Two former Egyptian presidents have appeared in the same Cairo courtroom with Hosni Mubarak testifying in the retrial of his successor Mohamed Morsi on mass jailbreak charges. 

Overthrown during the 2011 protests that ended his 30-year rule, a frail, grey-haired Mubarak could be seen walking into the courtroom with a cane on Wednesday. 

During his testimony against Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, 90-year-old Mubarak claimed he could not answer most questions, saying he needed permission from the military and current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. 

Earlier in the month, Mubarak failed to make a court appearance in the case. His lawyer, Farid al-Deeb, had told the Cairo Criminal Court that the former president was a member of the military and that he had to obtain permission from the military to appear in court.

Since his removal from power in a military coup staged by Sisi, Morsi has been tried in several different cases.

In April 2015, he was sentenced to 20 years on charges of ordering the arrest and torture of protesters in clashes outside the presidential palace in 2012.

In September 2016, Morsi was sentenced to another 25 years in prison on charges of passing intelligence to Qatar. And in December 2017, he was also sentenced to three years on charges of insulting the judiciary. 

After Morsi’s 2013 removal, Sisi unleashed a fierce crackdown on his opponents, with tens of thousands jailed with charge and without in conditions condemned by human rights groups.

Amnesty International has described Egypt’s judicial system as “horrendously broken” and described death sentences handed out to Morsi and other members of the Muslim Brotherhood in previous trials as a “vengeful march to the gallows.”

In a report released in March, a panel of British MPs and lawyers said Morsi’s conditions of imprisonment had left him facing a “premature death”.

The panel, which was commissioned by Morsi’s family, said the former leader is “receiving inadequate medical care, particularly inadequate management of his diabetes, and inadequate management of his liver disease”. 

“The consequence of this inadequate care is likely to be rapid deterioration of his long-term conditions, which is likely to lead to premature death,” it said. 

For my sister, Nina, being chosen to represent Bulgaria at the Special Olympics in Abu Dhabi in March 2019, is a dream come true.

But a dream she will be fulfilling with her heart back at home in Syria.

In previous years, Nina has represented Syria at the regional and international Special Olympics in several countries, including Syria, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Greece.

Next year, she gets to represent her second home, Bulgaria – a country my family moved to because of the ongoing war that tore apart our country and dispersed so many Syrians.

For Nina, representing two different countries was confusing at first, but now that she has acknowledged that we are not going home anytime soon, she has chosen to adapt to the fact that Bulgaria is her new country.

Nina was born with Down syndrome on June 4, 1985, in Homs, Syria. According to the National Down Syndrome Society, Down syndrome is when an individual has a full or partial extra copy of chromosome 21.

This additional genetic material alters the course of development and causes the characteristics associated with Down syndrome. It is the most commonly occurring chromosomal condition.

According to the World Health Organization, approximately one in every 1,000 babies in the world is born with Down syndrome. But what doctors do not tell you is that Down syndrome is not a sickness, nor a disability, and it’s certainly not an obstacle – it simply should not affect any stage of a child’s life or the way we treat someone who has it.

In 1985, there were no tests to show if your unborn baby carried an extra chromosome in Syria. So the doctors found out Nina had Down syndrome after she was born.

“Your baby has Down syndrome,” the doctors told my mother, words she remembers until today.

“When Nina was born, I was wrenched in depression,” my mother, Souad al-Jundi, said.

“The mid-80s were not the time for a girl like Nina to be born. We both faced so much rejection and sometimes, mental aggression, but as years passed by, I stood by her and she became the person who I am proud of,” she said.

“I am thankful because she taught me determination, consistency and unconditional love.”

My family moved to Damascus in 1990, which is when and where I was born.

Nina and I started school together, but Nina switched to several other schools until teachers informed my mother that she will be needing a special educational programme.

In 2005, the first school for children with special needs opened its doors in Damascus, and after Nina joined the school, she began to feel like she belonged to a growing community.

Nina is probably the only person I know who fights to go to school, even when she is so sick she cannot leave bed – education means everything to her.

Growing up with a sibling who has Down syndrome is just the same as growing up with a sibling who does not. For those of you wondering, she never fell short of being there for my brother and I. Nina inspires us to be the best version of ourselves. Nina and I share clothes, we share midnight talks, we share our love for sports, we share friends.

