Sunday, November 06, 2022

Up To 10 Feared Killed In Protest Crackdown In Eastern Iranian City

NOVEMBER 5, 2022
AKHTAR SAFI

Mostly Sunni Baluchis have long faced discrimination at the hands of the authorities in majority Shia Iran.

Iranian officials say at least 620 Baluchis have been arrested during weeks of anti-government protests in Sistan and Baluchestan, as human rights activists fear a crackdown by security forces on demonstrators in the restive eastern province left up to 10 people dead on November 5.

Armed forces fired shots and tear gas at protesters who had gathered in several cities across Sistan and Baluchestan, an impoverished region where ethnic Baluchis make up the majority of the population. The mostly Sunni ethnic group has long faced discrimination at the hands of the authorities in majority Shia Iran.

In Khash, security forces fired live ammunition at demonstrators from the rooftops, according to footage shared online accounts from eyewitnesses.

"The crackdown is feared to have left up to 10 people including children dead and dozens more injured. Amnesty is gravely concerned about further bloodshed amid internet disruptions and reports of authorities bringing more security forces to Khash from Zahedan," Amnesty International said in a tweet.

The London-based human rights organization urged Iranian authorities to “immediately rein in security forces,” and called on the international community to “immediately raise concern with Iran's ambassadors and support the establishment of independent investigative mechanism” by the UN Human Rights Council.

The provincial capital, Zahedan, was the scene of a violent crackdown on September 30 in which security forces killed 92 people, including 12 children, according to IranWire sources. Four security forces were also killed that day, dubbed Zahedan’s Black Friday.

The incident was the deadliest in the widespread protests triggered by the September 16 death of the 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of morality police.

Ali Mustafavinia, the chief justice of Sistan and Baluchistan, said on November 5 that "cases have been filed for 252 [Baluchis] -- 146 of them are still in custody and 106 will be freed to go after paying bail. 368 people have already been released on bail.”

Forty-five people have already been sentenced, according to Mustafavinia, who didn’t provide further details.

Death sentences have been handed against dozens of people across the country for their alleged participation in the nationwide protests, sparking international condemnation.

Several thousand people were arrested across Iran in the fierce crackdown by security forces on the mainly peaceful protest movement, detainees were subjected to torture, and more than 270 people were killed, including over 40 children. Dozens of security forces have also been killed in the unrest, according to state media.
Iranian rapper held, ‘tortured to confess’ after speaking out against govt

Activists have condemned the arrest of Toomaj Salehi, a rapper, as a video of him in custody purportedly made to give a forced confession amid ongoing anti-hijab protests in Iran was released by the state media.


India Today Web Desk
New Delhi
Nov 6, 2022 

Salehi is the latest prominent figure to be arrested in a mass crackdown that has seen dozens of journalists, lawyers, civil society and cultural figures arrested. (Photo: Twitter)

Toomaj Salehi, a popular singer and activist, has been arrested by Iranian security forces as a crackdown on anti-hijab voices continues in Iran. The rapper was taken to an undisclosed location by troops, Iranian media reported.

Iranian state media claim Salehi was arrested while trying to cross one of the country's western borders, but his family have denied this, saying he was in the southwestern provinces of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari at the time.

Toomaj had used his popular media platforms to speak against Iranian authorities and support the nationwide protests in the weeks after the death of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Amini, Al-Monitor said in a report.

READ | ‘I too was stopped by morality police’: Actor strips in support of Iran's anti-hijab protests

The rapper's uncle Eghbal Eghbali on Instagram revealed that Toomaj is being subjected to the "cruelest methods of torture". He called on the Iranian people and the international community to save the life of Toomaj.

ALSO READ | Iranians knock turbans off clerics as part of anti-hijab protests

Meanwhile, the Iranian government has said that Toomaj faces charges of “propaganda against the state". Former Iranian diplomat Mohammad Mousavian also accused him of playing a “key role” in encouraging anti-hijab protests in the city of Shahinshahr, an Iranian news agency reported.

RAPPER'S 'BLOODY' CONFESSION

Hours after Toomaj's arrest, videos surfaced of the rapper appearing blindfolded and kneeling. He is heard saying in the video, in a shaking voice, that he made a mistake.

"I am Toomaj Salehi. I said I made a mistake. I said... that you should run. I didn't mean you," AFP quoted him as saying in custody.

Activists have alleged that the confession was forced. Atena Daemi on Twitter lashed out at “extracting a confession with traces of blood and pain” on her official Twitter account.

