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MIDDLE EAST

Prevalence of religious hypocrisy

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After the return of the Taliban, hundreds of thousands of Afghan citizens went to European countries and the US, where they started a new life in the shadow of a different society and culture. In the meantime, one of the frequent scenes was the conflict of behavior of these citizens in Afghanistan and now in the West.

When a famous lady lived inside the country, she considered herself bound to wear the usual clothes in Afghanistan and was even careful not to publish her photo on social media outlets, but the same person as soon as she set foot in Europe, America or Australia, her way of dressing changed drastically and one of the first changes that appeared was to wear a mini dress and bare his head and neck.

Also, in the case of men, some of whom could not hear even a single word from their language in criticizing the current situation or the need to revise popular religious views, but these same people, after leaving the country and feeling immune from possible punishments, relentlessly attacked religious beliefs. They started and ridiculed the popular opinions in the country and also acted as revolutionary in criticizing the ruling policy and prominent politicians.

Another example, There were a large number of people who had jobs in the republic and had become wealthy, which they are thankful to the blessing of that system and were comfortable in their lives and did not show any kind of dissatisfaction with the existing situation. However, these people as soon as the republic system collapsed, they became first-class critics and suddenly opened their throats in praise of the “Emirate” system and even tried to build an image that they were already with the Taliban even during the Republic system.

What are the reasons for this behavior-conflict and what factors are involved?

Unfortunately, hypocrisy and pretense are one of the chronic and long-lasting diseases in our society, and the experts and academicians in the past have already spoken about this and proposed solutions. Despite this, the fact is that until the aggravating factors of this disease are removed from society, it should not be expected that hypocrisy will not become a second habit of citizens.

It seems that people use pretense and hypocrisy as a shield to protect themselves from possible calamities and disasters, and consider this method necessary to survive in unstable and chaotic conditions.

Although experts have tried to criticize pretense and hypocrisy for a long time, but the criticism of this phenomenon is not fruitful without doing something to provide a dignified life for humans. Until the root of this problem is not dealt with, there is no hope to improve the situation.

Religious governments are one of those governments that promote hypocrisy and hypocrisy

The Taliban government, is unfortunately, currently one of the worst examples of religious government in the world. This government gives itself the right to interfere in the smallest issues of the daily lives of the people and even impose rules for citizens on the type of clothing, beard and hair.

In the shadow of such governments that impose a certain way of life on people, the people are forced to turn to hypocrisy and pretense and choose a special way of dressing and a special way of life in order to be safe from any punishment of the government.

As soon as these people get out of the realm of totalitarian governments, they completely change their faces and reveal their inner selves. These days, if you walk the streets of the big cities of Afghanistan, such as Kabul, Balkh, and Herat, you will see the absolute majority of people with the same clothes and appearance, and fewer people are willing to take risks and, for example, shave their beards or grow their hair in a different way. This shows the intensity of citizens’ fear of the Taliban.

The society is blame for such messy rules

Although the Taliban regime is currently trying to establish an iron rule and impose a certain lifestyle on the citizens, if we do not ignore the truth, the Afghan society is also to blame for this situation. The citizens of Afghanistan often take the same layer and appearance from religion and do not have access to its depth and meaning.

It is that religious appearanceism is very common in the society, and of course, what has happened recently is that the political government is also in harmony and compatible with the majority of people in the appearanceism and giving priority to religious rites and rituals and disregarding the essence of religion.

If you want to gain the respect of the citizens and achieve a desirable social status and benefit from the facilities, you have to adhere to religious appearances and attend congregational prayers, let your beard grow long, carry a rosary in your hand, and chant religious slogans. Talk about piety, purity and fear of God. In such a situation, the majority of people act according to instinct and pretend to be religious and pious, but deep down they do not believe in these words at all.

Oppressive systems turn people into worthless and dishonorable creatures

In a society where bigotry is rampant, hypocrisy becomes common, and efforts are made to hide one’s opinion, because exposing one’s political or religious opinion threatens one’s life, property, and reputation. The higher the concentration of prejudice, the more hypocrisy spreads and becomes the rule of life. In such a society, reasoning and logic do not achieve the desired position and people see their interest in being with power and force.

In these societies, the protection of property and life is prioritized and opinion loses its importance. The members of such a society always hide themselves behind masks.