We shared a room and a beautiful childhood in Syria together. She will always be my big sister, someone I look up to and someone I will always share happy memories with.

My mother Souad dedicated her whole life to raising awareness about children with special needs, encouraging parents to speak out about the subject and ask questions when they feel stuck – instead of giving up and isolating their children.

She taught herself about it, she gave lectures and toured the country to give workshops about it. She eventually joined the family committee of the Special Olympics, and she taught English and arts to children with special needs – and even chose the topic “The Effectiveness of a Phonic Reading Method in Teach Reading Skills for Teenagers with Down Syndrome” for her PhD dissertation, which has been published online.

My mother has done so much she deserves a book to be written about her journey in which I believe she has redefined determination and resilience.

My father, Bassam Rifai, loves Nina with all his heart, he is her biggest fan and always makes sure Nina gets what her siblings get too. My father has always said that Nina has always been loving and caring at home.

“Despite there being a challenge sometimes to represent her as someone who could contribute to society just as anyone else, we managed to turn that into a fact,” Bassam said.

My brother, Shoueb, loves Nina so much and he cares for her in the most beautiful way. He was always overprotective of her and made sure we both know that, whatever happens, he will always be there. He has a special place in Nina’s heart – they were born just a couple of years apart.

Shoueb thinks that growing up with Nina has opened his mind and made him question life, destiny, creation, religion and everything that helped him understand life better altogether.

Most importantly, my brother and I both believe that through Nina our parents showed us in practical terms what acceptance, selflessness and commitment means.

“Your mum and dad are just an amazing lesson on how to keep going regardless of what gets thrown at you,” Shoueb would always say.

Nina grew up developing incredible talents. She loves to read, she speaks three languages (English, Arabic and Bulgarian), she loves sport, she loves horseback riding, and she loves meeting new people.

Nina also loves photography. Her photos of Damascus were displayed and sold at an art gallery in the city; she loves art and was inspired by it because my mother is a painter – we both used to sit in my mother’s art room for hours. Nina was so creative that anything her teachers would ask her to do, she would turn into a masterpiece.

When she joined the swimming team in Damascus, her coaches were so impressed they suggested that she should join the Special Olympics, which is how her journey began.

Along with her team, Nina participated in her first Special Olympics in the Regional Games in Egypt, the UAE and Syria.

She later participated in her first International Special Olympics in Athens, Greece, in 2011 and came home with a gold and a silver medal.

A few months after Nina returned home from Athens, the war in Syria was getting worse and the situation became unsafe. Everyone in Syria at this point was thinking of a plan B; things were unclear but people knew something was not right and the uprising was not heading anywhere optimistic.

When we would hear gunshots or explosions, Nina would get frightened and cry endlessly, she was so confused.

We left Syria in 2012, and since my family and I have been through so much, moving from one place to another.

War is ugly, but what is uglier than war is the trauma that comes along with it. We were all heartbroken and it took a long time to feel settled. We left behind family, our home and most of our belongings. We left behind a home we have always lived in, a home that had endless memories.

Nina was heartbroken for leaving her friends in school, her swimming team and everything she spent years building. She had finally felt like she belongs to a growing community at school, a community that appreciates her.

Nina could not understand the concept of war and why it was happening in our country.

We kept trying to hide the news from her. Nina was so sensitive about it she would cry every time someone would even say the word Damascus. She felt as if her dreams of swimming beside her teammates were over.

Years went by, and now my father, mother and Nina have moved to Sofia, Bulgaria.

Nina joined Maria’s World Foundation, a remarkable centre that supports people with intellectual disabilities, and she instantly felt at home. She started taking Bulgarian lessons again, started going to horseback riding and joined the swimming team.

She was recently chosen to represent the Bulgarian national swimming team at the Special Olympics, scheduled to be held in March 2019.

Of all the things Nina loves, she loves Syria the most.

I do not think I can ever be more proud of being Nina’s sister. She is truly a star.

Protests erupted in Tunisia after the death of a journalist who set himself on fire to protest against economic hardship in the North African nation, prompting clashes with police.

Abderrazak Zorgui, a 32-year-old journalist, posted a video online before his self-immolation in the city of Kasserine, describing his desperation for a revolution over poor living condition and corruption.

