UAE amnesty to end on Nov 30; no more extensions

Khaleej Times
November 29, 2018

Abu Dhabi, Nov 29: The Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (FAIC) on Thursday said the amnesty that had been granted to illegal residents is ending on November 30 and that there will be no more extensions for the initiative.

"The amnesty initiative ends on November 30. No more extensions for the scheme," an official from the FAIC told Khaleej Times.

Authorities said that they will step up campaigns to crackdown on those still living illegally in the country immediately after the end of the amnesty scheme.

The "Protect Yourself by Modifying Your Status" initiative that granted a three-month grace period for illegal residents to modify their status or leave the UAE without facing fines or legal issues started on August 1 until October 31, 2018. But the authority extended the amnesty scheme for a month until November 30 to avail more time to amnesty seekers who had not availed of the initiative.

The FAIC has warned that people that will be caught staying illegally in the country after the end of amnesty period, will face tough punishments including fines, jail sentences and deportation.

Officials said intensive campaigns will be conducted across the country to crackdown on the violators of residence laws after the end of the three-month amnesty initiative.

Ali Mohammed Al Shamsi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship had earlier thanked all teams at the amnesty registration centres across the UAE for the tireless efforts and good services they have rendered to residents seeking to rectify their status or those that wanted to get out passes since the amnesty initiative started.

"After the end of the amnesty period, intensive campaigns will be conducted across the country and those caught violating residence laws will face tough penalties," he said.

Officials said the amnesty centres have registered and issued exit passes to thousands of illegal residents wanting to exit country throughout the amnesty initiative.

Those seeking to rectify their status to remain across the country and look for jobs after being granted a six-month temporary residence visa, have also been dealt with by the Amer and Tasheel centres.

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News Network
March 15,2024

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Bengaluru, Mar 15: Former Karnataka chief minister and senior BJP leader B S Yediyurappa was booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act on Thursday for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor at his residence in Bengaluru last month.

Yediyurappa, 81, was booked after a woman lodged a complaint saying that she visited his residence on February 2 seeking justice in a rape case against her daughter and sought that a special investigation team (SIT) be formed to look into the case.

According to the first information report (FIR), Yediyurappa allegedly took the minor to a room, closed the door and sexually assaulted her. The woman further alleged in the FIR that when she confronted Yediyurappa, he said that he was checking if the girl was raped or not. Yediyurappa later allegedly apologised and asked the woman not to reveal the matter to anyone.

The Sadashivanagar police in Bengaluru have registered a case under Section 8 (commit sexual assault) of the Pocso Act and Section 354 (a) (sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Reacting to the allegations, the former CM said that around one-and-a-half months ago, they (the victim and her mother) had come to his house seeking help and he had taken them inside. 

“After listening to her, I called the city police commissioner B Dayananda over phone seeking to address her problem. Later, they spoke against me and I then suspected that there is some health problem with her. I sent them to city police commissioner’s office. I even gave her some money as they were in distress. I came to know that an FIR has been registered and will look into it. But this is what I get for helping someone,” he added.

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News Network
March 25,2024

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The Israeli military has attacked desperate Palestinians lining up for humanitarian aid in Gaza City, killing at least 19 people and injuring 23 others in a new massacre against aid seekers. 

The Government Media Office in Gaza said in a statement that the carnage took place on Saturday near the al-Kuwait roundabout, southeast of Gaza City.

“The occupation army and tanks opened fire with machine guns at the hungry people who were waiting for bags of flour and aid in a remote place that did not pose a threat to the occupation,” the statement said.

Mahmud Basal, spokesman for the Civil Defense Department in Gaza, said there had been “heavy shooting at civilians” looking for food to help their families and children.

“There were very serious injuries, some of whom were injured by shrapnel. The reality is tragic, difficult, and challenging,” he added, saying the victims were taken to the nearby al-Ahli Arab hospital.

