Six In The Morning Tuesday 24 May 2022

 

Former US soldier now fighting in Ukraine tells of days trapped in 'house of horrors'

By Mick Krever and Sam Kiley, CNN

Updated 0226 GMT (1026 HKT) May 24, 2022

Kevin, a stocky American in his early 30s, climbs over the charred rubble of a former sauna and shines the light from his iPhone through the dust.

"We're not going to go any further, because this wire is intentionally tied off to something and then buried right here," he warns. "A lot of the Russians came back through some of these places and re-mined them, put [in] booby traps."

Kevin is part of a group of elite foreign special forces veterans, primarily American and British, who have enlisted to help the Ukrainian cause.

The faces from China’s Uyghur detention camps

By John Sudworth

Thousands of photographs from the heart of China’s highly secretive system of mass incarceration in Xinjiang, as well as a shoot-to-kill policy for those who try to escape, are among a huge cache of data hacked from police computer servers in the region.

The Xinjiang Police Files, as they’re being called, were passed to the BBC earlier this year. After a months-long effort to investigate and authenticate them, they can be shown to offer significant new insights into the internment of the region’s Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities.

Their publication coincides with the recent arrival in China of the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, for a controversial visit to Xinjiang, with critics concerned that her itinerary will be under the tight control of the government.

Sudan security forces clash with protesters against military coup

Police open fire on demonstrators as protest organisers detained in fierce crackdown by regime

Jason Burke and Zeinab Mohammed Salih in Khartoum

Security forces in Sudan have mounted a fierce crackdown in recent days to crush remaining unrest, six months after a coup that brought a military regime to power in the unstable strategic country.

Police fired teargas and shotguns at protesters as thousands took to the streets in the capital, Khartoum, and twin city of Omdurman on Monday. The violence followed a similarly harsh response to demonstrations over the weekend. In all, 113 people have been injured and one killed in recent days, according to doctors.

Ninety-six protesters have been killed since the coup in October last year, and more than 1,500 detained.

Amnesty: Executions rise after COVID restrictions end

The application of the death penalty rose in 2021, Amnesty International has reported. However, there were signs of a move away from capital punishment in many countries.

Executions worldwide rose in 2021 compared to the previous year, Amnesty International revealed Tuesday in its annual report on the death penalty.

The human rights NGO said some states had increased capital punishment in light of relaxed COVID restrictions. However, it also noted that there were signs of continuing moves away from state-sanctioned killing on the whole. 

Islamic State group ‘trying to control’ Mali-Niger border with series of attacks

The Islamic State (IS) group appears to be stepping up attacks close to the border between Mali and Niger, with sources suggesting that the jihadists are trying to seize control of the border itself. FRANCE 24’s terrorism expert Wassim Nasr explains.

Amid proliferating jihadist activity, insecurity has racked the vast, semi-arid Sahel region just south of the Sahara for years.

"The Islamic State [group] is on the offensive since the beginning of the month of April in many places on the border between Mali and Niger," Nasr said. "They are trying to control this border."

Afghan female journalists defiant as Taliban restrictions grow

Taliban decree ordering female news anchors to cover their faces on air is the latest in a series of escalating restrictions.

By Zuhal Ahad and Ruchi Kumar

Published On 24 May 202224 May 2022

Mahira* has become a familiar face on Afghan television, as viewers tune in every night to watch her present the news. Even during the most turbulent recent events, the 27-year-old journalist remained calm and composed as she reported on the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.

On Saturday, Mahira appeared on screen, but her face was covered with a black mask following a Taliban decree ordering female news anchors to cover their faces while on air.

“[Saturday] was one of the hardest days of my life. They made us feel as if we had been buried alive,” Mahira told Al Jazeera. “I felt like I am not a human. I feel like I have committed a big crime which is why God made me a woman in Afghanistan,” she told Al Jazeera, choking back tears.