Displaying items by tag: Asia

Afghan officials say they have released about another 100 Taliban prisoners as part of a prisoner swap meant to clear the way for the start of peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban.

Afghan officials have described the remaining prisoners as the most dangerous, accusing them of masterminding attacks on embassies, public squares, and government offices, killing thousands of civilians in recent years.

The release of 400 Taliban prisoners was approved last month at a consultative Loya Jirga in Kabul. Eighty of them were released last month.

The decision came more than five months after Washington and the Taliban made the release of prisoners by both sides a condition for the talks between the militant group and Kabul.

A government official who did not want to be named told RFE/RL on September 1 that the release of the prisoners will be completed in the next few days and that talks between the government and the Taliban will begin in Qatar.

The official said the process could be completed by September 2 and that an Afghan government delegation will immediately travel to the Qatari capital of Doha for negotiations with the militant group.

The release of the prisoners is the last hurdle to opening peace talks between the internationally-backed government in Kabul and the Taliban under a peace deal signed in February between the militants and the United States.

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Pray that this release along with reciprocal releases by the Taliban will lead to fruitful peace talks.

Pray that these hardened militants will be supernaturally prevented from taking up arms again.

Pray for all sides to take this situation seriously and for the right people to be appointed to the High Council for National Reconciliation.

Pray for the people of Afghanistan who have suffered for so long, that they will know lasting peace and that their nation will once again prosper.

The draft religion law now in parliament would, in defiance of human rights, continue to ban all exercise of freedom of religion without state permission, banning teaching about religion without state permission, continuation of compulsory censorship of all religious materials and to ban sharing of faith. ‘There's not much difference between the draft law and the current one’, commented human rights defender Bahodyr Eliboyev. Although the draft reduces the number of adult citizens required to apply for a community to be allowed to exist from 100 to 50, it would retain the registration process and most of the restrictions. ‘The state must not be afraid of giving full religious freedoms,’ insists Abduvohid Yakubov, an independent rights defender from Tashkent who is also critical of the draft law.

The Chinese government is obtaining blood samples from up to 70 million – 10% of all men and boys – as the high-tech surveillance state builds a ‘DNA Skynet’ of the country’s 700 million males. Any individual who refuses to give blood samples risks his family being barred from benefits such as travel, fast internet connection and hospital treatment. The powerful genetic mapping tool, which is being compiled from samples collected since 2017, will join up with China’s existing countrywide video-surveillance network. The system will be capable of tracking every male relative of any individual man just from a sample of his genetic material, such as skin or hair. Only 5-10% of the male population needs to be sampled in order to build a complete genetic map, because one sample unlocks the identity of all related males.

Dozens of activists have been killed in Iraq in recent years. In under a week, two have been assassinated and three narrowly survived murder attempts, as tensions between pro-Iran groups and a Western-leaning government claim new victims. Riham, an athletics coach who was deeply involved in anti-government protests, was shot dead in Basra on 26 August; five days earlier activist Tahsin died after being shot two dozen times. The targeted killings sent shivers down spines in Iraq’s civil society, already deeply disturbed by the killing in Baghdad of Al-Hashemi, a government adviser and widely respected historian. ‘The government and security forces have done nothing.’ said Ammar Al-Hilfi, a prominent Basra activist. In July a senior Iraqi official said the government suspected ‘possible assassinations’ as a reaction to a policy of extending state control.

The nations have been devastated to see the destruction in Beirut, but also inspired by the response of the help and support from church, communities, charities and media broadcasts from SAT-7. Presenter Marianne Awaraji Daou said, ‘Thank you for your prayers and support. We feel the unity of the body of Christ during these hard times, and this lifts us and blesses our hearts.’ One survivor speaking on a SAT-7 programme said, ‘The Lord is merciful and compassionate. Jesus protected me, my family, and the people I love. I thank Him every moment. I want to say that evil is increasing, but I believe that the Lord will use everyone who went through this disaster to be His witness. I believe that God works through our prayers and through those who help. My hope is in You, Lord.’

Christians in Beirut have responded with defiance amid reports that groups seeking to profit from the devastating explosion are trying to persuade them to sell up and leave. 300,000 families were displaced by the 4 August blast. Monsignor Toufic Bou-Hadir, who works with the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), described how people are opting to keep their damaged homes rather than accept offers to sell their properties. ACN is providing emergency aid for victims of the blast. He said, ‘There are people trying to profit from this catastrophe by buying land and homes from the Christians. Christians want to stay in their close Christian community. Old and young are staying in their homes, even ones that are damaged.’ Beirut’s Christian districts bore the brunt of the explosion, and church leaders are working with politicians to frustrate land-grabbers by passing legislation preventing the faithful from selling their homes.

Palestinians have resumed launching incendiary and explosive balloons towards Israel. Israel has responded by bombing Hamas military sites in the Gaza Strip, closed the Kerem Shalom commercial crossing, stopped all fuel imports into Gaza, and reduced the fishing zone off the Gaza Strip from 15 to 8 nautical miles. Pray for the safety of innocent Palestinians living in the vicinity of Hamas military bases, underground infrastructures, and observation posts that are being targeted. Hamas said the latest Israeli actions amount to ‘a dangerous act of aggression and an uncalculated step for which the occupation will not be able to bear the consequences.’ Many believe fire balloon tactics are a way to force Israel to implement truce understandings reached through Egyptian, Qatari and UN mediation in 2018.

In Beirut Said Deeb is a pastor working at a centre which runs children’s clubs and provides food to refugees. He doesn't know why he did it, but on the day of the explosion he told everyone to go home and get some rest because he was worried about coronavirus. There are normally 34 people and 240 children at the centre each day. He said, ‘I thank God no one was here; if there had been here they would be dead because the windows flew from the side, from one wall to another wall, and took everything in between - the curtains, the air conditioning, the tables, the computers, the televisions.’

A Japanese ship ran aground on a reef off Mauritius two weeks ago and has been leaking oil into the Indian Ocean. Although the oil spill has stopped, the prime minister said the nation must still prepare for ‘a worst-case scenario’ as at some point the ship will fall apart. The amount of spillage is relatively low compared to global spills in the past, but the damage it will do is huge and long-lasting; it took place near two environmentally protected marine ecosystems and a marine park reserve wetland of international importance. Conservationists are finding dead fish and seabirds covered in oil, despite a massive local clean-up operation. Pressure is mounting on the government to explain why more was not done in the two weeks since the vessel ran aground: see

Following the devastating explosion in Beirut last week, on 11 August prime minister Hassan Diab resigned. A professor of sociology has said, ‘Lebanon is facing the most dangerous moment in its history. The options are grim. If there isn't a serious will from the international community to create strong structural changes in Lebanon, we are going towards civil war. There is no alternative. It's very unfortunate to say that in this country we don't believe there is rock bottom any more.’ What a new Lebanon would look like nobody knows, but getting there will not be easy. The country is entering a period of political darkness. Protesters want root and branch reform. The state of emergency declared on 5 August brought the army onto the streets to prevent freedom of assembly, freedom of speech and freedom of the press. They also can now enter homes and arrest anyone deemed a security threat. Pray for corruption-free candidates to stand for selection in a completely safe and authentic change of leadership election.