prompted by an Israeli scholar rather than Palestinian voices. The breaking of a media taboo, according to Tariq Nafi, and why it’s too little, too late for many, are covered in The New York Times.
Pro-Palestinian voices are being silenced in Germany due to mass surveillance, a media crackdown, and a media unwilling to question power.
Berlin’s Nicholas Muirhead reports on the growing assault on free speech.
According to state media reports, a bus overturned in the south of Iran left at least 21 people dead.
34 other people were hurt in the accident on Saturday south of Shiraz, the provincial capital, according to Masoud Abed, the head of Fars province’s emergency organization.
After the operation is finished and thorough investigations have been conducted, Abed stated that rescue operations are still ongoing, and that additional details and final figures will be made public.
Democrats in Congress who witnessed the opening of Florida’s new immigration detention facility, Alligator Alcatraz, reported seeing dozens of people squabbling for help in metal enclosures, bugs and mosquitoes in bunk areas, and high temperatures above 80 degrees inside.
Republicans who also toured the facility tell a different story, describing the space as safe, clean and well-run. The state-run Alligator Alcatraz’s description of the conditions at the state-run facility has been called “false by the federal Homeland Security Department,” which regulates immigration detention.
During a July 13 interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem was questioned about Democrats’ accounts. She said the Florida-run facility is “held to the highest levels of what the federal government requires for detention facilities”.
Noem claimed that “our detention facilities at the federal level are held to a higher standard than the majority of our local or state centers or even federal prisons.” The requirements are “extremely high.”
White House border tsar Tom Homan also touted the nation’s immigration detention standards as being a cut above those for prisons and jails.
Homan defended federal facilities when a reporter inquired about a 75-year-old Cuban man who had spent 60 years living in the US before passing away in Miami in June.
He continued, “People die in immigration and customs enforcement] custody,” before claiming that ICE has “the highest detention standards in the industry.” I’ll compare an ICE detention facility against any state prison against any federal facility. Any of them will have me compete. People complain that the detention facilities are “horrible.” Go look for yourself then come back and talk to me”.
Nearly six months into Trump’s second term, Isidro Perez was the 11th person to pass away in ICE custody. During his final year in office, former president Joe Biden passed away in 12 deaths.
ICE detention centres have standards akin to prisons. For a few reasons, it’s difficult to compare blanket judgments about the standards of immigration detention to those in state, local, or other federal facilities.
It’s challenging to enforce ICE detention standards because they aren’t legally codified.
Different ICE detention centres are upheld to different standards based on the terms of their individual contracts.
There are no set of guidelines for local, state, and federal prisons and jails. Some standards must be codified into law, while others are not.
Several government watchdog agencies, advocacy organisations and news reports have long documented inadequate conditions at immigration detention centres.
At an El Paso detention center, the human rights organization Amnesty International reported “physical abuse by guards, use of solitary confinement, unsanitary and overcrowded living conditions, including dysfunctional toilets, insufficient medical care, and poor-quality, expired food.”
Homan’s statement was described as “very misleading,” according to Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein, an associate professor at Duke University who studies the health effects of the criminal justice system.
“In most respects, ICE facilities operate with less consistent oversight and legal accountability than state or federal prisons or local jails”, Brinkley-Rubinstein said. “ICE detention facilities and the people who run them generally have a much lower level of transparency about their operations.”
Detention standards are established by ICE, but they are not standardized or widely used.
Several federal agencies and private companies run immigration detention facilities. All of its detention centers are required to adhere to standards set by ICE, the main organization charged with detained immigration.
For instance, facilities must have potable water and be sanitary. Detainees must have access to medical and mental healthcare, including getting prescription medications. Only when necessary and reasonable circumstances call for physical force, not as punishment. Additionally, attorneys must be able to speak with detainees in secret.
There are different sets of standards for facilities that hold immigrant detainees and other non-immigration-related detainees, such as local prisons, and for facilities that exclusively hold immigrants.
According to University of Michigan law professor Margo Schlanger, the standards for centers that also house non-immigrant detainees were based on “the most stripped down version of jail standards” and were based on “jail standards in use by many jails.”
What standards does Alligator Alcatraz adhere to, it’s unclear. The centre is state-run even though courts have repeatedly held that immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility. However, an ICE official, Thomas P. Giles, claimed in a court declaration that the agency had “toured the facility to ensure compliance with ICE detention standards.”
There is no timing coordination between updates to ICE standards and those to other facilities, even though both sets of immigration standards are periodically updated. Standards are individually negotiated and implemented in separate contracts leading “to varying degrees of protection across detention facilities”, a 2021 Harvard Law Review article about immigration detention said.
