2 years after fatal shooting, family questions whether a Black man can stand his ground

Family says fatal shooting case shows ‘stand your ground’ defense doesn’t work for Black men

Marquise Francis
·National Reporter & Producer
Mon, September 19, 2022 

William “Marc” Wilson was recently convicted of involuntary manslaughter for a shooting that he says was in self-defense against a racist attack on a Georgia highway, and his family and lawyers say the case reveals a racial double standard for “stand your ground” laws.

“If you put me in Marc’s shoes, there’s no way that I would've been prosecuted,” Wilson’s cousin, Chance Pridgen, who is white, told Yahoo News. “Odds are I would've been given a medal — probably gotten a parade in my name. It’s unreal how he was treated just because he’s a little bit more tan than I am.”

Wilson, a biracial Black man, 21 years old at the time of the shooting on June 14, 2020, fired his legal handgun at a pickup truck of white teens who he says were yelling racial slurs at him and trying to run him and his white girlfriend off the road near Statesboro, Ga. One of those bullets struck and killed 17-year-old Haley Hutcheson, who was in the back seat of the truck.

Wilson, left, and Haley Hutcheson. (Bulloch County Sheriff's Office via AP, Facebook)

After an emotional seven-day trial late last month in Bulloch County Superior Court, a jury found Wilson guilty of felony-level involuntary manslaughter. Wilson was acquitted on the other charges, including felony murder, which carried with it a potential life prison sentence. He is set to be sentenced Tuesday.

“We believe that this verdict is a verdict that speaks the truth,” Ogeechee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Daphne Totten said outside the court after the Aug. 31 ruling. “We ask juries every day to return verdicts that speak the truth, and the truth in this case is that what Marc Wilson did that night on the bypass was a crime.”

Prosecutors argued that Wilson did not need to fire his weapon, while the defense contends that he exercised legal self-defense under the state’s “stand your ground” law.

A number of states, including Georgia, have implemented the controversial laws loosening the restrictions on using deadly force when threatened, stating there is no duty to retreat first.

The case against Wilson was closely watched by legal experts and civil rights advocates who have long criticized the use of “stand your ground” laws as racist. Perhaps the most high-profile case was the 2012 shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teen. George Zimmerman, who killed Martin, successfully argued that the use of force was justified under Florida’s self-defense laws.

Wilson, right, with his parents. (Photo courtesy of the Wilson family)

Studies have found a significant racial disparity in whether homicides are deemed justified based on the race of the shooter and the person shot. A 2020 study by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights said​​ "white-on-black homicides have justifiable findings 33 percentage points more often than black-on-white homicides,” with “stand your ground” laws exacerbating that disparity.

“This case, among so many others, highlights the urgency in why Georgia must address the racial disparity in Stand Your Ground claims,” James Woodall, a public policy associate with the Southern Center for Human Rights, said in a statement to Yahoo News. “It is troubling that people continue to have to defend themselves against violent behavior, only to be further criminalized by an unjust legal system.”

Wilson’s lead attorney was even blunter. Francys Johnson, a former president of the Georgia NAACP, said his legal team was tasked to stop a “legal lynching" in the case.

“Today this jury spoke as the voice of this community and said that Marc Wilson is no murderer,” Johnson said following the verdict. “They’ve always known that, and now this jury has spoken.”

Under Georgia law, manslaughter can be a felony or a misdemeanor depending on the circumstance. Wilson’s felony conviction carries a penalty of one to 10 years in prison, but Johnson says the judge chose not to instruct the jury on the misdemeanor option.

“If that option had been included as we asked and insisted, this jury would have found Marc guilty of the misdemeanor version of manslaughter and Marc would be coming home,” Johnson told reporters outside the courthouse, according to 11Alive, a local NBC affiliate.

Wilson says he fired in self-defense after Hutcheson's friends yelled racial slurs from a pickup truck and tried to run his car off the road. (Bulloch County Sheriff's Office via AP)

Neither Johnson nor the Ogeechee District Attorney’s Office responded to requests for comment from Yahoo News.