ALSO READ | Iranian security forces target university campuses as anti-hijab protests swell

Salehi is the latest prominent figure to be arrested in a mass crackdown that has seen dozens of journalists, lawyers, civil society and cultural figures arrested. His detention came shortly after giving an interview highly critical of the regime to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Earlier, there were reports that celebrity chef Mehrshad Shahidi, who was also known as Iran's Jamie Oliver, was allegedly beaten to death by the nation's Revolutionary Guard forces the day before his 20th birthday.

ALSO READ | Singers, actors in Iran face action for supporting anti-hijab protests

Like Shahidi, hundreds of people have been reportedly killed by Iranian security forces during the protests which began following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died while in the custody of Iran's morality police after being arrested for not wearing her hijab properly.

 Anti-regime protest in Iran. Photo Credit: PMOI/MEK.

Iran’s Democratic Revolution Gains Momentum Despite Brutal Crackdown – OpE

By 

The nationwide uprising across Iran is entering its 51st day on Saturday after the regime’s oppressive security forces committed yet another massacre this time in the city of Khash in Sistan & Baluchestan Province of southeast Iran. Despite the lethal crackdown and killing of at least twenty locals in Khash, people of this province and cities throughout the country are standing their ground firm and relentlessly pursuing their escalating protests to bring an end to the mullahs’ rule once and for all.  

Protests in Iran have to this day expanded to at least 214 cities. Over 530 people have been killed and more than 25,000 are arrested by the regime’s forces, according to sources of Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). The names of 346 killed protesters have been published by the PMOI/MEK. 

Initial reports on Saturday indicate authorities on various campuses are inspecting college students’ backpacks and purses, and even insulting them prior to allowing them to enter the perimeters. This has the potential to spark a new wave of protests by college students across the country. In Tehran, such reports were received from the Sharif University of Technology and the Islamic Azad University-North Branch. Students at a university in Mashhad were also reporting similar issues.

Students of many universities across the country have been protesting today and chanting anti-regime slogans. In Tehran, the country’s capital, students of Tehran, Kharazmi, Allameh Tabataba’i, Sharif, the Islamic Azad University Science and Research Branch, Amir Kabir, the Islamic Azad University Tehran North Branch, Pardis North, and the Islamic Azad University Science and Research Branch have been chanting slogans against the mullahs’ rule and oppression. 

In Karaj, just west of Tehran, students of Kharazmi University were seen chanting “Death to Khamenei! Damned be Khomeini!”

Students of Tehran and Allameh Tabataba’i universities were specifically heard chanting:
“Death to the oppressor! Be it the Shah or [Khamenei]!”

In other reports, locals in the restive city of Saqqez, the hometown of Mahsa Amini, were reporting that merchants and store owners are on strike in solidarity with the nationwide general uprising. Similar reports are incoming from merchants of Tajrish Square in Tehran and the Hesarak district of Karaj, just west of the Iranian capital.

Night rallies on Saturday have begun with locals in the city of Neyshabur of northeast Iran taking to the streets and chanting “Death to the dictator!” in reference to regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Similar reports are incoming from the city of Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan Province, western Iran, Karaj, Marivan, and Saqqez, where locals are also establishing roadblocks.

On Friday, protests resumed in the province of Sistan & Baluchestan despite heavy security measures by the regime. In Khash, protesters resisted the regime’s repressive forces and attacked the governor’s office. And in Rask, despite heavy security measures, the citizens held their protest rallies. There are dozens of locals wounded after security forces opened fire on the protesters. Activists say the city hospital cannot cope with the high number of wounded patients. Latest reports indicate at least twenty people were killed and more than 60 were injured by the regime’s oppressive security forces. 

In Zahedan, the people held a large protest rally after Friday prayers and called for the overthrow of the mullahs’ regime and the rule of regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei. Activists say authorities are also using snipers in targeting the protesters. 

In Saravan, locals held protest rallies at a mosque and chanted anti-regime slogans including “Death to Khamenei!” Security forces attacked and opened fire on them, but the protesters continued their rallies and resisted the repressive forces. Similar protests were also reported in the city of Suran. 

In Tehran, locals in the capital’s Javadieh district started establishing roadblocks and protesters were chanting “This is the year Seyed Ai (Khamenei) will be overthrown.” Activists say the regime’s security forces were firing tear gas and using shotgun pellet rounds. The protesters, however, were standing their ground in the face of these crackdown measures. 