Detention standards are difficult to enforce because they are not codified into law. One immigration expert claimed that because the industry is largely self-regulated, detainees’ complaints about the facilities’ conditions have little legal backing.
“Standards are often merely guidelines and largely unenforceable. They are stiff and frail, according to Mount Holyoke College professor David Hernández, who has a background in detention and deportation policy. “Very few facilities lose their contracts because detainees die or other things go wrong.”
Government watchdogs, nonprofit organisation, news reports detail inadequate conditions at detention centres
Detention centers are largely governed by the Homeland Security Department’s responsibility for ensuring compliance with ICE standards. Government watchdog organizations and advocacy groups have questioned the viability of these investigations for years, citing a number of instances of facilities breaking ICE standards.
In 2020, Congress created the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman to conduct unauthorised investigations of detention centres and to allow immigrants to file individual complaints for the office to review.
The Trump administration attempted to close the office in March. The administration was sued by a civil rights organization. In response, DHS said in a declaration that the office would stay open but with a smaller staff. According to immigration experts, this decision severely limits the control of detention facilities.
Overcrowding and inadequate immigration detention conditions have been raised by news outlets and advocacy groups. The Trump administration is currently detaining , about 60, 000 people – , that’s 20, 000 more people than it has , congressional funding , to detain.
According to the external reports, detainees in various locations are denied medical attention, put in solitary confinement after complaining about conditions, denied legal assistance, and targeted because they are Venezuelan. Stacy Brustin, a professor of immigration law at Catholic University, called these “mirror accounts” that she and her students had witnessed while visiting various detention facilities.
“We heard shocking descriptions of overcrowding, sewage leaks, inoperable toilets, water running down cell block walls, insufficient access to water, spoiled or inedible food, inability to move freely in cell blocks for prolonged periods, and substandard medical care for individuals with serious, life-threatening conditions”, Brustin said. These conditions go against ICE detention guidelines.
For instance, according to ICE standards, facilities must offer detainees “a nutritionally balanced diet that is prepared and presented in a sanitary and hygienic manner.” Spoiled food is a violation.
differences between prison and ICE detention
Some states have codified requirements for the detention facilities, while others do not. Some facilities are accredited by the American Correctional Association, which has its own set of , standards.
The 8th Amendment, which forbids “cruel and unusual punishments” in criminal cases, and the 14th Amendment, which protects people from being denied “life, liberty, or property, without a due process of law, must be adhered to by all facilities in the US Constitution. Additionally, prisoners’ access to religious facilities, prisoners’ rights to privacy, and people with disabilities must abide by federal laws governing sexual violence and prisoners’ rights.
“Courts have ruled that people who are incarcerated in these facilities have the right to care, safety, and humane treatment”, Brinkley-Rubinstein said.
Prison and jail standards typically include provisions similar to those for immigration detention, such as having access to legal and medical facilities, and other requirements.
Depending on the facility, oversight practices also vary. Some places are subject to independent oversight, others rely only on internal oversight.
Prisons and jails that don’t uphold standards also have a variety of consequences.
According to Andrea Armstrong, a professor and expert on prison conditions at Loyola University New Orleans, “the judge may require regular reports, appoint an independent monitor, a manager, or even a receiver to operate all aspects of the facility.”
Some places may lose their contracts depending on the severity of the situation, Schlanger said. Facilities may be subject to legal action in other circumstances.
Immigration laws apply to legal requests from immigrants who contend that detention facilities don’t uphold their standards. That’s because immigration detention is a civil rather than criminal form of detention.
According to security sources and local authorities, a member of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was killed and another injured in an unidentified drone attack close to Sulaimaniyah in northern Iraq.
The PKK’s first major military offensive in a few months, which came at the same time as the PKK put an end to its armed campaign against the Turkish state, marked the beginning of its march toward disarmament.
According to Iraqi outlet The New Region, the drone attack struck a motorcycle in the area.
Hemin Ibrahim, the mayor of Penjwen, confirmed that the drone shot two people inside a border village in the district, killing one, according to Kurdistan24.
When they were targeted, the two people were riding motorcycles. He told the news outlet that one of them died and the other got hurt.
The strike started on Saturday morning, Ibrahim informed Kurdistan24.
No organization or nation has so far apologised for the attack.
20 to 30 PKK fighters destroyed their weapons in Sulaimaniyah, in northern Kurdistan, last Friday, instead of giving them to any government or authority.
The symbolic process is expected to continue throughout the summer while being conducted in close quarters.