CJ Jenkins, an organizer and JustGeorgia coalition member who has been working as a liaison between the Statesboro community and Wilson’s legal team, says the facts of the case were on the defendant’s side.

“[The teens] admitted to hiding evidence. They admitted to being intoxicated,” Jenkins told Yahoo News. “Whether it’s the DA sharing information with the judge or recalling the judge ... it’s been an uphill battle.”

In February, a senior judge ordered Ogeechee Circuit Superior Court Judge Michael Muldrew, who was originally presiding over the case, to recuse himself from the trial for “disparate handling” of the case. The defense claimed Muldrew met with two of the prosecuting attorneys in private to review emails Wilson sent to his family.

The conflicting stories of the teens who were in the truck the night of the incident have also come into question. The teens claim they never yelled racial slurs that night, but admit that they had been drinking while driving around. At least one of the teens, 18-year-old Luke Harry Conley, was later charged with misdemeanor obstruction of justice for withholding information.

The 2020 shooting occurred just weeks after the murder of George Floyd, a Black man killed by a former Minneapolis police officer. Wilson told detectives that he had been nervous about the confrontation and felt he had no other choice but to stand his ground when he shot at the truck.

“Me and my girlfriend were very scared that night,” Wilson told an officer after the shooting. “A truck full of — all I saw were white males — white males driving their car at me and are flipping me off and yelling racial slurs.”

Wilson, right, with members of his family. (Photo courtesy of the Wilson family)

Wilson’s girlfriend Emma Rigdon, who was with him the night of the shooting, had previously been barred from speaking publicly under a gag order. She told Yahoo News that she was deeply frustrated with how the trial played out.

“My words have been twisted,” she said. “I’ve had to defend myself on the witness stand because I’ve gotten treated like a monster.”

“I didn't realize how bad our justice system is. I didn't realize,” she added, fighting back tears. “And when it affected somebody you love — I feel like I’ve gone through everything he’s gone through for the last two and half years.”

The family, in the few interactions they’ve had, said they see a change in Wilson.

“I've seen him change from a little playful boy to a maturing young man,” SaJuana Williams, Wilson’s aunt, told Yahoo News. “He’s coming into his faith walk because we truly believe that this whole ordeal is a lot bigger than our family. It’s a lot bigger than what the eye can see and even imagine.”

Rigdon says she’s ready to continue standing by Wilson after Tuesday’s sentencing.

“I do believe we've gone through this for a reason and I will continue to stand by Marc,” Rigdon said. “No matter how much people try to keep me quiet, I will still be right there supporting, and I will always support. And I will always stand by him forever.”

_____

Cover thumbnail photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images, Rhona Wise/AFP via Getty Images

Spain's domestic staff fight to end discrimination

Valentin BONTEMPS

Tue, September 20, 2022

For years, Aracely Sanchez went to work without counting her hours, always fearful she could lose her job from one day to the next.

"They would always ask me to do more and more and more, as if I were a machine," she told AFP of her employers at a house in Madrid.

Within a collective of domestic workers, this 39-year-old Mexican has been trying to assert her basic rights to have time off every week, to be paid for working overtime and to have unemployment cover.

But given the precarious nature of this type of work in Spain, it is a challenge.

"There are employers who are very humane and who respect us, but there are many who try to take advantage of the situation," she explained.

"They say: if the job doesn't suit you, there are plenty more where you came from."

According to the Workers Commission union (CCOO), nearly 600,000 women serve as domestic staff in Spain where taking them on for housework, cooking or childcare is widespread.

Of that number, nearly 200,000 are undeclared, working in the black economy without an employment contract.

"Many of them come from Latin America and they don't have papers and find themselves in a very vulnerable situation," said Mari Cruz Vicente, the CCOO's head of activism and employment.

- 'Exposing violations' -

Following a ruling by the EU's Court of Justice (CJEU) and pressure from the unions, the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez adopted a reform this month aiming at ending the "discrimination" suffered by these workers.

Under the changes, dubbed by the government as "settling a historic debt", domestic workers are now entitled to claim unemployment benefits and cannot be dismissed without justification.

