rferl--2020-09-11--U.S. Says Kremlin Risks Turning Belarusian People Against Russia By Backing Lukashenka

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun has said Russia risks losing the friendship of the Belarusian people if the Kremlin continues to back authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka .
Biegun made the comments on September 11 as Lukashenka faces the biggest challenge to his 26-year rule amid nationwide protests against the results of the August 9 presidential election that handed him a sixth five-year term .
Meanwhile , Belarusian Nobel Prize-winning writer Svetlana Alexievich said she feared her country could lose its independence amid the political strife and called on Russian intellectuals for support .
Speaking to journalists @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most Belarusians `` have seen Russia as the country closest to their hearts and we respect that sentiment and sovereign choice .
It thus eludes us how Moscow could back such a regime and such violence against peaceful citizens , exercising constitutionally protected rights to freedom of assembly , association , and speech.
” The senior U.S. diplomat said that if the Russian leadership “ continues down this path , it risks turning the Belarusian people -- who have no grievance with Russia -- against Moscow.
” In Minsk , Alexievich seemed to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intellectuals have n't spoken out against Lukashenka 's actions .
`` Why are n't you helping my little nation maintain its dignity and statehood , '' she said , addressing Russians .
The Belarusian people have called on Lukashenka to step down and hold free and fair elections , claiming the August 9 vote was rigged in his favor .
The 66-year-old Belarusian leader has responded to the peaceful protests with violent arrests and torture .
His actions have not only emboldened the opposition , they have alienated Western governments , forcing Lukashenka @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as he seeks to cling to power .
Lukashenka will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 14 at the Black Sea resort of Sochi , their first face-to-face meeting since the election .
However , Lukashenka has spoken with Putin several times by phone since August 9 .
The two leaders have spoken several times by phone since August 9 with Putin promising military assistance under a bilateral military pact , including a police force .
The Sochi meeting comes amid a years-long push by Putin for a Union state with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lukashenka could bow to the Russian leaders demands .
“ There is a danger that we could lose our country , ” Alexievich said .
Biegun said it was “ disturbing to see increasing signs of overt Russian support ” for the embattled dictator , but he declined to say if the United States would take any action , such as imposing more sanctions on Moscow , to oppose it .
Biegun pointed out that Russians citizens have also been swept up by Belarusian police as part of the crackdown against protesters and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” The U.S. deputy secretary of state said he hoped that Putin would express concern about the violence against Belarusian and Russian citizens committed by Lukashenka ’ s government and the need for the strongman to step down .
“ We hope the message from Moscow is that the ruler needs to give way to the will of his people , ” Biegun said of the September 14 meeting .
He said the United States is working with its European allies , Moscow and Belarus to “ generate a proposal that offers a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prime ministers of Poland , the Czech Republic , Hungary , and Slovakia issued a joint statement on September 14 saying Belarus should hold new presidential elections to resolve the standoff .
Biegun called on Lukashenka to hold talks with the Coordination Council that was set up by opposition leaders following the election to facilitate a transfer of power , saying the strongman had been `` rejected by his own people . ''
He said U.S. support for such talks `` does not mean we 're asking Belarus to choose between East and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one of the seven members of the Coordination Council 's presidium , warned that if Lukashenka does n't negotiate , the problems will fester and `` we will get nothing but a civil war . ''
In the meantime , Biegun said the United States and its European allies will not let Lukashenka 's actions go unpunished .
The West is coordinating on sanctions against officials in Belarus responsible for election falsification as well as the beatings and detentions , according to the U.S. deputy secretary of state , who said he expected @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ in just a few short days.
” He said the West will avoid sanctions , at this stage , that impact companies and the economy .
“ We do not also want to impose on the citizens of Belarus any additional punitive measures unless absolutely necessary and supportive of the goals we are seeking in Belarus , ” he said .
EU countries have also called for a debate and resolution on Belarus at a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva for next week .
With reporting by dpa @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Service

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun has said Russia risks losing the friendship of the Belarusian people if the Kremlin continues to back authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
Biegun made the comments on September 11 as Lukashenka faces the biggest challenge to his 26-year rule amid nationwide protests against the results of the August 9 presidential election that handed him a sixth five-year term.
Meanwhile, Belarusian Nobel Prize-winning writer Svetlana Alexievich said she feared her country could lose its independence amid the political strife and called on Russian intellectuals for support.
Speaking to journalists during a conference call, Biegun said most Belarusians "have seen Russia as the country closest to their hearts and we respect that sentiment and sovereign choice. It thus eludes us how Moscow could back such a regime and such violence against peaceful citizens, exercising constitutionally protected rights to freedom of assembly, association, and speech.”
The senior U.S. diplomat said that if the Russian leadership “continues down this path, it risks turning the Belarusian people -- who have no grievance with Russia -- against Moscow.”
In Minsk, Alexievich seemed to echo that notion by lamenting that Russian intellectuals haven't spoken out against Lukashenka's actions.
"Why aren't you helping my little nation maintain its dignity and statehood," she said, addressing Russians.
Crisis In Belarus Read our coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on NGOs, activists, and independent media following the August 2020 presidential election.
The Belarusian people have called on Lukashenka to step down and hold free and fair elections, claiming the August 9 vote was rigged in his favor. The 66-year-old Belarusian leader has responded to the peaceful protests with violent arrests and torture.
His actions have not only emboldened the opposition, they have alienated Western governments, forcing Lukashenka to look to the Kremlin for support as he seeks to cling to power.
Lukashenka will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 14 at the Black Sea resort of Sochi, their first face-to-face meeting since the election. However, Lukashenka has spoken with Putin several times by phone since August 9.
The two leaders have spoken several times by phone since August 9 with Putin promising military assistance under a bilateral military pact, including a police force. The Sochi meeting comes amid a years-long push by Putin for a Union state with Belarus, raising concern that a weakened Lukashenka could bow to the Russian leaders demands.
“There is a danger that we could lose our country,” Alexievich said. Biegun said it was “disturbing to see increasing signs of overt Russian support” for the embattled dictator, but he declined to say if the United States would take any action, such as imposing more sanctions on Moscow, to oppose it.
Biegun pointed out that Russians citizens have also been swept up by Belarusian police as part of the crackdown against protesters and “subject to the same brutal violence.”
The U.S. deputy secretary of state said he hoped that Putin would express concern about the violence against Belarusian and Russian citizens committed by Lukashenka’s government and the need for the strongman to step down.
“We hope the message from Moscow is that the ruler needs to give way to the will of his people,” Biegun said of the September 14 meeting.
He said the United States is working with its European allies, Moscow and Belarus to “generate a proposal that offers a way out” for Lukashenka. The prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia issued a joint statement on September 14 saying Belarus should hold new presidential elections to resolve the standoff.
Biegun called on Lukashenka to hold talks with the Coordination Council that was set up by opposition leaders following the election to facilitate a transfer of power, saying the strongman had been "rejected by his own people."
He said U.S. support for such talks "does not mean we're asking Belarus to choose between East and West."
Alexievich, who is one of the seven members of the Coordination Council's presidium, warned that if Lukashenka doesn't negotiate, the problems will fester and "we will get nothing but a civil war."
In the meantime, Biegun said the United States and its European allies will not let Lukashenka's actions go unpunished.
The West is coordinating on sanctions against officials in Belarus responsible for election falsification as well as the beatings and detentions, according to the U.S. deputy secretary of state, who said he expected the U.S. sanctions list to be finalized “in just a few short days.”
He said the West will avoid sanctions, at this stage, that impact companies and the economy.
“We do not also want to impose on the citizens of Belarus any additional punitive measures unless absolutely necessary and supportive of the goals we are seeking in Belarus,” he said.
EU countries have also called for a debate and resolution on Belarus at a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva for next week.
With reporting by dpa, Reuters, and RFE/RL's Belarus Service


rferl--2020-09-11--Anger Grows In Pakistan Over Gang Rape Case, Police Officer's Remarks

ISLAMABAD -- Protests were held in Islamabad and other cities across Pakistan amid national outrage over the alleged gang rape of a woman in front of her children .
Dozens of women affiliated with the women ’ s wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami political party gathered in front of the National Press Club building in the capital on September 11 , chanting slogans calling for the execution of rapists .
Rape is not punishable by the death penalty under Pakistani law .
Pakistani authorities say they have detained 14 people for questioning after two armed men allegedly gang-raped a woman in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stalled on a highway .
In the incident near the eastern city of Lahore on the night of September 9 , two armed men allegedly gang-raped the woman after her car ran out of fuel on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway .
The assailants also stole cash and jewelry from the mother before fleeing the scene , police said .
Authorities say they have detained 14 suspects for questioning and conducted DNA tests of seven suspects .
News of the assault immediately drew widespread condemnation on social media , including from officials and politicians .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Umar Sheikh seemed to blame the victim , a Pakistani citizen said to be a resident of France , because she was driving at night without a male companion .
Sheikh told the media that no one in Pakistani society would `` allow their sisters and daughters to travel alone so late.
” The officer went on to say that the woman probably `` mistook that Pakistani society is just as safe '' as France .
The police chief also said that the victim should have opted for a less deserted road , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the level of fuel in her car .
The comments prompted calls for his removal among politicians , rights activists , and others .
Describing the remarks as “ unacceptable , ” Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari tweeted : `` Nothing can ever rationalize the crime of rape .
That 's it . ''
Sheikh ’ s office said his comments had been “ misunderstood.
” “ He said that the woman left her house with her children thinking Pakistan was France .
Because in France , there is writ of state , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ provided protection , there is rule of law , ” the statement said .
Gang rape is relatively rare in Pakistan , although sexual harassment and violence against women is not uncommon .
Hundreds of women are killed every year in Pakistan in so-called honor killings for violating conservative Pakistani traditions on love , marriage , and public behavior .
With reporting by AFP and AP

