Tag Archives: 1: Poor

Nationality + Migration

Egypt News | Sudanese Refugees

More than a dozen Sudanese refugees killed by Egyptian security forces
  • At least 15 Sudanese refugees were killed and eight wounded attempting to enter Israel from the Sinai peninsula.
  • Egyptian officials first said the refugees were shot attempting to reach the southern border of Israel, but later revised their account to say they were caught in the crossfire between security forces and smugglers.
  • The incident is one of the most violent involving Sudanese refugees since 2005 and comes as the refugees face crackdowns by Egyptian police, exploitation and abuse by smugglers, and detention and deportation in Israel.

Read more:
“Sudanese refugees shot dead on Egypt-Israel border” (Al Jazeera)
“15 Sudanese Asylum Seekers Shot to Death by Egyptian Police While Trying to Cross to Israel” (AP via Haaretz)

Ideology + Affiliation

China News | Dissidents

Four Hong Kong booksellers featuring work critical of Communist Party go missing
  • The four men are believed to have been detained in China after having traveled from Hong Kong to Thailand and Mainland China, though they have been unable to report their location.
  • The men work for Sage Communications, a company that has published titles critical of the Chinese president and Communist elite.
  • The detention comes as Beijing continues encroaching upon free press in Hong Kong, having bought up a major publishing house in the city earlier in the year.

Read more:
“Independent Hong Kong Book-Sellers Missing, Believed Detained” (Radio Free Asia)
“Four Hong Kong publishers known for books critical of Chinese regime missing” (The Guardian)
“Hong Kong Bookstores Display Beijing’s Clout” (The New York Times)

(Image Credit: Sage Communications, via Radio Free Asia)

Nationality + Migration

Jordan News | Foreigners

Three foreigners, two Jordanians killed in attack on training facility near Amman
  • Two Americans and one South African were killed along with three Jordanians at a U.S.-funded police training facility on the outskirts of Amman, Jordan.
  • The Americans and South African were security contractors, while one Jordanian was reportedly a translator.
  • The shooting comes as Jordan commemorates the 10-year anniversary of the 2005 Amman bombings, coordinated hotel attacks that left 60 dead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVS-BtPH4XE

Read more:
“Jordan says death toll rises to six in training facility attack” (Reuters)
“Jordanian officer fatally shoots two Americans, South African at security training site” (Reuters)
“What we know so far about the Jordanian police shooting” (Al Bawaba)

Race + Color + Ethnicity

Ukraine News | Black

Ukraine football team faces sanctions, assailants face charges after black fans attacked at Ukraine football match
  • At least four black individuals were attacked during an Oct. 27 Champions League match between Dynamo Kyiv and Chelsea.
  • The individuals–along with at least three white fans who came to their aid–were attacked in the stadium section of Dynamo’s Rodychi fan group.
  • While the assailants face charges of hooliganism, UEFA has initiated disciplinary action against the team for racist behavior by fans.

Read more:
“Dynamo Kiev consider calls to segregate black fans to prevent racism inside stadium” (The Telegraph)
“Dynamo Kyiv charged with racist behaviour of fans during Chelsea draw” (The Guardian)
“Attacks on Black Fans Show Tide of Fan Racism in Ukraine” (AP via ABC News)

Ideology + Affiliation

Bangladesh News | Secularist Writers

Secular Bangladeshi book publisher murdered, three others attacked in separate incidents in Dhaka
  • Faisal Abedin Deepan, a publisher affiliated with the Jagriti Prokashoni publishing house, was hacked to death in the Bangladeshi capital.
  • Publisher Ahmed Rahim Tutul was attacked at his home along with writers Ranadipam Basu and Tareq Rahim in a separate incident.
  • Both publishers had published work by Bangladeshi-American blogger Avijit Roy, who was murdered earlier in the year in a spate of attacks on secular bloggers.

Read more:
“Avijit’s publisher Dipan slaughtered” (Dhaka Tribune)
“Avijit Roy’s publisher, 2 bloggers hacked in Dhaka” (Dhaka Tribune)
“Secular publisher hacked to death in Bangladesh” (The Guardian)

(Image Credit: Zakir Hossain Chowdhury/Zuma Press/Corbis, via the Guardian)

Gender, Nationality + Migration

Central America & U.S. News | Central American Women

UN: Ongoing gender-based violence in Central America threatening to create another refugee crisis
  • The UN has warned in a recent report that as femicide and sexual and domestic violence showing no signs of abating in parts of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, the region (and the U.S.) needs to prepare another refugee surge.
  • Gang violence has exploited women in the region as governments have failed to address the region’s drug cartel problem, while escaping women become vulnerable to trafficking.
  • Advocates for women refugees have argued that the Mexico’s crackdown on migrants–with U.S. backing–has heightened insecurity for women escaping violence.

