Secretary of the Iranian Human Rights Committee: Sweden has turned into a prison for Muslims

The assistant head of the Iranian judiciary, Secretary of the Human Rights Committee, Kazem Gharibabadi, said that Sweden has turned into a prison for Muslims, commenting on the violation of the sanctity of the Holy Quran in this country.

Gharibabadi, in his tweet on "Twitter" yesterday, Monday, affirmed that: "Insulting religious sanctities is totally and completely rejected."

He added: "Religious fanaticism has spread throughout Europe, and today Sweden, with the support of the government in this country, has turned into a prison for Muslims, who seem to have longed for the era of medieval inspection of faith."

It is noteworthy that the leader of one of the far-right groups in Sweden, "Rasmus Paludin" and his supporters in the Swedish city of Linkoping, committed the crime of burning the Holy Quran on Friday, April 15, which sparked a wave of anger and protests in Sweden and some Islamic countries.

In the same context, the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned Sweden's Chargé d'Affairs in Tehran and informed him of a strong protest in the name of the Islamic Republic against this offensive action, which was carried out with the support of the Swedish police, under the pretext of defending freedom of expression.

Source: Erna

Citizen Lab: The UAE hacked the phones of the British Prime Minister's office with the Israeli spyware

Washington - A new investigation into the use of Israeli spyware "Pegasus" , which is used by repressive regimes in the world , revealed that an official working in "10 Downing Street", in the administration of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, was among those whose phones were exposed to penetrate.

Citizen Lab: UAE -linked hack allowed 24-hour monitoring of photos, messages and calls on a device connected to the British Prime Minister's office phone network

Prominent journalist Ronan Farrow said in the "New Yorker" that the spyware was used to hack a device connected to the "10 Downing Street" network, the British government's office, on July 7, 2020.

The investigation confirmed that the hack was ordered by the UAE government.

Reportedly, the UAE -linked intrusion could have allowed 24-hour monitoring of photos, messages and calls on a device connected to Network 10.

American and British media platforms confirmed that the cyber security breach took place nearly a year after Johnson became prime minister.

The investigation indicated that cybersecurity officers in Britain had not definitively discovered the hack, although they checked and scanned several phones in 10 Downing Street, including Johnson's, and the nature of any hacked phone or any data that may have been taken has not been determined.

The well-known Israeli spyware hacked phones connected to the British Foreign Office on at least five occasions between July 2020 and June of last year

“We were stunned when we discovered the hack,” said John Scott Railton, a senior researcher at the Toronto-based Citizen Lab who had been tracking Pegasus.

Railton noted that the British government had always underestimated the threat of the "Pegasus" spyware until its network was spectacularly hacked.

According to the researchers, it is also suspected that the well-known Israeli spyware hacked phones connected to the British Foreign Office on at least five occasions between July 2020 and June of last year.

The laboratory investigation indicated that the targets related to Johnson's office are "linked to the UAE", while the targets related to the British Foreign Office "are linked to the UAE, India, Cyprus and Jordan".

It is noteworthy that last February, a report by “Citizen Lab” revealed that the phones of at least three Bahraini activists were hacked through the “Pegasus” program.

French writer: Paris must launch a new Arab policy that closely links sovereignty and culture

Paris - Under the title: “A new Arab policy for France,” journalist and geopolitician Renaud Gerard said in his column in the French newspaper “Le Figaro” that although the head of state is the commander of the armed forces and diplomacy, the presidential elections are always an opportunity to restore Reflect on France's foreign policy priorities. The first topic, obviously, will be the defense of Europe against Russia's military aggression, China's technological predation, and America's legal and financial dominance. In order to have a chance to confront these three "monsters", France will not be able to dispense with European influence. It will take some time because the European Union, which includes 27 countries, has become a very heavy machine.

However, immediately - the writer advises - France alone can re-launch its Arab policy, as it opens before it, after fifty-five years, a new window in the Middle East, which the Americans abandon. The United States has recently taken its distance from the Middle East, where presidents and senators are baffled by the complex interaction between the races and religious sects of the Muslim world. Moreover, the Americans retained a bitter taste for their ten-year occupation of Mesopotamia. In addition, the oil in the region is no longer a bet for them as it was in the past, due to their possession of shale gas and oil. They also find themselves facing two major geopolitical confrontations: the first against Vladimir Putin's Russia in Europe, and the second against China in the Pacific, the author explains.

Renaud Girard continues to say that what he described as the "axis of reason or reason" in the Middle East, which wants to leave religion to the private sphere, is today opening its arms to France. Thus, the latter (France) should know how to take the warm hands that were extended to it by such stable countries as Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. It also helps friendly countries that have barely survived their long sectarian wars: Lebanon and Iraq.

The writer went on to describe the Abraham agreements between Israel, Morocco, the UAE and Bahrain as a great success, considering that the French should understand that twisting Israel’s arm in the Palestinian issue will always lead to counterproductive results, and that Israel is a stubborn state when it comes to its security, but it is also a realistic country, as he put it, that will realize In the end itself, the presence of Palestinians in vast slums is neither respectable nor viable in the long run.

Girard believed that the French should leave the Arab countries responsible for a political settlement with Syria in light of the start of the process of returning it to the Arab League.

The writer went back, reminding that since Charles de Gaulle, France has known that there is no serious foreign policy that is not based on a credible military tool, explaining that France's independence is guaranteed through its deterrent power, its armies, and its own defense industry. Accordingly, the security and defense needs of its Arab friends can be based on defense agreements and strategic partnerships, such as those that link it with Egypt, the UAE, and Qatar.

For the Arab countries, France has become a credible strategic partner, and it must remain so, says the author. At the same time, he stressed, France's influence will also depend on its cultural tools—the French institutes in Cairo and Beirut, the Louvre and Sorbonne in Abu Dhabi, and the countless French schools and alliances—as well as its expertise in water and sustainable development.

Renaud Girard concluded by stressing that France's new Arab policy must continue to closely link sovereignty and culture. To implement this strategy, the Presidency of the French Republic has an incomparable tool like the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA), which has already succeeded culturally: from now on, let us also entrust it with the geopolitical task of rooting our concept of the “reason axis” in the Middle East.