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Rights groups in Tunisia mobilize against a bill to legalize impunity for security forces

Tunisia – sadly – in retrograde.

As activists mobilized against the bill, police targeted them

A police officer kicks a protester during a demonstration against the police protection bill on October 6. Image credit: Nawaat, used with permission.

As the Tunisian parliament considers a controversial police protection bill, protests erupted in the city of Bardo to oppose it. On October 6 and 8, human rights groups and a youth-led citizen movement dubbed Hasebhom (translated as “hold them to account”) rallied outside the parliament building against the bill, which, if adopted, would legalize impunity for security forces by granting them immunity from prosecution for their use of unnecessary lethal force. 

The Tunisia parliament’s decision to hold a plenary session to discuss the bill —weeks before the 10th anniversary of the revolution that toppled the Ben Ali dictatorship— was met with criticism from human rights groups and activists who have been opposing the bill since it was first submitted to the parliament in 2015. 

As activists mobilized against the bill, police targeted them on- and offline. These attacks on freedom of demonstration and speech are alarming and confirm the concerns of human rights organizations that serious rights violations and persisting gaps in legal protections of rights threaten Tunisia’s strides in protecting human rights since the revolution of 2011.

In the meantime, the parliament announced on October 8 that it will delay discussion on the bill, while activists remain determined to have it completely withdrawn. 

A ‘threat’ to rights and freedoms 

The latest version of the draft law No.25/2015 on the Prosecution of Abuses Against the Armed Forces presents a number of improvements compared to the initial version, submitted to parliament on April 13, 2015. For example, this earlier version envisaged criminal penalties against speech deemed “denigrating” toward the police.

Yet, changes introduced to this recent version have not appeased the concerns of human rights organizations.

On October 6, more than 20 civil society organizations signed a joint statement and launched a campaign dubbed “An Alarming Parliamentary Return,” urging the parliament to reject the police protection bill, along with other bills raising rights concerns, including a state of emergency draft law and draft amendments to the decree regulating broadcast media. According to the statement, the police protection bill “continues to pose a threat to the rights and freedoms of all citizens, despite the amendments that have been included.” 



The proposed law violates Article 21 of the Tunisian constitution of 2014, which states that “all citizens are equal before the law without any discrimination.” Article 7 of the proposed law, which grants security forces immunity from prosecution for the use of excessive and lethal force against citizens in situations deemed “dangerous,” is contrary to Tunisia’s international human rights commitments — particularly with regard to respect of the right to life and the fight against impunity.



In a statement by Amnesty International, deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, Emna Guellali said:

Time and time again, Tunisian and international civil society organizations have fought against this bill, warning of the detrimental impact it would have on the rule of law. If adopted, this draft law would reinforce the culture of impunity and send an alarming message to the security forces that they have the green light to use force as they see fit without worrying about being held accountable.

Security forces unions cite the rising threat of terrorism in post-revolutionary Tunisia to pressure parliament to adopt the bill. Yet, there are numerous laws and decrees that regulate or protect security work and severely punish criminal acts that target security forces.

Protesters and activists targeted 

During the October 6 protest, demonstrators raised signs and slogans against police brutality and impunity, while members of LGBT groups, Damj and Outcasts, were present to denounce police violence against LGBTQI+ individuals.



Footage and testimonies shared by citizen journalists and independent citizen media Nawaat showed police physically assaulting protesters. Four were detained in the Bardo police station for three hours and were denied access to lawyers — a blatant violation of their rights under Tunisia law. Some deputies who joined the demonstrators were also assaulted, including Yassine Ayari, who talked about the assault to a local radio program.

Global Voices spoke with one of the detained activists, Asrar Ben Jouira, a Hasebhom campaign coordinator and member of the Tunisian Human Rights League. Jouira said that she herself was subjected to and also witnessed verbal and physical assaults by police — both uniformed and undercover. She said that a police officer sexually harassed by touching her breasts and also harassed other female demonstrators, by touching their buttocks and verbally abusing them. She also reported that police officers used their personal mobile phones to film her and the other demonstrators, despite the presence of the technical police that used professional cameras.

When she heard that two activists were detained, she went to Bardo police station to check on them and to make sure they had lawyers. She was lured inside the police station by an officer who led her to believe she could check on the activists, but quickly closed the door and informed her that she would also be detained for “rioting,” explaining that her face had been spotted in a video filmed during the protest.

Another police officer showed her on his phone a post on the Hasebhom Facebook page that translates the draft law from legalese standard Arabic to the Tunisian dialect, telling her: “We know you wrote this.”



Asrar and the other detainees were only released after the intervention of a number of deputies. 

Activists targeted for their online views

In a Facebook live stream organized on October 6, Al Bawsala and other civil society organizations to denounce draft laws that threaten human rights, Yosra Frawes of the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD) denounced police unions for their “illegal practices” such as “organizing coordinated harassment campaigns on social media against citizens and discriminatory speech based on gender identity.” 