They will also be covered by healthcare "protection" and be able to access training to improve their "professional opportunities" and job conditions.

"This is a very important step forward," said Vicente, while stressing the need to step up efforts to register those who are working without a contract and don't benefit from the reform.

"This reform was very necessary," said Constanza Cisneros of the Jeanneth Beltran observatory which specialises in domestic workers' rights.

"Spain was very behind. Every day we have people coming to us whose rights have been violated. We have to end such practices now," she said.

"Such situations have to be exposed."

-'Not seen as people' -

Mexican home help Sanchez has often experienced such abuses in more than two decades of employment.

In 2001, she arrived in Madrid to take up full-time employment caring for an elderly person for 350 euros a month.

She then spent the next 15 years working in short-term jobs, almost always without a contract, despite the fact she had a valid residency permit.

"When I said I wanted a contract, they never called me back. They didn't want to pay contributions," she said, describing her work as "undervalued" with domestic staff seen as "labourers" and not "as people".

Amalia Caballero, a domestic worker from Ecuador, has had a very similar experience.

"We often finish very late, or they change our hours at the last minute assuming we'll just fall in line. But we also have a life that we need to sort out," said Caballero, 60.

She also talks about the "humiliations" often endured by those who live with their employers.

"One time, one of my bosses asked me why I showered every day. It was clear he thought (the hot water) was costing him too much money," she told AFP.

But will such attitudes change with the reform?

"There's still a long way to go," she sighed, saying many domestic staff "have completed their studies" back home and even hold a degree.

"People need to recognise that," she said.

Cisneros agreed.

"Our work needs to command greater respect, not least because it's so necessary. Without staff to pick up the children, run the household and look after elderly people, what would families do?"

vab/hmw/mg/jmm

COPS GET AWAY WITH MURDER
French court convicts policemen over 2015 death of Black man

A lawyer for the family of Amadou Koume says the ruling was satisfying but the sentence was ‘relatively lenient’.

Public anger swelled over racial discrimination following the death of George Floyd after being murdered by police in the United States 

[File: Jonathan Drake/Reuters]

Published On 20 Sep 2022

A French court on Tuesday found three police officers guilty of manslaughter over the death of a Black man in Paris in 2015.

Each was sentenced to a 15-month suspended jail term, a judge said.

Amadou Koume died after he was pinned to the ground by officers in a bar, put in a chokehold and subsequently left on his front, his hands cuffed behind his back, for more than six minutes.

Koume, whose name has become a protest slogan against police violence in some communities, died as the result of slow “mechanical asphyxia” according to a medical expert, the court heard during the trial.

“To hear the word ‘guilty’ is satisfying, but the sentence is relatively lenient,” Eddy Arneton, a lawyer for the Koume family, told reporters after the verdict.

The prosecutor had sought a one-year suspended sentence, deeming that necessary and proportionate force had been used to immobilise Koume but that the officers were negligent in leaving him on his front.

Following Koume’s death, 24-year-old Black Frenchman Adama Traore died in the custody of French police in a Paris suburb, in July 2016.

Traore was apprehended by three gendarmes following a dispute over an identity check. He reportedly lost consciousness in their vehicle and died at a nearby police station.

News of Traore’s death caused anger and despair in the suburbs.

Days of protests followed and some members of the local community clashed with police, setting cars and buildings alight.

Rights groups say accusations of brutal, racist treatment of residents of often immigrant backgrounds by French police remain largely unaddressed, in particular in deprived city suburbs.

In 2020, public anger swelled over racial discrimination following the death of George Floyd in the United States at the hands of police. Caught on video, Floyd’s death sparked worldwide protests by hundreds of thousands of people that rocked politics in the US and beyond.

The French government at the time promised “zero tolerance” for racism within law enforcement agencies.

Police unions responded by accusing the government of scapegoating it for deep-rooted divisions in French society.

Facebook parent Meta in EU setback against German rules

• AFP
•  September 20, 2022

Meta was banned by German authorities from collecting user data 

and linking the information to the person’s Facebook account for advertising purposes

Berlin – Facebook’s parent company Meta on Tuesday suffered a setback in its challenge against German antitrust rules as a top adviser to the EU Court of Justice backed the regulator.

