Latest news with #ShiaMuslim
MTV Lebanon
5 days ago
- Business
- MTV Lebanon
Lebanon's Central Bank Bans Interactions with Hezbollah's Al-Qard Al-Hassan
Lebanon's central bank has banned licensed financial institutions from any direct or indirect interactions with Iran-backed Hezbollah's financial institution Al-Qard Al-Hassan, according to a circular seen by Reuters on Tuesday. The US Department of Treasury imposed sanctions on Al-Qard Al-Hassan in 2007, saying the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah used the institution as a cover to manage 'financial activities and gain access to the international financial system.' Al-Qard Al-Hassan, founded in 1983, describes itself as a charitable organization which provides loans to people according to Islamic principles that forbid interest. Israel struck branches of the institution during its war with the group last year. The organization, which operates under a license granted by the Lebanese government, has more than 30 branches, mostly in predominantly Shia Muslim areas of Beirut, southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.
Shafaq News
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Shafaq News
Iraq appoints spokesperson for religious pilgrimage committees
Shafaq News - Baghdad Iraq has appointed Maj. Gen. Muqdad Miri as the official spokesperson for the security and service committees managing the country's major religious pilgrimages, a source from the Interior Ministry confirmed on Wednesday. Speaking to Shafaq News, the source explained that the move aims to "unify official messaging and improve coordination during high-density pilgrimage seasons such as Arbaeen* and Ashura," which require complex security, logistical, and public service efforts across several provinces. Miri, who heads the ministry's Public Relations and Media Directorate, will now serve as the central source for all statements and updates related to the committees' activities. These committees are responsible for overseeing security, traffic control, crowd management, emergency response, and logistics for millions of pilgrims each year. * Arbaeen is a major Shia Muslim religious observance marking the 40th day after Ashura, the martyrdom of Imam Hussein ibn Ali, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, at the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD. It draws millions of pilgrims each year to the Iraqi city of Karbala, where Imam Hussein is buried, making it one of the world's largest annual religious gatherings.
News.com.au
09-07-2025
- News.com.au
Grindr sex pest with ‘fear of persecution in Lebanon' should be granted protection visa, tribunal rules
WARNING: Graphic content A convicted child sex pest from Lebanon who was caught in a vigilante sting attempting to meet a 15-year-old boy on Grindr should be allowed to stay in the country due to his 'low risk of reoffending' and 'contribution to the Australian community', a tribunal has ruled. The Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) on Friday set aside a decision by the Department of Home Affairs to refuse a permanent protection visa to the 37-year-old on character grounds. 'The visa was cancelled by the department, reinstated by the ART, and a file is now on its way to the Assistant Minister to consider cancellation again,' Immigration Minister Tony Burke said in a statement to The IT worker, referred to only as DJHT, first arrived in Australia as a skilled migrant at the age of 28 and was later granted a resident return visa, which was subsequently cancelled in July 2024. He was placed in immigration detention but applied for a permanent protection visa last September. In February, another delegate of the Minister found DJHT was owed protection obligations as he had a 'well founded fear of persecution' in Lebanon due to his sexual orientation. He was released on a bridging visa under strict daily reporting requirements. The man, a Shia Muslim who identifies as bisexual, said in a statement supporting his protection visa application that he has a 'strong attraction to men' and has an 'attraction to teenage boys', which he knows is wrong. In October 2020, he was caught in an amateur 'predator catcher' style sting, when an unidentified man created a fake Grindr profile using the name 'Jacob' and began exchanging messages with DJHT. The man claimed he was a virgin, that he was 'only 15' and that he had 'never done anything with people before'. DJHT then sent several sexually explicit messages to 'Jacob' and tried to arrange a meeting with him. 'You haven't hot [sic] a suck before?' he wrote in one message, court documents state. 