Category Archives: Viva!

Women’s cricket star Taylor makes history in Australian men’s game

England international Sarah Taylor makes history by becoming the first woman to play men’s grade cricket in Australia, but it was a hard slog in the field for her team.

Iraq – Kurdish security forces unleash wave of terror on media

Reporters Without Borders is alarmed to learn that many Kurdish media have been attacked in connection with a political crisis in the past few days in the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, where the security forces have closed media outlets in an attempt to suppress criticism of the government.

The crisis over President Masoud Barzani’s succession since his term ended in August has sparked many demonstrations since the start of October, especially in Sulaymaniyah, an opposition stronghold. Some have turned into riots, with protesters demanding the payment of salaries to government employees and calling on Barzani to stand down.

To limit news coverage of the demonstrations, the premises of several media outlets have been attacked by the security forces or in some cases by demonstrators. Access to Facebook was even blocked for a day, 10 October, in Erbil.

We condemn the attacks on the media and we call on the Kurdish authorities to respect the media’s work and to end the harassment to which they are being subjected with complete impunity,” said Alexandra El Khazen, the head of the Reporters Without Borders Middle East and Maghreb desk.

“And amid the continuing political crisis, we urge journalists to act in an independent and professional manner and to refrain from fuelling political tension and disputes.

Media offices attacked

Security forces loyal to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), one of the two ruling coalition parties, raided Kurdish media outlets in the cities of Erbil, Dohuk and Soran on the evening of 10 October, threatening and evicting employees and badly damaging equipment. Two TV stations, NRT TV and KNN TV, were forcibly closed with no explanation being given.

The security forces also arrested six NRT TV reporters, photographers and technicians in Erbil, releasing them outside the province, near the Degala checkpoint and near Sulaymaniyah province. The NRT TV bureau in the city of Dohuk was also raided.

Kawa Abdulqader, a journalist who heads the NRT TV bureau in Erbil, said the security forces accused them of encouraging the chaos and supporting the opposition. A pro-KDP media outlet said the government had given orders for NRT TV to be reopened and for its employees – who it said had fled – to be allowed to return.

The offices of KNN TV, which supports the opposition party Gorran, were attacked in Erbil, Dohuk and Soran. Eleven or so of its employees in these cities were threatened and then detained, only to be released a few hours later outside the city limits.

Most of these journalists were finally able to return home but not to go back to work because the Kurdish security forces were still surrounding their workplaces. According to our sources, Radio Gorran, which shares a building with KNN TV in Erbil, was also shut down.

On 10 October, demonstrators stoned the Sulaymaniyah office of Rudaw TV, which supports the PDK.

Reporters on the ground

Reporters Without Borders has registered many cases of journalists being attacked by security force or demonstrators while covering demonstrations since 8 October.

Journalists were affected by teargas discharged by the security forces or were hit by stones thrown by demonstrators in several parts of Sulaymaniyah province. Some were deliberately targeted.

They included Kurdsatnews TV journalist Hawkar Abdulrahman, who was attacked by about 15 KDP supporters on 10 October as the police looked on without intervening. Rudaw TV reporter Shoman Mahmoud was injured by stones thrown by demonstrators in the town of Said Sadiq.

Razhin Kama of Gali Kurdistan TV, a station affiliated to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the other ruling coalition party, was hit by stones thrown by demonstrators while she and her crew were covering a demonstration in the city of Sulaymaniyah on 8 October.

Other journalists have had their access to information restricted. A Kurdsatnews TV crew was turned back at a checkpoint on the road from Sulaymaniyah to Erbil on 12 October, when they wanted to cover the blocking of the Kurdish parliamentary speaker’s motorcade.

Criticism about the presidential election has been tolerated less and less as tension has mounted, especially since June. Barzani, who has been president for the past ten years, may justify the need to extend his term for the second time since 2013 because of security concerns.

EUROPE/PORTUGAL – 115 institutions ready to accept refugees

Lisbon – There are 115 institutions that are willing to accept refugees, according to information revealed by the first General Assembly of the support platform for Refugees . The High Commissioner for Migration considered that the membership and the work of PAR is an attitude “of inspiration for public administration”, in a time when “it was necessary to create a common strategy at a national level”, with regards to the integration of refugees.
Rui Marques, recently elected Coordinator of PAR , stressed that the reception and integration of refugees “is not just a logistical problem, it is much more: it is a question of civilization”, and referring to the fact that many educational institutions have already joined the project, he underlined the utmost importance of the role of higher education institutions.
There is the presence of several diocesan Caritas, religious congregations, parish social centers, associations and schools linked to the Catholic Church in the list of these 115 institutions. In this first phase, it will be possible to accept 85 refugee families, for a total of 420 people. However later their number could increase to 135 families, 660 people.

ASIA/HOLY LAND – Caritas Jerusalem: pilgrimages cancelled due to the blocks in the neighborhoods of the Holy City

Jerusalem – All the security measures which have taken place by the Israeli authorities in Jerusalem – especially those inside the Old City – are causing the cancellation of pilgrimages, “which means the collapse of the whole tourism sector especially in Bethlehem, for most people depend on this sector to secure their livelihoods”. This is the side effect of police blocks put in place by the Israeli government especially in East Jerusalem, after the new escalation of violence in the Holy Land has already caused the death of at least 39 people. Caritas Jerusalem also launches the alarm regarding the impact of security measures on pilgrimages in a statement released today and signed by the President General, Father Raed Abusahaliah.
The cancellation of permits to enter Jerusalem or Israel – denounces Caritas Jerusalem – “will lead to increased unemployment and economic hardships for tens of thousands of the families of the workers who completely rely on the income that they make”. “We do not deny that the situation is not easy”, said the statement sent to Agenzia Fides, “but we call upon all our Christian brothers and sisters to come and not to be fearful: don’t leave us isolated”.

ASIA/INDIA – Protestant Pastor killed in Jharkhand

Bhopal – A Protestant Pastor was killed in the state of Jharkhand, eastern India.
As reported to Fides by the Evangelical Fellowship network of India, Chamu Hasda Purty, 54, of the Independent Pentecostal Church was killed on October 12 in the village of Sandhi, a village in the district of Khunti, Jharkhand state. A group of armed men broke into his house and shot him. The cold-blooded murder has created tension and fear among Christians in the area. In the state Hindu extremist groups are increasing and have recently launched a campaign to promote an anti-conversion law .
In the state, currently ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, nationalist formation, there is a Christian community of about one and a half million faithful, mainly made up of tribal groups.
According to the recent report of the US State Department on religious freedom 2014 “in India people are killed and arrested for religious reasons, there are riots and forced conversions, and the police are not able to respond effectively to violence”