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Iranian riot police clash with demonstrators during currency crisis protests in Tehran, Bahrain launches crackdown on funeral for activist who died in custody, Tunisian woman accused of indecency after being raped by security forces, and more.
Al Jazeera English | Oct 20
Israeli naval forces early Saturday intercepted the Gaza-bound 'Estelle'. The pro-Palestine ship was carrying cement and other supplies in protest ...
Iranian riot police clash with demonstrators during currency crisis protests in Tehran [BBC Arabic, UK]
Presenter, Male #1
Clashes erupted between protestors and police agents in central Tehran, the first indicator of popular unrest against the backdrop of the Iranian currency crisis. Hundreds of riot police officers stormed the neighborhood of al-Fardous, where currency exchange centers are located, arresting a number of unlicensed currency dealers.
Reporter, Female #1
The streets are seething as a result of the economic burden of the rial crisis on Iran. These images are coming out of the capital Tehran, specifically al-Fardousi Street, where the central and main banks are located. Are they a result of the success of Western sanctions on Iran, or merely a passing crisis that the Islamic Republic will succeed in overcoming? This was the question posed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Reporter, Female #1
Clashes took place between riot police, protestors, and currency dealers, following a campaign in pursuit of unlicensed currency dealers whom the government accuses of creating confusion in the currency market.
Guest, Male #2 (Amir Moussa, Political Analyst and Head of Strategic Studies in Tehran)
There were security procedures that took place this morning, at the request of the Iranian president in a press conference yesterday. He asked the security agencies to put an end to the chaotic economic practice of operating unlicensed centers, which are assuming the role of currency exchange in Iranian markets. They had collected the hard currency over the past three months in an unusual way.
Reporter, Female #1
But the merchants saw this campaign as an abuse of their rights, and held sit-ins in front of their closed stores. Others headed to Fardousi Street, and pelted the main office of the Central Bank of Iran with stones. Police agents responded by firing tear gas to disperse them, and arrested a number of them. Tensions increased after reports of merchants from other cities joining the protests. These developments were reflected in the exchange rate of the rial, which settled at 34 thousand rials to the dollar. This comes with the closure of Tehran's financial market due to the anxiety surrounding the currency.
Reporter, Female #1
There is discussion within political circles of supporting those who oppose Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in these movements. But Ahmadinejad has explained that a psychological war is happening, that everyone must assist the government, and that the West lies when they say that sanctions are putting pressure on the government. Reema Sinoun, BBC.
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Bahrain launches crackdown on funeral for activist who died in custody [Al-Alam, Iran]
Presenter, Male #1
Tens of thousands of Bahrainis participated in a funeral procession for martyr Mohammed Mushaima, who died from torture and the deprivation of medical treatment, due to his participation in the protests against political and social discrimination. The mourners condemned the police's procedures, and called for putting the king on trial. Regime forces confronted the mourners with gunfire and poison gas.
Presenter, Male #1
On the other hand, al-Wefaq Society accused the Bahraini regime of being behind Mushaima's death, by depriving him of medical treatment and fabricating accusations against him. The Arab Network for Human Rights Information held al-Manama's authorities responsible for his martyrdom. Mushaima was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Reporter, Male #2
Only two days had passed since the Bahraini regime killed martyr Ali Neama with gunfire, before another martyr was killed, Ali Mushaima. But this time, it was by torturing him in prison and depriving him of medical treatment. The new martyr was sentenced to seven years in prison, after he was charged with protesting at a financial facility. The evidence they presented for this charge was invalid, because Mushaima was in the hospital at the time. The martyr carried out one year of his prison sentence before his torturers decided to execute him with torture. Before that, they deprived him of medical treatment.
Reporter, Male #2
Tens of thousands held a funeral procession for the 23-year-old martyr, and repeated angry slogans in which they called for toppling the regime, and putting the Bahraini king on trial for killing peaceful protestors who were expressing their opinions.
Reporter, Male #2
After holding a procession for the martyr in the town of al-Deir, which is west of the capital al-Manama, thousands headed to Pearl Square, defying the Saudi occupation army and the Bahraini army, who cordoned off the square to support the regime's security forces. Regime forces cracked down on them with bullets and poison gas.
Reporter, Male #2
It was not enough for the regime to crack down on them and kill them. It also intentionally arrested a number of doctors and surgeons. The most recent arrests were of Ali al-Akri, Saeed al-Samahigi, Ghassan Daif, Mahmoud Asghar, and the secretary of the Bahrain Nursing Society, Ibrahim al-Damastani, in addition to Nurse Diaa Ibrahim.
