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Latest news from and about the homeland

Photograph: Screenshot/ BLA video A fresh wave of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances has been documented across Balochistan this month, as Baloch rights groups recorded the recovery of several bodies of men who had earlier been forcibly taken, and appealed once more to international institutions that have largely ignored the province. The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC)…

751 unmarked graves found at residential school in Canada

751 unmarked graves were discovered at the site of a former residential school in Saskatchewan, just weeks after the remains of 215 children were found in British Columbia. 

The bodies were discovered at the Marieval Indian Residential School, with a search with ground-penetrating radar stating that there was 751 hits. Chief Cadmus Delorme of the Cowessess added that there were at least 600 bodies buried in the area. “We want to make sure when we tell our story that we’re not trying to make numbers sound bigger than they are. I like to say over 600, just to be assured.”

Liberian rebel convicted of war crimes atrocities in landmark Swiss trial

Alieu Kosiah, became the first Liberian to be convicted for war crimes committed during the country’s civil war, in a court hearing in Switzerland earlier this month.

The rebel commander was found guilty of murder, rape and cannibalism by the Swiss court in Bellinzona, and sentenced to 20 years in jail – the maximum permitted under Swiss law. Kosiah was arrested in 2014 and faced 25 charges, with the principle of “universal jurisdiction” used to convict him for all but four of the charges against him.

China poses ‘systemic’ challenges warns NATO

Concluding the first-day summit, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called for a unified response to the challenges posed by China.

UN court upholds conviction of genocide against ‘Butcher of Bosnia’ Ratko Mladic 

Photograph: UN News

An appeal by Ratko Mladic, the commander of Bosnian Serb forces in the country’s 1992-95 war, against the 2017 verdict that convicted him of genocide has been turned down by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Switzerland to hold referendum on controversial terrorism bill

Switzerland will be holding a referendum on a controversial terrorism bill, which has been widely panned by international human rights organisations, on 13 June.

Remains of 215 Indigenous children discovered at former Canadian residential school

Photo credit (Twitter: @TVRVNTO)

A mass grave was found at a residential school in British Colombia, Canada, containing the remains of 215 indigenous children on Friday.

France asks for forgiveness for Rwandan genocide

French President, Emmanuel Macron, asked for Rwandan’s forgiveness its silence over the Rwandan genocide, in which 800,000 Tutsi and Hutu dissidents were killed, however, Macron fell short of apologising for the role France played.

Aung San Suu Kyi makes first court appearance since arrest

Myanmar’s ousted democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi made her first public appearance since the military deposed her government and seized power on 1 February 2021, at a court hearing on Monday. 

Irob minority in Ethiopia fears extinction as war escalates

The Irob minority group in Ethiopia are facing an existential crisis in addition to the mass atrocities inflicted by ongoing conflict in the Tigray state. 

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched military forces in response to “traitorous” attacks on military camps that has since escalated to thousands of civilian casualties, hundreds of thousands of people who have been internally displaced within Tigray, and 63,000 refugees who have fled to Sudan since fighting broke out on November 4th, 2020. 

The embattled region the Irob occupy “has been turned totally upside down,” Teklay, resident in the capital Addis Abab, told Al Jazeera.

Palestinian casualties increase as Israel continues bombardment of Gaza

Palestinian casualties have sharply increased as Israel stepped up its bombardment of Gaza early on Friday as tanks and artillery massed at the border and joined aerial attacks.