Displaying items by tag: crackdown

The Government has signed a new agreement with Iraq to accelerate the return of migrants who have no legal right to remain. Home office minister Dan Jarvis finalised the deal with Iraq’s deputy foreign minister, expanding cooperation on security, migration, and tackling smuggling networks - many run by Iraqi Kurds. While small-boat crossings overall remain at record highs, Iraqi arrivals have declined to 1,900 in the year to March 2025, down from 2,600 the previous year. The government argues this drop demonstrates the effectiveness of earlier cooperation. However, critics, including Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp, dismissed the new deal as 'measly’, pointing out that most small-boat arrivals are now from other nations. Not all Iraqis will be returned; about 26% have successfully claimed asylum on grounds of persecution. The agreement follows similar deals with Albania and Vietnam and a recent UK-France accord. Ministers insist such measures strengthen border security, while critics argue that crossings remain unacceptably high.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, independent Russian media have received restrictions or threats. News channels TV Rain and Meduza have had to move abroad; Novaya Gazeta remains in Moscow but has stopped publishing newspapers. The authorities have closed talk radio station Echo and others. Countless commentators are in exile, including veteran journalist Nevzorov, branded a ‘foreign agent’ and given a jail sentence in absentia for spreading ‘fake news’ against Russia’s army. People do not need an audience of millions to be targeted. Mathematics student Dmitry Ivanov ran an anti-war Telegram channel and received an eight-and-a-half-year prison sentence. An anti-war picture sketched by a 13-year-old at school warranted Alexei, her father, being jailed for two years. Putin rules Russia virtually unchallenged. Critics who once spoke out have been forced into exile, jailed or killed. By the time he invaded Ukraine, two decades of stamping out dissent had all but annihilated Russian opposition.

Security forces have killed at least 201 people in unrest following the death in custody of a woman arrested for breaking strict hijab rules. Now people honk car horns supporting any women they see not covered up. Protests against the security forces are in the evening and afternoon in different locations. At night, those who do not leave their houses shout ‘down with the dictator’ out of their windows in big and smaller cities. The protests are not just about women wearing the hijab; that was just the spark. They have always been about basic human rights. Iranians have always wanted what westerners might take for granted as a normal life. A protester said, ‘We want life, liberty, justice, accountability, freedom of choice and assembly, a free press. We want access to our basic human rights and an inclusive government that is actually elected by the people through a proper election and that works for the people.’ See also

Thousands of defiant protesters flooded Tehran streets on the ninth day after the suspicious death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while held in custody for not properly wearing the hijab headscarf. The regime cracked down with force, killing at least 41 and shutting down the web and social media for 80 million citizens, but outrage over Amini’s death has only expanded. Officials claim Mahsa died due to underlying health issues; her family says that is not true. Women defiantly burn their hijabs and headscarves and cut their hair. The USA announced it will expand Iranian internet services to support free-flowing information.The internet is needed when protesters want to organise themselves and share footage of what is happening with the outside world. Also billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk is giving the country Starlink, a satellite constellation providing internet access to 40 countries - a true game-changer.