Friday, July 31, 2020
Lebanon becomes 1st country in Middle East and North Africa to enter hyperinflation
ByIbtissem Guenfoud
Lebanon could face its biggest crisis since its Civil War, economists are warning as the country's currency hits new lows.
Lebanon is now the first country in the Middle East and North Africa to see its inflation rate exceed 50% for 30 consecutive days, according to Steve H. Hanke, a professor of applied economics at the Johns Hopkins University.
The sharp rise in prices for goods and services pushes the country further into crisis. High inflation means many goods have become unaffordable.
"We started receiving messages from educated people ... emailing us just for help," said Soha Zaiter, executive manager of the Lebanese Food Bank.
She added, "There is no middle class anymore."
The Lebanese rely heavily on imports, which constitute 60% of consumed goods, according to Lebanese economist Roy Badaro. Because of the very high correlation between importation and consumption, the spike in the exchange rate to the dollar then translates into a massive increase in retail prices. Clothing and footwear items alone have seen a 345% annual rise in prices, according to Credit Libanais’ latest report. In addition, the lockdown measures taken to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in the shutdowns of small businesses and massive layoffs, has pushed the country to the brink.
COVID-19 has "a multiplier effect," said Badaro.
According to Zaiter, more than half of the Lebanese population is living under the poverty line as a result. The World Bank estimates that 155,000 households are living under the extreme poverty line.
"If you compare the situation before and after, not only COVID-19, but even before the revolution started in October 2019 … now people are depending on NGOs because the government doesn’t have any plan for these people," she said.
While the Lebanese authorities have pledged financial aid to the poorest 43,000 families, there are worries that it didn't reach the right people.
"The list of data for the families was so old, some of them were already dead or not living in Lebanon anymore," said Zaiter.
The nonprofit organization Embrace, which has a national suicide prevention helpline, said suicide reports have doubled in the country this year, jumping from an average of 200 calls per month last year to between 400 and 500 per month in 2020.
On a visit to Lebanon on July 23, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was blunt in his critique of the country’s leadership, saying, "Help us to help you."
As talks with the International Monetary Fund have hit a stalemate, the Lebanese are left to rely on their diaspora for an influx of money.
"Venezuela has oil. Our oil is the diaspora," said Badaro.
Rabah's cousin, who lives overseas, used to send money home to his family.
But "a lot of business shut down due to COVID and my cousin has not been paid for the last five months ... now we have to send him money," Rabah said.
The only way out of the crisis for many in Lebanon is through reform.
According to Makram Rabah, a history lecturer at the American University of Beirut, the core problem is that "no one has any trust in the political system."
The Central Bank "has dug itself so deep" bailing out the country that "it’s incapable of doing anything," Rabah said.
"This was the Central Bank’s original sin," added Badaro, referring to the decision in 1997 to fix the rate of the Lebanese pound.
The country’s weakened position means it is at a crossroads.
"We are in the middle of a reality check about funding growth and our economy and the food even," said Badaro.
#SaudiArabia: #Yemeni Blogger Convicted for Supporting #LGBT Rights - 10 Months’ Jail, Fine, Deportation to Potential Danger
A Saudi court sentenced a Yemeni blogger to jail and then deportation to Yemen for a social media post supporting equal rights for all in Saudi Arabia, Human Rights Watch said today. After a trial in which he was provided no counsel, Mohamad al-Bokari, a Yemeni living in Riyadh, was sentenced on July 20, 2020 to 10 months in prison and a fine of 10,000 Saudi Riyals (US$2,700). Al-Bokari has 30 days to appeal.
The authorities arrested al-Bokari, 29, on April 8 for posting a video on social media calling for equal rights, including for gay people. He had fled Yemen in June 2019 after Yemeni armed groups threatened to kill him and has since been living in Saudi Arabia as an undocumented migrant. A source in contact with al-Bokari told Human Rights Watch that before his trial, he was held in solitary confinement for six weeks in al-Malaz prison in Riyadh, in a hot and humid cell with no windows, no air-conditioning, and insufficient ventilation.
