middle-east
FDA panel endorses lower-dose Moderna COVID shot for booster
U.S. health advisers said Thursday that some Americans who received Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine at least six months ago should get a half-dose booster to rev up protection against the coronavirus.
The panel of outside advisers to the Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously to recommend a booster shot for seniors, as well as younger adults with other health problems, jobs or living situations that put them at increased risk from COVID-19.
The recommendation is non-binding but it’s a key step toward expanding the U.S. booster campaign to millions more Americans. Many people who got their initial Pfizer shots at least six months ago are already getting a booster after the FDA authorized their use last month — and those are the same high-risk groups that FDA's advisers said should get a Moderna booster.
Also read: J&J seeks US clearance for COVID-19 vaccine booster doses
But there's no evidence that it's time to open booster doses of either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine to everybody, the panel stressed — despite initial Biden administration plans to eventually do that.
The coronavirus still is mostly a threat to unvaccinated people — while the vaccinated have strong protection against severe illness or death from COVID-19.
“I don’t really see a need for a ‘let it rip’ campaign for everyone," said Dr. Michael Kurilla of the National Institutes of Health.
As for the dose, initial Moderna vaccination consists of two 100-microgram shots. But Moderna says a single 50-microgram shot should be enough for a booster.
The agency convened its experts to weigh in on who should get boosters and when for those who received the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson shots earlier this year. The panel will discuss J&J on Friday.
Also read: Am I fully vaccinated without a COVID-19 vaccine booster?
The FDA will use its advisers’ recommendations in making final decisions for boosters from both companies. Assuming a positive decision, there’s still another hurdle: Next week, a panel convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will offer more specifics on who should get one.
Many U.S. scientists remain divided about exactly who needs boosters and their purpose — whether they’re needed mostly for people at risk of severe disease or whether they should be used to try to reduce milder infections, too.
The FDA panel wrestled with whether Moderna presented enough evidence backing its low-dose booster.
As the delta variant surged in July and August, a Moderna study found people who were more recently vaccinated had a 36% lower rate of “breakthrough” infections compared with those vaccinated longer ago.
Another study of 344 people found a six-month booster shot restored virus-fighting antibodies to levels thought to be protective — and that included large jumps in antibodies able to target the delta variant. But that was a small study, and only about half of those people got the exact series of doses that would be offered under a Moderna booster campaign.
“The data itself is not strong but it is certainly going in the direction that is supportive of this vote,” said Dr. Patrick Moore of the University of Pittsburgh.
And several advisers worried that boosting with a lower dose might cost people some of the potential benefit of a full-strength third shot.
Also read: COVID-19 vaccine boosters could mean billions for drugmakers
“That may actually have a tremendous impact on the durability,” Kurilla said.
Moderna said it chose the lower-dose booster because it triggered fewer uncomfortable shot reactions such as fever and achiness but also leaves more vaccine available for the global supply.
One very rare side effect of both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines is heart inflammation, particularly among young men soon after the second dose — and one lingering question is whether another dose could spark more cases. Moderna's booster study wasn't large enough to spot such a rare risk.
But Israel began offering Pfizer boosters sooner than the U.S. and to more of its population. Thursday, Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis of Israel's health ministry told the FDA panel that after 3.7 million booster doses administered, there's no sign the extra shot is any riskier.
Because the Moderna vaccine is similar, the FDA's advisers found that data reassuring.
While Pfizer's boosters are only for certain high-risk groups of Americans, Israeli officials credit wider booster use in their country to stemming the delta surge.
“There is no question in my mind that the break of the curve was due to the booster dose,” Alroy-Preis said in response to FDA advisers who noted that other countries have seen a lowering of delta cases without widespread booster use.
But FDA's advisers also highlighted one confusing issue: People with severely weakened immune systems already can get a third full dose of the Moderna vaccine soon after the initial vaccinations — so a lingering question is whether they should be eligible for a booster, too, which would be their fourth dose.
6 killed in Beirut clashes as tensions over blast probe soar
Armed clashes erupted Thursday in Beirut during a protest organized by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and its allies against the lead judge probing last year’s blast in the city’s port. At least six people were killed and dozens were wounded in some of the most serious fighting in years, authorities said.
The hours-long exchange of fire along a former front line from the 1975-90 civil war involved snipers, pistols, Kalashnikovs and rocket-propelled grenades, and were reminiscent of that conflict. The clashes were the worst since 2008, when the Shiite Hezbollah briefly overran parts of Beirut.
It was not immediately clear how Thursday’s violence erupted but tensions were running high after the Iran-backed Hezbollah and its Shiite allies from the Amal Movement demanded the removal of the judge leading the investigation into last year's massive port explosion. The two parties called for a protest near the Justice Palace, along the former front line between Muslim Shiite and Christian areas.
Read: Huge fire breaks out at Beirut port a month after explosion
In a statement Thursday, the two groups said their protesters came under fire from snipers deployed over rooftops in the Tayouneh area.
Gunfire echoed in the capital for several hours and ambulances, sirens wailing, rushed to pick up casualties. Snipers shot from buildings. Bullets penetrated apartment windows in the area. Four projectiles fell near a private French school, Freres of Furn el Chebbak, causing panic, a security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
The students huddled in the central corridors with the windows open to avoid major impact, in scenes reminiscent of the 1975-90 civil war. Smoke covered the neighborhood where intense gunfire was relentless. A car caught fire, while a blaze was reported in a lower floor where residents were stuck and called for help.
Haneen Chemaly, a resident of Furn el-Chebbak and mother of a 6-month old girl, said she first moved to the corridor before running to the shelter because the sound of gunfire was terrifying from her 10th-floor apartment.