He expressed his frustration at unemployment and the unfulfilled promises of Tunisia’s 2011 Arab Spring revolution.

Authorities said Zorgui died of his injuries on Monday soon after being taken to hospital.

His action triggered a protest on Monday night in Kasserine that degenerated into violence, with police firing tear gas to disperse crowds blocking the main street, setting tyres ablaze and throwing stones at police.

Interior ministry spokesperson Sofiane Zaag said on Tuesday that six police officers were injured and several people arrested in the protest.

A new protest was held on Tuesday night in Kasserine, with new tensions with police, and other actions were reported elsewhere.

Authorities also deployed reinforcement on the main streets of Kasserine, 270km from the capital, Tunis.

“For the sons of Kasserine who have no means of subsistence, today I start a revolution. I am going to set myself on fire,” Zorgui said in the video published before his death.

In late 2010, a similar self-immolation by Mohamed Bouazizi, a street vendor lamenting unemployment, corruption and repression, led to nationwide protests fueled by social media that brought down Tunisia’s long-time authoritarian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.

That ushered in democracy for Tunisia and unleashed similar movements around the Arab world.

Zorgui’s funeral was held on Tuesday in Kasserine, which has come to symbolise Tunisia’s economic problems and social tensions.

‘Lack of hope’

Unemployment and poverty are high, and the area has struggled for years against armed groups in the nearby mountains who are linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS).

The Tunisian National Journalists’ Union called for demonstrations and a possible strike in response to the journalist’s death. In a statement, it accused the state of contributing to Zorgui’s death by not cracking down on corruption. The union said he died protesting “difficult social conditions…and lack of hope,”

Tunisian reporters expressed solidarity with Zorgui, lamenting precarious conditions for freelancers with no legal protections and low pay amid Tunisia’s struggling economy.

“The reasons for this young man’s suicide are poverty and marginalisation, as well as the fragile situation of most journalists,” said Latifa Labiadh of radio station Amal.

Despite the country’s democratic transition after Ben Ali’s removal and a recent return to economic growth, authorities are still struggling to improve poor living conditions.

Inflation fueled by the devaluation of the Tunisian dinar and persistent unemployment sparked protest across the country last January.

Torrential rain and the possibility of more huge waves are making Indonesia‘s tsunami victims more anxious, as authorities urged residents near a rumbling island volcano to avoid the coastline amid warnings of “extreme weather and high waves”.

The powerful tsunami that followed an eruption of Anak Krakatoa hit settlements along the Sunda Strait almost without a warning on Saturday night, killing more than 420 people, displacing thousands and damaging infrastructure.

Rescuers on Wednesday continued evacuating stranded residents from remote islands and pushed into isolated communities still desperate for much-needed aid.

The Indonesian disaster management agency, BNPB, dispatched helicopters to drop supplies into a handful of hard-to-reach communities along the devastated coastlines of western Java and southern Sumatra.

“We’re starting to access the most isolated places hit by the tsunami,” said Dody Ruswandi, senior BNPB official.

“The devastation there is pretty massive, but we had not been able to get in there in the first couple of days.”

Some roads and bridges near isolated communities had been damaged, making road access more difficult, he added.

Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from Sambolo village on the west coast of Java, said parts of the already damaged main road that is running along the island’s shattered coastline and is being used by all the recovery and rescue vehicles were flooded.

“Torrential rain overnight in this part of Java has continued through into Wednesday, making the clean-up and the recovery efforts simply impossible,” McBride said, adding that many of the houses in the village were left without roofs in the aftermath of the volcano-triggered tsunami.

Residents urged to keep away from coast

Anak Krakatoa is an island that emerged in the crater left by Krakatoa, whose massive eruption in 1883 was one of the most catastrophic in recorded history, killing at least 36,000 people.

Experts have warned that volcanic activity at the site remains high and more deadly waves could slam the stricken region now covered by mountains of overturned cars, boats, furniture and other debris.

“The concern for volcanologists is simply that they don’t have a good idea of what Anak Krakatoa is actually up to at the moment,” said McBride.

“Without a visual reference either from the shoreline or from the air, it’s difficult to know exactly what kind of danger it poses. But we know it’s erupting because between the claps of thunder you hear these sharper cracks of continued eruptions.”

