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Resources updated between Monday, February 15, 2021 and Sunday, February 21, 2021

February 19, 2021

February 18, 2021

A copy of a cover page of UNRWA material investigated by IMPACT-se

"President Biden, in his obsession with reversing every Trump policy, means to reinstate funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency - hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars a year for an agency that teaches Palestinian children to hate 'the Enemy' Israel and believe 'Jihad is the road of glory.'

UNRWA began producing its own educational material last year to aid at-home learning during the pandemic - and some of its content is more venomous than Palestinian Authority propaganda.

The Jerusalem-based Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education blew the lid off the scandalous teaching materials in November, revealing they glorified terrorism in the cause of destroying Israel. Canada and Australia opened investigations, but UNRWA claimed it had dealt with the matter internally and replaced the 'inappropriate' material.

It didn't. Though UNRWA blocked access to its material, IMPACT-se found it and released a report Wednesday showing the agency still teaches hate and intolerance to more than 320,000 Palestinian children.
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New hate-mongering scandals at UN agency that Biden means to send millions Article

Boko Haram terrorists (File photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

Gunmen kidnap at least 20 boys from Nigerian boarding school Document

February 17, 2021

Behnam Mahjoub, the Iranian prisoner who died while imprisoned by the Iranian regime

Iranian human rights activists and journalists said on Tuesday that the Islamic Republic killed a Dervish prisoner of conscience after he was forcibly sent to a psychiatric clinic that disrupted his medical treatment.

Video footage reviewed by The Jerusalem Post showed the mother of Ebrahim Ketabdar, who was murdered during the 2019 massacre of Iranian protestors, stating: "Today, these murderers killed Behnam Mahjoubi. When I went to court they said: 'We did a good thing by killing your son.'"

Ebrahim Ketabdar was a bystander during the demonstrations against regime economic and political corruption.

Iran's clerical regime arrested Mahjoubi along with more than 300 Dervish community members for his involvement in protests against the regime in 2018.

The mother of Pouya Bakhtiari, a 27-year-old electrical engineer who was shot dead at a 2019 protest against rising fuel prices, told the Persian language service of Voice of America that she heard that Mahjoubi's condition is grave.

The Jerusalem Post cannot independently confirm that Mahjoubi died.

Amnesty International tweeted "The events leading to the critical condition of prisoner of conscience Behnam Mahjoubi in the hospital must be criminally investigated. He suffered months of torture which included willful denial of medical care. All officials and prison doctors are responsible for these cruel acts must face justice."

Iranian-American Lawdan Bazargan wrote on Twitter: "Islamic Regime of #Iran killed another political prisoner, #BehnamMahjoubi by denying him medical treatment in prison for his Epilepsy. IRI impunity for #CrimesAgainstHumanity in the past 42 years has emboldened the regime."

The National Union for Democracy in Iran urged the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to condemn Iran's regime for the alleged murder of Mahjoubi.

The prominent women's rights campaigner and journalist Masih Alinejad tweeted "You don't hear any of these words from grieving mothers in international media or regime's lobbies. As the Islamic Republic of Iran drugged to death the political prisoner #BehnamMahjoubi, mothers of other children killed by the regime have shown solidarity with Behnam's mother." Her tweet contained the video footage of Mahjoubi's mother.

Iran expert Amir Toumaj provided more background on Mahjubi's death on Twitter, saying that "Gonabadi Sufi follower Behnam Mahjubi has died after authorities reportedly gave him wrong medication. After his death was reported, prison authorities claimed he was alive."

According to an October US government news outlet Voice of America report, Mahjoubi is a member of "Iran's Gonabadi Dervish religious minority. Members of the Sufi Muslim religious sect long have complained of harassment by Iran's Shiite Islamist rulers, who view them as heretics."

Voice of America reported in October prison authorities at Iran's infamous Evin prison blocked "Mahjoubi's access to panic disorder medications provided by family members since August."

Allah Bakhshi, a former political prisoner and member of Iran's Dervish religious minority community, said in October that "Behman's life is in danger. Let's be his voice."

Outrage over killing of Iranian Dervish prisoner of conscience Document

February 16, 2021

The videos have increased fears for the safety of the princess. (Photograph: BBC Panorama)

Secret videos raise fears for ruler's daughter forcibly returned to Dubai Document

February 15, 2021

World Health Organization building (File photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

"The world needs to learn all it can about the origins of the novel coronarivus, and the World Health Organization has been investigating. But there's increasing reason to question the effort due to China's lack of cooperation and conflicts of interest on the WHO team.