Meta’s challenge came after it was banned by the German authority from collecting data from its various services including Instagram and WhatsApp, and linking the information to the Facebook account of the user for advertising purposes.

The German Federal Competition Authority had prohibited Meta from the data processing practice after finding that it constituted an abuse of the company’s dominant position on the social network market. 

Facebook had challenged the German decision at a court in Duesseldorf, which had sent the case on to the European court.

On Tuesday, the EU court’s advocate general said that while the antitrust authority does not have the jurisdiction to rule on an infringement of data protection rules, compliance with such rules could be taken as an “important indicator” in ascertaining if an entity has breached competition rules.

The court adviser also noted that a ban on processing sensitive personal data, such as an individual’s ethnic origin, health or sexual orientation, could apply in this case.

In order for an exemption to the prohibition concerning such data to apply, the user “must be fully aware that, by an explicit act, he is making personal data public”.

The advocate general added that the “conduct consisting in visiting websites and apps, entering data into those websites and apps and clicking on buttons integrated into them cannot, in principle, be regarded in the same way as conduct that manifestly makes public the user’s sensitive personal data”.

The advocate general’s opinion is non-binding but it often indicates which way the court will rule.

Hong Kong Arrests Harmonica Player For Sedition At Queen Vigil

09/20/22 
H

Hong Kongers have left a field of bouquets outside the British consulate 

AFP / Peter PARKS


A Hong Konger who played a harmonica to a crowd outside the British consulate during Elizabeth II's funeral was arrested for sedition, police and local media said Tuesday.

Crowds of Hong Kongers have queued to pay tribute to Britain's late monarch this week, some expressing nostalgia for the city's colonial past at a time when Beijing is seeking to purge dissent.

Hundreds gathered outside the consulate on Monday evening as Britain was holding a state funeral, sharing livestreams on phones as well as laying candles and flowers.

At one point, a man started to play songs on a harmonica, according to an AFP reporter on the scene, including the British national anthem and "Glory To Hong Kong", a popular song during huge, sometimes violent pro-democracy protests three years ago.

The mourners outside the consulate applauded the performance and shone their phone lights, with many later shouting the protest chant "Hong Kongers add oil" and singing "Glory To Hong Kong".

Local reporters later photographed the harmonica player being questioned by police and detained.

On Tuesday, police said a 43-year-old man surnamed Pang was arrested outside the consulate for "seditious acts".

A police source confirmed to AFP that the man arrested was the harmonica player.

After 2019's democracy protests, China has cracked down on dissent in Hong Kong using national security legislation and charges of sedition.

The latter is a colonial-era law that had fallen into obscurity for decades until prosecutors dusted it off in the aftermath of the protests.

The song "Glory to Hong Kong" contains the popular protest chant "liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times" which has been declared by the courts to be a threat to national security.

A man in his 60s was charged earlier this year for performing without a license after playing the song on his er-hu, a Chinese two-stringed instrument, at a bus terminus.

Oliver Ma, a Filipino-Hong Kong busker, was arrested three times in 2020 and 2021 when singing the English version of the protest song on Hong Kong streets.

Hong Kong was a British colony for over 150 years and while the financial hub was returned to China in 1997, the past is engraved into its landscape, from street names and the ubiquity of English to the common law legal system.

In the week since Elizabeth II's death more than 13,000 people signed a condolence book in the city's British consulate.

DICTATORSHIP

Tunisia's anti-terrorism police detain Ennahda leaders

Tunisia's anti-terrorism police detained for one day Ali Laarayedh, a former prime minister and senior official in the Islamist opposition Ennahda party, after an investigation into suspicions of sending jihadists to Syria, lawyers said on Tuesday.

Sensitive offshore gas field key to Israeli energy strategy

By

 Canada Express News

 -

September 20, 2022

Israel is preparing to activate an offshore gas field near its disputed maritime border with Lebanon, with the aim of boosting energy exports to Europe, but is threatening further tensions with its northern neighbor.