Nightly protests took shape in several cities on Friday, including Bushehr, Bandar Lengeh, and the highways of Kurdistan and Ilam provinces. Protesters lit fires and set roadblocks to prevent the movement of security forces. At the same time, citizens were chanting anti-regime slogans and calling for regime change. 

Throughout the day people in numerous cities held memorial ceremonies marking the 40th day of various protesters killed by the regime’s oppressive security forces in the early days of the Iranian uprising. Such ceremonies were held in Isfahan for Shirin Alizadeh and Fereydoun Mahmoudi, in Karaj for Kanan Aghaie, in Shahin Shahr for Mohammad Hassan Torkaman, and in Oshnavieh for Abdolsalam Ghader Galvan. These ceremonies are quickly evolving into anti-regime protests and authorities respond by opening fire and launching tear gas to disperse the crowds. 

Iranian opposition NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi strongly condemned the regime’s brutality on Friday and called on the international community to support the Iranian people. “Our Baluch compatriots rose today in Zahedan, Saravan, Suran, Rask, and Khash, chanting “Death to Khamenei!” and “Death to Basiji!” The courageous youths in Khash defended themselves against security forces’ shooting. I urge all youths to rush to the aid of the wounded,” she said. 

“We urge Europe and the entire world to: Recognize the Iranian people’s right to self-defense; recognize their right to struggle to overthrow religious fascism and establish freedom, democracy, and human rights,” the NCRI President-elect continued. 

The protests in Iran began following the death of Mahsa Amini. Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, a 22-year-old woman from the city of Saqqez in Kurdistan Province, western Iran, who traveled to Tehran with her family, was arrested on Tuesday, September 13, at the entry of Haqqani Highway by the regime’s so-called “Guidance Patrol” and transferred to the “Moral Security” agency. 

She was brutally beaten by the morality police and died of her wounds in a Tehran hospital on September 16. The event triggered protests that quickly spread across Iran and rekindled the people’s desire to overthrow the regime. 

Mahmoud Hakamian writes for PMOI/MEK, which published this article

Anti-regime protest in Iran. Photo Credit: PMOI/MEK.

The Women Who Fight Against The Ayatollahs From The Kurdish Mountains

PAK fighters carry the body of a fellow fighter after the last Iranian bombing
of their bases in Iraq's Kurdistan Region (Courtesy PAK)

November 6, 2022 IPS 0 Comments
By IPS
By Karlos Zurutuza

It usually takes hours of driving in a 4X4 before heading out on foot through a dense forest. There, protected under a sea of beech trees from the view of the drones, it is the guerrillas of the PJAK (Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan) who find us.

We are somewhere in the mountains across the border between Iran and Iraq. We cannot give our coordinates, nor can we photograph the guerrilla fighters or any spatial references that may give clues about their location. That’s the deal.

The PJAK is an organization made up mainly of Kurdish men and women from Iran fighting for the democratization of the country through the lines of “democratic confederalism,” a libertarian-left, culturally progressive ideology and political system defined by Abdullah Ă–calan. He is the co-founder and leader of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) in prison since 1999 and sentenced to life by the Turkish state.

Two women in their thirties invite us to take a seat around a table inside a humble mountain hut. One of them is Zilan Vejin, the co-president of PJAK. We ask her about the most pressing issue: the chain of protests in Iran that are challenging the Shia theocracy in power since 1979.

It was last September 16 when Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, was beaten to death by the Iranian “morality police” for wearing the Islamic headscarf incorrectly. Since then, thousands of men and women have taken to the streets chanting “Women, Life, Freedom”, a slogan that, Vejin recalls, was coined by her movement during a 2013 meeting.

“The problem of women’s freedom is an issue whose importance was identified, analyzed and defined by our leadership 40 years ago. Today, all the peoples of Iran are facing it,” the guerrilla fighter tells IPS.

Several international organizations such as Amnesty International have denounced the difficulties of ethnic minorities -such as Kurds, Baluch or Arabs- in accessing education, employment or housing.

In addition to socioeconomic discrimination, all women regardless of their ethnicity have seemingly become the target of the theocratic government.

In its latest report on the country, Human Rights Watch denounced the marginalization of half the population in matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and child custody. The lack of options for women in situations such as domestic violence or child marriage is also noted by the NGO.

Could this civil uprising put an end to all this? The PJAK co-leader is optimistic.