A Beijing-approved WHO delegation recently concluded a 12-day visit to Wuhan, where the virus emerged more than a year ago. The group visited local hospitals and sites like the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) and Huanan Seafood Market. But such field trips aren't very helpful without unhindered access to raw data. The Chinese government, which controls research into Covid-19's origin, has limited WHO access to such information.
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The WIV has conducted controversial 'gain of function" research on coronaviruses. Such experiments can provide viruses with new capabilities-such as the ability to infect a different species. The U.S. State Department has said "several researchers inside the WIV became sick in autumn 2019' and had 'symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illnesses.' This is important to investigate.
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One prominent member of the WHO team is zoologist Peter Daszak. Also part of the Lancet COVID-19 Commission, Mr. Daszak has vowed to investigate 'with an open mind' and 'not be bound by preconceived ideas.'

Yet emails obtained by the nonprofit U.S. Right to Know show that Mr. Daszak long ago made up his mind about the lab-leak theory. In February 2020, he helped organize a statement in the Lancet condemning "conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin.
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His interest is understandable. The British-born U.S. citizen has deep ties with the WIV. Millions of U.S. government dollars went to his organization to fund research at the Chinese institution. Mr. Daszak, who has consistently defended the Chinese government, didn't respond to a request for comment.
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Also of concern is Marion Koopmans, who oversees the viroscience department at the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands. A decade ago Ms. Koopmans's deputy, Ron Fouchier, made international news by modifying a deadly flu virus to spread between ferrets. If an investigation finds it likely that the Covid-19 pandemic was caused by gain-of-function research, that would have repercussions for labs around the world, including at Erasmus MC. A spokesman for the organization didn't respond to a request for comment...."

Who Are the WHO's Covid Investigators? Article

Protests against the military coup (File photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Myanmar's junta on Saturday suspended laws constraining security forces from detaining suspects or searching private property without court approval and ordered the arrest of well-known backers of mass protests against this month's coup.

A series of announcements came on the eighth day of country-wide demonstrations against the Feb. 1 takeover and detention of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, which halted an unsteady transition to democracy that began in 2011.

The announcements bore echoes of the near half-century of military rule before reforms began, when the Southeast Asian country was one of the world's most repressive and isolated states.

An order signed by military ruler General Min Aung Hlaing suspended three sections of laws "protecting the privacy and security of the citizens", which had been introduced during the gradual liberalisation.

Those sections include the requirement for a court order to detain prisoners beyond 24 hours and constraints on security forces' ability to enter private property to search it or make arrests. The suspensions also free up spying on communications.

The statement gave no specific end date.

The coup has prompted the biggest street protests in more than a decade and has been denounced by Western countries, with the United States announcing some sanctions on the ruling generals and other countries also considering measures.

As anti-coup protests sprang up again in the biggest city Yangon, the capital Naypyitaw and elsewhere on Saturday, the army said arrest warrants had been issued for seven high profile critics of military rule over their comments on social media.

People should inform the police if they spot any of those named and will be punished if they shelter them, the army's True News information team said in a statement.

It said cases had been filed under a law which provides up to two years jail for comments that could cause alarm or "threaten tranquillity".

On the wanted list is Min Ko Naing, 58, who was imprisoned for most of the time between 1988 and 2012, and who has been prominent in encouraging protests and a civil disobedience movement followed by a swathe of government workers.

Reuters was not immediately able to reach him for comment.

COUP OPPONENTS

Others with warrants against them included "Jimmy" Kyaw Min Yu, also a veteran of the 1988 student uprising, and singer "Lin Lin" Htwe Lin Ko.

"I am so proud to have a warrant issued along with Min Ko Naing. Catch me if you can," said Ei Pencilo, to her more than 1.6 million followers on Facebook.

Like several others named, she worked with Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), which won a landslide in a November election the army alleged to be tainted with fraud - an accusation dismissed by the electoral commission.

Protests in support of Suu Kyi and the election sprang up across Myanmar again on Saturday in spite of a junta call for people to avoid mass gatherings due to the coronavirus epidemic.

The junta also appealed to civil servants who have been following the civil disobedience campaign to return to work, with a threat of possible disciplinary action against those who do not.

The United Nations human rights office said on Friday more than 350 people have been arrested in Myanmar since the coup.

Journalist Shwe Yee Win, who had reported on opposition to the coup in the western town of Pathein, was taken away by police and soldiers on Thursday and has not been heard from since, her TimeAyeyar news website and her mother said.

"I am really worried," said Thein Thein, now looking after her daughter's one-year-old child.

The government did not respond to requests for comment.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners voiced concern about a wave of overnight arrests.

"Family members are left with no knowledge of the charges, location, or condition of their loved ones. These are not isolated incidents, and nighttime raids are targeting dissenting voices," it said in a statement.

Suu Kyi, for decades the standard bearer of the fight for democracy in Myanmar, faces charges of illegally importing and using six walkie-talkie radios.

NLD press officer Kyi Toe said on Facebook that she was healthy under house arrest in the capital Naypyitaw.

The coup and detentions have prompted anger from Western countries and the 47-member U.N. Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on Friday calling on Myanmar to release detainees and refrain from using violence against protesters.

The United States this week began imposing sanctions on the ruling generals and some businesses linked to them.

Myanmar army suspends laws limiting forces, hunts protest backers Document