Israel and Lebanon, still technically at war, have been in on-off US-brokered talks since 2020 to demarcate their Mediterranean border, which could allow both countries to boost offshore natural gas exploration. .

But the Karish gas field has emerged as a potential pitfall.

Israel says Karish, licensed to London-listed Energean, is entirely in its exclusive economic zone.

Lebanon has claimed that part of the field is falling into its own waters.

The powerful Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah launched unarmed drones at Karish in July after Energean fielded a production ship. It has threatened attacks if Israel continues its extraction.

Israeli officials have consistently said Hezbollah’s threats against Karish would not deter production, stressing that control of the field was not in question.

“Israel believes it is both possible and necessary to agree on a maritime border between Lebanon and Israel in a way that will serve the interests of the citizens of both countries,” Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in a statement on Monday.

“The production of gas from the Karish rig is not linked to these negotiations, and production of gas from the rig will start as soon as possible,” he added.

For Israel, ensuring the production of Karish is critical to achieving its goal of increasing energy exports to Europe, which seeks to fill the supply gaps caused by declining Russian sales due to the war in Ukraine.

“We are going to be part of the effort to replace Russian gas in Europe,” said Lapid, who stood next to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin last week.

Israel aimed to supply “10 percent” of what Moscow supplied to Europe ahead of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, Lapid said.

– Tensions in Lebanon –

Israel’s options to boost gas exports to Europe are complex and challenging.

But experts agree that the best short-term option is to ramp up sales to Egypt, allowing Israeli gas to liquefy before shipping to Europe.

Israel and Egypt signed an agreement until June to work together on that effort.

But if Israel wants to send more gas from its Leviathan and Tamar fields to Egypt while meeting its domestic energy needs, it must “have stable production of Karish,” Israeli gas industry specialist Gina Cohen told CEN.

She said Israeli plans to increase exports to Europe also depend on expanding the capacity of the existing pipeline to Egypt.

Despite “Lapid talk,” Israel “isn’t there yet,” she said.

Israel’s longer-term gas export goals could be met by building a pipeline to Turkey, a scenario with brighter prospects amid warming ties between Ankara and Israel.

But officials estimate this could take up to three years and cost $1.5 billion.

Another option is the EastMed project, a proposed seabed pipeline linking Israel to Cyprus and Greece, but there are also concerns about the cost and viability of that project.

During the US-brokered talks, Lebanon initially demanded 860 square kilometers (330 square miles) in the disputed sea area, but then asked for another 1,430 square kilometers, including part of the Karish field.

Beirut changed its position in June, telling US envoy Amos Hochstein it was willing to withdraw its demand for territory where Israel wanted to extract gas in the short term.

But Hezbollah’s threats against Karish have persisted, and former Israeli general Amir Avivi warned that the risk of hostilities is possible even if both governments want to see increased, stable gas production.

“Hezbollah is actually using the Karish issue and this maritime dispute to show that they are the ones who care about Lebanon’s interests,” he said.

Cyprus, Israel pledge quick deal in gas field dispute

Mon, September 19, 2022

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Israel and Cyprus said Monday that they have made “significant” headway in resolving a long-running dispute over an offshore natural gas deposit and say they are committed to quickly reaching a deal as Europe looks for new energy sources.

Cyprus Energy Minister Natasa Pilides and her Israeli counterpart, Karine Elharrar, held talks in the Cypriot capital, pledging to press toward a “fair and swift resolution.”

Israel claims that a portion of Cyprus’ Aphrodite deposit estimated to hold some 4.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas falls inside its nearby Ishai field, along an offshore demarcation line that separates the two countries' exclusive economic zones.

Negotiations have stretched for several years, but Europe’s need to wean itself off Russian energy sources since the war in Ukraine appears to have added a new sense of urgency to the talks. Russia has cut back natural gas supplies to Europe, driving up prices.

“In light of the global energy crisis and the growing need for natural gas in Europe, I believe it is in our best interest that both parties should expedite a swift, transparent and fair settlement,” Elharrar said in a joint statement. “The trust between us and the continuation of fruitful cooperation in the various fields are very important for both parties.”

