Anwar Raslan is a 57 Years old former intelligence member from #Syria.
He is charged with crimes against humanity that include imprisonment & torture. Yesterday he appeared on trial in Germany in one of the first international trials of a Syrian defector.
The charges he is being investigated with vary from rape to aggravated sexual assault & at least 58 murders at Branch 251, an intelligence unit prison Damascus #Syriaamnesty.org.uk/press-releases…
He allegedly was present at the torture of at least 4,000 people as a commanding officer between 2011 & 2012 - I interviewed some of the ex-detainees in #Syria who had fled to #Lebanon over the past few years between 2014 and 2017.
If you're new to this and wonder what it was like, being arrested in #Syria by the regime amid the start of the #Syrianrevolution - here's a picture of a friend of mine who was arrested there between 2011 & 2012 for speaking up at his local faculty in Damascus.
In 2017 @Josiensor & I worked on a story that I shall never forget about Syrian prisons. Omar's story will haunt me for years, one of the bravest most hopeful young men imprisoned and tortured by the Syrian regime in #Saydnaya prison #Syria
"Qard Al-Hassan” Association’s servers and cameras, have been hacked yesterday by a group calling itself "SpiderZ" - they obtained information exposing names of senior depositors & other details from the database. More about it ⬇️
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The al-Qard al-Hassan Association was established by Hezbollah in the 1980s, and is subordinate to it. It has 32 branches throughout Lebanon, and declares itself a charity association that provides financial assistance to the Shiite population in Lebanon. Via @DoubleCheque
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Despite the fact that al-Qard al-Hassan declares itself a charity association and is even registered as such in Lebanon, in practice, it is run as a financial institution in every way. It provides various financial services to its clients, including loans @DoubleCheque
As many of us spent their Saturday October 17th 2020 night emotional, feeling loss, pain over the country & over those who lost their lives on August 4th, somewhere in Beirut on a rooftop overlooking the damaged sea port, music is blasting & other people are having drinks.
Seriously hoping that none replies with "but who are you to dictate people and how they live".
One of those rooftops is overlooking the damaged Beirut port where around 5 people's remains were not yet recovered. Let this haunt you and sink in as you say "cheers".
1/ So many accounts & pages trying to discredit & frame me because I dare to criticize #Hezbollah. Good luck with that, if an Israeli news outlet used my tweets about Hezbollah, its because they can since my account is public, I can't control who quotes my tweets.
2/ But I can control who I talk to, and as a Lebanese journalist & passport holder: I don't engage in conversations with any Israeli media even though they do try to send messages on Twitter. I know the law, I respect my country, and most importantly my work.
3/ So these accounts are trying to frame me by using the name of Kinda Al Khatib as a hashtag (Kinda is now being investigated & accused of cooperating with Israel). This act is pure slander.
1/ Thank you iCloud storage, for making my #Beirut memories easily accessible. I found a collection of pictures that I took in Beirut specifically between the years 2014 - 2017 when I used to work full time in Pasteur street/Gemayze, one of the most damaged by the explosion.
2/ This one is on a Saifi rooftop, where a studio was located, me and my colleague used to rent out the space to edit our documentary. I spent hours on that roof observing Beirut. Sometime during one of those days the Ammonium Nitrate shipment landed in the port ahead.
3/ The Sursock Palace Garden where I received my first journalism award in 2013 - the Samir Kassir award for freedom of press from @SK_Eyes & the EU. I was inlove with the Sursock palace, overlooking the ceremony. @sursockmuseum
#Lebanon: Coffee creamers are now cheaper than Pads and tampons. That's what happens when the government decides to subsidize coffee creamer but not essential women's hygiene goods.
Just a question in mind: how will refugee communities afford this?
I think i'll ask my period for sometime off in this final 2020 quarter. LOL.
We will soon need a 'Go fund me' campaign for PADS.