A12 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26 , 2021
The World
CHINA
Amnesty to close
offices in Hong K ong
International rights group
Amnesty International said on
Monday that it would close its
Hong Kong offices because a
China-imposed security law had
now made it “effectively
impossible” for rights groups to
work freely without the risk of
reprisals.
Anjhula Mya Singh Bais, the
chair of Amnesty’s international
board, said in a statement that
the two of fices would close by
year-end, noting an
intensification of a crackdown
that has forced at least 35 groups
to disband under the law this
year.
“ This decision, made with a
heavy heart, has been driven by
Hong Kong’s national security
law, which has made it effectively
impossible for human rights
organizations in Hong Kong to
work freely and without fear of
serious reprisals,” said Singh
Bais.
A Hong Kong Security Bureau
spokesman said in response to a
Reuters request for comment
that “every person or
organization must abide by the
laws of Hong Kong” and that the
security legislation “upholds
human rights.”
In the past, Hong Kong had
served as one of Asia’s leading
nongovernmental organization
hubs, with groups drawn to its
robust rule of law and wide-
ranging autonomy — guaranteed
for Hong Kong when control
over the former British colony
was returned to Beijing in 1997.
— ReutersCUBAPresident warns U.S.
not to help dissidentsCuban President Miguel Díaz-
Canel warned the U.S. Embassyin Havana against fomenting
protests by dissidents on the
Communist-run island, the latest
flash point between the longtime
rivals ahead of fresh rallies slated
for Nov. 15.
Cuba has said the planneddemonstrations — scheduled for
the same day the Caribbean
island will reopen its borders to
tourism — are illegal and accuses
the United States of
underwriting them. The United
States has threatened Cuba withfurther sanctions should the
government jail protesters.
In a s peech to Communist
Party stalwarts late Sunday,
Diaz-Canel doubled down on
allegations of U.S. subterfuge,
accusing the U.S. Embassy of
playing a role in fanning
protests.
“ Their embassy in Cuba has
been taking an active role in
efforts to subvert the internal
order of our country,” Diaz-Canel
said. “U.S. diplomatic officials
meet frequently with leaders of
the counterrevolution, to whom
they provide guidance,
encouragement, and logistical
and financial support.”
The embassy could not
immediately be reached for
comment.
The U.S. diplomatic
headquarters in Havana has
operated w ith a skeleton crew
since 2017, after employees fell ill
with what is now known as
“Havana Syndrome.”
— ReutersIsraeli boy will return to Italy:
An Israeli court Monday ordered
a 6-year-old boy who survived a
cable car crash in Italy to be
returned to his relatives there,
who have been locked in a bitter
custody battle with family
members in Israel. The court
ordered Eitan Biran returned to
“the place of his normal
residence, which is Italy.” It
ordered his grandfather, who
had brought him to Israel
against the wishes of his family
members in Italy, to pay around
$20,000 in expenses and
attorney fees.State of emergency in Egypt is
lifted: E gyptian President Abdel
Fatah al-Sissi said on Monday
that he ended the state of
emergency in the country for the
first time in years. Egypt first
imposed a state of emergency in
April 2017 and has extended it at
three-month intervals since.
— From news servicesDIGESTJACOB KING/PA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tony Newton tends to the Four Seasons Garden as it bursts into
autumnal color at his home in Walsall, England, on Monday. The
private garden has sometimes been opened to the public over the
years, with proceeds going to charity, the garden’s w ebsite says.the Taliban returned to power in
August. Banks have run out of
cash. Also, remittances from Af-
ghans abroad have declined be-
cause of the coronavirus pan-
demic.
The troubles began before the
Taliban takeover. Some 665,
people were internally displaced
because of conflict between Jan-
uary and September, the United
Nations found.
Also, an acute drought that
started in late 2020 led to re-
duced snow in the mountains,
hurting farmers who depend on
snowmelt for their crops and
livestock. About 70 percent of the
population lives in rural areas.
The La Niña weather patternthis winter is likely to extend
drought conditions into early
next year.
For Trenchard, who has re-
sponded to humanitarian crises
in Somalia, Syria and Sudan’s
Darfur, Afghanistan’s food inse-
curity crisis stands out for the
speed with which it has unfolded
and its national scope, including
in urban areas — a situation that
could continue to devolve with-
out more aid and an upturn in
the economy.
“Afghanistan’s people are in-
credibly resilient. They will find
a way through this, but at the
moment they need that assis-
tance,” Trenchard said.
[email protected]history of fabricating and creat-
ing distractions to hide the finan-
cial crimes he committed.” The
Saudi government has issued ex-
tradition requests and Interpol
notices for Aljabri, who says his
wealth comes from the generosity
of the kings he has served, the
Associated Press reported.
Those who have previously
spoken on Aljabri’s behalf in-
clude Michael Morell, who was
acting director of the CIA under
President Barack Obama, and
George Tenet, who served as CIA
director in the Clinton and
George W. Bush administrations.
Morell told “60 Minutes” that
he “found him to be incredibly
loyal to his country” and de-
scribed him as “honorable.”
[email protected]In his own interview with “
Minutes” in 2019, Mohammed
described the killing of Khashog-
gi as a “heinous crime” and a
mistake, and denied ordering it,
but he did say he was responsible
as “a leader in Saudi Arabia.”