“I did it for my child,” she said. “I don’t know what is happening. I can just hear the sound of gunfire.”
The violence unfolded while U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland was in town, meeting with Lebanese officials. Her schedule was slightly thrown off by the action on the streets.
The demands for Bitar’s removal and calls for protest upset many who considered it blatant intervention in the work of the judiciary.
The right wing Christian Lebanese Forces mobilized supporters Wednesday evening after Hezbollah and Amal called for the protest at the Justice Palace, located in a Christian area. Videos circulating on social media showed supporters of the Christian Lebanese Forces marching in the streets, carrying large crosses.
A journalist with The Associated Press saw a man open fire with a pistol during Thursday's protest, as well as gunmen shooting in the direction of protesters from the balcony of a building. Several men fell immediately from the gunfire and bled on the street. The army deployed heavily and sent patrols to the area to search for the gunmen, following the exchanges of gunfire between the Muslim and Christian sides of the capital.
A staffer at the emergency room at al-Sahel hospital said they received three bodies and 15 people who were injured. One of the dead, a woman, had received a bullet to her head. Two of the 15 injured were in critical condition.
In a statement, Prime Minister Najib Mikati appealed for calm and urged people “not to be dragged into civil strife.”
The probe centers on hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrates that had been improperly stored at a port warehouse that detonated on August 4, 2020, killing at least 215 people, injuring thousands and destroying parts of nearby neighborhoods. It was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history and has further devastated the country already roiled by political divisions and unprecedented economic and financial meltdown.
Read: Huge fire extinguished at oil facility in southern Lebanon
Bitar is the second judge to lead the complicated investigation - his predecessor was removed following legal challenges. Now Bitar has come up against formidable opposition from the powerful Hezbollah group and its allies who accuse him of singling out politicians for questioning, most of them allied with Hezbollah.
None of Hezbollah’s officials have so far been charged in the 14-month-old investigation.
Sporadic shooting continued even after army troops deployed to the area Thursday. Residents and civilians in the area were ducking to avoid the shooting. Someone screamed: “Some martyrs on the ground!” People pulled one man who was apparently shot and down, away from the line of fire. Others pulled another body away.
In some videos circulating online, some men were chatting: “Shiite Shiite” on the streets, as residents were running from the gunfire.
The tensions over the port blast add to Lebanon's enormous multiple troubles, including an unprecedented economic and financial meltdown, an energy crisis leading to extended electricity blackouts, hyperinflation and soaring poverty.
Chemaly said said there was no electricity for her to follow on TV what was going on. So she knew nothing of the situation on the ground and opted for safety. After spending some time in the shelter, she moved to the first floor to stay with her neighbors away from the fire.
“I know there was so much mobilization from the night before, all predicting that a war would erupt,” Chemaly, who heads a local NGOs that provides social services. Civil war erupting “is the last card they have to use. They have (driven) us into bankruptcy, devastation and now they are scaring us with the specter of civil war.”
The armed clash could derail the country’s month-old government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati even before it begins tackling Lebanon’s economic meltdown.
A Cabinet meeting was canceled Wednesday after Hezbollah demanded urgent government action against the judge. One Hezbollah-allied minister said he and other Cabinet members would stage a walkout if Bitar isn’t removed.
Ransomed and beaten: Migrants face abuse in Libyan detention
Osman Touré was crying from the pain of repeated beatings and torture as he dialed his brother’s cellphone number.
“I’m in prison in Libya,” Touré said in that August 2017 call. “They will kill me if you don’t pay 2,500 dinars in 24 hours.”
Within days, Touré’s family transferred the roughly $550 demanded to secure his freedom from a government detention center in Libya. But Touré was not let go — instead, he was sold to a trafficker and kept enslaved for four more years.
Touré is among tens of thousands of migrants who have endured torture, sexual violence and extortion at the hands of guards in detention centers in Libya, a major hub for migrants fleeing poverty and wars in Africa and the Middle East, hoping for a better life in Europe.
The 25-year-old Guinean, along with two dozen other migrants, spoke to The Associated Press aboard the Geo Barents, a rescue vessel operated by the medical aid group Doctors without Borders in the Mediterranean off Libya. Most had been held in trafficking warehouses and government detention centers in western Libya over the past four years.
Read: Libya’s migrant roundup reaches 4,000 amid major crackdown
They were among 60 migrants who fled Libya on Sept. 19 in two unseaworthy boats and were rescued a day later by the Geo Barents. The AP also obtained testimonies from many others collected in recent months by the aid group, known by its French acronym MSF.
The European Union has sent 455 million euros to Libya since 2015, largely channeled through U.N. agencies and aimed at beefing up Libya’s coast guard, reinforcing its southern border and improving conditions for migrants.
However, huge sums have been diverted to networks of militiamen and traffickers who exploit migrants, according to a 2019 AP investigation. Coast guard members are also complicit, turning migrants intercepted at sea over to detention centers under deals with militias or demanding payoffs to let others go.
The practice continues unabated and U.N.-commissioned investigators said in a 32-page report last week that “policies meant to push migrants back to Libya to keep them away from European shores ultimately lead to abuses,” including possible crimes against humanity.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants hoping to reach Europe have made their way through Libya, where a lucrative trafficking business has flourished in a country without a functioning government, split for years between rival administrations in the east and west, each backed by armed groups and foreign governments.
The migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, told the AP that detention center guards beat and tortured them, then extorted money from their relatives, supposedly in exchange for their freedom. Their bodies showed traces of old and recent injuries, and signs of bullet and knife wounds on their backs, legs, arms and faces.
