Middle East & North Africa

8 Mar 2023; MEMO: Amnesty International called on the Tunisian authorities yesterday to stop using its "legal arsenal" against activists who "exercise their basic human rights, specifically their right to express their opinions freely and peacefully," Anadolu has reported.

"We are concerned about the use of the legal arsenal to silence critical voices, especially Decree No. 54 which represents a threat to freedom of expression and the right to privacy," said Amnesty.

8 Mar 2023; MEMO: The military head of Sudan's Transitional Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, has dismissed the governors of three states in the south and east of the country and appointed their successors, the official news agency SUNA has reported. The states in question are South Kordofan, West Kordofan and Red Sea.

8 Mar 2023; MEMO: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan said talks are underway for Syria's return to the Arab League.

"There is a consensus in the Arab world that the situation in Syria is not acceptable," Bin Farhan said in an interview with Saudi-run Al Arabiya television.

"There is a dialogue on the return of Syria to the Arab League, but I think it's too early to discuss," he added.

8 Mar 2023; MEMO: Former Israeli spy, Jonathan Pollard, joined calls from far-right lawmakers for Israel to destroy the occupied West Bank village of Huwara.

"It's up to the government right now to re-establish credibility, not only with our own people, but with our enemies as well, and that means unfortunately for some that Huwara must be destroyed," Pollard told the Kan public broadcaster on Sunday...

8 Mar 2023; MEMO: Saudi Arabia has announced a set of rules and restrictions on the practice of the holy month of Ramadan in the Kingdom this year, including a number of controversial ones such as the reduction in mosque loudspeakers, the surveillance of worshippers wishing to seclude themselves during the month's last ten days, limitations on donations and the banning of filming or broadcasting of prayers within mosques.

8 Mar 2023; MEMO: After a long academic journey, Palestinian Sally Azar has made her lifetime dream of becoming the first female pastor in Palestine, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Now, she is pursuing another dream of becoming the first female bishop in the Palestinian Territories.

"I am the first female pastor in Palestine," Azar, 26, told Anadolu in an interview at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Old City of East Jerusalem.

8 Mar 2023; MEMO: A prominent Saudi cleric who was feared to have been detained has apparently left the Kingdom for a "safe" country, after criticising the government's radical reforms in the entertainment sphere.

Emad Al-Moubayed – a preacher and former imam at the King Abdulaziz Mosque in Dammam – posted a video on his unverified Twitter account last week, in which he warned against drastic social reforms in Saudi Arabia enacted over recent years.

ANKARA, March 8. /TASS/: Turkey is working hard for the extension of the grain deal for Russian demands about its implementation to be met, a diplomatic source in Ankara told TASS on Wednesday.

"Talks to extend the grain deal aren’t over yet. They are still going on. Turkey is working very hard for the Black Sea initiative to be extended and the demands of all sides, including Russia’s, to be met," the source said.

TEHRAN, Mar 8 (NNN-IRNA) – The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, yesterday, strongly condemned an Israeli attack on Syria’s Aleppo International Airport, as a “crime against humanity.”

Nasser Kanaani made the remarks in a statement, published on the ministry’s website, reacting to an air raid by Israel on the civil airport yesterday morning.

Israel targeted the city’s airport, the main route for the delivery of international humanitarian aid to the Syrian city, when the quake-stricken people in Aleppo are still under tough circumstances, he said.

JERUSALEM, Mar 8 (NNN-WAFA) – At least six more Palestinians were killed in the West Bank yesterday, in an Israeli raid, aimed at arresting a suspect, involved in the killing of two Israeli brothers the previous week, Palestinian and Israeli officials said.

In a video statement, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu announced that, the Palestinian suspect was killed during the raid in the refugee camp of Jenin in the northern West Bank.