“This revolt is very different from all those that have occurred in the 43 years that the ayatollahs have spent in power. It started in Kurdistan led by women, and from there it spread throughout the country because it brings together people of all nationalities within Iran,” claims the senior guerrilla fighter.

The hijab, she stresses, is “the excuse for a revolt that calls for freedom and democracy. People don’t just want reforms without seeking to change the current policies, the system and the administration”.

On whether the armed struggle can be one of the means to achieve it, Vejin sticks to the right to “legitimate defense”.

“The armed struggle is only a part of our strength that also includes civil, social and democratic actions. Of course, if the State commits massacres, we will not remain idle,” says the Kurdish woman.

On the Iranian board

PJAK militia women are not the only Kurdish women in Iran ready to take up arms. There are women fighting alongside men in the ranks of the PDKI (Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan), while the PAK (Kurdistan Freedom Party) even has an all-female contingent.

The latter’s ultimate goal is the creation of an independent Kurdish state that includes the four parts into which it is currently divided (Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria).

Hana Hussein Yazdanpana, the spokesperson for the PAK women’s contingent, spoke to IPS by telephone from an unspecified location in the mountains. Apparently, their bases in the valley have become a recurring target for Iranian missiles.

“The last one happened on September 28: we lost ten of ours and 21 were injured. Iran has threatened us with doing it again if we don’t stop supporting the protests and giving shelter to those fleeing the country,” explained Yazdanpana.

According to her, the PAK has 3,000 Peshmerga (“Those who face death,” in Kurdish) fighters. One-third are women who received training from the American and German contingents, among others, included in the international coalition against the Islamic State.

They have also fought Tehran-backed Shiite militias operating on Iraqi soil. As to whether they will take advantage of that experience to fight against the ayatollahs, Yazdanpana was blunt.

“The fight must be peaceful. The protest will only be successful if the free world openly supports the people and takes action against the Islamic Republic.”

Other than in the Kurdish mountains, the guerrillas can also be found on the Internet. On its website, the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan defines itself as “a social democratic party that advocates for a free and democratic federal Iran.”

With its bases in the southeastern corner of the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Iraq -very close to the border with Iran- Komala claims to be the first Kurdish organization to ever set up a battalion of women fighters, back in 1982.

“When Komala was founded in 1969 one of its main pillars, besides socialism and Kurdish self-determination, was gender equality,” Zagros Khosravi, a member of its central committee, told IPS over the phone.

He pointed to a contingent of “a few hundred fighters deployed in the mountains,” but insisted that their main strength lies in the “thousands” that can be mobilized inside Iran. “Many of them have been trained in civil resistance tactics,” noted the guerrilla.

One of the most recent milestones, he added, was the creation, together with the PDKI, of a cooperation node between Kurdish-Iranian political parties. “You can see the result in the high level of participation of the Kurdish nation in these protests,” he added.

From the Kurdish Peace Institute, Kamal Chomani, a Kurdish affairs analyst, told IPS over the phone that coordination between the Kurdish-Iranian organizations will be “key” if a potential escalation of violence against the protests leads to an open armed conflict with the regime.

The differences between the different Kurdish-Iranian organizations, he added, respond to the diversity of the Kurdish political arc as a whole.

“Whereas in Syria and Turkey the majority of Kurds subscribe to a leftist, progressive and communalist ideology, in Iran and Iraq we come across a nationalist and traditionalist variable in which tribal keys are also crucial,” explained Chomani.

As to how these actors are deployed on the troubled Iranian chessboard, the expert foresees this scenario:

“The PJAK is the one with the most experience in guerrilla warfare due to its links with the PKK and they have great organizational capacity. The PDKI and Komala have strong roots in Iran because they have been very active politically and militarily since the 1970s, and that will allow them to mobilize fighters within the country.”

Meanwhile, Iranian women continue to take to the streets. According to data from the HRANA news agency -managed by human rights activists-an estimated 300 have been killed since the protests began. The number of detainees now exceeds 13,000.

IPS is a communication institution with a global news agency at its core. IPS raises the voices of the South and civil society. Articles here are reprinted with permission
UPPER CLASS WANKER

SIR
Keir Starmer Criticised For Saying The NHS Is Recruiting 'Too Many People From Overseas'

The Labour leader has been accused of "grubby dog-whistling" over immigration.

By Kevin Schofield
06/11/2022 

A CUR IN THE HEADLIGHTS

SIR Keir Starmer has come under fire for his stance on immigration.
KIRSTY O'CONNOR VIA PA WIRE/PA IMAGES

Keir Starmer has been criticised for saying the NHS is recruiting too many people from overseas.

