A video showing the final moments of Moroccan-born Abderrahim Fakir, who was struggling to breathe while being detained by police in Italy’s Bologna, has sparked protests demanding answers over his death.
Published On 20 Jul 202620 Jul 2026
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July 15 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday evening that Iran has freed a U.S. citizen detained in the country since 2024 as a “gesture of goodwill.”
In a social media post, Trump said Iran wrongfully detained the woman in December 2024.
“She is now safely outside of Iran, and in good condition,” Trump wrote. He did not identify the woman but said the United States appreciated the gesture.
Lawyer Jared Genser said in a social media post that the woman is Dena Karari, a client of his trapped in Iran on “bogus charges.” Genser said Karari is safe and traveling back to the United States. He said her freedom wouldn’t have happened without “extraordinary and relentless efforts” by Trump.
Genser said in a further statement that Karari is a U.S.-Iranian citizen who ran a nonprofit called the Children of Mehr Foundation, ABC News reported. The foundation’s Instagram page says that it works to empower children “through education, creativity and opportunity.”
Genser said she visiting her family when she was detained and interrogated by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, suffering “enormous physical and psychological hardship.”
On Wednesday night, the United States military struck Iranian targets for the fifth straight day, with Iran hitting several U.S. military targets Tuesday in Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait.
As rights advocates decry the detention of United States Congressman Ro Khanna by armed Israeli settlers, Israel and its allies are launching political attacks to discredit the progressive legislator.
Israeli officials have already ruled out apologising to Khanna or holding the settlers accountable. Instead, several have gone on the offensive against the congressman.
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Khanna said he was travelling to a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday when armed settlers stopped his van for 20 minutes. The settlers were later joined by Israeli soldiers who continued to block the road.
The whole ordeal lasted more than an hour, according to Khanna, and was only resolved after he reached out to the US embassy in Israel.
On Sunday, Michael Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the US, appeared to blame Khanna for the mistreatment he received, saying that the California Democrat had failed to coordinate his trip with the Israeli government.
“He decided to coordinate his trip not with Israel, but with Palestinian activists and with J Street,” Leiter told CBS News, referencing a Jewish nonprofit.
Leiter went on to claim, without evidence, that Khanna may have waited to release his video of Wednesday’s incident to distract from his support for politician Graham Platner.
Platner dropped out of the Senate race in Maine on Friday amid sexual misconduct allegations. Khanna published his video on Saturday.
“Maybe this had more something to do with his support of Graham Platner beforehand and the difficulties he had with that, and trying to shift the focus to something else. Perhaps? I’m asking a question,” Leiter said.
Khanna is not backing down, however. He said he did inform Israel of his travel and has called for the arrest of settlers who held up his van.
The Israeli military has disputed Khanna’s version of the events, saying that it “dispersed” civilians who were blocking the road. But in an appearance on Sunday with NBC News, Khanna refuted that account.
“The [Israeli military] is lying,” Khanna said.
“What happened was unprecedented. They had violent settlers detain American citizens, including an American government official. You had these settlers brandishing M4s [rifles], kicking the tyres of our van, laughing at us, mocking at us, videotaping us.”
He added that the Israeli military participated in blocking their path and detaining them.
“How dare they mistreat people with an American passport that way?” Khanna said.
Pro-Israel politicians, however, claimed that Khanna provoked his own detention by carrying out a political stunt.
“Sounds like another plea for publicity. Anything to get in front of the camera. Why else would you be there? It isn’t your country,” Republican Congressman Greg Murphy wrote in a social media post.
Critics were quick to point out that Murphy’s first trip as part of a congressional delegation was to Israel.
Khanna also responded to Murphy, urging him to be on “Team America” and join the push for any settlers and soldiers who mistreat US citizens to face consequences.
“I would be calling for that if you had been in our shoes,” Khanna said.
Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson was among those who came to Khanna’s defence. He criticised Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, for failing to speak out about the incident.
“An American member of congress is threatened by foreign terrorists carrying American rifles, backed by a foreign military paid for by American taxpayers, and the US ambassador to that country says not a word in defense of his own countryman,” Carlson wrote on the social media platform X.
“It’s too much, too insulting and humiliating to America.”
Still, many pro-Israel figures in the US expressed scepticism about Khanna’s experience. David Friedman, a former US envoy to Israel, accused Khanna of “self-victimization”.