On paper, the detention centers are run by the Directorate for Combating Illegal Migration, which is overseen by the Interior Ministry and Libya's interim authorities, who took power earlier this year under U.N. auspices to carry out national elections by the end of the year. But on the ground, notorious militias remain in control, according to migrants and the U.N. investigators.
“Migrants are detained for indefinite periods without an opportunity to have the legality of their detention reviewed, and the only practical means of escape is by paying large sums of money to the guards or engaging in forced labor or sexual favors inside or outside the detention," the U.N. report said.
Spokespeople for Libya’s government, the Interior Ministry, the directorate and the coast guard did not answer phone calls or respond to messages seeking comment.
Touré, the youngest of seven siblings abandoned by their father, said that as an adolescent he watched others from his small Guinean town of Kindia make it to Europe and help pull their families out of poverty.
He began his own attempt in March 2015, taking odd jobs along the way to finance the trip. Traffickers held him captive for months twice, in Niger and Algeria, before he crossed into Libya in April 2017, he said.
Four months later, Touré embarked from Libya, only to be intercepted by the coast guard and returned to Tripoli. At the port, he and other migrants attempted to flee but were caught by security forces and taken to the al-Nasr Martyrs detention center in Zawiya.
That’s when the torture started. He described how guards would hang them upside down and whip their bare feet. At times other migrants were forced or given incentives to take part in the violence.
“A migrant from Ghana refused to beat us, but there was a Cameroonian who was really cruel,” Touré said.
His second week in prison, six guards approached him. One slapped him hard on the right side of his face. The rest kicked and beat him. Then he was handed a cellphone and ordered to call his family.
Ten others in the cell were forced to do the same. Three were taken out by the guards in the next few days. He doesn't know what became of them, he said.
Read: Italian vessel rescues 65 from migrant boat fleeing Libya
The money sent by captives' relatives was usually transferred via Western Union or an informal system of personal accounts to a trafficker in coordination with the guards. In some cases, like Touré’s, families sent money to the detained migrant and guards took them to withdraw it.
Touré was taken from his cell three days after the phone call. He thought he would walk free. Instead, the guards sold him to a trafficker in Zawiya. He spent the next four years enslaved, working in the trafficker’s warehouse.
Finally his luck changed in September when the trafficker's wife took pity on him and persuaded her husband to set him free, he said. Within days he was on a small inflatable boat with 55 others attempting the Mediterranean crossing.
Overladen, the boat did not make it far. Those onboard were rescued by the Geo Barents 48 nautical miles off Libya’s coast. They were taken to Sicily, where Italian authorities permitted the rescue ship to dock on Sept. 27 and let the migrants apply for asylum. They could still be returned to their home countries if their requests are denied.
Touré and other migrants said that besides plain cruelty, there was racism behind their abuse in Libya. The U.N. report found the same — that Black sub-Saharan Africans were likely to be subjected to harsher treatment than others.
“Libya isn’t a safe place for Black Africans,” Touré said.
The point of arrival at one of Libya’s ports was the first opportunity for Libya’s security forces to extract payment from migrants trying to reach Europe.
For some, particularly Arab migrants, the ordeal ended there without detention, as long as they paid. Waleed, a Tunisian, told the AP he bribed guards four times at the Tripoli port and walked free. Three other times he was taken to detention centers, where he found a way to get enough money to the guards and was released.
Mohammed, a Moroccan, also said he was released at port in 2020 by handing over 3,000 dinars ($660). Both men gave only their first names out of fear for the safety of family members still inside Libya.
The Libyan coast guard, which is trained and equipped by the European Union, has intercepted some 87,000 migrants in the Mediterranean Sea since 2016, including about 26,300 so far this year, according to U.N. figures. But only about 10,000 are in detention centers, according to the U.N. migration agency, raising concerns that many are in the hands of criminal groups and traffickers, and others are dead.
Not all have enough money to pay bribes. Mohammed Salah, a 20-year-old migrant from the Ivory Coast, told the AP he was intercepted and returned to Libya in January 2020. He didn’t have the 3,000 dinars ($660) demanded for his freedom.
After he argued over the bribe, he was beaten at the police station and suffered a broken leg. Detention center guards then handed him over to a trafficker, who enslaved him for over a year, he said.
Valentin Najang of Cameroon was detained in the Zawiya detention center after being captured early last month. The guards repeatedly beat him and other migrants with sticks and plastic tubing, the 18-year-old told the AP. Once, he watched two guards beat a young migrant from Mauritius unconscious. A week into his detention, his family paid 500,000 Cameroonian francs (over $880) for his freedom.
At the heart of the abuses against migrants remains the question of who can be held accountable. The U.N. report did not name suspects, saying more investigation is needed to determine who was culpable.
Read: Many migrants staying in US even as expulsion flights rise
But migrants and others inside Libya say the issue is clear cut: It’s the militias and warlords who have become powerful government figures in many areas.
The coastal town of Zawiya, where the al-Nasr Martyrs detention center is located, is controlled by the Nasr Martyrs militia, which have “the final word on all the town’s security and military matters,” said a former senior official at the Directorate for Combating Illegal Migration, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
The militia is led by Mohammed Kachlaf, who was sanctioned in 2018 by the U.N. Security Council, which called his network “one of the most dominant in the field of migrant smuggling and the exploitation of migrants in Libya.”
Zawiya’s coast guard unit is commanded by Abdel-Rahman Milad, who was also sanctioned in 2018 by the U.N. Security Council for human trafficking. U.N. experts said Milad and other coast guard members “are directly involved in the sinking of migrant boats using firearms.” Milad has denied any links to human smuggling.