To build a good society, freedom should be considered before anything else. In a society where there is no freedom, people’s lives suffer from all kinds of plagues, including the disease of hypocrisy and pretense. Hypocrisy and pretense should not be considered only as a mental illness, but it should be considered as a phenomenon that spreads humiliation and slander and brings society to ruin and endangers social integration.

MIDDLE EAST

Some Afghan journalists contemplating suicide; but why?

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In the past three years, the Taliban have severely limited access to information in Afghanistan and in some cases made it almost impossible. Many journalists who operate from the country say that the space for their activities is getting narrower every day.

These reporters state that in addition to self-censorship, they have experienced a kind of unwanted imprisonment and spend days and nights in their homes. They cannot move freely in the community for fear of interrogation and revenge from the Taliban.

In this report, two journalists have confirmed that they thought of suicide due to pressure from the Taliban. They say that life in Afghanistan has become difficult and that the Taliban have appeared as “death angle” and that if they did not have children, they would commit suicide.

These journalists are disappointed with the institutions that support the media and say that they have no way out of the existing problems. This is despite the fact that the Taliban have imposed more restrictions during the past month and have banned the publication of photos and images in five provinces.

One of the journalists who works under the Taliban regime says that the space for journalists to breathe and live is getting narrower and more limited every day. According to him, the Taliban have created an atmosphere where reporters and media spend day and night in worry and fear, and because of this, they cannot cover many events.

Taliban severely restricted the media landscape in Afghanistan, making it nearly impossible for journalist to operate

She emphasized that in some cases, due to the fear of the Taliban, she has covered news events a few days after they happened to prevent the Taliban from drawing attention and focusing on herself.

This reporter, who does not want to be named in the report, emphasizes that the difficult living conditions, the strict restrictions of the Taliban and the fear of being arrested and interrogated by this group made her think of suicide.

Samera, one of the Afghan female journalists, using her pin name for security reason, said that the painful experience of working under the Taliban rule has made her think about suicide many times. She says that she was once arrested by the Taliban for filming for news coverage.

“My arrest by the Taliban was the most bitter and painful experience, which made forced me to think of committing suicide,” She lamented.

This journalist says: “When the Taliban arrested me, I was thinking what my family, my colleagues and the community would say if I stayed in the prison at night?”

She furthered, “Because the arrest of a woman by the Taliban willfully or unwittingly has negative and harmful consequences that one cannot think of anything other than suicide.”

When the Taliban took some journalists, including females to the court, one of them said “why did you bring them, you should have shot them.”

“There I saw an old man who was the same age as my father. He threw himself at Talib’s feet and apologized, but Talib did not pay any attention to him,” she added.

An Afghan journalist said that he will commit suicide this time if Taliban arrest him

Omid, another journalist who used his pin name to avoid arrest, has thought of suicide many times, and he was also arrested several times. He says that despite his efforts, he did not succeed in leaving Afghanistan. “I’ll commit suicide if the Taliban arrest me once again,” he warned.

He furthered that he has heard a lot about torture and ill-treatment in the Taliban prison and has a horrible image of the prison scenes in his mind.

“Before the Taliban torture and insult me ​​in a terrible way, or take a video commitment from me… I prefer to put an end to this life,” he warned, adding that “I think that suicide is the only way to end all this suffering and misery.”

Another journalist who is currently in Pakistan also confirms that he thought of suicide due to mental and psychological problems. She says: “God is a witness to the hardships I experienced in Pakistan, it had ruined my soul and spirit so much that I thought if I committed suicide, I might get rid of these ordeals.”

In the past one month, the Taliban have continuously and systematically prevented the video activities of the media in a number of provinces across the country. After banning photography and filming, this group has now banned five provinces from these activities and announced that this restriction will be gradually applied in all provinces.

The Taliban authorities have informed the local media of the ban on taking pictures and publishing them, as well as banning the video interviews of their officials in Nangarhar province.

Azizullah Mustafa, the deputy governor of the Taliban in Nangarhar has ordered all the local employees that according to the order of the Taliban supreme leader it is forbidden to take pictures of living creatures and publish them, and the media is only allowed to communicate with Taliban officials.

Taliban already banned taking pictures of living creatures in five provinces in Afghanistan

Kandahar, Takhar, Badghis, Helmand and Nangarhar are among the provinces, where taking pictures of living creatures and publishing them, as well as video interviews, are completely prohibited.