On October 7, Activist Myriam Bribri received a summons from police based on her social media posts critical of the draft law. A public prosecutor later charged her with “insulting others through social media.” She remains free as she awaits trial on December 14. Bribri was also subjected to attacks on social media. In a statement supporting the activist, the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) said:

This summons comes after she was systematically harassed whether through her page on social media or threatening phone calls coming from personal and administrative phone numbers of police union members.

The abuse of power by police and security forces remains undoubtedly a serious problem in Tunisia, particular as it remains under a continuous state of emergency since November 2015, a period marked by criminal prosecutions for peaceful speech online and offline, attacks against journalists, arbitrary arrests by the police, and numerous cases of police brutality and torture.

As Hasebhom organized the second round of protests on October 8, the parliament ended its plenary session without discussing the bill, postponing its adoption to an undetermined date as was the case in 2017.

Activists celebrated this small win but are not taking a break from their persistent fight until the bill is withdrawn or rejected. While civil society continues the fight against the police protection bill, Tunisian authorities must respect the right to peaceful protest and avoid arbitrary detention even under this everlasting state of emergency.

Written by Rima Sghaier

Putin calls on Armenia and Azerbaijan to halt fighting, exchange bodies and prisoners, and meet in Moscow for talks

US a no-show

Vladimir Putin is stepping up Russia’s diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, calling on both sides to cease hostilities immediately. Full-scale fighting resumed in the contested region on September 27 and has escalated to levels not seen in decades. 

A Master Class in Victim Blaming: White House Accuses Gretchen Whitmer of ‘Sowing Division’ for Criticizing White Supremacists

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In a press conference Thursday afternoon, Gretchen Whitmer responded to a right-wing militia’s plot to kidnap her by calling her alleged kidnappers by their titles, white supremacists. She directed her speech to the supremacist in chief, who has been stoking racist enclaves throughout his time in office who and has…

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Dr. Fauci: Earliest We’ll Be “Back to Normal” Is the End of 2021

A few weeks ago during the Q&A session after his lecture for MIT’s online biology class about the pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci shared his expert opinion on when things might return to “normal” in the US. Here was my paraphrased tweet about it:

With a very effective vaccine ready in Nov/Dec, distributed widely, and if lots of people take it (i.e. the best case scenario), the earliest we could return to “normal life” in the world is the end of 2021.

At the New Yorker Festival earlier in the week, Michael Specter asked him about a return to normalcy and Fauci elaborated a bit more on this timeline (starts ~10:22 in the video).

When are we gonna get back to something that closely resembles, or is in fact, normal as we knew it?

We’re already making doses, tens and hundreds of millions of doses to be ready, first at least, in graded numbers at the end of the year in November/December. By the time we get to April, we likely will have doses to be able to vaccinate anybody who needs to be vaccinated. But logistically by the time you get everybody vaccinated, it likely will not be until the third or even the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2021.

So let’s say we get a 70% effective vaccine, which I hope we will get, but only 60% of the people get vaccinated. There are going to be a lot of vulnerable people out there, which means that the vaccine will greatly help us to pull back a bit on the restrictions that we have now to maintain good public health, but it’s not going to eliminate things like mask wearing and avoiding crowds and things like that.

So I think we can approach normality, but I don’t think we’re going to be back to normal until the end of 2021. We may do better than that; I hope so but I don’t think so.

Leaving aside what “normal” might mean and who it actually applies to,1 there’s some good news and bad news in there. The good news is, they’re already producing doses of the vaccine to be ready if and when the phase 3 trials are successful. Ramping up production before the trials conclude isn’t usually done because it’s a waste of money if the trials fail, but these vaccines are so critical to saving lives that they’re spending that money to save time. That’s great news.

The bad news is that we’re not even halfway through the pandemic in the best case scenario. We’re going to be wearing masks in public for at least another year (and probably longer than that). Large gatherings of people (especially indoors) will continue to be problematic — you know: movie theaters, concerts, clubs, bars, restaurants, schools, and churches — and folks staying within small pods of trusted folks will likely be the safest course of action.

A change in national leadership in both the executive branch and Senate could change the outlook for the better. We could get some normalcy back even without a vaccine through measures like a national mask mandate/distribution, a real national testing & tracing effort, taking aerosol transmission seriously, and easing the economic pressure to “open back up” prematurely. We’re never going to do as well as Vietnam or Taiwan, but I’d settle for Greece or Norway.

  1. It’s America. If we know anything by now about this country, it’s that access to healthcare and economic opportunity is going to apply unevenly to the people who live here. For instance, it’s likely that Black & brown communities, which have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, may face difficulty in getting access to vaccines compared to wealthier, predominantly white communities.

