Day: June 13, 2024
GENEVA — The Taliban must provide Ryan Corbett, an American held in Afghanistan for nearly two years, with immediate medical care to prevent irreparable harm to his health or even his death, a United Nations expert said on Thursday.
“The Taliban must provide Ryan Corbett with medical treatment in a civilian hospital without delay,” said Alice Jill Edwards, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Corbett, an aid worker, has been held without charge in conditions “utterly inadequate and substantially below international standards,” she said.
“This is having a significant impact on his physical and mental health, which is declining rapidly,” Edwards added. She said she had raised the issue directly with the Taliban.
“Without adequate medical care, he is at risk of irreparable harm or even death,” she said.
The United States is in contact with Edwards’ office and welcomes efforts to call for more humane conditions for Corbett and others held by the Taliban, a spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the United Nations in New York said.
“We consider Ryan’s detention to be wrongful and we will continue to work securing his immediate release,” the spokesperson said.
Corbett and his family moved to Afghanistan in 2010. He worked with nongovernmental organizations and then started his own — Bloom Afghanistan — to bolster the country’s private sector through consulting, microfinance and project evaluation.
He left with his family following the Taliban takeover in 2021 but continued working with his organization, returning in January 2022 to renew his business visa.
Despite having a valid visa, he was arrested by the Taliban in August 2022 after he returned to pay and train his staff, his lawyers said. A German and two Afghans with whom Corbett was arrested have since been released.
The U.N. expert said Corbett has developed several medical problems, including ringing in his ears, and severe weight loss. He has also repeatedly expressed intentions of suicide and self-harm.
The United States has had no diplomatic presence in Kabul since it fell to the Taliban in August 2021 as U.S. troops pulled out after 20 years of war.
beirut — Hezbollah said it had launched rockets and weaponized drones at nine Israeli military sites in a coordinated attack Thursday, ramping up hostilities on Lebanon’s southern border for the second consecutive day.
The attacks were carried out in retaliation for an Israeli strike Tuesday that killed a senior Hezbollah field commander. A security source told Lebanon it was the largest attack waged by Hezbollah since October, when the group started exchanging fire with Israel in parallel with the Gaza war.
In the early hours of Friday, a strike on a building east of the port city of Tyre left one civilian woman dead and more than a dozen people wounded, many of them children, according to two Lebanese security sources. Asked about the incident, the Israeli military said it was looking into it.
Hezbollah said in a statement earlier that it had fired volleys of Katyusha and Falaq rockets at six Israeli military locations. Its Al-Manar television reported more than 100 rockets were fired at once.
Hezbollah’s statement said it had also launched attack drones at the headquarters of Israel’s northern command, an intelligence headquarters and a military barracks.
A security source told Reuters that involved firing at least 30 attack drones at once, making it the group’s largest drone attack to date in the eight-month war.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel have been trading near-daily fire since the eruption of the Gaza war in October, but the last two days have seen a sharp rise following the Israeli strike that killed the Hezbollah commander.
On Wednesday, Hezbollah said it carried out at least eight attacks that day in retaliation.
Air raid sirens sounded across cities in northern Israel on Thursday, and Israeli officials said about 40 rockets had been fired from Lebanon in the afternoon.
State broadcaster Kan aired footage of numerous midair interceptions of rockets above Israeli towns, including in Safed, 12 km from the border.
Two people were wounded by shrapnel, Israel’s national ambulance service said.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 300 Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, more than it lost in 2006, when the sides last fought a major war, according to a Reuters tally. The number of civilians killed is around 80, the tally says. Attacks from Lebanon have killed 18 Israeli soldiers and 10 civilians, Israel says.
The exchanges of fire have also displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border.
GENEVA — The Taliban must provide Ryan Corbett, an American held in Afghanistan for nearly two years, with immediate medical care to prevent irreparable harm to his health or even his death, a United Nations expert said on Thursday.
“The Taliban must provide Ryan Corbett with medical treatment in a civilian hospital without delay,” said Alice Jill Edwards, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Corbett, an aid worker, has been held without charge in conditions “utterly inadequate and substantially below international standards,” she said.
“This is having a significant impact on his physical and mental health, which is declining rapidly,” Edwards added. She said she had raised the issue directly with the Taliban.
“Without adequate medical care, he is at risk of irreparable harm or even death,” she said.
The United States is in contact with Edwards’ office and welcomes efforts to call for more humane conditions for Corbett and others held by the Taliban, a spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the United Nations in New York said.
“We consider Ryan’s detention to be wrongful and we will continue to work securing his immediate release,” the spokesperson said.
Corbett and his family moved to Afghanistan in 2010. He worked with nongovernmental organizations and then started his own — Bloom Afghanistan — to bolster the country’s private sector through consulting, microfinance and project evaluation.
He left with his family following the Taliban takeover in 2021 but continued working with his organization, returning in January 2022 to renew his business visa.
Despite having a valid visa, he was arrested by the Taliban in August 2022 after he returned to pay and train his staff, his lawyers said. A German and two Afghans with whom Corbett was arrested have since been released.
The U.N. expert said Corbett has developed several medical problems, including ringing in his ears, and severe weight loss. He has also repeatedly expressed intentions of suicide and self-harm.
The United States has had no diplomatic presence in Kabul since it fell to the Taliban in August 2021 as U.S. troops pulled out after 20 years of war.
beirut — Hezbollah said it had launched rockets and weaponized drones at nine Israeli military sites in a coordinated attack Thursday, ramping up hostilities on Lebanon’s southern border for the second consecutive day.
The attacks were carried out in retaliation for an Israeli strike Tuesday that killed a senior Hezbollah field commander. A security source told Lebanon it was the largest attack waged by Hezbollah since October, when the group started exchanging fire with Israel in parallel with the Gaza war.
In the early hours of Friday, a strike on a building east of the port city of Tyre left one civilian woman dead and more than a dozen people wounded, many of them children, according to two Lebanese security sources. Asked about the incident, the Israeli military said it was looking into it.
Hezbollah said in a statement earlier that it had fired volleys of Katyusha and Falaq rockets at six Israeli military locations. Its Al-Manar television reported more than 100 rockets were fired at once.
Hezbollah’s statement said it had also launched attack drones at the headquarters of Israel’s northern command, an intelligence headquarters and a military barracks.
A security source told Reuters that involved firing at least 30 attack drones at once, making it the group’s largest drone attack to date in the eight-month war.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel have been trading near-daily fire since the eruption of the Gaza war in October, but the last two days have seen a sharp rise following the Israeli strike that killed the Hezbollah commander.
On Wednesday, Hezbollah said it carried out at least eight attacks that day in retaliation.
Air raid sirens sounded across cities in northern Israel on Thursday, and Israeli officials said about 40 rockets had been fired from Lebanon in the afternoon.
State broadcaster Kan aired footage of numerous midair interceptions of rockets above Israeli towns, including in Safed, 12 km from the border.
Two people were wounded by shrapnel, Israel’s national ambulance service said.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 300 Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, more than it lost in 2006, when the sides last fought a major war, according to a Reuters tally. The number of civilians killed is around 80, the tally says. Attacks from Lebanon have killed 18 Israeli soldiers and 10 civilians, Israel says.
The exchanges of fire have also displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border.