The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, said on Wednesday that he will have a successor chosen by a nonprofit he started— not by the Chinese government. Beijing sounded a different note: foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said China had the right to approve the Dalai Lama’s successor. Beijing’s bottom line: whatever spir

“That reintegration of Iran into the Gulf security complex has played a really prominent role in preventing this from getting out of hand,” Simon Mabon, a professor of international politics and director of the SEPAD peace and conflict research center at Lancaster University, said during a discussion about developments in the Middle East this y

Yavan prison released Muzaffar Davlatmirov’s body to relatives for his burial in his home town near Khorugh in Mountainous Badakhshan. They began the 575 km (360 mile) journey by road to Khorugh, which can take up to 9 hours’ driving in summer. However, security forces stopped the car with Davlatmirov’s body at night near Shuroobod, about fou

promised Davlatmirov only to “sort things out later”. Prison authorities did not provide qualified medical care, Pamir Inside added. The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (known as the Mandela Rules, A/C.3/70/L.3) are explicit about the obligation of prison administrations to tackle prisoners’ health concern

“Muzaffar tried to appeal, but they [the court] didn’t accept it,” independent journalist Anora Sarkorova told Forum 18. “Davlatmirov is not an extremist, and did not call for ‘extremist’ activity,” a local person who knew him told Forum 18 in October 2022. “Davlatmirov was widely known and respected by the local Ismaili people,”