“Saudi Arabia’s public relations campaigns tout the kingdom’s ‘progress,’ but the court’s jail sentence for peaceful speech and then deportation to Yemen where the defendant’s life is at risk shows how hollow these claims are,” said Rasha Younes, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Saudi Arabia should match rhetoric with reality and drop the case and the deportation against al-Bokari immediately.”
The source told Human Rights Watch that after his sentencing, al-Bokari was returned to a shared cell with other prisoners who have verbally abused him, including by calling him a “devil worshipper” who “deserves the death penalty.”
The source said that since al-Bokari was sentenced, his health had rapidly deteriorated and he was transferred to a hospital. Al-Bokari, who suffers from a chronic heart condition, underwent an electrocardiogram (ECG), and was discharged without being informed of the test results. The doctors denied that he had a heart condition and denied him access to medication, said the source, who believes he is “on the verge of collapsing.”
After al-Bokari’s arrest in April, the source said, security officers subjected him to a forced anal exam, an internationally discredited practice used to seek “proof” of homosexual conduct, that can amount to torture. They continued to beat him and verbally abuse him in detention.
Al-Bokari was charged with violating public morality by promoting homosexuality online, and “imitating women.” These charges show that the court decision is based on discriminatory accusations against al-Bokari based on his perceived sexual orientation and gender expression, Human Rights Watch said.
The source said al-Bokari told him that the court claimed he “confessed that he fled Yemen because he was ‘imitating women.’” But Human Rights Watch reviewed recorded phone communications and messages via social media in which Yemeni armed groups and private individuals threaten al-Bokari with death, which led him to flee. Deporting him to Yemen on release seems likely to put his life at risk, Human Rights Watch said. It would appear to violate customary international law prohibitions against returning someone to a place where they face a real risk of torture or other grave harm.
Saudi authorities regularly pursue charges against human rights activists based on their peaceful exercise of freedom of expression, in violation of international human rights obligations. Saudi Arabia has no written laws concerning sexual orientation or gender identity, but judges use principles of uncodified Islamic law to sanction people suspected of having sexual relations outside marriage, including adultery, extramarital and homosexual sex, or other “immoral” acts.
If such activity is discussed online, judges and prosecutors utilize vague provisions of the country’s anti-cybercrime law that criminalize online activity impinging on “public order, religious values, public morals, and privacy.”
The Arab Charter on Human Rights, which Saudi Arabia has ratified, guarantees the right to freedom of opinion and expression in article 32. The United Nations General Assembly’s Declaration on the Rights of Human Rights Defenders states that everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to “impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/07/27/saudi-arabia-yemeni-blogger-convicted-supporting-lgbt-rights#
القبض على شاب يمني من قبل شرطة الرياض ظهر بعدة مقاطع بحديث يخالف القيم والعادات والقانون.#تم_القبض pic.twitter.com/R4AJUgfakg
— أبو طلال الحمراني (@al7mrany) April 8, 2020
The authorities arrested al-Bokari, 29, on April 8 for posting a video on social media calling for equal rights, including for gay people. He had fled Yemen in June 2019 after Yemeni armed groups threatened to kill him and has since been living in Saudi Arabia as an undocumented migrant. A source in contact with al-Bokari told Human Rights Watch that before his trial, he was held in solitary confinement for six weeks in al-Malaz prison in Riyadh, in a hot and humid cell with no windows, no air-conditioning, and insufficient ventilation.
“Saudi Arabia’s public relations campaigns tout the kingdom’s ‘progress,’ but the court’s jail sentence for peaceful speech and then deportation to Yemen where the defendant’s life is at risk shows how hollow these claims are,” said Rasha Younes, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Saudi Arabia should match rhetoric with reality and drop the case and the deportation against al-Bokari immediately.”
The source told Human Rights Watch that after his sentencing, al-Bokari was returned to a shared cell with other prisoners who have verbally abused him, including by calling him a “devil worshipper” who “deserves the death penalty.”
The source said that since al-Bokari was sentenced, his health had rapidly deteriorated and he was transferred to a hospital. Al-Bokari, who suffers from a chronic heart condition, underwent an electrocardiogram (ECG), and was discharged without being informed of the test results. The doctors denied that he had a heart condition and denied him access to medication, said the source, who believes he is “on the verge of collapsing.”
