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Egyptian court requests killer’s execution to be telecast

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Brutal public murder of female student by her colleague last month sparked outrage

Published:  July 26, 2022 15:50

Egyptian university student Naira Ashraf in an undated photo. Image Credit: Facebook 
 

Cairo: An Egyptian court has requested authorities to allow the execution of a young man, sentenced to death for murdering his female classmate, to be shown on air to achieve deterrence, according to media reports.

On July 6, a criminal court in the Delta city of Mansoura handed down the death sentence to the 21-year-old convict on charges of premediated murder in the case that sent shockwaves across Egypt.

The ruling can be appealed.

The victim, named Naira Ashraf, was knifed to death by her colleague Mohammed Adel outside the state Mansoura University, north of Cairo, on June 20, after she had rejected his marriage proposal.

As part of its explanation for the verdict, the court demanded an amendment to law to allow the broadcasting of the convict’s execution by hanging.

“Hasn’t the time come for the legislator to make implementation of legal [death] punishment be seen as the illegal shedding of blood [murder] was seen?” the court was quoted as saying.

The court said allowing the execution or part of it to be shown on air could help “fulfil the sought-after deterrence”.

But live broadcasting of an execution requires new legislation from the Egyptian parliament and approval from the head of the state, legal experts said.

Under Egyptian law, execution is carried out inside prison in the presence of a deputy prosecutor-general, the prison chief, a doctor and a representative of a religious authority based on the inmate’s religious affiliation.

Executions are banned on religious or official occasions.

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Lower House, Government hold consultative meeting on national issues

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Ammon News – [28-07-2022 11:24 AM]

Ammon News -The Lower House of Parliament on Wednesday held a consultative meeting with the government, attended by Speaker Abdul Karim Al-Dughmi, Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh and the cabinet members.
The meeting covered a number of national issues in various political, economic, social and service fields.
MPs also presented a number of demands and general issues.
Al-Dughmi said that the meeting was in line with the rules of procedure and the provisions of the constitution.
He indicated that the current extraordinary session does not allow for holding oversight sessions in accordance with the constitution, which was clear in this matter in terms of the inadmissibility of raising any topic that was not mentioned in the text of the royal decree.
Al-Dughmi added MPs raised many issues of public concern, pointing out that the government confirmed its interest and follow-up to their demands.
He noted that the government committed, upon his request, to provide the parliament with answers to all the MPs’ observations.
Khasawneh, in turn, stressed the government’s commitment to the relations of cooperation and joint responsibility with the Lower House, in a transparent and clear manner and in a way that serves the interests of the country and citizens.
The Prime Minister also underlined the government’s respect for the Lower House’s oversight and legislative role, and its constant readiness to interact with MPs and cooperate in solving issues they raise, whether during sessions or consultative meetings such as this important one “which we are all keen on its continuity and obtaining the best results from it”.
Khasawneh reiterated that the future is better for a country that entered its second centennial with stability and resilience thanks to the cohesion of its leadership and people.
“A better future places on us all the responsibility of making the right decisions with transparency, clarity, and frankness with citizens about the nature of various challenges, especially the economic ones, away from populism and to ward off any risks that may impact the Kingdom’s financial and monetary situation, which is extremely stable and resilient” the Prime Minister said.
He referred to the mitigating measures taken by the government by allocating JD30 million, which included the National Aid Fund, the Poor Student Support Fund, and support for the transport sector to avoid increasing transport fees, as well as reducing customs tariffs on various commodities and energy tariffs, which lowered the bill on a large segment of citizens and sectors to increase competitiveness and productivity.
He pointed out that the government has not imposed any tax since assuming its responsibilities, with constant care in all procedures to ward off any risks to the macro economy and proceed, at the same time, with plans for modernization and development, improving the lives of citizens and economic recovery in light of crises that have passed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian crisis.
In response to MPs comments and inquiries, the Prime Minister said that the Jordan Food and Drug Administration (JFDA) has canalled its decision to bar bringing pharmaceutical drugs into Kingdom which are carried by travelers.
On plans for exploring oil and some minerals in the Kingdom, the Prime Minister said that the government is proceeding with its national program to explore oil and some minerals, awaiting results of these efforts at various stages.
Regarding complaints about the lack of drinking water supply in some governorates, Khasawneh said that the Ministry of Water is making the required efforts to solve these problems “baring in mind that we have a water deficit estimated at about 10 million cubic meters for this summer”.
“We are gradually continuing to reflect global oil prices on local prices, especially in light of the great hike that occurred in global market and the decrease in public revenue by JD475 million due to the stabilization of fuel prices for several months” Khasawneh explained.
The Prime Minister pointed out that such measures are mainly aimed at protecting the macro economy, overcoming current economic challenges, and avoiding any possibility of high inflation.
In response to inquiries by several MPs, Khasawneh underscored that the councils of the industrial and commercial chambers would be dissolved a month before the date of their elections in order to achieve the public interest and the impartiality of the elections.
In a statement after the meeting, Minister of State for Media Affairs, Faisal Shboul, said that the meeting discussed various national issues, and MPs spoke about issues and general demands and did not address any personal demands.
Shboul, who is also the government spokesperson, pointed out to an agreement between the government and the parliament to continue holding consultative meetings during the coming period.
Regarding the economic situation that was covered in the meeting, Shboul explained that the meeting detailed the state’s public finances.
He stressed that the measures recently taken by the government, such as reversing the rise in the prices of oil derivatives globally on the local price, are aimed at preventing harsh economic conditions.
He noted that the rise in the prices of fuels and commodities was the result of many circumstances, the most important of which is the Russian-Ukrainian crisis and its impacts on the global economy and, thus, the local economy.
Shboul indicated that the meeting featured immediate decisions by the Prime Minister based on MPs observations, foremost of which was halting all measures taken by the JFDA regarding the entry of pharmaceutical drugs from abroad into Jordan, and the dissolution of all boards of directors of the chambers of industry and commerce a month before the elections.

