Nov 14, 2019

ICC agrees to investigate crimes against Rohingya Muslims

Photo: Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP/Getty Images

The International Criminal Court has approved an investigation into crimes against Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh and Myanmar, AP reports.

Why it matters: Thousands of Rohingya Muslims have died and more than 700,000 have fled Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh to flee the ethnic cleansing and apparent genocide that started in 2017.

Myanmar is not a member of the global court, but the ICC says it has jurisdiction to investigate the "crimes partially committed in Bangladesh," AP notes.

The intrigue: The request to investigate the crimes comes from Africa's smallest continental country, Gambia, The Washington Post reports.

Gambia's attorney general and justice minister, Abubacarr M. Tambadou, told the Post that the stories of violence against Rohingya Muslims remind him of what happened during the Rwanda genocide nearly 25 years ago.
"Gambia is thrusting the Rohingya's plight back into the spotlight a year after prosecutors at the International Criminal Court, which normally handles cases of war crimes, launched an inquiry," the Post writes.

Go deeper: The world shuts its doors

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Jacob Knutson

Myanmar leader heads to Hague for Rohingya Muslim genocide hearings

Aung San Suu Kyi, flanked by officials, leaving the nation's capital, Naypyidaw, on Dec. 8. Photo: Thet Aung/AFP via Getty Images

Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi departed the nation’s capital for The Hague on Sunday to defend the government in the UN’s high court against charges that it committed genocide against the country's Rohingya Muslims, Reuters reports.

The big picture: Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, has defended Myanmar's military crackdown as a legitimate response to Rohingya militants, despite international condemnation. More than 700,000 have fled Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh as a result of a campaign that the UN said was executed with “genocidal intent," according to Reuters.

Go deeperDec 8, 2019

Zachary Basu

Giuliani says Trump asked him to brief Justice Department, GOP senators on Ukraine trip

Photo: William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC Newswire/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Rudy Giuliani told the Washington Post Tuesday that President Trump has asked him to brief the Justice Department and Republican senators on his recent trip to Ukraine, where he sought to gather information that he believes could undermine the case for impeachment.

Why it matters: Trump has claimed that he never directed Giuliani to dig up dirt on his political rivals in Ukraine, but told reporters last week Giuliani has "a lot of good information" and was going to "make a report" to present to Congress and Attorney General Bill Barr. Giuliani said he hopes to have the report done by the end of the week.

Go deeperDec 10, 2019

Rashaan Ayesh

India passes restrictive citizenship amendment targeting Muslim migrants

Protest against the Indian government's citizenship amendment bill. Photo: Arindam Dey/AFP/Getty Images

India passed a citizenship amendment on Wednesday that, for the first time, makes religion a criterion of acquiring Indian nationality, the Washington Post reports.

Why it matters: Concerns continue to grow that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is turning the country into a Hindu nationalist state. The amended citizenship law creates a pathway to citizenship for Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Parsi and Sikh migrants who fled from Pakistan and Afghanistan before 2015, but excludes Muslims entirely, Al Jazeera reports.

Go deeperDec 11, 2019