ISLAMABAD -- Protests were held in Islamabad and other cities across Pakistan amid national outrage over the alleged gang rape of a woman in front of her children.
Dozens of women affiliated with the women’s wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami political party gathered in front of the National Press Club building in the capital on September 11, chanting slogans calling for the execution of rapists.
Rape is not punishable by the death penalty under Pakistani law.
Pakistani authorities say they have detained 14 people for questioning after two armed men allegedly gang-raped a woman in front of her children after her car stalled on a highway.
In the incident near the eastern city of Lahore on the night of September 9, two armed men allegedly gang-raped the woman after her car ran out of fuel on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway.
The assailants also stole cash and jewelry from the mother before fleeing the scene, police said.
Authorities say they have detained 14 suspects for questioning and conducted DNA tests of seven suspects.
News of the assault immediately drew widespread condemnation on social media, including from officials and politicians.
Anger only grew after Lahore police chief Umar Sheikh seemed to blame the victim, a Pakistani citizen said to be a resident of France, because she was driving at night without a male companion.
Sheikh told the media that no one in Pakistani society would "allow their sisters and daughters to travel alone so late.”
The officer went on to say that the woman probably "mistook that Pakistani society is just as safe" as France.
The police chief also said that the victim should have opted for a less deserted road, and that she ought to have checked the level of fuel in her car.
The comments prompted calls for his removal among politicians, rights activists, and others.
Describing the remarks as “unacceptable,” Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari tweeted: "Nothing can ever rationalize the crime of rape. That's it."
Sheikh’s office said his comments had been “misunderstood.”
“He said that the woman left her house with her children thinking Pakistan was France. Because in France, there is writ of state, there are moral values, citizens are provided protection, there is rule of law,” the statement said.
Gang rape is relatively rare in Pakistan, although sexual harassment and violence against women is not uncommon.
Hundreds of women are killed every year in Pakistan in so-called honor killings for violating conservative Pakistani traditions on love, marriage, and public behavior.
With reporting by AFP and AP


rferl--2020-09-11--Transgender Man Killed By Brother In Northwestern Pakistan

Pakistani officials say a transgender man was shot dead by his brother in northwest Pakistan in the second deadly attack in the region this week to target the long-oppressed community .
The incident took place on September 10 in Swabi , a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province , local police official Muhammad Fahim told RFE/RL .
The official said that the victim , identified as Saad , was returning home after performing at a dance party in the city of Rawalpindi , south of Islamabad , when his 14-year-old brother opened fire on him .
Police said they have detained @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this week , unidentified gunmen opened fire on a group of transgender women on the outskirts of Peshawar , the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa , killing one of them and wounding another .
Farzana , the provincial head of Pakistan ’ s Transgender Association , told RFE/RL that 73 members of the transgender community have been killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since 2015 while hundreds of others have been the victims of other forms of violent attacks .
Transgender people , known officially as `` third-gender '' citizens in Pakistan -- a group that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hermaphrodites , and transvestites -- face widespread violence , intimidation , and abuse despite multiple laws passed to protect them .
The community , estimated to number around 500,000 , is known in the Urdu language as `` hijras . ''
Many describe themselves as `` professional wedding dancers , '' but supporters say they are often forced to earn income through begging and prostitution .
Following their official third-gender classification handed down by the Supreme Court in 2011 , members of the community were granted the rights to vote and run for @ @

Pakistani officials say a transgender man was shot dead by his brother in northwest Pakistan in the second deadly attack in the region this week to target the long-oppressed community.
The incident took place on September 10 in Swabi, a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, local police official Muhammad Fahim told RFE/RL.
The official said that the victim, identified as Saad, was returning home after performing at a dance party in the city of Rawalpindi, south of Islamabad, when his 14-year-old brother opened fire on him.
Police said they have detained the brother, Muhammad Hammad.
Earlier this week, unidentified gunmen opened fire on a group of transgender women on the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing one of them and wounding another.
Farzana, the provincial head of Pakistan’s Transgender Association, told RFE/RL that 73 members of the transgender community have been killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since 2015 while hundreds of others have been the victims of other forms of violent attacks.
Transgender people, known officially as "third-gender" citizens in Pakistan -- a group that includes cross-dressers, transsexuals, eunuchs, hermaphrodites, and transvestites -- face widespread violence, intimidation, and abuse despite multiple laws passed to protect them.
The community, estimated to number around 500,000, is known in the Urdu language as "hijras."
Many describe themselves as "professional wedding dancers," but supporters say they are often forced to earn income through begging and prostitution.
Following their official third-gender classification handed down by the Supreme Court in 2011, members of the community were granted the rights to vote and run for office.


rferl--2020-09-11--Early Voting Under Way In Russian Regional Elections Seen As Key Test For Ruling Party

Two days of early voting have begun in many regions across Russia that are holding local elections ahead of the main and final day of balloting on September 13 .
Officially , the government introduced the two days of early voting as a measure to thwart the further spread of the coronavirus .
However , critics of authoritarian President Vladimir Putin argue it is part of an effort to falsify the results in favor of the ruling United Russia party .
The independent election-monitoring group Golos , in a report issued in July , found that lawmakers have “ used @ @ @ @ @ @ @ make the electoral system even more opaque and subject to manipulation , including direct falsifications.
” “ The current elections are being held under the worst legislative framework of the last 25 years , ” the report concluded .
Elections are being held in 41 regions .
Eighteen of them will select governors ; 11 will choose regional legislatures ; 22 cities will vote for municipal legislatures ; and there will be a host of other local elections .
In addition , four by-elections are being held for vacant seats in the State @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some one-third of the national total , are eligible to cast their ballots .
Analysts have depicted the elections as a test for an embattled United Russia and a bellwether for Duma elections set for 2021 .
Putin ’ s popularity rating has been in decline for a number of months , particularly in the wake of a Kremlin-driven effort earlier this year to rewrite the constitution in order to make it possible for Putin to remain in power until 2036 .
United Russia is even less popular , with just 31 percent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for it , according to research by the independent Levada Center polling agency released on September 7 .
The party ’ s image has been battered by its leading role in conducting a controversial national plebiscite on the constitutional revisions , a much-reviled pension reform that raised retirement ages , unanswered allegations of massive corruption at the local and national levels , and public discontent with the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic .
In addition , the elections are being held in the context of weeks of massive protests in the Siberian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s removal of a popular governor who was elected in a 2018 landslide over a longtime United Russia incumbent ; more than a month of protests in neighboring Belarus against a disputed presidential election that gave President Alyaksandr Lukashenka a sixth term ; and the August 20 poisoning of liberal opposition leader Aleksei Navalny , who is currently hospitalized in Berlin from the suspected ingestion of a Soviet-developed Novichok nerve toxin .
Navalny and his supporters have developed a system called “ smart voting , ” which is aimed at undoing United Russia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Under the system , voters can enter their address into a special app , which will then give them a list of the candidates deemed most likely to defeat their United Russia rivals regardless of their party affiliation .
With reporting by AFP and Meduza

Two days of early voting have begun in many regions across Russia that are holding local elections ahead of the main and final day of balloting on September 13.
Officially, the government introduced the two days of early voting as a measure to thwart the further spread of the coronavirus. However, critics of authoritarian President Vladimir Putin argue it is part of an effort to falsify the results in favor of the ruling United Russia party.
The independent election-monitoring group Golos, in a report issued in July, found that lawmakers have “used the epidemiological situation as an excuse to make the electoral system even more opaque and subject to manipulation, including direct falsifications.”
“The current elections are being held under the worst legislative framework of the last 25 years,” the report concluded.
Elections are being held in 41 regions. Eighteen of them will select governors; 11 will choose regional legislatures; 22 cities will vote for municipal legislatures; and there will be a host of other local elections. In addition, four by-elections are being held for vacant seats in the State Duma.
About 35 million voters, some one-third of the national total, are eligible to cast their ballots.
Analysts have depicted the elections as a test for an embattled United Russia and a bellwether for Duma elections set for 2021.
Putin’s popularity rating has been in decline for a number of months, particularly in the wake of a Kremlin-driven effort earlier this year to rewrite the constitution in order to make it possible for Putin to remain in power until 2036.
United Russia is even less popular, with just 31 percent of Russians expressing a willingness to vote for it, according to research by the independent Levada Center polling agency released on September 7.
The party’s image has been battered by its leading role in conducting a controversial national plebiscite on the constitutional revisions, a much-reviled pension reform that raised retirement ages, unanswered allegations of massive corruption at the local and national levels, and public discontent with the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.
In addition, the elections are being held in the context of weeks of massive protests in the Siberian region of Khabarovsk against the Kremlin’s removal of a popular governor who was elected in a 2018 landslide over a longtime United Russia incumbent; more than a month of protests in neighboring Belarus against a disputed presidential election that gave President Alyaksandr Lukashenka a sixth term; and the August 20 poisoning of liberal opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, who is currently hospitalized in Berlin from the suspected ingestion of a Soviet-developed Novichok nerve toxin.
Navalny and his supporters have developed a system called “smart voting,” which is aimed at undoing United Russia’s stranglehold on political power. Under the system, voters can enter their address into a special app, which will then give them a list of the candidates deemed most likely to defeat their United Russia rivals regardless of their party affiliation.
With reporting by AFP and Meduza