The Labour leader said “we should be training people in this country” as he set out his plans to control immigration.

But Starmer came under fire for his comments, with SNP MP Stewart McDonald accusing him of “grubby dog-whistling”.

Speaking to BBC Scotland, Starmer said: “What I would like to see is the numbers go down in some areas.

“I think we are recruiting too many people from overseas in, for example, the health service, but on the other hand if we need high-skilled people in innovation and tech to set up factories, etc, then I would encourage that, so I don’t think there’s an overall number here, some areas will need to go down, other areas will need to go up.”

At the Labour conference in Liverpool last month, the party leader unveiled plans to recruit 7,500 staff to the NHS across the UK.

Starmer added: “We should be training people in this country, of course we need some immigration but we need to train people in this country.

“What we’ve done – this is absolutely classic of this Tory government – is short-term fixes, plasters over problems, never a long-term solution and we’re going around and around in circles, every year we have a winter crisis.”

Responding to Starmer’s comments on Twitter, McDonald - the SNP’s defence spokesperson - accused the Labour leader of betraying the efforts of foreign NHS workers during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the pro-Jeremy Corbyn campaign group Momentum said Starmer was “out out of touch with the Labour party and the Labour movement”.
SIR
Keir Starmer says NHS jobs must be filled domestically as he fails to set out democratic route to independence
WHITE RIGHT-WING RASCISM
Too many foreigners are being hired to work for the NHS and the number of immigrants hired into the health service must be reduced in favour of domestically trained staff, the Labour leader has said.
SORRY YOU TRADED CORBY FOR THIS

By Conor Matchett

Sir Keir Starmer’s comments come after analysis by Scottish Labour showed “staffing/inappropriate skill mix” contributed to more than 300 incidents within NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, potentially leading to two deaths at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and 59 "near misses". The party’s public health spokesperson, Paul O’Kane, labelled the issues a “workforce crisis”.

In a wide-ranging interview on BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show, the Labour leader also refused to set out a route to independence for Scotland, despite claiming the union remained a “voluntary” organisation. Sir Keir said that voter priorities of the cost-of-living crisis was the political reason he did not think there should be a referendum.

He also said he would not back a referendum if the Supreme Court back the Scottish Government’s argument that Holyrood can legislate for a vote, currently planned for next October. The SNP’s deputy leader in Westminster, Kirsten Oswald, said Sir Keir’s views on immigration were “incoherent” and “silly”.

Around 6,000 nursing and midwifery pasts are vacant within NHS Scotland, with the Scottish Government spending £8m on hiring 750 nurses and midwives from overseas to help fill staffing gaps. In England, the number of doctors joining the NHS from overseas has risen from 18 per cent to 34 per cent since 2014.

Sir Keir said that he believed “too many people” are being recruited from overseas for the NHS and said people should be trained in this country to fill vacancies rather than immigration. "We don't want open borders,” he said. “Freedom of movement has gone and it's not coming back.

"So that means fair rules, firm rules, a points-based system. What I would like to see is the numbers go down in some areas. I think we're recruiting too many people from overseas into, for example, the health service. But on the other hand, if we need high-skilled people in innovation in tech to set up factories etc, then I would encourage that."

The comments provoked outrage from senior SNP politicians on Twitter, with health secretary Humza Yousaf labelling the comments “increasingly concerning. He said: “Those coming from overseas play a huge role as part of our NHS family. In Scotland we have also been increasing nursing & medical student intake over years. A multi-pronged strategy is required. Labour's anti-immigration rhetoric increasingly concerning as well as short-sighted.”

Sir Keir Starmer made the comments in an interview with The Sunday Show

John Swinney, the deputy first minister, added: “What an awful message to send out to people from other countries who are working in our NHS. Just to compete with the anti-immigration actions of the Tories. To be clear Scotland welcomes people from other countries - especially those in our NHS.”

Starmer, who accused the SNP of presiding over “15 years of failure” while in office, was also asked whether he would back an independence referendum if the Supreme Court rules that the Scottish Parliament should hold one. “It's good the case has gone to court because I think it's better to have legal certainty, so we all know the basis on which we're operating,” he said.

“All the court is going to be able to rule is, if it does rule in favour, is that there could or can be, [that] it's legally permissible to have a referendum. That doesn't answer the political question, which is 'should there be a referendum'? So my argument remains the same.”