Reporter, Male #2
Internationally, Amnesty International condemned the court, which upheld the medics' sentences. They said that this once again shows that there is no real commitment from the Bahraini government to achieve real justice for the victims of human rights violations. They also asserted that the medics were imprisoned for practicing their legitimate right to freedom of expression, and demanded their release without restrictions or conditions.
Reporter, Male #2
Britain, which is one of the main countries that endorses the Bahraini regime, postponed the trail of Bahraini opposition activist Ali Hassan Musheima until next month. Musheima and his colleague Mussa Abd-Ali are accused of climbing the Bahraini Embassy building in London during a sit-in. It worth noting that Ali's father is Sheikh Hassan Musheima, who is currently imprisoned in the Bahraini regime's prisons, and is being subjected to torture, according to lawyers and relatives.
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Tunisian woman accused of indecency after being raped by security forces [Dubai TV, UAE]
Presenter, Male #1
The Tunisian judiciary charged a girl with public indecency, after police said they had arrested her in a car under what they described as "suspicious circumstances" this past September. The girl had accused security agents of raping her. The judge ended the session, which he held to listen to the victim, who for now is a defendant, until further review of the case and the rest of the accusations at a later time. This came at a time when the square of the Palace of Justice was filled with hundreds of people showing solidarity with the girl. Ramzi Hefayad reports from Tunisia.
Reporter, Male #2
At the closing of the first session of a controversial trial, whose sessions may drag on, the examining judge directed a charge of public indecency against the girl, who accused security agents of raping her.
Guest, Female #1
We need justice. These are needs that can't be ignored. We did not revolt so that we would get falsely accused in the end. We're going back. We want justice, we don't want oppression.
Guest, Female #2
Have we forgotten what we worked hard for? We don't trust the police anymore. We're afraid to be stopped by them. This is no longer a safe country.
Reporter, Male #2
Everything leaked from the court's corridors and the investigating bureau indicates that there will be no quick solution to this case, in which the girl remains both victim and defendant. This situation doesn't frighten the 80 lawyers who took up the girl's case.
Guest, Male #3 (Abdel Sattar Bin Moussa, President of Tunisian League for Human Rights and the Girl's Lawyer)
They are malicious accusations. Security agents, who were the ones accused of the rape, cannot be the witnesses. This means that the ruling on the investigation will not issue its decision today. It will take days. I believe that the decision will be directed towards maintaining the accusations brought against her, which will be very dangerous.
Reporter, Male #2
The broad popularity of this case, as well as its media following, are once again rousing the tense relationship that has always existed between employees of the Tunisian Ministry of Internal Affairs and the rest of the population.
Reporter, Male #2
Whatever the outcome of the case may be, the girl's complaint in itself proves that employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are no longer a red line, as in the previous era. This is a new situation that is unfamiliar to all of the defendants, plaintiffs, and observers. Ramzi Hefayad, Dubai TV, Tunisia.
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Deadly explosions rock central Aleppo [Al Jazeera, Qatar]
Presenter, Male #1
A series of large explosions rocked the center of the city of Aleppo in northern Syria this morning.
Presenter, Female #1
Syria's Mubasher Network said that one of the explosions targeted the Officers' Club, completely destroying it. From its side, Syrian TV said that three consecutive explosions targeted Saadallah al-Jabiri Square in Aleppo. Meanwhile, Reuters reported, through a Syrian official, that the explosions caused the deaths of 40 soldiers, and the injury of over 90 others.
Presenter, Male #1
Activists said another explosion caused the deaths of 15 regime soldiers and the injury of dozens in Aleppo's Bab Jenin.
Presenter, Female #1
The Syrian Network for Human Rights said that 65 were killed today by regime forces' fire in Syria. Most were in the Damascus countryside.
Presenter, Male #1
From another front, activists said that they found dozens killed and injured as a result of shelling by missile launchers, mortars, and artillery, on Qudsaya in the Damascus countryside.
Reporter, Male #1
There is apparently nothing Syrians can do, except bury themselves alive in the basements of their homes. Life has become impossible for many in a number of cities and towns that have been targeted with continuous shelling by the regime's military.
Reporter, Male #1
Aleppo, which has been witnessing an escalation on the ground for days, was a theater for a series of explosions that rocked Saadallah al-Jabiri Square. Syria's Mubasher Network, which posted the first images, said that the explosions caused the complete destruction of the Officers' Club. And as with any explosion, there have been injuries and deaths.