rferl--2020-09-11--Pompeo, Afghan Delegation Reach Qatar For Peace Talks

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and an Afghan delegation on September 11 arrived in Qatar where negotiations between the Taliban and Afghanistan 's government are scheduled to begin the next day .
Pompeo said on his way to the Qatari capital , Doha , that upcoming Afghan peace talks are likely to be “ contentious , ” but they are the only way forward if Afghans are to find peace after decades of conflict .
The negotiations were laid out in a peace deal Washington brokered with the Taliban and signed in Doha on February 29 aimed at ending @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ending America 's longest conflict .
“ It ’ s taken us longer than I wish that it had to get from February 29 to here , but we expect Saturday morning -- for the first time in almost two decades -- to have the Afghans sitting at the table together , prepared to have what will be contentious discussions about how to move their country forward to reduce violence and deliver what the Afghan people are demanding : a reconciled Afghanistan with a government that reflects a country that isn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the plane taking him to Doha .
`` It ’ s their country to figure out how to move forward and make a better life for all Afghan people , ” he said .
President Donald Trump made the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan a promise before the 2016 presidential election .
In the countdown to this November 's presidential poll , Washington has ramped up pressure to start intra-Afghan negotiations .
At a news conference on September 10 , Trump called the talks “ exciting ” and said Washington expected @ @ @ @ @ @ @ November .
Even though delays have plagued the start of negotiations , Washington began withdrawing some of its 13,000 troops after the February 29 deal was signed .
Pompeo warned of spoilers to peace , citing recent targeted killings in Afghanistan and the attempted assassination earlier this week of Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh .
“ It ’ s very clear that the violence levels have to come down to acceptable levels , ” he said .
U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad told journalists on September 11 that the negotiations would be a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` This is a new phase in diplomacy for peace in Afghanistan .
Now we are entering a process that is Afghan-owned and Afghan-led , '' Khalilzad said , adding that Washington will continue to monitor and engage with both sides .
The Afghan delegation includes Abdullah Abdullah , who heads the High Council for National Reconciliation , the powerful umbrella group that will oversee the negotiation team headed by former intelligence chief Mohammed Masoom Stanikzai .
Abdullah 's appointment to head the council was part of a power-sharing deal with Afghan President @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over the results of a controversial presidential poll the year before .
The Taliban negotiating team is led by Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai , a hard-line cleric who spent years lying low in Pakistan ’ s southwestern city of Quetta , where the Afghan Taliban leadership has been based since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 toppled the extremist group from power in neighboring Afghanistan .
With reporting by AP , Reuters , and AFP

The education of girls and women is universally accepted in more than 200 countries and territories, including nearly 50 Muslim-majority nations.
But Afghanistan’s hard-line Islamist Taliban rulers have banned teenage girls from attending school after the sixth grade since they returned to power two years ago. The ban was extended in December to women in universities.
Countless protests by Afghans inside the country, pressure from the international community, and lobbying by Muslim scholars and clerics have failed to convince the fundamentalist Taliban leaders to reopen schools.
Experts are divided over whether the ban is rooted in how the Taliban’s interpretation of Islam is shaped by conservative Pashtun tribal customs and cultural practices or if it is prompted by how senior Taliban ideologues interpret Islamic teachings.
Most Taliban leaders are ethnic Pashtun, Sunni Muslim clerics. Many were educated in Deobandi madrasahs in neighboring Pakistan. Deobandism emerged as a puritanical Islamic revivalist movement in 19-century British Colonial India. Based on the Sunni Hanafi school of jurisprudence, it is a prominent strain among Islamists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Tribal Influences
Sami Yousafzai, a veteran Afghan journalist and commentator, argues that the Taliban restrictions against women are linked to social customs and cultural practices in eastern and southern Afghanistan.
Most Taliban leaders come from various Pashtun rural tribal communities in these regions bordering Pakistan.
"They believe that a woman's place is either inside a house or in a grave," Yousafzai said of the basic Taliban belief influenced by the status of women in the families of clerics and religious leaders in these Pashtun regions.
“Women living in the households of the current Taliban policymakers were never educated and never left their homes,” said Yousafzai, who has tracked the Islamist group since it emerged as a ragtag militia in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar in late 1994. “These women never performed any government or nongovernmental jobs.”
Yousafzai says the Taliban backs policies shaped by this worldview by leaning on Islamic teachings supporting such ideas. He says Taliban leaders rely on sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad that discourage women from leaving their homes.
“Their primary belief is that pubescent girls should not leave home under any circumstance,” he said. “This is why they view women leaving home for education or work as engaging in moral corruption.”
In Afghanistan, a Muslim nation of some 40 million people, activists and rights advocates accuse the Taliban of implementing "gender apartheid" by denying women education, work, freedom of movement, and deciding how they can appear in public.
Most Muslims agree that Islam allows women to get an education. Yet the Taliban publicly says that it will allow girls access to education only after ensuring complete gender segregation and other unspecified conditions.
Almost all Afghan secondary schools were gender segregated and universities imposed a strict separation between men and women after the Taliban takeover.
Yousafzai says in conservative and traditional Muslim societies around the world, some clerics also favor restrictions on women's education, work, and their role in public life. But the governments in those countries usually oppose or limit such ideas.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia -- one of the most conservative Sunni Muslim nations -- has allowed women to drive and granted them freedom of movement without a male guardian. These steps are part of a reform and modernity drive by Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman.
The Taliban ban on education has invited universal condemnation from Muslims globally.
“The Taliban's ban on women's education is not rooted in [the Islamic] Shari’a law but rather reflects cultural biases that contradict the teachings of Islam,” said Salam al-Marayati, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in the United States.
He said that contrary to Taliban practices, “Islam emphasizes the importance of seeking knowledge and encourages all individuals, regardless of gender, to acquire an education.”
Historical Conflict
But Islamic scholars and those who have attempted to convince the Taliban about reopening girls schools offer a different explanation.
John Mohammad Butt, an Islamic scholar and former BBC broadcaster who is the only Westerner to graduate from India’s Darul Uloom Deoband, argues that the Taliban's policy on girls' education is not tribal but shaped by the century-old conflict over modern education.
“The problem is that girls' education in Afghanistan -- indeed, contemporary education in general -- has generally been introduced in Afghanistan in line with a secular agenda,” he said.
In the 1920s, a coalition of conservative clerics and tribal and community leaders deposed reformist King Amanullah Khan. He wanted to modernize Afghanistan along Turkish leader Kamal Ataturk's secular lines and championed modern education and rights for women.
This opposition to modernity and secularism continued, and conservative clerics opposed women's education and work. It became a key part of the Islamist opposition to the pro-Soviet Afghan communist governments after the April 1978 military coup that ended the Afghan monarchy. The mujahedin accused the communists of spreading immorality by promoting women’s education and empowerment.
“This has led to particular wariness on the part of conservative circles in Afghanistan with regard to girls' education,” Butt said.
'Deep Ideological Conviction'
Obaidullah Baheer, a political science lecturer at the American University of Afghanistan, became part of an effort to rescind the ban by talking to the Taliban last year.
But he says the effort failed because “the ban is a matter of deep ideological conviction” for the current supreme leader of the Taliban, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada.
Baheer says that the most prominent Taliban leaders have studied in Pakistani madrasahs and were thus disconnected from village and tribal life.
“They have been indoctrinated by the Deobandi school of thought so that they now enforce the strictest version of Islam on the Afghan population,” he said.
He argues that the ban on girls’ schools is a deliberate policy championed by Akhundzada, who he says has endorsed Taliban Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani's Arabic language book The Islamic Emirate And Its System. In this book, Haqqani supports a fringe Islamic opinion of preferring the choice of one of the Prophet Muhammad's wives, Sawdah Bint Zam'ah, who chose to stay at home until her death.
Baheer says Haqqani ignores his other wives and other female companions that played an active role in many sectors of society and how they served as students and teachers for men.
“This fringe opinion is not held by all Taliban leaders but is one that the current absolute sovereign, the Taliban emir, seems to be convinced of,” he said.
Butt says that even Haqqani has acknowledged the principle that if there is something that women need to act upon, then that is also something that women need to learn about.
“I hope the Taliban authorities will come to realize in the not-too-distant future that education for women will make Afghan women into better Muslims,” he says. “It will enable them to make a stronger contribution to the well-being of their country.”
Two years after grappling with the issue, Western diplomats appear to be encouraging Afghan conservative and clerical circles to find ways to end the ban.
Tom West, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan, recently tweeted that Afghan women must be educated and contribute to the economy to help their country stand on its own two feet.
“If change to policies is made, it will be because Afghans have asked for it, not a result of foreign requests,” he wrote.


rferl--2020-09-12--Khabarovsk Protest Held For 64th Straight Day In Russia's Far East

Hundreds of people in the Far Eastern Russian city of Khabarovsk have taken to the streets for the 64th consecutive day to protest the arrest in July of the region ’ s popular former governor .
Protest organizers estimated the crowd on September 12 at about 2,000 people , while the city administration said about 700 people participated .
Former Khabarovsk Krai Governor Sergei Furgal was arrested on July 9 and taken to Moscow .
He faces charges in connection with several killings that happened in the mid-2000s .
Many of the protesters in Khabarovsk on September 12 held up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , '' `` Freedom for Furgal , '' and `` I/We are Sergei Furgal . ''
Demonstrators marched down a main thoroughfare in the city , blocking traffic .
No arrests were reported .
Furgal , of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia , was elected in 2018 in a runoff that he won handily against the region ’ s longtime United Russia incumbent .
Supporters believe the charges against him were fabricated in a bid to reestablish United Russia ’ s control over the region .
The protests highlight growing discontent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ see as Moscow-dominated policies that often neglect their views and interests .
President Vladimir Putin 's popularity has been declining as the Kremlin tries to deal with an economy suffering from the coronavirus pandemic and years of ongoing international sanctions .