He also said that he was focusing on “priorities” of the cost-of-living crisis and the economy when asked if this position was “anti-democratic”. “Politics is about priorities,” he said. “And my priority would be to deal with the issues that are bearing down on people this evening as they look and see whether they can pay the bills.”

The Labour leader also claimed Scotland is not “stuck” in the union and claimed it remains a voluntary arrangement, but repeatedly failed to outline a democratic route to independence for Scotland. Sir Keir, and senior Conservative politicians, have never set out the democratic result that would trigger a referendum. Alister Jack, the Scotland Secretary, has previously pointed to 60 per cent pro-independence support in polling over a prolonged period.

Asked why he “protect[s] democracy across the UK but deny it to the people of Scotland”, Sir Keir claimed Covid-19 recovery was the central reason why the SNP won the Holyrood election last year. He added: “I fundamentally reject the argument that the way you grow the economy is to put a border between Scotland and England.

“I don’t think that will help the economy. I think it will make a bad situation worse, but we have to be clear the priority going into that election has to be the economy, has to be the economy, has to be answering the question people are asking around their kitchen table, which is ‘can I make ends meet?’”

He claimed Scots want an alternative to the UK and Scottish governments, accusing them of using independence as a distraction for their “records of failure”. He claimed Scottish votes are required for a Labour government to win the next general election.

“I want a Labour government that represents the whole of the United Kingdom and that’s why the road for me to a Labour government runs through Scotland,” he said. “Scotland matters hugely to me and my Labour Party.”

Kirsten Oswald, deputy leader of the SNP in Westminster, said the Conservatives and Labour are “both very much parties of Brexit” and that was not where the future of Scotland lies. She said: “There is this issue of democracy. [Keir Starmer] thinks it is somehow for him to say that people in Scotland can’t have an independence referendum despite them having voted for that.

"It’s not for Keir Starmer or anyone else to decide that he has the right to decide what decisions people in Scotland will make. They’ve made very clear decisions in terms of the way that they have voted and the Scottish Government has a mandate for that.

"It is a really extraordinary position that the Labour Party are now engaging in denying democracy and I don’t think that can stand.”

ICYMI

Jail

Extreme Temperatures Take Deadly Toll On People In Texas Prisons

By 

The U.S. has the world’s largest population of prisoners, and Texas holds more incarcerated people than any other state. As climate change continues to increase the severity, frequency and duration of heat waves, the approximately 160,000 individuals in Texas prisons — as well as the people who work in these settings — come under intense physical duress in prisons without climate controls, according to a new study led by researchers at Brown University’s School of Public Health.

The study, published in JAMA Network Open, examined the relationship between heat exposure and mortality risks in Texas prisons, focusing on how these risks vary between prisons with air conditioning and those without it. 

The researchers analyzed data gathered between 2001 and 2019 showing that 271 people died due to extreme heat exposure during that timeframe.

Even a 1 degree increase above 85 degrees Fahrenheit can elevate the daily risk of dying by 0.7%, the researchers found.

The research team — which in addition to Brown also included scholars from Harvard University, Boston University and the organization Texas Prison Community Advocates — combined data from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics on mortality in Texas prisons with temperature data from NASA and used a novel epidemiologic analysis to arrive at its findings. The team reported that approximately 13% of mortality during warm months may be attributable to extreme in Texas prison facilities without air conditioning.

It is important to note that while an average of 14 people died each year from heat-related causes in Texas prisons without air conditioning, not a single heat-related death occurred in climate-controlled prisons, said lead study author Julie Skarha, who received her Ph.D. in epidemiology from Brown in June 2022.

“The majority of Texas prisons do not have universal air conditioning,” Skarha said. “And in these settings, we found a 30-fold increase in heat-related mortality when compared to estimates of heat-related mortality in the general U.S. population.”

Study co-author Dr. David Dosa, an associate professor of medicine, and health services, policy and practice at Brown, pointed out that heat is often a silent killer.

“We have seen similar situations in nursing homes, where heat isn’t reported on the death certificate,” said Dosa, a practicing geriatrician with dual appointments at the Providence V.A. Medical Center and Rhode Island Hospital. “It’s only after we run these analyses that we can determine how much of a role heat played in someone’s death.”

The findings, the researchers said, suggest that an air conditioning policy for Texas prisons may be an important part of protecting the health of people living and working in these facilities.

