28/03/2025

FRIDAY | MAR 28, 2025

9

Israel parliament passes judicial reform law

Istanbul court frees seven journalists ISTANBUL: Turkish courts yesterday ordered the release of seven journalists, including an AFP photographer, held for covering protests. The move came during a lull in the week long protests that have swept across Turkiye since the March 19 arrest and jailing of Istanbul’s popular mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, who is widely seen as the main political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In pre-dawn raids on Monday, police rounded up 11 Turkish journalists who had been covering the protests, eight in Istanbul and three in Izmir, among them AFP photographer Yasin Akgul. On Tuesday, an Istanbul court remanded him and six others on charges of “taking part in illegal rallies and marches”. The move sparked sharp condemnation from rights groups and Paris-based international news agency AFP. The court yesterday ordered all seven to be released from custody. Akgul’s lawyer said it was unclear whether Akgul was granted a conditional release or if the charges were dropped. AFP chief executive and chairman Fabrice Fries had condemned his imprisonment as “unacceptable”, demanding he be swiftly freed as he was “not part of the protest” and only covering it as a journalist. “We demand the release of all other journalists who have been deprived of their freedom,” said Erol Onderoglu of media watchdog Reporters Without Borders. – AFP KENYA RECOGNISES KOSOVO INDEPENDENCE PRISTINA: Kenya has recognised Kosovo as an independent state, the first country to do so after nearly five years of stalled efforts to gain further international recognition. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but is not a UN member due to opposition from Serbia and its allies, including UN-veto holders Russia and China. Over 110 countries, including the United States and most European nations, have recognised Kosovo’s independence. The announcement was made by former Kosovo president Behgjet Pacolli, who shared photos on his Facebook page with Kenyan President William Ruto as he signed the recognition letter. – Reuters U.S. DROPS BOUNTIES ON AFGHAN LEADERS KABUL: The United States has removed multimillion-dollar bounties on leaders of Afghanistan’s Haqqani network, including the interior minister, the State Department and Afghan government said. The men remain on Washington’s list of “specially designated global terrorists” but the bounty price has been scrapped. Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said Washington had “cancelled rewards” for Sirajuddin Haqqani , who also heads the Haqqani network, as well as other key leaders, Abdul Aziz Haqqani and Yahya Haqqani. Sirajuddin Haqqani had long been one of Washington’s most important targets, with a US$10 million (RM44 million) bounty on his head. – AFP FRANCE PLEADS DETAINED ALGERIAN WRITER’S CASE PARIS: France yesterday called on Algiers to find a “humanitarian” resolution for Boualem Sansal, a French-Algerian writer sentenced to five years in jail by an Algerian court. “We deplore the sentencing of our fellow citizen Boualem Sansal to prison,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine told reporters, adding that the French government was urging Algeria to find “a rapid, humanitarian and dignified resolution to this situation”. – AFP

“The days of appeasement and silencing are over, never to return. I am proud to stand here and demand justice, and I am even prouder to deliver justice.” Currently, judges, including supreme court justices are selected by a nine-member committee comprising judges, lawmakers and bar association representatives, under the justice minister’s supervision. Under the new law, which would take effect at the start of the next legislative term, the committee would still have nine members: three supreme court judges, the justice minister and another minister, one coalition lawmaker, one opposition lawmaker, and two public representatives – one appointed by the majority and the other by the opposition. The judicial reforms package, first unveiled in early 2023, had triggered massive street protests that effectively divided Israeli society. Netanyahu’s detractors warn the package could pave the way for authoritarian rule and be used by Netanyahu to quash possible convictions against him in his corruption trial. Protesters had rallied weekly against the government reforms since they were unveiled. Rallies have once again erupted in key cities, and on Wednesday thousands protested against the Bill before it was approved in parliament. – AFP Al-Masirah also reported strikes early yesterday in Saada, the rebels’ northern stronghold which Houthi media had said was hit 17 times the day before. The United States launched airstrikes against the Houthis on March 15, vowing to use overwhelming force until they stopped firing on vessels in the key shipping routes of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The Houthis have since reported frequent US airstrikes on areas under their control. While the United States does not always report these raids, a US defence official said on Sunday that American forces were “conducting strikes across Houthi locations every day and night in Yemen”. In response, the Houthis have claimed responsibility for attacks on a US aircraft carrier off Yemen’s coast, as well as projectiles fired at Israel. – Reuters/AFP

overtaken by the war in Gaza. Yair Lapid, leader of the centre-right Yesh Atid party, announced on X that he had filed an appeal with the supreme court against the law on behalf of several opposition parties, just minutes after the parliamentary vote. According to Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who sponsored the Bill, the measure was intended to “restore balance” between the legislative and judicial branches. In his closing remarks ahead of the vote, Levin slammed the supreme court for what he described had “effectively nullified the Knesset”. “It has taken for itself the authority to cancel laws and even Basic Laws. This is something unheard of in any democracy in the world,” said Levin, the key architect of the judicial reforms. “But our supreme court didn’t stop at trampling the Knesset; it placed itself above the government. It can annul any government action, compel the government to perform any action, cancel any government appointment.” Levin said with the new Bill the country was “opening a new page”. Israel resumed major military strikes in Gaza on March 18, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Hamas, which still holds 59 of the 250 or so hostages Israel says the group seized in its Oct 7, 2023 attack, accused Israel of jeopardising efforts by mediators to negotiate a permanent deal to end the fighting. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered strikes because Hamas had rejected proposals to secure a ceasefire extension. In Sanaa, Houthi rebels said two people were killed in airstrikes near Sanaa that they blamed on the United States. The Al-Masirah TV channel reported nearly 20 strikes on Sanaa governorate, both north and south of the capital. “The American aggression killed two and injured two,” Health Ministry spokesman Anis al-Asbahi said on X.

o Oppositionboycottsvote

TEL AVIV: Israel’s parliament yesterday passed a law expanding elected officials’ power to appoint judges, defying a years-long movement against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious judicial reforms that saw massive street protests. The approval comes as Netanyahu’s government, one of the most right-wing in Israel’s history, is locked in a standoff with the supreme court after beginning proceedings to dismiss Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and Ronen Bar, head of the internal security agency. The opposition, which swiftly filed a petition with the supreme court challenging the vote, views these judicial reforms as signs of Netanyahu’s authoritarian shift toward an illiberal democracy. The legislation was approved by a vote of 67 in favour and one against, with the opposition boycotting the vote. Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, has 120 lawmakers. CAIRO: Hamas spokesperson Abdel-Latif Al Qanoua has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza, the latest figure to be killed since Israel resumed its operations in the enclave, Hamas-affiliated media said yesterday. Al-Qanoua was killed when his tent was targeted in Jabalia, Al-Aqsa television said. The same strike wounded several people while separate attacks killed at least six in Gaza City and one in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, medical sources said. Earlier this week, Israel killed Ismail Barhoum, a member of Hamas’ political office, and senior leader Salah al-Bardaweel. Both were members of the 20-member Hamas decision-making body, the political office, 11 of whom have been killed since the start of the war in late 2023, according to Hamas sources. At least 830 people, have been killed since

The overall judicial reform package had sparked one of the largest protest movements in Israel’s history in 2023 before being Hamas spokesperson killed in airstrike “It is hypocrisy and one-sided to say that the Knesset is forbidden to act while the court is allowed to act in the middle of a war,” Levin said.

BR I E F S

Peace activists protesting at the entrance to the Australian International

Airshow in Avalon on Wednesday. – AFPPIC