 
 

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The way is being paved for the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine plan

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Israel, Jordan and the PLO/PA seem to be moving along on the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine plans. Can it be? Op-ed.

David Singer
Jul 29, 2022, 8:20 AM (GMT+3)

Lapid and the King of JordanCourtesy

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s meeting with King Abdullah on 27 July could see negotiations being announced shortly between Israel and Jordan to create a single territorial entity encompassing Jordan, Gaza and parts of the West Bank.
This newly created entity -designated The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine –together with Israel – will constitute the elusive and previously unattainable two-state solution – pursued by:

the Mandate for Palestine (1922)
The Peel Commission (1937)
UN Resolution 181 (III) (1947)
Venice Declaration (1980)
Oslo Accords (1993)
Saudi Peace Plan (1982)
Revised Saudi Peace Plan (2002)
Bush Roadmap (2002)
Trump Peace Plan (2020)

– finally ending the conflict over the division of former Palestine between Arabs and Jews begun with the defeat of Turkey in World War 1.
The plan to create The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine was first announced in Al-Arabiya news –owned by the Saudi Royal family –on 8 June in an article written by Ali Shihabi – a close confidante of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman – Saudi Arabia’s heir apparent to the Saudi throne and the driving force behind Neom – a $500 billion megacity of the future to be built from the ground up in an area of northern Saudi Arabia equal to the size of Israel. It was hardly noticed by the media.
A tweet issued by King Abdullah’s Palace (see below) confirms that the King and Lapid discussed the subject of a two-state solution and it seems inconceivable that they would have discussed any plan other than this Saudi solution since the old version has been dead in the water for years..

It would appear that back channel negotiations have been going on since the release of the Saudi plan on 8 June to refine it to reflect – with more precision – the starting positions of Jordan, Israel and the PLO in any negotiations.
Those agreed starting positions include:
The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine will be ruled by Jordan’s current Hashemite ruler King Abdullah – which Hashemite dynasty has ruled Jordan for the last 100 years.
The right of return to Israel by Palestinian Arab refugees will not be pursued. Instead The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine will integrate those refugees within its borders
The borders of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan will include
-Jordan with its current borders
-The Gaza Strip
A-reas of the ‘West Bank’ inhabited by Palestinian Arabs and bordering Jordan that are contiguous and not divided into islands
-The retention by Israel of the Jordan Valley and other areas of the ‘West Bank’ such as Oslo-designated Area C, where all the Jews in the region live, will be resolved in the negotiations
Neither the Arabs nor the Muslims will seek to expel Israel from Jerusalem. However it remains as a bargaining chip in the hands of the Palestinian Arabs in securing any agreement and giving the Holy Places in Jerusalem a special status.
Any agreement will need to be ratified by a free popular referendum by Arab voter constituencies consisting of all Jordanians and residents of the ‘West Bank’ and Gaza Strip and those who are stateless such as the residents of the refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria. Palestinian Arabs who are settled in other countries and who enjoy full citizenship will have no vote.
The rationale for creating The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine is based on the fact that Jordanians and Palestinians are Sunni Arabs from the same region and integrating them will not cause any ethnic or sectarian fault lines in the long run.
Jordan has received a flurry of visits from Mohammed Bin Salman, PLO Leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israel’s President Herzog, since the Saudi Plan was published.
Lapid’s visit now when he is only caretaker Prime Minister is highly significant. It could indicate the commencement of negotiations is supported by the majority of Israel’s political parties even though nothing can go forward until after the next government is formed post November elections.
And then – let the negotiations begin.
Here is Yaakov Kirschen’s take (Dry Bones):