'Did someone suck you off before?' When 'Jacob' responded 'nah never', he wrote, 'Then I'll be the first … I'm cheeky so I will be grabbing it and sucking it for you. You can f**k me as well that's for being a friend.' DJHT wrote that 'I'll help you and you will enjoy it to the maximum' and pressed 'Jacob' for a meeting, repeatedly commenting 'show me your c**k'. The man behind the 'Jacob' account arranged a meeting at a park near DJHT's home, where he confronted him and recorded him on video before handing the information to police. DJHT was arrested and released on bail. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to using a carriage service to transmit a communication to a person he believed to be under 16 with the intention of procuring that person to engage in sexual activity. He was handed a 27-month suspended sentence and placed on a two-year good behaviour bond. He complied with his reporting obligations to Sutherland Community Corrections and will remain on the child sex offender registry until 2030. In sentencing remarks, the court noted DJHT had no prior criminal history and that the offending 'was in the lower range', being 'opportunistic' and 'unsophisticated' and involving a 'fictitious victim' at the top of the age range. DJHT's application for a permanent protection visa was denied by the Minister in April. He sought a review of the decision later that month and the matter was heard by the ART in June. The government had rejected DJHT's position that there was a remote or very low risk that he would reoffend, arguing he lacked insight into his offending and had not undergone sufficient rehabilitation. In her decision, ART senior member Kim Rosser said she was 'of the view that the risk that the applicant will reoffend is low … even in stressful circumstances'. 'I accept that the applicant is genuinely remorseful and that he is ashamed of his behaviour,' she said. 'I do not consider that the fact that the applicant is seeking a visa which would allow him to remain in Australia indefinitely increases the risk of him reoffending.' She accepted evidence provided by DJHT's psychologist that 'shame was the strongest factor that would deter reoffending', as he 'comes from a conservative Middle Eastern culture, which would make such an act even more shameful'. Ms Rosser found a number of factors weighed against granting DJHT a protection visa, including both the 'protection' and 'expectations' of the Australian community. But she gave strong weight to factors in his favour, including the potential legal consequences for DJHT — most seriously the possibility of deportation from Australia to a safe third country such as Nauru. 'In my view, being indefinitely subject to BVR [bridging visa] conditions with the possibility of being removed from Australia at some unspecified time in the future are significant legal consequences of the decision,' she said. 'Overall, whether the applicant is removed to a third country at some time in the future or remains in Australia as the holder of a BVR, I consider that the legal consequences consideration weighs strongly in favour of granting the protection visa.' She also noted his recent charity and volunteer work, including 'beach litter cleaning efforts and, on occasion, setting up sound systems and cameras for community events'. Prior to committing the offence, DJHT had worked for an IT company and required a security clearance, which he lost as a result of the charges. He currently works for another IT company full-time as a senior systems engineer and runs a small consultancy, doing some pro bono work. 'The applicant came to Australia as a skilled migrant and continues to work in the area of his expertise, which represents a contribution to the Australian community, as do the applicant's pro bono and volunteer activities,' Ms Rosser said. 'I conclude that the considerations that weigh in favour of the applicant outweigh the primary considerations of the protection and the expectations of the Australian community.' Ms Rosser found that 'a decision that would result in the applicant remaining in Australia on a bridging visa potentially for the rest of his life — or possibly being removed from Australia in the future — is not an appropriate exercise of [the Minister's] discretion, particularly given the applicant's ties to the community and the contribution he makes to the community through his skilled employment and other activities'. The ART, established last year to replace the former Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), examines rulings under around 400 Commonwealth laws, including immigration and citizenship, social security payments, child support, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and taxation. In cases where the ART overturns a visa cancellation or refusal, the Immigration Minister or Assistant Minister can intervene and uphold the original decision. Were that to happen, the applicant could then seek judicial review from the federal court.
