Times Of Harvard

Documents obtained by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) and Israeli newspaper Haaretz reveal how the Bangladesh government spent at least $330,000 on phone-hacking equipment made by an Israeli company, even though the two countries do not have diplomatic relations. Developed by the Cellebrite security firm, UFED is a product that is capable of accessing and extracting data from a wide range of mobile phones. Its ability to hack encrypted phone data has worried civil rights campaigners, who have long called for its use to be more strictly regulated. Bangladesh does not recognise the state of Israel, forbids trade with it and prevents its citizens from travelling there. The Muslim-majority country officially stands in solidarity with the Palestinians on the basis they are denied civil rights and live under Israeli military occupation. It is unclear whether UFED was provided to Bangladesh directly by the Israeli company or via a Cellebrite subsidiary based elsewhere in the world, p...

 By restating its positions against any criticism of its practices, especially before the Human Rights Council, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia rejected the positions of the Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen. In an interactive dialogue of the Oral Update Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen during the 46th session of the Human Rights Council, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Abdul Aziz Al-Wasel, stated that his country “does not recognize the group’s mandate, its work efficiency, and objectivity of its approach.” He considered that the group’s reports are misleading and further deepening the crisis. Al-Wasel noted that the group’s practices confirm that the group is not neutral and does not understand the reality on the ground. He added that it is far from professional and lacks objectivity. The group had welcomed the decision of the United States and Italy to stop the arms exports to Saudi Arabia and indicated that the suffering of Yemenis continues to worsen, as malnutriti...

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and other high-ranking Saudi officials have been accused of committing crimes against humanity in a criminal complaint filed in Germany by Reporters without Borders (RSF), the press freedom group. The 500-page complaint, filed with the German public prosecutor in general in the federal court of justice in Karlsruhe, centres on the “widespread and systematic” persecution of journalists in Saudi Arabia, including the arbitrary detention of 34 journalists there and the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist. “These journalists are the victims of unlawful killing, torture, sexual violence and coercion and forced disappearance,” said Christophe Deloire, the secretary-general of Reporters Without Borders, at a press conference on Tuesday. The complaint came just days after the US release of an unclassified intelligence report into Khashoggi’s 2018 murder in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, which US intelligence agencies...

 ​Former CIA Director John Brennan called for President Biden to ban Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman from the US following the release of an intelligence report last week that blamed the Saudi royal ruler for the death of ​dissident ​Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. The report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence concluded that the crown prince “approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey, to capture or kill” Khashoggi​,  a journalist who was deeply critical of the Saudi royal family.​ It said the assessment was “the Crown Prince’s control of decision making in the Kingdom.” Brennan, who led the CIA from March 2013 to January 2017​,​ said Biden must hold ​bin ​Salman accountable​ despite the strategic alliance between the two countries.​​ He said the president should be able to “distinguish” ​between ​that partnership “and the actions of one man​.”​ “That’s why I’m really hoping that the Biden administration is going to hold him accountable, saying that he is not go...

Images showed bodies lying in pools of blood on the streets, the injured frantically carried away with bullet wounds peppering their limbs, and protesters huddled behind makeshift shields and barricades, as Myanmar’s security forces Sunday launched their most violent and deadly crackdown on peaceful demonstrators since the February 1 coup. At least 18 people died and more than 30 were injured, according to the United Nations Human Rights Office, as police attempted to extinguish a month-long nationwide protest movement against the military coup which ousted the democratically elected government of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Activist groups have put the death toll and number of injured as higher. In one image that was shared widely on social media, a nun in northern Kachin state — her hands raised — knelt on the ground and pleaded with a line of riot police to stop arresting protesters. “Myanmar is like a battlefield,” Charles Maung Bo, the archbishop of Yangon and Myanmar’s firs...

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's killing was not possible without the approval of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. This is an American intelligence claim. In a report, it states that Mohammad Bin Salman had “complete control”, to carry out such an operation with his “green light”. The report contains a list of about 20 people involved in the operation, including former Saudi intelligence number two Ahmed al-Assiri, a close aide of MBS and a former adviser to Prince Saud al-Kahani. The accusations were quickly dismissed by Riyadh, which however is careful not to spoil its relationship with the US. The US generally does not ban top leaders of countries with which it has diplomatic relations, justified the State Department. The relationship with Saudi Arabia is an important one. We have significant ongoing interests. We remain committed to the defense of the kingdom. But we also want to make sure – and this is what the President has said from the outset – that the relationship bett...

US intelligence agencies have concluded in a newly declassified intelligence report that Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, approved the 2018 murder of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi – but Washington stopped short of targeting the future Saudi king with financial or other sanctions. The four-page report released on Friday confirmed the long-suspected view that the 35-year-old future king had a personal hand in the violent murder of one of his most prominent critics, a columnist and former Saudi insider who was living in exile in the US and used his platform to decry the prince’s crackdown on dissent. The assessment’s release was accompanied by further actions from the Biden administration, including the unveiling of a new “Khashoggi policy” which is set to impose visa sanctions on individuals who, acting on behalf of a foreign government, engage in “counter-dissident” activities, including harassment, surveillance, and threats against journalists, activists, and d...