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Lebanon parliament passes amendments to banking secrecy law -Reuters witness

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Reuters – July 26, 2022

By 

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri holds a legislative session in Beirut, Lebanon July 26, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

July 26 (Reuters) – Lebanon’s parliament on Tuesday passed long-awaited amendments to a banking secrecy law, according to a Reuters witness, in the first step towards reforms required by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
However, the amendments were watered down from the original proposal, leading one of the architects of the country’s economic recovery to say he would seek feedback from the IMF.
Lebanon and the IMF signed a staff-level agreement in April for $3 billion in funding to ease the country’s economic crisis, described by the World Bank as among the top three financial meltdowns since the Industrial Revolution.

The aid package is conditional on prerequisites including a banking restructuring strategy, capital controls, a 2022 budget and a reformed banking secrecy law.
The bill, read out in parliament’s first general session since elections in May, does not lift banking secrecy as a whole.
It allows some government bodies to lift secrecy specifically in cases of criminal investigations, including in illicit enrichment, money laundering and terrorism financing.

The original bill would have allowed banking secrecy to be lifted to investigate “all financial crimes,” but parliament voted to remove that language thus limiting the law’s scope.
Deputy prime minister Saade Chami, the architect of the country’s financial recovery roadmap, said he didn’t agree with the version of the law passed on Tuesday.
He tried to speak several times during the session but was drowned out by lawmakers.

Chami told Reuters he would send the law to the IMF to confirm whether it met its expectations.

The IMF’s staff level agreement had called for a new law “in line with international standards to fight corruption and remove impediments to effective banking sector restructuring and supervision, tax administration, as well as detection and investigation of financial crimes, and asset recovery.”

Reporting by Timour Azhari Writing by Maya Gebeily Editing by Catherine Evans and Mark Potter
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Chaotic scenes in Lebanese Parliament as MPs vote on 40 draft laws

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Among items approved include proposed amendment of country’s banking secrecy laws

MPs approved a $150 million loan from the World Bank to support wheat imports for the next six to nine months. Reuters

By Jamie Prentis

By MENA – Jul 26, 2022

Chaotic scenes marked the Lebanese Parliament’s first legislative session since the May 15 elections, with MPs given the task of voting on 40 draft laws on Tuesday.
Among the items approved include a proposed amendment of Lebanon’s banking secrecy laws and a $150 million loan from the World Bank to support wheat imports for the next six to nine months.
Insults were traded on the floor of Parliament, particularly between MPs from Amal — the party of Speaker Nabih Berri — and those from the opposition bloc the Forces of Change, which is linked to the October 2019 protests against the ruling class that led to the collapse of the government.
In one session, Forces of Change MP Cynthia Zarazir was branded a “cockroach” by Amal MP Kabalan Kabalan.
The amendments to the banking secrecy laws are one of a number of prerequisites for $3 billion in funds from the International Monetary Fund.
However, the bill has been watered down from its original version and allows government institutions to lift secrecy specifically in cases of criminal investigations, including in illicit enrichment, money laundering and terrorism financing.
But the original draft law would have allowed banking secrecy to be lifted to investigate “all financial crimes”.
Tense scenes could be witnessed outside Parliament as well: family members of the victims of the August 2020 blast that struck Beirut’s port protested in front of the building, demanding that MPs pass a law that would classify the port’s silos as a monument to the more than 200 people who died.
“We want [the MPs] to keep the silos as a memorial to the victims that lost their lives,” Mariana Fodoulian, whose 29-year-old sister Gaia died in the blast, told The National.
The 2020 explosion occurred after a large stock of ammonium nitrate, which had been sitting at the port for years, caught fire.