And Tripoli’s Abu Salim neighborhood, where a detention center with the same name is located, is controlled by a militia led by Abdel-Ghani al-Kikli. Though Amnesty International has accused him of war crimes and other serious rights violations, he was named this year as the head of the government's so-called Stability Support Authority with even broader arrest powers.
“It is a well-connected mafia with influence in each corner of the government,” the former Directorate for Combating Illegal Migration official said.
Seera Group integrates Mawasim services with Maqam
Seera Group has strengthened its religious travel services by integrating Mawasim, its Hajj and Umrah division, with Maqam, the official global distribution system platform of the Saudi Ministry of Hajj & Umrah.
Maqam is designed to provide a simplified and unified portal for all details regarding booking the pilgrimage from anywhere in the world.
READ: Hajj management in 2022 to be tech-based: State Minister
Mawasim https://maqam.mawasim.com/registration ] and Maqam (only Saudi–authorised portal) came together to redefine the future of travel for global pilgrims to the Kingdom.
Travel agents can visit the Mawasim portal to book hotels and transportation to generate a booking reference number which they can use to process Umrah visa applications via authorised portals for their customers. In the primary phase, Mawasim is integrated as an Online Travel Agency (OTA), giving travel agents access to an extensive network of diverse and tailored packages targeting various types of pilgrim travellers.
Travel agents across 27 markets worldwide such as Egypt, Kuwait, South Africa, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Turkey, among others, can conveniently secure Umrah bookings and pass the benefits of Mawasim's packages to pilgrims.
Mawasim also provides solutions to travel agencies with a state-of-the-art B2B portal [https://b2b.mawasim.com/login ]. Eligible for nationalities who get tourist visas or visas on arrival, the B2B portal allows for hotel bookings and transportation across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the possibility of add-ons offline.
Majed Alnefaie, CEO of Seera Group, said: "The integration of Mawasim's services with Maqam highlights our commitment to supporting the Kingdom to realise the visitation goals set for Hajj and Umrah. Working with our agents in international source markets, the newly launched service will ensure the highest standards of customer service and ease of booking, particularly to meet the demand from Umrah groups. Mawasim brings the knowledge of Hajj & Umrah pilgrimage and is committed to offering pilgrims the best possible experience."
READ: With pandemic in mind, pared-back hajj in Mecca for 2nd year
Global travel agencies working with Mawasim now have access to an end-to-end tour operator. The packages offered cover hotel booking, visa processing, VVIP, tailor-made packages, additional services such as comfortable road transportation, airport meet and greet and, on the ground support by knowledgeable local colleagues. Seera Group's partner hotels are within walking distance of the Ka'bah and the Haram – boosting the accommodation offering for domestic and international visitors.
Partial results show pro-Iran groups losing Iraq election
An alliance of Iraqi candidates representing Shiite militias supported by neighboring Iran has emerged as the biggest loser in the country’s national elections, according to partial results released Monday.
The results, posted online successively, also showed the bloc of Iraq’s populist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr maintaining the most seats in parliament, leading in several of Iraq’s 18 provinces, including the capital Baghdad. Al-Sadr, a maverick leader remembered for leading an insurgency against U.S. forces after the 2003 invasion, appeared to have increased his movement’s seats in the 329-member parliament from 54 in 2018 to more than 70.
With 94% of the ballot boxes counted, none of the competing political blocs appeared on track to win a majority in parliament and consequently name a prime minister. But as the results stand, al-Sadr’s bloc will be able to take a leading role in the political horse-trading to find a compromise candidate and set the political agenda for the next four years.
Read: Iraq's parliamentary vote marred by boycott, voter apathy
Al-Sadr’s candidates beat out Iran’s favored candidates from the Fatah Alliance to come out first, according to preliminary results. The Fatah Alliance, led by paramilitary leader Hadi al-Ameri, is comprised of parties and affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of mostly pro-Iran Shiite militias. The alliance rose to prominence during the war against the Sunni extremist Islamic State group. It includes some of the most hard-line Iran-backed factions, such as the Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia.
It was not immediately clear Monday how many seats the Fatah Alliance lost, from the 48 they got in 2018.
Voter turnout was 41%, a record low in the post-Saddam Hussein era signaling widespread distrust of the country’s leaders and the vote for a new parliament. That’s down from 44% in the 2018 elections, which was an all-time low.
Still, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres congratulated the Iraqi people “for the way the elections took place.” He appealed for calm as the results are announced and for political discussions on the formation of a new government to be carried out in “an environment of peace, of security and of tranquility.”
The weekend’s election was held months ahead of schedule as a concession to a youth-led popular uprising against corruption and mismanagement. But the vote was marred by widespread apathy and a boycott by many of the same young activists who thronged the streets of Baghdad and Iraq’s southern provinces in late 2019, calling for sweeping reforms and new elections.
Read:Polls open in Iraq's general elections amid tight security
Tens of thousands of people protested in late 2019 and early 2020, and were met by security forces firing live ammunition and tear gas. More than 600 people were killed and thousands injured within just a few months.
Although authorities gave in and called the early elections, the death toll and the heavy-handed crackdown — as well as a string of targeted assassinations and attempted killings — prompted many protesters to later call for a boycott of the vote.
Many of the young activists who took part in the 2019 protests also raged against Iran’s heavy-handed influence in Iraqi politics, including armed militias who rival the state’s authority. Many blamed the militias for taking part with security forces in brutally suppressing the protests, possibly playing a role in Fatah’s poor showing.