Pilides said the sides have made “significant progress” in fleshing out a roadmap that an expert appointed by both countries will follow to hammer out a compromise deal, adding that discussions will continue in the following weeks.

“Cyprus and Israel share a common vision for fully unlocking the potential of Eastern Mediterranean gas resources, thereby diversifying energy sources and routes to Europe,” Pilides said.

Chevron and partners Shell and Israeli NewMed Energy own the drilling rights to the Aphrodite field and have said that a plan to develop the deposit will be ready by the end of the year. Another well will be drilled in the coming months to gather additional information about the deposit’s size.

Pilides said last month that processing extracted gas at facilities in Idku, Egypt, is among the four development options being studied.

Prospects for the Aphrodite field as well as other gas deposits discovered off Cyprus received a boost after the European Union confirmed that natural gas could act as a bridge fuel until 2050 as part of the bloc’s transition to cleaner energy. Environmental groups have begun legal challenges, accusing the EU of derailing its commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Menelaos Hadjicostis, The Associated Press

Israeli PM vows to begin production in contested gas field

Israel's Prime Minister Yair Lapid attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, on Sept. 18, 2022

. Israel's prime minister on Monday, Sept. 19, 2022 vowed to begin production at a contested 

Mediterranean natural gas field “as soon as it is possible,” threatening to raise tensions with 

Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group.(Ronaldo Schemidt/Pool Photo via AP)

Reublished September 19, 2022 - 12:24 PM

Original Publication Date September 19, 2022 - 11:41 AM

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's prime minister on Monday vowed to begin production at a contested Mediterranean natural gas field “as soon as it is possible,” threatening to raise tensions with Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group.

Yair Lapid's announcement in a statement from his office came at a sensitive time in long-running efforts by a U.S. mediator to resolve a dispute over the countries' maritime border. U.S. officials have said they are making progress, but need more time to reach a solution.

Lapid said it is “both possible and necessary” to reach an agreement with Lebanon, which he said would benefit both countries and “strengthen regional stability.”

But he said that production from the Karish gas field is not connected to the negotiations and “will commence without delay, as soon as it is possible.”

Israel set up a gas rig at Karish in June, saying the field is part of its U.N.-recognized exclusive economic zone. Lebanon insists Karish is in disputed waters.

In July, the Israeli military shot down three unarmed Hezbollah drones flying over the Karish field. Hezbollah’s leader issued a warning to Israel over the maritime dispute, saying that “any arm” that reaches to steal Lebanon’s wealth “will be cut off.”

The heavily armed Hezbollah, which fought a monthlong war against Israel in 2006, has repeatedly said in the past that it would use its weapons to protect Lebanon’s economic rights. Still, Hezbollah officials have said they would endorse a deal reached between Lebanon’s government and Israel. Israel considers Hezbollah to be one of its greatest threats.

The two countries, which have been officially at war since Israel’s creation in 1948, both claim some 860 square kilometers (330 square miles) of the Mediterranean Sea. Lebanon hopes to unleash offshore oil and gas production as it grapples with the worst economic crisis in its modern history.

Eleven schoolchildren killed in Myanmar air strike: UNICEF

Issued on: 20/09/2022 -

he Sagaing region has seen some of the fiercest fighting, and clashes between anti-coup fighters and the military have seen entire villages burned down 

STR AFP

Yangon (AFP) – At least 11 schoolchildren died in an air strike and firing on a Myanmar village, the United Nations children's agency said, an attack the country's junta said targeted rebels hiding in the area.

Myanmar has been in chaos since the military seized power in a coup in February last year, with nearly 2,300 civilians killed in a crackdown on dissent according to a local monitoring group.

The Sagaing region in the country's northwest has seen some of the fiercest fighting, and clashes between anti-coup fighters and the military have seen entire villages burned down.

The UN children's agency UNICEF condemned Friday's violence in Depeyin township in Sagaing.

"On 16 September, at least 11 children died in an air strike and indiscriminate fire in civilian areas," UNICEF said in a statement issued Monday.

It said schools must be safe and never targeted.