Seeking real climate action: Canadians share their hopes ahead of COP27

As officials gather in Egypt for the climate conference,

Canadians would like to see actionable decisions

View of a COP27 sign on the road leading to the conference area in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh town as the city prepares to host the COP27 summit next month, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt October 20, 2022. REUTERS/Sayed Sheasha (Sayed Sheasha/Reuters)

Canadians say it's time for real, actionable decisions to be made about the future of the environment, ahead of the global conference on climate change.

Many will be watching closely as global leaders and stakeholders gather in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for the Conference of Parties (COP) climate conference from Nov. 6 to 18, also known as COP27.

The world's wealthiest countries are going into the summit having failed to meet the financial goal of putting $100 billion US toward annual climate financing. That commitment was made over a decade ago.

Canada and Germany both admitted through a progress report that wealthy countries, including their own — which produce a bulk of the world's carbon emissions — have fallen short, and that more work was needed to reach the target in 2023. 

But there is hope real change may come from the upcoming conference. What On Earth spoke to a number of Canadians about what they hope to see from COP27. Here's what they had to say. 

Eriel Deranger, executive director of Indigenous Climate Action, Edmonton

Eriel Deranger is a Denesuline climate and Indigenous rights advocate. (Kelsey Chapman)

My hope for COP27, and for colonial world leaders, is to not degrade the climate crisis to a mathematical equation that needs to be solved or an economic problem. This is a global, environmental, and human rights problem, and we need to be looking for real solutions that will address environmental and climate instability and also address human rights inequalities, together. 

We need to be advancing climate justice solutions, not false solutions wrapped up in carbon markets that allow big polluters to continue to buy their way out while they continue to pollute, or for corporations to continue to collect massive amounts of economic power while disempowering some of the poorest people and some of the people that are protecting critical biodiversity, which is Indigenous peoples. 

Indigenous peoples have been advancing some of the most progressive and aggressive solutions within the UN climate spaces for decades. It's time for colonial governments to listen to us and stop listening to greedy corporations and oil and gas companies. 

Stephen Buhler, organizer with Climate Justice Edmonton

Stephen Buhler is community engagement officer with Iron and Earth, a not-for-profit with a mission to empower fossil fuel industry and Indigenous workers to build and implement climate solutions. (Abdul Malik)

My hope for COP27, first off, is that we really listen to the voices of the people of Egypt, especially as they are standing up to the tyranny of their government, cracking down on protesters. 

But I think further to that, I just really want to see some real climate action come out of this. As a worker who has experience in oil and gas, I think it's really important to see jobs come out of this for workers, as well as reparations being made for the communities that have been most hit by climate change.

Bashar Rahman, student at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver

Bashar Rahman worries about his father who lives in a part of Bangladesh that may someday be underwater. (Submitted by Bashar Rahman)

My hope for COP27 is to look at policies surrounding climate finance with a particular focus on South Asia and Africa. 

I have been having conversations with my friends from back home [in Bangladesh], and one fact about Bangladesh is one third of Bangladesh is going to be underwater by 2050. And in that one third is my hometown where my dad still lives and works. 

So it's very frustrating to see policies that make some of these lands go underwater. So one thing that I am very optimistic [for], despite all of these circumstances, is if I see people acknowledging issues, particularly the Global South.

There are going to be a lot of climate refugees, however, the UNHCR still doesn't recognize climate refugees as refugees. It's very difficult to stay optimistic, but I think that's the last thing we can do as young people.

Emma-Jane Burian, student at the University of Victoria

Emma-Jane Burian is a former organizer with Fridays for Future in Victoria, a group that helped with a global school-strike movement to draw attention to the climate crisis. (Submitted by Emma-Jane Burian)

My hope for COP27 is that global leaders finally realize that the climate crisis and social justice are intrinsically connected, and we cannot solve the climate crisis with the same capitalist ideology that got us into the problem, and we must realize the social elements as well. 

And so we have to move beyond thinking about just renewable energy, but we also have to think about poverty and about racism and colonialism and all these other issues that are intrinsically connected to the climate crisis. 


Produced by Zoë Yunker. Answers have been edited for length and clarity

 Amnesty International
Egypt: Arrests over calls for protests during COP27 expose reality of human rights crisis
© Sean Gallup/Getty Images
November 6, 2022


The Egyptian authorities’ arrest of hundreds of people in the past two weeks alone in connection to calls for protests during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27), is a reminder of the grim reality of Egypt’s policy of mass arbitrary detention to crush dissent, Amnesty International said. At least 151 detainees are currently being investigated by the Supreme State Security Prosecution, while hundreds more have faced shorter arrests and questioning.