Al-Sadr, a black-turbaned nationalist leader, is also close to Iran, but publicly rejects its political influence.
The election was the sixth held since the fall of Saddam Hussein after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Many were skeptical that independent candidates from the protest movement stood a chance against well-entrenched parties and politicians, many of them backed by powerful armed militias.
Preliminary results showed several independent candidates getting into parliament, although the number of seats was not immediately known.
Read: Biden says US combat mission in Iraq to conclude by year end
There was a marked reluctance among young Iraqis — the country’s largest demographic — to get out and vote. Many expressed views that the system is immune to reform and that the election would only bring back the same faces and parties responsible for the corruption and mismanagement that has plagued Iraq for decades. The problems have left the country with crumbling infrastructure, growing poverty and rising unemployment rates.
Under Iraq’s laws, the party that wins the most seats gets to choose the country’s next prime minister, but it’s unlikely any of the competing coalitions can secure a clear majority. That will require a lengthy process involving backroom negotiations to select a consensus prime minister and agree on a new coalition government.
Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has played a key role as a mediator in the region’s crises, particularly between regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia. Many in the region and beyond will be watching to see if he will secure a second term.
The new parliament will also elect Iraq’s next president.
Iraq's parliamentary vote marred by boycott, voter apathy
Iraqis voted Sunday in parliamentary elections held months ahead of schedule as a concession to a youth-led popular uprising against corruption and mismanagement.
But the voting was marked by widespread apathy and a boycott by many of the young activists who thronged the streets of Baghdad and Iraq's southern provinces in late 2019. Tens of thousands of people took part in the mass protests and were met by security forces firing live ammunition and tear gas. More than 600 people were killed and thousands injured within just a few months.
Although authorities gave in and called the early elections, the death toll and the heavy-handed crackdown - as well as a string of targeted assassinations - prompted many who took part in the protests to later call for a boycott of the vote.
Polls closed at 1500 GMT (1800 local time) following 11 hours of voting. Results are expected within the next 24 hours, according to the independent body that oversees Iraq’s election. But negotiations to choose a prime minister tasked with forming a government are expected to drag on for weeks or even months.
The election was the sixth held since the fall of Saddam Hussein after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Many were skeptical that independent candidates from the protest movement stood a chance against well-entrenched parties and politicians, many of them backed by powerful armed militias.
Read: Polls open in Iraq's general elections amid tight security
Minutes after polls closed, fireworks organized by Baghdad's municipality went off in the city's landmark Tahrir Square, where demonstrators had set up tents for several months starting in October 2019. The protests fizzled out by February of the following year, due to the security crackdown and later, the coronavirus pandemic.
Today, the square stands largely empty. The country faces huge economic and security challenges, and although most Iraqis long for change, few expect it to happen as a result of the elections.
Muna Hussein, a 22-year-old cinematic makeup artist, said she boycotted the election because she did not feel there was a safe environment “with uncontrolled weapons everywhere," a reference to the mainly Shiite militias backed by neighboring Iran.
“In my opinion, it isn’t easy to hold free and fair elections under the current circumstances,” she said.
Amir Fadel, a 22-year-old car dealer, disagreed. “I don’t want these same faces and same parties to return,” he said after casting his ballot in Baghdad’s Karradah district.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, whose chances for a second term will be determined by the results of the election, urged Iraqis to vote in large numbers.
“Get out and vote, and change your future,,” said al-Kadhimi, repeating the phrase, “get out” three times after casting his ballot at a school in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, home to foreign embassies and government offices.
Under Iraq’s laws, the winner of Sunday’s vote gets to choose the country’s next prime minister, but it’s unlikely any of the competing coalitions can secure a clear majority. That will require a lengthy process involving backroom negotiations to select a consensus prime minister and agree on a new coalition government. It took eight months of political wrangling to form a government after the 2018 elections.
Groups drawn from Iraq’s majority Shiite Muslims dominate the electoral landscape, with a tight race expected between Iraq's influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, and the Fatah Alliance, led by paramilitary leader Hadi al-Ameri, which came in second in the previous election.
Read: Biden says US combat mission in Iraq to conclude by year end
The Fatah Alliance is comprised of parties and affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of mostly pro-Iran Shiite militias that rose to prominence during the war against the Sunni extremist Islamic State group. It includes some of the most hard-line Iran-backed factions, such as the Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia. Al-Sadr, a black-turbaned nationalist leader, is also close to Iran, but publicly rejects its political influence.
Earlier Sunday, al-Sadr cast his ballot in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, swarmed by local journalists. He then drove away in a white sedan without commenting. Al-Sadr, a populist who has an immense following among Iraq’s working class Shiites, came out on top in the 2018 elections, winning a majority of seats.
The election is the first since the fall of Saddam to proceed without a curfew in place, reflecting the significantly improved security situation in the country following the defeat of IS in 2017. Previous votes were marred by fighting and deadly bomb attacks that have plagued the country for decades.
More than 250,000 security personnel across the country were tasked with protecting the vote. Soldiers, police and anti-terrorism forces fanned out and deployed outside polling stations, some of which were ringed by barbed wire. Voters were patted down and searched.
As a security precaution, Iraq closed its airspace and land border crossings and scrambled its air force from Saturday night until early Monday morning.
In another first, Sunday’s election is taking place under a new election law that divides Iraq into smaller constituencies — another demand of the activists who took part in the 2019 protests — and allows for more independent candidates.
The 2018 elections saw just 44% of eligible voters cast their ballots, a record low, and the results were widely contested. There are concerns of a similar or even lower turnout this time.