Reporter, Male #1
But the narrative and the images differ between what the revolutionaries broadcast and what the official side broadcast. Syrian state TV said that 3 explosions carried out by terrorists targeted the Officers' Club, and caused the deaths of a number of officers and security members.
Reporter, Male #1
Here's another conflicting image from the neighborhood of al-Zebdieh in Aleppo, after it was shelled by regime forces. There were neither ambulances nor civil defense forces, as in the images broadcast by Syrian official TV. According to activists, the regime's artillery targeted a political security building in al-Suleimaniah, and the neighborhood of Masaken Hanano in Aleppo as well.
Reporter, Male #1
Neither side broadcast images of the scope of destruction that the raid left behind. However, images posted by activists from the city of Homs showed the scope of destruction, which has changed the features of neighborhoods and residences, and more dangerously, the lives of thousands of Syrians. Also according to activists, people were killed and injured as a result of shelling by the regime's army on towns and villages in the Damascus countryside.
Reporter, Male #1
Syria's Mubasher Network announced that the raid that targeted neighborhoods of Deir az-Zour in eastern Syria left injuries and deaths. Meanwhile, clashes continue between the Free and regime armies in the towns of al-Yunusiya, Badama, and Ariha in Idlib's countryside.
Reporter, Male #1
Seventy towns have been living in complete darkness for days, as the electricity has been cut off due to unpaid bills. The escalation on the ground and the diplomatic shortcomings have reached a standstill in achieving a political exit to a bloody conflict that is nearing the end of its 18th month.
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Al-Nusra Front claims responsibility for Syrian soldier executions in Aleppo [Press TV, Iran]
An armed group in Syria claimed responsibility for the summary execution of 20 soldiers in the flashpoint city of Aleppo last month. In a statement posted online, the Salafi al-Nusra Front said that the soldiers were from the Hanano military compound located in east Aleppo, which was briefly taken by armed groups on September 10, but later recaptured by government troops. The group also claimed responsibility for other recent attacks, including a twin bombing in Damascus that killed 55 people in May.
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Turkey strikes Syrian targets in retaliation for deadly shelling [Press TV, Iran]
Tensions simmer between neighbors Turkey and Syria, as Turkey hits targets on Syrian soil in retaliation to mortar shelling from Syrian territories hitting the southeastern province of Sanliurfa earlier in the day. At least five people were killed and over a dozen others injured. Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu spoke with UN chief Ban Ki-moon, NATO secretary-general, and joint UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.
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Qatar now main supplier to Free Syrian Army: Report [Press TV, Iran]
Reports from Lebanese newspaper Ad-Diyar indicate that Qatar has become the main supplier of weapons and funds to the Free Syrian Army. It said that a network of Qatari intelligence officers and Lebanese agents are transferring large amounts of money and weapons from Lebanon into Syria, adding that French and British agents supervise the network's activities.
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Israeli navy bracing for another Gaza-bound protest flotilla [Press TV, Iran]
A Swedish ship named Estelle is carrying activists is heading to the Gaza Strip to challenge the Israeli maritime blockade. The Israeli navy is making preparations to intercept the ship. The ship is carrying some 15 pro-Palestinian activists as well as material to construct the Gazan Arch, a project to build a ship which will help Palestinians export their goods. Estelle is expected to reach Gaza in about two weeks.
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Kuwaiti government calls for dissolution of parliament [BBC Arabic, UK]
Presenter, Male #1
After a special session, the Kuwaiti government brought a decree to the emir of the country, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, calling for the dissolution of the National Assembly. The decision comes after the Kuwaiti parliament failed to hold sessions for several months, and after the Constitutional Court ruled to dissolve the National Assembly, which was controlled by the opposition after it won the elections last February.
Reporter, Male #1
The latest episode of the political crisis in Kuwait reached the country's emir. Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah seems delighted here, during his opening of the National Assembly last February. The assembly was controlled by the opposition, and was elected after the previous assembly of 2009 was dissolved. The 2012 assembly did not last long. The Constitutional Court ruled in June that it was unconstitutional, and reinstated the 2009 assembly.
Reporter, Male #1
Members of the opposition boycotted it, which paralyzed the assembly due to the incomplete quorum. This also paralyzed many of the state's interests, among them, the country's 2012 budget, which has not yet been approved by parliament. Moreover, development projects estimated at more than USD 100 billion have been delayed. This crisis is not new to Kuwait's history, which is filled with confrontations between parliament members and the government.