After al-Bokari’s arrest in April, the source said, security officers subjected him to a forced anal exam, an internationally discredited practice used to seek “proof” of homosexual conduct, that can amount to torture. They continued to beat him and verbally abuse him in detention.
Al-Bokari was charged with violating public morality by promoting homosexuality online, and “imitating women.” These charges show that the court decision is based on discriminatory accusations against al-Bokari based on his perceived sexual orientation and gender expression, Human Rights Watch said.
The source said al-Bokari told him that the court claimed he “confessed that he fled Yemen because he was ‘imitating women.’” But Human Rights Watch reviewed recorded phone communications and messages via social media in which Yemeni armed groups and private individuals threaten al-Bokari with death, which led him to flee. Deporting him to Yemen on release seems likely to put his life at risk, Human Rights Watch said. It would appear to violate customary international law prohibitions against returning someone to a place where they face a real risk of torture or other grave harm.
Saudi authorities regularly pursue charges against human rights activists based on their peaceful exercise of freedom of expression, in violation of international human rights obligations. Saudi Arabia has no written laws concerning sexual orientation or gender identity, but judges use principles of uncodified Islamic law to sanction people suspected of having sexual relations outside marriage, including adultery, extramarital and homosexual sex, or other “immoral” acts.
If such activity is discussed online, judges and prosecutors utilize vague provisions of the country’s anti-cybercrime law that criminalize online activity impinging on “public order, religious values, public morals, and privacy.”
The Arab Charter on Human Rights, which Saudi Arabia has ratified, guarantees the right to freedom of opinion and expression in article 32. The United Nations General Assembly’s Declaration on the Rights of Human Rights Defenders states that everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to “impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/07/27/saudi-arabia-yemeni-blogger-convicted-supporting-lgbt-rights#
‘Saudi Arabia is legally responsible for war crimes in Yemen,’ insists Nobel Laureate
The Yemeni activist and 2011 Nobel Laureate Tawakkol Karman has said that Saudi Arabia is “legally responsible” for all the crimes of the Arab coalition it leads in her country.
“Saudi Arabia is the one who is leading the coalition formally and practically… This is what the world knows and what has been announced,” Karman wrote on Facebook. “Saudi Arabia therefore bears legal responsibility for all the crimes committed by the Arab Coalition, whether the perpetrator is Saudi Arabia or one of the member states. To say that the UAE is guilty of laundering Saudi crimes, on the one hand, and tempting the Saudi army to continue to mess with the Yemenis’ lives, on the other, is useless.”
The human rights activist made her comment after it was reported that the French judiciary has opened an investigation against Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed who is accused of complicity in the torture of prisoners in Yemen detention centres controlled by the UAE armed forces. The French can look into such cases on the basis of universal jurisdiction.
The Yemeni government accuses the UAE of supporting the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) to achieve its own goals in Yemen. This is something that the UAE government in Abu Dhabi usually denies.
“They held Saudi Arabia responsible and prepared to make it pay the price… Will they stop? Who will protect our country from their evil agenda?” asked Karman.
On the military level in Yemen, the Coastguard and security forces announced their withdrawal from the island of Socotra, following the intervention of forces loyal to the UAE-backed STC. According to Abd Al-Moein Ghanem, the Coastguard Commander in Socotra port, his forces withdrew as a result of the evasions and arrests conducted by the STC. “We hold the [Saudi] 808 duty forces responsible for the illegal violations that occur, as the Coastguard administration is not responsible for the actions of the Southern Transitional Council,” he explained.
A local government official told Anadolu Agency: “Since controlling Hadiboh, the capital of Socotra, on 19 June, the Southern Transitional Council is trying with all its might to control the port and interfere in the work of the civil, military and security administration of the government, especially with regard to allowing the entry of ships.” The STC militia, he pointed out, has arrested the Coastguard commander on more than one occasion, as well as the security forces in Socotra port in order to put pressure on him to hand over his duties to one of its members, but it failed to achieve this.”