Read: Death toll rises to 92 in blaze at coronavirus ward in Iraq
In a tea shop in Karradah, one of the few open, candidate Reem Abdulhadi walked in to ask whether people had cast their vote.
“I will give my vote to Umm Kalthoum, the singer, she is the only one who deserves it,” the tea vendor quipped, referring to the late Egyptian singer beloved by many in the Arab world. He said he will not take part in the election and didn’t believe in the political process.
After a few words, Abdulhadi gave the man, who asked to remain anonymous, a card with her name and number in case he changed his mind. He put it in his pocket.
“Thank you, I will keep it as a souvenir,” he said.
At that moment, a low-flying, high-speed military aircraft flew overhead making a screeching noise. “Listen to this. This sound is terror. It reminds me of war, not an election,” he added.
Polls open in Iraq's general elections amid tight security
Iraq closed its airspace and land border crossings on Sunday as voters headed to the polls to elect a parliament that many hope will deliver much needed reforms after decades of conflict and mismanagement.
The vote was brought forward by six months in response to a popular uprising in the capital Baghdad and southern provinces in late 2019, when tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest endemic corruption, poor services and rising unemployment. They were met with deadly force by security forces firing live ammunition and tear gas. More than 600 people were killed and thousands injured within just a few months.
Although authorities gave in and called the early elections, the death toll and the heavy-handed crackdown prompted many young activists and demonstrators who took part in the protests to later call for a boycott of the polls.
A series of kidnappings and targeted assassinations that killed more than 35 people, has further discouraged many from taking part.
Read: Biden says US combat mission in Iraq to conclude by year end
A total of 3,449 candidates are vying for 329 seats in the parliamentary elections, which will be the sixth held since the fall of Saddam Hussein after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
More than 250,000 security personnel across the country were tasked with protecting the vote. Army troops, police and anti-terrorism forces fanned out and deployed outside polling stations, some of which were ringed by barbed wire.
“Get out and vote, and change your reality for the sake of Iraq and your future,” said Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, after he cast his ballot at a school in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, home to foreign embassies and government offices.
“To those who hesitate, put your trust in God and go and choose those you deem appropriate,” he added, reflecting concerns over a low turnout. “This is our opportunity.”
The 2018 elections saw just 44% of eligible voters casting ballots, a record low. The results were widely contested. There are concerns of a similar or even lower turnout this time.
Iraq’s top Shiite cleric and a widely respected authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has called for a large turnout, saying that voting remains the best way for Iraqis to take part in shaping their country’s future.
The election is the first since the fall of Saddam to proceed without a curfew in place, reflecting the significantly improved security situation in the country following the defeat of the Islamic State group in 2017. Previous votes were marred by fighting and deadly bomb attacks that have plagued the country for decades.
As a security precaution, Iraq has closed its airspace and scrambled its air force from Saturday night until early Monday morning.
In another first, Sunday's election is taking place under a new election law that divides Iraq into smaller constituencies — another demand of the activists who took part in the 2019 protests — and allows for more independent candidates.
Read:Death toll rises to 92 in blaze at coronavirus ward in Iraq
A U.N. Security Council resolution adopted earlier this year authorized an expanded team to monitor the elections. There will be up to 600 international observers in place, including 150 from the United Nations.
Iraq is also for the first time introducing biometric cards for voters. To prevent abuse of electronic voter cards, they will be disabled for 72 hours after each person votes, to avoid double voting.
But despite all these measures, claims of vote buying, intimidation and manipulation have persisted.
The head of Iraq’s electoral commission has said that initial election results will be announced within 24 hours.
Banisadr, Iran's first president after 1979 revolution, dies
Abolhassan Banisadr, Iran's first president after the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution who fled Tehran after being impeached for challenging the growing power of clerics as the nation became a theocracy, died Saturday. He was 88.
Among a sea of black-robed Shiite clerics, Banisadr stood out for his Western-style suits and a background so French that it was in philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre that he confided his belief he'd be Iran's first president some 15 years before it happened.
Those differences only isolated him as the nationalist sought to implement a socialist style economy in Iran underpinned by a deep Shiite faith instilled in him by his cleric father.
Banisadr would never consolidate his grip on the government he supposedly led as events far beyond his control — including the U.S. Embassy hostage crisis and the invasion of Iran by Iraq — only added to the tumult that followed the revolution.
True power remained firmly wielded by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, whom Banisadr worked with in exile in France and followed back to Tehran amid the revolution. But Khomeini would cast Banisadr aside after only 16 months in office, sending him fleeing back to Paris, where he would remain for decades.
"I was like a child watching my father slowly turn into an alcoholic," Banisadr later said of Khomeini. "The drug this time was power."
Banisadr's family said in a statement online Saturday that he died in a hospital in Paris after a long illness. Iranian state television followed with their own bulletin on his death. Neither elaborated on the illness Banisadr faced.
Earlier exiled to Iraq by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Khomeini ended up having to leave for France in 1978 under renewed pressure from the Iranian monarch. Arriving in Paris and speaking no French, it was Banisadr who initially gave the cleric a place to live after moving his own family out of their apartment to accommodate him.
Khomeini would end up in Neauphle-Le-Chateau, a village outside the French capital. There, as Banisadr once told The Associated Press, he and a group of friends fashioned or vetted the messages Khomeini delivered — based on what they were told Iranians wanted to hear.
Tape recordings of Khomeini's statements were sold in Europe and delivered to Iran. Other messages went out by telephone, read to supporters in various Iranian towns. Those messages laid the groundwork for Khomeini's return after the shah, fatally ill, fled Iran in early 1979, though the cleric remained unsure he had the support, Banisadr once said.