Hundreds of people in the Far Eastern Russian city of Khabarovsk have taken to the streets for the 64th consecutive day to protest the arrest in July of the region’s popular former governor.
Protest organizers estimated the crowd on September 12 at about 2,000 people, while the city administration said about 700 people participated.
Former Khabarovsk Krai Governor Sergei Furgal was arrested on July 9 and taken to Moscow. He faces charges in connection with several killings that happened in the mid-2000s.
Many of the protesters in Khabarovsk on September 12 held up posters reading "Furgal – Our Choice," "Freedom for Furgal," and "I/We are Sergei Furgal."
Demonstrators marched down a main thoroughfare in the city, blocking traffic. No arrests were reported.
Furgal, of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, was elected in 2018 in a runoff that he won handily against the region’s longtime United Russia incumbent.
Supporters believe the charges against him were fabricated in a bid to reestablish United Russia’s control over the region.
The protests highlight growing discontent in the Far East over what demonstrators see as Moscow-dominated policies that often neglect their views and interests.
President Vladimir Putin's popularity has been declining as the Kremlin tries to deal with an economy suffering from the coronavirus pandemic and years of ongoing international sanctions.


rferl--2020-09-12--Iranian Champion Wrestler Navid Afkari Executed

Navid Afkari , an Iranian wrester convicted of murder in a case that was condemned by rights groups and U.S. President Donald Trump , has been executed , Iranian state media reported on September 12 .
Afkari was executed `` this morning after legal procedures were carried out at the insistence of the parents and the family of the victim , '' the head of the Justice Department in the southern Fars Province was quoted by state media as saying .
Afkari was convicted of a killing a man in the southern city of Shiraz in 2018 during mass anti-government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ international outcry .
Afkari had said he was tortured into making a false confession , according to his family and activists , and his attorney says there was no proof of his guilt .
Iran 's judiciary has denied the torture claims .
A global union representing 85,000 athletes on September 8 called for Iran 's expulsion from world sport if it executed Afkari .
Trump also called on Iran this month not to execute the wrestler .
`` Hearing that Iran is looking to execute a great and popular wrestling star , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was an anti-government demonstration on the streets .
They were protesting the 'country ’ s worsening economic situation and inflation , '' Trump wrote in a September 3 Twitter post .
Based on reporting by AFP , Reuters , AP , and dpa

A polytechnic school in Russia’s Tatarstan, a region some 900 kilometers east of Moscow, is using manufacturing facilities that are part of a nearby special economic zone to assemble Iranian attack drones and are increasingly turning to underage students as laborers, many of whom often work in exploitative conditions.
The revelations at Alabuga Polytechnic University raise troubling implications about the lengths that Russian authorities are going to in order to boost the war effort and how the advanced Iranian weaponry -- which is increasingly used to bombard Ukrainian cities and has only recently begun to be manufactured inside Russia -- could contribute to escalating tensions and rising civilian casualties.
The use of underage students as drone factory workers and the details of the manufacturing facilities were first reported by Russian independent media outlets Protokol and Razvorot, which published a series of investigations in July.
Since then, RFE/RL’s Idel.Realities has spoken with students who describe grueling working conditions and interviewed dozens of parents whose children have been enrolled at Alabuga Polytechnic University -- some as young at 15 -- who say that their children were forced to work exceedingly long hours, often without proper breaks or meals, and under hostile conditions that have deeply affected their mental health.
“My son enrolled and 2 1/2 months later he called for me to take him away,” Zhanna, who asked to be identified only by her first name to protect against reprisals for speaking about the operation, told RFE/RL. “He said to me on the phone, ‘Come and get me or I’ll die,’ so I picked him up immediately.”
Zhanna, who asked that her underage son’s name also not be used, says that she sent him from Nizhny Novgorod to study at Alabuga Polytechnic University in 2022 because of its reputation as a leading technical institution inside Russia.
The school offered students -- often between the ages of 15-18 -- an opportunity to get vocational training as part of a dual program that combines a classroom education with practical work experience. Students were also promised an opportunity to work and earn a locally competitive salary of up to 70,000 rubles ($700) a month as part of the work experience program that could further their career growth.
Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
But, instead, those enrolled were encouraged and in some cases pressured into working at the drone facility, where the salaries of the mostly underage laborers are contingent on meeting tough production quotas.
“This is a textbook definition of what constitutes exploitation,” Sergei Podsytnik, an investigative journalist at Protokol who worked on the series of reports, told RFE/RL. “[Students] assemble drones, with the work taking priority over their studies.”
The pressure to fulfill these quotas has allegedly led to strenuous back-to-back days -- with some shifts lasting up to 15 hours -- with little time for sleep or adequate sustenance. Overtime work is often unpaid, further highlighting potential labor violations. Exhausted students also reported not always meeting their quotas, which led to them not earning the salary initially promised by the school. Many students came from disadvantaged backgrounds and relied on their earnings to cover costs for tuition, room, and board and would send the remainder home.
Other parents, such as Marina, said she decided to take her daughter out of the program when she discovered that she was working in apparent unsafe conditions and that staff from the school had instructed students not to tell their parents about the drone assembly work.
“This was the last straw for me,” Marina, who also asked for her identity to be concealed, told RFE/RL. “This is a dangerous production process that involves dangerous chemicals. They also forbid the kids from telling everything to their parents.”
RFE/RL sent multiple requests for comment to various staff and administrators at Alabuga Polytechnic University but received no replies.
Making Iranian Drones In Russia
The complicated and concerning dynamic at Alabuga Polytechnic University stems from growing military cooperation between Iran and Russia that has accelerated since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Iran has said it provided drones to Russia before the start of the war, but not since. However, U.S. intelligence officials have warned for months of continued deliveries and deepening cooperation between Moscow and Tehran, saying the two sides were exploring how to set up a manufacturing plant for Iranian drones inside Russia.
According to The Wall Street Journal, an Iranian delegation visited Yelabuga in Tatarstan on January 5, touring a potential site for such a factory at the Alabuga special economic zone close to Alabuga Polytechnic University. U.S. officials released satellite images in April of the plant being built.
Russia already possesses an array of unarmed aerial vehicles, or UAVs, which are used mainly for surveillance and artillery spotting, but has turned increasingly to Tehran for attack drones.
After being forced to abandon Ukrainian territory that its troops captured in the early stretches of the war, Moscow shifted to a strategy of relentless air assaults on Ukrainian cities. These attacks often rely on a combination of cruise missiles and self-detonating drones packed with explosives to knock out electricity and running water for the civilian population in Ukraine.
So far, Iran has provided Russia mostly with so-called "suicide" drones, known as the Shahed-136, that contain a modest amount of explosives that can detonate when the drones crash into targets, military experts say.
In acquiring its own domestic assembly line, Russia could dramatically increase its stockpile of the relatively inexpensive but highly destructive weapons systems.
WATCH: Russia has resorted to using Shahed-136 drones from Iran in its war on Ukraine. Ukraine says it's already downed many of the drones, which work by slamming into their intended target, laden with explosives. Ordinary Ukrainians say they can already recognize the sound of the drones, which use two-stroke engines like lawnmowers or motorbikes. Iran has denied supplying the drones to Russia.
The arrangement also offers substantial economic and political benefits for Iran, which has sought to portray itself as neutral in the Ukraine war. The appearance of Iranian-made drones over Ukrainian cities, however, has triggered threats of new economic sanctions from the West. The United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom have also all issued rules in recent months designed to cut off the flow of drone components to Russia and Iran.
The Washington Post reported in November 2022, citing unnamed U.S. intelligence officials, that the agreement to deliver Iranian drone schematics and materials for manufacture in Russia resulted from Iranian leaders believing that the arrangement would allow Tehran to avert new sanctions.
Foreign Recruitment And Patriotic Education
Alabuga Polytechnic University is formally not a college. All of its students are officially enrolled at nearby Yelabuga Polytechnic College, with the Alabuga institution existing on paper as a specialized program for students looking to break into high-tech industries.
Currently, about 1,000 students are studying at Alabuga Polytechnic University, with several hundred of them -- most of whom are between the ages of 15 and 17 -- involved in assembling the Iranian drones.
In addition to the work on the drones, there are other signs that point to blurred lines in Russia between the education system and the country’s military amid the war in Ukraine.
According to current and former Alabuga Polytechnic University students, team-building and organized extracurricular activities through the school often take on a “patriotic” character that may be designed to expose students to official government narratives of international events or echo talking points from state television.
Organized paintball games have become a mainstay for students, especially first-year arrivals, in which they are encouraged to compete against one another and then play together against more experienced outside players. Teachers and administration officials regularly refer to paintball as being part of a “patriotic” education needed to complement the technical aspect of their studies.
In one instance, a group of new students competed in paintball as Soviet soldiers against outside players who were dressed as troops from Nazi Germany in a capture-the-flag competition meant to simulate the World War II battle of Stalingrad. According to one student, the Nazi flag contained the compass symbol used by the NATO military alliance instead of the swastika used by Nazi Germany.
Other instances of political teachings from staff are more direct. In a recording obtained by RFE/RL from June 16, a senior administrator can be heard telling the teenagers that NATO launched a hybrid war against Russia back in 2011 and that it has slowly become more overt. The man then goes on to tell students that their hard work and exceeding long days at the drone factory are part of a nationwide struggle against the West and that their patriotism will be rewarded.
Several students and parents identified the man in the recording as Timur Shagivaleev, the director-general of the special economic zone where Alabuga Polytechnic University and the drone factory operate.
Shagivaleev did not respond to RFE/RL’s request for comment.
The man in the recording then goes on to tell students not to take holidays and to continue working “even if it's mom's birthday,” before ending his speech with, “Long live our great country.”
WATCH: Amid a new wave of Russian drone attacks on Ukraine, analysts in Kyiv are gaining useful intelligence from a collection of downed Russian aerial weapons. They have been studying the remains of Iranian Shahed drones and Russian Kinzhal missiles, among others.
Multiple current and former students told RFE/RL that students who work in the drone factory are often praised by staff, while those who have refused or asked to be reassigned due to the high workload are often publicly shamed. In some instances -- according to recordings heard by RFE/RL -- staff even encourage students to bully others who are not deemed “patriotic” enough.
According to Protokol and Razvorot’s investigations, Alabuga Polytechnic University has also turned toward recruiting foreign students to enroll. The majority of them come from African countries, but also from Central Asia and Azerbaijan, where they are promised “world class” salaries as part of the dual-track world experience program.
However, these foreign students are then given low-skill and menial tasks around the campus and the special economic zone, such as janitorial work, and are also paid lower salaries than initially promised.
Written by Reid Standish based on reporting by RFE/RL’s Idel.Realities