"At least 15 children from the same school are still missing," UNICEF said, calling for their immediate safe release.

Video footage obtained from a local community group shows a classroom with blood on the floor, damage to the roof and a mother crying over her son's dead body.
'They just attacked'

The junta said they had sent troops in helicopters to Let Yet Kone village after receiving a tip-off that fighters from the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) -- an ethnic rebel group -- and from a local anti-coup militia were moving weapons in the area.

The military accused the rebel fighters of using civilians as human shields, and said it had seized mines and explosives from the village.

"Security members gave necessary medical treatment and arranged to send patients to a nearby hospital," the military said in a statement.

Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun on Tuesday accused the KIA of taking villagers to a monastery and then firing on troops from there.

A villager contacted by AFP rejected the military's suggestions there were fighters in the area.

"They just attacked the school. They say someone attacked them, then they fought back but this is not true," said the villager, who spoke on condition of anonymity for their own safety.

The villager said the military had taken away some of the bodies and detained a number of people, including children and teachers.

Save the Children Asia Regional Director Hassan Noor expressed condolences to the families and said schools should be off-limits and the safety of students protected.

"How many more incidents like this need to take place before action is taken?" Noor said, urging the UN Security Council and Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to take swift action.

ASEAN has led so far fruitless diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis in Myanmar and its leaders will meet in Phnom Penh in November to discuss limited progress on a peace plan.

© 2022 AFP

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/09/witnesses-myanmar-air-attack-kills-13.html

Protests in Iran over death of woman in police custody 'turn deadly'


Five people were killed in Iran's Kurdish region on Monday when security forces opened fire during protests over the death of a woman in police custody, a Kurdish rights group said, on a third day of turmoil over an incident that has ignited nationwide anger.

Protests in Iran over death of woman in police custody 'turn deadly'© via Reuters

Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old from Iran's Kurdistan province, fell into a coma and died following her arrest in Tehran last week by the morality police, sparking demonstrations in numerous areas including the capital.

Two of the people were killed as security forces opened fire on protesters in the Kurdish city of Saqez, Amini's hometown, the Hengaw Human Rights Organization said on Twitter.

It said two more were killed in the town of Divandarreh "by direct fire" from security forces, and a fifth was killed in Dehgolan, also in the Kurdish region.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

There was no official confirmation of the deaths. The official news agency IRNA said there were "limited" protests in a number of cities in seven provinces that were dispersed by police.

State TV said a number of protesters had been arrested but rejected "some claims of deaths on social media" by showing two injured youths who denied reports they had been killed.

In the nationwide condemnations of Amini's death, the Persian hashtag #MahsaAmini reached nearly 2 million Twitter mentions.

The police have said Amini fell ill as she waited with other women held by the morality police, who enforce strict rules in the Islamic republic requiring women to cover their hair and wear loose fitting clothes in public.

But her father has repeatedly said his daughter had no health problems, adding that she had suffered bruises to her legs. He held the police responsible for her death.

The protests have been most intense in the Kurdish region, where the authorities have previously put down unrest by the Kurdish minority numbering 8 million to 10 million.

Hengaw said 75 people were injured on Monday.

A video posted on Twitter by Hengaw showed protesters throwing rocks while a man could be heard saying "there is a war in Divandarreh" and accusing the police of attacking.

Internet blockage observatory NetBlocks reported "near-total disruption to internet connectivity in Sanandaj" - the provincial capital of the Kurdish region - on Monday, linking it to the protests, according to its Twitter account.

While Hengaw reported deadly force by security forces in the Kurdish region, there were no immediate reports of protest fatalities in other parts of Iran.

Videos on social media showed demonstrations in Tehran and spreading to cities such as Rasht, Mashhad and Isfahan.

A video shared by the 1500tasvir Twitter account, which publishes footage sent by its 70,000 followers, showed police cars with their windows smashed in Tehran, as a nearby security forces' vehicle fired water canon towards protesters.

"People throwing rocks have advanced against the police. Death to the dictator!" a woman can be heard saying.

It also shared footage showing what it said was a protest at a Tehran university against the paramilitary Basij, a militia.