During his interview, Aljabri
said the crown prince “poses a
threat to his people, to the Ameri-
cans and to the planet.” He also
said he has recorded a video that
unveils more secrets about the
Saudi royals, and some about the
United States, that he said could
be released if he is killed. He
shared a short, silent clip with a
“60 Minutes” correspondent.
The Saudi Embassy in Wash-
ington told “60 Minutes” that
Aljabri is “a discredited former
government official with a longsination and taking his children
hostage because he has knowl-
edge of damaging secrets about
the prince’s r ise to power.
The Saudi government didn’t
respond to a request for com-
ment.
The crown prince drew global
condemnation after it emerged
that aides who worked for him
killed Post contributing colum-
nist Jamal Khashoggi inside the
Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in
October 2018. The U.S. Treasury
in February issued sanctions
against Saudi Arabia’s Rapid In-
tervention Force, also known as
the “Tiger Squad,” over the kill-
ing. A U.S. intelligence report
released that month concluded
that Mohammed “approved” the
operation.cordings still exist of the alleged
2014 meeting between the crown
prince and Prince Mohammed
bin Nayef, who was head of intel-
ligence at the time. Aljabri was a
close aide to the intelligence
head, a trusted CIA ally who was
ousted from the line of succession
in 2017.
Sunday’s interview was Al-
jabri’s latest move to try to pres-
sure the 36-year-old crown prince
into releasing his son Omar and
daughter Sarah, whom the family
alleges have been detained in an
attempt to force their father back
to Saudi Arabia.
In a f ederal lawsuit filed in
Washington last year, previously
reported by The Washington
Post, Aljabri accused the crown
prince of targeting him for assas-living in exile in Canada.
The young prince held no sig-
nificant role in government at the
time, and it was unclear whether
he was “just bragging,” Aljabri
said. But intelligence officials
took the threat seriously, he said,
and the matter was handled by
the royal family. The crown
prince’s father, King Salman, as-
cended to the throne in January
2015 after his half brother, King
Abdullah, died of stated natural
causes.
Aljabri, once a high-ranking
Saudi official whom the CIA cred-
its with helping save hundreds of
American lives from terrorist at-
tacks, didn’t provide any evi-
dence to “60 Minutes.” He did not
seem to have heard the threat
firsthand, but he said video re-BY RACHEL PANNETTA former top Saudi intelligence
officer and close U.S. intelligence
ally has accused the kingdom’s
Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman of once boasting that he
could kill a sitting Saudi monarch
to clear a path for his own father
before he was crowned king.
In an interview on “60 Min-
utes,” which aired Sunday, Saad
A ljabri said Mohammed boasted
in 2014 that he could kill King
Abdullah using a “poisoned ring”
obtained from Russia. “It’s
enough for me just to shake
hands with him and he will be
done,” Mohammed allegedly said,
according to the former Saudi
intelligence officer and longtime
critic of the crown prince who is
Ex-intel o∞cial: Saudi crown prince said it would be easy to kill a monarch
HOSHANG HASHIMI/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGESBY MAITE FERNÁNDEZ SIMONAfghanistan is on the brink of
a starvation c risis, with more
than half its population — some
22.8 million people — projected
to face acute food insecurity this
winter, according to the United
Nations’ World Food Program
and Food and Agriculture Or-
ganization.
Nearly 19 million Afghans, or
45 percent of the population, are
experiencing “high levels of food
insecurity,” according to the Inte-
grated Food Security Phase Clas-
sification (IPC) report. That
number is expected to jump to
22.8 million between November
and March unless immediate
action is taken.
“It’s terrifying. I t hink it con-
firms our worst fears,” said Rich-
ard Trenchard, the FAO’s repre-
sentative in Afghanistan. “What
we’re seeing here is a dramatic
worsening of the humanitarian
situation across Afghanistan.”
The IPC uses a f ive-level rank-
ing system to classify food inse-
curity, with 1 being “minimal”
and 5 constituting “famine.” In
the case of Afghanistan, nearly
half the population is either
experiencing “crisis” (level 3) or
“emergency” (level 4) food inse-
curity. The United Nations deter-
mines the ranking by assessing
markers such as access to food
and the impact of malnutrition,
especially among children.
Crisis-level insecurity means
that people are short of food and
households are starting to skip
meals, but that they still have
ways to cope, usually by selling
belongings or seeking extra
work. When a f amily or individu-
al reaches the emergency level,
those options are exhausted,
Trenchard said.
“Children are a particular con-
cern because they’re affected at
the time, but we also know the
consequences of hunger on a
child can affect them the rest of
their lives,” he said.
Afghanistan’s economy has de-
clined sharply in recent months,
largely because of the evapora-
tion of international aid when
U.N. warns of acute food crisis for Afghans this winter
JAVED TANVEER/AFP/GETTY IMAGESTOP: Afghans line up for
sacks of grain distributed
by t he World Food
Program this month in
Kandahar, in the country’s
south. LEFT: Hsiao- Wei
Lee, the WFP’s deputy
country director in
Afghanistan, at her office
in Kabul on Monday.
Already, nearly 19 million
Afghans, or 45 percent of
the popul ation, are
experiencing “high levels
of food insecurity,”
according to the report by
the WFP and the
Food and Agriculture
Organization.Without immediate
action, 22.8 million could
face hunger, report says