rferl--2020-09-12--Iran Condemns Bahrain Deal With Israel

Iran Condemns Bahrain Deal With Israel

Iran has condemned Bahrain 's decision to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel .
The White House announced Bahrain 's deal on September 11 , four weeks after the United Arab Emirates reached a similar agreement with Israel .
The three nations plan to take part in a ceremony in Washington next week .
`` It was a shameful and vile decision that will go down in history as a scandalous act , '' the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a press statement on September 12 .
The ministry accused Bahrain of sacrificing the long-suffering Palestinians for the sake of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
`` The Palestinian people and the Islamic world will never accept a normalization of relations with Israel , '' the ministry said .
Last month , the United Arab Emirates and Israel agreed to normalize their ties amid speculation that Bahrain could follow suit .
Trump has helped broker both agreements as part of a diplomatic push to fully integrate the Jewish state into the Middle East .
Bahrain has agreed to formalize the deal with Israel at a ceremony on September 15 at the White House , where the United Arab @ @ @ @ @ @ @ own thaw with Israel .
Based on reporting by Reuters , AFP , and dpa


rferl--2020-09-12--Pakistani Journalist Arrested For Critical Articles On Military

A Pakistani journalist has been arrested in the port city of Karachi , accused of spreading hateful content against the country 's military on social media , according to police authorities and the journalist 's family .
Bilal Farooqi , who works for the English-language Express Tribune newspaper , was arrested at his home on September 11 .
`` Through his [ social media ] posts , Bilal Farooqi defamed the Pakistan Army and anti-state elements used these posts for their vested interests , '' a police report seen by Reuters said .
The report also alleged that his online @ @ @ @ @ @ @ against the military .
Farooqi 's family told local media that police seized his mobile phone during a search of their home .
Journalists and press freedom advocates have accused the Pakistani military and its agencies of pressuring media outlets to smother critical coverage .
His arrest is the latest in a series of such moves against journalists who have been critical of the government or military It also comes days after Prime Minister Imran Khan insisted that Pakistan has a free media .
Police cited the country 's cybercrime law that critics @ @ @ @ @ @ @ used to criminalize basic online activities .
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights earlier this week expressed concern at instances of incitement to violence against journalists and human rights activists .
`` We have raised our concerns directly with the government and we have urged immediate , concrete steps to ensure the protection of journalists and human rights defenders who have been subjected to threats , '' it said in a statement .
Based on reporting by Reuters and AP

Police in Pakistan's port city of Karachi have released a local journalist accused of spreading hateful content against the country's militay on social media as a court reprimanded the police for overstepping their mandate, a lawyer for journalist Bilal Farooqi said.
“The court asked the police if a FIR (first information report) does not stand ground, who has given you authority to pick up people from home,” Ghulam Shabbir, Farooqi's lawyer told Reuters on September 12.
Farooqi, who works for the English-language Express Tribune newspaper, was arrested at his home on September 11.
"Through his [social media] posts, Bilal Farooqi defamed the Pakistan Army and anti-state elements used these posts for their vested interests," a police report seen by Reuters said.
The report also alleged that his online activity spread religious hatred and incited mutiny against the military.
Shabbir said he expected the police report to be submitted within a week and for the case to be discharged.
"The charges against me are so absurd, that I am spreading religious hatred and defaming institutions, these are all bogus charges," Farooqi told Reuters before his court appearance.
Earlier, Farooqi's family told local media that police seized his mobile phone during a search of their home.
Journalists and press freedom advocates have accused the Pakistani military and its agencies of pressuring media outlets to smother critical coverage.
Farooqi's arrest and subsequent release is the latest in a series of such moves against journalists who have been critical of the government or military.
It also comes days after Prime Minister Imran Khan insisted that Pakistan has a free media.
Police cited the country's cybercrime law that critics say contains vague language, which can be used to criminalize basic online activities.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights earlier this week expressed concern at instances of incitement to violence against journalists and human rights activists.
"We have raised our concerns directly with the government and we have urged immediate, concrete steps to ensure the protection of journalists and human rights defenders who have been subjected to threats," it said in a statement.
Based on reporting by Reuters and AP


rferl--2020-09-12--Afghan Peace Talks Begin Nearly Two Decades After U.S. Invasion

Nineteen years after the September 11 terror attacks in the United States led to a bloody conflict that ravaged Afghanistan and killed tens of thousands of people , talks designed to bring peace to the country are getting under way .
Afghan government officials , Taliban extremists , and U.S. officials are in the Qatari capital , Doha , for the negotiations that opened on September 12 with an inauguration ceremony .
The long-warring parties `` must make the decisive decision in line with the current challenges and rise above all form of division ... by reaching an agreement on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vanquished , '' Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said .
`` I can tell you with confidence that the history of our country will remember today as the end of the war and suffering of our people , '' said Abdullah Abdullah , an Afghan former minister who is heading Kabul 's negotiating team .
`` My delegation are in Doha representing a political system that is supported by millions of men and women from a diversity of cultural , social , and ethnic backgrounds in our homeland , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ceremony , U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the start of the talks was a `` momentous occasion . ''
“ Each of you carry a great responsibility , ” Pompeo told the participants .
“ You have an opportunity to overcome your divisions . ''
Taliban leader Mullah Baradar Akhund said that Afghanistan should `` have an Islamic system in which all tribes and ethnicities of the country find themselves without any discrimination and live their lives in love and brotherhood .
`` Negotiations may have problems but should move forward @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Washington helped broker the on-and-off peace talks in Qatar , where the Taliban has a representative office .
Analysts said that , although getting both sides to the negotiating table was a major achievement , this does not mean the path to peace will be easy , especially with violence increasing around the country .
`` Nothing should prevent a cease-fire being accepted and implemented by both parties , '' Josep Borrell , the high representative for foreign affairs of the European Union , told the Doha meeting via video link President Donald @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from Afghanistan a promise before the 2016 presidential election .
In the countdown to this November 's presidential polls , Washington has ramped up pressure to start intra-Afghan negotiations .
At a news conference on September 10 , Trump called the talks `` exciting '' and said Washington expected to be down to 4,000 troops by November .
Even though delays have plagued the start of negotiations , Washington began withdrawing some of its 13,000 troops after the February 29 deal was signed .
Talks in Doha are expected to tackle tough issues @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rights of women and minorities , and the disarming of tens of thousands of Taliban fighters and militias loyal to warlords , some of them aligned with the government .
Constitutional changes , power sharing , and even the name of the country and the flag are expected to be on the agenda as well .
Among the government-appointed negotiators are four women , who vowed to preserve women 's rights in any power-sharing deal with the hard-line Taliban .
This includes the right to work , education , and participation in political @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to women when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan for five years .
No women are on the Taliban 's negotiation team led by Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai , a hardline cleric who spent years lying low in Pakistan ’ s southwestern city of Quetta , where the Afghan Taliban leadership has been based since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 toppled the extremist group from power in Afghanistan .
The Taliban has said it accepted a woman 's right to work , go to school and participate in politics but would not accept a woman president @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the government-named High Council for National Reconciliation , which is overseeing the talks , also hold that women can not serve in either post .
In his remarks at the September 12 ceremony in Doha , Pompeo encouraged the negotiators to respect Afghanistan ’ s rich diversity , including women and ethnic and religious minorities .
He said that , while it was up to the Afghans to decide waht kind of political system they wanted , the United States had found that democracy and rotation of political power works best .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
You will write the next chapter of Afghan history , ” he said .
Many people in Afghanistan fear a return of the Taliban as part of a governing arrangement .
The extremist group was accused of human rights violations and abuse of women during its years of rule , which ended when U.S. forces invaded and drove the extremists from power in 2001 .
The Taliban controlled Afghanistan at the time and harbored Osama bin Laden , the mastermind behind the attacks .
Since being driven from power , the extremists @ @ @ @ @ @ @ insurgency .
They now control large swaths of territory .
The American-led led coalition now mainly trains and advises Afghan troops and conducts counterterrorism actions .
The deal foresees the gradual withdrawal of all international forces in exchange for the Taliban 's renunciation of terrorism .
More than 2,300 U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001 .
With reporting by RFE/RL 's Radio Free Afghanistan , Reuters and dpa