Read more:
“UN agency warns of ‘looming’ refugee crisis as women flee Central America and Mexico” (UN News Service)
“Women Refugees Are ‘Running For Their Lives’ In Central America” (BuzzFeed News)
“Mexico’s migration crackdown escalates dangers for Central Americans” (The Guardian)

(Image Credit: Amy Stillman/IRIN, via the UN News Agency)

Nationality + Migration

Iran News | Iranian Americans

Fourth Iranian American reportedly detained in Iran
  • Businessman Siamak Namazi has become the fourth American of Iranian descent detained in the country in recent years, according to Iranian media sources and personal associates.
  • What Namazi has been accused of has not been made public, but reports allege he, like the other three Iranian Americans arrested, came under suspicion of Iran’s security forces.
  • Dual citizens face vulnerability in Iran as the country does not recognize dual citizenship, making it easier for them to detain Iranian passport-holders without cause.

Read more:
“Iranian-American Executive Arrested in Iran” (The Wall Street Journal)
“Another Iranian American arrested and imprisoned in Tehran” (Washington Post)
“Iran Is Said to Detain Another Iranian-American” (The New York Times)

Ideology + Affiliation

Myanmar News | Dissident Activists

Leader of spring student protests arrested in Myanmar after months in hiding
  • Kyaw Ko Ko was reportedly arrested and held in Yangon after evading authorities since last spring’s student protests.
  • The head of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) had organized protests in Yangon against a bill students viewed as anti-student union and anti-academic freedom.
  • The number of political prisoners in Myanmar has increased dramatically from 29 in 2014 to 466 in September 2015, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Read more:
“Myanmar student leader arrested amid signs of crackdown” (Reuters)
“Myanmar Student Leader Arrested After Seven Months in Hiding” (Radio Free Asia)
“Kyaw Ko Ko, fugitive student leader, arrested in Yangon” (Frontier Myanmar)

(Image Credit: Radio Free Asia)

Gender, Nationality + Migration

UAE Feature | Migrant Women

Trapped in Silence

Women in the UAE–particularly the country’s large population of Asian and African migrant women–have long faced a brutal catch-22 under the Gulf nation’s Sharia-driven legal system after being raped. When attempts at legal justice can lead to their own prosecution for extramarital sex, women find themselves coerced into silence and, for migrant workers, at the mercy of employers who control their movement in the country and ability to leave. BBC and the Guardian highlight the stories of rape victims and the structural disadvantages they face, from illegal abortions to imprisonment with illegitimate children.

Read more:
“Raped, pregnant and afraid of being jailed” (BBC)
“UAE imprisoning rape victims under extramarital sex laws – investigation” (The Guardian)

(Image Credit: BBC)

Nationality + Migration, Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief

Sweden News | Immigrants & Minorities

Deadly attack on Swedish school being treated as hate crime
  • The chief of police in Trollhättan reported that the man who killed a student and teacher and left two others critically injured chose his victims by skin color, attacking dark-skinned individuals.
  • Police disclosed that the assailant had no ties to official far-right groups but had neo-Nazi sympathies, posting Nazi-sympathist videos to social media.
  • Trollhättan has a history of predominant segregation and hate crimes, and the Kronan school, with its high proportion of students of immigrant background, was a vulnerable target.

Read more:
“Sweden school attack: police treat killing of pupil and teacher as racist hate crime” (The Guardian)
“Police in Sweden: Deadly school attack a racist hate crime” (AP via Yahoo! News)
“Sweden school killings: Attacker ‘had racist motives’” (BBC)

(Image Credit: EPA, via BBC)

Nationality + Migration

Sweden News | Refugees

Sweden sees rash of arson attacks against refugee facilities
  • A fire at a retirement home in Oderljunga marked as a potential site for refugee accommodation was the latest in a string of arson attacks across the country.
  • More than a dozen such fires have been reported across the country over the last seven months, with police indicating all have been arson.
  • The attacks come as Sweden prepares to accept up to 190,000 asylum seekers, second only to Germany in Europe.