Reuters could not independently verify the videos.

It marks some of Iran's worst unrest since street clashes that began in late 2021 over water shortages.

'Unfortunate incident'

The United States demanded accountability for Amini's death.

"Mahsa Amini’s death after injuries sustained while in police custody for wearing an 'improper' hijab is an appalling and egregious affront to human rights," a White House spokesperson said.

France condemned her arrest, "and the violence that caused her death", the foreign ministry said, calling for a transparent investigation.

Earlier on Monday, Tehran Police commander Hossein Rahimi said "cowardly accusations" had been made against police, that Amini suffered no physical harm, and the police had "done everything" to keep her alive.

"This incident was unfortunate for us and we wish to never witness such incidents," Rahimi said.

The police have released closed-circuit television footage apparently supporting their version of events. Reuters could not authenticate the video.

Offenders against Iran's sharia, or Islamic law, and hijab rules face fines or arrest. But activists have recently urged women to remove veils despite the hardline rulers' crackdown on "immoral behaviour". Read full story

Amini's death could raise tension between the establishment and the Kurdish minority.

Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have put down unrest in the country’s Kurdish areas for decades, and many Kurdish activists have been sentenced to long jail terms or death.

(REUTERS)

Iranian Women Take Off Hijab, Protest Mahsa Amini's Death After Detention By 'Morality Police'

 

Iranian anti-riot unit attend funeral of a woman killed after being beaten by morality police

Sep 17, 2022
The Telegraph

Mahsa Amini was taken inside a police van and allegedly attacked by Iran’s Guardian Patrols, known also as morality police, and slipped into a coma shortly afterward. Iranian media reported on Friday evening that she had died of her injuries. Two of Iran’s senior ayatollahs have said the country’s feared morality police are illegal and un-Islamic as violent protests broke out against the supreme leader over the death of a woman beaten for not wearing her hijab properly. The force, known as Gashteh Ershad (guiding vigilantes), is “not only an illegal and anti-Islamic body, but also illogical”, said Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani on Saturday in an official statement.

Fury grows in Iran over woman who died after hijab arrest



Fury grows in Iran over woman who died after hijab arrestNewspapers with Amini, a victim of country's "morality police", are seen in Tehran

Sun, September 18, 2022 

DUBAI (Reuters) - Protests persisted on Sunday and #MahsaAmini became one of the top hashtags ever on Persian-language Twitter as Iranians fumed over the death of a young woman in the custody of morality police enforcing strict hijab rules.

Amini, 22, died on Friday after falling into a coma following her arrest in Tehran earlier in the week. The case has put a spotlight on women's rig
"Authorities have said my daughter suffered from chronic medical conditions. I personally deny such claims as my daughter was fit and had no health problems," Amini's father told pro-reform Emtedad news website on Sunday.

Hundreds of protesters gathered on Sunday around the University of Tehran, shouting "Woman, Life, Freedom", according to online videos.

Reuters could not verify the footage.

Under Iran's sharia, or Islamic law, women are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes. Offenders face public rebuke, fines or arrest. But in recent months activists have urged women to remove veils despite the hardline rulers' crackdown on "immoral behaviour."

SURGING HASHTAG

By Sunday afternoon the Persian hashtag #MahsaAmini had reached 1.63 million mentions on Twitter.

Amini was from the country's Kurdistan region, where there were also protests on Saturday, including at the funeral in her hometown Saqez.

Between 8 to 10 million Kurds live in Iran. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have put down unrest in the country’s Kurdish areas for decades, and the hardline judiciary has sentenced many activists to long jail terms or death.

Police repressed the demonstrations in Saqez. According to videos posted online at least one man had a head injury. Reuters could not authenticate the videos.

Behzad Rahimi, a member of parliament for Saqez, told the semi-official ILNA news agency that a few people were wounded at the funeral. "One of them was hospitalised in the Saqez Hospital after being hit in the intestines by ballbearings," he said.

Kurdish rights group Hengaw said, however, that 33 people were injured in Saqez. Reuters could not independently confirm the number.

(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Frances Kerry)