Nineteen years after the September 11 terror attacks in the United States led to a bloody conflict that ravaged Afghanistan and killed tens of thousands of people, talks designed to bring peace to the country are getting under way.
Afghan government officials, Taliban extremists, and U.S. officials are in the Qatari capital, Doha, for the negotiations that opened on September 12 with an inauguration ceremony.
The long-warring parties "must make the decisive decision in line with the current challenges and rise above all form of division... by reaching an agreement on the basis of no victor and no vanquished," Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said.
"I can tell you with confidence that the history of our country will remember today as the end of the war and suffering of our people," said Abdullah Abdullah, an Afghan former minister who is heading Kabul's negotiating team.
"My delegation are in Doha representing a political system that is supported by millions of men and women from a diversity of cultural, social, and ethnic backgrounds in our homeland," he added.
Speaking at the ceremony, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the start of the talks was a "momentous occasion."
“Each of you carry a great responsibility,” Pompeo told the participants. “You have an opportunity to overcome your divisions."
Taliban leader Mullah Baradar Akhund said that Afghanistan should "have an Islamic system in which all tribes and ethnicities of the country find themselves without any discrimination and live their lives in love and brotherhood.
"Negotiations may have problems but should move forward with patience," he said.
Washington helped broker the on-and-off peace talks in Qatar, where the Taliban has a representative office.
Analysts said that, although getting both sides to the negotiating table was a major achievement, this does not mean the path to peace will be easy, especially with violence increasing around the country.
"Nothing should prevent a cease-fire being accepted and implemented by both parties," Josep Borrell, the high representative for foreign affairs of the European Union, told the Doha meeting via video link.
President Donald Trump made the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan a promise before the 2016 presidential election. In the countdown to this November's presidential poll, Washington has ramped up pressure to start intra-Afghan negotiations.
At a news conference on September 10, Trump called the talks "exciting" and said Washington expected to be down to 4,000 troops by November. Even though delays have plagued the start of negotiations, Washington began withdrawing some of its 13,000 troops after the February 29 deal was signed.
Talks in Doha are expected to tackle tough issues, including a permanent cease-fire, the rights of women and minorities, and the disarming of tens of thousands of Taliban fighters and militias loyal to warlords, some of them aligned with the government.
Constitutional changes, power sharing, and even the name of the country and the flag are expected to be on the agenda as well.
Among the government-appointed negotiators are four women, who vowed to preserve women's rights in any power-sharing deal with the hard-line Taliban. This includes the right to work, education, and participation in political life, which were all denied to women when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan for five years.
No women are on the Taliban's negotiation team led by Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai, a hard-line cleric who spent years lying low in Pakistan’s southwestern city of Quetta, where the Afghan Taliban leadership has been based since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 toppled the extremist group from power in Afghanistan.
The Taliban has said it accepted a woman's right to work, go to school and participate in politics but would not accept a female president or chief justice.
Deeply conservative members of the government-named High Council for National Reconciliation, which is overseeing the talks, also hold that women can not serve in either post.
In his remarks at the September 12 ceremony in Doha, Pompeo encouraged the negotiators to respect Afghanistan’s rich diversity, including women and ethnic and religious minorities. He said that, while it was up to the Afghans to decide what kind of political system they wanted, the United States had found that democracy and rotation of political power works best.
“I can only urge these actions. You will write the next chapter of Afghan history,” he said.
Many people in Afghanistan fear a return of the Taliban as part of a governing arrangement. The extremist group was accused of human rights violations and abuse of women during its years of rule, which ended when U.S. forces invaded and drove the extremists from power in 2001.
The Taliban controlled Afghanistan at the time and harbored Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the attacks.
Since being driven from power, the extremists have regrouped and have been waging an insurgency. They now control large swaths of territory.
The American-led coalition now mainly trains and advises Afghan troops and conducts counterterrorism actions.
The deal foresees the gradual withdrawal of all international forces in exchange for the Taliban's renunciation of terrorism.
More than 2,300 U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan, Reuters and dpa


rferl--2020-09-12--Iran Claims It Drove Away U.S. Aircraft From Area Near Military Maneuvers

Iran 's military says it drove away U.S. aircraft that flew close to an area where a three-day military exercise was being conducted near the strategic Strait of Hormuz .
Tehran 's military said on September 11 that its air force detected three U.S. aircraft after they entered Iran ’ s air defense identification zone .
The U.S. craft were identified as a P-8 airplane , an MQ-9 drone , and an RQ-4 drone .
After `` ignoring warnings by Iran 's defense systems to keep away from the drill zone '' the aircraft were tracked by an Iranian drone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the zone , '' Tehran 's military added .
The Pentagon ’ s Central Command did not immediately comment on the report .
Iran 's annual Zolfaghar 99 exercises , which began on September 10 , are conducted in more than 1.2 million square kilometers in the Strait of Hormuz , Makran coast , Oman Sea , and the north Indian Ocean , Iran 's Mehr News Agency reported .
In June 2019 , a U.S. drone was shot down by Iran after it said the craft had violated the country ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said the RQ-4A Global Hawk was flying over international waters when it was destroyed .
Iranian forces later displayed the wreckage of the downed drone on state television .
Tensions have consistently been high between Tehran and Washington since U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from a landmark nuclear agreement in 2018 and reimposed crippling financial sanctions on Iran .
Washington also accuses Iran of financing extremist actions in the region -- a charge Tehran denies .
During the second day of the Zolfaghar 99 maneuvers , the Iranian Navy deployed domestically manufactured military @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cruise missile .
The submarine , dubbed the Fateh -- Persian for `` Conqueror '' -- was seen in action for the first time and sailed up the Indian Ocean , the military said on its website .
The near 600-ton submarine is armed with torpedoes , mines , and cruise missiles .
According to Iranian media , it can remain underwater at a depth of more than 200 meters for up to 35 days .
With reporting by RFE/RL 's Radio Farda , AFP , Newsweek , and MSN News

Iran's military says it drove away U.S. aircraft that flew close to an area where a three-day military exercise was being conducted near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Tehran's military said on September 11 that its air force detected three U.S. aircraft after they entered Iran’s air defense identification zone.
The U.S. craft were identified as a P-8 airplane, an MQ-9 drone, and an RQ-4 drone.
After "ignoring warnings by Iran's defense systems to keep away from the drill zone" the aircraft were tracked by an Iranian drone before "they changed course and left the zone," Tehran's military added.
The Pentagon’s Central Command did not immediately comment on the report.
Iran's annual Zolfaghar 99 exercises, which began on September 10, are conducted in more than 1.2 million square kilometers in the Strait of Hormuz, Makran coast, Oman Sea, and the north Indian Ocean, Iran's Mehr News Agency reported.
In June 2019, a U.S. drone was shot down by Iran after it said the craft had violated the country’s airspace.
U.S. officials at the time said the RQ-4A Global Hawk was flying over international waters when it was destroyed. Iranian forces later displayed the wreckage of the downed drone on state television.
Tensions have consistently been high between Tehran and Washington since U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from a landmark nuclear agreement in 2018 and reimposed crippling financial sanctions on Iran. Washington also accuses Iran of financing extremist actions in the region -- a charge Tehran denies.
During the second day of the Zolfaghar 99 maneuvers, the Iranian Navy deployed domestically manufactured military equipment, including a submarine and a cruise missile.
The submarine, dubbed the Fateh -- Persian for "Conqueror" -- was seen in action for the first time and sailed up the Indian Ocean, the military said on its website.
The near 600-ton submarine is armed with torpedoes, mines, and cruise missiles.
According to Iranian media, it can remain underwater at a depth of more than 200 meters for up to 35 days.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, AFP, Newsweek, and MSN News


rferl--2020-09-12--Local Polls Seen As Key Test For Putin’s United Russia Party Ahead Of 2021 Duma Elections