Read more:
“Fresh arson fears as refugee home burns” (The Local)
“Arson Attacks at Asylum Homes Raise Fears in Tolerant Sweden” (AP via ABC News)
“Arsonists attack another migrant centre in Sweden” (AFP via Yahoo! News)

(Image Credit: Adam Ihse/AFP, via Yahoo! News)

Religion + Belief

Pakistan News | Shiite Muslims

Shiite mosque bombed in southwest Pakistan, reportedly killing at least 10 and injuring at least a dozen
  • Six children were among the dead after a suicide bomber disguised as a woman in full burqa attacked a mosque in Bolan district of Balochistan province.
  • Though none have yet claimed responsibility, authorities suspect the attack to be the work of Sunni extremists against the country’s Shiite minority.
  • The bombing took place as Shiites prepare to celebrate Ashoura, a 10-day period commemorating the death of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

Read more:
“Suicide blast outside imambargah in Bolan district kills five” (Dawn)
“Bombing at Shiite Mosque Kills 10 in Southwest Pakistan” (AP via ABC News)
“Bombing at Shia shrine kills 10 in Pakistan” (The Hindu)

Age, Gender, Ideology + Affiliation

Uzbekistan News | Women Activists & Citizens

Activists claim abuse by Uzbek government while documenting forced labor in cotton harvesting
  • Human rights activists affiliated with the Human Rights Alliance of Uzbekistan claimed they were detained and beaten by police after attempting to document forced labor conditions during the country’s cotton harvest.
  • Two women arrested in late September reported being strip-searched and having a gynecological examination conducted in front of male officers.
  • Uzbekistan, the fifth-largest cotton producer in the world, has long been under fire for the mass mobilization of its citizens into unpaid labor in the fields to ensure the millions of tons of the country’s major cash crop can be harvested and exported.

Read more:
“Uzbekistan accused of brutal crackdown on activists investigating forced labour” (The Guardian)
“Arrested, threatened, beaten: The Uzbekistan activist who won’t give up” (BBC)
“Uzbekistan: Cotton Harvest Monitors Face Intimidation” (EurasiaNet)

(Image Credit: Mikhail Metzel/AP, via The Guardian)

Ideology + Affiliation, Race + Color + Ethnicity

Israel News | Eritrean Refugee

Eritrean refugee mistaken for Palestinian, killed by Israeli mob
  • Haftom Zarhum, 29, died of injuries from being shot and beaten by a mob who mistook him for a Palestinian attacker at a bus terminal in the city of southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
  • Video footage shows individuals attacking Zarhum, the latest victim in a tide of violence that has seen 44 Palestinians and eight Israelis killed to date.
  • The actual Palestinian assailant had been killed after stabbing an Israeli soldier, stealing his rifle, and opening fire in the bus terminal, injuring 10.

Read more:
“Eritrean mistaken for Palestinian shot dead in Israel” (Al Jazeera)
“Hunt for Israelis who killed Eritrean man falsely implicated in bus attack” (The Guardian)
“Netanyahu calls on Israelis not to pursue vigilante justice” (The Times of Israel)

(Image Credit: Dudu Grinshpan/AFP/Getty Images, via The Guardian)

Gender, Sexual + Gender Minorities

Argentina News | Transgender Women

Argentinian president calls for investigation after murder of trans activist
  • Trans rights activist Diana Sacayán was found dead in her apartment, the victim of a fatal stabbing that police believe may have been perpetrated by an acquaintance of Sacayán.
  • Sacayán had led both the International Association of Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals (ILGA) and the Anti-Discrimination Liberation Movement (MAL) in Argentina, and had been personally issued her new national identity card with her correct gender identity by President Cristina Kirchner.
  • With Sacayán’s death the third for transwomen in a month, President Kirchner called for local police and national security forces to investigate as a part of a broader push to tackle the high rates of gender-based violence in the country.

Read more:
“Matan en Flores a una dirigente trans de una puñalada” (La Nación, in Spanish)
“Hallan muerta a la activista trans Diana Sacayán en Argentina” (teleSUR, in Spanish)
“Argentine President Demands Inquiry into Trans Activist’s Death” (teleSUR English)

(Image Credit: La Izquierda Diario, via teleSUR)