"For me, it was absolutely sure, but not for Khomeini and not for lots of others inside Iran," Banisadr told the AP in 2019.
That return saw Khomeini and his Islamic Revolution sweep the country. Banisadr became a member of the cleric's Revolutionary Council and became the head of the country's Foreign Ministry just days after the Nov. 4, 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by hard-line students.
In an echo of what was to come, Banisadr served only 18 days in that role after seeking a negotiated end to the hostage crisis, pushed aside by Khomeini for a hard-liner.
The hostage-takers were "dictators who have created a government within a government," Banisadr would later complain.
But he remained in Khomeini's council and would push through the nationalization of major industries and former private business holdings of the shah. And in early 1980, after Khomeini earlier decreed that a cleric should not hold Iran's newly created presidency, it was Banisadr who won three quarters of the vote and took the office.
"Our revolutionary will not win unless it is exported," he said in his inaugural address. "We are going to create a new order in which deprived people will not always be deprived."
Amid purges of Iran's armed forces, Iraq would invade the country, starting what would be a bloody eight-year conflict between the two nations. Banisadr served as the country's commander-in-chief under a decree from Khomeini. But battlefield failures and complaints from Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard became a political liability for the president, who himself would survive two helicopter crashes near the front.
A parliament controlled by hard-line clerics under Khomeini's sway impeached Banisadr in June 1981 for his opposition to having clerics in the country's political system, part of a long-running feud between them. A month later, Banisadr boarded an Iranian Air Force Boeing 707 and escaped to France with Massoud Rajavi, the leader of the leftist militant group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq.
He emerged from the flight with his trademark mustache shaven off. Iranian media alleged he escaped dressed as a woman.
Khomeini "bears heavy responsibility for the appalling disaster that has befallen the country," Banisadr said after his escape. "To a large extent, he has imposed this course upon our people."
Born March 22, 1933 in Hamadan, Iran, Banisadr grew up in a religious family. His father Nasrollah Banisadr was an ayatollah, a high-ranking Shiite cleric, who opposed the policies of the shah's father, Reza Shah.
"Even in the womb, I was a revolutionary," Banisadr once boasted.
As a youth, he protested the shah and was imprisoned twice. He supported Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, who nationalized Iran's oil industry and later was ousted during a 1953 CIA-backed coup. During unrest in 1963, Banisadr suffered a wound and fled to France.
Banisadr studied economics and finance at Sorbonne University in Paris and later taught there. He authored books and tracts on socialism and Islam, ideas that would guide him later after entering Khomeini's inner circle.
After leaving Iran, Banisadr and Rajavi formed the National Council of Resistance of Iran. Banisadr would withdraw from the council in 1984 after the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq partnered with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein as his war against Iran continued.
He would remain outside of Paris for the rest of his life, under police guard after being targeted by suspected Iranian assassins.
Banisadr again gained notoriety after alleging without evidence in a book that Ronald Reagan's campaign colluded with Iranian leaders to hold up the hostage release, thereby scuttling the re-election of then-President Jimmy Carter. That gave birth to the idea of the "October Surprise" in American politics — an event deliberately timed and so powerful as to affect an election.
U.S. Senate investigators later would say in 1992 that "the great weight of the evidence is that there was no such deal." However, after Reagan's 1981 inauguration, U.S. arms began flowing to Iran through Israel in what would become known as the Iran-Contra scandal.
"The clergy used you as a tool to get rid of democratic forces," Banisadr told a former hostage in 1991 while on a U.S. tour. "On the night you were taken hostage, I went to Khomeini and told him he had acted against Islam, against democracy."
US, Taliban to hold first talks since Afghanistan withdrawal
Senior Taliban officials and U.S. representatives are to hold talks Saturday and Sunday about containing extremist groups in Afghanistan and easing the evacuation of foreign citizens and Afghans from the country, officials from both sides said.
It's the first such meeting since U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan in late August, ending a 20-year military presence there, and the Taliban's rise to power in the nation. The talks are to take place in Doha, the capital of the Persian Gulf state of Qatar.
READ: IS bomber kills 46 inside Afghan mosque, challenges Taliban
Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen, who is based in Doha, told The Associated Press on Saturday that the talks will also revisit the peace agreement the Taliban signed with Washington in 2020. The agreement had paved the way for the final U..S. withdrawal.
“Yes there is a meeting . . . about bilateral relations and implementation of the Doha agreement,” said Shaheen. “It covers various topics.”
Terrorism will also feature in the talks, said a second official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Since the Taliban took power, Islamic State extremists have ramped up attacks on the militant group, as well as ethnic and religious minorities. On Friday, an IS suicide bomber killed at least 46 minority Shiite Muslims and wounded dozens in the deadliest attack since the U.S. departure.
IS has carried out relentless assaults on the country’s Shiite Muslims since emerging in eastern Afghanistan in 2014. IS is also seen as the greatest threat to the United States.
The U.S.-Taliban agreement of 2020, which was negotiated by the Trump administration, demanded the Taliban break ties with terrorist groups and guarantee Afghanistan would not again harbor terrorists who could attack the United States and its allies.
It seems certain the two sides will discuss in the weekend talks how to tackle the growing threat. The Taliban have said they do not want U.S. anti-terrorism assistance and have warned Washington against any so-called “over-the -horizon” strikes on Afghan territory from outside the country's borders.
The United States, meanwhile, would seek to hold Taliban leaders to commitments that they would allow Americans and other foreign nationals to leave Afghanistan, along with Afghans who once worked for the U.S. military or government and other Afghan allies, a U.S. official said.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak by name about the meetings.