 

Hasan Mortada suffered six broken vertebrae and two broken pelvic bones

“We believe that [the silos] are a collective memory that should be preserved. We should remember the casualties everyday,” Elias Hankach, an MP for the Kataeb Party, told The National outside Parliament.
The Kataeb Party, whose secretary-general Nazar Najarian died in the blast, is behind one of the two draft laws that would classify the silos as a monument.
The silos remain a sensitive topic in Lebanon: the explosion has been blamed on mismanagement and corruption, and is viewed as a symptom of the country’s many systemic problems.
In April, the Lebanese Cabinet approved the demolition of the silos after a survey found that they could collapse in the coming months. In addition, a nearly three-week long fire has been burning unchecked at the site, leading to fears it may cave in.
But families of the victims filed three separate lawsuits last month to stop the demolition.

“Like anywhere in the world, in Hiroshima, in Ground Zero [in New York], in Berlin, we keep a memory of a big catastrophe that happened,” Mr Hankach said.
The demonstrators also protested against the election of the seven MPs who will form the 15-member Supreme Council, which is able to prosecute politicians. The other eight members are judges.
An investigation into the port explosion by judge Tarek Bitar has struggled to make headway amid repeated delays. Two sitting MPs in the Lebanese Parliament have been charged in connection with the investigation but have refused to attend interrogation hearings.
Some MPs have suggested the Supreme Council should be the sole body prosecuting politicians charged in connection with the blast — but no MP has ever been tried by the council, despite its decades-long existence.
Protesters believe it is an attempt by those accused of responsibility for the blast to evade justice.

“It’s been 30 years that we had have this Supreme Council. It’s never working and we never saw anyone in jail,” said Ms Fodoulian.
“They are trying to take the investigation from the hands of the judge and take it to the Parliament. This is not acceptable for us.
“We need the support of the Lebanese people. We will never forget and we have to punish [those responsible] so that nothing else will happen again.”

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Jordan to scrap Ministry of Labour

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Six other ministries to be merged in a public sector overhaul, authorities say

Jordan’s King Abdullah (C) with members of the country’s military. AFP

 

Khaled Yacoub Oweis

Amman
Jul 31, 2022

Jordan’s Ministry of Labour will be scrapped and six other ministries merged into three over the next two years as part of a plan to overhaul the public sector, authorities said on Sunday.
Most of Jordan’s $9 billion government revenue each year is spent on salaries for public sector employees and the security forces. The country is dependent on foreign aid, with public debt accounting for 90 per cent of the economy and unemployment officially at a record high of around 23 per cent.
“The mergers will occur without touching workers’ rights or laying them off,” said Prime Minister Bisher Al Khasawneh.
He said other measures would be taken to “modernise” the public sector but he did not say how job losses would be avoided.
According to the plan, the Ministry of Labour will be scrapped and issuing work permits for foreign workers will become the domain of the Interior Ministry. The Ministry of Education and Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research will be merged into one.

The Ministry of Culture will be merged with the Ministry of Youth and the Ministry of Transport with the Ministry of Public Works and Housing.
According to the latest official data from 2015, about a third of Jordan’s 1.35 million employed people work for the government. The figure excludes agriculture and the security forces.

King Abdullah II said that the plan would improve government services.
The official news agency quoted the king as saying that overhauling the public sector “is necessary for the success of the other tracks, particularly the economic one”.
The authorities last month unveiled a plan to improve the Jordanian economy, which has been mostly stagnant for the last 12 years.

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ebanese Parliament General Secretariat Just Denied MP Cynthia Zarazir’s Statements

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Miguel Hadchity· 
Lebanon News
·July 27, 2022

 

Annahar | @cynthia Zarazir

 

The General Secretariat of the Lebanese parliament issued a statement denying what MP Cynthia Zarazir stated in some media outlets yesterday and through social media, calling it totally incorrect.

Pointing out that the General Secretariat in its performance and the performance of its administrative, legal, moral, and behavioral staff, “It is not in their vocabulary to distinguish between any of the MPs.”
The General Secretariat decided to respond to everything that MP Cynthia Zarazir stated about bullying, harassment, sexism, and porn magazines in the parliament.