Speaking to Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV network, Alaa al-Khudary, a witness at the scene, said that Israeli forces shot at the crowd, leaving “many dead” and injuring others while they tried to get “a bite to eat” for their children.

However, the Israeli army claimed that the reports of its troops firing on a Gaza aid queue are “incorrect.”

In recent weeks, Israeli soldiers have conducted several deadly attacks on crowds of aid seekers in the besieged Gaza.

In mid-March the Israeli military opened fire on Palestinian civilians who had gathered in Gaza to obtain humanitarian aid, targeting them with gunfire from helicopters, tanks, and drones near the Kuwait roundabout on the outskirts of Gaza City, killing over 60 people and injuring 160 others.

In what is known as the “flour massacre”, the occupation forces killed 118 people and wounded 760 others as they opened fire on hundreds of Palestinians waiting for aid trucks in Gaza City’s al-Rashid Street on February 29.

Earlier this month, the Government Media Office in Gaza said that a total of 400 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on aid seekers since the beginning of Israel’s genocidal aggression against the Palestinian territory.

Israel waged its US-backed war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group carried out a historic operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

So far, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 32,142 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 74,412 others.

Israel is intentionally starving the people in Gaza by blocking their access to food, a war crime under the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute.

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News Network
March 25,2024

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A Palestinian woman has recounted terrifying incidents after Israeli military forces raided al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City last week, saying the occupying regime’s soldiers are raping Palestinian women before killing them.

Jamila Al-Hisi, an eyewitness who was besieged in the medical complex and managed to finally get out, said on Saturday that women have been subjected to rape, starvation, torture, and extrajudicial execution, adding that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is doing nothing.

She went on to say that Israeli troops have “forced 65 families to leave the area around the al-Shifa Medical Complex whilst burning and killing entire families,” noting that they have burned a building where Palestinian civilians were taking shelter.

“We don’t even have water to break our fast, and we don’t know where to go,” Hisi said, stressing that the displaced people in the compound have not found food or water for six days.

She further called on the Red Cross to provide water for the children and the sick who are being forced to drink dirty water and eat rotten food.

Palestinians are being forcibly displaced by Israeli occupation forces from the area surrounding al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, Hisi said, adding, “We are trapped amid continued Israeli shelling.”

The latest development comes as the Israeli military continues to carry out air strikes and artillery shelling in and around the al-Shifa Hospital for the seventh day in a row.

On Monday, heavily armed Israeli forces stormed the al-Shifa hospital using tanks and drones, claiming that the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas is using the facility to “conduct and promote terrorist activity.” Later that day, Israel said that “terrorist forces” were firing at Israeli troops.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said at the time that about 3,000 people were inside al-Shifa seeking refuge and that those attempting to leave were being targeted by snipers and fire from helicopters.

Ever since the Israeli military raided the hospital last week, reports have suggested unspeakable atrocities being carried out against the doctors, nurses, and general staff as well as the thousands of displaced people there.

Israelis have admitted to executing 140 people inside al-Shifa, including paramedics, patients and wounded whilst the siege is still ongoing after seven days with mass arrests.

Meanwhile, a group of Palestinian activists have circulated a shocking story about the Israeli soldiers raping a pregnant woman in the al-Shifa hospital, alongside Hisi’s revelation.

Watan-Palestinian activists quoted the husband of a woman who was raped by Israeli forces as saying that “They ordered her to undress and began to beat her… She told the military she was five months pregnant, not to beat her, but they continued to beat her.”

“After hours, they took out all the women except the pregnant woman, and her children… They took her in front of her husband and children and raped her, ordering the men not to close their eyes or they would be shot.”

Israel waged the war on the Gaza Strip on October 7 after Hamas carried out the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm into the occupied territories in response to the occupying regime’s intensified crimes against the Palestinian people.

Since the start of the aggression, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 32,226 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and injured another 74,518 individuals.

Tel Aviv has also imposed a “complete siege” on Gaza, cutting off fuel, electricity, food, and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

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