Friedman argued, without evidence, that Khanna had purposely entered a restricted zone to provoke the incident.
“As was entirely predictable, he was asked a few questions and sent on his way. But he got the photo op and all he needed for his pre-conceived false narrative,” Friedman said in a social media post. “Well played Ro.”
Several other pro-Israel advocates echoed that take.
Israel’s military and settler presence in the occupied West Bank is illegal under international law.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in 2024 that the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory, including Gaza, is unlawful.
“Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the regime associated with them, have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law,” the top United Nations tribunal said.
Israeli settlers – often under the protection of the Israeli military – regularly attack Palestinian communities in the West Bank, ransacking farms and property and assaulting people who come in their way. That includes Americans.
One year ago, for instance, Israeli settlers beat 20-year-old US citizen Sayfollah Musallet to death.
Three weeks later, another American citizen, a father of five from Chicago named Khamis Ayyad, was also killed in a settler attack.
No suspects have been charged with crimes after the two attacks.
Despite well-documented abuses against US citizens, Israel was added to the US visa waiver programme in 2023, allowing Israelis to travel visa-free to the US.
Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of US military aid in history, having received more than $21bn in the last two years alone.
His release comes after journalist Mousa al-Omar dropped a complaint over online criticism.
Published On 21 Jun 202621 Jun 2026
British Syrian activist Hassan Akkad has been released from a prison in Damascus after four days detention for alleged criticism of public figures.
Akkad was taken into custody from a cafe in the al-Maliki neighbourhood of Damascus on Wednesday at about 9:45pm local time (18:45 GMT), a statement by his organisation said on Friday.
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Akkad is the founder of the “Give Us the Money That You Owe!” campaign, which tracks large financial commitments made by public figures during a donation drive to fund Syria’s reconstruction.
His detention followed a legal complaint filed by Syrian journalist and presenter Mousa al-Omar in relation to “Hassan’s social media activities and public comments” after Akkad criticised al-Omar for allegedly failing to deliver on his financial pledges during the donations campaign.
Public Prosecutor Judge Hossam Khattab confirmed last week that Akkad had been detained due to warrants issued against him for failing to present himself to the Cybercrime Control Division in relation to al-Omar’s complaint. Khattab also said other plaintiffs had filed cases against Akkad for slander and defamation.
![British Syrian activist Hassan Akkad embraces a supporter after his release from detention, in an image provided by his "Give Us the Money That You Owe!" campaign [Handout/Al Jazeera]](https://i0.wp.com/occasionaldigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/PHOTO-2026-06-21-18-55-43-1782057625.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
The activist’s release on Sunday came after al-Omar told Al Jazeera that he had instructed his lawyer to withdraw the complaint against Akkad, and said that everything pledged to the campaign had been paid.
On Sunday, al-Omar again posted on X that he had withdrawn the complaint against Akkad.
“My legal representative dropped the right and the lawsuit against my brother Hassan this morning and pardoned him for the sake of Almighty God … I was saddened by what he brought upon himself, and I wish him success in his social media activities and I will always be a supporter of him,” he wrote in Arabic.
Akkad, who is also a filmmaker, was imprisoned twice by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime for documenting anti-government protests in 2011.
After fleeing Syria, he stayed in the Middle East before making an 87-day journey across Europe to reach the UK in September 2015.
Video of his gruelling trip was included in the documentary series, Exodus: Our Journey to Europe, which went on to win a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award.
Syrian journalist Mousa al-Omar reportedly filed a complaint about Akkad’s social media comments prior to his arrest.
British Syrian activist Hassan Akkad has been detained by security forces in Damascus, in an alleged response to his online comments criticising a prominent journalist.
Akkad, founder of the Give Us the Money That You Owe! campaign, was taken into custody on Wednesday at about 9:45pm local time (18:45 GMT) while at a cafe in the capital’s al-Malki neighbourhood, the statement said.
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His detention appears to be related to a legal complaint filed by Syrian journalist and presenter Mousa al-Omar in relation to “Hassan’s social media activities and public comments”, the campaign reported.
It added that he was summoned by the cybersecurity branch on June 4. Al Jazeera understands that Akkad is still detained.