With Anak Krakatoa still rumbling and a high tide warning extended until Thursday, many evacuees seeking shelter in temporary camps are too afraid to return home. On Tuesday, villagers in Sumber Jaya raced towards the higher ground when word spread another tsunami was coming. It proved to be a false alarm.

Later in the day, Indonesia’s Meteorology, Geophysics and Climatology Agency asked people to stay at least 500 metres from the Sunda Strait coastline.

Dwikorita Karnawati, the agency’s head, said high waves and heavy rains are possible on Wednesday and the wall of the volcano’s crater is prone to collapse.

At a news conference, she said weather and continuing eruptions “could potentially cause landslides at the cliffs of the crater into the sea, and we fear that that could trigger a tsunami”.

Meanwhile, medical workers have warned that clean water and medicine supplies are running low, raising fears of a public health crisis as thousands of survivors cram shelters and hospitals.

The Indonesian Red Cross said more than 400 staff and volunteers are delivering clean water, blankets, tarpaulins and other supplies, while it dispatched mobile medical units.

“Our teams are seeing many broken bones and broken homes, and people who are very shaken,” said Arifin Hadi, head of disaster management at the Indonesian Red Cross.

“Indonesians have withstood a string of disasters this year and with them, so much loss and misery.”

2004 tsunami anniversary

The Indonesian government has so far rebuffed offers of international aid, saying the disaster-prone country could handle the crisis.

The country, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands with a population of some 260 million people, sits on the geologically active “Ring of Fire” and is frequently hit by earthquakes and tsunamis.

Saturday’s tsunami was Indonesia’s third major natural disaster in just a few months. In July and August, major earthquakes on Lombok island killed hundreds of people, while in September a devastating earthquake-tsunami claimed more than 2,000 lives in Palu on Sulawesi island.

It also came just a few days before the 14th anniversary of the December 26, 2004 tsunami, one of the deadliest disasters in history that claimed the lives of some 220,000 people in several countries around the Indian Ocean, more than half of whom were Indonesians, mostly people living in Aceh at the northern tip of Sumatra.

On Wednesday, thousands were expected to pray for loved ones at mass graves and mosques to mark the anniversary.

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Japan is withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and will resume commercial whaling next year, a government spokesman has announced.

The move on Wednesday, which is expected to draw international criticism, came more than three months after the global body for the conservation of whales rejected a Tokyo-led proposal to lift a 32-year ban on the commercial hunting of the mammals.

“We have decided to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission in order to resume commercial whaling in July next year,” Yoshihide Suga, top spokesperson for the Japanese government, told reporters.

Suda said commercial whaling “will be limited to Japan’s territorial waters and exclusive economic zones”.

“We will not hunt in the Antarctic waters or in the southern hemisphere,” he added.

The announcement was widely expected as Tokyo had said it would undertake a “fundamental reassessment” of its IWC membership following the September vote, which guaranteed the body’s 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling will continue.

Japan has defied international protests to conduct what it calls “scientific research whaling”, having repeatedly said its ultimate goal is to whale commercially again.

In 2014, the International Court of Justice ordered it to halt its whaling programme in the Southern Ocean, also called the Antarctic Ocean, after determining that the hunting permits granted by authorities were not being used “for purposes of scientific research”.

Tokyo suspended its hunt for one season to re-tool its whaling programme with measures such as cutting the number of whales and species targeted, but resumed hunting in the 2015-2016 season. It caps its Antarctic catch with a quota of 333 whales annually.

The Japanese government, which began scientific whaling in 1987, a year after the international whaling moratorium was introduced, has long maintained that most whale species are not endangered – six of the world’s 13 “great whale species” are classified as endangered, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

Japan is also stresing that eating whale is part of its culture. Whale meat ends up on store shelves, even though most Japanese no longer eat it. Whale consumption accounted for 0.1 percent of all Japanese meat consumption, according to the Asahi newspaper.

Japanese media said that Japan could no longer take advantage of the IWC exemption for scientific whaling if it withdrew from the group because the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas requires its signatories, including Japan, to work through “the appropriate international organisations” for marine mammal conservation.

Japan has also continued to hunt smaller species of whales that are not covered by the IWC in its coastal waters.