Word: crackdowns
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), or Sepah for short in Farsi, is widely believed to have played a large role in orchestrating the crackdown on political dissidents and protesters following the disputed presidential election. Its political influence within the regime has always far exceeded the actual army's, and it has increased exponentially since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected to office in 2005. But the speculation among Iranian opposition sources is that, these days, the IRGC's powerful patron - whose second term officially began last week - has now become its puppet, falling under the influence of a gang of security...
...Central Committee includes two influential security chiefs - Mohammad Dahlan and Jibril Rajoub - both of whom are accused by Hamas of leading a brutal crackdown against its members in Gaza and in the West Bank. Dahlan, in particular, is loathed by Hamas and even by many in Fatah, who accuse him of carrying out Israel's and the CIA's bidding in trying to sabotage the result of Hamas' 2006 election victory. Hamas, which refused to let 400 Fatah delegates leave Gaza to attend the Bethlehem conference, having demanded that President Abbas first release 1,000 Hamas prisoners being held...
...Local outrage has been necessarily muted, what with 2,000 police and militiamen at the prison to prevent any protests. Since 2007, when monks led an abortive uprising, Burma's opposition has been all but neutralized by a pitiless campaign of arrests and lengthy sentences. (Read about the 2007 crackdown in Burma...
...have surely reminded Ahmadinejad of the challenge he faces in the Majlis, Iran's elected parliament. The ceremony was addressed by Speaker Ali Larijani, a longstanding conservative rival of Ahmadinejad, who has tried to position himself between the opposition and the government - at times being fiercely critical of the crackdown and demanding a public inquiry, at others distancing himself from the opposition movement and railing against foreign interference. The President requires approval of his Cabinet picks from parliament, and also needs the legislature's cooperation in passing new laws. And he is far from guaranteed the support of a majority...
...Horn of Africa. Reports have also been circulating of a connection with al-Shabaab sympathizers in Minnesota, where a Somali immigrant to the U.S. last week pleaded guilty to traveling to Somalia to collaborate with al-Shabaab. Asked if the U.S. had anything to do with the Australian crackdown, Special Agent E. K. Wilson of the FBI's Minneapolis office would not comment on the Melbourne operations, simply saying, "We have very good relations and cooperation with Australian law enforcement on counterterrorism issues." (See pictures of dramatic pirate-hostage rescues...