After 40 years of fighting, the PKK announced in May that it would stop fighting with its armed forces in May.
The Kurdish organization has been labeled as “terrorists” by Turkiye, the European Union, and the United States for the majority of its history.
Between 1984 and 2024, more than 40, 000 people died as a result of fighting, with thousands of Kurds escaping the violence in southeast Turkiye into northern cities.
The disarmament process is praised by Turkiye’s leaders, with Recep Tayyip Erdogan claiming that it was an “important step toward our goal of a terror-free Turkiye.”
New Delhi, India – Punjabi actor Diljit Dosanjh is on a mission to bring his highest-grossing film to the top of his chart-topping career.
“Sardaar Ji 3”, the latest horror-comedy by Dosanjh, one of Asia’s most bankable artists, has been shattering records abroad. However, the movie hasn’t been released in his own home country, India, and is still restricted to more than one billion people.
A political and cultural conflict involving the nationality of his film’s co-star, Pakistani actor Hania Amir, has tarnished Dosanjh and his most recent film, which was released worldwide on June 27.
Last year, Dosanjh sold out arenas in the US, Canada, and across Europe during his Dil-Luminati world tour. He walked down the Met Gala carpet in a recognizable turban and became the first Indian artist to perform at the Californian Coachella festival. As both a crowd-pleaser and a critical favorite, Dosanjh has also created a special niche in Bollywood.
But at home, he is now facing calls for a boycott and the impounding of his passport. However, this is a part of a growing pattern of censorship and an attempt to censor the country’s artistic freedom, according to film critics and political analysts in response to the nationalists’ demands.
Why, then, does India block one of its most popular artists’ output?
Diljit Dosanjh performs at the Sahara tent during the 2023 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 15, 2023, in Indio, California]Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Coachella via AFP]
What makes Dosanjh’s most recent film controversial?
A well-known Punjabi duo Dosanjh and Neeru Bajwa play the lead roles in Sardaar Ji 3, the third installment of the well-known horror-comedy series starring Amar Hundal, along with Pakistan’s Hania Aamir.
Shortly after the film’s production was wrapped in April this year, suspected rebels in Indian-administered Kashmir’s resort town of Pahalgam killed 26 people, all but one of them tourists.
Islamabad denied involvement, but New Delhi immediately blammed Pakistan, which it claimed had supported the deadly “terrorist attack.” The two nations will host a four-day conflict, which will be the most extensive between the nuclear-armed neighbors in a decade.
When Dosanjh released the trailer for his upcoming film last month, the casting of Aamir took many by surprise – and prompted outrage.
Why is Sadaar Ji 3 being blocked by the Indian government?
The movie has not been released in Indian theaters and has not received certification from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in India.
The Indian government also “geoblocked” (restricted online access to) the film’s trailer in India, however, the teaser and film’s album, which do not include shots of Aamir, remain accessible.
The Indian government quickly launched a number of digital crackdowns following the April attack in Kashmir. For this, thousands of Pakistani social media accounts were blocked on platforms like Instagram and X (previously Twitter), including the  accounts of celebrities like Aamir, Fawad Khan, and Mahira Khan.
The government, which is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also blocked access to the social media accounts of Pakistani journalists and news outlets in India.
On May 8, the government issued an advisory urging all digital intermediaries, streaming services, and video platforms to immediately remove Pakistani-origin entertainment content, including podcasts, web series, movies, and other media.
Additionally, the government imposed a ban on 16 well-known Pakistani YouTube channels, including Geo News, ARY News, and Samaa TV, for allegedly diffusing information and content that disparages India’s armed forces and sovereignty, on top of which there are more than 63 million subscribers.
Rahul Desai, a Mumbai-based film and TV critic, said blocking access to films over casting choices has become “an excuse to antagonise Pakistan” under the current government.
He told Al Jazeera, “It’s a vicious cycle because a lot of the cinema is influenced by pro-establishment decisions in India.”
“This has evolved into a very nice forum where people can vent against Pakistan,” according to Cricket.
Today, the reality-based creative boundaries in India are neat, Desai said: “Do not cast artists from the other side of the border, and a lot of filmmakers self-censor themselves”.
On May 5, 2025, Diljit Dosanjh attends the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” a 2025 Costume Institute Benefit [Taylor Hill/Getty Images] in New York City, United States.
Are there regular cross-border artistic collaborations?
Yes, they are. Pakistani actors are prohibited from working in India, so they must be on locations abroad where they are photographed.