MOSCOW -- Russians in 41 regions go to the polls on September 13 for local elections that are viewed as a crucial test for the increasingly unpopular ruling United Russia party ahead of national legislative elections next year .
Eighteen of the 41 regions will select governors ; 11 will choose regional legislatures ; 22 cities will vote for municipal legislatures ; and there will be a host of other local elections .
In addition , four by-elections are being held for vacant seats in the State Duma .
About 35 million voters , some one-third of the national total @ @ @ @ @ @ @ As a means of containing the spread of the coronavirus , two days of early voting were held on September 11 and 12 .
However , critics of authoritarian President Vladimir Putin argue it is part of an effort to falsify the results in favor of the ruling United Russia party .
The independent election-monitoring group Golos , in a report issued in July , found that lawmakers have “ used the epidemiological situation as an excuse to make the electoral system even more opaque and subject to manipulation , including direct falsifications.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ held under the worst legislative framework of the last 25 years , ” the report concluded .
In many regions , the campaigns have been marred by the disqualifications of non-United Russia candidate , attacks on opposition candidates and their campaign workers , and the destruction of campaign materials .
In Novosibirsk on September 8 , several workers of the opposition Novosibirsk-2020 movement sought medical treatment after two unidentified men threw a bottle containing an unknown chemical into a room where dozens of people were undergoing election-monitoring training .
Putin ’ s popularity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ number of months , particularly in the wake of a Kremlin-driven effort earlier this year to rewrite the constitution in order to make it possible for Putin to remain in power until 2036 .
United Russia is even less popular , with just 31 percent of Russians expressing a willingness to vote for it , according to research by the independent Levada Center polling agency released on September 7 .
The party ’ s image has been battered by its leading role in conducting a controversial national plebiscite on the constitutional revisions , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ages , unanswered allegations of massive corruption at the local and national levels , and public discontent with the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic .
The party has not produced a national platform despite holding a near monopoly on political power in the country for more than a decade , and many of its candidates are running nominally as independents to avoid association with the tarnished brand .
“ The party is in total crisis , ” Moscow-based political analyst Aleksandr Kynev told AFP .
“ It has absolutely nothing new to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are being held in the context of weeks of massive protests in the Siberian region of Khabarovsk against the Kremlin ’ s removal of a popular governor who was elected in a 2018 landslide over a longtime United Russia incumbent ; more than a month of protests in neighboring Belarus against a disputed presidential election that gave President Alyaksandr Lukashenka a sixth term ; and the August 20 poisoning of liberal opposition leader Aleksei Navalny , who is currently hospitalized in Berlin from the suspected ingestion of a Soviet-developed Novichok nerve toxin .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ system called “ smart voting , ” which is aimed at undoing United Russia ’ s stranglehold on political power .
Under the system , voters can enter their address into a special app , which will then give them a list of the candidates deemed most likely to defeat their United Russia rivals regardless of their party affiliation .
“ Our strategy is to increase the turnout among protest voters and to make sure those votes are concentrated for a specific candidate and not scattered , ” pro-Navalny campaign worker in Novosibirsk @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Irkutsk region , Kremlin-backed incumbent Igor Kobzev is facing a strong challenge from former Federal Security Service officer Mikhail Shchapov of the Communist Party .
Kobzev was brought to the region in 2019 after the former Communist governor resigned , reportedly under intense Kremlin pressure .
In the northern Arkhangelsk region , United Russia candidate Aleksandr Tsibulsky is being challenged by former Duma Deputy Irina Chirkova of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia .
Sentiment against United Russia is running high in the region because of a controversial Moscow-backed proposal to build @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Although both Tsibulsky and Chirkova have publicly opposed the landfill , voters associate the project strongly with United Russia .
Pro-Navalny forces are expecting to make gains in the Siberian city of Tomsk , where Navalny was visiting when he was poisoned before getting onto a flight back to Moscow .
United Russia currently holds 32 of the 37 seats in the city council , but Navalny ’ s strong base of support in the city could be energized to turn out following the attack on their leader .
With reporting by AFP @ @

MOSCOW -- Russians voted in 41 regions in local elections that were seen as a crucial test for the increasingly unpopular ruling party ahead of next year's national legislative elections.
Eighteen of the 41 regions were selecting governors in the September 13 elections; 11 were choosing regional legislatures; and 22 cities were voting for municipal legislatures. In addition, four by-elections were also being held for vacant seats in the lower house of the national parliament, the State Duma.
About 35 million voters, some one-third of the national total, were eligible to cast ballots.
The elections came less than a month after the August 20 poisoning of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, who is currently hospitalized in Berlin from the suspected ingestion of a Soviet-developed nerve toxin. His supporters blame Kremlin allies.
As with a recent constitutional referendum that paved the way for Vladimir Putin to remain president beyond 2024, monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) were not invited to observe the vote.
As a means of containing the spread of the coronavirus, which has hit Russia badly, early voting was organized for the two preceding days. Critics of Putin, however, argued it was part of an effort to falsify the results in favor of United Russia, the Kremlin-allied ruling party.
In a report issued in July, the independent election-monitoring group Golos said that lawmakers had "used the epidemiological situation as an excuse to make the electoral system even more opaque and subject to manipulation, including direct falsifications."
"The current elections are being held under the worst legislative framework of the last 25 years," the report said.
In many regions, the campaigns have been marred by the disqualifications of non-United Russia candidates, attacks on opposition candidates and their campaign workers, and the destruction of campaign materials.
In Novosibirsk on September 8, several workers of the opposition Novosibirsk-2020 movement sought medical treatment after two unidentified men threw a bottle containing an unknown chemical into a room where dozens of people were undergoing election-monitoring training.
In the town of Nevel in the Pskov region, unknown individuals distributed leaflets overnight that purported to quote from an "intercepted" conversation in an attempt to link a regional Yabloko leader to exiled former oligarch and Putin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Putin’s popularity rating has been in decline for a number of months, particularly in the wake of a Kremlin-driven effort earlier this year to rewrite the constitution in order to make it possible for him to remain in power until 2036.
United Russia is even less popular, with just 31 percent of Russians expressing a willingness to vote for it, according to research by the independent Levada Center polling agency released on September 7.
The party’s image has been battered by its leading role in conducting a controversial national plebiscite on the constitutional revisions and a much-reviled pension reform that raised retirement ages.
The party also faces persistent, unanswered allegations of corruption at the local and national levels, and public discontent with the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.
United Russia has not produced a national platform despite holding a near monopoly on political power in the country for more than a decade, and many of its candidates are running nominally as independents to avoid association with the tarnished brand.
'Nothing New To Offer'
"The party is in total crisis," Moscow-based political analyst Aleksandr Kynev told the AFP news agency. "It has absolutely nothing new to offer."
In addition, the elections are being held in the context of weeks of massive protests in the Far Eastern region of Khabarovsk against the Kremlin’s removal of a popular governor who was elected in a 2018 landslide over a longtime United Russia incumbent.
Anothe factor is the more-than-a month of protests in neighboring Belarus against a disputed election that gave President Alyaksandr Lukashenka a sixth term.
Allies of the gravely ill opposition leader Navalny are promoting an initiative that they developed and rolled out in 2019 that they call "smart voting." It is aimed at uniting opposition of all stripes to the ruling United Russia’s stranglehold on political power.
Under the scheme, supporters of the "systemic opposition" can enter their address into a special app, which will then give them a list of the candidates deemed most likely to defeat their United Russia rivals regardless of their party affiliation.
"Our strategy is to increase the turnout among protest voters and to make sure those votes are concentrated for a specific candidate and not scattered," a pro-Navalny campaign worker in Novosibirsk Daniil Markelov told RFE/RL.
Such "smart voting" was credited in part for the opposition's success in winning nearly half of the seats up for grabs in the Moscow City Duma in 2019 local elections.
In the Irkutsk region, Kremlin-backed incumbent Igor Kobzev is facing a strong challenge from former Federal Security Service officer Mikhail Shchapov of the Communist Party. Kobzev was brought to the region in 2019 after the former Communist governor resigned, reportedly under intense Kremlin pressure.
In the northern Arkhangelsk region, United Russia candidate Aleksandr Tsibulsky is being challenged by former Duma Deputy Irina Chirkova of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. Sentiment against United Russia is running high in the region because of a controversial Moscow-backed proposal to build a huge landfill there. Although both Tsibulsky and Chirkova have publicly opposed the landfill, voters associate the project strongly with United Russia.
Pro-Navalny forces are expecting to make gains in the Siberian city of Tomsk, where Navalny was visiting when he was poisoned before getting onto a flight back to Moscow. United Russia currently holds 32 of the 37 seats in the city council, but Navalny’s strong base of support in the city could be energized to turn out following the attack on their leader.
With reporting by AFP and Meduza


rferl--2020-09-12--Protests Over Gang Rape Continue In Pakistan

Protests were held in several Pakistani cities for a second day on September 12 over the alleged gang rape of a mother in front of her children , as police said they were launching a manhunt for the suspects .
In the incident near the eastern city of Lahore on September 9 night , two armed men allegedly gang raped the woman after her car ran out of fuel on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway .
Inam Ghani , Inspector General of Punjab Province , where the incident took place , told reporters on September 12 that police had identified the two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ am hopeful very soon we will reach them and arrest them , '' he said .
But the protesters are calling for the sacking of the lead police investigator assigned to the case , Omar Sheikh , who has said that it was the woman 's fault for leaving the house at night and driving along a deserted road , instead of an alternative route .
He also said she appeared to be under the impression Pakistan was as safe for women as France , `` her country of residence . ''
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some held signs saying `` hang the rapists . ''
Hundreds , mostly women , also gathered in Lahore , Karachi , and even the conservative northwestern city of Peshawar .
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said on September 10 that the “ horrifying ” gang rape of a woman is `` a grim reminder that Pakistan has become an increasingly dangerous place for women . ''
Gang rape is relatively rare in Pakistan , although sexual harassment and violence against women is not uncommon .
Hundreds of women are killed every @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for violating conservative Pakistani traditions on love , marriage , and public behavior .
Rights groups have said that Pakistan has not done enough to stem violence against women .
With reporting by Reuters and dpa

