Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, the Saudi Arabian woman who fled her family and is now under UN protection in Thailand, has been sustained through the “terrifying” ordeal by thousands of online messages of support that probably saved her life, a friend has said. Nourah Alharbi, 20, told the Guardian: “Yesterday, they [social media supporters] made the difference in Rahaf’s life. You saved Rahaf’s life yesterday: the people, the media.”

Speaking on Tuesday morning, Alharbi said Qunun was buoyed when she saw how many messages about her were being posted online. “She couldn’t believe it. Today when I was calling her … [she said] she can see the thousands of messages, all of them supporting her. She’s terrified and stressed, and when she saw the messages it really made a difference for her.” Now based in Sydney, Alharbi said she fled Saudi Arabia herself after suffering abuse from her family, and is seeking asylum in Australia. She has kept in close contact with Qunun throughout her ordeal.

She mentioned the case of Dina Ali Lasloom, a 24-year-old Saudi woman who in April 2017 was returned to Saudi Arabia from the Philippines against her will and whose fate is unclear. “She didn’t get that [social media] support and that’s why she’s in Saudi Arabia now – she’s disappeared,” Alharbi said.(theguardian)…[+]

UNITED NATIONS – Guatemala notified the United Nations it was terminating a U.N.-backed anti-graft commission yesterday, months ahead of schedule, accusing the body of abuses of power, and prompting a swift rebuke from the U.N. secretary-general.

The International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, or CICIG, was set up over a decade ago with the authority to conduct independent investigations and work with the country’s prosecutors, bringing down the last president in 2015.  The CICIG also went after President Jimmy Morales, who said in August he would not renew the organization’s mandate, which was due to expire in September 2019. Days later, he banned CICIG head Ivan Velasquez, a hard-charging Colombian prosecutor, from re-entering the country.

Working with the then-attorney general, CICIG tried to prosecute Morales, a former comedian, in 2017 over alleged campaign finance violations. That move followed separate CICIG corruption probes into members of the president’s family.  Guatemalan Foreign Minister Sandra Jovel met with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York on Monday and handed him a letter informing him of the government’s intention to end the agreement that had established CICIG.(Reuters)…[+]

Eight days af­ter her son was shot dead near his San­gre Grande home, Ann Marie Stephen says she is now be­ing tar­get­ed by gang mem­bers in her com­mu­ni­ty and is ap­peal­ing to Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er Gary Grif­fith for im­me­di­ate pro­tec­tion. Stephen, 53, a moth­er of eight, said she had re­port­ed the in­ci­dent to the Tu­na­puna Po­lice Sta­tion. She came to Guardian Me­dia on Mon­day seek­ing help.

The threat came days af­ter her 23-year-old son Kei­th Clement, a co­conut ven­dor, was killed on De­cem­ber 27. Stephen said Kei­th was her third child to have died un­der trag­ic cir­cum­stances. Her daugh­ter, Mar­i­on Clarke, 16, died in an ac­ci­dent in To­ba­go a few years ago and in 2017, her 34-year-old son Bren­don Stephen was shot dead.

She de­nied Clement was in­volved in any il­le­gal ac­tiv­i­ty al­though she ad­mit­ted he smoked mar­i­jua­na and was fre­quent­ly on the block. “I am ap­peal­ing to Grif­fith to in­ves­ti­gate Kei­th’s death, please. I need jus­tice for my son’s mur­der. I am not go­ing to rest un­til I see his killers get pun­ished. I want Grif­fith to clean up Damarie Hill and put away these gang mem­bers who have the place un­safe,” she said.(Trinidad Guardian)…[+]