At least ten or two of Pakistan’s film departments’ music departments were active in Indian cinema at the beginning of the 2000s, according to Desai. The release of the curated music show franchise, Coke Studio Pakistan, which had 15 seasons from 2008 to 2024, was almost “like a cultural moment in India”, he added.
However, there have been numerous instances of cross-border collaborations of artists over the past 20 years, despite the South Asian neighbors’ political tensions.
The situation is even more complicated for Punjabi music and film industries.
The partition of British India, which resulted in the creation of Pakistan with borders drawn overnight, cuts through Punjab, and millions on each side share culture and linguistic ties.
Due to growing demands, especially with regard to the upcoming Chal Mera Putt 4, successful Punjabi franchises like Chal Mera Putt, which are known for their Pakistani cast, are facing uncertainty.
Desai remarked, “There is obviously a lot of bullying by the establishment about casting Pakistani actors.” “There’s a lot of banning and trolling involved. Such choices cause a lot of stress and anxiety.
What are Indian film critics’ opinions of Sadaar Ji 3?
Indian film associations, particularly the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) and the All Indian Cine Workers Association (AICWA), have voiced strong objections to the casting of Aamir in Dosanjh’s Sardaar Ji 3.
The collaboration was referred to as a “betrayal of the nation” by FWICE, which was led by President BN Tiwari. In India, it demanded a total ban on the movie.
The body also issued appeals to India’s CBFC to withhold certification for Sardaar Ji 3 and emphasised noncooperation with Pakistani artists.
AICWA echoed these sentiments, calling for a widespread boycott of Dosanjh across the industry, including by music companies and event organisers, and criticizing the film’s producers for placing Pakistani talent before Indian talent.
The Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association’s president, Ashoke Pandit, stated in a statement to a local newspaper: “We are going to take action and tell the producers not to work with [Dosanjh].”
” He should be fully boycotted in the country by music labels and the Punjabi film industry. “Diljit is a compulsive Pakistani lover.
However, Ira Bhaskar, a former member of the CBFC Board and retired professor of film studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, said this incident is more indicative of the institutions in India and Pakistan than a deeper division between the two nations.
” The Indian government]since Modi came to power] has not only understood the power of mass media, especially cinema, but is invested in taking control of the narratives that circulate in the public domain, “Bhaskar said.
On April 22, 2023, Diljit Dosanjh performs at the Sahara tent in Indio, California. [Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Coachella via AFP]
What has Dosanjh said about the controversy surrounding Sadaar Ji 3?
Dosanjh told BBC Asian Network earlier this month:” When this film was made, everything was fine.
“We shot it in February, and things were fine then. The singer-actor referred to the Kashmir attack and the subsequent conflict as the result of a number of significant events that were beyond our control.
“So the producers decided that the film obviously won’t be released in India now, so they’ll release it overseas. No such thing was happening when the movie was being made, according to Dosanjh, who said the producers had invested a lot of money.
How popular is Sardaar Ji 3 globally?
Dosanjh told the BBC that the film’s producers were aware of the potential financial loss from pulling out of a territory like India, the world’s most populous country. Sadaar Ji 2, the previous movie in the franchise, earned almost $3 million domestically.
Dosanjh has continued to promote his film on his social media accounts, including sharing images from sold-out Pakistani theaters, breaking records for Indian releases. Globally, the film has taken $7m at the box office, against a budget of $4m. It is the highest-grossing Indian film in Pakistan so far, earning $1.4 million.
The critic Desai said in India that “censorship extends far beyond casting… It extends the themes of the stories that people are currently permitted to tell in India.”
Spectators watch Diljit Dosanjh perform onstage at the Coachella Valley Music &, Arts Festival in Indio, California, US, April 22, 2023]Aude Guerrucci/Reuters]
Do any other Dosanjh’s publications still have issues?
Yes . The release of Dosanjh’s film, Panjab ‘ 95, directed by Honey Trehan in 2022, has stalled, primarily because of stringent demands from India’s Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), which has delayed its clearance since the project was submitted in December 2022.
In addition to removing references to political figures, documented human rights violations, and the protagonist’s name, 120 suggested cuts were made to the biographical drama about the life of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, who exposed 25, 0000 extrajudicial killings and disappearances of Sikhs in Punjab during the 1980s and 1990s.
Trehan stated to Al Jazeera, “The CBFC was established as an independent body, which could protect artists, so that the government shouldn’t influence the art… [but] the government is arm-twisting filmmakers and their films.”
Desai, the critic who watched Panjab ‘ 95 in a private screening, told Al Jazeera: “It’s such a well-made film that it might incite a sense of revolution among people today, especially people who are not happy with the establishment. So we can see where a lot of insecurity is coming from.