Protests were held in several Pakistani cities for a second day on September 12 over the alleged gang rape of a mother in front of her children, as police said they were launching a manhunt for the suspects.
In the incident near the eastern city of Lahore on September 9 night, two armed men allegedly gang raped the woman after her car ran out of fuel on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway.
Inam Ghani, Inspector General of Punjab Province, where the incident took place, told reporters on September 12 that police had identified the two suspects through DNA tracing.
"I am hopeful very soon we will reach them and arrest them," he said.
But the protesters are calling for the sacking of the lead police investigator assigned to the case, Omar Sheikh, who has said that it was the woman's fault for leaving the house at night and driving along a deserted road, instead of an alternative route.
He also said she appeared to be under the impression Pakistan was as safe for women as France, "her country of residence."
In Islamabad, several hundred protesters gathered while some held signs saying "hang the rapists."
Hundreds, mostly women, also gathered in Lahore, Karachi, and even the conservative northwestern city of Peshawar.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said on September 10 that the “horrifying” gang rape of a woman is "a grim reminder that Pakistan has become an increasingly dangerous place for women."
Gang rape is relatively rare in Pakistan, although sexual harassment and violence against women is not uncommon.
Hundreds of women are killed every year in Pakistan in so-called honor killings for violating conservative Pakistani traditions on love, marriage, and public behavior.
Rights groups have said that Pakistan has not done enough to stem violence against women.
With reporting by Reuters and dpa


rferl--2020-09-12--Reformist Iranian Cleric Yousef Saanei Dies In Qom

Ayatollah Yousef Saanei , a pro-reform Iranian cleric and a critic of the establishment who sided with the opposition movement @ @ @ @ @ election , has died .
He was 83 .
Ayatollah Saanei died in a hospital @ @ @ @ @ of Qom after being hospitalized for two days with a broken hip and wrist , @ @ @ @ @ In 2009 , Saanei had supported opposition figure Mir Hossein Musavi and criticized hard-liner Mahmud @ @ @ @ @ in that year 's disputed election .
Ahmadinejad ’ s reelection led to mass street @ @ @ @ @ crackdown .
Sanei came under pressure by hard-liners over his support for Musavi and the @ @ @ @ @ of Seminary Teachers of Qom stripped him of his authority to issue religious edicts , @ @ @ @ @ .
Sanei had issued several religious edicts banning discrimination based on gender .
With reporting @ @ @ @


rferl--2020-09-12--Police Arrest Dozens In Minsk As Women Keep Up Protests Against Belarus's Lukashenka

Police in Belarus on September 12 arrested dozens of women who took part in a protest against the disputed reelection of longtime authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka and the detention of activists and others in the government ’ s postelection crackdown .
RFE/RL ’ s Belarus Service said several thousand people gathered in the center of Minsk for what was planned as a women ’ s march .
Riot police reportedly warned the crowd that the gathering was not sanctioned before arresting demonstrators and forcing them into vans .
Vyasna , a human rights organization in Belarus , said at least @ @ @ @ @ @ @ city .
A spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry , Volha Chemodanova , told the AFP news agency that `` women had been detained '' but could not say how many or provide additional details .
Belsat , a Warsaw-based opposition television channel , said on the messaging application Telegram that two of its journalists covering the protest had also been detained .
An RFE/RL correspondent said in some cases groups of women were defending others to prevent police from arresting them .
Belarus has witnessed daily protests since the disputed August 9 presidential @ @ @ @ @ @ @ power since 1994 , was declared the winner , amid charges that the vote was rigged .
No vote in Belarus under Lukashenka 's rule has been deemed free or fair by the West .
His main opposition challenger , Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya , now in Lithuania , said she won the poll with 60 to 70 percent of ballots .
Thousands have been detained and hundreds beaten by the police in the government ’ s postelection crackdown , sparking Western condemnation .
Russian President Vladimir Putin , who has for years pressed a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two countries , has backed the beleaguered Belarusian strongman who has maintained his grip on power by stifling civil society and the press .
Putin and Lukashenka are due to hold their first face-to-face talks since the Belarusian crisis erupted in Sochi on September 14 .
Putin has promised Lukashenka aid , including possible military assistance under a bilateral military pact , including a police force .
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun said on September 11 that Russia risks losing the friendship of the Belarusian people if the Kremlin continues to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` have seen Russia as the country closest to their hearts and we respect that sentiment and sovereign choice .
It thus eludes us how Moscow could back such a regime and such violence against peaceful citizens , exercising constitutionally protected rights to freedom of assembly , association , and speech.
” Biegun called on Lukashenka to hold talks with the Coordinating Council that was set up by opposition leaders following the election to facilitate a transfer of power , saying the strongman had been `` rejected by his own people . ''
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Svetlana Alexievich said she feared her country could lose its independence amid the political strife and called on Russian intellectuals for support .
`` Why are n't you helping my little nation maintain its dignity and statehood , '' she said , addressing Russians .
Alexievich , who is one of the seven members of the Coordinating Council 's presidium , warned that , if Lukashenka does n't negotiate , the problems will fester and `` we will get nothing but a civil war . ''

Police in Belarus on September 12 arrested dozens of women who took part in a protest against the disputed reelection of longtime authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka and the detention of activists and others in the government’s postelection crackdown.
RFE/RL’s Belarus Service said several thousand people gathered in the center of Minsk for what was planned as a women’s march.
Riot police reportedly warned the crowd that the gathering was not sanctioned before arresting demonstrators and forcing them into vans.
Vyasna, a human rights organization in Belarus, said at least 45 people were detained in the capital city.
A spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry, Volha Chemodanova, told the AFP news agency that "women had been detained" but could not say how many or provide additional details.
Belsat, a Warsaw-based opposition television channel, said on the messaging application Telegram that two of its journalists covering the protest had also been detained.
An RFE/RL correspondent said in some cases groups of women were defending others to prevent police from arresting them.
Belarus has witnessed daily protests since the disputed August 9 presidential election. The 66-year-old Lukashenka, in power since 1994, was declared the winner, amid charges that the vote was rigged.
No vote in Belarus under Lukashenka's rule has been deemed free or fair by the West.
His main opposition challenger, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, now in Lithuania, said she won the poll with 60 to 70 percent of ballots.
Thousands have been detained and hundreds beaten by the police in the government’s postelection crackdown, sparking Western condemnation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has for years pressed a reluctant Lukashenka on closer integration between the two countries, has backed the beleaguered Belarusian strongman who has maintained his grip on power by stifling civil society and the press.
Putin and Lukashenka are due to hold their first face-to-face talks since the Belarusian crisis erupted in Sochi on September 14.
Putin has promised Lukashenka aid, including possible military assistance under a bilateral military pact, including a police force.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun said on September 11 that Russia risks losing the friendship of the Belarusian people if the Kremlin continues to back Lukashenka.
Biegun said most Belarusians "have seen Russia as the country closest to their hearts and we respect that sentiment and sovereign choice. It thus eludes us how Moscow could back such a regime and such violence against peaceful citizens, exercising constitutionally protected rights to freedom of assembly, association, and speech.”
Biegun called on Lukashenka to hold talks with the Coordinating Council that was set up by opposition leaders following the election to facilitate a transfer of power, saying the strongman had been "rejected by his own people."
His comments came as Nobel Prize-winning writer Svetlana Alexievich said she feared her country could lose its independence amid the political strife and called on Russian intellectuals for support.
"Why aren't you helping my little nation maintain its dignity and statehood," she said, addressing Russians.
Alexievich, who is one of the seven members of the Coordinating Council's presidium, warned that, if Lukashenka doesn't negotiate, the problems will fester and "we will get nothing but a civil war."
With reporting by Reuters


rferl--2020-09-12--Iranian Champion Wrestler Navid Afkari Executed Despite Outcry

Navid Afkari , an Iranian wrester convicted of murder in a case that was condemned by rights groups and U.S. President Donald Trump , has been executed , Iranian state media reported on September 12 .
Afkari was convicted of killing a security guard with the government 's water and sewage department in the southern city of Shiraz in 2018 during mass antigovernment protests .
The case had attracted an international outcry .
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the execution of Navid Afkari is `` a vicious and cruel act . ''
`` We condemn it in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ assault on human dignity , even by the despicable standards of this regime , '' Pompeo said on Twitter .
The International Olympic Committee said in a statement that it was `` shocked '' by Afkari 's execution .
`` The execution of wrestler Navid Afkari in Iran is very sad news , '' the statement said .
`` The IOC is shocked by this announcement today , '' it added .
London-based rights group Amnesty International said the `` secret execution '' was a `` horrifying travesty of justice that needs immediate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his death sentence with such utter disregard for the basic principles of justice further demonstrates the cruelty of the death penalty .
A series of judges in different courts used forced ‘ confessions ’ obtained under torture to convict him , and consistently failed to investigate his complaints of torture , ” Diana Eltahawy , Amnesty International ’ s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa , said in a statement .
Many Iranians condemned his execution on social media .
Afkari had said he was tortured into making a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and activists , and his attorney says there was no proof of his guilt .
Iran 's judiciary has denied the torture claims .
Afkari 's lawyer , Hassan Younessi , said on Twitter that a number of people in Shiraz were to meet on September 13 with the slain worker 's family to ask for their forgiveness .
He also said that based on criminal law in Iran `` the convict has a right to meet his family before the execution . ''
`` Were you in such a hurry to carry @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of his last visit ? ''
Younessi wrote on Twitter .
A global union representing 85,000 athletes on September 8 called for Iran 's expulsion from world sport if it executed Afkari .
Trump also called on Iran this month not to execute the wrestler .
`` Hearing that Iran is looking to execute a great and popular wrestling star , 27-year-old Navid Afkarai , whose sole act was an anti-government demonstration on the streets .
They were protesting the 'country ’ s worsening economic situation and inflation , '' Trump wrote in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was a national champion in wrestling , which is a widely popular sport with a long history in Iran .
Afkari 's brothers , Vahid and Habib , were sentenced to 54 and 27 years , respectively , in prison in the same case , rights activists have said .
Based on reporting by AFP , Reuters , AP , and dpa