Tags: Anthony Fauci   COVID-19   medicine   Michael Specter   science   USA   vaccines   video

At capacity. A sharp increase in coronavirus cases leaves hospitals across Russia running out of beds

In Russia, against the backdrop of a sharp increase in new coronavirus cases, the number of available hospital beds for COVID-19 patients has decreased significantly, and patients undergoing diagnostics are waiting for hours to get CT scans. In a new report, the Russian business newspaper “Kommersant” breaks down how the second coronavirus wave is impacting the country’s hospitals, based on conversations with patients and their relatives, as well as official statements from the regional authorities.

In Russia, against the backdrop of a sharp increase in new coronavirus cases, the number of available hospital beds for COVID-19 patients has decreased significantly, and patients undergoing diagnostics are waiting for hours to get CT scans. In a new report, the Russian business newspaper “Kommersant” breaks down how the second coronavirus wave is impacting the country’s hospitals, based on conversations with patients and their relatives, as well as official statements from the regional authorities.

Benefits of Nose Breathing 👃

Hello everyone ! Have a wonderful and safe day 🙋🏻

Anatomically, the nose is an organ in the human body, specially designed for breathing. When we are born, we, only breath through our nose for several months until our respiratory tract is fully developed. Then, we, also breath through our mouth as when required in certain situations maybe during nasal blockage or in an anxious state or when in air hunger after a massive task. But, fundamentally, we are designed to breathe only through our nose, which is not just necessary but also very beneficial.

The importance of nasal breathing are :

1.Filtration: Nasal breathing causes the air to filter through the nasal passage by the cilia and mucus present so that the purified air goes to the lungs. The air gets filtered from the harmful air bourne particles and potential dangers of virus and bacteria before reaching the lungs.

2.Regulates the temperature of air: Nasal breathing can also regulate the air temperature, we breathe in before reaching the lungs. As soon as we breathe, if the air is cold, it gets warmed up before reaching the lungs. And the opposite can occur, we live in a hot climate.

3.Conditioning: Nasal breathing causes the air to humidify in the nasal cavity so that the inhaled air becomes moist and humid. And the oxygen can be easily absorbed by the tissues after reaching the lungs. The air gets conditioned with negative ions so that they can get attached to positively charged ion particles, neutralizes free radicals, enhance the immune system and balance the autonomic nervous system.

4.Reduces stress: Nasal breathing is deep and relaxing as it stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system and relaxes the muscles of the diaphragm and belly.

5. Efficient oxygen use: Nasal breathing optimizes the oxygen uptake by the lung tissues during inhalation as the breathing is deep and relaxing and expels the carbon dioxide during the exhalation. The ratio and balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide are efficiently maintained.

6. Probiotics: Our nose is a host of probiotic colonies which usually attack the invading bacteria, viruses and fungi before they can enter the rest of the respiratory passage and lungs.

7.Nitric Oxide: When we breathe through the nose, it creates Nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is a natural vasodilator. So, when present in the inhaled air, Nitric oxide reaches the body tissues causes increase blood flow to the organs and lower the blood pressure.

8.Promotes oral hygiene: Nasal breathing does not interfere with the normal functioning of the oral cavity. When there is mouth breathing, the mouth gets dried up from the saliva which otherwise cleans up the oral cavity by washing away from bacteria, oral microbiome, maintain the hygiene of the teeth and gums. So, individual breathing through mouth suffers from dental issues and halitosis (bad breath).

So the benefits are tremendous with Nose breathing. Mouth breathing is devoid of these fantastic benefits as it is primarily not designed for breathing.

After a heavy workout or during running, or while sleeping like in Sleep apnoea, the body tries to compensate with mouth breathing to let out the excess blood carbon dioxide level which has gone up. Mouth breathing is shallow and fast, which stimulate the sympathetic system and causes more stress. Mouth breathing causes snoring while sleeping, so some people are advised clinically to use mouth tape to avoid it.



There are different techniques and exercises about how to clear out our nasal passage and facilitate this standard mechanism of nasal breathing. Some popular methods are the Buteyko method and the Yogic breathing, which is alternate nostril breathing or Pranayama.

A method of restoring nasal breathing is :

The post Benefits of Nose Breathing 👃 first appeared on The 3H:health,happiness,healing.

The post Benefits of Nose Breathing 👃 appeared first on The 3H:health,happiness,healing.

Kyrgyzstan’s prime minster steps down, is replaced by dissident freed from prison just hours earlier

yesssssss.

Kyrgyzstani Prime Minister Kubatbek Boronov has resigned from office after just a few months on the job, amid protests and riots in Bishkek against election parliamentary election results. National lawmakers have already appointed his replacement: Sadyr Zhaparov, a former member of parliament who was freed from prison just hours earlier by demonstrators. A court previously sentenced Zhaparov to 10 years behind bars for allegedly organizing riots.