Gulf Insider
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Insider
Ayatollah Khamenei Makes First Public Appearance Since War With Israel, US
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made his first public appearance since last month's 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel, at the end of which the US sent B-2 bombers in an effort to destroy three key nuclear facilities. Khamenei attended a religious ceremony in Tehran, which was featured in a video broadcast by state media. The 85-year-old leader attended the Imam Khomeini Mosque during an Ashura event, considered the most sacred day in the Shia Muslim calendar. The Supreme Leader is seen acknowledging a large crowd with waves and nods as attendees stand and chant slogans of devotion upon his arrival. Khamenei had remained completely out of public sight since the surprise attack by Israel on June 13, with only prerecorded messages being released at various times. There was widespread speculation that Israel was seeking to take out the Ayatollah if its warplanes or assassins had a chance. Many top-ranking military leaders as well as nuclear scientists were killed over the 12-day period, which saw Iran launch significant retaliatory attacks on Tel Aviv and other locations in Israel. One key pre-recorded speech upon the end of fighting, issued by Khamenei on June 26, involved the top Shia religious cleric dismissing President Trump's demand for Iran's submission. He declared that Iran had dealt 'a slap to America's face' by launching an attack on a US military base in Qatar; however, the Pentagon said all inbound projectiles were intercepted. Trump responded by directing a message at Khamenei which said 'You're a man of great faith, respected in your country. But you need to be honest — you got beat to hell.' Given the obvious deep inroads Mossad intelligence has made into the Islamic Republic, Khamenei likely spent the conflict in a secret underground bunker known only to his closest aides. Iran suffered severe damage, but Tel Aviv also showed signs of devastation from Iranian ballistic and hypersonic missile strikes: At one point the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was attacked and reportedly blown up by Israeli warplanes. But Iran's ballistic missiles also did severe damage on some Israeli military command centers, including apparent attacks on some Mossad locations in Israel.
Qatar Tribune
06-07-2025
- Politics
- Qatar Tribune
Won't disarm until Israel leaves southern Lebanon, says Hezbollah chief
The Hezbollah chief says the Lebanese group remains open to peace, but it will not disarm or back down from confronting Israel until it ends its air raids and withdraws from southern Lebanon. 'We cannot be asked to soften our stance or lay down arms while [Israeli] aggression continues,' Naim Qassem told thousands of supporters gathered in Beirut's southern suburbs on Sunday for Ashura, an important day in the Shia Muslim calendar. Ashura commemorates the 680 AD Battle of Karbala, in which Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein, was killed after he refused to pledge allegiance to the Umayyad caliphate. For Shia Muslims, the day symbolises resistance against tyranny and injustice. The Beirut area, a Hezbollah stronghold, was draped in yellow banners and echoed with chants of resistance as Qassem delivered his speech, flanked by portraits of his predecessor, Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by Israel in September last year. Israel launched a wide-scale assault on Lebanon on October 8, 2023 – a day after Palestinian group Hamas, which counts Hezbollah as an ally, stormed the Israeli territory, killing some 1,100 people and taking about 250 others captive. The Hamas attack was immediately followed by Israel's bombing of the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. Israel's simultaneous attack on Lebanon escalated into a full-scale war by September 2024, killing more than 4,000 people, including much of Hezbollah's top leadership, and displacing nearly 1.4 million, according to official data. A United States-brokered ceasefire nominally ended the war in November. However, since the ceasefire, Israel has continued to occupy five strategic border points in southern Lebanon and has carried out near-daily air strikes that it says aim to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its capabilities. Those strikes have killed some 250 people and wounded 600 others since November, according to Lebanon's Ministry of Health. 'How can you expect us not to stand firm while the Israeli enemy continues its aggression, continues to occupy the five points, and continues to enter our territories and kill?' Qassem said in his video address. 'We will not be a part of legitimising the occupation in Lebanon and the region. We will not accept normalisation,' he added, in an apparent response to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar saying his government was 'interested' in such a move. Qassem said Hezbollah's weapons would not be on the negotiating table unless Israel 'withdraws from the occupied territories, stops its aggression, releases the prisoners, and reconstruction begins'. 'Only then,' he said, 'will we be ready for the second stage, which is to discuss national security and defence strategy.' (Agencies)