Guest, Male #3 (Dr. Mohamed al-Ajami, Political Sociology Researcher)
It is the sixth time that the National Assembly has been dissolved since 2006. However, it is the ninth in the overall history of the Kuwaiti parliament. The Kuwaiti voter really feels disappointed with what the situation has led to. The country is in a suspended, unstable, and turbulent state.
Reporter, Male #2
If the emir were to dissolve the National Assembly, the law requires the election of another assembly within 60 days. But this may not solve the crisis.
Reporter, Male #2
The new assembly will be elected based on the same election districts that led to the 2012 assembly, which was dominated by the opposition. This is a system that the government sought to change, but the Constitutional Court invalidated the move at the end of last month.
Reporter, Male #2
The verdict came after the opposition escalated its protests against the government, which saw the opposition as making a political maneuver to guarantee the election of a parliament that was loyal to it. However, the decision remains in the hands of the Kuwaiti street, who will decide whom to elect.
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Rift between Netanyahu, Barak grows as Israel inches towards early elections [IBA, Israel]
The odds of early elections in Israel appear to be increasing as infighting takes place between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Through conversations with Likud members, Netanyahu accused Barak last night of stoking the conflict between Israel and the US to come out as the moderate "savior" party that reconciles between the sides. Barak reportedly previously requested that he would be guaranteed to serve as Defense Minister in the next government, but Netanyahu responded negatively, resulting in Barak saying he will oppose the budget.
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Iran mistakenly fired on civilian airliner, own military aircraft in 2008 [IBA, Israel]
According to a report in today's New York Times that quotes classified US intelligence documents, following an Israeli attack on a Syrian nuclear reactor that was under construction, Iran feared an Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities four years ago to the point that it mistakenly fired a surface-to-air missile on a civilian airliner, as well as using anti-aircraft missiles on a drone and one of its own military planes.
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Israel's Channel 2 shows film documenting Palestinian prisoner abuse [Palestine TV, Ramallah]
Presenter, Male #1
A film broadcasted on an Israeli channel last night showed the violations that prisoners are subjected to by the prison administration. This comes as the High Follow-Up Committee for Prisoner Affairs organized its weekly sit-in in front of the Red Cross's headquarters in the city of al-Beira, to condemn the policy of deliberate mass murder pursued by the prison administration against prisoners.
Reporter, Male #1
We hear about their suffering, but we don't see it. And no matter how much we describe it, we find ourselves unable to express the reality of what is happening to the free people behind prison bars. The Israeli Channel 2 broadcasted a film that portrays the occupation soldiers' violations of prisoners' rights through raids and mistreatment. They beat prisoners and opened fire on them.
Guest, Male #3 (Ziad Abu Ein, Deputy Minister of Prisoners' Affairs)
As they say, "their words incriminate them." If we spoke of it through our Palestinian channel, they would have doubted our stories. But when it's shown in the Israeli media and confirmed through the Israeli media, this is proof to the whole world that there is a systematic Israeli policy that targets the humanity of Palestinian people inside Israeli prisons. It is also the cause behind the death and martyrdom of dozens of Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli prisons.
Guest, Male #4
This is the last warning to all prisoners. If you come out and lay face-down on the ground, we will not shoot you.
Reporter, Male #2
Prisoners are not only subject to physical torture. Every day, the occupation produces new torture methods and tools, be they physical or psychological. With them, they attempt to terrorize prisoners, and kill the resistance growing from their hearts, after many years have been taken from their lives, years they've spent in prison.
Guest, Male #5
It was the first time I saw this weapon. It hits your body, then explodes. The minute it hits you, it explodes. I never saw it outside of prison. Even in foreign movies, I never saw it. I couldn't tolerate it when it hit my back. Imagine if it hit me in the head or eye, or in a sensitive area.
Reporter, Male #2
Very few think about what happens behind closed doors in the occupation's prisons, except for these mothers, whose hearts bleed because their sons and husbands have been away for so long.
Guest, Female #1
I haven't seen my son for a year, and there's been no verdict for him. I wish that they would care about the mothers, and allow them to see their children, if even once a year. I watch TV every day to find out when they will start issuing security permits. They've been saying that a mother will be allowed to visit her son once every three or six months. I want to see him, and I hope that you can deliver my message, so I can see my son.
Reporter, Male #2
In prison, lessons are learned and stories are told, and hopes are mixed with pain, for a day of redemption still to come. And every day that passes feels like a whole lifetime for the heroic prisoners inside the occupation's prisons, who hope and wait for a much-delayed reunion. Khaled Motawea, Palestine TV.