Saudi King Salman’s move spurs progress, stability

February 10, 2015

Jeddah, Feb 10: The two new councils set up by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman last month have been given stringent mandates to formulate and implement the country’s political, security and economic policies, the Cabinet announced on Monday.

The Council of Political and Security Affairs and the Council of Economic and Development Affairs would “identify various trends, visions and goals” and “follow up their implementation and coordination,” the Minister of Culture and Information Adel Al-Toraifi said in a statement.

At its weekly meeting on Monday chaired by King Salman, the Cabinet decided that each council would have a secretariat supported by advisers and experts. They would also have offices for project management to verify whether parties are committed to implementing strategies and plans.

King Salman had announced in January that the Council for Political and Security Affairs would have nine members and be chaired by Prince Mohammed bin Naif, second deputy premier and interior minister. The 22-member Council for Economic and Development Affairs would be chaired by Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the defense minister, the king had ordered.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet expressed its concern at developments in Yemen, which it said is a threat to the security of that country and the region. The Cabinet said that the action was a coup and contrary to international resolutions related to Yemen, the Gulf Initiative adopted by the international community, and the Yemeni national dialogue.

The Cabinet reiterated the Kingdom’s stand against “all extremist ideologies and terror organizations” and “condemnation of the savageries” committed by the Islamic State group, particularly the murders of a Jordanian pilot and two Japanese hostages, Al-Toraifi said in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency following the meeting.

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UN condemns Israeli regime’s ‘organized torture’ against Palestinians

News Network

November 30,2025

The United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) has condemned the Israeli regime for enforcing a policy of “organized torture” against Palestinians.

In a report published on Friday, CAT stated that the occupying regime enforces a deliberate policy of “organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment” against Palestinian abductees, particularly since October 7, 2023, when Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza.

The committee expressed “deep concern over repeated severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, water-boarding, use of prolonged stress positions [and] sexual violence” inflicted on Palestinians.

Palestinian prisoners were degraded by “being made to act like animals or being urinated on,” systematically denied medical care, and subjected to excessive restraints, “in some cases resulting in amputation,” the report added.

CAT also condemned the routine application of “unlawful combatants law” to justify the prolonged detention without trial of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children.

More than 10,000 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently held in Israeli prisons, according to Palestinian and international human rights groups, with 3,474 Palestinians in “administrative detention,” meaning they are imprisoned without trial for indefinite periods.

The report highlighted the “high proportion of children who are currently detained without charge or on remand,” noting that while Israel sets the age of criminal responsibility at 12, even younger children have been abducted.

Children designated as security prisoners face severe restrictions on family contact, may be subjected to solitary confinement, and are denied access to education, in clear violation of international law.

The committee further suggested that Israel’s policies across the Occupied Territories constitute collective torture against the Palestinian population.

“A range of policies adopted by Israel in the course of its continued unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading living conditions for the Palestinian population,” the report said.

On Thursday, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas condemned the systematic killing and torture of Palestinian abductees in Israeli prisons, urging international action to halt these abuses.

Citing human rights data, Hamas stated that 94 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli prisons since the start of Tel Aviv’s genocidal war on Gaza.

“This reflects an organized criminal approach that has turned these prisons into direct killing grounds to eliminate our people,” the resistance movement said.

Hamas called on the international community, the UN, and human rights organizations to immediately pressure Israel to end crimes against prisoners and uphold their rights as guaranteed by all international conventions and norms.

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