“The arrest of hundreds of people merely because they were suspected of supporting the call for peaceful protests raises serious concerns over how the authorities will respond to people wishing to protest during COP27 – an essential feature of any UN climate conference. The Egyptian authorities must allow peaceful demonstrators to gather freely and refrain from using unlawful force or arbitrary arrests to deter protests,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Research and Advocacy Director.

“World leaders arriving in Sharm El-Sheikh for COP27 must not be fooled by Egypt’s PR campaign. Away from the dazzling resort hotels thousands of individuals including human rights defenders, journalists, peaceful protesters and members of the political opposition continue to be detained unjustly. They must urge President Abdelfattah al-Sisi to release all those arbitrarily held for exercising their human rights. As a matter of urgency, this should include imprisoned activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, who today escalated his hunger strike to stop drinking water.”

In the lead-up to COP27, the Egyptian authorities released 766 prisoners following a decision by President al-Sisi to reactivate a Presidential Pardons Committee (PPC) in April. Yet over the same period, Amnesty International has documented the arrest of double that number; 1,540people who were questioned over the exercising of free speech and association.

In the past six months, Amnesty International has gathered data from dozens of lawyers who regularly attend interrogations and detention renewal hearings, reviewed court decisions and other official documents, and interviewed former prisoners as well as relatives of detainees.

Arrested ahead of COP27


In recent weeks, security forces have arrested and detained hundreds of people in downtown Cairo and town squares across Egyptian cities over content on their phones — a tactic often employed by police ahead of expected protests. While most were released within hours or days, some were taken to prosecutors, while others remain subject to enforced disappearance according to 11 lawyers in Cairo, Alexandria, Sharqiya and Dakahliya.

World leaders arriving in Sharm El-Sheikh for COP27 must not be fooled by Egypt’s PR campaign. 
Philip Luther, Amnesty International

In September, Abdelsalam Abdelghani, 55, was arrested at his home on the outskirts of Cairo. Prosecutors questioned him about a Facebook group called “Our right”, including posts calling for protests on 11 November. The prosecutor questioned him on accusations of spreading “false news” and being “a member of a terrorist group” before ordering his detention pending an investigation.

Incarceration crisis

Egypt’s security agencies continue to use extrajudicial powers to determine which prisoners are released and have blocked the releases of thousands of prisoners arbitrarily detained solely for exercising their human rights.

Former presidential candidate and political party leader Abdelmoneim Aboulfotoh’s health is also at risk in detention. Lawyers Hoda Abdelmoniem and Mohamed Baker remain detained simply for their work defending victims of human rights violations. The authorities have largely excluded anyone believed to be a member of or affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.

The authorities have also continued to ignore decisions to release detainees in a practise known as rotation. Since April, Egypt’s security agencies have also refused to implement judicial orders for the release of at least 60 detainees. Instead, National Security Agency (NSA) officers have taken them from prison without notifying their relatives. Many were subjected to enforced disappearance for days in which their fate and whereabouts were unknown before bringing them before prosecutors to face bogus terrorism or other national security-related charges.

Most released following the reactivation of the PPC continue to face restrictions on their expression and liberty. Seven recently released detainees told Amnesty International that the NSA ordered they remove critical content they had posted on social media or threatened to arrest them when COP27 concluded. Some who did not adhere have already been re-arrested, such as Sherif al-Roubi, an activist released in June but re-arrested in September after giving a media interview on the hardships faced by former prisoners. Others recently released remain under police surveillance, while many are arbitrarily banned from travelling.

Restrictions and protests in Sharm El-Sheikh


According to the website of the Egyptian presidency for COP27, anyone wishing to organize protests in Sharm El-Sheikh must inform the authorities 36 hours in advance and show the organizers a COP27 badge. Protests will only be allowed between 10:00-17:00 in an area far from the conference and monitored by cameras. The authorities have also limited the content of protests to climate related issues.

Amnesty International finds these measures to be unnecessary and disproportionate, aimed at restricting the ability of individuals to protest safely in a way that allows them to be seen and heard. The authorities must ensure that the notification requirement is only used to facilitate protests and does not imply an authorization, and strictly refrain from dispersing or otherwise repressing any protests that fail to meet this requirement.

Arbitrary and disproportionate measures have also been taken against Egyptians, using passes and hotel reservations to limit access to Sharm El-Sheikh, workers in Sharm El-Sheikh are also heavily restricted in their movement.