In a related context, a Yemeni security official was killed yesterday in Abyan Governorate, in the south of the country. A military source reported that a senior officer of the government’s Special Security Forces, Abdullah Adqaf Al-Hanashi, was killed in an ambush carried out by unknown assailants. One of Al-Hanashi’s companions was also killed in the attack, and another was wounded.
عیدالاضحیٰ اعلیٰ مقصد کی خاطر قربانی دینے کی یاد دہانی کراتی ہے، بلاول بھٹو - #EidMubarak
پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے عید پر اپنے پیغام میں کہا ہے کہ عیدالاضحیٰ اعلیٰ مقصد کی خاطر قربانی دینے کے لیے تیار رہنےکی یاد دہانی کراتی ہے، آج ہر مسلمان کو اپنی انا کو قربان کرنے کاعزم کرنا ہوگا۔
انھوں نے مزید کہا کہ انا کی قربانی کے ساتھ عظیم مقصد کے لیے اتحاد کے ساتھ کام کرنا ہوگا۔ عیدالاضحیٰ کے پر مسرت موقع پر حکمران اپنی انا کو چھوڑ دیں۔
بلاول بھٹو نے مزید کہا کہ حکمران عوام کو حقیقی مقصد کے لیے متحد کرنے کی کوشش کریں جو واقعی قومی ہو۔
انہوں نے کہا کہ عوام عید نہایت سادگی کے ساتھ منائیں، سماجی دوری پر عمل کریں۔ اپنے غریب بھائیوں کو بھی عید کی خوشیوں میں یاد رکھیں۔
بلاول بھٹو نے کہا کہ معاشرتی انصاف کے ذریعے ہم زندگی میں اعلیٰ مقصد حاصل کرسکتے ہیں۔
Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Greets Muslims on Eid-ul-Azha
This has been stated by Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in a message while greeting the Muslims throughout the world on the eve of Eid ul Azha falling on Saturday.
“I greet the Muslims throughout the world in general and of Pakistan in particular on this auspicious occasion”, he said.
On this auspicious occasion of Eidul Azha I urge the rulers of Pakistan to shed their bloated ego and strive to unite the people for a purpose and a cause that is truly national and is higher than their own selves, he said.
Chairman PPP also urged people to celebrate this Eid with simplicity with great regard to social distancing and other precautionary measures during the prevailing pandemic.
“I also urge people to remember their less fortunate brethren who are deprived of the most basic needs of life due to poverty and share bounties with them”.
Islam teaches us that sharing the bounties with others is a multiplier of God’s grace and bounties bestowed upon man, he said. “The message of Islam is the message of social justice and we have an obligation to our community through which we attain a higher purpose in life”.
#PPP - Bilawal Bhutto demands no-confidence motion against Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Bilawal said that he would discuss the no-confidence motion against the speaker in the opposition APC. Today, the role of the Speaker has endorsed our position.He said that the government did not want the opposition to talk about these bills. We will try to bring the opposition parties on one page. A non-controversial bill was also made controversial. These people are using FATF to empower themselves.Bilawal said that problems were arising due to ego and dictatorial thinking of the government. The government’s attitude will increase public problems. The demands of FATF are related to Pakistan, we will meet them.
Chairman People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto said that you cannot silence my opposition. Asif Zardari initially said that NAB and economy cannot go hand in hand. We are not interested in any NRO. The government wants the opposition not to speak in the House.
He said that he wanted to make it clear that the NAB Ordinance has been brought by PTI. What the government is doing today is beyond comprehension. They will not be deprived of their rights by government threats and propaganda.
Bilawal said that the government had taken action against BRT, Malam Jabba, sugar and wheat scandals. Shehzad Akbar declared his property 2 years later.
“We are facing charges but you are hiding behind the stay order”.
He said that Imran Khan was protecting the corruption of his advisers. Imran Khan himself has received the highest amnesty. The noise of the NRO is actually being hidden from the NRO.
Bilawal Bhutto said that how can one be prevented from reading proxy in the name of Islam. How to ban books. The Punjab Assembly needs to review the legislation. Censorship is not in Pakistan’s interest.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/648507/bilawal-bhutto-demands-no-confidence-motion-against-speaker-national-assembly-asad-qaiser/