The Taliban have closed three radio stations in Khost province during the past month under extensive pressure. “Gharghasht”, “Zheman” and “Long” radios have been blocked by the Taliban and they have resumed their activities after providing a written commitment to comply with the Taliban’s orders.

The Center of Afghan Journalists has already announced that the Taliban have imposed 17 restrictive directives against the media. These restrictions include preventing women from appearing on national radio and television, banning media coverage of demonstrations and civil protests, imposing restrictions on access to information and publishing news and reports, requiring journalists and media to introduce the Taliban regime as the “government of Afghanistan”.

Also, the Taliban have imposed restrictions on interviews with their opponents and critics. They have banned the broadcast of international television programs in Afghanistan and have imposed restrictions on publishing commercials with political, security and social content. In addition, the media have been prohibited from criticizing the work of Taliban officials, and filming, video interviews, and the publication of women’s voices have been prohibited from the media.

Also, it is forbidden to work with the media that have been declared “forbidden” by the Taliban, and in Helmand province, the publication of women’s voices in the local media is completely prohibited. Orders have also been issued to the media to refrain from using “foreign terms”, which refers to the use of “
“Persian words” for university and college. Prohibiting photography and filming in official and informal meetings of local Taliban officials in Kandahar, and banning girls from making phone calls to radios and televisions in Khost province are among the other restrictions imposed by the Taliban on domestic media in Afghanistan.

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MIDDLE EAST

ICC issues arrest warrant for Netanyahu and Gallant on war Crimes charges

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The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, citing war crimes in Gaza.

Despite sanctions and threats from Israel and the United States, the ICC’s decision was based on overwhelming evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against Palestinians. Among the charges, Netanyahu and Gallant were accused of using starvation as a weapon, with the court stating these allegations are founded on “reasonable grounds.”

Israel reportedly employed its intelligence agency, the Mossad, to spy on, hack, pressure, defame, and allegedly threaten senior ICC officials in an effort to obstruct investigations. Although these efforts were partially exposed through the international press and statements from ICC staff, they failed to deter the Court’s proceedings.

The ICC also clarified that it is undeterred by Israel’s non-recognition of the Court’s authority or its rulings.

Additionally, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masr on related charges.

While this ruling may not immediately halt Israeli military actions in Gaza or reduce U.S. support for Israel, it is likely to deepen divisions among European nations over their stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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MIDDLE EAST

Hamas: No hostages-for-prisoners swap deal with Israel unless Gaza war ends

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Khalil al-Hayya, a senior member of the Hamas Political Bureau, announced on Al-Aqsa TV that Hamas had accepted a proposal to form a committee to administer Gaza, with the condition that its operations be entirely local.

In his statement regarding the ongoing Gaza ceasefire talks, al-Hayya said: “An idea has been proposed to establish a committee for the administration of Gaza. This suggestion was made by our Egyptian brothers. We have responded responsibly and positively. We accept this proposal on the condition that the committee will operate in a fully localized manner, overseeing all aspects of daily life in Gaza.”

Earlier this month, representatives from both the Hamas and Fatah movements convened in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss a potential ceasefire and the establishment of this administrative committee.

Commenting on the indirect ceasefire and prisoner exchange negotiations between Hamas and Israel, al-Hayya stated: “There will be no prisoner exchange until the Israeli genocide stops. This is an interconnected equation. We are very clear on this: we want this aggression to end. These attacks must cease before any prisoner exchange can take place.”

Al-Hayya added that Hamas remains ready for a ceasefire agreement but emphasized that Israel must demonstrate genuine willingness to proceed. “We are engaging with mediating countries to advance ceasefire negotiations. However, Netanyahu is hindering progress in these talks for political reasons,” he said.

Since the escalation of violence on October 7, 2023, indirect negotiations between the parties have continued, with countries like Qatar mediating ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreements. Both the United States and Egypt have played supporting roles in these efforts.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced criticism domestically and from the international community for failing to secure a prisoner exchange agreement with Hamas. Analysts highlight those additional conditions introduced by Israel, particularly its insistence on maintaining control over the Egypt-Gaza border and the Philadelphi Corridor, have further complicated the negotiations.

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