The Biden administration has fielded questions and complaints about the slow pace of U.S.-facilitated evacuations from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan since the U.S. withdrawal.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said Thursday that 105 U.S. citizens and 95 green card holders had left since then on flights facilitated by the U.S. That number had not changed for more than a week.
U.S. veterans and other individuals have helped others leave the country on charter flights, and some Americans and others have gotten out across land borders.
READ: Taliban arrest 4 Islamic State militants north of Kabul
Hundreds of other foreign nationals and Afghans have also left on recent flights.
Dozens of American citizens are still seeking to get out, according to the State Department, along with thousands of green-card holders and Afghans and family members believed eligible for U.S. visas. U.S. officials have cited the difficulty of verifying flight manifests without any American officials on the ground in Afghanistan to help, along with other hold-ups.
Americans also intend to press the Taliban to observe the rights of women and girls, many of whom the Taliban are reportedly blocking from returning to jobs and classrooms, and of Afghans at large, and to form an inclusive government, the official said.
U.S. officials will also encourage Taliban officials to give humanitarian agencies free access to areas in need amid the economic upheaval following the U.S. departure and Taliban takeover.
The official stressed the session did not imply the U.S. was recognizing the Taliban as legitimate governors of the country.
Afghan mosque blast kills at least 25, challenges Taliban
A blast went off Friday at a mosque packed with Shiite Muslim worshippers in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 25 and wounding dozens in the latest security challenge to the Taliban as they transition from insurgency to governance.
The explosion tore through a mosque in the city of Kunduz during noon prayers, the highlight of the Muslim religious week. It blew out windows, charred the ceiling and scattered debris and twisted metal across the floor. Rescuers carried one body out on a stretcher and another in a blanket. Blood stains covered the front steps.
Area resident Hussaindad Rezayee said he rushed to the mosque when he heard the explosion, just as prayers started. "I came to look for my relatives, the mosque was full," he said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for what Kunduz police said may have been a suicide attack. But militants from a local Islamic State affiliate have a long history of attacking Afghanistan's ethnic and religious minorities.
The worshippers targeted Friday were Hazaras, who have long suffered from double discrimination as an ethnic minority and as followers of Shiite Islam in a majority Sunni country.
The Islamic State group has been behind a rise in attacks, including against the Taliban, since the departure of U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan at the end of August. IS and the Taliban, who seized control of the country with the exit of the foreign troops, are strategic rivals. IS militants have targeted Taliban positions and attempted to recruit members from their ranks.
In the past, the Taliban managed to contain the IS threat in tandem with U.S. and Afghan airstrikes. Without these, it remains unclear whether the Taliban can suppress what appears to be a growing IS footprint. The militants, once confined to the east, have penetrated the capital of Kabul and other provinces with new attacks.
This comes at a critical moment, as the Taliban attempt to consolidate power and transform their guerrilla fighters into a structured police and security force. But while the group attempts to project an air of authority through reports of raids and arrests of IS members, it remains unclear if it has the capability to protect soft targets, including religious institutions.
Read: 8 dead as al-Shabab claims blast in Somalia’s capital
In Kunduz, police officials were still picking up the pieces Friday at the Gozar-e-Sayed Abad Mosque.
Citing preliminary reports, the deputy Taliban police chief of Kunduz province, Dost Mohammad Obaida, said more than 100 people had been killed or wounded, and that he believed the dead outnumbered the wounded. Hours after his initial statement, police had still not provided an update.
An official at the Kunduz provincial hospital said at least 25 people were killed and 51 wounded in the attack. He said the figures were preliminary because casualties were being transferred to private hospitals as well. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the media.
Even the preliminary death toll of 25 is already the highest in an attack since foreign troops left Afghanistan.
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan condemned the attack as "part of a disturbing pattern of violence" targeting religious institutions.
Obaida, the deputy police chief, pledged to protect minorities in the province. "I assure our Shiite brothers that the Taliban are prepared to ensure their safety," he said.
A prominent Shiite cleric, Sayed Hussain Alimi Balkhi, condemned the attack and called on the Taliban to provide security for the Shiites of Afghanistan. "We expect the security forces of the government to provide security for the mosques since they collected the weapons that were provided for the security of the worship places," he said.
The new tone struck by the Taliban, at least in Kunduz, is in sharp contrast to the well-documented history of Taliban fighters committing a litany of atrocities against minorities, including Hazaras. The Taliban, now feeling the weight of governing, employed similar tactics to those of IS during their 20-year insurgency, including suicide bombings and shooting ambushes.
And they have not halted attacks on Hazaras.
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Earlier this week, a report by Amnesty International found the Taliban unlawfully killed 13 Hazaras, including a 17-year-old girl, in Daykundi province, after members of the security forces of the former government surrendered.
In Kunduz province, Hazaras make up about 6% of the province's population of nearly 1 million people. The province also has a large ethnic Uzbek population that has been targeted for recruitment by the IS, which is closely aligned with the militant Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.
Friday's attack was the third to target a place of worship or religious study in a week.
IS has also claimed two deadly bombings in Kabul, including the horrific Aug. 26 bombing that killed at least 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. military personnel outside of Kabul airport in the final days of the chaotic American pullout from Afghanistan.
IS also claimed a bombing on Sunday outside Kabul's Eid Gah Mosque that killed at least five civilians. Another attack on a madrassa, a religious school, in Khost province on Wednesday was not claimed.
If Friday's attack is claimed by IS, it will also be worrying for Afghanistan's northern Central Asian neighbors and Russia, which has been courting the Taliban for years as an ally against the creeping IS in the region.