Category World News

According to a judicial source and a human rights organization, a French court has issued arrest warrants for seven former top Syrian officials, including former president Bashar al-Assad, related to the bombing of a press center in Homs.

On February 22, 2012, a rocket struck the “informal press center,” injuring two journalists and an interpreter, as well as renowned US journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik.

In addition to al-Assad, who emigrated to Russia in December of that year when opposition fighters took control of Syria, warrants have also been issued against his brother Maher al-Assad, who at the time was de facto commander of the 4th Syrian armoured division, intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk, and then-army chief of staff Ali Ayoub, among others.

In its courts, France allows the filing of crimes against humanity.

According to the Syrian Center for Media and Free Expression, it was determined that the attack had purposefully targeted foreign journalists by the French judiciary.

According to Mazen Darwish, a lawyer and general director of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, “the judicial investigation clearly established that the attack on the informal press center in Bab Amr was part of the Syrian regime’s explicit intention to target foreign journalists in order to stifle media coverage of its crimes and force them to leave the city and the country.”

The journalists were the victims of a “targeted bombing,” according to the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) who also reported.

The warrants, which were issued on Tuesday, were welcomed by Clemence Bectarte, the family of Ochlik, and he called them “a decisive step that opens the door for a trial in France for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Bashar al-Assad’s regime.”

The attack on the informal press center where they were employed also injured British photographer Paul Conroy, French journalist Edith Bouvier, and Syrian translator Wael Omar.

Colvin, who had lost one eye to an explosion during Sri Lanka’s civil war, was renowned for her fearless reporting and signature black eye patch. A Private War, a Golden Globe-nominated movie, celebrated her career.

Local media and a police official claim that at least 11 people were killed in an explosion at a rally held in Quetta, Pakistan, by the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M).

Police are conducting an investigation into the explosion, police official Athar Rasheed told Reuters on Tuesday.

At least 29 people were hurt in the explosion in the western city, according to the English-language Dawn news site.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the deadly explosion.

After initially cancelling because of days of extensive protests against rising inequality, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has left for China, according to his presidential spokesperson, Prasetyo Hadi, in a statement.

Kim Jong Un, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and more than 25 leaders will attend the parade in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on Wednesday to commemorate the anniversaries of Japan’s defeat in World War II.

According to his spokesman on Tuesday, Prabowo is scheduled to meet with Xi Jinping in China for lunch. On September 3, he will return home.

Rights groups claim that at least six people were killed and over 20 were missing in Indonesia as a result of widespread protests.

Following the fatal shooting of a motorcycle taxi driver who was hit by a police car during a demonstration in the capital, protests started in Jakarta last week.

A five-storey building has been set on fire near the police compound in the central Jakarta Kwitang neighborhood after protesters have attacked the police mobile brigade headquarters.

In the easternmost Papua region, Surabaya, Solo, Yogyakarta, Medan, Makassar, Manado, Bandung, and Manokwari have also been the sites of demonstrations in other cities across the nation.

Protesters also targeted other lawmakers’ homes as well as the finance minister’s home in Indonesia.

“A thorough and truthful investigation”

President Subianto promised on Friday to look into the death of Affan Kurniawan, a driver for a gig motorcycle, and he also expressed his “deepest condolences and sympathy” for the government.

He stated in a statement that “I have ordered that the incident last night be thoroughly and transparently investigated and that the officers involved be held accountable.

The country’s government cut financial incentives for lawmakers on Sunday to address the protestors’ economic concerns.

President Subianto stated, “The parliament leadership informed me that they would revoke several policies, including the cap on the amount of money that lawmakers can receive from abroad,” without mentioning which cap.

The president, however, attacked the protests over the country’s economic problems on Sunday, saying some of the actions at rallies in recent days constituted “terrorism” and treason.

“Respectful and protected should be the right to peaceful assembly. In a speech at the presidential palace in the capital’s Jakarta, he said, “We cannot deny that there are signs of actions against the law, even against the law, which lean toward treason and terrorism.”

After several politicians’ homes were razed as anti-government protests spread throughout Indonesia, defense minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin announced at a press conference on Sunday that the country would take strong measures against “rioters and looters.” In order to improve security, the country’s armed forces were also stationed in the capital.

Rights groups claim Prabowo’s olive branch from parliament did not go far enough, despite the recent decrease in the protest rallies and the military’s deployment on Monday as a show of force.

According to Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid, the president’s statement was insensitive to all the complaints and aspirations the people were voicing during the demonstrations.