“He later became aware that additional cases had also been filed against him, although he was not informed of the identities of the complainants,” the campaign said.
Al Jazeera reached out to the Syrian government regarding he case but has yet to receive a response regarding the activist’s arrest.
Public Prosecutor Judge Hossam Khattab confirmed that Akkad had been detained due to a search warrant being issued for him, but that the case against him had been dropped.
Al-Omar told Al Jazeera that he had instructed his lawyer to tell the police that he had dropped the case against Akkad and said he was “saddened” by what had happened.
“I am sorry for what happened to Hassan as a result of his mistakes; I followed the legal path under the cybercrime law… Everything I pledged, amounting to $700,000 in projects and cash, was paid in the donations,” he said.
Akkad’s campaign tracks financial commitments related to a public drive for donations to fund Syria’s reconstruction since the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad.
The activist reportedly criticised al-Omar on social media in recent weeks for allegedly failing to deliver on his financial pledges to the country’s rehabilitation efforts, pledges he claimed were worth thousands of dollars.
The campaign said after Akkad was summoned, he paused his online activities related to the case, to “allow the investigation and legal process to proceed”.
Akkad, a refugee and former English teacher in his late 30s, previously won BAFTA and International Emmy awards for documenting his journey from Turkiye to Europe after fleeing the Syrian civil war that began in 2011, during which he was arrested by the al-Assad’s authorities.
He eventually settled in the United Kingdom in 2015, returning to Syria after years in exile when al-Assad fled the country.
According to witness accounts cited in the statement, five plainclothes security officers entered the coffee shop where Akkad was meeting with several journalists.
Witnesses said the officers initially requested Akkad’s mobile phone before informing him that he was being arrested.
His lawyers said the arrest raises questions about whether authorities followed established legal procedures.
“No legal basis for the arrest … was presented at the time of his detention,” the statement said,
It added that since the allegations appear to be related to his online commentary, the arrest raises “broader concerns regarding the protection of freedom of expression”.
The statement further questioned the reported use of a cybersecurity law enacted during the rule of al-Assad, arguing that reliance on such legislation “appears inconsistent with the interim government’s commitments to expand protections for freedom of expression following the collapse of the previous regime”.
Thiago Avila, a member of the Global Sumud Flotilla, arrives to attend his trial for a remand extension at the Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court in Ashkelon, Israel, on May 3. Avila and Saif Abukeshek were deported on Sunday after Israel’s foreign ministry said it concluded an investigation into the two. Photo by Abir Sultan/EPA
May 10 (UPI) — Israel deported two activists who were part of the Global Sumud Flotilla attempting to deliver aid to Gaza more than a week ago.
Saif Abu Keshek and Thiago Avila were deported on Sunday after Israel’s foreign ministry said it concluded an investigation into the two. It had suspected Abu Keshek, a dual citizen of Spain and Sweden who is of Palestinian origin, of being affiliated with a terrorist organization and suspected Avila of being involved in criminal activity.
The foreign ministry confirmed on social media that Abu Keshek and Avila were deported on Sunday.
Abu Keshek and Avila were part of the flotilla of 22 boats and nearly 175 activists that was intercepted off the Greek island Crete more than a week ago. Armed Israeli naval troops boarded the vessels, destroyed their engines and blocked communications, preventing the flotilla from reaching Gaza, more than 700 miles away.
Hadeel Abu Salih, an attorney who represented Abu Keshek and Avila during their detention, called the detention of them and other activists unlawful and a “sham proceeding with no legal basis, intended to punish them for attempting to challenge Israel’s illegal blockade on Gaza.”
Abu Salih is part of the rights group Adalah. It alleges that they were subject to “psychological abuse” during their detainment.
The Global Sumud Flotilla released a statement on Saturday calling for sanctions against Israel for the detainment of activists.
“We demand explanations from the European Union, and specifically, Greece, after days of silence and complicity, and we call for immediate sanctions against Israel for this illegal abduction and for the constant violations of international law and human rights of the Palestinian people,” the Global Sumud Flotilla said in a statement.
Two activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla arrived in the Netherlands after being released from Israeli custody. The flotilla was intercepted in international waters while carrying aid to the Gaza Strip. Two of their fellow activists remain in Israel for questioning.
Published On 4 May 20264 May 2026
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