“MP Zarazir knows that she and her colleagues, since the first day of her entry into the parliament, were granted everything from a parking lot for her car and a private office,” the statement issued.
Adding, “Every word from her, otherwise, is a slander and a denial of the truth.”
The General Secretariat expressed its hope that “MP Zarazir would be far from agitation, mobilization, and populism.”

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Lebanese Parliament Convened In Its First Legislative Session, Here’s What We Know

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Miguel Hadchity· 
Lebanon News
·July 26, 2022

 

 

The Lebanese Parliament convened Tuesday, in its first legislative session, to vote on 40 draft laws.
The proposed draft laws included a wheat loan from the World Bank, in the presence of U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea who attended the session.
For the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to financially support Lebanon, parliament’s approval of a reformed bank secrecy law is required.
Additionally, the parliament discussed the maritime border demarcation between Lebanon and Israel and two laws that aim to protect the Beirut port silos against demolition.
A group of MPs proposed an expedited draft law, which was introduced to the public on July 21st by MP Paola Yacoubian, with a single clause: “The wheat silos building in the Beirut port is a landmark of national human heritage that commemorates the tragic memory of the Beirut port explosion, and it is necessary to strengthen the building and maintain it.”
Signatories stated that the law needed to be expedited because of the “persistent and serious attempts to demolish the silos in the Beirut port,” after the latest fire lasted for days without any effort from authorities to put it out.
Signatories include MPs of Change Melhem Khalaf, Rami Fanj, Najat Aoun, Paula Yacoubian, Yassin Yassin, Michel Douaihy, Firas Hamdan, and Mark Daou.
The Kataeb political party had proposed a similar law earlier in June, while MPs George Okais and former MP Imad Wakim had also proposed an expedited law in April to protect the silos until the end of the judicial investigation.
In the meantime, the MPs of Change protested in front of the parliament urging the approval of the laws that protect Beirut port silos which “may contain evidence useful for a judicial probe.”

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Lebanese Parliament Meets With No Sign of Cabinet Formation

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Published July 26th, 2022 – 09:56 GMT

Lebanese protest outside the parliament (AFP)

ALBAWABA – The Lebanese parliament held its first session, Tuesday, without a sign of the formation of a new government under the current acting Prime Minister Najeeb Mikati.

The parliament has a heavy schedule in front of it. It is to vote on 40 draft laws, including a reformed bank secrecy law and a wheat loan from the World Bank, in the presence of U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea who attended the session according to Annahar.

Parliament’s approval of a reformed bank secrecy law is required by the International Monetary Fund to financially support Lebanon. The aim is to fight corruption and detect and investigate financial crimes, the Lebanese daily added.

There is still no sign of a government formation despite the fact that Mikati is going “back-and-forth” to the presidential palace with proposed formation list of government minister.

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Lebanon passes ‘watered down’ amendments to banking secrecy law

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i24NEWS – Reuters
July 26, 2022 at 09:41 AMlatest revision July 26, 2022 at 10:12 AM

ANWAR AMRO / AFPThe first session of the Lebanese parliament’s newly-elected assembly at its headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon, on May 31, 2022.

The bill allows government bodies to lift banking secrecy in cases of criminal investigations

Lebanon’s parliament on Tuesday passed long-awaited amendments to a banking secrecy law, in the first step toward reforms required by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
However, according to a Reuters witness, the amendments were watered down from the original proposal, leading one of the architects of the country’s economic recovery to seek feedback from the IMF.

Lebanon and the IMF signed a staff-level agreement in April for $3 billion in funding to ease the country’s economic crisis, described by the World Bank as among the top three financial meltdowns in centuries.
The aid package is conditional on prerequisites, including a banking restructuring strategy, capital controls, a 2022 budget, and a reformed banking secrecy law.

The bill, read out in parliament’s first general session since elections in May, does not lift banking secrecy as a whole.
It does, however, allow government bodies to lift secrecy in cases of criminal investigations, including in illicit enrichment, money laundering, and terrorism funding.
The originally proposed bill would have allowed banking secrecy to be lifted to investigate “all financial crimes,” but parliament voted to remove that language, limiting the law’s scope.
Deputy Prime Minister Saade Chami, the architect of the country’s financial recovery roadmap, said he didn’t agree with the version of the law.
He told Reuters he would send the law to the IMF to confirm whether it meets its expectations.

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